HYDERABAD: The Omar Khalidi Hall on the first floor of the H.K. Sherwani Centre for Deccan Studies, at Maulana Azad National Urdu University (Manuu) , houses 1,649 books from the late historian and scholar’s collection.
From that, around 250 rare books will be digitized for the sake of posterity.
Aliya Khalidi, daughter of Dr Khalidi, speaking through a video conference message at the inaugural, said that she had personally curated the collection over a period of five years.
“The process took me back to my childhood days and the time spent with my father, who was instrumental in my getting acquainted to the city of Hyderabad, its history, culture and the deep ethnic ties that we share with the place,” she said.
The 250 books that will be digitized were a very rare collection from the vast trove of books that my father collected over the years. “We also have unpublished manuscripts in the collection. This has been a very meaningful and deeply connected personal journey for me,” she said
The inaugural saw historians, academics and architects discuss the city’s historic structures, history of Deccan, symbols and insignia of the Hyderabad state and aspects revolving around these central themes.
In the technical session, Yeshwant Ramamurthy, principal architect, Studio One Architects, spoke at length about the cultural significance of bowlis in Hyderabad. He said it was of utmost importance to restore, repurpose and reimagine these historic water bodies in the modern context.
Prof. I .Thirumali, former professor of history, University of Delhi, highlighted the saga of Deccan’s transition to democracy, the state of Hyderabad during the partition and its annexure as a part of independent India.
The chair of the discussion Sajjad Shahid, editor, Deccan Studies Journal, visiting professor at the University of Hyderabad and heritage expert on Deccan, underlined that it was important to uphold and preserve the ‘Deccani Tehzeeb’ which was beyond the Ganga-Jamuna culture, as Deccan and Hyderabad held a unique identity.
In the concluding session of panel discussion – ‘Hyderabad’s Heritage through a young lens’, chaired by INTACH convenor P. Anuradha Reddy, a young panel shared about how they knew Hyderabad and its city through their own lenses and experiences.
Anuradha Reddy stressed that “we all were the owners of history, heritage and culture of the city of Hyderabad. The city we have today is from the Hyderabad that was in the past. It is crucial for each one of us to work to preserve and conserve the city.”
