Did you ever like studying history? I never did. It made no
sense to me. I didn’t understand the purpose. It was taught in the most boring
way possible and all you had to do was by-heart the names and dates and places.
Blah blah blah…
Off late I started watching some BBC documentaries and other
travel shows which talked about history of the place as well. Well the credit
for that goes to my partner – he is obsessed. I caught on. It was all so
interesting.
Current socio-political scene in India made me want to read
some of our Indian history. Actually, even before that, I wanted to understand
the story of Jerusalem. Why the whole world was fighting for a small piece of
land? And I started reading about who has claims to that land and why. This
led me to the India bit. With everyone claiming ownership and first right – how
did it came into being? Indian history is tough to actually decipher. With so
many invaders and Hindus didn’t really have straightforward written records,
its very cryptic to separate the narrator from the events. Mughal historians wrote
from their point of view and Britishers from their. None of it truly reflects
the story of the Hindu majority. Then there are the Vedas and the Puranas; epics
like Mahabharat and Ramayan which are somewhere between the documented history,
captured knowledge and mythology.
But this isn’t the main point of my writing this.
When the Covid 19 pandemic started, I was incredibly curious
to read about the 1918 Flu. What happened, what the people and rulers/ governments
did and most importantly how did we come out of it? Astonishingly you will find
many similarities on the reactions, measures and outcomes. And most of it if
not all has been documented, studied and analyzed.
Why then are we not using that knowledge during this
pandemic? At least not everyone is…
So, don’t you think that history is useless the way we learn
it in the current form. “History repeats itself” is perhaps the most often used
one liner. Then we should already know what to do or what not to do when it (history) actually does (repeats itself). And why not teach history like this to children and adults and
leaders of the world.
The main historic events mapped to the current events in
the world (And you will find something similar – remember the one liner). Let a
student study the historic event and analyze the outcomes and actions of those
involved. Then formulate the best possible solution for a similar current event and
see in real time how leaders react and what works.
For e.g. – Its pretty easy to figure which countries and
regions came socially and economically stronger out of the 1918 flu and
why? What if the students applied the same principals to the current situation?
Even if we are doomed today, at least the citizens and leaders
of tomorrow will be better than us…we can still have some hope.
And I am sure it will make for a more interesting history lesson :)
