Humanising history: The power of storytelling in families
Narratives of lived experiences add a more intimate touch to the way kids perceive and understand history
While I was growing up, evenings were special. As the dusk settled, there was a brief interlude between the day’s chores and dinner. I would sit on the terrace with my grandparents—they would discuss events of the day over tea, and then inevitably go down memory lane. Often a power cut would act like a bonus as everyone else in the family would leave everything they were doing aside and join us outsides, watting mosquitoes and swapping stories. The inky blankness of the night would become a canvas for storytelling.
Amma, my grandmother—a natural storyteller—would recount stories of waiting for Mahatma Gandhi’s gatherings as a teenager in Katra, Allahabad, and how the neighbourhood would prepare for this impending visit for days together. My grandfather would narrate the struggles of getting an education in a town in Uttar Pradesh during British rule. Sometimes, the family would discuss the wars that took place post-independence—my father would recall sirens blaring and blackouts in Delhi during the 1965 war. And I would just soak it all in like a sponge, with all these anecdotes and stories becoming larger than life in my imagination. When I look back, narrations of these lived experiences added a different dimension to the way I perceived and understood aspects of history. They added a human touch to the events that we read in history books.
Nothing can replace the joy of listening to countless stories from one’s grandparents. Not only are they entertaining but also act as a perfect opportunity for transference of intergenerational wisdom. You get to view the culture of a bygone era in a different light. Till date I can’t forget Amma’s stories of a woman possessed by a djinn in Allahabad which led to a deeply divided neighbourhood—with some people wanting to call an exorcist and others wanting to take her to a local doctor. It was a time of deep tussle between science and superstition.
However, not everyone today can have daily interactions with grandparents, especially when they live in different parts of the country and the world. But through books, one can step into someone else’s familial history and expand one’s own universe of stories. Through part-fiction and non-fiction narratives, authors are offering a more intimate dimension to events of a bygone era. They are adding a human perspective to experiences of caste, culture, turmoil and resilience—while also forming a bridge between the past and the present. One such book is Secret of the Pickled Dream (Simon & Schuster India). The author Yesha Gambhir Mirza writes: “For the children growing up in a digital world —may you find joy in the treasures of tradition. For those who cherish the past—may its simplicity and warmth always stay with you. Some stories are meant to be lived, remembered, and passed on."
The book delves into the life of young Amani, whose definition of “cool" is being defined by vlogs and influencers. Around this time, her great grandmother, Bebe Shanti, reaches out to her from beyond and transfers many a wise adage through the simple process of pickle making. While learning about the best ingredients and martabans (containers) to buy, Amani also realises that true joy comes from sharing and not showing off.
Then there are books that allow parents and kids to experience histories that might be dramatically different from the ones they are familiar with. At a time when omissions and erasures are dominate history books, it might bode well to read such varied perspectives about the sociocultural fabric of the country. One book that stands out in this regard is The Land is My School: Dadaji Khobragade, the Rice Man of India (Pratham Books). Written by Yogesh Maitreya and illustrated by Bhargavi Rudraraju, the story looks at the life of Dadaji Khobragade when he was a young boy growing up in a Mahar family in Maharashtra’s Vidarbha region in the 1940s. Life was difficult in the village due to rampant casteism, but one day he heard Babasaheb Ambedkar’s call to action.
“The land became Dadaji’s school, teaching him patience, compassion and love. But above all, inspiring him to innovate and dream big," states the book. The Land is My School is a story of resilience rising above social barriers as Dadaji listened to the earth and its ecology to experiment with different varieties of rice on his small farmland. Like a scientist, he finally created a new variety, which he named HMT rice after the wristwatch that was popular in villages back then.
What if you could enter a time machine to witness the growing-up years of your favourite historical figure? The Teenage Diaries series (Talking Cub) offers that opportunity. By weaving fact and fiction, this series, meant for young adults, recreates the adolescent years of some of Indian history’s most famous queens and princesses in their own voices.
Take The Teenage Diary of Abbakka, the warrior queen from south India, authored by Kavitha Mandana. The entries, starting 8 March 1606, look at the many influences on the young princess. Especially impactful are the meetings conducted by her mother, Rani Tirumala Devi, with her advisers, which allow Abbakka to learn more about the family history. The reader gets to know about Abbakka’s feisty grandmother, who defeated a large Portuguese navy that had sailed from its base in Goa to attack Ullal.
Some recent non-fiction titles are going beyond a dry rendition of dates and facts to make history more accessible and engaging for a generation that has a limited attention span and would rather choose the screen over a book. The People of India: A Remarkable History in 9 Chapters (Talking Cub), edited by Anwesha Sengupta and Debarati Bagchi, is one such title. Translated by Arunava Sinha from the popular Itihase Hatekhori series in Bengali, the book spotlights the people behind big moments in the country’s timeline, covering topics such as the 1947 Partition and language politics.
One chapter that caught my interest was The Flow of Rivers by Debarati Bagchi, which looks at stories of the multiple rivers that crisscross the subcontinent, from the Saraswati and Ichamati to the Jalangi, Mathabhanga, and the Churni.. A story within this chapter looks at the novel taxation problems that emerged in the early 19th century in the Bengal presidency when the Gandaki changed its course and led to formation of new islands from its water. It brings to the fore the enterprising nature of Bidyanand Roy, a zamindar, who understood the ways of the river, and worked his way around its temperament to cover his losses.
Another book in a similar vein is A New History of India for Children (Aleph) by Rudrangshu Mukherjee, Shobita Punja, and Toby Sinclair. Complete with maps and photos, the title offers a journey of discovery through prehistory and the Mauryan empire to the Mughal rule, colonisation by the British and post-Independence developments. I find myself turning to these books again and again to answer questions of my curious teen daughter and friends about small-big incidents related to Indian history. And the fact that I am able to add a story of two that the Internet does not readily generate has added to my “coolness quotient".
For those, who like to delve deeper into a specific aspect of India’s story, there are two books of interest. One is India in Triangles: The Incredible Story of How India was Mapped and the Himalayas Measured (Puffin). Authored by Shruti Rao and Meera Iyer, this one combines adventure, daredevilery and science as readers, aged 11 and above, follow surveyors across the country to map its landscape using triangulation in the Great Trigonometrical Survey. Between the pages, you meet personalities like William Lambton, who began the survey in 1800-1802.
The other book, which is fast becoming the most-gifted title among the teens that I know, is Meghaa Gupta’s Uncoded: A Technological History of Independent India (Penguin). It delves into the thought process of scientists and innovators who have brought about changes in the Indian way of living post-independence. From farmlands to space programmes, classrooms and modern-day apps, these stories of technological transformations come packed with illustrations, trivia and anecdotes.
Today, why rely on power cuts for that time of storytelling? Instead, create bonus hours of your own when everyone gets together over a tale or two—some passed down through generations of your own family and some captured beautifully in books by other raconteurs.
Raising Parents is a monthly column about art and culture ideas to inspire both children and adults.
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