The mysterious disappearance of the longest shrubbery | Hacker News Reader

The mysterious disappearance of the longest shrubbery

bbc.com

54 pointsbenbreen15 comments

An alternative viewpoint from someone who has long experience with the rampant fraud in every level of Indian society.

Nobody remembers it because it didn't exist. It may have been ordered by the British. And the contractors probably built a few "potemkin" sites to show to the British "inspectors". But the rest of it was probably fiction. Certain people needed to be paid off, and they wrote reports about how thick and impassable and gloriously thick the bush was... and the higher-ups who never visited the bush believed them).

-------------

An aside, anyone know what this sentence means?

> This was to ensure that they would be accountable for any impressions of footsteps that were discovered after they went off duty

If you brush everything and there's no footprints on the path you've guarded it well, if there are footprints on the path either you forgot to sweep or someone used it without your knowledge.

How is it fair to hold a sweeper accountable for footsteps that occur after they're off duty?

They don’t. They would be checked at the switching of the guard.

More Arthurian shenanigans.

It probably disappeared as a result of one of his quests.

I'd look for two of them together -- one slightly higher so you get a two layer effect with a little path running down the middle.

It is intriguing as to why no native account/cultural memory of the hedge exists, especially since it spanned various states. On the other hand though, it also reminds me of a recent Twitter thread [1] about India: "Ever wondered why the Harappan Civilization had to be "discovered" in the 1920 and there is no cultural memory of it and no mention in our ancient literature? No pilgrimage circuits involving Dholavira, Lothal or Mohenjo-daro? The Buddha had to be 'discovered' too. And Ashoka."

https://mobile.twitter.com/tjoseph0010/status/14321115623371...

There have been huge genocides in the 20th century which would have been forgotten if not for extensive retrospective documentation. Cultural memory is pretty selective.

Who remembers boundary areas and the kind of fence they have? Access to them is restricted and people don't usually have a reason to go there anyway.

After they were abandoned there's still no reason for them to enter cultural consciousness. They'd still be out of the way shrubberies on the back of fields, with no indication that they were part of the longest shrubbery in the world.

And even if they knew about that piece of trivia, were they expected to pass it along to future generations? (!)

Yeah, if you don't cross state boundaries (or even leave your village) like most people at the time the extent of the fence isn't really that important. Paris had substantial stone walls to enforce its own tax boundary at one point; since bits still exist plaques commemorate its existence, but I'd be surprised if the average Parisian thinks about the line of the wall much. The bit that got enshrined in the popular consciousness at the time is how much they resented the authorities levying the tax, and it appears that likewise the tax itself - not the implementation detail - was on Indian nationalists' grievances about British colonialism.

There still could be accounts in the native press though, but it looks like none exist. How come largest shrub wall is non-existent in Indian language press but existent in English press? No contemporary politician has referenced it in his speeches? No politician protested with British against this shrub wall?

Hm, I'm missing the point! Would anyone be so kind as to fill in with what's implied here? Thanks

Wonder why mamoths and dinosaurs had to be discovered

Hazy analogy but will do. Buddhism was made to go extinct in India similarly.

Obligatory shrubbery Monty Python: https://youtu.be/watch?v=2UbtcmjfKa8

You stole my thunder! I was about to come here and say, “well damn, I’ll bet the Knights who say ‘NI!’ are pretty pissed!” but here you had to go beating me to the punch (line)… :-)

Reply on news.ycombinator.com