From the Gallis of Hyderabad

I walked down the narrow lanes of Hyderabad In a hot wintry afternoon In the scorching sun Very un-poetic, like the times we live in Or should I say poetic, like those lines which spring up From the imagination of material deprivationFor, the poets of the absence Lack the agency of wordsAnd their languageDoesn't qualify to reach the palaces of knowledgeThe anguish of existence Was quite misplaced in meAnachronistic, in a way Like the nature of the world today
It was then I met an old Muslim man, sitting in one of the empty shops, which didn't sell anything but seemed to be designed for such an encounter. I do not want to instill a mythical quality to it, which I would say is the handicap of the language. It was a real physical encounter, old, Muslim and man he was all of those, like how the world wants to color it but much beyond it, as well. For him, I was a Hindu girl. Irrespective of whether I identified with any of the labels, exactly how it was with him. Whoever says birth doesn't matter, all the life one spends conforming or fighting with the conditions of birth. After all there are only as many ‘people’ as there are categories. Once again I go down the hypocritical path of voicing out in a language that is not his but mine, but I’m just following my ilk, where everything can be owned.
‘Hyderabad Deccan kisku bolte? Pura city ku bolte (log)? Kaisa bolte pura city ko?Hyderabad banane vala kaun?Quli Qutub shah…Ibrahim Quli Qutub shah, paanch Quli Qutub shah hai, ek unka damaad hai Tana Shah aise saat hai…Hyderabad par kitne musalman hukumat kare?Me boltahu likho….lakeer maar ke likhoHyderabad Deccan…baad me Andhra Pradesh bana-ab Telangana state hai.Hyderabad banana vale No.1 Ibrahim Quli Qutub shah…Hyderabad banaye. Qile Golkonda banaye, Mecca masjid banaye..Charminar banaye…Charminar ke baju me ek mandir hai, bahut bada mandir hai wo bhi vahi banaye..Ibrahim Quli Qutub Shah. Aur Charminar ke baju me ek masjid hai…sabse pehli masjid Hyderabad me wo banaye, mecca masjid se pehli hai wo..Ye Quli Qutub shah ke khandan me panch badshah hai, ek damaad hai Tanashah…Aur Hyderabad pe Malikiambar huqumat kiya, habsi admit ha…kala admi, do bhai the ek ka naam siddiamber ek ka naam malikiamber..Siddhambar bazaar dekhe…malikiamber bhi hukumat kiya. Is tariqa se saath hogaye ye..Iske baad, Nizamaawwal huqumat kiya, jo purani haweli banaye, purani haweli ke do mahal banaye, laad bazaar ke pure mulkiya banaye…fir uske baad aur nizam the…alag alag naam hai..mecca masjid me qabre hai..wo hukumat kare so log haiAkhri Nizam Mir Osman ali khan, saath number ka hai …aath number ka nizam Mir Barkat Ali khan hai..jisko Mukharam Jah bolte running naam hai..lekin inke haath me hukumat nahi hai, badshah hai magar hukumat nahi hai..Badshah kaisa hai…President Radhakrishnan ne unko aathva Badshah taslim kiya yaane maan diya..Mir Osman Ali Khan bahut se cheeza banaye Hyderabad me…likhne baithe to aur do ghante lagteShort me likho,  naama nakko…Nizam Hyderabad me bahut sare college, dawakhane banaye..pure Hyderabad deccan me rail ki patri bichaye jo down station kane jake khatam hoti hai..aur bahut se dam banaye, power house banaye…Hussain sagar power house tha..hussain sagar talab me current banta tha yaha..jo….hai wo sab bechke kha gaya …..Aur Nizam ko Qudrat ke taraf se jameen se daulat mili thi…ye awam se koi tax nahi lete the us jamane me..jab inki hukumat khatam hui log barah saal ka tax baaki the makaan ka …barah saal ki kitna rupaye hota hai…chattis rupaye..yane thirty six rupees…saal ku teen rupaye…aisa hukumat tha ye Hukumat jane ke baad satrah saal zinda rahe…aur ye satrah saal tak apne private naukar sade satrah hazaar the, Marne se pehle laal bahadur shastri ko fateh maidan grounds par sham ko che baj kar pandrah minute par, paintalis quintal sona diye …us din se Fateh maidan ka naam badal gaya, Lal bahadur stadium aaya…aaj ke hukumat karne vale har kisam ka tax lete hai awam se..aur samajhte unhu bhi hukumat kare, hum bhi hukumat kare…same same samajhte …ye difference samajhte nahi…Lal bahadur shastri marne ke baad, unki wife ko Mir Osman Ali khan ne har mahina tankha diya aur aisa likh ke diya ki tum mare dum tak le sakte, is mulk ke vajeere azam ku is mulk kuch nahi diya unke Joru bacchon ku..vajire azam the na lal bahadur shastri. Nizam ki history nahi jan ne vale aaj ye bolre…ki Nizam kya kiya ..pagalo ke liye alag dawakhana banaye, yateem bacchon ke liye yateem khane banaye, musafiro ke liye musafir khane banaye bade bade …aaj bhi hai Nampally kane hai, kachiguda station ke samne hai, aur bhi bahut se jagah hai par humari hukumat unko hotel pe kiraye pe de diye, boar riding ko kiraye pe dediye…fir bolte Nizam kya kiya..T.B. dawakhane banaye..unani jadi buti ke dawakhane banaye…..khane asafiya banaye jo aaj central library ka naam hai…Mohammad shah bahamani ke jamane me dake marte the …bolke aate the daku log aaj aare tumhare ghar…chori vori nahi karte the pocket mar ye mar, bolke aate the..Mohammad shah bahmani ke zamane me dakuo ke application bahut the ye sab badshah ke samne pesh hote the jamuriyat me nahi…jamuriyat me police leke jate inhu yaha khate vaha khate judge tak baat nahi jati…badshah ke jamane me koi musalman badshah ya koi Hindu badshah, hindu badshah raha to usko kya bolte raja bolte..urdu me badshah, telugu me raja, same ekich hai…jitney musalman Hindustan par hukumat kare insaaf ke balbute kare. Mohammad shah ke bahmani ke zamane me dake bahut the wo hukum diya kaun hai dekho pakad ke lao..pure ke pure musalman hai kitne hai…nau sau…Gulbarge ke khile ko jau…khile ke bahar kunde lage hue rehte…nau sau admiyo ke mundiya kaat ke laga diye yaha teen din tak lage hue rahe wo…ye nahi dekha ki musalman hai allah ko man ne vala hai …insaaf…uske baad aisa hogaya sone ke rupaye phekta tha kaiku khichlena aur mardalna khatam hi hogaya…Bolo ye musalmana the..aaj humare filma vale musalmano ko ayyash batate…ayyashi kya cheez hai kya hota…leader ban gaye public ko ladao…akhbaar me aata hindu musalmano ka jhagda kaika Hindu musalman ka jhagda tumhara me khaya mera tum khaye?kaika jhagda…aap kabhi districto me jake dekho ye musalman ka makaam wo hindu ka makaan jameen ek dusre ka…har ghar ka aadmi aana, mar gaye to bhi aana shaadi hai to bhi aana…wo kaisa samaj hai…aur ye kaisa…chappal leke maarna inko..samaj ko bigaadre ye log…khamosh rahe jhagda karana chalo mandir me kuch phekdo..mandir ko musalman ka kya taluk hai..tum merku hazaar rupaye de do chalo mandir kane seede pec halo bole to bhi me nahi aata, dus hazaar diye to nahi aata, koi bhi nahi aata…aap mandir ke paas khade raho koi aata kya dekho…ab bolte na..jhagda karane ka hai isiliye bolteMusalman badshaho kane jitney bhi Hindustan me the…jitney bhi shehenshah hukumat kare…inki hukumat me vajare difa, Hindu the, Rajput the, marathe the, sikh log the, vajire khazana Hindu the, yani aaj kya bolte finance minister…unka dil aur dimag saaf tha Hindustan azad hogaya aaj chaisat saal hogaya, vazeere difa ya vazeere khazana ke office par table dalke baithne vala watchman bhi nahi hai musalman..aaj hukumat karne vale ka ye dimag hai…jisko tassub bolte urdu me…difference kar re…Ab badshah kisko bolte….kitne badshah hukumat kare Hindustan par….panch sau pachpan badshah kare…inke upar hukumat karne vala shehenshah hota tha jaise akbar Jahangir…ye badshah me hindu bhi the musalman bhi the sikh bhi the…marathon me koi admi shivaji ko bahut bada bolte…chal chodo me bole to acha nahi dikhinga…shivaji daku tha vo….aurangazeb ke zamane me the unho zinda the…teen vaqt jail me dale to teen vaqt bhag ke nikal gaye….Hindustan azad aane ke baad Jawaharlal Nehru unko Hindustan ka surma bolte…bolo humku kya karne ka hai…humko ko koi takleef nahi…jisku chahe bolo…Aisa badshah ban na judge ban na ye sab allah banata..ek sau pacchi karod ki hukumat hai ek aadmi ko badshah banao…main baat hai note karlo ye jina dimag taaza hota imaan taza hota …tum telugu hai na imaan ko kya bolte dharam bolte…’

A conversation spanning a few hours and centuriesA negotiation between wakefulness and hopeHelplessness and memoryHistory and justicePower and mythA negotiation between being and being obliteratedSomething like a rant of an old man on a hot afternoonSomething like coming to terms with the everyday
I didn't ask his nameThere was something inherently cruel in names And here I rush to inscribe it Before my memory starts playing strategic games with itThe last bit of irony being, doing this in an imaginary space of the web, the battlefield for fashionable contestations, where the naming now happens…
Should one call this historyShould it be called memoryShould it be called a story Or poetryOr do I put it in the box of ethnography May be it is one of these, or none of these?Something which doesn’t fit the above boxes and hence finds no space to be Like the old man Like several others Suffocating in the process Stuck somewhere in betweenLike truthLike life
A conversation that spanned a few hours and centuries The philosophy of the everydayA moment where I could perchAnd un-machine myself