Hyderabad buddies bond in neighbourhood to resolve civic issues
HYDERABAD: Safilguda Buddies, is a group of childhood friends hailing from families which built their homes in the early 70-80s, in the then remote Safilguda. They were bosom buddies as they grew up together, hanging around in the lanes and by-lanes of the dusty and lazy colonies of Safilguda, more than four decades ago. But due to professional commitments, settled down in different parts of India and abroad and the friendships were relegated with time.
It was a chance meeting of some of them around six years ago, which revived their nostalgic childhood memories and long-forgotten friendships. Slowly but steadily the group has grown into 70 odd friends, with more adding every other day, as they re-establish the contacts. A Sourya Chakra Awardee Capt. Sai Kumar; Narayana Prasad, an IT professional settled for over two decades in the USA; Varadarajan, an IT professional settled in Australia and Mr Pramod Iyengar, Entrepreneur, shared the details at Taj Mahal Hotel, Malkajgiri on Sunday.
Safilguda Buddies, with most members in their 50s and 60s, saw the need to be in touch and formed a formal group in 2014. The group made a beginning with 13 members in September 2014 and are now 71. Several of them continue to live in the colonies and meet frequently to celebrate festivals and happy tidings, at each other’s homes, they are always a phone call away in moments of despair too. There are around 38 friends who for professional reasons settled across India and abroad in countries like USA, Canada, Australia, Muscat and Dubai.
The group hosts a Biennial Reunion for all of them to meet and rekindle their friendships. “A couple of friends met accidentally after decades. It brought immense happiness and that motivated us to form a group and bring back those who had left in pursuit of a career, far and wide, on a single platform,” says Pramod Iyengar adding, “We intend to make it a 150 members group. The group is proactively involved in bettering the civic amenities in the colonies and in addressing the plaguing problems faced by the residents. Frequent meetings of colony residents with government officials and political leaders are organised to reach out the grievances of the community and to resolve common public issues."