Black money? Ancestral money? Blood money? Who knows? If you bought a house on the outskirts, people assumed you were trying to save money, only to get scammed. But if you bought a house in Kukatpally, people knew you had worked hard for it. It was your sweat money. They would have sent you the respect emoji, had it existed back then. Kukatpally was where hardworking, middle-class people lived. It wasn’t glamorous, but it was aspirational.
Cut to 2026. Every time I’m performing at a Telugu comedy show, all I have to do is mention Kukatpally and I get a laugh. Say KPHB and there’s your applause break.
I had given Kukatpally quite a few aura points. My column is called The Why Junction, named after Kukatpally Y Junction. But now, if you ask me to go to Y Junction, my response is, “Please, why?”
There was once a place called Pragati Nagar where, apparently, you couldn’t even buy Coca-Cola, cigarettes or plastic bags. They took such pride in maintaining the locality that it almost seemed like The Jetsons was their inspiration. Today, the things available in Kukatpally cannot be mentioned in this article. Use your imagination. Breaking Bad, Narcos. The same area that was once PG-13 is now R-rated.
I have a few personal complaints too. Let’s start with traffic. Every area in Hyderabad has traffic, which is why I leave home at ungodly hours to avoid it. But Kukatpally is probably the only place where you can get stuck even late at night because of the number of buses heading towards Andhra Pradesh. Just because the road to Vijayawada is nice doesn’t mean you have to go there every weekend!
Then there’s the JNTU stretch. While the rest of Hyderabad is trying to reduce U-turns, Kukatpally has managed to squeeze in two within two kilometres. Who is this insider in the traffic department who refuses to block these U-turns?
Next is food. All the bad biryanis in Hyderabad are available in Kukatpally. There must be 10,000 biryani boards but only three places serving actual biryani. The rest are just rice and chicken. Kukatpally food is basically home food, except somebody has asked, “What if we make it unhealthy?” and charged restaurant prices for it. In all my years in Hyderabad, I don’t remember anyone saying, “Let’s go to that restaurant in Kukatpally.”
Then there’s the lack of art and culture. Every neighbourhood has something going on. Secunderabad has Hari Hara Kala Bhavan, Nampally has Ravindra Bharathi, and Jubilee Hills has the State Art Gallery. Kukatpally has movie theatres and malls, which, again, have movie theatres. No wonder artists don’t want to stay here. Imagine a Kuchipudi dancer living in Kukatpally. He’d have to travel across the city to perform, probably ruining his makeup in traffic before he even gets there.
Kukatpally doesn’t even have a distinct look. Jubilee Hills has its glamour, Secunderabad has its churches and old-world charm, and Hitec City has its own identity. But Kukatpally? If it showed up at a fancy-dress party, it would probably wear a safari suit.
Kukatpally is past its peak now. I’ve enjoyed keeping an eye on this neighbourhood. It’s like that friend who came to the city with big dreams, worked hard, did well for a while, then somehow got lost along the way. He hasn’t given up, but he’s no longer chasing anything either. He’s just living for the sake of living.
Sandesh
@msgfromsandesh
(This comedian is here to tell funny stories about Hyderabad)
(The writer’s views are his own)