HYDERABAD: A day after Express reported on how a literary trove belonging to freedom fighter and poet Sarojini Naidu was found in Monda Market, it has come to light that the documents were moved there way back in the 1990s, after the Sarojini Naidu Memorial Trust (SNMT) building collapsed in torrential rains.
The endowments department took over the responsibility of the documents as SNMT came under its purview. “It was shifted to the Monda Market to prevent it from being destroyed,” claimed assistant commissioner of the endowments department C Shankara Balaji. But there, it was left forgotten for decades, until New Delhi-based historian Sheela Reddy intervened. Sheela was researching for her book Mr & Mrs Jinnah. The book talks about correspondences between Sarojini Naidu and Rattanbai Jinnah.
But even before that, another historian had begun approaching officials to protect the documents. “My mother and I made several representations to the endowments department, requesting them to move the documents from the vegetable market to someplace safe. But, they did not pay heed,” said historian Anuradha Reddy. Her mother, Snehalata Bhoopal, was a trustee of the SNMT that safeguarded the documents for decades.
The Dharamshala in Monda Market, that belongs now to the endowments department, is no place for safekeeping of such a literary trove. The U-Shaped building houses a grain market on the ground floor. The second floor, where the almirahs containing the documents were stacked, is labelled as ‘marriage hall’. There are a series of rooms on the second floor beside a corridor overlooking the market below. “The almirahs were stored in a total of four rooms. The 5 by 10 rooms were stacked with at least 10-15 almirahs,” said an endowments official on the condition of anonymity. “We had even treated it for termites when it was moved here.”
For two decades, at least, the almirahs stayed inside those four rooms, until the State Archives Research Institute (SARI) shifted it to Dr MCR HRD Institute of Telangana. SARI director Zareena Parveen suspects the papers might have degraded due to acidification from the steel containers. “The papers might have to be treated, because its quality weakens when acidified. SARI officials will soon digitise the material as part of conservation efforts. It would then be handed over to SNMT,” said a senior official.
It is speculated that Sarojini Naidu’s daughter Padmaja Naidu brought the troves of letters, books, old photographs from Golden Threshold to the SNMT. Of course, it was not known as the SNMT back then. The building was the birthplace of Sarojini Naidu and her brothers. Golden Threshold was the residence where Naidu shifted after her marriage to Dr PG Naidu.
Vinod Pavarala, a Professor and spokesperson for University of Hyderabad, told Express: “When Padmaja Naidu handed over Golden Threshold to the government, it may have been very well possible that some valuable documents were back taken to SNMT.” The University of Hyderabad is all set to embark on a project of converting Golden Threshold into a heritage cultural hub. Pavarala added that the University would be happy to house the documents if the Trust was interested.
“If the Sarojini Naidu Memorial Trust thinks that the documents should go back to Golden Threshold, we would happy to create a separate space for it,” he said.