A different history
A Different History
By Sujata Bhatt
In the poem 'A Different History' Sujata Bhatt expresses her emotions in many different ways on the sensitive topic on how India became a British colonie. Bhatt starts with talking of the peaceful life as a god living in India with the example of saying "Great Pan is not dead;he simply emigrated to India.Here, the gods roam freely, " In this phrase Bhatt indirectly states that India is more peaceful for a god of nature (Pan) than it is in Greece which could refer to how the British came to the country and did what they want without thinking of the consequences. In her next phrase she says gods are" disguised as snakes or monkeys;" which could be found contridictery to her original phase stating that they roam freely as the have to be disguised as animals to do so. This phrase could also be linked to how when the British took over India how the acted friendly but also would cause great discomfort for the Indian beliefs and religions by doing all the things that Bhatt says are "sins" "It is a sin to shove a book aside with your foot, a sin to slam books down hard on a table, a sin to toss one carelessly across a room." This possible means that when the British took over they acted as gods as there where stronger than Indians and did what ever they wanted leaving the Indian culture in complete disbelief of the disrespect to their beliefs. All the acts calasified as "sins" according to Bhatt all had to do with being disrespectful to nature as books come from trees which the reader can think to mean two things,one could be that perhaps the British would do all these acts insulting the religious beliefs or that the gods of nature are so powerful that any disrespect to them could mean punishment for the "sinner". "You must learn how to turn the pages gently without disturbing Sarasvati," in this sentence Bhatt commands the reader to not offend Sarasvati with a very strong language as if saying this is the law and all who oppose will
By Sujata Bhatt
In the poem 'A Different History' Sujata Bhatt expresses her emotions in many different ways on the sensitive topic on how India became a British colonie. Bhatt starts with talking of the peaceful life as a god living in India with the example of saying "Great Pan is not dead;he simply emigrated to India.Here, the gods roam freely, " In this phrase Bhatt indirectly states that India is more peaceful for a god of nature (Pan) than it is in Greece which could refer to how the British came to the country and did what they want without thinking of the consequences. In her next phrase she says gods are" disguised as snakes or monkeys;" which could be found contridictery to her original phase stating that they roam freely as the have to be disguised as animals to do so. This phrase could also be linked to how when the British took over India how the acted friendly but also would cause great discomfort for the Indian beliefs and religions by doing all the things that Bhatt says are "sins" "It is a sin to shove a book aside with your foot, a sin to slam books down hard on a table, a sin to toss one carelessly across a room." This possible means that when the British took over they acted as gods as there where stronger than Indians and did what ever they wanted leaving the Indian culture in complete disbelief of the disrespect to their beliefs. All the acts calasified as "sins" according to Bhatt all had to do with being disrespectful to nature as books come from trees which the reader can think to mean two things,one could be that perhaps the British would do all these acts insulting the religious beliefs or that the gods of nature are so powerful that any disrespect to them could mean punishment for the "sinner". "You must learn how to turn the pages gently without disturbing Sarasvati," in this sentence Bhatt commands the reader to not offend Sarasvati with a very strong language as if saying this is the law and all who oppose will