"Beyond Biryani" -- A novel history of a fascinating multicultural city Hyderabad
Excerpts
from conversation with Dr Dinesh C Sharma, author
of "Beyond Biryani —The making of a globalized Hyderabad"
by Shivanand Kanavi
Dinesh C
Sharma is an award-winning journalist, author and media trainer with nearly 40
years’ experience in reporting on science and technology, health and
environment for national and international media outlets.
His latest book is Beyond Biryani: The Making of a Globalised
Hyderabad, published by Westland. For his book, The Outsourcer: The
story of India’s IT revolution, published by MIT Press, USA in 2015, he was
awarded the prestigious Computer History Museum Book Prize instituted by the
American Society for History of Technology (SHOT) in 2016. He penned a science
travelogue – Witness to the Meltdown – based on his climate change
reportage from the Arctic in 2008. Another book– Indian Innovation, Not
Jugaad (Roli Books) – is about 100 innovations that have transformed India
in the past 75 years. He has been the Jawaharlal Nehru Fellow (2020-2021) and
the New India Fellow (2007).
Dinesh’s academic experience includes teaching a course in development
journalism for MA students at Ateneo de Manila University, Philippines and
being a teaching Fellow at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU). He is a
doctorate from Banaras Hindu University (BHU) and a post-graduate in
communication and journalism from Osmania University. Sharma has been the
Science Editor at Mail Today (India Today Group) from 2007 to 2014 and
Founding Managing Editor at India Science Wire from 2017 to 2019. He is
a regular contributor to the medical journal, The Lancet, among others.
Twitter handle: @dineshcsharma
Shivanand Kanavi: Hello Dinesh. First, tell me
how the idea for this book originated.
Dinesh C Sharma: There were a few reasons. My
previous book on the Indian IT industry provided a panoramic view but didn't
delve into regional clusters like Hyderabad. I noticed many books had been
written about Bengaluru, but none about Hyderabad, despite its rapid growth
over the last 30 years. As someone born and educated in Hyderabad who also
lived in Bangalore, I was naturally drawn to comparing their trajectories.
The immediate catalyst was the
creation of Telangana in 2014, which gave Hyderabad a new identity. The city
has a fascinating history, having been the capital of the Nizam's state, then
Hyderabad State in the Indian Union, then Andhra Pradesh, and now
Telangana—four distinct political identities in a century. This political
journey profoundly impacted its development. I'm not a political historian, so
I decided to focus on what I know best: the development of knowledge
institutions, which are at the heart of Hyderabad's identity as a 'knowledge city'.
Shivanand Kanavi: Which institutions form the
core of this story?
Dinesh C Sharma: The story spans 100 years,
beginning with the founding of Osmania University and an industrial research
lab around 1918. Before that, institutions like Nizam College were affiliated
with Madras University. There were decades of debate about establishing a local
university. Forward-looking administrators, not the royal family itself, pushed
for a modern education system, leading to Osmania's founding in 1917. Its most
radical feature was using Urdu as the medium of instruction for all subjects,
from philosophy to engineering, which forced the modernization of the language
itself.
The industrial lab was established
around the same time due to pure economic pragmatism. An official noticed the
state was exporting raw materials like hides and sugarcane and importing
finished goods, causing a revenue drain. The lab was created to develop
processes to use local resources and spur indigenous industry. There was early
synergy with other centers; the first chemists were sent to the Indian
Institute of Science (IISc) in Bangalore for training.
Shivanand Kanavi: What was the role of the Nizam
and the broader culture?
Dinesh C Sharma: The Nizams were home-tutored
and never formally schooled abroad, but they were pragmatic. The push for
modernization came from enlightened administrators and a cosmopolitan nobility.
Hyderabad's culture was a synthesis—Persian, Deccani, Telugu, and Marathi
influences, with a administration that included Hindus and Muslims. This
created a fertile, open environment for new ideas. The 1908 Musi flood was a
key turning point. M. Visvesvaraya was brought in; his plan led to new lakes
for flood control and the construction of modern institutions along the
riverfront, like Osmania Hospital, symbolizing a new, modern Hyderabad.
Shivanand Kanavi: How did the post-1948
integration change things?
Dinesh C Sharma: The integration was a profound
rupture, not seamless. There was a significant brain drain, especially among
the Muslim administrative class, and a loss of the unique Indo-Islamic
administrative culture. The Osmania experiment ended as English replaced Urdu.
However, what was gained was immense: integration into Nehru's vision of
scientific India.
Hyderabad became a prime recipient of
national institutions for two reasons. First, its strategic location, far from
borders, made it safe for defence and nuclear establishments. Second, and most
critically, was the Sarf-e-Khas land bank. This was the
Nizam's vast personal estate of prime land around the city. After integration,
it was transferred to the government, providing a massive, unencumbered land
bank. This allowed the state to readily allocate land for sprawling campuses for
institutions like the University of Hyderabad, ICRISAT, and numerous DRDO and
CSIR labs, something other cities struggled with.
The 1960s saw the establishment of
foundational PSUs: the Indian Drugs and Pharmaceuticals Limited (IDPL) and the
Electronics Corporation of India Limited (ECIL). IDPL trained a generation of
scientists and entrepreneurs; most of Hyderabad's pharma giants trace their
roots to it. ECIL developed India’s first computer and was a training ground
for hardware and software engineers. This is a crucial correction to the
record: the IT revolution didn't start in the 1990s but with these state
investments in the 1960s. The talent pool was already here when liberalization
happened.
Shivanand Kanavi: So, the state's role is a
central theme?
Dinesh C Sharma: Absolutely. The state's role
has transformed but not diminished. The private sector in pharma and IT is
built on a foundation created by the state—the human capital from state
universities and the research from national labs. Today, the state is an
enabler: building infrastructure like Hi-Tec City, creating policy incentives,
and facilitating growth. But the initial, direct investment in
institution-building over decades was essential. The relationship is symbiotic;
the state built the garden, and the private sector is now flowering within it.
Shivanand Kanavi: How does Hyderabad's trajectory
differ from Bangalore's?
Dinesh C Sharma: Their DNA is different.
Bangalore's tech culture emerged from its strong base in public sector
engineering and defence (HAL, ISRO, IISc), creating a culture of aerospace and
defence engineering. Hyderabad's knowledge base began with a focus on regional
resources and industrial applications—chemistry, pharmaceuticals, and earth
sciences. The Industrial Lab focused on local raw materials; later institutions
had an applied, industrial focus. This is why Bangalore became a hub for
software products and aerospace, while Hyderabad excels in bulk drugs,
pharmaceuticals, and IT services. Hyderabad's growth was also more of a
planned, state-driven model, while Bangalore's was more organic.
Shivanand Kanavi: What are the challenges for
Hyderabad's future?
Dinesh C Sharma: The challenges are significant.
First, urban infrastructure is straining under rapid growth. Second, the city
must move up the value chain from IT services and generics to deep-tech
innovation and original product discovery. Third, it must preserve its
cosmopolitan, inclusive culture (Ganga-Jamuni tehzeeb), which is
essential for creativity. Finally, it must strengthen its academic institutions
to be globally competitive. The next leap is from application to invention.
The main obstacle is the "valley
of death" between research and commercialization. This is due to a lack of
patient risk capital for long-gestation deep-tech, a cultural
aversion in industry (which excels at execution, not high-risk
R&D), and ecosystem gaps in technology transfer and
product management.
Shivanand Kanavi: What lessons does Hyderabad's
story offer other cities?
Dinesh C Sharma: Two fundamental lessons:
1.
The Primacy of the State as an Institution Builder: There is no substitute for
visionary, long-term public investment in education and fundamental research.
The private sector will not make these foundational investments.
2.
Embrace a Cosmopolitan Identity: A knowledge economy thrives on
the free flow of talent and ideas. An open, inclusive culture is not a soft
virtue but a critical economic imperative.
While Hyderabad had unique advantages
like the Sarf-e-Khas land, the principles are replicable. Modern governments
can create "policy sandboxes," invest in digital infrastructure,
focus on building anchor institutions in specific niches, and act as lead
customers for innovation.
Shivanand Kanavi: Has your personal view of the
city changed?
Dinesh C Sharma: Profoundly. I now see the city
as a living palimpsest of its history. The buildings, the labs, even the
traffic jams, tell a story of a century-long project. The book gave me a
"deep-time perspective." The biryani and the pearls are the surface
culture, but beneath that is a deeper culture of institution-building and a
consistent push for modernity through education and science.
Shivanand Kanavi: Which brings us to the
title, Beyond Biryani.
Dinesh C Sharma: The title isn't a dismissal of
culture; it's an invitation to look deeper. The biryani is a perfect metaphor—a
synthesis of distinct ingredients into something new and magnificent, just like
Hyderabad's history. Urdu poetry represented a culture of nuanced intellectual
debate. The old city's layout reflects a cosmopolitan, mercantile worldview.
This cultural substrate—valuing knowledge (ilm), precision, and
complexity—created the fertile soil in which the seeds of institutions, planted
by the state, could flourish. The culture and the knowledge economy are not
separate; they are deeply intertwined. The book goes "beyond biryani"
to show that the dish is just the delicious tip of the iceberg; beneath it lies
the true story of intellectual synthesis and institutional resilience.
Shivanand Kanavi: If the culture was so fertile,
why did it need state-driven action?
Dinesh C Sharma: The fertile soil was necessary
but not sufficient. The economy was still feudal; wealth was held by landowners
who patronized arts, not industry. There was no strong mercantile class willing
to invest in high-risk industrial ventures. The scale of investment needed for
universities and national labs is so vast that it almost always requires state
funding. The culture provided the talent and openness, but the state was the
essential catalyst that mobilized this latent potential. The private sector's
boom was made possible because the state had first built the garden.
Shivanand Kanavi: Thank you, Dinesh. This has
been a fascinating journey through a century of Hyderabad's history, truly
going "Beyond Biryani."
Dinesh C Sharma: Thank you, Shivanand. It was a pleasure.
Shivanand Kanavi :Frequent contributor to Rediff.com is a theoretical
physicist, business journalist and former VP at TCS. He has authored award
winning book:
“Sand
to Silicon: The amazing story of digital technology”
(Tata McGraw Hill, 2004, Rupa Books 2007) and edited “Research by Design: Innovation and TCS” (Rupa Books 2007). He
blogs at: www.reflections-shivanand.blogspot.in/ and Tweets at @shivanandkanavi
and can be reached at skanavi@gmail.com
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