The War of Roses...whose history is it anyway?

Lack of brain racking work in office today forced me to imbibe a hobby from one of my dear friends. I tried my hand at reading History J

“History”: have quite some images in my mind that I associate with it. Begins with the orange and black photos of kutchcha houses & pucca houses from the era (until standard IV) when History-Civics & Geography were but one subject. (Yes yes, I know that is not a part of history, but I can’t help myself thinking of it, can I?)

Next image to creep forth is that of Joshi ma’am from school (chuckle) She was one good history teacher… (Scary n all yes) studying from her was an experience! Obviously I don’t remember much of the History lessons…Ok, let me think of what all I can recall… ‘Red-shirts’, ‘Indus Valley Civilization’ (I still remember the granaries diagram in the history book) & renaissance(Yes, I now know how to pronounce it) and I know Russia isn’t Rushshia! :D

The project report we were required to make at the end of the year was an amazing piece of art. There were drawings, diagrams, Photostat copies of pictures from library reference books (which our sweet Lib ma’am got done for up provided we wrote up all the page numbers n figure numbers for her neatly on a piece of paper, folded it and submitted it! (Ma’am are u listening, I am still bad with clips on my hair to keep them in place!)Internet and printouts were not popular then…Internet was for information…for projects, reference books ruled the roost! Sometimes I feel…were we not brought up in a different era?

Anyways, coming back to the point, Ma’am Joshi, used to sit on the table to teach! Girls in class, (some marriageable material types(pun intended)) used to flock to see her saris! Grey-green eyes and impeccable mannerisms…Joshi ma’am was a teacher whose terror stories reached our ears even before she started teaching us! Thankfully I was never the part of the hated lot, even though I never really loved writing history exams. Once, just once, I freaked out in the history exam! Karl Marx section it was…I walked up to ma’am Joshi n said, “I don’t want to write the exam, I can’t write it…” I had gone blank…I felt I knew nothing… She looked shocked. “Go write it…I am sure u will do something…” I wrote it. Got decent marks…but I still don’t know why I did that that day! One of my dear friends (yes the history freak) says I have an abnormally high achievement orientation. Maybe it was becoz of that. J I don’t know.

I used to love Modern History. I remember, one the day before the history board exam, I was up all night reading my book! I slept on the page with the Jama Masjid diagram on it! Woke up late, wrote a poem on my condition & then carried on further to answer the exam. I can see myself sitting in the exam hall (I used to sit on the stage) I can see the table in front of me, and the history exam long answer section on the grayish white exam paper…I remember! I dint do too badly J

So today, taking a cue from my dear friend I sat to read about the ‘War of Roses’ interesting nomenclature…my inquisitive mind refused to read further before it found out why a series of dynastic civil wars fought in England between supporters of the Houses of Lancaster and York was called a war of Roses among all things! War of roses…seems like a war for love :D (Hijack, cried my senses, you got to read before you sit down to imagine the possible roots of the name, maybe the answer is right there) Hmm…so I read…

The red rose of Lancaster & the white rose of York…

This is what Wikipedia told me:

Although the roses were occasionally used as symbols during the wars, most of the participants wore badges associated with their immediate feudal lords or protectors. For example, Henry's forces at Bosworth fought under the banner of a red dragon, while the Yorkist army used Richard III's personal symbol of a white boar. Evidence of the importance of the rose symbols at the time, however, includes the fact that King Henry VII chose at the end of the wars to combine the red and white roses into a single red and white Tudor Rose.

The unofficial system of livery and maintenance, by which powerful nobles would offer protection to followers who would sport their colours and badges (livery), and controlled large numbers of paid men-at-arms (maintenance) was one of the effects of the breakdown of royal authority which preceded and partly caused the wars.

Romanticized…?

J

Funnily though, I always thought history was romantic! Drama, Thrill, Power struggle…plush with theatrics…history dazes me to date…the pictures speak for themselves…and it gives me the same feeling that I got when I read about the dried up flowers in the ‘Time Machine’ It gives me the same feeling that I get when I think of my years at XLRI…2 years, or a lifetime? The years I was at home, still a child…eternity! And now…every moment I breathe I create my own history. History is good, it is full of feelings, feeling we don’t really want to relive, not even the very happy ones, they are right where they need to be, untouched…I don’t want to go back n unruffled a single feather! History, probably, is always perfect.