Stories that changed your life....
Consider the vast majority of people who rely on their parents, grandparents, uncles and aunts for information about events that happened when they were too young to notice - that you are a part of, I reckon that the story you hear will differ based on the community you're from.
Each major incident that was not a win/win for the parties involved, will have two conflicting versions to it, one from the party that gained and another from the one that lost.
And our closely knit communities that encourage marrying within - mean that the information, not necessarily accurate, gets transferred from one generation to another, developing something akin to a race memory.
For instance, the Brahmins' account of Periyar differs completely from the Dalits account of it, while Periyar is held in the highest respect by the latter, that's not what uncles, aunts or parents tell their kids in Brahmin families - both for obvious reasons.
In the same note, families affected in the Hindu-Muslim riots in Hyderabad in 1990 have differing accounts of what happened. Even so in Godhra, inevitably, across India, there is a feeling of insecurity among Muslims, irrespective of how well educated they are, how rich they happen to be and the Hindus share a deep sense of mistrust too - all because of the manner in which they are brought up.
One instance would be the discussion of the Partition following independence, which every curious kid would perhaps ask, only to hear his sincerely well meaning Hindu dad or mom say,
'It was terrible but they started it first,(i.e. making dead bodies of passengers on trains) and we had to do it too.'
All the while, there is perhaps less biased information available in school texts- but only less biased, not entirely neutral for the author has an identity too.
But a large proportion including you and me, have based opinions and formed perceptions on the basis of what our parents and relatives tell us and not always from reading unbiased books, newspapers.
May be all that you think of your friend, neighbour or colleague not from the same communit as you is not so true after all then... All those stories probably changed your life much more than you could possibly ask for.
Each major incident that was not a win/win for the parties involved, will have two conflicting versions to it, one from the party that gained and another from the one that lost.
And our closely knit communities that encourage marrying within - mean that the information, not necessarily accurate, gets transferred from one generation to another, developing something akin to a race memory.
For instance, the Brahmins' account of Periyar differs completely from the Dalits account of it, while Periyar is held in the highest respect by the latter, that's not what uncles, aunts or parents tell their kids in Brahmin families - both for obvious reasons.
In the same note, families affected in the Hindu-Muslim riots in Hyderabad in 1990 have differing accounts of what happened. Even so in Godhra, inevitably, across India, there is a feeling of insecurity among Muslims, irrespective of how well educated they are, how rich they happen to be and the Hindus share a deep sense of mistrust too - all because of the manner in which they are brought up.
One instance would be the discussion of the Partition following independence, which every curious kid would perhaps ask, only to hear his sincerely well meaning Hindu dad or mom say,
'It was terrible but they started it first,(i.e. making dead bodies of passengers on trains) and we had to do it too.'
All the while, there is perhaps less biased information available in school texts- but only less biased, not entirely neutral for the author has an identity too.
But a large proportion including you and me, have based opinions and formed perceptions on the basis of what our parents and relatives tell us and not always from reading unbiased books, newspapers.
May be all that you think of your friend, neighbour or colleague not from the same communit as you is not so true after all then... All those stories probably changed your life much more than you could possibly ask for.
posted by Mohanakrishna C at 12:34 PM
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