History and Our Continued Phlegmatic Attitude

2 weeks ago, on a Friday, when we usually have our team discussions, I mooted a discussion on parts of Indian history being dubbed as mythology with most sections of the media rubbishing any attempts at rationalizing that part of our history. As usual, we had people on both sides of the fence and in some cases on the same side yet differing on more, if I may say so, “procedural” issues. In other words, they differed on how to go about sensitising the “me-generation” about our history and its relevance to our present and the future. However, the flow of the discussion was radically diverted to altogether another aspect of the issue when one member felt that the topic wasn’t even worth discussing and this made my day. Why? Because the idea behind the topic was to project history as a source of nationalistic pride, from which one could draw inspiration so long as it remains factually true. More importantly, i wanted the team to discourage a total stolidity to our past. So when this team member questioned the relevance of the topic to her life, it got all my argumentative juices flowing and that is when I started enjoying the discussion. What was even more encouraging was the fact that most of the team too felt that history could never be ignored but one could not remain tied to the past to the extent of deifying it. In short, it appeared as if all of us had ganged up against the dissenting member and yet she held her fort. I realised I had my task cut out for the rest of my stay in IIT which was to go all out against this vapid indifference to our social evolution.