Trail-way crossing

Hyderabad Trails’ (HT) Naubat Pahad Story Trail on Sunday morning was more than just a guided tour of the city’s oldest parts; thanks to Deepa Kiran from Story Arts India. The walk’s storytelling aspect helped the attending crowd learn interesting tales about the Birla Science Museum neighbourhood, also known as Naubat Pahad.

Deepa and Gopal first launched into the tale of how the city itself came to be named, and after a walk up Hill Fort Road, also explained why the hill is called Naubat Pahad — because it was used by emperor Aurangzeb, during his short rule over Hyderabad, as a platform to make announcements using the naubat drum.

The end point of the walk was marked by Deepa blowing on a conch outside the Birla Library, followed by a story told by Gopal about how the Naubat Pahad was used by famous thug Amir Ali and how the Indian word ‘thug’ made its way into the English vocabulary after a book was written about him.

The morning ended with a short play about Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah and Bhagmati, with Deepa rounding things off by taking the audience on a musical tour around the Birla Library, singing tribal Telugu songs.