If there is one thing that fascinates the internet apart from cute cat pictures, it is images from bygone times. People have an inexplicable love for photos, doctored or otherwise, which illuminate the past and Twitter handles with pictures of Indian history abound.
Which is perhaps why when yet another handle titled Real Indian History emerged, it might have seemed to be more of the same. After all, unless you looked closer, all it had were vintage photos.
And then it decided to move away from history into the present day. For instance, on Monday when Gyandev Ahuja, a Bharatiya Janata Party assembly member from Rajasthan, recited a list of contraband he claimed were found daily at Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University – including 3,000 used condoms, 2,000 discarded liquor bottles and 5,000 abortion injections – this handle responded immediately with evidence.
Screengrab from the BBC documentary 'Just another regular day at JNU' (2012). https://t.co/QT8sux0Sq2 pic.twitter.com/G12u6rAiU1
— Real Indian History (@realhistories) February 23, 2016
At a time when doctored footage goes viral and photos of the humble origins of political leaders abound, Real History Pictures leavens the tension.
The man behind it is Vaibhav Vishal, 40, who describes himself as having a Punjabi baroque designation at an entertainment company in Mumbai.
"There is a lot of disagreement about the way history is being interpreted these days," said Vishal. "Rightists say we have been taught Leftist history and the Left wants subaltern history. I thought there was a space to have a different take on history that has a larger political context. There is so much halla-hungama happening these days. I'm not Ravish [Kumar], but I want people to take some time off and smile either with me or at me."
Rishi Kapoor plays cricket on the sets of Kapoor & Sons as Arvind Kejriwal and his cabinet ministers cheer (2015) pic.twitter.com/7vpoC35Z0k
— Real Indian History (@realhistories) February 23, 2016
BJP's CM candidate Kiran Bedi interacting with the crowd on the AAP misrule at an election rally in Delhi (2015) pic.twitter.com/m80WGqJcJ7
— Real Indian History (@realhistories) February 21, 2016
According to the artist, most people from both sides of the political spectrum have received the project well, though he has faced what he calls inevitable criticism for it. As for people mistaking these images for real history, he says this has happened only in the case of uncanny moments when the past echoes the present.
What he has, however, are imitators. Vishal is also the brains behind the "Doing Things" Tumblrs that ruled the internet in 2013, which also spawned several imitations.
Soon after his first tweets began to appear, another handle, calling itself History of India emerged. Unlike the original, this one uses primarily black and white photographs to suggest the vintage origins of its photos. The humorist behind this is a 25-year-old studying for the Union Public Services Commission examination. His initial tweets seemed to be directly copied from Vishal's handle, said Vishal.
"A lot of people were confused and got his title when they were searching for my work," Vishal said. "To be fair, I wrote to him asking why he wanted to copy my handle and display picture. He obviously has a political agenda."
Though the younger humorist did not reply to Vishal, he did delete the copied tweets. His handle, however, remains sharp and on point with current affairs.
A student throwing a bag full of used condoms outside Jawaharlal Nehru University. (1972) pic.twitter.com/STXcgTq7x7
— History of India (@RealHistoryPic) February 23, 2016
Baba Ramdev and Aftab Shivdasani in trial court for invading privacy of their followers. (1938) pic.twitter.com/Z28hbXXNlh
— History of India (@RealHistoryPic) February 9, 2016
And here are some of Vishal's:
Justin Bieber caught unawares by the Paparazzi just outside the Taj Mumbai during his first India visit (2014) pic.twitter.com/zdjY7377lN
— Real Indian History (@realhistories) February 20, 2016
Nana Patekar giving his revolutionary Hindu-Muslim speech in an emotional scene from the film Krantiveer (1994) pic.twitter.com/FzGtmzONFd
— Real Indian History (@realhistories) February 18, 2016
Saurabh Shukla and Manoj Bajpai rehearsing their steps for their song 'Kallu Mama' from the film Satya (1997) pic.twitter.com/i1y9ybqlrx
— Real Indian History (@realhistories) February 20, 2016