(Ebook) The Last Nizam and His People: Profiles and Sketches from Hyderabad by Narendra Chapalgaonkar, Sharadchandra Panse ISBN 9780367482343, 9780367553999, 9781003093336, 0367482347, 0367553996, 1003093337

(Ebook) The Last Nizam and His People: Profiles and Sketches from Hyderabad by Narendra Chapalgaonkar, Sharadchandra Panse ISBN 9780367482343, 9780367553999, 9781003093336, 0367482347, 0367553996, 1003093337

My interest in the history of Hyderabad originated in my family background. I was born in a small town, also a district headquarters, having only one high school, teaching all subjects in Urdu. My mother tongue Marathi had no proper place in the school curriculum. I had to sing every morning prayers wishing continuance of Nizam’s rule forever, and my father was undergoing prison sentence or detention for agitating against the despotic and feudal rule of Nizam.About a year after Indian Independence, the atmosphere of fear ended and the feeling that freedom has reached here changed our family life also. My father and his colleagues were released from jail, and my school started teaching us in Marathi, the mother tongue of most of the boys. The change was teaching me the meaning of Independence. What was happening around me made a deep impact on my mind. Years after it, when I began writing profiles, people who had played a notable part in the history of the last days of Nizam’s rule, were also in the proposed list.I had written a biography of Swami Ramanand Tirth, who had led the movement for democratic rule in Hyderabad and its accession to independent India. I had consulted relevant material from National Archives in Delhi and Andhra Pradesh Archives in Hyderabad and many other sources. The last Prime Minister of Hyderabad, Mir Laik Ali, has written an autobiography Tragedy of Hyderabad giving some details, which were not available elsewhere. Some Urdu books also are published, some of them defending Nizam rule and his encouragement to communal organisations.