My overnight train from Visakhapatnam arrived in Secunderabad on the morning of Tuesday November 29 and I went directly to the Henry Martyn Institute (HMI) in the south of the city. I got settled in the hostel and chatted with people. In the late afternoon I went into the city to meet Ilse Sturkenboom, my colleague from Germany, at the Salar Jung Museum. She had come to India a month ago to look at Persian illustrated manuscripts in various library collections and she had been in Hyderabad for a few days to work in the Salar Jung Museum library.
Shashi's husband, Thelma and Shashi
The next day Sunday December 4 I spent at HMI. In the afternoon Anja Heidenreich, my second colleague from Germany, arrived on her flight.
The next day Monday December 5, I went into the city in the morning to meet Vasant Bawa, a retired government official, scholar and heritage activist whom I had much to do with during my years in Hyderabad. After our short meeting, I went shopping. That evening I took Ilse, Anja and Gloria, another HMI resident, to a majlis session; today being the 9th of Muharram. The sessions start out slow with chanting of hymns, but once the preacher arrives to deliver a lengthy sermon the audience fills up, and when the narration of the story of the day’s events gets underway, the audience weeps and wails, slapping their heads.
The start of the majlis
The climax of the majlis
Ilse and I walked around the Old City and then the Public Gardens and the Husain Sagar Lake in the middle of the city with the modern statue of Buddha and and attended the laser show in Lumbini Park there.
The next day Wednesday November 30, I spent at HMI. In the evening I went with Ilse to the Old City to meet Fatimah Alikhan, a professor at the University of Hyderabad and a member of the HMI board, who took us to a majlis session, when 12er Shi‘ites mourn the martyrdom of the Imam Husayn in 680 A.D., today being the fourth of the ten days of Muharram. Fatimah took us to a majlis session at a private residence, where she had taken the HMI group last year.
The next day Thursday December 1 I spent at HMI, while on Friday December 2, I went with Ilse in the morning to the Old City, where I showed her some of the palaces and historic buildings in the area, including ones that Rani Sarma had written about in her Deodhis of Hyderabad book that I had helped her with.
A derelict palace in the Old City
We then went to meet Fatimah Ali Khan and her husband at her home in Banjara Hills.
The next day Saturday December 3 I spent at HMI. In the evening I went with the HMI group to a Christmas concert at the Ravindra Bharati auditorium; a number of HMI people were in the choir. Afterwards I met Shashi Singha, the former HMI administrator, her husband and Thelma, the former HMI hostel warden, at Shashi’s place for dinner.
Shashi's husband, Thelma and Shashi
The next day Sunday December 4 I spent at HMI. In the afternoon Anja Heidenreich, my second colleague from Germany, arrived on her flight.
The next day Monday December 5, I went into the city in the morning to meet Vasant Bawa, a retired government official, scholar and heritage activist whom I had much to do with during my years in Hyderabad. After our short meeting, I went shopping. That evening I took Ilse, Anja and Gloria, another HMI resident, to a majlis session; today being the 9th of Muharram. The sessions start out slow with chanting of hymns, but once the preacher arrives to deliver a lengthy sermon the audience fills up, and when the narration of the story of the day’s events gets underway, the audience weeps and wails, slapping their heads.
The start of the majlis
The climax of the majlis
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