Itihasa made itihasya...

                          Panels with its lion motifs at the Kailasnatha temple,Kanchipuram Those familiar with my blog would notice couple of people who figure often in my accounts. People, who I think add lot of value to history and historical thinking. And to my mind there are not many in India who seek to do much to popularize history particularly among kids. In my humble opinion, while academic researches are fine and very much needed but ultimately the popularity and relevance of history depends largely on people who not only research but are eager to share those researches and understanding with the hoi polloi.

Like theatre which enables children to 'experience the past' in a fashion which goes beyond the empirical, linear, 'narrative', event centred history, yet another method of making history experiential is visiting places where 'history has transpired'. When I say history has transpired I mean it in a very conventional sense for I actually believe (and which I have been stressing all along) that history is not so much something which happened in the past but more a method of enquiry (inquiry?) to understand various aspects of the present in which past becomes an important reference point.

  Mina is spellbound looking at the craft of the Hoyasala artisans of yore....Whatever be the ideological ramifications of temples, it is certainly part of our heritage. It represents a slice from our past (I would avoid using superlatives like 'great', 'glorious' heritage) about which we all need to be concerned. 

Spice street, Chikpet, Bangalore: History is just not about monuments and people from the past. History is as much about the present as much it is about the past. Here Inventure kids try to relate to the gullies in the old city of Bangalore and try to figure out: How did we all get into this mess?? Guess histoory alone can give satisfying answers. (Check out the website of Bangalore Walks through whom this trip was organised)

  Bangalore fort: Inventure kids discover how Bangalore was globalised in the days of Tippu himself when Lord Corwallis after losing America took it upon himself to leave no stone unturned here in India to acquire Tippus kingdom to the British empire 

  Bangalore was supposed to be confined with in the four towers as envisaged by Kempe Gowda. But....lets not go into the mess that is Bangalore. Here kids of Inventure Academy, Bangalore explore the history of Bangalore. Children need exposue of these kind to make history more hands on and help them to realise the processual nature of history...rather than factual