Master Class with Prasad Shetty

On History

Excerpt from a lecture by Prasad Shetty to first year Architecture students at the School of Environment and Architecture (SEA).

Language: English / Hinglish.

This lecture is loaded with rhetoric that has been lost in simple transcription. The stress on words, pauses, and manner of utterances by the speaker are hard to press in written text, and thus the text below must not be understood at mere level of transcription.

Some portions of this excerpt have been edited to keep sense of the conversation.

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Prasad: It is very important for you all to remember these terms in a broad chronological manner. You should know what is world history . . . what is the history of this world, what is the history of human beings?

                        You are human beings?

What is the evidence?

[that] You got 95% [marks]?

Nishi (student): The form structure

Prasad: But form structure toh woh bee hives bhi banaate hain…

             (But form structure is being made by the bees also as hives)

Nishi:     They are animals. We have an ability to think, we have a brain.

Prasad: Animals don’t think? What is the evidence? Gargi what is the evidence? (loudly) Proof kya hai ki tum insaan ho? What is the proof that you are a human being?

                        You have any proof? (softly)You have to think so much? That you are a human being?

A student murmurs: Aadhaar card

Prasad: What what? Kai-kai-kai? (what what what?)

Aadhaar card?

(laughter in class)

Prasad: No he is right, he is right, No this is right actually - this is very important.  We have so many cards – driving licence, aadhaar card, PAN Card, Ration Card, Pass port, Debit Card … thousand … voting card, visiting card... There are so many things that we have na?

That is the evidence that we are human beings?

Maitreyee’s your dog doesn’t have a visiting card? Uske pas aadhaar card hai? Why don’t you get aadhaar card for your dog? Why don't you get? Why?

Uska passport hai? (Does he have a passport?) Have you traveled with him?Usko passport lagta hai? (Does he require a passport?)  Have you traveled with him or her? Has anyone traveled with a dog or cat abroad? Usko lagta hai? Passport lagta hai?

Aditya (Student): They need a registration with the BMC [Bombay Municipal Corporation].

Prasad: BMC ka registration kya hai? Haan? BMC ka kya hai?

Students: They are given a licence.

Prasad: So pets are given or you all are given?

Student: We are given on their behalf.

Prasad: You are given that you can have a pet?

You are given so that they know that the animal is not a stray dog or a cat.

Achha, so it cannot be picked up and killed, or fed to some crocodile…

Okay

So one of the things is to kind of have an overview or have a world view so to say…

…

But as human beings you have a certain history. One of the agendas is to be familiar with that history.

                …

The second agenda is to introduce and familiarize you guys with certain concepts, terms, ideas with which you can handle your histories. You can think through you history. History itself is an idea. Writing of history is also an idea. There are many ways of writing history. . . So how do you handle your past and future? How do you handle it? How do you handle? You need to handle na? You don’t have to handle? Do you have to handle or no? You’ll are burdened – you are coming with 5000 years of history and probably you will remain for the next 5000 years, as human beings. So how do you handle it? So what is the gear that you wear, what are the gloves that you wear, what are the spects that you wear, what are the tools you need to have. How do you handle this past and the present?

Woh toh material hai! (But that is material) To go through anything, you need some tools, you need some tools for anything, to handle anything, you need some tools right? We will introduce you to certain ideas, certain concepts, approaches, by which you will be able to approach at least, how do you handle your past future and how do you kind of deal with? Nahi toh everything is about Shivaji in history… (referring to the typical schooling in social sciences in India)

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(round bracketed English translations are mine)
[square brackets, additions are mine to sharpen the spoken rhetoric]