April
27, 2007
A Scholar’s Gripping Account
of Hyderabadi Diaspora
Prof. Karen Leonard’s just published book
‘LOCATING HOME’ is a remarkable study
of the struggle for survival of the distinctive
culture of Hyderabad that had flourished in that
south Indian state for a couple of centuries prior
to its takeover by the Indian army in 1948.
Essentially a synthesis of the Mughal culture and
the customs of the local Hindu communities in a
spirit of exemplary tolerance, it managed to keep
its separate rack even during the century of British
rule over India by resisting the settlement of outsiders
in its area through laws differentiating between
the indigenous (mulki) and outsiders. It shifted
to Urdu from Persian as the official language as
far back as the 1880s instead of conceding the place
to English like the rest of India. Its cuisine,
sartorial preferences, customs and traditions, and
above all its common memories and scale of values
palpably differed from the rest of India. Communal
tensions and riots were rare. Hindu-Muslim unity,
said the eminent poet and social figure, Sarojini
Naidu, is a myth outside of Hyderabad.
This cultural scenario underwent two cataclysmic
shocks, according to Prof. Leonard, first in 1948
with the annexation of the State to India and then
its trisection in 1956 with the redrawing of the
provinces of India on linguistic basis.
If you want to deprive a community of its separate
identity, take its language away, Pandit Nehru had
once remarked. With the fall of Hyderabad in 1948
and the imposition of the tri-language system in
schools – English, Hindi and Tilugu - Urdu
was officially assigned to the arch of oblivion.
Yet, the indefatigable language keeps its survival
struggle in Hyderabad city and surrounding areas
as well as in the Urdu-speaking communities in foreign
lands. The new linguistic dispensation dividing
the princely state into Andhra (Tilugu), Maharashtra
(Marathi) amd Karnataka (Kanada) and their amalgamation
into the adjoining states, virtually put an end
to the concept of a separate Hyderabadi identity
and culture.
Prof. Leonard has concentrated her study of more
than a decade on the response of Hyderabadis to
these two disrupting developments, their emigration
to Pakistan, Britain, Canada, the US, Australia,
Kuwait and the UAE, and their crises of adjustment
to the new environs. Another development that has
touched their lives is the globalization of world
economy with attendant changes in other sectors
of human activity, particularly the preeminence
of English as the medium of instruction as well
as of international business.
People change places, places change people, and
the memory of the past affects both, maintains the
author. Her book, being a work of social history,
studies the movement of large number of Hyderabadis
to the seven destinations mentioned above and their
collective memory of their past and their pride
in it.
The way of life of the Nizam’s period has
long passed, but its collective memory persists,
so does the erstwhile value system with extreme
politeness and consideration for others, particularly
the elderly, irrespective of the caste, creed and
persuasion, which directly strike a foreign visitor.
Among the ruling elites of the Nizam’s era,
both Hindus and Muslims, a conscious effort is made
to keep the collective memory alive.
I noticed this during the three visits to Hyderabad
over the past few years. Descendants of the Nawabs
of Hyderabad would be seen during wedding functions
putting on the decades old, but well-preserved,
Turkish caps and sherwanis with buttons made of
tiger claws or gold coins minted almost a hundred
years back, and greeting each other in the antiquated
court manners to perpetuate the vision of old Hyderabad.
They struck me as dream walkers afflicted by a burst
of nostalgia and an intense euphoria - a patch of
the 19th century on a 21st century tapestry.
Dr. Leonard spent over a decade interviewing members
of Hyderabadi community in the seven centers already
mentioned above, and based on their accounts has
described the challenges and the crisis of identification
faced in each center and their general response
to it. For instance in Pakistan, they “put
their Pakistani identity ahead of their Hyderabadi
one, uneasily recognizing that too strong an identity
as Hyderabadi worked against acceptance in Pakistan
society. And there was no 400th anniversary of the
founding of Hyderabad city celebrated in the early
1990s in Karachi”. But, acceptance was not
an issue, I think. I had reached Karachi within
a few weeks of the fall of Hyderabad and found no
inkling of discrimination. It was like the stream
joining the main flow of the river. One got lost
in the Karachi cultural cocktail.
Not many of the jagirdars (feudals) of Hyderabad
migrated to Pakistan and some who did had in the
initial stage found life too demanding and their
addiction to servants too taxing. Many quickly realized
their predicament and returned. Others adjusted
to the new environment, its fast and competitive
tempo of life, and the ethic of labor to live well.
Hyderabadis in the UK, according to the author,
held strongly positive views of both British and
Hyderabadi cultures and thought the two had much
in common. Hyderabadi Nawabs had a strong consciousness
of ancestry and status and felt that Britain’s
class society was congenial to them. But, the majority
of the Hyderabadis who belonged to the working class
did not share this elitist viewpoint. “The
virtue of Hyderabadi culture”, they argued,
“was its inclusiveness”. Charged with
a spirit of tolerance and adhering to the concept
of a composite culture, they were reluctant to take
any leading role in the local Islamic associations.
As time passed, the second generation Hyderabadis
grew up as British citizens well-integrated into
the local cultural milieu.
Hyderabadis started migrating to Australia after
1960 when a reversal of the restrictive immigration
policy admitted of well-qualified Hyderabadi professionals
reaching the shores of Australia as economic migrants.
The presence of Prince Mukarram Jah, elder grandson
of the last Nizam, in Perth was a reason for some
economic migrants to place Australia too on their
list of destinations. Earlier, a host of Hyderabadi
Anglo-Indians had elected to migrate to Australia
owing to political events in India and Hyderabad.
The Anglo-Indian immigrants to Australia, records
Dr. Leonard, recalled details of a very distinctive
culture in old Hyderabad and yet quickly became
Australian. The author has allotted considerable
space to Hyderabadi communities and associations
in the US. She describes how many got involved in
religious setups while others “remained secular
people, proud of the ‘old Hyderabadi synthesis’
and its congruence with American pluralism.”
For want of space, I cannot give even a synopsis
of her accounts of the Hyderabadi communities in
the Gulf States. Hyderabadis reached the Sheikhdoms
chiefly in search of better paying jobs and vocations.
Their remittances sustained their families fallen
on bad days since the demise of the Nizam’s
rule in the State. Opportunities in the Gulf have
also enabled enterprising Hyderabadis to take advantage
of economic globalization and launch several industrial
and business enterprises to earn and expand.
Karen Leonard has interviewed some 450 Hyderabadis
to collect data for this book. This has been a painstaking
exercise. And, the book records events of a crucial
era in the life of Hyderabad. She has justifiably
earned the gratitude of Hyderabadis at home and
abroad for producing this valuable work. It has
been brought out by the Stanford University Press.
- arifhussaini@hotmail.com
