Beyond Charminar

One of the biggest enigmas of Hyderabad's heritage are the famed Nizams jewels, a portion of which are with the Reserve Bank of India. The collection, which includes the infamous 186 carat Jacob diamond, is always a topic when we talk about the Nizams of Hyderabad.  To understand how big the entire collection is, and the stories surrounding it, host Yunus Lasania speaks with art historian Deepthi Sasidharan is an art historian. Deepthi is also a curator and founder Director at Eka Archiving, a cultural advisory and works on heritage and museum projects across India with the government, private and corporate clients. Deepthi, has led Eka projects have been path-breaking in India, including setting up museums, seminal exhibitions, and the creation of several important archives across India. This past year she curated the celebratory AD Museum – Design in 75 years and curated the Dr. Savita N Museum and Library at Porbandar, Gujarat.See sunoindia.in/privacy-policy for privacy information.

Language is a means of communication, which often is shaped (or changes) based on our socio-cultural and political milieu. In India's Deccan region, the spoken language (widely) today is in fact Dakhni, and not Urdu. The former, often mistaken to be a dialect of Urdu, is actually older and was at one point of time the mainstay of literary culture in the 16th and 17th centuries, especially in the Deccan.In spite of Urdu eventually becoming the official language over a century ago, Dakhni has still persisted and remained as our spoken tongue. To decode that host Yunus Lasania speaks with researcher and upcoming author Karthik Malli, and also Mohd Affan aka Pasha Bhai, a Bangalore-based hip-hop artist who released his maiden and the first ever Dakhni rap album 'Pasha Bhai'. Affan had earlier released a few singles, but his latest album, which is chosen to sing in Dakhni, is a must listen for anyone looking to understand language dynamics.See sunoindia.in/privacy-policy for privacy information.

Most of us today know of software giant TCS (Tata Consultancy Services). It's part of Hyderabad's Hitec City that emerged in the 21st century. However, many aren't aware that TCS in fact was originally a government Public Sector Unit called CMC (Computer Maintenance Corporation) that came up after IBM was asked to leave India. IBM used to maintain PCs and databases in India and when IBM was asked to leave, the government hired individuals who would set up an alternative.Among those who were hired was BK Gupta, who was one of the founding employees of the CMC, India's first software company, which he helped set up in Hyderabad. Host Yunus Lasania speaks with Mr Gupta for this episode, whose eventful journey also includes a ship journey from India to the UK at a very young age for his studies. See sunoindia.in/privacy-policy for privacy information.

Off-late, the word Razakaars is being thrown around in political circles quite often in Telangana. Referring to the militia under ex-MIM Leader Qasim Razvi in the Hyderabad state during its last Nizam, the Razakars have once resurfaced in the state's politics. The Hyderabad state, under its last Nizam Osman Ali Khan (1911-48), became part of India on Sept 17, 1948, more than a year after the British left. What happened in the last two years before that is needed to understand the Razakars, the Nizam and the annexation. Rakesh Kamal, Co-founder of Suno India, speaks with host Yunus Lasania to unravel the entire saga of the Hyderabad state in 1948. See sunoindia.in/privacy-policy for privacy information.

When it comes to our freedom struggle from the British, one doesn't think of Hyderabad. More importantly, we're seldom taught about how the 'Jai Hind' slogan came about.Abid Hasan Safrani, a Hyderabadi, was one of those rare individuals who had gone to Germany to study in the 20th century before independence.A chance encounter with Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose eventually ended up with him undertaking a submarine journey with Bose as an Indian National Army personnel.How that went and how Abid Hasan Safrani came back is perhaps one of the most important stories from Hyderabad of the freedom struggle.For this episode of Beyond Charminar, host Yunus Lasania speaks with sisters Dr Ismat Mehdi and Bizeth Banerjee, both nieces of Safrani, about his life, INA and the freedom struggle from a different perspective. See sunoindia.in/privacy-policy for privacy information.

2022 July marks the 175th anniversary of the Seth Viccaji - Seth Pestonji Meherji Parsi (Zoroastrian) fire temple in Hyderabad. Founded by the two brothers in 1847, it's also the oldest fire temple in south India.Once bankers under the Nizams of Hyderabad, the brothers built the temple and set up infrastructure for cotton traders in the 19th century. More importantly, descendants of Seth Pestonji eventually ended up setting up Chermas, one of the largest retail clothing business in the country, in Hyderabad.For this episode, host Yunus Lasania speaks to Capt KF Pestonji, who founded Chermas in the 1970s, to understand Parsi history in Hyderabad.See sunoindia.in/privacy-policy for privacy information.

Over the last few decades, the Bhagyalakshmi temple on the Charminar, which is Hyderabad's foundation, has become a matter of heated debate given the fact that the religious structure is an unauthorised structure. Today, the temple has taken centre stage as it has now become a focal point for mainstream political parties to begin their programmes from. However, in terms of history, there is ambiguity about its origins, and many theories are afloat about it.   To address that, host Yunus Lasania speaks with Oudesh Rani Bawa, a Hyderabadi from a Kayasth family, who has been seeing both Charminar and the temple since her childhood. Ms Bawa, 81, is an Urdu aficionado, and someone who has been deeply involved in the city's socio-political happenings.  See sunoindia.in/privacy-policy for privacy information.

For many, the demand for a separate state of Telangana was something new when they first heard of it in 2009. It was perhaps out of context, given that school textbooks also barely mentioned the name. However, the origins of Telangana's creation and demand as a separate state in fact go back to when the state was part of the erstwhile Hyderabad state, which was under the Nizams. To understand how, from there, the state was first merged with the Andhra areas and then became separate, host Yunus Lasania speaks to Prof Kodandaram, who led the statehood struggle as chairman of the Telangana Joint Action Committee, and with Vijay Burgula, son of Burgula Narsing Rao, a freedom fighter from the Nizam era who was a staunch pro-Telangana voice. See sunoindia.in/privacy-policy for privacy information.

Earlier in April, Hyderabad woke up to the shocking news that over 100 goons tried to siege the Nazri Bagh complex, the only remaining part of the historic King Kothi Palace. It was followed by an alleged demolition attempt, which has seemingly been thwarted thanks to government intervention.  Unfortunately, the issues related to the King Kothi palace are also what plague Hyderabad's heritage in general. More importantly, it is an important site where the city's last Nizam lived and died. In this episode of Beyond Charminar, host Yunus Lasania sits with author and journalist Serish Nanisetti to decode/explain why the palace is in the situation it is today, aside from also decoding who the last Nizam was.  See sunoindia.in/privacy-policy for privacy information.

When we talk of heritage, old buildings usually pop up in our minds. However, more than monuments, or anything else, our most precious historical sites are our rocks which have been around for millions of years. And sadly, rapid urbanization has caused a lot of our old sites to become victims of destruction. The Khajaguda heritage site, which is a protected site, has now become a bone of contention between activists and the state government, it has fallen prey to local developers and others who have been actively destroying rocks and causing other damage there. Host Yunus Lasania talks to Ritwik Reddy, one of the activists who filed a petition with the Telangana High Court and managed to stop the destruction, about the site's importance and why it must be preserved. See sunoindia.in/privacy-policy for privacy information.

When we talk about Indian history, the Deccan and South India's narratives are largely missing from popular narratives, given that most of it is looked at from a prism of Delhi. Breaking away from that is author Anirudh Kanisetti's latest book, Lords of the Deccan, which gives a comprehensive idea of what went on in the Deccan between the 6th and 11th centuries. Host Yunus Lasania speaks with Anirudh for this episode of Beyond Charminar, to understand how the Deccan functioned and developed as a separate entity throughout centuries. See sunoindia.in/privacy-policy for privacy information.

When we talk about Hyderabad or its history, one major aspect people often miss out on is Secunderabad. A former British cantonment, its 216 years of history is rich and much lesser known about. Host Yunus Y. Lasania sits with Secunderabad historian Pankaj Sethi to discuss at length its origins, and how the cantonment area was built and former over a century. See sunoindia.in/privacy-policy for privacy information.

Hyderabad's connection with both the Persian and Arab worlds is well-known. In fact, Barkas in the city is considered as a ‘mini Yemen' because of the Arab soldiers who came to work under the Nizams of Hyderabad. However, many don't know that Hyderabad's ties to Yemen during the Nizam or Asaf Jahi period was very strong. So much so that part of present-day Yemen under the Al-Qaiti family was essentially considered as an extension of the Hyderabad princely state. Host Yunus Lasania who's writing an oral history account of Operation Polo (the annexation of Hyderabad to India in 1948) speaks with Sam Dalrymple (who is also working on a book which looks at ‘five partitions') about this deep connection between Hyderabad and Yemen. See sunoindia.in/privacy-policy for privacy information.

The Golconda fort is one of Hyderabad's major tourist attractions, but many don't know that the ticketed area they go to is just one part of the fort - the royal area. And beyond that, there's a massive 6.5 km area of the fort which lies completely unexplored. The fact that the Golconda fort has (or at least had) 87 bastions and eight gates, is massively underrated. Moreover, years of neglect have led to many historical parts of the fort either getting encroached upon as well. Host Yunus Lasania speaks with his former colleague and fellow journalist Serish Nanisetti about the history of the Golconda fort, and how years of neglect by authorities led to the destruction of many important sites within it. See sunoindia.in/privacy-policy for privacy information.

September 17 this year (2021),  will mark 73 years since the annexation of the princely state of Hyderabad to India in 1948. The major historical event is remembered for the violence that people in the state witnessed after partition, and also post annexation.  For a better understanding of Operation Polo, oral history's importance and partition, host Yunus Y. Lasania speaks with authors Aanchal Malhotra (Remnants Of A Separation, on the partition) and Narayani Basu (VP Menon: The Unsung Architect of Modern India). See sunoindia.in/privacy-policy for privacy information.

If there is one place in Hyderabad that can usurp the Charminar and Golconda fort and replace both as the main tourist attraction in Hyderabad, it's the Qutb Shahi tombs. The Qutb Shahi tombs are the royal necropolis of the Qutb Shahi or Golconda dynasty (1518-1687), which ruled from the Golconda fort, and later founded Hyderabad in 1591. The complex has nearly 100 structures, including tombs, gardens, pavilions and mosques. The site is currently being restored by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC) in association with the Telangana Department of Heritage. In a detailed conversation, AKTC CEO and well-known conservation architect Ratish Nanda discusses the ongoing work on the Qutb Shahi tombs and how it has the potential to even surpass the Charminar, which is considered to be Hyderabad's main tourist attraction. See sunoindia.in/privacy-policy for privacy information.

When we think of history, we often ignore the most important and closest things – our own material possessions which connect us to our past. And one such person who has treasured his family heirlooms, and had literally preserved his own past in the form of small priceless possessions, is 74-year-old BS Prakash. An ex-banker who worked for SBI his whole life, he comes from a family which had formally educated persons even four generations ago, a rarity in the pre-independence period. Between his book collection of thousands of books, Mr Prakash has also seen Hyderabad evolve from the quiet city it used to once be, into the metropolis it is today.  We went down memory lane with him to understand how our city grew, just as he did alongside it. See sunoindia.in/privacy-policy for privacy information.

Many Hyderabadis often go to the Moula Ali shrine, sometimes with religious intent, and otherwise just to go up the huge hill for its view. However, many are perhaps unaware that the shrine is in fact one of the city's oldest historic or heritage sites, that even predates Hyderabad. Not only does it go back to the time of the third Qutb Shahi (Golconda) king, Ibrahim Qutb Shah, the Moula Ali hill shrine has been in use since as far as the city has existed. Keeping that in mind, it may be noted that some years ago a ramp was built for vehicles to make it easier for people to reach halfway up the shrine. And the site's original structure is about to be changed once again, as another ramp is being built by the state government, which heritage activists say will endanger the shrine.  In this episode, host Yunus Lasania speaks with budding architect Mohd. Sibgatullah, who also runs the Instagram handle The Deccan Archive, about how the ongoing work at Moula Ali hill will impact the heritage site. See sunoindia.in/privacy-policy for privacy information.

The corona virus pandemic today has changed the world, and one by one, country after country, is dealing with challenges. While most of the problems are unique to what's happening, Hyderabad in fact also dealt with a similar situation a century ago under the last Nizam Mir Osman Ali Khan, in the first half of the 20th century.  The city, and the erstwhile state of Hyderabad, was first hit by the bubonic plague, and later the Spanish Flu. Tune in to this latest episode, where host Yunus Lasania speaks with journalist, author and former colleague Serish Nanisetti about it. See sunoindia.in/privacy-policy for privacy information.

In a city where students are still expected to study engineering, anyone choosing arts and social sciences is a step away from the norm. One can hardly imagine how difficult it must have been for anyone, especially women, to take up arts and pursue their own path.  And artist Fatima Ahmed, who left Hyderabad long ago to carve out her own destiny, is a fine example of how difficult life can be when surrounded by patriarchy and convention. But she broke the barrier and did what she set out to do. This is her story. See sunoindia.in/privacy-policy for privacy information.

Gone are the days when owning a radio even registered in our minds. Over the years, as we moved from tape recorders, LED TVs, to finally smartphones, the physical manifestation of radio has been long forgotten. But not at Mahboob Radio Service, a shop that has been repairing radio running from around Indian independence.   Set up by Shaik Mahboob, the store has been fixing old radios for decades, and it has still not stopped. The two siblings who run the place continue to do what their father taught them. Truly stuck in time, Yunus Y. Lasania, speaks to one of the siblings to understand the history of the place, and how its owners manage to fix radios from generations ago in this day and age.    See sunoindia.in/privacy-policy for privacy information.

One of the idiosyncrasies in Hyderabad is its language – Dakhni. Known as ‘Hyderabadi’, ‘Hyderabadi Hindi’ or even ‘Hyderabadi Urdu’, people in general, in Hyderabad and even the Deccan region, don’t actually know what it is called due to lack of awareness. Many in fact are even unaware that modern Urdu is in fact younger than Dakhni. Host Yunus Y. Lasania did a three-part mini-series on the history of Dakhni, and how the language has managed to remain as a spoken vernacular over the last few centuries, and even till today.  For the final part of the mini-series, Let’s talk Dakhni, host Yunus Lasania converses with Prof. Zaubiulla, a faculty member from Bangalore University’s Urdu department, who has in fact recently written a book on Dakhni sayings, called ‘Dakhni Muhavre’. Prof. Zaubiulla also reads out a few literary verses from well known historical poems to make the case for Dakhni as a separate language, and for it to not be seen as a dialect (as many wrongly assume it is) See sunoindia.in/privacy-policy for privacy information.

One of the idiosyncrasies in Hyderabad is its language – Dakhni. Known as ‘Hyderabadi’, ‘Hyderabadi Hindi’ or even ‘Hyderabadi Urdu’, people in general, in Hyderabad and even the Deccan region, don’t actually know what it is called due to lack of awareness. Many in fact are even unaware that modern Urdu is in fact younger than Dakhni. Host Yunus Y. Lasania did a three-part mini-series on the history of Dakhni, and how the language has managed to remain as a spoken vernacular over the last few centuries, and even till today. For part 2 of the mini-series, Let’s talk Dakhni, Yunus and Karthik Nalli continue their conversation about Dakhni, and talk about how the language evolved through the 16th and 17th centuries in the Deccan states like Golconda and Bijapur. See sunoindia.in/privacy-policy for privacy information.

One of the idiosyncrasies in Hyderabad is its language – Dakhni. Known as ‘Hyderabadi’, ‘Hyderabadi Hindi’ or even ‘Hyderabadi Urdu’, people in general, in Hyderabad and even the Deccan region, don’t actually know what it is called due to lack of awareness. Many in fact are even unaware that modern Urdu is in fact younger than Dakhni. Host Yunus Y. Lasania did a three-part mini-series on the history of Dakhni, and how the language has managed to remain as a spoken vernacular over the last few centuries, and even till today. In the first part of the mini-series, Yunus and Karthik Nalli speak about the evolution of Dakhni in the Deccan and how the language forms from the 14th century onwards under the Bahamani Empire which spans parts of Karnataka, Maharashtra and even the Telugu speaking regions of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. See sunoindia.in/privacy-policy for privacy information.

Most people identify Hyderabad as the "city of Nizams and Nawabs", but that's only one side of the story. While the city has a rich history on that front, there's another side to Hyderabad in terms of its colonial heritage as well. From having a church going back to 1813, to another having its service in Urdu, host Yunus Lasania talks to Suno India co-founder Rakesh Kamal and a very special guest in this episode, wherein they explore and talk about Hyderabad-Secunderabad's historic churches. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The city of Hyderabad has witnessed many vicissitudes, but one of the most important ones was its transformation from a provincial capital into a modern metropolis during the reign of Osman Ali Khan, the last Nizam of the erstwhile Hyderabad state. Continuing from their conversation from the previous episode, host Yunus Y. Lasania and journalist Serish Nanisetti (who discussed how and why Hyderabad was flooded due to heavy rains in October this year) are in conversation with Anant Maringanti who runs the Hyderabad Urban Lab (HUL), a multi-disciplinary research centre. Anant, who has done some of the most detailed research projects on Hyderabad’s urbanization through HUL, speaks about the lesser known aspects of the city’s development, historically, and puts it in perspective with Hyderabad’s current state. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In 1908, Hyderabad witnessed its worst ever rainfall which resulted in The Musi river and other smaller lakes flooding the entire city and killing thousands of people. The city was made flood proof after that during the time of Mir Osman Ali Khan, the last Nizam. However, in spite of those fail-safes, the city was once again flooded this year as heavy rains lashed the city on Oct 13. One of the main reasons for it is the construction of homes on lake beds and inside full tank levels of water bodies. Journalists Yunus Y. Lasania (https://twitter.com/lasaniayunus) and Serish Nanisetti (https://twitter.com/serish) (from The Hindu) who both cover and write about Hyderabad’s heritage extensively, discuss why a calamity transpired once again which resulted in thousands of people getting displaced again.

The state-run Osmania General Hospital has been serving people in Hyderabad for nearly a century, which today primarily includes providing health care to people from Telangana’s rural areas who cannot afford private hospitals. The Nizam-era structure, built during the reign of the last Nizam Mir Osman Ali Khan, has however been shut since 22 July, and is yet another heritage structure that may not survive. Shut since July after rain water flooded the OGH’s ground floor wards (this happened due to a choked sewer line below), the issue of OGH’s survival is yet another case in point wherein the government seems to be more interested in demolishing heritage structures, rather than preserving it.    Built in the Osmanian or Indo-sarcenic style of architecture in the first half the 20th century, it is one of Hyderabad’s most important buildings in terms of medical history. Ever since its closure, there have been calls to even demolish the hospital (it was never been closed in its history until now)   We talk to Dr. Iqbal Javed, who has not only worked at OGH, but has also seen it since he childhood, to raise some crucial points about the issue.

The stories of Dalits in India and their role in different movements in India remains largely untold. In Telangana, the Communist Party of India-led peasant rebellion from 1946-51 was one of the social and political revolutions which changed the lives of those who were being oppressed by Jagirdars, i.e. the landlords. The region, then under the Nizam-led princely state of Hyderabad (which comprised Telangana, parts of Maharashtra and Karnataka), witnessed peasants rising in rebellion against the feudal landlords. Within that, Dalits were bound by 'vetti chakiri' (bonded slavery or labour) and were largely left out of the benefits. The fight was mainly between poor peasants and landlords. However, much before that, one Dalit man from Vangapalli in Karimnagar district decided that he would have a better future and left his village. Velukati Ramaswamy aka Velukati Baliah's decision to do so changed his life and his family's, who managed to get out of caste oppression by working for the railways in Hyderabad. In this episode host Yunus Lasania talks to Dalit writer YB Satyanarayana, in his book My Father Baliah details the hardships and humiliation that his people had suffered and how his father, who decided that he would educate his sons, managed to break free from caste barriers. It is one of the few books from Telangana which explains the Dalit angle in our society.

We all know of the Nizams and their wealth, especially of Osman Ali Khan, the last Nizam. He appeared on the cover of Time magazine in 1937 when he was the richest man in the world. But much before that, in the first half of the 19th century, the years that passed between the third Nizam Sikander Jah and fifth Nizam Afzal-ud-Dowla were not all rosy. The kings were forced to borrow money from a bank named Palmer and Company. The bank not only lent the Nizams money, but the entire episode turned Hyderabad into a debt-ridden state. In this episode of Beyond Charminar, Serish Nanisetti talks with the host, Yunus Lasania about a major banking scandal in 1800s which shook Hyderabad. In this scandal, the Nizams were forced to borrow a lot of money to maintain British troops and turned Hyderabad into a debt-ridden state. Listen to the full episode to know more.

The Golconda or Qutb Shahi dynasty founded Hyderabad in 1591. Its history isn’t known to much of the Hyderabadis, let alone the smaller details of Qutb Shahi heritage scattered in and around Hyderabad. In an effort to document Golconda history, author and journalist Serish Nanisetti gives us an idea of how the fort and city grew, and also a basic understanding of the complex history of the Persian Qutb Shahi Empire, that lasted from 1518 to 1687. It has left an indelible imprint on Hyderabad's core culture.

Imagine living in a house where the furniture hasn't changed for over 100 years. That's the kind of heritage Zubair Noor-ul-Haq lives with today. He’s one among the very few Hyderabadis who have managed to preserve the past in the form of their homes and priced possessions, when most of Hyderabad's heritage is slowly being pushed aside. Mostly, those grow up in Hyderbad today don't really know how the city looked decades ago, thanks to rapid urbanisation. In this episode, Yunus explores the rich heritage he comes with, not just in the form of possessions, also through his memories.

Recently, Hyderabad was included in the UNESCO’s culinary heritage list, as the Creative City of Gastronomy.  Hyderabadi’s love their daily cup Irani chai and Osmania biscuit. Hyderabad's oldest Irani hotel, Grand hotel which started in 1935 is still running strong. However, most people are not aware of the Iranian roots, and how the early owners of these cafes or restaurants migrated from Iran. In this episode of Beyond Charminar, Mr. Mohammed Farookh Jaleel Rooz, the owner of Grand Hotel discusses with Yunus, how Irani chai, Hyderabadi biryani and other lesser known Hyderabadi delicacies have evolved.

The twin City of Secunderabad, established in 1806/7, was built as the British cantonement, after the East India Company signed the treaty of Subsidiary Alliance with the Nizams in 1798. In this episode, our host Yunus is in conversation with Mr. Shapoor Toorkey, a Parsi old-timer who has seen Secunderabad grow from then. Mr Toorkey comes from a very illustrious family, his grandfather was the first mint master in Hyderabad state.

"Even most Hyderabadis don’t realise that what we speak today is Hyderabadi, definitely not Dakhni, it is closer to the standard Urdu" says Mr Sajjad Shahid. As language is an important thread that speaks about the culture and the power equation of a place at any time, Yunus reached out to Mr Shahid to explore the linguistic roots of the Hyderabad region. Even as Telugu is the language of the region, people in Hyderabad converse fluently in what is known as Dakhni.

While the Nizams stood against acceding to India or Pakistan, the peasants from rural Telangana revolted against the landlords with the support of the communists. Commonly called the Telangana armed struggle, it's an important communist revolt in Indian history. In this episode, our Yunus speaks with Mr Raghupal, who's from a communist family at that time, about what led to this anti-feudal struggle and how the society was back then.

In Part two of our episode on Operation Polo, host Yunus interviews  Mr Mohammad Khaja Mohinudeen, now in his eighties. He was among those leaders who led and participated in the 1948 Telangana armed struggle.  He was also forced to go underground for a brief period and spent considerable amount of time with Makhdoom Mohiuddin, a poet and communist leader. Mr Mohinudeen escaped the clutches of Nizam's police thrice and in this episode  gives a completely different perspective of the Operation Polo. In this episode, he shares his lived experiences during the Armed Struggles and tells how Operation Polo had caused a lot of displacement in the erstwhile Hyderabad State.

History, as we know, is told by the winning side, in the way they'd choose to. During Indian independence, the military action Operation Polo annexed the princely state of Hyderabad to India, against the communists and the Nizam rule. This part of history is often not spoken about as much as we speak of the freedom movement or the partition. Yunus Lasania, in his two-part episode on Operation Polo, tells the story of the Hyderabad rebellion through the people who lived through that time. In this episode, Burgula Narsing Rao, the nephew of the first chief minister of Hyderabad state before the creation of joint Andhra Pradesh Burgula Ramakrishna Rao shares his memories and view of the Hyderabad rebellion during the last phase of Nizam's rule.

In this episode of Beyond Charminar podcast, we continue our conversation with Yunus Lasania, who will host the subsequent episodes of Beyond Charminar. We will also speak to the convener of INTACH Hyderabad Ms Anuradha Reddy about Errum Manzil. Erram Manzil is an Indo-European Baroque styled structure built by Nawab Safdar Jung Musheer-ud-daula Fakhrul Mulk in 1870, which the ruling Telangana government wants to demolish to build a new assembly in its place.  For more stories like this, you can listen on www.sunoindia.in (http://www.sunoindia.in/) . Also follow us on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/sunoindia.in) , Twitter (https://twitter.com/SunoIndia_in) or Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/sunoindia.in) .

Hyderabad's heritage & history when told by journalist Yunus Lasania sounds so intriguing in the weekly history walks that he organises in Hyderabad. So we at Suno India decided to bring this tête-à-tête with Yunus in our introductory episode of Beyond Charminar.  In this episode of our podcast, he discusses why the rich history of Hyderabad heritage is often ignored, some interesting things he dugout in his research and some fascinating facts and enduring myths with our editor, Padma Priya.