Shilparamam, a Total Disappointment!
I was quite excited when our cabbie, Nizam, proposed the idea of going to Shilparamam after Golkonda visit. I had read a few reviews on Shilparamam before our trip and was thinking of somehow squeezing it in to the itinerary. One of the reviewers has remarked it to be an amazing shopping experience at cheap prices. She had said that you could simply spend all day there. Did I need anything more to impress me?
Shilparamam is the arts, crafts & cultural village in the Hitech city. Visiting from Pune, I was not very amazed at the concept of the Hitech city and had made a mental note to skip it. In the words of my husband, “I am not going there unless I intend to drop my CV in all the companies there.”
Paradoxically, we had to pass through the Hitech city in order to reach Shilparamam. We paid the entry fee of Rs 30 per person (now this I remember because later on I thought it was like throwing Rs 60 in to a muddy pool of rain water) and entered the village. There was an array of shops inside which had anything from pretty little lanterns to bangles and glass beads. I did not find anything extraordinary (or native to Hyderabad) and I overheard another lady voicing out my thoughts. Most of the shop keepers looked distracted and damp (owing to a cloudy weather or the siesta).
I had liked a few brass bangles and tried a hand at bargaining which I knew was functional anywhere other than Kerala. They were not ready to reduce the prices. So I gave up and nodded a “lets go” to my husband. I was not ready to buy anything from Hyderabad at fixed prices, things which I could easily get from Tulsibaug, Pune. We probably surprised Nizam with our quick exit and as I remember it, I had entered the cab insulted.
Later on, I realized that Shilparamam was in the Hitech city. That explained everything!
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