Brand Hyderabad - there's a long way to go

Hyderabad is truly a majestic city. The culture is enthralling, the architecture marvellous and the language simply enjoyable. Its new transition to a hitech city is the modern view of a city that wants to change, wants a piece of the big buck business action and wants to compete in the bad world of politics and business.

The companies that have set up base here represent the new face of Brand Hyderabad which didn't have an international business name in its home until the IT industry decided to venture into this Nawabi city. For some one who is visiting Hyderabad after say 7 years, this city is unrecognisable. The flyovers, the stylish retail outlets and ofcourse the roads - they are indeed impressive.

But Brand Hyderabad cannot be what it wants to be by just changing its packaging. It has to change its product too. I am here talking about the people and their attitude. The mindset is still more about 'Chalta hai' and not about 'ho jayega'. Indiscipline rules in every sphere of life. Check out the traffic on the roads. What is the use of such wide roads if the users of the roads are all over the place? The cops will possibly fail the theory and practicals of the traffic test miserably. For there is no dearth of people who take the wrong turns in front of the cop in the heart of the city.

A 20 minute drive into the city is enough for one to guage the intrinsic strength of Brand Hyderabad. For all its outward glitz, Brand Hyderabad still has a long way to go.

I love this city and cannot see it going from bad to worse. I am sure this is not an insurmountable problem. Will the owner of the Brand please stand up?