Amidst bustle of Hyderabad Literary Fest 2025 (HLF 2025) that saw the likes of
actors Shabana Azmi and Huma Qureshi; journalists Sreenivasan Jain and Rajdeep
Sardesai; actor/director Amol Palekar and more captivating the attendees with their
insightful conversations, netizens had a harrowing time with the internet
connectivity at the venue Sattva Knowledge City in Hi-tech city.
Shivani Madan (name changed) said she became totally dysfunctional without a good
internet network on her phone. “The problem began right when I reached the
entrance of the Knowledge City. I couldn’t make the cab payment via UPI system.
Inside the venue, most food court outlets had only scanning option to view the menu
and make the payment. I failed to do so and therefore had to bring their (food kiosk)
respective UPI numbers to make the payment from home,” she recalled. Similar was
the case with Sandeep Kulshreshtha, who attended the fest for all the three days. “A
lot of us had trouble connecting to the internet at the food outlets. After some search,
I found a few options where a physical menu was available and they accepted
cash/cards,” he shared.
Ritika Kumar (name changed) said that she had to walk almost 500 meters away
from the venue to be able to find the internet signal to book herself an Uber drive. “A
volunteer of the fest directed me to the network zone,” she informed.
