LIBERATING INDIAN MIND-7
PLAINLY SPEAKING
“Can you not be a bit sober and unassuming while discussing anything. It is wasteful to show style and mannerism when talking plain is more rewarding; more communicating.”
“Yaar, you know, I started as a creative writer, not as research scholar or a party worker. We as a lot suffer from gregarious tendency. Only writers after the ladies are fond of ornaments . The one is in gold; the other in a bit of twist of tongue. Being pompous gives us a feeling of being at home. We carefully store vocables and enjoy wasting too many of them to say too little. Only historians surpass us in wasting volumes and saying nothing. That is why, I do not aspire to be a historian even after having written a few books that may pass for history.”
I had already guessed as to where are you going to perch. But my dear, what you have written is not history. That is a creative piece using sundry Information from the past, a something in between fiction and history that is what our historians tell about you and I think it is not an unjust assessment at any rate.”
“I found it somewhat embarrassing to converge the discussion at me, but the same time I felt the accumulated anguish taking possession of me. I fought it, and tried to divert the issue, “I think it is for others to discuss the Worth of my works rather than myself recounting my achievements. To be plain, I am not even eager to be in the company of historians. I have really developed an aversion to them. ”
You are rotten enough yourself to judge them rightly. They have been judged time and again by those who count as historians in the world.
I am poor in Arithmetic; poorer still in counting and discounting. I simply know none of our historians of India who was recruited to write our textbooks knew the language in which the texts are available. None of them has done any work on Indian linguistic scenario or anything closer to linguistics. None of them was a trained archaeologist. None of them had made any serious effort to study the customs and rituals which form a major source of material for writing history. I have not heard of any session of History Congresses, nor any seminar devoted to any topic concerning linguistic or sociocultural moorings of the so-called Munda or Naga people, because they thought all that had to be searched, researched and interpreted has been searched, researched and interpreted by the erstwhile masters and presented crisply in their books and journals. If such specimen of know-nothings who kept mastering the language of the erstwhile masters are elevated by international community as know-all and be-all of Indian history, I doubt both their bonafides and ability to judge the merit, but I do not doubt their cunning to use their shoes left back, as effectively as their own presence in our colonial past. This aptly describes their worth and sums up our destiny. Where could they lead the nation and what seductive role did they play in misguiding the rulers that be is an open secret?”
“You are a bit unreasonable,yaar, in fact, merciless as a butcher to be able to give them their due. Why don’t you see, how resolutely and valiantly have they fought against the communal forces..
I cut him short, “that the genii they fought emerged stronger with every rubbing of the magic lamp and ultimately prepared to gulp the lamp holder.”
He appeared nonplussed. I added, “How much thrashing you need to realize that they were used by communal forces with secular hood, in order to empower those who divided the country to redivide it? Of course the game was so open as to arouse the dormant ones who were constantly being nudged but did not read the intent until they felt they are going to fall off the furniture.”
“Tell me straight, do you think they are less patriotic than you?”
“No one can define what patriotism is in a scenario in which those who once divided can declare their intent to divide the remaining half and are judged by a court to be as patriotic as those who fight to keep it together unless, according to the court, they have not executed the plan.”
“Don’t you see what the court saw and in your own whim appear to be holding even the court to be unpatriotic.”
I did not answer.
He continued, “The court adjudged that they were throwing a warning, that the unity of the country in threatened because of the policies being followed. They were as eager to preserve the unity as their critics who charged them of malafides.”
I found him somewhat disgusting. He read me, “We have drifted into unsavory interludes. We should have been reticent about current happenings.” He repeated repentantly.
I came out of my reserve, “you wanted things to be said simply and straightly, so I wanted to tell you that our history has been written by those who could have been more successful as salesmen staking even their soul and conscience not to miss a good offer. They were vociferous but not competent. They dishonestly wrote racist history with Marxist packaging. They offered their services for a fee and compromised the dignity of historian as a profession.”
“Again on the rampaging march!” He found me as distastefu, “There is a limit. We must respect it.”
“I may appear a bit harsh, but why don’t you see that I am plainely describing those who crossed all the limits, the limit of ideology, the limit of social concern, the limit of epistemological and pedagogic ethos. Don’t you forget that they established monopoly in text book-writing, wrote books worse than notebooks prepared by good students, they forced the candidates preparing for services to learn simplest things and get the maximum marks for repeating stated sentences having serious bearing on the social and administrative fabric.”
“This is an old song that has been sung time and again by you to hurt my ear drum.”
“But that does not mitigate their sin nor it can be ignored when we are taking stock of everything.”
“What is sin in such a simple act.”
“Didn’t you see the design and plan that smells of criminal collusion.”
“This is the problem. You can suspect design and crime even if you find a flower grafted on a different variety.”
“Don’t make things look as simple and innocuous as to create doubt in my mind that you all were actually actively in collision with those who were adamant to prove the superiority of the Iranian culture vis-a-vis ancient, that is, Hindu India and were ready to go to any extent to achieve their goal. This ringing complex created a Sir Syed Ahmed, a Muslim League, a rift which was briefly patched When Gandhi stood to support Khilafat movement which even other Muslim countries did not raise with similar vehemence, leading to gore consequences and a trail of riots, carnage, direct declaration of Hindu killing and ultimately division of the country to create new divisions.”
He slammed his fist on his head to show his displeasure without saying a word.
“I know I can not convince you that it was a revival of the same intrigues through pedagogy. But answer me a simple question, why were all the historians picked up for writing the text books Hindus and all those who picked them up and supervised their work were Muslims.” If still you do not read the intent behind all this exercise, you qualify for those whom even the maker of the world can not convince. I deliberately suppressed a few words and rose in agitation uttering जो गुरु मिलहिं विरंचि सम aloud.