Adnan learns about the tradition of chillas:

I was surprised and asked him to wait for a while so that I could take a look at the chilla. The gate had ‘Ya Ghaus dastgir‘ written in nastaliq Urdu. I sensed that it was Sufi-inspired shrine a la mazaar though of a different kind.

And there were dozens of them in dense localities in Old Hyderabad. What I could make sense of a chilla was that wherever there was a green flag aflutter with image of a tiger on the wall other than angels, it has to be a chilla. It doesn’t need much space.

Later I asked Hyderabadi Muslims and came to know about chillas. They are installed in the honour of the great Sufi saint of Qadiriah order of Sunni dervishes, Sheikh Abdul Qadir Jilani, (also Gilani), who was born in 1078 AD, and who is a venerable figure for Muslims, especially, in Central Asia and South Asia.