A Bend To The South

hen Anvar Alikhan, creative director of an advertising agency, left Hyderabad to work in Mumbai and then abroad, his hometown was "an economic and cultural desert". But when he returned to look after his ailing parents in 1999, he found the city transformed. "There was this tremendous energy," he says. "In just two years, between 1998 and 2000, this city of crumbling monuments had become a global technology hub. And now, thanks to the IT and pharma boom, other things haveblossomedp--eating out, shopping, pubs." Not just that, Anvar points to how cosmopolitan Hyderabad has increasingly become. "I have an Italian neighbour, a Colombian tenant and an Ecuadorian gym partner," he says. "Amazing! Hyderabad is now one of the best cities to live in."

His wife Indrani Das, who works with a web content development company and is from Calcutta, agrees, and especially appreciates the premium on knowledge, which makes the work environment in Hyderabad stimulating. And congenial as well, adds Anvar. "I always believe," he says, "that rice-eating societies are more peacable than wheat-eating ones. As such, they have a more consensual style of working, which makes them more effective organisation workers."

For Jayanti and Javed Alam, in contrast, it's old Hyderabad that's appealing. "It's the tehzeeb of the city, its rich culture in Urdu and Telugu," says Jayanti," in contrast with the rude, aggressive, self-centred behaviour one finds in Delhi." The Alams lived in Shimla and Delhi, he as a professor of political science, and she as a schoolteacher, before moving to Hyderabad in 2000, where Javed had relatives. "Everything here is better," says Jayanti. "The climate is pleasant except for two months in the year, the rents are lower, food is cheaper, so is eating out. People are more friendly, they have time for each other. And, most important, it's not dangerous for women. Delhi is a terrible place forwomen--I'm 63, but in Delhi any woman from 7 to 70 feels vulnerable to sexual crimes."

It was work that brought Amitabh and Anuradha Chandra to Hyderabad from Chandigarh, but it is the culture of the city that has made them decide to stay here forever. The couple moved in 2002 when Amitabh got a job as theCEO of a call centre. He soon moved on to start a firm that offers satellite-based education programmes and corporate training modules. Now they have their own flat and plan to settle here, seduced by the pleasant climate, the good schools for their children, and the thriving environment for business. Compared to Hyderabad, says Amitabh, "Chandigarh is like an overgrown village. This is a great place to bring up our children."

Gurgaon, home to gleaming MNC offices and malls, too was a village on anabolic steroids and held few charms for advertising professionals Ravi Ganapathy, 38, and his wife, Deepa, 35, who gave up its condominium culture two months ago for a less perpendicular home in their hometown, Chennai. They tick off the reasons for returning: lack of public transport in Gurgaon, a safe and secure environment, especially for women, and the exorbitant cost of living. They also missed Marina beach. "While Gurgaon appears swank and glossy, there are pockets of it that make you feel like you are back in1947--it needs to do a lot more to become the millennium city it claims to be. Chennai is a wonderful mix of the old and the new," says Deepa. "And its airport and railway station are far more impressive than any I have seen in India."

Clinical nutritionist Ranjani and her entrepreneur husband Harish call themselves pucca Mumbaikars, but are steadily morphing into Chennai fans eleven months into their stint in the city. When work brought them here, they thought they were moving, to a "hot, conservative city, with nothing to do", confesses Harish sheepishly. Instead, they found shops that stay open late, wide choices in entertainment and food,and--yes--neighbourhoods with a cosmopolitan feel. "It's no longer a staid, orthodox and judgemental place," says Ranjani. "Chennai now has the feel of a big metro, like Mumbai." For marketing professional Sachin Khurana, 32, and his wife Shweta, who moved from Delhi a year ago, Chennai means "a much more relaxed and organised pace of life, and an end to the commuting nightmare." He does not find the city inimical tooutsiders--not in his world, at least: "In an MNC, the work culture is pretty much the same, in Delhi or in Chennai "

Or Bangalore, we might add. It is a second stint in the city for Arshia Sattar, a teacher and translator. Having lived here in the early '90s, she moved back here in 2005 from Pune to coordinate the annual theatre festival at the Ranga Shankara theatre. She finds the difference stark. "Despite the rise of linguistic nationalism, Bangalore seems to be becoming a city now," she says. "There are tensions, diversity issues and chauvinisms, but Bangalore seems to have understood that outsiders are here to stay. There are jobs here for young people like there are in no other part of the country. It's certainly a very young city visually, you see young people everywhere." The biggest draw for her is the cultural vitality of the city. "The Bangalore arts community isyoung--not big on money, but big on ideas and courage. And a fair amount of it is constituted by people who are not native to the city, which means that the city welcomes new practitioners and thinkers."

ijay Sai, features and entertainment editor of the newly-launched Bangalore Mirror, who earlier lived in Mumbai and Delhi, too loves the cultural energy of the city. "No other city has such a strong theatre community, the who's who of any genre of music performshere--even international groups like Aerosmith, Pink Floyd, who don't perform in Delhi. And even IT guys come for poetry readings," he says. Sai is also a huge fan of the weather, thefood--from the traditional idli-dosa places to the fancy lounge bars--and the fashion scene. "Can you name another city in south India with as many names in fashion?"

People in Bangalore are so much more content with their lives and lifestyles than in Bombay or Delhi, says Sai: "They are not as obsessed with racing ahead of each other. In Bombay, if you stand still for a moment, you're losing the race. And in Delhi, everyone's playing to thegallery--it's corrupt in that way, and pretentious."