Walking on the road that Google Maps says is named after Donald Trump in Hyderabad, you stop a young man in blue jeans and a checked shirt and ask directions to the US consulate. He is holding a plastic folder with documents in one hand. It is obvious he has just come out of the consulate after applying for a visa.“Just ahead,” he says. “You see that auto there? That’s the entrance to the consulate. Barely 50 metres down the road.”“And would you know if this is the stretch that was recently named after Donald Trump?” you ask him.“You’ll have to ask at the consulate. I have no clue,” he says and rushes past.
Names on paper, names people use
Even as US govt was tightening the screws on migration from India, Telangana chief minister A Revanth Reddy had announced in Dec 2025 that the road running along the US consulate in Hyderabad in the Financial District would be named after Trump. This was purportedly done as part of a plan to honour global leaders and companies that had played a role in making Hyderabad an economic powerhouse.US Ambassador to India Sergio Gor and Telangana deputy chief minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka inaugurated Donald Trump Avenue on June 23, less than a week after Iran and the US had signed an MoU to end their war.But what does this mean to an ordinary Hyderabadi who uses this stretch?It is a dull weekday morning and the cops at the police post and uniformed guards manning the consulate’s waist-high outer fence and its manicured gardens seem to be moving sleepily. The mad rush of visa applicants you normally associate with US consulates is missing. Just a handful of hopefuls sit in the specially erected sheds on the street opposite the consulate.You ask one of the guards if the stretch that you are standing on is Donald Trump Street and he immediately corrects you. “This is not Donald Trump Street, my friend,” he says. “This is Donald Trump Avenue.”But the stretch is barely four lanes wide. Aren’t avenues wider and lined with trees? The guard shrugs and smiles. “And only this side of the road is Trump Avenue,” he clarifies. “The other half of the road across the divider belongs to the Telangana govt. Call it ‘Telangana Govt Avenue’ if you want.”You wonder if it was decided that this road would be called an ‘avenue’ because Trump would be upset if only a road was named after him. “It had to be something bigger than a road, and more beautiful. So what if it is just one half of a road?”Without the informed guard, it would be difficult to tell that the stretch bears the US President’s name as the newly formed Cyberabad Municipal Corporation is yet to put up an official plaque to make it official. You want to photograph a stray dog resting at the consulate’s entrance, but another guard shoos you away. “High security zone, photography not allowed,” he tells you firmly.The visa hopefuls on the other side of the road, dressed in everything from burqas to slim jeans, trousers to colourful kurtas, look edgy and nervous. And none of them know of Donald Trump Avenue.
Banjara Hills Road No.7 was renamed as Imam Khomeini Road in 2007
Where does the avenue begin? It is believed to be about half-a-km down the road at Big Star Café, not far from the offices of the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI), but with no official mapping, this is just a guess for now.The best way to reach Imam Khomeini Road in Hyderabad, ironically, is to take the stretch right opposite a restaurant chain that is an American institution — Hard Rock Café — on Banjara Hill Road number 1.An unusually bright yellow signpost at a junction a little further down, just before you reach the Consulate General of the Islamic Republic of Iran, tells you about the road named after the former supreme leader of Iran who ruled his people with an iron fist.Because of the bright signpost, everyone knows the street’s name. But locals refer to this stretch as a totally impersonal Banjara Hills Road No.7.This stretch is a key part of the posh Banjara Hills, with storefronts flaunting designer wear and traditional Hyderabadi sweets even as numerology experts announce that they also dabble in tarot cards and reiki. Tree trunks are nailed down with ‘to let’ and old ‘end of sale’ signs. A stream of yellow buses from a high-end school cuts through and disrupts the late afternoon traffic. And there is a new home being built every few metres with mounds of debris lining the roadside.
Roads less ordinary
Roads less ordinary
Besides the Iranian consulate, this stretch is home to some of the most influential people of the city and also houses the official residence of the Chief Justice of the Telangana high court.As a roadside tea vendor pours you his brew in a minuscule paper cup for Rs 12, you ask him what the street is called. He tells you without blinking. “Road No.7. Are you new to the city?”You tell him not really, but doesn’t the road also have another name? “Imam Khomeini Road,” he says immediately. “But that is just the official name that no one uses.”A group of men coming out of a local mosque look at you suspiciously, wondering why anyone should suddenly be interested in a particular road’s name and that too after more than three decades. Because Trump got a street in his name in the city and that put the spotlight on Ayatollah Khomeini too having a street named after him, especially since the two countries fought a war recently, you tell them.The men know the road has been named after Khomeini, but are indifferent to it. “So, you are wondering why Trump and Khomeini should have streets named after them in Hyderabad,” one of them says. “We are wondering too,” he laughs and leaves.Interestingly, the Iran consulate was opened in Hyderabad in the early 1970s, before the Islamic revolution. At the time, the Shah regime was still in place. Road 0No.7 in Banjara Hills was named after Ayatollah Ruholla Khomeini only in 2007, when the Congress govt headed by YS Rajasekhar Reddy was in office.City historian Dr Syed Fazil Hussain Parvez says the renaming proposal was moved by Friends of Iran Society. Ali Akbar Niromandh of Iran consulate had approached AIMIM leader Sultan Salauddin Owaisi in that regard. Owaisi directed a local corporator to move a proposal in the Hyderabad civic body. The resolution was unanimously adopted. The argument the Iran consulate put forth for their request was that an arterial road in Iran was named after Mahatma Gandhi and an auditorium was named after Ustad Bismillah Khan.Political messaging has, of course, played a role in the naming of roads both in India and around the world. Look at New Delhi: Kingsway became Rajpath, which is now Kartavya Path, and Aurangzeb Road has become Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Road. It is a way of honouring people of repute but also letting people know the ideological direction a govt wants to take.It is, therefore, a mystery why govts decided to name roads after Trump and Khomeini in Hyderabad. Trump will not make life easy for the H-1B hopefuls that Hyderabad has traditionally sent to the US in hordes, no matter how many streets you name after him. And Iran won’t bring down its oil price for India because Road No.7 honours Khomeini.For most people, the name of the road they live on doesn’t matter as long as their children’s schools aren’t far and the neighbourhood grocer is within walking distance. In fact, why not let residents of a particular street decide the name of the street they live on? Instead of grandstanding, we might see some humour occasionally.
