With hardbound Oxford dictionaries and history books neatly tucked in a bookshelf; an English style ambience and dark wooden furniture serving as a backdrop, author, journalist and former South Asia News Editor for BBC, Sunil Raman began his interesting tale.
He recounted some of his most exciting and challenging professional experiences and told us how he has been smitten by history right from his childhood (Sunil’s grandfather was a freedom fighter). In that little room, he revived the historical ‘Delhi Durbar’, which otherwise would have been buried in the national archives.
He was in the city over the weekend to launch his first book, ‘Delhi Durbar 1911: The Complete Story’, which he has co-authored along with Col Rohit Agarwal (Retd). The book marks 100 years since the government of British India moved from Kolkata to New Delhi.
Life as a journalist: While with the BBC, he covered Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka in South India right from politics to social issues in the region. He constantly lived out of a suitcase and covered some of the biggest international stories including the Tsunami, the Kumbakonam school fire tragedy, the killing of Veerappan and many more.
“While I was posted in Bangalore, I remember doing stories on slum dwellers in the city, the IT world and the challenges being faced by the BPO sector and how they are attracting younger people from across the country. Everytime I had to pack my bags and drive from Bangalore, I had to move around with a huge suitcase with satellite phone, batteries, camera, recorder, laptops, wires and it was a one-man show! It was great to tell different kinds of stories from India.”
Bitten by history bug: On his transition from a journalist to a author, he says, “Even as a journalist, we tell stories and I have been fascinated by history. I grew up in Delhi and graduated in History from the Delhi University. I started going to school when I was 5, where every morning I had to cross the old fort, the site of the Indraprashta of the Pandavas and the other side of the school was the tomb of Humayun i.e Akbar’s father. Once in a week, we used to have our classes in the lawns of the Humayun’s tomb. And growing up in a political family only contributed to my fascination for history. There are two subjects that are badly taught in India, -Mathematics and History. That’s why most of the people hate these subjects. You have always been told to mug up dates, but then you realise that in your own life, how many times do you remember dates?”
When he is not busy digging up national archives of India, the Nehru Memorial Museum, Delhi State Archives and demystifying history, he organises heritage walks for corporates and high-end tourists with the India Habitat Centre. He adds, “I have a passion for old documents and I can show you all kinds of places in Delhi, which nobody has seen.”
When asked about how the book happened, he said, “During one such visit to the archive, I came across these papers which stated, ‘Delhi Coronation Durbar -1911’. When I inquired I was told that there are lots of such files on the Durbar. I looked through this big catalogue with yellowing documents and it was a mine of information. It was 100 years since the King and Queen came here and announced the change of capital. I knew there was much more to it than the two lines it occupies in the history books. Then I looked out for a publisher and insisted that the book should be out by December, 2011. After that it was madness for 4 months. I asked co-author Col Rohit Agarwal, who was a regular during my heritage walks, to help me and look into the military aspects of the parade during the durbar, which he handled very well.
Sunil adds, “Many people came upto me after they discovered that their great grandfathers had been part of the Durbar. We also contacted quite a few ex-royal families. They promised they will look into it, but later they said that they don’t know where the papers, letters or the photographs are.” The author lamented that Indians have a poor sense of history where nobody maintains papers or family history.