22:07 IST
Downstairs Room with Table Fan, Inderpuri
New Delhi, India
Day 6
Dadi burps a lot. Not tiny sounds erupting from the throat, but large ones, that originate from the stomach and gurgle up the oesophagus, where on the way they make the upper part of the esophagus vibrate, creating that resounding dull sound. In dadi's case it is a long drawn dull bell-dong. And it occurs repeatedly, and it happens pretty much all the time. It is a mixture of the medicines she takes, along with her problems with indigestion perhaps.
Dadi makes a trip to the roof and downstairs on the ground floor at least once a day. It is part of her routine.
I was reading City of Djinns today. The book, from the outset, feels a bit exaggerated. The book isn't fiction. The book is a perspective on the history of Delhi. Mr. Dalrymple has narrated a number of true stories of real people - some were affected by partition, some by the 1984 riots, some by the emergency in 1977. The stories are also backed by paraphrases from other history books, and press clippings, giving events a backbone of support. But the stories of the people themselves, they seem a bit exaggerated. There could be several reasons for this:
1. The memory of the people interviewed. As I am learning from Dadi's project, memory is a strange thing. I don't think a person ever remembers a blow-by-blow sequence of events of an occurence. Memory is perhaps visual, and one remembers things that leave the deepest impression. One weaves a story around that impression. It may not make sense. Also, while telling a story to an audience, there is an instinctive desire to exaggerate. I feel that. It leaves an impression. The WOW factor. Perhaps that also plays a role.
2. Mr Dalyrymple's own interpretation. I don't mean to be a racist, but Mr. Dalyrymple is Scottish, with western sensibilities. He isn't used to loud voices, a generous spirit, gesticulation, highly-charged emotions. For him, the characters could very well be aliens. Hence his perspective would be different from the perspective of an Indian observing and asking stories of our past. For him, these are new sights and sounds, very different from the cold, bland, dry (though wonderful) British sensibilities based on logic and reasons. His interpretations would thus be an exaggeration as well.
Combining the two, it is safe to suppose that the accounts are colourful, though not entirely reliable. As Julian Barnes says it so perfectly ' History is that certainty produced at the point where the imperfections of memory meet the inadequacies of documentation.' (who's memory?) It is thus a combination of the two.
A great exchange between a history teacher and student in a history class on history (from Julian Barnes' The Sense of an Ending)
'...historians need to treat a participant's own explanation of events with a certain scepticism.It is often the statment made with an eye to the future that is the most suspect.'
If you say so, sir.
And mental states may be often be inferred from actions. The tyrant rarely sends a handwritten note requesting the elimination of an enemy.
If you say so, sir.
Well, I do.
A person's own narration of events of a past may not be factually entirely correct, or the way they happened. Subjectivity is a vice/virtue of all humans. But once we know that, we can thread a story around the nature of the person's narration of events. Find a pattern. Find the personality. Weave a story around that perhaps?
Downstairs Room with Table Fan, Inderpuri
New Delhi, India
Day 6
Dadi burps a lot. Not tiny sounds erupting from the throat, but large ones, that originate from the stomach and gurgle up the oesophagus, where on the way they make the upper part of the esophagus vibrate, creating that resounding dull sound. In dadi's case it is a long drawn dull bell-dong. And it occurs repeatedly, and it happens pretty much all the time. It is a mixture of the medicines she takes, along with her problems with indigestion perhaps.
Dadi makes a trip to the roof and downstairs on the ground floor at least once a day. It is part of her routine.
I was reading City of Djinns today. The book, from the outset, feels a bit exaggerated. The book isn't fiction. The book is a perspective on the history of Delhi. Mr. Dalrymple has narrated a number of true stories of real people - some were affected by partition, some by the 1984 riots, some by the emergency in 1977. The stories are also backed by paraphrases from other history books, and press clippings, giving events a backbone of support. But the stories of the people themselves, they seem a bit exaggerated. There could be several reasons for this:
1. The memory of the people interviewed. As I am learning from Dadi's project, memory is a strange thing. I don't think a person ever remembers a blow-by-blow sequence of events of an occurence. Memory is perhaps visual, and one remembers things that leave the deepest impression. One weaves a story around that impression. It may not make sense. Also, while telling a story to an audience, there is an instinctive desire to exaggerate. I feel that. It leaves an impression. The WOW factor. Perhaps that also plays a role.
2. Mr Dalyrymple's own interpretation. I don't mean to be a racist, but Mr. Dalyrymple is Scottish, with western sensibilities. He isn't used to loud voices, a generous spirit, gesticulation, highly-charged emotions. For him, the characters could very well be aliens. Hence his perspective would be different from the perspective of an Indian observing and asking stories of our past. For him, these are new sights and sounds, very different from the cold, bland, dry (though wonderful) British sensibilities based on logic and reasons. His interpretations would thus be an exaggeration as well.
Combining the two, it is safe to suppose that the accounts are colourful, though not entirely reliable. As Julian Barnes says it so perfectly ' History is that certainty produced at the point where the imperfections of memory meet the inadequacies of documentation.' (who's memory?) It is thus a combination of the two.
A great exchange between a history teacher and student in a history class on history (from Julian Barnes' The Sense of an Ending)
'...historians need to treat a participant's own explanation of events with a certain scepticism.It is often the statment made with an eye to the future that is the most suspect.'
If you say so, sir.
And mental states may be often be inferred from actions. The tyrant rarely sends a handwritten note requesting the elimination of an enemy.
If you say so, sir.
Well, I do.
A person's own narration of events of a past may not be factually entirely correct, or the way they happened. Subjectivity is a vice/virtue of all humans. But once we know that, we can thread a story around the nature of the person's narration of events. Find a pattern. Find the personality. Weave a story around that perhaps?
