Sorry state of online Hyderabad news

Why is there a dearth of decent websites with Hyderabad news. Maybe I am not aware of good ones. The ones I usually read are Deccan Chronicle, Times of India (Hyd pages), Hindu and others. In my opinion none of these qualify as a good online news portal since they lack in quality of content and presentation.

Deccan’s website ought to be one of the worst designed websites and has not evolved in ages. The news content tends to being pro-congress and anti-TDP (political parties in Andhra). The Hyderabad Chronicle page has bare minimum coverage and I always feel that it doesn’t cover the breadth and diversity of activities in the city from the previous day/week.

I don’t know what to make of Times of India. The main page itself is slightly better than a gossip magazine. The Hyderabad city page has sub-par quality of news items. I don’t think they have a target audience in mind. They just mechanically report some random news and events from Hyderabad and other cities.

The less said about Hindu the better. It is my dad’s favorite paper and that is the generation they cater their articles to. The presentation is also from the early web years.

I tried searching for new sites and magazines and didn’t have much luck. WOWHyderabad was a decent magazine that I bought during my last trip. Unfortunately the online version needs a subscription fee to access content. What’s up with that?

Anyways, my search for a decent, Web 2.0 Hyderabad news portal continues. If you guys are aware of one, please let me know.

Expat life in Hyderabad

I am curious to hear about the expat’s life in Hyderabad. Having lived in the US for so long, if we return to Hyderabad today, we will be both expats and locals. Kind of strange if you think about it, but that is how I see myself. It will be nice to be a part of the expat social network and also be a local at the same time.

I came across these social expat groups in Hyderabad:

Social – Hytea
Running/Social – Hyderabad Hash

If you have participated in these, I would love to hear your comments. What did you think?

I also came across these blogs by expats in Hyderabad. They make an interesting read:

Charise’s blog
Anna’s blog

Mindless violence and apathy from our Security forces

Every time a bomb blast happens, its the same feelings of anger, frustration and the deja vu again. The aftermatch is the same – security forces blaming terrorist outfits like LET, statements such as ‘it was a low intensity blast’ as if that makes it ok, and the same condemnation blah blah.

It’s apalling to see the reaction of security forces every time. They do not seem to learn from one blast to another. Look at the officials picking up forensic evidence with their bare hands. Did they even step into a forensic school? What’s the use of the scent-sniffing dog when there are a 100+ security people walking around. Isn’t that just a show to the press? It’s shocking that India does not have a incident-reaction plan, a scientific forensic process and an efficient legal system that can convict the guilty in a reasonable time frame.

Asian age had an editorial that throws more light on this issue

Reason for blogging

It’s the feeling of angst and longing that every Indian, who has lived outside the country for a while, feels to some extent that has consumed me recently and I started reading a number of return2india (r2i) blogs. I was just blown away by the number of blogs out there by people who have decided to pack their lives in the distant lands and move back. So I decided to channel my feelings and thoughts and soothe some of the angst with some writing therapy with my very own return to hyderabad (r2h, r2i) blog.

I grew up in Hyderbad in 90s enjoying the simple pleasures of skipping college to catch a movie with friends or pooling money to catch a nice biryani or Chinese dinner. Like many of my generation, did my bachelors in engineering in Hyderabad and then packed my bags for the US shores to do a Masters. Then it was the job and years just flew by. I feel strongly that its time to get back to roots and join the movement that is India now. Contribute, live and breathe Hyderabad and India.