“You are not a true Hyderabadi if you have not watched Angrez,” says a Facebook page. What makes a Hyderabadi Hyderabadi? The replies are as diverse as the people living in this city.
Apart from the famed Biryani and the old-world charm of the legacy of the Nizams, there are the Dakhni dialect and the Irani tea too.
A few Facebook pages are capturing this feeling of being a Hyderabadi. From funny videos and memes and news related to the city, these pages give a glimpse of the pulse of the city, its unique dialect, its idiosyncrasies and more.
Jokes and more
One of these pages is ‘Just Hyderabadi Things’ which shares jokes, nuggets from history and other current happenings. The page, which was formed in 2014, has 454,706 followers.
Mohammad Ibrahim, Syed Azhar Farhan and Abdul Rahman, who are the admins of the page, feel that many who do not live in Hyderabad are curious about the city’s culture and lingo.
They say: “Hyderabadis feels happy seeing their culture admired. Our local slang is so funny that not only we have audience from Hyderabad but many from many other parts of India too.
They have liked our page to know and study about our culture.”
Love for everything Hyderabad
One scroll down the page ‘I Love Being Hyderabadi’ and you can a glimpse of Metro train, a cup of Irani tea and of course, Biryani. You also see news clips related to the upkeep of Charminar and the ongoing row over Errum Manzil.
The page, which was created in 2011, has 208,570 followers. Says Syed Saif, the founder of ‘I Love Being Hyderabadi’: “Every Hyderabadi likes and enjoys posts depicting humour or sarcasm.
There are many pages that do so, but 80% of our posts promote interesting information and facts, and also show the beautiful city of Hyderabad in pictures. We also like to support new upcoming government projects in the city and things that are introduced for the benefits of citizens.
For example, the post that we created recently about new traffic signal lights that were installed near KBR park went viral.”
This page is an off-shoot of their e-store that sells merchandise for anyone who is head over heels in love with the city. Quirky framed posters that say, ‘Disturb Nakko Karo’ (Don’t disturb me), or t-shirts that say ‘Love Fades, Biryani Stays’ are made for anyone who is a Hyderabadi and ready to flaunt it.
Movie magic
A scene in a movie shows a police inspector reading the suicide note of a girl who committed suicide after being duped by an NRI in marriage. An exasperated man says that many houses in the area have a similar tale to tell, but the police do not take any step to address the issue... A woman emerges from the crowd says that it is the society that forces women to take their lives after they face rejection for not being able to provide dowry...
Movie clips on such local issues and humour dot the page ‘Mehdipatnam Hyderabadi Culture’. The page, which was created in 2017, has 421,872 followers. Lucky Kumar and Arshad Shaik, who are the admins of the page, believe that Hyderabadis like comedy and message oriented concepts, and they make the content accordingly.
Lucky Kumar, who is a short filmmaker, says: “I spend nearly two hours every day making content for the page. I upload the movies on both YouTube and the page. Apart from memes, I make a lot of content related to local movies.” They manage two other pages named ‘Just Sarcastic Things’ and ‘Hyderabadi Trollers’, too.
Discretion needed
There are numerous pages the names of which promise memes and local news, but are being used to spread unrelated content. The user has to exercise her/his discretion while choosing and encouraging these pages.
— Kakoli Mukherjee
kakoli_mukherjee@newindianexpress.com