of 13 March 2010
History makes man or
Did man make history?
Both,
I would say with conviction.
History was written by the victorious
Turned and twisted to suit an ideology
To enhance their image in the eyes of the reader
To mold and shape minds through textbooks for the young.
The Muslim era in India was
One of peaceful cultural integration
A Muslim king and a Hindu minister
Or a Hindu king and a Muslim minister.
What then went wrong
With this delicate balance
That sent Hindus, Christians, Muslims, and Sikhs
Screaming at each other’s throats?
Ireland was the laboratory
Where the ideology was perfected
To be used in India, Africa
And the troubled Middle East.
Religious, caste and ethnic differences
Used to spark a fighting within the unit.
And did it work?
Sure it did! It worked like a dream!
Divide and rule
Used to perfection with finesse
A dogma contrived
To create hate and mistrust.
Seeds sown and nourished
For centuries around the world
Now reared its head with fangs exposed
To destabilized the world with religious hate.
History is written daily today
Stored as archives in television news clips
Everyone knows and everyone has an opinion
Distorting history no longer an easy task.
(21st September 2006, Nellore)
© Nalini Hebbar/openmind/2009 - all rights reserved
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