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Clued in or not?
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Does the Gen-X know about Hyderabad's Liberation Day?
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King Kothi Place in Hyderabad. Photo: D.Gopalakrishnan
HYDERABAD has always been hatke se - which seems to stand good even today... from the laidback lifestyle, the lingo, the chalta hai attitude and even the fact that this erstwhile dominion of the Nizam got independence a year and a month later than the rest of the country. It was integrated into the Indian Union on September 17, 1948. Ask any cross-section of youngsters what they feel about Hyderabad's Liberation Day and they (at least some of them) are bound to retort `Is there such a day?' `When is it?' or `We didn't know that September 17 is called so' and so on. Go further and probe whether they knew Hyderabad became independent later and there is a familiar response to a certain extent.
On the whole the nonchalance of Gen X is perhaps understandable in today's context. History is the last thing on their minds. Given a chance they would rather chat about the contemporary. History, to most, is after all a thing of the past. Chatting up with some youngsters about September 17 did evoke a mixed response - not very surprising though.
Totally unaware
Most of them living in the city since their birth are not aware that September 17 is Hyderabad's liberation day And it is accepted to a certain extent as the turn of events surrounding this are normally given a miss (at times a para may be written just about the accession) in textbooks. "I just read about it last year," says Charan, while Vamsi "heard some friends talk about it."
Akil, on the other hand, mentions, "my grandfather used to talk about it. As he was a businessman he used to say those days were tough times for business." Whereas Soheb is "attuned to A.P. Formation Day more and not exactly to Liberation Day." Shreyas came to know of it when he caught the last few minutes of a Telugu programme on the telly and Gautam remembers reading about it some time but has forgotten it. Kiran heard it for the first time while some non-resident Hyderabadis like Namrata and Priyanka are naturally clueless about it. A few students like Karthik are aware of the process of accession but do not know that September 16 was the day.
A low key day
September 17 is not observed as an important day. There is no fanfare associated with this day . In fact all the students feel the day has to be made known. "Otherwise people won't know a thing about it", say some in tandem." While others feel Hyderabadis (old and young) should know about it and thereby the history of the State at least in a nutshell. According toNarendar Luther: "The establishment of Andhra Pradesh overtook and overshadowed this landmark. It brings up some communal issues and the governments did not want to open up wounds and it is a question of let sleeping dogs lie." All the students are happy with liberation as it gives them the freedom to lead their own lifestyles. Thanks to it the city has progressed. Karthik says: "The city has become cosmopolitan without losing its identity. Today the Irani café co-exists with the coffee pubs. The contradictions exist but complement each other." And the hatke attitude lingers on...
RADHIKA RAJAMANI
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