perspective

Is our sense of history confined to our limited ability to imagine times past - any kind of history - beyond the lifespan of a two, three or four generations? How scientists do it, who research with millennia in mind, I certainly cannot imagine. There is time and there is cause and effect. Many people are concerned with the extinction of all manner of species, to which our human way of life contributes. But there are mightier causes at work, over very long periods of time, which you can read about in Elizabeth Kolbert's New Yorker article "The Sixth Extinction". Yes, we have a lot of work to do to reverse the reduction of biological diversity. But just because we humans made a great mess does not mean we can clean all of it up.

Titbits: India & Islam

Did you know that the state of Bhopal, with mainly Hindi inhabitants, was governed by 4 generations of women Begums of islamic faith? All through the British empire (whose viceroys were not amused, but ...), until the nobility was abolished with Indian independence? 

One of the female rulers was brought up by her grandmother, which involved Koran readings at 4 am in the morning (the child was not amused). Subsequently, when ruling for her brother, who was fighting in WWII, she insisted on bringing the islamic fanaticist murderer of an English teacher to justice. Apparently, she convinced a large armed crowd outside the court house to accept that

Thanks to a radio feature by Marc Thörner on Deutschlandfunk I now know. Not that many in Bhopal remember, or that islamic leaders remind others of this phenomenon.