4 ms·

The mysterious disappearance of the longest shrubbery

54 points by benbreen 5y ago

wyldfire 5y ago
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.
- dominicjj 5y ago
  Not another shrubbery!
reactspa 5y ago
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
- hobs 5y ago
  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.
  - reactspa 5y ago
    How is it fair to hold a sweeper accountable for footsteps that occur after they're off duty?
    - aaron695 5y ago
      It refers to the preceding sentence. That have to brush it when they start. So they can't blame footprints found on the shift before them, they finish duty and there are footprints they are to blame. If the next shift takes a hour to point it out, they are in trouble since they too should have brushed it when they started.
    - irrational 5y ago
      They don’t. They would be checked at the switching of the guard.
iamshs 5y ago
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/1432111562337124358 https://mobile.twitter.com/tjoseph0010/status/14321115623371...
- bpodgursky 5y ago
  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.
- tangus 5y ago
  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? (!)
  - notahacker 5y ago
    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.
  - 5y ago
dikkechill 5y ago
Obligatory shrubbery Monty Python: https://youtu.be/watch?v=2UbtcmjfKa8 https://youtu.be/watch?v=2UbtcmjfKa8
- MrWiffles 5y ago
  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)… :-)
bob229 5y ago
I really wish people would stop sharing trash from the bbc, I have it blocked. It’s such a garbage site and a total disgrace that we in Britain have to pay for it
aaron695 5y ago
Is there a single confirmation it existed? Almost all citations on Wikipedia are to the one author. What if they just made it up? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inland_Customs_Line https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inland_Customs_Line

54 points by benbreen 5y ago

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.

dominicjj 5y ago
Not another shrubbery!

reactspa 5y ago

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

hobs 5y ago
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.
- reactspa 5y ago
  How is it fair to hold a sweeper accountable for footsteps that occur after they're off duty?
  - aaron695 5y ago
    It refers to the preceding sentence. That have to brush it when they start. So they can't blame footprints found on the shift before them, they finish duty and there are footprints they are to blame. If the next shift takes a hour to point it out, they are in trouble since they too should have brushed it when they started.
  - irrational 5y ago
    They don’t. They would be checked at the switching of the guard.

iamshs 5y ago

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/1432111562337124358 https://mobile.twitter.com/tjoseph0010/status/14321115623371...

bpodgursky 5y ago
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.
tangus 5y ago
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? (!)
- notahacker 5y ago
  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.
- 5y ago

dikkechill 5y ago

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

MrWiffles 5y ago
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)… :-)

bob229 5y ago

I really wish people would stop sharing trash from the bbc, I have it blocked. It’s such a garbage site and a total disgrace that we in Britain have to pay for it

aaron695 5y ago

Is there a single confirmation it existed? Almost all citations on Wikipedia are to the one author. What if they just made it up? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inland_Customs_Line https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inland_Customs_Line