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Well, in our school final year in 1957 we had to mug up bits and pieces of what our Social Studies Teacher, Raghava Rao, called the Indus Valley Civilization. All I recall about it now after 60 years are the names of two places called Mohenjo-daro and Harappa.
Mohenjo-daro made no impression on us but Harappa did. It sounded very like General Kariappa (Field Marshal to boot). Kariappa was a favorite of our ruddy-faced Raghava Rao, I don't know why...maybe because he too was a Southee.
We were taught all about the artifacts (with pictures) of the Indus Valley Civilization which was new then (I mean its discovery in 1920s) and was a hot cake in our exams. We were also told that Harappa had a drainage system which Muthukur lacked then...maybe even now. And that those people drew pictures on their walls like:
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"Civilization is what we wear; culture is what we are"
That aphorism was taught in our school at Muthukur in the early 1950s. And we were not left at that...we were asked to exemplify it in our exams. Shows there is nothing good in this world of ours here without a sting in its tail like the scorpion's.
I was curious just now to see if that gem of a definition of civilization vis-a-vis culture is by a famous and eminent writer or thinker like Confucius (spelled by us those days as 'confusious'). So I Googled for it (a la the recipe of a certain CM of a certain state in India unjustly reputed for its 'dateless rapes').
And this is what I got:
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Jul 5, 2012 - Our school books were replete with aphorisms. The two that stuck are: 1. Civilization is what we wear...culture is what we are 2. Manners make ...
Apr 13, 2011 - "Civilization is what we wear; Culture is what we are". But manners take a back seat when there is a spontaneous warm gesture. I watched the ...
gpsastry: Mannerisms - 1
gpsastry.blogspot.com/2012/07/mannerisms-1.html
gpsastry: Manners
gpsastry.blogspot.com/2011/04/manners.html
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I guess there is a moral there which, like Humpty Dumtpy, I can't quite figure out right now.
Anyway, none those days were civilized differently than me...we all wore khakhi knickers and printed cotton slip-through half-shirts.
It took India all of 50 years to get back to our ancient civilization of Muthukur. Slick folks in cities started showing themselves off in bare legs and half-pants again but then they called them, not knickers, but Bermudas, pronounced charmingly 'Bel Mundas' (bald heads) by my dhobi, Mithai Lal, at KGP.
And our good old slip-through shirts came back with a vengeance calling themselves T-shirts (with inane slogans like):
Well, in our school final year in 1957 we had to mug up bits and pieces of what our Social Studies Teacher, Raghava Rao, called the Indus Valley Civilization. All I recall about it now after 60 years are the names of two places called Mohenjo-daro and Harappa.
Mohenjo-daro made no impression on us but Harappa did. It sounded very like General Kariappa (Field Marshal to boot). Kariappa was a favorite of our ruddy-faced Raghava Rao, I don't know why...maybe because he too was a Southee.
We were taught all about the artifacts (with pictures) of the Indus Valley Civilization which was new then (I mean its discovery in 1920s) and was a hot cake in our exams. We were also told that Harappa had a drainage system which Muthukur lacked then...maybe even now. And that those people drew pictures on their walls like:
We were a little intrigued because some of us (not me) could draw better pictures on our school walls (and got spanked for our civilization).
But there it is...you should never judge your ancestors by your standards...old is always gold (bronze, in the case of Harappa).
Raghava Rao Sir was not very enthusiastic about one fact which he had to ruefully admit:
"Harappa is now in Pakistan"
This was a mortal blow to him...he was not a refugee of Partition, having been safely born in Nellore. But he had a thing about Pakistan (Partition was just a decade old and fresh in his memory like a raw wound).
He will be glad to know now (if he has access to DC in his tenth heaven) that our western neighbors are trying hard to take their country back to their glorious Indus Valley Days... and blame India for it...
...Posted by Ishani
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