Beyond Charminar

One of the biggest enigmas of Hyderabad's heritage are the famed Nizams jewels, a portion of which are with the Reserve Bank of India. The collection, which includes the infamous 186 carat Jacob diamond, is always a topic when we talk about the Nizams of Hyderabad.  To understand how big the entire collection is, and the stories surrounding it, host Yunus Lasania speaks with art historian Deepthi...

Language is a means of communication, which often is shaped (or changes) based on our socio-cultural and political milieu. In India's Deccan region, the spoken language (widely) today is in fact Dakhni, and not Urdu. The former, often mistaken to be a dialect of Urdu, is actually older and was at one point of time the mainstay of literary culture in the 16th and 17th centuries, especially in the D...

Most of us today know of software giant TCS (Tata Consultancy Services). It's part of Hyderabad's Hitec City that emerged in the 21st century.  However, many aren't aware that TCS in fact was originally a government Public Sector Unit called CMC (Computer Maintenance Corporation) that came up after IBM was asked to leave India. IBM used to maintain PCs and databases in India and when IBM was asked...

Off-late, the word Razakaars is being thrown around in political circles quite often in Telangana. Referring to the militia under ex-MIM Leader Qasim Razvi in the Hyderabad state during its last Nizam, the Razakars have once resurfaced in the state's politics.  The Hyderabad state, under its last Nizam Osman Ali Khan (1911-48), became part of India on Sept 17, 1948, more than a year after the Brit...

When it comes to our freedom struggle from the British, one doesn't think of Hyderabad. More importantly, we're seldom taught about how the 'Jai Hind' slogan came about. Abid Hasan Safrani, a Hyderabadi, was one of those rare individuals who had gone to Germany to study in the 20th century before independence. A chance encounter with Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose eventually ended up with him underta...

2022 July marks the 175th anniversary of the Seth Viccaji - Seth Pestonji Meherji Parsi (Zoroastrian) fire temple in Hyderabad. Founded by the two brothers in 1847, it's also the oldest fire temple in south India. Once bankers under the Nizams of Hyderabad, the brothers built the temple and set up infrastructure for cotton traders in the 19th century. More importantly, descendants of Seth Pestonji...

Over the last few decades, the Bhagyalakshmi temple on the Charminar, which is Hyderabad's foundation, has become a matter of heated debate given the fact that the religious structure is an unauthorised structure. Today, the temple has taken centre stage as it has now become a focal point for mainstream political parties to begin their programmes from. However, in terms of history, there is ambigu...

For many, the demand for a separate state of Telangana was something new when they first heard of it in 2009. It was perhaps out of context, given that school textbooks also barely mentioned the name. However, the origins of Telangana's creation and demand as a separate state in fact go back to when the state was part of the erstwhile Hyderabad state, which was under the Nizams. To understand how,...

Earlier in April, Hyderabad woke up to the shocking news that over 100 goons tried to siege the Nazri Bagh complex, the only remaining part of the historic King Kothi Palace. It was followed by an alleged demolition attempt, which has seemingly been thwarted thanks to government intervention.  Unfortunately, the issues related to the King Kothi palace are also what plague Hyderabad's heritage...

When we talk of heritage, old buildings usually pop up in our minds. However, more than monuments, or anything else, our most precious historical sites are our rocks which have been around for millions of years. And sadly, rapid urbanization has caused a lot of our old sites to become victims of destruction. The Khajaguda heritage site, which is a protected site, has now become a bone of contentio...

When we talk about Indian history, the Deccan and South India's narratives are largely missing from popular narratives, given that most of it is looked at from a prism of Delhi. Breaking away from that is author Anirudh Kanisetti's latest book, Lords of the Deccan, which gives a comprehensive idea of what went on in the Deccan between the 6th and 11th centuries. Host Yunus Lasania speaks with Anir...

When we talk about Hyderabad or its history, one major aspect people often miss out on is Secunderabad. A former British cantonment, its 216 years of history is rich and much lesser known about. Host Yunus Y. Lasania sits with Secunderabad historian Pankaj Sethi to discuss at length its origins, and how the cantonment area was built and former over a century. See sunoindia.in/privacy-policy for pr...

Hyderabad’s connection with both the Persian and Arab worlds is well-known. In fact, Barkas in the city is considered as a ‘mini Yemen’ because of the Arab soldiers who came to work under the Nizams of Hyderabad. However, many don’t know that Hyderabad’s ties to Yemen during the Nizam or Asaf Jahi period was very strong. So much so that part of present-day Yemen under...

The Golconda fort is one of Hyderabad's major tourist attractions, but many don't know that the ticketed area they go to is just one part of the fort - the royal area. And beyond that, there's a massive 6.5 km area of the fort which lies completely unexplored. The fact that the Golconda fort has (or at least had) 87 bastions and eight gates, is massively underrated. Moreover, years of neglect have...

September 17 this year (2021),  will mark 73 years since the annexation of the princely state of Hyderabad to India in 1948. The major historical event is remembered for the violence that people in the state witnessed after partition, and also post annexation.  For a better understanding of Operation Polo, oral history’s importance and partition, host Yunus Y. Lasania speaks w...

If there is one place in Hyderabad that can usurp the Charminar and Golconda fort and replace both as the main tourist attraction in Hyderabad, it’s the Qutb Shahi tombs. The Qutb Shahi tombs are the royal necropolis of the Qutb Shahi or Golconda dynasty (1518-1687), which ruled from the Golconda fort, and later founded Hyderabad in 1591. The complex has nearly 100 structures, including tomb...

When we think of history, we often ignore the most important and closest things – our own material possessions which connect us to our past. And one such person who has treasured his family heirlooms, and had literally preserved his own past in the form of small priceless possessions, is 74-year-old BS Prakash. An ex-banker who worked for SBI his whole life, he comes from a family which had...

Many Hyderabadis often go to the Moula Ali shrine, sometimes with religious intent, and otherwise just to go up the huge hill for its view. However, many are perhaps unaware that the shrine is in fact one of the city’s oldest historic or heritage sites, that even predates Hyderabad. Not only does it go back to the time of the third Qutb Shahi (Golconda) king, Ibrahim Qutb Shah, the Moula Ali...

The corona virus pandemic today has changed the world, and one by one, country after country, is dealing with challenges. While most of the problems are unique to what's happening, Hyderabad in fact also dealt with a similar situation a century ago under the last Nizam Mir Osman Ali Khan, in the first half of the 20th century.  The city, and the erstwhile state of Hyderabad, was first hit by...

In a city where students are still expected to study engineering, anyone choosing arts and social sciences is a step away from the norm. One can hardly imagine how difficult it must have been for anyone, especially women, to take up arts and pursue their own path.  And artist Fatima Ahmed, who left Hyderabad long ago to carve out her own destiny, is a fine example of how difficult life can be...

Gone are the days when owning a radio even registered in our minds. Over the years, as we moved from tape recorders, LED TVs, to finally smartphones, the physical manifestation of radio has been long forgotten. But not at Mahboob Radio Service, a shop that has been repairing radio running from around Indian independence.   Set up by Shaik Mahboob, the store has been fixing old radios for...

One of the idiosyncrasies in Hyderabad is its language – Dakhni. Known as ‘Hyderabadi’, ‘Hyderabadi Hindi’ or even ‘Hyderabadi Urdu’, people in general, in Hyderabad and even the Deccan region, don’t actually know what it is called due to lack of awareness. Many in fact are even unaware that modern Urdu is in fact younger than Dakhni. Host Yunus Y. L...

One of the idiosyncrasies in Hyderabad is its language – Dakhni. Known as ‘Hyderabadi’, ‘Hyderabadi Hindi’ or even ‘Hyderabadi Urdu’, people in general, in Hyderabad and even the Deccan region, don’t actually know what it is called due to lack of awareness. Many in fact are even unaware that modern Urdu is in fact younger than Dakhni. Host Yunus Y. L...

One of the idiosyncrasies in Hyderabad is its language – Dakhni. Known as ‘Hyderabadi’, ‘Hyderabadi Hindi’ or even ‘Hyderabadi Urdu’, people in general, in Hyderabad and even the Deccan region, don’t actually know what it is called due to lack of awareness. Many in fact are even unaware that modern Urdu is in fact younger than Dakhni. Host Yunus Y. L...

Most people identify Hyderabad as the "city of Nizams and Nawabs", but that's only one side of the story. While the city has a rich history on that front, there's another side to Hyderabad in terms of its colonial heritage as well. From having a church going back to 1813, to another having its service in Urdu, host Yunus Lasania talks to Suno India co-founder Rakesh Kamal and a very special guest...