A once dusty town, at the cusp of
where the West ends and South starts, is slowly opening its gates to
industry, discovers Achal Dhruva Synonymous with the world famous heritage
sites of Ajanta and Ellora Caves, Aurangabad is a city still uniquely
steeped in tradition, yet taking its first tentative steps towards the
new economy. Part of the original Nizam state of Hyderabad, Aurangabad
along with the six other districts of Marathwada were merged with Maharashtra
after the 1960 reorganisation of states, by virtue of having a major
Marathi speaking population.
However, step into the city of
Aurangabad and you wonder whether you are in the local version of
Lucknow. Indeed Aurangabad is more of a ?tehzeeb? than a city. The
influence of Nizamshahi and the easygoing lifestyle that came along with
it has not yet completely disappeared. The minarets, maqbaras and the
numerous bazaars dotting the cityscape lend a very distinctive touch to
the older parts of the city as also the trademark Indian congestion,
traffic, chaos, and the various flea markets and Meena Bazaars.
It is not surprising if you suddenly
hear some strange parlance immortalised by Mehmood in his many movies -
this typical Hyderabadi dialect is still fairly en vogue in the older
quarters of the city. As they say, you can change the exterior but how
do you change the soul? In Maharashtra and probably in entire Western
India itself, this unique brand of ?Dakkhani? as is it called is spoken
only in Marathwada and specifically in Aurangabad.
Aurangabad had a major brush with
history when it almost became the capital of the country when Mohammad
Bin Tughlaq brought his capital to Daulatabad on the outskirts of the
city from Delhi. But the mega plan was doomed to flop because of severe
and crippling water shortages, inadequate infrastructure as well as
the middle- of- nowhere nature of the place.
The country it seemed had
condemned Aurangabad also to history along with Tughlaq for a long while
in the interim when it disappeared from the scene before ?Big Business?
rested its benign gaze on it. The tourism boom has since converted it
into a veritable ?Jewel of Marathwada.?