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Revised Study Materials

INDIAN AND ENGLISH LITERATURE

POLYTECHNIC TRB –ENGLISH

UNIT- VII

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UNIT 7 - INDIAN AND ENGLISH LITERATURE Nissin Ezekiel: Night of the Scorpion A.K. Ramanujam: A River R. Parthasarathy: Lines for a Photograph Toru Dutt: Our Casuarina Tree Sarojini Naidu: The Soul's Prayer Anita Desai: Where shal we go for this summer? Badal Surcar: Evam Indrajit Sri Aurobindo: Rose of God. Arundhati Roy: The God of Small Things Mulk Raj Anand: Untouchable Deshpande: The Dark Holds No Terror Kirish karnard: Tugulaq

1. Nissin Ezekiel: Night of the Scorpion

Nissim Ezekiel (16 December 1924 – 9 January 2004) was an Indian Jewish poet, actor, playwright, editor and art-critic.

 He was a foundational figure in postcolonial India's literary history, specifically for Indian writing in English.  He was awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1983 for his Poetry collection, "Latter-Day Psalms", by the Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters.  Ezekiel has been applauded for his subtle, restrained and well crafted diction, dealing with common and mundane themes in a manner that manifests both cognitive profundity, as well as an unsentimental,

For Best Coaching : TNPSC / NEET/ BANKING/ TET/ TRB-PG / G.K CLASSES 282PASSED TILL 2017AUG 2 SHRI VIDHIYA SHRI COACHING CENTRE , KARAIKUDI 9442738785 , 7200430099 STUDY MATERIALS POLYTECHNIC TRB-ENGLISH –UNIT VII realistic sensibility, that has been influential on the course of succeeding Indian English poetry.  Ezekiel enriched and established Indian English language poetry through his modernist innovations and techniques, which enlarged Indian English literature, moving it beyond purely spiritual and orientalist themes, to include a wider range of concerns and interests, including mundane familial events, individual angst and skeptical societal introspection.

Night of the Scorpion I remember the night my mother was stung by a scorpion. Ten hours of steady rain had driven him to crawl beneath a sack of rice.

Parting with his poison - flash of diabolic tail in the dark room - he risked the rain again.

The peasants came like swarms of flies and buzzed the name of God a hundred times to paralyse the Evil One.

With candles and with lanterns throwing giant scorpion shadows on the mud-baked walls they searched for him: he was not found. They clicked their tongues. With every movement that the scorpion made his poison moved in Mother's blood, they said.

May he sit still, they said May the sins of your previous birth be burned away tonight, they said. May your suffering decrease the misfortunes of your next birth, they said.

For Best Coaching : TNPSC / NEET/ BANKING/ TET/ TRB-PG / G.K CLASSES 282PASSED TILL 2017AUG 3 SHRI VIDHIYA SHRI COACHING CENTRE , KARAIKUDI 9442738785 , 7200430099 STUDY MATERIALS POLYTECHNIC TRB-ENGLISH –UNIT VII May the sum of all evil balanced in this unreal world against the sum of good become diminished by your pain. May the poison purify your flesh of desire, and your spirit of ambition, they said, and they sat around on the floor with my mother in the centre, the peace of understanding on each face. More candles, more lanterns, more neighbours, more insects, and the endless rain. My mother twisted through and through, groaning on a mat. My father, sceptic, rationalist, trying every curse and blessing, powder, mixture, herb and hybrid. He even poured a little paraffin upon the bitten toe and put a match to it. I watched the flame feeding on my mother. I watched the holy man perform his rites to tame the poison with an incantation. After twenty hours it lost its sting.

My mother only said Thank God the scorpion picked on me And spared my children.

 "Night of the scorpion" is a brilliant narrative poem. o The protagonist might be the poet himself or a narrator who is the creation of his imagination. o The mother is stung by a scorpion on a rainy night. The mother is the most prominent figure in an Indian home.

For Best Coaching : TNPSC / NEET/ BANKING/ TET/ TRB-PG / G.K CLASSES 282PASSED TILL 2017AUG 4 SHRI VIDHIYA SHRI COACHING CENTRE , KARAIKUDI 9442738785 , 7200430099 STUDY MATERIALS POLYTECHNIC TRB-ENGLISH –UNIT VII o So all the attention is focused on her. They are simple and good and believe in the efficiency of prayer. o They believe that prayer can ward off the evil influence. o They are a set of superstitious people. o They search for the scorpion but in vain. . They believe that if the scorpion moves, its poison in the victim will also move and spread all over. o The words they speak to console the woman are also related to their superstitious beliefs. o Her suffering is caused by the sins she committed in the previous birth. Her endurance will reduce the effect of her sins in the previous birth and it will also make her life happy in the next birth. o The good and evil in the world has to be balanced and therefore her endurance of pain will reduce the amount of evil. o This also reminds us of the peasants' belief in rebirth. They are illiterate, ignorant and superstitious and they do not know anything other than turn into ritualistic practices and incantations.  The narrator's father presents before us a striking contrast. He tries modern scientific treatments.  He applies powder, herbs and hybrids.  He does not interfere with what the peasants do.  He does not object to the curses and blessings.  He is quite perturbed and tries every possible remedies. o Finally he pours some paraffin in the affected area and applies a match to it expecting the poison to burn off. o Even when he does this a holy man goes on performing his rites to remove the effect of poison with an incantation.  The scientific remedies tried by the father become as ineffective as the rituals and the incantations of the peasants and that of the holy man.

For Best Coaching : TNPSC / NEET/ BANKING/ TET/ TRB-PG / G.K CLASSES 282PASSED TILL 2017AUG 5 SHRI VIDHIYA SHRI COACHING CENTRE , KARAIKUDI 9442738785 , 7200430099 STUDY MATERIALS POLYTECHNIC TRB-ENGLISH –UNIT VII  After twenty hours the pain subsides and the woman speaks. o The last part of the poem upholds the dignity of the Indian motherhood.  The mother's comment"Thank God the scorpion picked on me and spread my children" is typical of an Indian mother. o She is relieved to find that the scorpion let her children alone and thanks God for it. The entire poem may be taken as a tribute to the incomparable love of a mother. o The mother's malady causes considerable disturbance not only to the members of the family but to the whole neighbourhood. o All are anxious to alleviate her pain. o Different attempts are made by different people. o All these go to prove that the poem is woven around the theme of reverence to the mother. EXTRA POINTS  "Night of the Scorpion" is typically an Indian poem by a typical Indian poet  The poets interest in the Indian soil and its ordinary human events of day-to- day Indian life is superb.  A good many Indians are illiterate and are blindly superstitious. o But they are simple, loving and lovable. o They attempt to save the victim by doing whatever they can. (Indian Superstitious) o But they do not succeed. o The father who is not superstitious and is educated tries his own scientific ways; he too, does not succeed. o There is the holy man who performs his rites with incantation. o He also fails to find a cure.  Finally the cue comes by itself.  This can be taken as a proof for the belief in 'fate'; everything in a man's life is pre-destined and man has no role in changing it.  The poem is interpreted as a symbolic juxtaposition of darkness and light.  The night, the scorpion, the poison and the suffering represent darkness.  The incessant rain stands for hope and regeneration.  Imagary: Candles, lanterns, neighbours and ultimately the recovery of the mother represent light. The poem can also be thought of as symbolic of Good and Evil too.

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2. A.K. Ramanujam: A River

Attipate Krishnaswami Ramanujan (16 March 1929 – 13 July 1993) also known as A. K. Ramanujan was an Indian poet and scholar of Indian literature who wrote in both English and Kannada.

 Ramanujan was a poet, scholar, a philologist, folklorist, translator, and playwright.  His academic research ranged across five languages: English, Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, and Sanskrit.  He published works on both classical and modern variants of this literature and argued strongly for giving local, non-standard dialects their due.  Though he wrote widely and in a number of genres, Ramanujan's poems are remembered as enigmatic works of startling originality, sophistication and moving artistry.  He was awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award posthumously in 1999 for his collection of poems, "The Collected Poems".  Ramanujan died in Chicago, on 13 July 1993 as result of adverse reaction to anaesthesia during preparation for surgery.  In 1976, the Government of India awarded him the Padma Shri, and in 1983, he was given the MacArthur Prize Fellowship (Shulman, 1994).  In 1983, he was appointed the William E. Colvin Professor in the Departments of South Asian Languages and Civilizations, of Linguistics, and in the Committee on Social Thought at the University of Chicago, and the same year, he received a MacArthur Fellowship.  A.K. Ramanujan was a translator and poet, born in Mysore.  He is also known as the greatest modern poet of India.  In spite of a Western University Education, he remained inherently Indian at heart.  He contributed richly to Indian aesthetics and folklore  He was concerned about the decline of Tamil poetry.  Moreover he had genuine kindness toward the underdog, the poor and toward women.

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In Madurai, city of temples and poets, who sang of cities and temples, every summer a river dries to a trickle in the sand, baring the sand ribs, straw and women’s hair clogging the watergates at the rusty bars under the bridges with patches of repair all over them the wet stones glistening like sleepy crocodiles, the dry ones shaven water-buffaloes lounging in the sun The poets only sang of the floods. He was there for a day when they had the floods. People everywhere talked of the inches rising, of the precise number of cobbled steps run over by the water, rising on the bathing places, and the way it carried off three village houses, one pregnant woman and a couple of cows named Gopi and Brinda as usual. The new poets still quoted the old poets, but no one spoke in verse of the pregnant woman drowned, with perhaps twins in her, kicking at blank walls even before birth. He said: the river has water enough to be poetic about only once a year and then

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 The poem “A River” is written by A.K. Ramanujan.  In this poem, the poet has compared and contrasted the attitudes of the old poets and those of the new poets to human suffering.  He has come to the conclusion that both the groups of the poets are indifferent to human sorrow and suffering.  Their poetry dose not reflects the miseries of the human beings. He has proved this point in the present poem.  The river Vaikai on whose bank the historic city of Madurai stands has been mentioned in the poems of many poets, both past and present.  The river is intimately associated with the life and culture of the Tamil people.  The peculiar thing, which appeals to the poets, is that the river presents two different spectacles in two different season  . It is completely dry in summer and flooded in full in the rainy season.  In this poem, the poet refers to the river Vaikai which flows through the city of Madurai.  The word Madurai means a “sweet city”. It is a Tamil word. As a matter of fact, this city is the center of Tamil culture and learning.  It is also a holy city full of temples including the famous Meenakishee temple.

For Best Coaching : TNPSC / NEET/ BANKING/ TET/ TRB-PG / G.K CLASSES 282PASSED TILL 2017AUG 9 SHRI VIDHIYA SHRI COACHING CENTRE , KARAIKUDI 9442738785 , 7200430099 STUDY MATERIALS POLYTECHNIC TRB-ENGLISH –UNIT VII  The poets have written many poems on the temples and the river.  In the present poem, A.K. Ramanujan deals with the river.  In the poem “A River”, we get two pictures based upon two different kinds of description. In the summer, the river is almost empty.  Only a very thin stream of water flows.  So the sand ribs on the bed of the river are visible.  The stones that lie on the bed of the river also exposed to view.  The portion of the river under the bridge has also been described.  We get a vivid picture of the river in the summer season.  There is also the picture of the river in the rainy season.  All kinds of poets have written about it in their poems.  During the rainy season when the floods crone the people observe it very anxiously. They remember the rising of the river inch by inch from time to time.  They remember how the stone steps of the bathing place are submerged one by one.  They see how three village houses were damaged and carried off by the floods.  They now how two cows named Brinda and Gopi were carried away.  They also know how a pregnant woman was also drowned in the river during the flood. Both the old and new poets have mentioned these things in their poems.  But the way they have described these things in their poems shows that they were not much alive to or sympathetic with human suffering.  They did not mention the name of the woman who was carrying twins.  Before their birth, she was drowned in the flooded river.  At the time of drowning, most probably the twins must have kicked the sides of her womb. She must have got much pain out of this.

For Best Coaching : TNPSC / NEET/ BANKING/ TET/ TRB-PG / G.K CLASSES 282PASSED TILL 2017AUG 10 SHRI VIDHIYA SHRI COACHING CENTRE , KARAIKUDI 9442738785 , 7200430099 STUDY MATERIALS POLYTECHNIC TRB-ENGLISH –UNIT VII  But both the new poets and old poets did not refer to all these miseries of the woman in their poetic creations.  This becomes ultimately clear that they are not sympathetic with suffering human beings.  They are totally callous and indifferent.  This kind of attitude makes their poetry weak and unappealing, dry and cheerless.  The tone of the poem is based on sarcasm and irony.  The structure of the poem has been in paragraphs and single lines.  There are four longer verse paragraphs and a shorter one in the beginning.  There are only two single isolated lines. This kind of structural arrangement contributes to the effect of irony.  It also helps to grasp the main points clearly  . Secondly, a word can be said about the language used in the poem  It is very simple on account of which the thought sequence of the poem is presented unmistakably and clearly.  It and revives her memories with her beloved

4. Toru Dutt: Our Casuarina Tree

Our Casuarina Tree is a poem published in 1881 by Toru Dutt, an Indian poet. It is a perfect example of craftsmanship.In this poem Toru Dutt celebrates the majesty of the Casuarina Tree and remembers her happy childhood days spent under  Toru Dutt (March 4, 1856 – August 30, 1877) was an Indian poet who wrote in English and French.

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Our Casuarina Tree LIKE a huge Python, winding round and round The rugged trunk, indented deep with scars, Up to its very summit near the stars, A creeper climbs, in whose embraces bound No other tree could live. But gallantly The giant wears the scarf, and flowers are hung In crimson clusters all the boughs among, Whereon all day are gathered bird and bee; And oft at nights the garden overflows With one sweet song that seems to have no close, Sung darkling from our tree, while men repose.

When first my casement is wide open thrown At dawn, my eyes delighted on it rest; Sometimes, and most in winter,—on its crest A gray baboon sits statue-like alone Watching the sunrise; while on lower boughs

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But not because of its magnificence Dear is the Casuarina to my soul: Beneath it we have played; though years may roll, O sweet companions, loved with love intense, For your sakes, shall the tree be ever dear. Blent with your images, it shall arise In memory, till the hot tears blind mine eyes! What is that dirge-like murmur that I hear Like the sea breaking on a shingle-beach? It is the tree’s lament, an eerie speech, That haply to the unknown land may reach.

Unknown, yet well-known to the eye of faith! Ah, I have heard that wail far, far away In distant lands, by many a sheltered bay, When slumbered in his cave the water-wraith And the waves gently kissed the classic shore Of France or Italy, beneath the moon, When earth lay trancèd in a dreamless swoon: And every time the music rose,—before Mine inner vision rose a form sublime, Thy form, O Tree, as in my happy prime I saw thee, in my own loved native clime.

Therefore I fain would consecrate a lay Unto thy honor, Tree, beloved of those

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A sea of foliage girds our garden round, But not a sea of dull unvaried green, Sharp contrasts of all colors here are seen; The light-green graceful tamarinds abound Amid the mango clumps of green profound, And palms arise, like pillars gray, between; And o'er the quiet pools the seemuls lean, Red-red, and startling like a trumpet's sound. But nothing can be lovelier than the ranges Of bamboos to the eastward, when the moon Looks through their gaps, and the white lotus changes Into a cup of silver. One might swoon Drunken with beauty then, or gaze and gaze On a primeval Eden, in amaze.

 Our Casuarina Tree by the women Poetess Toru Dutt, a romantic lyric, has an intimately personal association.  The tree belonged to the big garden house at Rambagan where the poetess passed her girlhood and youth.  She used to play, with her young mates, under the boughs of that vast tree which occupied much of her young heart.  Our Casuarina Tree is an impulsive, frank expression of the poetess’ intimate attachment to the big, hoary tree that bore the happy memories of her early days and sweet companions.

For Best Coaching : TNPSC / NEET/ BANKING/ TET/ TRB-PG / G.K CLASSES 282PASSED TILL 2017AUG 14 SHRI VIDHIYA SHRI COACHING CENTRE , KARAIKUDI 9442738785 , 7200430099 STUDY MATERIALS POLYTECHNIC TRB-ENGLISH –UNIT VII  Though she lived apart from her country home and favorite tree for a pretty long time, when she was in France and Italy, she could not forget that and remained with it even in her quiet mood an happy vision.  Our Casuarina Tree is a touching recollection in a pleasant lyric of an object of Nature. The poetess is very much intimate to the poetess.

Stanza 1 The poetess sketches, with a fond attachment, the features of her dear casuarinas tree of her garden-home, so majestic and grand. She details it with the climbing creeper, winding its rugged trunk, like a scarf, the clusters of crimson flowers, hanging from its boughs, on which birds and bees gather. The sweet song from a solitary bird, settling on it, seems to enchant the drowsy night. Stanza 2 The poetess relates, in a tone of intimacy, the sights and the song enjoyed by her out of her association with that tree. The tree itself, the sight of the gray sole baboon and its playful offspring’s on its boughs, the sweet tune of the kokilas, the slow move of the sleepy cows under the tree, the reflection of that massive tree on a big tank of the garden and blooming snow-white water-lilies hereon serve to delight her often. Stanza 3 The poetess affirms that the tree is so dear to her not merely for its grandeur and majesty but also for the happy memory of her beloved companions with whom she used to play (in her girlhood days) beneath its boughs. Though many years have passed, their sweet remembrance yet persists in her and affects her emotionally. But this is not all. The poetess seems to hear in the soft murmur (raised by its branches) its sad mourning that may reach far-off lands.

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5. Sarojini Naidu: The Soul's Prayer The Soul's Prayer The Poem first, as usual: In childhood’s pride I said to Thee: ‘O Thou, who mad’st me of Thy breath, Speak, Master, and reveal to me Thine inmost laws of life and death.

‘Give me to drink each joy and pain Which Thine eternal hand can mete, For my insatiate soul would drain Earth’s utmost bitter, utmost sweet.

‘Spare me no bliss, no pang of strife, Withhold no gift or grief I crave, The intricate lore of love and life And mystic knowledge of the grave.’

Lord, Thou didst answer stern and low: ‘Child, I will hearken to thy prayer,

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‘Thou shalt drink deep of joy and fame, And love shall burn thee like a fire, And pain shall cleanse thee like a flame, To purge the dross from thy desire.

‘So shall thy chastened spirit yearn To seek from its blind prayer release, And spent and pardoned, sue to learn The simple secret of My peace.

‘I, bending from my sevenfold height, Will teach thee of My quickening grace, Life is a prism of My light, And Death the shadow of My face.’

This is a poem by Sarojini Naidu. In this poem, the poet tells us of the insignificance of man and advises us to cultivate humility in all we do. The key plot of the poem (if poems have plots) is as follows: The protagonist of the poem is proud of who she is and feels she is capable of taking on all that the Lord can offer. She asks the Lord to let her have all the experiences that the Lord is capable of offering. God listens to her and tells her that I can and will grant you your wish, but know that such knowledge and swings of emotional extremes can bend your soul, break it, and leave you a mere shadow of whatever you think you are today. And then, your soul shall plead for freedom from the curse you yourself got on your head. And I shall grant you that redemption too, and you shall learn of my life-giving grace, and understand how, in the midst of all I am and create, I can retain my composure and remain peaceful.

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Anita Desai (born 24 June 1937) is an Indian novelist and the Emerita John E. Burchard Professor of Humanities at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Awards

 1978 – Winifred Holtby Memorial Prize – Fire on the Mountain   1978 – Sahitya Akademi Award (National Academy of Letters Award) – Fire on the Mountain  1980 – Shortlisted, Booker Prize for Fiction – Clear Light of Day  1983 – Guardian Children's Fiction Prize – The Village by the Sea: an Indian family story  1984 – Shortlisted, Booker Prize for Fiction – In Custody  1993 – Neil Gunn Prize  1999 – Shortlisted, Booker Prize for Fiction: Fasting, Feasting  2000 – Alberto Moravia Prize for Literature (Italy)  2003 – Benson Medal of Royal Society of Literature  2007 – Sahitya Akademi Fellowship  2014 – Padma Bhushan

As a writer she has been shortlisted for the Booker Prize three times The story is about a woman's pre-natal neurosis. Sita, the middle-aged heroine, does not want her fifth child to be born at all into the world she sees around her - of destruction and unmeaning. Sita withdraws to the island of Manori, where she spent her childhood, in order to prevent the birth of her child. The book is divided into three parts, the middle section being a flashback to her childhood. The conscientious reader builds up a picture of Sita the child-sitting on the dias while her father made pre-Independence speeches-playing on the sand with

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Anita Desai's 'Where shall we Go This Summer?' portrays the emotional and temperamental chasm between the pairs of lovers in the novel- Sita and Raman. The natural flow of affection between the lovers, is very often intact but more frequently it is blocked due to misunderstanding, lack of adequate forbearance and patience. The central theme in the novel is Sita's repugnance and disgust at the thought of the birth of her fifth child. She is an experienced keen eyed mature mother. She knows the joy of motherhood and is comparatively contented. But she is emotionally hurt in the recent years; her shock comes from modern town culture. The strain involved in the earlier childbirths was not felt but being hurt in several ways this time she is not prepared for the delivery of the child. She is afraid that different nurses and doctors will offer indignity to her person. The process of hospitalization and the details of the procreative procedure are repugnant even in their mental picturing to Sita. Therefore she seeks to escape from this predicament. The theme of this novel is a very complex one but very delicately handled by the novelist. Sita is of course affectionate to her husband, she has a deep concern for his problems, but she has an unquiet mind. Unable to compromise with her husband. She leaves for the Island Manor!. Once she leaves her husband she feels very sorry for having abandoned him. She thinks he will suffer without being able to look after their children properly. To quote her agonised speech:"His boys at home must have worried him, while he was at work in the factory which was not without its problems either. He looked worn much older than his years. Nor could he stay here resting as she was doing. But Sita is often despondent and unhappy and fails to satisfy her husband by a show of natural affections, and emotional and affectionate reassurances, so frequently needed to make life pleasant, she regards the assurance as false.

For Best Coaching : TNPSC / NEET/ BANKING/ TET/ TRB-PG / G.K CLASSES 282PASSED TILL 2017AUG 20 SHRI VIDHIYA SHRI COACHING CENTRE , KARAIKUDI 9442738785 , 7200430099 STUDY MATERIALS POLYTECHNIC TRB-ENGLISH –UNIT VII "It simply did not exist for her and should not make it exist. So she did not speak any words of love or reassurance to him. Free flow of love and sympathy may make marital life heavenly but Anita Desai's ladies being born with higher sensibility fail to provide them. This is the kind of emotional inadequacy existing between pairs of lovers in her books. There is no deliberate attempted element in their discord. The discords are the results of temperamental differences and there is an unconscious quality about them. Thematically Anita Desai makes a minute study of the undercurrent feelings between the husband and wife. Thus the husband is irritated by Sita's exaggerated concern about the welfare of the helpless eagle being attacked by crows. He rejoices in Sita's discomfiture at the outcome of the incident. "They've made a good job of your eagle", (said her husband comjng out with her morning cup of tea. "Look at the feathers sticking out of that crow's beak, He laughted". Because of this standing difference between the two Sita does not open her heart to her husband and maintains a certain reserve, which is the inherent seed of permanent discord of a subtle and minor type between the two.In circumstances, she desirous of complete surrender to her husband, on his visit to Manori keeps back her feelings . "She felt so weak, she wanted to lay down her head and weep, "My father's dead-look after me". She cleared her throat. Anita Desai possesses reminds one of the tradition of George Eliot. The novelist brings out this point all through the book and frequently refers to Sita's "Wanting and not being given. What she wanted" and refers to her face. "It was the face of a woman unloved a woman rejected”. The theme of needs, of love rejected or not understood characterises most of her novels.

For Best Coaching : TNPSC / NEET/ BANKING/ TET/ TRB-PG / G.K CLASSES 282PASSED TILL 2017AUG 21 SHRI VIDHIYA SHRI COACHING CENTRE , KARAIKUDI 9442738785 , 7200430099 STUDY MATERIALS POLYTECHNIC TRB-ENGLISH –UNIT VII 7. Badal Surcar: Evam Indrajit Badal Sircar (15 July 1925 – 13 May 2011), also known as Badal Sarkar, was an influential Indian dramatist and theatre director, most known for his anti- establishment plays during the Naxalite movement in the 1970s and taking theatre out of the proscenium and into public arena, when he founded his own theatre company, Shatabdi in 1976. He wrote more than fifty plays of which Evam Indrajit, Basi Khabar, and Saari Raat are well known literary pieces, a pioneering figure in street theatre as well as in experimental and contemporary Bengali theatre with his egalitarian "Third Theatre", he prolifically wrote scripts for his Aanganmanch (courtyard stage) performances, and remains one of the most translated Indian playwrights.  Sarkar was diagnosed with colon cancer in April 2011. He died on 13 May at Kolkata at the age of 85.  In 1967, he formed the "Shatabdi" theatre group,  He is a proponent of the "Third theatre" movement that stood ideologically against the state.  Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi awarded the prestigious 'Ammannur Puraksaram'in 2010 for his lifetime achievements in Indian Theatre  Though his early comedies were popular, it was his angst-ridden Ebong Indrajit (And Indrajit) that became a landmark play in Indian theatre.  Today, his rise as a prominent playwright in 1960s is seen as the coming of age of Modern Indian playwriting in Bengali, just as Vijay Tendulkar did it in Marathi, Mohan Rakesh in Hindi, and Girish Karnad in Kannada.  He was awarded the Padma Shri in 1972, Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1968 and the Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship, the highest honour in the performing arts by Govt. of India, in 1997

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List of plays

 Ebang Indrajit (And Indrajit) (1963)  Basi Khabar  Baaki Itihaash (Remaining History) (1965)  Pralap (Delirium) (1966)  Tringsha Shatabdi (Thirtieth Century) (1966)  Pagla Ghoda (Mad Horse) (1967)  Shesh Naai (There's No End) (1969)  Spartacus  Prastava  Michhil (Procession)  Bhoma  Solution X  Baropishima  Saara Raattir  Baro Pisima  Kabi Kahini  Manushe Manushe  Hottomalar oparey  Bollovpurer rupkatha  Sukhapathya bharoter itihash(Indian History Made Easy)  Gondi (adaptation from 'Caucasian Clak Circle' by Bertolt Brecht)  Nadite Dubiye Dao (Adaptation from 'We come to the river' by Edward Bond)  Sinri  bagh  Ka Cha Ta Ta Pa (A satire)  Bagala Charit Manas  Ore Bihanga  Dwirath  Manushe Manushe  Janmavumi Aaj (A poetry Monaz)  Mara-Saad  Choruivati (An adaptation from "Picnic in the Battlefield" by Fernando Arrabal)

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Works The Third Theatre. Pub. Sircar, 1978

 The changing language of Theatre (Azad memorial lectures). Pub. Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR), 1982.

 Evam Indrajit is a 1963 three-act play by Indian dramatist and theater director Badal Sircar, first translated in 1975. Known for his anti- establishment plays written during the Naxalite movement in 1970s, his plays were often performed in the public arena and challenged conventions of Indian theater.

 His plays were heavily inspired by traditions of folk theater, while developing an identity of its own rooted in contemporary politics.

 Many of his plays lack a plot or concrete characterization, and the actors often chose their roles from performance to performance and even exchange them in the middle of the play.

 Audience participation is usually encouraged.

 Evam Indrajit is an abstract, absurdist play with a central theme of the monotony of a mechanical existence. It explores the writing process and the search for inspiration and something exciting to motivate creation.

 It was Sircar’s first drama after a string of comedies, and remains one of his most enduring works, especially outside of his native India.

 The story of Evam Indrajit focuses on a writer, who narrates the story without ever being given a firm identity of his own. He struggles with writer’s block, striving to write his play but falling short and unaware of the root causes.

 He has never experienced life in its most primal way, instead being focused on his own experience as a writer.

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 He attempts to write about them, but is frustrated there as well. He frequently becomes enraged and tears up his manuscripts. He finally finds inspiration in a woman named Manasi.

 Like the writer, Manasi is not a character with her own characterization, but a representation. She represents the Indian counterpart of Carl Jung’s concept of Anima.

 This refers to an entity that serves as a pointer to the collective consciousness. Both the main characters and their concept of identity is frequently questioned, especially the writer Indrajit.

 He changes his preferred name multiple times in the play, and frequently expresses discontent with his identity. His persona splits between three names, Amal, Kamal, and Vimal.

 He feels compelled to write, even at the cost of neglecting important bodily functions that he needs to live. He is obsessed with seeking a purpose in life.

 The play focuses on his life, his love and obsession with Manasi, and his growing revolutionary leanings against society.

 However, soon the ruling class and their attempt to impose order on his life begin to crush his spirit.

 His three personalities, Amal, Kamal, and Vimal each play different roles in society and are played for laughter as they struggle against society.

 Indrajit, in his persona as the writer, continues to resist, but eventually he becomes convinced that there is no escape from society’s clutches.

 As the play reaches its final act, Indrajit attempts to seek meaning in exploring the world. He travels to London, but finds tht world just as unsatisfying as the life he left behind.

 He soon finds himself contemplating suicide but decides he is incapable of this as well. The play ends without bringing his story to any sort of

For Best Coaching : TNPSC / NEET/ BANKING/ TET/ TRB-PG / G.K CLASSES 282PASSED TILL 2017AUG 25 SHRI VIDHIYA SHRI COACHING CENTRE , KARAIKUDI 9442738785 , 7200430099 STUDY MATERIALS POLYTECHNIC TRB-ENGLISH –UNIT VII conclusion, as Indrajit comes to the realization that the past and present are two ends of a single rope.

 The play is ultimately about the futility of life and the roles we all play in society.

 Badal Sircar is considered one of the most prominent and influential modern Indian playwrights, having written more than fifty plays in a career that spanned fifty years.

 Born Sudhindra Sarkar in Calcutta, he received a degree in comparative literature from the Jadavpur University.

 However, it was while he was working as a town planner around the world that he entered theater.

 He is considered the founder of what is known as Third Theater, an experimental form of theater that involves direct communication with the audience and emphasizes expressionist acting along with realism.

 His first play, Bara Trishna, was performed in 1951 with him in the initial cast. He wrote Evam Indrajit a little over a decade later, and it was performed by the Shatabdi theater group, which he founded.  As the years passed, he became one of the leading figures in street theater in Bengal, and his angry, anti-establishment plays became the voice of a generation.  He criticized the government, the caste system, and overall problems in societies. His later plays, including an adaptation of the Howard Fast novel Spartacus, moved into traditional arena theater.  He is one of India’s most decorated playwrights, willing the 1971 Jawaharlal Nehru Fellowship in 1971, the Indian government’s Padma Shri award in 1972, and a 1997 lifetime achievement award by India’s National Academy for Music, Dance, and Drama.  In 2009, two years before his death, Bada; Sircar’s life was celebrated in a five-day festival by India’s most prominent theater directors. Several of India’s most prominent film directors today have cited Sircar as their most significant inspiration.

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8. 'Rose of God’ by Sri Aurobindo : A Critical Summary and Analysis (1872-1950)

Sri Aurobindo (Bengali: [Sri Ôrobindo]) (born Aurobindo Ghose; 15 August 1872 – 5 December 1950) was an Indian nationalist, philosopher, yogi, guru and poet.

 He joined the Indian movement for independence from British rule, for a while was one of its influential leaders and then became a spiritual reformer, introducing his visions on human progress and spiritual evolution.  Aurobindo studied for the Indian Civil Service at King's College, Cambridge, England.  After returning to India he took up various civil service works under the maharaja of the princely state of Baroda and began increasingly involved in nationalist politics and the nascent revolutionary movement in Bengal.  Aurobindo could only be convicted and imprisoned for writing articles against British rule in India.  During his stay in the jail he had mystical and spiritual experiences, after which he moved to Pondicherry, leaving politics for spiritual work.  During his stay in Pondicherry, Aurobindo developed a method of spiritual practice he called Integral Yoga.  The central theme of his vision was the evolution of human life into a life divine.  He believed in a spiritual realisation that not only liberated man but transformed his nature, enabling a divine life on earth.  In 1926, with the help of his spiritual collaborator, Mirra Alfassa (referred to as "The Mother"), he founded the Sri Aurobindo Ashram. He died on 5 December 1950 in Pondicherry.  His main literary works are The Life Divine, which deals with theoretical aspects of Integral Yoga; Synthesis of Yoga, which deals with practical guidance to Integral Yoga; and Savitri: A Legend and a Symbol, an epic poem.  His works also include philosophy, poetry, translations and commentaries on the Vedas, Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1943 and for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1950.

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 'Rose of God’by Sri Aurobindo unfolds before us in the succession of vibrant images the whole mystical metaphysics and psychology-many-sided system exploring the secrets of the Divine Rose.  In the poem, Rose of God, There are two main concepts rounds which the words are woven the descending super mind and the ascending sun.  The Rose of God which is equated with the rising sun and the descending super mind is characterized in the opening stanza by two attributes, bliss and passion.  The vermillion sun on the blue sky appears like a Kumkumam mark on the forehead of a beautiful woman. The redness is the symbol of passion and the sapphire of blue heaven stands for the limitless infinity.  Therefore the Sun is called the Passion Flower of the Nameless. God, the Absolute, cannot be comprehended through qualities.  So, man attributes qualities to Him for the purpose of realization or it can be said that the absolute itself manifests to man through assumed qualities. This is the passion of God, who is really beyond all naming.  Man has to use symbols to express the indefinable. So the poet calls the Sun’bud of the mystical name’, that is, the Prijakshara OM, which stands for all the Mantras.  ‘OM’ or pravana is taken to be the truest symbol of God head. The poet invoices this passion flower to rise up in the human heart, like an upward streaming flame.  This is an allusion to the Kundalini which rises from the Muladhara and passing through four more plexes goes up to the Sahasrara.  The consequence of the up going flame is bliss. The poet calls it fire-sweet, that is, as flaming as the fire and as sweet as nectar.

For Best Coaching : TNPSC / NEET/ BANKING/ TET/ TRB-PG / G.K CLASSES 282PASSED TILL 2017AUG 28 SHRI VIDHIYA SHRI COACHING CENTRE , KARAIKUDI 9442738785 , 7200430099 STUDY MATERIALS POLYTECHNIC TRB-ENGLISH –UNIT VII  He says the rising of the sun in the sky at the dawn produces the seven – coloured spectrum which is the symbol for the seven levels of ecstasy defined in Yoga tents like ‘Yoga – Vasishta’.  Thus in the first stanza, the eagerness of God to come to man is powerfully underlined by the symbol of the sun eagerly rising in the Eastern sky.  In the second stanza, the attributes dealt with are those of Light and time. In the first stanza, the miracle was said to happen in the heart of man. In this stanza the transformation is in the mind of man.  Light stands for unclouded knowledge. The Sun is obviously the symbol of the grandest light. In the Gita we find that the splendor of the Lord’s Visvarupa or cosmic from has been hesitatingly described as a splendors of a thousand suns rising simultaneously.  The sun drives away all darkness and takes us to the summit of wisdom. n terms of the kumkumam the summit stands for the thousand – petal led Lotus, reeling which the Yogi has nothing more to achieve.  It is theultimate seeing , and it is immaculate in the sense that the Sahasra is represented as pure white. So , he calls the sun a golden flower of mystery.  The sun is the maker of time and as such represents the God head which is beyond all time, but comes down to man in time as an incarnation. And this incarnation, the poet calls the guest of the marvelous hour.  A quest is called an atithi, that is, one who comes without previous appointment. The descent of the super mind depends on the Grace of God and cannot be scheduled according to any time – table.  But once the super mind arrives time itself becomes a marvel, because hence forth the shackling effect if time is lost living in time the aspirant becomes timeless. This is the result of the divine quest arriving unexpectedly. So, he is called the quest of marvelous hour.

For Best Coaching : TNPSC / NEET/ BANKING/ TET/ TRB-PG / G.K CLASSES 282PASSED TILL 2017AUG 29 SHRI VIDHIYA SHRI COACHING CENTRE , KARAIKUDI 9442738785 , 7200430099 STUDY MATERIALS POLYTECHNIC TRB-ENGLISH –UNIT VII  In the third stanza, the attribute dealt with are power and Immortality. The poet calls the sun the source of all power.  This is scientifically true because all the sources of energy with which we run our industries can be traced ultimately to the sun. Science tells us that the four fuels. firewood, coal, water power and petroleum, all originate from solar light and heat. Hence it is extremely appropriate that the sun is worshiped as the grants of power.  So, the poet calls the sun the granter of right. Icon means image. He calls it also the damask force of infinity. Damask is defined as blush red.  So, it brings to our mind the scene of an infinite power that is also infinitely tenders. The sun not only gives us power but tenderly. Nourishes the smallest life.  The power of sun shatters the darkness of ignorance. This is composed to a diamond drill breaking up rocks and releasing the life – giving waters.  The power resides in the will and therefore the poet entreats the sun to set ablaze the will of man,and make him relies the pattern of the lord’s creation.  When we know the design our own lines into great elegance and fulfillment, drawing power from the source of all power.  There fore, for poet calls the sun the Image of Immortality. An image is finite, but what it represents is Infinite. Man lives only for a brief period.  But within the period if the life is divinized, it can have eternal significance. He calls it an outbreak because the power of the Divine Shatters all limitations.  It is the desire of God that is the source of creation. We cannot know why God choose of creation. We cannot know why God choose to have a desire.  But we cannot, with out human understanding, explain creation as anything but the sport of God undertaken in cutler freedom.

For Best Coaching : TNPSC / NEET/ BANKING/ TET/ TRB-PG / G.K CLASSES 282PASSED TILL 2017AUG 30 SHRI VIDHIYA SHRI COACHING CENTRE , KARAIKUDI 9442738785 , 7200430099 STUDY MATERIALS POLYTECHNIC TRB-ENGLISH –UNIT VII  Man are driven by desire to do things but God uses desire as the instrument for his creation. So the poet says that the blooming of life on creation is simulations with the rising of the sun, and in the redness of the sun, he sees God’s purple desire.  Life is multifaceted and comparable to a flower with multi – layered petals. The colours run the whole gamut even as a lyre spans all the octaves of music.  The poet has in mind the sahasrara or the thou – sand petal lotus which overtops the sin charkas of the koundolini and where siva and parvathi, the parents of the universe are said to sport. From that sport does the divinity of tile issue.  According to Tantric lore, the Kundalini that has risen up to the sahasrara returns down words by the Grace of God.  The result is the physical body of man is transformed into finest expression of divinity. The poet calls it a sweet rhyme.  When the super mind descents, earth heaven get inter – mingled and mortal man becomes immortal. Life becomes eternal. So he calls it ‘The Rose of Life’.  In the concluding stanza, the poet invokes “God’s grace as the Rose of Love” In shakthi worship, the composition of the Divine Mother is called Aruna or Pink.  The poet calls it the blush of rapture on the face to the Eternal. It is ruby – red in colour signifying the blood relationship between the victory and the deity.  He points out that nature by itself is Tamasic. It is like a deep abyss or pit completely dark. Man who finds himself cast into that bottomless pit cries out in despair.  The poet asks the Grace of God to descend to this pit and raise up the suffering mortal. So, that earth itself turns into heaven and life is thrilled as it kissed by the eternal bliss.

For Best Coaching : TNPSC / NEET/ BANKING/ TET/ TRB-PG / G.K CLASSES 282PASSED TILL 2017AUG 31 SHRI VIDHIYA SHRI COACHING CENTRE , KARAIKUDI 9442738785 , 7200430099 STUDY MATERIALS POLYTECHNIC TRB-ENGLISH –UNIT VII  It should be noted that the suprarenal is expected to device every accepted to to divinize every aspect of human life.  That is why he refers to its symbol, the sun, as the Rose of Life, Rose of Power, Rose of life, Rose of Love and of Bliss.  The change takes place in man’s body, wil, mind and heard. The Rose Stands for Bright hope and so the poem is a testament of the poet’s faith that sooner or later the super mind will descend and divinize life on earth at all levels. Considered merely as a poet and critic of poetry, Sri Aurobindo would still rank among the supreme masters of our time.  His poetical output represents the creative effort of about sixty years and, on a modest estimate, may run to some three thousand pages.  K. D. Sethna remarks about the poem, “The most famous of mystical symbols he has steeped in the.intensest inner light and lifted it on a material base of pure stress into an atmosphere of rhythmic ecstasy.  “The ‘Rose’ is here the supreme symbol of the essence and efflorescence of God. Bliss, Light,Power, Life and Love are the five essences that fuse as the integral perfection of God. In every stanza, the first half names a power above and the second half invokes that Power to inhabit, inform and recreate the corresponding instrument below—Bliss for the human heart.  Light for the human mind, Power for the human will, Life for the body terrestrial, and Love to ‘make earth the home of the wonderful and life Beatitude’s Kiss’.  Everywhere in ‘Rose of God’ we have a profound and life-packed language as a natural vehicle attempting the revelation of spiritual reality.  Rose of God, like a blush of rapture on Eternity’s face, Rose of Love, ruby depth of all being, fire-passion of Grace! Arise from the heart of the yearning that sobs in Nature’s abyss: Make earth the home of the Wonderful and life beatitude’s kiss.

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Rose of God Rose of God, vermilion stain on the sapphires of heaven, Rose of Bliss, fire-sweet, seven-tinged with the ecstasies seven! Leap up in our heart of humanhood, O miracle, O flame, Passion-flower of the Nameless, bud of the mystical Name. Rose of God, great wisdom-bloom on the summits of being, Rose of Light, immaculate core of the ultimate seeing! Live in the mind of our earthhood; O golden Mystery, flower, Sun on the head of the Timeless, guest of the marvellous Hour. Rose of God, damask force of Infinity, red icon of might, Rose of Power with thy diamond halo piercing the night! Ablaze in the will of the mortal, design the wonder of thy plan, Image of Immortality, outbreak of the Godhead in man. Rose of God, smitten purple with the incarnate divine Desire, Rose of Life, crowded with petals, colour’s lyre! Transform the body of the mortal like a sweet and magical rhyme; Bridge our earthhood and heavenhood, make deathless the children of Time. Rose of God, like a blush of rapture on Eternity’s face, Rose of Love, ruby depth of all being, fire-passion of Grace! Arise from the heart of the yearning that sobs in Nature’s abyss: Make earth the home of the Wonderful and life beatitude’s kiss.

 The Rose of God is full-blown in the transcendent realms: its fivefold divineness has to blossom gradually in the universe where human existence has evolved.  Sri Aurobindo's five incantatory stanzas. Let us glance at the intensest details. In the first stanza the first outstanding effect is: "vermilion stain."

For Best Coaching : TNPSC / NEET/ BANKING/ TET/ TRB-PG / G.K CLASSES 282PASSED TILL 2017AUG 33 SHRI VIDHIYA SHRI COACHING CENTRE , KARAIKUDI 9442738785 , 7200430099 STUDY MATERIALS POLYTECHNIC TRB-ENGLISH –UNIT VII  The word "stain" is a happy violence showing the passion that bursts forth as if with God's own rich blood forced through the rapt distance of the Absolute.  In the second stanza, there are Rose of Light, immaculate core of the ultimate seeing and Sum on the head of the Timeless, guest of the marvelous Hour— two excellent lines in reference to the divine original whose imperfect translation is our mental thought and which has to make this thought no longer a translation but a transparence of the "great wisdom-bloom on the summits of being" (another phrase which is excellent poetry conjuring up by its long ea and 00 and e as well as by its heavy consonantal accumulations— gr, sd, mbl ts, ng—the presence itself of the high-hung massive flower spoken of).  In the third stanza, the most gripping turns in my opinion are "damask force of Infinity" and "thy diamond halo piercing the night".  The adjective "damask" carries out a double function. Its obvious significance is "red" and it takes our thought to the variety of rose known as "Damask Rose" and thus proves itself apt for characterising the Rose of God.  The fourth stanza grips us first by "smitten purple with the incarnate divine Desire".  In the vivid violence of "smitten purple" we find the innate impetuosity of the divine Desire that is self-driven as by a torture of delight and we find the burning pressure and irresistible impact this Desire would bring in getting itself incarnated, becoming substanced and shaped into flesh.  Purple, to occult sight, is the colour of the Life-Force The last stanza gives three memorable locutions. First is "a blush of rapture on Eternity's face".  The word "face" is the right expressive step forward after the poet has spoken in the fourth stanza of divine Desire becoming embodied, just as the word "incarnate" there is the right expressive step after the "icon" of the third stanza and just as "icon" is the right expressive step after the second stanza's

For Best Coaching : TNPSC / NEET/ BANKING/ TET/ TRB-PG / G.K CLASSES 282PASSED TILL 2017AUG 34 SHRI VIDHIYA SHRI COACHING CENTRE , KARAIKUDI 9442738785 , 7200430099 STUDY MATERIALS POLYTECHNIC TRB-ENGLISH –UNIT VII "seeing" and just as "seeing" is the right expressive step after the "fire-sweet" self-experience with which in the first stanza ecstatic passion goes forth to create. 9. Arundhati Roy: The God of Small Things

 The God of Small Things (1997) is the debut novel of Indian writer Arundhati Roy.  It is a story about the childhood experiences of fraternal twins whose lives are destroyed by the "Love Laws" that lay down "who should be loved, and how. And how much."  The book explores how the small things affect people's behavior and their lives. It won the Booker Prize in 1997.  The God of Small Things was Roy's first book and only novel, until the 2017 publication of The Ministry of Utmost Happiness, twenty years later. She began writing the manuscript in 1992 and finished four years later in 1996.  It was published the following year. The potential of the story was first recognized by Pankaj Mishra, an editor with HarperCollins, who sent it to three British publishers.  Roy received 500,000 pounds in advance and rights to the book were sold in 21 countries.  The story is set in Ayemenem, now part of Kottayam district in Kerala, India. The temporal setting shifts back and forth between 1969, when fraternal twins Rahel and Esthappen are seven years old, and 1993, when the twins are reunited at the age of 31. Malayalam words are liberally used in conjunction with English.  Facets of Kerala life captured by the novel are Communism, the caste system and the Keralite Syrian Christianway of life.

For Best Coaching : TNPSC / NEET/ BANKING/ TET/ TRB-PG / G.K CLASSES 282PASSED TILL 2017AUG 35 SHRI VIDHIYA SHRI COACHING CENTRE , KARAIKUDI 9442738785 , 7200430099 STUDY MATERIALS POLYTECHNIC TRB-ENGLISH –UNIT VII  Lacking sufficient dowry to marry, Ammu Ipe is desperate to escape her ill- tempered father, known as Pappachi, and her bitter, long-suffering mother, known as Mammachi.  She finally persuades her parents to let her spend a summer with a distant aunt in Calcutta. To avoid returning to Ayemenem, she marries a man who helps manage a tea estate.  She later discovers that he is an alcoholic, and he physically abuses her and tries to pimp her to his boss in order to keep his job. She gives birth to Rahel and Estha, leaves her husband, and returns to Ayemenem to live with her father, mother and brother, Chacko.  Chacko has returned to India from England (where he studied at Oxford) to run the family's pickle business after his divorce from an English woman, Margaret, and the subsequent death of his and Ammu's father.  The multi-generational family home in Ayemenem also includes Pappachi's sister, Navomi Ipe, known as Baby Kochamma. As a young girl, Baby Kochamma fell in love with Father Mulligan, a young Irish priest who had come to Ayemenem to study Hindu scriptures.  To get closer to him, Baby Kochamma converted to Roman Catholicism and joined a convent against her father's wishes.  After a few lonely months in the convent, Baby Kochamma realized that her vows brought her no closer to the man she loved. Her father eventually rescued her from the convent and sent her to America, where she obtained a diploma in ornamental gardening.  Because of her unrequited love for Father Mulligan, Baby Kochamma remained unmarried for the rest of her life, becoming deeply embittered over time.  Throughout the book, she delights in the misfortune of others and constantly manipulates events to bring down calamity on Ammu and the twins.

For Best Coaching : TNPSC / NEET/ BANKING/ TET/ TRB-PG / G.K CLASSES 282PASSED TILL 2017AUG 36 SHRI VIDHIYA SHRI COACHING CENTRE , KARAIKUDI 9442738785 , 7200430099 STUDY MATERIALS POLYTECHNIC TRB-ENGLISH –UNIT VII

"It didn't matter that the story had begun, because Kathakali discovered long ago that the secret of the Great Stories is that they have no secrets. The Great Stories are the ones you have heard and want to hear again. The ones you can enter anywhere and inhabit comfortably. They don't deceive you with thrills and trick endings." ”

— The God of Small Things  The death of Margaret's second husband in a car accident prompts Chacko to invite her and Sophie (Margaret's and Chacko's daughter from their brief marriage) to spend Christmas in Ayemenem.  The day before Margaret and Sophie arrive, the family goes to a theater to see The Sound of Music. On their way to the theater, the family (Chacko, Ammu, Estha, Rahel, and Baby Kochamma) encounters a group of Communist protesters.  The protesters surround the car and force Baby Kochamma to wave a red flag and chant a Communist slogan, thus humiliating her. Rahel thinks she sees Velutha, a servant who works for the family's pickle factory among the protesters.  Then, at the theater, Estha is molested by the "Orangedrink Lemondrink Man," a vendor working the snack counter. Estha's experience factors into the tragic events at the heart of the narrative.  Rahel's assertion that she saw Velutha in the Communist mob causes Baby Kochamma to associate Velutha with her humiliation at the protesters' hands, and she begins to harbor a deep hatred toward him.

For Best Coaching : TNPSC / NEET/ BANKING/ TET/ TRB-PG / G.K CLASSES 282PASSED TILL 2017AUG 37 SHRI VIDHIYA SHRI COACHING CENTRE , KARAIKUDI 9442738785 , 7200430099 STUDY MATERIALS POLYTECHNIC TRB-ENGLISH –UNIT VII  Velutha is an Untouchable (the lowest caste in India), a dalit and his family has served the Ipes for generations. He is an extremely gifted carpenter and mechanic.  His skills in repairing machinery make him indispensable at the pickle factory, but draw resentment and hostility from the other Untouchable factory workers.  Rahel and Estha form an unlikely bond with Velutha and come to love him despite his caste status.  It is her children's love for Velutha that causes Ammu to realize her own attraction to him, and eventually, she comes to "love by night the man her children loved by day."  Ammu and Velutha begin a short-lived affair that culminates in tragedy for the family.  When her relationship with Velutha is discovered, Ammu is locked in her room and Velutha is banished. In her rage, Ammu blames the twins for her misfortune and calls them "millstones around her neck." Distraught, Rahel and Estha decide to run away.  Their cousin, Sophie Mol, persuades them to take her with them. During the night, as they try to reach an abandoned house across the river, their boat capsizes and Sophie drowns.  When Margaret and Chacko return from Cochin, where they picked up plane tickets, they see Sophie's body laid out on the sofa.  Margaret vomits, hits Estha, and hysterically berates the twins because they survived and Sophie did not.  Baby Kochamma goes to the police and accuses Velutha of being responsible for Sophie's death. She claims that Velutha tried to rape Ammu, threatened the family, and kidnapped the children.

For Best Coaching : TNPSC / NEET/ BANKING/ TET/ TRB-PG / G.K CLASSES 282PASSED TILL 2017AUG 38 SHRI VIDHIYA SHRI COACHING CENTRE , KARAIKUDI 9442738785 , 7200430099 STUDY MATERIALS POLYTECHNIC TRB-ENGLISH –UNIT VII  A group of policemen hunt Velutha down, savagely beat him for crossing caste lines, and arrest him on the brink of death.  The twins, huddling in the abandoned house, witness the horrific scene. Later, when they reveal the truth to the chief of police—that they ran away by choice, and that Sophie's death was an accident—he is alarmed.  He knows that Velutha is a Communist, and he is afraid that if word gets out that the arrest and beating were wrongful, it will cause unrest among the local Communists.  He threatens to hold Baby Kochamma responsible for falsely accusing Velutha. To save herself, Baby Kochamma tricks Rahel and Estha into believing that the two of them would be implicated as having murdered Sophie out of jealousy and were facing sure imprisonment for them and their Ammu.  And as a way out of this she suggests them to lie to the inspector that Velutha had kidnapped them and had murdered Sophie. Velutha dies of his injuries overnight.  After Sophie's funeral, Ammu goes to the police, with Rahel and Estha in tow, to tell the truth about her relationship with Velutha.  The police threaten her to make her leave the matter alone. Afraid of being exposed, Baby Kochamma convinces Chacko that Ammu and the twins were responsible for his daughter's death.  Chacko kicks Ammu out of the house and forces her to send Estha to live with his father. Estha never sees Ammu again. She dies alone and impoverished a few years later at the age of 31.  After a turbulent childhood and adolescence in India, Rahel goes to America to study. There, she marries and divorces before returning to Ayemenem after several years of working dead-end jobs.

For Best Coaching : TNPSC / NEET/ BANKING/ TET/ TRB-PG / G.K CLASSES 282PASSED TILL 2017AUG 39 SHRI VIDHIYA SHRI COACHING CENTRE , KARAIKUDI 9442738785 , 7200430099 STUDY MATERIALS POLYTECHNIC TRB-ENGLISH –UNIT VII  Rahel and Estha, now 31—the age their mother was when she died; a "viable, die-able age," as Roy writes—are reunited for the first time since they were children. In the intervening years, they have been haunted by their guilt and their grief-ridden pasts. Estha is perpetually silent, and Rahel has a haunted look in her eyes.  It becomes apparent that neither twin ever found another person who understood them in the way they understand each other. The twins' renewed intimacy is consummated in their having sex.

Characters Estha Estha, which is short for Esthappen Yako, is Rahel's twin brother. He is a serious, intelligent, and somewhat nervous child who wears "beige and pointy shoes" and has an "Elvis puff." His experience of the circumstances surrounding Sophie's visit is somewhat more traumatic than Rahel's, beginning when he is sexually abused by a man at a theater. The narrator emphasizes that Estha's "Two Thoughts" in the pickle factory, stemming from this experience—that "Anything can happen to Anyone" and that "It's best to be prepared"—are critical in leading to his cousin's death. Estha is the twin chosen by Baby Kochamma, because he is more "practical" and "responsible," to go into Velutha's cell at the end of the book and condemn him as his and Rahel's abductor. This trauma, in addition to the trauma of being shipped (or "Returned") to Calcutta to live with his father, contributes to Estha's becoming mute at some point in his childhood. He never goes to college and acquires a number of habits, such as wandering on very long walks and obsessively cleaning his clothes. He is so close to his sister that the narrator describes them as one person, despite having been separated for most of their lives. He is repeatedly referred to as "Silent." Rahel Rahel is the partial narrator of the story, and is Estha's younger sister by 18 minutes. As a girl of seven, her hair sits "on top of her head like a fountain" in a "Love-in-Tokyo" band, and she often wears red-tinted plastic sunglasses with yellow rims. An intelligent and straightforward person who has never felt socially comfortable, she is impulsive and wild, and it is implied that everyone but Velutha

For Best Coaching : TNPSC / NEET/ BANKING/ TET/ TRB-PG / G.K CLASSES 282PASSED TILL 2017AUG 40 SHRI VIDHIYA SHRI COACHING CENTRE , KARAIKUDI 9442738785 , 7200430099 STUDY MATERIALS POLYTECHNIC TRB-ENGLISH –UNIT VII treats her as somehow lesser than her brother. In later life, she becomes something of a drifter; several times, the narrator refers to her "Emptiness." After the tragedy that forms the core of the story, she remains with her mother, later training as an architectural draftsman and engaging in a failed relationship with a European, elements of which parallel the author's own life story. Ammu Ammu is Rahel's and Estha's mother. She married their father (referred to as Baba) only to get away from her family. He was an alcoholic, and she divorced him when he started to be violent toward her and her children. She went back to Ayemenem, where people avoided her on the days when the radio played "her music" and she got a wild look in her eyes. When the twins are seven, she has an affair with Velutha. This relationship is one of the cataclysmic events in the novel. She is a strict mother, and her children worry about losing her love. Velutha Velutha is a Paravan, an Untouchable, who is exceptionally smart and works as a carpenter at the Ipe family's pickle factory. His name means white in Malayalam, because he is so dark. He returns to Ayemenem to help his father, Vellya Paapen, take care of his brother, who was paralyzed in an accident. He is an active member of the Marxist movement. Velutha is extremely kind to the twins, and has an affair with Ammu for which he is brutally punished. Chacko Chacko is Estha's and Rahel's maternal uncle. He is four years older than Ammu.[1] He meets Margaret in his final year at Oxford and marries her afterward. They have a daughter, Sophie, whose death in Ayemenem is central to the story.

Baby Kochamma Baby Kochamma is the twins' maternal great aunt. She is of petite build as a young woman but becomes enormously overweight, with "a mole on her neck," by the time of Sophie's death. She maintains an attitude of superiority because of her education as a garden designer in the United States and her burning, unrequited

For Best Coaching : TNPSC / NEET/ BANKING/ TET/ TRB-PG / G.K CLASSES 282PASSED TILL 2017AUG 41 SHRI VIDHIYA SHRI COACHING CENTRE , KARAIKUDI 9442738785 , 7200430099 STUDY MATERIALS POLYTECHNIC TRB-ENGLISH –UNIT VII love for an Irish Catholic priest, her relationship with whom is the only meaningful event in her life. Her own emptiness and failure spark bitter spite for her sister's children, further driven by her prudish code of conventional values. Her spite ultimately condemns the twins, the lovers, and herself to a lifetime of misery. The book is narrated in the third person. However, during a great part of the narrative, the reader sees everything through Rahel's eyes. This gives the reader special insight into the happenings and characters. Throughout the book, there are various moments that intersect. In one moment, everything is seen through a child's eyes, with a child's feelings and rationales. Later, the same facts, objects, and people are seen in a completely different light. 10. Mulk Raj Anand: Untouchable Untouchable (novel)  Mulk Raj Anand (12 December 1905 – 28 September 2004) was an Indian writer in English, notable for his depiction of the lives of the poorer castes in traditional Indian society.  One of the pioneers of Indo-Anglian fiction, he, together with R. K. Narayan, Ahmad Ali and Raja Rao, was one of the first India-based writers in English to gain an international readership.  Anand is admired for his novels and short stories, which have acquired the status of being classic works of modern Indian English literature, noted for their perceptive insight into the lives of the oppressed and their analyses of impoverishment, exploitation and misfortune.  He is also notable for being among the first writers to incorporate Punjabi and Hindustani idioms into English and was a recipient of the civilian honour of the Padma Bhushan.  Untouchable is a novel by Mulk Raj Anand published in 1935. The novel established Anand as one of India's leading Englishauthors. The book was

For Best Coaching : TNPSC / NEET/ BANKING/ TET/ TRB-PG / G.K CLASSES 282PASSED TILL 2017AUG 42 SHRI VIDHIYA SHRI COACHING CENTRE , KARAIKUDI 9442738785 , 7200430099 STUDY MATERIALS POLYTECHNIC TRB-ENGLISH –UNIT VII inspired by his aunt's experience when she had a meal with a Muslim woman and was treated as an outcast by his family.  The plot of this book, Anand's first, revolves around the argument for eradicating the caste system. It depicts a day in the life of Bakha, a young "sweeper", who is "untouchable" due to his work cleaning latrines. Plot summary Set in the fictional Indian town of Bulandshahr, Untouchable is a day in the life of a young Indian sweeper named Bakha. The son of Lakha, head of all of Bulashah’s sweepers, Bakha is intelligent but naïve, humble yet vain. Over the course of Bakha’s day various major and minor tragedies occur, causing him to mature and turn his gaze inward. By the end of the novel Mulk Raj Anand, the author, has made a compelling case for the end of untouchability on the grounds that it is an inhumane, unjust system of oppression. He uses Bakha and the people populating the young man’s world to craft his argument. Bakha’s day starts with his father yelling at him to get out of bed and clean the latrines. The relationship between the father and son is strained, in part due to Bakha’s obsession with the British, in part because of Lakha’s laziness. Bakha ignores his father but eventually gets up to answer the demands of a high-caste man that wants to use the bathroom. This man is Charat Singh, a famous hockey player. At first Singh also yells at Bakha for neglecting his cleaning duties. The man has a changeable personality however. It isn’t long before he instructs Bakha to come see him later in the day so he can gift the young sweeper with a prized hockey stick. An overjoyed Bakha agrees. High on his good fortune he quickly finishes his morning shift and hurries home, dying of thirst. Unfortunately there is no water in the house. His sister Sohini offers to go fill the water bucket. At the well Sohini must wait behind several other outcastes also queued up. Also waiting for water is Gulabo, mother of one of Bakha’s friends and a jealous woman. She hates Sohini and is just barely stopped from

For Best Coaching : TNPSC / NEET/ BANKING/ TET/ TRB-PG / G.K CLASSES 282PASSED TILL 2017AUG 43 SHRI VIDHIYA SHRI COACHING CENTRE , KARAIKUDI 9442738785 , 7200430099 STUDY MATERIALS POLYTECHNIC TRB-ENGLISH –UNIT VII striking the young woman. A priest from the town temple named Pundit Kali Nath comes along and helps Sohini get water. He instructs her to come clean the temple later in the day. Sohini agrees and hurries home with the water. Back at home Lakha fakes an illness and instructs Bakha to clean the town square and the temple courtyard in his stead. Bakha is wise to the wily ways of his father but cannot protest. He takes up his cleaning supplies and goes into town. His sweeping duties usually keep him too busy to go into town, and so he takes advantage of the situation by buying cigarettes and candies. As Bakha eats his candies, a high-caste man brushes up against him. The touched man did not see Bakha because the sweeper forgot to give the untouchable’s call. The man is furious. His yelling attracts a large crowd that joins in on Bakha’s public shaming. A traveling Muslim vendor in a horse and buggy comes along and disperses the crowd. Before the touched man leaves he slaps Bakha across the face for his impudence, and scurries away. A shocked Bakha cries in the streets before gathering his things and hurrying off to the temple. This time, he does not forget the untouchable’s call. At the temple, a service is in full swing. It intrigues Bakha, who eventually musters up the courage to climb up the stairs to the temple door and peer inside. He’s only standing there for a few moments before a loud commotion comes from behind him. It’s Sohini and Pundit Kali Nath, who is accusing Sohini of polluting him. As a crowd gathers around, Bakha pulls his sister away. Crying, she tells him that the priest sexually assaulted her. A furious Bakha tries to go back to confront the priest, but an embarrassed and ashamed Sohini forces him to leave. Bakha sends his sister home, saying he will take over her duties in town for the rest of the day. Distraught over the day’s events, Bakha wanders listlessly before going to a set of homes to beg for his family’s daily bread. No one is home, so he curls up in front of a house and falls asleep. A sadhu also begging for food comes and wakes him. The owner of the house Bakha slept in front of comes out with food for the

For Best Coaching : TNPSC / NEET/ BANKING/ TET/ TRB-PG / G.K CLASSES 282PASSED TILL 2017AUG 44 SHRI VIDHIYA SHRI COACHING CENTRE , KARAIKUDI 9442738785 , 7200430099 STUDY MATERIALS POLYTECHNIC TRB-ENGLISH –UNIT VII sadhu. Seeing Bakha, she screams at him and at first refuses to give him food. She finally agrees to give him some bread in exchange for him sweeping the area in front of her house. As Bakha sweeps, the woman tells her young son to relieve himself in the gutter where Bakha is cleaning so he can sweep that up too. A disgusted Bakha throws down the broom and leaves for his house in the outcastes' colony. Back at home, it’s only Lakha and Sohini. Rakha, Bakha’s younger brother, is still out collecting food. Bakha tells his father that a high-caste man slapped him in the streets. Sensing his son’s anger, Lakha tells him a story about the kindness of a high-caste doctor that once saved Bakha’s life. Bakha is deeply moved by the story but remains upset. Soon after story time, Rakha comes back with food. A ravenous Bakha starts to eat, but then is disgusted by the idea of eating the leavings of the high-caste people. He jumps up and says he’s going to the wedding of his friend Ram Charan’s sister. At Ram Charan’s house, Bakha sees his other friend, Chota. The two boys wait for Ram Charan to see them through the thicket of wedding revelers. Ram Charan eventually sees his friends and runs off with them despite his mother’s protestations. Alone, Chota and Ram Charan sense something is wrong with their friend. They coax Bakha to tell them what’s wrong. Bakha breaks down and tells them about the slap and Sohini’s assault. Ram Charan is quiet and embarrassed by Bakha’s tale, but Chota is indignant. He asks Bakha if he wants to get revenge. Bakha does but realizes revenge would be a dangerous and futile endeavor. A melancholic atmosphere falls over the group. Chota attempts to cheer Bakha up by reminding him of the hockey game they will play later in the day. This reminds Bakha that he must go and get his gift from Charat Singh. Bakha goes to Charat Singh’s house in the barracks, but cannot tell if the man is home. Reluctant to disturb him or the other inhabitants, Bakha settles under a tree to wait. Before long, Singh comes outside. He invites Bakha to drink tea with him and allows the untouchable to handle his personal items. Singh’s disregard for

For Best Coaching : TNPSC / NEET/ BANKING/ TET/ TRB-PG / G.K CLASSES 282PASSED TILL 2017AUG 45 SHRI VIDHIYA SHRI COACHING CENTRE , KARAIKUDI 9442738785 , 7200430099 STUDY MATERIALS POLYTECHNIC TRB-ENGLISH –UNIT VII Bakha’s supposed polluting presence thrills Bakha’s heart. Thus he is overjoyed when Singh gives him a brand-new hockey stick. Ecstatic about this upswing to his terrible day, Bakha goes into the hockey game on fire. He scores the first goal. The goalie of the opposite team is angry over Bakha’s success and hits him. This starts an all-out brawl between the two teams that ends when a player’s younger brother gets hurt. Bakha picks up the young boy and rushes him home, only to have the boy’s mother accuse him of killing her son. Good mood completely destroyed, Bakha trudges home, where his father screams at him for being gone all afternoon. He banishes Bakha from home, saying his son must never return. Bakha runs away and takes shelter under a tree far from home. The chief of the local Salvation Army, a British man named Colonel Hutchinson, comes up to him. He sees Bakha’s distress and convinces the sweeper to follow him to the church. Flattered by the white man’s attention, Bakha agrees, but the Colonel’s constant hymn singing quickly bores him. Before the two can enter the church the Colonel’s wife comes to find him. Disgusted at the sight of her husband with another “blackie,” she begins to scream and shout. Bakha feels her anger acutely and runs off again. This time Bakha runs towards town and ends up at the train station. He overhears some people discussing the appearance of Mahatma Gandhi in Bulashah. He joins the tide of people rushing to hear the Mahatma speak. Just as Bakha settles in to listen, Gandhi arrives and begins his speech. He talks about the plight of the untouchable and how it is his life’s mission to see them emancipated. He ends his speech by beseeching those present to spread his message of ending untouchability. After the Mahatma departs a pair of educated Indian men have a lively discussion about the content of the speech. One man, a lawyer named Bashir, soundly critiques most of Gandhi’s opinions and ideas. The other, a poet named Sarshar, defends the Mahatma passionately and convincingly. Much of what they say goes above Bakha’s head, so elevated are their vocabulary and ideas. However, he does understand

For Best Coaching : TNPSC / NEET/ BANKING/ TET/ TRB-PG / G.K CLASSES 282PASSED TILL 2017AUG 46 SHRI VIDHIYA SHRI COACHING CENTRE , KARAIKUDI 9442738785 , 7200430099 STUDY MATERIALS POLYTECHNIC TRB-ENGLISH –UNIT VII when Sarshar mentions the imminent arrival of the flushing toilet in India, a machine that eradicates the need for humans to handle refuse. This machine could mean the end of untouchability. With this piece of hope Bakha hurries home to share news of the Mahatma’s speech with his father.

11. Shashi Deshpande’s :The Dark Holds No Terror

 Shashi Deshpande (born in 1938 in Dharwad, Karnataka, India), is an award-winning Indian novelist. She is the second daughter of famous Kannada dramatist and writer Sriranga.  She was born in Karnataka and educated in Bombay (now Mumbai) and Bangalore. Deshpande has degrees in Economics and Law.  In Mumbai, she studied journalism at the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan and worked for a couple of months as a journalist for the magazine 'Onlooker'.  She published her first collection of short stories in 1978, and her first novel, 'The Dark Holds No Terror', in 1980. She won the Sahitya Akademi Award for the novel That Long Silence in 1990 and the Padma Shri award in 2009.  Her novel Shadow Play was shortlisted for The Hindu Literary Prize in 2014.  Shashi Deshpande has written four children’s books, a number of short stories, and nine novels, besides several perceptive essays, now available in a volume entitled Writing from the Margin and Other Essays.  On October 9, 2015, she resigned from her position on the Sahitya Akademi's general council and returned her Sahitya Akademi award. In doing so, she joined a broader protest by other writers against the Akademi's perceived inaction and silence on the murder of M. M. Kalburgi. Works  The Dark Holds No Terrors, Penguin Books India (1980)  If I Die Today (1982)

For Best Coaching : TNPSC / NEET/ BANKING/ TET/ TRB-PG / G.K CLASSES 282PASSED TILL 2017AUG 47 SHRI VIDHIYA SHRI COACHING CENTRE , KARAIKUDI 9442738785 , 7200430099 STUDY MATERIALS POLYTECHNIC TRB-ENGLISH –UNIT VII  Come Up and Be Dead (1983)  Roots and Shadows (1983)  That Long Silence, Penguin (paperback 1989)  The Intrusion and Other Stories (1993)  A Matter of Time, The Feminist Press at CUNY (1996)  The Binding Vine, The Feminist Press at CUNY (2002)  Small Remedies, Penguin India (2000)  Moving On, Penguin Books India (2004)  In the Country of Deceit, Penguin/Viking (2008)  Shadow Play, Aleph (2013) Children's books  A Summer Adventure  The Hidden Treasure  The Only Witness  The Narayanpur Incident

 The Dark Holds No Terror is an important novel written by Shashi Deshpande, an Indian women novelist.  This novel explores the trauma of a middleclass working women who has become a trap in the male dominated society.  Deshpande picturises her men and women characters as the victim of modern society. She has mastery over the depiction of her characters as natural and genuine.  In this novel Sarita is the female protagonist who narrates the story.  Through her narration we can understand her parents, dead brother Dhruva, her husband Manohar and her old teacher Boozie.  Though the female protagonist undergoes certain trauma, dilemma she is strong and she decides not to protest against the oppression openly through breaking her familial life.

For Best Coaching : TNPSC / NEET/ BANKING/ TET/ TRB-PG / G.K CLASSES 282PASSED TILL 2017AUG 48 SHRI VIDHIYA SHRI COACHING CENTRE , KARAIKUDI 9442738785 , 7200430099 STUDY MATERIALS POLYTECHNIC TRB-ENGLISH –UNIT VII  The novel begins with Saru’s return to her maternal home after a long gap of fifteen years and the novel ends with her return to her family with her husband Manu.  This novel projects the typical Indian society, Indian men and women. Indian society expects man as the head of the family, who earns more than any other member of the family, who controls the family in every aspect of life.  Saru realizes that always wife should be less or she should be a few feet behind her husband to lead a happy life.  Deshpande’s men characters are not so strong, compared to her women protagonists. The new roles of women as an educated housewife, job holder makes her men characters feel inferior and they find it difficult to the adjust with the changing modes of the family system and society.  The novelist has not written her men characters with a pre-occupied notion but she treats both man and women characters equally.  Both of them have their own weakness, shortcomings, feelings which the other can’t understand.  Manohar, Sarita’s husband is purely an ‘Indian man’, who is expected to control the family through providing comfort to his family.  When the role of a woman changes from domestic life to a socially established professional, the man or the husband finds it very difficult to cope up with his role.  In “The Dark Holds No Terror” the woman protagonist Sarita is a well-known doctor whereas her husband Manohar (Manu) is an underpaid college teacher.  In the beginning, their life was normal but when Saru became an established practitioner and when people started to respect her, Manu develops a kind of guilty conscious in him.

For Best Coaching : TNPSC / NEET/ BANKING/ TET/ TRB-PG / G.K CLASSES 282PASSED TILL 2017AUG 49 SHRI VIDHIYA SHRI COACHING CENTRE , KARAIKUDI 9442738785 , 7200430099 STUDY MATERIALS POLYTECHNIC TRB-ENGLISH –UNIT VII  In one of the interviews, a female journalist asks Manu “How does it feel when your wife earns not only the butter but most of the bread as well?” At that time, he laughed with Saru.  But this question underestimates his confidence and he feels inferior to himself. So he lets his wounded male pride manifest itself in the form of sexual sadism.  He does it unconsciously, because next morning he will be a normal husband as usual. Once, even he asks Saru what happened to her, what are these marks on her body.  Manu does it in order to establish a control on her. The traditionally established role of a ‘man’ in India makes him difficult to adjust.  As his wife Saru has good earnings than Manu, when the society utters the same in a jovial manner in front of Manu, his male pride gets hurt.  Once when both Manu and Saru had planned for a trip to Ooty while shopping they met Manu’s colleague and his wife.  When Manu revealed their plan, his colleague expresses his inability to afford such things, his wife replies he also could have afforded it if he had married a doctor.  At this point he is humiliated.  These incidents made Manu so violent; he doesn’t behave like a husband in the privacy of their room at night but as a rapist.  In this novel women characters dominate the men characters. Saru controls Manu and Booze and her mother establish control on her Baba.  But compared to men characters, women characters are strong and dominating.  After the death of her mother Saru realizes the strength of her father who was literally dumb when her mother was treating Saru inferior to her son Dhruva.

For Best Coaching : TNPSC / NEET/ BANKING/ TET/ TRB-PG / G.K CLASSES 282PASSED TILL 2017AUG 50 SHRI VIDHIYA SHRI COACHING CENTRE , KARAIKUDI 9442738785 , 7200430099 STUDY MATERIALS POLYTECHNIC TRB-ENGLISH –UNIT VII  Her father didn’t protest, didn’t comment or didn’t oppose his wife for the same, but he ignored and led a busy life, in which he was busy with his work.  Saru’s father was a incapable man when his wife was alive. He never used to oppose her even when she punished Saru for the mistake which was not hers.  But later when she returns home she found her father managing everything with ease in the absence of her mother.  Now she saw him as a matured, bold man, who listened to her problem patiently.  Sarita through her profession and earnings, made her husband Manohar feel inferior to her.  She made Boozie her teacher to help her in order to complete her degree and to be an established practitioner.  In order to hide his homo sexuality, he roams and flirts with Saru. So these men characters seem the victims of the conservative society, where they find it difficult to cope with their roles.  Apart from pediatrics, she learnt other things from Boozie, he taught her how to speak good English, he has improved her accent, taught her how to enjoy good food, how to read and what to read. She likes his masculinity, attractive laugh etc.  Later she accepts financial help from him to open her own consulting rooms. She never cares about what people spoke about their relationship.  She uses Boozie to advance her career, to achieve her goal of economic independence. After achieving her aim she simply neglects him.  While she was still studying she considers her dingy room apartment as ‘a heaven on earth’. But later when she had a very good life, comforts, status in the society she is not at all happy.  Even though, Manu co-operates with Saru, to improve her status, later he himself develops inferiority about himself and his manly pride gets hurt when people come to know that his wife is earning more than what he earns.  This inferiority develops in him and makes a way to sexual sadism.

For Best Coaching : TNPSC / NEET/ BANKING/ TET/ TRB-PG / G.K CLASSES 282PASSED TILL 2017AUG 51 SHRI VIDHIYA SHRI COACHING CENTRE , KARAIKUDI 9442738785 , 7200430099 STUDY MATERIALS POLYTECHNIC TRB-ENGLISH –UNIT VII  Boozie the men character has been used by Saru, the female protagonist for her happiness. Saru tuned and managed them in such a way that their presence and company satisfied her needs.  When she fulfilled her wishes she used to turn her back on them. The best example for this is Boozie, she wanted money and she wanted to be a reputed doctor, so she encouraged Boozie.  She tried to please him allowing him to touch, hug her. She didn’t mind what the other people will think about their relationship, after achieving her intention she just neglected him.  Both Saru and Manu are the victims of patriarchy. To strengthen male characters Deshpande strengthened, and created female characters in such a way that they are bold and supportive to their husband and family.  But in this mechanical world, they take opportunity to discuss each other’s problem. So Deshpande tries to bring justice to her male characters through the portrayal of her female characters.  Her male characters are the victim of the society, through the helplessness they suffer like women. Even though female characters talk a lot about the suffering, their inner trauma, victim of marital rape, the silence of the male characters conveys about their dilemma, suffering, inferiority, and maladjustment.  So Deshpabnde not only projects the female as a victim but also shows how equally men characters too suffer and victimized in the society. But at the end, her men and women characters compromise and accept themselves as they are.  Deshpande sketches the role of women and men of middle class family where the female protagonists are highly qualified courageous and strong, they struggle to cope with the existing norms of the society even though the female characters protest against patriarchy.

For Best Coaching : TNPSC / NEET/ BANKING/ TET/ TRB-PG / G.K CLASSES 282PASSED TILL 2017AUG 52 SHRI VIDHIYA SHRI COACHING CENTRE , KARAIKUDI 9442738785 , 7200430099 STUDY MATERIALS POLYTECHNIC TRB-ENGLISH –UNIT VII  Deshpande makes them to surrender to circumstances through a sensible compromise within the family because Deshpande supports pro-women but not anti-man, she rejects a separatist stance, aware of the fact that breaking of the bonds of family would result in loneliness and disintegration of the larger social setup.  Deshpande’s men and women characters are caught between traditional upbringings and the longing for freedom in the modern society.  Even though the male characters play less important place in narrative, the novelist portrayed them as supportive to female characters.  Her male characters have been sons, husbands, fathers and the head of the family. These are the roles that demand different kinds of responses from men in the name of honour, dishonours, right, wrong, position, and hegemony, away in the context of patriarchy to find ideal manhood.  So these male characters are forced to play the role of a controller who controls his family and fulfill his desires. When he failed to perform the established role he too suffers or fears about the society.  As he is a man he should earn more than his wife, he should be in front of his wife because he is a man.  Sarita protests against the oppression silently but she is not ready to take a bold step like divorce, because of her Indian mind set. So she patches up the relation with Manu.  Totally Saru is capable of managing the male characters to satisfy her needs, wishes fulfilled. So Deshpande projects even the men characters are the victims of the society. Totally these men characters are tradition bound and face the problem of adjustment.

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12. Girish Karnad Girish Raghunath Karnad, Tughlaq”

 Girish Raghunath Karnad (born 19 May 1938) is an Indian actor, film director, writerplaywright and a Rhodes Scholar, who predominantly works in South Indian cinema and Bollywood  For four decades Karnad has been composing plays, often using history and mythology to tackle contemporary issues. He has translated his plays into English and has received acclaim.  He is active in the world of Indian cinema working as an actor, director, and screenwriter, in Hindi and Kannada cinema, earning awards along the way.

Awards and honours

 Sangeet Natak Akademi award and Varthur navya Award – 1972  Padma Shri – 1974  Padma Bhushan – 1992  Kannada Sahitya Parishat Award – 1992  Sahitya Academy award – 1994  Jnanpith Award – 1998  Kalidas Samman – 1998  Rajyotsava Awards

 (born 19 May 1938) is an Indian actor, film director, writer playwright and a Rhodes Scholar, who predominantly works in South Indian cinema and Bollywood.  His rise as a playwright in the 1960s, marked the coming of age of modern Indian playwriting in Kannada, just as Badal Sarkar did in Bengali, Vijay Tendulkar in Marathi, and Mohan Rakesh in Hindi.  He is a recipient of the 1998 Jnanpith Award, the highest literary honour conferred in India.

For Best Coaching : TNPSC / NEET/ BANKING/ TET/ TRB-PG / G.K CLASSES 282PASSED TILL 2017AUG 54 SHRI VIDHIYA SHRI COACHING CENTRE , KARAIKUDI 9442738785 , 7200430099 STUDY MATERIALS POLYTECHNIC TRB-ENGLISH –UNIT VII  For four decades Karnad has been composing plays, often using history and mythology to tackle contemporary issues.  He has translated his plays into English and has received acclaim. His plays have been translated into some Indian languages and directed by directors like Ebrahim Alkazi, B. V. Karanth, Alyque Padamsee, Prasanna, Arvind Gaur, Satyadev Dubey, Vijaya Mehta, Shyamanand Jalan, Amal Allana and Zafer Mohiuddin.  He is active in the world of Indian cinema working as an actor, director, and screenwriter, in Hindi and Kannada cinema, earning awards along the way.  He was conferred Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan by the Government of India and won four Filmfare Awards, of which three are Filmfare Award for Best Director – Kannada and the fourth a Filmfare Best Screenplay Award.  Girish Karnad was born in Matheran, Maharashtra in a Saraswat Brahmin (SB) Konkani family, to Rao Saheb Dr Karnad and Krishna Bai Mankeekara. Krishna Bai was a widow and was serving as a homemaker for Rao Saheb and his bedridden wife for about five years. Rao Saheb and Krishna Bai married according to Arya Samaj tradition.  His initial schooling was in Marathi. In Sirsi, Karnataka, he was exposed to travelling theatre groups, Natak Mandalis as his parents were deeply interested in their plays.  As a youngster, Karnad was an ardent admirer of Yakshagana and the theater in his village. His family moved to Dharwad in Karnataka when he was 14 years old, where he grew up with his two sisters and niece.  He earned his Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics and statistics from Karnatak Arts College, Dharwad (Karnataka University), in 1958.  Upon graduation Karnad went to England and studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Magdalen in Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar (1960–63),

For Best Coaching : TNPSC / NEET/ BANKING/ TET/ TRB-PG / G.K CLASSES 282PASSED TILL 2017AUG 55 SHRI VIDHIYA SHRI COACHING CENTRE , KARAIKUDI 9442738785 , 7200430099 STUDY MATERIALS POLYTECHNIC TRB-ENGLISH –UNIT VII earning his Master of Arts degree in philosophy, political scienceand economics. Karnad was elected President of the Oxford Union in 1963.  Some of his famous Kannada movies include Tabbaliyu Neenade Magane, Ondanondu Kaladalli, Cheluvi and Kaadu and most recent film Kanooru Heggaditi (1999), based on a novel by Kannada writer Kuvempu.  His Hindi movies include Nishaant (1975), Manthan (1976), Swami (1977) and Pukar (2000). He has acted in a number of Nagesh Kukunoor films, starting with Iqbal (2005), where Karnad's role of the ruthless cricket coach got him critical acclaim. This was followed by Dor (2006), 8 x 10 Tasveer (2009), with lead actor Akshay Kumar and Aashayein (2010).

“Tughlaq” by Girish Karnad, a thirteen-scene play about the turbulent rule of Mohammad Bin Tughlaq.

This seems on the outlook as a historical play, but is appropriate to the contemporary politics of any era, especially in the current global scenario.

The play Tughlaq explores the series of events that led to the downfall of one of the most fascinating kings to occupy the throne in Delhi, namely, Mohammed-bin- Tughlaq. The protagonist, Mohammad bin tughlaq, known for his reformist, ‘ahead of his times’ ideas had a grand vision, but his reign was an abject failure.

He started his rule with great ideals of a unified India. Yet in 20 years his reign had degenerated into an anarchy and his kingdom had become a “kitchen of death”.

He put forth reformist ideas to bring about trust in his Hindu citizens like scrapping the ‘jijia’ tax on Hindus. One of his ideas was shifting the capital from Delhi to Daulatabad in order to have the capital that is not only the centre of his province but also a Hindu dominated area.

For Best Coaching : TNPSC / NEET/ BANKING/ TET/ TRB-PG / G.K CLASSES 282PASSED TILL 2017AUG 56 SHRI VIDHIYA SHRI COACHING CENTRE , KARAIKUDI 9442738785 , 7200430099 STUDY MATERIALS POLYTECHNIC TRB-ENGLISH –UNIT VII The play covers the consequences that followed this decision.

The play starts with Tughlaq being portrayed as a strict yet respected ruler. The play dramatically highlights the how the business class of the country always tried to influence the decisions of the Ruler.

The play also highligts how religion can be misused to bring in the common man into a foul play.

The two characters, Aziz and Azam, represent a section of people who are clever enough to identify and mis-use the loop holes and in every law to enrich themselves.

The play outlines his clever plots to eliminate his opponents and ends with scenes of utter chaos and misery in the kingdom, and Tughlaq being left alone, having been abandoned by those who survived him. The play intends at capturing the helplessness of a great ruler, his downfall no matter how big the dreams and the visions in the hands of the religion and business class. Characters Tughlaq The Sultan Muhammad-bin-Tughlaq is the central figure of the play, Tughlaq. He is the protagonist/ antagonist of the play. Many of the critics are of the opinion that Karnad’s Tughlaq is caricature of Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru. He is very intelligent and works very hard for the people. He becomes successful to kill Sheikh Imam-ud-din and Ain-ul-Mulk in a single stroke. This double-facedness of Tughlaq can be compared with modern politicians. Barani Barani plays significant part in Girish Karnad’s plays. Karnad has used historical background while writing Tughlaq and The Dreams of Tipu Sultan.In both these plays he has used a fictional historian named Barani. His character is contrast to

For Best Coaching : TNPSC / NEET/ BANKING/ TET/ TRB-PG / G.K CLASSES 282PASSED TILL 2017AUG 57 SHRI VIDHIYA SHRI COACHING CENTRE , KARAIKUDI 9442738785 , 7200430099 STUDY MATERIALS POLYTECHNIC TRB-ENGLISH –UNIT VII Najib who is a politician. To him history is not made only in straight crafts; its lasting results are produced in the ranks of learned men. Like Najib, Barani is also the favourite of Sultan but unlike Najib, he is an idealist. He is a good man and sees goodness in everyone. He is a moderate and temperate. He does not want violence. He praises the Sultan’s generous and kind deeds and does not approve of his killings and murders. He is a scholar historian standing for the virtues of life.He is a simple, good and an honest advisor to the Sultan completely unaware of intrigues and treachery. Sheikh Imam-ud-din He is a holy character of India who defies the Sultan and meets his death by being caught in the trap of the Sultan. He is a bold and courageous man and is a great fiery speaker. He boldly tells the people that Muhammad is a murderer of his father and brother. The Sheikh is a man of courage and integrity. He warns Sultan against making verbal distinctions between religion and politics. But he is trapped by Muhammad in hisplan and he is killed in the battle. The Step-mother The Step-mother of Tughlaq is the only important female character in the play. She is worried about the health and welfare of Tughlaq. She is worried about his late nights. As she dislikes many of Tughlaq’s advisors, she requests Barani to promise her not to leave the Sultan – ever – whatever he does. She comes to the conclusion that Najib is responsible for the killings in the state. She manages the murder of Najib and for that Tughlaq gives order for her being sent to prison and stoned to death. The Sultan loses a good advisor

Tughlaq is a 1964 English language play by Girish Karnad.

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