Every summer I go to Hyderabad for my vacations. My father has a transferable job so Hyderabad is one of the only permanent places where I can spend my vacations. Here, I am thoroughly spoilt by my grandmother and looked up to by my younger cousins, the reason being that I am the eldest grandson. I lead a pretty contented life for two months.

Of course, there are a few different things in Hyderabad. I am a south Indian and most of my family members stay in Hyderabad. This means that a lot of telephone conversations are exchanged back and forth during the day. Since I usually lounge about in the house, I have to answer the phone once in a while. And this is where the problem comes in. I am absolutely bad at recognising voices, and even more horrible at remembering names. I try to avoid receiving phones at Hyderabad as far as possible so that I don't mistake someone for someone else on the telephone.

This is a bit of a serious problem but I comfort myself by thinking of Vishwanathan Anand. He has a problem of remembering names too. I of course quite conveniently forget that he has other amazing qualities which I can never duplicate but it feels good to know that at least I am similar to some great person in some way. But I am digressing…..

Well, answering the phone is one problem. Another problem is the movies. Due to my dad's transferable job, I have spent ¾ th of my life talking in other languages other than my mother tongue that is telugu. So, understandably, my Telugu is a bit weak. So when I go to a telugu movie, I have to really concentrate to understand the joke when everyone else is laughing around me in the theatre. By the time I understand the joke, everyone else is crying as the sad climax comes near. And by the time I understand the sadness, the movie is over. The only thing that can empathize with me is the current in the inductive circuit which always lags the applied voltage (like my lagging mind trying to come to terms with what is happening).

But all in all, it is really relaxing to have a vacation in Hyderabad. What is life without change or challenge even if the challenge is as frightening as picking up the telephone or seeing a movie? Life is full of small things and these small things are the ingredients of life that make life worth tasting. So enjoy your vacations!

P.S.: The author of this article is currently in Hyderabad and is unsuccessfully making a lot of explanations about this article to his family members(so that he is not teased till the cows come home). Please support his morale by emailing him at - mnikhil_kumar@rediffmail.com