Lessons from the past ?

A visit to one of the many heritage houses that dot South Goa is mandatory for tourists & travellers. They reflect the pomp, glory and grandeur of a bygone era. In these days of instant gratification, it is useful to be remined that these structures, conceived and completed more than 250-300 years ago, have stood the test of time and the elements and are, by and large, none the worse for it. The wealth on display in these houses in the form of floors from Italy, glass from Belgium, china from Macau and paintings from Spain and Portugal transiently time-port visitors to a period when feudal families monopolised the riches of the land and epitomised the capitalistic excessses of their times. However, scratch a little beneath the surface and it gets difficult to escape the sadness and melancholy that envelop these structures and also the foreboding of how quickly a particular situation can unravel. And a lurking suspicion that the priceless artefacts and treasures hide more than they reveal.

The houses themselves are in varying states of disrepair. The present economic status of the owner families is reflected in their upkeep. The motive behind welcoming visitors is all too apparent. It is monetary. The donations that the families seek at the end of the guided tour are a means of sustenance. A sad predicamen to be in and worse still, it reinforces the vicious loop that they have got themselves into. As an individual visitor, the decay that these houses mirror is so relatable. You almost believe, however improbably, that with a little more prudence and restraint, this downward spiral could have been avoided. Unlike for instance a Hampi where an entire kingdom collapsed bringing down in its wake, towns, families and individuals, the crumbling heritage houses of Goa resonate with untold stories of familial descent from glory. It is particularly ironical at a time when the rest of the country (or parts of the state for that matter) is basking in the riches of a neo liberliased economy.

These houses also fall into the familiar, unwitting and expedient trap of glorifying the past for gratuitious benefits. With some active and well meaning support from the state, the current absence of which is made exceedingly apparent to the visitor, things could still be a lot different and impactful. The ability of these private museums to illuminate and educate can be harnessed. A peek into the past which fails to educate is a huge opportunity loss for society. And a society which consistently fails in this endeavor is condemned to repeat its mistakes over and over again. This is not to suggest that an objective assessment of history is the panacea for all ils plaguing humanity, but creating an environment for doing so would be a step in the right direction. Studying history, of which culture and heritage are an integral part, which does not educate is an exercise in futility.
The other aspect which needs to be explored and strengthened is the ability of these heritage houses to create a sense of collective ownership. Pride and a sense of ownership in one’s heritage is critical for heritage to thrive and grow. A lot of heritage is intangible and embedded. These mansions are the last bastions and custodians of whatever little of our heritage that can be seen and touched. Rather than be seen as islands which have lost touch with the environment that they find themselves in, it is vital they engender feelings of pride and collective ownership among citizens. Again, this is an aspect which will need the sustained support of the state. A success story in this regard which the state government would do well to emulate is that of theWest Bengal government in making every Bengali feel that he/ she “owns” the Calcutta Metro.

A visit to any Heritage house, beyond appealing to the visual senses, should be informative, illuminating and uplifting. If not, they would have failed in their reason for being. Applying this yardstick to our backyard, I guess we have a fair distance to go.

Another year rolls by

We are at the fag end of 2008. I do not know what it is but this time of the year encourages introspection amongst a lot of people. I am nor sure if people spend more time wondering about what happened in the year gone by or planning for the coming year. As for me, I do neither. A few years back the only thought was where to have the Year End bash and how much booze to have. It was almost as if there was some universal license to get drunk and not feel guilty about it the next day. Anyways I have long gotten over those kinds of guilt feelings and to that extent 31st December has lost whatever little significance it had at one point in time.

If I were to look back at 2008 (presuming nothing remarkable is going to happen in the remaining 5 days of the year), what is it that I remember and what is it that I will remember a few years down the line. A caveat here. Since this is in the public domain, although considering the number of hits this my blog must be one of the best kept secrets in the world, I will exercise a certain amount of discretion and not be completely honest. So here goes my list:

1. Continued to run fairly consistently and more importantly for longer stretches at faster speeds. Before any of you start thinking that I am the next Haile Gebreselassie, the max I have done till date is about 9 kms in one hour. At this rate, I guess I can complete a marathon in about 5 hours which come to think of it is not too bad, isn’t it, ie presuming I have not dropped dead somewhere in between. Anyway, more on my running (or is jogging the right word) in another post.

2. Did virtually no travelling. I cannot think of a new place that I visited this year. In retrospect I would classify the year as a complete waste just on this parameter alone.

3. For a reason, which I refuse to divulge, I was kind of forced to write the Story of My Life. The wastefulness of my existence really hit me hard when I realised that I could not go beyond 7 A4 size sheets. Just goes to show how much of my life has just rolled by without me even realising it. However, to bolster my self esteem and justify my existence I am planning to expand on this over the next few months/ years. But what it did was force me to start thinking of the broad contours of my life thus far and it would be fair to say that there is a certain pattern that is emerging. The biggest challenge, I guess which I face today is to change the pattern.

4. India played a few tests (6 if I am not mistaken) against Australia and did not lose a single one of these. More surprisingly we won 3 of them. Any Indian cricket fan would have taken this at the start of the year.

5. My moustache has also started graying. Somehow this affected me much more significantly than the graying of the hair on my head. To me this perhaps indicates that I was keen to look older (and therefore wiser) when I was graying prematurely and at this point in time am desperate to ignore anything that accentuates the advancing years. Psychobabbling as usual.

6. Reading hit an all time low. And I am not just referring to books. I have stopped reading the newspapers. Given the drivel that passes off for news and views these days, maybe this is not such a bad thing after all.

7. Happy that at least towards the end of the year, I blogged a bit. If at all I have a resolution for 2009 it is to blog even more regularly. The problem that I will face is given my relative lack of knowledge about most things and a pathetic inability to think even remotely originally what am I going to blog about.

8. World cricket depleted after an epidemic of high profile retirements.

9. Avoided traveling on business like the plague after the Bangalore Airport was shifted closer to Anantpur. Also, the new airport lacks the character and quaintness of the earlier one.

As you can see, nothing much to write home about. All the more reason to make something more meaningful out of 2009. Hope does spring eternal, doesn’t it.