Day America bled, Hyderabad wrote history on Osmania campus

HYDERABAD: It was Thursday the 5th of July, 1934. Life in San Francisco and the Bay Area including

Seattle

and San

Diego

in the USA had come to a standstill with the 'Great Strike' in docks along the 3,200 km-long coastline. Back home, the princely state of Hyderabad was in a celebratory mood. The Nizam VII, Mir Osman Ali Khan, accompanied by the royal family members, laid the

foundation of Arts College of Osmania University

at the new campus in Adikmet, marking a new style of architecture and a new beginning in modern and scientific education.

It may have been the `Bloody Thursday' for the Americans as it marked the start of the 83-day strike by port labour, but for millions of Indians, particularly Hyderabadis, July 5, 1934 was the `Delightful Thursday'.

A special shamiana was set up near the

Arts College

for the Nizam. A dais was built on the

Senate Hall

hillock (where the

OU

library now stands) for the Nizam and the royal family to see the entire campus dotted by temporary colleges and hostels.

The Nizam conducted a thoro ugh review of the model plan of the university before proceeding to lay the foundation stone.

And do you know, how Hyderabad looked like on that `Delightful Thursday'? Let's read the “Report on the Progress of the Osmania University Buildings Project“ for the year 1933-34 prepared by supe rintending engineer Syed Ali Raza. According to the report, the main roads from Hyderabad to the university site were all decorated magnificently. “Flags and buntings were floating in variegated shades with tunes of joy and the various rows of splendid lights on the whole length of the routes with a well-regulated happy large traffic, augmented the charm of the whole area, so busy in the day with the toil and turmoil of labour and work,“ the report said.

Raza writes further, “a famous poet in a beloved mighty ruler, laid amidst the prayers and blessings of his people, the foundation stone of the monumental Arts College, a unique instance as poetic in semblance, as grand in purpose. Blessed was this day of 30th Amerdad 1343 Fasli (July 5, 1934) that rendered the beginning of this gigantic scheme, a great success“.

OU archival data reveals that Adikmet was selected for the university campus for a number of natural and topographical reasons.“Old Adgimet (Adikmet) won the admiration of the experts in regard to its elevation, the panoramic view it commands of the city and surroundings, its salubrious climate and its natural ridges and hillocks, affording unique opportunity for the aesthetic layout of a scheme. The general contour of the country at the site is 100 ft above that of the city,“ Raza said.

The rental lease of temporary campuses of Osmania University scattered across modern day Basheerbagh expired in December 1933. This necessitated fast relocation to

Adikmet campus

where temporary buildings were constructed in early 1934 pending completion of the permanent building of the Arts College in December 1939.

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