Sunday, March 1, 2009

A myriad of thoughts

During my stay in gurgaon where I underwent training for aricent we kept aside a saturday to tour Delhi which is just 45 min away from Gurgaon. There were too many places to cover in just one day so we decided to go the prominent places alone which again were too many but we managed to cover those we planned in time. I am not going to describe the places I visited in Delhi but a thought I had when I visited some of the places.

Delhi , the capital of the Pandavas , the Mughal Kings and finally of free Republic Independent India is worth a visit with it’s vibrant atmosphere and all the architectural majesty of the golden eras of Ancient, Medieval and Modern India. We visited Qutb Minar, Humayun’s tomb, Red Fort, Lotus Temple, Akshar Dham, India Gate, Birla Temple and a few other places which I don’t remember. When I was in these places I wondered how it would have been to be ruled by a king. How different it would have been to live during the times of Akbar or ChandraGupta Maurya., both , eras of prosperity and historical importance. I would love to live in the past. I don’t know why but the very thought excites me. It would have been wonderful to live amidst all drum beating, people gathering around trees to hold discussions, to scream “Our king his majesty Akbar is visiting our town” , to breathe in oxygen from a pollution free atmosphere, to be present when the history of our glorious nation was being made , to sleep peacefully knowing we are being ruled by a good leader in Akbar or ChandraGupta Maurya or Ashoka.. To live in a time when there was prosperity, peace and satisfaction, law and order in the kingdom. To jump over crowds to have that one little look at the lovely little princess(I don’t think there were any dearth of “bird” watchers anytime in our history). To stay away from all complexities of the present world. It would have been simpler, easier to live then. To know that there were people who valued human life and who didn’t harass or kill people in the name of god or religion.

I suggested my thought to a friend who was with me at that time. He didn’t share my opinion. He didn’t want to be ruled by a king. There was nothing people could do if the king turned out to be the devil’s incarnation. He said atleast in a democracy people could oust the leader if he wasn’t a good one, I didn’t tell him anything then. But it got me thinking. So how different would it have been to be ruled by a bad king. Not much different from now. The government plunders from the people, leaves them in distress, doesn’t care about the people .I don’t see prosperity everywhere I go. We haven’t had a good leader since we declared ourselves a republic and a democracy. To be ruled by a bad king would be like living in the present. So my fantasy to go back in time and be ruled by a leader worth his position doesn’t look all that unreasonable.

However incorrect I might have been incorrect historically in this blog I know one thing for sure, if the world hadn’t had a rich history as it has now the world would have been a bland place to live in. I can’t share tables with people who say there is no use looking into the past. There is so much to be learnt from our history. History teaches us never to commit the mistakes our forefathers had done . It’s a teacher I would have missed a lot had it vanished one fine day. I love dwelling in the past. Maybe I should have done B.A History instead of B,Tech EEE and become an archaeologist. But I believe everything that has happened has happened for the good. Long live my belief. He is my king now.

P.S: I know some of the lines don’t have any relation. But there were too many thoughts pouring in at the same time into my head and I couldn’t help resist put it on paper ,oops blog.