NEW DELHI: Many believe that Subhash Chandra Bose coined the slogan ' Jai Hind ' but a book on legends and anecdotes of Hyderabad says it was first used by a man from that city who gave up his engineering studies in Germany to become Netaji's secretary and interpreter.

In his book " Lengendotes of Hyderabad ", former civil servant Narendra Luther presents a number of interesting articles, based on documentary evidence, interviews and personal experiences, on the city that is much celebrated for its romantic origin and composite culture.

One interesting titbit is on the origin of the slogan 'Jai Hind'. According to the author, it was coined by Zain-ul Abideen Hasan, son of a collector from Hyderabad, who went to Germany to study engineering.

During World War II, Netaji had escaped to Germany to canvass support for an armed struggle to liberate India, Luther says.

"He addressed meetings of Indian prisoners of war and other Indians exhorting them to join him in his struggle. Hasan met him and inspired by his patriotism and spirit of sacrifice, he told him that he would join him after finishing his studies.

"Netaji taunted him that if he was worried about small things like these, he could not take up big causes. Stung by that rebuke, Hasan gave up his studies and became Netaji's secretary and interpreter," the book, published by Niyogi, says.

Hasan became a major in the INA and participated in the march from Burma (now Myanmar) across the Indian frontier. The army reached Imphal. It was severely handicapped in supplies and armaments and so had to retreat, the author says.

"Netaji wanted to introduce an Indian form of greeting for his army, and for independent India. Various suggestions came. Hasan suggested 'Hello'. Netaji snubbed him. Then he suggested 'Jai Hind'. Netaji liked it and it became the official form of greeting in INA and the revolutionary Indians. Later it was adopted as the official slogan of the country," he says.

The book mentions about 70 legends, anecdotes and personal accounts beginning from the beautiful rocks of the Deccan plateau to Bhagamati, to the developments during the era of Nizams and beyond.

There is another interesting incident mentioned in the book that is related to late chief minister T Anjaiah. Luther says during a concert in the early 80s, Anjaiah mixed up the name of legendary table player Allah Rakha Khan and called him 'Allah-Ho-Akbar'. This faux pas led the audience break into loud laughter.

"Anjaiah looked perplexed and asked, 'Have I said anything wrong?' One of his aides whispered into his ear, that he had not taken the correct name of the table maestro. Thereupon Anjaiah said, 'Oh, does it matter? After all Allah Rakha and Allah-Ho-Akbar are not very different," says the author, adding this led to more peals of laughter.

Other stories mentioned in the book include the much-debated tale of romance that gave birth to Bhagnagar, Stalin's orders on the red revolt and a dog made to sit on a throne by Sultan Tana Shah in recognition of it raising an alarm spotting an intruder.