When we think of history, we often ignore the most important and closest things – our own material possessions which connect us to our past.

And one such person who has treasured his family heirlooms, and had literally preserved his own past in the form of small priceless possessions, is 74-year-old BS Prakash.

An ex-banker who worked for SBI his whole life, he comes from a family which had formally educated persons even four generations ago, a rarity in the pre-independence period.

Between his book collection of thousands of books, Mr Prakash has also seen Hyderabad evolve from the quiet city it used to once be, into the metropolis it is today. 

We went down memory lane with him to understand how our city grew, just as he did alongside it.