Tank Bund or Hussain Sagar

After posting the Ghazal "tumhare sheher ka mausam...." there are scintillating memories of Tank Bund area in my mind. From 1984 to about 2000 I was studying the history of Deccan with specific reference to Golkonda-Qutub Shai-Asaf Jahi-Berar. I wanted to find authentic information about the area I was born and where my ancestors lived. My family belong to Berar. We have our ancestral agricultural land and home in Berar. Berar was under the rule of Asaf Jahi from 1724 till 1948. In between, the Berar area was taken over by British under a treaty with Nizam, but the Ruler was Nizam and British were administrators. The eldest son of Nizam was designated as Prince of Berar. I will write about Berar in detail some other time.

The Tank Bund area of Hyderabad in my mind is of 1984 and thereabout. Then the Tank Bund was relatively calm and quite. The traffic was there but it was not nuisance. The area was rather romantic I must say. Particularly in the evening, just before the sunset and few hours thereafter, the area was full of cool breeze flowing from Hussain Sagar carrying peculiar scent of "saahil" mixed with "Gulmohour". No wonder, the mahaul used to instantly push me in romantic mood! (Though I never had any aashna!)

The Hussain sagar or Tank Bund as it is popularly called, was built on a tributary of the Musi River during the reign of Ibrahim Quli Qutb Shah in 1562. It is actually a dam which is fed by the Balkapur river which branches off from Musi about 32-33 miles from Hyderabad. The Bund links the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad and is named after Hussain Shah Wali. The Bund is about one and half miles long and covers an area of about eight square miles. On either sides of the Bund, Ibrahin Quli Qutub Shah built two sarais. On the Secunderabad side, there are four sluices to regulate the level of water in the dam. The construction of the dam was entrusted to Hussain Shah Wali who was son-in-law of Ibrahim Quli Qutb Shah. His tomb is located on today's Golkonda-Mumbai Road.

In the 19th Century, drinking water from Hussain sagar was supplied to Residency area but it was discontinued after commencement of regular water supply from Osman Sagar in 1921.

There is an area on the other side of the Bund i.e. opposite to the lake, which at that time was muddy perhaps because of seepage of water from Bund. Due to the muddy soil, it became breeding ground and heaven for mosquitoes. In Telugu, mosquitoes are called "Domal" or "Domul" or "Domulu" or something like that. So the area came to be known as "Domal Guda" - area of mosquitoes! Later, the seepage was stopped and the area became dry but the name stuck! Today it is one of the posh locality of Hyderabad. Due to the advent of technology, and particularly this internet, I have one friend on Orkut who lives in Domalguda. She has beautiful bungalow and lives there with her husband and two wonderful kids.