Hereditary Fascination for “The Story of Mankind”!

 

Me, as a child, with “The Story of Mankind”, a classic written and illustrated by Hendrik Van Loon, for his grandchildren.

My granddaughter, Sudhiksha, with “History of The World, Earliest Times to the Present Day” - John Whitney Hall, General Editor.

History fascinates me; from childhood to date. While at school history was one of my favourite subjects. Favourite for reading and learning so many facts and information about Indian and World history but I must admit it was not easy to prepare for history exams as it involved memorising several dates, places, events, names etc. I think the same is the case with most of us, we are very curious and love to learn about the past, the history of our family, our native place, ancient civilisations, kingdoms, a fort, a place of worship, any antique, a piece of art, an excavation, a king, a queen, a great leader, a saint, a war, a calamity and what not about the past. I love reading historical books and watching historical movies. The lifestyle, the costumes and the stories/history of the past are fascinating and that is the reason why every year at least a few interesting books and movies are presented to us.

In short, we all love to know about “The Story of Mankind” and the “History of the World”. The picture at the top of this article is of me as a child holding “The Story of Mankind” written and illustrated by Hendrik Van Loon, for his grandchildren. And the picture below it is of my granddaughter, Sudhiksha, with “History of The World, Earliest Times to the Present Day” - John Whitney Hall, General Editor. These photographs prompted me to write these few words about our interest in history.

“We study the past to understand the present; we understand the present to guide the future.” – William Lund.