An
Intimate History of
The Project is an idea of looking at history as an intimate experience. Professional and Academic histories regularly overlook the individual and his or her experience under the pre-text of objectivity and classification. With passage of time, the individual is forgotten and we find a huge mass of events some grand and some petty, depending on perspective, fashion of the times, interest and individuality of historians and their peer-network. There has also emerged, in our time major compartmentalization of historical studies based on geography, gender, ethnicity and so forth. This compartmentalization has made history more distant, dry and how much we may appreciate the novelty and tact of the scholars; we always miss the totality of the narration. Readability of any history for the sheer pleasure of reading depends mainly on the Art of Narration the sublime art which illuminates the countenance of poetry and all true sciences. The Project is to re-discover this narrative art in the domain of history by the individual and for the individual. The principle behind founding AIHB rests on the principle that individual anxiety and aspirations have a worth which is beyond the temporal processes that cause and interpret it. We have been trained to read history with our personality suspended in animation which in a larger scale means a granularity of personality. The Project, in theory attempts to reverse the process and look at history while positively asserting the radical autonomy of individual aspirations and anxieties. In doing so, we maintain that each individual has an inviolable right to relate to history and as and when individual has failed to exert this right, in active or passive way, he has been silenced.
THE
RELEASED BOOKS
BOOK I : Introduction to
BOOK II : The Venture
Capital of Industrial Revolution 1757 to 1857 and beyond.
BOOK III : Meeting of Ancient
BOOK IV : Contemplation on Genetic Technology as Historical Tool Connection with The Gita.
BOOK V: The
Culture Paradigm English Lily and
BOOK VI : Contemporary Bengal Betrayal,
Decay, Opportunities and Necromancy of Renaissance.
BOOK VII : Tribute to a Historian of
BOOK VIII : First
hand impression of the Professional Culture of
BOOK IX :
BOOK X : Horoscope
of Cities Travel from
BOOK XI : Scottish Enlightenment, Connections
and Future of
Tale of Two Communities Scots in
BOOK XII : Seasons and Women of Bengal - Revisted after a decade - A tribute to the creator of Devdas of Talsonapur
BOOK XIII : A Historian's Will - Shantiniketan - Return to Boyhood
BOOK XIV : Bengal - The France of India - Ses ailes de gιant l'empκchent de marcher She cannot walk for her Great Wings
BOOK XV : The Manifest Destiny of Bengal in the 21st century - Her true advantage and true duty to world civilization - A thesis
BOOK XVI : Calcutta, Culture, Clairvoyance : Globalization of Bengal and Relevance of Tagore - a perspective analysis
BOOK XVII : Bauls, a Historical Debate on Indian History and a 'Song of holy fools'
BOOK XVIII : Non-Secular Heritage of Bengal - an in-complete personal memory
BOOK XVIX : The Lebensraum Debate in Contemporary Bengal - The Missing Commentary
BOOK XX : Capital, Temples of Modern Bengal and the New Priests
Under Release
BOOK
XIV: The Sparkling Consumerism
BOOK
XV: Contemplations on the global effect of re-discovery of English in
The Methodology
Happily, living in an Information Age, we have a strong parallel between the methods of our Project as that of Development of Linux, the Operating System. Development of Linux has been something unique and possibly unparalleled in history. From a common resource, voluntary and individual contributors refined the resource balancing the individual and collective under a global consensus. The development attracted its contributors who gave a part of their own into the massive pool which all the time belonged wholly to them, in theory as well as in practice.
We wanted to replicate this model in the more complex resource of history. Nothing worthwhile is possible in this world without intimacy and we are so intimately related to history that we always bear the risk of forgetting it. Intimacy is not a virtue taught in schools and universities but man is born with it. The first lesson of intimacy starts at cradle and ends at grave. Intimacy is the only weapon available to fight the ever present shadow of tyranny that looms over us. Intimacy lies at the core of all individual interaction with arts and sciences, it is the fulcrum of humour on which individual spirit surrenders and it is the magic that excites our imagination to transform into active search. It is this spirit of intimacy that drives us.
Specifics of An Intimate history of Bengal
The first draft of the BOOK I was written during 2002 and since then we have produced ten releases so far which are appended. The whole Content is Copy Lefted and contributors can write on any subject they may choose. We have not made any elaborate chronological order but used the editorial tools to maintain continuity and narrative inter-connection. Other than this, the whole Project is a continuous narration that affirm, re-affirm and crticize the situation from individual angle. We have drawn liberally from various sources and disciplines and even though we are critical of the traditional historical studies and their practitioners, we always bear in mind the same right to relate is enjoyed by all individual historian and non-historian.
Invitation to Intimate History
We invite you to be a Contributor in whatever way you may choose. We firmly believe that history is a complete whole and even though comparative intimacy makes us to first think of Bengal History as a starting point to test our ideas, we are open to incorporate other histories, other concerns. It has been a fate of almost all nations and people to be related in some way or other. As genetics and other technological tools of the future are waiting in wings to confirm those findings which an ancient poet of India told so beautifully janantar-sau-hridani the intimacy between people and in this way we always await connection. Internet, due its pervasive nature often masks this magic of connection between individuals, irrespective of place, colour, faith and other differentiators.
Do write to us. We are always happy to hear from someone. You can write to us at AIHB.
Historically yours,
Pritam Bhattacharyya
Editor-at-Large,
Project AIHB