Date: March 21, 2022
Venue: Online
It is often said that there are three main ways to know India. First, and the best way, is to aspire to realise the truth behind India’s profound and life-affirming spiritual thought. Second is to identify with the deeper truths behind India’s countless stories, particularly the stories told in itihāsa-s (Ramayana and Mahabharata) and numerous purāna-s, kāvya-s and other dharma-shāstra-s and niti-shāstra-s.
And the third way is to travel through the length and breadth of India. The curious seeker can explore her richly diverse history and living heritage and experience firsthand the wide range of traditions and cultural practices. One will begin to appreciate how these traditions have been preserved over millennia and are also being given new forms with changing times and contexts.
For this month’s Insightful Conversations we speak with Ms. Sawani Shetye who hails from Goa. She, in a way, combines all the three in her quest to relate to the deeper spirit of India and serve her motherland through her work. Ms. Shetye has been a student of Ancient Indian History and Archaeology, and has extensively explored the history and cultural heritage of Goa. Her love for history and her enthusiasm for travel, and most importantly her passion to share this interest with other enthusiasts led her to start a heritage consulting agency.
Teaching History through Stories and Experiences
Ms. Shetye shares with us what made her enthusiastic about the subject of history, and especially the history of her home state. We also learn about many interesting points about how history can be made an enjoyable learning experience for young minds.
Ms. Shetye has curated special heritage travel based learning experiences for people in and around Goa. She has also conducted several heritage related workshops and courses for schools and colleges. Based on this experience she tells us that one of the best ways to engage people with history and heritage is through the medium of stories. But these stories should be told in such a way which can help the listener see the continuing links between past and present. Another approach is to make history learning a living, dynamic, interactive experience such as through games – physical and virtual.
We do not attach much importance to how many kings have ruled the country, which king came to power in which year and how long his reign lasted or the date when the Battle of Plassey was fought. What we teach, rather, is how in ancient times the Aryans formed the nation, how today’s Marathas became Marathas, how the Bengalis became Bengalis, how the Punjabis became Punjabis. Once the students have understood these things clearly, it does not matter if they fail to know the year of the Battle of Plassey.(Sri Aurobindo, CWSA, Vol. 7, p. 814)
Travel that Educates: Example – Goa Beyond the Beaches
As a heritage travel curator, Ms. Shetye sheds light on the effectiveness of culturally sensitive travel to educate people about their history and cultural heritage. Sharing about her experience of curating heritage trails for youth and children of Goa, she tells us that discovering a culturally rich side of Goa and its related historical context is generally an eye-opening for many of them. Because for long they too have been accustomed to seeing Goa through the lens of standard commercial promotion by tourism companies — that of being only or primarily as a ‘party place’.
In this wide ranging conversation we also learn about what is unique about the history of Goa and also about Goan freedom movement. She shares some anecdotes about individuals who had come from far off places in India to fight with natives of Goa to secure its independence from the Portuguese colonialists and sacrificed their lives.
The ‘Goa Beyond the Beaches’ experience can often be a deeply educational one, especially for those who are interested in history and heritage. This becomes clear as our conversation continues.