6 fun and frustrating aspects we observe in the city of Vizag

Balmy weather and laid-back attitudes. The calmness and complacency of Vizag win every time we’re out visiting the densely crowded metros of our country. We take pride in its lesser conundrum… but of course, it’s all in the comparative degree. Here’s the sum of its parts, all things fun and frustrating about Vizag.

#1 Project… or no project?

The many promised projects that are yet to come to the city have taught us real lessons in life. We learnt how ‘all that glitters could be publicity’ from the reference images of the hovercraft that had made us turn to the seas in anticipation. The tempting helicopter rides we boasted about on Facebook, that went as quickly as they came, were perhaps ‘our last straw’. The city dwellers have now reached a level of acceptance that not all promises will come true. So, we will ‘jump with joy’ when those promises come real.

#2 All on RK Beach

What better way to have fun than unwinding at RK Beach in Vizag? If Vizag was a plate of food, it would be heavily loaded on its beach-front. The long coastline is definitely a thing of beauty, and now a place where all developments seem to be coming up. The beach-facing Lulu Mall, entertainment options, and God-knows-what-not seem to have one destination, the beachfront. And we worry and wonder that soon, we may not be able to see the beach at all. Yes, we’re going to come to terms with that too, as we sit facing the road at RK Beach, amused by the traffic, rather than the blue bay.

#3 Crazy kia rey

The two things that bring Vizagites together, as one united mob, are shopping and cinema. Gold is evergreen, and you can see these stores to be as crowded as your Rythu bazaar. Clothing stores are packed too, especially during festivals, when special barricading is done at places to slow down the crowd. The crowd seems to exponentially swell up at the mention of the four-letter ‘S’ word. Similar to this is the rush at cinema halls, when a new movie hits the screen. And let us not delve deeper into what happens when the city’s two vices of shopping and cinema combine. The city comes to a maddening frenzy when their favourite Tollywood stars come to inaugurate shopping malls.

#4 Traffic ‘non’sense

Road-rules seem to collectively go out of the window when it comes to Vizag’s traffic. Public transport seems to be the last thing that keeps the public safe. So if you’re asked a question on where is it that buses speed up when the traffic light turns red, cars race with that poor soul trying to cross the road and autos take sudden U-turns on a one-way, when they spot a prospective customer in their rear-view mirror…well you know the answer. This happens only in India, and especially in Vizag.

#5 Summit time hungama

Police bandobast, crowded roads, welcome banners and flags; event time in the city can be compared to a grand-scale expensive shaadi. Rather than the k.i.s.s. philosophy of keeping it sweet and simple, we Vizagites do tend to go overboard with k.i.c.k. philosophy, which stands for nothing sensible, except kicking the commoner’s life out of gear. There goes easy commuting down the uncovered Vizag drain.

#6 What lanes?

The maze of Vizag, dotted with its many lanes, can leave its people going in literal circles and going about them can be both, fun and frustrating depending on your situation. Examples in the case are the lanes of Dwarakanagar, which have been numbered in a fashion that can boggle the most genius of scientists. And then there are those narrow lanes of MVP, which need a combination of deft map-reading skills along with road-reading ones. Armour yourself with courage if you’re out navigating the old parts of the city, and be ready to decipher the head-nods, and other gestures, you get in response.