A recent news on destruction of heritage site in Hampi, got me into a debate. While I believed in Marley when he said- "If you know your historyThen you would know where you're coming from, Then you wouldn't have to ask meWho the 'eck I think I am" A few others stood by "Change is the law of life. Those who look into the past or present are sure to miss the future"-Kennedy.
I do not know if Kennedy meant destroy the past and move into the future. We would need the past in order not to be stuck in the silos. If there is no past what would be the yardstick to measure the future. I do not intend to discuss why history is important, I have spoken more than once about it. My intention here is something else. On the slightest provocation millions of us are in arms trying to defend the notion of the Indian nation. "Proud to be an Indian", we are taught to parrot it even before we understand what a nation is. While Nation can be referred to people a common territory/ history/government etc. One of the most important part is the history. In a simplistic way the sites of historical importance. Whenever some one says Taj Mahal, all of us are ready with our own bit of know how about the place, as an indication of how we are proud of it. As many of us are ready to wrong the monument by trying to vandalize it in our own trivial ways. I often wonder what makes us do things like write names, bore holes into the historical spaces. Some how as a nation we seem to be obsessed with writing names and messages on any thing of significance. My understanding says, we try to be a part of the greatness of the place by writing on it. We try to become timeless by leaving our imprint on it. Or simply, we know that we cannot be great or make something of significance, why not just steal a little bit of it. On a serious note, while we are taught to claim the ownership on the heritage, there is not even a passing mention of our responsibility towards it. When the British left, they took a lot of the heritage of sub continent with them, thanks to them we have some idea of what the past was, if left to ourselves we would have completely destroyed it by now. Each and every bit of the British rule was documented but not much of it can be found today in India, such is our concern for history and responsibility towards it. If one wants to study the then India, one can only do it from London today, we have successfully destroyed all the records of the past here. Each time the government asks for the ancient historical artifacts of India to be returned, I can't help but hope for the contrary. Let them be there, some where, in some corner of the world safe, than come back here and be lost forever. But how does it matter, they are the things of the past?? This attitude to cremate the past is what makes us mourn Bal Thackerey's death, crown Narendra Modi and call him the future of the country. That is what forgetting the past does to us.