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Under the Charminar

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Under the Charminar Empty Under the Charminar

Post by indophile Tue Apr 24, 2012 11:47 am

by William Darlymple.

All his life he wore the same dirty old fez, a dirty pair of pyjamas, and an ancient sherwani; towards the end the Nizam even took to knitting his own socks. In 1946, when the diwan of Hyderabad brought a distinguished Persian visitor to see the Nizam at the Azakhan Zehra, and said in Persian 'Een Shah-i-Dekhan ast,' (This is the King of the Deccan), the startled visitor could only comment, 'Panah-ba-khuda!' (God save us!) When he died in 1967 The Times described the Nizam as 'a shabby old man shuffling through his dream world' and described his hobbies as 'taking opium, writing Persian poetry and' - a wonderful detail - 'watching surgical operations'.

http://www.travelintelligence.com/travel-writing/under-char-minar

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Post by charvaka Tue Apr 24, 2012 12:03 pm

Watching surgical operations, eh? Was he trying to relive the good old Razakar days of cutting people up?
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Post by doofus_maximus Tue Apr 24, 2012 12:19 pm

Dalrymple on the restoration of Nizam's palaces (from Reddit)
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Post by indophile Tue Apr 24, 2012 12:39 pm

One of the stories circulating about Nizam - If shopkeepers in Hyderabad saw the Nizam on the road (in procession or whatever), they would take it as bad omen, shutter their shops, go home, and pour buckets of water over their heads for "shuddhi." Coversely, if shopkeepers in Mysore saw their Maharajah, they would take it as a good omen, donate even more money to charity, and would thank God for their good fortune that day:-Smile


Last edited by indophile on Tue Apr 24, 2012 12:41 pm; edited 1 time in total (Reason for editing : extra word)

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