Manreet Sodhi Someshwar has written a trilogy on the partition of India and the second book in the series is Hyderabad. When India got independence, Hyderabad was still a princely state that was being ruled over by His Exalted Highness, Nawab Sir Mir Osman Ali Khan Siddiqi, AsafJah II.
The Nizam wanted Hyderabad to remain an independent state. He refused to enter into a signed treaty with India like other princely states across the subcontinent had done.
I don’t know about you all, but while growing up, from the time we had started to learn about partition back in school, I have always been curious about how life was back then. How did things function, how did the people responsible for the partition handle entire process, what was their thoughts etc. And in the process, I remember I would pull up books from the library to read about those times.
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And in one of those sessions, I remember reading how the Nizam of Hyderabad wasn’t keen on joining India. Soon, life took over, putting reading about the partition to a stand still. I had many questions but never really got around to looking for answers. Until I found out about Manreet Sodhi Someshwar’s book Hyderabad.
When any conversation about partition comes up, Punjab and Bengal come to mind. That Hyderabad had a crucial role to play is quite an under-discussed fact. This book does a might fine job of educating whosoever might be interested.
Hyderabad, situated a little further south from the very centre of the country wanted to remain an independent state, while being surrounded by India. Bizarre, right? Not so much, if understand what all went on and the struggle that was to ensure that India became a nation as a whole. Hyderabad is set in year that began a month before we got independence, i.e. July 1947 to September 1948.
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The book begins with a conversation between the Nizam and Walter Monckton, his legal advisor. Right from page one we start understanding who the Nizam was and why he didn’t want to become a part of India. Moving on, the reader is taken through 13 months of events that transpired through historical characters like the Nizam, Nehru, Patel, Mountbatten, etc and a few fictional characters.
Writing about history and making it interesting is not easy, and honestly, Manreet has managed to keep the reader’s attention glued. The book is not written in the form of a history book, and I loved how the historic as well as the fictional characters came together to tell us this story, 75 years later.
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If like me, you too often wonder about the current socio-political situation around the country and wonder where did all this suddenly come from, reading about partition shows the mirror and tells how the undercurrent of mutual hatred has always existed.
Manreet has written a fictional tale revolving around true events involving the partition of India, and while the tale is fascinating, it is also painful. It was a difficult time for the nation. There were rampant communal riots, the horrific trains that were sent to and from both the countries, Bapu’s assassination — the country seemed to be in a most volatile state. In between, Jinnah was trying to woo the highly whimsical Nizam, and Nehru & Patel were trying to ensure that the state of Hyderabad joined India and that peace prevailed everywhere.
Hyderabad does join India subsequently, but a price was paid. People suffered and the Nizam’s illustrious career as a ruler was pushed to oblivion, his place in history becoming small than it should have been.
As an Indian, specially in today’s political scenario, it makes more sense than before to read this trilogy. History is the reason we exist and we must know what happened in the country at crucial times like independence and partition.
Mir Osman Ali Khan, Asaf Jah VII, is the Nizam of Hyderabad, the largest Princely State of the Crown. It sits in the belly of newly independent India to which Jawaharlal Nehru and Vallabhbhai Patel want Hyderabad to accede. The Communists have concurrently mounted a state-wide rebellion.
But the Nizam’s family has ruled Hyderabad for 200 years. As the wealthiest man in the world, whom the British consider numero uno amongst India’s princes, he will not deal with two-penny Indian politicians! An ancient prophecy, however, hangs over the Nizam – the Asaf Jahi dynasty will last only seven generations. So, he keeps his jewel-laden trucks ready for flight even as he schemes with his army of militant Razakars.
Meanwhile, in the palace thick with intrigue, the maid Uzma must decide where her loyalties lie: with the peasantry or the Nizam. Among the Communist recruits, Jaabili finds love in unexpected quarters. Violence escalates and lawlessness mounts. Caught between a volatile Nizam and a resolute India, what price will Hyderabad pay?
This review is powered by Blogchatter Book Review Program.
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It’s a good book. I reviewed it too last week.