Hyderabad, Aug. 15 -- It is a very easy thing to say or to write: India won independence from the British and became free on August 15, 1947. But it takes only a scratch of the surface for the heaviness of that year to be felt, and the deeper one goes into the subject, the heavier it gets. Hyderabad was no exception. In fact, it would go on to become one of the biggest headaches for the Indian government for an entire year.

The erstwhile princely state of Hyderabad was ruled by the last Nizam, Osman Ali Khan (1911-48), one of a handful among the 560-odd princes who chose to stay independent. His bid was not necessarily surprising. The Nizams had been appointed subedars of the Deccan by the Mughal empire in 1724, at a time when Mughal aut...