A million more interesting histories

At the onset itself, this series was to be aimed at the school-going crowd, and hence, I have always tried to write articles in DNA that would be different, out of the ordinary and spark interest in children.

Along the way, I have also realised as to how our school history syllabi almost exclusively deals only with politics and political events, irrespective of which era is being spoken about! Hence, perhaps it is not surprising that if you ask anybody to speak on any historical topic, chances are that he will pick a political topic such as one of the three battles of Panipat. I’m not saying that politics is unimportant, but a school gives the freedom to explore so much more. It is perhaps the only stage in life where a wide overview of everything is given; studies get narrower and more and more specialised with every passing year. It is thus unfortunate that a subject like history which can be much livelier, is reduced to a boring trudge through names and dates.

There are so many aspects of life, the history of which is rarely touched upon. I had written about how history of urban areas is neglected and have written a few articles in this series about Pune’s history. One could speak about the history of roads and highways – a few mentions here and there about the Grand Trunk Road in schoolbooks, but again under work done by Sher Shah Suri. There is very little written about how highways evolved from mud tracks to the current six-lane expressways. Or how roads which were once mud tracks are now broad highways! One can even mention the case of a road going from Assam to Afghanistan via Nepal – frequented by traders who wanted to avoid the toll imposed on routes in the Gangetic plain! Another technological marvel of our time, the Railways, also doesn’t find much space in school books, although they have a rich history and is something more readily recognisable to a schoolboy anywhere in the country than many historical figures! We can, for example, talk of the Bor Ghat in Maharashtra associated with Chhatrapati Shivaji, Nana Phadnavis, Mahadaji Shinde and finally carrying the Mumbai-Pune railway line.

Talking of industries, scant mention is made even of the prominent ones which have existed in India for almost a century or more. Some of them are rags-to-riches stories, bound to inspire anyone. For in the same breath, how much do we know of Tata Steel’s hundred-year history; perhaps, the first truly Indian industry! Yes, there was a passing mention of JRD Tata somewhere, but the topic of the rise of private industry in India is not given much space.

Another alternate history that can be explored and should be given space is that of different sports. Many sports like cricket, football, basketball or even polo has a rich history to it. I have always found history of sports to be amusing and interesting, since the origins of the sport can be so different from what we get to see today! For example, in the medieval age, football involved unruly mobs kicking a ball, without any rules attached (something that hasn’t gone away entirely one must say). Did you know it was in public schools in England where football first started becoming a rule-based sport? Reading the history of sports can also give some surprising information. For example, Asia’s oldest football tournament ‘Durand Cup’ is named after Sir Mortimer Durand, the same person responsible for drawing the Durand Line! Polo, regarded by many as an elitist sport, evoking memories of the British Raj, probably has a Manipur connection! Some sports, such as athletics and wrestling, have a history going back to over two thousand years. Of course, much can be written about that other colonial pastime, cricket, a sport where in India itself a hundred-year-old story comes up at a ‘glance’.

And lastly, I would mention the history of beverages and eatables that is again rarely found. I have written an article in DNA on how the humble tea became an Indian staple due to the efforts of the British Empire! It makes for interesting reading how eatables we take for a given today, did not exist in the country till a hundred, two hundred or four hundred years ago. Potatoes for example, were introduced in the seventeenth century by the Portuguese.

Today we will find people who claim it is impossible to cook a vegetable without putting potatoes in it! A topic like this can be combined with urban histories, allowing us to take a peek into the culinary past of a city.

One might argue, wouldn’t all this amount to ‘trivialising’ a serious subject like history? I would say it will make the subject more interesting to schoolchildren.

The writer is the author of Brahmaputra — Story of Lachit Barphukan and Sahyadris to Hindukush — Maratha Conquest of Lahore and Attock