The past, present or future?

I recently came across an article titled "Museum should leave bodies to rest in peace" on IrishTimes.com, December 2008. The article was about archaeologists having dug up over 460 bodies at a burial site called Scaruppa and the tug of war between the people who want these bodies to be returned to consecrated ground and the museum which wanted to hold on to the bodies for possible future research. What I found interesting was how important it was to these people that the bodies be laid to rest. It seemed as if it was their close relative whose body was being besmirched and not allowed to be sanctified.

In Indian, I feel that we are far less emotionally invested in own dead ancestors. Why are we so indifferent towards our dead forefathers. Why is it that the Irish feel so religiously  and or superstitiously concerned about their ancestor while we feel nothing, after all there is just as much chance of me being related to a megalithic man as the Irish have to be related to those buried at Scaruppa burial ground.

Two thoughts that occurred to me were that maybe poverty and other social issues is the reason for our antipathy. In which case how do other countries with similar causes for antipathy react towards their own ancestor?!! And secondly it may be that it is mostly the more recent social history that actually makes our hearts beat faster.... We want to know how Hitler died or we feel horrified at the mass burials of the world war.. Which is when it struck me that this is not about dead bodies, religion or social history, to me its about why do we not care about our own past ie our archaeology?? 

So I googled the CMDA (Chennai Metrapolital Development Authority) and realised that there is no mention of archaeological sites in the website at all let alone assessing, preserving or conserving them. I know for a fact that there are many many archaeological sites around Chennai which are being replaced on a daily basis by IT companies!! So then I (being suddenly in a very Sherlock Holmes mood) googled to check out the Bristol (the first city outside India that came to mind)local planning information, there was a specific clause for archaeological site, its assessment, preservation etc.

Next I googled Uganda (again the first African and hence "Developing Country" which I could think of) and found an article on allAfrica.com about lack of money in planning the city. There was no thought of archaeological sites since bigger issues like slum control was taking precedence. Understandable.... and thus we come a whole circle, we have slums, we are a developing country....so therefore is it totally understandable why we need not think about our archaeological sites and concentrate instead on trying to feed, clothe and educate every Indian if at all we are trying to do that at all.

Even I, who am blinded by my love of our archaeological sites cannot dispute this, the people of the present come first before the old buildings, broken pottery and bones of the dead... Yes but does this mean we should not feel connected to out past?? We are running at lightning speed towards our future, full of It companies and a shining India. And in this world wind of coping with the present and preparing for our glorious future we have no time and energy  to remember our past?? Yet we do have the time, MONEY and energy to watch Jodha Akbar and debate on the name Jodha! Should I be satisfied to know that we Indians spare a couple of hours to think about our ancestors even if it is through a bollywood flick?

However something that keeps intruding my thoughts is the inextinguishable suspicion that however rich we may be we just do not care about the past, be it the bodies of our dead ancestors or their mud houses the way some other countries may...the body is not what is important it is the soul...similarly to us its not the physical remains of our ancestors that are important but their souls...which is not something we can conserve and preserve so why worry?!!!! After all we still do have mud houses so the soul of my ancestor lives on in every mud house??!

Hathor: Mistress of Turquoise

Every profession has a stereotype, like India is for the IT industry (I guess), Egypt is to Archaeology!!! However it has never been my dream to visit Egypt, and the only aspect of Egyptian history that truly captured my imagination was Akhenaten and his failed attempt at introducing a new religion...But this is probably because of my limited knowledge of Egyptian history. Akhenaten happens to have slipped past the shroud of my ignorance largely due to National Geography. However I found myself in Egypt on my way to present a paper at a conference a few weeks back. I cannot say it was love at first sight, but I can definitely say I felt quite at home. It was a lot like India except less colourful. Amongst the similarities I found that women in both our societies are very clear cut on the outside about their values,culture and religion yet ambiguous as you dig deeper. Most of them wear the Hijab which the Wikipedia describes as "modest dress for women". I remember meeting this very sweet woman at the hotel I stayed at, whose clothes completely covered her from head to toe, yet it was so torn in places that I could see more of her body than any average "western woman". While travelling by bus in Chennai you often see women again very modestly clothed yet whose blouse maybe so torn thus....strange isn't it how poverty is the same irrespective of caste, creed or religion...

The men in Egypt also remind me a lot of Indian men, any woman in India I am sure has been groped at least once in her life time...I am sure that any Indian woman visiting Egypt has also been groped at least once!!!!I It seems that like many men in Kerala, who seem to have no problem ogling women from outside Kerala, while their "own" women are strictly out of (ogling) bounds, similarly Egyptian men seem to have no issues flirting (though I have to add some of them flirt in the most amusing and harmless fashion) with any woman from outside their own country.

Ruined temple of Hathor

The biggest difference I saw though was that while we are still so connected to our past and culture the Egyptians themselves seem so disconnected. If I were to visit the Big Temple at Tanjore, I would definitely feel connected with the pooja, the people, the noise,smell and sounds of the temple. However one of the Egyptians who was with us when we visited the Pyramids said he felt no connection to the pyramids, and that most Egyptians probably do not. Which is totally understandable, there remains no connection between the pyramid building, Hathor praying (who is amongst other things the Mistress of Turquoise, goddess of love, music etc) Egyptians of long long ago to the Islamic, Arabic speaking Egyptians of today....

Yet every Egyptian I met knew of India, whether he or she was educated or not, poor or rich..They thought of Indian as an ancient civilization with beautiful women and the land of Amitabh bachans!!! Visiting Egypt maybe every archaeologists dream but for me it was such a wistful experience, the old world and all its charm...So many times I have thought that because in India traditions, language, people and their practices of the present and past is so connected there is little we have to make believe and imagine. I am so glad that it is that way now...while I remain a huge believer in imagination I realise that to be able to understand some traditions we have to know of its existence, not just have physical remains to create an image of what it could have been like. I now believe that living traditions act as a boost and not a deterrent to imagining the past. To be able to imagine priests of the Chola period doing poojai at the Tanjore temple I can always visit any temple in South India...However I have no such crutch to help me imagine the processions that took place around the temple of Hathor...Its hard to decide which is better to let my imagination run wild or have some way of confining it to a semblance of reality.......