HYDERABAD: A panel discussion ‘Delhi-Hyderabad: Tales of Two Cities’ was held as part of the ongoing Hyderabad Literary Festival (HLF) at Vidyaranya High School in the city on Saturday. Senior journalists Ravi Shankar Etteth and Serish Nanisetti took part in the event, and spoke about their newly launched books ‘Killing Time in Delhi’ and ‘Golconda Bagnagar Hyderabad’ respectively.
‘Killing Time in Delhi’ speaks about the super rich of Delhi and their obsession with drugs, sex and parties. Why this kind of book? Ravi Shankar says, “There is a Delhi that is not much explored, and is unknown to outsiders. The story is about an ageing playboy living in Lutyens’ Delhi, whose girlfriends get younger as he gets older. I write what interests me, and that’s why I chose this topic.”
Did you know that 500 years ago, the royalty of Hyderabad used to sleep on a bed made of pure gold, weighing as much as 440 kg? That a king would have mistresses numbering in the four digits? That when a girl in a commoner’s family was getting married, the girl’s parents used to seek a written permission from the groom to allow the girl to drink toddy and to go out and visit her friends whenever she liked? All these interesting nuggets are found in the book ‘Golconda Bagnagar Hyderabad’ authored by Serish.
“We were enormously wealthy back then. Gold which is being used today only for ornamental purpose, was commonly used earlier, and that too in huge quantities,” explains Serish. On food, he adds, “Before biryani appeared, pulao was in demand, along with sheer khurma. We still have pulao, though biryani is now the favourite.” The event concluded with reading of book excerpts by the authors, followed by a question and answer session.