On Sun, Nov 16, 2008 at 2:36 PM, Bonobashi <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> --- On Sun, 16/11/08, Chandrachoodan Gopalakrishnan < > [EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > Well, seriously though, here's what I'd like to do. > > > > 1) Really study history - not make jabs at it. > > 2) Learn three languages - one European, one Asian and one > > Indic > > 3) Do the east coast of India bike trip. (I've done > > about a third of the TN > > coast, though not on one trip) > > 4) Go from Madras to London on the bike > > 5) Sleep > > 6) Learn to decipher old tamil/grantha/brahmi scripts. Work > > with the > > Epigraphical society/ASI in TN > > 7) At least make a list of books that I have not read > > > > > > C > > > Do you want to know a lot about history - and that's vague enough as it is > - or do you want to be an historian? Those are two hugely different > categories and states of being. > I don't want to be a historian. My interest in history is purely arm-chair and perhaps to impress the odd friend with knowledge about cultures. I do have a fairly good idea of south Indian/Tamil empires and would like to build on it. > > Regarding your list of books, what books? Fiction, non-fiction, academic, > belles-lettres....Unless you're reasonably sure what you want to read, how > easy or difficult is it to make a list? > Um, that was mentioned half in jest. I buy books based on how I feel for that month/quarter - currently I am in a fiction/classics phase. Three months ago it was graphic novels. Making a list is not very difficult, but I prefer to not make one. > Just a silly, very silly example: Just taking up the influence of Gramsci > on latter-day Marxism and how it seagues off into Derrida and deconstruction > as a literary and philosophical tool, and the links with subaltern studies, > could take a lifetime in itself. So would a sociological and historical > analysis of Georgette Heyer. Or one could just curl up with a good book and > to the devil with the serious stuff. > :)) > > My humble tuppence, which may be worth less, is that one needs to focus > fiercely to get anything intellectually or academically useful done within a > single lifetime. And it usually doesn't work even then. > > Did you read history in college by any chance? > Nope. Studied accountancy, business communication, economics. And received a totally worthless paper at the end of it. C -- http://www.flickr.com/photos/ravages http://www.linkedin.com/in/ravages http://www.selectiveamnesia.org/ +91-9884467463
