There has been a lot of debates recently about Indian history becoming a victim of ‘nationalism’, the word that in present times is often confused with ‘patriotism’ and ‘Hinduism’.

There is a famous quote by Martin Luther King, which says,

“We are not makers of history. We are made by history.“

But in today’s time, the youth looks a lot disinterested in knowing the history of our country. And they can be just blamed for it. The reason for this is our education system.

The schools in India have failed to create curiosity among students and build some knowledge about the history. Especially, it is very disheartening that several people still don’t have any awareness about northeast India.

Yes, we hardly know about the geography, the people, the history and the culture of the northeast places. It is true we learn about Mughals, Cholas, Pandavas, Ashoka and the long British Raj about having never bothered to teach youngsters the history of the northeastern states.

And this is what Aaira Goswami, a class IV student from Assam, pointed out in her insightful letter to PM Modi. Aaira says that she loves the subject but is unaware of the history of her own state.

Full the read text:

To

Shri Narendra Modiji

The Honourable Prime Minister of India

                                                                                                                                                      Jaipur

                                                                                                                                             11th Feb 2017

Honourable Prime Minister of India,

My name is Aaira Goswami. I am 12 years old. I am from Assam. I currently stay in Jaipur. I study in Neerja Modi School. Today I wanted to tell you about something that I have been thinking about for quite a while. My favourite subject is history, unlike other students. Yet I don’t know the history of my own state! I know a lot about the Mauryans, the Mughals and the Guptas. I have even written exams on these emperors. But I know very little about Lachit Borphukon and the Ahoms who ruled Assam for 600 years defeating the Mughals 17 times soundly in battle. I know the history of almost whole of India; from Jammu & Kashmir to Tamil Nadu, from Mughals to the British, from Rajasthan to Kolkata. But where is the long lost glory of the seven sisters. Some students don’t even know what the seven sisters are. It is very difficult to find things about the Northeast in my books. If I could just read about my state, Assam, and Northeast in my book it would be like a dream come true. Besides all Indian children need to know Assam and the Northeast’s glorious history. If you could do something to ensure that Assam and the Northeast’s history is included in our books and also reply to this letter from a little Indian citizen, I would be very thankful.

Yours sincerely

Aaira Goswami

VI-E

Neerja Modi School

Jaipur, Rajasthan

This letter was posted on the Facebook page of Northeast Today and since then, it went super viral. Have a look at the Facebook post…

Not only the letter, she even made a YouTube video which is going viral: