It is not often, that one, gets a chance, to meet, a celebrated author. Rarer, is the opportunity, to meet one, right in your neighbourhood. Incidentally, that is precisely what we experienced a few weeks ago. I had been reading some books of Romila Thapar, the renowned and respected historian, when my wife Renu, saw the name of the author. She told me, that Ms. Thapar, lives in Maharani Bagh, in fact just 300 meters, away from our house. Yes, I know there are famous people in our colony, but I was completely unaware, of the presence, of Ms. Thapar, so close, to where we live. So I requested Renu to arrange a visit, to see her, finally, the visit was arranged, on a Sunday, around noon.
Looking at Romila Thapar I would have never guessed her age. She will be 92 years old, on November 30, 2023. If I had to guess, I would have placed her, at least 15 years younger. And it is not just how she looks, but how active she is, that really impressed me. She is constantly traveling, giving lectures. I do not know many nonagenarians( people between 90-95 years), who are this active, that too professionally!
As we entered, Ms. Thapar’s house, I could not help, but be impressed with the number of books, in shelves, from floor to ceiling. People have wall to wall carpeting. In her case it was wall to wall and floor to ceiling books. Some of the books are over 70 years old. I mentioned that her house could easily, qualify to be a library. And she replied that she used to loan her books to friends and relatives but had stopped doing so since many people did not return the books. I was truly impressed by the number of books she has and the care she takes to preserve them.
We spent about an hour with her. I enjoyed asking her questions about her books that I had read and truly appreciated the opportunity to hear from the author herself about some of the points that were not clear to me. Her area of expertise is ancient/early India and she is an authority on the subject. Having grown up hating history when I had to take it as a subject in school, I have developed a great interest in trying to understand where we have come from. It is much more interesting to read what is known about our history and how our past was discovered from inscriptions, records, relics, and excavations of ruins. What is fascinating is that there are several “historical facts” which are uncertain, certain past scripts that have still not been deciphered, and so much that still needs to be discovered. History is not just about remembering dates and names. It is more about understanding the processes that shape our current society. I thank Ms. Thapar for having whetted my curiosity to dig deeper into this fascinating area.
