It’s funny how a promise of a week is fulfilled after a decade and a half!
A lot of interesting changes have happened in the world and in my life too. I
have been thinking over a year to revive my promise to blog and finally got the
inspiration and courage to do so. Thanks to my wife’s non-stop encouragement
During the early educational journey, there are many
subjects that appear difficult or boring to learn. This will include
Mathematics, Science, History & Civics (Social sciences?), languages, art
etc. Of these nearly everything will fall under the difficult category because
of which children do not like it. In our country, there is one subject that is
considered boring, nearly useless and that inculcates the sense of inferiority
in its young citizens minds. You may have guessed it by now, its History. Every
other country teaches history to create a sense of pride, tell how great they
were as a nation, if there were talking about mistakes definitely follow it up
with how what they learnt and how they overcame it. The citizens not only protect the symbols of their past but revere it. Somehow in our country we have contempt for
anything from the past or are indifferent to it. Why?
Why? This is one of those few questions that sets a person
on a path to seek the truth. Others being who (am I) and how. What generally is
a question that helps us seek the truth of a given situation.
I rediscovered the love of history during my last years of
under graduation. And luckily it was not in my curriculum after my 10th
standard. The place I started was at the
very beginning of human migration story, which many scholars today say was out
of Africa in multiple waves. What piqued my interest was that there are a lot
of evidence of highly advanced civilizations across India in different times. We not only have been a junction for the human
migration for eons but also a hub of discipline, opulence and literally the
land of the gods. When I say India from a historical perspective it includes South
Asia in general but sometimes can extend to West and South East Asia.
When you travel through time (by reading articles and books
with diverse ideological leanings) what you will realise is that this land is
home to not only to the oldest of civilizations (if not the oldest) but
flourished as place where people of various nationalities, ethnicities, beliefs,
economic strata lived harmoniously provided they understood and followed the
dharmic path. This was a land of
enquiry, that is why throughout history you see people coming to India to “seek
the truth”.
If today we pose a question who are the founding fathers of
India, we may get answers like Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Babasaheb
Ambedkar who are no doubt the fathers of Republic of India. But who created,
built this nation to last this long from antiquity? It definitely cannot be the
handiwork of a few great people but because of long parade of great souls that
graced this land. Is there any similarity in the way of life from the
Saraswathi Indus civilisational times to now? Who are people like Samudragupta,
Lalitaditya, Rajendra Chola, Raja Bhoja, Pulikeshi II, Narashima Pallava? Did
we always lose wars as a nation to invading forces? If so how was Mewar able to
remain independent for long? Did British rule wax immediately after the decline of the
Mughal rule? Did the sultanate period influence all of India? Are South India's temples and culture surviving only because it was shielded from the attacks?
Our country has to thank the billions of lives that have worked hard, built
businesses across the world dominating the especially the India Ocean region,
created a stable yet modern systems of administration and creating &
disseminating knowledge. I am grateful for our ancestors’ contribution and
thank them for protecting our culture and enriching it for millennia.
Even a causal and sincere look at our story makes us realize
history is not only written by the victors but also coloured by the rulers to
suit their ideology. A better way to approach is to read the different perspectives of
History and let the reader come to a conclusion. History is powerful when told
as is. Opinions have their value but nothing is better than the truth and that
is the work of an honest historian. This will bring back the joy of learning
history and make it more meaningful for the future generations to contribute.
Look back with pride and look forward with hope. Happy exploring and learning!
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