I recently had the opportunity to photograph the badminton player PV Sindhu in between her intense practice sessions for the upcoming BWF World Championships in Glasgow (Update: she won a silver!).

The Caravan, who commissioned me to take a few portraits for the cover and some action shots, ran the photographs beautifully alongside Ajachi Chakrabarti’s excellent profile of her in the August issue. Glad to have finally scored a cover for one of my favourite magazines!

Work on my website.

Looking for a quick cup of chai after a walk around the Yousufain Dargah in Hyderabad’s Nampally locality, I spotted a brightly painted cafe occupying a part of an old building adjacent to the dargah. As I walked in, wondering if they also served Irani chai at what looked more like a small restaurant, I almost missed the group of men sitting on their haunches by the door. The sight was intriguing, for many of the men seemed to be dressed reasonably well to be beggars and their backs against the road confirmed they were not daily labourers either.

I asked one of the waiters at the cafe about them and he said they’re all waiting for coupons. I turned to the kid filling in for his father at the cash counter to elaborate.

The cafe (also a few others near by) offers food coupons to devotees looking to pay obeisance at the dargah. Sold in denominations of Rs.16, 20 and 30, a devotee can buy as many coupons as he likes and distribute them among the poor and hungry milling around the dargah. The coupons, which never expire, can be exchanged for a hot and fresh meal any time of the day between 7AM and 10PM. The menu varies on the value of the coupon but ‘customers’ can choose between Roti, Naan, Salan and Dal Rice and enjoy it seated on any of the tables inside, along with other regular customers.

Devotees can also choose to buy meals at the cafe itself, for which there is always a sizeable crowd waiting outside. “They can choose to feed all of them, just a few of them or even more, in which case we offer free meals to anyone walking later without a coupon,” explained Mohammed Khalid, the owner of the cafe whom I met later. The Yousufain Shehzad Hotel was established by his father, who also happened to be an avid bodybuilder and Haji, seventy years ago. The walls of the cafe are filled with photos of Mecca, his father from his bodybuilding days, a framed receipt of a donation to the Mecca Masjid in Hyderabad in 1978 and an enlarged news report about the hotel that appeared in The Hindu in 2012.

A devotee just bought meals for twenty-five people and a waiter went outside holding a stick in his hand and let the people waiting outside in, counting them with the stick. The waiters quickly asked the people for their meal preferences and brought them the food they wanted, with all the respect they would extend to a regular customer.

The group finished their meals in ten minutes, the waiters cleaned the place up and the next set of people walked in less than five minutes. A kid had asked Khalid for a badusha, a sweet placed in a huge tray on the cash counter, and he immediately gave him a piece. I offered to pay for it but he refused. “it is our duty to give them whatever they want, saab!”

However, as I reached the Arts College in the Osmania University (OU) campus, there was not much activity. Surprising, since it was this University that had been at the forefront of the agitations in 1969 and 2009.

4:58 PM: All I saw was Krishank Manne, spokesperson of the Osmania University Joint Action Commitee (OU JAC) and a junior of mine from the MCJ days, waiting on the steps of the college with a few friends/followers.

5:11 PM: Another group sat on the lawns at a distance and broke into a song or raised slogans occasionally.

5:36 PM: Inside the TV Room of the Narmada Research Scholar (NRS) Hostel, I found everyone glued to the TV and keenly following updates on all major TV Channels.

6:42 PM: What would be one of Krishank’s many interviews to the media that evening.

6:43 PM: People start assembling in front of the Arts College and the celebrations begin. But not quite.

6:49 PM: Most mobile networks don’t work here and nobody seemed to be very certain about the announcement. But the energy was infectious and people started joining the celebrations.

6:51 PM: A group of girl students sing on the lawns.

6:57 PM: The announcement had been made and it’s official now.

7:06 PM: An impromptu candle light vigil is observed in memory of all those who had sacrificed their lives for the cause of Telangana.

7:09 PM: The celebrations have reached their peak.

7:12 PM: Everybody had something important to say.

7:47 PM: Members of the Telangana Rastra Samithi Vidyarthi Vibhagam (TRSV), the student wing of the TRS celebrate on the campus road.

8:17 PM: Students of the OU College of Engineering celebrate on the road facing their college.

8:19 PM: Students affiliated to the NSUI, the student wing of the Congress, take out a bike rally towards the NCC Gate.

8:30 PM: Celebrations outside the Girls’ Hostel.

8:33 PM: Fireworks at the Arts College.

9:06 PM: Regular traffic passing through the University also joined the celebrations and raised slogans. Those who did not were forced to do so.

9:13 PM: A huge national flag is carried towards the NCC Gate. Probably for the first time since 2009, students were allowed to take processions beyond the gate. They did not go very far anyway, many respected the police’s request and returned after going up to the crossroads a fifty metres ahead.

Reportage by G Vishnu and Ashhar Khan on Tehelka here.