Well it's been a little while since I started a new blog hasn't it? It's been partly because I absolutely refuse to invest my time in writing something while not really saying anything in the process - and working on an industrial estate in Bracknell provided a dearth of rich material on which to draw. Partly because blogging provides me with a source of energy and company while travelling - and I haven't been travelling in a bit, so have needed neither of late. And partly because blogging regularly is blummin hard work at times. The constant angst about being interesting/informative/amusing in a paragraph or two, daily, can be a strain and deflect attention from the important business of travelling itself.
Anyway, that has all changed and I'm ready to take on the responsibility of a new blog once again. I've left my Bracknell 9-5, started a new life etc. etc. blah blah blah but more significantly, and the reason for this blog, am taking some time out from the new life to go on a bit of a trip. I'm going for a walk in fact.
I booked a 6 week trip to India a couple of months ago because I've never been before and I quite like curry. And it's cheap. And it's warm. Mostly. I think.
Yes I'll be doing some of the touristy stuff, yes, I'll be finding a beach at some point. And yes, I'll probably bump into some young people who are on their own voyage of discovery, wearing friendship bracelets, constantly meditating, and banging on about the injustices of the world caused mostly by their parents, then asking where the nearest Western Union is so they can get their parents to wire them some more money.
Aside from the obvious and inevitable above, I plan to spend some of my time trying to understand one of the most significant periods in Indian modern history. The Indian Mutiny of 1857. There aren't many good reasons why anyone outside of India should have a great awareness of this tumultuous event. I doubt whether more than a handful people reading this have ever heard if it before. I wonder whether Indians themselves know or take an interest in it themselves. I hope I'll find out when I'm there. The short version, is that it was the first time British rule in India had been seriously challenged. The consequences were that it changed the psyche of a people so long dominated by white Europeans, irrevocably and forever. It showed that the invincible British were anything but. It revealed, albeit dimly, a path to self-determination and ultimately independence, although that wasn't to be fully realised until 90 years after the mutiny had been put down and British dominance reinstated. But the damage to British hegemony had been done. Britons were no longer gods, or infinitely superior, in fact, many of them were complete plums. The Mutiny exposed that for the first time, and post-mutiny, time was all that Britain India had left. In summary, for India and Indians, it's a fairly important part of their history.
So as part of my trip, I'm going to retrace a few steps of the Mutiny while I'm in the neighbourhood. The idea is to walk along the Ganges(ish) for 150 miles or so over 10 days, and while I'm doing so take in 4 of the locations that at the time at least, made front page headlines. In about 10 days, I'll be walking from Farrukhabad, to Bithoor, to Kanpur and finally, Lucknow. Hopefully it will be an interesting journey. It will certainly be off the beaten track. Plus, the tale gets about as bloody and horrible as any story can get. I'll try and throw a few words about what happened as I go without it sounding like a history lesson.
Anyway, that has all changed and I'm ready to take on the responsibility of a new blog once again. I've left my Bracknell 9-5, started a new life etc. etc. blah blah blah but more significantly, and the reason for this blog, am taking some time out from the new life to go on a bit of a trip. I'm going for a walk in fact.
I booked a 6 week trip to India a couple of months ago because I've never been before and I quite like curry. And it's cheap. And it's warm. Mostly. I think.
Yes I'll be doing some of the touristy stuff, yes, I'll be finding a beach at some point. And yes, I'll probably bump into some young people who are on their own voyage of discovery, wearing friendship bracelets, constantly meditating, and banging on about the injustices of the world caused mostly by their parents, then asking where the nearest Western Union is so they can get their parents to wire them some more money.
Aside from the obvious and inevitable above, I plan to spend some of my time trying to understand one of the most significant periods in Indian modern history. The Indian Mutiny of 1857. There aren't many good reasons why anyone outside of India should have a great awareness of this tumultuous event. I doubt whether more than a handful people reading this have ever heard if it before. I wonder whether Indians themselves know or take an interest in it themselves. I hope I'll find out when I'm there. The short version, is that it was the first time British rule in India had been seriously challenged. The consequences were that it changed the psyche of a people so long dominated by white Europeans, irrevocably and forever. It showed that the invincible British were anything but. It revealed, albeit dimly, a path to self-determination and ultimately independence, although that wasn't to be fully realised until 90 years after the mutiny had been put down and British dominance reinstated. But the damage to British hegemony had been done. Britons were no longer gods, or infinitely superior, in fact, many of them were complete plums. The Mutiny exposed that for the first time, and post-mutiny, time was all that Britain India had left. In summary, for India and Indians, it's a fairly important part of their history.
So as part of my trip, I'm going to retrace a few steps of the Mutiny while I'm in the neighbourhood. The idea is to walk along the Ganges(ish) for 150 miles or so over 10 days, and while I'm doing so take in 4 of the locations that at the time at least, made front page headlines. In about 10 days, I'll be walking from Farrukhabad, to Bithoor, to Kanpur and finally, Lucknow. Hopefully it will be an interesting journey. It will certainly be off the beaten track. Plus, the tale gets about as bloody and horrible as any story can get. I'll try and throw a few words about what happened as I go without it sounding like a history lesson.
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