Life in 'Chota Mumbai' - Hubli

After my MBA, I landed with my first Marketing job at Hubballi (Other names: Hubli) All that I knew about Hubli when I had an offer letter in hand was that Dharwad & Hubli are twin cities and of course you get the yummiest Dharward peda there. Many people reacted saying, "You are going to Hubli????? The people there are very rude." I just had the job in my mind and just sidelined their comments. I told myself Jo Hoga Dekh Lengeh …..

I moved from Udupi to this city & settled down in a Paying Guest Accommodation at Vidhya Nagar. Unlike what I had the heard about the people there, the city was quite welcoming. Whenever people I came across got to know I was from Udupi, they would get excited and say "Wow, You are from Udupi, Udupi people are so good"…. Now I don’t know why they had such a notion, I never counter questioned them; instead would just smile at them and laughed to myself.

Language:

Being born in North India and bought up in South India, I can fluently speak in Hindi and Kannada. Hubli Kannada is quite different. Its spoken colloquially and so for south Kannadigas, it sounds like they are rude. Because Udupians speak a pure textbook form of Kannada.

Example: 

“Ninu Hehgidiya?” (How are you?) – Udupi Kannada

 “Heng adiyo le?” (How are you?) – Hubli Kannada

It was very common there to use Le, Beh. I learned it but never used in my conversation in native or I would be tagged to be disrespectful or rude.

One day I and my roommate were having a conversation about what to eat and she said let us have ‘Girmit’. Girmit in my language understanding referred to an insane person. But in Hubli, it was colloquial to  Behl Puri. I had a good laugh that day and also tried Girmit which tasted good.

Another instance is where I recall my colleague saying never ask Thindi ayeta (meaning Had breakfast? In Udupi Kannada ) in Hubli because ‘Thindi’ had an offensive meaning. Instead, ask “Nashta Ayeta?”

The language indeed is beautiful and now I speak it quite fluently. My Kannada is now a Combo of Udupi + Hubli + Bangalore, haha

Food:

Being a sweet tooth, I always crave for sweets. The first day in Hubli, I and my father were hunting for a bucket shop near Channama Circle. We didn’t find one but to our surprise that Chenamma Circle street in the heart of City was filled with just Dharwad Peda sweet shops. From then, every time I visited home I got sweets from a local shop there called Babu Singh Takur Peda. You should also try out Renuka Sweet Shop which serves one of the finest Moti Chur Keh Laddus.

I am a vegetable lover, but somehow Brinjal never fascinated me. I was always Anti-Brinjal and had banned it in my home. In Hubli, Brinjal is the most loved vegetable. Every restaurant, every function has this as a mandatory dish. I learned to eat Brinjal as well here.

Badnehkai Yengai (a sweet Stuffed brinjal dish) this is the dish I tried the first time in Hubli. It was finger licking yummy.

Jowar roti is another famous food of Hubli. It is very high in nutritional value. Besides you also have Vada Pava, Khanavali (restaurants which serve authentic North Karnataka food) meals, Davangere Benne Dosa,  sandwich outlets center in front of More Supermarket in Shirur Park is very popular and one of my favorites. If you want to eat some good Coastal food do visit Fish Land near VRL office.

Tourist places:

Hubli has few countable places to hang out. These include  Unkal lake(Boat ride), Nrupatunga hill, Indira Gandhi Glass House. Dharwad being twin city has Dharwad University, Nugehkai Hanuman Temple etc.. Many tourist attractions are within a 100 km distance from the city: Badami, Aihole, Pattadkal, Dandeli, Kittur fort,Gokak falls.

Festivals:

People here celebrate all festivals but what catches the eye is the Ganesh Chaturthi, Holi and Ramzan celebrations. The entire city gets decked up for these festivals. 

The city has less or no traffic, literally! You can reach any corner of Hubli within half an hour. The weather is also pleasant, winter being too chilled. The city is well connected by NWKSRTC & Bendre (Private) busses. The coolest part of my stay there was, getting tickets to Udupi was a cake walk and quite reasonable, unlike the mad rush and struggle we have in Bangalore.

The 2 years spent in this city has been indeed beautiful, memorable and close to my heart. Having shifted to Bangalore now, I miss Hubli badly and I always look forward to visiting this place again!