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My most favourite place in Hyderabad ever since we moved to the city 15 years ago is the Qutab Shahi tombs nestled in Ibrahim Bagh. We would regularly take the children, who were then toddlers, to run amongst the large imposing tombs each dedicated to a sultan or a begum. Not many in the city knew or were bothered about the structure – which is why I loved visiting them. 

The tombs were surrounded by large mango, banyan and tamarind trees, full of birds.  The children would run around the tombs, occasionally peering into the dark mausoleum under it and run out immediately, yelling that it smelt of bats. We would bring lunch and sit under the trees for shade, listening to the cacophony of birds and the azaan coming from a mosque in the distance. Every now and then we would see a family walk into the tomb complex, a woman in her burkha with her husband and kids. 

The tombs belong to the former sultans of the Golconda state, who, I wonder, must lie there in solitude, reminiscing about their past glory. A rich and prosperous kingdom, the Qutab Shahis ruled the Deccan for nearly 200 years.  Sultan Hamdani, its founder, had made his way to India from Iran in the 16th century much like many of his predecessors had including Darius who as far back as 516 BD conquered Punjab and made north-west India an Iranian protectorate. 

Sitting amongst them, I couldn’t........

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