IMAX 3D - Mission Accomplished

Yesterday was a great day. Started with a large breakfast after an hour at the hotel gym. Then, took a cab to Basheer Bagh to meet with The Cousins at Ohris Restaurant. The Cousins were gracious hosts. We had a lively conversation about everything - a true meeting of the minds. It helps that everyone in Hyderabad (that I meet) is an IT nerd. What I like about India is that the IT nerd is king here. I was trying to convey this point, but the only way I could define the word nerd to my companions was "not cool." Ohris was an interesting place - a flight of stairs to a long and narrow restaurant below ground leads you into a pretty good life-size model of a single subway car. Instead of benches, 4-person tables are laid out on each side of a narrow aisle (waht's left of the space in the center). Almost like a dining car in a proper train. On one side of the "car", mirrors help create an illusion of grand space - sort of sitting at a train in a large European train station with multiple platform looking out of the window into another train waiting alongside ours. On the other side, windows overlook the wait station... The food was OK. I think I probably enjoyed it more than the rest of my party due to my amateur palate, but the place was jam-packed with Hyderabadis...

After lunch we took a short auto-riksaw ride to Prasads a multiplex entertainment complex housing several movie theaters along with an IMAX screen that supports the world's larges IMAX 3D projection system. Because it was playing at the right time, we got tickets to see the latest Harry Potter film. It had 20 minutes of 3D at the end and I insisted on seeing a 3D IMAX film for future bragging rights. Prasads also had a climbing wall, an arcade, a maze of mirrors, and a "Scary House" - a haunted house where you walk along a path while people in costumes try to sneak up on you and scare you in the dark. This was probably the first time I felt like I was in a normal country. Besides hotels, all other places I've visited have been ancient or other-worldly, and everyone (except other tourists) was either working or begging. Here were other normal people having normal fun. If it weren't for the sarees and Punjab dresses, one would not be able to tell they were in India. While I am not a huge fan of cultural Westernization, it is a bit comforting to enjoy a normal afternoon in this generally exotic environment where nerds are kings!