WHY SHOULD WE PRESERVE FROM THE PAST

 

Why Should We Preserve the Past?

Lessons, Memories and Heritage from Our Villages

Preserving the past is not simply about remembering old buildings, customs or stories. It is about protecting the experiences, wisdom, struggles and traditions that shaped our present. Every family and every village has a history. Unfortunately, much of this history disappears when we fail to record what our elders know.

I often think about my own childhood and village life. I was a young boy growing up in a hill village, far away from many basic facilities such as electricity, drinking water, good roads, schools and hospitals. Life was difficult, but those difficulties taught us the importance of hard work, self-reliance, cooperation and responsibility towards our family 

My Early Life in a Hill Village

As a young person, I was actively involved in social work in my village. We had very limited resources. To bring up our families, we had to work hard and become as independent and self-dependent as possible.

Agriculture was small-scale, but it was an important part of our lives. We worked in the fields, looked after cattle, arranged grass from the forests and produced milk. Every member of the family contributed in one way or another.

There were no modern conveniences to make life easy. Our parents and elders taught us through their own example that dignity comes from honest work and cooperation.

My First Job in 1971

After passing my Senior Secondary/Intermediate examination, I began working in a privately managed school in 1971. My salary was only Rs. 100 per month.

Today, that amount may appear extremely small, but at that time it represented an important beginning for a young person trying to support himself and his family.

That experience taught me an important lesson: success should not always be measured by money. Sometimes the real value of an opportunity lies in the responsibility, experience and confidence it gives us.

Education Was a Dream for Our Village

At that time, I also tried to motivate my brothers, sisters and other children of the village to attend school and study at least up to Class 12.

Gradually, through the efforts and cooperation of local people, educational facilities improved during the 1970s and 1980s. What we had once considered a distant dream slowly became a reality.

This is another part of our past that deserves to be remembered. The development of a village is not created by one person alone. It is often the result of the collective efforts of ordinary people who work together for the next generation.

What Our Elders Knew About Our Village

Our old village people often told us stories about when and how our village came into existence.

They passed down information about our ancestors, migration and the places from which earlier generations had come. We heard stories connecting our ancestry with places such as Champawat and Pithoragarh and with the wider historical development of the Kumaon region, including the period when the Chand rulers shifted their capital from Champawat to Almora.

At that time, however, we did not pay sufficient attention.

Many of those elderly people were uneducated in the formal sense, but they were extremely experienced observers of life. Some lived healthy and active lives into their 70s, 80s and even 90s. They carried knowledge that had been passed to them by their forefathers.

They wished that the younger generation would listen carefully and record what they knew.

Unfortunately, we did not understand the value of their words at the time.

Today We Realise What We Lost

Today, when someone asks about our village origin, migration history, ancestors and traditional way of life, we sometimes have to say that we do not know the complete story.

That is painful.

Many of the people who knew these stories have passed away. With them, valuable information about our family and village history also disappeared.

This experience has taught me a powerful lesson:

If we do not preserve the memories of our elders, one day we may have questions about our own identity but no one left to answer them.

Traditional Songs and Community Life

Our past was not only about hardship. It was also rich in community life and cultural traditions.

People cooperated with one another during difficult times. Festivals brought the community together. Holi songs, traditional ritual songs and Jagar traditions were important parts of village culture.

Jagar, in particular, has a significant place in the traditional culture of Uttarakhand. It is associated with invoking divine power and local deities, with communities seeking blessings for health, prosperity, peace of mind and positive thoughts.

Whether we look at these traditions from a religious, cultural or historical perspective, they are important records of the beliefs and social life of earlier generations.

They tell us how our ancestors understood life, nature, society and their relationship with the spiritual world.

Why Should We Preserve the Past?

The past contains knowledge that may become extremely valuable in the present and future.

Today, we have social media, smartphones, digital photography, YouTube, blogs and online archives. We have tools that our ancestors could never have imagined.

The stories that were once passed from one generation to another orally can now be recorded permanently.

We can preserve:

• Family histories and migration stories
• Memories of grandparents and village elders
• Old photographs and documents
• Traditional songs and folk music
• Holi and Jagar traditions
• Local customs and rituals
• Traditional agricultural practices
• Knowledge about forests, plants and animals
• Stories about village development
• Experiences of education and employment
• Memories of festivals and community cooperation
• Names and contributions of important local people

Our Villages Are Changing

The village life of my childhood has changed greatly.

Many villages are becoming less populated. Young people have moved to towns, cities and places where employment is available. Families have settled near their workplaces, and traditional occupations are gradually disappearing.

As a result, some villages that were once full of activity are becoming quieter and, in some cases, almost deserted.

This makes the preservation of our memories even more important.

A village is not merely a collection of houses and fields. A village is also its people, stories, traditions, language, songs, memories and collective experiences.

When those disappear, a part of our cultural identity disappears with them.

We Can Still Preserve What Remains

It is not too late.

Every family can begin by talking to its oldest members. Ask them simple questions:

Where did our ancestors come from? When did they settle here? Who were the first families? What were the old occupations? How were festivals celebrated? What songs were sung? What difficulties did people face? How did the village develop its school, roads, water supply and other facilities?

Record their answers in a notebook, audio recording or video.

Take photographs of old houses, temples, fields, traditional tools and important places. Write down the names of people who contributed to the development of the village.

Even a small record can become a valuable historical document for future generations.

Conclusion: Preserve the Past to Understand the Present

My own experience has taught me that preserving the past is an investment in the future.

The difficult childhood of our generation, our small agricultural activities, our first jobs, our efforts to educate children, the struggles of our families and the wisdom of our elders are all part of a larger story.

We should not preserve the past merely because everything old is necessarily better. We should preserve it because the past helps us understand who we are, where we came from and how our society changed.

Our ancestors left us more than land and houses. They left us stories, values, traditions and experiences.

It is now our responsibility to preserve these treasures for our children and grandchildren.

If we record our memories today, tomorrow's generation will not have to ask, “Where did we come from?"

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