A K Ramanujan National Paper Reading Competition Report

Home , Girish Karnad

A K RAMANUJAN NATIONAL PAPER READING COMPETITION Supported by the UGC SAP DRS - II Department of English, Faculty of Arts The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Vadodara-2 10-11 March 2014 Venue: Prof. V.Y. Kantak Seminar Room, Dept. of English

REPORT

The competition was held over two days, Monday, 10th March 2014 and Tuesday, 11th March 2014. The days had three and four sessions respectively, with breaks for tea and lunch in between. Each session had participants from a particular college, reading out their papers, which was followed by questions from the audience and the judges, and a discussion would commence.

The Inaugural Session began at 10:30 AM on the 10th with Prof. P.S. Chundawat, Dean, Faculty of Arts as the chief guest, who offered words of appreciation to the department and motivated the department for organizing such events The Head of the English Dept. Prof. Sudha Pandya, chairman, welcomed all the participants from across the country and wished for the success of the first national event of DRS SAP Phase II. Dr. Sachin Ketkar, coordinator, outlined the objectives of DRS SAP Phase II. Dr. Aditi Vahia, co-convener, threw light upon the rules of the competition, and Mr. Skand, co-convener, introduced the three judges: Dr. Putul Sathe, Dr. Santosh Dash and Dr. Zakia Firdaus. The session ended with Ms. Deepika Kevlani, co-convener, enthusiastically thanking the participants and the volunteers for their tireless support and efforts.

The topic on which papers were presented the most was ‘Computer Games and Feminist Discourse’. Lajja Bhatt and Deepti Joshi (MA Part II Students), from S.D. Gardi Dept. of Maharaja Krishnakumar Singhji Bhavnagar University, presented a joint paper on the topic, in Session I. Their paper focused on the conventional portrayal of women in the male-dominated world of gaming. It involved examples of successful video games, such as Mario and Dead or Alive, and the depiction of the female characters in such games. Palia Goankar, an MA Part II student from Goa University, also presented her paper on this topic that day in Session II. Her commendable effort to portray the stereotypical body-image and role of women in mainstream “hard core” video games was precise and to-the-point. It majorly talked about how feminist game studies analyze video games and computer games like Mass Effect 3, Tomb Raider and the like, and their tendency to be not only gender-biased, but also gender-insensitive. The paper was accompanied by a PowerPoint presentation. On the second day, Session VII had the participants from the host university, Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, who focused on this theme. Sneha Nair (MA Part II) used a power point presentation to present ‘Portrayal of Female Characters in Computer Games’. She talked the power dichotomy in portrayal of female characters in computer games. The negative influences that certain video games have, due to the stereotypical representation of the women was brought forth in her paper. In contrast to all the other participants, the second presentation by Ananya Das (MA Part II), focussed

1 specifically on the video game character, Lara Croft - Lara as an action protagonist, virtual Lara as a cyborg epitome, identification and objectification of Lara Croft, and the statement of gender stereotypes. The two video clips from the Lara Croft games that she presented, before reading her paper, added to the visual appeal.

The topic 'Social Movements in Films and Visual Arts' had two takers. Hirva Vora (MA Part II), from S.D. Gardi Dept. of Maharaja Krishnakumar Singhji Bhavnagar University, in Session I, presented her paper, titled ‘Humanity is Colonized’, which had references to a wide array of movies like Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey, Rang De Basanti, etc. The movies featured social movements (such as the Swadeshi Movement and Satyagraha), in context of both past and recent times. On the other hand, Ankita Sharma (MA Sem II) from the Central University of Gujarat, Gandhinagar, in Session IV, dealt specifically with the ‘Narmada Bachao Andolan’ in Gujarat, India, and its depiction in two documentaries: Ali Kazimi's ‘Narmada: A Valley Rises’ and Anand Patwardhan's ‘A Narmada Diary’. Her paper, along with the PowerPoint presentation, also represented the importance of this particular movement during the time of its occurrence and its relevance in contemporary times.

Tanvi Kamat Bambolkar (MA Part II) from Goa University, in Session II, read her paper on ‘Social Movements and Film Lyrics’, which was accompanied by a PowerPoint presentation. She traced the use of lyrics in Hindi movies from the first sound movie of India, ‘Alam Ara’ to recent times, and the diminishing importance of meaning, with respect to patriotism and other social movements, in lyrics, in the 21st century. It also had a few references to some Gujarati songs and lyrics.

Abhilash Jaychandra (MA Sem II), from the Central University of Gujarat, Gandhinagar, presented his paper on ‘The Reimagining of Myth and its Rebirth as Fantasy in Modern Times’ in Session IV. It dealt with the idea of myth and folktales and how their treatment as fantasies in contemporary times. The two examples he primarily used were – ‘The Lord of the Rings’ and its effect on contemporary literature, before and after the release of Peter Jackson’s movies on the books, and the retelling of popular myths in India in recent times, such as Asura by Anand Neelkantan and Amish Tripathi’s ‘Shiva Trilogy’.

Session III had participants from the Dept. of English and CLS, Saurashtra University, Rajkot, Gujarat. . The first paper was read by Amruta Kacharola (MA Part II), who spoke about social realism in Umashankar Joshi’s Saap na Bhara. It presents the social condition of women in rural society during that era, the state of widows, status of women, orthodoxy, social taboos etc. She talked about the social movements, especially the Gandhian movement during that era, and its influence in Joshi’s plays in general and Saap na Bhara in particular. The second paper, by Maahikaur A. Maan, was about the anti-caste movement in Girish Karnad’s Tale-Danda. She majorly talked about the Sharana movement and how Karnad successfully intervenes caste, state and personal politics, with the range of characters which include all social classes of the society.

The two contestants from B.P.H.E Society, Ahmednagar College, Ahmednagar, read their papers in Session V. First up was Bandellu Nimisha Priyadarshan (MA Part I) whose paper studied three poems of Namdeo Dhasal – ‘The Tree of Violence’, ‘Ambedkar’, and ‘Ode to Ambedkar’ – from his collection of poems, Moorkha Mhatarayana Dongar Halavile (The Stupid Old Man Moved Mountains) and Tujhe Bot Dharuni Chalalo (Holding Your Finger I Moved On). It was a reflection on the ideology of Dalit panthers, and the conflict and fusion of Marxism and Ambedkarian ideology, as represented in these poems. The second participant, Mrinmayee Ashutosh Gune (M.A 2

Part II), read her paper on ‘Social Movement in Indian Drama: Social Reading of Jaywant Dalwi’s Barrister. The paper attempted to deal with the traditional thoughts as opposed to the progressive thoughts, with respect to Widow Remarriage, as depicted by the two characters, Maushi and Radhaaka in Dalwi’s play Barrister.

Session VII witnessed the presentations by the contestants from Pratap College, Amalner. Nikhil Baisane talked about the Warli Movement in his paper, and the tribal uprising, which was led completely by Godavari Parulekar, and left little scope for the speech of the Warlis. It highlighted the negative effects of such movements which are led by a bourgeoisie, and the failure of this particular movement. It also had references to Parulekar’s memoir Jehva Manus Jaaga Hoto (translated roughly as Adivasis Revolt). Next up was Snehal Shitole, whose paper on the‘Patriarchal Nature of Social Movements in Works of Vijay Tendulkar and Girish Karnad’ specifically talked about the caste-eradication movements as seen in Tendulkar’s Kanyadaan and Karnad’s Tale-Danda, and how these depictions portray men in action while women do not have active participation in the events.

The cultural program, organized and hosted by Mr. Skand, was held on Monday, 10th March, after the sessions, at 4 pm. The interesting fact about this was that it was held in an open space outside the department, with the performances happening in the backdrop of a natural scene, thus making it very different from the seminar room. Sameer Vadia, a second year student played the guitar as an opening to the program. A skit, “Never on a Wednesday”, written by Richard Via followed, which, was enacted by five students (Anjali Rawal, Fazeel Painter, Monali Joshi, Ramiz Multani, and Sanjana Chakrabarty) with Mandira Dutta playing the part of the narrator. A group of singers from Sevasi including Suresh Antony, Ashwin Pandav, John Paul Lobo, Patras Mundu, Roby Alphonso, Jobin Joseph and V. Sebastian, entertained the audience with Gujarati renditions of four folk songs. Dr. Susan Bhatt. From the English Dept., recited a poem by Carol Ann Duffy, ‘Mrs. Midas’. Keyur Macwan, a first year student, gave the audience a different taste by rapping an Eminem song. The last performance was classical singing of Kabir’s songs by Katyayini Dash, who was accompanied by Rushabh Vishwakarma at the Tabla. The events of the day wrapped up at around 5 pm.

The Valedictory Session was the last segment of this competition. It began with Monali Joshi, an MA Part I student, reading out the reports of each session as written by the students, in a chronological order. The three judges each gave their feedbacks on the entire event. Palia Goankar and Mrinmayee Ashutosh Gune shared their experience as part of the ‘Participant’s Feedback’ segment, and took this opportunity to thank their hosts for organizing the event, which gave them an opportunity to explore aspects of literature, outside academic perspective. The much-awaited results were then declared. The home team of Sneha Nair and Ananya Das, won the first prize for team, to a huge round of applause from the audience, while Ankita Sharma and Abhilash Jaychandra, from the Central University of Gujarat, Gandhinagar, were the runners-up in team prizes. Individual prizes went to Hirva Vora from Maharaja Krishnakumar Singhji Bhavnagar University for second-runner up, Palia Goankar, from Goa University, for runner-up, and Bandellu Nimisha Priyadarshan from B.P.H.E Society, Ahmednagar College, won first prize. Certificates were handed out to the other participants and the student volunteers by Prof. Sudha Pandya. The session ended with Dr. Madhurita Chaudhary’s Vote of Thanks to the judges, the conveners, the participants, the performers of the cultural event and the student volunteers. The entire occasion was then wrapped up, and the students and teachers posed for pictures that would capture the delightful moments of this event and make it a part of everyone’s memories.

A special mention of the volunteers needs to be there. Mihir Joshi and Arul Pillai were the day-in-charges. Anjali Rawal, Gopika Shah, Maitri Dhyani, Shweta Kapadia, Fazeel Painter, Samruddhi Joshi and Mandira Dutta presided over each session as the M.O.C., while Ramiz Multani, Sanjana Chakrabarty, Vishwa Balani, Aishwarya Mohanty, Drashti Chauhan, Akanksha Kumar, Alia Shah and Garima Tiwari wrote the reports for each individual session.