History or rather writing on history is in the news. History written by a politician often runs the risk of erring on prejudices. Objective history writing has been the attempt of all the famed writers but few succeed in this enterprise. Lev Tolstoy has written a long chapter on history writing in his masterpiece "War and peace" where he has explained "whys" and "whats" of history writing.
Indian history is replete with too many eulogies dished out as historical records of numerous kings by their courtiers. Though they have handed out crucial information about certain historical eras, they lacked in the art of objective history writing. Most have succumbed to their weaknesses to glorify individuals in their history writing. The people most often have been the last on the priority list of the writers.
The trend is nowhere seen changing. However, Jaswant Singh's take on the partition of India has reignited the passion of the people in the Indian subcontinent to revisit the trauma of 1947.
The people in the Indian subcontinent have more or less a collective psyche. The scar of partition of the subcontinent is far from being erased so much so that the collective Psyche could be called a prisoner of the past. As the past that is the partition is painful the collective psychological consequences might just have left the people of India and Pakistan diseased in their thoughts.
The discomfort of the people of the subcontinent leaves them to find easy targets to express their frustration on to find peace with their own failings to understand their history and move ahead in their collective lives. We need someone like Jinnah, Nehru, Patel and other characters to damn them for our failure to live with our history.
After exhaustive reading of Indian history from its ancient era to the modern, I believe that the subcontinent can take pride in the fact that it has the richest history in the world, with the civilisation having come out from innumerable traumas and tribulations. Also, the history if there for the people to understand their past so that they make a much better future. A mind which is enmeshed in the past is a diseased mind which needs psychological intervention.
Indian subcontinent is in dire needs of that psychological intervention, as the disease has take the form of bloody hatred in the form of terrorism. The intervention has to be collective and massive at much higher level, with the politicians of the subcontinent asked to behave like leaders. The leaders, however, are too few there to take on the task.
1 comment:
i think this has to do with recession..when there is nothing great to write about future people like discussing past..it is same in our lives too....when we are struggling with our present the sweet memories of past keeps us going...post recession everybody will discuss future
by
vikash
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