Amongst various aspects, the ability to perceive the present and past is what makes us sentient. And, our ability to recollect and cherish our past in the form of memories is what makes us humans. It is difficult to imagine our life without memories. Isn’t it? Having stayed in Hyderabad for more than 4 years, I have some fond memories of this beautiful City of Nizams. Those careless days spent in search of kanjivaram/pattu sarees in Koti market, roaming around the crowded, narrow by-lanes of Char Minar to buy some beautiful lac bangles sold during Ramazan or the beautiful evenings spent near the Hussain Sagar lake. Apart from clothing and food, this city has so much to offer. It’s culture and traditions. I was amazed to see the folks so deeply rooted to their culture and follow their rituals.   

Then there's also my love for biryani and haleem, how can I forget that, for one can get the world’s best biryani and haleem in Hyderabad. Now, this is a contradictory statement, for the Lukhnowites claim to make the best biryani ever,  so let’s keep the biryani discussion for some other day.

Let's talk Andhra chicken curry. I had this curry for the first time at Hyderabad House and fell in love with its fiery, hot curry. After a few tries and endless hunts on the internet followed by more interaction with the locals helped me discover a perfect recipe. But I had to do some alterations in the original recipe as some of the ingredients were not SCD legal. So in order to make it diet-friendly, I replaced them with SCD legal ingredients and needless to say the outcome was amazing.  The little nuances in cooking technique, subtle differences due to the ingredients used, make each preparation a separate treat for the human sensory abilities.