‘For me he is always baba’

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Amrit Sadhana [1]

Prince Azam Jah talked about his father, the Nizam, his family, growing up in Australia and his love for Hyderabad on a recent visit. The Hyderabad royals are finally making their presence felt in the city.

It is no longer uncommon to see either Princess Esra, her children Princess Shehkyar and Prince Azmet Jah or her step-son Prince Azam Jah (Mukkaram Jah’s eldest son with his Australian wife Helen) enjoying a quiet meal at Falaknuma Palace with friends, strolling around Chowmahalla Palace or keeping an eye on their charitable school at Purani Haveli.
Home after a year, Azam Jah decided to come down from Perth, Australia, in time for Cartier ‘Travel with Style’ Concours D’elegance 2013 held in Mumbai in February as some of the family’s vintage cars were on display. After spending the weekend in Mumbai with his step-mother Princess Esra, he came to Hyderabad to stay at the Falaknuma Palace.
“I have been a bit naughty of late, I haven’t been here for a year, but we normally aren’t away for so long,” confesses Azam Jah as he walks into a suite at the Palace hotel. Business commitments had held him up in Australia, where he is a partner in a corporate security firm.
He now plans to come back every year and spend between two to four months here as he wants to get more involved in the Chowmahalla Palace museum. “When I came here with Baba (Prince Mukkaram Jah) and my brothers we would stay at the Chiraan Palace,” he adds.
Though they were surrounded by bodyguards and were always cocooned during these visits, the boys never had a boring moment as the Nizam was a hands-on father who would do fun things like taking his sons rafting. When he was older, the Nizam and he would go riding on their bikes near Golconda Fort.
The Nizam would also take his sons to Falaknuma Palace where they would sit at the top balcony, the place where breakfast is now served for hotel guests. “I remember coming for afternoon tea with my brother Azmeth. It used to be so quiet, you could literally hear a pin drop.”
He also recalls being taken to Chowmahalla Palace. “Those days Chowmahalla had grass growing up to your chest,” laughs Azam as he says, “Now when I see everything restored, it puts a big smile on my face.” The other thing that puts a huge smile on his face is when one praises his step-mother Esra for restoring the properties. “She is my light, without her I would not be around,” he says emotionally.
Azam was always in touch with Esra’s children as they came to Australia, but he didn’t have much to do with her while growing up. “But after my brother passed away, she took me under her wing and stood by me like a rock. I love Princess Esra with all my heart. She has been a mother to me when she needn’t have been.”
Talking about his mother, Helen, he says, “I was a bit too young when she passed away, so I don’t remember her that well. But for that part of dad’s life she suited him well. She was as happy to be with him at the sheep station as she was to come with him to Hyderabad.”
Mukkaram Jah too was a solid support for the young Azam. “Baba and I have always been close. I don’t really look at him as the Nizam, for me he is Baba.” Even when simply dressed, there was “the certain aura he always has around him.”
Some of the happy memories include the bulldozers his baba loved. “I can drive a bulldozer, shoot a gun and ride a motorbike only because Baba taught me,” says Azam, adding his only regret is that he didn’t learn Urdu from his father.
Azam says Mukkaram Jah would love to come back to Hyderabad more often. “He doesn’t do that because of all the court cases,” says an upset Azam referring to the court cases brought against his father by his step-sister Niloufer and her mother Manolya.
Azam had tried to mediate and talk to Niloufer so that they could amicably settle the issue. “I spoke with my step-sister and said, ‘Look Niloufer, stop all of this nonsense and all these court cases. Let’s just get on with this as a family together’.” But all his efforts went in vain.
Another sore topic for Azam is his father’s ex-wives barring Princess Esra. “Baba always said he was married twice; first to Princess Esra and then to my mother. The rest never really counted.”
What about the book The Last Nizam, which is based on Mukkaram Jah? Did he read it? “If I want to know anything about my family or its history, I get on the phone to Baba. I did not read it.”