Hyderabad is the capital city of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh and is where the Deloitte office is based, which is why I'm here. The primary lingo here is Telegu, although everyone at the airport, hotel, restuarants, etc. seems to speak English (certainly not the case for the majority of the population). Hyderabad is actually a pretty big city -- India's 5th largest metropolis and the 41st largest metropolitan area in the world. You can read about the history of Hyderabad here.The first thing you notice (besides the unique smell here) when you get to Hyderabad is the constant traffic and horn honking. It's very similar to the noise you hear on a casino floor that comes from the "ching, ching, ching" of the slot machines, except it's car horns. It's just short beeps (they use it as sort of a "hey I'm here" when they are driving) and is absolutely non-stop 24/7/ The traffic "laws" are actually more suggestions than anything, so I guess it's necessary to avoid getting run over!
Right of way does seem to be by vehicle size and this video gives you a feel for the free-for-all on the road (but doesn't do justice to the amount of cars, cabs, motorized rickshaws, scooters and motorcycles on the road).
Just a quick few words on Hyderabad and why I'm here. As you probably know, I work for Deloitte Tax and we opened an office here about five years ago. The Tax group in India is now over 1000 people, making it the largest office within the US practice. My part in this is to work with the professionals in the US to push some of their work to the professionals in India, which allows the US people to do more value-added work that can only be done in the US.
More about this later on -- it really is incredible operation that benefits the US and Indian professionals and has resulted in huge growth for both groups.
