Oh my God!

Oh my God is a satirical comedy, in fact one of the best I have seen in a long time. With a pretty famous cast to boast of, consisting of Paresh Rawal, Akshay Kumar and Mithun Chakraborty, the heart of the movie is its concept. A minor earthquake produces just a single event- which takes away the shop of Kanjibhai (Paresh Rawal), who is a hard core atheist! The events that follow completely dazzle one's mind and put forward a number of questions. Akshay Kumar plays God, which somehow does not match up to our expectation of how God should look like. I understand that Bollywood doesn't have a Morgan Freeman to play the role. Many were of the view that a father figure would have done better as a God but the fact that God is shown more as a friend (as a modern day incarnation of Krishna) might have led to Akshay being chosen for the role. A good one, nonetheless. Over the past centuries or so, Hinduism has gone through dramatic changes. The ancient store of literature in Vedas and Upanishads instruct people to look beyond, 'mantras' and 'pooja'. Hinduism should not be about following the priests and mantras blindly, but opening your eyes towards enlightenment. This movies depicts the malpractice of money being taker in the form of donation by priests, People are of the view that they can bribe God(s) so that their wishes are granted. But where does the money go? A priest is supposed to take enough for his survival, nothing more. The so-called 'Mandir Industry' is thriving as one of the most successful business ventures in the country today. This underground business has evolved over the years and is an open secret now. One would find different idols in a temple and people would donate money and some precious metals separately for each idol. But why? Will the Gods be angry if you don't?

           Hinduism teaches you that "Om" contains the universe. It signifies the holy trinity Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh. They are the creator, the ruler and the destroyer of the Universe. The true meaning of Moksha as per the Hindu religious texts like Gita, Upanishads and Vedas is the state of mind when the soul is free from worldly desires and takes refuge at the feet of God. Most modern day priests seem to have attained no such 'Moksha'? If so, should they be craving and encouraging people to give more donations? Go to any prominent religious place nowhere has it been made a secret that the ones with money get preferential treatment. Isn't everyone equal in the eyes of God? Why, on earth, are the poor beggars sitting outside not allowed entry into the residence of God? The scandals that many of the religious groups are involved in are certainly not any less serious than the 2G and others! No one knows the beginning, and there is no way one can know the end. The Gita tells us that one should introspect and meditate in the name of God. That is when you become aware of the truth; not by wearing stones and donating money blindly.

             The questions that the movies raises interest me. Although a disclaimer says that it's not meant to hurt the sentiments of the people of any religion, the movie is highly successful in exposing exactly what is wrong with religion today. The question whether God exists cannot be answered. We can neither prove nor disprove the existence of God. The movie, however sends out a clear message that we need to believe in God rather than fear him. Treat him as a friend and not as somebody who will punish you. Trust him and love him with all your heart.

The Magic of Books

"In the case of good books, the point is not to see how many of them you can get through, but rather how many can get through to you"

Books have always fascinated me. In school, I was that kid who borrowed books from the library every week and couldn't wait to issue more the next week. Even today, my love for books hasn't ceased. For some people, books are an escape from reality but for me, they are gateways to different and amazing possibilities. I have seen the magical world of wizards and witches, ridden dragons, travelled through space and time, fought with deadly assassins and visited glorious places, all while going through the pages of various book. That is the impact of books. They let you see a whole new world and you experience how brilliant human imagination is. It might sound strange but I always end up getting attached to the character. It literally takes nothing much to make me fall in love with a character and when that happens, I laugh and cry and live with that character. I have cried over a character's death, shouted at his/her stupidity, smiled at their happiness and cursed their wickedness. I get too engrossed and I love it.

            Books give you enlightenment, perspective and joy. I have learnt about human nature and its various shades from writers I have read. I know that Man is capable of not only doing the worst, but is also destined for greatness in today's morally degenerating society, there is really no doubt that humanity is losing its value. Thus, it is easy to lose your footing in this world and just think the worst of everything. This is where books come in. Even though the universe created is that of fiction or fantasy, there are so many characters carrying the torch of goodness that you have to believe that there is hope for us, after all. I could never figure out a favourite book or a favourite author. If you think you can never read a book, it's just that you haven't found the right one. Find the book that calls to you and then just led the magic unfold. 

My experience of first Teacher Training Program

On 6th August, I got a golden opportunity to attend a one day training session on 'Effective Techniques in Teaching English' organised by Oxford University Press. The resource person was Ms. Ratna Rao, a well known ELT expert. Really it was a great opportunity for me. We three teachers attended this workshop from our school.

"We keep on learning and then only we can keep on proceeding as a teacher."

This quote is really true as the day when we stop learning as teachers, we cannot succeed. As Alvin Toffler says-

"The illiterate in the 21st century are not those who are not educated, but are those who do not learn, unlearn and re-learn.

The speaker applied the theory of Breaking the Ice which means taking out from the comfort zone. Some activities which can be done in order to free children from any type of burden and so they are supposed to sit far from their friends and this also helps in learning how to work collaboratively with new people. We did many activities which we can apply in our class while teaching and also in proxy periods. The first activity was of logical and practical thinking process where we were given some words and the some letters were missing three times and we had to fill the blanks. For Example- MALARIA, DISMISS, RELEASE ETC.

                        Listening is the most important skill. It starts with the womb of the mother as we have the example of Abhimanyu from Mahabharata. To learn English, listening is the most important of all LSRW skills. Not everyone will be knowing but in English we have 26 Alphabets, 5 Vowels, 12 Sounds and the words are spoken differently and written differently. The reason for bad handwriting of students is that they are not doing much activities of writing as in class they are only listening. They are rote learners.

              Another activity was that the speaker gave instructions and we had to draw whatever we were instructed. The speaker gave the first instruction and e followed that. We were told to draw a square but later she instructed to draw it in the centre of the page. This proves that we listen only half and act fastly. This type of listening is called Bottom-Up Listening. The opposite of it is Top- Down in which when we are given instructions, we apply our common sense and try to do it more nicely. Very few will know the difference between listening and learning. Listening is when the brain is active and we give feedback. Hearing is when we do not react  to anything and people are passive learners.  

              The third activity was that we had to write the name of the body parts which had three letters. The fourth exercise was to arrange the 12 months of the year in alphabetical order. These types of exercise can be given to students. These exercises are called HOTs(Higher Order Thinking). This concept of HOTs and LOTs is called Bloom's Taxonomy which I also studied during my M.A. studies at Department of English(M K Bhavnagar University). The six things which are included in this are Knowledge, Understanding, Applying, Analysing, Evaluating and Creating. Knowing is important. Without knowing, we cannot directly create anything. The first three comes under LOTs and the other three comes under HOTs.

              There are two types of Grammar teaching techniques- Inductive and Deductive. We also came to know about different types of claps like Train Clap, Rain Clap etc. The next activity was a group activity in which 10 people were there. They had to invent a new festival for which we had to give reason for celebrating it, give a name to it, tell how it would be celebrated, what type of dress to be worn, which rituals to be followed, which food to be eaten and a poster about it. Our group invented a festival which is called Laughter Festival. The reason for celebrating it was to release stress, remove sadness. As Mother Teresa says- "Peace begins with a smile, laughter is many steps ahead of a smile." How will it be celebrated will be we just have to smile at everyone we meet. The ritual will be work like you laugh and smile everyday and no holiday will be there on that day. We all have to wear a smiley band or a batch. The dress will be funky or any costume which we have not worn yet. The food eaten will be sweets and chocolates. The other groups were also there who also invented different festivals like No Superstition Day, Being Human, Gratitude Day, Happy Moments Festival, Shadows Day, Country Fest and Familia Refreshio.

Poster for Laughter Day Festival

                      The next activity was that we were given a list f things and told a situation that we are on sea voyage and our ship starts sinking so which three things will we take with us to survive. After telling the three things, we had to argue with other groups proving our point. This activity was given because debating is one of the spoken skills in Oxford Books. We also were given poem and also told how to teach it. I did the same activity when Dr. Atanu Bhattacharya came at our department to teach ELT.

      The workshop was very fruitful and I gained many things which will help me to teach more effectively.

                   

Literature, according to me..

'There are a thousand thoughts lying within a man that be does not know till be takes up a pen to write.'

                                               -William Makepeace Thackeray

If we search on internet the definition of literature, we can find many definitions one of which is-

"Literature is a road which is much travelled through the point of arrival, if ever reached, is seldom satisfactory."

After reading literature for so many years, we cannot clearly define literature as its definition changes with individual as well as time. In B.A, we were taught that literature is the mirror of the society and this definition was accepted by us without questioning anything. In this way, we can be called sheeples as we all accepted what was said and we never questioned anything. We just accepted what we were taught. After joining M.A, first of all I learnt to question everything and then slowly and steadily, my attitude towards the definition of literature changed and I came out of this group of sheeples. My perspective towards literature changed. We can now say that literature is not only the mirror to society but it is much more than that. When we read the novels of Charles Dickens, we come to know about the truth of the society that what happened during that time. Some writers wrote good things about their society while some writers showed the bitter truth. These types of books contribute to literature and so we can say that literature is the mirror which shows us the bitter and harsh reality of the society which not everyone can accept. During my under graduation i.e. B.A, I read many novels like Such a Long Journey, Things Fall Apart, Oliver Twist, The Quiet American etc but we just read what was written in it.  Earlier I read Hamlet but just as a story but now I could understand that it is a revenge play when I read it in M.A. with different approaches, could feel the difference in meaning which was very vast. After coming in M.A, I started reading novels from different perspectives and approaches. Now I can apply different theories and can also read novels from whichever perspective I want. Earlier, I read the things which were in front of my eyes but now when my views have changed a lot about literature, I try to find out what is absent in it.

         According to me, Literature has no definite definition of what has been in so far projected, to talk of history brings a new hope of study but it lacks the value of actual faith of time in which history of literature gives an individual study of pleasure. The only thing that is certain about defining literature is that the definition will change. Concepts of what is literature changes over time as well.

Like architecture is the art form that arises out of the human ability to create buildings and monuments, literature is the art form that arises out of  the human ability to create language.

Literature makes us think about ourselves and our society, allows us to enjoy language and beauty, it can be didactic and it reflects on the human conditions. Literature is the creation of another world, a world that we can only see through reading literature. Literature reflects ideology as well as changes the ideology. Literature effects the life o beings. It consists of ideas, thought and communication. It is the perception and reflection through writing. Language is intertwined with literature and emotions, thoughts and imagination are conveyed by language. In short, we can say that literature weaves our thoughts. Literature is the comprehensive essence of the intellectual life of a nation. Literature is emphatic as it gives vicarious pleasure. Literature is a work of art which uses creative and imaginative language in order to reflect social realities. The best example  is Charles Dickens' novels in which be reflects all the harsh realities of the society of that time.  Literature is any artistic way of using language to reflect daily human experience. literature is a mirror that shows the social, economical, political and religious aspect of the world. Literature is an art and uses language which deviates from normal conversation to create an effect in literary work. Literature can also be called 'many men, many minds."

               After these two years of M.A, I could develop critical thinking as well as the argumentative capability. I understood the worth of free thinking as earlier we were not used to do it. We just learnt what our professors and teachers taught us.

 When I took admission in M.A, we were given a small test comprising the question 'What is Literature and which text did we like the most?' Today, when I read that answers, I literally laugh at myself as what I had written as I knew nothing at that time. But now there has been a lot of change in me as now I am an individual thinker and my thinking process has expanded. I am really thankful to Dr. Prof. Dilip Barad and Dr. Heenaba Zala for making me capable and what I am today.

My Last Duchess by Robert Browning

This poem is about the Duke of Ferrara who lived in 16^th century. The duke is the speaker of the poem. He is showing a visitor his palace and stops before a portrait of the Late Duchess, who was a young and lovely girl. The duke keeps this portrait behind a curtain that only he is allowed to draw. The Duke describes the circumstances in which the painting was made and the fate of his unfortunate former wife. The duchess was pleased easily and she smiled at everything and everybody and seemed just as happy when someone brought her a branch of cherries as she did when the Duke decided to marry her. The Duke tells the visitor that painting of the duchess is impressively accurate and the painter Fra Pandolf worked hard to achieve a realistic effect. The Duke mentioned Pandolf’s name by purpose because strangers never examine the Duchess portrait without looking like they want to ask the Duke how the painter put so much “depth and passion” into the expression on the Duchess face. Duke says that only he will answer because no one is allowed to drawback the curtain that hangs over the portrait. Only the Duke is allowed to look at it or show it to anyone else. Further he starts describing the painting as having a “spot of joy” in it, perhaps a slight blush of pleasure. The Duke thought that only her husband’s presence would make her blush but he was wrong. Everything made her blush and the Duke didn’t like this. The reason for her blushing in the portrait may be when Pandolf was painting, he would have set that her ‘mantle’ covered her wrist too much and so she should take it up a little or maybe he have complimented her on the becoming way that she flushes, telling her that “paint must never hope to reproduce”. The Duke describes (22,23) the Duchess as “too soon made glad” as it was her main problem that everything made her happy this means that she is not serious and she likes everything she sees. If someone gives a favor that she can wear jewelry, she thanks them for it in the same way that she approves of a pretty sunset, a branch of cherries. Sometimes she doesn’t say anything and just blushes in that special way. The problem is not her blushing but she blushes at that officious fool who brings them to her. Duke says that it’s good that she thanks people for their favors but she did just as she thanked the Duke himself. Duke had given her 900 years old name and power and prestige. Duke thinks himself superior and thinks that Duchess ought to value the social alleviation of her marriage over the simple pleasures of life. The Duke says that he didn’t have the skill in speech to explain what he wanted form her. He suggests that she might have resisted being ‘lessoned’ i.e. taught a lesson by him, if she had ‘made excuse’ for her behavior instead. The Duke admits that when he passed off by her, she smiled but that was not special as every passerby got the some smile. Then the Duke was frustrated by Duchess’s indiscriminate kindness and appreciation of everything and gave commands. “All smiles stopped together”- from this live we can guess maybe how she is not a Duchess anymore rather she is “last duchess”. The Duke ends his story and points towards the full body portrait again in which she stands “as if alive”. Then asks his listener to get up and go back demon stairs. In line 48-53, we come to know why the Duke is talking to this guy. The listeners are a servant of a count and the Duke is wooing the count’s daughter. He tells the servant that he knows about the count’s wealth and expects to get any reasonable dowry but “main object” is the daughter herself. The listeners tries to get away from him but Duke stops him and insists on meeting everyone together demon stairs. Before learning, he points out a Bronze statue of Neptune, the god of the sun, taming the sea-horse. He mentions the name of the artist who cast this statue, Claus of Innsbruck, who made or specifically for him. From this poem we come to know that the Duke is a very jealous man. Duke was so much jealous that he observed this chaste painter with his wife in order to be sure. The Duke’s pride and selfishness are also revealed as he says that he had given the last Duchess a 900 years old name. We can see that Duke is dominant also. “I said/ Fra Pandolf by design”. These lines reveal how the Duke tells this thing. Moreover, now the Duke controls this portrait too as only he can remove the curtain the line “Notice Neptune, though/ Taming a sea horse, though a rarity/ which Claus of Innsbruck cast in bronze for me!” reveals that Neptune, god of the sea, Taming a small, beautiful sea creature in what would obviously be no contest. In other words the Duke sees himself as a god who has tamed/ will tamed his Duchess. Like Neptune, Duke rules his kingdom and when he grows tired of his last Duchess he gave commands and all the smiles stopped again.

Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes

 Here are my views on the novel Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes

1-    What is the meaning of phrase ‘Blood Money’ in Veronica’s reply email?

Sarah Ford sends Tony a letter and 500 pounds. When Tony tells this to Veronica, she says it was blood money. But Tony is not able to understand what she said. This novel talks about lack of love and faith, God, Karmic philosophy etc. We can say that blood money here means the money earned by killing the innocent people. Here killing doesn’t mean physical killing of murder but the killing of feelings and emotions. When Tony and Veronica were in a relationship, her father had offered him huge amount of money but after that, they broke up. Then Adrian sent a letter to Tony asking for his permission to date Veronica. Tony, in response to that letter told him to meet her mother. Due to this, she lost her everything. From Veronica’s point of view there can be two reasons. One is that she may think that her mother was responsible for Adrian’s suicide as he might have felt guilty after making relation with Sarah. Another reason can be that she thinks that Tony is responsible for Adrian’s suicide. If Tony won’t have written in reply to that letter, Adrian wouldn’t have met Sarah and all this wouldn’t have happened. So we can say that Veronica thinks that Sarah and Tony both are responsible for Adrian’s suicide, and so she calls that money as blood money.

2-    Adrian’s Diary is willed to Tony by Sarah Ford. How come Sarah Ford owned it? Why was it in the possession of Veronica?

In the story we read that Sarah had written in the letter that Adrian was happy in his last days. This means that Adrian was with Sarah in last few days before his suicide. So it is obvious his diary would have been with her. Till she was alive, she possessed the diary and after her death, She wrote in her will to pass that diary to Tony but Veronica however was able to possess it.

3-    How was Veronica related to Adrian, the one suffering in care-in-the-community?

Veronica and Junior Adrian can be called siblings as Sarah and Adrian were the parents. We can also say that Adrian, who was Tony’s friend, was suffering from mental trauma and had gone mad as he can be called the step father of Veronica.

4-    Do you see any missing block-some dot which is not getting connected with the whole or dot missing to get full sense of the novel- in the plot of this psychological thriller?

There are so many things that are not clear as the whole novel is depended on possibilities. We are not told how Veronica and Adrian met, what were the reasons for ending relationship between Adrian and Veronica, why Sarah kept herself busy in search of other man etc. We are not told much about any character and their history so we can assume whatever we want to.

5-    In the light of new revelations, how do you read character of Veronica? Instinctive, manipulative, calculating, stubborn, haughty, sacrificial, trustworthy, Good Samaritan?

When the whole story unfolds, we can read her character as sacrificial and trustworthy. Earlier we found her calculative when she broke up with Tony. In the next part Veronica shows Tony a group of mentally retarded people but he doesn’t understand what she tried to convey. She can be called calculative because Tony was never able to understand her and she thought that if she continues her relation with Tony, they will never be happy. In the end we can see that Veronica is taking care of junior Adrian so we can call her as sacrificial and emotional too.

6-    What do you mean by unreliable character? Is Tony Webster classifiable as unreliable narrator?

Unreliable narrator is the one whose narration cannot be taken as reliable or whose narration is not faithful to reality. Tony can also be called an unreliable narrator because he starts his narration by saying that “I remember, in no particular order”. We can say that whatever the narrator is going to tell is the outcome of his broken memory as he joins the missing dots with his own perspective and imagination. The first part of the novel is all about imperfections of memory and the second part is all about inadequacies of documentation.

Thank You

Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie and The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid

The novel Midnight's Children is written by Salman Rushdie and directed by Deepa Mehta. The drama or Movie version of the MidNight’s Children tells the story of two individuals who born at the stroke of the midnight, when India achieved its Independence from British. One is born in rich family, second in poor family. What the line just above some line states, accordingly the rich one will live in utter poverty and the poor will grow up in rich family.  There is a story of three generations and the narrative technique is very long. The plot of the drama is centres around these two characters are Saleem and Shiva. The story is their childhood to man, but in the course of that time it covers nearly more than 30 years. which includes some historical time in Indian as well as Bangladesh’s history, Indian history like the independence movement, two civil war with Pakistan, arising of the Bangladesh as new nation, Emergency during Indira Gandhi was Prime minister of India. In a sense we can see as record of history and Indian culture too. Character of Parvati presents magic realism. Through her magic skills, she changes the situation and saves Saleem’s life.

 “The Fundamental Reluctant” is movie released in 2014, directed by Mira Nair, it is not less than any Hollywood movie, its script is written by Salman Rushdie and Mohsin Hamid, Mohsin is well known English writer in Pakistan who’s achieved readers of the world. This movie is all about political controversy and 9/11 attack, idea of East and West, American dream of Changez. Professor of Pakistan University Changez and Bobby Lincoln played a vital role in the movie. Changez Khan, the hero of the novel, in frame narration story move forward, as Changez who at present live in Pakistan, tells his life story to an American journalist who is also secret agent of CIA. The story starts with the abduction of American professor working in the University of the Lahore, and the journalist suspect Changez behind all this. When Changez lives in America, he has to suffer a lot. he is very happy to get a job in an American company but then he realizes that whatever order is given by his boss is to be completed by him. He feels that Arica is also not faithful with him. She publishes some of his photos stating that “I had one Pakistani”. American police caught Changez doubting upon him as there were controversies regarding Muslims and Al Qaeda. They all felt that bearded person is a terrorist and so Changez is ordered by his boss to remove his beard. He then leaves America and comes back to Pakistan. There he narrates his story to a journalist. As the journalist belongs to the West, he is also conditioned by his mind and starts spying on Changez. Three people, Changez, his boss and a African man are going somewhere and police asks to show them their passports and prove their identity. When they come to know that Changez is Pakistani, they take him and check his body. This shows that how a Pakistani man has to suffer in other country.Changez feels that hypocrisy, ignorance is there in America and so his dream breaks. He has to prove his identity everywhere in America. 

Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett

In the play, first scene is a 'country road, a tree and evening'. It is very symbolical. Barren tree symbolizes negative things and it shows near to death. These paintings symbolize longing. Longing means desire for hope. Life is a endless process and our desires are also endless. First painting is dark and second is yellowish. but these painting shows harsh reality of our life.

 We cannot say that only tree is important in the setting instead it symbolizes many things. tree is connected with the religion of Christianity, Muslims and Hindus. In Hindu religion, trees like Ashoka and Pipal are used at auspicious occasions. These are some hidden symbols. In both the acts tree is more important because Vladimir thinks that Godot will come near by the tree. But Estragon doesn't think like this as his attention is only towards food or absurd things. A few leaves grow in Act II on the barren tree which symbolizes that time is static but we have to move on.  Leaves present hope in our life. If we connect this idea with Vladimir and Estragon's life, perhaps they have hope that someday Godot will come. In both acts, evening falls into night and moon rises. It shows that we  complete our routine work but ultimate reality is that at last we have to face death. ' coming of night and moon', it shows that whatever situation comes we have t face it and at last our hope and desire ends with death. whole day Vladimir and Estragon wait for Godot, even if they don't know about who is Godot? What is Godot? Where he will come but they wait for him.



 In the movie 'Waiting for Godot' director puts setting with some debris. After earthquake some bad things happens in place like many houses fall in the street or road. Here also director puts this thing. We can compare this thing with our life the whole life we are busy with one or another work but at last death comes. We compare debris with death. because both are natural process, we can't stop it. And when death comes, we have no language to express ourselves. Setting shows that directly Vladimir and Estragon waiting  for Godot but ultimate reality is death, so maybe they waiting for death.

The theme 'nothingness' shows that nothing is to be done in our life. because if we compare characters of Vladimir and Estragon, both are very paradoxical character. Vladimir is connected with mind and philosophy and Estragon is connected with food or physical aspect. So, if we minutely read these characters we don't see any difference because at last they have to go on. The play begins with 'nothing to be done' itself presents meaningless or hopelessness in our life.


Yes, I agree that 'Waiting for Godot' is positive play not pessimistic. Because we are waiting for something and think that some will come and solve our problems but finally no one comes and death comes. But this waiting for someone(Godot) is positive because it provides us positive support and because of this idea we have to move on. But this idea goes with believer of person otherwise it does not work and people think in practical way. As i saw it with my blood and skin and eyes, the philosophy is "No matter what atom bombs, hydrogen bombs, anything life goes on, you can kill yourself, but you can't kill me". It shows that we can't live with our philosophy. we have to follow these things in our life. One side atom bombs, hydrogen bombs produced and it kills many people but we have to go on. You can kill yourself, but you can't kill me, it shows individualistic idea.

 Boots and hat used is very symbolical. Vladimir playing with hat and it goes with thinking process. symbol of boot is of very lower level and absurd thing. relationship of Pozzo and Lucky presents master slave relationship. Behavior of lucky is very irritating and nauseatic. When he speaks we feel irritating because he speaks continuously and loudly. Sometimes some slavishness behaviour is seen in Lucky. It is habit for Lucky that he easily follows the commands of Pozzo, the master. That's why he obediently hands over the whip in his hand. Here we can give the example of Robinson Crusoe that how he treated Friday and aught everything. Master slave mentality presents the idea of superior and inferior.


 According to my point of view, I cannot target one point but interpretation of it is very vast. In our whole life, we always try to fulfill our dreams and hopes. it depends upon our situation and time that at the age of 22 or 25 we wait for a job so it goes through success. And at the age of 17 or 18 we wait for death. Godot  is compared with hope, desire, success and waiting for death.


Yes, I agree that the subject of the play is not Godot but it is waiting. We are waiting for something sometimes job, marriage etc. But at last we have to accept death. Waiting is an endless process for human beings. Here in this play also Vladimir and Estragon are waiting for Godot. But they don't know about Godot. Waiting is endless process and also the theme of the play.


According to my point of view, reading is better than watching the movie. But both things are necessary. When we read the play, we minutely read the dialogues between the characters and when we watch movie, through actions we get more ideas about the play. Though torrent of dialogues do not give ample time and space to think but through audio-visual effect we can get more concentration on characters.


 I liked the conversation of Vladimir with the boy. Title itself is "Waiting for Godot" and Vladimir also talks with little boy regarding God. When little boy comes the conversation as like follows :
V - Who are you?
Little Boy - I am messenger of Godot.
V - When will he come ?
LB - Tomorrow.
V - If Godot is bearded man ?
LB - No.
V - Is he fair, Black or Red ?
LB - White.


 Yes, At the end of the movie , I feel the effect of existential crises or meaninglessness of human existence in the irrational and in different Universe. During whole movie they are waiting for Godot but he never comes. So, Here we feel existential crises because they believe in God. According to Nietzsche "God is dead" means we have to believe in ourselves. Meaninglessness of human existence happens when we are waiting for someone. At last, nobody comes in the play, Vladimir and Estragon are tired of this situation.


 Vladimir and Estragon talk about ' Hanging' because they are tired with their life. They are waiting for Godot as he will come but this does not happen in their life. Idea of suicide is connected with our problems of life. If we can't face problems and struggle in our life, this idea comes but when we go through this reality we can't do it. Birth is not in our control as well as death. When person is tired with existence, he or she thinks about suicide.

'The Birthday Party

 In this movie, Lulu is represented as an inspiration of an artist, McCann and Goldberg as the traditions in the society and Stanley as free thinker. To create the effect of losing of vision more intensely, these two scenes may have been omitted from the movie.


 Menace has uncertainty which means combination of tragedy and comedy. When the long conversation goes between McCann, Stanley and Goldberg, we feel that Stanley has a hidden past which we are not aware. so here we can find the effect of menace.

 When lights went off during the birthday party, we feel lurking danger and we feel that party will never end.


 Newspaper can be seen from both sides means positively and negatively. Watching from positive side, it gives us information and tells us the reality but when we see the negative side, we can hide yourself behind it. Petey is reading the newspaper which means he is facing the reality but in front of Meg, he is hiding himself. The turning of newspaper by McCann symbolizes that he too is broken from inside.


 Camera is the chief thing to make a movie. The person who is on power position is always at the Centre and is shown by the camera mainly and so camera is focusing over the head of McCann. The view of the room is like a cage which symbolizes that Stanley is trapped by strangers who were torturing him.


Yes, it happens in the movie. Art is represented by Stanley, truth is presented by Petey, and politics is presented by McCann and Goldberg. 


 While watching the movie, we get the concept more clear rather than reading. While viewing the movie, we can feel the "Pause" but this may not happen while reading. 


 I think that the statement is correct that " it's impossible to imagine a better film of Pinter's play than this sensitive, disturbing version directed by William Friedkin".

 This movie is the best made movie by Pinter so I would not like to make any changes.

To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf

Virginia Woolf uses stream of consciousness in this novel. She presents psychological level of a person, shows the aspects of living the life and presentation of complex relations. Mrs Ramsay is the central character and a bridge between children and their father. Children are not directly connected with their father. She is a woman who sacrifices herself for others. She is truly a typical woman.

 In the last lines, Lily is about to finish a portrait of Mrs Ramsay. Whatever happens in the due time is clearly shown in her painting. She is a person who shows vision of real life. Her painting shows the status of women in society and harsh reality of the society. She is single as she is against the patriarchal idea. At last when she finishes her painting, she goes into her house and this shows her state of mind. There is a little darkness and little light in the room which shows that something is hidden in her mind. Closed doors signify her vision that though she completed her painting but she was not satisfied. Open windows means lack of some fulfilment, desire and inner side. "Dearest Briscoe, you are a fool"- this sentence proves that she is not satisfied with her life and accepts the life of Mrs Ramsay. The second argument proves that she won over her thinking the full life but atlast she gets defeated by her own thoughts. 

 Yes, it is true that this novel is both a tribute and a critique of Mrs Ramsay. She is a typical woman who is always involved in family and as well as a good host. Understanding nature, kindness, generosity etc are some of her characteristic traits of her. She is dedicated for others and doesn't think of herself. Man think that woman should not express their views because if they are given the freedom to think, maybe she can go against the power. She is an ideal Indian woman as she flows the rules of her husband and always goes for the wishes of others. 

 Catalogues of Army and Navy symbolises change of technology and improving human culture. Cutting of refrigerator shows preservation. It is an instrument of science. The catalogue does not have a date but has a name War. Time and technology is powerful but drawing or the newspaper is shown powerless as anyone can cut it.

 We can see a parallel between Mrs Ramsay and Fisherman's wife. They both make unreasonable demands. Mrs Ramsay repeatedly insists the possibility of fair weather fairytale seems to be ironic and the fisherman's wife keeps asking her husband to return to the sea and request more and more from the flounder. They both go parallel.

The Wasteland by T. S. Eliot

 ‘The wasteland’ written by TS Eliot is most appreciated as well as criticized work at early decades of modern time Poet is also criticized. Concept of superhuman given by Shri Aurobindo is used by Nietzsche who confessed in his work “God is dead” gives importance to a human being. A man with will power is a spirit which can do anything. What really is needed to cultivate is the spirit of superhuman. T.S.Eliot is criticized as regressive and backward looking. Eliot has used many myths from Greek, French, Indian, Christian etc. He has made a collage of images. Eliot has used all the myth is in positive way but they are negative. Eliot has used the myth of Philomela, Tiresias, Sybil, Fisher King, Apollo etc because he wants to convey that spiritual, moral and en the spirituality is restored as the problem gets solved.


Gustav Hellstrom has its own importance in reading Wasteland from psychological approach. Elliot has opposite opinion to that of the psychology. Eliot believes in repression of desires which will help to preserve our culture and this will lead towards human salvation. Freud believes in natural instincts, all the suppressed desire in our unconscious mind should be either given free vent to let out or should be displacement otherwise those repressed desires will lead to neurotic.

Eliot has made use of many myths poem different cultures and tries to connect different religious thoughts to get the answer. In the third part of the poem, he refers to “Jain- Buddhist” philosophy especially the sermon given by Buddha. Second allusion is presented in the last part which he refers to Ganga, Brihadaranyaka-upanishad.
Datta- be a giver
Dayadhvam- compassion, sympathise, empathise
Damyata- control and repress
The poem is of a quest of a man to restore spirituality as well as solution of contemporary malice.

One Night at the Call Center by Chetan Bhagat

Menippean Satire- We can see a satire on work culture. Bakshi is very selfish and he wants to go Boston so he encourages Shyam to make the website and he doesn't think about any of his employers. Bakshi is the boss in the call center and he is cruel as he thinks all the other characters are scapegoats. The characters are unhappy in their life and when they are in trouble, and get a call from God, they decide to come out of the solution themselves. When readers read about the call from God, everybody says that it cannot be possible and due to this, Chetan Bhagat puts the idea of Military Uncle too. Chetan Bhagat talks about the Urban Middle Class of India. This novel is a seriocomic genre. Bakshi can be seen as "incompetent professional men of all kinds" and can be treated as diseases of the intellect. 


 Narrative Structure- This novel is very complex. We can also interpret as story going on as a dream sequence to the narrator. In the end there is a call from God and the readers might not agree with it so Chetan Bhagat has put another idea that whatever things are told by the God is told by Military Uncle. We can compare this novel with the movie Life Of Pie where the central idea is of God. Pie narrates his story that how he lived with a tiger for so many days and he believes in God because from childhood, he has been in the company of religious people and his mother used to tell him the stories of God.


 Friedman in his book 'The World is Flat' talks about carrier of information, individual power, liberation, competition and collaboration. In other words, we can say that knowledge society demands mind power. All the six characters are not knowledgeable but their accent is good and they can communicate easily with Americans. Effect of Globalisation can also be seen as the youngsters are working in call centers to earn money. Some old people like Military Uncle also work there as they have some family problems and due to their old age, they cannot get job anywhere else. Call Center can be called paradox as everyone have some needs so they do this job.

 Any book which helps solving the problems of the self is called a self help book. These types of books are easy to read and interpret, are digestible and does not require higher intelligence. In this novel, God is at the centre. When these characters get the call from God, after that their life changes totally. We can also say that we should face failures as "No success stories are complete without Failure". 

The White Tiger

This novel is the X-Ray image of a diseased body and Adiga refers India as only the skeletons are remaining and whole of the body is eaten up by bureaucrats and the other corrupted people. Adiga has talked about 2 Indias, an India of light and the another India of darkness. The rural or the village is called as Dark India and urban or city is called as the India of Light. In the novel, Balram Halwai goes from darkness towards light. Adiga gives us a collage of images of Indians. Most of the people in India are corrupted, poor, blind follower of religion and so on. Adiga criticizes Indian society and it becomes problematic when someone starts criticizing his own nation. 
Yes, it is true that Balram's story is the archetype of all stories of "rags to riches". This means a person moving from poverty towards wealth. Adiga, in a very satiric way uses these words which we can also say is referred to persons like Dhirubhai Ambani, Narendra Modi etc. Balram belonged to a poor family. His father was a rickshaw puller. Balram couldn't complete his studies and worked at a tea stall. From there, he goes to Delhi and becomes a taxi driver. He then kills master and becomes a murderer, works in a call center, becomes a businessman and finally an entrepreneur. So after reading this novel, we can say that Balram became a successful person from a poor man.
 "Language bears within itself the necessity of its own critique". This novel can also be deconstructed using this theory. But we get many questions raised in our mind as India is shown in a very negative way. The question raised are like how much authentic the narrator is, how can we trust on the things which are told about India etc. The questions are that we cannot rely fully on this text as the narrator is himself a murderer and he has a little experience of practical life and he calls himself "Half- baked Indian". he represents the picture of India in a narrow vision.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

 

(1) Feministic reading of Hermione’s character in Harry Potter
(4) Self-Help culture and Harry Potter
(9) Theme of Love and Death in Harry Potter



1. Feministic reading of Hermione’s character in Harry Potter:

When we look towards woman character they are portrays as inferior, silent, always followers of their father, brother or husband. It is the image or grey shade of girl or a woman. But in literature writer always portray women as a different way. It means some individual point we can find to prove her character like brave, intelligent and fighting for circumstances. In Harry Potter also character of Hermione is very brave, intelligent, and logical and more speak able. In Hogwarts School when any professor asked questions at that time she always knows the answers and tried to replied it very well. She has also different abilities like she knows every magical trick and applied it whenever it needed.  Other female characters are also powerful like Luna, Harry’s mother Lily, Ron’s mother Molly Weasley, Ginny etc. Hermione is more powerful than Harry but J.K. Rowling put center character as Harry Potter. Magical power of Harry Potter and as a gifted child he is at the center. Dumbledore also draws attention towards Harry. In forth part ‘The Goblet of Fire’ when one dance party was arranged by Hogwarts School at that time every white girls selected for it but two Indian Patil sisters Padma and Parvati not selected. At last one sister goes with Harry and another goes with Ron. But it is the portrayal of Indian character by J.K. Rowling. It presents Meta narrative of racism and it can be deconstructed.  Harry’s mother also witch and knows magic. Once time mother of Ron Weasley also used her magic and destroyed Lady Bellatrix who is follower of Voldemort.  So, power of women characters shown by Rowling. Though Hermione not at the center but she is very respected by all the male members. She is equally respected by Dumbledore, Harry and Ron. When dance party going on at that time Victor Krum also very frank towards Hermione and he wrote letters, it shows their friendship and respect for Hermione. So, as compared to male characters female characters also played a vital role.

4. Self-Help culture and Harry Potter:

  If we read any book we can get any message from it. Reading habits improve our self interest and it helpful for any critical situation. Self-Help culture also creates one type of image that we can get some problem solving skills into it. It gives individually satisfaction. But self-help culture serves as a tool of social control. It means once cannot behave like anyway but we have to follows the rules of society. Through this angle if we see character of Harry then many a times he breaks the rules of magic. Because he cannot use magic outside of the Hogwarts School but he uses the magic in his home. So, innocence turned into wilderness. It shows that with the grown up age of the Harry he behaves as mature person. It is the common nature of any person that with the higher age of person lost innocence. In Hogwarts School he is a hero but in his home he treated as a servant. For his safety for his uncle and aunt he uses magic so it is his reaction towards them. Without this he cannot live his life freely that’s why he always uses magic. If we see clear image of Harry Potter then he breaker of the rules. We can see also see the high self-esteem in the Harry; it can be positive or negative. Sometimes it happens that some evil aspects come in Harry Potter but he cannot over powering him. Voldemort also as powerful as Harry Potter and always tried to defeat Harry but Harry fights with him. Voldemort wanted to kill all the Muggles and half-blood gaining powers. In short, through these characters like Harry, Hermione, Ron and other characters we can learn that how to fight with critical circumstances and so it is Harry Potter book series called as self-help book.


9. Theme of Love and Death in Harry Potter:

   Theme of Death and Love is the center in all the parts. From the very beginning Harry thought that his parents blessings always with him. Dumbledore also convince to Harry that his parents good wishes always with him. But slowly and steadily he has to fight for himself. Because reality is that dead never comes to protect any person. When Harry fights with Lord Voldemort at that time he see his parents with him, but it is the good memory oh them and through this he gets energy and wins over him. Tom Riddle also fights for his own way. Though Harry is the gifted child and different from the other he has to struggle for his own. Idea of Death very much presented in last parts. After the death of Dumbledore it is very difficult for Harry to struggle with Voldemort because Dumbledore always supports Harry to solve problems. Voldemort want Harry and he always tries to defeat him but Harry successfully wins. But Voldemort defeats by Harry’s magic and behind these achievements his friends Ron, Hermione and Neville play an important role. At the end of the seventh part Neville killed the snake Nagini. So at the end we can say that though Harry is great child he has to live and fight individually. In this way we can see love and death at the center.

Daily Schedule Committee Report for Annual Day

"True enjoyment comes from activity of the mind and exercise of the body; the two are ever united."

                                                     - Wilhelm Von Humboldt

Daily Schedule Committee Report (link for video)

                                                                                                      

"Activity of mind" is the most important aspect to grow oneself. To remain only physically healthy is not enough. Our mind also should have a kind of courage, intelligence and creativity. And this Daily Schedule gives us the opportunity to develop all these virtues. Here, at Department of English, Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University, we start our day with Daily Schedule. When I was a fresher here, I just wondered what was this happening but my seniors and classmates helped me in understanding it. This is a platform where many activities take place like News Reading, Vocabulary Drill, Book Report, Poetry Recitation, etc. Daily Schedule starts with University song and then Prayer and at last we sing our National Song. This activity gives us energy and without it, we feel like our day is incomplete. The entire year, we keep a record and in the end, we make a chart of student's participation. Daily Schedule committee also helped me a lot in preparing the final report. In the end of Daily Schedule, head of the Department of English, Dr. Dilip Barad gives comments and counterpoints which is very useful for us to improve ourselves. Students bring their creativity like the poems they write or any book or movie review. It seems interesting as each and every column gives students a precious chance to rise. By participating in Daily Schedule, the non-native speakers of English can improve their English. This platform helped us a lot during the Global Conference of English Studies. which was held recently in Vallabh Vidyanagar. There we could present the paper very confidently. We learnt to present our arguments, thoughts and content in front of knowledgeable audience. Here we get ample opportunities to enhance our speaking skills as well as listening skills. Earlier, I had not done anchoring anywhere, but here, I got a chance to do it and helped me to wipe away my stage fear. In Daily Schedule, we celebrate different days like Republic Day, Hindi Day, International mother Language Day etc. Prayer is also held in different languages like English, Hindi, Gujarati and Sanskrit. Encouragement was also needed during most of the time as many a times, there were less number of participants. The most popular columns were Thought for the day, Personal Presentation, etc and the columns which suffered were like of News Reading, General knowledge. Sometimes, all the columns were flooded with participants. Many students have talent but they hesitate to show it and through this platform, their hidden talent comes out. So to conclude, I would like to say that speaking is a productive skill and equivalent to writing skill. There are people who know English but there are people who can speak accurate English. This activity helps to enhance future teacher's communicative language learning skills. I wish that new batches of Department of English will carry on this tradition of Daily Schedule and we expect more number of unsung heroes to come up and perform daily in Daily Schedule as Paulo Coelho says-

"One day, you will wake up and there won't be any more time to do the things you have always wanted. So, do it now."