Narendra Luther (1932-2021)
A career bureaucrat, writer-biographer, translator, historian, amateur geologist, columnist and a documentary maker, among many, Sri Luther in a touching summing up of his account on his early life in ‘My Hoshiarpur Days’, notes: “…I have seen a thousand moons. For those who have accomplished that feat, there is no mourning when they cross over. There is only celebration of their life.”
Early Phase and Education (1932-56)
Through his autobiography, ‘The Bonsai Tree’(2017), Luther cites Budha Goraya as his ancestral village in Sialkot district, now in Pakistan, while he was born in Hoshiyarpur, Punjab, on 23rd March, 1932. Through a lot of anecdotes, Luther, recollects the socio-economic and political environment he experienced in Pakistan, later in Indian Punjab and subsequently in different places in Andhra Pradesh and finally in Hyderabad, where he settled down.
His reminiscences of Prelude and Phase of Partition:
Reminiscing about that time in Lahore, Luther wrote, “I was 15 years old when India and Pakistan got divided. My father had, in fact, signed up to serve for Pakistan. But after seeing a lot of bloodshed my father decided we would move to India in October.’
In fact, Luther was witness to the mayhem that began in March, 1947 onwards, when he was one among many, who were asked to do night patrolling in their Krishan Nagar Hindu locality. It was a Muslim officer who gave shelter to the family. Luther recalls that he took a Muslim name Akram while his brother Vijay became Aslam to save their lives, and narrates the account of the family’s escape along with many others by train from Rawalpindi to Amritsar.
He wrote, ‘For the last month of our stay there, a kind Muslim colleague of my father, gave us refuge in the cantonment in his son’s house which he vacated for our sake.’ We had heard in the news that many trains between the two countries were looted and passengers were killed. Fortunately, our train was protected by the Gorkha regiment and although, it’s a 12-hour journey between Rawalpindi and Amritsar, we reached Amritsar, somewhat safe, in four days. Nine dead bodies were recovered from our train. We sat down for a langar on the left of the platform, while the dead bodies were being cremated a few yards away on the left.”
Lamenting, he writes, “No one imagined at that time that it was so easy to destroy the edifice built by centuries of co-existence between Hindus and Muslims.”
His father a lecturer in the Government Junior College in Hoshiarpur, was subsequently transferred to Shimla where Luther spent the first seven years. Thereafter, they moved to Lahore, in a suburb called Dharam Pura, where he did school at DAV and Government High School, with Urdu as the medium of instruction. He pursued intermediate from DAV College Jalandhar and BA in Economics, from Government College, Hoshiarpur in 1949, where he also wrote for the daily, Tribune, then the only English daily in Punjab. Thereafter for his Masters, he opted for Political Science in 1953.
“He thought in English, understood in Punjabi and wrote in Urdu”. He reflected back of these times, ‘In retrospect, I feel that my generation of students missed a proper university education. But then everything was make-shift in the aftermath of the partition.’
While waiting for the result for IAS examination, he taught at a college in Ferozepur for five months, before leaving Hoshiarpur to join for training in May 1955.
Luther- The bureaucrat (1956-1991):
Subsequently, he joined the Indian Administrative Service in 1955 with his first posting at Kurnool, Vishakhapatnam and thereafter to Hyderabad in 1959.
Luther, was among the first of IAS officers in India, was allotted to Andhra which soon after his arrival became Andhra Pradesh on November 1, 1956. He was appreciated in his very first posting for flood relief and rehabilitation work at ‘grave risk’ to his life as the Gazette Extraordinary Citation issued by the government noted.
In 1959, he was awarded a British Council scholarship to do a postgraduate course at Leeds University. In 1972, while working as Director of Industries, he was deputed to Libya as an advisor for development of small-scale industries. As head of the Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad, Luther’s project for slum improvement was funded by the UNICEF and adopted by it as a worldwide model, enabling him to work in the sphere of both urban planning and heritage conservation as well as the vice-chairman of erstwhile HUDA (precursor to HMDA). Apart from this Luther also headed the Information and Public Relations department. He was involved in the planning of 400th anniversary of Hyderabad in 1991-92.
Luther’s stint as Principal Secretary during the reign of NT Rama Rao, the actor turned chief minister, lead to some epic encounter, one of which was when he got a call from the chief minister at the crack of dawn and initially failed to recognise his voice. To which NTR told him that he had called Luther to compliment him on his ideas to ‘revive tourism in Andhra Pradesh’.
Apart from his two routine spells in the government of India, including deputy secretary in the Ministry of Steel, he served as the Chief Secretary of the undivided Andhra Pradesh before retiring in 1991.
On his view on the merger of the state of Hyderabad and Andhra state, he said, – ‘It was a bad marriage from the outset. There used to be two lunch rooms at the secretariat for bureaucrats. One was for Hyderabadis and Urdu was spoken there. I remember going to the room for AP officials and they would say those fellows were lazy, only knew how to dress well, couldn’t do any work, and then the Telangana ones would say these Huns had come, those fellows had no social graces, no courtesy and only talked about work and work. It was a really bad marriage and their hearts never met. I told that to the members of the Sri Krishna Commission.’
After retiring, he became the chairman of the Andhra Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation, all the while advocating the conservation of Hyderabad’s heritage rock formations. He was involved in setting up of Jalagam Vengala Rao Park and one behind the sound and light show in Golconda Fort.
He wrote, ‘I took a conscious decision not to accept any job in government or the private sector after retirement and decided to fulfill my childhood ambition of writing.’ Adding to that, he mentioned, ‘I kept my extramural interests alive during my service and beyond.’
Narendra Luther- The Writer and the Modern Chronicler of Hyderabad:
His experience with Hyderabad was at two levels — as a bystander and a participant.
Ever since he was posted to Andhra Pradesh in 1956, Luther made a distinct mark in the field of literature and fine arts. “I came to Hyderabad as soon as the state of Andhra Pradesh was formed. The city took me back in time to when I was a kid in Lahore.” In fact, when transferred to Hyderabad in 1958, Luther wondered whether it was compensation for the loss of Lahore. “It was a popular saying in Punjab that one who had not seen Lahore had not yet been born! Coming to Hyderabad, I felt twice born.”
After being posted in Hyderabad, Narendra served in various departments including tourism, agro-industries and the municipal corporation of Hyderabad. “The Hyderabad of those times was very different from the Hyderabad of today. Back then Urdu mushairas and poetry were rampant,” he says. However, what interested Narendra the most was the history of the erstwhile Hyderabad state and its rulers, on which he later wrote several books.
When writing about Hyderabad, Luther appears to be at his best. He succeeds in evoking nostalgia for an era when the City of Nizams was a hub of culture. He has an eye for the unusual when it comes to people and places, sights, sounds and flavours. The Hyderabad of his days was the laid back Hyderabad of cultured soirees and Urdu mushairas, Rs 2 per head Udipi thalis and a quaint airport where you could walk onto the tarmac and get into a waiting Dakota. “At evening parties, the poems of Junior Prince, Moazzam Jah, who sported the pen name of Shajih, were recited by singers. Jamila Bano and Vithal Rao used to enthral the audience with their rendition of ghazals… and the rotund and ever-smiling Aziz Warsi was reputed to be the best qawwali singer in the country,” he reminisces.
He fell in love with the city for its cosmopolitan culture, Urdu language and poetry, rich history and heritage and became part of the social circle even while discharging official duties in key positions. As special officer at the municipal corporation, he used to act on petitions received in Urdu.
His fondness for Hyderabad’s history, heritage, tradition, culture, architecture and governance coupled with his knowledge of Urdu, made him write a monograph on Mohammed Quli Qutub Shah, the founder of Hyderabad and a biography of the city itself, when he was posted to the refugee rehabilitation department. His works include Alif Tahasha, Zindah Dilan-i Haidarabad, 1985; Prince, Poet, Lover, Builder, Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah, the Founder of Hyderabad, 1991; ‘Lashkar: The Story of Secunderabad’; Hyderabad: Memoirs of a City, 1995; The Nizam Who Wasn’t: A Souvenir of Bella Vista, 1996; Raja Deen Dayal: Prince of Photographers; The Rockitecture of Andhra Pradesh, 2003; The Rockitecture of Andhra Pradesh, 2003; The Nocturnal Court, Darbaar-e-durbaar: The Life of a Prince of Hyderabad, 2004; and Hyderabad: A Biography, 2006; A Bonsai Tree: An Autobiography, 2017, to mention a few.
A departure in Luther’s published works is Raja Deen Dayal: Prince of Photographers, the biography of one of India’s preeminent photographers, providing in-depth biographical information on Deen Dayal, who was granted the title ‘Raja’ by the sixth Nizam of Hyderabad in 1895. As background, Luther explores the history of photography in the west and describes how the art arrived in India during the colonial period. He traces Dayal’s arrival in Hyderabad, his favorable relationship with the Nizam, and the photographer’s rapid rise through a distinguished career as a photographer. Luther also includes several examples of Dayal’s work as illustrations. Among Dayal’s subjects were accomplished hunters and their prizes, dignified rulers, architectural wonders, delicate princesses, and many other images that is both ‘lavish’ and ‘crisp.’ Luther also describes Dayal’s keen sense of business, and how this commercial sense also helped him to grow in success and esteem among his royal clientele.
Apart from his several books on Hyderabad, its heritage, and architecture, he also wrote three books of humour in Urdu – Band Kiwad, Mizaj Pursi and Alif Tamasha, apart from a travelogue – Hawai Columbus. Be it essays like Dile Laqt Laqt, Hum Ghar Sajan Aaye, Sach Bolna or Meri Aakhri Tasveer, Luther regales readers with his sense of humour. His essay Hyderbad Ka Tagraphia, is a fascinating insight into what Luther thought of Hyderabad where he spent most of his life. ’Some of his writings have been translated into Urdu, Hindi, Telugu and Oriya besides other languages.
Perhaps, the literary ambience of Hyderabad and its famed Ganga-Jamuni culture further refined his writing style. His association with Zinda Dilane Hyderabad, the literary wing of Fine Arts Academy, helped in promotion of humour, wit and satire. He played a key role in organising the World Humour Conference in the city in 1985. Interestingly, he held the post of Secretary, Department of Tourism, for three tenure in his career, as he also strived to keep alive Hyderabadi traditions like Mushairas (poetry recitation sessions), theatre and tourist places.
He was also instrumental in Society to Save Rocks to conserve some of the geological formations under Urban Development Authority Regulation. Luther is an authority on the rock formations and geology of the Banjara Hills area near Hyderabad, India, and is the creator of a documentary film, Rockumentary, on this subject. At Luthers home in Hyderabad, the first thing one would notice is the beautiful rock wall in the sitting room. Ask the author about it and he says, “Everyone talks about protecting heritage monuments but they seldom understand the importance of saving rocks. They are ancient and need protection.” His efforts have resulted in nine rock formations in Banjara Hills being declared protected. In fact, he was a two-time recipient of the Golden Aster Award while his documentary won awards at the IX International Heritage Film Festival, Osaka, Japan, in 1999.
Narendra Luther was indeed a bureaucrat with a difference!
Tryst with Dholpur House 