John Zubrzycki

Pan Macmillan Australia, Sydney 2006

 

Some are born to rule and some are brought to rule. Such is fate and such was the destiny of the eighth and last Nizam of Hyderabad – Mukarram Jah. In a compelling narrative, Zubrzycki, an Australian journalist with over thirty years of experience of working in India explores the life and times of the man given the title ‘the richest man in the world.’ In a classic tale of all assets and limited liquidity, the man born to rule over the richest of India’s princely states; found himself a man out of place and time. His forefathers valiantly fought a losing battle from intrusive British domination as well as challenging an archaic domestic system. Here was ‘His Exalted Highness of Hyderabad’ who held no power when he ‘ascended the throne’ in 1967. In 1970, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi abolished all princely privileges and titles. ‘For that Hyderabad, alas, no longer exists except in the hearts of those who survived it’ is a poignant comment to be found in ‘Hyderabad Hazir Hai: Writings from the City of Nizams’ by Vanaja Banagiri (2008).

 

As the grandson of the last ruling Nizam of Hyderabad, India’s pre-eminent princely state, Prince Mukarram Jah was educated at Harrow and Cambridge where he read History. He also was at Sandhurst and commissioned into the Royal Engineers, serving in the Territorial Army. His first marriage was to a Turkish girl he met in London and married in 1960 – Princess Esra. The second marriage to an Australian took place in Perth, Australia in 1979. The erstwhile Nizam continued to marry and divorce more than one Turkish wife. However, it is his first Turkish wife who acts as his power of attorney in the prolonged legal processes regarding the acquisition and conservation of the many palaces and properties of the erstwhile Nizam – the lingering legacy of Hyderabad’s rich heritage.

 

More than enough has been made of the richest princely state of Hyderabad and the unparalleled wealth of its rulers .The fabled ‘Ali Baba’ jewellery collection of the Nizams of Hyderabad prompted one observer to remark: ‘In royal feuds, billions at stake, proving again and again that blueblood not withstanding; wants will always outstrip needs and thereby hangs a royal tale.’ As recently as 2013, a 34 carat Indian pink diamond ‘Princie’ sold for $39 million at the Christies’ New York auction house.  Tales of a profusion of diamonds, gold, pearls and fine trimmings and trappings have entertained the world for long. For all the legion of legendary fables and foibles, fancies and fantasies, facts and fiction that have revolved around the Nizams of Hyderabad (often much-maligned); the truth be told – has been sympathetically explored by John Zubrzycki. In-depth research was conducted at the British Library London, in Nice, Hyderabad, New Delhi, Perth and Canberra.  He had a number of visits with Mukarram Jah in Istanbul where the erstwhile Nizam resides happily living an anonymous sedate life and doing what he likes best – taking apart and putting together boats, cars, machines, tractors. In a telling remark to an American reporter; Mukarram Jah once remarked “The only pleasure he got from going to Hyderabad after becoming the Nizam was tinkering with the 56 mostly broken-down cars in his grandfather’s garage. ‘I inherited a scrap yard. I have a lifetime’s work before me.’ If Kismet had dictated otherwise, this young man chosen by his grand-father to succeed him as Nizam of Hyderabad; would have been a contented automobile or mechanical engineer. He once remarked: ‘I like rebuilding earth moving and heavy industrial equipment like that…’

 

Mukarram Jah’s heart and mind lay elsewhere. The royalty posted himself to Australia in 1972   and became a sheep-farmer, buying Murchison House Station. In a measure of the detailed investigation undertaken by Zubrzycki, he records the following observation of Mukarram Jah upon his arrival with an Indian friend at Perth. ‘I remember it was a Sunday. We walked out of our hotel and then we both stepped back without saying a word. It was instinctive. It looked like there was a curfew. I saw two policemen approaching and waved them into the safety of the hotel lobby to find out what had happened. They asked, ‘Where are you from, mate?’ told me it was a typical Sunday morning in Perth and went on their way.’ The personal anecdotal narrative produced by the author over-rides the titillating tales of princely pomp and pleasure.

 

“For almost a quarter of a century he had tried to carve out a kingdom in the desert, nurturing dreams of retiring quietly and gracefully as ‘an old-fashioned gentleman farmer, who through choice of his own adopted the Australian way of life.’  Yet his appointment of choice ran into insolvency and once again he left his second home in Western Australia for Turkey in 1996. Yet, we are told: ‘I made the most important part of my life there.’ Having left Hyderabad (he returns as a visitor) and his sprawling sheep station; the former Nizam resides in Istanbul where ‘he indulges in his passion for exploring Roman ruins in complete anonymity.’

 

One of the innumerable palaces in Hyderabad, the most opulent Falaknuma lay abandoned for decades. It had been built in the 1890s.  For the record, the first electric bulbs introduced in India lit up the magnificent interiors of the stately palace. When we attended an event in the gardens in 2002, Falaknuma was undergoing complete renovation under the patronage of the Taj group of hotels. Falaknuma reopened for business in 2010 – in all its restored regal splendour. Like countless others intrigued and regaled by the life and times of this particular Hyderabadi royalty, ‘The Last Nizam’ by John Zubrzycki provides the reader with a fresh and comprehensive account of a life lived off the beaten track.

 

A verse by Mirza Ghablib ‘likens the passage of time to the kaleidoscope of images in an old-fashioned game of cards called ganifa’ remarks Begum Jahanara Habibullah in her book ‘Remembrance of Days: Past Glimpses of a Princely State during the Raj.’

 

The flitting of images across the mind creates a tumult

Of impressions of assembly and dispersal

On ceremonial occasions,

The world is indeed a game of ganifa

And we are but spectators of the extraordinary variety

Of a succession of magical spectacles.

 

Raana Haider is the author of ‘India: Beyond the Taj and the Raj’, University Press Limited, Dhaka, 2013. Her chapter on Hyderabad is titled: ‘Hyderabad: Bride amongst Cities.’