Many years ago when I moved to Mumbai, I used to be amused when people staying in the ‘suburbs’ would talk of going to ‘town’ for the weekend or for special occasions. For a small town (Hyderabad) boy the concept of people living in one geography talking about the other end as if it was a different planet was alien to me. After all, I knew my Hyderabad from Old City to the New City and even to the depths of Secunderabad having explored almost every nook and corner. On cycle, on foot, on a motor cycle, in a car and yes, actually even in a boat. Later on, even from the air. And I hadn’t ever heard, for example…of someone in Purani Haveli saying “My Hyderabad jaake aathoon” or even “shehar jaake aathoon”.

I used to think that was what defined Mumbai, the city where neighbours didn’t know that they actually lived next to each other, where people commuted as if going to another city. Seriously, I couldn’t distinguish between the people who came to work from Pune everyday and those who commuted from Goregaon. Both of them had the same train tales to tell.

When I came back to Hyderabad and started what is characteristically called a ‘family’ I was mildly surprised when I saw that my in-laws were essentially babes-in-the-woods as far as Hyderabad was concerned. Their sphere of knowledge began with the Musi and ended with the Hussain Sagar. In all fairness to them they were of recent Hyderabadi origin so I decided to be kinder in my evaluation of their geographical intelligence.

But soon I realised that my children would never discover the parts of my great city that I had…that I liked. Simply because they were ‘girls’, simply because they were pampered with automobiles since birth, simply because it wasn’t quite ‘safe’ anymore but most simply because they discovered a world their very own.

They knew Banjara Hills and beyond…pockets of Secunderabad near the club for instance…and had heard of Moula Ali and Golkonda but had never felt the need to remember the routes. But this phase too was short lived. As they became teenagers, wanderlust in the shape of ‘away from home’ soirees took over and they too began to talk of Dhabas in Medchal and Thupran and breakfast in Gachibowli and Nanakramguda.

And then I realised that my Mumbai nightmare had come true.

We now live in a Hyderabad that is already bifurcated. And the bifurcation is almost as if done by age. Just as we of the 50+ middle age think that the old fuddy-duddies live in Ashoknagar, Chikkadapally, Ameerpet and Malakpet etc., there is now a generation of 20+ migrants who think Gachibowli and Madhapur are the real Hyderabad and Charminar is an ancient monument in the outskirts of their city. And Banjara & Jubilee Hills are where the older generation lives…in a retirement home of sorts.

For years now I have been hearing of jokes that required Sainikpuri residents to carry their passports when they travelled to Hyderabad. Now the visa requirements have become wider. There are parts of Greater Hyderabad that even I have not seen from ground level…I have been fortunate enough to be given a few helicopter tours of the ever expanding city so I know where the boundaries are headed.

I know too that the time is not far off when Shamshabad where the Hyderabad Airport now is, will become an integral part of Hyderabad. Already the transition from city to town is seamless on the Airport Highway if you avoid the Flyover. So how long before people living in Katedan think of Jeedimetla as another world…even if connected by the ORR (Outer Ring Road)?

When I laughed about terms like New Delhi and Navi Mumbai I didn’t realise that I was already living in a naya shehar/purana shehar imbroglio. And now with Cyberabad well and truly established it seems there are going to be more and more ‘abads’ to contend with.

Hey, I am not complaining. I guess I have learnt to accept this metamorphosis. But amused I still am…when for instance I hear about political parties demanding that Hyderabad remains a common capital for the bifurcated state or becomes a Union Territory. My question is …gentlemen, which Hyderabad are you talking about? Just as my reminder to the people who are against the bifurcation…the city is already a collection of separate townships…and there is nothing wrong with that.