...I was beginning to think that hey, maybe I was too harsh on insti and maybe the whole 'hindi hegemony' thing wasn't that bad. because you know, absence makes the heart fonder or whatever.

well nevermind, I was absolutely justified because WHY would the convocation form need my name written in both English and Hindi otherwise. ._.

(also the hindi script writer thingy on the uni website, predictably, sucks. so that's fun too.)

The book I ordered - Rebel Sultans: The Deccan from Khilji to Shivaji by Manu S. Pillai - is hereeeeee! :D

(This might end up becoming a reblog chain, so if it starts clogging up your dash, feel free to block 'placeholder tag for the deccan book' - I'll be tagging all posts with that!)

Anyhoo, it's my first pop history book, and I got it almost entirely because it includes Krishnadevaraya (he ruled the Vijayanagara empire at its peak. I'm interested because there's this world heritage site, Hampi, that I am very fond of despite barely remembering my visit there because I was just a kid back then. But idc, Hampi is the coolest.). Also I attended a talk by the author of this book last month and holy shit, he's such a good speaker. Like, damn, he can speak. I really wanted to read his stuff after that talk, but there isn't a paperback version of his newest book so I went with this one instead.

Anyway, three pages into the intro and ayyyy we have a Hampi mention! :D

AND. The introduction itself references the fact that the name 'Deccan' is ALSO an anglicisation. ARGH. So some context: I recently realised that almost all of the cities/towns that played a role in my life have two names. One is the official and traditional name, and the other is an (erstwhile official) anglicised name that was used during the times of colonial rule and remains very common today as a nickname. I mean, the switches from the anglicised names to the traditional names happened in either my own lifetime or in my parents' lifetime. It's far too recent for the anglicised names to be dropped from cultural memory so they stick around as a nickname for the city. And I'm not sure how I feel about the fact it's often the anglicised names that I'm more fond of. So mhmmm mixed feelings there about how the colonial rule may have officially ended almost a generation ago, but it still has a huge impact on so many aspects of my daily life. Anyway! So technically the Deccan plateau is this huge place - practically the entire south of the country I think. And the fact that even the overarching region I'm from is called by an anglicised name - what part of my geographical identity doesn't have British fingerprints all over it, y'know? I know it shouldn't really matter and why can't we reclaim the name for ourselves etc. and also after a point - as in the case of the Deccan, wherein I didn't know it was anglicised until years after learning about it - maybe it doesn't really matter if no one knows the origins and the British connection means nothing if it isn't known. Or maybe it's alright even if it is, because ultimately colonial rule was a part of our history and that can acknowledged, it's fine, not everything has to be (or even can be, I'm literally speaking in English for this to be possible and English is very British) erased. Idk I just have conflicting feelings about this. also I've completely lost the thread - basically "huh, Deccan is an anglicised word derived from 'dakshina', the Sanskrit word for 'South'".

Next up, unearned regional (what's the southern-only version of nationalistic?) pride courtesy of this line:

To some it was a kingdom of tantalising treasures and marvellous opportunity; to others, however, the Deccan became also something more sinister: the undoing of mighty kings, a graveyard of glorious empires.

yeah that's right, we were where empires came to die :3

this is very silly but for some reason the fact that "there could be no lasting triumph in the south, and no distant lord prevailed forever" gives me a sense of glee because heck yeah!! become ungovernable we weren't easy to subdue and rule over? Or something. Idk, I just like that fact.

yeah okay so not sure what this post is supposed to be - guess it's me ✨ documenting my thoughts as I read ✨

....mostly I imagine I'll be ranting about anglicisation and stuff though.