Word: nizam
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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...latest plight of the parsimonious Nizam of Hyderabad was being relished by many an Indian who had never seen moths fly out of a tightwad's purse in U.S. vaudeville. The Nizam, they told one another, had stacked his private vault with some 250,000 rupees in Indian currency long before his country was grabbed by India. When he came to get it, however, the worms had got there first and the Bank of India refused to honor the half-eaten bills...
Everyone is satisfied. The aggressive section of Indian public opinion has been appeased. Hyderabad, which was never really out of India, is now indisputably part of India. There have been no terrible outbreaks of communal violence. The Nizam, who capitulated in four days and 13 hours, satisfied the demands of his ego for at least a token fight. Said Lieut. General Sir Maharaj Rajendrasinghji, the Indian generalissimo: "It is not our job to hurt anybody who is law-abiding." This presumably included the Hyderabad army. There were no casualty reports (by the best available count, twelve Indian soldiers were killed...
Just the same, eager Indian war correspondents sent back reports which turned up under headlines like NIZAM'S FORTRESS TOWNS FALL LIKE NINEPINS. The reports failed to mention that the fortresses had been built in the 15th Century...
...Sorry." At the Hyderabad border we were greeted by Hindu peasants who were obviously all for the Indian "invaders." At Naldrug camp, where we breakfasted, soldiers were gathered around a radio listening to a rebroadcast of the Nizam's surrender speech. A soldier translated the gist to me: "He is sorry. He wants to be friends...
...Nizam's powers were shorn, his ministers were under house arrest, but he would probably salvage his wealth and royal trappings. Kasim Razvi faced a dimmer fate. In a broadcast to his followers on the morning of surrender he said: "This is the last time I shall be speaking to you." Then he disappeared. The next day he was captured by Hyderabad troops. Said he: "I gambled and lost...