From: The Encyclopedia of Canada's Peoples/Hyderabadis/Shehla Burney
The Hyderabadis in Canada form a small, tightly knit, but culturally and racially mixed group that for the most part identifies itself with the former princely state under the Nizam of Hyderabad. Nevertheless, the pervasive class structures of Hyderabadi society – the River Musi had divided Hyderabad into traditional and modern, poorer and prosperous sections – are also evident in the evolving Hyderabadi-Canadian culture.
Initially, most Hyderabadis were greatly disappointed with their lives in Canada. The quiet streets of “Toronto the Good” in the 1960s, the lack of colour in the new environment, the inherent reserve of mainstream Canadians, and particularly the racial discrimination they encountered left most Hyderabadis feeling culturally and socially deprived. The feudal lifestyle of their homeland was so alien to other Canadians that even the veracity of their accounts of their former mode of living in Hyderabad was questioned. Accustomed to warmth and hospitality, they opened their homes to Canadian acquaintances and prepared elaborate Hyderabadi dinners for them, but their hospitality was never returned.
Hyderabadi immigrants, lonely and nostalgic for the culturally rich environment of their homeland, turned to each other for support and companionship. Young members of the community frequently gathered at feasts and pot-luck dinners in the homes of older Hyderabadi immigrants on weekends. On these occasions there was traditional poetry and song, gossip about families and classmates, and the opportunity to wear Hyderabadi dress and jewellery. Everyone knew everyone else through college associations and family connections. Most had attended the same private schools, had met, perhaps married, at Nizam College of Osmania University, with its cricket matches, cruising, sports cars, polo tournaments, youth festivals, debating societies, rock and roll parties, and chaperoned dating and dances. In 1974, when a former Australian headmistress of St George’s Grammar School in Hyderabad visited Toronto, there was even an old girls’ school reunion. Elderly members of the Hyderabadi community in Canada, who had arrived as sponsored immigrants in the late 1970s and 1980s, often felt isolated and homesick, but they could look forward to Hyderabadi celebrations for weddings and other festivities held almost every weekend.
The Hyderabadis, especially in Toronto, thus created their own closed social circles with family and old boy/ old girl networks. As they became more settled, the occasions took on a deliberate grandeur reminiscent of the old style, with celebrities, especially invited from England, India, or Pakistan, performing at traditional events held in public auditoriums and halls. In 1983 a Hyderabad Society was formed in Toronto. Prince Mukhafam Jah, the second grandson of the last ruling Nizam, was invited to come from England to attend a gala dinner at a five-star hotel, and the community announced charitable scholarships for Hyderabadi students in India and other social programs. However, the society did not last long, because its main purpose seemed to be to prove the close connections of some families to the Nizam, and many educated professionals, who valued Hyderabadi culture and tradition, but not necessarily allegiance to the Nizam, questioned its elitism.
