Mana city emerged the hot favourite among Indian netizens this year as it turned out to be the most 'searched for' city on search engine giant Google in 2013, beating other metros like Mumbai and Bangalore. Events that made Hyderabad the most sought after city in the virtual world were the Dilsukhnagar twin blasts in February that killed 17 people and injured more than 100, the Telangana crisis, which reached its peak during July, August and then again in September, the IPL matches held in the city, the questioning of terrorist Yasin Bhatkal by theHyderabad police and the Volvo bus tragedy in October that killed 45 people.
These details were revealed by Google India's Year End Zeitgeist report, which laid out the hottest trends, people, places and events that captured the world's attention in 2013.
"Hyderabad has been in the national news for a while now, with the bifurcation issue no more restricted to only the state. People from other cities are also curious about Osmania University(OU) and other educational institutes of Hyderabad," said educationist G Haragopal.
Meanwhile, Tollywood stars such as Mahesh Babu, Kaajal Agarwal and Samantha were the most searched for local personalities on the internet.
Interestingly, politician Akbaruddin Owaisi was the only non-film personality to figure on that list.
Owaisi's virtual popularity peaked when he was admitted to hospital early this year and then again in August when he along with his brotherAsaduddin Owaisi announced expansion plans for their party, Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM), and the possibility of contesting elections in other states as well.
Not so surprisingly, the MIM chief's hate speech delivered in 2012 saw the maximum number of hits in any news relating to the politician right through the year. OU, the hotbed of the Telangana agitation, was the most looked up educational institution in the city, followed by JNTU, Andhra University and Kakatiya University. Not really searched for its academic courses, hits for OU were the maximum during the clashes between the university students and the police on the Telangana issue.
The place that was enquired about the most in Hyderabad was the Big Cinemas multiplex, which was in the news in May after it was announced that the chain of theatres will be thrown open to retail clothes stores.
Ramoji Film City became a popular search topic in November when it entered into a pact with IRCTC to promote tourism in the state.
"It is the composite cultural environment of the city that draws people to find out more about Hyderabad as and when events occur here," Haragopal added.