My History is Alive

The Indian sub-continent has a thrilling history that goes back almost 60, 000 years, based on studies using mitocondrial DNA from modern Indians (http://ces.iisc.ernet.in/hpg/cesmg/peopling.html). Since then, there have been several waves of our ancestors, founding ancient cultures that are lost to the eternal sands of time.

Language is thought to have come into being some 10,000 years ago; again, we have lost touch with the tongues spoken by our Indian ancestors of the time. Sanskrit, the most significant ancient language of the region, was brought to the Indian sub-continent in another wave of highly evolved peoples.

These were the Arya, which was their term for "civilized". They came from over the Hindu Kush mountains, as people did before them and others would follow afterwards.

With the wheel of time, the Indian sub-continent also experienced a whole range of socio-political change, including the birth of world religions such as Buddhism and Jainism. Islam and Christianity came here the last, stayed, and changed, enriching the culture.

There is a disturbing trend recently to rewrite history and pervert the people's natural yearning for grassroots.

One good example of cynically exploiting history is this recent article published in The Pioneer (http://bit.ly/gMbkEM).

On the face of it, it seems a harmless (if overly nostalgic) look back at our historical and cultural past.

Then the mask slips; the self-styled "author, scholar, and thinker" believes India's culture & history stopped 1000 years ago.

Pakistanis are advised that they have adopted "alien Arabic roots" (why not just say Islam?) against the "millennia-old history" shared with modern India.

This is silly thinking on so many levels: History is not dead. Culture is alive.

Human societies have grown, developed, disappeared, and reappeared over thousands of years. The process will not stop, no matter how strong the yearning for a fossilized "ideal" past.

We are all part of history as we speak, and our impact is on the now and hereafter.

Creating attractive illusions of history that pander to low-brow prejudices is not a formula for a strong, united, and confident India.

It is also not part of the real, inclusive Indian culture.

Jai Hind!