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 Sasidharan is an art historian. Deepthi is also a curator and founder Director at Eka Archiving, a cultural advisory and works on heritage and museum projects across India with the government, private and corporate clients. Deepthi, has led Eka projects have been path-breaking in India, including setting up museums, seminal exhibitions, and the creation of several important archives across India. This past year she curated the celebratory AD Museum – Design in 75 years and curated the Dr. Savita N Museum and Library at Porbandar, Gujarat.See sunoindia.in/privacy-policy for privacy information.

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 to leave, the government hired individuals who would set up an alternative.Among those who were hired was BK Gupta, who was one of the founding employees of the CMC, India's first software company, which he helped set up in Hyderabad. Host Yunus Lasania speaks with Mr Gupta for this episode, whose eventful journey also includes a ship journey from India to the UK at a very young age for his studies. See sunoindia.in/privacy-policy for privacy information.

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 undertaking a submarine journey with Bose as an Indian National Army personnel.How that went and how Abid Hasan Safrani came back is perhaps one of the most important stories from Hyderabad of the freedom struggle.For this episode of Beyond Charminar, host Yunus Lasania speaks with sisters Dr Ismat Mehdi and Bizeth Banerjee, both nieces of Safrani, about his life, INA and the freedom struggle from a different perspective. See sunoindia.in/privacy-policy for privacy information.

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 ambiguity about its origins, and many theories are afloat about it. To address that, host Yunus Lasania speaks with Oudesh Rani Bawa, a Hyderabadi from a Kayasth family, who has been seeing both Charminar and the temple since her childhood. Ms Bawa, 81, is an Urdu aficionado, and someone who has been deeply involved in the city's socio-political happenings. See sunoindia.in/privacy-policy for privacy information.

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 in general. More importantly, it is an important site where the city's last Nizam lived and died. In this episode of Beyond Charminar, host Yunus Lasania sits with author and journalist Serish Nanisetti to decode/explain why the palace is in the situation it is today, aside from also decoding who the last Nizam was. See sunoindia.in/privacy-policy for privacy information.

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 Anirudh for this episode of Beyond Charminar, to understand how the Deccan functioned and developed as a separate entity throughout centuries.See sunoindia.in/privacy-policy for privacy information.

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 Al-Qaiti family was essentially considered as an extension of the Hyderabad princely state. Host Yunus Lasania who’s writing an oral history account of Operation Polo (the annexation of Hyderabad to India in 1948) speaks with Sam Dalrymple (who is also working on a book which looks at ‘five partitions’) about this deep connection between Hyderabad and Yemen.See sunoindia.in/privacy-policy for privacy information.

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 with authors Aanchal Malhotra (Remnants Of A Separation, on the partition) and Narayani Basu (VP Menon: The Unsung Architect of Modern India).See sunoindia.in/privacy-policy for privacy information.

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 formally educated persons even four generations ago, a rarity in the pre-independence period. Between his book collection of thousands of books, Mr Prakash has also seen Hyderabad evolve from the quiet city it used to once be, into the metropolis it is today.  We went down memory lane with him to understand how our city grew, just as he did alongside it.See sunoindia.in/privacy-policy for privacy information.

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 the bubonic plague, and later the Spanish Flu. Tune in to this latest episode, where host Yunus Lasania speaks with journalist, author and former colleague Serish Nanisetti about it.See sunoindia.in/privacy-policy for privacy information.

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 decades, and it has still not stopped. The two siblings who run the place continue to do what their father taught them. Truly stuck in time, Yunus Y. Lasania, speaks to one of the siblings to understand the history of the place, and how its owners manage to fix radios from generations ago in this day and age.   See sunoindia.in/privacy-policy for privacy information.

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. Lasania did a three-part mini-series on the history of Dakhni, and how the language has managed to remain as a spoken vernacular over the last few centuries, and even till today. For part 2 of the mini-series, Let’s talk Dakhni, Yunus and Karthik Nalli continue their conversation about Dakhni, and talk about how the language evolved through the 16th and 17th centuries in the Deccan states like Golconda and Bijapur.See sunoindia.in/privacy-policy for privacy information.

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 in this episode, wherein they explore and talk about Hyderabad-Secunderabad's historic churches.See sunoindia.in/privacy-policy for privacy information.