Finished reading a book a while back, titled ‘Emperors of the Peacock Throne’.. it is a chronicle of the mughal empire, starting from Babur to a little beyond Aurangazeb’s reign.. While the book did give a lot of interesting tidbits that were contrary to popular knowledge (like the fact that anarkali was actually part of akbar’s harem, and was at least 13 years older to salim) a more interesting thought crept into my mind, as i read the last few pages of the book…
the entire mughal era, spanning over 300 years has been condensed into 500 odd pages of well written history (well written because it is more like a story than history).. but while i read about the conquests of babur, the administrative policies of akbar, and the feuds ofaurangazeb, these are, in my eyes, only characters in history.. what i later realise, on more thought, is that these are also humans, who had their own thoughts… and while these characters are at least represented in the books, there are millionsand millions of characters who were part of the background – ministers, soldiers, common people.each of them had a life, some boring, some interesting, some routine, some filled with adventure,but each with a story to tell… but perhaps never told by anyone..
the point i am trying to make – while we run around doing things that are seemingly vital at that point of time and place and our lives, perhaps we do not realise that in the absolute vastness of time and space, it is maybe of no significance.. or maybe it is, in some way we cant fathom -through children and grandchildren and so on… we would like to think so…not that we should stop what we do, but somewhere, sometimes also remember that we are but tiny cogs in His vast machinery, and realise our humble role…
until next time, how ever is forever??
until next time, how ever is forever??
Somebody rightly said,”All of us contribute in creating the history of our times” So, in the major scheme of things we all do matter.
yup, you’re right, it isn’t significant…not in the big scheme of things…but if we didn’t do the things we do, we’d probably go crazy…
hmmm…..same like when I face difficult time, I compare its duration to my probable life-span and problems start looking small 🙂
I must catch this book. History was always my fav subject.. and there are so many facts which have been conveniently missed in the written history.. 🙂
arunima: hmm, maybe we do, and maybe we dont…
the monk: correct, but which also brings about these flashes of ‘to what end?’ questioning…