Beyond Biryani

Beyond Biryani captures the story of the remarkable transformation of Hyderabad from what at best was a proto-colonial city under a quasi-Mughal princely state till the 1940s to a modern and vibrant metropolis. Dinesh C. Sharma tells the story of how, in the princely state of Hyderabad under the rule of the British, the foundation was laid for inculcating a scientific temper and how, among other things, the period saw the setting up of India's first vernacular university. This was followed by the encouraging of a culture of science in newly independent India, a period that saw the coming up of industrial laboratories as well as nuclear fuel and missiles.