NAVODAYA BY GOPAL KHETANI

For the first time, I was interested in reading a Gujarati book titled NAVODAYA by Gopal Khetani. This book was launched a few days ago. I was one of the attendees where the author introduced his book and one of his former professor launched it. From that day, I was eager to read it so I ordered it on the same day. This book is published by Nexus Stories Publication, Surat, Gujarat. This novella is based on 'Vidur Niti' further explained "Dharma nu acharan kari niti purvak kamani karvi ea pan paramsiddhi che."

The story takes place in a village called Ranpur. The story is divided in 14 chapters. The protagonist is Arjan. Whole novella revolves around how he deals with the difficulties and successfully completes his doctorate studies and becomes a famous and successful doctor. Then something happens which changes his life and thought and he starts to think about serving in his village. His friends Jeetu and Dipak help him throughout his struggle. Other people of the village also help him selflessly and slowly and steadily he gets successful in opening a hospital in his village with all the amenities and facilities. This novella shows the struggle of parents who want their child to study further and become a doctor, struggle of a person who studies hard and works part time at a shop to manage his finances and finally becoming a successful doctor helping people of his village. We get to know about his childhood and young days, friendship, love and business. In the last chapter, Arjan gives a speech on his entire journey which we can imagine how difficult it was. He thanks everyone who were present there during his entire struggle.

Taare Zameen Par with connection to Dyslexia

"A child is a gift of God, a blessing from above, a picture of purity and innocence."

While attending today's online conference on Covid-19: Opportunity to learn, explore and experiment organised by ELTA Telangana, I came across a presentation on Dyslexia and I suddenly remembered about the movie Taare Zameen Par which also talks about the issue of Dyslexia. I got to know many new things which I thought should connect with the movie.

 Firstly we shall discuss about what is dyslexia. The disorder with specific difficulties in reading was identified by Oswald Berkhan in 1881 and the term 'dyslexia' was coined in 1887 by Rudolf Berlin, a German Ophthalmologist practising in Stuttgart, Germany. He used the term to refer to a case of a young boy who had a severe impairment in learning to read and write in spite of showing normal intellectual and physical abilities in all other aspects. Brain takes longer to make some connections and does it in more steps. It especially has trouble matching the letters you see on the page with the sounds those letters and combinations of letters make. (b-d) (top-pot) (mirror image of words) (animal- animl, anml, enaml).

There are 5 types of Dyslexia- Trauma dyslexia, Primary dyslexia, Developmental dyslexia, Visual dyslexia and Phonological dyslexia. There is no cure for it but students can succeed in school or later in life with the assistance of teachers, school accommodations and modifications, support of family and appropriate intervention and instruction.

Children with this kind of learning disabilities are not accepted by the society. They are left behind in academics, they cannot participate in school activities and they also don't have friends or may have 1 or 2 friends only. Dyslexia is a neurological disorder as the brain is not able to process the visual matter effectively. So the child experiences problems to interpret letters, shapes, numbers or any other visual material. Such children maybe intelligent also but cannot express their intelligence in tests. Many people in today's time are not able to understand or accept or maybe do not have knowledge about this problem. If their child does not perform well, they scold them and label the as 'useless', 'dull', 'duffer' and what not. Everyone wants their child to become successful. Some children who are gifted (we do not use the word disabled) face too much pressure from their parents, peers, school that they get emotionally detached from them. Parents should understand that their child is gifted who has a special ability to study and interpret images. They may not be genius in academics but can master other skills like Ishaan in Taare Zameen Par.

Taare Zameen Par is a 2007 released bollywood movie directed and produced by Aamir Khan. The film revolves around the life of a 8 year old boy Ishaan Awasthi (starring Darsheel Safary) who is suffering from Dyslexia. This movie has a wonderful tagline- 'Every child is special.' This indicates that every parent has to understand then only they can discover the uniqueness of their own child. Ishaan, a boy who finds it difficult to match his world of colours, kites and animals to that of the other of his age group who are more into studies and homework. He does not perform well in school and when complaints start coming in large numbers, he is sent to boarding school. There is no difference in his regular school and the boarding school. He is constantly insulted and beaten by his teachers and becomes a laughing stock of the class. He feels lonely and inferior. He finds it difficult to overcome his problem. After some time, Mr. Nikumbh (arts teacher) arrives who realises that he is suffering from dyslexia and tries to help him in every way possible. He makes everyone understand his problem and request them to behave normally with him. He makes everyone realise that he is a special child with unique talent. With time, patience love and care from Nikumbh, Ishaan succeeds in overcoming his inability and gain confidence.

" Every child comes with a message that God is not discouraged of man. Every child is a star on Earth, is special who cleanses the soul, an empty canvas, waiting to be painted with love."

                                     - Rabindranath Tagore

1) Ishaan is a skilful, adventurous, artistic, lovely, sensitive, nature lover and lives in the world of fantasies. He can solve puzzles easily, can paint, can understand poetry (he tells the meaning of a stanza from Hindi poem during class). His problem is he cannot read, write, calculate (surprise maths test), is not able to memorise or answer, cannot follow instructions fastly (when he is instructed to open a particular page number and read a particular paragraph and line). When he fails to do something or he is scolded by someone for something, he feels angry, lonely, abandoned and frustrated at times which can be seen when he kicks the flower pots. He lacks motor skills as he cannot know his tie or tie his shoelaces properly. 

                                                       Ishaan's Painting

2) One of the scene shows large insects moving out of Ishaan's bag to reveal that books and studies seem to be scary to him. 

3) Dyslexics have poor time management, get easily distracted and might lose their sense of time. This thing is shown in the movie when Ishaan forgets to board his school bus and the conductor gets him to the bus. At that time Ishaan is fascinated by the fishes in the school pond.

                         

4) According to Sally S. (2013), Dyslexics have 'vivid imaginations'. They are disoriented in time and space. They are known to be "right brain dominant." This can be seen when Ishaan and his classmates are given a surprise maths test where he does not know what to do. He stares at one question and then goes away in his imagination. While be comes back to reality, he is able to solve only one question which is also incorrect (3×9= 3).  ( VIDEO LINK IN THE BRACKET)

5) BDA (2007) "With proper teaching methods, dyslexics could cope with daily life and in school. However, dyslexia is permanent and cannot be outgrown." This is shown when Ishaan is sent to boarding school where he meets his arts teacher Mr. Nikumbh who helps him in every way possible and uses specialised teaching methods to help him learn better and in the end, he shows tremendous improvement and scores higher grades in all the subjects.

6) Mr. Nikumbh is also shown to be working with children with special needs in another school where he interacts with them on a very simple level ( with love and care). Those students perform in a function which is a very heart touching emotional moment. This shows that children (facing these types of problems)  can overcome these struggles if they are treated in the right way.

7) When Ishaan's parents come to know about his condition, his father comes to meet Mr. Nikumbh and says that they do care for him as his mother has been doing online research on dyslexia. But here, Mr. Nikumbh very gently makes him understand what caring actually is ("khayal karna is ko kehte hai na? Muje ye sun kar khushi hui ki aapko lagta hai ki aap khayal karte hai.") He says that parents' responsibilities don't end with providing the best educational options or materialistic comforts or a luxurious lifestyle. Taking care of your child means to comfort him, be with him when he needs you the most, motivate him when he is dejected, just a hug or kiss is enough to show that you really care.

8) Another thing Nikumbh tells him of Solomon Islands where people don't cut off an unwanted tree but gather around cursing it and indirectly it dies after some time. The same is with a person. Words can make or break a person. A slap will never have the same effect that harsh words have.

9) Some famous dyslexic people are Albert Einstein, Leonardo da Vinci, Agatha Christie, Walt Disney.

International Webinar on ELT & Technology

I got a chance to attend the second webinar organised by Department of English (my favourite place where I earned my Post graduation degree) MKBU, Bhavnagar, Gujarat on 2^nd and 3^rd June 2020 on the topic ELT & Technology. This time I presented a paper and my topic was "The use, advantages and disadvantages of Multimedia technology in English Language Teaching."

Abstract- The paper aims to analyse the use of technology to ELT in the non-native speaking countries and to bring out the problems faced by both teachers and learners of English. The rapid development of science and technology such as multimedia technology has offered a better tool to explore the new teaching methods. It has played an important role in ELT, especially, in the non-native speaking of English situations. It also aims to make non-native speakers of English as language teachers aware of the strategies to use it in an effective manner.

Earlier it was a one day webinar but there were around 90 paper presenters so Dilip Sir decided to extend the event to 2 days. But there were some problems with the weather conditions. A cyclone (Nisarg) was predicted at the seashore so it may disrupt the event but sir is always ready with Plan B. Fortunately everything went on smoothly both the days. As it is said- 'Where there is a will, there is a way'. Sir's dedication towards work has always been appreciable and beneficial not only for him but for others too.

This was my second experience of participating and presenting in an International event. The paper presenters were from different states and countries. All the paper presenters presented their papers very well. Their topics were very different where I came to know about many new concepts and tools used in language teaching like Flip grid and Mentimeter. Plenary sessions were also very interesting as the speakers talked about their real life experiences and the teaching methods were also discussed. The plenary speakers were-

1) Vance Stevens (Malaysia) who talked on "From thinking SMALL on social media assisted language learning to TALIN: Teaching and Learning in IsolatioN."  He showed one image from the past and one of present. Then a comparison was done. In the nearer beginning, there were computers and there was language learning and the two began to converge in the 1970s. Then be showed some images of earlier computers, a spirit copier and typical output. A discussion was also done on Krashen's book "Principles and Practice in Second Language Acquisition" (1981). He then talked about Siemens on the necessity of chaos in learning, learning language by making sense of chaos. A talk was also held on Levy and Hubbard's (2005) Why call CALL 'CALL'? (this term has been in use for 2 decades at the time the article was written). SMALL (social media assisted language learning) was also discussed along with TALIN (Teaching and Learning in IsolatioN). Overall, it was an interesting topic and we got to know many new things.

2) Dr. Ania Lian (Australia) spoke on "Remote teaching and learning of English Language in higher education contexts: Experiences and research from a country where distance learning is be norm, not a calamity." She discussed on what makes leaning in higher education different today where Top 10 skills required in 2020 were told i.e. Complex problem solving, Critical thinking, Creativity, People management, coordinating with others, Emotional intelligence, Judgement and Cognitive flexibility. The first point was the expectations of technology which are HOTS (Higher Order Thinking Skills), Learning by immersion and Self- directed learning. Second point was what is available were it was told about the activities that extend the students' capacity to act in a broad range of contexts, expand their intercultural understandings and values and develop critical thinking. The third point was limitations of what is currently available online and they are Preparation, Scope of activities and Technology Tools.  The fourth point was what can we do today. This too was an interesting session as we got to know about the latest skills which are required and the different activities which take place in different countries (which we can also experiment on our students).

3) Heike Philp (Belgium) interacted on "Is teaching live online the new normal?" An online poll was taken on some questions like How do you feel about teaching remotely, Name the tool/app/platform which can be used in remote teaching for development of 'Writing skills', What other hurdles in using technologies in your local environment are there and how are teachers' ready to use technology. This vote was taken on mentimeter where the speaker can control the questions on the screen. This session was very interactive as after the live poll, every question was discussed in detail and the poll results were also shown where the speaker discussed about her own experiences too.

After the webinar was over, we had to give an online test and then give feedback. In the online test, I scored 30/30 and I got a Certificate of Participation and a Certificate of Paper Presentation. These two days were very fruitful for me and helped me expanding the horizons. All thanks to the organising team and Dilip Sir who never misses a chance to motivate us with his tireless interest and efforts.

Waiting for Godot scene in the movie Jaane Tu ya Jaane Na

Jaane Tu  ya Jaane Na is a movie  about love, friendship, college life and many more things. It revolves around the relationship between Jai (Rats) starring Imran Khan and Aditi (Meow) starring Genelia D'Souza. Both are best friends who in the end realise they are in love. The title 'Jaane Tu ya Jaane Na' is apt as who doesn't know about the importance of that one song between a couple? All couples have that one song which has a great value and emotion related to them. There are some funny elements too. Naseeruddin Shah (Jai's father) who is shown dead in the movie talks through the portrait with Jai's mother who are constantly arguing about Jai. The two other comic characters are Baloo and Bagheera who play the role of Jai's cousins (act as cowboys) but in the end help Jai in coming out of the jail.

     

In the final scene of the movie, when all the friends are leaving the airport the person with a board for Mr. Godot is seen. The reference here is to the play 'Waiting for Godot' by Samuel Beckett. In the play Estragon and Vladimir are waiting for someone called Godot.  They are constantly waiting for Godot doing nothing but just by talking about different things. At some point of time, a little boy  comes and informs them that Godot will come the following day still they don't leave that place. The funniest part is they don't know how he looks and even they admit that they may not realise if he appears before them. If we try to connect the movie with the play, we can say that the two lead characters don't know that they love each other and are waiting for the right person to come in their life. They would have just waited if the situations did not change at all. So, the allusion is probably to people waiting for a special somebody or someone or something, never sure of what they are on a quest for.

National Webinar on Literature and Epidemics

At the present time when the world is dealing such a serious issue, some people are busy in working from home while some are taking up their hobbies and some are just locked up in their homes fearing this pandemic. During this time, while everyone is discussing about COVID-19 and the lockdown, Prof. Dr. Dilip Barad sir organised a webinar on 16^th and 17^th  May 2020 on the topic 'Literature and Epidemics'. I also had registered so that I too can be a part of this enriching experience as there were many plenary sessions by many experienced and knowledgeable scholars and papers were also presented by many research scholars, professors and students. While attending this webinar I came to know that there are plenty of books written on Pandemics (Plague, Spanish Flu etc) which I have not explored yet. While listening to the paper presenters, I came to know that people in the past faced many difficulties due to these virus as there were not much facilities available for treatment or prevention and due to that many people died.

                 

There were 12 plenary speakers (Atanu Bhattacharya Sir, Avishek Parui Sir, Balaji Ranganathan Sir, Kalyan Chattopadhyay Sir, Kalyani Vallath Mam, Kamalakar Bhat, Madhvi Nikam Mam, Om P. Juneja Sir, Prakash Joshi Sir, Sachin Ketkar Sir, T.S. Chandramauli Sir and Valiur Rahaman Sir) who helped add to my knowledge with their innovative and creative thinking. There were around 80 scholars who presented papers. Their work is also appreciated as they had prepared it in a very short span. Most of the discussion was on the topic 'What will happen or how will be the world after the pandemic?' People today are scared as the things are not getting normal and everyone is facing some difficulties. People (shopkeepers, businessmen etc) are now preferring online transactions and the challenge comes here as only a few people know about how to pay online. People are not yet ready to or can say they do not want to accept this change. In the same way, it will be a challenge for some institutions too because many teachers are not familiar with PowerPoint Presentations, Blogs, Slide share etc or even how to teach online. There are many problems with this as in  rural areas, technology cannot be used easily and they lack knowledge about it also. Many schools have become smart schools by adopting technology and training their teachers so it can be user friendly. If I talk about myself, I am thankful to Dilip Sir who taught us everything. During the department days, we used to take online quiz, make presentations and shared it on slideshare and YouTube, post our assignments on blogs, even we prepared our own website. We also used to study online. All this was possible due to sir who has a keen interest in technology and always encourages everyone to use it.

Here are some of the points presented during webinar by the scholars-

1) Mr. Shailendra Kumar Mishra presented a paper on 'Portrayal of Epidemics in Indian Literature' where he talked about different novels like 'The Withered Arm' by Thomas Hardy, 'Coolie' by Mulk Raj Anand, and 'Maila Anchal' by Phaneshwar Nath Renu. All these novels show that Gender and Class divide still runs deep across Indian society. As literature reflects the time, events the society therefore Literature teaches us not to repeat the past mistakes.

2) Kalyan Chattopadhyay Sir posed some questions like what features of pandemic do we find in the literary writings, how do the writers respond to the diseases causing it and many more. He also introduced names of the texts like Giovanni Boccaccio's 'The Decameron' (1349-53), Thomas More's 'Utopia' (1516), Francis Bacon's 'New Atlantis' (1627) and many more. We learnt that revisiting Literature can help us think about what we are experiencing, something humanity experienced earlier and how we survived. Time and again such catastrophic death assemblage will revisit us in the form of pandemic and will enlighten us about nature, this world etc.

3) Sachin Ketkar Sir talked on 'Globalisation and Contemporary Marathi Poetry'. He himself has translated many Marathi poems into English language like 'Khajavnyachi Jaga' from Sirenche Shahar, 'Shraddha' from Adhisatta.

4) Atanu Bhattacharya Sir discussed on 'Imagining Disaster: Texts and Contexts' where he talked about how do we imagine disaster genealogy of textual contexts in Europe and Bengal, Literature and Epidemic. He showed many images where we could see the disaster and consequences of Epidemic like in Salvator Rosa, Humana Fragilitas (Human Frailty), Titian, Pieta (C. 1576). He also talked about tracing genealogy in Bengal- The mangalkavya tradition and Sitala Mangal (c. 17^th- 18^th c.). It was really great to listen to an eminent scholar like him again as I have attended his classes earlier when I was a student at Department here.

                                                                 TITIAN, PIETA

                                                 Salvator Rosa, Humana Fragilitas (Human Frailty)

Overall, it was a great experience to attend this webinar which was possible due to Dr. Dilip Barad Sir and Department of English, MKBU.

Time to say "NO" to change

Time to say "NO" to change

From the ancient times and today also, a woman is expected to change herself and settle in a new environment after marriage. Several questions are raised if the newlywed does anything which is not liked or acceptable by the in-laws and relatives. A wife is expected  to put her own wishes down and do as everyone else wants her to do even if what is asked to be done brings her unhappiness and discomfort, she is expected to bow down as it is the matter of everyone else's pride.

        

      Ankita got married two years ago and she woke up at 0700 hours instead of 0600 hours. She was feeling scary as what she will have to hear from her new family. Her mother-in-law didn't say anything directly to her but this matter was put down in front of be husband saying, "She sleeps until this late. We don't like this. Ask her to wake up early". What was her mistake? If any day she wakes up late, her world goes upside down (I don't say all  in-laws are bad but some of the conservative families do not tolerate all this)

     

     There is an assumption that only she has to change, listen to everyone, fit in everyone's expectations. She is not even expected to talk or answer to elders if anyone says anything about her, her upbringing or parents. Let's take an example, in India, there is a tradition that the newlywed has to cook the meal on the first day after marriage. Shalini was also following this tradition. While she was cooking, one of her aunt came in the kitchen and commented sarcastically "I have taught my daughter to prepare the sabzi in this way and it tastes very good. Didn't your mother teach you to cook tasty food?" Shalini commented "Everybody has a different style of doing things" The aunty came out and made a hill out of a mole. Shalini's mother-in-law was very angry. Rohan (Shalini's husband) was instructed to tell her "So what if she didn't like what your aunt said. It's not important to display her own views. What will they say that our daughter-in-law argues with elders." This is the most common dialogue heard by every woman and especially the newlywed. She is expected to listen everything passively.

      

      Marriage is a union where two people start a new life who understand each other's needs and wishes. Then why should only she has to be forced to listen to everyone, please and make others happy? She is always expected to talk politely and in a well behaved manner. Richa and Sahil got married after being in a relationship for 4 years. Richa used to call Sahil by different names and Sahil also used to call her by different names. After marriage, one fine day, when many guests were there in the house, Richa called Sahil by his name and this is where the problem arised (in ancient times, women were not allowed to take husband's name) as Sahil's family was a little conservative. Sahil's mother immediately reacted, "Tell her to speak to you in a proper way when around people. She shouldn't call you the way she calls."

          
        She is an equal family member then why does she have to change herself? Why can't she be the person she really is? Why is she constantly compared to others and expected to maintain herself? She also deserves equal respect. She had a family which she left just to be with you. She needs your time, your respect, your support (emotional and mental). She needs to be loved. She is your equal partner, your betterhalf. She is a grown up with her values, heart and soul. Some households are there where the mother-in-law or the sister-in-law expect from the newlywed to follow the traditions of the house from the very first day. Let me share with you my friend Arohi's example. She was an interior decorator. After marriage, she thought of making some changes in her new home but she was stopped saying "we are keeping the things like this from the beginning then why do you intend to change it?" Like if she wants to do something new, then why is she stopped from doing it in the name of tradition. She wants to do something in the home because it is hers too. But she is constantly addressed as "kal ki aayi hui ladki" or "dusre ghar ki ladki" etc. She came in your home thinking its hers too where she can be herself. She will have dreams and ambitions too. Then why stop her?

       

Family and home is a place of warmth, of love, of mutual understanding, acceptance and respect. A place where everyone is treated equally, where everyone has the right to participate in every decision making. But in many families, it is seen that the wife is not considered important. Even her husband avoids her, ignores her, doesn't speak for her right to be wanting to maintain peace and harmony of the home (we have a fine example of the movie English Vinglish starring Sridevi in the lead role). They don't realise that lack of respect and attack on wife is not harmony in home but is the opposite of that. As she is taught what it is to be respected and if she is not respected or valued equally, how do you expect from her the respect, love and support? Why should she have to keep changing herself after marriage?