His-story Her-story

Don’t know why, from very young age, I did not like studying history; never paused at any time to think why I had an in-born aversion to history, so much so, when I wrote my first government examination, which included among other subjects history, I was frightened I might fail in history. But God saved me, and I passed with 57 marks out of 100, the least mark in any subject in that examination. And I made up my mind then that I would not venture into the study of history in future, and I had kept my word. I don’t feel drawn to the historical events that have shaped the present world or the nation.

I like story-telling, and had been fond of listening to, paraphrasing and adapting stories from my younger days, and it gives me great joy to weave a story, even if it is just a cock and bull story. While re-telling the story of someone else, I had tried to fabricate my own twists and turns, and that had made the story interesting; sometimes giving credit to some unknown author, I had presented my own story brilliantly and no one doubted the authenticity of the story. I know story-writing and story-telling are not the same thing; they are two different art forms.

By breaking up the word history, one gets the so-called HIS and STORY, and the modern day feminists seem to be arguing why it should be his story and not hers; but my concern is not the sex, whether it is male or female, but about story. History basically is a story told from a particular angle, sometimes from the angle of the victors and sometimes of the vanquished. But it is a story, and all stories have certain truth in them, though the per cent of truth may vary from person to person. History tells a series of stories, oriented towards a particular goal.

In the recent years I begin to understand that history is not a subject which is boring and meaningless; if studied with interest and inquisitiveness, we can gain a lot out of history. I do agree those who forget their history are condemned to repeat it, and if nations and the world at large keep repeating the same mistake committed for ages, it is because people do not take time to study their history, to mark the significant moments which have made their present. If only we look at history as objectively as it is, then much of the problems in the world may find adequate solution.

But can history be objective through and through? We human beings have our own perspectives and leanings, supported by our own ideologies and political and social class we belong to. History often turns out to be like ten blind men touching different parts of an elephant and concluding that elephant is an animal with that particular aspect they had touched and felt; seldom do we come across a narration of history which is all comprehensive, devoid of any subjective leanings. But is it impossible to write such a history? No, it all depends what is the purpose of my presentation of history; if I want to present the history as objectively as possible, then I would make sure that my subjective views are kept at bay. It is a task that I need to embark upon, before it is too late for me to even think of entering into the limitless ocean of history, entwined with time and space.

Space Available!

It is said that the permanent place that we can ever claim for ourselves is the six feet of earth that we would be lain on; in fact, it cannot be considered permanent because soon after our bodies are decayed, and when there is a need to bury someone else in the same place, they would dig up the very place, and if they are considerate bury our bones in another place, this time maybe just a foot long pit. But what a racket we see in our cities and towns, people pawning all their possessions to purchase land! The land price has escalated in the recent years, thanks to the realtors who know how to incite the hearts of people to seek after the space they can never carry with them.

But the tragedy is it is the land that had been hitting the front page of newspapers in this part of the country over the past few years : be it Nandigram or Singur or Lalgarh, it is fight for space. There are political parties who have joined the innocent peasants to make the fight for space a political issue, and there are people who are reaping a very high dividend, thanks to their involvement in the struggles of the landless farmers of these places. That for sure is the one that deals with geographical space. But there are other spaces we may need to look into, in order to really find the significance of space.

Psychological space deals with the attitude which says how much do we allow other people to enter into our lives, our hearts. There are many people, who cannot confide with anyone, and will not easily open their hearts for others to enter in. They are careful, cautious, and calculative in all human relations. They may even look for what benefit they would get as a result of permitting a person to enter into their hearts, lives. Our lives will be enriched in the same proportion as we let other people occupy our heart and lives.

Social space is the one which deals with the familiarity we exercise with the people around us; how much do we allow other people to come close to us. Are we anthropophobic, experiencing certain amount of fear for human persons, and therefore do not let ourselves freely mingle with others? In a crowd, do I allow myself to remain alone, or do I allow myself to mingle with the people, even strangers and make them my own at the end? The longer the distance I keep with the people I live with, the more difficult it will be for me to experience human cooperation.

Spiritual space is the one I create between me and the power beyond me; in other words, it is the meeting place of my inner being and the cosmic being. It is the place where I find myself as the true image and likeness of the creator, and can experience, even if it is just for a fraction of a second, union with God, cosmos, or nature. It is a moment when I can forget the world around me, and be in peace (ananda). Until I create this space for me, I may continue to be a wo/man restless, anxious, fearful, seeking the one which alone can reach me to a place of all solace and consolation.