Images: above - a photo of a gathering of Hyderabadi Sikhs in early 20th century. Below, first from bottom: photo of local Sikhs by Suraj Naidu. Second from bottom: Gurdwara Ameerpreet.
The Sikhs of Hyderabad
by SUDIPTA SENGUPTA
Right from daybreak, the sound of kirtan reverberated across the Gowliguda Chaman and Sikh Chhawni (Kishanbagh) areas of the Old City of Hyderabad.
A 6,000-member strong Sikh-Hyderabadi community, residing here for decades, woke up to the Gurpurab marking the Birth Anniversary of Guru Nanak. The celebrations that began from the four gurudwaras, in Afzalgunj, Gowliguda, Charmahal and Uppuguda, dotting this part of town, later travelled to the NTR stadium opposite the park where Sikhs from across the twin cities gathered to read from the Guru Granth Sahib and sing shabads in praise of the One God of All Creation.
Community meals - langar - were also arranged as part of the festivities.
But such a centralised and joint celebration on Guru Nanak's Gurpurab is a fairly new trend, say old-timers from the Deccani Sikh community that has made asal Hyderabad its home for close to two centuries now. Traditionally, the day was spent among close relatives and friends at the local gurdwara with religious tracks playing in the background.
"But as the number of Sikhs in the city swelled considerably, the festival was pulled out of localities and was held at the Exhibition Grounds in Nampally. It was later moved to the current venue," said Surender Pal Singh Saluja, president of the 58-year-old Andhra Pradesh Punjabi Sabha. In fact, even today, with several Sikhs from both north and south India relocating here in large numbers every year, their influx into Hyderabad has not ebbed.
"Only, those coming now prefer to live in the newer parts of the city," said Harmahender Singh Chawla, a resident of Begum Bazaar for close to 40 years. He added, "Members of my own family too have moved out of here as the Old City has become excessively cramped. This has become the trend with the Sikh community living here."
Apart from a higher standard of living, what seems to be attracting this Hyderabad-bred-Punjabi citizenry to the `hi-tech' side of town, is better business prospects. Considering that the community is primarily involved in the automobile and finance sectors, they feel that `new' Hyderabad is the place to be.
The sentiment, however, is not shared by all.
Seventy-five-year-old Nanak Singh Nishter for instance still feels `at home' only in his ancestral house in Gowliguda and cannot think of discarding it just yet.
"We have been born and brought up in this area. In fact, I cannot even speak Punjabi but am fluent in Telugu and even Deccani Hindi," Nanak Singh said, reiterating his strong connection with asal Hyderabad. "Also, at this age you want to be among your own people," he added.
While the obsession of Deccani Sikhs like Nanak Singh with the Old City can be understood considering their long-standing relationship (since 1832) with the area, even those who have migrated to the city post Partition of Punjab and India, are equally in awe of it.
"We have moved from Goshamahal to Koti recently for business. But stepping out of here is unimaginable for us," said Sumairjeet Singh Tuteja in perfect Hyderabadi Hindi.
[Courtesy: Times of India. Edited for sikhchic.com]
November 20, 2011
Conversation about this article
1: Baldev Singh (Bradford, United Kingdom), November 20, 2011, 3:01 PM.
Met a Sikh-Hyderabadi professional (banker) in Amritsar recently, at the 'Darshan Deorhi' office, enquiring about donating a gold ornament for the inner sanctum of Darbar Sahib. It was very touching to overhear this request by him.
2: Harpreet Singh (Delhi, India), November 25, 2011, 6:06 AM.
S. Nanak Singh Nishtar, the seventy five year old young Sikh mentioned in the above article, is a great Sikh doing great service, like distributing free literature, even substantial books, as also helping to empower deprived Sikligar Sikhs, etc. He should be nominated for Chic Sikh of the Year. We can learn a lot from such Sikhs.