There was a time when I thought everything that appeared in a newspaper or a periodical was well researched and authentic. It might have been true, considering there were many scholars among those who wrote to newspapers. But that was also a time when access to information was hard. Today it is not as hard to get to primary sources as it was in the past. But if you think such authors would be more truthful today because there is easier access to information, and believe whatever appears in media is well researched, you would be surprised.
With the availability of information today, there should be fewer urban legends forming in the 21st century, because the publications (print, or online) could easily provide readers with more authenticated information. But this isn’t really the case, because as I will illustrate in the examples below, despite the greater accessibility to information you see more urban legends forming. In this article, I will focus on topics that relate to India.
A reason for this type of misinformation could be that many writers today are fluent in just one language, i.e. English, and are sourcing their ideas from writers outside of India and/or less familiar with Indian history and culture. You would be surprised, rather shocked to see the ignorance of writers who write “expert” articles on online publications and print media, such as The Scroll, The Wire, The Hindu and many more, and in spite of the information available on the Internet and social media, fail to correct themselves, or offer even as much as an acknowledgement when their errors are pointed out. Worse, these fictional stories also enter textbooks and other print media as “facts”.
Just to show how rampant this problem is, I present some cases from my own timeline on Twitter. Wherever possible, I have included a link for the articles making incorrect claims. I have also provided information on why they are incorrect with appropriate sources, as much as possible.
Urban legend 1: “Mughals brought many fruits to India, including grapes”.
Supposedly the excerpt from a book, of a food expert, Salma Hussain, claims Mughals introduced several fruits to India, including grapes.
