History on my musings

The Flawed Greats

Harshal Suryawanshi — Wed, 15 Jan 2020 16:43:00 +0000

When I had started writing this, it was part of the previous post. But when I was reviewing that post I felt that this topic should stand on it’s own because this is something that I really feel strongly about.

So the trigger point for this blog-post was one of my Facebook friend’s post about difference between Hinduism and Hindutva. The post was actually tweeted by Shashi Tharoor and she had just shared that post on Facebook. Now this is a very delicate topic and the views differ from night to day depending on your beliefs on the matter, most of which has been shaped by years of reading second-hand, third-hard or nth-hand interpretations of Savarkar’s book ‘Essentials of Hindutva’ or ‘Hindutva: Who Is a Hindu?’. I had come across similar posts in the vein of anti-Savarkar from the same friend and had even urged her to read the book herself to form her own opinion. When I had read the book some 6 years back it had offered me clarity on my religion. But I also remember it didn’t make me consider people from other faiths any different. In fact it had given me a sense of belonging to India along with all of its faiths, its religions. But again that was my interpretation and everyone is free to arrive at their own interpretation. But I have an issue when people start bad-mouthing Savarkar. Whether you agree or disagree with him, his views, or any interpretation of his views, is your choice to make. But if you are disrespecting a person who went through horrible ordeals to free his country, our country, then that is just wrong. No one in present is in a position to talk derogatorily about our freedom fighters because we are not on the same level. We haven’t sacrificed our lives, we haven’t faced the same injustice, we can’t even imagine the times that these great personalities lived in. I have seen many derogatory posts about Mahatma Gandhi too. People have shared some seriously shitty things about him. Sitting in comfort, living our privileged lives we are in no position to talk about Mahatma Gandhi and question his sincerity and efforts during the freedom struggle. You might not agree with his methods, you might not agree with his decisions but you can’t question the man’s integrity. You are just not qualified to do that. We have got the gift of time which comes wrapped with hindsight. The views and the decisions that these leaders took at their time cannot be judged from the present.

Another thing we ought to understand is that nobody is perfect. Not even these great leaders. They were extraordinary but still human. They are bound to make mistakes. They are going to have aspects to their personalities which you don’t like. They were just as much flawed as any of us, so stop putting them on pedestal and labeling them as good or bad because they were neither. They were normal people who did great things. Most of them have written some very good books which offer us an insight on how these people were shaped and how they thought. I have read books from Savarkar and Ambedkar. I think I had even read some parts of ‘My experiments with truth’ when I was in school but I don’t recollect anything from it. These books were written at a time which was very different from ours. The lens through which we read these books or anything else for that matter is coloured by our own experiences. Hence we arrive at different interpretations even though the content is the same. When you are reading these books you don’t have to completely agree or disagree with what the author is saying. Some parts of them might resonate with you and some might seem very extreme or absurd. But that doesn’t mean you go on insulting the person who wrote that book.

With a country like ours with all of its unique problems nothing is simple or straight. Everything has layers to it and it is difficult to ascertain what is right or who is right. Those greats also had the same boon and bane of diversity. So their efforts too reflect the same variance. They all might have had different ideologies which might have even appeared to be opposing, but they all were fighting for their motherland, for our motherland. That has been the unifying thread from times immemorial which ties all this bewildering diversity together. Just like them we need to work towards a common goal while respecting each others’ diversity and even learning from it. That might make them feel better rather than virtual one-upmanship. Because they never asked for our reverence, only country’s deliverance.

Shiv Jayanti – Paying an Apt Tribute

Harshal Suryawanshi — Tue, 19 Feb 2019 05:08:00 +0000

The present age is often termed as the media age. There are numerous tools at our disposal that cater to our need to communicate with each other. Freedom of expression has become our second nature. In fact we rarely think about what we speak. Freedom of movement is exercised by millions everyday. And many of us are not even aware that we have ‘Freedom of religion’ because rarely anyone has to exercise it consciously. But imagine yourselves living in an age where these freedoms don’t exist. Where hunger is prevalent and people are starving. Where people have to pay ‘jizya’ to go to pilgrimage sites. Where people are not free to celebrate festivals and worship their Gods openly. This was Maharashtra before Shivaji Maharaj. Its said that, ‘The darkest hour is just before the dawn’. The arrival of Shivaji Maharaj was the first ray of sunlight tearing through the heart of surrounding darkness. Shiv Jayanti is the celebration of the birth of a Maratha King in simple terms. But in reality it is meant to celebrate the end of the darkness. This is the day when you end the darkness of ignorance and try to enlighten yourselves with the knowledge of the life of Shivaji Maharaj.

Shivaji Maharaj was born in the Bhonsle family to Shahaji and his wife Jijabai. Shahaji Maharaj was a Maratha general who served The Adilshah of Bijapur. The seeds of Swarajya were sown in Shivaji’s heart and mind by his mother Jijabai. She was a patriot and devout Hindu who was pained to see her country suffer the tyrannies of the Deccan Sultanates. She nurtured the dream of Swarajya in her heart long before the birth of Shivaji and she realized that dream by raising her son to be a proud, capable, just and courageous leader. At the age of 16, Shivaji captured the fort of Torna and ignited a small flame of hope amidst the seemingly perpetual darkness of foreign rule. The dream of Swarajya had started to materialize and in a few years its expanse had captured the imagination of the populace. During the course of his life, Shivaji Maharaj had triumphed the odds stacked against him numerous times. One has to only read about his encounter with Afzal Khan, the defeat of Shaiste Khan and his daring escape from the clutches of Mughal Badshah Aurangazeb to get an idea. In his quests he was aided by many brave soldiers and generals who only had their valour, loyalty and love to offer. There would have been no Shivaji if there was no Baji Prabhu to defend Paavan Khind until his last breath. There would have been no Shivaji if there was no Jiva Mahala to save him from the sword of Sayyed Banda. There would have been no Swarajya if there was no Tanaji Malusare who cared more about winning Sinhagad (the Lion’s Fort named after his sacrifice) for Swarajya than his son’s wedding. Shivaji Maharaj was not the king of the territory he ruled, he was the king of the masses he loved and protected, and who loved him back with equal fervour.

His life is a roadmap for people of all generations, of all faith. But we have reduced it to flashy messages, patriotic songs and powadas blaring on the loudspeakers on his Jayanti, and heaping garlands on his statue. Bal Gangadhar Tilak had started this practice of celebrating Shiv Jayanti publicly to inspire people to overthrow the shackles of foreign rule. India is an independent country now; we are the guardians of our own fate, our own future. But the spirit of Shiv Jayanti must live on. It must live on in our deeds, our thoughts, our speech, our literature. We should start by reading Shivaji Maharaj’s biography. See how he treated people. Understand how people around him affected his life. Learn about his struggles. Feel his difficulties. And then try to imbibe some of his qualities, try to follow his footsteps. Life of Shivaji Maharaj is full of anecdotes and examples from which we have a lot to learn. The focus and dedication of Shivaji Maharaj when he was learning swordsmanship and other martial skills is an inspiration to any student. The skill and perseverance shown by Dadoji Konddev, Raje’s teacher, is a shining example for all the teachers. Every mother should look up to Jijabai who raised her son not only with love but discipline too. Jiva Mahala and Baji Prabhu are epitomes of friendship and brotherhood. If you are a diplomat Shivaji’s statesmanship has a lot to teach you. If you are a HR manager there’s a lot for you to learn from Shivaji’s administration. Whoever you are and whatever you do, you will find something worth learning, worth following, worth teaching from this king who still dwells in peoples’ hearts.

Today, elections are contested on the promise of Swaraj. People expect the government to provide them everything, which ranges from a job to a clean street. But people forget that the definition of Swaraj itself means that people themselves are part of the government, and it is as much their responsibility to keep the streets clean as it is of the government’s. Only political class isn’t accountable to bring about Swaraj but it is on each individual to follow the principles of Swaraj and safeguard it. Imagine if Jijabai had just kept on complaining about the atrocities that the people of Maharashtra suffered. There was no need for Shivaji Maharaj to conquer forts on hilltops, to fight to free his land, to suffer hardships at his age when he could have easily spent his life in luxury. Hadn’t they decided to act upon the circumstances, the injustice and the challenges they faced, we probably wouldn’t have been able to write or read this article freely. So let’s try to build upon their legacy instead of showing our cosmetic patriotism and respect by merely sending and receiving catchy messages. Let’s strive to make Swaraj a reality. Let’s try to be responsible, proud and cognizant people. This, will be the apt tribute to our great king Shri Chattrapati Shivaji Maharaj.

Jai Hind.

The Reason I Travel

Harshal Suryawanshi — Mon, 11 Feb 2019 18:15:00 +0000

Recently one of my friends posted a question on FB as to why do you travel? He got many responses to the question including mine. Many of the responses had the common thread of exploration, perspective, life is short etc. Even when I was writing my response I wanted it to be brief, but ended up writing quite a few lines. Many days have passed since, and I have visited some more new places and gained new experiences. But it is not always about the pleasant experiences and beautiful locations. Sometimes you are stranded at a bus stop and meet some unpleasant people or have the beautiful image of the place that you have in your mind, destroyed by the ground realities. It is at these times I think to myself, why do I do this? I know this sounds corny, but such questions inevitably occur when you are waiting for the train for 10 hours. (I reached 6 hours early and the universe rewarded my overzealous punctuality by delaying the train by 4 hours. I finished a novel in that time, cleared the candy crush level that I was stuck on for months, had conversation with twins from Bengal who were pursuing MBBS in Bangladesh and destroyed some pigs in Angry Birds who seemed angrier because of the delay.)

So why do I do this? The answer that I gave to my friend’s question was this:

“To get perspective…We read so many things, fictional, non fictional…It gives me a background to whatever non fiction I have read be it historical, geographical or any other thing…when I visit the place suddenly the temple architecture that I read about in school textbooks or the wars that were fought on the forts come alive….You also get to experience the unexpected which broadens your mind and makes you more humble…Also I like to be left alone with my thoughts, that’s why I travel alone most of the times…frees me from the constraints of our time like social media, negative news and such…And finally, there are so many beautiful places to be seen, it feels a waste of life if I don’t visit at least some of them.”

Now since this is FB, we all try to be an pompous ass. From heavily ‘beautified’ photos to ‘vadhiv’ photo captions, FB is the place where everyone is supposedly living their dream. And I was no exception here. The answer I gave isn’t necessarily untrue, but it glosses over many aspects and just presents a one-dimensional, pleasant and perfect image.

Initially when I started to go on outings it was always with a group of my school or college friends. It is that time in our lives when you will blindly follow the group, even though it is towards the lecture hall (this probably - just - might be overstretching a bit). For those of us who were damned to pursue engineering, the decision is groomed long before we even know what is engineering (As a kid, I used to think engineering means building train engines, since that was the only engine I knew. I am actually surprised to not get it completely wrong). There was always someone in the group to suggest the outing and since there is never a shortage of bikes for the college kids, we would literally kick off our adventure. These trips were something out of syllabus (feels weird writing ‘out of syllabus’ with a positive connotation) for us who had arrived at engineering by following a very structured path. At this point in my life, the reason for travel was just fun and the company of friends. No hashtags, no philosophical thoughts and none of that perspective bullshit.

But life is not always about roses and unicorns. Sometimes you have things to deal with, thoughts to process, which require calm and quiet. So I went searching for places, where I will be left to my own devices. I would find some obscure hill on Google Maps and just take off there early in the morning. If I was fast enough, I would watch the sun rise through the light fog, perched on the top of the hill. There would be no one there to disturb me, and I would realise that there aren’t many thoughts to process after all (The dominant thought at those times usually was - “Why the hell did you wake up so early, idiot?”). But even amidst my sleepy thoughts, I liked the loneliness, the peacefulness of it and the sunrise. These are the times when I am travelling not because I want to go somewhere, but to get away from everything.

The book “India: A Sacred Geography” by Diana L. Eck has had a great influence on the selection of my travel locations. I came across this book somewhere around 2015 and liked it very much. There’s a map given at the beginning of the book showing all the major pilgrimage places in India. The book gave me another lens to look through while visiting places of religious significance which people might miss when they are just following the “15 places that should be on top of your list” fad. I tried to cover all the locations shown in the map which were nearby to where I was living at that time. But this was a whole new ballgame since these places were quite far and there were no bikes. But then the ubiquitous Indian Railways came to help, and I found that most of the places are easily accessible by public transport. And then I was introduced with one more aspect of travelling - interaction with strangers.

I am not very keen on talking with people (although I know some who wish that I shut up, at least once a day). But I think this is one of the most humbling and enlightening aspects of my travels. This is something you can’t plan and you have to deal with the situations as they come. When I look back at the places that I have travelled to, most of the memories that I am able to recollect are about the stories that these people lived.

I met a French woman, travelling from Khajuraho to Varanasi in sleeper class. The train was stranded just before Varanasi for more than two hours. Without any official explanation as to what was happening, the foreign tourists in the compartment were getting restless. So this French woman started talking with me about why the train is late and soon a conversation started flowing. Finally when the train reached the station, I helped her navigate the chaotic railway station. While we were alighting the train, I asked her where are her other friends to which she replied she was travelling alone. I was astonished to hear that. I usually went alone on my trips and people used to be surprised that I was travelling alone when they came to know about it. But it is a different story for me because I know the language, the culture and the implicit Do’s and Dont’s in India. But for a foreigner to manage solo travelling with hard to understand English accent in India, without any hotel booking or tourism package tour, was admirable and little frightening too. Until that point a slight sense of false pride, hubris had crept into my nature. When people repeat the same thing over and over you kind of believe it to be true and I had started thinking that I am doing something extraordinary when I travel solo. But those simple soft words shredded my ego to a million pieces. I saluted her silently from my heart to have that courage and passion to travel solo in a foreign land. Finally she negotiated with the rickshaw drivers outside (she was really good at bargaining, one more thing I admired about her) and we parted our ways after a goodbye handshake.

Then at Chitrakoot, I met a young rickshaw driver who must have been around 18 years of age. I had started walking to the places of interest there, but after some point I realised that it is impossible to cover all the places on foot. But since I had already covered a fair distance from the main town, I was not getting any rickshaw. Finally at one of the sites on the banks of river Mandakini, I found this kid willing to offer a ride. The auto was already booked by a family for sightseeing, so after taking a verbal NOC from the family I was able to travel in the rickshaw, sharing the front seat with this kid. And so the journey started and I was able to see the remaining beautiful places there. The last place that we visited was ‘Gupt - Godavari’ a cave which has a small stream flowing through it. It was really good, wading through the cold water and seeing the caves from the inside. After paying the respects to the deity there, me, the kid and the family came downstairs to have some evening snacks. The head of the family, a middle-aged person offered us snacks. While eating he casually asked this kid, “What is your caste?” I was shocked to hear that. Never before I had heard someone ask so openly and so casually about anyone’s caste. The kid too in reply told his caste coolly as though it was a normal conversation. The question itself didn’t contain any malice nor the answer had any hint of anger or shame. The incident didn’t bring about any change of behaviour from anyone for the remainder of the trip but I just couldn’t shake the feeling of uneasiness that I felt on that day till today.

I have met people offering me a ride, becoming my tour guide for a while by their own accord and people who have trained monkeys to climb on the pilgrims back and exhort money for the peanuts that have to be offered to the monkeys to get them down. I have met an elderly woman walking with me to show me the bus stop and tell (more waving and less telling) me the bus timings because I couldn’t speak the language of her region and on the same trip I have met a man who refused to help because I couldn’t speak the language of the region. I have heard people talking about the holiness of the Ganga water and the pujas and prayers they do everyday and have seen the same people pocket my mobile phone which had slipped out of my pocket in the rickshaw. I have had people denying me a place to sit even though they could easily manage it and people who have shared their food with me overriding my nay saying. I have met fellow travellers who have left well paid jobs to do farming and others who have braved the tents and the mosquitoes to follow their passion of travelling. I have heard life stories of people emptying their hearts to me, probably because it is easier to do that with a stranger and have unexpectedly met old friends to spend the rest of the day recounting memories and watching the sun set.

Again, it all seems great to read, but this is the accumulation of experiences over thousands of kilometres and many years. You are going to realise that we have formed many notions about things without ever stepping out of our district or state or region. And when you get out many of them are just going to turn out to be false notions. You are going to meet many bad people and some good ones. You are going to have few good experiences and some bad ones. But not every trip has to give you that perfect moment or that great story. You just have to let it come your way and keep walking to your destination…

Without any expectation…

History

Harshal Suryawanshi — Tue, 01 Dec 2015 14:43:00 +0000

The first thought that comes to my mind when I read or hear this word is about school. I was formally introduced to history in my Third grade, I think (my history is very weak hence the uncertainty). And I hated history soon after our first encounter. History, a subject which deals with things which are (usually) old and ancient, surprisingly brought many new things in my life, like the realization that there are questions which have to be answered in more than one line. Till then I only knew ‘Answer in one line’ type of questions but the dawn of History introduced me to ‘Answer in brief’ type of questions which had a page long answers. One more interesting thing about these answers was that though they say ‘Answer in brief’ there was nothing brief about the answers for me. One page answer - that was ‘huge’ for me. Hence the word ‘brief’ became synonymous with ‘big’ for me. It took me some years to realise that it actually means quite the opposite. So that was my first impression of history.

Soon I had grown accustomed to history and its peculiarities like long answers, dates, people, and ‘Arrange in chronological order’. Being a fairly good student I overcame my dislike for the subject and attacked it with gusto by mugging up whatever it threw at me. I maintained my good grades and advanced to next classes. The history too advanced and now there were bigger answers and more people to study about. But hey I had figured history out so it was no more a big deal. Although History and I travelled on a gloomy path, there were some moments of respite. The first was when we studied history about Shivaji Maharaj. The reason that History didn’t bother me much at that time was because Raje’s life was more like a story than a sequence of chronological events. Even today the stories of the History textbook are etched in my mind although I can’t remember a single date when a particular event took place. Raje’s oath of establishing ‘Swarajya’ with just a handful of Mavalas, capturing his first fort Torna, the first real threat to Swarajya - Afzal Khan, the battle of Pratapgad and victory of the Marathas over the huge Adilshahi forces and many events after that created a movie in my mind so enchanting, that I forgot my resentment towards history. The second respite was the history about World Wars. Here history became a war movie in my mind. Two camps fighting one another for supremacy. Their relations with each other, their vested interests, their greed, cunningness made it such a realistic picture that I didn’t mind to write some pages about it in my answering book. But apart from these two exceptions, history and I went along our gloomy path which finally ended when I passed my Tenth standard exams.

After Tenth I opted for the Science stream which gave me an opportunity to study science and maths which I loved (notice the past tense) till tenth standard. Also this meant that History had become a part of my history (felt like poetic justice to me). The next six years (12th + B.E) I never thought about history, not once. After by B.E. I worked at TCS for a year. I was in Trivandrum for my training. People from various states of India were there. It was a very novel experience for me, to be among people from different geographies, and hence different food habits, different languages, basically different everything. During our interactions I noticed that everyone was very proud of their own states, customs and heritage.

I always liked reading, nothing specific though. Just whatever fancied me I used to read it, be it a newspaper, fiction, non-fiction etc. In TCS we were spending our whole day in computer labs. We used to (try to) do some project work and then the rest of the time was meant for reading tutorials about JAVA, HTML etc. online. Well since we all are never good at doing things that we are supposed to do I used to spend time reading Wikipedia. Although I hated history I liked geography very much. So I started with Pangea, super continents, New Zealandia, and many things that I can’t recollect now. While reading geography I didn’t even realize when I had started reading history topics. Geography has had a profound effect on our history. While reading about the plate tectonics, Gondwanaland, I was directed to Indian subcontinent, the rivers of India, Indus river, Indus valley civilization, Aryan invasion theory and so on. I then keenly read about the evolution of different religions, cultures, traditions, in India, different dynasties and empires that rose and fell. I revisited the history taught to me in school. The Gupta period, the Mauryan empire, the Shakas, Kushanas, Pandyas, Cholas, Vijayanagar kingdom, Delhi sultanate, Mughal empire, Maratha empire, British India, World Wars and so on. This time history never bugged me at all, because this time I was under no obligation to remember the dates and the chronological order of the events. I read them like stories, true and glorious stories written on the canvas of time itself. I saw history in a new light and I liked what I saw. History 2.0 was awesome.

Reading all that information also gave me an insight of the events of the present. I was able to better understand the beliefs, cultures, of my colleagues and friends. I was able to understand their pride for their states, their regional histories. I was able to understand why a person from Midnapore (West Bengal) looked up to Khudiram Bose. It helped me to better understand my country and my countryfolk (countrymen would have been gender biased hence the folk part. Hey, I still remember some of what was taught in Business skills in TCS). I said that geography shaped our history, but history is not something that goes down so easily. History levelled the score with geography when it reshaped the world map. The partition of India creating India and Pakistan, the complex borders of Jammu and Kashmir, creation of a Jew state amidst the Arab countries, war of 1971 and creation of Bangladesh are some of the punches that history threw at (political)geography.

History which was a subject with boring lessons in school, has now become a collection of life lessons for me. It has changed the way I perceive the world. In times where there are controversies day in and day out, learning about our history may help us to form an educated opinion about matters based on knowledge, rather than what you are told or what you believe. History is the guide along the way which will show our present the way to a better future.