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Beyond Biryani: The Making of a Globalised Hyderabad
About the Book
Hyderabad—the city of nawabs, the Charminar and biryani? Or a city plugged into the neural network of global technology? Hyderabad is both of those cities all at once, and there is much more to it than meets the eye.
Beyond Biryani maps the journey from what was at best a proto-colonial city under a quasi-Mughal princely state till the 1940s to the modern and vibrant metropolis that Hyderabad is today. In the pages of this book, we see the beginnings of that the Britishers who steered the city in the direction of developing a scientific temper and the nawabs who championed the cause. And we discover the workings and patterns of the from the Chloroform Commissions to Ronald Ross’s discovery of malaria; from the setting up of Osmania University, India’s first vernacular university, to the newly independent India pushing for industrial laboratories, scientific research and strategic forays into nuclear fuel and missiles. Finally, we discover how, in the last thirty years, Hyderabad has taken giant leaps towards becoming a truly globalised city.
An alternative history of the city of Hyderabad, Beyond Biryani is a must-read for anyone interested in how a city can catapult towards modernity while staying rooted in its cultural heritage.
About the Author
DINESH C. SHARMA is an award-winning journalist and author with nearly forty years of experience of reporting on issues related to science, technology, innovation, medicine and the environment for national and international media outlets. Among the books authored by him are The The Story of India’s IT Revolution and Indian Innovation, Not 100 Ideas That Transformed India.
Hyderabad—the city of nawabs, the Charminar and biryani? Or a city plugged into the neural network of global technology? Hyderabad is both of those cities all at once, and there is much more to it than meets the eye.
Beyond Biryani maps the journey from what was at best a proto-colonial city under a quasi-Mughal princely state till the 1940s to the modern and vibrant metropolis that Hyderabad is today. In the pages of this book, we see the beginnings of that the Britishers who steered the city in the direction of developing a scientific temper and the nawabs who championed the cause. And we discover the workings and patterns of the from the Chloroform Commissions to Ronald Ross’s discovery of malaria; from the setting up of Osmania University, India’s first vernacular university, to the newly independent India pushing for industrial laboratories, scientific research and strategic forays into nuclear fuel and missiles. Finally, we discover how, in the last thirty years, Hyderabad has taken giant leaps towards becoming a truly globalised city.
An alternative history of the city of Hyderabad, Beyond Biryani is a must-read for anyone interested in how a city can catapult towards modernity while staying rooted in its cultural heritage.
About the Author
DINESH C. SHARMA is an award-winning journalist and author with nearly forty years of experience of reporting on issues related to science, technology, innovation, medicine and the environment for national and international media outlets. Among the books authored by him are The The Story of India’s IT Revolution and Indian Innovation, Not 100 Ideas That Transformed India.
421 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 22, 2024
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
December 27, 2024
-A City Steeped in Science-
Review of 'Beyond Biryani' by @dineshcsharma_ and @westland_books
How well do you know your city? Maybe I should rephrase the question. Do you love your city? Or maybe this isn't the right way to ask it. Does your city love you? Does it have an infrastructure and ecology that lets you thrive and not settle like a weight of rusting iron in your lungs? This book here, Beyond Biryani, is a 314 page long (including acknowledgment) love letter to the world from Sharma. A scribe fell in love with a city and this book is a labour of his love.
It's only befitting that an award-winning journalist with 40+ years of reporting in science and tech writes a treatise on a city that's rooted in science. Sharma goes back to the time of Nizams and Britishers to trace the cyber-behemoth that Hyderabad has become today. I almost had a visual of Sharma traveling in a time machine to record the history of his city.
Sharma tells many stories of the city, beginning from research on chloroform to usage of tobacco leaves to control plague, from telling us about one of the earliest female doctors to the making of an observatory for astronomy. He tells about the construction of a riverfront and sewage system to not let the river drown the city. He has indeed gone well beyond biryani.
Sharma dissects the story of Hyderabad becoming Cyberabad, rooting it not only in Nizam's penchant for science but their respect for all the religions. One incident is heart touching where Nizam worshipped the Musi river, following the Hindu customs to appease the populace. Maybe the current rulers will take a leaf out of the Nizam's book?
The book shines when Sharma begins the chapters that cover recent history. He elaborates how software development began in the Administrative Staff College of India and then extended to the public sector company CMC. Its services were being used by soviet and even for London Metro, called Tube.
The stories of emergence of Hyderabad as a pharma centre that led to the birth of behemoths like Dr Reddy’s Laboratories and Bharat Biotech are superbly written. Read it to know about one of the most underrated Indian cities.
Review of 'Beyond Biryani' by @dineshcsharma_ and @westland_books
How well do you know your city? Maybe I should rephrase the question. Do you love your city? Or maybe this isn't the right way to ask it. Does your city love you? Does it have an infrastructure and ecology that lets you thrive and not settle like a weight of rusting iron in your lungs? This book here, Beyond Biryani, is a 314 page long (including acknowledgment) love letter to the world from Sharma. A scribe fell in love with a city and this book is a labour of his love.
It's only befitting that an award-winning journalist with 40+ years of reporting in science and tech writes a treatise on a city that's rooted in science. Sharma goes back to the time of Nizams and Britishers to trace the cyber-behemoth that Hyderabad has become today. I almost had a visual of Sharma traveling in a time machine to record the history of his city.
Sharma tells many stories of the city, beginning from research on chloroform to usage of tobacco leaves to control plague, from telling us about one of the earliest female doctors to the making of an observatory for astronomy. He tells about the construction of a riverfront and sewage system to not let the river drown the city. He has indeed gone well beyond biryani.
Sharma dissects the story of Hyderabad becoming Cyberabad, rooting it not only in Nizam's penchant for science but their respect for all the religions. One incident is heart touching where Nizam worshipped the Musi river, following the Hindu customs to appease the populace. Maybe the current rulers will take a leaf out of the Nizam's book?
The book shines when Sharma begins the chapters that cover recent history. He elaborates how software development began in the Administrative Staff College of India and then extended to the public sector company CMC. Its services were being used by soviet and even for London Metro, called Tube.
The stories of emergence of Hyderabad as a pharma centre that led to the birth of behemoths like Dr Reddy’s Laboratories and Bharat Biotech are superbly written. Read it to know about one of the most underrated Indian cities.
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