You don’t expect to find Salman Khan, Priyanka Chopra, Sachin Tendulkar or Bhaichung Bhutia in the pages of a history book. History is mostly associated with boring dates and even more boring details of long, long ago. The usual reaction to the subject, especially in Tamil Nadu, is an expressive moue that silently asks “couldn’t you do better?” But Roshen Dalal’s India at 70: Snapshots Since Independence changes this perception. It features names such as those listed above.
With The Puffin History of India for Children, 3000 BC - AD 1947 (two volumes) and The Puffin History of the World (two volumes), Dalal has worked hard to dispel the image of history as a sleep-inducing subject. She continues to do that in India at 70, where she looks not just at political developments since 1947 but also records social, economic and cultural landmarks.
Unique approach
The book is a mix of all kinds of information. Each chapter opens with a political happening and then veers off into a mix of literature, theatre, classical arts, films, sports and much more. “This was a conscious choice,” says Dalal. “My idea was to move away from political history, into a different kind of history.” There was a lot she had to leave out: “I could not make the book too long.”
Dalal says teaching history at Rishi Valley School in Madanapalle helped her understand the kind of books children wanted to read. “Youngsters in Classes VII and VIII preferred books with numerous headings and short paragraphs, and there were not many of this kind. This led me to start writing,” says Dalal. “I read a lot. Sometimes news items or documentaries direct my reading. The process of research and writing depends on the book. I make a note of unusual facts that I can use in my books.”
Name game
Dalal feels that we need to “start teaching a different kind of history” in order to kindle more interest in the subject. Ask children to research topics that interest them — sports or food or animals — and place the history in context. “If a group is looking up cricket, it would be linked with the British in India. This can be the starting point to delve into more regular topics.”
This, however, requires a more flexible syllabus, she admits. Visits to museums and archaeological sites and watching videos, documentaries and films on the subject can help generate interest. She has book recommendations as well.
“The Children Explore Histories of the World is an interesting series. For young children, Carole P. Roman’s If You Were Me and Lived In …’ is a good starting point on the culture of various countries. For older children, I have liked The Boy on a Wooden Box by Leon Leyson, a personal story of how he survived the Holocaust; Red Scarf Girl by Ji-Li Jiang on her childhood experiences of the Cultural Revolution in China; Echoes from the Square by Elizabeth Wellburn about Vedran Smailovic, the cellist who performed during the siege of Sarajevo. They can generate an interest in history and inspire youngsters to read more.”
Her personal favourites are “books written in ancient and medieval times — Banabhatta’s account of Harsha, Babur’s Memoirs , as well as biographies of all kinds. Europe by Norman Davies has so much in it that one can then explore the rest through other books. I also like Eric Hobsbawm’s and Howard Zinn’s works.
‘Jared Diamond’s Guns, Germs and Steel is another worth reading. On Indian history, The Wonder That Was India by A.L. Basham is one of my favourites. S.A.A. Rizvi has written the second volume, and this too is good.”
On a final note, I ask her what she thinks of history textbooks being rewritten and cities, roads and buildings being renamed across the country. The answer is a terse but pointed “Textbooks should be written by objective historians, not by those with a political ideology. On the whole, I would like old names to be retained as they provide a sense of history.”
But, she points out, there was a lot of renaming in the wake of Independence too. “In New Delhi, for instance, Curzon Road became Kasturba Gandhi Marg, and Connaught Place became Rajiv Chowk.”
