04-24-2007, 09:35 PM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Ages ago when I read the book "Roots" - I was amazed at how an oral narrative was transmitted from Africa to modern day America to link up people from the past with those of the present.
Judging from the paucity of written references of the humongous numbers of Hindus displaced and generally made to suffer compared with stories that one hears in every family of what happened in days gone by - it is clear that there already is an oral narrative of Hindu history. It needs to be written and I repeat that the narrtive may not obviously be of significance - but you don't complete a jigsaw unless you put in every piece - so even the top right hand corner of the jigsaw containing a bit of blue sky and no there detail is important to complete the puzzle.
Ask your father or grandfather about what he has heard about the past and record it. Do not feel it is unimportant just because your famil's narative does not sound so exciting as that of say someone who is descended from Shivaji or something.
It is important not to let stories of the past de with those who are passing away.
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I did get my father to write down what he knew of the family history. So we do have a narrative of sorts but written quite late in my father's memory.
Kaushal has setup a website to document the narrative of those who want.
I need permission from my siblings and cousins before I get the account out.
I wanted to start a webiste to record the Indian American first generation narrative "In their Own Words" and did get some traction but its languishing.