Ashvamegh... the literary flight Ashvamegh Journal

Dear authors, poets, writers, Greetings of the season.

We have started a new online international journal Ashvamegh… the literary flight at www.ashvamegh.net

You can submit your articles, poems, essays or whatever you write to us round the year; however, you can have a chance to be featured in the very first issue of the journal to come in February if you submit now!

Like us on http://facebook.com/Ashvamegh

Follow us on http://twitter.com/AshvameghJourn

Visit us at www.ashvamegh.net

(Ashvamegh Journal, Poetry, Journal, Ashvamegh literary flight, February issue, Alok Mishra)

Wordsworth and Nature... Debate. Issue. Poetry of Wordsworth and Nature. Poet Wordsworth and Nature Poetry

CONCLUSION

It is well-known in the world of poetry readers and literary persons that nature and Wordsworth more or less work like synonymous to each other. Without nature, the poetry of Wordsworth is nothing; since the beginning of his poetic career to the end of his poetry, one can easily find the impression that nature marked upon him and his poetry. Nature is the inevitable force when we talk about the poetry of Wordsworth; it works like the central object around which the cobweb of Wordsworth’s poetry is weaved. Nature to Wordsworth means everything in his last stage… however, it was not a sudden ‘flash’, rather it was a gradual process that integrated nature to the poetry and even the life of Wordsworth. Nature in the beginning was only of a ‘secondary pursuit’ to the poet and eventually it became the ‘mistress’ and later ‘mother’ and sustainer of the poet. All the story, Wordsworth records in his celebrated autobiography – The Prelude.

To Wordsworth, nature does not only mean the object to see and be pleased with; he perceives nature as offering security and protection to the world, to humankind, and acting like an authority to manage the movements of the environment. Writes an author about this unique trait of Wordsworth:

“In Wordsworth’s The River Duddon: A Series of Sonnets (1820), the speaker is again drawn to the thought that nature actively protects – as the stream descends from bare upland, ‘to form a shade / For Thee, green alders have together wound / Their foliage; ashes flung their arms around; / And birch-trees risen in silver colonnade’. In the sequence, individual sonnets present different parts of the landscape, often raising the possibility of an allegorical meaning for them, sometimes making it unmistakable. In this case, the trees are like parents watching over and nurturing the young stream; the course of a life, charted by the stream, has reached childhood and nature’s nursing of the human soul is visible in the trees’ protective efforts and again, a moment later, in the cottage nearby where a ‘mother’s eyes / Carelessly watched’ her children at play (Sonnet 5). This movement of thought is typical of the sonnets and, as here, the fancifulness of Wordsworth’s language draws attention to the mind creating the allegorical sense at the same time as it claims that that sense is genuinely present.” ¹

Indeed, to Wordsworth, ‘human soul is visible in the trees.’ Wordsworth is a unique poet with such blessed eyes that can actually see nature and human so commingling that one without the other cannot exist! When the sister of the poet calls him to stay with her, he composes a poem and writes the first line:

“On Nature’s invitation do I come,” ²

For Wordsworth, it was not merely the call of his sister, rather it was the call of Nature unto him… it was in the habit of Wordsworth, in his poetry and his sensibility to relate everything to Nature. A serious poetry reader can find certainly the quality in the poetry of Wordsworth that mingles human emotions and sufferings with nature – nature that endures all; nature that returns only good; and nature that acts like the guardian to humankind! It is the company of nature that lets Wordsworth listen –

“The still, sad music of humanity,”

And for the asylum, for the peace Wordsworth releases himself in the arms of nature and so he advises to everyone else. Wordsworth is the genuine flag-holder of the romantic revival’s call that advocates ‘return to the nature’.

Wordsworth wished always the development of humankind and the mutual harmony between man and man, and man and nature, ‘By Nature’s kind and ever-present aid’.

At last, to conclude this dissertation, there is no better way than quoting his lines that muse the Nature:

“The spot was made by Nature for herself;

The travellers know it not, and 't will remain

Unknown to them; but it is beautiful;

And if a man should plant his cottage near,

Should sleep beneath the shelter of its trees.

And blend its waters with his daily meal,

He would so love it, that in his death-hour

Its image would survive among his thoughts:” ³

REFERENCES

1.     Stephen Gill, The Cambridge Companion to Wordsworth. p. 193.

2.     William Wordsworth, The Complete Poetical Works of Wordsworth (New York, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1919), p. 213.

3.     Ibid. p. 310.

Further Reading

Primary Sources:

1.     Wordsworth, William. The Complete Poetical Works of Wordsworth. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1919.

2.     Wordsworth, William. The Collected Poems of William Wordsworth. Hertfordshire: Wordsworth Editions Limited, 2006.

3.     Wordsworth, William. The Prelude. Agra: Narain, 2007.

4.     Wordsworth, William. Selected Poems. New Delhi: Vimal Prakashan, 2006.

Secondary Sources:

1.     Herford, Charles H. The Age of Wordsworth. Kolkata: Books Way, 2008.

2.     Gill, Stephen. The Cambridge Companion to Wordsworth.

3.     Hopkins, Kenneth. English Poetry: A Short History. New York: J. B. Lippincott Company, 1962.

4.     Legouis, Emily and Louis Cazamian. History of English Literature. Gurgaon: Macmillan, 2012.

5.     EVANS, Ifor. A Short History of English Literature. Noida: Penguin, 1990.

Moments with Oneself: Poem by Alok Mishra: Artist and Art~~ the thought

Moments with Oneself

‘They liked it, but demanded

‘More openness in my art

‘Before I am eligible to be displayed!’

An artist with heavy heart

Closed his eyes, thought and prayed.

‘You will do.’ He commanded

To his soul in dilemma and dismay.

A horrible cry of silence spread…

Accepted the dejected, having no other way

But the only choice for bread.

Dead artist cannot produce art!

Friday, 25 July 2014

Alok Mishra

William Wordsworth and Nature: Poetry of Wordsworth: Role of Nature... A Piece describing the connection of these two

It is well-known in the world of poetry readers and literary persons that nature and Wordsworth more or less work like synonymous to each other. Without nature, the poetry of Wordsworth is nothing; since the beginning of his poetic career to the end of his poetry, one can easily find the impression that nature marked upon him and his poetry. Nature is the inevitable force when we talk about the poetry of Wordsworth; it works like the central object around which the cobweb of Wordsworth’s poetry is weaved. Nature to Wordsworth means everything in his last stage… however, it was not a sudden ‘flash’, rather it was a gradual process that integrated nature to the poetry and even the life of Wordsworth. Nature in the beginning was only of a ‘secondary pursuit’ to the poet and eventually it became the ‘mistress’ and later ‘mother’ and sustainer of the poet. All the story, Wordsworth records in his celebrated autobiography – The Prelude.

Alok Mishra awarded Best Student of the Batch Award (MA in English, Nalanda College, Biharsharif)

On 27th of AUGUST this year, Alok Mishra, student of Nalanda College, Biharsharif, was awarded the "BEST STUDENT OF THE BATCH of MA IN ENGLISH LITERATURE STUDENTS" award. This award was given on the day of their farewell. Dr. Swarn Prabhat, honourable head of the English Department awarded Alok Mishra the award. The Principal and other faculties of the English department and other departments as well were present on the event. 

Here are some photos of the event:

Here is a list of the persons who attended the Farewell Function cum Homour Ceremony of the Faculties of English Department, Nalanda College, Biharsharif:

Dr. S. N. Sinha - Current Principal, Nalanda College, Biharsharif

Dr. Swarn Prabhat - Head, Dept. of English

Dr. R. K. Paramhansa - Faculty, Dept. of English

V. P. Sinha - Faculty, Dept. of English

N. K. Dar - Faculty, Dept. of English

Dr. Ishwarchand - Head, Dept. of Hindi

Manjar Ali - Faculty, Dept. of English

Dr. K. K. Jetley - Faculty, Dept. of Hindi

Dr. Z. M. Sabir - Head. Dept. of Urdu

and many others.

#Being Human is not that easy as Salman Khan Thinks!

It takes 12 years to be a high school pass-out. Next three years to be a graduate and two further to be a post graduate. If you need and want – maximum five to ten years to be Doctor of Philosophy! However, it takes more than your lifetime to become a MAN! #Being #Human is the toughest degree that you can have. Go and give it a #TRY.

Alok Mishra

Tragedy: Shakespeare, Greeks, About Tragedy in general.

The Greeks were highly civilized and could see with ease the unidentified simplicity in the baffling variety of human emotions and suffering in relation to an established set of principals. They could present in their dramas all the terrors of living, and their clear vision of life and world order helped them to put things in their proper place.

Their world order was basically religious. It was not a narrow religion, but one which provided not only a broad base but also spiritual adequacy and moral sufficiency to a civilized race of men. It was a religion devoid of dogma, martyrs and sacred books. It was a religion very fleetingly concerned with sin, and one which treated sex as normal human function. It had its concept of “aidos” or punishment and “hamartia” or purification thrust on them by fate or their own destiny beyond the Gods. They had an abundance of tolerance towards Gods of other religions. This made them healthy and profoundly spiritual. Within such a framework there was naturally a greater scope for independent human action and suffering and also for a more wiling sense of reverence. The Greeks were not optimistic of their world but through the freedom to perform the Dionsian act, they thought they could hope to falter their way to the Appolonian grace by way of self realization.

Purification or expiation is the one which brings the full realization of the tragic density of the individual life as well as that of life viewed as a whole. It also vindicates the Gods who allowed things to take its own course and merely watched as spectators. Aristotle understood this concept and proposed of tragedy, and if he led so much emphasis on the catharsis of pity and fear, it was because he wanted the spectators to rise above pity and fear, to be able to see this grand design in tragic drama of life.

The main concern of tragedy is with truth and the pleasure it gives is the pleasure of knoeledge. Plato had used the word catharsis to mean purification or sublimation. Accepting this meaning, Aristotle seems to confirm that tragdye, first by arousing pity and fear, ultimately sublimates and raises the spectator to a state of understanding. Pity and fear in that nakedness distort our vision of truth. Tragedy takes us to various rational responses, culminating in intellectual purification. Plato’s approach to tragedy was emotional. Aristotle sought an intellectual response to tragedy, and that response applied consistently to Shakespeare.

Greek tragedy was myth, ritual and drama, all in one. Their view of tragedy was all encompassingly tragic and gloomy, mainly because their dramas justified the ways of the Gods not in the ethical sense, but in terms of cosmic law and order that their Gods stood for. Shakespeare felt the need for questioning their believes of God as a cosmic, divine power, because he found the existing world more definitely theological than mysteriously cosmic. He, however, did gradually see a design in the suffering of the world and the law of tragedy justifying it. This design he brought out in his tragedies. Shakespeare was always concerned with justice. It varied with his characters and situations though there was a distinct moral purpose in his kind of justice. His justice was sometimes poetic, sometimes tragic, sometimes wild, but it always gave an impression of being just sufficient to serve his tragic cause of rousing pity and fear in audience and finally bringing about both sublimation and nemesis. Shakespeare established a moral order, as his suffering characters grew in stature, and acquired wisdom. Shakespeare’s tragic vision was thus almost similar to that of Aristotle. His approach to tragedy was intellectual and not physical as that of Plato, and catharsis to him was the culmination of the intellectual response to the tragedy.

Samuel Johnson once said Shakespeare’s plays are not “in the rigorous sense either tragedies or comedies, but compositions of distinct kind.” His plays express the course of the world where the malignity of one is sometimes defeated by the frolic of another. Shakespeare united the powers of exciting laughter and sorrow and all his plays are divided between the ludicrous and serious characters, producing sometimes sorrow but on other times joy and laughter.

Yet Shakespearean plays have been divided into comedies, histories and tragedies. Shakespearean tragedy may, in the simplest terms, be stated as a story of exceptional calamity and sorrow, leading mostly to the death of the hero, in high estate. Thus it is prominently the story of one person, the hero, or at most of two, the hero and the heroine, the latter coming into prominence mainly in love tragedies like Romeo and Juliet.

Shakespearean tragedies, however, cannot be typified into any particular slot as has been often stated of late. Each tragedy is a new beginning, a fresh “raid on the inarticulate,” for although there is development there is no repetition. There are even marked differences of manner, approach and intention in each of his tragedies. Thus Othello is a revelation of character and its focus is own individual and domestic qualities. Lear is universal allegory and its dramatic technic is determined by the need to present certain human situations. Macbeth defines a particular kind of evil that results from a lust for power. Antony and Cleopatra brings out a conflict in our moral bearings, in sharp contrast to Macbeth where we are never in any such doubt.

It is too that there are certain similarities. Tragedy, in simple terms, means that the protagonist dies. In Shakespearean tragedy too a hero of high standing dies in the end. Throughout the play he opposes some conflicting force, either external or internal. The tragic hero should be dominated by “hamartia” or a so called tragic flaw, but really an excess of some character outrage, that is “hubris” or pride. It is this “hamartia” that leads to his downfall, and because of his status, to the downfall of others. The action in the tragedy must appear real to the audience, so that its passion or emotion is heightened, and the conclusion of the action thus brings release from the passion.

Tragedy thus purifies the mind by means of pity and terror, which purges the mind of these emotions themselves, and is termed as catharsis. Shakespeare, like Aristotle believed that his hero of a tragedy must never be commonplace and, his faults notwithstanding, must never be inherently bad. The hero must not be depicted in such a manner that when  he comes to his fated end we are only to be pleased and think there has been a good riddance. The disaster should arouse feelings of pity and terror in the minds of the audience; terror because of the terrible consequence of our weakness and the formidable authority which prohibits even a person of hero’s standing to trespass against its decrees; pity at his downfall despise his nobility and grandeur. Since the hero is a man of exceptional intelligence and sensibilities, his sufferings due to his tragic flaw and due to the forces of nature that are trust on him owing to that tragic flaw are also more acute than what may be suffered by ordinary man.

The elements of tragedy have often been split up into three aspects from the point of view of individual action and solution. The three aspects are:

a)     The tragic individual must be the champion of a great purpose into which he devotes his whole existence.

b)    The tragic action must be such that in the story there must be threads which connect the different characters with one another, although each of them must have some special purpose in view.

c)     The tragic solution is usually held to be the triumph of the principal of the ethical world.

Shakespearean tragedy, however, does not follow the above characteristics in their entirety. We do not admit that his tragedy is the work of an arbitrary fate or chance since it proceeds from the activity of the hero. The hero has a fatal flaw despite his noble and honourable existence. It is the combination of these two diverse characteristics that brings out the emotions of pity and fear, as nemesis catches up with him.

Dowden has said that tragedy as convinced by Shakespeare is concerned with the ruin or the restoration of the soul and of the life of man. Its subject is the subject of good and evil in the world. In his tragedies there are certain problems which Shakespeare pronounces as insoluble. He does not say anything about the origin of evil, nor, as her pursues the soul of man, through the unending torture of inferno or through the spheres made happy and radiant by the perennial presence of a benevolent God. According to Shakespeare, evil exists and it exists with an emphasis. In the same way, pure love also exists. Shakespeare presents a man groping from among these myriad pull and pushes of the moral world. He gives us no easy solution to our problems through religion. If anything he conveys moral values based on an inviolate thought process. He also understands that the despite his flaws man will ultimately assert himself.  

R K Narayan The Guide: Review, Summary, Critical Summary

I just read The Guide by R. K. Narayan, yesterday I finished it, started a day before yesterday. First impression is very inspiring. This novel holds you around the text and cannot leave you free until you complete.
I will soon be posting the critical summary of the book with my opinions. It will be helpful for the classmates, the students of MA English, Magadh University, and anyone who is interested.
Thank you.
And remember to CAST YOUR VOTE.

Auden: Dear though the Night is Gone: Love Poem by Auden: Summary

This poem, surely a serious one with complications, is undoubtedly very tough for the readers with some single interpretation to carry on. One can say it draws a picture of prostitution; someone can figure it out as the love story of the poet, which was a failure. Moreover, some new interpretations may come into play too. 
However, to summarize the poem as a whole with some definite idea is difficult. Still, if you read the poem carefully, you will come through the ideas of faith, revelation, illusion, and disillusion etc. too. The poet describes of a night spent with someone in a place where there are other couples too. (It might lead a mind to think of some brothel.) Moreover, other couples have hostile eyes for this couple which poet forms with his beloved/partner. The poet and his beloved/partner are making love and the other couples are sad, inactive, though in each other's arms. This situation might take us back to the 'wasteland' of Eliot where 'exploring hands encounter no defence.'
The situation in the poem is dense and sad. Love has been not at all a pleasure. 
The last part/stanza of the poem is very significant and most complicated. It's true that I am also unable to find something definite in that. However, we must make some ideas about the lines. So, the poet seems (to me) making a question to himself. Was he trying to taste the depth of love? Was he not ready to indulge in physical contact? 'That you then, unabashed, did what I never wished,' this line raises questions of dispute in the poem. Whom is he addressing to? To himself, or to his beloved/partner? 
One idea arises and that veers the other idea. 
Or it was some truth that the poet finds through the course of the night and falls aside of the conventional way? 

Dickens as Social Reformist: Was Dickens a Reformer?

Dickens as a Social Reformist

Victorian age is very important for the English country in many ways. She saw the flourishing of industrial revolution; she saw her people engaged in mechanic development; she saw her great sons Adam Smith, Ricardo, Malthus, J. S. Mill etc. imparting new theories to run the prospering economy of England. Moreover, the inventions in the Victorian period made the life of English people very luxurious and comforting. Some developments were meant for the people in general, while most of them were only meant to serve the ends of the rich. Railways, Electric Telegraph etc. were for the welfare of rich as well as poor. While the others like Telephone, Radio, Electricity were only for the people with good possession. Besides these, some major transformation came in existence is the field of education also. With these developments and transformations, where the English society seemed happy and satisfied, there was a class of the “have-nots” who were in search for their existence in the society growing with fast speed.

Dickens, novelist of the Victorian Period England, was highly unsatisfied with these rapid changes in the society. He did not like the interference of mechanic schedule in the life of people. He did not like the exploitation of the poor classes of the people. He did not like the child labour practice. In his novels, we can have the apparent examples of these disliking and hatred. Oliver Twist is a novel that deals with the problems of child labour. One very popular, Hard Times deals with the problems of education, utilitarianism, and unhappy marriage; it throws good light upon these problems and highlights the effects, indeed bad, that a selfish education can bring in life. Louisa does never realize what the meaning of blushing is! Tom does never know what the real education is. The Stone-Lodge represents the English Society that has become stony in the matters of heart and sentiment. Dickens did never like the society that only has the mind to think and not a heart to feel! He wanted a change; he kept trying for this to happen.

Dickens, as a child, himself has faced the situations that were not favourable. He had to face financial problems too. He had, at the soft age of 12, had to work in a shoe-blacking company. This experience, probably, made the idea of the great work Oliver Twist. Dickens says very much in the short sentence in this book, that is:

“The hardest and best-borne trials are those which are never chronicled in any earthly record, and are suffered every day!”

This simple sentence utters the numberless groans of many thousands of people who suffer the pains without any complaint or claim to be recorded! Dickens has a value and understanding for the problems of common and downtrodden.

In his great work, Hard Times, Dickens takes up the life of the poor circus persons and presents to us an ironic picture. He shows sympathy with the poor clown of the circus, Signor Jupe, who escapes from the troupe only to secure a better future to her daughter. The problems of bearing the expense of education is there reflected. Moreover, with this, Dickens adds the problem, rather a robbery that the circus troupe represents. He presents the commercialization of education, as well as he paints the commercialization of the leisure of the people. The phrase “melancholy elephants” adds to our heart a sympathy for the animals who are targeted brutally for the purpose.

Dickens, except these, takes up the problem of unhappy marriage in the Victorian society. For instance, in Hard Times, the marriage of Stephen Blackpool represents the agony of all the suffering husbands or wives. He is forced to live with or in with the fear of his drunkard wife who now and then comes to disturb his life and house. When Stephen goes for some advice from the master Bounderby, he aids to his pains only with the remark:

“Now I tell you what! (said Mr Bounderby, putting his hands in his pocket.) there is such a law…”

“But it’s not for you at all. It costs money. It costs a mint of money.”

Besides these, Dickens is undoubtedly a social reformist. He takes up the causes of the middle class people, and not as a detached novelist, but as one of those very people. To quote Cazamian, 

“No novelist before dickens has treated the lower middle classes on such broad lines or in so frank a way. He studies them not as a detached, superior kind of observer, but as one on their own level; a sympathy, an immediate community of impressions, and, as it were, an instinctive fraternity, thus impregnate his study.”

And further,

“… Such is the permanent foundation of his realism. But below it, in in the inner realms of consciousness, we feel the quivering image, the anguish of soul- debasing poverty.”

Therefore, on our own and upon the studies of these great scholars, we see that Dickens, whole his life, has devotedly worked as a writer whose works are always busy in solving or at least trying to solve the problems of the society. 

Hard Times: A Study of the Theme, Characters, and the Motive

 

Tennyson in his In Memoriam taught the Victorian world the lesson of Soul and tried successfully to pacify his own aching heart. So did the great scholar of that age, Arnold. He escaped with his gypsy and left the world exposed to material pursuits and selfishness. However, Dickens only could do what they could not do; Dickens showed the world the truth- the real figure of life. He tried to bring in what was expelled out from the mechanic life of the Victorian people.

Hard Times, one of the many masterpieces by Dickens, torches the growing utilitarianism in the Victorian society. Moreover, Dickens exposes the commercialization of education, manpower and even the leisure of people in the form circus. However, Dickens, the one ranked next only to Shakespeare in appeal, does not leave the world astray in the dry world of mechanism; he shows the way towards a better life with all the virtues of heart instead of the facts and figures world. For this purpose, Dickens draws the three noble and humble character in his novel- Louisa, Sissy, and the poor fated Rachael. These three ladies are tender heated, affectionate towards goodness and the aesthetic values in life and abhors the selfish people who are in the guise of goodness and welfare. On the other side, there are characters like Mr Gradgrind, Bounderby, M’Choakumchild, Tom and Harthouse. These characters, when unified together, take a pose of storm and are ready to slay the noble and gentle souls, crush them within an eye’s blink with the imposing education, loveless affection, ingratitude and faithlessness, and selfish ends.

When we examine from the beginning, where the innocents are being murdered, we can point that all attempts of blowing the little candles are in vain. Gradgrind, as a man as his name is, is always ready to crush the rose buds under his legs. In his school, in Stone-Lodge, everywhere he is reinforcing the facts and figures theory upon his children Tom and Louisa. His doctrine, however, cannot hold the knots of restriction upon the hearts of children fastened; very soon he finds Tom and Louisa ‘peeping with all might’ the circus act. His facts taste the first defeat:

“Thomas, though I have the fact before me, I find it difficult to believe…”

The tiny hole in the circus camp represents a ray of hope in the life of Louisa, as she very soon finds Sissy in her home to accompany her in the loneliness. Now, the stone man of Stone-Lodge, Gradgrind attempts every possible way to poison the heart of Sissy with facts and figures. Sissy, however, with a single ray of hope in life that a day her father would return, bears everything but keeps herself unchanged. She does not let the venom of dry facts and colourless figures enter inside her heart.

“… to the question, “What is the first principle of this science?” the absurd answer, “To do unto others as I would that they should do unto me.”

Sissy returns the golden rule from the Bible for the questions of science. She only accepts education and does not welcome the ugly selfish knowledge to grind one’s own axe. Here also, the little candle inside the heart of Sissy cannot be blown dark by Gradgrind and Choakumchild. Later, with only hope that Tom can get better position, Louisa, despite her all broken dreams, accepts the bully, Bounderby as her husband. She loves Tom and sacrifices her life almost for his good only! However, during the conversation of marriage proposal by Bounderby, when Gradgrind asks Louisa if she had some secret proposal from anyone else, she very humbly utters:

“… What other proposal can have been made to me? Whom have I seen? Where have I been? What are my heart’s experiences?”

This reply from Louisa exposes all about the dry and emotionless life of the girl at Stone-Lodge. Yet, the ray of hope that her brother could do well, wins over the virgin heart of this innocent lady…

Loveless marriage, wooing of a countryman, Harthouse and the faithlessness of Tom, the brother whom she loves, aids to the growing morbidity of Louisa. She returns back to Stone-Lodge, but only to change the once tender heart of the now stone man to softness once again. Moreover, the ray of hope again comes from the tiny hole, conspicuous in the discourse of Gradgrind and Bounderby.

“… The enlightenment has been painfully forced upon me, and discovery is not mine…”

“I-I had intended to recommend, my dear Bounderby, that you should allow Louisa to remain here on a visit, and be attended by Sissy, who understands her, and in whom she trusts.”

At last, we see that the pride-pyramid of Gradgrind’s facts and figures falls down and accepts its loss near faith, hope and charity. Another, one Rachael, I’d like to quote at last, nurses the mad wife of the thorn and thorn won Stephen Blackpool. Rachael becomes the friend to Sissy. Louisa is nurtured and loved by Sissy and her children grant Louisa the tender love that she lacked. Tom, the faithless brother is forgiven and sent away by the clever Sissy to save the cap of Gradgrind. It is Sissy, the sole solace, who pardons the refuge to everyone trapped in the world of facts and figures. Thus, the candle light horns the triumph over storms and keeps the world warm with a ray of hope from the tiny hole. 

Very Happy New Year 2014

A very happy new year to everyone in the world. Let us make new resolutions and stand to it.

Life and Way

"Breathe, that all do;

Live, that all can;

Let the world go through

The daily tunnel of life,

I have a different journey..."

I have a different task to do. 

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2014

Women Reservation in India: An Essay

The best representative of the great Indian glory that India ever had, Swami Vivekananda, writes about women in his writings in such a way:

“The uplift of the women, the awakening of the masses must come first, and then only can any real good come about for the country, for India.”

India is said to be a developing country. We Indians are chasing our dreams. The sound of tak, tak, the footsteps of the masses moving under the sun is not enough to let us find out how many are the women walking in that rush. We must be learnt that now women can also wear the shoes men use to wear and they can also do the works men usually do.

Now, the subject of debates and meetings, almost in every level of the society is something around the women- women security, women education, women empowerment, and the most talked- women reservation. We have passed years and years thinking and speaking about the women affairs. The results, however, are not so much satisfactory that we can feel proud of. Except some of the women who have given us the moments of honour and prestige, we have not seen women attaining greatness in any field of life. Why the situation is like this? Where do we need to work more? What we can hope from our government and the so-called ‘democracy’?

THE PRESENT CONDITION:

We cannot neglect that there are many relaxations for women in our country. They get reservations in the education sector and in the working sector. Yes, this is what the factors show and we can also see in India. This is a great step towards the fair sex to uplift their condition. The seat reservations in education sector for women secure their indulgence in higher education that is very important for the real development of our country. The renowned universities of India dedicate some of their colleges only for women and run special educating cells for women students.

In the working sectors, special quota is dedicated to the women workers. However, this reservation varies from state to state in our country. For example, Andhra Pradesh is providing total 33.33% of the available seats to the women in education and Government jobs. If we talk of our state Bihar, Nitish Kumar has announced 35% of the total recruitment to be reserved for the women in the Police department. Private sectors also announce their reservation for women. They have their own policies and laws.

Except these relaxations to the women in education and working sectors, we have to turn towards the reservations provided to women in the electoral field. Now, here is a long chronology to be listed. Since India was officially a democracy in 1950 with our own constitution, there have been discussions and debates in the houses of parliaments for the issue of women representing people in elections and getting seats in the assembly. Years were passing with our great leaders sitting in the parliament and keeping on the debates until in 1974 a report was submitted to the ministry of Education and Social Welfare raising this issue. However, it was an oblivious issue later. Finally, in 1993, constitutional amendments were made to reserve one-third seats for women in Panchayats and Municipalities elections.

Later on, the demand for reservation of seats in the upper house of parliament for women was getting louder. Women institutions and organizations were asking for more political opportunities. On September 12, 1996 a bill was introduced in parliament by Deve Gowda Government. Even then the members of Samajwadi Party and some members of the ruling party tore the copies of the bill and expressed their political standards. However, after the pull & push, the bill of ‘women’s reservation’ was passed by the Rajya Sabha on March 9, 2010. Unfortunately, after being passed by the Rajya Sabha, this bill could not yet be voted in the Lok Sabha.

If this bill is passed in future, India will join a league of around 40 countries including Pakistan and Bangladesh who have quota for women in Parliaments. We can see that country like Pakistan also have the women reservation, because they know that how important it is. It is the time that our country should also stop more debates about this issue let the women represent the country now. Only a woman knows how much the price hikes affect the household. None but a woman can tell how much the importance of women education is. With the secure arrival of women in the Parliament, we will be in a position to hope for the certain development in the women’s condition of our country.

WOMEN RESERVATION: DONE AND NEEDS TO BE DONE

THE Constitution of our country, the greatest democracy of the world, the largest, deals with the word ‘women’ only 18 times. However, it is just a fact that I have found out and must be neglected as we should have faith upon our great leaders and politicians who were there to make this great constitution. Moreover, we must know that whenever the word ‘women’ has been used, it has been done by and large with a view that women are weaker than men, unequal to men, inferior to men. Every time there is term like ‘special aid to women’, ‘reservations to women’, ‘dignity of women’. Now a question arises that who needs the special aid. Who wants reservation? Whom dignity is needed to be saved by others? The reply will come in a simple term, one who is weaker.

Our constitution has made certain distinctions based on sex, religion, and castes that does not allow the people to be the same and women to simply be women. Women are divided in certain sub categories- OBC women, SC women, ST women, and several others. Leaving this bias, we have in our constitution some acts which provide reservation to women of the certain categories. I want to raise a question. Does a Brahmin orphan girl not have the right to get scholarship in the college where even a boy from well to do OBC family enjoys it? Ask questions like these to your heart and it will be pierced with sorrows and worries. The government argues some casts as ‘forward’ and certain as ‘backward’. The backward women have been given certain privileges and the forward women are supposed to have it since their birth! There are many other dilemmas to be solved, and these will be solved only when we consider a woman like a woman only. We will have to raise ourselves from the level or castes, religions, and prejudices in order to have a real development in the condition of women in our country. Every woman of the country has the equal rights. They are in no means less than a man. The government should not announce reservations only to indirectly point out that women of certain class are weaker or backward. They must provide them resources, means, opportunities and rest women can themselves do. Swami Vivekananda writes in his work:

“Who are you to solve women’s problems? Are you the lord God that you should rule over every widow and every women? Hands off! They will solve their own problems.”

If our administration can provide good education to a girl from the so-called backward class, she will never wait for any reservation and grab any possible opportunity that she sights. We need more actions; we do not need more announcements to draw more lines of discrimination between the same.

Moreover, it is our duty to be a responsible person; and a responsible person always respects the constitution of the country. I would like to read an article, article no. 51 (A) with clause (e):

“It shall be the duty of every citizen of India—

 (e) to promote harmony and the spirit of common brotherhood amongst all the people of India transcending religious, linguistic and regional or sectional diversities; to renounce practices derogatory to the dignity of women;”

Thus, we must learn to respect every woman. The growing incidents of harassing behaviours with women workers in the workplace are very shameful for a country like India. Is this why a man always wants a woman to be his personal secretory? Is this why the BPOs always tend towards hiring women in their firms? The scenario is very bad and we men must raise our spirit. How long we shall take to understand that without watering the root no fruits or flowers can come on the tree?

Ask a question to your heart. What is the basic need of a girl? You will be thinking for some moments. Scholars will say it is education; perverts will say it is self-defence; rich will say it is the employment; others will say it is health and this list will be protracted… but, I will draw your attention to a fact that the basic need of a girl is the mercy to be born, the sympathy of her parents to bring her in this wonderful world. Then only she can enjoy the benefits, the security or the reservations made for her.

Becky Sharp: Character Sketch: Vanity Fair: William Thackeray

This is a formal start for the sketch, you will get a base then you have to put your own ideas in play.

One of the most animated characters, sharpest woman character, and perhaps the most cunning of all female protagonists that have been created so far by the pen of any author, Becky Sharp, the character of Vanity Fair, reflects all these qualities from her personality and actions. She is short but not at all short in her wit. She smiles with the most gracious movements of her lips but strikes the sentiments of the victim so ungraciously! Becky Sharp justifies her name and she is sharp from all the angles one can observe.

Becky, the ill-bred girl with some inherit gifts like French in natural accent and humour to amuse all around her, is very ambitious since her childhood. Ambition- something like integrated in the character of Becky, we may say that it is the gift of the society to her. When in the Pinkerton’s school, everyone is harsh towards Becky except Amelia only. (Amelia has the reason; Thackeray has made her stupid.) The harsh behaviour of the school, Pinkerton’s now and then rebuke on Becky makes Becky ill and sick with the typical Victorian arrogance to grow up and up in the society. Moreover, the Pinkerton’s style, the Pinkerton’s hatred, and everything about modern and socially aware Pinkerton enter into the life of Becky and later we see that Becky is the perfect resemblance of Pinkerton.    ..............

The Lion in Love

Aesop’s Fable (47)

Love slays the mightiest heart; it does.

The barbarous jaws, eager paws,

And eyes with tremendous fire,

A lion ties no calendar or laws,

He kills in East and wounds in Shire!

Once ages ago, a lion fell in love

And demanded woodcutter’s daughter.

Ah! but the love was not any above

Of mere infatuation for the slaughter.

‘I want your girl as my wife’

Said the blind lion to the poor man,

For whom it was on his life

To deny the proposal of mighty insane!

‘Lust like glutton dies.’

The witty woodcutter found a way.

With humble guise in voice, he said:

‘O lion, my daughter fears the play

‘Of your sharp teeth and claws, so made

‘A pleading- you let me take out

‘The agents of fear- the teeth and claws

‘And she will end her fearful bout

‘To swear with you the marriage vows.’

The wanton, the lewd, without any delay,

Was ready for his Pride and Life

To be very easily taken away,

For nothing but a ‘mere’ wife!

Losing thus the pearl, the clam went

Without guessing the certain loss

That fate for him would invent.

Days passed, the lion came

Back with his demand with pride,

Alas! He returned with guilt and shame

Instead of smiles, gain and ‘mere’ bride!

Sunday, 10 November 2013