PANJIM: The VIII edition of Goa Arts and Literature Festival (GALF) kicked off with Ramchandra Guha demanding historians to transcend chauvinism.
Guha, the recipient of the Padma Bhushan and well-known historian and author delivered the keynote address at the inaugural function of GALF along with a keynote address by Mini Krishnan, the Editor of Translations at the Oxford University Press.
Guha said that writers, poets and social scientists amongst others should transcend four types of chauvinism which includes chauvinism of discipline, of source material, of ideology and of nationality.
He said “Chauvinism is constraining while writing about the past and a historian must also guard against arrogance. A historian must know that a person coming after him will write better, be more reliable and less chauvinistic.”
Guha was at his best with a combination of humour and serious literary and academic works.
Referring to being superseded with better content and work at a later stage by another figure, he said that there are no permanent winners and losers and a historian’s work will be superseded.
“What is common between Manmohan Singh, JRD Tata, Varghese Kurien and Sachin Tendulkar? They didn’t know when to retire. They thought they will be permanently successful, not just all their lives but in their after lives as well. But, history teaches you that there are no permanent winners and losers”, he added.
Praising the GALF for being a literature festival by writers and artists for writers and artists, Guha said that most literature festivals are marred by the corporates. “GALF is my second favourite literature festival, the favourite is naturally in my home town, Bengaluru”, he stated.
Mini Krishnan in her address highlighted the need for integrating the nation through translations.
“Integration in India is possible through translations as it is the hinge which moves ideas, emotions and thoughts both ways”, she stated.
Citing examples of education institutions, which have adopted writings from different languages in the curriculum, she said that translations have the power to recreate and to build a new world.
A special art work for the event by Hanuman Kambli, professor at the Goa College of Art was unveiled at the inaugural function of GALF.
