Clri feb2014

CLRI

CONTEMPORARY LITERARY REVIEW INDIA – journal that brings articulate writings for articulate readers

CLRI Print Edition ISSN 2250-3366

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February 2014

February 2014

contents

POETRY ................................................................................................................... 2

1. A.J. HUFFMAN .................................................................................................................................... 3 The Rain Acted ....................................................................................................................................... 3 Raindrops on Roses ............................................................................................................................... 4 Doing Laundry at Midnight ...................................................................................................................... 5

2. MANDAL BIJOY BEG .......................................................................................................................... 6 The Mouse, the Frog and the Kite .......................................................................................................... 6

3. MERLIN FLOWER ............................................................................................................................... 8 Not in Vogue ........................................................................................................................................... 8 Don’t Look for a Romantic Story............................................................................................................. 9

4. SHARVANI H S .................................................................................................................................. 10 The Shatter of Innocence ..................................................................................................................... 10

5. TATJANA DEBELJACKI .................................................................................................................... 11 Too Late for the South .......................................................................................................................... 11 Kissing .................................................................................................................................................. 11 The Invention of Shadows .................................................................................................................... 12

ARTS .......................................................................................................................13

6. DWARAKANATHAN RAVI ................................................................................................................. 14

STORY ....................................................................................................................15

7. KERSIE KHAMBATTA ....................................................................................................................... 16 Ferrari Spider ........................................................................................................................................ 16

8. RONNY NOOR .................................................................................................................................. 21 The Couple in the Tonga ...................................................................................................................... 21

9. TAYEB BOUAZID .............................................................................................................................. 23 Fate ....................................................................................................................................................... 23

INTERVIEW ..........................................................................................................26

10. KHURSHID ALAM INTERVIEWS MD FEROZ QURESHI AN EMERGING FILM DIRECTOR AND PRODUCER PAR EXCELLENCE ..................................................................................................... 27

BOOK CRITICISM ...............................................................................................30

11. NATAŠA MILADINOVIĆ .................................................................................................................... 31

February 2014

Nataša Miladinović Reviews Susheel Kumar Sharma’s The Door is Half Open .................................. 31

CRITICISM ............................................................................................................58

12. A. TEMJENWALA AO AND N. D. R. CHANDRA .............................................................................. 59 Valmiki’s Joothan and Nasrin’s Lajja as Literature of Protest .............................................................. 59

13. H. N. PRASAD ................................................................................................................................... 74 Rethinking William Shakespeare .......................................................................................................... 74

14. DR. NAZNEEN KHAN ........................................................................................................................ 80 Women Resisting Patriarchy and Colonial Oppression: A Study of Mahashweta Devi's "The Hunt” .. 80

15. DR. SUKANYA SAHA ........................................................................................................................ 86 The Stream of Consciousness in James Joyce’s Novels: A Study in Sentence Lengths .................... 86

16. SUKRITI GHOSAL ............................................................................................................................. 97 In Quest of Quietus ............................................................................................................................... 97

BOOK REVIEWS ................................................................................................106

17. ROB HARLE .................................................................................................................................... 107 Rob Harle Reviews Vinita Agrawal’s Words Not Spoken ................................................................... 107

BOOK RELEASES ..............................................................................................110

18. BOOK RELEASES ........................................................................................................................... 111

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editorial

Digital medium is not simply a medium, it is a space to our life. All its shortcomings stand tiny before its advantages. It is the best alternative to saving paper, thus to saving plants and forests. It is the fastest means of communication, you can fly your documents and files across the globe in no time and at no costs. You can share your heart and mind to the world without coming under any hammer.

– Khurshid Alam, Editor-in-Chief, Contemporary Literary Review India

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February 2014

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At one time poetry was a large part of mainstream readership. The public seemed to lose interest with the advent of gaming and the Internet, and now the Internet can be the avenue of restoration of this important genre of entertainment and enlightenment.

– Jack Huber, Poet & Author, http://www.jackhuber.com

Poetry

http://www.jackhuber.com/

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1. A.J. HUFFMAN

The Rain Acted

like a spotlight, focused in on the abysmal litter of her life. Her cosmic footprint: an old teapot, mismatched coffee mugs, a hammer, no nails, but a crowbar. She wondered if she was using any of them properly. She didn’t sleep, couldn’t hang a single memory on barren walls. Haunting failures, echoing along with the tap tap tap of drops against the sill. She curled herself into a ball in the corner of an unsheeted bed. Closed her eyes and prayed for lightning to strike.

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Raindrops on Roses

amplify the intensity of colored petals. White echoes inside itself, mournfully wallowing in the hollow depths of innocence. Red erupts in excruciating simulations of fire’s fierceness. Yellow vibrates the tangible code of mediocrity, clings to the medial line of tempered rebuke, the sting of unrequited terminology, the bastard label of friend.

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Doing Laundry at Midnight

Because my mind will not stop running itself in circles, I take up basket and bleach, begin to sort: whites, darks, colors. The numbing of such chores is soothing. Slowly, I begin to decompress. By the time the spin cycle stutters to a stop, my head has grown temporarily hollow, granting my eyes permission to finally close.

A.J. Huffman has published seven solo chapbooks and one joint chapbook through various small presses. She is a Pushcart Prize nominee, and the winner of the 2012 Promise of Light Haiku Contest. Her poetry, fiction, and haiku have appeared in hundreds of national and international journals, including Labletter, The James Dickey Review, Bone Orchard, EgoPHobia, Kritya, and Offerta Speciale, in which her work appeared in both English and Italian translation. She is also the founding editor of Kind of a Hurricane Press. www.kindofahurricanepress.com.

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2. MANDAL BIJOY BEG

The Mouse, the Frog and the Kite

Aesop's fable retold Once two rivals - a mouse and a frog Engaged themselves in an argument, so hot, On who was the master of the fen And many a fiery fights they fought. Hiding beneath the grass the crafty mouse, Upon his enemy sudden attacks he'd make Oft puzzling the frog at a disadvantage Who once forc'd his foe a challenge to take. Gladly accepted the summon the mouse, And the two champions on the appointed day With a point of a bulrush each armed Entered the field with faces beaming and gay. A kite chanced to be hovering overhead, Saw the silly creatures in a fight engaged Swooped down in a wink, seized 'em both With talons and to her young were carri'd.

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Mandal Bijoy Beg (MBB) is a poet, writer, author, editor, publisher and patron of literature and human endeavour in life. Author of two books of poems That Man (1997) and Evergreen Mirthfest (1998). He is a founder of The Home of Letters, India.








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3. MERLIN FLOWER

Not in Vogue decapitated in conditioning the noises arrive, conclusive the warnings seem tiny a series of finagling chances like a dragon divided among ants same scruffiness fashionable endurance bored indulgence idle lookabout, captain a finisher is fast and rich.

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Don’t Look for a Romantic Story I tore the page of him from the life, now what? The images flicker......lovingly The sound echoes.....fleetingly The smile flows........freely All with him in They torture me like crows masquerading as doves and smiling at Hmmm Mmmm Shhh You know, this scene will continue till I die Tuned on, tuned off The subject, though, may change-should.

Merlin Flower is an independent writer and artist.



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4. SHARVANI H S

The Shatter of Innocence To my dear Papa, from your Munni, Yesterday I was lost. He said we weren't, but I know Far from home was his home so empty and peaceful, so nice He was so nice: Just like you Papa He laughed like you and walked like you. But then... He hugged me and wouldn't let go! He hurt me, Papa. I felt bad, but he seemed happy Was he happy that he hurt me? He carried me home in his arms Just like you, Papa. But why did he hurt me? I asked Mama but she only cried Do you know why he hurt me?

Sharvani H S is studying an engineering course. One of my short stories was published in The Reading Hour while some poems have appeared with many online literary journals such as Kritya and The Enchanting Verses etc.

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5. TATJANA DEBELJACKI

Too Late for the South It seems that we're late. There was no need to hurry. The branch was thin and it shook all down to the trunk. The cars rushed down under. The snow covered everything. All of a sudden, a turtle-dove moved as if about to fly, and then it fell down under the wheels of a limo. The frozen male swayed on the branch

Kissing Die of beauty You devil’s Emperor, From merciful sin Kiss these May cherries Green apples Pollen lips. You start kissing. Kiss white merry buttocks hips, navel, tip of the nose palms that clasp You start kissing. Kiss closed eyes Bitter tear Child of dawn, women of night, You start kissing. Kiss the moon of soul Kiss, emperor Kiss at the fifth side of the world.

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The Invention of Shadows If love is just deception then it is really perfect. I am not able to describe that to someone who Has never tasted something like that. LOVE is the animal appetite. Now I have a different view on that. His cigarette was burning, ashes falling on the floor, his hands were trembling when he poured the tea. His eyes glimmered like the eyes of the stuffed bird. I laid my hand on his shoulder. He twitched. I can't make recollection of one single moment which lasted through eternity. You loved me once? You have good memory You do not want that I stop loving you. It is winter, the snow is constantly falling. All the words were in vain, I looked as if I desperately needed a hug. I was scared. The pain became trivial. Your counterpart now owns your soul. Who am I now? Both of things you are now.

Tatjana Debeljacki writes poetry, short stories, stories and haiku. She is a Member of Association of Writers of Serbia, UKS since 2004. She is Haiku Society of Serbia- Deputy editor of Diogen. She also is the editor of the magazine Poeta. She has four books of poetry published.

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Arts

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6. DWARAKANATHAN RAVI

Title: “The earth laughs in flowers.” ― Ralph Waldo Emerson

Dwarakanathan has a deep passion towards capturing moments and cherishing the details in it. In this picture a flower vendor along the roadside has a basket full of flowers, but none for herself. She takes one flower and pushes it inside her grey strings of hair. But her smile was more beautiful than her flower: she was content with the way her day went.

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It's like everyone tells a story about themselves inside their own head. Always. All the time. That story makes you what you are. We build ourselves out of that story.

― Patrick Rothfuss, The Name of the Wind

Story

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7. KERSIE KHAMBATTA

Ferrari Spider

“Hey...mum...I’ve got a Ferrari Spider.”

Nathan bounded up the stairs.

“What’s a Ferrari Spider? I don’t want no creepy-crawlies in my house!”

“Mum... Oh.....mum........you don’t know what a Ferrari is?........”

“No! What is it?”.

“It’s a super-car, mum! It’s great! Come and see it! I’ll take you for a ride! Come on, mum.....come on...”

“I’m doing the cooking. I can’t come now!”

“Just turn the stove off,....... you can do it later.”

“All right! Okay! I’ll come. Give me a minute!”

Anna closed the stove, and stepped out, wiping her hands on her apron.

She was shocked when she saw the shining, blood-red car with an open top.

“This is an expensive-looking car! Where did you get it from, eh?”

“ My dream come true! I’m so excited!”

“I asked you where you got it from, didn’t I?”

.“No, mum, no! I haven’t stolen it......if that’s what you’re thinking.”

“Cause if you have, I will skin you,....I will....”

“My friend gave it to me”.

“Your friend gave it to you, eh? You sure you are not lying to me, eh?”

“No mum no. I wouldn’t ever do that. I swear!”

Nathan had to lie!

His father had died (from cancer) ten years ago. His mother had struggled through the years.

They rented in a high-density area in Sydney.

He was the only child. His friends were rich.

He dreamed of a Ferrari Spider.

What was the quickest way to make big money?

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He would borrow for a start, and make the money grow.

He went to the nearest Westpac branch, and demanded to see the manager. The receptionist at the counter was not impressed. She asked him what he wanted. He said:- “Money. I’ve come to borrow some money”.

She gave him an ugly look, and waved him to the sofa.

He crossed his legs confidently.

After a while, a smartly-dressed woman, with heavy make-up, and grey hair, old enough to be his mother, came up to him, introduced herself politely, and invited him into her cabin.

He felt a wee bit nervous. A vague feeling that this wasn’t going to be as easy as he thought it would.

“Now, what can we do for you, sir?”

“I want to borrow two hundred thousand dollars”.

She winced for the fraction of a second, but kept a straight face. She was superbly trained.

“Sure. But we lend on security, you know”.

“What’s security?”

She raised her eyebrows. This fellow was too young.

“People have houses, cars, they pledge as security for a loan. Do you own a house?”

“Nope, I live with my mum”.

“Well then, let’s see. Do you have an income?”

“Na”.

She was hungry,......and this stupid boy was keeping her from her lunch.

“Not working?”

“Nah! I just finished school”.

“Well then, you can get a student loan from government for University.”

“Nope. No way! I don’t want to go to University. I want a Ferrari”.

“A Ferrari? Those cost a lot, you know! We don’t lend money to buy Ferraris.”

“I’ll try elsewhere then”.

He got up abruptly, hot under the collar.

He quickly walked out. He could feel her glaring at his back.

He went home dejected.

He sat with his head in his hands, feeling very sorry for himself. He wanted that Ferrari.

He decided to ask one of his very rich friends for the money. He had tons of it.

That fellow lived in a mansion, with a swimming pool.

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“Hey mate! I want to buy a Ferrari. Can you lend me the money?”

“How much?”

“Two hundred thousand dollars”.

“Fine! That’s no problem. How are you going to repay it? And when?”

“Well, say, in about a year’s time. I will earn the money”.

“You going to earn two hundred thousand dollars in a year? How?”

“I don’t know how! But I will do it”.

“Well then.....let’s see. Let me think........will you work for me, eh? Do what I say?”

“Yeah. Yeah. I’ll do anything. Just tell me what”.

“Okay. I’ll ring you in a day or two.”

The call did come.

“Sunday morning. Be at the international airport at 9am,... stand just outside the

Air France counter. Take a suitcase with a few clothes. Someone will come to you. Just do what he says. And,..... go now, and get me a few passport-sized photos.

You will be given a passport.”

“But am I going overseas? I’ve got to tell my mum”.

“Tell her what you want! Just be there. You will be back in a couple of days. Your trip will be paid for!”

What was he going to tell his mother? Where was he going? When was he coming back? Why was he going?

He lied that he was going on a short trip overseas with his friends. She was not too concerned. She had her own problems.

But he did not go with anyone. He went alone. He was given a return ticket to New Caledonia, a packet to carry, warned not to open it, and ordered to hand it over to a person who would collect it from him at the destination.

It was the first time in his life that he went out of Australia. He quite enjoyed it.

He spent the next many months going, all expenses paid, to different places he had never even heard about. Not to large countries or big cities.

Always to small airports, with little or no security.

“Have you driven a Ferrari before?”

“I’ve driven a Holden, mate.”

“Idiot! Don’t you know the difference between a Ferrari and a Holden? A race-horse and a cart-horse? We will go for a long drive. Get in”.

On the deserted, desert road, the sleek vehicle hit speeds of over two hundred kilometres an hour.

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He was thrilled.

“Can I drive? Please, mate! Just for a short while. On the open road.”

They went through small towns, slowing down a bit, but not enough to go un-noticed by the radar-equipped, black cars, parked in side streets.

The message travelled ahead of them. The number and the description of the vehicle were relayed to the national computer.

Fortunately the block where he and his mother lived had a lock-up garage, and he kept the Ferrari in it for the night. He could not sleep. He was so excited. He kept admiring it, saying to himself:- “My dream come true! My dream come true!”.

He could not wait for sun-rise. He took it out while it was still fairly dark, wanting a fast drive on empty roads.

He did not even notice the flashing lights in the rear-view mirror, so lost was he in his own thoughts.

“Ah ha, son, nice car! Pretty expensive, eh?”

“Yes, sir”.

“Got a driving licence?”

“Yes, sir!”

“Give me the keys. Just sit quietly while I check the registration”.

He was scared. Why had he been pulled up? He had been within the speed limit.

“This car has been registered to some else. Not in your name. Mind telling me who the owner is?”

He hesitated. He was not sure whether he would be doing the right thing by telling the officer who the car belonged to. But then he decided that the officer must already know that, so he did tell him.

“You just drive quietly ahead of me to the address of the owner. I want to find out whether he gave you permission to take the car.”

“Yes sir”.

They parked in the driveway, and the uniformed officer knocked softly on the door. It was opened slightly, and then banged shut abruptly.

The officer called for back-up. But a loud screech of tyres from the back of the house proclaimed very clearly that the occupant or occupants did not want to talk to the police.

He was taken to the police station, and interviewed by plain-clothes detectives. They knew all about his overseas trips. They had the hard evidence of his involvement.

They had not taken him in, as they wanted the big fish.

They produced him before the court, and he was given bail.

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Weeks later, they took him to the police station, showed him a familiar face through a one-way glass, and asked him to identify him. He had no choice but to do so. They knew anyway.

The stern, lady judge looked down at him through half-glasses, cleared her throat, and said:- “Young man, you have broken the law. That is a crime. You have to be punished. The evidence produced before me shows that there are others who are clearly the main culprits. They will get a more severe punishment if they plead guilty or are found guilty. I would have sentenced you to a term of imprisonment, but for your youth and your lack of previous convictions. I have come to the conclusion, on hearing both prosecution and defence, that in your case, a sentence of home detention is the least restrictive outcome, considering the deterrence aspect, and the mitigating factors. I hereby sentence you to a term of nine months home detention, at your mother’s house, which has been found suitable by probation for electronic monitoring. There will be the usual post-detention conditions. Lastly, let me tell you this.a fool and his Ferrari are soon parted! You may stand down!”

Kersie Khambatta, a semi-retired lawyer in New Zealand, is a part-time writer of articles and short-stories. His writing is recognizable by his simple style, with short sentences and appropriate words. He has a diploma of Associateship of the British Tutorial Institute, London, in English, Modern Journalism, and Journalism in India, and a Certificate in Comprehensive writing awarded by the Writing School (Australia and New Zealand). His pieces have appeared in publications in Canada, New Zealand, U.S.A., India, and other countries.








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8. RONNY NOOR

The Couple in the Tonga

Ronny in his story The Couple in the Tonga tries to recreate what is known as the most spectacular dogfight between Indian and Pakistani fighter jets in the skies over Lahore during the 1965 war. He lived there for a couple of years as a child.

The Couple in the Tonga I was famished. I hadn’t tasted a morsel of food for a day and a half, surviving solely on water. The money order my parents had sent from Dhaka hadn’t yet arrived. “The postal service is irregular,” the fleshy clerk said apologetically whenever I went to the post office to inquire, “due to the war with India.” But I had run out of funds and didn’t know anybody so closely in Lahore to ask for a loan, having arrived in the city about four months ago, a young college student for whom there wasn’t even a job available to buy a square meal.

Sitting at the reading table in my one-bedroom apartment, I cursed myself for deciding to fly over a thousand miles across India for an adventurous college life in the festive milieu of the renowned city of gardens. But it was the nineteen-sixties and the whole world was transforming with young people everywhere, not just in Pakistan, looking for new adventures in whatever way possible. Hippies, maharishis, pot abounded. How would I have known I would get caught up in a war, with air raid sirens bellowing night and day, making me sack out on a thin mattress under the bed lest I had to jump up from sleep and scurry for shelter? I was expecting the air raid siren to scream just before noon when all of a sudden, to my surprise, music came drifting in from the street. I walked up to the window and looked out. A tonga was steering down the street, decorated with papier-mâché flowers and varicolored balloons, drawn by a robust bay horse. A popular Nahid Niazi tune was wafting in the air. It was a wedding procession with crowds of people following the tonga, some dancing to the jingling tune and picking up the coins the couple was tossing out generously. They were flying up in fistfuls and showering down like the New Year’s Eve fireworks in Europe.

Immediately I dashed down the two short flights of stairs and joined the jubilant crowd, picking up coins of all denominations from the dusty street. Once I had a pocketful of them, I went to the dingy eatery across from my apartment and ordered three fresh tandoori bread and some chum chum, when the air raid siren sounded. “Shut the door,” the manager told the fleet-footed waiter. So I grabbed my food from the waiter’s hand and ran across the street and up the stairs back into my apartment. Then taking my seat at the small rickety kitchen table, I began to dig into the bread and the sweets alternately. God! Food hadn’t tasted so good in my life.

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Suddenly I heard the deafening roar of jets above. I looked out the kitchen window at the two Sabres tearing through the air like giant birds, pursuing a pair of Hunters to chase them off. They were crisscrossing the sky, shooting up, swooping down, careening and pirouetting, with volleys of shots erupting as if hell had broken loose in the heavens. All at once a Hunter burst into flames and began tumbling down spewing smoke, followed by a Sabre on fire, while the others were still striving to hit their marks; but I did not scurry for shelter. My stomach full, I relished the aftertaste, passing my tongue around in my mouth, reaching out to every nook and cranny, and praying for the safety of the blessed couple that had unknowingly delivered me from starvation, providing me with the most delectable meal of my life.

Ronny Noor is a professor of English and world literature at the University of Texas-Brownsville. His essays, stories, and poems have appeared in numerous journals around the world. He is also the author of a novel titled "Snake Dance in Berlin" (Orient Blackswan, New Delhi).

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9. TAYEB BOUAZID

Fate

Souvenirs remained souvenirs-this is a semi-fictional portrayal of a poor family of modest income not overwhelming up to do-composed of a mother , her husband and two daughters of conservative original descent .The mother’s name is LAVINIA- 52 years old, she worked at home with a tenacious determined will to feed her breadwinners with sane income, prepared some earthenware utensils which she used to sell on market days.

Her eldest daughter, RACHEL 23- a rather red skinned shy girl, of mean demeanor, self preserving in her attitudes and prepossessing. She rather appeared open minded with psychologically well balanced personality. She was a student in Archaeology. Her second daughter, CAMELIA 19 , she was seriously ill, deeply affected by her injuries that, in the course of time, she felt engraved in her heart.

Their father MARCELL, was 64 years old. He was a handicapped person who fell from a windmill and got a back break. Since then, he had been lying in bed with little effort to deploy.His poor surrounding deplored his situation and he had no other living source to look to. Marcell had long been a hard worker well known in the vicinity by his manly adventures.

In the nearby, there existed a rich landlady named Mrs. Joan. A well brought up lady of mid fifties known by her generosity and strong decisions- She possessed thousands of acres with a wide range of ranches, cattle and milking parlors. Mrs. Joan was a good mistress for her own property-she enjoyed this job since a long time and she as usual wanted to preserve her ancestors’ pre-occupation to raise livestock to sell milk to the village nearby.

Andy who was aged 23, a dynamic ambitious and industrious youngster went to his aunt lady Joan’s farm to spend his summer holidays in the company of the breath taking greenish pastures amongst the shepherds and the herds and the multitudes of extended spruce forests.

There, he met RACHEL and soon he fell in love with and soon he evoked his deep latent lot to her with plenty of affections and love sensuous feelings. Bit by bit and in her cozy company Andy grew mature and responsible. He grew in constant muse about his new company and soon he felt submerged in her social problems.

Andy was affected by his girlfriend’s situation, so he went to his aunt and mediated for a promising job to her mother, LAVINIA to ,at least, overcome some of her hard living conditions. Andy went on recounting the family wretched living conditions stating the father deplored condition to his aunt. Aunt Joan was all ears and accepted to offer her services to the subsisting family. She soon appointed Lavinia as her assistant in the workshops of textile/pottery different sites.

During their free time, ANDY and RACHEL made tours in the natural beautiful landscapes around the workshop. One day, and to their surprise Rachel discovered the first premises of a

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Gold Ore as sensed through the dust where a rippling creek crossed. The ore seemed dormant for long years then as nobody dared find it out. Rachel immediately contacted Lady Joan and soon a deal was met so that the secret remained a secret. Together, they mapped out to give air to the new project and promised Rachel to keep it a secret for her to exploit after her studies finish.

Marcel’s life situation worsened and illness ailed his tormented spirit as it persisted through his weakened body. He succumbed after a long suffering. Now, the family situation was at its dire situation; Lady Joan and ANDY offered the miserable family a new lodging in the farm not far from the workshops to keep Aunt Joan company, facilitated the work and gave more chances for Lavinia to supervise.. Soon, LAVINIA was appointed staff manager to manage Aunt Joan’s + working affairs .Her daughter CAMELIA was sent to ORVILLE to be hospitalized- another page opened in the caring of Camelia’s Health care.

RACHEL and ANDY had already separated as the school year had come to an end .ANDY who, studied economics at ORVILLE, heard about CAMELIA ; so he visited her from time to time and offered his services to appease some of her heart biting awes. Life went by and days constantly renewed and visits had become rituals.

One day, CAMELIA confessed her love to ANDY ; an idea which he had never thought of. So he stood perplexed and could not believe his eyes and though he tried to make her understand that he had a love affair with her sister RACHEL, CAMELIA insisted on her love ; doctors had already stated that she was emotionally disturbed and she could risk her life in case of any love fluctuations. Hence, the matter got complicated, and Andy got confused.

ANDY who did not know what to do, accepted his fate and day by day he grew in love with CAMELIA openly showing his heart felt emotions-He rather translated his outer feelings into latent direct intentions as he, from time to time, went on listening to her with a great care as if appointed to direct her meditative intentions. He felt no space to escape to; he was rather stuck in a quagmire.

CAMELIA was recovered from her illness and she too was appointed assistant to her mother in the workshop. Rachel who was meticulously keeping eyes on Andy’s attitudes and motions, came to learn about the relationship between her sister CAMELIA and ANDY. She instantly chew the cud and became overwhelmed with craze. Her mind got divided against itself as whether she should help her sister emotionally disturbed state or continue her love with ANDY. A serious situation to deeply meditate up with careful reflection. So, at last, she prefered to help her sister and therefore she wished hearty success to the couple. Finally, ANDY got married with CAMELIA.

LAVINIA achieved a great success in her enterprises in the various workshops. Rachel got engaged with her schoolmate. During summer holidays, Rachel and her husband visited JOAN’S farm to exploit the GOLD ORE. There, ANDY and RACHEL met near the creek for an evocative heart-throbbing souvenir. A souvenir that was knit under high strains of pure sacrifices and devotion-A souvenir that grew out of nothing to engrave its trails on both sisters’ hearts showing simply that love remains love and no one dared relinquish his own possessions to the other without Godly traced fate-Fate is in most daring time beyond our willing to change-accept it but never lump it-it is part of our existence.

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Days went by and Camelia gave birth to a young girl that her mother decided to name her Rachel-a gift to her husband to remain in constant love with the picture of the true Rachel that ever engraved his mind –a modest souvenir Camelia could genuinely offer to satisfy her husband’s lust and meet the wants of Rachel who was engaged to one of Lady Joan’s trusted clients at Orville. Now, Lavinia is no more distressed-both her sisters are nicely wedded-she was well satisfied and could devote herself more to Lady Joan and to her daughters’ young babies. And though she was widowed she enjoyed commuting between her daughters to see their lives embalmed with success-This is a genuine souvenir that the promising life could offer a depressed person and change his course from a down trodden wretched creature into well to do living being . This is another print in one’s life .Again fate is at the doorsill-accept it and never call it bad names.

Mr Tayeb Bouazid is a graduate and postgraduate lecturer in the English Department University Mohamed Boudiaf, Msila, Algeria. He has an MA in psycho pedagogy and TEFL, a M. Ed (with specialisation in Environmental Education (UNISA) and a Teacher Trainer Certificate of Advanced Studies from Lancaster University. In addition, he is recently awarded a completion certificate with Middle East Partnership of the best practices in teacher training programs.

Mr Bouazid is a freelance writer for the London School of Journalism and he is a fifth year doctorate student at the University of Batna, Algeria.the author has already contributed to many articles writing- Southern African Journal of Environmental Education, Vol. 26, 2009 , Arab Gulf Journal of Scientific Research, 27 (1&2): 59- 69 (2009), Per Linguam 2010 26(2): 33-49 Department of Curriculum Studies, Private Bag X1 7602 Stellenbosch, South Africa. Mr Bouazid contributed with a poem with CLRI july 2013.

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Interview

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10. KHURSHID ALAM INTERVIEWS MD FEROZ QURESHI AN EMERGING FILM DIRECTOR AND PRODUCER PAR EXCELLENCE

CLRI: Can you tell me something about yourself?

Writer/ Director/Producer (Short Films)

Ans: I was born in Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh. I spent my childhood in Raigarh (Chhattisgarh) where I completed my schooling. For pursuing BBA (Bachelor of Business Administration), I came to Pune, Maharashtra where I studied at the Pune University. While studying, I was attracted towards film-making and hence I completed a certificate course in film-making from IMI (Institute of Moving Images) under Mr. Pankaj Roy. I also completed my MBA from the Symbiosis University.

CLRI: How many short films have you made till date?

Ans: I have made many short films till date.

COLOUR BLUE

Is an Artistic video presentation of various famous paintings.

RIGHT TO LIVE Hari's (23') wife is pregnant. They are worried "if a girl will take birth, then they have to face a very big problem ". His friend suggests him to visit a doctor. One day a doctor comes to his home with the report about the bad news and solves the problem by aborting the female child in the womb.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FrvtjhzOUA&list=UUP8-58VXDLhv1WOi1dxRNug&index=5&feature=plcp

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xMRA4W51ssQ/UK3pXGej8EI/AAAAAAAAAjo/9u6RhVArk3E/s1600/Untitled-1+(3).j

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0eLWD43fx1s/T7tKt6aCzNI/AAAAAAAAAhE/y3lBo_8ylKg/s1600/vlcsnap-2012-05-22-13h35m20s204+copy.j

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3goPZX2CILQ/T7tDavQo8GI/AAAAAAAAAgc/emU17CL5VGk/s1600/58854_147443488621563_147441808621731_267862_3229273_n.j

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3 PORTRAITS OF MOTHER INDIA 30 min SHORT

We are back in the century when the British were ruining India. The story is about the conversion of a bad person into a good one.

This film was an official Screening at Jaipur International Film Festival 2012 and official Screening at Imphal International Film Festival 2012).

CLRI: In India short films are meant to be written, directed and produced by the same film maker, which is not the case abroad. What are the challenges in such a situation?

Ans: Of course, there are a lot of challenges, which we come across, mainly the team is missed and the whole set up is on the shoulders of one person.

CLRI: You have started an organization to promote new talents. Why so? While you should focus more on becoming a famous film maker yourself. I mean you should be more career oriented.

Ans: I want my work to be famous than I. Basically I wanted to be a part of Industry and would love if people give credit to my films. As a filmmaker I would rather go for new talents which can come up with new prospectus.

CLRI: Out of all short films, name few best ones.

Ans: There are many which fall in the category of best ones. Naming few will mean being partial instead.

CLRI: Have you ever made any feature film? Can you please share something about it?

Ans: I am working on two projects based on two different concepts. Hope to get started soon.

CLRI: What differences do you find between short films and feature films? Is there any career in short films?

Ans: Short films are basically for setting a base and feature films make you the master at the end. As a starter you need to make short films, so that you can do different experiments on your thoughts.

http://3portraitsofmotherindiathefilm.blogspot.in/

http://3portraitsofmotherindiathefilm.blogspot.in/

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-F0k9rRXEsVo/T7tFI7Bpm8I/AAAAAAAAAgk/0QmANZolHTw/s1600/poser+-3.j

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CLRI: Which film makers do you think you are influenced?

Ans: Jean-Luc Godard , Anuraag Kashyup, Steven Speilberg, Quentin Tarantino, Martin Scorsese among others.

CLRI: According to you, which film makers in India and abroad are some of the finest ones?

Ans: Of course two from the above mentioned ones.

CLRI: What projects are you working currently on? Any details?

Ans: I am working on an Indie, a feature film titled, Hard to change the world, already done Devil's Paradise. Two other feature films are under pipeline for which we are working on the dialogues.








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I criticize by creation - not by finding fault. – Marcus Tullius Cicero

Book Criticism

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11. NATAŠA MILADINOVIĆ

Nataša Miladinović Reviews Susheel Kumar Sharma’s The Door is Half Open

Poetry Flows – from nature to homes, through doors, to the silent singing of consciousness”

Collective mind gathers symbols through time, transferring them from one culture to another. There are numerous fields of study trying to break the code of the meaning of symbols and similar archetypal phenomena, such as myths, religious, poetry and philosophy writings, from their earliest stages to the present date. Anthropology, ethnology, along with comparative mythology, sociolinguistics and its counterpart the sociology of language, to name only a few, stand at the forefront of this archaeological excavation.

At the beginning of our existence, the physical aspect of human being was dependent upon the earth and its bearing of fruits. Due to the inexorable course of evolution, the omnipotent forces of nature presented themselves upon him and his peers. One can only try to imagine how deeply the underwhelmed minds of our forefathers were shaken after hearing a clap of thunder, or witnessing a flood. The being that had the ability to generate such a force was perceived as the more powerful one in the equation of existence.

Susheel Kumar Sharma is a professor of English at the University of Allahabad, Allahabad-211002, India.

Title: The Door is Half Open Author: Susheel Kumar Sharma Publisher: Adhyayan Publishers & Distributors, New Delhi. ISBN: 978-81-8435-341-9. Year: 2013. Pages 141 Price: Rs. 150.00/ US $ 10.00 /UK £ 15.00

What else could they do but choose the best among them who, in the behalf of all, was to use all his might in propitiating such supreme beings? Such outstandingly wise and insightful individuals started being revered together with their actions and words, and were named shamans, druids and prophets, who took on the roles of priests and teachers in the modern times. They became the saviours of societies, those to whose actions and words

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every member of society turned to in the times of both prosperity and hardship.

Thus, the rituals of sympathetic or homeopathic magic became a part of religious rituals, such as prayer, sacrifice, or the observance of a taboo. Religion was erected, on the foundations of magic and myth, and generated the human beings who started building up – word by word – the new realm of civilization within the walls of nature.

The first places of worship and performing rituals were in the natural environment, at the sites considered to be ports between the mundane and spiritual world. Trees and rocks, rivers and springs were the first revered places serving as altars. These later shifted into the sanctity of a house where people performed rituals either at the centre of the building by the fire (which should under no circumstances be put out), or at the doors and thresholds.

Since the number of people constituting a society started to increase, the first places of worship large enough to embrace all of the society members began to emerge – temples, churches and cathedrals became sacred in their own right. They were even built on sites previously considered sacred.

The old Slavic faith was a system of belief which had similarities with other Indo-European religions. The old Slavs revered the deities of nature and supernatural beings and saw the evidence of their existence everywhere around them. After the Great migrations of Slavs in the 5th and 6th centuries, the Slavic system of belief split into several branches, and at the same time they started to accept the existing systems of the territories they settled upon. Since they were mostly exposed to the influences of the Holy Roman and Byzantine Empires, the Slavs began accepting Christianity in its Western and Eastern form. The Nestor’s Chronicle, written in the middle of the 11th century, speaks of the so-called Slavic dual form of religious belief – the simultaneous existence of paganism and Christianity among the Slavs. The Slavs unwilling to accept Christianity, who remained devoted to their original faith, were later forced to convert into Christianity. The Slavic shrines were demolished, and Christian churches were built at their sites. The statues of old deities were destroyed without exception since they were considered to represent “demonic” idols. After the conquest of territories by Byzantine Emperor Basil I, known as the Macedonian (867-886), many of the old shrines and idols were demolished, apart from the Temple of Svetovid. The temple was “purified”, and the Church of St. Vid was erected on its foundations. By the end of the 12th century, under the rule of Stefan Nemanja, Christianity in the form of Serbian Orthodox Church was the only officially accepted form of religious worship. However, Serbs kept clinging to their old Slavic practices, and the last pagan temple was destroyed by the Emperor Dušan in the 14th century.

There are numerous examples of single religious buildings being taken over by different cultural and religious members. Such is the case with the Basilica of St. Peter in Italy, The Cathedral and former Great Mosque of Córdoba in Spain, and Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, Turkey.

The Basilica of St. Peter is believed to have been erected over the spot where St. Peter was buried after his martyrdom in Rome around 64 CE. Over two hundred years later, in the early 4th century, Emperor Constantine erected a basilica dedicated to St. Peter on the Vatican Hill on the south side of the Tiber River. The basilica was erected with difficulty on the sloping side of Vatican Hill. Excavations undertaken in 1939 underneath the floor of St. Peter’s, uncovered a Roman cemetery which was considered to be a sacred place. At a

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spot located directly beneath the main altar of the basilica a small shrine was discovered. Although there was no indication other than location, it was claimed by some that the shrine was dedicated to St. Peter. Constantine’s basilica was demolished in the 16th century, and the present church was built on the same site.

The Cathedral and former Great Mosque of Córdoba, in ecclesiastical terms the Catedral de Nuestra Señora de la Asunción (Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption), and known by the inhabitants of Córdoba as the Mezquita-Catedral (Mosque–Cathedral), is today a World Heritage Site and the cathedral of the Diocese of Córdoba. It is located in the Andalusian city of Córdoba, Spain. The site was originally a pagan temple, then a Visigothic Christian church, before the Umayyad Moors converted the building into a mosque and then built a new mosque on the site. After the Spanish Reconquista, it became a Roman Catholic church, with a plateresque cathedral later inserted into the centre of the large Moorish building. The Mezquita is regarded as the one of the most accomplished monuments of Islamic architecture.

Hagia Sophia is a former Orthodox patriarchal basilica, later a mosque, and now a museum in Istanbul, Turkey. From the date of its dedication in 360 until 1453, it served as the Greek Patriarchal cathedral of Constantinople, except between 1204 and 1261, when it was converted to a Roman Catholic cathedral under the Latin Empire. The building was a mosque from 29 May 1453 until 1931, when it was secularized. It was opened as a museum on 1 February 1935.

The Streaming of Consciousness Doors, thresholds and gates are all symbolic entrances into new worlds. These entrances can be into a new life or they might represent communication between one world and another, between the living and the dead. The symbolism between gate and threshold is very similar. The symbolism of a gate, though, suggests more of a protecting and guarding aspect while that of a threshold suggests simply a passage from one realm to another.

One of the characteristics of civilization development which significantly influenced the notion of human living was the invention of doors, for when the man put the door at his primitive shelters, he turned them into habitats. Namely, he ceased simply to shelter and possum himself, and started permanently settling within the building which represented his home.

From the architectural point of view, the door is a movable structure, be it of simple or complex design, whose main purpose is to protect the people or assets in a closed building from the dangers lurking outside – by making it weatherproof, serving as protection from wild animals, enemies or burglars, but also as an entrance or exit from closed space into the open one. Apart from its physical characteristics, the symbolism of the doors was becoming ever more complex and enriched, together with its constituent parts, namely the threshold. Therefore, the door symbolizes the passage from one world into another, and the threshold stands as the borderline between those two – the outer, earthly one, and the interior, sacred world.

The threshold is the meeting point of natural and supernatural, the place at which various rituals connected with the most important moments in family life, such as childbirth, wedding, or death rituals, are performed. Archaeology has revealed that, in the prehistoric

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era, it was common practice to bury the family and household members underneath it. Therefore it was not allowed to sit or step on it; when entering or leaving the house it was advised to jump over it – especially when a bride is entering the groom’s house for the first time; consequently she was carried in (this custom is still witnessed in many different cultures). It was also customary for the bride to spread honey on it and kiss the door frame.

The practice of food, libations or objects offering was performed there, in order to protect the family and bring them prosperity. It was forbidden to shake hands at the threshold when welcoming visitors in. In many traditions, the threshold of a temple, a shrine or a mausoleum is considered to be sacred. Even today it is not to be stepped on, before it the believer falls on his knees in piety, and honours it by kissing. Since the doors were the core place of protective magical rituals, various objects such as knives, hayforks or pieces of a scythe, were put onto them at the exterior side, or symbols painted on it in order to protect the household members from the forces of evil. During the spring or summer rites, the plants with apotropaic effects were hanged on or above them. If needed, offerings were placed on the threshold.

In A Dictionary of Symbols, J. E. Cirlot discusses temple doors and altars: “There is the same relationship between the temple-door and the altar as between the circumference and the centre; even though in each case the two component elements are the farthest apart, they are nonetheless, in a way, the closest since the one determines and reflects the other.” Cirlot notes that this is well illustrated in the architectural ornamentation of cathedrals where the facade is nearly always treated as an altar-piece.

A closed door signifies rejection, exclusion, secrecy, but also protection against dangers and the unknown. A door, which is only half open or swinging in a draft, is something disturbing, since it symbolizes moral irresolution and lack of courage. Sometimes it may be our duty to open a door and to enter a room although it is evident that we shall encounter very disagreeable things by doing so. A priest, for instance, may have to visit a house in which a person is suffering from a very contagious disease. The Jews considered themselves unclean if they had entered the house of pagans. The ancient Romans thought that it meant a profanation of their soldiers if they marched out through the gates of Rome and fought with the enemy outside. For it was generally believed that what was within the walls of a city or of the individual houses was holy; whatever was outside the walls was considered profane and evil. Consequently the enemies with whom their soldiers fought were looked upon by the Romans as unholy and impure. When the soldiers came back from a campaign they had therefore to be purified by religious rites under the very gates of the city. Somewhat later majestic triumphal arches were erected by the Roman Senate that the “sanctification” of the returning army might be performed under them.

In An Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Traditional Symbols, J.C. Cooper notes this guarding and protecting nature of gates. They are the “protective, sheltering aspect of the Great Mother.” Usually they “are guarded by symbolic animals such as lions, dragons, bulls, dogs or fabulous beasts.” C. G. Jung speaks of doors in the same manner, as the feminine symbol, and the antithesis of the wall. In Psychology and Alchemy, he noted that doors contain all the implications of the symbolic hole.

At the gates of the House of Osiris a goddess keeps each gate, whose name has to be known. The Gates of the East and West are the doors of the World Temple through which

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the sun passes morning and night. The “strait gate” is the central point of communication between the lower and higher; the passage, in “spiritual poverty” for initiates or at death, leading to new life. In the Orient, for instance, in Palestine, the gate of the city was the gathering place where the king and the wise men of the land came to judge the people and to discuss political matters.

In Christianity the Virgin Mary is the Gate of Heaven. She is greeted as a door, Salve Porta, in the antiphon Ave Regina Coelorum, and addressed: Maria, quae est coelestis porta, in the beautiful antiphon Adorna thalamum on the feast of her Purification. She was given the title of Janua coeli, door (gate) of heaven, in the Litany of Loreto. This can be seen further in the verse “A porta inferi erue Domine animas eorum— From the gate of hell deliver their souls, O Lord” in the Office of the Dead. But let us not forget that Christ refers to Himself as the door of His sheepfold. “I am the door. If any man enter by Me, he shall be safe”. His invitation is: “Pulsate, et aperietur vobis—And I say to you… knock, and it shall be opened to you. For to him that knocketh, it shall be opened”.

Honouring the Forefathers The modern-day religious buildings keep their original religious symbolism. The First Kadampa Temple opened its doors on August 1, 1997. Venerable Geshe Kelsang gave an explanation on the way it was constructed, and the meaning of the symbols implemented. The designing of the building was based on the mandala of Buddha Heruka, who is the Compassion Buddha of Highest Yoga Tantra. The Temple has four doors, and is surrounded by eight auspicious signs which show us how to progress along the Buddhist path to enlightenment. On top of the wall, on each side, are two deer and a Dharma Wheel. At the very top there is a golden five-pronged vajra. The four doors symbolize the four doors of liberation. These are four different types of wisdom realizations that are explained in the Essence of Vajrayana. The four doors have the same symbolism as Heruka’s four faces. They teach us that if we want to attain permanent liberation from suffering we must enter the four doors, that is, develop four special wisdom realizations that understand the ultimate truth of things. The four doors therefore teach us the spiritual path.

This Temple is surrounded by the eight auspicious signs: The umbrella symbolizes the umbrella of the Buddhist community and teaches us that those who have the sincere wish to progress on the Buddhist path to enlightenment should first enter the Buddhist family, which means taking refuge in the Three Jewels and becoming a Buddhist. The fish symbolize harmony and peace, and teaches us that under this umbrella you should always live in harmony and peace. The vase symbolizes wealth and teaches that Buddhist practitioners always enjoy the inner wealth of faith, moral discipline, study and practice of Dharma, benefiting others, the sense of shame, the consideration for others, and wisdom. The knot of eternity symbolizes an uncommon quality of Buddha’s realizations – his realization of omniscient wisdom – and the victory banner symbolizes an uncommon quality of Buddha’s abandonment – his abandonment of delusions and mistaken appearance. The last two signs together, the knot of eternity and the victory banner, indicate that through gaining the Dharma Jewel, the realization of the stages of the path to enlightenment, we shall attain these two uncommon qualities of Buddha. The Dharma Wheel indicates that having attained these two uncommon qualities of Buddha we now have the ability to lead all living beings to permanent liberation from suffering, principally by turning the Wheel of Dharma, that is, by giving Dharma teachings. This is our final goal. So the eight auspicious signs

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show how to begin, progress along, and complete the spiritual path. First we need to gain the realization of the stages of the path. Through this we shall attain the two uncommon qualities of Buddha; and through this we have the ability to lead all beings to permanent liberation from suffering by giving Dharma teachings, which is our final goal. Therefore the symbolism of This Temple being surrounded by these eight auspicious signs reminds you that you should put the meaning of these signs into practice and integrate them into your daily life.

Above each doorway there are two deer and a Dharma Wheel, and at the very top of the Temple there is a vajra. Together, these symbolize the stages of the path of Highest Yoga Tantra. The eight auspicious signs symbolize in general how to progress along the Buddhist path, and the deer, Dharma Wheel, and top vajra teach us the stages of the path of Highest Yoga Tantra. The male deer symbolizes the realization of great bliss, the female deer the realization of emptiness, and the Dharma Wheel the union of these two. Through progressing in this union of great bliss and emptiness, finally we will attain the five omniscient wisdoms of a Buddha, which are symbolized by the top five-pronged vajra.

In summary, the symbolism of the Temple is as follows: Through progressing in the basic practice symbolized by the eight auspicious signs and then progressing in the uncommon spiritual path of Highest Yoga Tantra that is the union of great bliss and emptiness, finally we will attain Buddha’s five omniscient wisdoms.

Walking the Path The appearance of gates, thresholds and doors is common to all story genres. Usually the hero passes through them to symbolically mark the beginning of his journey. The name of our hero is Susheel Kumar Sharma. He was born in India in 1962 and works as an English language Professor at the University of Allahabad. Does it surprise you that he is a teacher? And a poet? He journeyed beyond numerous doors and gates, and skipped over many thresholds to meet Shakespeare, John Milton, Samuel Johnson, Bernard Shaw, W. B. Yeats, D. H. Lawrence, George Orwell, Miriam Waddington, Sandra Lunnon, Raja Rao, Bhabani Bhattacharya, Rabindranath Tagore, Arun Joshi and Anurag Mathur, and was kind enough to share his experiences by writing research articles and sharing them selflessly. One of his research books titled The Theme of Temptation in Milton was published in New Delhi. Fancy taking a stroll through his new book of verse? How kind of him to leave the door half-open. Which way the path beyond it leads?

To heaven or hell? Or somewhere else? Christianity depicts heaven and hell in a fairly clear way. The Christian view describes these as permanent abodes, with the good going to God who dwells in heaven, and the bad rotting in hell for all eternity. But there is a different view on the matter. According to the Hindu Puranas, there are fourteen worlds in the universe - the seven upper and the seven lower. The seven upper worlds are Bhuh, Bhavah, Swah, Mahah, Janah, Tapah, and Satyam; and the seven nether worlds are Atala, Vitala, Sutala, Rasatala, Talatala, Mahatala, and Patala. The region known as Bhuh is the earth where we dwell, while Swah is the celestial world to which people repair after death to enjoy the reward of their righteous actions on earth. Bhuvah is the region between the two. Janah, Tapah, and Satyam constitute Brahmaloka, or the highest heaven, where fortunate souls repair after death and enjoy spiritual communion with the personal God, and at the end of the cycle attain

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liberation, though a few return to earth again. The world of Mahah is located between Brahmaloka and Bhuh, Bhuuah, and Swah. Patala, the lowest of the seven nether worlds, is the realm where wicked souls sojourn after death and reap the results of their unrighteous actions on earth.

Thus, from the viewpoint of Hinduism, heaven and hell are merely different worlds, bound by time, space, and causality. According to Hinduism, desires are responsible for a person’s embodiment. Some of these desires can best be fulfilled in a human body, and some in an animal or a celestial body. Accordingly, a soul assumes a body determined by its unfulfilled desires and the results of its past actions. An animal or a celestial body is for reaping the results of past karma, not for performing actions to acquire a new body. Performance of karma to affect any change of life is possible only in a human body, because only human beings do good or evil consciously. Human birth is therefore a great privilege, for in a human body alone can one attain the supreme goal of life. Thus, in search of eternal happiness and immortality, the apparent soul is born again and again in different bodies, only to discover in the end that immortality can never be attained through fulfilment of desires. The soul then practices discrimination between the real and the unreal, attains desirelessness, and finally realizes its immortal nature.

“When all the desires that dwell in the heart fall away, then the mortal becomes immortal and here attains Brahman.” – The Katha Upanishada

When the chattering of an individual mind stops, as it does through Mudra, Bandha or Meditation, one’s perception can be projected through the fissure of the mind into Reality. Then one sees behind the scenes of what we unquestionably consider to be real – our day to day, mundane life of fears and worries. We realize the super sensory and the Transcendental Dimension of our Being.

According to Hindu tradition, Sahasrara is the name of the seventh primary chakra. It symbolizes detachment from illusion; an essential element in obtaining higher consciousness of the truth. In the physical sense, Sahasrara is either located at the top of the head or a little way above it. There are also viewpoints arguing it to be located in either the pineal gland or the pituitary gland. Symbolically, it is depicted as 1,000 multi-coloured petals arranged in 20 layers, each of them having 50 petals. The pericarp is golden. Inside of it is an area with circular moon, and a downward pointing triangle. It is from this chakra that all the other chakras emanate.

In Hindu literature, it is known as “the supreme centre of contact with God”. In Yoga, this psychic fissure is called the Brahma Randhra (Sanskrit, “brahma”, consciousness; “randhra”, fissure) - the Fissure into Pure Consciousness. In Yoga, it can be called the Brahma Dwara (Sanskrit, “dwara”, door) - the Door to Pure Consciousness. It is also widely called the Tenth Door - the other nine doors being the nine orifices (two eyes, two ears, two nostrils, mouth, anus and sexual organ), which lead to the outside world. When these nine doors are closed through Yogic practices, then perception is obliged to go through the tenth door, the Brahma Dwara or the Door of Consciousness.

The crown wheel is important within the Highest Yoga traditions of Buddhist Vajrayana. It is triangular, with 32 petals or channels that point downwards, and within it resides the white drop or white bodhicitta. Through meditation, the yogi attempts to unite this drop with the red bodhicitta in the navel, and to experience the union of emptiness and bliss. It is very

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important in the Tantric practice of Phowa, or consciousness transference. At the time of death, a yogi can direct his consciousness up the central channel and out of this wheel in order to be reborn in a Pure Land, where they can carry on their tantric practices, or they can transfer their consciousness into another body or a corpse, in order to extend their lives.

In the West, it has been noted by many – such as Charles Ponce in his book Kabbalah, that Sahasrara expresses a similar archetypal idea to that of Kether in the kabalistic tree of life, which also rests at the head of the tree, and represents pure consciousness and union with God. Within the Sufi system of Lataif-e-sitta there is a Lataif called Akfha, the “most arcane subtlety”, which is located on the crown. It is the point of unity where beatific visions of Allah are directly revealed.

The Silent Singing of Consciousness The true name of God in Sikhism is Ik Onkar in Punjabi, or Om in Sanskrit, meaning an isolated Shapeless God. The true name of God in Hinduism is Ishwara, meaning Supreme controller, lord. The true name of God in Buddhism is Four Noble Truths. Allah is the most frequently used true name of God in Islam. The Holy Trinity is the true name of God in Christianity.

Guru Nanak Dev composed Japji Sahib, the language of pure silence of Shapeless God, which is the foundation of the Sikh religion, followed by many in the Muslim and Hindu community. Japji is written in the sutra or mantra form, like the ancient Indian sacred texts and contains concentrated thought expressed in the minimum words. It is this economy of words and brevity of expression which distinguish this composition from all others.

The whole prayer concerns itself with the problems of ordinary. Its theme covers a suggested course of training for an average family-man that would enable him to attain spiritual perfection. It does recommend passive contemplation or living an isolated life. It favours man’s participation in the affairs of the world, combined with an integration of wisdom and selfless activity. In the very first verse, Guru Nanak states its whole theme in question form: How can one be a man of The Truth? How can one break down the wall of falsehood? He supplies the answer very briefly in the following line. The goal is to elevate ordinary people to the mystic vision of God. Prof. Seshadri explains it thus: “The quest is inward and the goal, God-realisation! The sacred shrine is within the heart of man, but the essential precondition for the success of man’s earthly pilgrimage is to overcome his own Ego. Hence the need for Dharma and the discipline of morality.” There is a constant inner urge of the human soul for Oneness with God, for every person has a Divine Spark within himself. Verse 15 of Japji Sahib proclaims that faith in the true name of God Shapeless carries us to the door of liberation. Punjabi script is as follows:

Transliterated it looks like this: “Mann-ay_paaveh_mokh_duaar. Mann-ay_parvaarai_saadhaar. Mann-ay_tarai_tare_gur_sikh.

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Mann-ay_Nanak_bhaveh_na_bhikh. Aisaa_naam_niranjan_hoe. Je_ko_Mann-ay_jaanai_man_koe.”

And the word-by-word translation sounds like this: “Mann-ay”: faith in the pure consciousness; “paaveh”: achieve; “Mokh duaar”: top of the door to nature of the true name of God Shapeless; “Parvaarai”: dynasty; “Saadhaar”: renovation; “Tarai”: protected; “Tare”: make protected; “Gur”: mantra; “Sikhs”: learners; “Bhaveh”: make any sense of love; “Bhikha”: begging; “Aisa”: such; “Naam”: name; “Niranjan”: purity without spot; “Hoe”: is; “Jaani”: to review; “Mann”: mind; “Koe”: lost.

The 15th Pauri (prayer) stands for Kundalini Awakening. This final pauri promises the fruits of surrender: the 10th gate opens. We awaken, and in awakening we carry our family, our friends and their karmas with us as we cross the world ocean. One would never imagine that through the simple act of surrender we can manifest such victory, but that is the path of the Guru, the path of obedience, for in the seeds of surrender we generate the fruit of excellence and grace.

The Divine Cycle Water has a central place in the practices and beliefs of many religions. Almost all Christian churches or sects have an initiation ritual involving the use of water. Baptism has its origins in the symbolism of the Israelites being led by Moses out of slavery in Egypt through the Red Sea, and from the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist in the Jordan. In Islam water is important for cleansing and purifying. Muslims must be ritually pure before approaching God in prayer. In Islam ritual purity (called tahara) is required before carrying out religious duties especially salat (worship). In Judaism ritual washing is intended to restore or maintain a state of ritual purity and its origins can be found in the Torah. These ablutions can be washing the hands, the hands and the feet, or total immersion which must be done in ‘living water’, i.e. the sea, a river, a spring or in a mikveh. Even in Buddhism where symbolism and ritual is pointless because they seek spiritual enlightenment – it comes from seeing the reality of unreality, water feature is used in funeral rites. It is poured into a bowl placed before the monks and the dead body. As it fills and pours over the edge, the monks recite ”As the rains fill the rivers and overflow into the ocean, so likewise may what is given here reach the departed.” Water in Hinduism has a special place because it is believed to have spiritually cleansing powers. To Hindus all water is sacred, especially rivers.

There is a particular river in India which is the central point of worship and religious awe. It is the major river of the Gangetic plain of Northern India and the holy river of Hinduism. Its source stream is the Bhāgīrathī – a turbulent Himalayan river in the state of Uttarakhand. This river runs from the Himalayas all the way to the Bay of Bengal. The river is Ganga Ma, “Mother Ganges”. The name of the Ganges is known all throughout the land of India. It represents life, purity, and a goddess to the people of India.

“O Ganges! The dweller in Lord Brahma’s kamandala The abider in Lord Vishnu’s feet The resider in Lord Shiva’s locks The sojourner in the Himalayas

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The daughter of Sage Jahnu The co-wife to Parvati and Lakshmi The redeemer of Bhagiratha’s race The atoner of Sagar’s progeny The mother of brave Bhishma O Ganga Maiya! Homage to thee. Accept my obeisance O Punyakirti!” (“Ganga Mata – A Prayer”, p. 1 )

Attracted by the sound of a prayer whose words fall on the water waves as lovingly as a lotus flower kisses the holy river’s surface, I turn my head and behold the grey-haired man. I listen to his words attentively. He was the kind teacher who left the doors half open, and the banks of the river Ganges is the place where we finally meet. I rejoice, for he speaks! We shall walk together down the banks for a while.

It is written in the Shiva Purana that in order to assure the Earth’s salvation, the gods had to hasten the birth of Shiva’s son, who was the one destined to lead the divine hosts and to conquer the forces of darkness which had taken possession of the planet. But Shiva was in no hurry to make a son, and so the Gods found it necessary to steal Shiva’s seed by interrupting his love play with Devi (Parvati) at the precise moment when the precious bija was to come forth. Intercourse having been interrupted, the seed fell to the ground. Agni, in the form of a Dove, took the seed in his beak and made off with it. The Purana then describes the adventures of the precious bija in a series of twelve stages until it finally comes back to Shiva and Parvati, transformed into the beautiful youth Skanda. It is stated in ancient tradition that the white Dove is often transmuted into the Unicorn. But in itself, the Dove is a key symbol and has a very special connection with the worship of Shiva and Parvati.

The two most important protagonists in the escapade of Shiva’s stolen Seed are Agni and Ganga. Agni is the element Fire; his colour is red and his geometric symbol - according to the Yogatattva Upanishad - is the triangle. He is more specifically Mars, which the Indian Veda confirms by allotting him rulership of Tuesday, or Mars Day, as well as the colour red. And this, it must be remembered, was the day of birth of the Son. Ganga, on the other hand, represents the Water element, and she is connected with the Moon, as the story of her birth reveals; and through the Moon to Saturn, in the form of Mahakala.

The Vishnu Purana describes the birth of Ganga in the following manner: she is said to have issued forth from the big toe of Vishnu’s left foot. Dhruva, the Pole Star, received her in her descent and sustained her day and night on his head, while the seven Rishis (the Pleiades) performed their ablutions in her waters (because the Pleiades revolve around the Pole Star). Ganga then encompassed the orb of the Moon by her currents, which added to the luminary’s brilliance. Thereafter, having issued from the Moon, she alit upon Mt. Meru, and then flowed in four branches to the four corners of the Earth for the sake of its purification. The names of these branches are, Sita, Alakananda, Chakshu, and Bhadra. The southern branch, Alakananda, was held affectionately by Shiva on his head for one hundred divine years, and then was released from his matted locks. Hence Shiva is

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depicted in Indian iconography with a crescent Moon on his head, wherefrom a shoot of water springs forth. Thereafter, the southern branch of Ganga journeyed through India and divided itself into seven rivers which flow into the southern ocean. Hence the Alakananda, passing as it does through Bharatmata, is known as the most sacred of the four branches. Agni, unable to hold Shiva’s powerful bija in his beak any longer, dropped it in the Ganges. The river then carried the seed and when the time of birth arrived she deposited it in a sacred reed grove situated on her shores; and there Kartikeya was born. He is called Kartikeya because the Krttikas, Sanskrit for the Pleiades, took up the child and nourished him. They were six in number, wives of the six (or seven) Rishis, therefore the child is also called Shanmugam, ‘of six mouths’, having suckled at the breasts of the six wives.

Ganga is India’s sacred Artery, through which the power of her Time courses. She is the carrier of the pulse of India’s soul/sun; she is the carrier of the Seed of Shiva, her beloved. Ganga is born of the Mountain, therefore she is, as it were, Parvati’s sister. Ganga and Parvati are said to be daughters or consorts of the same heavenly Father. Yet at the same time Ganga is said to have descended from heaven and fallen onto Shiva’s head, whence from his matted locks the Great God released her in a gentle flow upon the Earth. It is said that the Earth was spared the full impact of her power by this graceful act of Shiva, and that, had it not been so, the planet could not have tolerated the descent of Ganga in her full form.

As soon as the day begins, devout Hindus begin to give their offerings of flowers or food, throwing grain or garlands of marigolds or pink lotuses into the Ganges, or let small oil lamps float on its surface. Every morning thousands of Hindus, whether pilgrims or residents, make their way into the holy water of the Ganges. All of them face the rising sun with folded hands murmuring prayers. As stated in “Banaras City of Light” by Diana L. Eck, “they may take up her water and put it back into the river as an offering to the ancestors and the gods”. In cupped hands they will also take the ritual drink of the Ganges and then fill a container to take with them to the temple. On great festive occasions, Hindus ford the river in boats, shouting “Ganga Mata Ki Jai!” (Victory to Mother Ganga!)

Hindus consider the waters of the Ganges to be both pure and purifying. Nothing reclaims order from disorder more than the waters of the Ganges. Moving water, as in a river, is considered purifying in Hindu culture because it is thought to both absorb impurities and take them away. What the Ganges removes, however, is not necessarily physical dirt, but symbolic dirt; it wipes away the sins of the bather, not just of the present, but of a lifetime.

A popular paean to the Ganges is the ”Ganga Lahiri” composed by a seventeenth century poet Jagannatha who, legend has it, was turned out of his Hindu Brahmin caste for carrying on an affair with a Muslim woman. Having attempted futilely to be rehabilitated within the Hindu fold, the poet finally appeals to Ganga, the hope of the hopeless, and the comforter of last resort. Along with his beloved, Jagannatha sits at the top of the flight of steps leading to the water at the famous Panchganga Ghat in Varanasi. As he recites each verse of the poem, the water of the Ganges rises up one step, until in the end it envelops the lovers and carry them away. ”I come to you as a child to his mother,” begins the Ganga Lahiri.

“I come as an orphan to you, moist with love I come without refuge to you, giver of sacred rest. I come a fallen man to you, uplifter of all. I come undone by disease to you, the perfect physician.

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I come, my heart dry with thirst, to you, ocean of sweet wine. Do with me whatever you will.”

The grey-haired man, Susheel, shows an appreciation far deeper than the other bathers, who have come to wash their sins away. He has come before Ganga Mata, as a loving son comes before a mother to ask for love and protection. He stands there pouring his pure love in its waters, and through its magical power trying to appease her to create a place where he would dock and rest. The love expressed in his verse not only flows at the surface of water caressing the underwater creatures, but yearns for a permanent residence in its embrace. The poet knows that the river is the protector of life, and comes to present his deep respect.

“I have come to your shore Not just to sharpen my nerves with your waves Not just to play with the fishes in you Not just to have a boat ride in the wee hours Not even to wash my sins And to be pure again; … I want a small moorage In an island created by you. Allow me to have my way, O Suranadi! Grant me my wish, O Girija!” (“Ganga Mata – A Prayer”, p. 1)

Since Ganga had descended from heaven to earth, she is also the vehicle of ascent, from earth to heaven. As the Triloka-patha-gamini, (Skt. triloka= “three worlds”, patha = “road”, gamini = “one who travels”) of the Hindu tradition, she flows in heaven, earth, and the netherworld, and, consequently, is a “tirtha,” or crossing point of all beings, the living as well as the dead. It is for this reason that the story of the avatarana is told at Shraddha ceremonies for the deceased in Hinduism, and Ganges water is used in Vedic rituals after death. Among all hymns devoted to the Ganges, there are none more popular than the ones expressing the worshipers wish to breathe his last surrounded by her waters.

Hindus from all over will bring their dead. Whether a body or just ashes, the water of the Ganga is needed to reach Pitriloka, the World of the Ancestors. Just as in the myth with King Sagar’s 60,000 sons who attained heaven by Ganga pouring down her water upon their ashes, so the same waters of Ganga are needed for the dead in the Hindu belief today. Without this, the dead will exist only in a limbo of suffering, and would be troublesome spirits to those still living on earth. The waters of the Ganges are called amrita, the “nectar of immortality”. And our poet sings:

“Fire consumes sins. Fire consumes virtues. After purgation Nothing remains. Brahma is revealed.” (“Purgation V”, p. 83)

Cremation anywhere along the Ganges is desirable. If that is not possible, then the relatives might later bring the ashes of the deceased to the Ganges. Sometimes, if a family cannot

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afford firewood for cremation, a half-burned corpse is thrown into the water. A verse from the Mahabharata promises, “If only the bone of a person should touch the water of the Ganges, that person shall dwell, honoured, in heaven.” No place along her banks is more longed for at the moment of death by Hindus than Varanasi, the Great Cremation Ground, or Mahashmshana. Those who are lucky enough to die in Varanasi, are cremated on the banks of the Ganges, and are granted instant salvation. If the death has occurred elsewhere, salvation can be achieved by immersing the ashes in the Ganges. If the ashes have been immersed in another body of water, a relative can still gain salvation for the deceased by journeying to the Ganges, if possible during the lunar “fortnight of the ancestors” in the Hindu calendar month of Ashwin (September or October), and performing the Shraddha rites. Hindus also perform pinda pradana, a rite for the dead, in which balls of rice and sesame seed are offered to the Ganges while the names of the deceased relatives are recited. Every sesame seed in every ball thus offered, according to one story, assures a thousand years of heavenly salvation for the each relative.

In the final verses of his book, Susheel makes a pilgrimage to Varanasi, and thus encloses the divine circle of life and death, leaving us protected in the embrace of the holy Mother Ganga.

“I turn to you, O Varanasi, In the moments of anxiety When faith has been lost And love not found In the streets of London And democracy has been strangled On the pavements of Washington. Strolling on the roads A bull stares at me And a boatman beckons me. The calm water of the Ganges Tempts me to watch the floating lamps The morning mist enwraps me with music. The call of the gong from Shivalaya The enthralling shouts, ‘Har har Gange’ The exuberant dance, ‘Har har Mahadev’ The melodious violin, ‘Jai Bhole Ki’ The enchanting hymns in The rapturous holi Beckon me to your lap, O Varanasi!” (“Liberation at Varanasi”, p. 92)

Unfortunately, with all the life the Ganges brings, pollution is also brought. Some of the worst waterborne diseases are dysentery, hepatitis, and cholera. Money is being raised by the government and other groups such as the “Swatcha Ganga” to clean the Ganges. None the less, the Ganges is still the purifying waters for the Hindus of India. Our hero doesn’t stay silent about this, and by chanting calls upon the awakening of his peers.

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“From Kolkata to Gangotri Just one scene — Poverty, squalor, dirt, sloth and melancholy. Everyone is weeping bitterly. Everyone is crying hoarsely. Everyone is worried knowingly. No one has a solution! Yes, India is one! United we stand, Divided we fall.” (“Ganga Mata – A Prayer”, p. 9)

The Tehri Dam is a multi-purpose rock and earth-fill embankment dam on the Bhagirathi River. The Tehri Dam withholds a reservoir for irrigation, municipal water supply and the generation of hydroelectricity. The Tehri Dam has been the object of protests by environmental organizations and local people of the region. In addition to the human rights concerns, the project has spurred concerns about the environmental consequences of locating a large dam in the fragile ecosystem of the Himalayan foothills. There are further concerns regarding the dam’s geological stability. The Tehri dam is located in the Central Himalayan Seismic Gap, a major geologic fault zone. This region was the site of a 6.8 magnitude earthquake in October 1991, with an epicentre 500 kilometres (310 mi) from the location of the dam. Were such a catastrophe to occur, the potentially resulting dam-break would submerge numerous towns downstream, whose populations total near half a million.

The grey-haired man stands at the bank of the tamed river and wonders why it puts up with the abuse knowing that its power surpasses the mundane problems of mortals. He sees the river as a prisoner of its own people, and as a rape victim, who suffers silently. Could it be that the mother, through the act of absolute love, willingly shares the suffering with her children who are in spiritual chains and spiritually raped? The river is a mirror in front of which the world stands and watches the reflection of its face. Being a conscientious child who reached full maturity, the poet begs the mother to react, believing that by doing so, she would bring salvation to her children.

“Flow freely again Overflow again Dance rhythmically again Be not bound by embankments and dams. Let all power projects Be shelved for ever.” (“Ganga Mata – A Prayer”, pp. 4-5)

It is sometimes believed that the river will finally dry up at the end of Kali Yuga (the era of darkness, the current era) just as with the Sarasvati river, and this era will end. Next in (cyclic) order will be the Satya Yuga or the Era of Truth. The poet waits piously in meditation by the river in Varanasi.

“If the world can survive Through wars

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If the world can survive Through penury If the world can survive Through discrimination If the world can survive Through pollution If the world can survive Through pestilences If the world can survive Through ravages If I can just survive by meditation If I can just survive by ‘Shivoham’. It is a call to find answers On the banks of the Ganges and In thy narrow streets That brings me to you, O Varanasi.” (“Liberation at Varanasi”, p. 92)

The Vicious Circle The harmonious circle of life and death has shifted from the caring embrace of the Mother Ganges to a circle created by a new kind of deity. New age is the age of materialism – the cruellest deity humanity ever came face to face with. It cannot be controlled by the acts of homeopathic or sympathetic magic. It cannot be propitiated by mantras or prayers, for it cares not for the spiritual ascent of humanity.

This deity shrouds its daunting face with the veil of good intentions, and goodwill to free the oppressed nations; it plants the seeds of disunion and waters them with blood of the fathers and sons whose bones are often scattered across the continents far from their homelands. It waters these seeds with the tears of mothers and daughters whipped by the pain often being oppressed themselves. It writes its myths across the barren lands after deforestation, across the scales of dead fish and the feathers and furs of extinct animal species. Its voice can be heard in the rumbling stomachs of starving children. Hand in hand with science, as a child at leisure, it blissfully whistles with the sound of the A-bomb and artillery. Brave is the poet who stands before it.

The Unveiling It is generally accepted that the concepts of democracy and constitution were created in one particular place and time – identified as Ancient Athens circa 508 BC. There is evidence to suggest that democratic forms of government, in a broad sense, may have existed in several areas of the world well before the turn of the 5th century.

Within that broad sense it is plausible to assume that democracy in one form or another arises naturally in any well-bonded group, such as a tribe. This is tribalism or primitive democracy. A primitive democracy is identified in small communities or villages when the following take place: face-to-face discussion in the village council or a headman whose decisions are supported by village elders or other cooperative modes of government. Nevertheless, on larger scale sharper contrasts arise when the village and the city are

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examined as political communities. In urban governments, all other forms of rule – monarchy, tyranny, aristocracy, and oligarchy – have flourished.

India laid its democratic foundations as early as the sixth century BCE in the form of the independent “republics” of India, sanghas and ganas. At the head was a monarch, usually called raja and together with him, a deliberative assembly. The monarch was elected by the gana and he belonged to a family of the noble K’satriya Varna. The monarch coordinated his activities with the assembly and in some states along with a council of other nobles. The assembly met regularly in which at least in some states attendance was open to all free men, and discussed all major state decisions. It had also full financial, administrative, and judicial authority.

Today, Indian is the largest democracy in the world. It is a fascinating country where people of many different communities and religions live together in unity. Indian population is polygenetic and is an amazing amalgamation of various races and cultures. Our poet seems to confirm this when stating:

“Believers of various faiths Users of so many tongues Eaters of countless varieties of food Dwell here in infinitum. Life in coexistence is Not an ancient slogan only But a mantra Practised by one and all.” (“A Poem for My Country”, p. 62)

However, opportunism and corruption have crept inside politics and brought in many problems with them, and India is no exception to this. There is inequality in social, economic and political sphere. Illiteracy is only one of the problems. Even after more than sixty years of Independence, one fourth of the population today goes to bed with an empty stomach, live below the poverty line without access to safe and clean drinking water, sanitation or proper health facilities. Governments have come and gone, politics have been framed and implemented, the large amounts of rupees have been spent, yet many people are still struggling for existence. Casteism is still pronounced. Untouchability remains abolished only in theory with frequent newspapers reports of Dalits being denied entry to temples or other public places. Violence has been taken a serious turn in country – Bandhs, strikes and terrorist activities have become a common affair. And so, there are two worlds coexisting within the vast country, and the poet offers the visitor to take a look at the other not so democratic one:

“The land offers you a sight of your choice -- A weeping child, destitute mother, naked faqir Hungry farmer, homeless engineer, Drug-addict father, free boarding house, Free langar beseeching an empty belly, A discourse on self and soul, this world and that world.” (“A Poem for My Country”, p. 63)

But India, as a democratic country, has progressed in many aspects. It has archived self-

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sufficiency in food grains as a result of the green revolution. People vote for change whenever a government fails to come up to the expectations of the people. India has been a successful democratic country only because the people are law-abiding, self-disciplined and have the sense of social and moral responsibilities. Thus, feeling the urge to act, our poet wrestles with the core concepts of democracy, and wonders what will become of it:

“In the beginning is my end. And yours, O democracy? You shout the people’s voice You proclaim the lowly’s rights You denounce the high and mighty You promise food and shelter You provide vote and choice You showcase quality and liberty.” (“Democracy: Old and New”, p. 70)

To his mind, there are a number of questions waiting to be answered: “Where is the voice of Iraq? Where is the voice of Vietnam? Where is the voice of Afghanistan? Where is the voice of the multitude? Where have the arrows of Red Indians flown? Where have the Brahmins of Goa gone? Where is the Buddha in Bamiyan? Why are the poisonous cigars sent to Cuba? Why is Saddam allowed of bomb Kuwait? Why are the innocents killed in Hiroshima? Why has a Tony always to toe a Bush? Why are stories planted against Emelda? Why is a Mandela taken prisoner? Why is Ceauşescu killed overnight? Why is the UNO bulldozed? Why does the International Court of Justice Cease to be just?” (“Democracy: Old and New”, p. 70)

Having found no definite answers and feeling overwhelmed by the questions of why the world democracy has taken such a dramatic turn for the worse, our hero “remains couched in his cushioned sofa, and ponders over the philosophy of democracy”. One can see the grey-haired teacher silently watching television in his living-room filled with book shelves, and piles of his students’ papers and daily newspapers on the coffee-table, while the storm of emotions and thoughts sweeps through his mind:

“When the intact skulls of the Young innocent children are found In the big drain behind the house,

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…When the mothers in the homes Are happy to abort female foetuses In a clinic on the highway, When the fathers stop To keep a count of their children Playing in parks, When the old parents Come out displaying their bruises In the open courts, When the students Hit their teachers to their doom On the premises of their colleges, When the degrees Are rendered worth rough papers By those who award them, Be sure you’ve reached India, You have reached my abode, O Yaksha!” (“Nithari and Beyond”, pp. 56-57)

The Nithari serial murders took place in the house of businessman Moninder Singh Pandher in Nithari, India in 2005 and 2006. His servant Surender Koli has been convicted of four murders and sentenced to death. The police also detained a maid named Maya whom they suspected had a hand in procuring women for the businessman. The two accused in the case were in police custody while the skeletal remains of the young children were being unearthed from behind and in front of Pandher’s residence. Young girls constituted the majority of victims. There were 19 skulls in all, 16 complete and 3 damaged. Surender Koli, the manservant, after strangling the victims, severed their heads and threw them in the drain behind the house of his employer. Both the accused Moninder Singh Pandher and his domestic help Surender Koli were given death sentence in 2009, but in 2011, the Supreme Court upheld the death sentence of Surender Koli. Pandher faces trial in five more cases out of the remaining 12, and could be re-sentenced to death if found guilty in any of those killings. The same day Pandher was acquitted, the Allahabad high court upheld the death sentence for Surender Koli.

When it comes to children, India has the world’s largest child population, but they are faced with some very serious problems, such as illiteracy, forced labour, and high mortality rates. High cost of private education and need to work to support their families and little interest in studies are the reasons given by 3 in every four drop-outs as the reason they leave. More than 50 per cent of girls fail to enrol in school; those that do are likely to drop out by the age of 12. A study found that children were sent to work as domestic help by compulsion and not by choice, mostly by parents, but with recruiter playing a crucial role in influencing decision. Poor and bonded families often “sell” their children to contractors who promise lucrative jobs in the cities and the children end up being employed in brothels, hotels and domestic work. Many run away and find a life on the streets.

Three million girls born in India do not see their fifteenth birthday, and a million of them are unable to survive even their first birthday. Every sixth girl child’s death is due to gender

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discrimination. According to a recent report by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) up to 50 million girls and women are missing from India’s population as a result of systematic gender discrimination. The accepted reason for such a disparity is the practice of female infanticide, prompted by the existence of a dowry system which requires the family to pay out a great deal of money when a female child is married. For a poor family, the birth of a girl child can signal the beginning of financial ruin and extreme hardship. This anti-female bias is by no means limited to poor families. Much of the discrimination is to do with cultural beliefs and social norms.

Dowry or Dahej is the payment in cash or/and kind by the bride’s family to the bridegroom’s family along with the giving away of the bride (called Kanyadaan). Kanyadanam is an important part of Hindu marital rites. Kanya means daughter, and dana means gift. It originated in upper caste families as the wedding gift to the bride from her family. The dowry was later given to help with marriage expenses and became a form of insurance in the case that her in-laws mistreated her. Although the dowry was legally prohibited in 1961, it continues to be highly institutionalized. The groom often demands a dowry consisting of a large sum of money, farm animals, furniture, and electronics.

When the dowry amount is not considered sufficient or is not forthcoming, the bride is often harassed, abused and made miserable. This abuse can escalate to the point where the husband or his family burn the bride, often by pouring kerosene on her and lighting it, usually killing her.

Our poet feels the urge to speak to the young brides facing this form of abuse, reminding both her and her groom what the beauty of marriage really is:

“Young brides are not meant for burning Like sandal wood in a yajña or like the Gas emitted from Mathura refinery The flames of which leap to devour the sky. … A bride belongs to a groom. She is a flute to be played on She is a harmonium to produce a rhythm. She is a synthesizer to modulate a discordant note. She is the tune of a young heart, Full of music and meaning Signifying harmony.” (“For a Bride Who Thinks of Suicide”, pp. 60-61)

The official records of these incidents are low because they are often reported as accidents or suicides by the family. In Delhi, a woman is burned to death almost every twelve hours. In 1988, 2,209 women were killed in dowry related incidents and in 1990, the number rose to 4,835. It is important to reiterate that these are official records, which are immensely under reported. The lack of official registration of this crime is apparent in Delhi, where ninety percent of cases of women burnt were recorded as accidents, five percent as suicide and only the remaining five percent were shown as murder.

Being a witness to such disharmony in the outer world, the poet focuses on the people and

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things which influenced the formation of his own personality. Whose knowledge and wisdom was he to harvest in order to overcome the strife, but of those closest to him? He turns to his grandfather whose stories he enjoyed listening to when he was a boy. He was a man whom people disliked for “holding his head high despite being poor”, and as any father would be, he was deeply concerned for his son living in a similar situation, but losing his dignity. The grandson is left to ponder:

“Is it really possible for one To remain poor and Also to hold the head high?” (“Dilemma”, p. 17)

He also recalls his uncle who was sent off to fight in Basra, and feels the similar destiny awaits him:

“Why did my uncle go to Basra To fight a war or To earn money for his family I don’t know. … I wish I could see his clothes And could keep them in a locked trunk. Sometimes to kneel there, sometimes To hear stories about the war front, To know him well: to feel his body odour To feel the actual shape of his arm and wrist. An olive green signal beckons me To tread his path. I, too, have to earn bread for my family.” (“Vicious Circle”, p. 18)

The forces of British India played a major role in both World Wars. Nearly 1,700,000 men and women of the Commonwealth including some 169,700 from the forces of undivided British India died in the 1914-18 and 1939-45 Wars. In World War I, the strength of the British Indian Army rose to one million and in World War II to two and half million. During World War I, it fought in China, France and Belgium (Flanders), in Mesopotamia against Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Egypt, Palestine, Gallipoliandin East Africa. Basra Memorial in Iraq has the largest 33,367 British Indian soldiers commemoration by Memorial.

Prophet Mohammed said: “The people will establish cities, Anas, and one of them will be called al-Basrah or al-Busayrah. If you should pass by it or enter it, avoid its salt-marshes, its Kall, its market, and the gate of its commanders, and keep to its environs, for the earth will swallow some people up, pelting rain will fall and earthquakes will take place in it, and there will be people who will spend the night in it and become apes and swine in the morning. “

Basra is the capital of Basra Governorate, in southern Iraq near Kuwait and Iran. It stands in a fertile agricultural region. The area surrounding Basra has substantial

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large petroleum resources and many oil wells. Iraq has the world’s fourth largest oil reserves estimated to be more than 115 billion barrels, mostly found in Basra. 80% of Basra’s oil bearing fields is unexplored.

Historian David Omissi’s book on the Indian Army during the Great War, The Sepoy and the Raj: The Indian Army 1860-1940, presents pieces of Indian soldier narrative not far off from the now-familiar agonies of American men returning from Iraq. The following is an excerpt on Indian soldier morale both in France and Mesopotamia:

More and more letters from men in the trenches betrayed ‘undeniable evidence of depression,’ while those written by the wounded from British hospital were often hopeless in tone. ‘Many of the men show a tendency to break into poetry,’ remarked the censor, ‘which I am inclined to regard as a sign of mental disquietude’. Of 220 letters from injured soldiers examined by the censor in January 1915, only fifteen displayed what he termed ‘an admirable spirit.’ Twenty-eight had been written by despairing men who clearly regarded themselves as dead already; many of the remainder gave a ‘melancholy impression of fatalistic resignation.’ Morale picked up a little in the summer of 1915, but another general collapse was clearly imminent in the autumn as the weather cooed and victory seemed as distant as ever. The bad news which came from India compounded the worries of the men. They learned of the plague which afflicted the Punjab in the spring of 1915. Men grew anxious for the well-being of their families when they heard, second hand, that ‘the rain has spoiled the crops, and in the Doab the dacoits have ruined the place.’ One soldier’s wife told him bluntly, ‘I have been starving for lack of food.’ Long separations strained marriages, and by July 1915 many letters were filled with conjugal reproaches. One man was warned, ‘your honour is in danger. If you are a Pathan, and have any pride, look to you wife.’ Betrothals were broken off, and some wives, despairing that their men would ever return, took new husbands. ‘When our thoughts turn to our homes our hearts become soft like wax,’ wrote one Muslim trooper.

As for the women in Susheel’s family, his grandmother proves to be the true guardian of tradition and has some wise answers for her grandson:

“When I went to meet her last The arthritis Had impaired her joints and she protested When I suggested a knee replacement At my new mansion in Massachusetts. She preferred to spend her time before Lord Ganesha Asking for a peaceful time for me - Me - whom she couldn’t see anymore - She had lost her eyesight. She refused to accompany me saying ‘It was a country of malechhas.’ ‘But the dollars are colourful.’ I had protested. ‘You be happy with your notes. I’m happy with my Krishna – I give him butter. And, he plays his flute for me. I’m happy.’ “ (“Granny”, p. 75)

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It comes as no surprise then, that the poet camouflages himself when answering that he is fine and reprimands himself for not being honest; or feels like being a part of the masquerade, having been made to cleanse himself and become presentable to the society. He finds it hypocritical, since it is the inner cleanliness to which a man should strive for. He says:

“It is better My wife doesn’t Ask me questions And lets me remain A husband. My sons do not Ask me questions And let me remain A father.” (“Contemplation II”, pp. 79-80)

This is not because he feels safe and at ease lulled by the everyday decorum. It is because he would not want to burden his loved ones by his own view of the corrupt world. Being a husband and a father, and influenced by the dignity of his grandfather and the bravery of his uncle, he considers it to be his duty to carry the burden of the future of his family himself. Instructed by the wisdom of his grandmother, he is both grateful for having received the greatest gift a man could hope for and at the same time, since being aware of the decay of lives of many others, fearful of losing it:

“God has been very kind to me He allowed me to have a dream About plants, animals, creatures, Colleagues, family and this life. Sometimes I fear if the boundless dream May come true. Sometimes I pray fervently for The sparkling dream coming true. God has granted all my wishes. How long will God keep my life Enriched and embellished in a harrowing world I sometimes wonder.” (“Purgation IV”, p. 82)

His is the life of self-examination, contemplation and constant attempt to reach the truth in its purest form. At times, he feels as if he is too slow, but he eagerly wishes to complete his life’s task, and become a useful member of humanity:

“How long have I been sleeping? When will the dawn of realization take place To catapult me into creativity Shedding off the burden of nothingness.” (“Strings”, p. 22)

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This quest proves to be the process of ups and downs, but even when he feels he has failed, he refuses to give up, knowing deep down that he is treading the right path:

“Zipping unzipping the mantra Doesn’t help. It slips On the moss. No chances of my salvation. I remain a ruffian. I have once again Failed God.” (“Meditation”, p. 25)

Mighty is the realisation that even the smallest of objects, carry in them the seed of enlightenment. The growing mind of even one brave poet can make the world a better place through the acts of selfless love.

“When The grain-- Minor in size, unimportant in colour Less than a gram or two in weight Sprouts to make a field green To feed the hungry, I am full of hope By my Lord.” (“Gifts”, p. 58)

Great is the master who obtained the knowledge of techniques performed to unlock the doors to the liberation of mind. The greatest one is he who shares the wisdom with his followers and students. Susheel Kumar Sharma, the kindest of teachers, shares the wisdom he gained journeying far and wide through the vast expanses of mind, and reveals to those who travelled with him the unveiled world of freedom and harmony:

“I’ve come a long way To learn this art Of sitting still and Of watching the breath And turning the back on The baggage of nostalgic memories. The world is at my door steps. People don’t salute me anymore They just fall down on their knees And, bow down to touch my feet And, seek my blessings As they did to Buddha.

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The world will live longer now, There won’t be any War Over the issue of water Nor, to capture Oil Fields Even the power of Atom will remain dormant. Neither will be required space-ships Nor will be required space-covers. The earth, my earth, has become A safer heaven I thank you Lord For teaching me To sit silently. I thank you Buddha For teaching me To sit silently.” (“Hope is the Last Thing to Be Lost, IV”, pp. 87-88)

There Are No Doors After taking a stroll with the kind teacher, I went home to visit my Father. I was sitting on the porch and he made us some coffee. We were sitting in silence. The chirping of birds was mixing with the sound of a neighbour cutting wood and the squealing of wheelbarrow which my stepmother used while pruning the roses heads which withered in heat. Before the house, there was a recently built Christian church magnificently white with the golden cross reflecting the sunlight. Behind me, the forest trees danced in the soft breeze. The conversation started flowing through the hot early-summer air. I mentioned buying some curcuma spice which I read was good for general wellbeing. My Father patiently nodded while I was explaining all of its benefits for the body. He knew I was about to reveal more and so looked at me inquisitively. I smiled. He went inside and brought out some books of Hindu poetry and teachings, and a little box. I drank my coffee while he was turning the pages. “I will read you a poem which was my favourite when I was about your age,” he said. It was the Creation Hymn.

There was nothing then, nor a thing did not be, Neither the airy space, nor the sky above it. But what was the thing that embraced everything? And where? On whose lap it were? Was it the water? The water without end? There was no death or life without end. Not a sign to divide the night from a day. The One breathed without a breath

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And in itself, In It nothing and not a thing apart It. In the beginning it was dark, and darkness enclosed the dark, Everything without a form like the water of a flood. And It in the void, rich with life, Was born out of its yearning’s spark. And It bore love, and the love conceived a thought. The wise through the thought dived into the heart And knew the kin and saw the bond Which linked nothingness with existence. And they drew horizontally the divide. What was up, and what went down? The fruit-bearing might, the might giving strength, Below was the urge of growth, above the bestowal one. Who can really know and who can tell us well Out of what everything came, where from did it emanate? For gods came when the world was made: Who can thus foretell where from all befell? And what is It, the great origination, And was the world created, or was it not By the One who resides with the highest skies: He is the one who knows, but perhaps even He knows not.(Rig-Veda, X, 129)

(The hymn was originally translated into Croatian by Vesna Krmpotić, and I took the liberty of translating it into English.)

He handed me the box, and in it laid the first hair cut off when I was a little girl – three strands interwoven in a braid. I kissed my Father on the hand. He put it on my head.

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References:

Books:

1. Cirlot, J. E. A Dictionary of Symbols. New York : Philosophical Library, 1983.

2. Cooper, J.C. An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Traditional Symbols. London: Thames and Hudson, 1978.

3. Frazer, Sir James G. The Golden Bough. London: Wordsworth, 1993.

4. Hammenstede, Dom Albert O.S.B. Orate Fratres A Liturgical Review. Collegeville: The Liturgical Press, 1943.

5. Julien, Nadia. The Mammoth Dictionary of Symbols, London : Robinson, 1996.

6. Krmpotić, Vesna. Hiljadu lotosa (A Thousand Lotuses). Belgrade: Nolit, 1987

7. Mansukhani, Gobind Singh. A Book of Sikh Studies. Delhi: National Book Shop, 1989.

8. Norelli-Bachelet, Patrizia. “The Ganges and the “River of January”, New Way: A Study in Rise and Establishment of a Gnostic Society. Vol. 2, London: Aeon Books, 1981.

9. Omissi, David “The Sepoy and the Raj: The Indian Army 1860-1940 Houndmills: Macmillan, 1994.

10. Petrović, Sreten. Srpska mitologija: u verovanju, običajima i rituali (Serbian mythology – beliefs, customs and rituals). Beograd: Narodna knjiga Alfa, 2004.

11. Sharma, Susheel Kumar. The Door is Half Open. New Delhi: Adhyayan Publishers & Distributors. 2012

12. Virk, G. S. Spiritual Book: True name of God. http://www.heavenlygardens.org/Onkar/indexonkar.htm

Research articles, essays and interviews:

1. Dendooven, Dominiek Historical facts about the Western Front, The Documentary Center of Flanders Fields Museum, Ieper (Belgium)

2. Gupta, Sourabh “Hindu Death Rituals”, http://www.buzzle.com/articles/hindu-death-rituals.html

3. Swami Adiswarananda “Hinduism: The Human Individual”, http://www.ramakrishna.org/activities/message/weekly_message40.htm

4. Swami Nishchalananda Saraswati. “The Brahma Randhra”. http://www.mandalayoga.net/index-newsletter-en-brahma_randhra.html

5. Swami Nityasthananda. “Meditation according to Hinduism” . http://www.eng.vedanta.ru/library/prabuddha_bharata/May2005_meditation_according_to_hinduism.php

http://www.heavenlygardens.org/Onkar/indexonkar.htm

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/hindu-death-rituals.html

http://www.ramakrishna.org/activities/message/weekly_message40.htm

http://www.mandalayoga.net/index-newsletter-en-brahma_randhra.html

http://www.mandalayoga.net/index-newsletter-en-brahma_randhra.html

http://www.eng.vedanta.ru/library/prabuddha_bharata/May2005_meditation_according_to_hinduism.php

http://www.eng.vedanta.ru/library/prabuddha_bharata/May2005_meditation_according_to_hinduism.php

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Reviewers Bio: Nataša Miladinović was born on March 10, 1984 in Lazarevac, Serbia. She graduated from the University of Belgrade where she obtained her English language and literature degree. She also holds the certificate of a science and expert translator, obtained at the Association of Scientific and Expert Translators of Serbia. She organized a number of poetry performances in various cities in Serbia. She also took part in poetry festivals, both at home and abroad, Those worth mentioning are the 5th Poetry Festival “Konstantin Belimače” organized by the Writers and Artist Society of Aromanians in Skopje, Macedonia, 2010, as well as the International Poets Festival “Aco Karamanov”, Radovis, Macedonia, 2011, in the anthologies of which her poetry has been translated into Aromanian and Macedonian language respectively.

She is the author of a short poetry film “The Oaks’s Growth” premiered during the event “The Night of Museums” in the “Modern Art Gallery” in Lazarevac, 2011. The film projection was used as a means of charitable fundraising for children with disabilities. Her poetry has been published in a number of anthologies and e-magazines. She writes in both English and Serbian language. She is currently living, working and creating in Lazarevac.








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I criticize by creation - not by finding fault. – Marcus Tullius Cicero

Criticism

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12. A. TEMJENWALA AO AND N. D. R. CHANDRA

Valmiki’s Joothan and Nasrin’s Lajja as Literature of Protest

Valmiki’s Joothan and Nasrin’s Lajja as Literature of protest “Better is to live one day virtuous and meditative than to live a hundred years immoral and uncontrolled” (The Buddha)

A. Temjenwala .Ao*

N.D.R.Chandra**

Abstract Literature is a mouthpiece for the weaker section. Religious caste system and fanaticism are two sides of the same coin. The evils caused by irrational thoughts are beyond measure. Omprakash Valmiki’s Joothan and Taslima Nasrin’s Lajja echo the voice of the unheard. Joothan stands for the untouchables, and the evils practiced under the hierarchy of caste system. It is this evil that pulls down the ladder of success in the lives of millions of untouchables. Autobiographical dalit writing is a new trend in the current dalit writings. It is not a chronological record of the writer but it is the pathos of his people. It is a mirror to the lives of his people. And as such in every page we find the elements of protest. Nasrin as a humanist writes about the evils of fanaticism and religious extremism. She strongly condemns any inhuman practice meted to the minorities in her country as well as other counterparts. Her Lajja is a documentation of the brutalism of Muslims on the Hindu minorities of Bangladesh. This paper aims to project elements of protest and how literature connects people towards a rekindling of empathy in solving the fundamental issues of life.

Keywords: protest, fanaticism, dal, Black Panthers, Babri Masjid, Dronacharya, humanism, motherland, patriotic, communal

Literature of Protest: An Overview Protest as we know today may not have existed earlier. But the idea represented by this term was known to the people and the poets since time immemorial. They did express their resentment against unjust economic, social and religious situations. It may be, because there is an inherent tendency in man to protest. If this is so, then we know that with the passage of time thin non-conformist expression have assumed the dimension of a philosophy which in its ultimate analysis is a quest for freedom, liberty, and injustice in any given society throughout

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human history. In a society, protest provides human alternatives for safeguarding not only one’s natural rights but also to ensure social change. According to Douglas O. Willium, “Protest is not ideological in its orientation, but is, essentially activist” (1970:9). The basic ingredients of protest that naturally comes into conflict with the establishment are a consciousness regarding fundamental rights, a tendency to struggle, and a sense of independence and liberty. Protest is, thus, primarily the result of intense human consciousness, which involves values. It is both a manifestation of human concern and an endeavour to add meaning to human existence by strengthening the concepts of social justice, equality, and liberty. Protest has the quality of identifying itself with the downtrodden and the oppressed. We can say that it is a process of upholding human values as they cannot be taken as eternal and unchanging. Emmanual G. states that “Most frequently we make rearrangements in our value hierarchy; values once considered crucial become less relevant and, therefore, less important while others, once relatively lower in our estimation take on new importance. Values do not have to be eternal and unchanging in order to be values” (1970: 47-48). Protest as a value and as an effective medium will serve its purpose only if it is used with relevance to real situations obtained in actual life processes. Literature is a good medium to reflect such values through protest. A writer who while struggling or confronting the condition of his times and society, earns values in a new and fresh way and explores them in the context of real life situations.

The right of protest and resistance had been known to ancient Western thinkers and philosophers. They have contributed a lot to the formulation to these concepts. Charles Darwin (1809-1882) who propounded the theory of evolution; August Comte (1798-1857) who formulated and explained three stages of intellectual development-progress from the theological mode of thought through a metaphysical mode of thought; Herbert Spencer (1820-1903) who, influenced by Charles Darwin, propounded the theory of social evolution; Karl Marx (1818-1883) who based his social theory on class conflict connecting it to the development of technology on the one hand, and the resultant changes in the production of goods, and services and the relation among social classes on the other; all these people gave significant dimensions to the concept of protest that revolutionized the ancient and the medieval thinking patterns. These developments in understanding the socio-cultural-political contexts have, undoubtedly given new meaning to these concepts whereby we enter the modern age. Protest has the property of both negation and refusal in its preliminary stages but later on it transcends. It reaches out for new values and norms. Herbert Marcuse has aptly said “The radical refusal, the protest, appears in the way in which words are grouped and regrouped freed from their familiar use and abuse” (1972:103-104). Protest is deep rooted in human nature and it is also reflected in social behaviour and functioning. Internal pressures and external circumstances combine together for the realisation of protest. Protest in literature is more of anticipation than an expression of a society.

In India, from the upanishadic down to the present age ‘Varna Vyavasta’ continues to be the cornerstone. It was, no doubt, hierarchical because it always “differentiated between higher groups and lower groups. The caste system is one expression of this social hierarchy.” (Kuppuswamy: 1972) There have been persistent attempts to make this structure more open and flexible. Non-vedic creeds of Jainism and Buddhism had been such great socio-religious movements which challenged almost all the cannons of the Brahamical concepts and the rigid social norms. By emphasising a moral principle of conduct for the individual rather than ritual duties, Buddhism disengaged itself from the hierarchical independence of the caste system. Kosambi rightly said “This was the most social of religions” (1975:105). India has a long tradition

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of literary protest that has changed considerably with time i.e. as man’s relations with his surroundings have changed; simultaneously the very spirit of literary protest and dissent has changed. In the medieval age, attempts were made to break the caste system. The Bhakti Movement of medieval India embodied a revolt against the inequality inherent in caste as well as against the intellectualism of the traditional paths to salvation (Moksha). Saints and Sufi poets of medieval period raised their voice against idolatory, the rigours of caste and showed in their writings he futility of such practices. They believed in love that transcends all barriers. This initial literature echoes the need for social change and freedom from the bondage of caste apartheid. In the modern age, one can discern corresponding artistic and literary revival in almost all the artistic, literary genres, forms and styles. Socio-cultural-religious renaissance created a great resurgence in literature, music, painting and sculpture. Literary protest is related to the real life and the world around it. But it does not confine to it alone. It transcends through the subversive use of language, symbols, and images. Literary protest is multi-dimensional as it upholds certain values in a specific environment and is concerned with the ironies, contradictions and paradoxes inherent in the expression of dissent, protest and freeform. A protest writer does not necessarily; seek inspiration from religion, philosophy, or the socio-political system. Among many protest writings, the writings of the backward classes in India call for minute attention. There is a deep sense of anguish, injury and resentment in their protest movements. Their ideologies are double-edged, expressing o the one hand “feeling of dissatisfaction, dissent and protest with the existing situation (with an awareness of relative deprivation)” and on the other “working out a positive programme for removing the malady” (ed. S. C. Malik: 254).

The word ‘Dalit’ is found in several Indian languages. According to Molesworth’s Marathi-English dictionary (of 1975), Dalit means “ground, broken or reduced to pieces generally.” It is derived from Sanskrit ‘dal’ which is again borrowed from Hebrew. ‘Dal’ in Hebrew may be used in two senses: ‘it may refer either to physical weakness or to a lowly insignificant position in society.’ And when it is used in combination with another Hebrew root-word ‘anti’, it describes an economic relationship. It is clearly indicated by Harvey Perkins as,

Dal is derived from a verbal root which recognises that poverty is a process of being emptied, becoming unequal, being impoverished, dried up, made thin…. So there is social frailty (and those suffering from it) are easily crushed and have not the means to recover. (1994:29)

Thus, the Dalits are people who are broken, crushed and torn apart so much so that they are unable to rise and better themselves. The name expressed their feelings of solidarity and kinship with Black Panthers who were engaged in a militant struggle for African-Americans’ rights in the United States of America. The name found a ready acceptance among untouchable communities all over India. This was the first time they had been able to name themselves, as a collectivity, rather than be named by others. Dalit is a political identity, as opposed to a caste one. It expresses Dalits’ knowledge of themselves as oppressed people and signifies their resolve to demand liberation through a revolutionary transformation of the system that oppresses them. As Bishop A. C. Lal said in his address to the first Dalit Solidarity Conference, meeting in 1992 in Nagpur, a place of immense symbolic significance since it was there that Dr. Ambedkar converted to Buddhism on 14 October 1956: “The word ‘Dalit’ is a beautiful word, because it transcends narrow national and sectarian frontiers. It is a beautiful word because it embraces the sufferings, frustrations, expectations and groanings of the entire cosmos” (Lal

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1995:xiii). For centuries, the Indian society has been the most hierarchical among the known civilisations. The literature of this country, until very recently has never focussed on the problems of ‘untouchables’ or the so called ‘Dalit.’ They were never mentioned because the pen has, by and large, been in the hands of those who wielded power. At the beginning of the twentieth century, a few upper-caste Hindu writers who attempted to portray the lives of the untouchables tended to be driven either by a zeal for social reform or by sentimental compassion. The works of these writers can be termed as ‘emotionalistic’ literature. Seldom did anyone touch an untouchable character realistically, like an ordinary human being full of vitality and hope as well as despair. For a long time, both in pre-independence and post-independence India, the low castes did not have any formal education which would stimulate them for a genuine literary movement to protest against the monopoly of the established literature. It is only in the post-independence era that some educated ‘untouchables’, who tasted the fruit of modern education, realised the need for an alternative mode of thinking and launched a new literary movement. The movement started in Maharashtra, the home town of Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, who throughout his life fought for the rights, liberties and equalities of the downtrodden. The Dalit Panthers formed in 1972 was a movement against the caste Hindu. Their manifestos include all the revolutionary parties seeking to destroy the Hindu Varna System. Its declared enemies were the landlords, capitalists, moneylenders. The movement gave rise to Dalit Sahitya. This movement gave rise to Dalit literature which embodies the agonising trauma of the lives of India’s Untouchables, from first hand experiences. The following questions loom around when we talk of Dalit literature: What is Dalit literature? What are its ideological concerns? Who is a Dalit writer? What are the aesthetics to be taken into account? Limbale’s answer to some of these questions is,

By Dalit literature, I mean writing about Dalits by a Dalit writer with a Dalit consciousness. The form of Dalit literature is inherent in its Dalitness, and its purpose is too obvious to inform Dalit society of its slavery and narrate its pain and suffering to upper caste Hindus. (2004:19)

Protest in literature is a kind of evolution. It is a course of change and the need for reform. Dalit literature is a literature of protest. And a Dalit writer is one who writes with the experience of his community, the pain of his past burdens subverting the history, revitalizing the denigrated spheres of language and creating an alternate vision of the future. Raising the consciousness of the Dalits, and recovering their self respect and challenging the traditional Hindu values are the Dalit writers’ expressed goals. In this process Dalits rebelled against the exploitative character of Hinduism and the institution of caste and expressed their ideological protest through literature, in the form of poems, dramas and novels. Second is their refusal to perform traditional duties. The disobedience assumed two forms, one an organized planned and overt protest and the other an unplanned, unorganized and covert protest. The emergence of an alternative literature was not without its historical antecedents.

Om Prakash Valmiki’s Joothan as literature of protest Om Prakash Valmiki (1950- ), as a writer has done much to stake out a space for Dalit literary expression, well exemplified by his narrative. He is a voice who echoes the woes of the Dalits or the Subaltern. Autobiographical method of narration is a current trend in expressing oneself- in individual and social life. “The autobiographical method of narration is characteristically modern western fictional technique” (Naik 1982:170). Valmiki’s Joothan (1997) translated into English by Arun Prabha Mukherjee as Joothan: A Dalit’s Life (2003) pose as naive yet pregnant with the

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oracles of an untouchable. It gives one the effect of Alice Walker’s Color Purple and Sharankumar Limbale’s Akkarmashi, the former create certain guilt in the White readers as they cannot tolerate the suppressed voices and the latter represents a composite character of the downtrodden caste which contradicts the Gita. Valmiki, was inspired by Ambedkar. His Joothan portrays the element of emancipation. It is a literature of response to the horror of existence perpetuated by the institution of caste-apartheid. He gives a historical account of the life of an untouchable in India of the 1950s.

Joothan is a memoir that adds to the archives of Dalit literature. He speaks of the ground realities and contradictions that had been shut down with thick walls of denial. In his preface to the Hindi Edition, he wrote, “Dalit life is excruciatingly painful, charred by experiences” (J vii) The title of the novel ‘Joothan’ literally means food left on an eater’s plate, usually destined for the garbage pail in a middle class, urban home. However, such food would only be characterized ‘joothan’ if someone else besides the original eater were to eat it. The word carries the connotations of ritual purity and pollution as ‘jootha’ means polluted. Valmiki gives a detailed description of collecting, preserving and eating jootha. His memories of being assigned to guard the drying joothan from crows and chickens, and of his relishing the dried and reprocessed joothan, burn him with renewed pain and humiliation in the present.

Valmiki in one instance of the novel writes, “I had to sit away from the others in the class, and that too on the floor. The mat ran out before door... sometimes they would beat me without any reason”(J 2). When he was in Class VI, the headmaster asked Om Prakash to sweep the school and the playground. He writes, “The playground was way larger than my small physique could handle and in cleaning it, my back began to ache. My face was covered with dust. Dust had gone inside my mouth. The other children in my class were studying and I was sitting in his room and watching me. I was not even allowed to get a drink of water”( J 4) He was badly discriminated for his caste in India. He says, “I swept the whole day....From the doors and windows of the school rooms, the eyes of the teachers and the boys saw this spectacle.” (J 5) Om Prakash was made to sweep the school and playground for the next couple of days and this only came to an end when his father who happened to be passing by, saw his son sweeping. He confronted the teachers and then walking away from the school holding Om Prakash’s hand, he said loudly for all of them to hear, “You are a teacher....So I am leaving now. But remember this much Master... (he) will study right here...in this school. And not just him but there will be more coming after him” (J 6). Valmiki describes his childhood in the village in Barla district of Uttar Pradesh. He writes about the ill treatment meted out to him when he was at school because he was an untouchable. He describes the trauma he went through when he was asked to spend three days sweeping the school courtyard instead of accompanying his classmates belonging to the higher castes, in the study class. Despite the barriers of caste which proved to be a hindrance at every step throughout his years in school and college, Valmiki persevered to get better education and evolved. While describing the events in Bombay much later in his life, Valmiki highlights the fact that education is not the solution to the ills of the caste system. On having been mistaken for a Brahmin because of his adopted last name, “Valmiki” (used to denote a community of untouchables in Uttar Pradesh) he found out that just the revelation of his real caste to well-educated middle class people was received by shock and a sudden change of attitude towards him. Even his own relatives were hesitant to invite him for a wedding as he refused to let go of his last name because it would reveal their caste. Omprakash Valmiki constantly stresses on the differences between the Dalits and the caste Hindus, the Savarnas, with respect to their various religious beliefs and customs, he subtly contests the belief that the

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oppression of the Dalits by the Savarnas is justified as per the Hindu religious laws because the pork-eating Dalits living on the outskirts of villages and towns actually do not belong to the Hindu religion.

Valmiki devotes several pages to the ironies that his new identity entails. While in Bombay, he is taken to be a Brahmin by a Maharashtrian Brahmin family, indicating the possibility of ‘passing’ if one travels far enough from the place of one’s birth. In western Uttar Pradesh, however, this surname (Valmiki) does not lift him up from his Chuhrahood and the attendant untouchability. Among the Buddhists he is seen as a casteist because he refuses to shed this identity marker as a badge of self-assertion, a declaration that he does not want to hide his Dalit identity. Valmiki points out the daily dilemmas Dalits face in a caste-based society that makes it almost impossible to shed one’s caste marker and leave behind the stigma attached to it. Though they work day and night unrelentingly, the reward they get is heaps of insults. In the light of these experiences many questions arise like why Dalits have to rely on upper castes, though they work day and night in all the seasons without permanent shelter and unequal pay? Why are the upper caste people treating them inhumanly? Why are the minority upper castes ruing the majority of Dalits in the whole country? Is social change not possible in the Hindu society? Can the subaltern speak? Will dominant sections allow Dalits to speak in this repressive social system? Likewise there are many questions that strike one’s mind when we read such books. In Valmiki’s words:

We need an ongoing struggle and a consciousness of struggle, a consciousness that brings a revolutionary change both in the outside world and in our hearts, a consciousness that leads the process of social change. (J:x)

Valmiki reminds us of the need and importance of struggle and Dalit social consciousness to make people aware of the struggles they face to make new directions for life, which can organize all the weaker sections. Ambedkar, an indefatigable documenter of atrocities against Dalits, shows how the high caste villagers could not tolerate the fact that Dalits did not want to accept their joothan anymore and threatened them with violence if they refused it. Valmiki has thus recuperated a word from the painful past of Dalit history which resonates with multiple ironies. Mahatma Gandhi’s paternalistic preaching which assumed that accepting joothan was simply a bad habit the untouchables could discard, when juxtaposed against Ambedkar’s passionate exhortation to fellow untouchables to not accept joothan even when its refusal provoked violence, press against Valmiki’s text, proliferating in multiple meanings. It is not surprising; therefore, that one of the most powerful moments of the text is Valmiki’s mother’s overturning of the basketful of joothan after she is humiliated by Sukhdev Singh Tyagi,

Sukhdev Singh pointed at the basket full of dirty pattals and said, “You are taking a basketful of joothan. And on top of that you want food for your children. Don’t forget your place, Chuhri. Pick up your basket and get going.” That instant Valmiki’s mother emptied the basket right there and said to Sukhdev Singh, “Pick it up and put it inside your house. Feed it to the baratis tomorrow morning.” She confronted him like a “lioness” when he pounced on her to hit her. (J 11)

Her act of defiance sows the seeds of rebellion in the child Valmiki. He dedicated the text to his father and mother, both portrayed as heroic figures, who desired something better for their child and fought for his safety and growth with tremendous courage. His father’s ambitions for his son are evident in the nickname, Munshiji, that he gives Valmiki. The child Valmiki rises on their shoulders to become the first high school graduate from his basti he pays his debt by giving

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voice to the indignities suffered by them and other Dalits. Valmiki’s inscription of these moments of profound violation of his and his people’s human rights is extremely powerful and deeply disturbing. For instance, the higher caste people mock at him when he achieves academic progress. It shows that one cannot change one’s fate of been born into low caste no matter what religion or how one excel in studies. “Let me see how bright you are… you will remain a Chuhra, however much you study”(J 28-29).

Autobiography fuses past, present and future. As Trotsky states, “this book is not a dispassionate photograph of my life... but a component part of it. In these pages I continued the struggle to which my whole life is devoted. Describing, I also characterized and evaluate; narrating, I also defend myself and more often attack”(Broughton 2007:130). Joothan is constructed in the form of wave upon wave of memories that erupt in Valmiki’s mind when triggered through a stimulus in the present. These are memories of trauma that Valmiki had kept suppressed. He uses the metaphors of erupting lava, explosions, conflagrations and flooding to denote their uncontrollable character. The text follows the logic of the recall of these memories. Instead of following a linear pattern, Valmiki moves from memory to memory, showing how his present is deeply scarred by his past despite the great distance he has travelled to get away from it. He presents the traumatic moments of encounter with his persecutors as dramatized scenes, as cinematic moments. The event is narrated in the present tense, capturing the intensity of the memory and suggesting that the subject has not yet healed from the past traumas so as to put them behind. We see a full dress re-enactment of the event, from the perspective of the child or the adolescent Valmiki.

Valmiki places his and his Dalit friends’ encounters with upper caste teachers in the context of the Brahmin teacher Dronacharya tricking his low caste disciple Eklavya into cutting his thumb and presenting it to him as part of his gurudakshina or teacher’s tribute. This is a famous incident in the Mahabharata. By doing this, Dronacharya ensured that Eklavya, the better student of archery, could never compete Arjun, the Kshatriya disciple. Indeed, having lost his thumb, Eklavya could no longer perform archery. In high caste telling, the popular story presents a casteless Eklavya as the exemplar of an obedient disciple rather than the Brahmin Dronacharya as a perfidious and biased teacher. When Valmiki’s father goes to the school and calls the headmaster a Dronacharya, he links the twentieth century caste based relations to those that prevailed two thousand years ago. By showing his father’s ability to deconstruct the story, Valmiki portrays Dalits as articulate objects who have seen through the cherished myths of their oppressors. When in a literature class, a teacher waxes eloquent about this same Dronacharya, Valmiki challenges the teacher, only to be ruthlessly canned.

The teacher told them that Dronacharya had fed flour mixed in water to his famished son, Ashwatthama in lieu of milk. After listening to this, Valmiki stood up and asked “So Ashwatthama was given flour mixed in water instead of milk, but what about us who had to drink mar? How come we were never mentioned in any epic? Why didn’t an epic poet ever write a word on our lives? To this query the teacher screamed, “Darkest Kaliyug has descended upon us so that an untouchable is daring to talk back.” Getting a long teak stick he said, “Chuhre ke, you dare compare yourself with Dronacharya… Here, take this, I will write an epic on your body.” (J 23)

Valmiki’s reconfiguration of the myth also inter-textualizes Joothan with other Dalit texts, which frequently use the character of Eklavya as representing the denial of education to Dalits. The

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modern Dalit Eklavya, however, can no longer be tricked into self-mutilation. While the education system is indicted as death dealing for Dalits, Valmiki pays tribute to the Dalit organic intellectuals who help nuture the growth of Dalit consciousness in him. While one of them is his father who has the temerity to name the headmaster a Dornacharya, another is Chandrika Prasad Jigyasu (‘Jigyasu’ means ‘curious’ and is an acquired identity after shedding a caste-based one whose rendering of Ambedkar’s life is put into Valmiki’s hands by his friend Hemlal. Like Valmiki, Hemlal, too, has shed his stigmatized identity as a Chamar by changing it to Jatav. Reading this book is a transformative moment for Valmiki, rendered in the metaphors of melting away of his deadening silence, and the magical transformation of his muteness into voice:

I felt as though a new chapter about life was being unfurled before me. A chapter about which I had known nothing. Dr. Ambedkar’s life-long struggle had shaken me up. I spend many days and nights in turmoil. The restlessness inside me had increased. My stone-like silence had suddenly began to melt. I proceeded to read all of Ambedkar’s books that I found in the library. (J 72)

This moment, narrated at length in Joothan, gives us a key to how marginalized groups enter the stage of history. Valmiki underscores the way Dr. Ambedkar has been excised from the hagiography of nationalist discourse. He first encounters him through the writing of a fellow Dalit, passed on to him by another Dalit, in a library run by Dalits. Joothan thus has the twofold task of celebrating and honouring Dalit assertions, and attacking and dismantling anti-Dalit hegemonic discourses. Valmiki mocks and rewrites the village pastoral that was long a staple of Indian literature in many languages as well as of the nationalistic discourse of grass root democracy. Valmiki portrays a village life where the members of his caste, Chuhras, lived outside the village, were forced to perform unpaid labour, and denied basic requirements like access to public land and water, let alone education or fellow feeling. The tasks involved in reaping and harvesting are described in terms of intense physical labour under a scorching sun and the needle pricks of the sheaves of grain. Valmiki shows that he performed most of the tasks under duress, and was often paid nothing. The most painful of such episodes is the one where Valmiki is yanked away from his books by Fauz Singh Tyagi and dragged to his field to sow sugarcane just a day before his maths exam.

He said, ‘Abey, Chuhre, what are you doing?

“I am appearing the Board exams. Tomorrow I have to do the maths paper,”

“Study at night… come with me. I have to sow cane.”

He held Valmiki by the elbow and dragged him to his field where he spent the whole morning sowing cane. (J 57)

Valmiki like many other Dalit writers, demands the status of truth for his writing, taking issues with those find Dalit literature lacking in imagination. Valmiki’s insistence that all persons and events in Joothan are true poses a considerable challenge to postmodernist critics who propose that autobiography’s truth is ‘constructed,’ that the autobiographic narrator shapes a presentable self by reprocessing his/her memories in order to fit the present. Dalit autobiography claims the status of truth, of testimony. Naming people and places by their real names is one of the strategies through which Valmiki establishes the status of Joothan as testimony and it give Joothan the status of documented Dalit history. In the novel Valmiki narrates an incident which took place at Devband. Valmiki and his friend Bhikuram were send on an errand by their teacher Brajpal from Barla to Devband. They were asked to collect wheat from his house. Upon

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reaching the place, they were invited to share food with the family and allowed to sit with them. Unfortunately somebody came to visit the place where they were. Learning that they were from Barla, he “fired” a question, “What is your caste?” To this Valmiki answered that they were from the “Chuhra caste” (J 51). Then without sympathy they were beaten and obscenities began to be hurled on them by the elder whom showed hospitality at first. In Valmiki’s own words:

His eyes were fierce and his skinny body was harbouring the devil. We had dared to eat in their dishes and sit on their charpai, a crime in his eyes. I was standing below the porch, frightened. The elder was screaming, and his voice had drawn a crowd. Many people suggested that we should be tied to a rope and hung from the tree (J 51).

Here we find the hollowness of their hospitality. Valmiki points out that to receive hospitality one should belong to the upper caste. Such is the plight of the low caste, dalits. Joothan, then, is a multivalent, poly vocal text, healing the fractured self through narrating, contributing to the archive of Dalit history, opening a dialogue with the silencing oppressors, and providing solace as well as frank criticism to his own people. For the fact that Valmiki has become a speaking subject indicates that Indian democracy has opened some escape hatches through which a critical mass of articulate, educated Dalits has emerged. On the other hand, the harsh realities that he portrays so powerfully underscore the fact that the promises made in the Constitution of independent India have not yet been fully met. Joothan is a book that voices the demand of the Dalits for their rightful place under the sun. Resolving the problems of Dalit identity is an immensely difficult task. It appears that only through the forging of alliances with oppressed communities elsewhere in the world on the basis of human rights can some change be brought about. Despite the challenges, the forging of a Dalit identity is of great importance. The fact remains that Dalits still endure discrimination of different kinds; they are still poorer, have less to access to education and less hope of a bright future than the privileged castes. Dalit literary theory has emerged as a reaction to dominant group critics’ negative evaluations of Dalit writing. From a Dalit perspective, it offers a distinct formulation of the nature and purpose of literature in general, an evaluation of the canon of Indian literatures, and framework within which Dalit writing should be read and evaluated. Valmiki has travelled from illiteracy to literacy and from the village to the city. In his socio-cultural and literary transition he has had many hardships; he felt doubts whether Sarvana Hindus would experience the hardships while reading his autobiography, Joothan. He says “A manifesto for evolutionary transformation of society and human consciousness, Joothan contrasts its readers with different questions about their own humanity and invites them to join the universal projects of human liberation” (Joothan xxxix). Dalit autobiographies construct the human society on the basis of humanity. If anyone accepts Dali literature it is the construction of human relations.

Taslima Nasrin’s Lajja as literature of protest Taslima Nasrin (1962- ) came to limelight as a poet, columnist, and strong feminist. Her Lajja (1993), she earned the wrath of Islamic fundamentalists and clergy. Her book was banned in her country and a Fatwa (religious ostracization) was issued against her. Further, she had to seek political asylum in France to save her life. Taslima was extremely bold; she remained untrammelled by all these and kept writing on similar lines. It is not just because she is intrepid; it is her uncanny knack of storytelling and an extremely limpid writing style that make her extremely popular among the erudite circle. Her book Lajja, is set in the backdrop of the Babri masjid demolition saga, back in the year 1992, which caused a strong religious, political and

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social impact, and resulted in riots in sensitive areas throughout the subcontinent. The stage is set in Bangladesh and the tale revolves around an extremely patriotic Hindu family. Suranjan, a prodigal middle aged man with little or no accomplishment in his life to boast about, is a son of a doctor (Sudhamoy) with strong national values. Sudhamoy supported his clan during the national movement and worked for the cause of the nation and in turn, his own countrymen for whom he stood for rewarded him by mutilating his genitals! Despite all this, he strongly believed that Bangladesh was his home and refused to move to Kolkata (India). Suranjan despite being deprived of opportunities due to his religious background, very much like his father, loves his motherland. Sudhamoy’s wife Kiranmoyee is depicted as a very kind and a loveable character who stands by her husband and her family during the testing times. Their daughter Maya, a vivacious lady is distraught with compatriots’ attitude towards them and her family’s idealism to remain in their country even during the hour of peril. The story speaks about the atrocities and cruelties inflicted on Hindus (a religious minority in Bangladesh) in general and Sudhamoy’s family in particular during the riots. The story is gripping and the climax is extremely poignant. Taslima in her tale buttresses her fiction with facts. Her attempt in this book is not to malign any religion, it is an earnest entreat to the human race to embrace humanity and shun fanaticism.

The book subtly indicates that communal feelings were on the rise and the Hindu minority of Bangladesh was treated unfairly. It shows the absence of secularism under the shadow of Islam dominated state. The plot centres on a Hindu family of Bangladesh, the Dutta family of four members; a young man named Suranjan, his father Sudhamoy, his mother Kiranmoy, and his sister Nilanjana (with pet name Maya). The story recounts an environment of communal frenzy with the help of these four characters. In a far off place in Ayodhya, in the state of Uttar Pradesh in India, on 6th December 1992, Babri Masjid is demolished, and the demolition has repercussions even in Bangladesh, a different country, and a far off place from Ayodhya. The fire of communal rioting erupts, and the Dutta family feels about this in their own way. Sudhamoy, the patriarch of the family feels that Bangladesh, his motherland shall never let him down. Kironmoy as a faithful wife stands by her husband’s views. Suranjan their son cares very little about the events. He sleeps happily, does not feel any necessity to take refuge in the home of one of his Muslim friends, and believes that events in a far off foreign place in India should not affect his countrymen. Nilanjana curses her brother’s apathy and coaxes her brother to take the family to a Muslim friend’s place. She says, “Dada aren’t you going to wake up and do something before it is too late” (Lajja 1). We find an element of protest in the attitude of Suranjan when he raises the questions as:

Why should he flee his home simply because his mane was Suranjan Dutta? Was it necessary for his family –Sudhamoy, his father, Kironmoy, his mother and Nilanjana, his sister –to run away like fugitives just because of their names? Would they have to take refuge in the homes of Kamal, Belal or Haider just as they had done two years back? (Lajja 1)

He resolved “I won’t leave my home whatever the circumstances.”( Lajja 2) In his voice we find courage and ownership. But gradually we find that all these courage and sense of belonging are crushed by the dominant Muslims, all in the name of religion.

In the wave of the events of the after-mate of the demolition of Babri Masjid Nasrin through the retrospective thoughts of Suranjan brings the episodes of the past: both pre and post-independent Bangladesh. The exodus of 1947, 1971 and 1990 are vividly portrayed where the Hindus were forced to leave their inheritance of their forefathers to flee to India. In the year

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1971, when Sudhamoy was a doctor on the staff of the S.K. Hospital in Mymensingh, protest against the Pakistani soldiers erupted. A terrified Kironmoy had said, “Let’s go away to India. All our neighbours are leaving one by one.” That instant, he became “furious” and said, “You go if you want to … I am not running away from my home. We’ll kill those Pakistani dogs and get our freedom. Come back if you can, at that time.” (Lajja 9)

In the words of Nasrin “As the Babri Masjid had been destroyed by Hindu fanatics it would be the Hindus in Bangladesh who would have to suffer.” To save herself Nilanjana decides to become a Muslim. She says, “La Ilaha Ilalahu Muhammadun Rasulullah is all that you need to say to become a Muslim. That’s just what I’ll do, and I’ll call myself Feroza Begum.” (Lajja 12). But when it comes to women irrespective of their religion they were always a prey at the hands of the dominant men. Sudhamoy recollects an incident where a young student of his was stripped off her sari in the middle of the street by a “gang of boys”. She was a Muslim and so were the boys, at this Sudhamoy consoled himself with the thought that when it came to young women it was not a matter of “Hindus and Muslima but a question of the weak always being bullied by the strong.” Here lies the point of Nasrin, that women were the “weaker sex” and as such were oppressed by the men who were the “stronger sex” (Lajja 17-18). Many flee from the situation instead of standing up in protest, like Asit Ranjan who sends both his daughters to Calcutta for their safety. Reacting to the exodus of his fellow Hindu friends Sudhamoy said, “When there was a war in the country, you ran away like cowards. After we won our independence, you came back to assert your heroism, and now, at the slightest provocation, you plan to go back to India. Honestly, what a bunch of cowards you are” (Lajja 19).

Nasrin advocates her voice of protest strongly in the character of Sudhamoy, by using him as her mouthpiece. The Bengalis of Bangladesh were subjected to be sidelined by their counterparts. Though Sudhamoy urged his fellow Bengalis to be identified by the person first, his cries were in vain. He would often say that ‘no religion had created this race (Bengali) and he wanted his people to know no communal barriers, and live together in perfect harmony (Lajja 25). But in Bangladesh “unity” was being sought not between people of the “same nation”, but between people of the “same religion” even if they lived in two different countries. Because of this aspect people of a different religion were considered as outsiders even in their own country.

Suranjan was being threatened to be beaten up by the Muslim boys of his neighbourhood. He walks on the opposite side of the street not because he was afraid but because he felt “ashamed” of the boys who were threatening to beat him. These boys were all familiar to him and to some his father has often given free medical treatment. Nasrin says, “Shame most affected those who inflicted torture, not those who were tortured!” she mocks at the irrational behaviour of the Muslim fanatics. In a conversation with Akhtarujjaman on the issue of Babri Masjid when the visitor inquired whether supports the demolishers, Sudhamoy replied, “Evil people have done evil work. All I can do is feel very sorry about the whole thing” (Lajja 35). Nasrin does not support any particular religious group. But she raises her protest for the cause of humanity and irrationality. Sudhamoy further says,

Ironically, all religions point towards one goal-peace. Yet it is in the name of religion that there has been so much unrest and lack of peace. So much has been shed and so many people have suffered. It is indeed a pity that even at the close of the twentieth century we’ve had to witness such atrocities, all in the name of religion. Flying the flag of religion has always proved the easiest way to crush to nothingness human beings, as well as the spirit of humanity. (Lajja 36)

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Many people renounce their religion and identity to preserve their life and family instead of protesting against the inflictors. People like Akhtarujjaman say, “I have given up my dhoti too, quite some time back. For the sake of my dear life, my friend” (Lajja 36). Little does he realize that he sold his right and freedom in saving his life. Suranjan mocks at the farcical declaration of Bangladesh that his country believed in communal harmony. Nasrin brings the metaphor of a “cat” to show the element of escapism. Suranjan on 9 December “longed to become a cat” (Lajja 59). Suranjan’s younger sister was forcefully abducted from her house right in front her parents. Here Nasrin voices the insecurity of the minority and the weaker sex. They were prey to the dominant and fanatic Muslims. When the “frenzied” and “savage” ruffians entered the house on that fateful day, they screamed, “You bastards! Did you think you could get away after destroying the Babri Masjid?” (Lajja 147) Then they began to destroy all the household things. After they had satisfied themselves ransacking the house they “wrenched Kironmoyee off her daughter, broke Maya’s grip on the bed and left as swiftly as they had come, carrying their prize with them” (Lajja 147). All these happened to the Dutta family just because they were Hindus. All attempts to find Maya failed. The family was now on the verge of breakdown. The father who was patriotic enough to stay in his home country despite warning now lay paralyzed. His daughter was abducted and his young son had no courage left to stand against the system. His wife wailed day and night for her dear daughter. Under such circumstances, where law governing bodies turn deaf ear to the plight of the people, it deem better for them “to take poison and kill themselves” (Lajja 157). In Nasrin’s words “It was obvious now that it was pointless for Hindus to try and survive in Bangladesh” (Lajja 157). When one is blind with hatred and when religious leaders misguide their followers everything around will be full of obscenities. When Suranjan went out in search of his sister people on the street shouted “Here comes one of those bastards responsible for breaking the Babri Masjid! These buggers should be kicked out of the country to India” (Lajja 184). The feeling of fellow countrymen and the propagation of oneness in love by religion were long forgotten. It is against such atrocities that Nasrin raises her protest. Slowly in the novel we find that all the strong characters break down. It is like the famous African proverb “A man cannot stand alone against his tribe.” Suranjan with a heavy heart decided to tell his father to move out of Bangladesh to India. But the answer Sudhamoy gave brings out the meaning of the title, he said,

“Is India your father’s home or your grandfather’s? From your family, who the hell stays in India? Do you want to run away from your own homeland... doesn’t it make you feel ashamed?” (Lajja 213)

In reply to his father Suranjan raises some fundamental questions of protest saying, “What homeland are you talking about, Baba? What has this country given you? What is it giving you? What has this country of yours given Maya? Why does my mother have to cry? Why do you groan all night? Why don’t I get any sleep?” (Lajja 213) In the midst of despair and hopelessness Suranjan began to worry not for his sister Maya but for his own future and “his heart quaked with fear and apprehension” (Lajja 215). All these events occurred for one single reason that is ‘religious fanaticism.’ Nasrin states that “Religion is the opium of the masses” (Lajja 134). At the end after much debate and ordeals, the whole family of the Duttas were shocked as Sudhamoy announced, “Come, let us go away.” As he said these words “shame swept over him” (Lajja 216). It was the culmination of a saga, submission of the weak to the strong. In Lajja we find Nasrin’s confirmed view that it is because of religious disharmony there is bloodshed, hatred, illiteracy, ignorance, injustice and inequality all over the world. She is of

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the view that she feels justified in exposing the truth about the Muslim leaders in Bangladesh who took advantage of the Hindu minorities of Bangladesh in the name of religion.

Conclusion In both Valmiki’s Joothan and Nasrin’s Lajja, we find the elements of protests. They act as a mirror, which reflects the suppressed and biased lives of people who are innocent. In both these novels we find that it is because of the improper exercise of religious beliefs that people suffer. Literature acts as a mouthpiece for these sections of the people. It is like reflecting through a mirror the pains of humanity as we glide through the pages of Joothan and Lajja. The marks left by discriminating forces or agents will ever remain inscribed upon the hearts of the receiving party. One can realize the positive aspects of society when the cry of justice is made loud through literature. Protest literature is replete with contemporary societal inequalities, social and religious irresponsibility and opportunistic power politics. Limbale comments “Dalit literature is a revolutionary literature which has been waging a pen war against discrimination and untouchability among human beings, hatred, humiliation of human beings, injustice, slavery, orthodox ritualism, conservatism and Brahmanism. It militates against the faith in rebirth, fatalism, god, sin and virtue, religion.... It spurs man on to his development, welfare, faith in himself and introspection. So Dalit literature is a bunch of explosive thoughts which will lead the exploited people to new life, liberation, progress and development” (Limbale 3). Dalit autobiographies are recollections with a motive. They are no mere chronicle for archives of social history. Events are retained selectively. In all their biographies, the self is narratively reconstructed in a performance of identification. In Valmiki’s Joothan we witness that the past is re-visited, re-composed, re-assessed and recognised in the light that it finally shines at the moment of fulfilment. In both Joothan and Lajja we find the enemy within the caste and religion. Such literatures thus speak about “live and let others live.” The projection of ahimsa can be brought in by abstaining from hurling irrational and fanatical words. The voice of minorities can be beautifully brought out by arousing the minds of the readers through empathic elements.

Taslima Nasrin is a humanist, a rationalist, an atheist. A humanist is the well-wisher of all humans in the world. A humanist reacts to the human sufferings anywhere in the world. When Hindus are butchered by Muslim culprits in Bangladesh she condemned them. Similarly when Muslims are butchered in Gujarat (India) by Hindu culprits she condemned the Hindu culprits. She deeply studied the reasons for human suffering and writing for the human welfare in the world. The religious fundamentalists have misunderstood her. She is not against any religion. She is against those exploiters who are causing human suffering. Enmities between religions are causing wars between nations in the world. Every religion is brain washing the innocent masses and using them as scapegoats and sacrificing them as human bombs. Humanists want to educate the victims who think that they will go to heaven if they die for their religion. Humanists have explored all religions and want to help and educate the misguided superstitious masses to bring peace in the world. The religious fundamentalists should try to find out the knowledge in the point of view of humanist before threatening them to kill. Shame (or Lajja in Bengali) demonstrates Nasrin’s determination to speak out in favour of Islamic reform, religious tolerance and freedom of expression, and against Muslim extremism and other forms of fundamentalism. It is a blessing to exercise freedom of expression through literature but one should also know the limits not to exploit and reduce incidents of communal sensitivity to mere spectacles thereby hurting religious sentiments. Empathic love should be reflected in literature. It must be felt by the readers. One should be responsible for the outcome of the writings through

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which one projects the voice of resentments and protests. It should have a comprehensive and holistic approach. It should encompass the elements of unity.

References: Primary Sources

1. Nasrin, Taslima. Lajja. New Delhi: Penguin, 1993.

2. ---. “They Wanted to Kill Me.” Middle East Quarterly, September (2000: 67-74).

3. Valmiki, Om Prakash. Joothan (The Left-over Food). New York: Columbia University Press, 2003.

4. ---. “On Being Called a Hindu is like an Abuse to me.” Times Of India, January 23,(2010:1).

5. ---. “Democracy Held in Bondage.” Sangharsh/Struggle: E-Journal of Dalit Literary Studies, Vol.1. no.2 (2012).

Secondary Sources 1. Ahmad, Imtiaz and Sashi Bhushan Upadhyay, ed. Dalit Assertion in Society, Literature and History. New

Delhi: Orient Blackswan Private Limited, 2010.

2. Ansari, A. Iqbal. “Free Speech-Hate Speech: The Taslima Nasrin Case.” Economic and Political Weekly 23 February 2008: 16.

3. Bannerjee, Himani. Textile Prison: Discourse on Shame in the Attire of the Gentlewoman (Bhadramashila) in Colonial Bengal. New Delhi: Shakti Malik Abhinav Publications, 1998.

4. Dangle, Arjun, ed. Poisoned Bread: Translation from Modern Marathi Literature. Bombay: Orient Longman, 1992.

5. Guru, G. “The Language of Dalit-Bahujan Political Discourse” in Dalit Identity and Politics. New Delhi: G. Shah, 2001.

6. Gupta, R. Dalit Chetna Sahitya. Hazaribag: Navlekhan Prakashan, 1996.

7. Limbale, S. Towards an Aesthetic of Dalit Literature: History, Controversies, and Considerations. New Delhi: G. Shah, 2004.

8. ---. The Outcaste (translated by Bhoomkar). New York: Penguin, 1970.

9. Rodrigues, Valerian. The Essential Writings of B.R. Ambedkar. Delhi: Roopak Printers, 2006.

10. Samel, Swapna, H. Rights of Dalit. New Delhi: Serials Publications, 2006.

11. Wankhede, S. Harish. “The Political and the Social in the Dalit Movement Today.” Economic and Political Weekly, 9 February, 2008: 52.

12. Zelliot, Eleanor. From Untouchable to Dalit: Essays on the Ambedkarite Movement. Columbia: Columbia University Press, 2004.

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*A. Temjenwala Ao, PhD, is administrator in Straightway Christian Mission Centre. **Professor in English, Nagaland University, Kohima Campus: Meriema.











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13. H. N. PRASAD

Rethinking William Shakespeare Abstract William Shakespeare, the Bard of Avon, is getting scholarly and critical attention in multiple ways. This paper aims to explore Shakespeare’s authorship, his influence and his translation. K. S. Vijay Elangova interviewed Prof. Stanley Wells, President, Shakespeare Birthplace Trust about Shakespeare’s authorship. A number of studies took place in recent time to explore his authorship. Nearly 2500 signatories, including writers, academicians, actors and scholars assume themselves doubtful about his authorship. The book including The Contested Will and the films, Shakespeare in Love and the forthcoming Anonymous dwell on this question. But Prof. Stanley Wells is thoroughly convinced and declares that there are sufficient evidences and proof about the authorship of Shakespeare. Further, he is co-editing a collection of essays with Dr. Paul Edmondson about the Shakespeare Authorship Conspiracy Theory. John Gross in his article ‘‘Shakespeare’s influence’’ claims that even poems, plays, novels of present time have impression of William Shakespeare. The poetry echoes countless instances. As W.H Auden’s The Sea and the Mirror (1945) subtitle A Commentary on Shakespeare’s The Tempest is a brilliant medley of verse and prose in which Auden pursues his own preoccupations. Pasternak’s Shakespeare paints a vivid imagined picture of his tavern life in London. Today several plays have prints of local circumstances and traditions of his time. Others were ‘ appropriations’ in which Shakespearian material was given a new post-colonial or anti-colonial twist, as Welcome Msomi’s Umabathu, for instance (a Zulu transposition of Macbeth). In recent time, the novelists like, Anthony Burgess and Robert Nye have succeeded in producing novels about Shakespeare. Burgess’s Nothing Like the Sun (1964) is notable for its gusto, wit and linguistic exuberance. Nye’s Mrs Shakespeare offers us an intimate and less than enraptured view of the great man through the eye of Anne Hathaway. The article ‘‘Shakespeare and translation’’ by Ton Hoenselaars views that Shakespeare is widely studied in the works of translation in recent years. Dennis Kennedy and Michael Billington have championed a multi-cultural approach to Shakespeare. Thus Shakespeare became a literary saint whose work was sacrosanct like the bible, yet, the translator became one of the apostles.

Rethinking William Shakespeare William Shakespeare is widely known and studied worldwide. The scholars like David Kathman, John Gross, Ton Hoenselaars, Prof. Stanley Wells make an authoritative information about his stature in contemporary period. A number of efforts are made by various critics and scholars about his authorship. Recently, in The Hindu, K. S. Vijay Elangova interviewed Prof. Stanley Wells, President, Shakespeare Birthplace Trust about Shakespeare’s authorship. It out broke a cry over William Shakespeare’s works about whether he wrote his works or not. Prof. Stanley Wells viewed that this rubbish came about in the middle of 19th century when Shakespeare’s

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genius flourished worldwide. It all started in the 1850’s when the American teacher and writer, Delia Bacon who was even not related to Francis Bacon, started to suggest that the plays had been written by a committee of people, led by Sir Francis Bacon. They also think the original author was Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford who had borrowed Shakespeare’s name for his plays. They contend Shakespeare had only humble origins and could not have had exposure to royalty and royal atmosphere and did not possess the aristocratic sensibility which most of his plays reflect.

Another scholar David Kathman in his article ‘‘The Question of Authorship’’ tries to explore some views concerning Shakespeare’s authorship. It is also found that some amateurs in this field who argue that William Shakespeare is actually a pseudonym for a mysterious hidden author. The anti–Stratfordians accept that the real Shakespeare is 17th Earl of Oxford, Francis Bacon and Christopher Marlowe. They claim that the Stratford man’s name is not Shakespeare at all, but Shakspere, the spelling he himself uses in his signatures. The Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens and actor Michael York also sympathise with those anti–Stratfordians.

Further, Stephen Greenblatt’s book, Will in the World (2005) shows how a man who has only a secondary school education, becomes the most renowned playwright of all time. It interweaves a searching account of Elizabethan England with a vivid narrative of the playwright’s life. We see Shakespeare learning his craft, starting a family, and forming a career for himself in the wildly competitive London theatre world, while at the same time grappling with dangerous religious and political forces that took less agile figures to the scaffold. It is found that Shakespeare as the patron Saint of parking lot attendants, getting his start in the big city holding horses for rich folks. But he quickly dismisses that image. James Shapiro’s The Contested Will (2010) also examines authorship’s controversy. It declares that there is fabricated document about embellished lives, concealed identity, pseudonymous authorship, contested evidence, bald-faced deception, and a failure to grasp what could not be imagined.

Next thing is the film, Shakespeare in Love is a 1998 British-American romantic comedy drama film, directed by John Madden, written by Marc Norman and playwright Tom Stoppard. The film depicts a love-affair, involving playwright William Shakespeare (Joseph Fiennes) at the time when he was writing the play Romeo and Juliet. It has also dealt with the views that whether Shakespeare is Shakespeare or not. The film begins, as Shakespeare’s patron Philip Henslowe (Geoffrey Rush) finds himself in debt to loan shark Hugh Fennyman (Tom Wilkinson). Henslowe offers Fennyman a partnership in the upcoming production of Shakespeare’s newest comedy, Romeo and Ethel, The Pirate’s Daughter promising that it will be a hit. This play will later be renamed Romeo and Juliet and be reworked into a tragedy. Shakespeare is suffering from writer’s block and has not completed the play, but begins auditions for Romeo. A boy named Thomas Kent is cast in the role after impressing Shakespeare with his performance and his love of Shakespeare’s previous work. Thomas Kent was really Viola de Lesseps who was dressed as a man because only men can be actors. Even, Faye Kellerman sues about the writers of the film that the story is lifted from her book, The Quality of Mercy (1989) a detective novel in which Shakespeare and a cross-dressing Jewish woman attempt to solve a murder.

A new film Anonymous, directed by Roland Emmerich, also suggests that William Shakespeare is a fraud and Edward de Vere, the 17th Earl of Oxford, the true author of his plays. It is a feature film based on the Prince Tudor, variant of the Oxfordian theory, written by John Orloff , premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. De Vere is portrayed as a literary prodigy who becomes the lover of Queen Elizabeth, with whom he sires Henry Wriothesley 3rd Earl of

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Southampton, only to discover that he himself may be the Queen’s son by an earlier lover. He eventually sees his suppressed plays performed through the front man, William Shakespeare, who is portrayed as an opportunistic actor and the movie’s comic foil. Oxford agrees to Elizabeth’s demand that he remains anonymous as part of a bargain for saving their son from execution as a traitor for supporting the Essex Rebellion against her.

The film shows how plays are written and performed at a particular place and time, then published under another writer’s name. Elizabethan public theatres are depicted as places where low-class actors perform silly plays written by dramatists so mediocre they can’t imagine how anyone can compose an entire play in blank verse. De Vere’s genius is so towering that it is unimaginable how he can ever be influenced by these lesser talents. The film maker Emmerich and script writer Orloff inherits this bizarre about the past of English. It derives more or less intact from the work of a man named J. Thomas Looney, who first proposed 90 years ago that De Vere wrote Shakespeare’s plays. His book, Shakespeare Identified (1920) becomes the bible of the movement and has shaped the case for De Vere ever since. Looney was convinced that no commoner like Shakespeare who cared about money could have written the plays, but it was De Vere who wrote these plays because his life history was found in these plays.

Again, the Shakespeare Authorship Coalition which announces a one-year Master of Arts programme on Declaration of Reasonable Doubt About the Identity of William Shakespeare in Shakespeare authorship studies that is coinciding with Brunel University. The coalition aims to enlist broad public support by 2016, the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death. The academic Shakespeare establishment will be forced to acknowledge that legitimate grounds for doubting Shakespeare’s authorship exist. More than 1200 signatures were collected by the end of 2007, and as of July 2012 the number of signatures had increased to 2413, including those of 420 former academics. On 22 April 2007, The New York Times published a survey of 265 American Shakespeare professors on the Shakespeare authorship question. To the question of whether there is good reason to question Shakespeare’s authorship, 6 percent answered ‘yes’, and 11 percent possibly.

His influence is also worldwide, as W. H. Auden’s The Sea and the Mirror : A Commentary on Shakespeare’s The Tempest, a poem of dramatic monologue. It was first published in 1944, later it was published in 2003, by Arthur Kirsch. Caliban to the Audience is a prose poem in the style of Henry James, where Auden reflects on the nature of the relationship of the author (presum’ably Shakespeare) to the audience of the Tempest, the paradoxes of portraying life in art, and the tension of form and freedom. In the three parts of the poem, where the so good, so great, so dead author is asked to take a curtain call and being unable to do so. Caliban stands in his place to take the questions. In the first section, there is meditation on the dramatic arts, in various personifications, the Muse for the dramatic arts, Caliban as the Real World, and Ariel as the Poetic world, The second section deals Shakespeare on behalf of his characters which reflects on the journey of Life, the down at heels disillusioned figure and the desire for either personal or artistic freedom. The third section meditates on the paradox of life and art, with mutually exclusive goals, where the closer to Art you come, the farther from life you go, and vice versa. It ends with a coda of sorts, with the paradox is resolved through faith in the wholly other life. The poem is not merely a great work but ranks as one of the most profound interpretations of Shakespeare’s final play in the twentieth century. As, it is really about the Christian

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conceptation of art and it is Ars Poetica, in the same way as believed, The Tempest to be Shakespeare’s.

Boris Pasternak, a Russian writer wrote Shakespeare, that is an evidence of Shakespeare’s wide influence, as he writes : well, master Shakespeare, i do know your talent. and i have the seal of your genius, well. i think, and i’m sure. you will be so prudent to agree that this place is not ready for me!(Pasternak 1)

Welcome Msomi, a South African playwright who wrote Umabathu : A Zulu transposition of Macbeth, which is an adaptation of Shakespeare’s Macbeth into the tribal Zulu culture of the early 19th century. It evinces that Shaka like Macbeth visits early in his career by an Isangoma (with doctor) whose prophesy is that he is a man who already sees a chief of chiefs. Later in confrontations with the powerful Isangomas, he defies their superstitious magic and emerges with undisputed authority. His wife, Pampata, also predicts that he will rule the entire world they know, like lady Macbeth, or Kamandonsela of Umabatha. Pampata plays a dominant role in Shaka’s ambitious reign and has, in Shaka’s own words as, a mind shrewder than that of a ring-headed counselor. As it is said that the similarities between Shakespeare’s Macbeth and our own Shaka become a glaring reminder that the world is, philosophically, a very small place.

In the fiction, Shakespeare has been vividly seen, as Anthony Burgess’s Nothing Like the Sun, which has subtitle, A Story of Shakespeare’s Love-life. It follows Shakespeare as WS, a young man who is struck by the image of a dark goddess to a man wasting away from syphilis. Naturally, Burgess spends considerable time on Shakespeare’s relationships with the Dark

Lady and Fair Youth of Shakespeare’s sonnets, renders here as Fatimah, a woman of color from the East Indies, and Henry Wriothesley, third Earl of Southampton. From the first page, you realize that Nothing Like the Sun is one of those kinds of novels where, there is some absolutely beautiful language, especially concerning Shakespeare’s desire for a dark lady and how the abstract fantasy of it does not quite match up with the reality of it, his dark goddess is always described as golden. It is never flowery, but it’s often powerful. The novel is very rich, while the language feels spontaneous and periodic, it’s very specific. The novelist reflects back on Shakespeare’s early fantasy concerning a wealthy widow of color as he goes through life, failing an encounter with a black prostitute and his relationship with Henry, which play with the text of that fantasy interestingly.

The novelist, Robert Nye is also influenced by Shakespeare. His novel, Mrs. Shakespeare illustrates Shakespeare. The novel has a central character, Anne Hathaway, who reveals to us the real Shakespeare. It is written after seven years of Bard’s death. The novelist carries us Anne’s memoirs, of course, as Shakespearean gospel. Mrs. Shakespeare has a way of storytelling that the Bard himself will envy. Not only does she present facts about their life together, she presents them in a way that relates to all people who haven’t felt jealousy when their spouse puts work above them. Who is not angry when they lose a child and have no one to talk about? It is not so much a story of William Shakespeare, but a story of how his wife sees him. We hear about Mr. Shakespeare from his wife, the woman who knows him best.

The paper will now discuss the perennial translations of Shakespeare. As Dennis Kennedy and Michael Billington have viewed Shakespeare in translations. Kennedy’s emphasis shows the

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calibre of foreign Shakespeare. He echoes native British condition, while Shakespeare is performed in non-English-speaking contexts, without his language. Kennedy’s contentions in Foreign Shakespeare (1993) are the most portentous developments of Shakespeare on stage since the Second World War have been of foreign origin, deriving largely from continental Europe, where Shakespeare is practised in languages other than English. In general, foreign productions of Shakespeare, frees from the burden imposed by centuries of admiring his language, have been more ready to admit that the door to the past is locked. In English the language will always be important to our appreciation, yet our ability to reach the plays directly in their original language lessens year by year. Our own English continues to change, and eventually only specialists will be able to read the texts, much less listen to them comfortably in the theatre. This may well happen within the next fifty years. Reflecting on performances outside of English, we can see more clearly how Shakespeare is alien, as well as what we continue to find indigenous about him.

Michael Billington has shared his view with his British Guardian and expected that we can not help but see Shakespeare in terms of our own language, history and culture. He also hopes that we need to widen that definition of culture. He wants that we should work towards an appreciation of Shakespeare in cultural contexts other than that familiar from an English perspective, Shakespearean translation may be the occasion to enable non-English speaking people to appreciate Shakespeare. The German-speaking world prides itself on Wieland, Schiller, Schlegel who have tackled the sonnets of Shakespeare brilliantly. In France, Marcel Schwob, Alfred Vigny, Marcel Pagnol, Andre Gide, Jean Anouilh and Yves Bonnefoy have tried their hands at Shakespeare. In Russia, Boris Pasternak produces formidable translations of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Othello, Henry IV, King Lear, Antony and Cleopatra. His translation of Shakespeare’s works remains deeply popular with Russian audiences because of their colloquial, modernised dialogues. Day by day, he reproduces his actions and he is drawn into some of his secrets, not in theory, but practically, by experience. As It is found whenever Boris Leonidovich has been provided with literal versions of things which echo his own thoughts or feelings, it makes all the difference and he works feverishly turning them into masterpieces.

Thus, Shakespeare’s relevance and importance has been analysed in different ways. His authorship has been acknowledged widely. The works like, Will in the World, Shakespeare in Love, Anonymous have supported the authorship conspiracy, but Prof. Stanley Wells is thoroughly convinced and has accepted that Shakespeare is the author of his plays. If critics and scholars are debating on his authorship, it means his name and achievements are still remembered and his influence is also being seen how he influenced different stalwarts of all decades since the Shakespearean age. A good number of poets, novelists and playwrights clearly have his influence and his works have widely been translated in almost all major languages of the world. Shakespeare is died but he is alive in the thoughts all around the world. Shakespeare is thus not of an age but for all ages.

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References: 1. Auden, W.H. The Sea and the Mirror : A Commentary on Shakespeare’s The Tempest. Ed. Arthur C.

Kirsch. Princeton : Princeton University Press, 2005.

2. Burgess, Anthony. Nothing Like the Sun. London : Vintage, 1992.

3. Brantley, Ben. ‘‘Umabatha—The Zulu Macbeth.’’ Wiltern : UCLA News. August 19, 1997.

4. Elangova, K.S.Vijay. ‘‘The real William Shakespeare.’’ Delhi : The Hindu. Sept 14, 2011.

5. Gross, John. ‘‘Shakespeare’s influence.’’ Ed. Stanley Wells and Lena Cowen Orlin. New York : Oxford University Press, 2003.

6. Greenblatt, Stephen. Will in the World : How Shakespeare became Shakespeare. New York : W.W. Norton, 2005.

7. Hoenselaars, Ton. ‘‘Shakespeare and Translation.’’ Ed. Stanley Wells and Lena Cowen Orlin. New York : Oxford University Press, 2003.

8. James, Shapiro. Contested Will : Who Wrote Shakespear ? London : Faber and Faber, 2010.

9. James, Shapiro. ‘‘Shakespeare—a fraud?’’ London : The Guardian. Nov 4, 2011.

10. Kellerman, Faye. The Quality of Mercy. New York : Harper Collins Publishers, 1989.

11. Kennedy, Dennis. Foreign Shakespeare : Contemporary Performance. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 1993.

12. Kathman, David. ‘‘The question of authorship.’’ Ed. Stanley Wells and Lena Cowen Orlin. New York : Oxford University Press, 2003.

13. Looney, J. Thomas. ‘‘Shakespeare’’ identified in Edward De Vere the seventeenth earl of Oxford. London : C. Palmer, 1920.

14. Msomi, Welcome. Umabatha. Johannesburg : Skotaville Publishers, 1996.

15. Nye, Robert. Mrs. Shakespeare : The Complete Works. London : Arcade Publishers, 2000.

16. Roger, Ebert. ‘‘Shakespeare in Love.’’ Chicago : Sun Times. Dec 25, 1998.

17. Williams, Niederkorn. ‘‘Shakespeare Reaffirmed.’’ New York : The New York Times. April 22, 2007.

Web Links: 1. The Shakespeare Authorship Page http://www.ShakespeareAuthorship.com

2. The Shakespeare Influence Page http://stage.design.kr.ua/thoughts/shakespeare.html.com

Dr H. N. Prasad is an Asst. Prof. of English with the Dept. of English & MEL, University of Lucknow, Lucknow, (U.P., India).

http://www.shakespeareauthorship.com/

http://stage.design.kr.ua/thoughts/shakespeare.html.com

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14. DR. NAZNEEN KHAN

Women Resisting Patriarchy and Colonial Oppression: A Study of Mahashweta Devi's "The Hunt”

Abstract Mahashweta Devi, a daring and tireless political activist, indefatigable interventionist journalist and creative writer, is widely acknowledged as one of India's foremost literary personalities. A prolific creative writer, she has to her credit over a hundred books including novels, plays, collections of stories, children's books and journalistic literature. Originally written in Bengali, most of her works have been translated into English and a number of other languages. She is a significant figure in the field of socially committed literature and has made important contributions to literary and cultural studies. She is a committed political and social activist who has been working with and for tribals and marginalised communities like landless labourers of east India for years. She wants her work to be read as a plea for the insertion of tribals into the Indian mainstream from which they have been hitherto excluded. Mahashweta Devi thinks that there are innumerable social evils that constrain tribal development in India. She writes against police atrocities, failures in the implementation of government programmes, exploitation of sharecroppers and miners, unemployment and landlessness, environmental degradation and the need to protect and foster tribal languages and identity. Mahashweta Devi’s works lend themselves to readings within sociological critical framework.

Her writings not only give voice to India’s marginalized tribal people but also stress the abject subordination of women in Indian society. Her most memorable characters are often women - Draupadi, Doulati, Mary, Jashoda, Sanichari etc. These women are the oppressed of society, marginalized in many ways. Yet they are strong women with courage to face upto their condition or defy it. Scholars see her powerful tales of exploitation and struggle as extremely rich sites of feminist discourse. “The Hunt” is a part of three-story trilogy entitled Imaginary Maps : Three Stories by Mahashweta Devi translated into English by Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak. It is a story of gender roles and their reversal as a form of seeking justice to gender inequality and oppression. It is also a story of one woman’s triumph over her vulnerability in a patriarchal system and male-dominated society. “The Hunt” is a story where a female subaltern – a rural tribal woman from India – is subjected to sexual harassment and violent threats from a male character and virtually avenges her oppressive plight by turning into a predator and killing her oppressor.

My paper attempts to explore Mahashweta Devi's "The Hunt" as a story of revolt against gender oppression and resistance to the exploitation of women in postcolonial India.

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Women Resisting Patriarchy and Colonial Oppression : A Study of Mahashweta Devi’s “The Hunt”

Mahashweta Devi, a daring and tireless political activist, indefatigable interventionist journalist and creative writer, is widely acknowledged as one of India's foremost literary personalities. She is the recipient of many national and international awards both for her literary merit and for her uncompromising activism for protecting the rights of the downtrodden. A prolific creative writer, she has to her credit over a hundred books including novels, plays, collections of stories, children's books and journalistic literature. Originally written in Bengali, most of her works have been translated into English and a number of other languages. She is a significant figure in the field of socially committed literature and has made important contributions to literary and cultural studies. She is a committed political and social activist who has been working with and for tribals and marginalised communities like landless labourers of east India for years.

In her writings Mahashweta Devi champions the rights of the exploited and the oppressed bonded labourers, sharecroppers and the dispossessed tribal communities both in her state and all over India. She advocates for the political and economic mobilization of such severely marginalized tribal groups like the Mundas, Lodhas and Kherias of West Bengal. She wants her work to be read as a plea for the insertion of tribals into the Indian mainstream from which they have been hitherto excluded. Mahashweta Devi’s writing voices her “demand for the recognition of the tribal as a citizen of independent India with an advanced cultural heritage”. (Devi 1995 : xvii).

In her writings highlighting the plight of the tribal people, Mahashweta Devi's main intention is to expose the stranglehold of feudalism over the land and poor sections. She is preoccupied with the documentation of the history of exploitation of the innocent. Her stories deal with the material reality of the hard life of the tribals under nationalism and their neocolonisation by the mainstream of India. She says :

The tribals and the mainstream have always been parallel . . . the mainstream simply doesn't understand the parallel . . . They can't keep their land; there is no education for them, no health facilities . . . they are denied everything . . . That is why I started writing about the tribal movements and the tribal world ... I repay them their honour. (Devi 1995: 3)

Mahashweta Devi thinks that there are innumerable social evils that constrain tribal development in India. She writes against police atrocities, failures in the implementation of government programmes, exploitation of sharecroppers and miners, unemployment and landlessness, environmental degradation and the need to protect and foster tribal languages and identity. She identifies with the people she writes about and works side by side with them for the redress of their problems. Mahashweta Devi is critical of the failure of political parties from both the Left and the Right to change the system. She writes:

I find my people still groaning under hunger, landlessness, indebtedness and bonded labour . . . All the parties to the Left as well as those to the Right have failed to keep their commitment to the common people. I do not hope to see in my lifetime any reason to change this conviction of mine. Hence, I go on writing to the best of my abilities about the people, so that I can face myself without any sense of guilt or shame. For a writer faces judgement in his lifetime and remains answerable. (Devi 1986: ix).

Mahashweta Devi disclaims all awareness of theoretical concepts and confesses that her sole purpose of writing is to bring about a social change. Her works jolt one back to the very cruel,

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very obnoxious ground realities and set one thinking. She portrays many layers of oppression – social, familial, political and economic. Talking of the didactic or activist note in her work, Mahashweta Devi, in a volume of English translation of her dramas, says:

A responsible writer, standing at the turning point of history, has to take a stand in defence of the exploited. Otherwise, history would never forgive him . . . An anger, luminous, burning and passionate, directed against a system that has failed to liberate my people from the horrible constraints is the only source of inspiration for all my writings. (Devi 1986 : ix)

Mahashweta Devi’s works lend themselves to readings within sociological critical framework. She says in one of her interviews: “I think a creative writer should have a social conscience. I have a duty towards society. The sense of duty is an obsession”. (Sree 99). She considers it to be the duty of a writer to fight against the separatist forces in the society. She identifies the real demon in the system as the neo-colonial practices of the post-independence period which is no less oppressive to the poor and the subaltern than the coloniser’s machinery.

Mahashweta Devi’s writings not only give voice to India’s marginalized tribal people but also stress the abject subordination of women in Indian society. Her most memorable characters are often women - Draupadi, Doulati, Mary, Jashoda, Sanichari etc. These women are the oppressed of society, marginalized in many ways. Yet they are strong women with courage to face upto their condition or defy it. Scholars see her powerful tales of exploitation and struggle as extremely rich sites of feminist discourse.

“The Hunt” is a part of three-story trilogy entitled Imaginary Maps : Three Stories by Mahashweta Devi translated into English by Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak. It is a story of gender roles and their reversal as a form of seeking justice to gender inequality and oppression. It is also a story of one woman’s triumph over her vulnerability in a patriarchal system and male-dominated society.

The protagonist of “The Hunt” (1980) is Mary Oraon, daughter of a tribal woman raped by her colonial “master” on a timber estate in Tohri. Her father, a white planter, left for Australia after impregnating her mother. Mary’s parentage represents the collusion of colonialism and patriarchy in the construction of her hybrid subjectivity. Mary’s “mixed blood” separates her from the rest of the tribal community, but it also affords her a certain freedom from the constraints of custom and convention. She is betrothed to Jalim, a Muslim boy, and has earned the trust of her employers, the Prasads, who have taken over the timber estates from the British owners after independence.

Mary is “eighteen years old, tall, flat-featured, light copper skin”. (Devi 1995: 2). She is a woman of strong physical abilities. Mary is also an astute businesswoman. She is able-bodied, empowered with strength, intelligence and generosity. She is also formidable with her words and machete, two weapons she clearly has. She has the ability and capacity to perform traditional masculine jobs. The narrator points out that:

Mary cleans house and pastures cattle with her inviolate constitution, her infinite energy, and her razor-sharp mind. On the field she lunches on fried corn. She stands and picks fruits and oversees picking. She weighs the stuff closely for the buyers. She puts the fruits bitten by bats and birds into a sack, and feeds them to her mother’s chickens. When the rains come she replants the seedlings carefully. She watches out for everything. (5).

Mary is also admired at the market. The narrator tells us that:

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Mary has countless admirers at Tohri market. She gets down at the station like a queen. She sits in her own rightful place at the market. She gets smokes from the other marketers, drinks tea and chews betel leaf at their expense, but encourages no one. Jalim, the leader of the marketer and a sharp lad, is her chosen mate (3).Even the owner’s wife begrudgingly respects Mary. She says, "You have to take words from a girl that works like an animal, carries a forty pound bag on her back and boards the train, clears the whole house in half an hour". (5).

Despite the fact Mary is socially considered inferior, she transgresses the patriarchal restrictions assigned to her gender. She has a voice. Through her sense of agency, Mary makes others listen to her. Her preoccupations are manifested when she warns Prasadji and the Kuruban elders about the trees' business with Tehsildar Singh. She helps them to avoid Tehsildar Singh's fraud by firmly stating that, “when you sell trees later, there will be road, don't give it to him . . . Talk to the big companies and do your business. Don't be soft then . . . Mary told the elders as well . . . he (Tehsildar) is greedy now”. (9).

Mary’s smartness as well as her bravery are symbol of her heroic nature. However, as a female subaltern, Mary is harassed and stalked by a male logging contractor named Tehsildar Singh. He comes to her village to purchase logging rights. Even though Tehsildar Singh “has a wife and children . . . he still lusts women” (11). He tries to demonstrate his male ‘superiority’ by having as many women as possible; that is why “he doesn’t give up chasing Mary” (12). The narrator says :

Mary was getting tired of Tehsildar’s tireless single-minded pursuit. Jalim may get to know. He’d be wild if she let him know. He might go to Tohri market to kill Tehsildar if he got the chance. But Tehsildar has a lot of money, a lot of men. A city bastard. He can destroy Jalim by setting up a larceny case against him. (14).

Tehsildar Singh, a self-made man exercising his masculinity, cannot accept female rejection because this means the subordination of his gender. Tehsildar cannot accept that :

Mary Oraon from a wild village like Kuraba could blow him away. He stuck to Mary through marking and felling the trees, cutting and transporting them. That Mary won’t look at him and would rather marry a Muslim increased his anger. (11).

In male terms this would mean that Jalim was more “manly” than him.

Mary resists Tehsildar’s sexual advances with the first weapon she has : verbal rebuffs and threats. However, Tehsildar persists following Mary on frequent occasions. One day when Mary was returning from the market Tehsildar approached her with more violent amorous advances. He caught her hand saying, “I won’t let go today” (13). After a struggle, Mary was able to spring out of his grasp. At that moment Mary, who felt her virginity threatened in a potential rape, hatched a plan to bring an end to the man’s sexual aggression.

Mary sets up a rendezvous with Tehsildar in the forest during the annual spring festival. According to tribal custom, gender roles are reversed once every twelve years when the women become the hunters while the men, dressed up as clowns, indulge in singing, dancing and merry-making. This is the twelfth year. Mary will become a hunter in this year’s ritual hunt. She expectedly meets up with Tehsildar who approaches her in the hope of sexual union. Displaying a fierce, indomitable spirit Mary raises her machete in retaliation and proceeds to hack Tehsildar to death and throws his body parts into the ravine. In a dramatic reversal, the hunter becomes the prey. Mary becomes the predator, and kills Tehsildar. What is important about the murder

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scene is the description which Mahashweta Devi provides. “Mary laughed and held him, laid him on the ground. Tehsildar is laughing, Mary lifts the machete, lowers it, lifts, lowers” (16). Mary stabbing Tehsildar repeatedly represents Mary doing the raping. Of course there is plenty of blood, which represents Mary’s virginity if Tehsildar would have successfully raped her.

In the Prefatory interview placed at the beginning of Imaginary Maps, Mahashweta Devi insists on the special sense of outrage provoked by the idea of rape in a tribal society where women are honoured: “Among the tribals, insulting or raping a woman is the greatest crime . . . Women have a place of honour in tribal society” (Devi, 1995: xviii). The narrative presents Mary’s brutal murder of Tehsildar as an act of justice, a contemporary version of an ancient tribal custom. As signified by Mary’s nocturnal revelry with the other female “hunters”, the killing of Tehsildar is meant to be viewed as an act committed on behalf of the entire tribal community. Mary returns to her fiancé. The story ends: The spring festival fires are scattered in the distance. Mary is not afraid, she fears no animal as she walks, watching the railway line in the dark, by starlight. Today all the mundane blood-conditioned fears of the wild quadruped are gone because she has killed the biggest beast.(17)

“The Hunt” is a story where a female subaltern – a rural tribal woman from India – is subjected to sexual harassment and violent threats from a male character and virtually avenges her oppressive plight by turning into a predator and killing her oppressor. It is a story of revolt against gender oppression and resistance to the exploitation of women in postcolonial India. The story is also a scathing statement on the role of women in resisting the reality of dispossessed tribal communities and destruction of the environment and tribal traditions.

Tehsildar Singh’s presence in Tohri is a token of the rampant practice of illegal deforestation, a process in which timber merchants collude with unscrupulous landowners. The destruction of Sal forests for commercial purposes represents ecological violation, as well as disruption of the tribal way of life. Both under imperialist rule and as subjects of domination by the ruthless landowners who have replaced the British, the tribals remain oppressed ad exploited, deprived of their traditional habitat and lifestyle. This traditional way of life is figured in the ritual of the hunt, the annual ritual which is also the climax of Mahashweta Devi’s story.

“The Hunt” is a celebration of tribal traditions too. The indigenous practices of tribes such as the gender-reversal ritual during the annual spring festival’s twelfth year still becomes a viable and opportune time to wield the tribal myth into a weapon that combats the oppression of contemporary times. The ritual acts as a fertile ground for the extraction of justice. As Meenakshi Mukherjee says of Mahashweta Devi in The Perishable Empire, “her powerful stories about tribal life are always located . . . their conflicts subtly implicated in the local ethnic, class, gender and language dissonances” (Mukherjee, 171). In “the Hunt”, the tribals are romanticised, their rituals mythified, and Mary emerges as larger than life.

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References: 1. Devi, Mahashweta. Imaginary Maps : Three Stories by Mahashweta Devi. trans. Gayatri Chakravorty

Spivak. New York : Routledge, 1995. Print.

2. ------- Five Plays. trans. Samik Bandyopadhyay. Calcuta : Seagull, 1986. Print.

3. Mukherjee, Meenakshi. The Perishable Empire : Essays on Indian Writing in English. New Delhi : Oxford University Press, 2000. Print.

4. Sree, S. Prasanna ed. Psycho-Dynamics of Women in the Post Modern Literature. New Delhi : Sarup and Sons, 2008. Print.

Dr. Nazneen Khan is an Associate Professor in the Department of English and Modern European Languages, University of Lucknow, Lucknow (U.P.). Her areas of specialization include Indian Writing in English, Indian Literatures in English Translation and African and Caribbean Poetry. She has several articles and research papers published in various literary journals to her credit.








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15. DR. SUKANYA SAHA

The Stream of Consciousness in James Joyce’s Novels: A Study in Sentence Lengths

Abstract Fiction at its best has been the representation of life in all its richness and totality since its origin. The presentation of ‘thought’ has a distinctive role in fiction, for it is the thought only through which the ‘imitation of reality’ materialises in speech. In order to make the speech or utterance meaningful, the arrangement of the sequence of words in a sentence should have logic. In syntactic analysis, we generally concentrate on the phenomenon of the arrangement of words into meaningful grammatical structures. The magic of an author depends largely upon the syntactic structures produced by him. The quality of structures used, determine the overall utility and aesthetic value of the piece of writing. Much of the writers’ perspective of life comes alive not only through his selection of words but also their arrangement in appropriate syntactic structures. Syntax in Joyce’s hands has received a novel treatment which has evidently left critics wondering over his ingenuity. The genre which he propagated was unique and revolutionary in many ways and his readers would agree that in order to depict the pre speech levels of thought he could not have done justice with conventional syntactic structures.

The following discussion is an attempt to highlight some sentence lengths which he brought in, in order to project his characters’ thought processes.

The outcomes of Joyce’s innovative linguistic engineering are prevalent throughout his three novels. Each one of them confronts readers with different striking and unconventional sentence structures.

The Stream of Consciousness in James Joyce’s Novels: A Study in Sentence Lengths While studying Joyce’s sentence lengths, we find that he cares little for the traditional syntactic patterns. For him, even stray, incomplete structures are capable of producing the desired effects, since his prose is far from adhering to the traditional norms of plot, character and setting trio.

In Joyce’s novels, non-normal syntactic order confirms the faithful representation of the random production of the different associated or non-associated ideas produced by the mind of characters. Many sentences in these novels provide testimony to this fact as they display Joyce’s propensity for altering the conventional syntactic pattern and length.

Quirk and Greenbaum in their book A University Grammar of English, give us seven basic clause types. The following table exhibits these clause patterns1. As we observe them, we can understand to what extent Joyce deviates from these well-established norms:

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(1) SVA Mary is in the house. (2) SVC Mary is kind /a nurse. (3) SVO Somebody caught the ball. (4) SVOA I put the plate on the table. (5) SVOC We have proved him wrong /a fool. (6) SVOO She gives me expensive presents. (7) SV The child laughed

Joyce’s manipulations of traditional syntactic lengths stand justified as we pore over Joyce’s attempt at expression in the textual form the most inexpressible aspect of human personality, i.e., ‘thoughts’.

In order to catch the uncontrolled and inconsequential quality of characters’ thoughts, Joyce goes beyond the conventional structure of an English sentence. The cohesive internal organization of the main and subordinate clauses does no longer seem relevant. He trims his sentences abruptly short. They are either just words / phrases with full stops or fragments with one or other clausal element missing. Conversely there are prolonged sentences which take the form of large paragraphs and sometimes we turn a page a two searching a full stop. The analysis of these sentences in terms of main and subordinate clauses or with any conventional tool does not serve the purpose. The nature and purpose of Joyce’s prose requires such experimentation. The key is to observe them in the context and appreciate their significance therein.

1. One word sentences Often single words and phrases with full stops serve as sentences in between the passages. Such sentences are integral to their contexts. These are often stray ideas scattered in the form of single words or phrases amidst the character’s stream of thought. A few examples include the following:

1. Our. Little. Beggar. Baby. Meant nothing. (U, p. 120) 2. Golden ship. (ibid, p. 349) 3. Cool hands. (ibid, p. 349) 4. I. He . Old. Young. (ibid, p. 349) 5. A thrush. A throstle. (ibid, p. 351) 6. Order. (ibid, p. 351) 7. Echo. (ibid, p. 351) 8. I. Want. You. To. (ibid, p. 369)

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Most of such sentences occur during the ‘Sirens’ episode in Ulysses. Bloom, sitting at the Ormond bar, writes a letter to Martha. The noises, people and the overall scenario inside the bar often find expression in the form of stray lexical items or phrases in Bloom’s thoughts. When he sees an object, person or hears some noise, his thoughts give an immediate verbalized expression to the observed phenomenon or reflect upon it in such patterns interrupting the on-going thought.

2. Short sentences In line with one word sentences, Joyce’s brief statements punctuate the stream of the character’s thoughts and feelings. Such sentences often record the character’s immediate reflections upon his present surroundings and are not a part of a prolonged thought process. They sometimes occur amidst the character’s ponderings over something, pausing the character’s spontaneous thought process to take account of the surroundings. The best illustrations of short sentences can be found in A Portrait, where Joyce employs such sentences (mainly SVA, SVC, SVO patterns) to depict the thoughts of Stephen, which present him as a small and sensitive child. Being a child, he does not indulge in prolonged ponderings. His reflections over his observations in his surroundings are very elementary in terms of vocabulary and syntactic patterns:

1. When you wet the bed first it is warm then it gets cold. His mother put on the oilsheet. That had the queer smell (AP, p. 7) 2. His mother had a nicer smell than his father. She played on the piano the sailor’s hornpipe for him to dance. (ibid, p.7) 3. The Vances lived in number seven. They had a different father and mother. They were Eileen’s father and mother (ibid, p. 7) 4. Rody Kickham was a decent fellow but Nasty Roche was a stink. Rody Kickham had greaves in his number and a hamper in the refectory. Nasty Roche had big hands. He called the Friday pudding dog- in- blanket. (ibid, p. 8) 5. The face and voice went away. Sorry because he was afraid. Afraid that it was some disease. Canker was a disease of plants and cancer one of animals: or another different. That was a long time ago when out on the grounds in the evening light, creeping from point to point on the fringe of his line, a heavy bird flying low through the grey light. Leicester Abbey lit up. Wolsey died there. The abbots buried him themselves (ibid, p.22)

These short sentences are here expressing that how the sensory objects affect the child’s mind. The objects and people, among whom he resides, are the only occupiers of his mind. Apart from this child’s limited linguistic complexity is also reflected. As his thoughts are simple, so words and sentences are simple too. There is no subordination or co- ordination involved in the sentences; however the sentences are grammatically complete.

3. Sentence fragments used as sentences Abundant sentence fragments in the interior monologues of his characters are expressive of the character’s random associations and have been attempts at giving a sentential structure, but there are large semantic gaps prevalent in them. These are syntactically incomplete, for example, noun phrases have no verbs, verbs have no subjects, objects lack subject and verb both etc. Hence, the structural and semantic connections between these sentences cannot be established by supplying simple conjuncts or by any other means. These fragments are actually juxtapositions of stray ideas. Some examples are quoted here:

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1. Pick the bones clean no matter who it was. Ordinary meat for them. A corpse is meat gone bad. Well and what’s cheese? Corpse of milk. I read in that Voyages in China that the Chinese say a white man smells like a corpse. Cremation better. Priests dead against it. Devilling for the other firm. Wholesale burners and Dutch over dealers. Time of plague. Quicklime fever pits to eat them. Lethal chamber. Ashes to ashes. Or bury at sea. (U, p. 145) 2. The Malaga raisins. Thinking of Spain. Before Rudy was born. The phosphorescence, that bluey greeny. Very good for brain. (ibid, p. 190) 3. Hello, placard. Mirus bazaar. His excellency the lord lieutenant. Sixteenth today it is. In aid of fund for Mercer’s hospital. The Messiah was first given for that. Yes Handel. What about going out there. Ballsbidge. Drop in on keys. (ibid, p. 233)

However, a kind of thematic unity between the sentence fragments within a single paragraph is also sometimes evident, but most of the time these fragmentary structures depict the divergent thoughts of the characters. There are sudden leaps from one idea, observation or thought to another and they lead to no substantial conclusion about the character’s ponderings. The first set of sentence fragments quoted here, presents Bloom’s thoughts when he attends Paddy Dignam’s funeral and then pays a short visit to Parnell’s grave. Although in the sentence fragments, there is a lack of a systematic development of ideas but, the theme of funeral underlies the fragments, as the words, “corpse”, “cremation”, “priests”, “burners”, “ashes” bind the flowing thoughts. There are many instances in Ulysses where any unified theme is difficult to decipher through the fragments, since they are often mere babblings of the soliloquiser which generally has not been given a formal pattern.

4. Long but unshaped sentences Joyce has his own ways of stretching or prolonging his sentences. He would add phrases or clauses one after another and join them by a weak and vague conjunction ‘and’. Joyce would also put several phrases together having parallel structures. He forms sentences that sometimes extend up to not only large paragraphs but also exceed pages. Joyce’s long but unshaped sentences are roughly of the following types:

1. Strings joined with ‘and’ 2. Use of the series of parallel structures 3. Paragraph long sentences 4. Page long sentences 5. Dissociated sentence parts in longer sentences 6. Long series of adjectives qualifying single nouns

4.1. Strings joined with ‘and’ Joyce joins many sentence strings with ‘and’. These sentence strings are grammatically complete and represent various ideas occurring inside the character’s brain. The ideas which are compiled in such single long sentences could have been written separately in several distinct sentences having a formal pattern of the traditional narrated prose, but Joyce employs such sentences to depict the spontaneous flow of thoughts. A few examples are the following (bolds mine):

1. He told Stephen that his name was Athy and that his father kept a lot of race horses that were stiffing jumpers and that his father would give a good tip to Brother Michael anytime he wanted it

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because Brother Michael was very decent and always told him the news out of the paper they got everyday up in the castle. (AP, p. 25) 2. He thought of his own father of how he sang songs while his mother played and of how he always gave him a shilling when he asked for sixpence and he felt sorry for him that he was not a magistrate like the other boy’s father. (ibid, p.26) 3. And he saw a long Roman candle going up over the trees up, up, and, in the tense hush, they were all breathless with excitement as it went higher and higher and she had to lean back more and more to look up after it, high, high almost out of sight, and her face was suffused with a divine, an entrancing blush for straining back and he could see her other things too, nainsook knickers, the fabric that caresses the skin, better than those other pettiwidth, the green four and eleven, on account of being white and she let him and she saw that he saw and then it went so high it went out of sight a moment and she was trembling in every limb from being bent so far back he had a full view high up above her knee no-one ever not even on the swing or wading and she wasn’t ashamed and he wasn’t either to look in that immodest way like that because he couldn’t resist the sight of the wondrous revealment half offered like those skirtdancers behaving so immodest before gentleman looking and he kept on looking, looking. (U, p. 477)

The first two sentences are the part of child Stephen’s stream of consciousness. In the first sentence we find that he is reporting what a boy called Athy told him while introducing himself to him. Being sick, he has been admitted to the infirmary. He there gets acquainted with Athy and then Athy tells him about his own father. Thus, whatever Athy told him takes the shape of a long syntax where different ideas about Athy’s father have been tied one with each other. Similarly in the next sentence, child Stephen thinks about his parents and the thoughts flow one after another joined with ‘and’. The third sentence has been taken from the ‘Nausicaa’ chapter of Ulysses. After the tensions of the entire day, Bloom is now in a relaxed mood. He observes the movements of the lady called, Gerty Mc Dowell. He is provided with an unexpected relief by that sight and dozes off. The style of this sentence in his interior monologue represents the constant tendency to sink from the fantasy levels of consciousness towards the mundane and vulgar. Bloom admires the lady at a discreet distance. There is a firework display on the horizon, during which his gaze if fixed on Gerty. Thus, the sentence carries Bloom’s unconscious or dreamy descriptions of Gerty’s movements and many short strings have been joined with ‘and’ as the thoughts about Gerty and his own desires have been woven together.

4.2. Use of the series of parallel phrase structures Joyce lays many phrases together which have parallel or similar structures, separating them either by commas or by the conjuncts like and, that etc. or sometimes none of them in-between. Such long sentences can be seen as the depiction of the act of recalling. During the process of recalling, mind often tends to list and then put the objects, persons or ideas in a particular order and in a uniform pattern. Thus, the human mind places a particular phenomenon in line with the other things with which that has been attempted to be recalled in the similar pattern and the sentence is dragged till the process of recalling ends.

We often find the reduplication of the lexical items in such parallel structures, as Joyce has a strong liking for mocking names, for example, “Sindabad the Sailor and Tinbad the Tailor and Jinbad the Jailor and Whinbad the Whaler and Ninbad the Nailer and Finbad the Failer and Binbad the Bailer and Pinbad the Pailer and Minbad the Mailer and Hinbad the Hailer and Rinbad the Railer and Dinbad the Kailer and Vinbad the Quailer and Linbad the Yailer and Xinbad the Phthailer” (U, p.871).

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John Porter Houston writes about this particular sentence that, “This provides the sense of irrational drift while adhering to the principle of repeating the same device, modified at the appropriate point, that informs much of ‘Ithaka’; looseness of sense joins with formal coherence.”2

Following are a few examples of the co-occurrence of a number of parallel phrases within a single sentence:

1. He saw not Bronze. He saw not gold. Nor Ben nor Bob nor Tom nor Si nor George nor Tanks nor Richie nor Pat. Hee hee hee. He did not see. (U, p. 375) 2. And there sat with him the high sinhedrim of the twelve tribes of Iar, for every tribe one man, of the tribe of Patrick and of the tribe of Hugh and of the tribe of Owen and of the tribe of Conn and of the tribe of Oscar and of the tribe of Finn and of the tribe of Dermont and of the tribe of Conmac and of the tribe of Kevin and of the tribe of Caolte and of the tribe of Ossian, there being in hall twelve good men and true. (ibid, p. 419) 3. Martin Cunningham (in bed), Jack power (in bed), Simon Dedalus (in bed), Tom Kernan (in bed), Ned Lambert (in bed), Joe Hynes (in bed), John Henry Menton (in bed), Bernard Corrigan (in bed), Pasty Dignam (in bed), Paddy Dignam (in the grave). (ibid, p. 827) 4. In the ignorance that implies impression that knits knowledge that finds the namform that whets that convey contacts that sweeten sensation that drives desire that adheres to attachment that dogs death that bitches birth that entails the ensuance of existentiality. (FW, p.18)

4.3. Paragraph long sentences Study of the length of sentences in Joyce’s novels brings many surprises. There are instances in these novels where a sentence is so long that it forms a complete paragraph. There is no full stop in between. The spontaneous thoughts are joined by commas or other marks of punctuation. Examples are the following:

1. For nonperishable goods brought of Moses Herzgog, of 13 Saint Kevin’s parade, Wood quay ward, merchant, hereinafter called the vendor, and sold and delivered to Michael E. Geraghty, Esquire, of 29 Arbour Hill in the city of Dublin, Arran quay ward gentleman, hereinafter called purchaser, Vedelicet, five pounds avoirdupois of first choice tea at three shillings per pound avoirdupois and three stone avoirdupois of sugar, crushed crystal, at three pence per pound avoirdupois, the said purchaser debtor to the said vendor of one pound five shillings and six pence sterling for value received which amount shall be paid by said purchaser to said vendor in weekly installments every seven calendar days of three shillings and no pence sterling: and the said nonperishable goods shall not be pawned or pledged or sold or otherwise alienated by the said purchaser but shall be and remain and be held to be the sole and exclusive property of the said vendor to be disposed of at his good will and pleasure until the said amount shall have been duly paid by the said purchaser to the said vendor in the manner herein set forth as this day nearby agreed between the said vendor and his heirs, successors, trustees and assigns of the one part and the said purchaser, his heir successors, trustees and assigns of the other part. (U, p. 377) 2. And by that way went the herds innumerable of bellwethers and flushed ewes and shearling rams and lambs and stubble geese and medium steers and roaring mares and polled calves and longwools and storesheep and cuffe’s prime springers and culls and sowpigs and baconhogs and various different varieties of highly distinguished swine and Angus heifers and polly bullocks of immaculate pedigree together with prime premiated milch cows and beeves: and there is ever heard a trampling cackling, roaring, lowing, bleating, bellowing, rumbling, grunting, champing, chewing, of sheep and pigs and heavy hooved kine from pasturelands of Lush and Rush and

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Carrickmines and from the streamy vales of Thomond, from M ‘Gillicuddy’s reeks the inaccessible and lordly Shannon the unfathomable, and from the gentle declivities of the place of the race of Kiar, their udders distended with superabundance of milk and butts of butter and rennets of cheese and farmer’s firkins and targets of lamb and crannocks of corn and oblong eggs in great hundreds, various in size, the agate with the dun. (ibid, p. 380)

In such kind of sentences, Joyce captures the thought in its fullness, i.e. providing every single detail of that thought altogether in a spontaneous manner. He portrays all the fleeting impressions of which that particular thought is composed of. Both these sentences have been taken from the ‘Cyclops’ chapter of Ulysses. He takes great care in the composition of these sentences, so that they might appear to be formless but actually have an intricate pattern. He thus depicts the random association of ideas through such sentences.

These long sentences have been constructed with long series of nouns or verbs which have been joined with commas. There is also a repeated use of the conjunction ‘and’. Apart from this, he does not hesitate to repeat a chosen structure a number of times to stretch the sentence.

There is an extensive use of same syntactic structures in the first sentence, for example, “hereinafter called the vendor”, “Arran quay ward, gentleman, hereinafter called the purchaser”, “three pence per pound , said purchaser”, “said vendor”, “said nonperishable goods” etc. Such repetitions lengthen the sentences. The flow of thoughts about purchasing of goods, vendors, prices of goods and their weights echo in the mind of Bloom. In the second sentence a long series of the names animals has been presented, “… flushed ewes and shearling rams and lambs and stubble geese and medium steers and roaring mars and polled calves and longwools and storesheep…” All the noun phrases have been joined by ‘and’ here and also we have a repeated pattern of phrases. Joyce continues the statement to encompass the different activities if these animals (tramping, clacking, roaring, lowing, bleating, bellowing, rumbling, grunting, champing, chewing) and also the food prducts procured from them, “superabundance of milk and butts of butter and rennets of cheese…” and much more whatever comes into Bloom’s mind while thinking of these animals within this single long sentence. Hence, in such long sentences many associated or unassociated ideas or elements have been combined and put together.

4.4. Page long sentences Many sentences in Finnegans Wake fall in the page long category. These sentences are so long that they are just not confined to a single paragraph; rather they cover two or three pages till they reach to an end. Such sentences rarely occur in speech. Fritz Senn3 have done a comprehensive study of the Wake sentences. He categorizes sentences on the basis of their grammaticality, understandability and acceptability. He says that a large part of Wake sentences are ungrammatical due to unusual lengths and many other deviant grammatical usages, difficult to understand due to morphemic distortions, and therefore unacceptable too. About such page long sentences he says that they demand too much from memory, i.e. so many ideas are piled together that the reader tends to forget the previous idea as he proceeds further in the sentence. These sentences however can be understood by working out their parts on paper or in mental repose. Senn talks of the following sentences from the text:

Following sentence travels from an uncertain start on page 287 to a kind of finish on page 292:

… when as the swiftshut scareyss of our pupilteachertaut duplex will hark back to lark to you symibellically that, though a day be as dense as a decade, no mouth has the might to set a mearbound to the march of a landmaul, in half a sylb, helf a solb, holf a salb onward the beast

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of boredom, common sense, lurking gyrographically down inside his loose eating S.S. collar is gogoing of whisth to you sternly how- Plutonic love liaks twinnt Platonic yearlings- you must, how, in undivided reawlity draw the line somewhere)

The second sentence is one of the twelve questions in Shaun the post, which runs from page 126 to page 139 is another example:

What secontone myther rector and maximost bridges maker was the first to rise taller through his beanstale then the bluegum buaboababbaum or the giganteous wellingtonia Squoia;

Wake sentences thus, can be described in many ways as the deviations from the rules syntax to a large extent. Joyce puts words in an aberrant order or pattern and alters syntax and lexis largely to depict the speech of dreams. Such page long sentences also compose Molly Bloom’s famous eighty pages long soliloquy in Ulysses. There are eight sentences in this interior monologue but there is no punctuation mark in them so there is some kind of uncertainty about the beginning and ending of these sentences.

Further, in this context we can observe ‘Attributive Sentence’ too. A critic of Joyce called, Liisa Dahl in her article “The Linguistic Presentation of the Interior Monologue in James Joyce’s Ulysses”, introduces the concept of ‘Attributive Sentence’ in the following manner:

An attributive sentence grows through loose modifiers which join in without a fixed plan. Additions can be made to it in the order in which associations arise in the mind, because there is no definite pattern to which a new word should conform. The connection between the parts of a sentence is “half open”. There is usually a grouping round the subject which is the starting point but there is no fixed termination4.

Liisa quotes the following passage from Ulysses in support of the argument:

Yes because he never did a thing like that before as asked to get his breakfast in bed with a couple of eggs since the City Arms hotel when he used to be pretending to be laid up with a sick voice doing his highness to make himself interesting to that old faggot Mrs. Riordan that he thought he had a great leg of and she never let us a farthing all for masses for herself and her soul greatest miserever was actually afraid to lay out 4 d for her methylated spirit telling me all her ailments…(p. 871)

Attributive structure is another mean through which Joyce depicts the random associations of ideas and such random associations extend the sentences. As stated by Liisa, there is a central object around which the thoughts revolve. The connections between the parts of the sentences cannot be established since they are so varying, but the central object often remains intact. In the passage quoted above, Molly associates many facts about Bloom randomly as she ponders upon their relationship as husband and wife. She keeps on adding her ideas about him one after another without any pauses and the sentence is lengthened.

4.5. Dissociated sentence parts in longer sentences One more remarkable characteristic found in the sentences of the interior monologues of Joyce’s characters is that sentence parts in such sentences are put in a most casual and haphazard manner. These sentence parts are distantly associated with each other, i.e. there is a lack of the principle of cause and effect relationship in them so they lead to no substantial conclusion about the message they want to convey. In other words, while reading them we get the impression that these haphazardly put sentence parts belong to several other different

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sentences and they have been piled up together. As a result, the sentences are long and intricate. Ideas in them are sometimes intricately fused together and hence, such sentences yield a confused reading. Following are a few examples:

1. Windy night that was I want to fetch her there was that lodge meeting on about those lottery tickets after Goodwin’s concert in the supper room or Oakroom of the mansion house. (U, p. 197) 2. After all there’s a lot in that vegetarian fine flavour of things from the earth garlic, of course, it stinks Italian organgrinders crisp of onions, mushroom truffles. (ibid, p. 217) 3. Besides there was absolution so long as you didn’t do the other thing before being married and there ought to be woman priest that would understand without your telling out and Cissy Caffrey too sometimes had that dreamy kind of dreamy look in her eyes so that she too, my dear, and Winny Rippingham so mad about actors’ photographs and besides it was on account of that other thing coming on the way it did. (ibid, p. 476)

In these sentences we find that various ideas have been compressed together and they depict the immediacy in the character’s mind for the verbalization of a particular set of thoughts occurring together. The first and second sentences here can be rearranged in the following manner:

1. That was a windy night. I went there to fetch her. A lodge meeting about the lottery tickets after Goodwin concert was on, in the supper room or Oakroom of the mansion house. 2. After all there is a lot fine flavour in vegetarian things, in crisp of onions and mushroom truffles. Garlic of course stinks like Italian organgrinders.

In the first sentence we find that how more than one thought about Molly intervene Bloom’s thought process and in the second sentence Joyce attempts to create an image of a hungry man’s consciousness. He detests the sight of restaurants where customers are guzzling coarse food and the sight of the killing of poor, trembling calves, their raw meat and bloody bones. Hence ultimately he finds the vegetarian food to be much better. These ideas are jumbled up in his verbalized thought.

The third sentence is also a piling up of many ideas. These sentences however can be understood in their respective contexts as they are the muddled impressions of what a character observes or thinks in or about his surroundings.

4.6. Long series of adjectives modifying a single noun Joyce introduces a long series of modifiers, both normal and deviant to qualify a single noun. All these modifiers present a pen portrayal of the object or phenomenon which is being qualified. Following are a few examples (italics mine):

1. -O, the night in the Camden hall when the daughters of Erin had to left their skirts to step over you as you lay in your mulberrycoloured, multicoloured, multitudinous vomit! (ibid, p. 279) 2. The figure seated on a large boulder at the foot of a round tower was that of a broadshouldered deepchested stronglimbed frankeyed redhaired freelyfreckled shaggybearded widemouthed largenosed longheaded deepvoiced barekneed brawnyhanded hairylegged ruddyfaced sinewyarmed hero. (U, p.382) 3. York and savoy, and trays of onions, pearls of earth, and punnets of mushrooms and custard marrows and fat vetches and bere and red green yellow brown russet sweet big bitter ripe pomellated apples. (ibid, p.379-80)

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4. Elijah is coming washed in the blood of the Lamb. Come on, you winefizzling, ginsizzling, booseguzzling existences! Come on, you doggone, bullocknecked, beetelebrowed, hogjowled, peanutbrained, weaseleyed fourflushers, falsealarms and exessbaggage! (ibid, 561)

In these examples we find both types of adjectives: simple as well as compound. In the first and second examples, Joyce has omitted commas in between the modifiers order to project the immediacy of articulation of the soliloquizer’s impressions about a particular spectacle. The first sentence consists of a series of sixteen compound modifiers. Most of them are new coinages. The statement belongs to the ‘Cyclops’ chapter of Ulysses. The scene is set in the Barney Kiernan’s bar. This series of modifiers are qualifying a ‘hero’ who is present in the bar at that moment. All these modifiers are the products of Bloom’s observation of that fellow. These give us a kind of pen portrait of that hero whose description in Bloom’s interior monologue however does not end even here, rather takes two complete paragraphs further.

Such series of modifiers delay the noun which is modified. These unconscious releases from the mind indicate a prolonged thought process or pondering. Sometimes we also find the repetition of the same adjective a number of times. This kind of repetition expresses the emphasis which the mind gives to the object while articulating:

(He rushes against the mauve shade of flapping noisily) Pretty pretty pretty pretty pretty pretty pretty petticoats. (ibid, 634)

To conclude this discussion the length of the sentences here, we can say that by employing different methods to convey the immediate verbalization of the content of the mind, Joyce seems to suggest that language is the raw material, it is a kind of tool in our hands with which we can express the psychic content, which is quite inexpressible effectively by any other mean. We need to learn however, to ‘use’ language in various ways so that it conveys aptly what we want. Joyce has mastered this use that is why his presentation of the psychic content is so effective and convincing. Apart from all these linguistic features discussed above, in order to portray the continuity of the thought process, i.e. the ‘flow’, he employs the following more such striking syntactic innovations. These sentences are actually long chain of associations tied to each other by different grammatical means:

(a) Lengthening of sentence by a series of genitive phrases:

Examples: 1. What, reduced to their simplest reciprocal form, where Bloom’s thoughts about Stephen’s thoughts about Bloom and Bloom’s thoughts about Stephen’s thoughts about Bloom’s thoughts about Stephen? (U, 797) 2. ’ Tis as human a little story as paper could well carry, in affect, as singing so salaman susuing to swittvitles while as unbluffingly blurtubruskblunt as an Esra, the cat, the cat’s meeter, the meeter’s cat’s wife, the meeter’s cat’s wife’s half better, the meeter’s cat’s wife’s half better’s meter, and so back to our horses…(FW, 116) (b) Lengthening of sentence by prepositions: Example:

1. Till tree from tree, tree among trees, tree over tree become stone to stone, stone between stones, stone under stone for ever. (FW, 259)

(c) Lengthening of sentence by repetition: Example:

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1. He thought that he thought that he was a jew whereas he knew that he knew that he knew that he was not. (U, 797)

To conclude, Joyce expands the sphere of English language by incorporating various deviant as well as innovative syntactic structures in his novels. He sought to recreate an impression of the mental processes with a new approach and an original style, which evidently has found no match.

References: 1. Radolf Quirk, Sidney Greenbaum, A University Grammar of English (Delhi: Pearson Education Pvt. Ltd.,

2003) 167.

2. John Porter Houston, Joyce and Prose: An Exploration of the language of Ulysses (Lewisburg: Bucknell University Press, 1989) 159.

3. Fritz Senn (ed.) New Light on Joyce: From the Dublin Symposium (Bloomington & London: Indiana University Press, 1972) 66-72.

4. Liisa Dahl, “The Linguistic Presentation of the Interior Monologue in James Joyce’s Ulysses”, James Joyce quarterly 7.2(1970) 115.

Dr. Sukanya Saha, Ph D, was a lecturer with Amrita School of Engineering, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Bengaluru and other institutions. She occasionally contributes writing on various literary topics .




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16. SUKRITI GHOSAL

In Quest of Quietus

Abstract Euthanasia is a highly controversial form of medical intervention, for here physicians use their skill not to resuscitate the ailing but to pre-pone their death. The topic remains contentious, for medical issues have here got entangled with ethico-sociological questions like the distinction between homicide and mercy-killing, sanctity of life and death, the validity of surrogate decision about one’s life and the like. Suffering, albeit justified in the scriptures as conditioning of the soul for life divine, is a challenge to medical scientists. While ‘kill if you fail to heal’ cannot be the choice of a doctor whose first duty is non-maleficence, beneficence also demands that a physician should not be indifferent to the suffering of a patient. We seek medical intervention to alleviate suffering but, paradoxically enough, prefer medical inaction when it is a question of terminating suffering or vegetative state of existence through administration of euthanasia. Since both life and death should have grace and dignity, it would be irrational to neglect this option when curative and palliative treatments have failed to rein in agony. If prescribing euthanasia involves violation of any ethical code, ethical transgression is to be preferred here, since ethics is to be judged in the light of reason. With ample scriptural, literary and medical references the article attempts to evaluate euthanasia from multiple perspectives as also to justify it on non-economic, non-eugenic grounds.

In Quest of Quietus In his poem ‘The Ship of Death” D. H. Lawrence is skeptical about the power of death in making quietus:

And can a man his own quietus make with a bare bodkin? With daggers, bodkins, bullets, man can make a bruise or break of exit for his life; but is that a quietus, O tell me, is it quietus? Surely not so! For how could murder, even self-murder ever a quietus make? (ll. 17-23)

The quietus that Lawrence has in mind is metaphysical, and hence has little relevance to the issue of euthanasia (<Greek eu, well + thanatos, death) in which death is prescribed to medically terminate long stretched physical suffering. It is a highly controversial form of medical

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intervention, for here physicians use their skill not to resuscitate the ailing but to pre-pone their death. Recently the choice of death when a disease proves intractable or irreversible has been de-criminalized in some countries, thanks to the untiring efforts of Dr Jack Kevorkian, nicknamed Dr. Death, and the right-to- die movements of Hemlock Society (1980), an American activist group inspired by Dr Kovarkian’s mantra that "Dying is not a crime"1. Yet the topic remains contentious, for medical issues have here got entangled with ethico-sociological questions like the distinction between homicide and mercy-killing, sanctity of life and death, the validity of surrogate decision about one’s life and the like. The present article is an attempt to explore the multi-dimensionality of the controversy so that one may judge the matter from a more rational perspective.

Broadly speaking there are two categories of euthanasia: Voluntary when a terminally ill patient like Roosevelt Dawson2 opts for euthanasia; and non-voluntary (also called mercy killing), when surrogate decision precedes euthanasia because a patient like Aruna Shanbaug3 who is in PVS4 cannot give consent. There are two more classifications depending on the method selected for termination of life. Euthanasia is designated as active if a doctor quickens a patient’s death by administering life-killing gas or drug. It is passive when it is a death by omission, that is, when the patient dies due to planned medical non-interference, be it withholding or withdrawing of supply of food and drink, or non-application of life-support devices like ventilator, dialysis and oxygen mask.

Thomas More’s Utopia (1516) may be looked upon as a blueprint of an ordered society as envisioned by a civilized thinker. With the progress of civilization, many of its ideas have become dated. For example, we do not consider it civilized to employ war-captives as slaves as proposed in Utopia. However, of More’s insightful ideas euthanasia merits serious attention. The main points raised by More are that sick people in Utopia receive due care and attention. But when anybody is down with lingering pain and there is no hope, either of recovery or ease, (s)he is counseled to choose death to get rid of that ‘pestilent and painful disease’. No man is forced to end his life ‘against his will’. This form of death is ‘without pain’ as it is induced by starvation or overdose of opium. This form of death is to be approved, for taking away one’s own life without the approbation of ‘the priests and the council’ is suicide which is considered an offence in Utopia. So More recommends voluntary euthanasia in extreme cases of unappeasable agony when all other care has failed, but rightly insists on approval of competent authority to distinguish it from suicide.

Euthanasia is a civilized way of bidding goodbye to life where suffering makes life a veritable hell. Literature has examples galore of such excruciating agony which makes life literally insufferable. One may refer to the suffering of Emma in Gustave Flaubert’s Madame Bovary. In vain hope of expiring gracefully, Emma consumes arsenic and writhes in indescribable pain before her final exit from life:

Gradually, her moaning grew louder; a hollow shriek burst from her; she pretended she was better and that she would get up presently. But she was seized with convulsions and cried out— "Ah! my God! It is horrible!" … She soon began vomiting blood. Her lips became drawn. Her limbs were convulsed, her whole body covered with brown spots, and her pulse slipped beneath the fingers like a stretched thread, like a harp-string nearly breaking. … Her chest soon began panting rapidly; the whole of her tongue protruded from her mouth; her eyes, as they rolled, grew paler, like the two globes of a lamp that is going out so that one might

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have thought her already dead but for the fearful labouring of her ribs, shaken by violent breathing, as if the soul were struggling to free itself (Flaubert 270-78).

Death is indeed a relief worth opting for if life is not only sans sweetness but full of torments without any promise of respite or remission. Euthanasia is thus related to the question of human endeavour to tackle a situation of irremediable suffering.

Medically considered, we suffer when we feel "pain" which may be described as a pinchingly unpleasant sensation. The source of this sensation may be physical when "the body is hurting" or psychological when the mind is tormented by reflection on a sorry experience in the past (working of memory) or configuration of something fearful (working of imagination). So experience of suffering is the result of exposure to what is physically or psychologically unwholesome. As memory relates us to the past and imagination to the future, the suffering involved therein is virtual. As such it is outside the purview of euthanasia which is concerned with control of actual, physical distress or with ending a vegetative state of existence.

The traditional Indian attitude to suffering is that it is a form of penance for wrong-doing in past life (karmafal). This attitude to suffering exhorts us to accept suffering with composure without looking for any redressal. What is more perplexing is that in many religions suffering is not deemed as cruel but rather justified as necessary. Christianity urges upon us not only to accept it ungrudgingly but to rejoice in it (1 Peter 4.13). The principal Biblical arguments in this regard are (1) that suffering is a passing experience which prepares us for Life Eternal (Romans 8.18); (2) that it is a providential design for the trial of faith (1 Peter 1.7), as in the book of Job; (3) that it is meant for spiritual tempering (Romans 5.3-4); (4) that in its purest form suffering, as exemplified by the Passion of Christ, is redemptive (Paul II Intr.).

Despite such justification, there is ambivalence even in the scriptures or why should Christ heal a leper or cure the afflicting sores of Job. Non-metaphysically speaking, suffering is an uneasy condition which cannot be relished and hence calls for remedy. It is not a righteous punishment to be glorified but an organic disorder, a mal- or dys-functioning of the bodily system that ought to be restrained. In other words, instead of projecting it as a divine yoke to be shouldered ungrudgingly, medical science interprets it as an extreme form of anguish to be alleviated. Progress in medical science – from the application of anesthesia (1846) to the introduction of laparoscopic surgery (1981) – may be interpreted as progressive triumph in pre-empting the pang of suffering.

But what about unmitigated suffering which exposes the impotency of miracle or medicine? If medical progress is synonymous with alleviating bodily affliction, death is the only alternative one is left with where suffering cannot be reined in. The pet phrase in the dystopic universe of Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World is ‘Ending is better than mending’ (Huxley Chapter III). But is it at all a humanly acceptable solution? ‘Kill if you fail to heal’ does not always seem to be a rational prescription, for it apparently goes against the right to life that everyone is entitled to.

The ethical aspect of euthanasia gets more complicated if one judges it from the physician’s point of view. It has been rightly maintained that euthanasia is no sweet death: ‘Euthanasia is when the doctor kills the patient’ (Wilke Ch 27). The doctor’s dilemma is that he is oath-bound to save life not to destroy it5. The first lesson in medical ethics is non-maleficence, the motto being primum non nocere, meaning ‘first of all do not harm’. If so, taking away life to relieve suffering cannot be described as virtuous conduct (beneficence). To justify this act would be Machiavellian, for here the end (giving relief) may be noble but the means (killing) for achieving

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the end is not honest. That is why in any discourse on euthanasia a distinction is to be made between physician assisted suicide and criminal homicide. Beneficence demands that a physician should attend the ailing and try to relieve their suffering. But what comfort is there for a terminally ill patient writhing in unbearable pain? The next viable alternative is palliative care. However, according to medical survey, it is ineffectual in about 5% cases6. Admittedly, DNR (Do Not Resuscitate) is the only rational option left to the doctor attending patients remaining unresponsive to curative or palliative treatment.

The polemical issue of euthanasia is also to be judged in the light of dignity of life and dignity of death. First, although the sanctity of life entails its inviolability, living means living with dignity. Artificial continuance of life where death is deferred because the patient has been put upon ventilator is bereft of all graces that make life worth sustaining. Borrowing the words of Sebastian Horsley one may humorously describe such a life as ‘the misery left between abortion and euthanasia’. Secondly, life, biologically considered, begins with the formation of zygote through fusion of two gametes, not with the slitting of the umbilical cord after the birth of a child. If so, medical termination of pregnancy (MTP) would not only be immoral but a criminal act of homicide, as it actually is in countries like Ireland. But to ban MTP in the name of preserving the sanctity of life is to put the cab of civilization into reverse gear. The awful consequence of this orthodox mindset in the 21st century is illustrated by the case Savita Halappanavar7, a shameful instance of sacrificing life in the name of saving life (!).

This puritanical attitude to life springs from an irrational view that death should be deterred by all means no matter whether the gain by such deterrence is worth boasting. In J. M. Synge’s Riders to the Sea Maurya desperately tries to save her sons but having lost all of them finally reconciles herself to death with a rational insight into its inevitability in the scheme of life: ‘No man at all can be living for ever and we must be satisfied’ (Synge 69). If Maurya accepts death because it is impossible to escape it, Tithonus in Tennyson’s eponymous poem discovers that immortality can be a curse. Robbed of his youth, Tithonus is a mismatch for his eternally young wife Aurora. But as he is condemned to be immortal, the aged, decrepit Tithonus now realizes the value of death in the scheme of existence:

The woods decay, the woods decay and fall The vapours weep their burthen to the ground Man comes and tills the field and lies beneath And after many a summer dies the swan Me only cruel immortality Consumes (Green 116).

So death is not always to be feared; rather its help is to be solicited if we do not want the woes of a sufferer to be prolonged. But like life death, natural or induced, should not be bereft of dignity. One of the reasons why Owen raged against war is that in any battle soldiers ‘die as cattle’ with no passing-bells but ‘the monstrous anger of the guns’ (Hewett 158). Medical scientists have tried to itemize some of the main principles of dying with dignity8. Of these the most important are (1) having control over when & where one dies, (2) having access to therapeutic, medical and other benefits, (3) not having life prolonged pointlessly against will. The end of Lily Bart in Edith Wharton’s The House of Mirth (1905) illustrates what might be termed as death with dignity. Having self-administered overdose of sedative, Lily waits with ‘a sensuous pleasure for the first effects of the soporific’:

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She knew in advance what form they would take—the gradual cessation of the inner throb, the soft approach of passiveness, as though an invisible hand made magic passes over her in the darkness. The very slowness and hesitancy of the effect increased its fascination: it was delicious to lean over and look down into the dim abysses of unconsciousness. Tonight the drug seemed to work more slowly than usual: each passionate pulse had to be stilled in turn, and it was long before she felt them dropping into abeyance, like sentinels falling asleep at their posts… Slowly… sleep began to enfold her. She struggled faintly against it, feeling that she ought to keep awake on account of the baby; … for a moment she seemed to have lost her hold of the child. But no—she was mistaken—the tender pressure of its body was still close to hers: the recovered warmth flowed through her once more, she yielded to it, sank into it, and slept (Wharton 320-21).

The depiction of Lily’s death, if assisted by a doctor to relieve her of her unbearable physical torments, would convince us why euthanasia should be accepted without hesitation – because in it the dignity of life and the dignity of death both are preserved.

The principal objection to euthanasia is not so much medical as ethical. Ethics, incidentally, is a normative science that tries to formulate principles for judging the right-ness or wrongness of human conduct. Two common characteristics of moral principles are universalizability and unconditionality. In other words, they are not only inviolable but their applicability is not subject to spatio-temporal laws. Yet ethical principles have been flouted and such transgressions have sometimes been vindicated ethically. In the Mahabharata, when, in order to make Drona give up fighting, Yudhisthira utters ‘Ashwathama hatha iti kunjara’ (Ashwathama, the elephant, is dead) – ‘the elephant’ whisperingly – he is guilty of telling a lie, for he makes an expedient use of equivocation. Ethics takes into consideration intention and here Yudhisthira’s intention is politically expedient rather than morally impeccable. An opposite example is found in the conduct of sage Kaushika who refuses to tell a white lie to save an innocent life. Interestingly, both are to go to hell, Kaushika is condemned to suffer there, Yudhisthira is just a visitor. The conclusion that may be drawn from the story of Kaushika is that saving the innocent is more important than keeping a personal oath of truthfulness. Here transgression of moral principle would have been more rational if less in accordance with dry ethical code. Dehydrated of this human touch, ethics becomes a barren and irrelevant exercise. The ethical transgression on the part of Yudhisthira is prompted by a nobler aim of defeating the Kauravas who represent the vicious and the unjust. Yet since it involves moral stooping, despite his life-long truthfulness, Yudhisthira cannot avoid visiting the hell. The story of Yudhisthira teaches us that violation of ethical principles is not desirable even when unavoidable. The moral that can be abstracted from these two stories is that if virtuous conduct is divorced from true goodness (i.e. where both end & means are good), it ceases to be a virtuous conduct. It has been rightly held that ethics is to be judged in the light of reason, for what is rational may not always be ethically satisfying. Where the moral is in conflict with the rational, the rational is to be preferred, or else we will be doomed to have the destiny of sage Kaushika. Euthanasia, if rationally acceptable, is to be administered despite the fact that it goes against some codes of medical ethics. Here it would be unwise to avoid the rational course of action. To rank the moral above the rational is to repeat the tragedy of Savita Halappanavar whose life could have been saved if only the particular law had made some provision for exception or if all concerned had followed the law in spirit rather than to the letters.

Advocates of euthanasia who defend it on eugenic or economic grounds seem to be devil’s advocate. As disability is deemed an aberration, eugenics – the science of good genes – demands that the defective life in any form is to be removed. But upholding euthanasia on this

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ground is a barbarous proposition, for the wicked might interpret it as an incentive to ethnic cleansing. One recalls how the Nazis projected the Jews as unter menschen or subhuman before they launched their programme of extirpating the Jews, a programme which was euphemistically designated as Die Endlösung – the Final Solution. Astronomical expenses of palliative care in hospices have prompted many pragmatists to support euthanasia. This sounds realistic, for where our means are limited, we cannot afford to put to practice the noble ideal of caring for every life. If five critically ill patients are admitted to a three bedded CCU, the doctor is to go by priority. So ignoring the demands of the ‘lost’ cases, he makes the life support system available for those who have most chance of survival. The doctor’s decision may be rational but justifying euthanasia for limitedness of our resources would reveal the weakness of our argument. Here the rational solution will be maximizing the means so as to make provisions comprehensive enough, not dispensing with any single life on calculation of medical expenses involved in arranging for palliative care.

The debate over euthanasia has laid bare another medical dilemma which springs from the duality of our expectations. Instead of leaving everything to nature we welcome medical interference when it is a question of curing a disease or curbing suffering by medication. But we oppose medical interference and demand clinical indifference, if it is a question of putting an end to suffering by having recourse to euthanasia. One should not forget that advancement in medical technology has infinitely complicated the issue of life and death. Whereas in the past a terminally ill person would have taken seven hours to die naturally, today, thanks to medical miracles, he might take seven years to breathe his last. When days are numbered, to artificially prolong life is virtually to compromise with the dignity of life9.

The Parable of the Good Samaritan contains a moral which might act as a lighthouse for the doctor in this ocean of moral conflict. Unlike the priest or Levite who did not take care of the wounded man wincing in agony by the side of the road, the Samaritan ‘bound up his wounds’ out of compassion and then ‘brought him to an inn, and took care of him’ (Luke 10. 25-37). When he left the place next morning, he arranged for his recuperative care at his own expenses. The parable exhorts us not to be indifferent but to be sensitive to other’s sufferings. What is required is not dry compassion but compassion as an incentive to action. And if we are genuinely concerned, we should not sentimentalize the point of death which may be medically pre-scheduled to relieve agony of a patient at the irreversible stage of a disease. Euthanasia may be a human gesture to stand a sufferer in good stead or an excuse for killing with an ulterior motive. In his book The Forgotten Art of Healing and Other Essays Dr. Udwadia rightly observes that ‘It is the intention that defines the act and not the method used’ (Udwadia 33). The most convincing argument for choice of involuntary euthanasia for patients who have slipped into irreversible coma or who are in persistent vegetative state has been articulated by Lord Hoffman in his judgment on the case of Anthony Bland:

But the very concept of having a life has no meaning in relation to Anthony Bland. He is alive, but has no life at all....There is no question of his life being worth living or not worth living, because the stark reality is that Anthony Bland is not living a life at all.

The point stressed by Lord Justice Hoffman is that when the patient is in PVS, the question of medical termination of life should not be raised at all because the patient, strictly speaking, is ‘not living.’

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To sum up, it is the acuteness of unremitting suffering and indignities associated with the natural process of dying that have strengthened argument in support of euthanasia. Even when one finds it justifiable, precaution against its abuse is a must. First of all, voluntary euthanasia may be allowed if the attending doctor is certain about the futility of continuing treatment. This exit-state should preferably be determined by a board rather than by a single medical practitioner in order to minimize chances of error. As consent must precede administration of VE, what is to be ensured is that the choice of death is well-judged, and not a fleeting thought prompted by a gnawing suffering. Considerable time must elapse between the first choice of euthanasia and its administration. The case of Seema Sood10 illustrates that if some time is given to adjust with adversity, many sufferers may find life sweeter than death. It is also to be ensured that euthanasia not prompted by emotional breakdown which time may heal but acute physical affliction unchecked by curative treatment or palliative care. Moreover, in order to differentiate euthanasia from suicide it may be allowed to a patient whose days are literally numbered or who cannot survive at all.

So it is wrong either to rhapsodize over euthanasia or object to this civilized way of bidding farewell to the world on religious, moral, economic or medical grounds. All discourses on euthanasia will be incomplete if the issue is not considered from the standpoint of the sufferer, since it is the wearer who knows where the shoe pinches. We will surely have no hesitation in welcoming it if we look upon death as a merciful deliverer rather than a fearful tormentor. The more science advances, the less will we have any need for exercising choice for euthanasia. Finally, where there is any conflict between the ethical and the rational, we should opt for the rational, for what is rational cannot be unethical unless we are using ethics in a very narrow sense. But when the rational is in conflict with the humane, we should not scruple to embrace the humane solution, for what is humanly acceptable has an intrinsic value whether or not ratified by our wit and reasoning.

References: 1. Although this has never been officially acknowledged, Faye Girsh, President Hemlock Society of San

Diego, in a posthumous tribute to Dr Kevorkian, wrote: ‘Love him or hate him, Jack Kevorkian was the face of the right-to-die movement for almost a decade. … He felt our attempts were too timid. And, reciprocally, movement leaders made an effort to distance themselves from his "antics." But the rank and file in our movement loved Jack Kevorkian.’ <http://www.hemlocksocietysandiego.org/tribute.pdf>

2. Roosevelt Dawson, a twenty one-year-old Oakland University student who had been bed-ridden for thirteen months, opted for PAS in 1998 and thus is a beneficiary of euthanasia.

3. Aruna Shanbaug, a former nurse at King Edward Memorial Hospital, suffered serious brain damage consequent upon rape related atrocity. Although she has been in persistent vegetative state since 1973, she has not been allowed to die.

4. ‘PVS is a state in which there is generally extensive damage to the cerebral neocortex. The brain stem, which is responsible for the vegetative functions such as respiratory movement and the regulation of heart rate and rhythm, is more or less intact. Patients therefore breathe spontaneously, have normally functioning hearts, and require no support other than nursing care (turning, toileting etc), feeding and the provision of fluids. Feeding and hydration are generally done through nasogastric tubes, intravenous lines or stomas going directly into the stomach.’ <http://www6.miami.edu/ethics/jpsl/archives/all/pvs.html>

http://www.hemlocksocietysandiego.org/tribute.pdf

http://www6.miami.edu/ethics/jpsl/archives/all/pvs.html

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5. The relevant Hippocratic oath reads: ‘I will prescribe regimens for the good of my patients according to my ability and my judgment and never do harm to anyone. To please no one will I prescribe a deadly drug, nor give advice which may cause his death.’ <http://www.duhaime.org/LegalDictionary/H/HippocraticOath.aspx>.

6. ‘Some doctors estimate that about 5% of patients don't have their pain properly relieved during the terminal phase of their illness, despite good palliative and hospice care’. ‘When Palliative Care is Not Enough’. <http://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/euthanasia/against/against_1.shtml>

7. A promising young Indian dentist, Savita Halappanavar developed septicemia out of accidental miscarriage, but she was not helped with an abortion, for MTP is illegal in Ireland where she lived at that time. Subsequently, due to multiple organ failure Savita died on 28 October 2012.

8. M. Henwood in The Future of Health and Care of Older People: The Best is Yet to Come mentions the following twelve conditions of good death:

• To know when death is coming, and to understand what can be expected • To be able to retain control of what happens • To be afforded dignity and privacy • To have control over pain relief and other symptom control • To have choice and control over where death occurs (at home or elsewhere) • To have access to information and expertise of whatever kind is necessary • To have access to any spiritual or emotional support required • To have access to hospice care in any location, not only in hospital • To have control over who is present and who shares the end • To be able to issue advance directives which ensure wishes are respected • To have time to say goodbye, and control over other aspects of timing • To be able to leave when it is time to go, and not to have life prolonged pointlessly

<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1128725/> 9. ‘Medical advances have altered the physiological conditions of death in ways that may be alarming; highly

invasive treatment may perpetuate a human existence through a merger of body and machine that some might reasonably regard as an insult to life rather than its continuation’ (p. 17) <http://hillsborough.independent.gov.uk/repository/docs/WYC000000110001.pdf >

10. Seema Sood, a gold-medalist from BITS Pilani crippled by rheumatoid arthritis since 1993, first appealed for mercy-killing, but finally changed her mind and chose to survive with all her handicaps.

http://www.duhaime.org/LegalDictionary/H/HippocraticOath.aspx

http://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/euthanasia/against/against_1.shtml

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1128725/

http://hillsborough.independent.gov.uk/repository/docs/WYC000000110001.pdf

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Works Cited: 1. Flaubert, Gustave. Madame Bovary. Trans. Eleanor Marx-Aveling. Retrieved on August 5, 2013.

<http://www2.hn.psu.edu/faculty/jmanis/flaubert/m_bovary.pdf>

2. Girsh, Faye. ‘A Personal Tribute to Jack Kevorkian’. Hemlocksocietysandiego. N.p. Retrieved March 29, 2013. <http://www.hemlocksocietysandiego.org/tribute.pdf>

3. Green, David (ed.) The Winged Word. Calcutta: Macmillan, 1974.

4. Good News Bible: Today’s English Version. Bangalore: The Bible Society of India, 1977.

5. Hewett, R. P. (ed.) A Choice of Poets. London; George G. Harrap & Co., 1968

6. Horsley, Sebastian. Dandy in the Underworld: An Unauthorized Autobiography. Retrieved on August 5, 2013 from <http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/51505-life-is-just-the-misery-left-between-abortion-and>

7. Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World. N. p. Retrieved on August 4, 2013. < http://www.huxley.net/bnw/three.html>

8. Lawrence, D. H. ‘The Ship of Death’. Retrieved on August 9, 2013. < http://www.kalliope.org/en/digt.pl?longdid=lawrence2001061776>

9. More, Sir Thomas. Utopia. Book II. N.p. August 4, 2013. <http://www.bartleby.com/36/3/8.html>

10. Paul II, John. ‘Apostolic Letter Salvifici Doloris’. N. p. August 4, 2013. <http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/apost_letters/documents/hf_jp-ii_apl_11021984_salvifici-doloris_en.html>

11. Synge, J. M. Riders to the Sea. Ed. B. N. Chowdhury & B. Banerjee. New Book Stall, Calcutta 1992.

12. Udwadia, F. E. The Forgotten Art of Healing and Other Essays. New Delhi: O.U. P., 2009

13. Wharton, Edith. The House of Mirth. The Electronic Classics Series. August 4, 2013. < http://www2.hn.psu.edu/faculty/jmanis/wharton/house_of_mirth.pdf>

14. Wilke. J. ‘Abortion Questions and Answers’. August 5, 2013. < http://abortion-not.org/wilke-6.htm>

Dr Sukriti Ghosal, MA in English, has done Ph. D. on the literary criticism of Oscar Wilde. He started his teaching career as a Lecturer in English and is now the Principal at MUC Women’s College, Burdwan. Dr Ghosal has published over a dozen research papers in journals of repute, prepared study materials for university courses and edited a commemorative volume on the famous Bengali poet Jibanananda Das. He has also published many essays and poems and translated stories in Bengali.

http://www2.hn.psu.edu/faculty/jmanis/flaubert/m_bovary.pdf

http://www.hemlocksocietysandiego.org/tribute.pdf

http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/51505-life-is-just-the-misery-left-between-abortion-and

http://www.huxley.net/bnw/three.html

http://www.kalliope.org/en/digt.pl?longdid=lawrence2001061776

http://www.bartleby.com/36/3/8.html

http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/apost_letters/documents/hf_jp-ii_apl_11021984_salvifici-doloris_en.html

http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/apost_letters/documents/hf_jp-ii_apl_11021984_salvifici-doloris_en.html

http://www2.hn.psu.edu/faculty/jmanis/wharton/house_of_mirth.pdf

http://abortion-not.org/wilke-6.htm

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Book Reviews



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17. ROB HARLE

Rob Harle Reviews Vinita Agrawal’s Words Not Spoken

When I started reading Vinita Agrawal's poems I immediately sensed I was involved with something special – by the time I finished this extraordinary book, I knew without a hint of doubt, that this relatively young poet is an exceptionally gifted and important poetic voice in our contemporary, global literary scene. Many poems are unmistakably set in Vinita's native India, evoking the subtle fragrances, the seasonal monsoon rains, and delights of nature specific to this unique country.

Gentle power is an inherent characteristic of many of Vinita's poems. This is made all the more poignant because of her juxtaposition of soft gentle imagery with very serious, important themes and subject matter. In the poem The Refugees Are Here, she highlights the plight and suffering brought about by the unforgivable destruction of Tibet and Tibetan culture by the Chinese invasion of the Tibetan homeland:

The enemy has ravaged modest dwellings at gunpoint/the way swords demolish cobwebs/can guns talk for sixty years

and then the last verse:

hungry, empty/the refugees are here/only to keep alive the stories of their land/through chapped, charred lips/that dried up kissing loved ones/goodbye.

Title: Words Not Spoken Author: Vinita Agrawal Publisher: Brown Critique - Sampark Book ISBN: 978-81-926842-2-2 Pages :122 Year: 2013.

Vinita Agrawal is a master of the use of metaphor, a skill and sensibility often lacking in contemporary poetry. Subtle metaphors create magic which defies engineering style logic but elevates a poem out of the ordinary into the realm of the extraordinary. “I entrust these verses the task of carrying the readers to the edge of life and beyond because that is where our truest experiences bear meaning. That is where it all happens.” (Preface)

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Poetry is not newspaper journalism, to be successful it must engage the readers imagination and speak directly to their heart. Thus as Vinita says again in the Preface to Words Not Spoken, “Through my written words I hope to strike with the readers a connection more real than artificial, more deep than shallow and more at the level of heart than at the mind.”

In the poem, Monsoon Showers we experience Vinita's wonderful use of metaphor and imagery:

The scent of wet earth/after an amorous monsoon shower/ clambers up the walls of the heart/like a snake biting into equipoise/the blue poison of desire spreads.

Some memories wrapped/in grey sheets of thick old rain/are still strangely warm/like a hearth fire not fully extinguished/or like hot lava fingers scratching a cool earth/from beneath.

Interspersed with the powerful political orientated poems are ones which capture very ordinary events which we all experience such as in, Clean. This poem elevates a Spring cleaning activity to the level of a deeply searching human cathartic cleansing of the soul. From the first verse:

This year my burst of spring cleaning/left life’s cupboards bare/shells, letters, squat silences/dry flowers, leaves/your promises and yes, the hunger/were all forced to flee.

Vinita's skillfull use of the metaphor of a physical clean to a soul Spring clean is astonishing. In the final verse we are lead to look at ourselves:

the mirror was hardest to clean/for it had reflections/that wouldn’t settle.../they flitted away/before they could be erased.

Again in the poem Connections, a relatively simple domestic situation is infused with subtle power and universal significance which is quite overwhelming:

In this elderly house/conversations/are folded away like yesterday’s newspapers/leaving a blank table of silence behind/The future of words is precarious here/for it is inlaid with monotony.

Some poems like the Puppet concern aspects of Vinita's personal life and have a relationship with Buddhism and Indian spiritual traditions such as Diwali. Her brilliance as a poet lies in her ability to write a simple poem about a mundane event which on close reading and reflection contains the wisdom of a spiritual sage. This poem concerns a puppet/doll purchased at a bizarre, then after a time thrown out, a few verses:

it saw but never spoke/never cried/always smiled, looked bridal/

and the children wanted to play with it/

it never gained weight/never wanted sex/not even after a rain storm/and had the detachment/that the Buddha would have envied

it stayed like that for years/until one Diwali you thought it had/

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gathered too much dust/and trashed it

I admired it too much to let go/and secretly fished it out of the dustbin/hid it in the cupboard/it was everything that I could never be.

Over the years Vinita has had many individual poems published in journals and so on, but this is her first volume of collected poems. She decided to include some older poems so as not to, “miss any step in her poetic journey,” we the readers are fortunate she made this decision, as nor will we miss out on these exquisite gems.

It has been an enlightening and humbling experience reading Vinita's, Words Not Spoken and I cannot recommend this book highly enough both for lovers of fine poetry, librarians, and educators teaching poetry at any level.

Reviewers Bio: Rob Harle is a writer, artist and academic reviewer. Writing work includes poetry, short fiction stories, academic essays and reviews of scholarly books, journals and papers. His work is published in journals, anthologies, online reviews, books and he has two volumes of his own poetry published Scratches & Deeper Wounds (1996) and Mechanisms of Desire (2012). Recent poetry has been published in Rupkatha Journal (Kolkata); Nimbin Good Times (Nimbin); Beyond The Rainbow (Nimbin); Poetic Connections Anthology (2013); Indo-Australian Anthology of Contemporary Poetry (2013); Rhyme With Reason Anthology (2013); and Asian Signature (2013). He is currently a member of various literary organizations of high repute.

Author’s Bio: Vinita is a Mumbai based writer and poet. Her poems have been published in Asiancha, Raedleaf Poetry, Wordweavers, OpenRoad Review, Constellations, The Fox Chase Review, Spark, The Taj Mahal Review, CLRI, SAARC Anthologies, Kritya.org, Touch- The Journal of healing, Muse India, Everydaypoets.com, Mahmag World Literature, The Criterion, The Brown Critique, Twenty20journal.com, Sketchbook, Poetry 24, Mandala and others which include several international anthologies. Her poem was nominated for the Best of the Net Awards 2011 by CLRI. She received a prize from Muse India in 2010. Her debut collection of poems titled Words Not Spoken published by Sampark/Brown Critique was released in November 2013. Her poem was awarded a prize in the Wordweavers contest 2013.

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Book Releases

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18. BOOK RELEASES

Author: Saligrama K. Aithal Publisher: AuthorHousee ISBN: ISBN 9781491803882 E-Book | ISBN 9781491803875 Published Year: 2013 Pages: 134 Genre: Short Story Available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble

Saligrama K. Aithal is a graduate of Mysore University, Mysore, India, and Indiana University, Bloomington, Ind. He has taught English language and literature to diverse groups of students at numerous places in India and the U.S. for over half a century. He first came to the U.S. in 1968 on a Fulbright scholarship to do his doctoral degree, returned to India after graduation, and took leave from his job in India as often as he could to visit the United States to work and attend professional conferences. After his retirement in 1998, Aithal headed back to the U.S. for permanent residence. He lives in a suburb of Washington, D.C., and works sporadically as an adjunct professor in local colleges and universities. Aithal has edited several anthologies and textbooks and has two books ready for publication: Toni Morrison, Novelist and One in Many, a sequel to Many in One.

Author: Emeka Iwenofu Publisher: Hope Point Press, LLC Country: USA Language: English ISBN: 978-0985532123 Published year: 2012 Number of pages: 218 Genre: Humanities

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Author: Dr. Jan Yager Publisher: Hannacroix Creek Books, Incorporated Country: USA Language: English ISBN: 978-1889262376 Published year: 2012 Number of pages: 258 Genre: business/economics/career

Author: Edward Eaton Publisher: Dragonfly Publishing, Incorporated Country: USA Language: English ISBN: 978-1936381272 Published year: 2012 Number of pages: 246 Book genre: literature

Author: Miki Kikkawa Publisher: Babel Press U.S.A. Country: USA Language: English ISBN: 978-0983640219 Published year: 2013 Number of pages: 36 Book genre: Thought

From Bihan Publication

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Contemporary Literary Review India (CLRI) receives huge submission each month from writers belonging to a wide range of professions from around the world.

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