Memoirs of Cyril Jones, Page 69

Cyril Jones joined the Nizam’s State Railways (N.S.R.) as an Asstt. Engineer in 1904 and was associated with it for over three decades in various capacities rising to the position of its Managing Director. His duties led to extensive travels in the State which afforded him ample opportunities of interacting with local elites, officials and people and to look closely at the society of his times.

Being employed as a railway engineer, his memoirs naturally give us a detailed account of the development and growth of the railways in the erstwhile Hyderabad State and contribute substantially to the sparse historical material available on railways.

 

Cyril Jones, however, does not restrict himself to a narration of his official domain. He throws a good deal of light on the social life, customs and manners of people and the nobility of Hyderabad during the period of his stay in the State. Full of lively comments on men and matters, they make an interesting and instructive reading.

As an introduction, Y. Saraswati Rao’s paper provides a concise history of N.S.R. from its inception in 1860 to its extinction in 1950.A bibliographical essay at the end of the book brings together what little has been so far written on the Nizam’s State Railways. Quality photographs supported by maps enhance the value of the book.

A book that would be found useful by those interested in the development of railway system and the people of erstwhile Hyderabad State in the early decades of twentieth century.

 

Omar Khalidi was born in Hyderabad in 1956. He was educated in India and the United States. He wrote several articles on the Muslim society and politics in India. His most recent publication was Hyderabad: After the Fall (1988). He was affiliated with the Aga Khan Program for IslamicArchitecture at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.A.