This is an archive article published on August 7, 2019

Opinion City stories

Delhi’s oral history project will enable a richer representation of the city than allowed by official records, written documents

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August 7, 2019 03:43 AM IST First published on: Aug 7, 2019 at 03:43 AM IST

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Delhi is much more than the country’s capital.

India’s rich historiography comes up short when it comes to events after Independence. There are, of course, academic studies on landmark social, economic and political developments and our understanding of several episodes in the country after 1947 has been enriched by memoirs and chronicles. But the contemporary Indian history section of most libraries have few works that bear the imprint of the historian’s craft. Much of the problem, historians argue, owes to the colonial-era Official Secrets Act, which keeps away a large number of documents from scholarly scrutiny. But history writing is not just about official records.

It’s also about people’s lives — their reaction to momentous events, their family recipes, how they carry out their businesses or compose poetry, music and songs. On Tuesday, the Delhi government gave an impetus to such history writing by launching a programme that will collect more than 100 interviews, which will bring alive the changing nature of the capital city over seven decades.

The Delhi government’s Oral History Programme, in partnership with Ambedkar University, actually revives a three-decade old project of the Delhi Archives. In the 1980s, the official repository of the city’s records began an oral history programme that interviewed eminent personalities, including Gulzarilal Nanda, who served as the acting prime minister of the country twice, and Sushila Nayyar, a close aide of Mahatma Gandhi. But the project was stopped after 56 eminent people were interviewed. This time the ambit of the archives will be expanded to include ordinary people. This digitised repository of their lived experiences will help us gain insight into the relationship of people with their city.

Delhi is much more than the country’s capital. It’s the site of interesting experiments in entrepreneurship, pedagogy, gastronomy and architecture, a melting pot of cultures as well as a battleground for conflicts. Written works can capture only a fraction of these facets. The oral history project could be the harbinger of a richer representation of the city. Of course, those scanning these archives will have to remember that adage of oral history: People only choose to tell some stories, not all.