So today was the first day of Ramzan. Thats right, ladies and gents, Haleem season has kicked off! I wanted to write a little bit more about Haleem last year but just didnt get around to it.. Consumed obscene quantities of the stuff from all over the city but didn’t write about it. This year, will be different. I hope. Anyway, I am proud to announce the launch of Dhruv Shanker’s Hyderabadi Haleem Highlights.. The aim of this exercise is to empower the nation with the knowledge of good haleem joints in Hyderabad. That is correct, this noble gesture is in the interest of the people.

Moving along.. Today I sampled the fare of one of the pioneers of the business – Pista House.  Now Pista House is a big name when we’re talking Haleem.. Their generosity with ghee and dry fruits is legendary and they’ve really become a household name in the past few years.. Based in the old city, these guys actually started selling Haleem thorugh the post office in 2003. It was really pretty ingenious.. They’ve now moved on to selling it out of Maruti vans and little stalls all over the city.. I happened to come across a stall in New Boinpally, outside Delicious Den Bakery.. Went over and found that they’d hiked the price by a good twenty bucks.. Anyway, I got me a parcel and headed home to explore the contents..

Opened the box and smiled at myself. No, really.. I could see my friggin’ reflection in the ghee.. I squeezed some lime over the dish and started to dig in.. They had healthy amounts of meat in there.. No skimping whatsoever.. The Haleem was well cooked too but unfortunately, the taste just wasn’t there.. There was just too much ghee and that kinda killed it for me.. I was unable to discern any real flavour and just felt like I’d eaten a bowl of really rich porridge with some bones in it. Sad. 🙁 I was really expecting a hell of a lot more.. This reminded me of the time Mirko Cro Cop got knocked out by Gabriel Gonzaga.. with a head kick no less.. It was the upset of the bloody century.. Cro Cop made a living out of kicking people in the head dammit! How did he get KO’d?? Anyway, I digress.. Coming back to the haleem.. I’ll probably go to the Old City and eat at Pista House once more during this season. Lets hope I come back happier..

PISTA HOUSE HALEEM 2009 – 4 on 10

In other news, I booked movie tickets on a site called Kyazoonga.com.. I read about it on Amrita’s site and decided to give it a shot. Its all good.. The site is easy to navigate, the ordering process fairly simple and the payment gateway is secure.. The only thing I’d like to have had was an SMS confirmation like BookMyShow and PVR send you.. This is a good portal and considering the fact that BookMyShow has its cranky moments, its nice to have an alternative.. The only grouse I have as such, is the inane advertisement.. Its so stupid, its embarassing.. They’ve got Prahlad Kakkar and Kiran Bedi on the screen looking like idiots.. I actually like Kiran Bedi and would like to believe that she got conned into being in this piece of sh*t but Prahlad Kakkar should be shot! Twice! He’s a friggin’ ad film maker! He tries so bloody hard to be funny, you just want to get up and kick him up the arse, set fire to his goofy hat and tell him to shut the f*ck up.. Take a look.. I’d be surprised if you feel differently..

Anyway.. now that we’ve taken the long route home via Necklace Road and Chaderghat, I shall return to the Haleem topic briefly to say, “Stay tuned for more of Dhruv Shanker’s Hyderabadi Haleem Highlights.”

Over and out 😀