History

I was traveling home from the office, and just like every day, I was engrossed in my thoughts when I overheard my bus mates debating on an event that happened 60 years ago. One statement caught my attention, and I began to wonder how that person can be so sure of it. The event and that statement made are irrelevant here but, the confidence with which folks were throwing arguments at each other was mindboggling. Out of curiosity, I decided to Google a bit on the subject myself. It led to a train of thought and, later, it occurred to me that it’s not only this episode that needs researching but every incident in the past. Which basically, in one single word means, history!

History is wrong. History is written by the victors. History is important. These are Google’s suggestions when you type ‘history is’. And then when you type ‘distortion of’ what you see is surprising even more.

History is his story, ignoring the gender here. Now there is no word like ‘hertory’ to pacify the feminists. So, in other words, it is his version of story, his perception or view of the subject. Why, then do we see men and women of all ages debating and fighting over something that happened much before our time. History can never be accurate. There can be numerous versions to it depending on who is narrating it and his/her role in it. History is written by the victors, some great person thought. History is written by the losers too but it is the human behavior to go in pursuit of victors and victory or inclined to good over bad, God over devil. In simpler terms, winner over loser and rightly so for everyone is here to succeed and win and no one really looks at a loser and make notes under the ‘What not to do’ header. Losers are a part of history too; perhaps, the losing party presents a tweaked, manipulated outcome so as to alter the course of history. The losing party here has reference not only in case of a war but in general terms too.

Another important aspect that needs to be considered while discussing or reading history is how biased or neutral the author is. Has the subject influenced the author much that the narrative is more of personal opinion rather than the actuality of the events.

Does this mean we forget our history? Absolutely not! It should be remembered and well. But how do we spot the correct history? How do we know if the facts are right? We may never know.