Author: Syeda Imam
Contributor(s)/Artiste(s): William Dalrymple/Bilkees Latif/Sarojini Naidu et
Publisher: Penguin
Year: 2008
Language: English
Pages: 335
ISBN/UPC (if available): 9780143103707
Description
A dazzling collection that captures the essence of Hyderabad, offering glimpses of the various strands that go into its making – fact and legend; old-world quaintness and the highest hi-tech; eccentricity and intrigue; the calm of genteelness and the fury of rebellion
Hyderabad is a city once ruled by the world’s richest man who invested most lavishly in his state, most shabbily in his wardrobe; it holds stories of a courtesan who fought wars, counselled prime ministers, sang her own verse and enthralled luminaries who mattered; of a chief minister who transformed it into a hi-tech hub; and of a sports star who brought the young glamour of India to every tennis court in the world.
Home as much to the Golconda as to Jacob, the 187-carat diamond used as a paperweight by the Nizam, and to rock landscapes two and a half million years old, Hyderabad is a city that forever mixes cultures, cuisines, religions and languages. Here, Persian turned alloy with Telugu, Marathi and Arabic to yield a special version of Urdu, Dakhini. And here, as Andhra mingled with Telangana, a smiling mildness has survived, disarming at every turn, just as grace under pressure, regardless of gender, is unfailing.
In The Untold Charminar readers will discover a city they will want to explore, as Sarojini Naidu, Sir Mark Tully and William Dalrymple rub shoulders with Ian Austin, Meenakshi Mukherjee and Anees Jung, regaling you with their feast of hard facts and hearsay; as each foreign visitor shares his story through Narendra Luther; as the film-makers Shyam Benegal and Nagesh Kukunoor paint their vivid memories of home; as poets, not just the maverick Makhdoom and Gaddar, raise their voices in song; as statesmen, academics and aficionados hold forth on the completely different Hyderabad each experienced.
And when Tejaswini Niranjana profiles the vigilante Vijayasanthi and Dharmender Prasad picks out place names and explains their sometimes almost mystic origins, as Bachi Karkaria, Omkar Goswami and Harsha Bhogle share their typically offbeat views of a favourite city, readers will be persuaded to believe they have encountered not a city but the inner workings of a very complex character.
Contents
Preface
HYDERABAD THROUGH FOREIGN EYES
Narendra Luther
SUNSET OVER GOLCONDA
Anvar Alikhan
RARE VISAGE OF THE MOON
Bikees I.Latif
SUFIS OF THE DECCAN
M.Z.A. Shakeb
THREE KINGS AND I
Bilkiz Alladin
IN CONVERSATION
William Dalrymple
ALL DECKED UP
Lakshmi Devi Raj
THEIR VISION LIVES ON
Ismat Mehdi
CONVOCATION ADDRESS
Nawab Sir Mahdi Yar Jung Bahadur
FOR BETTER AND FOR VERSE
Syed Sirajuddin
THE MYSTIQUE OF THE MUSHAIRA
Isaac Sequeira
LETTERS TOO TELL STORIES
Sarojini Naidu
NECROPOLIS
Makarand Paranjape
BACK IN A MINUET
Fatima Alkhan
CAST – OFFS
Wajida Tabassum
NAWAB MOIN NAWAZ JUNG
Homi J. Taleyarkhan
THE SPINE AND THE SILHOUETTE
Syeda Bilgrami
THE CITY I KNEW
Shyam Bengal
THE ONCE AND FUTURE CITY
Ravi Bhoothalingam
ALL OUR DAY AFTER TOMORROWS
Meenakshi Mukherjee
COMMUNITIES RECONFIGURED
Javeed Alam
THE REBEL AND OTHER POEMS
Makhdoom Mohiuddin
FOOD, GLORIOUS FOOD!
Zuju Shareef
A PORTRAIT OF THREE ARTISTS AND THEIR CITY
Ratna Rao Shekar
‘MIYA, CAPTAIN BANOGE?’
Harsha Bhogle
GROWING UP A PARSI IN HYDERABAD
Yezdyar S. Kaoosji
CREATING CYBERABAD
Mark Tully
MY COUSIN THE QUEEN AND OTHER BEGUMS
Bachi Karkaria
SECUNDERABAD SANS LIGHT AND OTHER POEMS
Hoshang Merchant
VIGILANTISM AND VIJAYASANTHI
Tejaswini Niranjana
RAMLU’S PICKLE SHOP
Anees Jung
HYDERABAD: AN OUTSIDER’S VIEW
Omkar Goswami
VOILA JUBILEE, VIVE BANJARA
Aparajita Roy Sinha
SIGHT UNSEEN
Renuka Narayanan
ALI PASHA
Nagesh Kukunoor
PERFORMATIVE COMMUNISM
D. Venkat Rao
TOPONYMY: THE MAGIC OF PLACE NAMES
Dharmender Prasad
LEGENDS NEVER CEASE
Ian Austin
Notes on Contributors
Acknowledgements
Copyright Acknowledgements