There are many things I will say about ThePrint’s PastForward section, but the first is this: Read it. Read it because the present is anchored in the past — when you walk, one leg is thrust forward while your other foot is always a step behind.
This quote from the introduction to the series puts it rather more eloquently: “As William Faulkner famously said, ‘The past is never dead. It’s not even past.’”
Indeed, the past feels very much alive and kicking in these articles, written mostly by a team of young journalists, including Vandana Menon, Humra Laeeq, and Raghav Bikhchandani.
Take the latest article: It relives the politics of 1967, the last time simultaneous General and state elections were held in India, and the year coalition politics brought together many ideologically disparate parties to form governments, many of which fell later on. The election “triggered the end of simultaneous elections, and the start of coalition politics”, states the article.
Draw a straight line from 1967 to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s current call for ‘One Nation One Election’ and the formation of 28 opposition parties’ alliance, INDIA.
One more mantra of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for the future — the Uniform Civil Code (UCC). The debates surrounding it bear an uncanny resemblance to controversies over former PM Jawaharlal Nehru’s Hindu Code Bills. But as another PastForward explains, they are very different: “The Hindu Code Bills became a matter of nation-building, economic progress, and individual rights….The current proposed reforms, however, lack specificity and clarity.’’
And now to the opposition’s demand for a caste census. Did you know that 1979 was the last time there was a national attempt to identify and list Other Backward Classes (OBCs)? How this “can of worms” has been opened at least five times — and almost immediately shut every single time?
Another: As India’s relations with Canada deteriorate over what India believes is Canada’s soft approach to Khalistani activities, find out how Canadian “neglect led up to the Kanishka bombing” way back in 1985. A dear school friend had died in that attack, so I devoured this well-researched piece with a pain in my heart.
In March 2023, Reliance reintroduced Campa Cola, the soft drink many from my generation thought was the ‘real thing’ in the absence of Coca-Cola and Pepsi. Why couldn’t we glug down a Coke or Pepsi the way they do in TV commercials? You can’t do better than read this PastForward.
I could go on and on. There are PastForwards on India’s other Doklam encounter with China, the creation of Jammu & Kashmir, Indira Gandhi’s failed nationalisation of foodgrains, the Vaikom movement, Nehru’s ‘conditions apply’ to freedom of expression – what could be more relevant/pertinent? And there’s the really topical one on the rival histories of India that have transformed university campuses into ‘warzones’.
The PastForwards on the Gyanvapi mosque, the 1987 India-Sri Lanka Accord, the Green Revolution (the recent death of scientist MS Swaminathan has renewed interest in it)…are a brief history of our times.
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‘Like history is on steroids’
Except that they’re not always brief — some articles run above over 4,000 words.
The idea for PastForward came from Shekhar Gupta, Editor-in-Chief of ThePrint. Rama Lakshmi, Opinion & Ground Reports Editor, who oversees the PastForward section, remembers Gupta talking about “transformative events” that were once important and are relevant again – be it in politics, national security, or economics. “Never before has the past felt so current and live. We are headbutting over history more and more now – not just in academia but in politics, social media, YouTube, and WhatsApp. It’s like history is on steroids,” she says.
As the saying goes, history has an unfortunate habit of repeating itself, and we often fail to learn from it.
The obvious question is: How does PastForward help readers navigate these fault lines of the present? Answer: ThePrint helps readers retrace current issues to their roots in the past and answer the question — How did we get here? “Everybody has a sharp and polarising position on events of history. PastForward helps you arrive at your position in an informed, evidence-based manner,” says Lakshmi.
It tries to do this by combining archival research, books, scholarship, and interviews with an engaging, anecdotal writing style. “A journalistic intervention was needed,” says Rama Lakshmi. “One that is accurate and accessible—but essentially it’s all in a compelling storytelling format.”
That is to say, it is neither WhatsApp University nor a PhD thesis. They call journalism “the first draft of history” – and that pretty well describes PastForward too.
That, dear readers, often requires 4,000 words. It also needs teamwork.
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Capturing the reader
Senior writer Vandana Menon is a student of history, as is Senior Correspondent Raghav Bikhchandani; Humra Laeeq graduated in English literature, but “I have an interest in academics, research,” she is quick to add.
While the ideas for PastForward typically come from Gupta and Lakshmi, the three of them have collaborated on most of the pieces. “I think that’s the best part of the product,” says Bikhchandani. Menon points out that they all have other assignments at ThePrint, so PastForward helps them join hands. “It’s like a well-oiled machine now,” she says.
Each one has a clearly defined role, where research forms the bedrock. Menon does some of the research and is the lead writer for most PastForwards; Laeeq ploughs through archival material, Parliament or Constituent Assembly debates, research papers, and books; Bikhchandani does a bit of everything and spends a lot of time on the phone. “I do most of the interviews,” he says. “We write chunks and then Vandana takes over.”
Sounds simple, doesn’t it? That’s not how Menon and Laeeq describe the challenge—they found it “daunting” at first. “To read every page of a parliamentary debate, comb through all the details, the scope of the reading, that’s daunting…” Laeeq trails off. She mentions the PastForward on the rupee-rouble trade between India and Russia where information was very hard to come by.
The in-depth research pays off, as it lends authenticity and accuracy to the narratives.
Here are some examples: “Russia pushed for adhering to the 1978 protocol, which resulted in India committing to pay 63 per cent of the debt over a 12-year period, with the rest to be paid over 45 years, as noted by historian Jayanta Kumar Ray in his seminal work India’s Foreign Relations, 1947-2007,” reads the PastForward that traces the rupee-rouble romance of the ’80s.
And it all started in the ’70s and ’80s—when ‘Hindi-Russi bhai-bhai’ was the flavour of Indian diplomacy.
“Between 1969 and 1983, 415 executives and 142 non-executives (including workmen) have been trained in the USSR, wrote author and journalist Bernard D’Mello in a 1988 article for the Economic and Political Weekly,” reads the PastForward that documents 100 years of India-Russia camaraderie.
“It’s a really enriching exercise that feels like bridging the gap between academia and journalism. We have to write in a style that is engaging, accessible to bring the past alive – that’s daunting,” says Menon. “How to tell a good story, I find that challenging.”
A good beginning is essential to capture the reader. Here is the opening sentence of the PastForward on Nehru’s approach to Article 19(A): “The mood of Parliament was sombre. It was 29 May 1951, the 14th day of the 16-day heated debate to bring the first amendment to the Constitution of India. The thumping of the tables and shrill voices of the Members of Parliament disrupting speeches were matched by the rising tempers. Freedom of speech was at stake.”
Or this: “The year was 1964. A man named PN Oak set upon an ambitious task – founding the Institute for Rewriting Indian History. Many laughed at him for his theories, which included claims like the Taj Mahal is actually a converted Vedic temple. Fifty years later, PN Oak’s books are bestsellers…”
Another way to keep the reader hooked is to portray characters realistically. In this fascinating account of Maratha queen Ahilyabai Holkar’s rebuilding of temples like Somnath in Mathura ad Gyanvapi in Varanasi, which is the latest contested site between Hindus and Muslims, read how the idea first came to the ruler: “The call to do so came to Ahilyabai in a dream, according to Rajendra Tiwari, whose family comes from a long line of mahants at the Kashi Vishwanath temple. Local legends also say that Ahilyabai’s eyes turned white with shock when she saw the Somnath Temple’s dilapidated condition….”
Trainee Journalist Sampurna Panigrahi has worked on the most recent PastForward, joining the team in her first month on the job. She admits she had no idea what it would entail. “The amount of research and how deeply you have to delve— never done so much in-depth spadework,” she says. Also, there’s “the need to dramatise…show and tell.”
Perhaps this extract from Take care, Rajiv Gandhi told Prabhakaran. Even gave bulletproof vest before Sri Lanka Accord explains what she means: “The Indian Prime Minister exhibited “gravitas” and “thoughtful sobriety.” But Sri Lankan President JR Jayawardene was reluctant and stressed…All this, while Prabhakaran, the fearsome LTTE leader, was confined to Room 518 at the Ashoka Hotel in New Delhi — where he allegedly racked up a phone bill running into thousands of rupees making frantic calls.”
What Bikhchandani found “frustrating” was to get hold of people and interview them—he mentions the Sri Lanka piece, which is perhaps one of the longest, most thoroughly researched pieces, dotted with quotes from a wide range of people involved in the events.
However, he has felt rewarded too. “[PastForward] helped me channel the reading, researching, and writing skills I developed from my history degree more tangibly,” he says. He singles out the PastForwards on the Green Revolution, the Sri Lanka accord, and rival Indian histories as his favourites.
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Stories of the past aren’t past
The year 2023 has seen more PastForwards than the previous years. This has been due to a conscious effort to produce more articles. Possibly for two reasons.
One, according to Lakshmi, PastForward is widely read and has a long shelf life—unusual in these times of speed news.
Two, many issues have arisen in the past few years that can benefit from hindsight: think the Hindenberg report, UCC, India-Canada stand-off, caste census, and Cola wars.
Each piece used to take much longer to research and write earlier. However, Menon says, the three-in-one team has picked up speed. Now, research takes up to a fortnight and she spends three days on the writing. What has she learned along the way? “Each edition has taught me something new about the India we live in — I feel like it pushes me to think more deeply.”
Laeeq agrees with Menon: PastForward has woven together her interest in research with her journalism. “It has broadened the way I see history — that the ‘stories’ of the past aren’t that past. We see many patterns and passions repeat themselves today,” she says.
On a personal note
When PastForward began in 2018, the stories were about India’s borders with Pakistan or China. In the first one, Vandana Menon and Nayanika Chatterjee recalled when India gave China a “bloody nose” in an encounter close to Doklam. This is full of detailed accounts from Army officers, Indian diplomats, and even a secret annual consular report besides ministry dispatches.
In the next one, Menon took us up, up, and away to watch ‘Operation Meghdoot’ unfold – the army operation that gave India control of the Siachen glacier. It is sprinkled with CIA reports, the recollections of army officers, and details like these: “Within the first hour of landing, the radio operator fell ill with high altitude pulmonary oedema or HAPO, a condition in which water accumulates in the lungs at high altitudes, and had to be evacuated.”
Then followed a three-part series on the period between May 1998 and May 1999 when India-Pakistan ties “changed” forever. Srijan Shukla and Sajid Ali began with the Pokharan nuclear test, went on former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s bus trip to Lahore, and ended up in the Kargil war.
Let me conclude on a personal note. I have lived through many PastForwards since the 1970s — they are chapters from my past too. Honestly? It has been rewarding to revisit those years through PastForward and match my memory of the events with these accounts.
I can truthfully say that many of these pieces struck a chord – the 1971 war, the Cola wars of the ’80s and ’90s, the Sri Lanka accord, and Kargil. The piece on 100 years of the USSR reminded me of a time in college when I used to buy Russian literary classics in hardback for a mere Rs 10.
I also recall the Surat plague of 1994. Residents of my Delhi colony would scrupulously clean their homes and driveways and lock themselves inside – leaving the rubbish to rot outside. This was close to 25 years before Covid. What I didn’t know but learnt from Mohana Basu and Swagata Yadavar in their piece, was where the rats came from before they spread the disease through Surat.
No spoilers here. As I said, right at the beginning—read it.
Shailaja Bajpai is ThePrint’s Readers’ Editor. Please write in with your views, complaints to readers.editor@theprint.in
(Edited by Humra Laeeq)