Restoration of the British Residency would take us back to the days of the White Mughals
With the restoration project underway at the erstwhile British Residency in Hyderabad, that was built over two centuries ago, on World Heritage Day, William Dalrymple read out from his book The White Mughals, which revolves around the Residency and its grand history.
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I had written a small article on the British Residency but my interest grew in the subject and I started researching extensively on the Residency over the next five years before The White Mughals came about in 2002. During this time, I was personally taken by this world of heritage which had been destroyed.
When you look at Rajasthan, you see how the Rajputs have lovingly preserved every last detail of their history and heritage. In Hyderabad, owing to the complicated handling of power – with Operation Polo and the elite emigrating to Pakistan and the Gulf and other such factors - there was so much destroyed in the process.
When I came here, I thought it was all dead. I thought the British Residency building (which was then lying in severe disrepair) would go down, the Falaknuma Palace would go as well, the Chowmahalla Palace which was still being plundered and looted by some of the Nizam’s crooked representatives was in a bad state as well.
What I saw of these monuments was the peak of their decay, but since then there have been these incredible restoration efforts, and Hyderabad turned a corner, saved just a fragment of what was left. There is so much that is already lost, irreplaceably though.
When you go back to the 1890s or 1920s, Hyderabad was perhaps the greatest of princely states, way grander than Jodhpur, Jaipur or Udaipur. But later, with the last Nizam going off to Australia and the way things turned out, the whole thing fell apart in a spectacular fashion.
As a writer I was very attracted to come to a world which was once magnificent, and was thereafter cracking and shattering. But I am now very happy to see the way things have turned out for some of Hyderabad’s monuments.
This restoration project of the British Residency is still short of Rs 13 crore from completion. It’s a hugely important and amazing project. There are many other buildings which are falling apart around the Paigah Tombs, Errum Manzil and several more, which have been neglected.
Greater awareness among the people to know their history and heritage is definitely needed. There might be several people who would like to contribute to the restoration of these monuments but wouldn’t know much about them.
Visiting these places more often and reading further about the rich past of the city would certainly help. People need to make themselves familiar with the extraordinary history of the city and its profoundly deep culture, that many are unaware of.
The White Mughals sold 2,00,000 copies in 40 languages and I have had so many people write to me saying that they came to Hyderabad after having read the book. It was very heartening when one particular donor, a reader of The White Mughals, gave a cheque of one million pounds as their contribution, after reading the book.
(As told to Mona Ramavat)