Wednesday, July 11, 2007

What shall I write?

I really do not know what should I write?

I can write about the past and the life in the village and the like.
History has become irrelevant these days. The other day I read a small artice in The Hindu about the uselessness of history. History is at two levels. We all know that India became independent on 15th August 1947
If we do not know and remember this date I am sure heavens will not fall. If you remember the date however, you will feel more attached and concerned about the matter. This is history at a national level.

Everywhere you go, you claim a certain lineage by quoting your family name. You also tell that you belong to a cetain place. I am sure it is about history at your personal level. An Akbar or Chandragupta ruling this country is not as well connected to you as the family history.
I am really concerned about the lack of this sense in people. I really do not know about my own grand father. I do not have the faintest idea about how his father looked and what he did or said.

I have a question for all of you. How mnay of you know about your village and the people thereof, say 100 years back?
This can perhaps be called as micro history. History at your own level.

Many people, great ones, write what is called an autobiography.
Otherwise ther are biographies written about equally great people who did not bother to record their past. There are novels about people. These are all books of micro history.

I firmly believe that every soul has a history to tell. It is notenough to know about only great people. Commoners have a life too. Even that will be interesting, if only you can look into it from the right point of view.

Now a days you have the possibility of recording the events even in visual form. Back in the days of yore, even writing was not possible. We lost so much of precious information just because no one thought of recording it. People should look into their geneologies and find out about their forefathers. Get what little information is possible. I have a surname. I do not know how I am related to that place. Many people are like this, I found. I am told that there is a village by that name in Karnataka. Is it still there? I would like to know. When and how we reached our present place. There are people who give contasting information. It means they do not know for sure.

This is one thing that can be written about.
There are many more things to write about.
What shall I write?

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