SYLLABUS

B.Com II SEM

Subject – ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND INDIAN CULTURE

UNIT – I 1. Amalkanti: Nirendranath Chakrabart, 2. Sita: Toru Dutt, 3. Tryst with Destiny: Jawaharlal Nehru 4. Delhi in 1857: Mirza Ghalib 5. Preface to the Mahabharata: C. Rajagopalachari 6. Where the Mind is Without Fear: Rabindranath Tageore 7. A Song of Kabir: Translated by Tagore 8. Satyagraha: M.K. Gandhi 9. Toasted English: R.K. Narayan 10. The Portrait of a Lady: Khushwant Singh 11. Discovering Babasahed: Ashok Mahadevan

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B.Com II Sem. Subject: ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND INDIAN CULTURE

Chapter - 1

AMALKANTI Summary By: Nirendranath Chakrabarti

The presented poetry “Amalkanti” has been composed by Nirendranath Chakrabarti. Originally the poem was written in Bengali but now available to all non-Bengali languages. Amalkanti means "pure radiance" in Hindi as well as in Bangla. The meaning affects the understanding of the poem.The poet has used irony to express the facts of success and achievement. Irony is a literary device through which writer or speaker expresses the opposite meaning. In the poem Amalkanti dreamt to be sunlight and intended to brighten up others lives. But he had to work in a semi- dark room in a press. The poem has drawn the authentic picture of the result of planned career or aim of an individual during schooling. It reveals the fact that the person without aim is just like a sheep without rudder.

Amalkanti was the friend and classmate of the poet, Nirendranath Chakrabarti. He was weak and careless student. Often he would go to school late and never bothered to complete school works. The poet has revealed the fact that Amalkanti could not till three forms of verb. Whenever the teacher asked him, he started to look out of the window. He looked confused and speechless. The poet makes the fact clear that classmates of their class were ambitious and alert. They had their goals to be teachers, doctors or lawyers etc. But Amalkanti was different. He did not have any aim or career plan but he always wanted be sunlight so that he might enlighten even in the fading the evening. Years passed, most of the students settled down. Some of them became doctors, some teachers and some lawyers etc. Nirendranath Chakrabarti said that Amalkanti failed to achieve his goal. He couldn’t become sunlight, the person to bring hope and light in anybody’s life. Misfortunately he had to work in a semi-dark room as press worker. He was unable to enlighten even his own life.

At last the poet compared Amalkanti and other classmates. He described the fact that Amalkanti’s friend achieved their goals but he failed. Everybody was satisfied except Amalkanti whose dream was shattered according to the poet. Conventionally Amalkanti was not successful but literally he was the great success as he had been working to spread the light of knowledge through books, working inside dark room for low pay.

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Chapter – 2

SITA SUMMARY BY: Toru Dutt

Indo-Anglian literature has occupied an outstanding place not only in India but in European countries also. Toru Dutt (1856-1877) was a remarkable Indo-Anglian Poetess who was like Keats. Toru Dutt interpreted Indian life before the Western world. The poetry of Toru Dutt is notable also for the feel of Indian life that it has been able to convey in a foreign language. It was her Indianism that led to the publication of “Sanskrit Sheaf” in 1882 by Kegan Paul entitled Ancient Ballads and Legends of Hindustan. Toru respected the Gods of ancient India, and her praise of Yama and other deities is evident everywhere. In Savitri and Sita she brings out her great admiration for the true Indian wife. Apart from Sita, her collection of verses includes life – portraits of Lakshaman, Jogadhya Uma, The Royal Ascetic and Hind, Dhruva, Buttoo, and Sindhu.

This poem is an example of nostalgia. In it Toru Dutt longs for things that are no more. The poet reflects on her childhood days when she and her brother and sister gathered at their mother’s knee in the twilight and used to hear bed time stories of Sita’s sufferings narrated by her mother.

When the mother tells the story, the three children see a dense forest with cleared spot in its centre. There are big flowers on creepers, which cherish the tall trees. The white swans glide there in quite and clear lake. The sea, the peacocks springing and the deer racing too. There are also small shining fields with yellow waving grain. The blue smoke from strange altars rises. In this divine place there lived in peace, the poet anchorite(one who lives in seclusion). There also lived a fair lady Sita who is weeping. At every tear she shed, the children are moved with pitty. They also weep with her and are moved with her suffering.

Sita presents us the picture of an ideal Indian woman. Sita is the perfect epitome of temperance ,tolerance, sacrifice and innocence. The poet remembers how such sad tales filled the children with melancholy. Yet those were the happy times when the children were happy together under their mother’s protection..Now after so many years she is remembering the presence & the protection given by the parents.

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Chapter-3 Tryst with Destiny By: Jawaharlal Nehru

"Tryst with Destiny" was a speech made by Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of independent India, to the Indian Constituent Assembly in The Parliament, on the eve of India's Independence, towards midnight on 14 August 1947. It focuses on the aspects that transcend India's history. It is considered to be one of the greatest speeches of all time and to be a landmark oration that captures the essence of the triumphant culmination of the largely non-violent Indian independence struggle against the British Empire in India.

Jawaharlal Nehru was the first prime minister of India. He was a great statesman who is responsible for all the progress of India. As the prime minister of India, Nehru shaped the foreign policy of the country and gave gib support for the development of science and technology Nehru was originally a lawyer but he was also an expert in most other subjects. The people of India respected his vast knowledge and called him'Pundith Nehru'.

India won Independence from England on the 15th August, 1947. At the very stroke of midnight in the clock, Nehru announced the happy news of the freedom of India to the entire world. During the colorful ceremony held at New Delhi, the flag flag of England was pulled down and the new tricolor national flag was hoisted. After that, Nehru delivered a historic speech which is known as "Tryst with Destiny".

Nehru began his speech by referring to the pledge made by Indians long years ago to win the freedom for the homeland. Freedom has finally come and the long suppressed soul of the nation is liberated. Nehru asks the people of India to dedicate themselves to the service of India and to the service of the whole mankind.

India emerged as a new nation in the early hours of 15th August, 1947. Behind this success lies the long and great sacrifice done by the freedom fighters of many generations. According to Nehru, the people in India will collect their courage from the principles of the past. The success celebrated on the 15th August is only an opportunity for great successes in future. He asks the people on India to accept this challenge and to serve the future generation of India.

Nehru reminds the people of India that freedom and power bring responsibility Before 1947, India used to depend upon England for leadership and guidance. After 1947, India is her own master. The country has to take its own decisions, learn from mistakes and move forward. India has to grow into a mature and wise nation and be a model to other nations.

Nehru feels that all Indians should work hard for the development of their dear nation. Doing service to India means doing service to million of poor people who suffer all over the county. Nehru feels that the past is over and it is the future that has to be taken care of. It is for the future generations that we have to dedicate ourselves. Nehru urges the people to labor and to work hard to give reality to the dreams of the nation. Those dreams are not only for India but for the entire world. According to Nehru. all the countries in the world are closely connected. No one can live in isolation. Peace, freedom and prosperity are the common property of all humanity. Nehru warns the people that disaster in one part of the world can affect everyone else, because the world cannot be divide into small isolated pieces.

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Chapter-4 DELHI IN 1857 By:Mirza Ghalib

Mirza Asadullah Baig Khan born on 27 December 1797 – died 15 February 1869), was a classical Urdu and Persian poet from the Mughal Empire during British colonial rule. He used his pen- names of Ghalib in Urdu means "dominant")and Asad means "lion". His honorific was Dabir -ul- Mulk, Najm -ud- Daula. During his lifetime the Mughals were eclipsed and displaced by the British and finally deposed following the defeat of the Indian rebellion of 1857, events that he wrote of. Most notably, he wrote several ghazals during his life, which have since been interpreted and sung in many different ways by different people. Ghalib, the last great poet of the Mughal Era, is considered to be one of the most popular and influential poets of the Urdu language. Today Ghalib remains popular not only in India and Pakistanbut also amongst diaspora communities around the world.

On 2oth September, 1857 British recaptured Delhi and hoisted their flag from the ramparts of Red Fort, and then started the indiscriminate massacre of Delhi's population. Swathes of Delhi population was eliminated by the British in revenge for the killings of Christian men, women and children by the revels. Atrocities were committed on both sides.

As in its past history, Delhi suffered again grievously at the hands of the conquerors. The British surpassed even Timur, Abadali and Nadir Shah in the slaughter, plunder the destruction of Delhi. Lamenting the fat4e of Delhi, the Great Indian Poet Mirza Ghalib who was an eye witness, observed, “Here there is a vast ocean of blood before me. Thousands of my friends are dead. .none is left to shed tears on my death.”

However, as in its past history, the city of Delhi rose again like a Phoenix out of the ashes with a renewed glory as the capital of the country.

The Great Revolt of 1857 was the most serious armed challenge to the 19th century which shook the British Empire to its very foundation. Delhi was the main centre of this great movement where the rebel soldiers assembled from Meerut and after to fight the British under the leadership of Bahadurshah Zafar, the last Mughal monarch. Though the rebel sepoys fought with all the zeal and velour to drive out the British from the country, the military strategy and supremacy f the British ultimately triumphed. The revolt was crushed with a heavy hand.

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Chapter – 5

Preface To Mahabharat Summary By: C.Rajgopalachari

Mahabharata War was fought around the year 3000 BC . A lot of us who have read or heard stories from this epic must have either scoffed at, or felt fascinated by them. There is no other state in between.

This book is obviously an abridged version of the real epic and omits all sequences which author feels do not contribute significantly to the progression of the central story . I would say this is an excellent book from that perspective that not only does it preserve the original message well but also makes it for a crisp and exemplary reading. At no place does the author get into villain-bashing or hero-worshipping. He gives facts as they were back then and leaves it to you to think and decide.

The villains here are presumably the Kauravas and the heroes are their brethren - the Pandavas . Why? Well, it is all based on whose side Lord Krishna chose to be with, and why.

The book provides all important events from the very inception of the story till the end of the war. It does not mention the famed trip to heaven by the Pandavas after the calamitous war. If you have wanted to read Mahabharata in entirety and have been wary of its size, then this is the book for you. It will not take you more than 2-3 sittings to complete it.

First of all it is an amazing feat to write a book with so many a diverse characters. More so because most characters represent one or the other human aspect in a powerful manifestation. I have done some in- depth reading of various writings on Mahabharata and one point I noted is that the language (Sanskrit) used in the epic is not from the same period. This means that there are verses and texts in the epic which have Sanskrit written in the way Rg Veda was written. The text in other places in the book reflects Sanskrit of a much later period. This proves that there may have been many modifications to the original text later. It helps to keep this in mind when reading the book.

This is a great story of people blinded by hatred, of people bound by duty and hence forced to serve the side they do not necessarily support, of people who have stuck to righteousness when the whole world seems out to harm them, of people who are held captive by desire, by love, by self-respect. This is also the story of Supreme Lord and how He ensured that the side sticking to the path of righteousness wins.

Lord Krishna - The epicenter of the whole story, although never made to appear as one. He has a simple role to play in the whole story - that of a charioteer of Pandava’s army’s fate. And truly how he does it leaves you dumbfounded. That someone can provide such profound lessons and lead a much weaker side to a victory so convincingly is possible only through a divine intervention. In doing so, the Supreme Lord plays tricks, makes people speak lies, plays with the forces of nature and still sounds truly convincing as to why He did what He did.

Draupadi - The wife of the Pandava brothers. She becomes the reason behind Pandavas pledging to fight Kauravas and wiping them from the face of this earth. She represents the true power of the womenfolk . Can any fury be greater than a woman scorned? And then any greater than Draupadi scorned? Worship will not appease her. The blood of her tormentors will.

Arjuna - The ace warrior and the crown in Pandava’s armor. Standing on the line between desire and duty he is the most important character to compare you against. To me he represents true human behavior. He is selectively selfish and gives in into pleasures of life. He also feels sad at the prospect of killing men of tremendous discipline and outstanding characters just because fate has brought them face to face with him in a battlefield. He has his eyes set on his target firmly and is one of the best in his fields.

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Bhishma - The grandsire of the two sides. He has an amazing strength of character and is one of the greatest warriors of the age. Such are his arrows and their celestial powers that Pandava army can never imagine of winning the war with him in the way. He is fighting for the Kaurava army as he is bound by his pledge to always protect the kingdom.

Duryodhana - No parent in their right minds would name their son as Dur-yodhana. "Dur" in Sanskrit means bad . So the name should have been Sur-Yodhana , but given his evil ways and haughty mannerism, no wonder his name got changed over a period of time. He represents the other end of spectrum as the Pandava Army does - villainous, cold-blooded and above all full of deceipt.

Karna - He is truly a hero worth reckoning. He has a true friend in Duryodhana (the Kaurava prince) and his sense of duty comes from being bound by the sense of friendship and of loyalty even when he knows that all his real brothers are fighting on the opposite side and he has to kill them to ensure victory for his head-strong friend.

Drona - The teacher to the royal clan of Kauravas and Pandavas. He is an ace-archer and his favorite pupil is Arjuna. Such is the largesse and favoritism of this guru towards Arjuna that it makes him pathetically narrow minded and prejudiced towards Arjuna. He also has to fight for Kaurava Army because he is also bound by duty.

There are other characters which are very powerful (Yudhistra, Bhima, Dushasan, Shakuni, etc) but it is impossible to note them here.

So the stage is set for a war of the magnitude never heard before. On one side is the many times more powerful Kaurava Army with all of the greatest warriors on their side and an army many a time greater in size than the Pandava’s. On the other is Pandava Army guided by Lord Krishna who has vowed not to fight in the war at all. This is a weak side with very few individual performers. They cannot really stand the might of Kaurava army on their own. It is the presence of Lord Krishna that makes all the difference (?) . He stands well and above - untouched, unaffected, and moulds Pandavas in His clay.

The entire Kaurava army is wiped out with all its greatest warriors slain. Pandavas also suffer humongous losses. The Pandavas victory in no way means that they were always right. In fact all of us have a bit of all these epic characters like Arjuna, Krishna, Duryodhan in us as well

The best lesson we get is that, somewhere we are connected with the divine and have the ability to manifest divine behavior ourselves and also the importance of selfless Karma and the need to fight our own lovely desires.

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Chapter-6 'Where the Mind is Without Fear' by Rabindranath Tagore

The original poem bears the title ' Prarthana' i.e. prayer. The poem is a prayer to a universal father-figure, presumably, God.

The poem was written by Rabindranath Tagore during the time when India was under the British Rule and people were eagerly waiting to get their freedom from the British Rule. This poem had given a lot of strength to the people who were struggling for India’s independence. It is a prayer to the Almighty for a hassle free nation free from any kind of manipulative or corrupted powers.

The poet wishes to be awakened to a heaven where the mind can work fearlessly and the spirit can hold its head high, where one can acquire knowledge in all freedom of choice, where the big world of man is not fragmented or restricted to small mutually exclusive compartments, where everybody speaks his/her heart clear, where actions flow in the form of various streams moving from success to success, where petty conventions do not stagnate the course of judgment, where manhood is not pieced, where God himself leads us in all acts, all thoughts, and all sources of delight. We need a strong motivating slap by God to be elevated to that heaven.

Rabindranath Tagore sketches a moving picture of the nation; he would like India to be. In lines 1-2, the poet pledges to the Almighty that his country should be free from any fear of oppression or forced compulsion. He wants that everyone in his country should be free to hold their heads high in dignity. He dreams of a nation where knowledge or education would be free that is education should not be restricted to the upper class only but everybody should be free to acquire knowledge. There should not be any caste distinctions or gender distinction when it comes to education.

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high Where knowledge is free Where the world has not been broken up into fragments By narrow domestic walls

Tagore, in his poem ‘Where The Mind Is Without Fear’ wishes for a world which is not ‘fragmented’ by prejudices based on caste, creed, color, religion or other baseless superstitions. Prejudices and superstitions should not divide the people in groups and break their unity (line 4). He wants a nation where people are truthful, not superficial and words should come out from the depth of their hearts (line 5). The sixth line of ‘Where The Mind Is Without Fear’ talks about the poet yearning for a country where people would strive without getting tired to reach perfection leaving behind prejudices and old traditions. In the next line, line 7, Tagore wants the power of reason to dominate the minds of his countrymen, he does not want the ‘stream of reason’ to be lost amongst outdated customs and traditions and only that can direct the mind towards selfless thoughts and everlasting action . Where words come out from the depth of truth Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit

In the final line of the poem, Tagore asks the ‘Father’, presumably God to awaken his country into such a heaven of freedom. Where the mind is led forward by thee Into ever-widening thought and action Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.

The poem is patriotic in nature considering the independence and the happiness of the countrymen as the most important factor. If a country lacks such requirements, the countrymen can never be at peace.

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Consequently, the society will be full of disharmony and social unjust. The poem sends a message that the society should be free from all social evils, only then it can lead to progress. Therefore, Tagore prays to God to create such an ideal society for his motherland. Make sure you go though the critical analysis of Where the Mind is Without Fear.

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Chapter - 7

A SONG OF KABIR

TRANSLATED BY :Rabindranath Tagore

The poet Kabir, a selection from whose songs is here for the first time offered to English readers, is one of the most interesting personalities in the history of Indian mysticism. Born in or near Benares, of Mohammedan parents, and probably about the year 1440, became in early life a disciple of the celebrated Hindu ascetic Ramananda. Ramananda had brought to Northern India the religious revival which Ramanuja, the great twelfth-century reformer of Brahmanism, had initiated in the South. Ramananda, through whom its spirit is said to have reached Kabir, appears to have been a man of wide religious culture, and full of missionary enthusiasm. A great religious reformer, the founder of a sect to which nearly a million northern Hindus still belong, it is yet supremely as a mystical poet that Kabir lives for us. His fate has been that of many revealers of Reality. A hater of religious exclusivism, and seeking above all things to initiate men into the liberty of the children of God. His wonderful songs survive, the spontaneous expressions of his vision and his love; and it is by these, not by the didactic teachings associated with his name, that he makes his immortal appeal to the heart. In this poem a wide range of mystical emotion is brought into play with the faithful lovers of all creeds. Originally written by Siant Kabir and translated into English by Rabindranath Tagore. Kabir gives the massage that God is one for all. It is needless to ask a saint what caste he belongs to. Kabir says that the priest warrior and all the thirty six castes are the same for all seek God. The common end of a barber, washer man, carpenter and even Raidas has seek God. Rishi Swapach was tanner by caste. Hindu and Muslims all are alike. They had achieved the end i.e. seeking God. In the eyes of God all are equal and all religions lead to the path of salvation (Moksha).

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Chapter-8 SATYAGRAHA By: M.K.Gandhi Summary "The word Satya (Truth), is derived from Sat, which means being. And nothing is or exists in reality except Truth." M.K. Gandhi, Young India, July 30 1931

"Truth (Satya) implies love, and firmness (Agraha) engenders and therefore serve as a synonym for force. I thus began to call the Indian movement "Satyagraha", that is to say, the Force which is born of Truth and Love or non-violence, and gave up the use of the phrase "passive resistance". M.K. Gandhi, Satyagraha in South Africa

The most potent legacy Gandhi left to India was the technique of satyagraha. There was in this instrument of action, power to effect change. "Satyagraha" had become the cry of all those who felt aggrieved, and popular agitations, however organized and whatever their objective, were widely described as "satayagraha movements". Informed, responsible, and concerned Indians today reflect upon the use and meaning of "satyagraha" with misgivings, yet with hope; with fond memories, and yet with anxiety for the future. - - - The name has been seized upon to describe many forms of opposition to government, and to explain almost any direct social or political action short of organized violence.

Mohandas Gandhi's policy of non-violent resistance is called satyagraha. It has been translated as civil disobedience, passive resistance, "truth force", or "The willingness to endure great personal suffering in order to do what's right". The Sanskrit word has been broken down as follows: 1. "Sat" - which implies openness, honesty, and fairness: Truth. 2. "Ahimsa" - refusal to inflict injury on others. 3. "Tapasya" - willingness for self-sacrifice.

Gandhi said: In the application of Satyagraha, I discovered, in the earliest stages, that pursuit of Truth did not admit of violence being inflicted on one's opponent, but that he must be weaned from error by patience and sympathy. For, what appears to be truth to the one may appear to be error to the other. And patience means self-suffering. So the doctrine came to mean vindication of Truth, not by infliction of suffering on the opponent but one's own self.

Satyagraha and its off-shoots, non-co-operation and civil resistance, are nothing but new names for the law of suffering.

With satya combined with ahimsa, you can bring the world to your feet. Satyagraha in its essence is nothing but the introduction of truth and gentleness in the political, i.e., the national life.

Satyagraha is utter self-effacement, greatest humiliation, greatest patience and brightest faith. It is its own reward.

Satyagraha is a relentless search for truth and a determination to reach truth.

It is a force that works silently and apparently slowly. In reality, there is no force in the world that is so direct or so swift in working.

Satyagraha literally means insistence on truth. This insistence arms the votary with matchless power. This power or force is connoted by the word satyagraha. Satyagraha, to be genuine, may be offered against parents, against one's wife or one's children, against rulers, against fellow-citizens, even against the whole world.

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Such a universal force necessarily makes no distinction between kinsmen and strangers, young and old, man and woman, friend and foe. The force to be so applied can never be physical. There is in it no room for violence. The only force of universal application can, therefore, be that of ahimsa or love. In other words, it is soul-force.

Love does not burn others, it burns itself. Therefore, a satyagrahi, i.e., a civil resister, will joyfully suffer even unto death.

Gandhi repeatedly pointed out the differences between his ideas and the western ideas of passive resistance: I have drawn the distinction between passive resistance as understood and practiced in the West and satyagraha before I had evolved the doctrine of the latter to its full logical and spiritual extent. I often used 'passive resistance' and 'satyagraha' as synonymous terms: but as the doctrine of satyagraha developed, the expression 'passive resistance' ceases even to be synonymous, as passive resistance has admitted of violence as in the case of suffragettes and has been universally acknowledged to be a weapon of the weak. Moreover passive resistance does not necessarily involve complete adherence to truth under every circumstance. Therefore it is different from satyagraha in three essentials: Satyagraha is a weapon of the strong; it admits of no violence under any circumstance whatever; and it ever insists upon truth. I think I have now made the distinction perfectly clear.

Although non-co-operation is one of the main weapons in the armoury of Satyagraha, it should not be forgotten that it is after all only a means to secure the co-operation of the opponent consistently with truth and justice. The essence of non-violent technique is that it seeks to liquidate antagonisms but not the antagonists themselves. Civil disobedience is the inherent right of a citizen. He dare not give it up without ceasing to be a man. Civil disobedience is never followed by anarchy. Criminal disobedience can lead to it. Every state puts down criminal disobedience by force. It perishes if it does not. A Satyagrahi obeys the laws of society intelligently and of his own free will, because he considers it to be his sacred duty to do so. It is only when a person has thus obeyed the laws of society scrupulously that he is in a position to judge as to which particular laws are good and just and which unjust and iniquitous. Only then does the right accrue to him of civil disobedience of certain laws in well-defined circumstances. Fasting is a potent weapon in the Satyagraha armory. It cannot be taken by everyone. Mere physical capacity to take it is no qualification for it. It is of no use without a living faith in God. It should never be a mechanical effort or a mere imitation. It must come from the depth of one's soul. It is, therefore, always rare. I believe that every man and woman should learn the art of self-defense in this age. This is done through arms in the West. Every adult man is conscripted for army training for a definite period. The training for Satyagraha is meant for all, irrespective of age or sex. The more important part of the training here is mental, not physical. There can be no compulsion in mental training.

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Chapter – 9

Toasted English SUMMARY BY: R.K.Narayan

R.K.Narayan has written the essay Toasted English in comic tone,with a deep sense of humour and in ironical tone he has presented the position of English. For e.g. Toasted English referring to ‘English Muffins’ mentioning the different signboards ‘Newly planted, don’t walk’ Mark Stevens- keep out’ etc. the ways of the London ticket bus conductor all have an element of humour. Narayan presents the irony of English language in a beautiful manner. Thus ‘Toasted English’ has a deep sense of humour and irony.

In American restaurants ‘Toasted English’ refers to English muffins. R.K.Narayan uses the term for American English which is different from British English. According to Narayan the main reason for ‘Toasted English’ is the American thinking. They have changed the meanings of some English words as they wanted to prove themselves different from the English people.

The language used by American’s is very simple to communicate. ‘Your check’ ‘No Parking’, ‘Fabulous’, ‘OK’, ‘Yeah’, have multipurpose uses.

The refinements of usage in countries where English has a bazaar status are worth a study . On a London bus one will never hear the conductor cry, ‘Ticket,Ticket’. He approaches the passenger and says ‘thank you’ and on receiving the fare says again ‘Thank you sir’. One could calculate the number of passengers in a bus by counting the total number of thanks heard.

In any country, if a receptionist asks, ‘Can I help you ? It really means. ‘Have you any business here, if so state it’. The author says that time has come for Indians to consider seriously the question of a Bharat brand of English. i.e. the Indian English will respect the rule of law and maintain the dignity of grammar with a swadeshi stamp on it .English should not only be the language of intelligentsia, it has to reach the common man. In this way mongralisation of English can be prevented.

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Chapter-10 PORTRAIT OF A LADY By: Khushwant Singh The story is a insight of Khushwant Singh of his grandmother through his own eyes. Khushwant Singh remembers his grandmother as an everlastingly old person. She was an extremely religious person. He finds it difficult to conceptualise that once she too was young and pretty like other women. The stories about her childhood games were like fairytales to him. She was short, fat and somewhat hunched in stature. Her silvery white hair used to spread out on her wrinkled face.

Khushwant Singh remembers her limping around the house in spotless white clothes with one hand resting on her waist to balance her stoop and the other busy in telling the beads of her rosary. Her lips constantly moved inaudibly in prayers. Perhaps she was not beautiful in a temporal sense but she looked extremely beautiful with the peacefulness, serenity and the contentment her face exhibited.

Khushwant’s relationship with his grandmother experienced several switches when he was a small boy. In the first stage Khushwant lived in a village with her as his parents were looking for the chance to settle down in the city. In village grandmother took care of all the needs of the child. She was quite dynamic and active. She woke him up in the morning, got him ready for the school, coated his wooden slate, prepared his breakfast and accompanied him to the school. They fed street dogs with stale chapaties on their way to school which was a great fun for them. She helped him in his lessons also .It was her realm and she was the queen of her realm. In this period she was the exclusive undisputed custodian, mentor and architect of the child Khushwant.

The critical point came in their relationship when they came to city to stay with Khushwant’s parents. In city Khushwant joined an English School and started to go to school in a bus. Here the role of his grandmother in his bringing up was cut back a little bit. Now she could not go with him to the school. In spite of her immense interest in his studies, she could not help him in his lessons as he was learning English, laws of gravity, Archimedes’ principle and many more such things which she could not understand and this made her distressed. She found herself at loss. Another thing which disquieted her much was that the kids were not learning about God and scriptures in the school instead they were given music lessons which was not an respectable t in her belief. To her music was not meant for gentlemen. It was intended for beggars and prostitutes only. She highly disdained the music lessons. She was dismayed and withdrew herself to some level. Perhaps she realised that in the reforming of the child her role was finished and this very thought affected her most.

After finishing school Khushwant went to university. He was given a separate room. The common nexus of their friendship was ruptured. His grandmother confined herself to a self imposed reclusiveness. She spent most of her time in reciting prayers and by sitting beside her spinning wheel. She rarely talked to anyone. The only diversion for her was in the afternoon when she relaxed for a while to feed the sparrows. A kind hearted person, in village she used to feed street dogs, here in city she concentrated on birds and they too became very friendly with her. This was the stage when she found herself altogether sequestered and aloof but she weathered this closing off with grace and self-respect.

Khushwant’s grandmother was a firm person. Whatever she experienced in her heart she always held back herself from showing her emotions. He recollects that when he went abroad for further studies his grandmother was there to see him off on railway station quite calm busy telling the beads of her rosary and reciting prayers as ever. When he came back after five years he found her more and more religious and more and more self-possessed. She spent even more time in prayers and spinning the wheel. Feeding the birds was her only happy pursuit. But just the day before her death for the first time she broke this routine and abandoned her prayers. That day she sang the songs of the home coming of the warriors on a withered drum along with the ladies of neighborhood in order to celebrate her grandson’s return from abroad.

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Next morning she became ill. The doctor said it was a mild fever and would disappear she could anticipate that her end was approaching. She was disconcerted that she neglected her prayers just before the final exit from the world. She did not want to waste any more time talking to anybody. She lay peacefully in bed praying and telling the beads till her lips stopped moving and rosary fell from her lifeless fingers.

Thousands of sparrows flew in to mourn her death and sat dispersed around her body in complete silence. They even disregarded the breadcrumbs thrown for them by Khushwant’s mother. They only flew away after the corpse was carried away for final ritual

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Chapter – 11

Discovering Baba Saheb Summary By : Ashok Mahadevan

Dr Murlidhar Devidas Amte popularly known as Baba Amte,born on Dec 26,1914,Maharashtra, India & died on 9th Feb 2008 at the age of 94 in Anandvan ,Maharashtra, India, was an Indian social worker and social activist known particularly for his work for the rehabilitation and empowerment of poor people suffering from leprosy.

Baba Amte was born to Mr. Devidas and Ms. Laxmibai Amte in the city of Hinganghat in Wardha District of Maharashtra. It was a wealthy family. His father was a British government official with responsibilities for district administration and revenue collection.[3]Murlidhar had acquired his nickname Baba in his childhood. He came to be known as Baba not because "he was a saint or any such thing, but because his parents addressed him by that name."

As the eldest son of a wealthy landowner, Murlidhar had an idyllic childhood. By the time he was fourteen, he owned his own gun and hunted boar and deer. He developed a special interest in cinema, wrote reviews for the film magazine the Picturegoer and even corresponded with Greta Garbo and Norma Shearer. Norma Shearer became one of his first foreign donors when he began working with leprosy patients. When he was old enough to drive, he was given a Singer sportscar with cushions covered with panther skin. He never appreciated the restrictions that prevented him from playing with the 'low-caste' servants' children. "There is a certain callousness in families like mine." he use to say. "They put up strong barriers so as not to see the misery in the world outside and I rebelled against it. "

Trained in law, he developed a successful legal practice at Wardha. He soon got involved in the Indian struggle for freedom from the British Raj, and started acting as a defense lawyer for leaders of the Indian freedom movement whom the British authorities had imprisoned in the 1942 Quit India movement. He spent some time at Sevagram ashram of Mahatma Gandhi, and became a follower of Gandhism for the rest of his life. He followed Gandhism, including yarn spinning using a charkha and wearing khadi. In those days, leprosy was associated with social stigma and the society disowned people suffering from leprosy. There was also a widespread misbelief that leprosy was contagious. Amte strove to dispel the misbelief and once allowed bacilli from a leprosy patient to be injected into him while participating in an experimental test aimed at proving that leprosy was not contagious.

Amte founded three ashrams for treatment and rehabilitation of leprosy patients, disabled people, and people from marginalized sections of the society in Maharashtra, India. On 15 August 1949, he started a hospital in Anandvan under a tree. In 1973, Amte founded the Lok Biradari Prakalp to work for the Madia Gond tribal people of Gadchiroli District.

Amte devoted his life to many other social causes, the most notable among which were generating public awareness towards importance of ecological balance, wildlife preservation, and the Narmada Bachao Andolan.

Amte married Indu Ghule (Sadhana Amte) She actively participated in her husband's social work with equal dedication. Their two sons, Dr. Vikas Amte and Dr. Prakash Amte, and two daughters-in-law, Dr. Mandakini and Dr. Bharati, are all doctors. All four have dedicated their lives to social work and causes similar to those of the senior Amte. Vikas Amte and his wife Bharati Amte run the hospital at Anandwan and coordinate operations between Anandwan and satellite projects.

Today, Anandwan and Hemalkasa village have one hospital, each. Anandwan has a university, an orphanage, and schools for the blind and the deaf. Currently, the self-sufficientAnandwan ashram has over 5,000 residents. The community development project at Anandwan in Maharashtra is recognized around the world. Besides Anandwan, Amte later founded "Somnath" and "Ashokwan" ashrams for treating leprosy patients.

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In 1990, Amte left Anandwan for a while to live along the Narmada River and join Medha Patkar's Narmada Bachao Andolan ("Save Narmada" Movement), which fought against both unjust displacement of local inhabitants and damage to the environment on account of the construction of the Sardar Sarovar dam on the Narmada river.

Awards from the Government of India  Padma Shri, 1971  Ramon Magsaysay Award, 1985  Padma Vibhushan, 1986  Gandhi Peace Prize, 1999

Other awards  Rashtriya Bhushan (Pride of the Nation), 1978: FIE Foundation Ichalkaranji (INDIA)  Jamnalal Bajaj Award, 1979 for Constructive Work  N.D. Diwan Award, 1980: National Society for Equal Opportunities for the 'Handicapped' (NASEOH), Bombay  Ramshastri Award, 1983: Ramshastri Prabhune Foundation, Maharashtra, India  Indira Gandhi Memorial Award, 1985: Government of Madhya Pradesh for outstanding social service  Raja Ram Mohan Roy Award, 1986: Delhi  Fr. Maschio Platinum Jubilee Award, 1987: Bombay  G.D. Birla International Award, 1988: For outstanding contribution to humanism  Templeton Prize, 1990 [Baba Amte and Charles Birch (Emeritus professor of University of Sydney)were jointly awarded the prize in 1990]  Mahdeo Balwant Natu Puraskar, 1991, Pune, Maharashtra  Adivasi Sewak Award, 1991, Government of Maharashtra  Kusumagraj Puraskar, 1991  Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Dalit Mitra Award, 1992, Government of Maharashtra  Shri Nemichand Shrishrimal Award, 1994  Fr. Tong Memorial Award, 1995, Voluntary Health Association of India  Kushta Mitra Puraskar, 1995: Vidarbha Maharogi Sewa Mandal, Amravati, Maharashtra  Bhai Kanhaiya Award, 1997: Sri Guru Harkrishan Education Trust, Bhatinda, Punjab  Manav Sewa Award, 1997: Young Men's Gandhian Association, Rajkot, Gujarat  Sarthi Award, 1997, Nagpur, Maharashtra  Mahatma Gandhi Charitable Trust Award, 1997, Nagpur, Maharashtra  Gruhini Sakhi Sachiv Puraskar, 1997, Gadima Pratishthan, Maharashtra  Kumar Gandharva Puraskar, 1998  Apang Mitra Puraskar, 1998, Helpers of the Handicapped, Kolhapur, Maharashtra  Bhagwan Mahaveer Award, 1998, Chennai  Diwaliben Mohanlal Mehta Award, 1998, Mumbai  Justice K. S. Hegde Award, 1998, Karnataka  Baya Karve Award, 1998, Pune, Maharashtra  Savitribai Phule Award, 1998, Government of Maharashtra  Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry Award, 1988: FICCI, for outstanding achievements in training and placement of disabled persons  Satpaul Mittal Award, 1998, Nehru Sidhant Kendra Trust, Ludhiana, Punjab  Adivasi Sevak Puraskar, 1998, Government of Maharashta  Gandhi Peace Prize, 1999  Dr. Ambedkar International Award for Social Change, 1999, "in recognition of outstanding work done in pursuing the cause of the exploited and the underprivileged, reconciling differences among conflicting social groups and contributing significantly to social change"  Maharashtra Bhushan Award, 2004, Government of Maharastra  Bharathvasa award, 2008

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