His-Story

A funny short story on the plight of studying ‘His-story’.

“Why do I have to study?”

For the umpteenth time, Mom replied, “Because you have a test.”

“Okay. But ask her if you have a doubt.”

I rolled my eyes. Seriously man!

I shot Didi a glare that would have withered a blooming rose. Look at her. Not a care in the world. And, here I have to study. It’s not fair. Truth was, Didi was brilliant at academics. Not that I would ever admit to the fact. To me she was irritating, condescending and …ah well, everything with ‘ing’.

Anyhow, I harrumphed my way to my room, retrieved the history book and returned to the dining table to study. History was boooorrrrrrrring. For the life of me I could not understand why we had to study ‘His-story’. I plopped down on a chair, opened the book to ‘The Mughal Empire’.

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“Err…Mom. I want Mughlai Chicken for dinner?”

Why not press the advantage? I knew mom would do anything to get me to study History.  I’d flunked last semester.

“Ya…okay. But, study well.”

“Yay! I will…thanks mom. You’re the best.” Oh, yummy, yummy…in my tummy.

I started reading out loud. Muhammad bin Tughluq shifted his capital from Delhi to Daulatabad only to shift it back to Delhi. Hain*? What a confused man. And, they expect us to learn about him. Imagine!

Tughluq introduced copper coins which were discontinued. Wow! Another failure. Aww man! His failures at making his own history are worse than mine at studying. I guffawed.

By the time the chapter ended, I tell you, I actually felt intelligent in comparison.  So, basically the man was a total failure.

And, I was wrong. ‘His-story’ was definitely not boring. It was riveting.

Glossary

Hain – an exclamation in Hindi meaning ‘what’.

Image Credits: Pixabay

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