HYDERABAD: Hyderabad is well-known for its ‘Ganga-Jamuna tehzeeb’, but the unity between Hindus and Muslims is particularly striking during Diwali, when many non-Hindus join in the fun.
Children particularly like setting off firecrackers, but many people observe other facets of Diwali while still others celebrate in unique ways.
According to software developer Kehkashan Mehdi, her family participates in a number of traditional festivities to mark the event. They light candles, pop crackers, and distribute sweets to their neighbours and friends.
Anup Rubens, a music composer and a Christian, claims to have grown up in a Muslim-dominated colony in RTC Crossroads. And yet, he fondly remembers how Diwali was a time of celebration for all residents, especially for the children who would set off crackers.
“Celebrations would start 10 days before the festival. I remember I would save money to buy crackers. All the waste collected by bursting the crackers would gather in front of our homes, and we would all compete to make our respective piles of litter the biggest,” said Rubens.
Arun Yellamaty, the head of an NGO, admitted that he used to light fireworks to celebrate Diwali, but that now his organisation strives to raise awareness about the harmful effects of crackers on animals and promote making the celebrations more about lights and lamps than about crackers.
It was well known that the Nizams' households participated in the Diwali festivities as well. Since the majority of the Nizams' subjects were Hindus and they were secular rulers, it was only natural for them to participate in Hindu festivities as well, according to historian and managing trustee of Deccan Heritage Trust Mohammed Safiullah.
The Hindu nobility would visit the Nizam during Diwali and present him with gifts, sweets, and fruits. "Palaces occasionally lit up for Diwali. I had a photograph of Basheerbagh Palace lighted by kerosene lamps in the 1890s. Electricity came to Hyderabad in Oct 1910, that’s why kerosene lamps had to be used for lighting,” Safiullah claimed.
