Looks like the word 'history' is taken widely today to mean only short term chronicles !!
Yes, chronicles. That is where all our prime ministers and presidents will be relegated to in the very long run. None among them (save perhaps Nehru and Indira Gandhi to a limited extent; if only due to the sheer length of time they were in power and also due to the fact that the Indian republic was very young in their time and so would always be 'historical' when seen from a point far into the future) would secure anything more than a mere mention in the footnotes of history books, if at all.
In 60 years of independence, we have already had 13 prime ministers and in 200 years, this number could swell to 50 or more (especially since the polity has become more and more fragmented and political musical chairs can become more frequent than it is today).
Seen against this sobering backdrop, the thinly veiled pretensions of our prime ministers (and also those like Mr. Advani who keep on salivating in eager expectation to become PMs) to claim places in history that compare in presence with those of Ashoka, Chandragupta or Akbar are comical, to say the least.
200 years hereon, a school student may remember the above named monarchs with vivid ease (as students through the ages might have done) but very likely would draw a blank if someone were to mention a certain 'Nehru'.
RE:History ? What history ?
by James Bond on Jul 16, 2008 10:45 PM Permalink
Yeah! Does the length of time have to decide the importance of a tenure in history? Sometimes few moments are enough to leave a scar on history, eg., Jallianwalah Bagh massacre in 1919, Bhopal gas leak 1984, Babri mosque demolition 1992 or the 1993 Mumbai blasts, the tsunami, etc. People will seldom forget a Sanjay Gandhi or a Jagdish Tytler or a Bal Thackeray/Raj Thackeray.
RE:History ? What history ?
by sibby mathews on Jul 16, 2008 11:04 PM Permalink
Sanjay Gandhi may never once be known by most among today's younger generation, much less future generations !!
Do you seriously think that the names you mentioned will be remembered or recognised 200 years later ???
RE:History ? What history ?
by James Bond on Jul 16, 2008 11:28 PM Permalink
Dear Sibby, Thanks for the comment. Personal tragedies do linger through generations. Ask any Kashmiri Pundit family who lost a dear one or were uprooted. Any German jewish family would ever forget/forgive the Nazis even after 200 years. I happened to be travelling from Pune to B'lore on Dec 31, 1988, the day the Shiv Sena annual conference ended. I stood the whole night instead of sleeping on my reserved berth. Even months-old babies were displaced by the Sainiks. How would the scores of sikhs who saw their family being dragged out to be butchered forget, even after 200 years? You have got to be superhuman to overcome that kind of feeling and forgive, to forget. In this day and age of individualism, the pangs of hurt and revenge are even intense.
RE:History ? What history ?
by sibby mathews on Jul 17, 2008 12:01 AM Permalink
It is not only the present age that has seen such trauma. Trauma and cataclysms have always been part of history.
Yet, typically, whatever runs to your mind are only those that have occurred in the recent past. I am sure you would not attach such emotive importance to similar incidents of the distant past. And I am also sure that even those who inherit the legacy of long past upheavals would actually care much less about those episodes than their predecessors and those who actually lived through those times did. This is human nature. We live in an age in India that has seen sharp polarisation on the basis of religion. And part of this polarisation has been caused to happen by those who remain hurt or who would like to remain hurt by past injustices. Yet, even among those that seek to keep such very old embers burning, it is only the relatively recent injustices of history that find constant favour. Thus, while mughal excesses are frequently referred to by hindu extremists, the far bloodier episodes of religious oppression by the likes of Malik Kafur (commander for Alauddin Khilji) are seldom remembered, nay even forgotten!Similarly, in Pakistan, while muslim fundamentalists keep alive memories of the pre-independence era Muslim league's fears and feelings of insecurity in a possible hindu majority united India after independence, no one remembers or is emotionally attached to the far greater violations suffered from invading mongols and turks much earlier in history !!
