This fact was put to the severest of tests at Hyderabad during one of the bleakest periods of the city’s history in the later half of the past century. The outcome thankfully, was a remarkable validation of the superior character building abilities of group sports. The playing fields, which at Hyderabad are commonly referred to as ‘grounds’, provided a beleaguered generation with the opportunity to overcome all hardships through lessons learnt in simulated combat at physically exerting games. The industrious youth of the city capitalised on the opportunity provided and excelled on probably the only level playing fields in a society otherwise fraught with oppression and bias.
It is said that the military campaign against the erstwhile Nizam’s Dominions during ‘Police Action’ was code named ‘Operation Polo’ due to an abundance of Polo grounds at Hyderabad. Subsequent to the merger of the state, a majority of these play grounds of the elite which had mostly been in the possession of the largely ceremonial state army went into the control of the Indian armed forces.
What few remained in the public domain became an exclusive domain of the horde which descended upon the city to take over its administration. The changes brought about by the end of monarchy resulted in pecuniary disaster for the erstwhile nobility for whom sports and leisure were no longer affordable luxuries. In a cascading effect of this abrupt downtrend in fortunes, a multitude of retainers and dependents lost their livelihoods and were rendered destitute. The change in administration also led to massive dismissals of the city’s middle class from government service by the new czars of Hyderabad who were determined to ‘set the balance right’.
The harsh times brought upon by this unmitigated suppression of the original inhabitants of the city led to their complete and mass demoralisation. Sustained over an unjustifiably extended period, it soon began to adversely impact the lives of the first post-independence generation of Hyderabad. It is to the credit of some farsighted individuals, a few of whom had fortunately survived the purges in administration, that all was not lost to the vagaries of misplaced nationalism. Quite a few of these men of integrity refused to give in to unjustified demands of the new order by declining to harass and censure their fellow citizens. Understandably, this extraordinary band of messiahs themselves suffered immensely at the hands of the bigoted but despite all coercion stood their ground and bore the resulting hardships. S N Reddy, the first commissioner of police to assume charge after the Police Action, spared no effort in boosting the morale of the officers and men under his command while at the same time ensuring that fabricated cases and trumped up charges against citizens were minimised.
Providing further testimony of his integrity and character, Reddy unhesitatingly obeyed the command of his erstwhile monarch by serving the Nizam, who had by then become the Rajparmukh, as chief of security. For this commendable act of responding to the orders of his now ‘out of power’ master, the S N Reddy was hauled to court by a raving fanatic who accused him of being part of ‘an illegal organisation which is the nucleus of a fifth columnist armed force’. However, the petition was summarily thrown out when the judge realised that the dreaded ‘fifth column’ was nothing more than the Nizam’s palace guard.
Another city luminary, the late Rai Janki Pershad, who at the time of integration was serving as director of information, refused to dress in any other manner than the official court attire of old Hyderabad. Despite having to face discrimination at the hands of minions in the new regime, the veritable gentleman refused to buckle and is said to have reiterated that he was dressed as a Hyderabadi should and that he was proud to be one. Encouraged by such exemplary shows of strength Hyderabadis tightened their belts and are taking the future in their own hands.
