English Department

Creative writers author many works depicting history while silhouetting it against some plot. Here it is very pertinent that historical facts should not be trivialized, also popular version with some biases should not be pressed into service during fictional account. The need to safeguard the historical sacredness of facts is very important since political leaders pander to popular history to whip up hatred. This is all the more important since vested interests are inclined to appropriate history by projecting their own version. Such subversion if accepted poisons the minds of the gullible sections of society. They feel that their forefathers had been wronged and therefore, seek to avenge the real or imagined perpetrators' progeny in the present. In the subcontinent, all the vested interests cutting across the barriers of religions have been responsible for the mayhem caused over the decades by "the so-called injustice" (my emphasis). Such prejudicial histories must be contested and the fallacious arguments be dismantled in light of looming threat to the survival of minorities in particular. Writing history over the last few centuries has become a muddled area as historians have got themselves entangled in the cobweb of promoting parochial interests. While throwing light on depiction of history and the pitfalls involved when it is foregrounded to some story, anecdotes etc., the paper descants upon locating the positioning of veiled historians in creative writing while touching upon the issue of partition in particular. A few Indian novels were taken for the study.

In this study, we provide the first evidence of scavenging behaviour in the spiny-tailed agamid lizard (Uromastyx aegyptia microlepis), a species which heretofore has been considered a strict desert herbivore. We examined 294 faecal samples collected in the desert of Qatar and found that 84% of the faeces (n ¼ 247) contained exclusively plant material. Grains of barley (Hordeum vulgare) were present, suggesting that Uromastyx can benefit from the food provided to livestock when wild plants are scarce. We also found remains of invertebrates, vertebrates and stones in the lizard faeces. The type of vertebrate remains found suggests scavenging behaviour and some flexibility in feeding behaviour where food resources are scarce. Overgrazing by camels and goats in the area may affect food availability for Uromastyx populations, suggesting the need for conservation measurements in the Qatar desert.