When Christopher C Doyle kicked off his session at Indian School with a bunch of 14-15-year-olds, there were quite a few mystery and science buffs but not too many hands went up when history was mentioned. An hour later, when he had finished, one could see many a convert to history too.
Doyle mixed mystery, science, mythology and history to keep the children rooted to their seats. Any teacher would have given his or her right arm to get such an attentive audience.
The proceedings started off with a presentation of the mysteries of the world. How did the stones at Stonehenge get up there in the first place? How was one stone (some of them weighing 50 tonnes) placed on top of others without a crane being used in the process? How were such big, heavy stones transported and used to construct the pyramids of Egypt?
It was enough to set the stage for what was to follow. Doyle emphasized the fact that he uses ancient history and what happened then with mythology and science to create fiction set in the modern world. Both his books – The Mahabharata Secret and the Mahabharata Quest: Alexander’s Secret – mesmerized. Doyle went on to talk about Alexander’s Secret in detail and the Greek conqueror’s connection with an event in the Mahabharata – the Samudra Manthan.
Did Alexander come to India with the express purpose of getting at the nectar that guaranteed immortality? Doyle left the question for the students. And the queue at the books display left no doubt that the children wanted to know more.
