Stories about India’s wars must be included in school curriculum: Shiv Kunal Verma

The terrible be-headings of soldiers, a violation of the Geneva Conventions, is not truly a practice but has been known to happen during combat. On both sides, agreed writers Shiv Kunal Verma and Raghu Karnad.
Karnad said at the Times Lit Fest 2016 session on “India’s Wars” in New Delhi on Sunday that he had read of one such instance in British soldier John Masters’ memoirs where Masters’ team of Gurkhas serving in the 14th Army during the Second World War brought him a basket with three Japanese heads in them.“This was told in a humorous vein in the thick of that war where enormous brutality was on display and it wasn’t treated as a great atrocity,” Karnad said. He added: “Now, how you put the recent be-headings in the context of that history is up to you, but I think it is worth knowing that it has been noted to happen at various points in combat by Indian soldiers.”
Filmmaker and writer Shiv Kunal Verma said at the same session, moderated by journalist Manu Pubby, that he had seen evidence first-hand when visiting a Naga tribe in the Northeast. He said the tribe showed him the skulls and bones of American and British soldiers and airmen of WW2 vintage, all neatly labelled. On being asked how they had come about them, the tribal replied: “Humko Gandhiji ne bola” (Gandhiji told us). Asked whether Gandhi had ever visited the place, the tribal said no, and pointed to a radio. “Humko Gandhiji ne bola joh bhi Angrez mile, uska sar kat do” (Gandhiji asked us to be-head any Britisher that we came across). More careful questioning revealed the tribals had heard Subhas Chandra Bose on the radio, said Verma.
Anybody who understands the true nature of war will abhor it. Verma, who has worked extensively with the Indian military, understands this. But, he says, basic stories about India’s wars must be included in school curriculums, especially why they happened. “Don’t shy away from it,” he said.