The Partition Museum in Delhi was inaugurated in May 2023 and was meant to commemorate the 75th anniversary of India’s Partition, but got delayed. It is the first museum in the world to dedicate a gallery to the lost homeland of Sindh…writes Sukant Deepak
No matter how many times one visits the Partition Museum in Amritsar, the ‘Gallery of Hope’ always makes you stand still. Amid the horror of 1947, this life-affirming space asserts the painful yet important process of reconciliation, of certain acknowledgments and the will to move forward without trying to erase.
“Memory is the most important cultural heritage and must be preserved for it anchors us. No matter how painful, memories of tragedies like the partition must be preserved for future generations. People pass on, and if we do not keep the records of such events, how will the future generations learn?”
While the Holocaust Museum, Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum and the Apartheid Museum were the inspiration behind the Partition Museum which also opened another in Delhi last year, Desai says that it is important to record people and not just leaders.
“And this kind of recording of memories has to go on consistently. It is the difficult moments in a nation’s history that must be recorded — to reconcile and acknowledge the truth,” says Desai, who is part of the ongoing ‘The Sacred Amritsar-2024’, presented by Sleepwell and produced by Teamwork Arts.
The Partition Museum in Delhi was inaugurated in May 2023 and was meant to commemorate the 75th anniversary of India’s Partition, but got delayed. It is the first museum in the world to dedicate a gallery to the lost homeland of Sindh.
“It is called the Dara Shiko Library. And now it’s open to the public and schools and colleges are an important target group.
While there may be no plans to open more museums, considering the huge effort and the resources involved, she says, “We had to complete the work very fast as most people whose stories were recorded were in their sunset years. It was a race against time. Not to mention the huge financial resources.”
The few people from Pakistan who have visited the museum have shared positive reviews. There have been some write-ups in newspapers from across the border too. “The way I look at 1947 — it was a humanitarian crisis. Someone asked me long back, why not help to put up such a museum in Pakistan. But I am clear, they have to bring forth their narrative.”
During the pre-COVID era, the museum organised several exhibitions and pop-ups at different schools across the country to explain the history of the Partition. “In fact, we get several visitors from abroad, both NRIs and foreign nationals who would like to know more about 1947.
Pleased with multiple private museums coming up in India, Desai says that for too long now, it has been an exclusive domain of different governments.
“Of course, it is good that the states maintain them, but there has been a huge space for the private sector to pitch in. The new ones focus on a particular aspect and give opportunities to young people too.”
Currently working on a novel on the partition that will include her parents’ experiences as well, she is also writing a political biography which she does not want to talk about right now.
The first thing that hits about author Belinder Dhanoa’s ‘Kasauli Art Centre, 1976-1991’, set up at Ivy Lodge in Kasauli that artists Vivan and Navina Sundaram inherited from their mother, Indira Sher-Gil, in 1975, published brilliantly by Tulika Books is the fact that it is one of the best-designed books of 2023…writes Sukant Deepak
She was not very clear about what the late artist Vivan Sundaram expected when he asked her to write a book on the Kasauli Art Centre. But certain things were lucid — she would not write a definite history, it would imbibe the fact that people from all across came here, leaving a part of them at the centre. Yes, there would be voices of many, but no paraphrasing and the author would have her space — she would transcend genres, and she would wander to absurd the essence of many minds.
The first thing that hits about author Belinder Dhanoa’s ‘Kasauli Art Centre, 1976-1991’, set up at Ivy Lodge in Kasauli that artists Vivan and Navina Sundaram inherited from their mother, Indira Sher-Gil, in 1975, published brilliantly by Tulika Books is the fact that it is one of the best-designed books of 2023.
One enters the book with caution, first taking in the images of some of the masters like Nilima Sheikh, Gulammohammed Sheikh, Bhupen Khakhar, Geetanjali Shree and Anuradha Kapur who worked and stayed at the Ivy Lodge. There are families, artists are working in the outdoors in rhythm/unrhythm, and there are images of long discussions in the night, of sitting around, children playing and those completely unaware of the camera following them. Sometimes a direct gaze is frozen, and many times eyes focus on nothingness.
Dhanoa, a writer of fiction and nonfiction, with training in Visual and Cultural Studies who teaches Literary Art/Creative Writing at the Ambedkar University Delhi, through a gripping narrative captures the many concerns of those times — the Vietnam War, and interdisciplinary interactions on the rise of fundamentalist ideas. Multiple schools of art, and thought come together, and letters of artists who were part of the residencies provide a glimpse of how the shared space opened many chasms for them. How the space found a permanent spot inside them.
Dhanoa tells that she knew most of the work that had to be done by meeting and interviewing participating artists, that the centre did not exist in isolation and that the people who participated, brought different parts of themselves with them there. “I have brought in Baroda, Mumbai and other spaces. The Centre existed in the times before liberalization, before the many art galleries started dotting major Indian cities.”
Adding that it was paramount to bring to light the critique and dialogue within the artists’ community of that time, the author stresses the fact that the book had to have a lot of voices. “So much is from memory, which may not be a very reliable source, nevertheless it lends many new dimensions when recounted.”
While she managed to put together the book in a year, it took much longer to source photographs, and for the actual production.
Interestingly, the Sher-Gil Sundaram Arts Foundation is reviving the Centre which will invite artists, hold workshops and give grants shortly. “While it might be different as we live in a time with other concerns, there will be memories on the wall. I clearly remember one of the artists telling me — ‘A very intense aspect of the Centre was the fact that you could think and discuss issues that you could give only moments to in your everyday life. It was a different space in time there.’”
Dhanoa says despite their immense importance such places do not exist. Adding that dialogue between activists, and people who are involved with culture is paramount, she adds, “We must realise that those involved in the cultural scene are affected by everything around them, and they should have spaces that allow them to discuss.”
The author is currently working on her new novel on silence — not just the one that every individual needs, but also its consequences in tough times.
Qutab Minar is a soaring, 73 m high tower, built in 1193 by Qutab-ud-din Aibak immediately after the defeat of Delhi’s last Hindu kingdom…reports Mohammad Suaib Khan
Be it Delhi’s Qutab Minar or Agra’s Taj Mahal, heritage monuments are lately a hot topic of debate. Mathura’s Shahi Idgah and Varanasi’s Gyanvapi mosque have already made their way to courts. But the question is — to what extent it is right to change history?
The court’s decision on Qutab Minar is expected in a few days and we will know if the temples that once stood on its premises and were demolished centuries ago, should be revived or not.
Historian and author S. Irfan Habib said, “It is absolutely not right to tamper with history. It is a politically motivated agenda and has a purpose that everyone sees. One can see that such things are being done in all the places at the same time. Voices are being raised about things which are already known to people. There is no point bringing these things in discourse.”
“Everything is being questioned, now it is the turn of Ajmer Dargah, 850-year-old history is being questioned. The Rajputs ruled Rajasthan but never said anything. No historian has written anything about it. Facts are not needed for rants, just noise is enough. For some people, it is a hate-driven fight; for politics it is a fight for votes.”
He pointed out, “The Government of India is silent on all these issues but the people raising these issues are with the government. My only advice is that it is necessary to read and understand history. If Aurangzeb did something wrong in the past and if you do the same in the 21st century, what is the difference between you and him?”
Recently, people from several Hindu organisations gathered outside Qutab Minar, raising their demand to be allowed to offer prayers inside the complex as it was built on the ruins of a temple. Qutab Minar is a soaring, 73 m high tower, built in 1193 by Qutab-ud-din Aibak immediately after the defeat of Delhi’s last Hindu kingdom. It is among the earliest monuments built by Muslim rulers in India.
Dr Tarun Kumar, Assistant Professor at Khalsa College, Delhi University, seconded that there should be no tampering with history and insisted that “Things are written on the basis of researched facts and evidence, and historians should discuss these matters further. Research should never be stopped; facts will keep coming in. This is how our knowledge grows.”
He also cautioned, “People should not form their views on the basis of social media. It is necessary to learn from the right sources to avoid any half-baked information. Our governments should have emphasised of quality education right after Independence.”
The Krishna Janmasthan at Mathura is yet another conteoversy which has gone to court. Hindu parties say that, out of the total 13.37 acres of land allotted for Shri Krishna Janmasthan, only about 11 acres of land is used for the temple. Shahi Idgah Masjid is built on 2.37 acres of land adjacent to it. The demand is to release this 2.37 acres of land and include it in the birthplace of Shri Krishna.
Historian Syed Ali Nadeem Rizvi said, “History is being tampered with continuously for the last 8 years, it has to be understood that history can never be good or bad. Whatever happened in the past cannot be denied. History is not written or read without proof and there is a story behind history.”
“Myth is being propagated and it is insisted that history be taught in a certain way, which is wrong. What happened in the past can be best explained by historians but no body asks them. This is a worrisome situation to make a mockery of history,” he said.
“We have to accept our history, we can’t rectify past mistakes. We are playing with the future by changing history. Countries that used to take us seriously are taking us lightly because of this.”
Several claims are being made on the Gyanvapi mosque which is adjacent to Kashi Vishwanath temple in Varanasi. It is claimed that Aurangzeb demolished the temple of Lord Vishweshwar and built a mosque over it. Recently, a Shivling in the Wazu Khana of the mosque has been found and the matter is being heard in the court.
Historian Firdous Anwar asserted, “Some people have vested interest for a particular purpose. Efforts to rewrite history have been made repeatedly but history is based on facts, not emotion; and such an account cannot be accepted on big platforms. All historians should come together and present their view.”
“Political parties should not interfere in history. If there is any issue, then they should talk to historians. I don’t recall a time when there was an attempt to tamper with history on such a large scale,” he added.
Added to the list of disputes is the demand for opening 22 rooms in the basement of Taj Mahal. This demand has also reached the doors of the court. The court petition claims that there is evidence which can prove that there was previously a Shiva temple there.
The veteran leader accused the ruling establishment of continuously targeting the opposition, its leaders and workers, reports Asian Lite News
Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday accused the BJP of playing divisive politics and misusing probe agencies to target the opposition parties.
She was speaking at the Congress Parliamentary Party meeting.
“The divisive and polarising agenda of the ruling party and its leaders has now become a regular feature of the political discourse in state after state.”
She said history — not just ancient but also contemporary — is being mischievously distorted and facts are maliciously invented to add fuel to the agenda. It is for everyone to stand up and confront these forces of “hate and prejudice”.
“We will not allow them to damage the bonds of amity and harmony that have sustained and enriched our diverse society for centuries.”she added.
The veteran leader accused the ruling establishment of continuously targeting the opposition, its leaders and workers. The full might of the state machinery is unleashed against them.
“Maximum governance to those in power clearly means spreading maximum fear and intimidation. Such blatant threats and tactics will neither frighten or silence us nor cow us down.” She said.
Sonia alleged that the MSMEs are in the most precarious condition. There is no sign whatsoever that the commitments made to the farmers are going to be fulfilled in any significant manner. Prices of cooking gas and oil, petrol, diesel, fertilisers and other essential commodities have risen to an unbearable limit — and continue to rise.
“A few days back, our party launched a nationwide Mehngai-mukt Bharat campaign in which many of you took part. This must be sustained.”
She praised the Congress-led UPA government’s National Food Security Act and MGNREGA and alleged that though the minister concerned has denied it, inordinately delayed wage payments however, continues to be a serious issue.
“In spite of repeated attempts, we have been unable to get the Government to agree to a discussion on the situation on our borders, a discussion that could only have deepened the sense of collective resolve. The value of non-alignment as a foundational principle of the nation’s foreign policy that was criticised so much has now, I am glad to note, been rediscovered even though it may not be acknowledged as such.” she added.
Pic credits Twitter@Jaishankar
She expressed concern on the future of the thousands of students who have been evacuated from Ukraine. She charged the government with diluting the labour laws at a time of growing unemployment and livelihood insecurity. Interest rates on employee provident fund accumulations have been reduced considerably.
“Public sector enterprises, the one important avenue for employment of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes are being sold off under the fancy name “asset monetisation”. This will be another disaster as demonestisation turned out to be,” she said.
The current Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is a woman, but before her another woman leader has presented the budget of India in the Parliament…reports Santosh Kumar Pathak
The history of India’s budget sessions is worth reminiscing as Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is gearing up to present the Budget 2022-23 on February 1. The events are quite interesting, and many key and historical changes were witnessed. The tradition of presenting the budget in India began in 1860 during the British rule.
Since the country’s independence in 1947, there have been many interesting and historical changes in the way of presenting the budget, its timing, date and language.
Let’s go through the journey of budget in independent India.
First budget
After India attained independence August 15, 1947, the first budget of independent India was presented on November 26, 1947 by then Finance Minister RK Shanmukham Shetty. He was also lawyer and economist. It did not have a tax proposal. Only a period of 7 months was covered.
Budget printed in Hindi
CD Deshmukh, India’s third finance minister, is credited with making several historic changes in the budget.
It was during the tenure of Deshmukh, who took charge of the Finance Ministry from 1951 to 1957, that for the first time a copy of the budget was printed in English as well as in Hindi.
Earlier, the budget copy used to be printed only in English language.
Along with this, Deshmukh is also remembered as the Finance Minister who brought about major changes in the methods, nature and goals of the budget.
It was during his tenure that five-year plans were started in the country and a plan to expose black money was also brought.
However, before him, the country’s second Finance Minister John Mathai had mentioned the Planning Commission and the Five Year Plan in his budget of 1949.
The first woman to present the budget
The current Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is a woman, but before her another woman leader has presented the budget of India in the Parliament.
Indira Gandhi was the first woman to present the budget of India in the Parliament.
In 1969, then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi withdrew the charge of the Finance Ministry from Morarji Desai, the Deputy Prime Minister and became the Finance Minister of her own government.
Angered by this, Morarji Desai resigned from the Indira cabinet.
In such a political situation, in addition to being the Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, who was also handling the Finance Ministry, presented the budget in 1970 and with this she became the first woman to present the budget.
Although the record of presenting the budget in Parliament as Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru had made his name before him in 1958.
FM who presented most budget
Morarji Desai holds the record for presenting the most number of budgets in the country.
Desai, the former Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister of the country, who held the responsibility of the Finance Ministry in the government of Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi, holds the record for presenting the most budget 10 times.
Morarji Desai (Wikipedia)
Out of these, 8 times he presented the annual general budget and 2 times the interim budget.
Putting India on track of liberalization
In 1991, the Congress-led government had come to the power at the Centre, and this was the first Congress government in independent India whose prime minister was not from the Nehru-Gandhi family.
P.V. Narsimha Rao made Manmohan Singh his Finance Minister and the Budget that was presented by Singh in 1991, during the period of economic crisis, later proved to be a milestone in the history of Indian economy.
Manmohan Singh introduced economic reforms, started abolishing the ‘license raj’ and during his tenure, India was seen running fast on the path of liberalisation.
Finance Minister who changed the timing
The trend of presenting the budget in India was started during the British period, so he had also fixed the time of presenting the budget in the Indian Parliament according to the Parliament of his country.
When it is 11 a.m. in the day in London, it is 5 p.m. in the evening in India. That is why, the British government used to present the budget in the Parliament of India at 5 p.m. in order to tell the budget of India to its MPs at 11 a.m.
Even after the Independence of the country, for many decades, the budget was presented in the Lok Sabha only at 5 in the evening.
Yashwant Sinha addressing a press conference
But during the government of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the then Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha changed the time of presenting the budget and for the first time in the history of the country presented the budget in the day instead of 5 p.m. in 1999, and since then this tradition has been followed, and is being done.
The current Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will also present the budget in the Lok Sabha on February 1 at 11 a.m.
FM who changed the date of presenting budget
In the first term of the Narendra Modi-led government, a major change was made in the date of presentation of the budget.
In 2017, the then (late) Finance Minister Arun Jaitley presented the budget in Parliament on the first date instead of the last date of February and since then the budget is presented on February 1 every year.
In Jaitley’s tenure, the Railway Budget was also included in the General Budget, ending the tradition that has been going on for 9 decades.
First woman FM
Although Indira Gandhi was the first woman as a minister in charge of the finance ministry, who presented the budget in 1970, the record of becoming the country’s first full-time woman finance minister is in the name of Nirmala Sitharaman.
Sitharaman is going to present her fourth budget on February 1. But along with being the first woman finance minister, many such records have also been registered in her name, due to which she has also joined the list of finance ministers who brought historic changes in the budget.
Sitharaman changed another British-era tradition, presenting the budget in a briefcase or suitcase.
She went to the Parliament House in 2019 carrying budget papers in a bag of red cloth instead of a briefcase.
In view of the Covid-19 pandemic, a completely paperless digital budget was presented in Parliament for the first time in 2021.
This year, the tradition of printing the budget copy has stopped.
With this, Sitharaman became the first Finance Minister of the country who presented the budget from tabs instead of books and papers.
This time also, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is going to present a completely paperless digital budget.
This budget session of 2022-2023 will also be remembered for not doing ‘Halwa Ceremony’.
In fact, before the budget, a ‘Halwa Ceremony’ was traditionally organised every year in the Finance Ministry, but this time due to the threat of Covid-19 and its new variant Omicron, the Halwa Ceremony was not organised.
This time instead of halwa, sweets were served to the employees.
The record of giving the longest speech in the history of presenting the budget so far is also recorded in the name of the current Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
While presenting the budget in the Lok Sabha in 2020, she made a new record by giving a speech of 2 hours 41 minutes. Earlier, this record was registered in the name of Jaswant Singh, another Finance Minister of the NDA government.
In 2003, Jaswant Singh gave a speech for 2 hours 13 minutes while presenting the budget as the Finance Minister of the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government.
Works of literature, spanning from the author of the first modern best-seller to a Nobel Literature laureate and more, offer an insightful record of previous manifestations of life-changing epidemics…reports Vikas Datta
An insidious, and unseeable, force is out there, able to strike anyone to cause sickness, and in some cases, death. The only way to stay safe is to keep away from almost everyone else — but that is easier said than done in our urban, inter-connected, and interdependent lives.
There is widespread panic as rumours abound and the crisis brings out the best and worst in people. A description of our Covid-hit world? No, pandemics have hit us earlier too — and are reflected in our literature.
Pandemics/plagues have been regular occurrences across human existence — at the rate of two or three per century, but their dispersal in time and space, their varying impacts, and limitations of memory lead them to be forgotten by future generations. The Spanish flu epidemic of 1918 may be beyond the frame of current human experience, but how many can recall the Asian influenza of 1957 or the swine flu of 2009?
Works of literature, spanning from the author of the first modern best-seller to a Nobel Literature laureate and more, offer an insightful record of previous manifestations of life-changing epidemics.
Let us see some half-a-dozen odd of these, avoiding speculative thrillers about man-made virulent organisms being set loose or the genre where everyone becomes a mutant/zombie, before answering the obvious question: Why should we want to read about something we are now experiencing first-hand with all its attendant sufferings and disruptions?
Among the oldest is 14th-century Italian author Giovanni Boccaccio’s ‘The Decameron’ (c. 1350-53), written as the lethal ‘Black Death”, which devastated Eurasia, was at its peak.
The narrative framework of this collection of 100-odd stories is that ten wealthy young nobles of Florence — seven women and three men — leave the city for a secluded villa in the countryside for two weeks, where they spend all their time telling each other these tales.
While the stories are usually of love — romantic, tragic, and erotic, they also deal with the power of fortune, will, lust, ambition, and of clever repartees, and the characters include generous nobles, lecherous clergy, and travelling merchants.
However, one effort to steal away from the disease that doesn’t go too well can be found in Edgar Allan Poe’s story ‘The Masque of Red Death’ (1845).
First published as “‘The Mask of Red Death’ (1842), it tells how Prince Prospero, ruling over a plague-stricken realm, tries to avoid it by hiding in an abbey, with many other wealthy nobles, Not only that, they also hold a masquerade ball, but amid the revelry, there comes an unbidden guest, and eventually, “… Darkness and Decay and the Red Death held illimitable dominion over all”.
But, the first account of living amid widespread disease is ‘A Journal of the Plague Year: Being Observations or Memorials, Of the most Remarkable Occurrences, As well Publick as Private, which happened in London During the last Great Visitation In 1665’ (that was how book titles ran in those days), by Daniel Defoe, known better for ‘Robinson Crusoe’.
Presented as an eyewitness account of an anonymous resident, who chooses to stay back in the city, the book published in 1722 gives a vivid description of the sufferings of the residents of London (“A casement violently opened just above my head, and a Woman gave three frightful screeches, then cried ‘Oh! Death, death, death!'”), as the fatalities rise from week to week.
It also analyses how certain groups or individuals fared, the effects on the Church and the government, enlivened with plenty of black humour, verging on the satiric.
Organised chronologically, though without chapters and containing plenty of digressions, it is still systematic and well-researched, leading to literary scholars arguing down the ages whether to treat it as an authentic history or fiction.
Mary Shelley, better known for ‘Frankenstein’, also ushered in the dystopian apocalyptic genre of science fiction with ‘The Last Man’ (1826).
Set in the 21st century, it tells how a plague infects and decimates mankind, and how survivors try to will on to live, while fighting other hostile human settlements.
But with its characters based on her late husband, the poet Shelley, whose biography she was forbidden to write by his family, and friends such as Lord Byron, it also bemoans the failure of their political ideals, as well as the tragedy of human isolation.
While the first modern work on the issue is Jack ‘Call of the Wild’ London’s ‘The Scarlet Plague’ (1912), set in 2073 — some six decades after the eponymous plague has denuded the planet of most of its people and reduced the survivors to a rough existence, which shows how the clock of human progress can be turned back — the definitive work is Albert Camus’ ‘La Peste/The Plague’ (1947).
Set in the then French Algerian town of Oran, it depicts an outbreak of plague, the resulting quarantine, and the response of the varied characters — a doctor, a visiting journalist, a priest, a mysterious visitor, a civic official, and many others — while giving insights into the nature of suffering and powerlessness of individuals to change their destiny in an absurd existence.
At a deeper level, it can be seen as an allegory of the real-life political plague (Nazism) that affected Europe till two years before the publication of the book, but also on Camus’ views about the human condition.
There are many more, across genres. ‘The Andromeda Strain’ (1969), the first book by Michael Crichton under his own name, shows a group of American scientists dealing with a lethal extra-terrestrial micro-organism. Connie Willis in ‘The Doomsday Book’ (1992) brings together time travel and plague and epidemics in the past and the present. And Catherine Ryan Howard’s ’56 Days’ (2021) shows how rather impetuous romantic choices, in the shadow of a pandemic, can have lethal consequences.
But now, to answer why we should read books of this ilk. For one, fiction, for those not totally fixated on TV or web-streaming, offers a way of understanding the scope of the crisis, with stories helping to comprehend something that may seem too huge and frightening to process. Two, it shows that our ancestors also faced such crises, and how they tackled them. And finally,
they provide reassurance that life continues, and it’s up to us to do what we make of it with our choices.
Published by Garuda Prakashan decades after the original manuscript, it puts all pieces of the story together with maps and photographs and offers a unique insight into what really happened during the War of 1857…reports Asian Lite News.
Drawn from the details provided by a Brahmin-turned-amateur-historian, this is a real story that follows two learned men as they traverse India during the 1857 uprising on foot, unearthing history from a new vantage point
As the First War of Independence raged, a Brahmin from Maharashtra, Vishnubhat Godse, on a pilgrimage found himself caught right in the middle of the action. He, along with his uncle Rambhat, went through a series of adventures, including barely escaping hanging.
Upon his return home, Godse wrote it all down in Marathi so that his forthcoming generations could have an idea of how things were during that tumultuous period. “The Walking Brahmin” by Maneesh Madhukar Godbole retells that journey, which is a rare eyewitness account from a common Indian’s point-of-view.
Published by Garuda Prakashan decades after the original manuscript, it puts all pieces of the story together with maps and photographs and offers a unique insight into what really happened during the War of 1857.
This tale starts in 1857, as the protagonist duo starts on a ‘teertha yatra’ from Varsai, a small Maharashtrian village, and walk smack in the middle of the mutinous upheaval of 1857. Having the misfortune of being at the wrong place at the wrong time, they were caught in the crossfire between the loyalist Indian troops and the British.
Narrativising historical incidents through an Indian lens, such as the fall of Jhansi, they survived the aftermath of British savagery, were robbed of all their belongings multiple times, and even managed to avoid getting hanged twice. Being on the road for over two years, they finally returned to Varsai, which was where Vishnubhat penned down his adventure for his descendants.
“His original manuscript, which ran into 297 pages, comprised two notebooks and twenty-two individual pages. It was eventually published as a Marathi book in 1907, a few years after Vishnubhat’s death. This is probably the only known instance of a document that talks about 1857 from an Indian perspective,” the Pune-based Godbole said.
“Not only does it give us the story from the perspective of the vanquished, but it is also more reliable as it is a first-hand account of experiences and not based merely on hearsay. Thus, the value of this book, in the annals of history, is quite priceless.
Vishnubhat Godse undertook a pilgrimage amid the 1857 War of Independence, where he witnessed British brutality first hand. He wrote down his memoirs when he came home.
Maneesh Godbole retells the story in "The Walking Brahmin".
“Vishnubhat’s book offered me a unique and authentic insight on how our ancestors lived. What they believed in, the social structure of those times, the hardships, the never-give-up attitude, their fortitude, their beliefs and their ability to even put their lives at risk to fulfill their responsibility,” added Godbole, who learnt about this lesser-known story when he was busy writing blogs related to his travel to northeast India and subsequent research.
Sharing his insights on the book, Uday S. Kulkarni, historian and author of “The Extraordinary Epoch of Nanasaheb Peshwa”, said that it “gives us a graphic account of the cruelty perpetrated by British forces in cities such as Jhansi, where troops looted and massacred the populace in retaliation for the stiff resistance the city offered the attacking force. It’s a short book, which brings alive the times, the dangers, the smell of war and of death…a first-rate historical account of those turbulent times.”
The UAE Embassy in Washington, D.C., has launched a new campaign “50 Years | 50 Faces,” honouring the country’s 50th anniversary and telling the story of the UAE’s friendship with the US across five decades…reports Asian Lite News
The groundbreaking campaign is part of the UAE’s “Year of the 50th” celebration, which is taking place through March 2022.
The celebration will highlight the UAE-US relationship, which has been guided over the last 50 years by deep friendships, shared values and a common vision for a better future. Through a series of 50 short videos that will be featured on a story hub at “UAEUSAUnited.com” and promoted by the Embassy’s social media platforms, Emiratis, UAE residents and Americans, will share their personal experiences as they relate to the meaningful relations between the UAE and US.
Yousef Al Otaiba, the UAE Ambassador to the US,
The stories reflect the breadth and depth of the UAE’s history and relations with the US – and range from 15 to 50 years old, and everywhere in between.
“We’ve captured some of the special ‘moments’ that reflect aspects of the 50-year-old UAE-USA relationship, as told by individuals. Their accounts are unique, personal and unexpected, and tell the story of a friendship that has withstood the test of time,” said Yousef Al Otaiba, the UAE Ambassador to the US, whose own story about first coming to Washington, D.C. and forging friendship on his college soccer team is featured.
“As the UAE approaches its National Day, ‘50 Years | 50 Faces’ is a fitting tribute to the UAE’s founding father, Sheikh Zayed, and his vision for a more open, globally engaged and inclusive society,” continued Ambassador Al Otaiba.
The videos will feature contributions from Emirati and American officials, thought leaders, academics and students in subjects that include space, education, the arts and culture, religion and diplomacy.
One of the featured videos launching today tells the story of when, nearly 50 years ago, the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan held an extraordinary meeting with three of NASA’s Apollo 15 astronauts, who had just returned from a historic visit to the surface of the Moon. The story of this astounding meeting, as told 47 years later by former NASA scientist Farouk El-Baz is one example of the people-to-people connections illustrated by the 50 Years | 50 Faces project.
In addition to Farouk El-Baz, the launch of 50 Years | 50 Faces will feature the following individuals and their stories: – UAE Ambassador to the United States Yousef Al Otaiba recalling the friendships he formed through his love of soccer while studying at Georgetown University.
– Deeply personal moments shared by former US Ambassador to the UAE Marcelle Wahba, about the days following 9/11/2001.
– New York University Abu Dhabi Professor Michele Bambling’s work alongside Emirati students who delved into their family archives to curate the groundbreaking “Lest We Forget” project.
– Middle East pitmaster Hattem Mattar and his journey to bring Texas-style brisket to the UAE.
Additional videos will be added to the story hub UAEUSAUnited.com over the coming days and weeks. For more information, or to view the videos, visit uaeusaunited.com/50-years-50-faces
A 250-year-old historic building in Istanbul to get a facelift
The historic building originally housed French interests in Constantinople including the French National Bank…reports Asian Lite News
A 250-year-old historic building in Istanbul will get an architectural facelift to turn it into a cultural centre, the Turkish city’s Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu announced at the restoration ceremony.
The construction, named Saint Pierre Han, was built in 1771 by French architects, reports Xinhua news agency.
A 250-year-old historic building in Istanbul to get a facelift
It is located in the Banks Street, one historic spot that used to be renowned as the financial hub of the late Ottoman Empire.
Speaking at the ceremony on Monday, Imamoglu said the building will be used as a cultural centre to host temporary and permanent exhibitions after restoration.
“We have a responsibility to protect our heritage, bring it back to life, and transfer it to future generations,” Imamoglu added.
The author, who has been mostly using mobile phones to photograph, recalls that when he recently met his friend, Don McCullin, considered Britain’s greatest living photographer, he too was bowled over by the results…writes Sukant Deepak.
Historian, author and photographer William Dalrymple believes that it is imperative that political forces do not interfere with either literature, the arts or writing of history — and that goes for any government in power — right, left or centrist.
While he does not see anything wrong with re-writing of history as every generation does that and it happens to be an ongoing process, the author of books like ‘The Anarchy’, ‘The Last Mughal’, ‘The White Mughals’ and ‘Return of a King’ among others, feels that when it done with particular end in mind rather than by impartial looking at the evidence, the same can be very damaging.
“You have to make a fair judgment based on available evidence, and then write as impartially as you can. Frankly, no one is completely impartial, we all come to any given situation with the biases and ideas we were brought up with. And so the writing of history will never be ‘complete’,” he tells.
Talk to him about the dominance of Marxist left in many history departments in the post war period, and he feels that it is inevitable that there be a reaction against that.
“There is a historiography emphasising economical and social forces at the expense of biography and human agency. Yes, very few biographies have been written by Indian history departments until recently. I support some form of re-balancing, particularly towards more biographically led history and that is what I have been doing in my work already. It makes history much more interesting and accessible. Many Marxist historians researching early India, often ignored the importance of religion as a motivating force in human history,” he says.
Dalrymple, whose latest series of photographs ‘In Search of Ancient India’ is being exhibited (October 8-November 3) at Vadehra Art Gallery in the capital says it is a byproduct of his new book project – ‘The Golden Road’. “As you know, for the past 20 years I have written about early colonialism in India by the East India Company, and my four books on that, has now appeared as a box set — ‘The Company Quartet’. Now I am back to my first love which is early Buddhist Art, art history and Archaeology.”
Even as a a teenager, the author would spend most of his time at digs. Most of his summer holidays would be spent at various archaeological sites, first in Scotland and then in England. “When I left school I wanted to go and dig in Iraq and arranged to take on an ancient Syrian site, but at the last minute the dig was cancelled by Saddam Hussain and I ended up coming to India.
“The stuff that used to interest me in those days was very early history- Indus Valley, Ashoka, Ajanta, Sanchi. Some of the first things I ever wrote about India was on that very early history. The various travels that I made in the course of researching my book The Anarchy, led me to pick up this subject as my next book. Stuff that I have been longing to write about for years but never dealt with it at book length.”
The book is essentially a story of Indian culture around Asia and has three parts — the first is the northwards thrust through Pakistan and Afghanistan and Xinhang, Western China. The route that Buddhism took up through there, to eventually become by the 7th century, the state religion in China.
“Today, when India and China are at loggerheads, it is important to remember that India once culturally colonised China. When it became the state religion under the emperor Wu Zeitian in the 660’s, with it came a bunch of Indian learning — Indian Geography, ideas of astronomy, astrology and mathematics. For a brief period there was a very wholesale Indian culture colonization of China. It was never actually complete since Chinese culture is very strong and very ancient, but all sorts of Indian ideas were grafted onto Chinese culture and that was the first part of the book.
The second part of the book is south and eastwards, the story of Buddhism and Hinduism heading through the maritime silk route. Particularly the Pallava’s from Bay of Bengal to Java, Indonesia via Vietnam. The third part of the story is on Indian mathematics and astronomy heading west-wards.”
Talk to him about his fascination with photography, and the author says that it goes well with his work, and allows him to see the history that he has read and written about. It a very satisfactory thing to have a record of travelling. The first thing I do when I arrive at an amazing temple or site, is to photograph it. In a sense it helps you focus. Obviously, the photographs are a wonderful thing in themselves if you get them right.”
The author, who has been mostly using mobile phones to photograph, recalls that when he recently met his friend, Don McCullin, considered Britain’s greatest living photographer, he too was bowled over by the results.
Just like the current one, even his last exhibition, ‘Historian’s Eye’ boasted of black & white photographs. Ask him why he prefers that over colour, and the author asserts, “Some of the works that I most admire are from Bill Bryant, Cartier-Bresson, Don McCullin and Sebastian Salgago. These are photographers who have always shown how black to white could be a much stronger medium than color in the hands of a real master. I think it reduces and it adds to the strangeness. Also, it reduces familiarity. If you can get it right, it makes for much more powerful and moody images. It emphasizes signal, patterns and form.”
This author of ‘City of Djinns’ — a love letter to Delhi, who made an entire generation rediscover the country with works like ‘In the Age of Kali’ ‘Nine Lives’ is not really missing writing in that genre. “I still do long magazine pieces. However, history is my real love in which I try to channel all my love for archaeology and art history. It is much more difficult to write about early cities. After all, we are trying to rebuild entire civilizations from a few scripts, archaeological digs and records of a few Chinese pilgrims.
For someone who has written extensively on Afghanistan, it is hard not to ask him about his take on the situation there now. “A tragedy and completely avoidable situation. There was a folly on the part of the US to withdraw like that. Such a major setback for everyone. Obviously, first and foremost for the Afghans, but also a major setback for America, Britain, Australia and India. India has lost a lot of influence in that region. The only people who really win from this I think are the Chinese. Obviously, the Pakistanis have been triumphant. I think the real winners are China and Pakistan. There were actually very few American troops in Afghanistan and it was not costing huge amounts of money, by American standards. There was no anti war movement like with Vietnam. It could easily have been maintained.”
