Folks,
One of the oldest civilizations getting attention of the scholars is nothing new. But being one of the oldest, dives into it always bring up newer jewels to the surface. One such studious yet entertaining, informative yet (or hence?) exciting journey is currently being aired on PBS. PBS by itself could be a topic of discussions, showing how independent information gathering can be entertaining as well as trendy. But we aren’t talking about PBS here today. What we are talking about is their latest documentary ‘Story of India’.
This is a journey through today’s India to find out its roots way back from the Pre-historic era.
I finished watching first two episodes this Monday (1/5/09) and was quite thrilled to see some of the unseen footage so far. I had always seen pictures of Mohenjo Daro and Harrappa, but when Mark Woods, the lively narrator of the show took us to the site, it was quite a thrilling experience. So was the part where in his second episode he visited the Bodhi Vruksha in Gaya, Bihar or the route he took to enter Patna through Ganges River the same way the Greek ambassadors had taken to visit the great Mauryan Empire capital.
Some of the quotes have stayed with me. Mark Wood, a Brit himself when said “… the Greeks and Europeans thought of India to be an uncivilized, barbaric when they invaded, where as India had some of the oldest civilizations…” Or “… Patna was probably the greatest city in the world at that time…”. Not that any of this is news but a world-class objective program acknowledging it makes it that much more special.
Please visit the website http://www.pbs.org/thestoryofindia/ for an in-depth coverage on this series. Also being PBS you can certainly expect much more than just static text. They have the interactive Photo Gallery of the episodes and their hyperlinks. It also has Timeline of Indian History with their corresponding features from the series.
It also has links to the chapters that for the Teachers who would be interested in teaching Indian History to their kids.
I could have waited to finish the series and then report but I wanted those of us on this side of the globe to get an opportunity to catch up with the rest of the series. Here is the Schedule based on where you are situated… (For those are in the Central Illinois region, it is playing on the WILL – 12 channel)
One of the oldest civilizations getting attention of the scholars is nothing new. But being one of the oldest, dives into it always bring up newer jewels to the surface. One such studious yet entertaining, informative yet (or hence?) exciting journey is currently being aired on PBS. PBS by itself could be a topic of discussions, showing how independent information gathering can be entertaining as well as trendy. But we aren’t talking about PBS here today. What we are talking about is their latest documentary ‘Story of India’.
This is a journey through today’s India to find out its roots way back from the Pre-historic era.
I finished watching first two episodes this Monday (1/5/09) and was quite thrilled to see some of the unseen footage so far. I had always seen pictures of Mohenjo Daro and Harrappa, but when Mark Woods, the lively narrator of the show took us to the site, it was quite a thrilling experience. So was the part where in his second episode he visited the Bodhi Vruksha in Gaya, Bihar or the route he took to enter Patna through Ganges River the same way the Greek ambassadors had taken to visit the great Mauryan Empire capital.
Some of the quotes have stayed with me. Mark Wood, a Brit himself when said “… the Greeks and Europeans thought of India to be an uncivilized, barbaric when they invaded, where as India had some of the oldest civilizations…” Or “… Patna was probably the greatest city in the world at that time…”. Not that any of this is news but a world-class objective program acknowledging it makes it that much more special.
Please visit the website http://www.pbs.org/thestoryofindia/ for an in-depth coverage on this series. Also being PBS you can certainly expect much more than just static text. They have the interactive Photo Gallery of the episodes and their hyperlinks. It also has Timeline of Indian History with their corresponding features from the series.
It also has links to the chapters that for the Teachers who would be interested in teaching Indian History to their kids.
I could have waited to finish the series and then report but I wanted those of us on this side of the globe to get an opportunity to catch up with the rest of the series. Here is the Schedule based on where you are situated… (For those are in the Central Illinois region, it is playing on the WILL – 12 channel)
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