LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015

AN ANALYSIS OF THE MOTHER- DAUGHTER RELATIONSHIP IN DORRIS LESSING’S MARTHA QUEST

Dr Soumya Jose Assistant Professor in English, ( English Division I), School of Social Sciences and Languages Vellore Institute of Technology University, Vellore. Tamilnadu 632014 e.mail: [email protected]

Dr. Sony Jalarajan Raj Assistant Professor, Faculty of Fine Arts & Communication, MacEwan University 7-166C City Centre Campus 10700 104 Avenue NW, Edmonton, AB T5J 4S2 , Canada e.mail: [email protected]

ABSTRACT Mother-daughter relationship is the most symbiotic of all human relationships. The influence that a mother wields on her daughter can be either positive or negative. Mothers need to involve in the personal life of a female child till she attains puberty and thereafter should provide a personal space for her daughter where she can develop her personality. The over-concern of a mother for her daughter can be detrimental to her daughter’s life. The stifling maternal love can spoil a grown up daughter’s life. This chapter attempts to analyze Dorris Lessing’s Martha Quest in the light of the Greek mythological story of Demeter and Persephone.

INTRODUCTION Demeter and Persephone’s relationship can be defined as mirroring relationship as Demeter does not want Persephone to have an identity beyond that of being a daughter. The stifling affection that Demeter has for her daughter makes her forget that Persephone is an individual a different identity. Demeter wishes to see a mirror image of her in Persephone. The trope of mirroring mothers has appeared in different genres of literature and ‘night Mother, by the acclaimed American playwright, Marsha Norman, portrays such a mirroring mother-daughter relationship that leads to the death of the protagonist, Jessie. Theories on mother-daughter relationship The psycho analysts of the twentieth century became instrumental in foregrounding the 1 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015 concept of mirroring with regard to relationship. There are models of mirroring mothers and daughters in Ancient Greece, as well as advice writing that supported the mother–daughter mirroring model in seventeenth century France. The writings that give this trope the title “mirroring” were published by Francois De Grenaille is 1639. Michelle Farrell explains his model: Thus the mother’s responsibility is to display herself to her daughter, and to elicit from her the desired reflection of herself. Hence she, the mother, apprehends herself in the image she succeeds in projecting onto the daughter, her mirror. Social identity of both mother and daughter, then is reciprocally deferred onto the other and leaves them equally dependent on each other for their sense of self. (97) Far from inventing this model of motherhood, Grenaille was articulating a model long present in the Western consciousness, which continues to be a strong one for mothers and daughters to this day. Over time, this model has developed into an ideology that frequently finds its way into representations, including dramatic performance. Blurring Identities and Mirroring Relationship: The basic characteristic of mirroring mother-daughter relationships is interrelated subjectivities. Mother and daughter often become intensely identified with one another, sometimes to the point where they have little or no appreciable boundary between selves. The classical myth that serves as a paradigm of this model is the myth of Demeter and Persephone, a myth from Ancient Greece that was eventually transformed into an annual performance known as the Eleusinian mysteries. The myth tells the story of Demeter and her daughter Persephone. With the consent of Zeus, Hades, king of the underworld, seizes Persephone against her will and drags her to his domain to suffer rape and enforced marriage. Demeter’s response to her separation from Persephone is “insatiable anger” and “terrible and brutal grief” (Foley 6). In her sorrow, Demeter wanders to Eleusis, the site of the later rites that would commemorate this reunion of mother and daughter. Demeter then blights the earth, preventing all crops from growing until she is reunited with her child. The gods are forced to comply with Demeter’s demands, and the two women are brought together, with the caveat that Persephone must return for a portion of each year to her husband in the underworld, during which time her mother will again prevent the fertility of the earth. In the lyric epic that recounts this myth, the reunion of the two women is a touching scene of emotional and physical intimacy: Then all day long, their minds at one, they soothed each other’s heart and soul in many ways, embracing fondly, and their spirits abandoned grief, as they gave and received joy between them. (Foley 24) This description of the reunion of Demeter and Persephone shows how the ideal relationship of mother and daughter was a dyad. Though they are two bodies, when together, the women form an interdependent subject, “their minds at one”. The Hymn describes the bond of mother and daughter as so intense and intimate that they effectively form a single entity.

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Though it could be said that the myth shows a mother with an unusually high dependence on her daughter for self-identification, it also shows love between women as nurturing and powerful. The Hymn refrains from judging Demeter as a hysterical mother, incapable of letting go of her daughter, as later depictions of mother–daughter separation would. The Hymn recognizes a fashion that seems at times rather modern, that a mother’s love can be a powerful force, worthy of respect, as commented by Marianne Hirsch: The ‘Hymn to Demeter’ does grant voice and legitimacy not only to the daughter’s but also to the mother’s story. Nowhere, for example, does the poem question Demeter’s right to be angry. Zeus’s compromise and the Elusian mysteries which celebrate the cyclic reunion of mother and daughter do recognize the needs of the mother as well as those of the child (36). Though the separation of Demeter and Persephone seems tragic and unnecessary, to the ancients it would have been clear that the two women would have had to separate at some point. The tragedy of Demeter, her separation from her beloved daughter, is a theme many women of both ancient and modern times can identify with, as marriage leads the daughter away from home and the intimacy of the mother–daughter relationship. The universality of this loss had led Adrienne Rich to write, “The loss of the daughter to the mother, the mother to the daughter, is the essential female tragedy” (237). Another formal feature of the Demeter-Persephone myth, which has come to be associated with feminist poetics, is the cycle. Linear time is often associated with male–centered representations and writings, whereas the cycles are thought to be more indicative of the female cycle of menstruation, as well as the cycle of daughter becoming mother who has a daughter in her turn. Persephone’s path of living in the underworld and on the earth is an endless cycle: “Loss is presented as inevitable, part of the natural sequence of growth, but, since time is cyclical, mother–daughter reunion forms part of the cycle” (Hirsch 5). Cycles with in the story were echoed in the creation of the ritual performances at Eleusis, which occurred cyclically every year. Such cycles find their way to the dramas that include this trope through the use of repetition, in particular the mother’s life being repeated by the daughter. The togetherness of mother and daughter in this myth is shown here in a positive light. In their state of symbiosis, Demeter and Persephone experience a jouissance of love and intimacy. Their separation would not have had the impact of tragedy if such jouissance had not existed, for the division would not have felt like their destruction of something so purely loving. The bond is shown in this myth as so attractive and sensual that it seems unlikely the two women would ever have willingly separated, thus, the separation is devastating. Hirsch comments on this feature of myth: Demeter and Persephone’s tale is told from the perspective of a bereaved Demeter, searching for her daughter, mourning her departure, and effecting her return through her own divine power. A breech caused by rape and death is undone by the mother’s power to fulfill a mutual desire for connection (5). This connection is always temporary, for Demeter and Persephone would have lived with the knowledge that one day their union would be disrupted by Persephone’s marriage and child-bearing, 3 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015 and in the time that followed their initial division, the two would have known that each time they were reunited, it was only to be parted again. This initial parting, however, is where the impact of tragedy is greatest, and where Demeter displays the power of maternal anger: “Maternal anger, maternal responses to the process of mother-child separation, to the loss of a child, are represented as terribly threatening in this story” (Hirsch 37). This “terribly threatening” anger, which cannot help but be a source of anxiety for the patriarchy, is seen by Rich as a source of women’s power: Each daughter, even in the millennia before Christ, must have longed for a mother whose love for her and whose power were so great as to undo rape and bring her back from death. And every mother must have longed for the power of Demeter, the efficacy of her anger, the reconciliation with her lost self. (240) The power of this maternal anger is not, however, enough to entirely assuage maternal guilt, which is a universal feature of motherhood, according to Rich: “The institution of motherhood finds all mothers more or less guilty of having failed their children” (223). Though Demeter is powerful enough to pull her daughter back from the inescapable underworld, she was not able to prevent her daughter’s abduction and rape in the first place. This culture of guilt surrounding mothers makes Demeter’s lamentations all the more pathetic, for though she has the power to blight the earth, she was unable to prevent harm to the only entity she wished to protect, her daughter. The myth of Demeter and Persephone is a paradigm of the mirroring mother-daughter relationship because in the myth, mother and daughter are constantly revolving around one another. Every action Demeter takes is in relation to her daughter’s absence. Her sole desire is her reunion with Persephone, and is willing to take any action, whether good or ill, to achieve this goal. Mirroring mothers and daughters are characterized by this kind of intense identification. They are inextricably linked as a couple, constantly separated by the intrusion of heterosexuality. Demeter though a loving mother does not accept the sexuality of her daughter. It is true that Persephone suffers from a forced marriage, but that does not mean that she does not love her husband. She is destined to estrange her husband for the sake of her mother. Demeter does not give any importance to the carnal needs of her daughter when she takes Persephone with her. Defying Maternal Mirror Image The protagonist Martha in Lessing’s Martha Quest escapes from Mrs. Quest who tries to create an image of herself in her daughter. Marianne Hirsch, the author of Mother/Daughter Plot: Narrtive, Psychoanalysis, Feminism treats both motherhood and daughterhood as a story which is a narrative representation of social and subjective reality and of literary convention. The heroines acting as daughters refuse to obey the conventional heterosexual romance and marriage plots, and they do not identify with the conventional constructions of femininity (Hirsch 10-11). Hirsch points out that, because a continued allegiance to the mother appears as regressive and potentially lethal, it must be transcended; a daughter can reach maturity only through an angry and hostile break from her mother. Rich introduces the concept of “matrophobia” when she discusses motherhood and daughterhood. By “matrophobia” she means not the fear of one’s mother or motherhood but of becoming a mirror image of her mother. When a daughter hates her mother to the point of matrophobia she may feel a deep underlying pull toward her, and she dreads that if she relaxes her guard she will identify with her mother completely. In order to become individuated 4 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015 and free she must separate herself from her mother (Rich, 236-37). Mrs. Quest is governed by the Victorian ideals and hence she wants her daughter to follow the ideals which she adheres to. The more she tries to impose the Victorian ideals on Martha, the more she moves away from her mother. Mrs. Quest has got an ambivalent stand- she would like to see her daughter employed, but at the same time she wants her daughter to embrace matrimony. There is a constant urge in Mrs. Quest to check the individuation of Martha. She does not like the fact that Martha matures and wants to wear clothes which no longer resembles child’s clothes. It is almost impossible for Mrs. Quest to see her daughter as a young woman: she prefers treating her more like a child; “she would smooth the childish dresses down over Martha’s body, so that the girl stood hunched with resentment, and say with an embarrassed coyness, “Dear me, you are getting a pouter pigeon, are you? (Lessing, 17). Finally her difference of opinion regarding Martha’s choice of dress reaches its culmination as she begins to make changes on a dress she wants to wear for a dancing party. Mrs. Quest happens to burst in, and is shocked to see Martha naked, the dress in her hands, then she came quickly across the room, and laid her hands on either side of the girl’s waist, as if trying to press her back into childhood (Lessing 17). Martha lifts her hand and shudders with disgust at the touch of her mother – she almost slaps her mother across the face. At her mother’s remark about what kind of clothes nice girls wear Martha replies that she is not a nice girl. Martha uses sexuality as a weapon against her mother; she knows that her mother sees her as a child just because it makes the boys around Martha seem less dangerous. If Mrs. Quest admitted that Martha is actually a young woman, she would accept Martha as a sexual being, which is against Mrs. Quest’s Victorian sense of morals. It is as if Mrs. Quest is devoid of any kind of sexual affinity. She considers sexuality as a taboo and the word “sex” apprehends her. She avoids any reference to the topic of sexuality and is shocked when she sees that Martha does not intend to practice her Victorian code of conduct. The battle of clothes is not the only way through which she tries to seek for liberation. Education also comes as an issue. At the age of sixteen, she is expected to pass the matriculation exam, and after that she would go to the university. For months she listens to her mother’s talk about university and scholarships, and she herself is sometimes eager, but more often embarrassed because of the way her mother acts. Finally, a week before the vital day she is afflicted with a pink eye infection. It is not a serious infection, but Martha decides that it gives her a good excuse not to take the examination at all. Martha is not happy with what she has done and she secretly wonders “why she was condemning herself to live on this farm, which more than anything in the world she wanted to leave? The matric was a simple passport to the outside world “(Lessing 23). According to Chodorow, an adolescent daughter has an urge to deviate from the lifestyle that her mother practises and endorses. In order to break away from the mother, a daughter takes what steps she can toward internal feelings of individuation as well as relational stability and external independence. A struggle for psychological liberation from the mother is often the central issue for the girl during her prepubertal period. The father is often emotionally in the background, whereas the mother-daughter relationship includes often issues of weight, clothes and body. On the

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one hand, a girl tries to retain elements of her pre-oedipal primary love and identification toward her mother, but on the other hand she is not in ease with this identification anymore, and the feeling of continuity with her mother conflicts with her need to separate from her mother. The girl wants to overcome her ambivalence and dependent relationship with her mother. (136). An adolescent girl tries to shed all the behavioural traits that she shares with her mother. During the pubertal period a girl “tries and identifies with anyone other than her mother” (Chodorow 137). Abramson in Mothermania: A Psychological Study of Mother-Daughter Conflict remarks: The physical separation from mother precedes psychological awareness of the separation. Separatedness is a fact that we are all born unconscious of, and we all must come to terms with it if we are to live independent lives. Individuation itself refers to the process of gradual development of a unified integrated personality, and the separation-individuation task involves the young child’s initial awareness of the difference between itself and everything else that is not itself. The degree to which autonomy and sense of self are achieved at a very early stage of development is believed to have profound implications for later life. (5-6) A girl in pre-pubertal stage defies the principles that her mother endorses and her defiance precedes her estrangement from her mother. The eagerness to form an identity that is completely different from her mother spurs her to leave the home for good. Mrs. Quest has a prejudiced notion about the blacks and she believes that they pose a constant threat to the white girls. She considers blacks and Jews inferior to whites whereas Martha maintains friendly relationship with them. When Martha comes home all alone from the station Mrs. Quest expresses her apprehension about the black: “My dear” . . . “read the newspapers, white girls are always being ra-attacked” (Lessing 39). Her Victorian morality checks her from using the word “rape” and instead she uses a generalized term “attack.” Mrs. Quest seems to entertain the notion that her constant remarks against blacks and Jews would prevent her daughter from befriending blacks and Jews. Martha’s attitudinal difference itself is a ploy that she adopts to sever the identification she has with her mother. She provokes her mother by befriending and borrowing books from the Jewish Cohen boys. She sees her mother as “a baneful figure in the nightmare in which she herself was caught” (Lessing 24). Martha’s attempts of individuation reaches its culmination as she decides to leave home in order to work in a nearby town. She hears about the job from her friend Joss who Mrs. Quest does not approve of. At the age of eighteen she breaks the maternal cocoon that prevents her from expressing her individuality and she enters a world where she is no longer controlled by the matriarchal dictates. “… behind it was the farm, and the girl who had been created by it. It no longer concerned her. Finished. She could forget it. She was a new person, and — an altogether new life was beginning” (Lessing 80). Martha’s desire to defy her mother’s moral code spurs her to involve in carnal relationship with Donovon. Though she moves away from her home town, her mother continues to make her presence felt through the letters that she sends to her daughter. When her mother blames Martha of immorality, she immediately takes the decision to marry 6 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015

Douglas though she does not have any true feelings of love for him. Martha considers sexuality and marriage as tokens of independence .When Martha finally takes the decision to get married, she in fact embraces the social tradition that endorses matrimony. CONCLUSION Though Martha wants to stay away from the influence of her mother, there is an invisible string that bonds her to her mother. Martha goes to her mother in an attempt to escape from Douglas’s attack, assuming that her mother would protect her. Mrs. Quest’s cold response strengthens her belief that she should oppose her in every possible way. In spite of all her efforts to distance herself from her mother, Mrs. Quest comes back to Martha’s life in the role of a caring grand mother to her daughter, Caroline. Though there are many instances of hatred and indifference between Martha and her mother, their entities are entwined and a complete separation and individuation is impossible. Though Demeter could not prevent the abduction and forced marriage of her daughter, she brings her daughter back to her for a sojourn. Mrs. Quest could not mould her daughter according to her ideals and code of conduct, and it caused the temporary rift and estrangement. Like the Grecian myth of Demeter and Persephone, Martha and Mrs. Quest meet again and again in spite of their frequent confrontations unlike the mythical mother and daughter. Works cited Abramson, Jane. Mothermania. Lexington: Lexington Books, 1987. Badinter, Elisebeth. Mother Love: Myth and Reality. New York: Caplan, Paula J. “Mother–Blaming”. “Bad” Mothers: The Politics of Blame in Twentieth Century America. Ed. Molly Ladd–Taylor and Lauri Umansky. New York: New York UP, 1998: 127 - 144.Macmillan, 1981. Chodorow, Nancy. The Reproduction of Mothering: Psychoanalysis and the Sociology of Gender. Berkeley: U of California P, 1979. Daly, Brenda O., and Maureen T.Reddy, eds. Narrating Mothers. Knoxville: U of Tennessee P, 1991. Farrell, Michele Longino. Performing Motherhood: The Sevinge Correspondence. Hanover: U P of New England, 1991. Friday, Nancy. My Mother / My Self: The Daughter’s Search for Identity. New York: Delacorte Press, 1977. Foley, Helen P. ed. The Homeric Hymn to Demeter: Translation, Commentary and Interpretive Essay. Princeton: Princeton UP, 1994. Hirsch, Marianne. The Mother/Daughter Plot: Narrative, Psychoanalysis, Feminism. Bloomington: Indiana UP, 1989. Kaplan, E. Ann. Motherhood and Representation: The Mother in Popular Culture and Melodrama. London: Routledge, 1992. Lessing, Dorris. Martha Quest. New York: The New American Library, Inc., 1970. Norman, Marsha. ’night, Mother. New York: Hill and Wang, 1986. Rich, Adrienne. Of Woman Born: Motherhood as Experience and Institution. New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 1986.

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THE ONTOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF DASEIN AND THE MEANING OF BEING IN HEIDEGGER’S BEING AND TIME

Deepa Thomas Assistant Professor, Dept. of English, Deva Matha College, Kuravilangad,Kottayam Dist. e.mail:[email protected]

ABSTRACT In the history of Continental Philosophy, Martin Heidegger is often placed as the most decisive and the most influential thinker of the twentieth century. He was one of the founders of the Existentialist philosophy. It was often under his direct or indirect influence that the traditional view that the intellectual and scientific inquiry, the search for truth, is inherently disinterested, or even critical of unwarranted forms of authority, gave way to arguments that the drive to know is often compromised by elements of domination and control. His works touch the deepest, usually unconsidered assumptions of all work of thought, forming a reassessment of the drive to knowledge itself. Heidegger focuses on the question of Being, art, language, truth, thought, freedom and metaphysics in his writings. Heidegger’s magnum opus is Being and Time, published in 1927. His other major works include The Basic Problems of Phenomenology, Parmenides, Poetry, Language and Thought, On the Way to Language and The Essence of Truth. The thrust of this article is Being and Time. After introducing Heidegger, it primarily focuses on the philosophy of his work. The attempt is to analyse Dasein or human existence within the framework of the question of the meaning of Being in general. In addition, the criticisms that have come up about Being and Time have also been included.

INTRODUCTION Martin Heidegger (1889-1976) is often acknowledged as one of the most influential thinkers of the second half of the twentieth century. His main interest was ‘ontology’ or the study of the meaning of ‘Being’, which was the defining question of fundamental ontology. In Being and Time, Heidegger attempted to access Being (Sein), by means of phenomenological analysis of human existence (Dasein), in respect to its temporal and historical character. For Heidegger, the issue of Being was the neglected issue of Western thought secretly determining its possibilities and its destructiveness. Heidegger’s philosophical development began when he read Brentano and Aristotle. Indeed, Aristotle’s demand in the Metaphysics to know what it is that unites all possible modes of Being is, in many ways, the question that ignites and drives Heidegger’s philosophy. From this platform 8 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015 he proceeded to engage deeply with Kant, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, and, perhaps most importantly of all for his subsequent thinking in the 1920s, two further figures: Dilthey and Husserl. In 1915 Husserl took up a post at Freiburg and in 1919 Heidegger became his assistant. Heidegger spent a period of teaching at the University of Marburg (1923–1928), but then returned to Freiburg to take up the chair vacated by Husserl on his retirement. Out of such influences, explorations, and critical engagements, Being and Time (Sein und Zeit) was born. Although Heidegger’s academic and intellectual relationship with his Freiburg predecessor was complicated and occasionally strained, Being and Time was dedicated to Husserl, “in friendship and admiration”. Published in 1927, Being and Time is hailed as one of the most significant texts in the canon of contemporary European or Continental Philosophy. It catapulted Heidegger to a position of international intellectual visibility and provided the philosophical impetus for a number of later ideas in the contemporary European tradition, including Sartre’s existentialism, Gadamer’s philosophical hermeneutics, and Derrida’s notion of ‘deconstruction’. After Being and Time there is a reorienting shift in Heidegger’s philosophy known as ‘the turn’. Exactly when this occurs is a matter of debate, although it is probably safe to say that it is in progress by 1930 and largely established by the early 1940s. If dating the turn has its problems, saying exactly what it involves is altogether more challenging. Indeed, Heidegger himself characterized it not as a turn in his own thinking (or at least in his thinking alone) but as a turn in Being. The Phenomenological Method of the Investigation The Introduction to Being and Time discusses the all-important matter of Heidegger’s phenomenological method. He says his investigation into Dasein will be phenomenological. He defines phenomenology as a way of letting “that which shows itself be seen from itself in the very way in which it shows itself from itself”. Here he responds to the goals and methods promulgated by his teacher Husserl; he offers a first glimpse of his own ideas of “phenomenon” and “logos”. These in turn lay the foundation for the basic issue of truth as disclosure and unconcealment. Heidegger’s interpretations of phenomenon”, “logos and “phenomenology” may therefore be viewed as paving the way for that “turn” presaged in Being and Time from analysis of Dasein to the question of the meaning of Being in general. Dasein is the primary ‘object’ of study and the point of investigative departure is Dasein’s everyday encounters with entities. Here arises the question that what sort of philosophical method is appropriate for this investigation. Famously, Heidegger’s adopted method is a species of phenomenology. In the Heideggerian framework, however, phenomenology is not to be understood (as it sometimes is) as the study of how things merely appear in experience. Rather, in a recognizably Kantian staging of the idea, Heidegger follows Husserl in conceiving of phenomenology as a theoretical enterprise that takes ordinary experience as its point of departure, but which, through an attentive and sensitive examination of that experience, aims to reveal the a priori, transcendental conditions that shape and structure it. In Heidegger’s Being-centred project, these are the conditions “which, in every kind of Being that factical Dasein may possess, persist as determinative for the character of its Being” (Being and Time 38). Presupposed by ordinary experience, these structures must in some sense be present with that experience, but they are not simply available to be read off from its surface, hence the need for disciplined and careful phenomenological analysis to

9 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015 reveal them as they are. But, in a departure from the established Husserlian position, one that demonstrates the influence of Dilthey, Heidegger claims that phenomenology is not just transcendental, it is hermeneutic. In other words, its goal is always to deliver an interpretation of Being, an interpretation that, on the one hand, is guided by certain historically embedded ways of thinking (ways of taking-as reflected in Dasein’s preontological understanding of Being) that the philosopher as Dasein and as interpreter brings to the task, and, on the other hand, is ceaselessly open to revision, enhancement and replacement. For Heidegger, this hermeneutic structure is not a limitation on understanding, but a precondition of it, and philosophical understanding (conceived as fundamental ontology) is no exception. Thus Being and Time itself has a spiral structure in which a sequence of reinterpretations produces an ever more illuminating comprehension of Being. After working through his phenomenology of everyday life, Heidegger turns to the “existentialist” facet of his thought. He argues that we are susceptible to an extreme condition of experience, in which the mood of anxiety catapults us into a condition in which we can’t understand ourselves (existential “death”) and have nothing to say (“conscience”). This extreme condition of existence brings us face to face with the most elemental aspect of our ‘being’, that we are, as Heidegger says, “being-possible”. Confronting our being-possible enables us to see more clearly what sort of entity we are, that is, to see our being and this in turn, opens possibilities of liberation and self-ownership. He constructs a “factical ideal” of human life, which he called “ownedness” or “resoluteness”. The question of the meaning of Being Consider some philosophical problems that will be familiar from introductory metaphysics classes: Does the table that I think I see before me exist? Does God exist? Does mind, conceived as an entity distinct from body, exist? These questions have the following form: does x (where x = some particular kind of thing) exist? Questions of this form presuppose that we already know what ‘to exist’ means. We typically don’t even notice this presupposition. But Heidegger does, which is why he raises the more fundamental question: what does ‘to exist’ mean? This is one way of asking what Heidegger calls the question of the meaning of Being, and Being and Time is an investigation into that question. On the very first page of Being and Time, Heidegger announces that instead of beginning with an investigation into the question of the meaning of Being, which will be his principle concern in this work, he must begin with a question concerning the meaning of this question, a query concerning what it is to question after the meaning of Being. He takes his clues for investigating what it is to question after the meaning of Being from the “formal structure” of what it is to question after anything at all. “Every inquiry is a seeking. Every seeking gets guided beforehand by what is sought”. (Being and Time 24) This implies that “the meaning of Being must already be available to us in some way”. Every question must also be guided by “what is asked about” in the question(Being and Time 25) which, in this case, is Being, specifically, the Being of entities. In particular, Heidegger proposes that we investigate the Being of one specific entity-”ourselves”, “the inquirer”. Many of Heidegger’s translators capitalize the word ‘Being’ (Sein) to mark what, in the Basic Problems of Phenomenology, Heidegger will later call the ontological difference, the crucial distinction between Being and beings (entities). The question of the meaning of Being is concerned

10 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015 with what it is that makes beings intelligible as beings, and whatever that factor (Being) is, it is seemingly not itself simply another being among beings. For while Being is always the Being of some entity, Being is not itself some kind of higher-order being waiting to be discovered. According to Heidegger, the question of the meaning of Being, and thus Being as such, has been forgotten by ‘the tradition’. Heidegger means by this that the history of Western thought has failed to heed the ontological difference, and so has articulated Being precisely as a kind of ultimate being, as evidenced by a series of namings of Being, for example as idea, substance, monad or will to power. In this way Being as such has been forgotten. So Heidegger sets himself the task of recovering the question of the meaning of Being. In this context he draws two distinctions between different kinds of inquiry. The first, which is just another way of expressing the ontological difference, is between the ontical and the ontological, where the former is concerned with facts about entities and the latter is concerned with the meaning of Being, with how entities are intelligible as entities. Using this technical language, we can put the point about the forgetting of Being as such by saying that the history of Western thought is characterized by an ‘onticization’ of Being (by the practice of treating Being as a being). However, as Heidegger explains, here in the words of Kant and the Problem of Metaphysics, “an ontic knowledge can never alone direct itself ‘to’ the objects, because without the ontological… it can have no possible whereto. The second distinction between different kinds of inquiry, drawn within the category of the ontological, is between regional ontology and fundamental ontology, where the former is concerned with the ontologies of particular domains, say biology or banking, and the latter is concerned with the a priori, transcendental conditions that make possible particular modes of Being (i.e., particular regional ontologies). For Heidegger, the ontical presupposes the regional-ontological, which in turn presupposes the fundamental-ontological. As he puts it: The question of Being aims… at ascertaining the a priori conditions not only for the possibility of the sciences which examine beings as beings of such and such a type, and, in doing so, already operate with an understanding of Being, but also for the possibility of those ontologies themselves which are prior to the ontical sciences and which provide their foundations. Basically, all ontology, no matter how rich and firmly compacted a system of categories it has at its disposal, remains blind and perverted from its own most aim, if it has not first adequately clarified the meaning of Being, and conceived this clarification as its fundamental task. (Being and Time 31) So how do we carry out fundamental ontology, and thus answer the question of the meaning of Being? It is here that Heidegger introduces the notion of Dasein (Da-sein: there-being). One proposal for how to think about the term ‘Dasein’ is that it is Heidegger’s label for the distinctive mode of Being realized by human beings Haugeland (2005, 422) complains that this interpretation clashes unhelpfully with Heidegger’s identification of care as the Being of Dasein, given Heidegger’s prior stipulation that Being is always the Being of some possible entity. To keep ‘Dasein’ on the right side of the ontological difference, then, we might conceive of it as Heidegger’s term for the distinctive kind of entity that human beings as such are. This fits with many of Heidegger’s explicit characterizations of Dasein (Being and Time 27), and it probably deserves to be called the standard view in the secondary literature. That said, one needs to be careful about

11 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015 precisely what sort of entity we are talking about here. For Dasein is not to be understood as ‘the biological human being’. Nor is it to be understood as ‘the person’. Haugeland (2005, 423) argues that Dasein is “a way of life shared by the members of some community”. This appeal to the community will assume a distinctive philosophical shape as the argument of Being and Time progresses. The question of Being does not achieve its true concreteness until we have carried through the process of destroying the ontological tradition. In this way we can fully prove that the question of the meaning of Being is one that we cannot avoid, and we can demonstrate what it means to talk about ‘restating’ this question. Heidegger’s preliminary analysis of Dasein It is with the vague indeterminate understanding of everyday Being that Heidegger begins. In particular, the everyday understanding of the being of individual consciousness, the Being which can question itself in its own being. He denotes this perspective by his term ‘Dasein’ (literally ‘Being-there’). Dasein is not a substance confronting an ‘external world, but, rather, is constituted by its involvement in the world. As Heidegger puts it, Dasein’s understanding of Being pertains with equal primordiality both to an understanding of something like a “world”, and to the understanding of the Being of those entities which become accessible within the world. (Being and Time 13) He claims that “The essence of Dasein lies in its existence.”( Being and Time 42) As we shall see, “existence” will take on a special significance for him. Rocks don’t “exist” in the way he will speak of “existence”. They only are “present-at-hand”. Only human beings, Dasein, “exists”. In beginning to look at the way that Heidegger describes the relation between Being and the world, the method he employs emerges. In the world we encounter entities. These entities are one of these two types: present-at-hand, merely there but of no immediate use or relevance to us; or, ready-to-hand, that is existing in an active relation to us and relevant directly to the accomplishment of goals and the carrying out of projects which we see as our own. These entities, ready-to-hand, are seen as ‘equipments’ for us. Heidegger highlights three modes of the being of equipment- ”obtrusive, conspicuous and obstinate”. (Being and Time 76) Entities which are ‘present-at-hand’ in the world can be ‘in’ one another as a bug can be ‘in’ a box. But Dasein, Heidegger insists, is not ‘in’ the world in that way. Heidegger says that Dasein is ‘in’ the world only as a way of being concerned with it. According to him, this concern with things in the world is a way of being in the world that is fundamentally different from the way a bug is ‘in’ a box. Heidegger argues that the world is most primordially there for us as ready-to-hand rather than present-at-hand. It is an essential characteristic of Dasein that, in its ordinary ways of engaging with other entities, it operates with a preontological understanding of Being, that is, with a distorted or buried grasp of the a priori conditions that, by underpinning the taking-as structure, make possible particular modes of Being. This suggests that a disciplined investigation of those everyday modes of engagement on the part of Dasein (what Heidegger calls an “existential analytic of Dasein”) will be a first step towards revealing a shared but hidden underlying meaning of Being. Heidegger puts it like this: “whenever an ontology takes for its theme entities whose character of Being is other than that of Dasein, it has its own foundation and motivation in Dasein’s own ontical structure, in which a pre- ontological understanding of Being is comprised as a definite characteristic. Therefore fundamental 12 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015 ontology, from which alone all other ontologies can take their rise, must be sought in the existential analytic of Dasein. (Being and Time 33–4) Heidegger’s concept of Dasein and the world are not equivalent to the individual subject and the world as object, were they to be understood in this way, this would precipitate an immediate problem of knowledge. Knowing, says Heidegger, “is a mode of Dasein founded upon Being-in- the –world”. (Being and Time 62) Our knowledge of the world is a form of being-in-the-world. Heidegger believes that our knowledge of the world is founded on and a modification of our original concern with the world. The world is dynamic and constantly in flux, with Dasein taking on modes of Being according to its disposition. As a further consequence of this perspective, Heidegger says, “Because Being-in-the-world belongs essentially to Dasein its Being towards the world is essentially concern”. (Being and Time 57) ‘Concern’ is the term Heidegger uses to describe the way in which entities in the world become equipment. Concern is the orientation Dasein must have towards the world as a function of its being-in-the-world. Heidegger sometimes uses the expression ‘world’ in a different key sense, to designate what he calls the “ontologico-existential concept of worldhood” (Being and Time 93). At this point in the existential analytic, worldhood is usefully identified as the abstract network mode of organizational configuration that is shared by all concrete totalities of involvements. We shall see, however, that as the hermeneutic spiral of the text unfolds, the notion of worldhood is subject to a series of reinterpretations until, finally, and its deep structure gets played out in terms of temporality. It is necessary to examine the way that Heidegger places individual Dasein in the world of Others like itself, and to begin to see the possibilities for ‘authentic’ and ‘inauthentic’ Dasein opened up by this relation. Not surprisingly Heidegger begins by saying, “ the positive interpretation of Dasein which we have given already forbids us to start with the formal givenness of the “I”, if the purpose is to answer the question of “who” in a way which is phenomenally adequate.” (Being and Time 116) Heidegger’s idea of man is very different from those who talk in terms of body and spirit, “man’s substance is not spirit as a synthesis of soul and body; it is rather existence”. The preliminary analysis of Dasein ends with the conclusion that the Being of Dasein is ‘Care’, a term denoting Dasein’s necessary involvement in the world of entities. Care is the way of being which all Dasein must share. It is the metaphysical basis of experience. If Dasein exists, then it exists in the form of Care, and, “the totality of Being-in-the-world as a structural whole has revealed itself as Care. But this is only the preliminary analysis of Dasein and at the end of Division One of Being and Time; Heidegger is quick to insist that this is not the end of the story. In order to flesh out ‘Dasein’, the analysis must be deepened. Thus in the Second Division of the book, he interprets Dasein in temporality and authenticity and this avoids the pitfalls of subjectivism with regard to the self and relativism with regard to the world. Dasein and Temporality The substantive interpretation in Division Two begins with Heidegger’s interpretations of death, as indicative of Dasein’s futurity, and conscience, which brings back Dasein from the forgetfulness of inauthenticity to its basis in its own past. In this division, he shows how Time articulates all the structures of human existence displayed in the First division. He shows how the temporal analysis allows us to get a grasp on the whole of Dasein, conceived as Care, from 13 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015 beginning (birth) to end (death). In Heidegger’s words, Death is a possibility of Being that each Dasein must itself take over. With death Dasein stands before itself in its most proper potentiality for Being. What is involved in this possibility is nothing less than the being-in-the-world of Dasein as such. Death is the possibility of the unqualified impossibility of Dasein. Death thus reveals itself as the most proper, nonrelational, insurmountable possibility. (Being and Time 240) Everyday experience abounds with alternative and inauthentic interpretations of death and they serve to blot out the authentic interpretation and provide a refuge from anxiety. Dasein is anxious in face of its own potentiality for Being a whole. In order to release Dasein from everyday confinement, and realize its potential for being a whole, Heidegger develops the notion of ‘anticipation’. Anticipation is to be taken as that way of taking over the fact of death without making an object of death, so “the closest closeness which one may have in Being towards death as a possibility is as far as possible from anything actual”. (Being and Time 262) Only in this way can death be held as a permanent possibility without being actualized or made possible. In anticipation, Dasein can understand the nature of its projecting, not only in terms of the individual projects with which it concerns itself in everyday, but also in terms of its own existing. “when by anticipation one becomes free for one’s own death one is liberated from one’s lostness in those possibilities which may accidentally thrust themselves upon one; and one is liberated in such a way that for the first time one can authentically understand and choose among the factical possibilities lying ahead of that possibility which is not to be outstripped”. (Being and Time 264) The analysis of death shows the possibility of Dasein’s potentiality for being-a-whole and for being authentic. The attestation of this potentiality is achieved through the voice of conscience. In order to understand the way of Being to which Dasein is called forth by the call of conscience, we must seek that which grounds care. When Heidegger says, “Conscience manifests itself as the call of Care” (Being and Time 277), he is making the point that Dasein is possible because of care, and the call of conscience reveals this responsibility and calls Dasein back to its authentic being. Having attested the possibility of Dasein’s potentiality for being-a-whole, it is appropriate to look more closely at the relation between Dasein and temporality and to see how temporality makes possible care. In the section titled, ‘Temporality as the ontological meaning of care’, Heeidegger provides something of a definition of temporality: “This phenomenon has the unity of a future which makes present in the process of having been; we designate it as ‘temporality’. It reveals itself as the meaning of authentic care”. (Being and Time 326) Thrownness and projection provide two of the three dimensions of care. The third is fallen- ness. “Dasein has, in the first instance, fallen away from itself as an authentic potentiality for Being its Self, and has fallen into the world” (Being and Time 220). Such fallen-ness into the world is manifested in idle talk (roughly, conversing in a critically unexamined and unexamining way about facts and information while failing to use language to reveal their relevance), curiosity (a search for novelty and endless stimulation rather than belonging or dwelling), and ambiguity (a loss of any sensitivity to the distinction between genuine understanding and superficial chatter). Each of these aspects of fallen-ness involves a closing off or covering up of the world through a fascination with it. What is crucial here is that this world-obscuring process of fallen-ness/fascination,

14 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015 as manifested in idle talk, curiosity and ambiguity, is to be understood as Dasein’s everyday mode of Being-with. In its everyday form, Being-with exhibits what Heidegger callslevelling oraverageness —a “Being-lost in the publicness of the ‘they’ “ (Being and Time 220). The introduction of the ‘they’ is followed by a further layer of interpretation in which Heidegger understands Being-in-the-world in terms of (what he calls) thrownness, projection and fallen- ness, and (interrelatedly) in terms of Dasein as a dynamic combination of disposedness, understanding andfascination with the world. In effect, this is a reformulation of the point that Dasein is the having-to-be-open, i.e., that it is an a priori structure of our existential constitution that we operate with the capacity to take-other-beings-as. Dasein’s existence is thus now to be understood by way of an interconnected pair of three-dimensional unitary structures: thrownness-projection-fallen-ness and disposedness-understanding-fascination. Each of these can be used to express the “formally existential totality of Dasein’s ontological structural whole” (Being and Time 237), a phenomenon that Heidegger also refers to as disclosedness or care. Crucially, it is with the configuration of care that we encounter the first tentative emergence of temporality as a theme in Being and Time, since the dimensionality of care will ultimately be interpreted in terms of the three temporal dimensions: past (thrownness/disposedness), future (projection/ understanding), and present (falleness/fascination). Dasein confronts every concrete situation in which it finds itself (into which it has been thrown) as a range of possibilities for acting (onto which it may project itself). Insofar as some of these possibilities are actualized, others will not be, meaning that there is a sense in which not- Being (a set of unactualized possibilities of Being) is a structural component of Dasein’s Being. Out of this dynamic interplay, Dasein emerges as a delicate balance of determination (thrownness) and freedom (projection). The projective possibilities available to Dasein are delineated by totalities of involvements, structures that, as we have seen, embody the culturally conditioned ways in which Dasein may inhabit the world. Understanding is the process by which Dasein projects itself onto such possibilities. Crucially, understanding as projection is not conceived, by Heidegger, as involving, in any fundamental way, conscious or deliberate forward-planning. Projection “has nothing to do with comporting oneself towards a plan that has been thought out” (Being and Time 185). The primary realization of understanding is as skilled activity in the domain of the ready-to-hand, but it can be manifested as interpretation, when Dasein explicitly takes something as something (e.g., in cases of disturbance), and also as linguistic assertion, when Dasein uses language to attribute a definite character to an entity as a mere present-at-hand object. Another way of putting the point that culturally conditioned totalities of involvements define the space of Dasein’s projection onto possibilities is to say that such totalities constitute the fore-structures of Dasein’s practices of understanding and interpretation, practices that, as we have just seen, are projectively oriented manifestations of the taking-as activity that forms the existential core of Dasein’s Being. What this tells us is that the hermeneutic circle is the “essential fore-structure of Dasein itself” (Being and Time 195). To set out the argument sequentially: The Being of Dasein is Care. The meaning of Care is Temporality since it provides for the possibility of Dasein’s involvement because this involvement

15 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015 is necessarily characterized in the form of when, now, then; awaiting, retaining, projecting. Dasein is the source of historicality because only Dasein discloses the world. Historicality is a determining characterization for Dasein in the very basis of its Being. Without Dasein, the world cannot appear and there can be no history of the world, therefore Dasein is the source of temporality. In short, the relationship between Dasein and temporality is circular. Temporality is revealed through Dasein as involvement/care. Heidegger goes on to show how the phenomena that make up, and are encountered by Dasein, as set out in Division One, are temporally structured. In particular, he shows how the three elements that makes up the care structure-understanding, mood and falling- characterize the three temporal ecstasies-future, past and present. Understanding or projection is the most important and is characterized as futural. Mood or state of mind is understood in terms of the past or having-been of Dasein. Falling is Dasein’s Being-present. The unity of these three ecstasies and the Unity of Being is retained within the temporal structure. Phenomena like anxiety and fear, and curiosity are also analyzed in this way and are shown to be temporally structured. Heidegger’s simple point is that past, present and future cannot be undone and are inextricably linked to one another, providing the unity for the phenomenon that we call temporality. Conversely, temporality conceptually unites the three ecstasies of Time, which form the temporal context in which Dasein exists. Hence, “Temporality makes possible the unity of existence, facticity, and falling, and in this way constitutes primordially the totality of the structure of Care” (Being and Time 328). Heidegger concludes that the distinction between Dasein and other kinds of being is only the beginning of ontology, and that temporality as the meaning of Being still needs to be further explained. If temporality is the meaning of Being, what is the meaning of temporality? Heidegger does not fully answer this question, but leaves it open to further investigation. Interpretation of Being and the phenomenon of time have been brought together thematically in the course of the history of ontology, and whether the problematic of Temporality required for this has ever been worked out in principle or ever could have been. The first and only person who has gone any stretch of the way towards investigating the dimension of Temporality or has even let him be drawn hither by the coercion of the phenomena themselves is Kant. Only when we have established the problematic of Temporality, can we succeed in casting light on the obscurity of his doctrine of the schematism. But this will also show us why this area is one which had to remain closed off to him in its real dimensions and its central ontological function. This analysis opens up a path to Heidegger’s distinction between the authentic self and its inauthentic counterpart. At root, ‘authentic’ means ‘my own’. So the authentic self is the self that is mine (leading a life that, in a sense to be explained, is owned by me), whereas the inauthentic self is the fallen self, the self lost to the ‘they’. Hence we might call the authentic self the ‘mine- self’, and the inauthentic self the ‘they-self’, the latter term also serving to emphasize the point that fallen-ness is a mode of the self, not of others. Moreover, as a mode of the self, fallen-ness is not an accidental feature of Dasein, but rather part of Dasein’s existential constitution. It is a dimension of care, which is the Being of Dasein. So, in the specific sense that fallen-ness (the they-self) is an essential part of our Being, we are ultimately each to blame for our own inauthenticity. Of course, one shouldn’t conclude from all this talk of submersion in the ‘they’ that a state of authenticity is to be achieved by re-establishing some version of a self-sufficient individual subject.

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As Heidegger puts it: “Authentic Being-one’s-Self does not rest upon an exceptional condition of the subject, a condition that has been detached from the ‘they’; it is rather an existentiell modification of the ‘they’ “ (Being and Time 168). So authenticity is not about being isolated from others, but rather about finding a different way of relating to others such that one is not lost to the they- self. It is in Division 2 of Being and Time that authenticity, so understood, becomes a central theme. Criticisms on Being and Time • The tension between transcendental and factical philosophy in Being and Time is never adequately resolved by Heidegger. Ultimately, it precipitates the conflict between the ontological and the ontic that threatens to overturn the enterprise in Division Two. • On a superficial reading, Being and Time is a catalogue of terms coined to characterize human existence: “throwness”, “fallness”, “care”, “attunement”, “understanding” etc. New readers will note that Heidegger never offers definitions to these terms. The language is left strategically undetermined. His model is too indefinite to be considered abstractly, it demands application. • This treatise stands incomplete. Its second part is missing. More disturbing, Heidegger never published the concluding division of Part One. Projected under the title “Time and Being”, this division was to have advanced from the preparatory analysis of everyday existence, through the full determination of the Being of Dasein as temporality, to the question of Temporality and Being in general. He never brought his investigation full circle. CONCLUSION It has been argued that a number of prominent readings of Heidegger place such heavy philosophical emphasis on Dasein as a site of skilled practical activity that they end up simply identifying Dasein’s understanding of Being with skilled practical activity. Because of this shared tendency, such readings are often grouped together as advocating a pragmatist interpretation of Heidegger. According to its critics, the inadequacy of the pragmatist interpretation is exposed once it is applied to Heidegger’s account of truth. For although the pragmatist interpretation correctly recognizes that, for Heidegger, propositional correspondence is not the most fundamental phenomenon of truth, it takes the fundamental variety to be exhausted by Dasein’s sense-making skilled practical activity. But this is to ignore the fact that even though instrumental truth is more basic than traditional propositional truth, nevertheless it too depends on a prior field of significance and thus on the phenomenon of original truth. Put another way, the pragmatist interpretation falls short because it fails to distinguish original truth from instrumental truth. It is worth commenting here that not every so-called pragmatist reading is on a par with respect to this issue. Critics of the manner in which Heidegger develops the notion of Being-with have often focussed, albeit in different ways, on the thought that Heidegger either ignores or misconceives the fundamental character of our social existence by passing over its grounding in direct interpersonal interaction. From this perspective, the equipmentally mediated discovery of others that Heidegger sometimes describes is at best a secondary process that reveals other people only to the extent that they are relevant to Dasein’s practical projects. Although Heidegger’s account clearly involves

17 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015 the idea that Dasein discovers socially shared equipmental meaning (which then presumably supports the discovery of other Dasein along with equipment), that account fails to explain why this must be the case. Processes of direct interpersonal contact (e.g., in learning the use of equipment from others) might plausibly fill this gap. The obvious move for Heidegger to make here is to claim that the processes that the critics find to be missing from his account, although genuine, are not a priori, transcendental structures of Dasein. Rather, they are psychological factors that enable (in a ‘merely’ developmental or causal way) human beings to realize the phenomenon of Being-with. However, one might wonder whether it is plausible to relegate the social processes in question to the status of ‘mere’ enabling factors. If not, then Heidegger’s notion of Being-with is at best an incomplete account of our social Being. All research-and not least that which operates within the range of the central question of Being-is an ontical possibility of Dasein. Dasein’s Being finds its meaning in temporality. But temporality is also the con•dition—which makes historicality possible as a temporal kind of Being, which Dasein itself possesses, regardless of whether or how Dasein is an entity ‘in time’. The question of the meaning of Being must be carried through by explicating Dasein beforehand in its temporality and historicality; the question thus brings itself to the point where it understands itself as historiological. The question of the meaning of Being becomes possible at all only if there is something like an understanding of Being. Understanding of Being belongs to the kind of Being which the entity called “Dasein” possesses. The more appropriately and primordially we have succeeded in explicating this entity, the surer we are to attain our goal in the further course of working out the problem of fundamental ontology. Thus not only the analytic of Dasein but the working-out of the question of the meaning of Being in general must be turned away from a one-sided orientation with regard to Being in the sense of Reality. We must demon•strate that Reality is not only one kind of Being among others, but that onto•logically it has a definite connection in its foundations with Dasein, the world, and readiness-to-hand. Today more than 87 years after its publication, Being and Time repays careful study, not only for the insight it gives about Heidegger’s intellectual development, but in substantive philosophical currency as well. He radically changed our understanding of our place in the world, what a “world” is, what it means to be human and what it means to think philosophically. Whatever its successes and failures, its triumphs and obscurities, the book stands as an enduring monument to one of the great achievements of late modern thought. It is, and will likely remain, as the translators suggest, one of the most celebrated works of the twentieth century. Being and Time remains a torso, a fragment of a work. But it is Heidegger’s magnum opus and provides the impetus for all the later investigations. Without exception. References Adorno, T. The Jargon of Authenticity. London: Routledge, 2002. Carel, H. Life and Death in Heidegger. New York & Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2006. Carman, T. Heidegger’s Analytic: Interpretation, Discourse, and Authenticity in ‘Being and Time’.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003. Clark, T. Routledge Critical Thinkers: Martin Heidegger. London: Routledge,2001.

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Dreyfus, H.L. and Hall, H. (eds.). Heidegger: a Critical Reader. Oxford: Routledge,1992. Gorner, P.Heidegger’s Being and Time: an Introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007. Guignon, C. Heidegger and the Problem of Knowledge. Indiana: Hackett, 1987. Haugeland,P. 1993, The Cambridge Companion to Heidegger, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Heidegger, Martin. Being and Time. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1962. Macann, C. (ed.) Heidegger: Critical Assessments (4 Volumes). London: Routledge, 1992. –––. (ed.).Critical Heidegger. London: Routledge, 1992. Marx. W. Heidegger and the Tradition, translated by T. Kisiel and M. Greene, Evanston: Northwestern University Press, 1992. Wrathall, M. How to Read Heidegger. London: Granta, 2003. Wrathall, M. and Malpas, J. (eds.), 2000, Heidegger, Authenticity and Modernity: Essays in Honor of Hubert L. Dreyfus, Volume 1, Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press. –––, (eds.) Heidegger, Coping and Cognitive Science: Essays in Honor of Hubert L. Dreyfus, Volume 2, Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2000. Young, J. Heidegger, Philosophy, Nazism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997.

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ACCEPTABILITY OF INDIAN ENGLISH (INGLISH): A CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Saji. K M. Phil. Scholar (English) Annamali University, Annamali Nagar P.O. Chithambaram, Tamil Nadu e.mail:[email protected]

Dr. S Karthik Kumar Assistant Professor, Dept. of English Annamalai University, Annamali Nagar P.O. Chithambaram, Tamil Nadu e.mail:[email protected]

ABSTRACT There is no alternative for English which, once a language of oppression and colonization, has adapted and modified itself to cater to the needs of the world nations to express such social and cultural identities peculiar to them. It has thus blossomed into many flowers called World Englishes or New Englishes. Among these Englishes, Indian English (Inglish) also has its own place. However, there are many elements by which the New Englishes differ or deviate from its native varieties and the Indian English is not an exception. Some say these deviations are wrong or disagreeable while some others want to consider them as quite natural as resulting from cultural and social identities peculiar to societies. The article tries to examine these view points and makes an attempt to find out the appropriateness of these arguments in the backdrop of the English used in India. Keywords: World Englishes, Indian English, Information Technology, culture, lingua-franca, pronunciation, semantic, grammatical.

INTRODUCTION In terms of the number of English users, Wikipedia ranks the Indian subcontinent the second in the world, after the US. It has become the lingua-franca in India in her multicultural and multilingual pluralism for purposes both official and non-official. It is the main language in Supreme Court proceedings and the medium of communication in IITs and the IIMs. Businesses are run on the wheels of English and an average Indian can come out with flying colours by fluttering the wings of English in his professional life. Besides being wheels and wings for many, a few elite

20 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015 people find comfort and enjoy using English in their social circles. Metros in India did not find any difficulty in spreading its mast against the current of IT quite successfully with its significant human resource who knew English. The Information Technology Enabled Services offer employment even to the comparatively less qualified candidates, as long as they are proficient in English. Also, English plays the major role in the school and college curriculum throughout India. According to Allen H, “English is not considered as a foreign language in India. It has been given the status of a second language as it is another tool of communication alongside the first language. English becomes a second language when it is used as lingua franca between speakers of widely diverse languages as in India” (4). Thus, it becomes quite clear that learning English has become part and parcel of an average Indian throughout his life. English, as a matter of fact, has to be learnt at any particular point in his life or has to be polished or improved upon what was already learnt. Similarly, the number of institutions where English is taught for specific purposes is on the rise and people from all walks of life and of all ages throng in such institutions. However, English, when learned and used in India bears its own characteristics different from its native variety. Most often the learning is done deliberately after acquiring one’s mothertongue and, therefore, this process is affected by various cultural and social factors. In other words, the socio-cultural identity of a nation or region necessitates a foreign language to have its own uniqueness and identity different from that of its home country. The British Councils Annual Report 1960-61 states that “When it (English) is used thus as a second language English is not necessarily the vehicle of distinctively British or American cultural value; it may well be the means of expressing those of the country where it has been adopted.” According to Peter Trudgill: A study of language totally without reference to its social context inevitably leads to the omission of some of the more complex and interesting aspects of language and to the loss of opportunities for further theoretical progress. One of the main factors that have led to the growth of socio linguistic research has been the recognition of the importance of the fact that language is a very variable phenomenon, and that this variability may have a much to do with society as with language. A language is not a simple, single code used in the same manner by all people in all situations. (32 It means that along with its similarities that the “Englishes” share with its native varieties, there are certain other features which mark it off from these varieties. Indian English is not an exception. Here, in India, it exists alongside many vernaculars and has been indigenized. Being receiving bilateral influences, these local languages have borrowed words from English and English has developed its own sub-varities. To quote Kachru: “In the multilingual and culturally pluralistic context of India, the English language has naturally developed its regional, social and occupational varities. Indian English has developed typically Indian registers of legal system, business, newspapers, and also a large body of Indian English creative writing” (110). Nevertheless, this poses a major concern regarding the concept of ‘Standard English.’ This is a very worrying question especially in the backdrop of New Englishes, that which English is standard or to be followed by an educated person. However, the question does not find any logical answer. In countries like the U.K. and the U.S. where English is spoken as the first language,

21 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015 it varies like any other language. Local varieties of the language exist in the form of dialects and alongside a standard version also exist devoid of regional influences. Such a variety is used in academic discourses, media and in the social circles of the educated. Similarly, “standard” in a language has been defined as “…substantially uniform and well-established by usage in the speech and writing of the educated and widely recognized as acceptable and authoritative” (Myres 251). According to Peter Trudgill Standard English is “…that variety of English which is usually used in print, and which is normally taught in schools to non-native speakers … It is also the variety which is spoken by educated people and used in news broadcasts…” (17). Thus, countries where it is used as the first language have developed such standards regionally and also where it is spoken as a second language too have their own ‘standard’ varities. For example, the BBC and CNN in the U.K. and the U.S. respectively are considered to be standard. In India also we can observe a refined form of English used in TV broadcasts. A language varies and changes when moved from one place to another and such changes cannot be stopped by any prescriptive grammatical rules. Thus, it is quite clear that, a common international standard of English poses many questions geographically, politically and socially. As far as R.P. is concerned, it is only applicable to pronunciation, and the number of speakers is very marginal even in the U.K. Also, it has not been practiced or difficult to be practiced in India due to the aforesaid reasons. Thus, one can see that there is no criterion by which the acceptability of a particular variety of English can be determined and say that one particular standard variety is superior or inferior. Also, insisting one particular standard variety may not be possible. “English” becomes “an English” due to different influences. English becomes Indian due to cultural difference, influence of mother tongue, and imbalanced system of education. The resultant “Inglishes” like “Hinglish”, “Tanglish”, and “Manglish”, make phonological, semantic and grammatical deviations from its native varieties. The linguistic necessity and cultural identity demand such variations. Nevertheless, as already mentioned, it has been a matter of debate whether these deviations have to be considered errors or not. Pallavi Goswami says: “Whether these deviations can be chararecterised as errors has been an ongoing debate? Some refer to the ‘errors’ that occurs in Indian English as an influence of mother tongue. These deviations or ‘errors’ are typical of non-native second language varities of English and have also become a part of Indian English” (51). Although these varieties have become part of Indian English, one cannot oversee some elements which make the language unintelligible not just to a native speaker but even to his fellow men. Though, English has readjusted according to the cultural and social differences of India, there are certain elements which are not so and make it unintelligible. Such differences or deviations or ‘errors’ may not reflect the individuality of a culture or society and rather reflect ignorance and lack of awareness of how the language is generally used. Semantic, syntactic and phonemic aspects of deviations come under the scope of this argument. In the Indian context phonology is the major problem since English is not a phonetic language and as native models are not so common. Words are not pronounced legibly, Phonetics is not widely known and the supra-segmental features such as accent are unknown to most of the Indian English users. Thus, there exist variations which are byproducts of cultural, social differences and peculiarities, and also because of ignorance, lack of education and training. A few examples are

22 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015 taken into consideration which exemplify both the facts in the following paragraphs. Pronunciation is the major problem for foreign speakers of English and they do not generally follow any type of accent while speaking. It is difficult to include all the phonemic variations of the Indian users in a single article. Along with them, there are other aspects of the language variations which are evaluated here for the sake of the present argument. Using inappropriate question tags like, “She is coming, no?”, “She is a rich woman, no?”, “you are going, no?” are quite common. Similarly, many do not change the position of the subject and auxiliary in questions. “What you are writing?”, “What she is doing?” are used instead of “What are you writing?” and “What is she doing?” We don’t mind using ‘only’ unnecessarily. “I am going there only”, “He is an engineer only”, “I am from Kerala only.” Similarly, the non- countable nouns are used with an ‘–s’ most of the time. “The furnitures (furniture is enough) in my house are very expensive.” “He always gives me advices” (advice). Also, we use “newses”, “datas”, “informations” etc. Again when it is said by the prescriptive grammarians not to use the progressive form of “understand”, “see”, “smell” etc., we do not mind using them. It is common in many classrooms teachers asking “Are you understanding?”, “I am understanding what you are saying”, and “People are not understanding the problem.” With numbers “percentage” should not be used. For example “40 percentage” is incorrect; the right usage is “40 per cent.” Again, for us many times “hearing” and “listening” become interchangeable. We hear music rather than listen to music and when we use listen we forget to add the preposition “to.” “Having” should not be used to show possessions, when it is used it means “giving birth.” But we say “I am having a garden”, “I am having a car” etc. Redundancy is another problem with the users of Indian English: “When I return back, I will give you a call.” (Return and back means the same. Therefore only one of them needs to be used: When I return, I will give you a call). Use of inappropriate comparative degree is another problem. For example, “there are more employment opportunities in India” (more should be used when you compare, otherwise “much” or “many” should be used). The noun “suicide” is used as verb. When a native speaker uses “she committed suicide”, an Indian may say “she suicided.” The aforesaid variations can be considered incorrect as we have very specific language rules regarding their usage. However, there are many other expressions which are purely made in India. They add to the beauty of the language and cannot be considered incorrect by any prescriptive grammatical rules. “May I know your good name/ your good name please” is typically Indian. In the same way, we have “cousin brother” and “cousin sister” whereas; English people have only “cousin.” “Sitting on my head” or “eating my head” is also Indian. V. Sukumaan has identified a few expressions like a “Pin-drop silence”, a wonderful expression which is widely accepted Indian made usage. “From salt to camphor”, “time-pass”, “yar”, “simply good”, “show-cause”, and “filmy”, are purely Indian coinages. Similarly, “a relative girl”, “school first”, “breast beating” are typically Indian. In the same way, the cultural differences also tend to use many new words which bear the characteristics of both English and Indian. Many times, Indian words are transformed to fit for using them in English or are adopted without any alteration when no English counterparts are available. Pallavy Goswamy has identified many of such words: “Advaitism”, “Hindusim”,”darshan”, “parishad”, “hindutva” are a few among the many

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CONCLUSION To conclude, one can find that language undergoes certain modifications and adapts itself to cater to the needs of the time and people. One cannot deny the fact that there is no point in taking a puritan view against such a change. However, there are certain elements which, out of pure ignorance and lack of proper practice in the appropriate use of language, create confusion and lack of understanding. Pronunciation is affected when an average Indian uses English. Such problems can be avoided by proper practice and education in the school level itself. Thus, language being organic should be flexible and always adapt to situations and thus become rich. However, when ignorance and lack of awareness matter, such deviations should be corrected. Works Cited Allen, H. Teaching English as a Second Language: A Book of Readings. Bombay: McGraw Hill P, 1965. Print. Goswami, Pallavi. Recent Trends in Indian English. New Delhi: Readworthy, 2010. Print. Kachru, Braj B. The Alchemy of English. Delhi: Oxford University P, 1989. Print. Myres, L.M. The Roots of Modern English, Boston: Little Brown and Company P, 1966. Print Randolph, Quirk. The Use of English. London: Longman Group Limited, 1968. Print. Trudgill, Peter. Sociolinguistics-An Introduction. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1974. Print.

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HAMLET AND ADAPTATIONS: TEXTUAL RE-INVENTION AND INTERPRETATION

Ajomy Maria Joseph Assistant Professor, Dept. of English, Nirmala College, Muvattupuzha, Ernakulam Dist. Kerala

ABSTRACT Shakespearean plays have been adapted into movies across cultures. His Hamlet has been a source of attraction for film directors. This paper is an attempt to study three different adaptations of Hamlet produced in different times and places so as to present them not as one to one translations of the play, but as diverse interpretations of the text. This paper attempts to palce a counter argument to this view by presenting the adaptations of the classic play Hamlet.

INTRODUCTION “Film literature criticism [is] not for those who cannot live in a messy house” Charles Eidsvik An eye of multiple vision, a brain of diverse thinking and a tongue of multiple tastes is the key to this “messy house”. The house of which Eidsvik talks, refers to the nature of filmic or literary discourse. Kathlen L.Brown says, “It is a large and messy house partly because it subsumes so many topics over which there is much debate. Adaptation theory is just one of these topics, just the “corners” of a more general discourse.” (146). There are people like the film maker Alain Resnais who sneers at adaptations as left-overs. To such people the film maker has nothing to do beyond the source text; but present a diminished view of the original. This paper attempts to palce a counter argument to this view by presenting the adaptations of the classic play Hamlet. Italo Calvino says “a classic is a book that has never finished saying what it has to say” (Why Read the Classics? 2). Hamlet the ever time classic of Shakespeare is credited with more than 50 adaptations since 1990. Every act of reading a classic is a rereading. Film adaptation is also a kind of rereading. It is worth analyzing the Janus-faced adaptations to unravel how the native, regional and foreign adaptations of this movie differs on various planes and how these three constructs three different texts out of Shakespeare’s classic as its interpretations, forming an intertextual link rather than forming the trajectory of mere film adaptations. The aim of adaptation is not imitating the parent text. If that was the aim adaptation is unnecessary for the core text is enough and more to know what is written in it. So adaptation differs. And the question arises why adaptations come. Special regard should be given in digging 25 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015 up the cause for the large number of movie versions that recurrently appear for classics of literature. Andre Bazin through his two essays, “In Defence of Mixed Cinema” and “Adaptation or the Cinema as Digest”, suggests that “filmic adaptations of literary works should be less concerned with strict formal fidelity to the source material than to “equivalence in ,meaning of the forms”(qtd in Orleans). It is tedious as well as unnecessary to deal with adaptations and carry out discussions from the perspective of their fidelity to the literary text. Such discussions end up in vain. Because as Dudley Andrew notes, a literary text and a cinematic text cannot be the same since as they derive from “the absolutely different semiotic system of film and language” (qtd in Boozer 162). Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar says, “what was once a powerful culture of print seems to be disintegrating as one-time readers – including most of our students (and even many of our collegues) – increasingly put aside their books and turn on their TVs VCRs, CDs, and PCs” (qtd in Brown ). This perhaps the most prominent force behind adaptations, transforms a reader into spectator and in the case of plays to film adaptations from a traditional groundling spectator to a posh distinguished spectator. Adaptations are therefore in the modern sense manifestations of reading, interpreting and writing the fault lines of literary texts. Oxford advanced Learner’s Dictionary describes adaptation as “a film /movie, book or play that is based on a particular piece of work, but that has been changed for a new situation”. The dictionary continues defining it as a “process of changing something, for example, your behaviour, to suit a new situation.” The definitions are ample evidences to justify infidelity to the text being adapted. As the second definition points out an adaptation occurs in a changed far removed circumstance with different techniques, narrative structure, cultural background and diverse addressees. Shakespeare’s Hamlet has undergone drastic changes on silver screen. Some of the major adaptations include those by, the Oscar winning Laurence Oliver, Franco Zefirelli, Kenneth Branagh, and Michael Almereydas and many others. A regional version of the play in Malayalam, Karmayogi has been viewed in many International film festivals. The movies under consideration, Hamlet by Laurence Oliver and Franco Zefirelli, and Karmayogi by V.K. Prakash are distinct from each other owing the story to Shakespeare, but following the Shakespearean legacy of pouring old wine in new bottles. Shakespeare who went into Holinshed’s chronicles or Plurtarch’s Lives, for the matter of his plays, redelivered existing stories in new attire. The modern adapters of Hamlet are indebted to Shakespeare as he does to Saxo Grammaticus (Historia Denica – “Danish History” which is the source for Hamlet). Play and film are similar in many elements. Both integrate elements of performance, visual pleasure of watching it, and are closer to reality. Like a play the movie also make use of sound effects, costumes, lightings, music etc. at the same time there are also overt differences between the two. Movies and plays are performed to an audience of viewers who react both individually and collectively to what they experience, and who sit in a theatre in a fixed position in relation to, and at an approximately equal distance from, the screen or the stage. The point of view for the theatre audience remains static, delineated by the focal field of the stage. Film, in contrast, has the ability to overcome the confines of the proscenium. 26 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015

It can shift audience perspective and create the illusion that the constancy of distance between performer and specator is shifting. Film accomplishes this largely through camera placement. Theatre instead relies on the actor, aided, perhaps by effects of lighting and sound, to compel the audience to look at chosen elements on stage. The running time of a feature film approximates the performance time of a standard play and the movie screen in a theatre is shaped like a proscenium stage, so much so that for “a long time the medium of the motion was regarded as a new proscenium’. (Cahir 145) Laurence Oliver’s Oscar winning Hamlet produced in 1948 has been criticized for the omission of many important scenes to fit the play within the framework of the movie. It is called a “formal hybrid”. “Cutting the bard’s sacred words, indispensible characters, and crucial scenes and speeches to create an “essay in Hamlet” considerably shorter and less polysemic than the original produced predictable laments” (Cook 23). Oliver’s movie can be seen as a new interpretative text for the future film makers showing how the residues of an older art form can be successfully incorporated in a considerably new art form or perhaps a more popular cultural form, Cinema. Here adaptation serves as an illustration. The success of Oliver’s Hamlet can be understood only in relation to the peculiarities of play to film adaptation. Shakespearean plays flourished in an age when theatre was the only or perhaps the most popular platform for entertainment. In an age when theatre has given way to more sophisticated entertainment industry people no more expect the traditional theatrical grounds. But they still fall for old classics which have a universal appeal which is the reason for the mushrooming of these film adaptations. When they are viewed through the camera’s eye it is something like lens held against a matter in a laboratory where the experimenter keenly observes it for something new to be discovered. “The cinematic lens, from its beginning, has often functioned as a prosthetic eye, serving as a mechanical extension of human perception” (Cahir 164). All the adaptations under consideration are three different visions of Shakespeare’s Hamlet from different perspectives. Oliver’s adaptation is not just a translation of the thematic content of Shakespeare’s Hamlet. In addition to this, it is a statement about the differences between theatre and cinema lifting the cinematic plane a little higher over the theatre. The play within the play is cut short from the original limiting it just to the dumb show alone. Here the attempt is to make the movie more cinematic than theatrical; the theatre is just used as a narrative technique in the course of the rising action of the movie. The movie through its potent features of music and sound effects, gives life to Hamlet’s grief in the best ways possible than a play does. “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark” is the thrust of Oliver’s movie rather than a psychological probe into the psyche of hero alone. This is evident right from the gruesome environment it creates, the unpleasant music it creates juxtaposed with the images of roaring sea and cloudy sky. Oliver’s Hamlet thus attempts a reinterpretation in the cinematic space with utmost attention to the universal note of political duties and corruption revealed in the play. The movie becomes a document of the corruption and decay of the body politic rather than investigating into the malady of Hamlet’s life which is usually the apple of eye of the learners of Shakespeare. The prominence given to the scenes of soldiers safeguarding the country, the three dimensional

27 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015 view of the Elsinore castle from a long wide angle shot, king’s coronation ceremony, etc are instances to this cause. Just before his first meeting with the ghost, Hamlet tells Horatio and other companions, Bernado and Mercellus, watching the mirth of marriage overwhelming the dirge of death in the palace. HAMLET. Ay marry is’t, But to my mind, though I am native here And to the manner born, it is a custom More honour’d in the breach than the observance. This heavy-headed revel east and west Make us traduc’d and tax’d of other nations – They call us drunkards and with swinish phrase Soil our reputation, and indeed it takes From our achievements, though performed at height. So, oft it chances in particular men That for some vicious mole of nature in them, As in their birth, wherein they are not guilty By the overgrowth of some complexion Oft breaking down the pales and forts of reason Or by some habit, grown too much that these men Carrying, I say, the stamp of one defect, Their virtues else be they as pure as grace Shall in the general censure take corruption From that particular fault. This scene is reproduced with a slight alteration omitting lines 36 – 38 of the original text limiting it to lines 13 – 37(1. 2). Soon after this the ghost appears. The ghost is beyond the supernatural element of the play. As Kozintsev says, it has the suggestive purpose of representing a better past and a warning of Denmark’s decay (qtd in Bobik 12). The dead king is identical with the bad condition of Denmark. The ghost juxtaposed with Hamlet’s speech drives home the perpetuating curse upon the country. Ghost says: “remember me.” It reverberates throughout the scene. It is this remembrance of the rotten Denmark that triggers Hamlet’s action in Oliver’s version. Old Hamlet wants his son to remember the time when he was alive and junior Hamlet is the one assigned by the dead king to restore the throne. He is reminding Hamlet of the Elizabethan view of regicide as crime even though the king is a usurper (Bobik 12). After the coronation of the King he appears with his “sometime sister” and present queen to the chamber accompanied by the council. Hamlet is also present there. After the formal speech by the King, Hamlet is consoled by both Claudius and Gertrude followed by their departure. Now the scene is empty except Hamlet where he speaks out his mind through the soliloquy, “O that this too

28 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015 sullied flesh would melt. . .I must hold my tongue” (1.2.129 – 159). While uttering the words, “so excellent a king, that was to this/ Hyperion to a satyr, so loving to my mother/ That he might not beteem the winds of heaven/ Visit her face too roughly,” the camera follows Hamlet walking towards the chair which was just occupied by the King (Claudius) and the Queen. He looks into the emptiness his father has created on chair on which Claudius sat, and touches it with desperate emotion on his face. It is in the same speech that Hamlet says: “tis an unweeded garden that grows to seed” which obviously is a reference to the rottenness of Denmark. The desperate touch and gaze on the chair is his inexplicable wish to set the kingdom alright by ascending the throne which was once occupied by his father. “To be or not to be” soliloquy is spoken out again in the backdrop of the roaring sea recalling the beginning of the movie which filmed a similar view. The sea appears in the movie as a metaphor of evil in the state of Denmark rather than the psychological state of the hero. The hero’s psychic unrest is metaphoric of the restlessness of the state to which has a responsibility. The question whether to commit regicide or not is a clash between the personal and political purpose of a prince. Hamlet viewing the roaring see from the top appears in the celluloid as if the prince catches up a comprehensive view of the rotten Denmark. In the final part of the movie, where Laertes utters his final word - “the King is to blame” - the resolution for the question “to be or not to be” is achieved. Hamlet looks Claudius downwards from the balcony as he looked down the sea previously with the doubt burgeoning inside him, and jumps upon him killing Claudius and metaphorically setting the country right. Even after getting stabbed by the sword in a close up shot the King rolls and picks up the crown and holds it up. The stabbed king with crown in his hand and not upon the head is a defeated king. Hamlet, though hit by the envenomed sword, triumphs as the true heir to thrown as revealed through the soldiers’ encircling of Claudius when he stands up with the crown. Special attention is to be given to the position at which the King falls. He falls at the legs of royal chair with his crown separated. Hamlet dies as King Hamlet. His coronation takes place during his death. He approaches the royal chair saying “I am dead Horatio,” and holds it tightly during which three men lifts up the crown before him. He turns towards him and all attendants sit upon knees before him in adherence to his royalty. Finally he sits upon the royal throne saying “I die Horatio” and dies. Hamlet is carried to the top most part of Elsinore Castle as the victorious Dane who politically corrected the country. To this effect, a long shot view of the castle with Hamlet carried to the top of the palace where he met his father’s ghost, by soldiers is shown while the movie ends. The character of Fortinbras is totally absent in Oliver’s movie. It is to give prominence to Hamlet’s character as the man who fulfilled his mission to set the country right and to justify his act of regicide as a part saving the nation. It is a movie that pulls out events and passages to set the political message of Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Franco Zeffirelli’s adaptation of Hamlet (1990) appears more in a populist mode. There are many similarities with Oliver’s adaptation in cutting short dialogues omitting scenes like that of Fortinbras etc. his focus is more on the person Hamlet rather than the political cause. The family oriented beginning of movie with the funeral of the king and the queen weeping are ritualistic. The scenes are juxtaposed in such way as to give voice to the oedipal triangle at play. Soon after the

29 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015 close up shot of the queen who wept relentlessly she is shown as the bride of Claudius with smiling face. While uttering the soliloquy “O that this too sullied flesh would melt. . .I must hold my tongue,” Hamlet looks down through the window, with a face grief stricken more with the pain of his mother’s marriage than his father’s death, upon his mother who is merrymaking. When he says, “so excellent a king” about his father, the camera soon moves its focus on to Gertrude who kisses Claudius upon his lips. He closes the window rudely saying: “frailty thy name is woman.” In Zefirelli’s version Hamlet’s revenge mission is for the incestuous relationship of his mother with Claudius. Soon after the Ghost reveals his murder mystery, Hamlet becomes desperate and like a mad man he bursts into a cry and looks down into the castle where a close up of Claudius kissing his mother’s hand is shown. And Hamlet says with anger, “Oh most pernicious woman” And calls Claudius “O Villain.” He is mad right from this point. His agonized soul is more revealed through his action and facial expressions when he meets Ophelia soon after his meeting with the ghost. Hamlet’s harsh approach to Ophelia bears testimony to his mother fixation. Ophelia, the innocent girl has done no harm to Hamlet, is treated unfairly resulting in her suicide. For Hamlet, Ophelia becomes a prototype of his own mother who fell in an incestuous relationship. Hamlet is thoughtful only of his mother’s sexuality. Sexual references in his speech to Ophelia just before the play within the play, soon followed with a reference to her mother’s happiness even after his father’s death, shows that he wishes a relationship with Ophelia; but his growing concern about his mother’s sexuality makes him a lunatic. Hamlet says: “Look you, how cheerfully my mother looks and my father died within’s two hours.” After a few seconds hamlet sharply stares at Ophelia who sits by him with unspeakable emotions towards her and says: “get thee to a nunnary.” While interpreting the play Murder of Gonzago, Hamlet is not concerned about the murder, but “how the murderer gets the love of Gonzago’s wife.” Hamlet’s meeting with his mother is the occasion that witnesses transgression of all boundaries a son can afford to trespass. His tongue hits at his mother’s treachery to the Old Hamlet, while he forgets his true purpose of revenge. Hamlet in Zefirelli’s celluloid becomes a man who ceases to act frustrated by his mother’s bed. During his heartbreaking meeting with Gertrud, after killing Polonius Gertrud calls it a bloody deed. Hamlet replies: “A bloody deed. Almost as bad goodmother as kill a king and marry with his brother.” Hamlet continues: “Peace sit you down, and let me wring your heart, for so I shall, if it be made of penetrable stuff.” He talks daggers to his mother, as if to a woman in his bed, like a man betrayed by his beloved, in a sexually connotative language. She falls on to the bed. And with all the gestures of a rapist, Hamlet roars to her. “Nay, but to live in the rank sweat of an enseamed bed stewed in corruption honeying and making love over the nasty sty.” At the end the mother kisses him deeply to stop his heart breaking words. This is interrupted by the arrival of the Ghost. The shot is taken in such a way that he sees the father’s ghost as he kisses his mother, where the kiss is not suddenly stopped but the emotion in his eyes reflects the reaction on seeing his father who is his enemy in the Oedipal triangle. The ghost reminds of his mission to kill the king which he undermines in his rage towards mother. Before he departs he warns the mother: “Let not the bloat king tempt you again to bed, pinch wanton on your cheek, call you

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his mouse. And let him for a pair of reechy kisses or paddling in your neck with his damned fingers make you to ravel all this matter out that I essentially am not in madness, but mad in craft.” At the end when he kills Claudius, Hamlet reminds him of his incestuous relation and pours the potion into the mouth. Karmayog (2012), a regional adaptation inspired by Shakespeare’s Hamlet in Malyalam, directed by V.K Prakash is an attempt to reproduce Hamlet in the backdrop of myth and culture of Kerala. With strict adherence to the literal meaning of the term adaptation, Prakash has attemped a replantation of the Elibethan play in a totally different cultural background, which has triumphantly accomplished, leaving the extend of sublimity it has reproduced from the play into question. The film tells the story of Rudran Gurukkal, of Chathothu family, played by Indrajith, supposed to be the regional counterpart of Hamlet. The family belongs to the yogi community to which Lord Shiva is suppose to be born. It retains the revenge motif along with the counterparts of most of the characters in Hamlet – Rudran, Hamlet; Bhairavan, Claudius; Gertrude, Mankamma; Polonius, Kidathan; Moonumani, Ophelia; Kanthan, Laertes – the Ghost element, play within the play as poorakali and so on. But there are also differences like Bhairavan killing Kidathan, Kidathan attempting to Usurp Bhairavan etc. Rather than making a literal translation of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Karmayogi presents a series of binaries, tradition/modernity, spirituality/materialism, wealth/poverty borrowing just the thread of the story from Shakespeare. It is a dialogic text in celluloid which is unintelligible without a comprehensive knowledge of Shiva tradition, Indian philosophy, cultural significance of Theyyam etc. In the movie ironically the one who is to be the spiritual, traditional and yogic, Bhairavan, the next follower to the deceased elder brother, is materialistic, modern and wealthy. He is the modernist who kills the tradition represented by the deceased brother. When he says, “it was the. . . customs and practices that took his life,” his hatred for the mythical yogic tradition, the brother followed is explicit. Because he killed the brother. Rudran’s love for father’s ways explicate his adoration for tradition. In other words Rudran’s hatred for Bhairavan is his hatred for modernity. The movie is polysemic in its cultural contexts as Hamlet is. The title “Karmayogi” has pluarlistic meanings. It is a combination of karma and yogi. Karma means action. Yogi denotes one who practices yoga. Yoga in Indian philosophy, stands for practices that helps attaining permanant peace. The Sanskrit word means, “union” which can be extended as union with God. In the movie Rudran Gurukal (Hamlet) the binary opposite of Bhairavan (Claudius) is the Yogi who follows the path of his father, a Shivite who practiced kelipatram, the tradition of embracing spiritual poverty through begging, amidst all the wealth he has. Rudran whose name is a synonym of Shiva follows the same tradition to attain spiritual bliss. Here the movie reproduces the spiritual discource of evil vs virtue that is unravelled in Shakespeare’s Hamlet in Indian context. Here it is not the question of evil vs virtue, but rather the question of spirituality vs materiality that is seen. Here karma is the yogic karma towards spirituality rather than the act of revenge as we see in Hamlet. Though revenge is also a concern of Rudran, spirituality transcends this cause. Karmayogi follows the Indian cinematic legacy of classical theatre with its inducement of 31 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015 music and dance sequences. Moti Gokulsing and Wimal Dissanayake say: [Music and song] are linked to the regional theatre of the nineteenth century which made great use of song. . . . Music then fulfils a number of functions in India Cinema. Firstly it is a vital element of film experience. A film is unlikely to attain mass popularity if it has no songs. . . .they help to intensify the emotions associated with a given situation. (97 – 98) The song adds to the visual beauty of the film. The song malarmanjariyil vandine pole is potent enough to give voice to the love between Rudran and Moonumani which avoids the dilemma in Hamlet whether Hamlet loves Ophelia or not. In the movie Rudran undergoes an apotheosis where he becomes Shiva himself. During the funeral ceremony of Moonumani when Rudran is confronted by some warriors, one of the warriors calls him “The real lord Shivan” and says: “We are not ready to fight against him.” This is typical of Malayalam cinema where the hero has a godly stature. The modernity that we see in Karmayogi is regressive. “As [Stuart] Hall puts it regressive modernisation describes the attempt to ‘educate and discipline the society into a particularly regressive version of modernity by paradoxically dragging it backwards through an equally regressive version of the past’” (Procter 101). Though the anti-traditionalist, Bhairavan wants a re-feudalisation in Chathothu family throwing the family’s tradition of asceticism practiced by the elder brother. He claims to be a modern by bringing back the traditions of celebration and merrymaking alone as reflected through Theyyam performance, Poorakkali etc which are traditional art forms, but now modernised in the family. CONCLUSION All three adaptations of Shakespeare’s Hamlet can be viewed as three different interpretations of the source text focussing on its distinctive features separately. Adaptations thus form three distinct texts on Hamlet creating an intertextual link between the source text as well as all the adaptations. Sometimes adaptations are independent of the text and at times they can be viewed only in relation to the text. Oliver’s Hamlet is self sufficient in itself. Sometimes adaptations become a cinematization of an interpretation as evident from Zefirelli’s version which materialises the Freudian Interpretation of Hamlet on Screen. Karmayogi completely twists the story to show how a total transformation of the story is possible in a different cultural and geographical space. All these adaptations affirm Dr. Johnson’s claim of universality to Shakespeare across time and space and proclaim the greatness of a classic which is never empty of novel exegetical possibilities. Works Cited 1. Bobik, Melaine. Shakespeare’s Hamlet in the Movies. Norderstedt Germany: GRIN Verlag, 2002. Print. 2. Brown, Kathleen, L. Teaching Literary Theory Using Film Adaptations. North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 2009. Print. 3. Cahir, Linda, Costanzo. Literature Into Film: Theory and Practical Approaches. North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 2006. Print.

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4. Calvino, Italo. Why Read the Classics? Trans. Patrick Creagh. The New York Review of Books 33.15(1986): 1 – 5. Web. 13 October 2013. 5. Cook, Patrick, J. Cinematic Hamlet: The Films of Olivier, Zeffirelli, Branagh, and Almereyda. Athens: Ohio UP, 2011. Print. 6. Gokulsing, K, Moti, and Wimal Dissanayake. Indian Popular Cinema: A Narrative of Cultural Change. New Delhi: Orient Longman, 1998. Print. 7. Oliver, Laurence. Dir. Hamlet. Perf. Laurence Oliver. Two Cities Film,1948. Film. 8. Orleans Susan. “Forward Adaptation: The shooting Script.” Authorship in Film Adaptation. Ed. Jack Boozer. Austin, University of Texas Press, 2008. Print 9. Procter, James. Stuart Hall. NY: Routledge, 2004. Print. 10. Prakash, V,K, .Dir. Karmayogi. Perf. Indrajith, Thalaivasal Vijay. Creative Land Pictures. 2012. Film. 11. Shakespeare William. Hamlet. Ed. S. Sen. New Delhi: Unique Publishers, 2000. Print. 12. Zefirelli, Franco. Dir. Hamlet. Perf. Mel Gibson. Icon Productions, 1990. Film.

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ORIENTAL ETHOS AT WORK IN HERMANN HESSE’S SIDDHARTHA

Rajitha Unni Lecturer, Department of English, RK Institute of Management and Computer Science Bangalore, Karnataka e.mail: [email protected]

ABSRACT Hermann Hesse was a German born Swiss poet, novelist, and painter. His best-known works include Steppenwolf, Siddhartha and The Glass Bead Game, each of which explores an individual’s search for authenticity, self-knowledge and spirituality. In 1946, he received the Nobel Prize in Literature. Siddhartha is a 1922 novel by Hermann Hesse that deals with the spiritual journey of self-discovery of a man named Siddhartha during the time of the Gautama Buddha. This book, Hesse’s ninth novel, was written in German, in a simple, lyrical style. It was published in the U.S. in 1951 and became influential during the 1960s. The word Siddhartha is made up of two words in the Sanskrit language, siddha (achieved) + artha (what was searched for), which together means “he who has found meaning (of existence)” or “he who has attained his goals”. In fact, the Buddha’s own name, before his renunciation, was Siddhartha Gautama, Prince of Kapilvastu. In this book, the Buddha is referred to as “Gotama”. The book is highly symbolic. It reveals the stages in one’s life, from early childhood to the final realization of the self. This novel also gives the reader the clear distinction between knowledge an wisdom because what is really great and superior in orientalism is the importance given to wisdom.

INTRODUCTION Born in to a Brahmin family, Siddhartha, a handsome boy was brought up by his father strictly according to the religious ways. Apart from holy rituals and holy sacrifices, he learnt the art of contemplation and meditation at a very young age itself. He started pronouncing “Om” silently and was able to recognize Atman. But, his devouring of holy scriptures couldn’t satisfy his thirst for knowledge. He was always full of dreams and restless thoughts. He had mastered Rig Veda and now doubts lingered whether he should seek God or Atman. Siddhartha considered the wonderful wisdom found in Upanishads to be as pure as honey collected from bees. He remembered the lines of Chandogya Upanishad, Om is the bow, the arrow is the soul, Brahman is the arrow’s goal, At which one aims unflinchingly. His father was quite holy and noble, but how could he follow him if he wants to be a seeker? His friend, Govinda was so proud to get such a handsome and intelligent person like Siddhartha 34 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015 as his companion and master and thus, he became his shadow. In his quest for knowledge, Govinda joined Siddhartha when he decided to join Samanas, the wandering ascetics. Siddhartha forced his father to agree to his decision of joining Samanas, which he reluctantly did. When they joined the Samanas, they wore simple dress and had simple meals. The eldest of Samanas guided them to practice self-denial and meditation. At times, Siddhartha was in a turmoil thinking whether the path chosen by them is right. In the company of Samanas, he couldn’t find any meaning as the life of Samanas could not quench his thirst. They had heard about Gotma, the illuminated, the Buddha, who had conquered sorrows and attained Nirvana and now they are in search of Buddha. After wandering through forests and many villages, they reached the village where Buddha and his disciples resided. Buddha taught him the eight fold path. But, the ever yearning Siddhartha was unconvinced by the preaching of Buddha and thus, he decided to go on his own way. But Govinda, his shadow was so much attracted towards Buddha that he decided to become a Buddhist monk. Left alone, Siddhartha analysed his feelings and found his cause. He became a thinker now, the subject being his self, which was a riddle for him, “the reason why Siddhartha has remained alien and unknown to myself is due to one thing, due to one single thing-I was afraid of myself, I was fleeing from myself.” He decided to become his own pupil. He also realized that he was no longer an ascetic, a priest or a Brahman. He was simply Siddhartha, the awakened. He started listening to both thoughts and the body, by feeling only his inner voices. Things changed after he met a young woman washing clothes at the end of the village. When he asked her the way to town she ‘placed her left foot over his right and made a gesture such as a woman makes when she invites a man to that kind of enjoyment of love which the holy books call ascending the tree’. When Siddhartha kissed the tip of her breast, a tug of war occurred in his mind between the stir of sex and the inward voice telling ‘no’. He entered the town, where he mingled with people, had a haircut and beard shaved and met Kamala, the same woman again. Kamala is the one of the names of Lakshmi, wife of Vishnu in Hindu mythology. She rides the owl, has lotus flower for her seat and possess a golden pitcher full of wine. In town, he becomes a merchant with the help of Kamaswamy. Siddhartha’s visit to Kamaswamy, at Kamala’s advice and his conversations with him throw more insight in to Hindu wisdom. He knew that he had learnt from the body of Kamala what the learned teachers could never have taught. Thus, Siddhartha lived life of world, tasted riches, passion and power, but at heart he remained a Samana. All his experiences at home as Samana, with Gotma, with Kamala remained as a secret knowledge of the self. The fear of old age and death gripped over his self. He looked back and wondered whether he had achieved anything. It was all a game, called Samsara, a game for kids. Many years later, fate took Siddhartha’s son to his father as Kamala was bitten by a snake and was dead. This eleven year old son was different in everything. This made Siddhartha remember his own young days and his revolt against his father’s desire. This son of Siddhartha ran away just like Siddhartha had done in his childhood. Years later, when he met his childhood friend, Govinda, who is still a seeker, he told him that he learnt everything from the river and Vasudeva, the ferryman. Vasudeva is the one of the names of Krishna and Vasudeva means “he in whom all things abide and who abides in all.”According to Siddhartha, knowledge can be communicated, but not wisdom.

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Every sin carries grace within it. Vasudeva, the ferryman took him across the river of the world and self realization comes to him finally. Time is the next hitch for the self. When Siddhartha identifies himself with the perpetual flow of river, he is able to know the illusory nature of time. Time is still as well as flowing like water. CONCLUSION Siddhartha, the novel is the Oriental wisdom in condensed form. Most of the characters are archetypal. Most of the events in the novel is taken from the actual experiences of the Buddha. The physical torment undergone by Siddhartha reminds us of the spiritual adventures of Buddha. The repetition of life is an important theme in this spiritual novel of Herman Hesse the father repeated with another father, the son repeated with another son, the Buddha repeated with another Buddha. What is not repeated is only the eternal flow of river, this is what is called dejavu, the cyclical repetition of nature. Intellect, knowledge ,linear time etc is that of the west. Intuition, wisdom, cyclical time are of the east, Oriental. The novel, Siddhartha also tells us the difference between Samsara and Nirvana and illusion and truth. Siddhartha finally understands that not only the world is an illusion but even the self is an illusion. The illusive nature as father, son, beloved etc is dissolved in to the eternal stream. Works cited Hesse, Hermann. Siddhartha. New York: Dover Publishers, 1998. Stcherbapsky, Theodore. (Ed.) Jaideva Singh. Conception of Buddhist Nirvana: With Sanskrit text of Madhyamaka Karika. Chennai: Mothilal Banarasidass Publishers, 2011.

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MANJULA PADMANABHAN’S HARVEST AND PARADIGMS OF SUBVERSIVE CONSTRUCTION

Nitha Rajagopal Assistant Professor, Dept. of English, Sreekrishna College Guruvayur, Thrissur Dist.

ABSTRACT Manjula Padmanabhan in her intensely gripping play, Harvest, presents from a futuristic angle a dark, bitter, cannibalistic future that awaits the poor, helpless, innocent, gullible folks of the third world nations like India. The play won the coveted international prize of $250,000 announced in 1997 by the Alexander S.Onassis Public Benefit Foundation in Athens. Critics have hailed the play as theatre worthy of international production. As Ira Pande points out, “a savage and bitter indictment of the cannibalistic future that awaits the human race…”(24). The play is set in Bombay in 2010 AD, when the sale of vital organs between the rich and the poor nations become a routine affair like any other commodity transaction. The poor people of the third world who unsuspectingly come forward to sell their vital organs “mistaking wealth for happiness”(Pande 24). The donors are mostly hapless slum dwellers living in single rooms in the high rise tenements of the crowded Indian cities like Bombay living without basic amenities of life. They sell their organs to rich customers in North America through sophisticated, foolproof internationally registered and approved agents like Inter Planta so that they may taste a bit of luxury in the form of electronic gadgets, before they die an anonymous death. In other words, they exchange their organs in return for escaping from their matter-of –fact, humdrum real life that is mere hand-to-mouth survival. Their dream is to get an “instant deliverance from poverty” ( Pande 24).

INTRODUCTION The playwright, through creating paradigms of subversive strategies, presents a multiplicity of perspectives such as males and females of the twenty-first century who lack a will of their own, the city dwellers totally addicted to watching television, the pointlessness of their life, and their absolute dependence on modern gadgets. Some of the issues they face in their prison-like existence are inhospitality, unemployment, the closure of factories, moral decline and weakened morale, the lack of privacy, the partiality of parents towards the bread-winners among their children, the pathetic condition of women, organ donation, human body donation, cloning, artificial insemination, and comprehensive spread of cyberspace. Though the playwright is working in the realm of fantasy, the spectator gets from the very outset of the play, a realistic picture of modern times. To an average reader, Manjula Padmanabhan’s presentations of human relations will look subverted.

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In the play, the mother, Ma,( Indumati) is presented not as a very docile, passive typical Indian mother. In any society, whether ancient or modern, motherhood is held in high esteem. This is evident from the statement of the Hindu Lawgiver Manu’s statement : “ The mother exceedeth a thousand fathers in the right to reverence” (Masani 34). A typical Indian mother sacrifices anything for the sake of her children. She would undergo any amount of pain for her little ones. The last two lines of Nissim Ezekiel’s “Night of the Scorpion” beautifully highlight this attitude: Thank god the scorpion picked on me and spared my children (P.PMehta 214). Manjula Padmanabhan subverts the mother character in the play and presents her as a demoness who lures to ruin. She is sitting all the time in front of the TV. Shortly she will be the slave to the Vedio Paradiso of the future- Super Deluxe Vedio Coach Model XL5000 specially ordered by herself, in exchange of her son’s vital organs, in fact her son himself. Always finding fault with her daughter-in- law Jeya, her preference is for her first son, Om, the husband of Jeya. Her second son, Jeetu is a loafer and male prostitute “a pimping rascal” in his mother’s words. Jeya instead of loving her husband love her brother –in-law Jeetu. Om is presented as mother’s darling, her soul and heartbeat, but in reality, he is weak-willed, docile and an impotent man who makes his wife his sister. Unlike the quite familiar modern feminist discourses, where the father figure is presented as a butcher, it is a female dominated world where Ma rules the family and she is physically more powerful than her daughter-in –law, Jeya. When Jeya snatches the remote control from Ma’s hand, Ma pushes Jeya, snatches it and threatened her with a harsh expression: “Pig-faced buffalo! Give it back or I’ll- I’ll shit in the water supply…. I’ll microwave your entrails! (84). Hearing this the reader or spectator is instantly reminded of what V.S.Naipaul wrote in ‘An Area of Darkness’ about the Indian habit of defecating everywhere except in the toilet: “Indians defecate everywhere. They defecate on the beaches; they defecate on the hills; they defecate on the river banks; they defecate on the streets; they never look for cover” (70). The play presents with photographic realism that though the twenty-first century is spectacularly rich in everything else, it is remarkably poor, as has been pointed out by Maurice Friedman, “in providing sources for discovering personal directions and authentic human existence”(20). Though four people live in a small room, two of them think, “the other two don’t exist”(Harvest 8). Everyone is selfish. The mother is not at all worried when Jeetu was taken away for the transplantation. With total indifference she answers Jeya, “Why should I care what happens to Jeetu? I ‘m through caring about anybody”(83). Human predicament in the third millennium is very disquieting and unsettling, precisely because in this era, civilization ruthlessly invades man’s inner privacy. In order to eke out a living, he is even prepared to ignore his wife. Om does so when he mindlessly signs off his name for organ transplantation. The married men are not selected for organ harvesting. So he ignored his wife and made her his sister in the records. Manjula Padmanabhan subverts ideal brotherhood and makes brothers go for each other’s throat. Right in front of her mother-in-law, Jeya makes love to her brother-in-law, Jeetu. Though feeling a little guilty, she offers wholly to Jeetu. Jeetu cracks a crude joke with her when he does not find any privacy in their apartment, “If we can shit in the public, we can just as well screw in public too- especially since you‘re now officially my wife!”(31). One thing that surprises the 38 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015 spectator is that the youth are not revolting against anything. Nothing provokes them to hostility. Knowing that his wife carries an illicit relationship with his younger brother, he lies like a dog fawning on its master. He lies down “like a corpse” (69). Jeetu, the seventeen year youth looks like “Death’s first cousin”(46). With the enormous amount of freedom he gets in the new millennium, he thinks that he enjoys life, but in reality, it costs a hand-full of years off his life. There is nobody to check him and he is ready to offer any organ of his body to a beautiful phantom seen in a contact module. He does not know whether that person is young or old, whether it is male or female. Jeya tries to warn him about the danger but he sheepishly follows the gray guards for transplantation. Like him, even Om comfortably compromises: “Nothing matters. Whatever happens it’s fate”(69). The play focuses on a mingled admiration and horror of the suburban lifestyle and the compulsive craze for electronic gadgets. They have, in front of them, a bewildering multiplicity of gadgets to choose from. Soon after the negotiated barter and the nefarious agreement with the recipient, through which they sacrifice their self-respect and dignity, the family of Om starts receiving what they have longed for. They can now have direct contact with the recipient thousand miles away through the contact module fitted in their house. It is quite natural that they wish to change their pathetic existence from living day in and out in utter poverty. At the time of Om’s signing the contract there is no toilet in his house. There is only one toilet for forty families in that apartment. To Ginni, the American receiver, it is wrong, disgusting and unsanitary. Ginni provides everything to Om’s family and within two months time, Om’s apartment is transformed into a sleek residence with all modern gadgets. The receivers are very conscious about the health of the bodies that carry their objects of desires. The foreign receiver (from Virginia) is a heartless crook with a cynical design. In the beginning, the spectator, the donor and his family see the face of a lovely girl and Ma describes her as an angel. Ma is in a fix to understand why the foreigner loves her son so much. Only a little later she understands that her beloved son has “sold the rights to his organs! His skin! His eyes! His arse! (23). When Ginni praises Om in a mellifluous voice, Om falls in love with her voice and the phantom of her profile and tells her: “Madam! It’s our pleasure! Our duty, I mean! Anything we can do to help…” (25). The irony of the situation is that Indians are not able to decolonize themselves even after years. Om’s unconditional surrender to the White rich American shows the unmistakable slavish attitude or the ‘dependence complex’ of the Indians. Ginni, by offering electronic comforts tries to keep everyone happy in Om’s house. She speaks through the electronic device: “The most important thing is to keep ‘Auwm’ smiling. Coz if Auwm’s smiling, it means his organs are smiling. And that’s the kind of organs that’ll survive a transplant best, smiling organs”(41). Though there is an ironical humour here, the audience knows that Ginni is not at all sincere. The sympathy she expresses for the Om’s family is just skin-deep. The luxury that Ginni promises to the donor family will in fact be a trap that offers neither comfort, nor peace. But it only increases their disillusionment. And their little apartment shortly becomes a veritable tower, or to quote a couple of apt phrases from Lawrence’s ‘The Diviners’, “a cave, a well-lighted and beautifully appointed cave, but a cave just the same….May be tower would be a better word for the apartment…A tower it certainly is, though. The lonely tower..”(254-255), which leaves them utterly helpless. No one can fool or cheat Ginni. She knows everything. She notices even a cold or sneeze or

39 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015 a whisper. All visitors, including the neighbours for toileting purposes are watched. When Jeya tries to hold back something, Ginni’s voice beams”….Zhaya! I can see it in your lying scheming little face! You think you’re such a cutie-pie, Zhaya, but you don’t fool me! Not for one instant!”(42). Surprisingly, all through, Ginni has been angling not for Om but for Jeetu, “a health hazard”(45), “a walking, talking, health CATASTROPHE”, and really a very sick person. But that does not matter to her. He will be cured and used by the receiver. Jeetu is administered a hypo and carried away in a stretcher very much against the protest of Jeya : “Don’t hurt him, don’t hurt him please! Oh!Oh! They’ll make mincemeat out of him”-(62). Much to the shock of Jeya and Jeetu, the latter’s eyes are taken out, and in the place of them, they have fitted a pair of imitation eyes. He keeps on asking: “This …is my reward?”(73). Deplorably Jeetu weeps, that the rich woman who has plucked his eyes is a she-demon. Jeetu has lost his sleep for ever. He is condemned to endure the never-ending nightmare. He is taken away for the next phase which is transfer of not just one particular organ, but the entire body, not for the angel Ginni, but for the Vampire Virgil and Virgil will live forever. With Jeetu’s body, the phantom even offers to make Jeya pregnant by prolonging his life by artificial insemination. Virgil says: “The Guards will make the child possible, Zhaya. It’s just a formality, a device…an implant… something I sent for you, which they’re ready to deliver”. But Jeya emphatically says, “No more madness”. (98). Harvest examines the spiritual poverty of a citified age in the third millennium... In fact there is no place for god or religion in that age. So in a godless world, to the rich westerners, the hapless Indians are like “human goldfish bowls”(43) and the goldfish inside “don’t have a choice”. Indians are “a game to play with”. Their life is “one long joke”. They realize it only at a very later stage that “a peaceful shit is more precious than money in the bank” (46). The organ receivers like Ginni, though pose like divine beings are really crooks. As all great literatures of the world are linked together, Harvest too is linked not only to the present day literatures of the world but also to the literatures of the by-gone era. Consciously or unconsciously Manjula Padmanabhan goes to ancient myths and legends and juxtaposes them, with the facts and facets of future life and in this way she brings out the similarities and contrast between the past and the future. In the ancient myths, it is categorically narrated that the sin involved in the violation of sex code in all ages led to decay and degeneration, and the necessity of purifying the sinner’s soul through suffering as the sole way of salvation. Jeetu does not commit any murder like Oedipus, but breaks the sex taboos of the society by committing adultery with his mother like figure. In the Oedipus myth, learning the truth Oedipus blinds himself. Jeetu, does not blind himself like Oedipus but unconcernedly offers both his eyes to the organ receiver from the other end of the world. This is an instance of ironic intertextuality marking a continuity of tradition. CONCLUSION The sense of futility that pervades in Harvest is based on the chilling response of the characters’ sudden consciousness of their empty, meaningless life. Their life moves nowhere and in the beautiful phrase borrowed from Anita Desai’s Voices in the City, “enclosed in a locked container” (240). Each of them is imprisoned in his or her own consciousness. They merely pass, to quote an apt phrase from Maurice Friedman, “from sterile into sterile existence”(37). In the modern jargon, Jeya with increasing despair tells her brother-in-law, Jeetu, “It’s not really a life 40 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015 anymore. We’re just spare parts in someone else’s garage” (Harvest 34). Jeya’s helpless expression reminds us of the existential absurdity brought forth by the American playwright Arthur Miller in his wartime play “The Man Who Had All the Luck. Miller puts across man’s helplessness through Shory, a friend of David Beeves the protagonist: “A man is a jelly fish. The tide goes in and the tide goes out. About what happens to him, a man has very little to say” (Miller 134). Works Cited • Desai, Anita.Voices In The City. New Delhi: Orient, 1965. • Friedman, Maurice. To Deny Our Nothingness: Contemporary Images Of Man. Chicago, 1978. • Masani, Minoo. Our Growing Human Family .London, 1950. • Mehta, P.P “Nissim Ezekiel”. Study In Contemporary Indo-English Verse. Prakash Book Depot, 1984. • Miller , Arthur. The Golden Years And The Man Who Had All The Luck, London, 1989. • Naipaul, V.S. An Area Of Darkness. Penguin, 1977. • Padmanabhan ,Manjula. Harvest. New Delhi, 1998. • Pande, Ira. “Thirty Pieces Of Silver”. Rev. Of Harvest .Biblio: A Review Of Books.1998.

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RECLAMATION OF SELFHOOD FOR SELF EMANCIPATION IN THE DARK HOLDS NO TERRORS

Maria George Faculty, P. G Dept of English (SF), Alphonsa College, Pala, Kottayam Dist. e.mail: [email protected]

ABSTRACT The paper is an explication of the terrors that the writer Shashi Deshpande tries to overcome in her novel The Dark Holds No Terrors. The novel focuses on a woman’s awareness of her predicament, her wanting to be recognized as a person than as a woman and her wanting to have an independent social image. The novelist tries to convey the society in need of a compromise as a survival strategy in this transitional phase. Deshpande’s attempt is taken as a woman’s search for the self to gain liberation in a society that built shackles for the female group.

INTRODUCTION The history of English language and literature in India starts with the advent of the East India Company in the 1600s. As the company spread its wing in the southern peninsula, English language started to get newer pockets of influence. The breakthrough in Indian English literature came in 1793 A.D. when Sake Dean Mahomet published a book in London titled Travels of Dean Mahome. Indian English literature has a relatively recent history; it is only one and a half centuries old. India of the twentieth century witnessed a flowering period in the sphere of literature because it was during this period several Indian writers distinguished themselves in the global language, English. Raja Rao, Dhan Gopal Mukherji, R.K. Narayan, Mulk Raj Anand etc. were prominent writers in the early stages while Salman Rushdie, Vikram Seth, Anita Desai, Ruskin Bond, Chetan Bhagat, Aravind Adiga, Arundhati Roy, Shashi Deshpande etc. are gaining ground in the later stages of Indian English writing. We notice that during the early phases, there were more of men’s writings representing women in their works from an exclusively male perspective. It was only during the last quarter of the nineteenth century that women started writing for themselves in India. The emergence of women writers in English is of great importance as it brings a new age

42 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015 of brightness for the Indian women. One of the reasons why women take to writing is that it allows them to create their own world where they can be what they are. A world of their own is a generalized term for the particularized sense of the term, “self”. Self is reclaimed so that emancipation does not become an unaccomplished dream. The battle for emancipation was taken over by a few educated women who, in their effort to communicate to the world their own bitter experience as women, turned to writing. Initially women were portrayed as objects of pity but later on as times changed, the realistic image of women, her sense of frustration and alienation began to appear. The world of feminist ideologies soon began to influence English literature in India. Saru’s Reclamation of the Self In the contemporary Indian English literature, Shashi Deshpande occupies a prominent position as a feminist novelist. Her novel, The Dark Holds No Terrors depicts the story of a woman who searches for her identity in a world of terrors. Her search for the self in the dark is a mirror held to her that the darkness soon gives way to reflection. Sarita usually named as Saru is the protagonist in the novel who starts her search at home. At home she is a victim of childhood insecurities. There she is like a caged bird attributed by the negligence of her mother, indifference of her father and the burden of the guilt of the death of her brother, Dhruva. Her self is shattered to pieces owing to the discrimination that she faces at home only because she was born a girl. Her search for the lost self is extended into the professional space wherein there is no better pacification. Saru makes a quest among the wed locks with Manohar, a man of different caste and dreams but to no avail. Ultimately she reclaims her own self back at home and finds the roots of freedom tangled there. Saru’s initial attempts at home were futile. The house where Saru lived had a barren yard that allowed nothing to grow, not even weeds. It became the exact symbol of an abode that offered no water for the flowering of Saru’s desires. Saru cannot even enjoy the broad daylight for fear of darkening her skin which is to be preserved for the pleasure of a man. The mother always warns her, “Don’t go out in the sun…we have to get you married” (45). To add to the exasperation mother often says Saru that she looks ugly. Saru still cherished the dream of growing up into a beautiful woman. Mother makes a lot of fuss about her daughter’s growth. She says, “Don’t come out in your petticoat like that, not even when it’s only your father who is around” (62). For Saru the beginning of her periods was a torture. During those days she cannot enter the kitchen and the puja room, she has to sleep on a straw mat and even her touch is considered polluting. Saru begins hating even her womanhood. Saru thirsts for a break from all these oppressive prejudices. She prays, “Oh God, let it not happen to me. Just this once and no more. Let there be a miracle and let me be the female to whom it doesn’t happen” (62). On the other hand the manhood of her brother is celebrated. There is always puja on his birthday while Saru’s is always melancholic. Saru and her father develops a gap and the relationship between the two becomes a strained one. The plight of Saru worsens when Dhruva dies by drowning in a pond near their house. Their house becomes a bleak and dull space of existence after his death. Mother’s magnificent dream of moulding her son into a brave Shivaji has ended in a slimy pond. With the death of Dhruva mother starts accusing Saru of the tragedy. Mother even asks Saru, why she didn’t die instead of Dhruva. When Saru sees her mother praying she thinks that

43 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015 her mother is praying that Saru should die. By the age of fifteen Saru has come to despise the atmosphere at home. She finds the chains of solitude, oppression and pain tightening. Deshpande posts the mother as the representative of countless mothers of her generation who think stereotypically. The search for the self has commenced at Saru’s house. But there she finds no way out. Her search is then extended into education and career. This was stimulated by Saru’s meeting of a tall woman who had an air of being detached. The woman had seemed somehow superior to other women and later Saru learns that she was a doctor. The meeting instills in Saru a desire to become a doctor so that she can attain freedom and superiority. Thus the quest takes a new turn. Deshpande opines, “My characters take their own ways. I’ve heard people saying that we should have strong woman characters. But my writing has to do with women as they are” (48). Saru having disillusioned with her attempts at home turns to education and profession. Her desire to do medicine is furiously received by her mother. Mother thinks that spending money for a daughter is a waste. She thinks that it is better to marry daughters off before they become burdens to the family. The desire for freedom is so great in Saru that she fights vehemently and joins the medical college. She yearns to prove herself successful before her parents. It is during this time that Manoher (Manu) comes into her life. Saru hopes against hope that marriage would be the ultimate reality, the perfect way to reclaim her self. Hunting her self in marriage is like the hunt of a dog scrambling for a long buried bone. Piles of earth flew up, but where the hell was the bone? Or, had there never been a bone at all? Manu and Saru get married defying all the restrictions of the society. With marriage Saru thinks that she is almost near her real self. Her decision to marry Manohar is an act of defiance as well as a search for freedom. But she is wrong. Hunting for that real self had become rather like that of search for freedom. In the beginning, Saru and Manu are an ordinary couple, loving each other. But soon the relationship get strained once Manu becomes aware of his inferiority to his wife. She is for more than him, and people has started noticing her and not him. Saru’s fame as a doctor has also spread in the neighbourhood and people starts accepting her as the best doctor. People starts knocking at their house door and there came a day when hearing a knock at the door, they would understand it is for Saru. The thing that made Saru inches shorter, and even the profession that seemed to weary Saru is owing to the miserable married life she has to live away. At night Manu attacks Saru like an animal. Saru can do nothing against him. She can’t fight back. She can’t shout or cry. It is as if Manu wants to oppress her with his authority over her with his body, thereafter sex with Manu, seems a strangulation and a torture for Saru. For her, it is not a husband making love but a stranger strangulating her body, unleashing the horror of rape. Saru feels that she is pinioned to a position of an abject surrender of herself. Her desire to escape is crushed under the weight of a superior body. All her hopes of emancipation lie shattered in exhaustion and pain. The hands of a man seems to hurt; the savage teeth and the monstrous assaults are terrible. She tries to struggle but her body, hurt and painful can do nothing against the brutal strength which overwhelmed her. Once again, Saru has failed in her search for self- emancipation. All her hopes of self- emancipation lie shattered, pathetically. Not even the children can give her a way out. Saru had

44 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015 once lovingly awaited the miracle of motherhood. But when, after a day long struggle she has felt, through a haze of pain and shock, Renu’s head forcing itself out. She had been outraged at the indignity of it. Even when Saru holds Renu in her arms, she feels not love but an immense fear. She is afraid of failing her daughter like her own mother. She is disillusioned with marriage. It had failed her just as her home had. The marriage has failed Saru just as her home had done. But Saru turns her search back to her home. Saru had left home in search of self-emancipation but comes back to the same place still searching the same. It is only after her mother’s death she returns home to search in the shadows of the house. She believes that she must have left behind something that would help her in her search. Even the rickshaw driver who drops her at home seems to be a symbol of the changes she expected back home. But there, nothing much has changed. The changes had been happening to her. The initial quest with which she had left home had become all the more stronger after all those fifteen years. Saru receives a cold reception from her father. But it doesn’t matter. He had never nor even would hinder her in any way. But at home Saru finds her room occupied by a college boy, Madhav who had come to live with her father two years back. Father appears to have a strong emotional bond with the boy and that stirs a fear in Saru’s heart. Saru’s father does not seem to care about her homecoming. He is indifferent with his lack of curiosity about her motive for coming home. Saru has come home expecting at least a little help. She has hoped against hope that there would be at least one person in whom she could find the answer. Even in her dream, Saru saw reflections of her thirst for freedom. She dreams herself walking out of the house, out of the gate and on to the road in search of something but the dream is interrupted and she wakes up. Saru cannot even confide in her old friends who came to visit her at home. After all these years, Saru makes a futile attempt to confide in her father. She opens her heart before him revealing all the miseries she has to undergo. But her father hears all of it patiently. At least he is a good listener but fails Saru when it comes to the question of liberation. Baba has no solutions that Saru expected from him, least of all to say, “I’II look after you”. But Baba has no answer but only a disgusting question, “What can I do?” It is only when the last attempt fails that Saru turns to her own self. Saru had been wandering all this time but the real answer had been inside her. It dawns on her; emancipation of the self is possible only through herself. The long quest for self-emancipation by the protagonist in the novel has finally come to an end. She realizes that the answer lay in her own self, so clear and bright Saru has understood that there is only herself to help her. Everyone has to tread their way of life in solitude believing in the power within them. If we can’t believe in ourselves, we are sunk. Saru realizes that her life is her own and she alone has to go on trying. Saru’s self helps her to understand her own faults, overcoming of which will open up the way for self-emancipation. She realizes that there are faults on her side also. She has to face life with all its realities. She has asserted herself stronger than ever. Saru tries to compromise with the situation and it is not subordination but an enlargement of the self. Saru has fashioned an identity for her own through herself and is now ready to face her husband. She goes down the memory 45 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015 lane and a kind of catharsis takes place and Saru finally discovers that the dark holds no terrors for her. The self-realization has helped her to attain self-emancipation. Shashi Deshpande’s major concern is to depict the anguish and conflict of the modern educated Indian women caught between patriarchy and tradition on the one hand, and self expression, individuality and independence for the women on the other. Her fiction explores the search of the women to fulfil herself as a human being, independent of her traditional role as daughter, wife and mother. CONCLUSION Shashi Deshpande’s The Dark Holds No Terrors is a very powerful novel that depicts the life of Sarita, a lady doctor who happens to escape to her father’s house in the beginning after being tortured by the sexual extreme of her husband Manohar but this parental home equally brings back to her the horrible memories of the cruel attitude of her mother who is no more now. Deshpande has employed a conscious strategy of embodying and embedding issues that are informed by Feminisms anti-patriarchal stance in the narrative. Among the various issues that the novel focuses on, concepts of ‘bonding’ and ‘bondage’ are considered not only in India but worldwide. It is not a total revolt but a gradual change in the society for which everyone has to put some effort to bridge the gap between sadness and happiness, the gap between the old and the new generation. The intelligent and educated protagonist soon begins to feel restricted in the traditional claustrophobic existence. It is necessary for women to live within relationships. But if the rules are rigidly laid that as a wife or mother you do this and no further, then one becomes unhappy. The Dark Holds No Terrors is in all its sense, a novel depicting the movement of a woman from self abnegation to self- realization and then self-emancipation after getting rid of the feeling of guilt and terror. Saru’s nights would no longer terrify her as the dark holds no terrors for her. Shashi Deshpande has tried to convey to the society that the need of the time, in this transitional phase, is not a total revolt but a gradual change in the society and that too through the emancipation of our own self. Works Cited 1. Abrahms, M.H. and Geoffrey Galt Hapham. A Handbook of Literary Theory. New Delhi: Cengage Learning India Private Ltd., 2009. 2. Bhatnagar, Monika. ‘Promotion of the patriarchal Cruelty Through Female Agency: A study of Shashi Deshpande’s The Dark Holds No Terrors.’ New perspectives in Indian English Writings. ed. Malti Agarwal. New Delhi: Atlantic Publishers, 2007.89-90 3. Deshpande, Shashi. The Dark Holds No Terrors. New Delhi: Penguin Books, 1990. 4. Homstrom, Lakshmi. ‘Shashi Deshpande Talks to Lakshmi Holmstrom.’ The Fiction of Shashi Deshpande. ed. R.S pathak. New Delhi: Creative Book, 1998. 242-245.

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A MARXIST READING ON SAUL BELLOW’S SEIZE THE DAY

Raichal John Lecturer in English, Department of Business Management St. Joseph’s College, Devagiri, Calicut Dist. Kerala

ABSTRACT Seize the Day is a novella, a powerful master piece which sketches the intense emotional struggle of the protagonist, Tommy Wilhelm. Tommy is a failure as a son, as a husband, as a father, as an actor and jobless now. He lives in the hotel Gloriana with his indifferent father. Heeding to the advice of Dr.Tamkin to invest his last small savings, Tommy Wilhelm invests it in the commodity market, hoping to transcend the present through the return of profit out of his investment. Wilhelm is burdened and inspired by the American myth of success. Money remains the crux of existence. Bellow has pictured commodity market as the background of the novella. Marxist concept of Reification is introduced with the ideology of domination to generate the significance of money in the world. On the brim of total collapse, Wilhelm is drawn further downward in the troubled waters. Wilhelm sinks, he has to sink in order to rise. The novella focuses one particular day in the life of the protagonist which is understood as a day of reckoning. On this day of reckoning, his past flashes back in his mind. His life has been a failure and still continues to be. He has to reconcile with his past guilts to transcend the present plight. Losing all money, Dr. Tamkin disappears which drives Wilhelm to a parlour. He relinquishes his ego and comes to terms with himself. The tears serve as catharsis. With his inescapable self, Wilhelm learns to accept his life and move towards acquiescence of fate. He gradually discovers that the world’s business and business of life are disentangled. Bellow inculcates the lesson that love and brotherhood ultimately matters in life. The humanistic stance can widen one’s vision and over power the materialistic lure.

INTRODUCTION Bellow chooses a meek and passive character as the protagonist of his novella, Seize the Day. Instead of a man with robust energy, dashing wildly, engaged in races or any other field where he could display his opulence and wealth Bellow chose a speculator and commodities market as the background for his novella. It is an interesting fact that the commodities market is the spine of America’s financial system. The investment and trading in commodities market is considered legitimate and a process to acquire instant cash. This gives a glimpse of man’s greed for accumulation of wealth. American society yearns to achieve success. The American myth of success is highlighted here. Bellow throws light on the socio - economic cultural set up of America after the Great

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Depression of 1930s. The frantic attempts at making money to become rich is pictured here. The gains in the market would be at the expense or the loss of another investor. Wilhelm and Tommy are engaged in trading whereas Wilhelm hopes to make money as a solution to all problems or errors. Wilhelm equates success with money. Wilhelm believes that one works hard to make money and the financial stability marks a man successful or unsuccessful. Wilhelm regrets he “should have done hard labor all my life. hard honest labor” (7). The New York city on the other hand seems to choke Wilhelm. No other character in the novel shows an antagonism towards the city. Wilhelm views New York as a sterile environment. The description of urban landscape picture the artificiality of city life: there was no easy way to tell the sane from the mad, and he was right about that in any big city and especially in New York- the end of the world, with its complexity and machinery, bricks and tubes, wires and stones, holes and heights (83). Wilhelm suffers from alienation. Wilhelm lives in a society where there is no real care and communication. Living in Hotel Gloriana it is found that people talk and pass time of the day but there is lack of understanding and compassion. Even Wilhelm’s father who lives in the fourteenth floor has his own reservations. His approach towards Wilhelm reminds him of his failures and ignominy. At the hotel Gloriana Wilhelm is found talking to Rubin, the man at the newspaper stand. They discuss on weather, clothes, last gin game. Aware of each other’s personal details, they never discuss it with them, “None of these could be mentioned, and the great weight of the unspoken left them little to talk about”(10).Wilhelm could discuss matters with Dr.Tamkin. Somewhere he could perceive hindrance in communication. Tommy senses inability to communicate in New York. Each human is locked up in their own perceptions and one can find expansion of ego. The distinction between sane and insane, the articulate and the inarticulate is blurred in a city like New York: Every other man spoke a language entirely his own, which he had figured out by private thinking: he had his own ideas and peculiar ways. If you wanted to talk about a glass of water, you had to start back with God creating the heavens and the earth; the apple, Abraham; Moses and Jesus; Rome; the Middle ages; Gun powder; the Revolution; back to Newton; up to Einstein then war and Lenin and Hitler. (83) As Tamkin and Wilhelm moves to the office, “the sunshine of upper Broadway” (74) is throbbing through the dust and fumes, “a false air of gas visible at eye level as it spurted from the bursting buses” (74). The modern city life may appear “This peace (he forgot that time had its troubles, too), this peace was gone. It must not have belonged to him, really for to be here in New York with his old father was more genuinely like his life” (43). Against this background of New York city, Wilhelm is striving undauntedly to do “the world’s business” (36). Some critics consider the metaphor of “the world’s business”(36) as an absurd condition of human beings. Wilhelm seeks to achieve a status in society with his financial stability. Wilhelm views money as means for affirmation. This bears close link with Marxist ideology of reification where values in a capital oriented ideology replace human values. Wilhelm thinks of an affirmation in terms of money. Money gives power which in turn gives recognition. Wilhelm is

48 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015 trapped by his own will which leads to an inability to be recognized. Reification literally means making into a thing. Marxist Reification is the thingification of social relations or those involved in them, to the extent that the nature of social relationships is expressed by the relationships between traded objects. Marx argues that reification is a necessary characteristic of economic value such as it manifests itself in the market trade. Objects are transformed into subjects and subjects are transformed into objects in such way that subjects are rendered passive while objects are rendered as active. This concept is related to Marxist theory of alienation and commodity fetishism. The concept was further developed by George Lukacs in “Reification and the Consciousness of the Proletariat,” part of his book History and Class Consciousness (1967).The concept of reification has been present in the works of the philosophers of Frankfurt School, Raymond Williams, Herbert Marcuse etc. Reification is considered the act of transforming properties, relations and actions of man producing things which have become independent of man and govern his life. Reification is a special case of alienation and occurs when specifically human creations are misconceived as facts of nature. Wilhelm equates success in terms of money. Tamkin guides Wilhelm in his action, “you have to act fast – buy it and sell it; sell it and buy it again. But quick” (8). Tamkin has all attributes of Tommy’s weakness and appeals to his rational needs. Wilhelm believes that money can change his life. Tommy is passive and Tamkin mentions that “money making is aggression. People come to the market to kill … The money. They make a killing by fantasy”(69). Dr. Tamkin encourages Wilhelm to become rich,”People lose because they are greedy and can’t get out when it starts to go up. They gamble, but I do scientifically” (9). On the other side, he promises Wilhelm that a man can become rich, not by “catching the money fever” (10). Tamkin instructs that one can become rich by “a calm and rational, a psychological approach” (10). The nature of commodities market is pathetic. Ever fluctuating one can never predict on gains or losses. Wilhelm succumbs to Tamkin in such way that his personal assets are exploited by Tamkin. Tamkin operates in term of domination which leads to exploitation. Wilhelm was foolish enough to believe Tamkin, “It made him feel that he had left the ground and was riding upon another man” (96). Strongly believing, “Tamkin for thirty or forty years had gotten through many a tight place, that he would get through this crisis too and bring him, Wilhelm, to safety also” (96). Wilhelm invested his last savings of seven hundred dollars in lard upon such a belief. Bellow draws a character sketch of Tommy Wilhelm. Wilhelm is a gullible, soft spoken man who trusts people. Sympathetic by nature, he draws sympathy on all people whom he meets. At the hotel Gloriana where he meets Mr. Perls who irritates him, Wilhelm draws from his inner reserve the strength to deal with people around him in a docile manner. Wilhelm has a concern for half blinded Mr. Rappaport. Though Wilhelm suspects Tamkin he concedes to Tamkin. Tamkin’s observation that some people, “marry suffering” (98) is heralded by Wilhelm. He thinks “one hundred false hoods, but at last one truth” (98).

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Weighed down by grief, Tommy Wilhelm is ever living on his pills and self sympathy. Rejected by both father and his wife, Wilhelm is a victim of his own decisions. His troubles are self made. Throughout his life, he made decisions. He knew very well that the Hollywood trip would be a failure. He had his own doubts on Tamkin with his philosophical ideas, his hypnotic power, alienation ethics, mingled Freudianism and cheap nihilism. Yet he gives in to Tamkin. Tamkin with his source of knowledge from “the best of literature, science and philosophy” (77) captured the attention ofW ilhelm. Wilhelm believes in the power the money gives to the world and views the world through the window of money. Bellow proceeds to enlightenment. He offers to show his readers that the world has more to offer Wilhelm than what his money making culture can give him. Living in an industrial world, Wilhelm mentions his own private suffering in commercial terms. He terms it as “the business of life” (56). Living in a commercial world, amidst inner pressure, Tommy Wilhelm is not a man without any humane values. As an employee, he considered Rojax Corporation as his own and was offended for not promoting him, “I had the feelings that I belonged to the firm, and my feelings were hurt when they put Gerber in over me” (56). It was Maurice Venice’s description of his Hollywood career as a valuable service to humanity that motivated him to embark upon the profession of a screen artist. Wilhelm expects the world to be just and fair. Wilhelm expects power structures to reward and recognize the individual’s worth. Wilhelm is raged that society or world does not recognize him rather it denigrates the individual’s worth. An unconditional support from his father and his wife could have changed him. Bellow’s works picture conflict between man and society. In Bellow’s world the individual is depicted in an “impersonal, mechanical society”(Dutton 1).The society is depicted in a natural manner.”Society is rendered in an almost naturalistic manner- as an almost unchanging, indifferent, yet powerful background against which his protagonists in all their sensitive awareness, their vitality, their frustrating absurdities are seen”(Dutton1 ). Bellow does not picture a harsh, turbulent society. Instead he shows the plight of the individuals in such a society. Bellow achieves distinctiveness by presenting the individual in such a society. He presents the plight of the individuals and his characters strive heroism fighting for their identity without the loss of ethics and values. Bellow’s hero “in all his individuality, with his dreams, aspirations and idealism…establish a personal and unique identity and still maintain an honesty integrity of self “( Dutton 1). Wilhelm is met sharply by his wife who continually seeks money from him. Margaret’s ever increasing or never ending demands have to be met by Wilhelm. “I have great confidence in your earning ability” (12) is what Margaret tells Wilhelm. She has no concern for him, only his money. Margaret demands Wilhelm pay a price for her burden and for his freedom. It was Wilhelm who left them. Rearing the children was a task entrusted on Margaret and so she insisted Wilhelm meet her entire demands. Patiently enduring Margaret, Wilhelm breaks down during fits and starts. In her rage, “she just has fixed herself on me to kill me. She can do it at a long distance. One of these days I’ll struck down by suffocation or apoplexy because of her” (48). Complaining to Margaret, he reminds, “you must realize you are killing me. You can’t be as blind as all that. Then shall not kill” (112). She 50 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015 wouldn’t agree for a divorce as she is aware Wilhelm would marry Olive, a Catholic whom Wilhelm would like to marry. Tossed between relations and materialism, Tommy Wilhelm is at cross roads. He would collapse, a collapse from which he would never recover. Wilhelm has to “seize the day” (66). Dr. Tamkin’s advice prove crucial to Wilhelm, “The past is no good to us. The future is full of anxiety. Only the present is real-the here and now. Seize the day”(66). Bellow prepares his characters to face the reality and pull the strings of values from their heart. The value of human existence becomes greater as Wilhelm’s failure intensifies. Reinterpreting the value of human life, Bellow shows the essence of love in Wilhelm’s heart. A few days prior to the day of reckoning, Wilhelm as he was walking through a subway tunnel, “in the haste, heat and darkness which disfigure and make freaks and fragments of nose and eyes and teeth” (84) extends himself by “unsought, a general love for all these imperfect and lurid looking people burst out in Wilhelm’s breast” (84). He suddenly felt unity of love to all mankind. Defeated by the forces of society and his inability to fare well, Wilhelm believes his suffering has a moral purpose: The spirit, the peculiar burden of his existence lay upon him like an accretion, a load, a hump. In any moment of quiet, when sheer fatigue prevented him from struggling, he was apt to feel this mysterious weight, this growth or collection of nameless things which it was the business of his life to carry about. That must be what a man was for. This large, odd, excited, fleshly, blond, abrupt personality named Wilhelm, or Tommy…was assigned to be the carrier of a load which was his own self. (39) Wilhelm’s sense of moral vision would broaden into transcendental unity of all life and “as a visionary sort of animal…he can know why he exists”(39).He must pull the strings of love from deep caves of his heart. In his love he was able to accept his limitations, “He was imperfect and disfigured himself, but what difference did that make if he was united with them by this blaze of love”(84 - 85). As the action progresses, the moments of agony intensifies with Wilhelm frantically searching Dr. Tamkin with slump in lard, with a failure in share trading, with his last savings entrusted to a man after his father’s warnings, Wilhelm sees the dark corners of the city. On this day of reckoning, Wilhelm desperately rushes out into the streets to search Dr. Tamkin. Dr. Adler’s cold attitude towards his son, Margaret’s castrating manner, and Tamkin befooling him, the reader might expect Wilhelm on the point of death. With none to help and no money to survive, the reader would have expected Wilhelm to commit suicide. Bellow’s genius is exhibited at its best in sketching the strands of humanism. Searching for Tamkin, Wilhelm encounters a crowd of strangers, “the great, great crowd inexhaustible current of millions of every race” (115). Wilhelm sees the crowd as “possessors of every human secret, antique and future, in every face the refinement of one particular motive or essence – I labor, I spend, I strive, I design, I love, I cling, I uphold, I give way, I envy, I long, I scorn, I die, I hide, I want” (115). With train of thoughts in his mind, to sell his car, pay his hotel bills to Dr. Adler, to get divorce from Margaret and marry Olive, his last savings was important to him. He thought he saw

51 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015 a hat with cocoa – coloured band, hoping it would be Dr. Tamkin. He spotted a man talking to someone in the funeral parlour, “for this was a huge funeral” (115). Shouting for Tamkin, Wilhelm was moved forward by the pressure of the crowd. He was carried from the street into the chapel. Men were in formal clothes. Wilhelm realizes that he has become a part of the funeral service. Totally forgetting Tamkin, Wilhelm looked on to the corpse. Wilhelm was so struck that he could not get away. He remained besides the coffin and Wilhelm bursts into tears, “first softly and from sentiment but soon from deeper feeling” (117). He himself did not know what was happening to him: Soon he was past words, past treason, coherence. He could not stop. The source of all tears had suddenly sprung open within him, black, deep and hot, and they were pouring out and convulsed his body, blending his stubborn head, bowing his shoulders, twisting his face… he gave in utterly and held his face and wept. He cried with all his heart. (117-18) The corpse is a stranger to Wilhelm yet he bitterly weeps. Critics suggest symbolic death – Wilhelm’s death and his rebirth. “The water in which he drowns is both the world and the masochistic self which have murdered him”(Opdahl 115). The corpse is a stranger to Wilhelm. In the funeral parlor, he accepts his racial heritage and before the corpse he accepts his human heritage. When he weeps for the stranger, he weeps for the entire humanity. As Wilhelm looks down on the corpse of the stranger, “With great stifling sorrow, almost admiration, Wilhelm nodded and nodded”(117). Horney with her theory on neurosis explains that the opposite of neurosis is a condition which she calls self realization. It is a condition where an individual responds to the world with the full depth of his or her spontaneous feelings. Individuation is the attempt at realization of the self. It is the attainable end of existence, a force that pushes towards wholeness and realization of a particular meaning in life. The imagery of water appears throughout. A reading of the novel in terms of imagery of water is necessary to understand the meaning of the novel. To understand the meaning it is necessary to rewind the sequence of action. Seize the Day is divided into seven chapters with each abounding in water imagery. The first scene begins with an archetypal descent. Wilhelm emerges from hotel room on the twenty third floor and descends, “the elevator sank and sank” (3). The Ansonia hotel visible across the street appears, “like marble or like sea water, black as state in the fog” (5). The image is reflected in “deep water” (5). Wilhelm addresses himself as “fair haired hippopotamus” (6), a water animal. The entry of his father is noted here. Dr. Adler is pictured as a self centered old man who has no concern for Wilhelm. Two lines of poetry occur in Wilhelm’s mind, “Love that well which thou must leave ere long” (112) from a Shakespearean sonnet. He longs for love and Wilhelm feels his father should take a loving approach toward his declining son. Wilhelm is reminded of Milton’s elegy, Lycidas (1637),”Sunk though he be beneath the wat’ry floor” (13), a line which reflects moribund personality of Wilhelm. Water imagery recurs in the novella. In one occassion, Wilhelm sees his father sitting in a

52 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015 sunny bay and in another occassion, Wilhelm hesitates to wash his hands before breakfast and wouldn’t even use an electric razor as he has to touch water. It is interesting to note Dr. Adler’s suggestion of hydrotherapy, “Simple water has a calming effect and would do you more good than all the barbiturates and alcohol in the world” (44). Wilhelm expects monetary or emotional support from his father. Dr. Adler offers suggestion on hydrotherapy. Towards the end, Wilhelm searching for Tamkin enters his room, greeted by a maid. The room stinks, “Even the brackish tidal river smell rose this high, like the smell of mop water” (106). Wilhelm enters his final symbolic descent. Searching for his father, he goes to the massage room to meet his father and seeks his assistance, “I just can’t breathe. My chest is all up – I feel choked” (109). His father highly unsympathetic and his wife very cruel suffocates Wilhelm. Searching for Tamkin he enters the street and the final culmination takes place. Wilhelm washes himself in a pool of tears. Wilhelm cries for the entire human race, for the lonely man who have howled in agony like wolves from city window in the night. The ending is ambiguous. Critic, John Jacob Clayton suggests symbolic rebirth: Seize the Day does not end in Tommy’s masochistic acceptance of his role as victim, it ends in hope for a new life. For if, on the one hand, Tommy is heading toward defeat, acceptance of suffering, perhaps literal death by suicide or heart attack, on the other hand, he is also committed to life. And if the final scene is a symbolic drowning, it is also symbolic rebirth out of water. (128-29) The image of death by drowning is suggestive of hope. Wilhelm who was sinking deeper than sorrow has quoted, “Sunk though he be beneath the wat’ry floor” (13).Milton expressed anguish and anxiety not only for himself but also for future. Tommy Wilhelm’s image of death by drowning hints at rededication of the self. Wilhelm’s tears serve as water for the baptism. They come from deep within from his own resources from the personal and heartfelt understanding that death is inevitable and man has little to choose in his mortality. He has nothing other than to seize the day. Saul Bellow points to a self more real than the presentation self or core self. Beneath the presentation self and core self lies a mystery which is not personal but transpersonal. Bellow points toward a loss of selfhood – a loss of self and discovery of the transpersonal mystery. Removing the self leads to the removal of the burden of the self. For Bellow elimination of the selfhood is the way to the redemption of the individual. At the point of death one can find rebirth in Bellow’s novels, “The confrontation of one’s own death is always in Bellow’s novels, the beginning of new life within an admission of one’s humanity” ( Clayton 134).On the day of reckoning, Wilhelm’s humiliating defeat achieves triumph. It was a revelation of the self for the redemption of the self. CONCLUSION Wilhelm thought of holding on fast to the returns of his investment to have a grip in his life. Living in a capitalistic culture where human beings are treated as commodities, Wilhelm reshapes the world with humanistic stance. Money was the sign, signifier and langue for Wilhelm. Wilhelm’s vision of life was that world’s business will bring him riches and earn him recognition. The world’s

53 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015 business can only reify one’s experience and vision of a happy life. Wilhelm joins the flock of humanity and becomes a part of the humanity sunk in “happy oblivion of tears”(118).Bellow was a staunch believer of the fact that life is mysterious and cannot be reduced to a formula and this belief achieves the best dramatization in Seize the Day. Works Cited 1. Bellow, Saul. Seize the Day. 1956. New York: Penguin,1966. 2. Berliner,Bernhard. “On Some Psychodynamics of Masochism.” Psychoanalytic Quarterly XVI (1947): 460. Print. 3. Bradbury,Malcolm. Saul Bellow. London and New York:Methuen& Co., 1982.Print. 4. Clayton,John Jacob.Saul Below: In Defence of Man.Bloomington: Indiana U P,1968, Print. 5. Cronin,Gloria L., and L.H.Goldman.Saul Bellow in the 1980s:A Collection of CriticalEssays.New Delhi: Affilliated East West Publishers, 1992.Print. 6. Dutton, Robert R. Saul Bellow. Boston : Twayne Publishers, 1982. Print. 7. Frank, Elizabeth. “On Saul Bellow’s Seize the Day: Sung though he be beneath the wat’ry floor.” Salmagundi (Spring-Summer, 1993): 75-80. Print. 8. Galloway, David D. The Absurd Hero in American Fiction. Austin: University of Texas. 1966. Print. 9. Geismar, Maxwell. “Saul Bellow : Novelist of the Intellectuals.” American Moderns : From Rebellion to Conformity. New York,1958. Print. 10. Glenday, Michael K. Saul Bellow and the Decline of Humanism. London : MacMillan, 1990. Print. 11. Goldman, L.H. Saul Bellow’s Moral Vision : A Critical Study of the Jewish Experience. New York : Irvington Publishers, 1983.Print. 12. Gullette, Margaret Morganroth. “Saul Bellow: Inward and Upward, Past Distraction.” SaulBellow Journal 9.1(1990) : 52-76. Print. 13. Karan,Horney. Neurosis and Human Growth.Norton,1950.Print. 14. Lukacs,Geoge. “Reification and the Consciousness of the Proletariat.” History and . Existentialism. 2nd ed. London : Penguin, 1973. Print. 15. Opdahl, Keith Michael. The Novels of Saul Bellow. University Park and London: The Pennsylvania State UP, 1970. Print.

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NEW GENERATION FILMS: A HETEROGLOSSIC DECENTERING OF THE SCOPIC FIELD

Joby Mathew Assistant Professor, Department of English, St.Thomas College, Pala, Kottayam Dist. e.mail: [email protected]

ABSTRACT Viewers and critics fall into two stands- those who adulate the new generation films as a harbinger of freedom and those who criticize them as ominous attempts to dent our great cultural heritage. This paper is an attempt to look at how new generation films have tried to decenter the scopic field (visual area) dominated by the hegemonic discourse of the hero and his gaze which marginalized all other voices.

INTRODUCTION The discursive mode of Malayalam films has been evolving into a new paradigm with the advent of a new set of directors and actors. The super star centered monologic cinematic discourse has been on the wane of late. Directors like Ashiq Abu, V.K Prakash, Anvar Rasheed, Samir Thahir, Amal Neerad, and Arun Kumar Aravind have revolutionalised the language of cinema. Actors like Fahad Fasil, Nivin Pauly, Dulquar Salman, Vinay Forrt, Sunny Wayne, Asif Ali, Sreenath Bhasi, etc with their cool and carefree demeanour have been refashioning the subjectivity of the tinsel persona. With the new discursive paradigm, a liberating plurality is felt on the screen. Multiplicity and heterogeneity are the hallmark of this new narrative mode. This change in Malayalam movie world may be indicated by the term ‘New Generation’. We have not yet come to a consensual definition of what new generation films are. Still the term in popular parlance connote the following criteria to a considerable extent: • Films of recent era which make a look into the cultural space of youth with a happy –go- lucky attitude to life. (ABCD, Neelakasham Pachakadal Chuvanna Bhoomi, Nee Ko Njan Cha) • Films with multiple heroes (Protagonists). (Bangalore Days, Traffic) • Films with obscure morals and ethical contours. (Beautiful, Trivandrum Lodge) • Films which are inconclusive or which lack the traditional “…lived happily ever after” kind of closure. (Friday, Akam) • Films which are not reticent about ‘bad’ things.

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If we trace the growth and dissolution of the hero, we can identify three stages of the conceptual construction of the subjectivity of the protagonist. 1. Traditional hero: The subjectivity of the traditional hero was constructed in an ‘aristocratic’ aura, being elevated into an idealized and larger than life representation, with an accepted cultural propriety underpinning his everyday life on the screen. All other subject positions were subordinated to highlight his worth. This aristocratic androcentric cinematic discourse defined our entertainment appetite and fed the audience with visual fiesta, interpellating them as passive consumers. The long line of such heroes starts from Nazeer and Jayan and has come to the current giants Mammooty and Mohanlal. Past the decades, despite certain compromises regarding colour, caste and class, the conceptual crux of the androcentric cinematic discourse hasn’t undergone much change. 2. Modern Anti-hero: the anti-hero was the next stage of protagonist construction to assimilate some of the hitherto marginalized elements of the uncanny aspects of the other. Thus anti-hero uses indecent language, he drinks and smokes, but still he has the tag ‘hero’ attached to his persona on the screen. Anti- hero was also hegemonic cultural construct to incorporate some of the practices from the everyday life of the marginalized voices of the other. But he was always careful not to cross the ‘dangerous’ boundaries of his hegemonic position and dismantling his centre. Many of the Shaji Kailas’ movies of Mohanlal with his twirled moustache are ample examples. 3. From ‘the’ hero to ‘a’ Character: The philosophy of post modernism has dismantled old grand narratives of cultural codes and concepts. The epistemology of postmodernism has problematised the compartmentalized binary polarization of the foundational frame work of reality. As a result of the destabilization of binary polarities, all the marginalized discourses came into a heteroglossic play of carnival. Thus the traditional hero was erased and the tinsel world was filled with the character who engages in the dialogic interaction in the cultural space on the screen. The hero was a tyrant who narrowed our scopic field by compelling us to perceive reality through his frame of reference. Decentering of the scopic field The scopic field on the screen in which life with its lived experience is portrayed has long been dominated by a hero- centric discourse. The hero’s perspective became central and that perspective always catered to the hegemonic gaze of patriarchy coupled with the dominant class/ caste consciousness. Women, dalits, nature and all subjugated sections which together made up the ‘other’ in the dialectical relationship between the hero and the rest on the screen were freed from the soft focus on the camera’s scopic field. Think of the super star- centered monologic films; it has always been a one man show- one voice, one view point and one climax. Death of the hero Modernist and post modernist epistemology has always killed or proclaimed the death of the monolithic reference points, be it god or author, thereby freeing and celebrating all differences. By obliterating the hero from the central focus of the tinsel space, the scopic field becomes decentered. The camera seems to be a passive observer without attributing value to anything. Decentering Language The screen has always been dominated by the hero who uses ‘decent’ language. ‘Decent’

56 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015 language, dress, manners, etc. always have the suppressive tendency to drag everything to the essentialist notions of ‘one’ right thing- the grand narrative of decency or cultured. One chief attack on new generation films is that they use very ‘indecent’ language (Amen, Beautiful, Trivandrum Loadge, Honey Bee…). Formerly it was language from the suppressed (invisible) margin which was considered ‘indecent’ or ‘uncultured’. (A very common axiom is that: “Don’t use the market language”). Now heroes have disappeared and there are characters on the screen whose language is shaped in the dialectical web of a decentered linguistic spectrum with blurred boundaries of decency. The spacial decentring (Deep Focusing) Space, in theoretical parlance, has been described as the container of everyday life. The space on the screen was asymmetrically distributed around the hero, by the camera creating a hegemonic aura around him. This visual imbalance of asymmetrical space distribution is now challenged by the new generation films. The camera does not gaze on a privileged narrative or scopic mode, instead the camera is defocused and the hitherto centered scopic experience chiefly identified with the hero’s view point, is now scattered and the camera tries to give us a valuefree or balanced scopic experience. As a result of the camera’s emancipation from a privileged patriarchal hegemonic scopic experience, all the ‘other’ view points and gazes are freed from the margins and have come to the scopic centre, and there is a hetroglosic mixing of multiple voices and viewpoints. Thus new generation films actually offer a visual carnival.Consider the recent films Ee Adutha Kalathu, Friday, as typical examples of hetroglossic celebration of scopic experience. There are no ‘heroes’ and the plot is not tied to any privileged narrative pivot. Instead there are characters (human beings) from all walks of life. The camera just moves about them, without privileging any narrative gaze. All characters get equal share of spacial distribution on the screen. The inevitability of inconclusiveness One characteristic feature of new generation films is that they are inconclusive or open ended. Any climax or conclusion is a suppressed silencing of multiple voices for the sake of ‘one’ privileged position (usually the hegemonic patriarchal vantage point). Hence offering no conclusion is an attempt made by new generation films to save filmic narration from the tyranny of monology. CONCLUSION Despite the scathing excoriation from various orthodox corners, new generation films attract audience to theatres. Films, as a strong cultural medium, respond to and reflect the changing cultural scenario. Thus new generation films reflect the changing nuances of Kerala’s cultural tempo with the underpinning of post modern ethos. The contemptuous cry against them indicates the cultural groan that is heard at the historical juncture of all changing paradigm. References Barry, Peter. Beginning Theory: An Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory. New Delhi : Viva Books, 2013. Hall, Donald E.Subjectivity. New York: Routledge, 1960. Veyne, Paul. Foucault, His Thought, His Characters. Paris: Republic Francoise, 2008. 57 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015

SILENCED BY CULTURE: GENDER ISSUES IN MAHESH DATTANI’S PLAYS

Anupama A. Assistant Professor (Guest), Dept.of English, Sreekrishna College Guruvayur, Thrissur e-mail [email protected]

ABSTRACT Literature is a capsule to represent culture. In teaching culture, literature plays different roles: it serves either as an illustration or a starting point for the study and mediation of cultural phenomena. My paper, Silenced by Culture: Gender Issues in Mahesh Dattani’s Plays gives importance to the marginalised culture. ‘Gender’ is a term coined by the popular dominant culture. The behaviours or patterns of activities that a society or culture deems appropriate for men and women is called gender. The qualities that culture associates with masculinity and feminity are not innately male or female but are culturally determined and socially constructed. My paper analyses this ‘gender schema’ in the light of Mahesh Dattani’s popular plays, Tara and Seven Steps Around the Fire. Tara circles around the grave and traditional issues of gender bias. The play is relevant and contextual in this 21st century due to increasing incidents of foeticide, infanticide and widening gap in the sex ratio of male and female child. The paper also discusses the problems of marginalised third gender, ‘Hijras’ (Eunuchs) represented in Dattani’s play Seven Steps Around the Fire. Through this play Dattani brings out the ‘other’ to the centre by granting them an audience. In my paper, I intend to display the sufferings of the underrepresented women and non represented hijra community against the accepted notions of culture.

INTRODUCTION Long, afterward, Oedipus, old and blinded, walked the roads. He smelled a familiar smell. It was the Sphinx. Oedipus said, “I want to ask one question Why didn’t I recognize my mother?” “You gave the wrong answer” said the Sphinx.” But that was what made everything possible,” said Oedipus.” No”, she said “When I asked, what walks on four legs in the morning, Two at noon and three in the evening, you answered, Man. You didn’t say anything about woman” “When you say Man,” said Oedipus, “you include Women too. Everyone knows that.” She said, “That’s what you think”. (2000. Web.)

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This short poem named ‘Myth’ is written by Muriel Rukeyser. It clearly depicts the gender based distinction celebrated by culture. ‘Culture’ is a term formed from the Latin word, ‘cultura’ meaning cultivation. The earlier meaning of the term is betterment or refinement of individuals especially through education. Mathew Arnold, the great English critic also used the term in the same sense. Now it is an umbrella term which refers to different groups of people, their ways of living, habits, customs, leisure activities such as art, music, film, food, clothing, sports etc. Cultural division is based on many criterias like region, religion, class, caste and gender. My paper focuses on the contemporary issues of cultural division based on gender. The behaviours or patterns of activities that a society or culture deems appropriate for men and women is called ‘gender’. The qualities that culture associate with masculinity or feminity are not innately male or female but are culturally determined and socially constructed. Gender is a complex multi faceted topic. Living in an androcentric culture, we use gender specific terms like ‘mankind’ and ‘man’ instead of ‘human kind’ and ‘people’ in a generic way. We prefer ‘he’ to ‘she’. In the hierarchical domestic division of labour, men are the earning members of society and they enjoy superiority whereas women are confined to their household duties. Even though women work outside to contribute to the financial needs of the family, they are not free from the ancient role assigned by culture on them. This double standard of culture benefits men rather than women. Patriarchal perspectives of feminity distort women’s real capacities and drive them into lifelong despair. The majority of feminists embrace the notion of gender as ‘construct’. Shulamith Firestone suggests in her work The Dialectic of Sex that patriarchy exploits women’s biological capacity to reproduce as their essential weakness. The only way for women to break away from the oppression, she argues, is to use technological advances to free themselves from the burden of child birth. In a discussion of gender bias, the pathetic condition of third gender communities cannot be neglected. Hijras, who can be eunuchs, intersex or transgender, have been part of South Asia’s culture for thousands of years. Eunuchs are celebrated in sacred Hindu texts such as Mahabharata, Ramayana and the Kama Sutra. They also enjoyed influential positions in the Mughal courts. The community’s fortunes got changed with the passing of a law in 1897 classing all eunuchs as criminals by the British colonisers. Since then many have been ostracised and have gone on to form their own communities, around a guru or mother figure to provide emotional and financial security. Many even took to using a secret code language known as Hijra Farsi for protection. More recently, hijras have been seen as auspicious and are often asked to bless marriages and births. In India’s larger cities this has waned, forcing many to rely on begging or prostitution. Hijras are two-spirited individuals having two identities. They are considered as forms of social failure and are banished from all the areas of life by the popular culture. Gender issues in Indian English literature With the rise of feminism and women writers, female experience began to gain noticeable acceptance. Many writers like kamala Markandaya, Nayantara Sahgal, Sashi Deshpande, Anitha Desai, Arundhati Roy, Manjula Padmanabhan, and Girish Karnad have contributed a lot in changing the image of Indian women from self sacrificing pious objects to assertive, liberated, and strong individuals. In all fields of literature like poetry, drama, or novel, the liberation of new Indian women got celebrated. But the lives of third gender, the hijras went unwritten in the mainstream

59 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015 literature. No popular works were written based on their lives.Then there entered a writer with his pen as a weapon to fight for the cause of the neglected. That was Mahesh Dattani, the most promising Indian dramatist. Through his medium of drama, he decided to bring the down trodden to the centre by giving them audience. Two socially relevant plays written by Mahesh Dattani- Tara and Seven Steps Around the Fire, the first is concerned with gender bias faced by the second gender and the second with gender bias faced by the third gender. Dattani finds drama as the most suitale objective correlative to relate society and art. He says, Man has created a very complex language called theatre. A language that has the ability to redefine the natural concepts of time, space and movement. A language that goes beyond the verbal, a movement that goes beyond the physical. Through this language of theatre he has been able to see himself for who he is, what he has made of himself and what he aspires to be (Dattani 470). Dattani’s performance is par excellence in the arena of stage and screen craft. He believes in the inseparable relationship between the play and the audience. There is a ‘synergy ‘or Rasa between the artist and the audience. His concept of theatre is deeply rooted in tradition, but at the same time he is eager to bring innovative experiments in both themes and theatre techniques. Second gender issues in Mahesh Dattani’s Tara Tara is Dattani’s third play, staged in Bangalore, in the year it was written and directed by Dattani himself. It was staged as ‘Twinkle Tara’. Gender issue is the powerful metaphor of the play. Indian society is highly androgynous. Children from the same womb, girl or boy are given unequal treatments. Girl children are considered as burden by the family due to the prevailing social system. Large amount of dowry is needed to marry them off and after marriage, they are regarded as aliens to their own home and they become their husbands’ property. Thus bringing up a girl child is a profitless business. On the contrary, the family shed their whole love and care on the boy child since he is the one to look after the family in their old age. So all the privileges whether it is emotional, financial, or social are given solely to male children. Dattani’s widely applauded play ‘Tara’ questions this double standard of society and culture. Tara revolves round the Siamese twin Tara and Chandan who have been successfully operated and separated by Dr.Thakkar. The twin had three legs between them and the third leg was supplied by Tara’s blood system. The probability of the leg’s survival was greater with Tara. But her mother, Bharati and her influential grandfather bribed the doctor and change the destiny of the twin by favouring Chandan. After the operation, the leg being fitted on Chandan becomes amputated and finally worthless. When Tara comes to know of this discrimination, she becomes death like and she dies. Tara is a victim of collective social system based on patriarchy. The problem starts from the thinking of gender perception. The real nature of patriarchy can be seen in Bharati’s father who is the master head behind the cruel plan. He needed a grandson not a granddaughter. He left his property after his demise to Chandan and not a single penny to Tara. Tara’s mother Bharati is morally responsible for the whole tragedy even though she is a scapegoat of dominant male culture. She remains silent, that silence leads her to neurotic troubles

60 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015 and she suffers. She feeds her children with the concern of a normal Indian mother through these words, ‘...Chandan, the world will tolerate you. The world will accept you-but not her.’(Dattani 13). Even a small girl like Tara knows the accepted belief of her gender peculiarity. She says, ‘We women mature fast’ (Dattani 12). Bharati suffers throughout her life due to her sense of guilt that she committed to Tara. The society’s age old concept of women bears responsibility for the crime committed to Tara and the whole tragedy. Tara comments humorously when her father compels Chandan and disallow Tara to come to office with him, ‘The men in the house were deciding on whether they were going to go hunting while the women looked after the cave.’(Dattani 25) Mr. Patel, the twin’s father, even though he acts innocent, his attitude and character have the hallmark of male chauvinism. He didn’t try anything to prevent the hilarious act of favouring the boy child. By behaving as a dump observer he accuses his wife and always prefers Chandan. He is quite sure of Chandan’s future. He says,’ Chandan is going to study further and he will go abroad for his further studies.’(Dattani 28). He is anxious about Chandan’s college education and doesn’t even think of educating Tara. He tries his best o keep the secret of cheating but in vain. He is forced to tell the whole truth to Tara and Chandan. Dr Thakkar is presented as the omni potent spokes person of science and technology. God and nature actually blessed the girl with two legs. But the crookedness of people and the misuse of science show that science and man’s decision cannot conquer everything. The leg attributed to the boy is rejected by the body in a brash attempt at disregarding both Nature and God. Chandan is seen as torn between two cultures. Changing of his name to ‘Dan’ and his escape to London do not give any consolation to the trauma he faces. He symbolises diaspora who wants to free from the memories of past but realizes that it will haunt him till his death. The twins are born as ‘inseparably fused’ hugging each other emblematizing their emotional coherence at the very outset. Chandan envisages their reconciliation towards the end of the play as they get together in a tight embrace back to their former fused form. Chandan and Tara stand as two sides of the concept of ‘gender’. But apart from the biological differences, we can see that how they complement each other: one is incomplete without the other. Tara is forced to conform to the stereotype of Indian woman-devoid of any intellect, deemed to fit to perform the mechanical household chores. Tara is intelligent, able and smart. Her thinking is different from an ordinary child of her age. She says, There are thousands of poor sick people on the roads who could be given care and attention and I think I know what I will make of myself. I will be a carer for those people. I...I will spend the rest of my life by feeding and clothing those...starving naked millions everyone is talking about. May be I can start an institution that will...do all that. Or I could join Mother Teresa and sacrifice myself to a great cause. (Dattani 32) But her dreams become unfulfilled due to the filthy play of male dominated society. The deformity of the woman is caused by the man in order to complete the man. The title of the play is highly symbolic. ‘Tara’ means ‘star’. Chandan calls her ‘a shooting star’. Stars are self reflecting objects, that means they are self sufficient and need nobody’s help to complete them. Tara is like this: by birth she was having all the possibility of two legs. The blood supply to the third leg was from her body. ‘Chandan’ means ‘moon’. Moon reflects with the help of sun (star). It is depended

61 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015 on the other to light. The same thing happened in the case of Chandan. The wicked mind of society decided to give a new life to him at the cost of Tara. Chandan always wishes to live in the forced harmony of society. He doesn’t wish for freedom. But Tara, who wished to live fruitfully, is thrown out by the force of society and cultural misconceptions. He says, ‘And those who desire even a moment of freedom, find themselves hurled into space, doomed to crash with some unknown force. (Dattani 36) Third gender identity in Dattani’s Seven Steps Around the Fire Seven Steps Around the Fire is a mockery of gender oriented social system. The community of Hijras or eunuchs live under the cover of shame and silence. They suffer all types of atrocities like sexual exploitation, social discrimination, social deprivation, poverty, inferiority and mental torture. The play depicts the pathetic condition of Hijra community. Uma Rao, the daughter of is doing a research on Hijras. The term hijra is of Urdu origin, literally meaning neither male nor female. Uma as a part of her case study, tells about the origin of hijras, The legend Ramayana has it that God Rama was going to cross the river and go into exile in the forest. All the people of the city wanted to follow him. He said, “Men and women turn back”. Some of his male followers did not know what to do. They could not disobey him. So they sacrificed their masculinity, to become neither men no women, and followed him to the forest. Rama was pleased with their devotion and blessed them. There are trans sexuals all over the world and India is no exception (Dattani 120) Their birth is now treated as a curse of divine on family and society. They are not permitted to have ordinary lives, not permitted to educate themselves, or to attain professional skills to earn their bread and butter. They are in the chains of their own body and in the ‘man’ made conventions of society and culture. The purpose of Uma’s research is to bring hijras from the margin to the centre. This is the aim of Dattani also. The plot of the drama is focused on the murder incident of Kamala, a beautiful hijra and Anarkali, another hijra got arrested for the murder. Uma gets emotionally involved in the case. When she visits the jail to see Anarkali, Uma uses the pronoun ‘she’ to indicate Anarkali. But Munuswamy, the constable who doesn’t accept hijras’ identity refers to Anarkali by using ‘it’. He says, ‘She! Of course it will talk to you. We will beat it up, if it doesn’t’. (Dattani 122)This use of ‘it’ reminds the custom of Kerala’s Brahmin community indicating women who are accused for adultery (‘sadhanam’ in Malayalam). So the cultures and regions may be different, but the treatment is same with respect to hijra and women. Anarkali openly declares her sisterly affection and love for Kamala. She says sentimentally, ‘I didn’t kill her, she was my sister’ (Dattani 123). Uma suspects that the rivalry between Kamala and Anarkali was the cause of the murder. But the intervention of Salim seeking a particular photograph brings the complication in the play. The appearance of Subbu, the son of Chief Minister and his peculiar behaviour adds to the complication. The last scene of the play is noteworthy for the culmination of the theme and its emotional intensity. It is the marriage of Subbu with a ‘socially acceptable girl’. Mr. Sharma, the Chief Minister does not allow the hijras to enter into the main building due to the horror of the revelation of truth. But Uma intervenes, ‘No it is bad luck to turn away a hijra on a wedding or birth’ (Dattani 130). Champa blesses Uma. When they start singing 62 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015 and dancing, Subbu who is always haunted by his dead lover comes to the scene. The merry atmosphere intensifies his sadness and he snatches the gun of Suresh in a state of frenzy. He becomes blind to all myths and conventions in which he was born and brought up and was forced to live. Subbu aims his gun at his father and reveals the secret of Kamala’s murder. He cries out, ‘You killed her!’(Dattani 132). He takes the gun and shoots himself. Now everything is revealed. Subbu’s death is recorded as an accident to preserve the status of the Chief Minister’s family. But Uma remains silent. They have no voice. The case was hushed up and was not even reported in the news papers. Champa was right. The police made no arrests. Subbu’s suicide was written off as an accident. The photograph was destroyed. So were the lives of two young people... (Dattani 135). It is ironical that hijras who are welcomed at the time of marriage and child birth but themselves are deprived of these. Dattani questions the age old belief of marriage being based on heterosexual relationship and points out those homo sexual or lesbian relationships are as natural as heterosexual. It is clearer when we compare the lives of Uma and Suresh and Kamala and Subbu. Uma is the only person who sympathises with the hijras. For her husband and others, they are ‘castrated men’. Uma and Suresh are the representatives of conventional heterosexual marriage. We can see many emotional problems in their married life. Uma is not allowed to express her sympathy for hijras in public by her husband. She is always subordinated to her husband. She does her visits to the hijra colony without her husband’s knowledge. He is not the right person for her to share everything. In the widely rejected homosexual marriage, the marriage of Kamala and Subbu, we can see that how deeply they are bonded in their minds. The greatest evidence for that is Subbu’s suicide. This shows his unending and divine love for Kamala. He was not ready to forget Kamala and marry another girl. He lives in her memory and dies in separation. This an answer to the watch dogs of cultural hypocrisy that killed Kamala to save the prestige of the family. Again, Uma the second gender represents the centre and Anarkai, the third gender, the margin. Both suffer within the male dominated society. The difference between the two genders is biological. But how culture treats them is almost same. Uma is not able to spend money according to her wish. She is answerable to her husband. She says to Anarkali, ‘Even if I wanted to I couldn’t explain my husband why I am paying for your bail’. (Dattani 124). Anyhow she arranges some money, but she is caught before her husband. He interrogates her. Suresh considers Uma’s request of consulting a doctor to check his sperm count, against his male authority. He likes to put the whole blame being childless on Uma. Both Uma and Anarkali are the sufferers under the clutches of fake cultural concepts. Eunuchs are dehumanized in our society, devoid of mental strength of self affirmation. By decolonizing theatre, Dattani gives them a central space in the mainstream drama. ‘Seven Steps Around the Fire’ is the first authentic representation of the community of eunuchs in theatre. Champa, the head of the hijras tells Uma, ‘we cannot speak, when we want to speak, nobody listens.’(Dattani 127) Gayatri Spivak ends her essay ‘Can the Subaltern Speak?’ with the same sentence: the subaltern cannot speak. It doesn’t mean that the subalterns are not able to speak, but they are ready to speak. There should be listeners, there should be a good channel of 63 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015 communication between the speakers and listeners. ‘Cannot speak’ here means no use in speaking since nobody hears. The hijras are not able to tell the truth that they know behind Kamala’s murder. Authority, power and laws are all with the elite whom we consider as ‘cultured’. They are marginalised within the marginalised. This is what happens in ‘Tara’ also. Tara’s wish for doing something good for the society is torn into pieces by this ‘cultured’ society by making her deliberately handicapped. Uma, who knows the truth well ‘cannot speak’. Uma is silent, Tara dies silently, Bharati keeps silence till her end, and the Hijras are silent as always. CONCLUSION Eunuchs are dehumanized in our society, devoid of mental strength of self affirmation. By decolonizing theatre, Dattani gives them a central space in the mainstream drama. Seven Steps Around the Fire is the first authentic representation of the community of eunuchs in theatre. Both women and eunuchs are celebrated and hailed in puranas, myths and philosophy but not in real life situations. They should get freedom from the chains of idolization. As Virginia Woolf asserts in A Room of One’s Own, ‘Imaginatively she is of the highest importance; practically she is completely insignificant. She pervades poetry from cover to cover; she is all but absent from history’ (Woolf 53).This type of deliberate marginalisation makes them a part of Fourth World Literature. The term ‘Fourth World’ is not an invention but a discovery. It is a term ‘contributed’ by the highly celebrated culture. Women and eunuchs are marginalised neither by Nature nor by God, but by the conventions of sophisticated culture and society. Democratization of culture is needed. Culture should be an opened one. It should be ready to welcome the changes of society with open hands. Everything in the society whether it is culture, literature, cinema, or art act for the well being of its people, not to discard even a single person from its boundary. Bibliography • Bhatia, Nandi. Modern Indian Theatre A Reader. New Delhi: Oxford University press, 2009. Print. • Dattani, Mahesh. Collected Plays. New Delhi: Penguin, 2000. Print. • Granfield, Rachel. The wondering Minstrels. Web. 29. December.2000 • John, E Mary.Women’s Studies in India A Reader.New Delhi:Penguin, 2008. Print. • Woolf, Virginia. A Room of One’s Own. Newyork: Harcourt Brace & Co.,1989.Print.

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TRANSLATION: A METHOD FOR TRANS-CULTURAL ENRICHMENT A STUDY WITH REFERENCE TO R.E. ASHER’S TRANSLATION OF BASHEER’S NTUPPUPAKKORANEDAARNNU

Namitha Raphael Ukken Assistant Professor (Guest) Dept. of English (Self Finance) St.Thomas’college (Autonomous) Jubilee Block, Thrissur - 680 001

ABSTRACT The issues of globalization and internationalization that occupy so many areas of society are also very apparent in the world of literature. The importance of translated literature lies in promoting international understanding and awareness. Translated literature represents a true gain in transcultural enrichment. The translation and the original literary work exist in the parallel and each is a valuable work in its own right. “Translation is a kind of activity which inevitably involves at least two languages and two cultural traditions” (Toury 200). A good translator should have the knowledge of two languages and two cultures. The ideal translation is that which successfully recaptures the tone and texture of the original. He must have gifts which are comparable to those of the original author he wants to translate.

INTRODUCTION Basheer’s Ntuppupakkoranedaarnnu is translated into English by R.E. Asher and Achamma Coilparambil Chandersekaran. The translation was an instant hit. It established Basheer’s importance as a major literary figure. It was a treat to the non Malayalee readers .The translators were successful in maintaining the exotic flavor and uniqueness of the original. In some translations it may be possible to translate the source language message word by word to the target language. Jean-Paul Vinay and Jean Darbelnet name this kind of translations as ‘direct translations’ (84). But at times this kind of smooth flow from one to another language becomes difficult. In such cases the translator has to use certain methods to make the translating process easier. Though the task becomes tougher, the translator can claim authenticity for his work. Jean Paul Vinay and Jean Darbelnet call this translation as ‘oblique translation’ (ibid). ‘Borrowing’ and ‘Calque’ are the two methods used in direct translation as suggested by the above authors. Asher and Chandersekaran have employed these two methods in the translation. Borrowing is the simplest of all translation methods. This is often used in the instances to introduce the flavour of the source language (SL) culture into a translation. In a story like 65 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015

Ntuppupakkoranedaarnnu with a typical regional setting, borrowings are a must. Some languages have the ability to assimilate foreign words. Borrowing is very easy in such languages while it is difficult in conventional languages which resist any such additions. Usually this technique is used when there is no equivalent term in the target language for a particular source language word. Words with strong cultural connotations, names of dress, etc. usually pass into other languages as borrowed terms. Asher commented about the borrowings they did in ‘Me Grandad ’ad an Elephant!’ in the Introduction to the translation: A few remarks on specific items of dress may be appropriate. One ‘bisexual’ garment is the cloth worn in Kerala to cover the lower half of the body. For this garment as worn by men we have used the reasonably familiar term ‘dhoti’, but at the risk of seeming inconsistent, have introduced a romanisation of the Malayalam word, ‘mundu’, when it is described as being worn by a woman. For the long-sleeved, long-waisted blouse worn by Muslim women in Kerala we have kept the Malayalam ‘kuppayam’ (13). A calque is a special kind of borrowing in which a language borrows an expression of the other. These borrowings after a long period of time and with repeated use become an integral part of the target language. In borrowing, source language expression is very frequently used in the text. This becomes effective only when the target-text readers are given the opportunity to grasp the full significance of the word through repeated use. Once a term is accepted in the target language, it can be used just as any other word in the language with out adding special notes to it. The word ‘sari’ can be used in English as in any of the Indian languages. This is because this form of dress which is typically Indian has no equivalent word in the English language. The word has been borrowed long back and today it needs no explanation for an average English reader. The same is the case with ‘dhoti’ which is a dress worn by Indian men. Hence, when Asher mentions Kunjupattumma’s schoolmistresses who wore sarees, he does not offer any gloss at all. The same is the case when he refers to the Muslim men who tie up their dhotis to the left. Language is the medium of expression for the society and human beings are at mercy of language. Experience of each individual is largely determined by the language habits of the community and each separate structure represents a separate social reality. Edward Sapir states: “No two languages are ever sufficiently considered as representing the same social reality. The worlds in which different societies live are distinct worlds, not merely the same world with different labels attached” (qtd. in Bassnett 21). Some words carry strong cultural connotations with them. The translator cannot afford to translate them because the complete relevance of the culture will be lost for the TL readers. In such cases he resorts to transliteration. It is commonly used when the SL term cannot be substituted with an adequate TL term. The main virtue of transliteration is that the TL readers will be able to grasp even the phonological aspects of the SL term. In most of the cases where this technique is adopted, the meaning will be made evident by the context in which the word is used. Asher and Chandersekaran have used transliteration very profusely in his ‘Me Grandad ’ad an Elephant!’. The names of dishes like ‘biriyani’ and ‘patiri’, kinship terms like ‘ikkakka’, ‘uppuppa’, ‘bapa’ and ‘umma’, peculiar Muslim terms like ‘qiyamat’, ‘sur’, ‘Allah’, and ‘iblis’,

66 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015 names of ornaments like ‘halqat’ and ‘tali’ and names of dresses such as ‘mundu’ and ‘kuppayam’ are all transliterated. The whole song which Nisar Ahamed composed for Aisha and her friends to sing for the procession is also transliterated. It runs as follows: “La …la…la… Huttini halitta littapo Sanjini balikka luttappy Halitha manikka linjalo Sankara bahana tulipi Hanjini hilatta huttalo Fanatta lakkidi jimbalo Da… da…da! La… la… la!” (98). Here translation is impossible as the song is devoid of any sense. The translators adopted transliteration because the total meaninglessness of this wordy and noisy piece can be revealed only by its transliteration. Sreedevi K.Nair, in her work Aspects of Translation discusses some of the methods adopted by translators to face the hazards of prose translation. They are Definition, Lexical Creation, Transcreation and Addition. Definition is another method used for dealing with elements of culture. In this process, the unfamiliar words are explained. Though languages differ widely, human nature and core of human experience remain the same throughout the world. This common ground facilitates translation to some extent. But it is true that each cultural term will be so charged with meanings and associations that no definition will ever be adequately reveal the whole of its contents or connotations. But in prose writings, definitions can be used in such a way that they do not stand apart from the rest of the text. Asher and Chandersekaran have used definition very frequently in ‘Me Grandad ’ad an Elephant!’. For instance, definition appears in the sentence: “It is from that day that fish has become ‘halal’ to the Muslims and so can be lawfully eaten” (60). Though the readers may not know the meaning of ‘halal’, the word is used in such a way that it is well incorporated into the text. Similarly, while talking about Kunjupattumma’s bapa, it is said that “He gives ‘zakat’- the alms required by divine command” (56). Obviously, the word ‘zakat’ warrants an explanation and it is given in the body of the translated text itself by defining the word. The translators have given definition to the words like ‘malak’ and ‘jinn’. In the original, these terms are not explained. It is because the SL readers can follow these terms, which are part of their vocabulary. But such an understanding cannot be expected from the TL readers. The definitions are proper and suits to the flow of the novel. “After creating him, God told all other living beings, including malak ( the angels) and jinn ( the genii) to venerate Adam” (62). The terms like ‘Qiyamat’ and ‘Waz’ are sure to create troubles for the TL readers. So the 67 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015 translators, Asher and Chandersekaran have defined them in order to make the reading easier for them. ‘Waz’ is defined like this in the translation: “It was to hear the evening sermon or waz that she went to the mosque that day” (61). ‘Qiyamat’ is more complicated, so it is expanded into a sentence to give the full meaning, ‘What are the signs of qiyamat?’ That means, ‘what are the signs of the end of the world?’(65). This definition will make the meaning crystal clear for the TL readers. There will be instances or particular situations within the text which poses great difficulty to the translator. At times, instead of a word, the translator has to change a string of thought or sentences. In such cases the above mentioned methods like transliteration, definition and borrowing will not come for his rescue. Then he switches over to a technique called ‘Lexical Creation’. Lexical Creation demands great skill on the part of the translator. He has to be conscious while doing these coinages. They often carry deep cultural significances which makes his task even tougher. These new words may become absorbed into the stream of the target language in the course of time. When creating a new lexical term, the translator should see to it that it conforms to the existing rules of the language and that it does not seem to stand apart. He should also make sure that the situation very much demands such a step. Asher and Chandersekaran had to face similar difficulty while translating Basheer’s ‘Ntuppupakkoranedaarnnu!’. The very title is the proof of their talent which ended in beautiful lexical creation of ‘Me Grandad ’ad an Elephant!’ In ‘Me Grandad ’ad an Elephant!’ the heroine’s mother in the beginning, lives in the world of great pomp and glory. Afterwards, several disasters occurred and she had to shift from her original home which was a shift from a palace to a small hut. Yet, she loved to live amid the memories of a glorious past and repeated several times a day to herself and to Kunjupattumma “Yer uppuppa ’ad an elephant- a huge tusker” (118). At the end of the novel, however, the street children make fun of her saying that it was not an elephant but an antlion i.e. kuziy-aana (antlion) instead of an aana (elephant). In the original, the contrast is between ‘aana’ (elephant) and ‘kuziy-aana’ (antlion) and the force of the rhythm here cannot be missed even by a very casual reader. The translators who have felt this aspect of the original have, therefore, discarded ‘antlion’ and have coined a new word which rhymes with elephant. Thus, at the end of the novel, Kunjutachumma stammers to her daughter- “They s…s…say your uppuppa’s….huge elephant was an elephant ant! ...an elephant ant!” (119). This is a very subtle way indeed of rendering a difficult idea retaining its rhythm and far reaching implication, the irony of which reverberate throughout the entire novel. Asher and Chandersekaran have fully risen to the occasion by discarding the weak but literal English equivalent ‘antlion’ and by coining the new word ‘elephant ant’ which does convey its meaning from the context. Thus, where the situation demands it, the translator should be ready to put to test his own creative ingenuity. In transcreation, the essence of the source text is accepted while details are transformed at the discretion of the translator so as to create the intended effect. In certain situations, transcreations become essential.

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The situation where Aisha tries to civilize Kunjupattumma by making her speak a standard dialect is a very good case in point. Aisha tells Kunjupattumma: “You mustn’t say ‘noight’, say ‘night’. “Neight” said Kunjupattumma. “Not like that. ‘I’ as in ‘white’, say it.” “Night” (92). In this conversation only night occurs in the original. The other words are substitutions used in the translation to transcreate the same situation as in the original. The same thing happens in the following piece of conversation as well: Aisha sat up. “That letter is called ‘B’. What is it called?” “B” said Kunjupattumma. “Say a word beginning with “B”. “Balue”. “ Bobby! Silly booby! You should say ‘value’!” “Value”! “Is there a ‘B’ in that?” “No” “Then think of another one” “Brinjal” (111). In the original, the words used are not the same as those in the translation. Yet the idea of Kunjupattumma’s ignorance and simplicity are brought out exceedingly well in the translation. The situations are transcreated beautifully by transforming the existing words and inventing new words which are very appropriate. Addition is warranted in instances where the cultural features of the source text are totally new to the target language receptors. Addition may be in the form of sentences added to the text itself, notes given separately or glossary given at the end of the text. The third method is frequently adopted in ‘Me Grandad ‘ad an Elephant!’ by the translators. The meanings of most of the words which are unfamiliar to the TL readers are explained in the glossary. Glossary consists of the terms from a) food, b) kinship, c) religion, d) dress and e) flora and fauna. The examples are : a) aviyal = a kind of vegetable curry, biriyani = a rice dish, coloured and flavoured with saffron and turmeric and consisting of alternate layers of rice and rich meat or vegetable curry, jaggery = an unrefined brown sugar made in India from the sap of certain kinds of palm. b) bapa = father; a term used exclusively by Muslims in Kerala, ikkakka = elder brother; a term used exclusively by Muslims in Kerala, uppuppa = grandfather; terms used exclusively by Muslims, umma = mother; a term used exclusively by Muslims in Kerala. c) iblis = the Islamic name for devil, qiyamat = the rising of men at the resurrection on the Last Day, Rabb = God, the Nourisher to Perfection, Sidrat al-Muntaha=a tree in paradise, called in the Koran ‘the sidra(lote-tree) which marks the boundary’; it is believed to bear as many leaves as there are inhabitants in the world and on each leaf a name is written. On the middle night of the

69 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015 eighth month the tree is shaken and those leaves fall will die during the following year. d) kuppayam = long-sleeved, long-waisted blouse worn by Muslim women in Kerala, mundu = woman’s lower garment, consisting of a length of cloth e) jambu = a tall tree (Eugenia jambolana), common in Kerala, that bears a dark crimson fruit, pallatti = a small freshwater fish (Etroplus coruchi ) of the family of Cichlids (198-200). Any translation begins by questioning the authenticity of the translator and it ends with his creativity fully tested. The translator can never claim for complete success of his translation. But of course there will be ample instances which prove the worth of his work. Asher and Chandersekaran could make the target readers get a feel of the original. The phrase ‘Me Grandad ’ad an Elephant’ has gained popularity and become a synonym for mocking at people living in their past –with its pomp and glory. The borrowings of words like ‘sari’, ‘dhoti’, ‘mundu’, ‘kuppayam’ etc. will make the target readers aquainted with Malayalam dress code and culture. The glossary and additions made the translation easier and readable. The translators have succeeded in giving the proper explanations to the words. The novel is set in a Muslim background and the text is flooded with Muslim terms like ‘halal’, ‘halqat’, ‘iblis’, etc. Asher and Chandersekaran had faced this trouble by giving them proper definitions and incorporating them to the text. They have respected the common sense of the readers by letting them to read the meanings out of the context. Transliterating the original terms added the regional flavour to the translation. The translators were bold enough to retain the typical Malayalam terms for dishses like ‘sambar’, ‘avial’, ‘kalan’. Though the non-Malayalee readers have not possibly tasted these food items they will probably be able to understand that these are the food habits of the people of South Kerala. This helped in cultural promotion and made the readers more curious to know the land, Kerala. Asher and Chandersekaran had transliterated the song by Nisar Ahamed. They didn’t skip it over but retained it in the text. The song is simple and is devoid of any particular significance. But it shows the genius and style of a writer like Basheer. Only a writer like Basheer can play with words and make it enjoyable to his readers. The translators had fully risen to the occasion. They remained truthful to the original author and transliterated the song just to maintain the proper flow of the novel without marring its beauty. CONCLUSION In a post-colonial context the translation is a great opening to a regional language like Malayalam and a writer like Basheer. The tradition, culture, law, religion, etc. of Kerala are introduced to the global reader. It is the real reading of the culture told by a native of his land. It is not a foreigner’s version. The translators’ talent remained in the fact that he succeeded in maintaining the originality of source .Though they have deviated and made their own discretions they never attempted to be a superior writers-superior to the original. Translation can be profitable for both SL (source language) and TL (target language). Borrowings of words results in the enrichment of vocabulary. Translation also pave way for cultural transference between the languages involved. In the age of globalization translation opens new paths to regional writers and regional languages.

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Translations are practiced widely and the treasure of one nation does not get confined to that region only. They are translated to various languages and are made available to the global readers. The translator is seen as a liberator, someone who frees the text from the fixed signs of its original shape making it no longer subordinate to the source text but visibly endeavoring to bridge the space between source author and text and the eventual target language readers. This perspective emphasizes the creativity of translation, seeing it in a more harmonious way. Works Cited 1. Basheer, Vaikom Muhammad. ‘Ntuppupakkoranedaarnu!’. Kottayam: D.C. Books, 1951. Print. 2. Asher, R.E. and Achamma Coilparambil Chandersekaran trans. ‘Me Grandad ’ad an Elephant!’ by Vaikom Muhammad Basheer. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1980. Print. 3. Asher, R.E. Inroduction. ‘Me Grandad ’ad an Elephant!’ By R.E. Asher and Achamma Coilparambil Chandersekaran. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1980.vii-xvi.Print. 4. Bassnett, Susan. Translation Studies. London: Routledge Taylor and Francis Group, 1998. Print. 5. Nair, Sreedevi, K. Aspects of Translation. New Delhi: Creative Books, 1996. Print. 6. Toury, Gideon “The Nature and Role of Norms in Translation.”The Translation Studies Reader. 7. Lawrence Venuti. London: Routledge Taylor and Francis Group, 2000. Print. 8. Vinay, Jean-Paul and Jean Darbelnet. “A Methodology For Translation.” The Translation Studies Reader. Ed 9. Lawrence Venuti. London: Routledge Taylor and Francis Group, 2000. Print.

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FEMINISM ALLIGNED WITH CATHOLICISM : A STUDY OF MARY GORDON’S CIRCLING MY MOTHER AND PEARL

Geetha Priya Nair HSS Teacher in English, Govt. Boys HSS, Aluva

ABSTRACT Mary Gordon, a successful American writer, explores various aspects of the Catholic belief in most of her works. Although she bristles at the label of a “Catholic Writer”, she acknowledges that her catholic upbringing has influenced all of her works. Gordon’s memoir titled Circling My Mother and Pearl are the two works which are analysed in the present paper. Anna Gagliano Gordon, Pearl and her mother Maria come across as strong women who are bold enough to accept the importance of religion in their life, while maintaining a feminist identity. Through these characters, Gordon attempts to bring to fore the entire range of female experience.

INTRODUCTION Mary Gordon, an American writer of great repute, is New York’s official State Author and a Professor of English at Barnard. Unlike many of her contemporaries, she does not refrain from expressing her Catholic belief in many of her works. Commencing from her first work, Final Payments (1978) to her sixteenth work The Love of My Youth (2011), she has portrayed the mother – daughter relationship within a catholic framework. The writer is convinced that the figure of Mother Mary is the very epitome of womanhood because she lived the life of an ordinary mortal and was not enthroned above and beyond the reach of all. The present paper is an attempt to understand the writer’s catholic outlook in general, and its manifestation in her memoir titled Circling My Mother and the novel Pearl. Gordon reveals that her mother Anna Gagliano Gordon, had lived a much more complicated life than the other people in her family because of her courageous and ingenuous interpretation of Catholicism. Similarly, the concept of sin and the Catholic need to atone for the committed sins dominates the novel Pearl which speaks of the relationship between Pearl and her mother Maria. Mary Gordon, in her fiction, reflects the views of most Catholic feminists – such as the Canadian writer, Mary Jo Leddy – that the church’s attempt to accommodate feminist ideals in recent years has amounted to “tokenism” (Leddy 45). Gordon also echoes the view of Catholic feminists such as Rosemary Radford Ruther that the problem for women in the

72 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015 church arises from the expanding possibilities for women in society at large as contrasted with those in the church. Gordon, however, differs from the usual feminist ideas about the church because she traces her own feminism to the fact that, having been brought up a Catholic, she was given “images of heroic women” (Good Boys 169). Gordon confided to Eleanor Wachtel that she would not have become a feminist had it not been for her early training as a Catholic. “I was brought up to take issues of justice very seriously”, she added. “And what is feminism except a desire for universal justice not bounded by gender roles?” (Wachtel 272). Gordon also has, on a number of occasions cited the opportunity for women to exist in the church within a community of women without the encumbrances of marriage as a liberating model of sorts. The writer, who in her younger years had considered becoming a nun, was attracted by the lives of female religious, who, independently of men, “operated in the world” on their own (Wachtel 267). On the other hand, she has confessed to being appalled at the difficulty encountered by women who wanted to be leaders within the church because they had to appeal to representatives of male authority – in particular, priests, who have a “hidden magical potency” that is both “sexually inaccessible and directly connected to spiritual ritual and the mystical” (Gordon 225). “My Mother and Priests” is the title of the chapter which speaks of Anna’s religious life and Gordon’s specific inferences. The chapter opens with the remark that Anna Gagliano Gordon would have found two commonplaces of the modern world, incomprehensible : that the typewriter had become obsolete and that when most Americans think now of Catholic priests, their minds turn first to thoughts of sexual scandal (Circling 130). To Anna, Priests were like kings – if the king had his scepre or his crown, the priest had his hands which turned bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ. This was because the American Church in the triumphant years of 1920 – 60 was entirely under the control of the Irish, “who had no toleration for the wink – wink, nudge – nudge, ‘we’re all human after all’, - ‘a man’s a man’ comprehension of their southern counterparts” – (Circling 132). None of the priests Gordon knew misbehaved with any of the women she knew. You might say I wouldn’t have known. Perhaps I wouldn’t have. But what I believe is that, in place of the ordinary heterosexual narrative, there was an alternative one for these women and these priests, a story centering on the pride, a woman took in being the kind of woman about whom a breath of scandal would never arise; what she treasured was the idea that she was, the kind of woman “Father” could be himself around (Circling 132). Anna’s relationship with the priests wasn’t about assuaging loneliness because she had a large family and many friends too. Her desire was to raise funds for a “whole collection of missionaries” (Circling 133). She worked relentlessly towards achieving this. Gordon also emphasizes that this involvement with priests allowed her mother to be the kind of conventional woman she was usually reluctant to be. Father Dermot, another priest very close to the family once told Gordon that if she had half as much character as her mother when she grew up, she would be lucky.

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Overseas, Anna focused on Father Reginald, who had been captured by the Chinese communists, held prisoner for years. Having survived his capture, he left China and moved to the Philippines and was eventually named Bishop. He wrote each month to thank Anna, personally, for her contribution. She, in turn, sent him five dollars a month until his death. Father Bertrand, a priest who Gordon recalls, looked like Richard Burton, was also very important to the family. He spent a lot of time with Gordon’s parents while she would wait her turn for him to pay attention to her. She would sit in silence, watching him, entranced by every gesture. From the age of four to ten, she was desperately in love with him. But as an adolescent and later an adult, she distanced herself from him so that he become her mother’s and not hers. When he eventually died of cancer, Anna went for his funeral but then she never spoke of him again. Father Dermot too died, shortly after Gordon’s first marriage and Anna never loved another priest like she had loved him. Although the parish priests were kind and attentive to her, they had no hold over her imagination. When Gordon decided to shift Anna into a nursing home, she called the young priest Anna had been fond of, to comfort her. She refused to see him; he came around anyway, but she’d drunk herself into incoherence; she shouted at him from the bedroom to keep away, and then she cursed me and God and her fate. “I knew she had lost everything, given up everything, if she’d behave like that before a priest” (Circling 160). Considering Gordon’s Pearl the reader, without any preamble, in taken straight to the heart of the matter in this novel. Maria Meyers is told that her daughter might be dying. She has chained herself to the flagpole in front of the American Embassy in Dublin with the intension of giving up her life because she believes that she is responsible for the death of Breeda’s son Stephen Donegan. During the course of novel, we are told that Maria has been raised a Catholic by her converted Jewish father; she comes of age in the 1960’s and trades her religion for the radical belief of that period. Now, however, with Pearl’s death looming large before her, she must reexamine her faith, her role as mother and single parent as well as her political ideals. Although Maria had never encouraged Pearl to be religious, the latter appears to have a strong religious belief deeply embedded in herself; perhaps, on a subconscious level, Pearl absorbed some of the Catholic need to atone for her sins despite her mother’s effort to keep her outside the realm of such influences. Pearl is starving not only to be a witness to the will to harm but to purge herself of the sin she thinks she has committed. The moment Breeda forgives her sins, she begins to get well. Thus prayers and forgiveness, both form an inseparable part of the plot. Pearl’s question to her mother, “why is it that its life we want?”, goes to the heart of the novel, to the core of its religious belief (Pearl 339). The novel is both, an exploration of the mother – daughter dynamics and an examination of faith. Mary Gordon herself feels that the complicated religious background of the central character is integral to the plot. Conclusion : Circling My Mother and Pearl thus establish Gordon’s conviction that certain characters cannot exist without a religious dimension. For instance, the whole notion of atonement, which is of utmost importance to both Anna and Pearl, would not make sense if it 74 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015 were not placed in a religious frame work. Gordon’s characters thus strike a balance between the feminist expectations of womanhood and the patriarchal expectations of the same. Like the figure of Mother Mary, they succeed, in bridging the divide between the two notions, to establish a strong sense of self. Works Cited 1) Gordon, Mary. Pearl. New York: Randon House, 2005. Print. 2) ... Circling My Mother . New York : Randon House, 2007. Print. 3) ... Good Boys and Dead Girls. New York : Viking, 1991. Print. 4) Leddy, Mary Jo, Remide Roo, and Douglas Roche. In the Eye of the Catholic Storm. Toronto : Harper, 1992. Print. 5) Wachtel, Eleanor, ed. Writer and Company. Toronto : Knopf, 1993. Print.

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SOCIO-ECONOMIC CRITICISM IN THE HAIRY APE

Abdul Nasir Vellarampara Assistant Professor (Guest), Amal College of Advanced Studies Nilambur. Malappuram Dist. e.mail ID: [email protected]

ABSTRACT Eugene O’Neill, the twentieth century American playwright, is a critic of postwar American society. His plays study men not in relation to fate and God, but in relation to his social environment. In one play after another, he shows that the social environment is soulless, and mechanical and that it causes frustration, disillusionment and a sense of alienation. The play The Hairy Ape presents an extremely negative view of the state of mechanized America. Both government and religion are treated as devices for maintaining the status quo. On the executive side, it is exemplified by the police who function to keep the workers from disturbing the wealthy.Once in a letter to New York Herald Tribune, O’Neill himself said that “…the play was to show how man, unable to feel the sympathy with nature that as an animal he once knew, has not been able to establish a new harmony through with his kind.” O’Neill’s works are expression of the disintegration of society, of the spiritual and cultural waste land that contemporary western civilization has become. The disintegration of Yank’s personality in The Hairy Ape is a symbol of the disintegration of American industrialized and mechanized society. What happens to Yank in the play was happening to millions in the post war world. This spiritual loneliness and sense of alienation was a widespread phenomenon after World War 1. The sense of despair, frustration and disillusion is not experienced by Yank alone. It is shared by Mildred Douglas also. She suffers from exhaustion and complete loss of vitality. Not Mildred alone, but the whole class which she represents is dehumanized in the machine age. Key words: mechanized, industrialized, disillusionment etc.

INTRODUCTION Machine and technology have rendered life soulless and mechanical. Man no longer feels that he is an important part of creative process; rather he has been reduced to a mere peg in a big machine. Both the rich and the poor alike, both Yank and Mildred have lost the sense of purposive, useful and creative activity. This isolation, this feeling of lack of belonging and identity is not an individual problem, but a collective and universal problem of the machine age. In the opinion of Winther, a critic, “…it is not man as an individual alone that concerns O’Neill; it is man in a social order, tortured, starved, disillusioned, thwarted and driven to disaster by the forces of a system which cares nothing for the general welfare of the society”. In Winther’s 76 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015 opinion, the predecessors of O’Neill might have shown how Yank lost his job, and how starvation led him to crime to support himself and family. But to O’Neill, Yank’s problem was not loss of work, but Yank wants to know that whether he belongs or to what kind he belongs. He wants to find out what it is that happened to the world which separates him from the other. But he receives only blows and insults. Yank felt first the depth of social difference when he encountered with Mildred Douglas, the ultra-sophisticated daughter of the owner of the liner. It crushes both his physical and mental strength. But still there remains the fire of revenge and quest for identity in his mind. He is a symbol of the deep protest that rises like a wave against the whole structure of modern civilization. He is a man crying out against a system which has not only exploited man’s body but his spirit as well. Yank finds out that while he has been working, the world has been gradually revolutionized by machinery, a revolution that has not carried him with it. But it is not only the case of one Yank, but many Yanks of his kind. They, like Yank, are grown up in the faith that they ‘belonged’, that they were a respected part of a social order, but they have lived to find out that they are nothing of the kind. As the machine created wealth, it destroyed the joy of living, the only thing that wealth is good for. O’Neill emphasizes the psychological aspects of modern social order in his plays. Man’s work is a necessary part of his personality; it is an extension of his ego: it makes him feel that he is a necessary part of the life of the world in which he lives. Modern industry tends to destroy this psychological counterpart of work. It leaves the work a nervous, irritable and dissatisfied misfit. Thus O’Neill’s social criticism is closely linked with his psychological realism. As the consequence of industrial revolution, materialistic values prevailed, life has become too mechanical and this has further shaken man’s sense of security. This feeling of insecurity causes unbearable spiritual anguish, fear and torture. Sometimes, as in the case of Yank, it becomes a terrible obsession which derives them to their doom. In the play, Yank lost his harmony and he is not being able to find it on earth or in heaven, he is in the middle, trying to make peace. Here Yank cannot go forward and so he tries to go back. This is what his shaking hand with the gorilla meant. But he cannot go back to ‘belonging’ either. In the middle ages, the worker belonged to a system and was recognized as an important part of that system. But the modern worker doesn’t belong. He has become a member, not a unified and significant personality. Disintegration and decay of the human personality is the natural consequence of industrialization. O’Neill presents a problem that has broader implications than the immediate success or failure of Yank. The one thing which made his life endurable was that he felt he ‘belonged’, that he was a necessary, vital and human part of a social order. In the first scene, Yank identifies himself with the steam, smoke and steel. “I ‘m smoke and express trains and streamers and factory whistles……And I’m what makes iron into steel: dat stands for the whole thing! And I’m steel-steel-steel! I’m de muscles in steel, de punch behind it (P.4) In order to find a solution for his problem, he approaches the Fifth Avenue. The people of the Fifth Avenue belong to the class of Mildred and appear only ghostly in the life of Yank just like Mildred Douglas. They are mere lifeless shadows, moving about as if in a dream. They are mere 77 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015 abstractions described expressionistically to create an impression of the mechanical nature of modern life. Like Yank in the Fifth Avenue, countless others stand on the sidewalks of the world, desolate, abandoned, even hated and despised. The system has evolved beyond control and each day the gap between Yank and his needs becomes wider. More and more Yanks of the world realize that they do not belong. As an after effect of the quarrel with a police officer, Yank is put in prison. The prisoners in the prison cells have not been individualized. They have not been given even a name. They are merely voices providing Yank with the information regarding the IWW (Industrial Workers of the World), and he thought to find an answer among them. But, they threw him into the street, because he is an individualist, not a party man. Here, Yank’s sense of isolation is further aggravated; he doesn’t belong even to the IWW. Yank, in the pose of Rodin’s ‘The Thinker’ reveals the whole situation, ending by admitting that his greatest crime was that of being born. Being rejected by the society, Yank does not belong to the world of man, but he cannot exist in isolation. He must have his moorings somewhere; if not in the world of man, then at least in the world of brutes. In his search for identity, Yank discovers firstly, that he is alone and the world is impossible to live in; and secondly, that steel is no power within him, but it is a prison around him. Steel makes the ship, which represents power, but it also makes the cage in which Yank is imprisoned. Since Yank cannot move back, and belong to man, he must move down and seek companionship with the brute creation. Search for identity becomes an obsession with him and ultimately it takes him to the zoo. There he stands face to face with a gorilla in its cage, talks to it as to a brother, because he thinks that they both belong to the same club, ‘the club of the hairy apes’. He shakes hand with it and sets it free. But, alas! The gorilla crushes him to death. It doesn’t think that Yank ‘belongs’. Yank’s quest for identity fittingly ends with his death. O’Neill faces Yank with three possible attitudes towards modern society. The first is his own at the beginning of the play: complete acceptance of industrialized society. But this attitude becomes impossible for Yank the moment he sees how he appears to a cultivated sensibility and more important, he realizes that he is owned and controlled by the men who own the steel. The second attitude towards modern society is presented by Paddy, who longs for the days before society became industrialized. Yank doesn’t object to the idea of returning to the past, but he is contemptuous of it as an impossible dream. The third attitude towards modern society which O’Neill faces Yank is that of Long. Long starts with the same assumption that underlies the whole play; the structure of the society is rotten. The cause of this rottenness is the economic system. Long’s suggestion is that to change the present system and put an end to social inequality and injustice through the exercise of right to vote. He feels that they are considered as slaves. Since the basic evil is capitalism, the workers must be educated to knowledge of the economic structure of society. Yank has rejected entirely any hope in an alternation of the physical conditions. Although he is against the organization of the state and the economic system as it is, he is contemptuous of any hope in a changed social or economic system. Finally Yank accepts the way of assassination, but it leads only to death and self destruction. 78 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015

CONCLUSION In short, The Hairy Ape dramatizes an important aspect of the human predicament in the machine age. Man does not live by bread alone, spiritual health and well being are also necessary. The tragedy of Yank is the tragedy of millions in the modern age. The Hairy Ape presents a profoundly pessimistic social philosophy which rejects entirely the status quo, but sees no answer for man in a better society and no hope for destroying the existing society. The play provokes thought, dramatizes a problem, stresses its evil, promotes understanding and thus in itself contributes a step toward its solution. Bibliography 1. Bloom, Harold. ed. Modern Critical Interpretations: Eugene O’Neill’s The Hairy Ape. New Delhi: Viva, …..2006. 2. Bentley, Eric. “Trying to Like O’Neill.” Kenyan Review 14 (July 1952): 476-492. 3. Berlin, Normand. Eugene O’Neill. New York: Grove, 1982. 4. Carpenter, Frederic. Eugene O’Neill. Rev. ed. Boston: Twayne, 1979. 5. Clark, Barrett H. Eugene O’Neill: The Man and His Plays. Rev. ed. New York: Dover, 1947. 6. Engel, Edwin A. The Haunted Heroes of Eugene O’Neill. Cambridge: Harvard, 1953. 7. Griffin, Ernest G. ed. Eugene O’Neill: A Collection of Criticism. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1976. 8. O’Neill, Eugene. The Hairy Ape. New York: Manchester, 1975. 9. Shawcross, John T. “The Road to Ruin: The Beginning of O’Neill’s Journey.” Modern Drama 3 (1960): …..289-296

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CHANGING RELIGIOUS DIMENSIONS OF ECOLOGY

Reneesh Thomas HSST English, St.John Nephumsian’s HSS, Kozhuvanal, Kottayam Dist. e.mail: [email protected]

ABSTRACT Man’s relation to his environment had always been a matter of concern from time immemorial. Many ancient religions and religious philosophies of the world, particularly those of the East were sprouted from this relation. In the changing global scenario, where ecology is increasingly becoming a topic of concern, there is a renewed interest palpable in world religions to position their respective religious dogmas, in a way that expound the inseparable relationship between nature and man. In this context it is worth noting the teaching by the pope emeritus Benedict XVI who is generally labeled as the first Green Pope, he persistently called for the safeguarding of creation, arguing that respect for the human being and nature are one. Teachings of these kinds are deeply embedded in every religion but got neglected over along period stretching across history.

The primitive uncivilized man lived in perfect harmony with nature; they feared and worshipped the powers of nature. Even in the age of savagery the primitive men identified the powers of God and worshipped him through nature .In the eastern perspective the whole world is filled with God’s presence. Eminent ecologist of the modern time George Sessions makes the following observation in this regard: The cultures of most primal (hunting/gathering) societies throughout the world were permeated with nature oriented religions that expressed the eco-centric perspective ………Given that vast majority of humans who have lived on earth over the millennia have been hunters /gatherers, it is clear that eco-centrism has been the dominant human religious/philosophical perspective through time. (Eco- centrism and The Anthropocentric Detour) 140 The ancient Greeks considered nature as goddesses “Gaia” is the Greek word for the earth goddess, they treated earth as a living entity. The same kind of approach could be seen in Hindu philosophy where both animate and inanimate of nature have been elevated to the status of gods. Indian philosophy treats nature as both mother and goddess, thus in India we see a sacred legend attached to every river and mountain. For instance the religious significance attached to

80 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015 river Sarasvati: It is an ancient river that flowed in northern India during the Vedic era. Although the river does not have a physical existence today, the ancient river lost in the desert. The Triveni Sangam in Allahabad is a confluence of 3 rivers, the Ganges, Yamuna, and Saraswati,of these three The legendary Saraswati River is invisible and is said to flow underground and join the other two rivers from below and the point of confluence is a sacred place for Hindu and they treat this place with great awe and devotion. The reverence with which ancient Indians treated the plants and animals shows their great environmental concerns .Most Hindu mantras end with the invocation “shanti,shanti,shanti” where the first chanting means –let peace come to the inert earth ; the second is for all the vegetation and animal kingdom on earth; and the third and last shanti means let peace come to the mind of man . The Buddhist teaching is also in the same vein, Buddhism preaches that progress is not a matter of concern for man only; it is centered on all living and non-living objects in the world. The Christian principles and teachings are mainly anthropocentric, but there have been great ecologists among Christians with a profound insight and understanding of nature. St.Francis of Assisi , the founder of the Franciscan orders of men and women and leader of the church reform movements of the early 13th century ,considered everything in nature as the mirror of God. He addressed all creatures his “brothers and sisters”. Francis is also known as the “patron saint of environment”. Pope Francis too makes a similar echo when he said “Man is not in charge today, money is in charge, money rules. God our Father did not give the task of caring for the earth to money, but to us, to men and women: we have this task! Instead, men and women are sacrificed to the idols of profit and consumption: it is the “culture of waste.” Quite simply, environmental protection will benefit from a Catholic awareness of virtue, which defines authentic, ecologically sound human existence as prudence to make right choices; justice to ensure that the rights of strangers are not compromised in our search for pleasure or raw materials; fortitude to guide our urges toward a common good, and especially the virtue of temperance, which we need desperately to consume less. Professor Gordon Wenhamis makes an interesting comparison between the Biblical Israelites Old Testament and the modern man thus: For Old Testament man was intimately involved in the environment throughout life. The weather determined whether his crops would flourish or fail. He drew his water from the local well. He depended on animals to plough the fields, transport his goods, for clothing, for food and for sacrifice. Often some of them lived in the courtyard of his house……. By contrast modern urban dwellers are largely cocooned from the environment. We live in solid centrally heated houses supplied by well organized utility companies, depend on machines for transport, food and clothing production……… (1st Annual JRI Lecture, by Professor Gordon Wenham as part of C&GCHE Environment Week) Nature played a very decisive role in the life of the Biblical figures in Old Testament but gradually eco-centric cultures were replaced by pastoral and civilized cultures, as a result human lost his deep intimacy with nature and interpreted the scripture in the new vision, therefore Genesis 1:18 which read “ And God blessed them saying :increase and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it, and rule over the fishes of the sea and the fouls of the air and all living creatures that move upon earth” gave the mankind an impetus to become masters of the world by conquering and exploiting everything in nature. 81 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015

Reference Devall,Bill. “The Deep Ecology Movement.” Key Concepts in Critical Theory ,Ecology. Ed. Carolyn Merchant.New Jersy: Humanities Press,1994. Hanson, Warrel G.St.Francis of Assisi,Patron Saint of Enviornment.Chicago:Herald Press, 1971. Session,George. “Ecocentrism and Anthropocentric Detour.” Key Concepts in Critical Theory ,Ecology. Ed. Carolyn Merchant.New Jersy: Humanities Press,1994. Wenham ,Gordon. “The Bible and the Environment.” 1st Annual JRI Lecture as part of C&GCHE Environment Week.1 june 2010.web.7.Nov.2014.

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INTERIORIZED CARTOONS IN POETRY: DOUBLE READINGS OF PROFESSOR AYYAPPA PANIKER’S CARTOON KAVITHAKAL

Abhilash Babu B. Research Scholar (English). Kerala University, Trivandrum e.mail: [email protected]

ABSTRACT Professor (Dr) Ayyappa Paniker (1930-2006), the renowned Kerala poet and theoretician, scrawled a few cartoon poems during the Emergency (1975-77). These experimental poems are a part of literary modernism in Malayalam language. ‘Cartoon Poems’ have interiorized poems and cartoon in them. Cartoon is the satirical depiction of events and individuals. The medium of the cartoon is the scribbled lines of pencil like words are that of poems. Ayyappa Paniker combines the conventions of both cartoons and poems in cartoon poems. Cartoon poems can be easily transferred into cartoons as the themes and expression are like that. They are brief and compact. Professor Paniker’s “Cartoon Kavithakal” (Cartoon Poems) contains six ‘poetic scribblings’ (Mozhiyum Vazhiyum; 60 Mozhichinthukal, [Expression and Ways of Life]: 34-41, Rainbow, Chengannur, Kerala, 2003: Illustrations by O. Sunder). ‘Paatta’ (Cockroach) is a satire on those who indulge in lip-exercise which is neither productive nor progressive. ‘Moshanam’(Theft), ‘Kadukka’ (Bitter Medicine), ‘Thankachan’ and ‘Samacharam’ (News) are political satires inspired by the Emergency. The thief in ‘Moshanam’ justifies his actions and blames others for finding fault with him. In ‘Kadukka’, a child who unwillingly admits to take the bitter medicine is cartooned. ‘Thankachan’ is the word-doodle of a man who is born, lives and dies in angst. ‘Samacharam’ foregrounds the servile, sycophant and gossip mongering class centering the political nucleuses. ‘Rosily’ is the pleasant pen-picture of a father in law and the son, who are rustic drunkards. Poetic lines can be taken as the captions of the respective cartoons and the cartoons as the illuminating illustrations of poems.

INTRODUTION Literature of the modernist period was highly experimental in nature which is suggested by the term ‘avant-garde’. Imagism is one of the offshoots of modernism in western literary field. Growth of haiku and concrete poetry and acceptance of them as mainstream literary expressions bear testimony to it. The form helped defamiliarize the language to attract the attention of the hectic modern man. Like a fine photograph or cartoon these pen-pictures worth a thousand words. Sometimes these poems transform themselves into critical epigrams to perform some political functions.

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Dr. Ayyappa Paniker being one among the poets who instigated modernism in Malayalam literature, his Cartoon poems show the offbeat nature and are the response to the socio-political conditions of the time. Suggestion rather than overt comments makes a piece of work profound and paraphrasable which results in the surfacing of numerous texts in each reading. Thus a great work becomes an ensemble of interiorized texts. Cartoon also does the same. Other than a humorous plain level, it has an inner layer which is thought provoking and concerned to the corrupt system. In a way the theory of Interiorization put forth by Dr. Paniker can be a tool for his cartoon poems. (Interiorization, Ayyappa Paniker, Trns. By Krishna Rayan, 2003, Thiruvananthapuram: International Centre for Kerala Studies, University of Kerala.) The emergency in India (1975- 1977) declared by Mrs. Indiara Gandhi is considered by many as the infringement of the citizens’ right to freedom. People felt it a blemish to the Indian democracy. The government kept an eye to the actions of people of the country and put many behind the bars who sought and fought for what was denied to them. People are forced to live in angst. Many writers of the period raised their pen against it and some made it as a tool to pour the milk of eulogy where as some others kept culpable silence. Ayyappa Paniker, along with poet like Vyloppilli Sreedhara Menon, belongs to the first group. With the acumen of a cartoonist, Ayyappa Paniker stroke against the tyranny of the period by penning cartoon poems with spice of humour in it. Out of six cartoon poems, four centre round the emergency— Moshanam (Theft), Kadukka (Bitter Medicine), Thankachan and Samacharam (News). The words moshtavu and kallan have more or less the same meaning— thief— though the latter has an additional meaning— liar. The thief in ‘Moshanam’ complains that he was called a kallan who is actually a mere moshtavu. The strategy of the rulers to give good colours to their wrong-doings by juxtaposing more serious ones is mocked at here. Thus the thief generalizes and trivializes his actions. He stole clothes for the sake of the rest since his wearing the clothes saves their reputation as they will not be ashamed of seeing something bad! It is like the argument of the politicians who act against the interest of the people and fabricate the same to convince that it is for the sake of the people. Declaring emergency is for the sake of the country, indeed; they would say. He vindicates his further actions saying that whatever things he stole, namely chicken, milk etc., were good and not prohibited even by the doctor. He is of the view that a person who steals good things cannot be treated as a thief. Discipline is not prohibited and good for a country, incidentally: the advocates of tyranny would proclaim. He beseeches to change the system of calling people thieves who steal good things. The final couplet leads us intertextually to the exhortation of Kumaranashan to transform the vicious customs in his poem Duravastha— “Transform the rules; otherwise, the very rules will replace you.” Kadukka cartoons a child’s unwilling acceptance of the bitter medicine. The boy speaks to an elder lady whom he calls ammachi. “Without making further complaints, I will have the medicine”, he says. At the same time he passes his grudge towards her— “The bitter medicine gets transformed in to swear words in my mouth and makes me fierce”. Acceptance and protest coexist in the child as he is not able to defy her but wants to do so. “When I feel disgust after consuming all medicine, I will put the noose round your neck, lady” he concludes. The familiar

84 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015 images of a child drinking medicine unwillingly and the compelling mother are carried to the political conditions of the time where those in power inflict their diktats upon the subjects and which confines them in perplexity. The eponymous character in the poem Thankachan epitomizes the anxiety man under the surveillance of the system. He leads a life of permanent fear. When Thankachan was born, he feared birth. As a child, he feared rain. In his youth he had fear for lady and in old age, he was afraid of himself. When he dies he feared fear itself. “When Thankachan died, he feared fear. He carried all the fear. He never freed himself from fear.” ‘Samacharam’, another cartoon poem, pictures the stinking inner recesses of power centres. The class which acts as a retinue to the political kingpins follows the custom (aachram) of considering all pieces of news (samacharam) as mere ash (charam). (Note the rhyme). They indulge in rumours and flattery of which their masters are at the centre. “Wallowing about we are, Writhing and crumbling ourselves To know why the boneless fellow Got a small piece of bone yesterday” CONCLUSION Though they are less in number and terse in form, Cartoon poems of Ayyappa Paniker become a separate chapter in Malayalam literature as the stamp of the political conditions of the time is set in them. The form which was familiar in children’s literature was appropriated for serious rendering, making the element of humour still linger in it. Reference Professor Paniker, Cartoon Kavithakal (Cartoon Poems) Rainbow, Chengannur, Kerala, 2003: Ayyappa Paniker, Interiorization, Tranasalation by Krishna Rayan, (2003) Thiruvananthapuram, International Centre for Kerala Studies, University of Kerala

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A COMMENTARY ON THE WRITING TECHNIQUES IN CONFESSIONS OF AN ENGLISH OPIUM-EATER

Ditto Prasad Assistant Professor (FIP), Dept. of English, CMS College, Kottayam e.mail: [email protected]

ABSTRACT Confessional writing as a distinct genre has to itself not just the confession face, but also a play of language, representation and paradox. Though generally, confessional writing becomes a part of the act of self-representation, it holds to its credit the complexity of meeting the demands of an exterior (the readers). At once Romantic and Victorian, Thomas De Quincey contributed to this genre through his Confessions of an English Opium Eater (1821), thereby also inaugurating what may be termed as addiction literature. On identifying this work as a personal account, cross-examining the different aspects of such confessional compositions delving into its style, content and tone is probable. How much can an intoxicated author’s confessional be authentic? Are there any real confessions or are they mere justifications? “Is it paradoxical that personal essayists are often excruciatingly frank, yet protective of their privacy?”1

INTRODUCTION Thomas De Quincey (1785-1859), an English essayist and critic is best known for his Confessions of an English Opium-Eater published in the year 1821 in the London Magazine. Though autobiographical in tone with consideration to its content and style, it remains imperative to speculate on the multifaceted aspects of confession made by the author. Having experienced an unpleasant childhood, De Quincey at the age of 17, ran away to Wales and lived incognito in London. His friendship with a 15-year-old prostitute, Ann left a lasting impression on him. Reconciling with his family in 1803, he started his education in Worcester College. While at this University, a particular incident changed the entire course of his life, and Confessions of an English Opium-Eater 2 became one of the very few positive outcomes of his life. During a time when “opium itself was the opiate of the people”3, De Quincey’s life long relationship with his friend and foe- opium, began as early as 1804 from a meagre toothache. After 9 years, in 1813 he had become a regular and confirmed opium-eater and remained an addict for the rest of his life, concomitantly turning him into the prophet of opium.4 De Quincey’s motive in writing Confessions was to warn the readers of the dangers of opium usage. However, the book’s first part dealing with the pleasures of opium eating is in many ways more interesting and appealing to the readers than the second part which expounds the pains of opium eating. The writing style is journalistic and at the same time, the progression of thoughts and the regular chronological shifts make the reader contemplate on whether the book is nothing but a direct repercussion of an opium induced hangover. Thus, the authenticity of the narrator, in 86 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015 this case De Quincey, can be under scrutiny. This being mentioned, I would still like to turn my attention to the subjective details of the text and comment on its language and style. De Quincey directly writes about the many problems one faces when writing an autobiography and the process of writing itself. Neither does he want his readers to attain a sense of confidentiality in his writing nor does he want to be excessively explicit of his private life. This, he believes is his style of writing and the act of writing for him is just thinking aloud. Following his own lucid humour, he says, “and if I stop to consider what is proper to be said to this or that person, I shall soon come to doubt whether any part at all is proper” This attitude becomes the very essence of his frankness in writing. However, by stating his frankness, he is just making the readers feel that he is being candid. The book, in truth does not actually reveal anything more or less than what De Quincey intents/wants the readers to know especially on the details of other characters of the text. On the other hand, he succeeds in revealing all that the book stands for- opium and its effects. Quite interestingly, in the then Victorian society, the articulation of such a discourse itself is admirable. Most of De Quincey’s sentences are long and punctuated with intermittent semicolons and comas giving it a complex appearance with respect to language. By doing so, he keeps certain sets of ideas intact. Opium took a toll on De Quincey’s body and he confesses it by saying that “in no long time after that paper was written I became sensible that the effort which remained would cost me far more energy than I had anticipated.” Nevertheless, this weakening is not by any means evident in his writing. The way he introduces new topics and his method of digressions in the book is classical, chiefly because the new topics are substantiated with an explanation of the reason why he placed it there. Many a times, his writing makes it evident that he is anticipating the mind of the reader and how the reader thinks. In a certain paragraph, he remarks: “Those who have read the Confessions will have closed with the impression that I had wholly renounced the use of opium.” Here, we can see the mind of a writer concerned of what and how the reader feels for him. A desired effect he achieved by acknowledging the presence of the reader in the book is that the book reads like a manual. In the opening paragraph of the book itself he makes this point clear that the one prime reason for which he is writing this book is, “not merely to be an interesting record, but in a considerable degree useful and instructive.” A very fascinating method used by De Quincey to reveal the most important events in his life is by unveiling the dreams and hallucination that his opium intake forced him to see. Hayter in her study of the uncompromising relationship between opium and the expansion of the romantic mind states as such: De Quincey was the first writer, and he is perhaps still the only one to study deliberately, from within his personal experience, the way in which dreams and visions are formed, how opium helps to form and intensifies them, and how they are then re-composed and used in conscious art. (103) His discussion about dreams takes up a large part of the concluding portion of “The Pains of Opium.” The word ‘dream’ is one of the most overused words in the book, followed by ‘pain’ and ‘pleasure’. In the writing of this book, De Quincey uses dreams as a medium through which he is 87 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015 able to reach a nostalgic end. Nostalgia is yet another way through which his thoughts are conveyed to the readers. In fact, considering that the writer is writing an autobiography, the only medium through which he can travel to the past is through a yearning for the forgone memories coming to him in reverie. De Quincey believed that dreams represent the conscious. His dreams and nostalgia vary from romanticizing Ann and his short term relationship with her to pondering on the fact that he is not a student anymore, “the student’s cap no longer presses my temples”, subsequently followed by his ruminations on death. With a distinguished sense of self-revelation (of the person’s darkest secrets), confessional writing is always written in a first-person narrative style. The book in consideration has attained this end but confessional writing also aims at confessing sins and asking for repentance. The act of confession allowed for De Quincey, a combination of psychological, artistic and financial success and thereby creating a character Opium Eater who would last in literature.5In this sense, Confessions is a well written manoeuvred document, delving into and revealing the elements of an autobiographical discourse. De Quincey, in not even a single page hints that he regrets the usage of opium. Instead he states that “guilt, therefore, I do not acknowledge.” The book reads more like a tale of justification than that of a thorough confession. De Quincey uses the technique of asking rhetorical questions to the readers and to attain his desired effect, he asks, “Then I took—ask me not how much; say, ye severest, what would ye have done? A look at the questions asked by De Quincey leads us to the inference that more than often the questions are rhetorical and the following sentence is an address to the reader, like in (a) But who are they? Reader, I am sorry to say a very numerous class indeed. (b) In short, how do I do? Why, pretty well, I thank you, reader. CONCLUSION De Quincey’s Confessions deals with the many incidents of his life, some explicitly told by him and some left for the readers to interrogate. He proves that he is a master storyteller capable of using his words and ideas well enough to achieve an impact he yearned for. Whatever his intention was, upon writing the text, it has been a revelation for the whole of Europe on the different aspects of opium addiction, connecting the text of confessions from his interior personal life to an exterior. As a confused construct in itself, with overlapping systems of thought containing his experiences, it not only serves as an outpouring of confessions but also implicitly calls for a wider publicity. Works Cited 1. Berridge, Virginia. Opium and the People: Opiate Use in Nineteenth-Century England. Allen Lane: St. Martin’s Press. 1981. Print. 2. De Quincey, Thomas. Confessions of an English Opium Eater and Other Writings. W.Scott Publishing Company. 1886. Print. 3. Hayter, Alethea. Opium and the Romantic Imagination. USA: University of California Press. 1970. 4. Levin, Susan M. The Romantic Art of Confession: De Quincey, Musset, Sand, Lamb, Hogg, Frémy, Soulié, Janin. USA: Camden House. 1998. Print. 88 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015

HALABY’S ONCE IN A PROMISED LAND: A HUMAN RIGHTS PERSPECTIVE

Shihabudheen. C Assistant Professor, Dept. of English Amal College of Advanced Studies, Nilambur

ABSTRACT 9/11 is now about fourteen years old. It has passed into a discourse and even an academic discipline. One of its consequences was America’s War on Terror, a massive campaign to counter Terrorism. This war, certainly, was fought on two fronts, one overseas and the other domestic. The frantic security tightening of security measures within the US has had its negative impact on the Arab-Americans, since the Arabs were supposed to be the perpetrators of 9/11. Profiling, surveillance and other such steps sometimes cut at the very roots of human rights. Laila Halaby’s Once in a Promised Land depicts the sad and miserable predicament of the Arab-Americans in the US society. How American security strategies impinged on the life and freedoms is poignantly shown in the novel. This paper intents to take a brief at this aspect of the novel.

INTRODUCTION Literature has always been a promoter of human rights. Creative writers can very incisively throw light on the varied aspects of human rights. Literary works can, therefore, be seen as rich resources to study Human Rights concerns. The 9/11 terrorist attack and the subsequent military and other responses to it have given a fresh color to human rights issues and debate around the world. Laila Halaby, in fact, is an American novelist of Arab extraction. Her once in a Promised Land (2007) is a novel which explores human rights issues in the post-9/11 American context. This paper is an attempt to briefly look at this aspect of the novel. Halaby’s central concern in the novel is the predicament of the Arab-American community and the shifting nature of their existence in post-9/11 America. She unveils the fears, anxieties, obstacles, and the prodigious sense of insecurity and disenchantment experienced by the Arab- American diaspora in the wake of 9/11 and of the ‘war on terror’ fought on two fronts: domestic and overseas. The novel’s focus is on the war’s domestic front. The novel centers on the story of Jassim and Salwa Haddad, a couple of Jordanian and Palestinian background, who came to the U.S. in their early twenties. They are both of them university-educated professionals. Jassim, who has a PhD in hydrology, works with a consulting firm as an expert on water quality control. Salwa

89 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015 works at a bank. The childless couple lives a comfortable life in Tucson, Arizona. They are secular Muslims with little predilection for Islamic rituals and observances. In a sense, they have succumbed to the allure of American consumerism. Jassim has a lavish salary; he wears designer clothes and drives a Mercedes sedan. Salwa’s passion for silk nightwear has earned her the nickname “queen of silk pajamas”. In short, they have been more or less assimilated and integrated into the American society. However, with 9/11 winds of change begin to sweep across their life and existence, and they begin to see with clarity how the dominant white American society actually sees them, simply on account of their being of Arab-Muslim descent. They become acutely aware of their reality through a series of disheartening and humiliating experiences. They are now under greater surveillance and suffer more of discrimination, prejudice, and hostility. For instance, a few days after 9/11, when Salwa and Jassim are out shopping in a mall , Amber, a shop assistant , secretly calls security on Jassim. Enraged, Salwa confronts Amber. The conversation between the two is of note here: Why did you call that security guard on my husband? He just scared me. He just stood there and stared for a really long time, like he was high or something. And then I remembered all the stuff that’s been going on.’ Here the girl stopped and looked at her as though she were checking to make and she blurted, ‘My uncle died in the Twin Towers.’ Salwa knew something like this was coming, had been waiting for the moment when it became spoken. ‘I am sorry to hear that. Are you planning to have every Arab arrested now?’ (29.). This episode vividly shows the negative effects of the 9/11 surveillance culture that had sprung up from the Bush administration’s directive to the competent government agencies, and to the American public, to be vigilant and to report suspicious activities. Persons who seemed of “Arab extraction” and displayed “suspicious behavior” were viewed as potential “terrorists”. Amber’s actions and statements make it clear that Jassim is under “suspicion”. The attitude toward Arab- Americans suggests that racism, xenophobia were the immediate results of 9/11. Moreover, in post-9/11 America, racial discrimination has been a major cause for concern. It involves the denial of the basic human right to the equality. Hate based on race or ethnicity can lead to genocide, destruction of property and possessions, and to the flight of large numbers of people from their homes and homelands. Discrimination sometimes informs surveillance, too, as is seen in the Mall Scene. Surveillance, which has become a major issue these days, is the process of monitoring citizens’ behavior, and activities for the apparent purpose of managing, directing, or protecting them. This panoptic mechanism includes, among other things, observation from a distance by means of electronic equipment and interception of electronically transmitted information. In this context, it is interesting to note that on 11th Dec 2013, over 500 leading authors across the world, including five Nobel laureates, signed an open letter challenging the global mass surveillance of Internet and telephone communications by the US. National Security Agency and condemning the snooping as a “theft” of data and an illegal act undermining democratic principles. They argue that the capacity of intelligence agencies to spy on millions of people’s digital communications is turning everyone into a potential suspect, with worrying implications for the way societies work. In their 90 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015 letter titled “A stand for democracy in a digital age”, the authors state: ‘A person under surveillance is no longer free: a society under surveillance is no longer a democracy. To maintain any validity, our democratic rights must apply in virtuals as in real space”. Whether necessary or not for national security reasons, state surveillance is at odds with the human rights to privacy and freedom of movement. When out of prejudiced and suspicion, a particular community is targeted, surveillance could be unbearably excruciating to its members. This is what Laila Halaby shows through the experience of Jassim and his wife in the mall. Salwa’s encounter with the white American woman in the Bank Scene is also worth noting in this context. A white American woman comes to the bank to open an account. When Salwa tells her that he is a Palestinian from Jordan, the woman’s countenance falls. In anger and arrogance, she asks Salwa: . What does that mean? What do you mean that you are Palestinian from Jordan? Does it mean you will steal my money and blow up my world? (113) In the eyes of the white woman, Salwa is an outsider, a prospective manipulator of her accounts, an embezzler of her money, and a terrorist who will use it to blow up America. The woman’s reference to America as ‘my world’ reflects her territorial possessiveness. America belongs to her and to the white Americans, not to Salwa and the non-white Arab -Americans. The woman pig- headedly refuses to be served by Salwa and goes over to another white American official. Racial prejudice and the stereotyping of the Arab Muslim as bad and evil, as extremist and terrorist, Halaby seems to suggest, are all factors in the exclusion and marginalization of the Arab American Muslim. The white woman’s conduct, demeaning and humiliating as it certainly is, is a violation of the human right to equal, dignified, respectful, and non-discriminatory treatment. Halaby projects another act of human rights violation in the Accident Scene. Jassim’s car hits a boy, named Evan, on a skateboard and the boy dies. The boy is a hater of Arabs. Every Arab is in his view is a terrorist. In fact, he is so anti-Arab, and so proud of it, that he does not have any qualms about publicizing it. He has adorned his skate board with a sticker that reads “Terrorist Hunting License” (77). The FBI investigating the case is also prejudiced against Jassim, and they report that Jassim might have intentionally killed the boy. Though the FBI investigation concerns the car accident, they soon become more concerned about Jassim being the overseer of “testing and quality control of the water supply” (229) of the city of Tucson. The FBI agents interrogate him, asking him, among other things, even about his reaction to the events of 9/11. When asked, he describes his daily routine: “I swim, I work, I go home. Not unlike the rest of America I suspect.” (232) Jassim’s intention, obviously, is to convince the FBI that he is an American citizen through and through and that he loves America. Inordinately prejudiced as they are against Arab-Muslims and also against Arab-Americans of Arab descent, they distrust him. They are even apprehensive that he might do something to endanger Americans by abusing and tampering with the Tucson water supply system. Jassim’s attempt to dispel their suspicion is one of extreme agony : I am a scientist. I work to make water safe and available. I am a normal citizen who happens to be an Arab. Yes, I have access to the city’s water supply, but I have no desire

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to abuse it. The mere fact that I am an Arab should not add suspicion to the matter… Just because I am an Arab, because I was raised a Muslim, you want to believe that I am capable of doing evil. It is sometimes best to look within before casting such a broad net. Nevertheless, the FBI’s machinations cost Jassim his job. Innumerable clients cancel their contracts with Jassim’s consulting firm, and the firm terminates his services. Jassim is shocked and pained to the core. He feels that white-America has treated him pretty badly. He almost screams: “I speak your language. I pay taxes to your government. I play your game. I have a right to be here. How could this be happening?” (234) State surveillance, clubbed with deep- entrenched racial and cultural prejudice has cut at the very roots of Jassim and his family’s right to job, livelihood, and happiness. . With Jassim’s loss of job, the Salwa-Jassim couple’s cup of misery is full, and their American dream comes to an end. A job is a means of livelihood and, as such, is central to one’s familial security and happiness. The loss of the job multiplies Salwa and Jassim’s frustrations and accelerates the collapse of their marriage and familial life. Salwa slips into an affair with Jake, son of a white affluent diplomat. He is her colleague at the bank and a drug addict. Salwa, mistakes his flattery for genuine interest in her, her language, and her culture. Eventually, the affair comes to a very tragic end. When she visits Jake in his apartment to break up with him, he attacks her and repeatedly smashes a heavy silver picture frame on her head, the broken glass and metal bruising her face, while he screams: “Bitch! God dam fucking Arab bitch! You ruined everything!” (322). White America’s racial hate and the human rights negation inherent in it are well brought out through the collapse of the Jake-Salwa relationship, too. Such hate sometimes dangerously denies the immigrant citizen of the host country even the human rights he is entitled to. CONCLUSION Once in a Promised Land places the Arab-American community in the post 9/11 war-on- terror context of America. Halaby shows, through the tragedy of the Salwa-Jassim couple’s life, how America’s domestic war-on-terror had impacted on the Arab-American community. The US policy of intensive surveillance was particularly harmful to this community. Halaby’s sagacious exploration of it through the lives of Salwa and Jassim also shows the fact that in multi-ethnic and multi-cultural America, in the American social salad bowl, it could be entwined with and colored by racism, ethnicity, nationality, language, and the hostilities and prejudices deriving from them. In such a situation, state surveillance and other national security measures could pose a great challenge to human rights. The overall image of the post-9/11 US Arab-Americans projected in Once in a Promised Land is that of a community that has been denied fundamental human rights through the American state’s rigorous surveillance strategies. Works Cited Halaby, Laila. Once in a Promised Land: A Novel. Boston: Beacon, 2007. Print. Haugen, David M. Human Rights. Print.

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WOMEN AND WRITING: AN ANALYSIS OF VIRGINIA WOOLF’S A ROOM OF ONE’S OWN

Deepa Roy Assistant Professor in English, St Mary’s College Manarcaud, Kottayam Dist.

ABSTRACT Virginia Woolf grew up with the suffrage feminism of the early years of the twentieth century, and the struggles and debates of this period influenced all her writing. In the second half of the twentieth century, the resurgent women’s movement found significant expression in literary and cultural criticism and Woolf was granted centre stage in the debates that began to revolve around such questions as the existence and nature of a separate female literary tradition realist versus modernist writing as the most effective vehicle for a feminist politics. The place of feminist radicalism or anger in aesthetic practice, it is striking that Woolf has been used by so many different critics to exemplify one or another of a variety of incommensurate positions and that such weight has been attached to establishing her commitment to whichever position she is held to represent “Feminisms Woolf” when followed through might well provide the most detached and vivid history of the preoccupations and values of post war feminist literary and cultural criticism . INTRODUCTION The historicist turn in literary studies has also led to renewed interest in the nature of Woolf’s feminism and in particular of a rereading of those concepts of gender and sexuality which were highly influential in the early part of the century. In Virginia Woolf and the Real World Alex Zwerldling argues that we will not fully understand Woolf’s work until we see it as ‘a response to some of the received ideas of her time about women and the cause’. Woolf appears in A Room of One’s Own to attribute an aggressively masculinist ‘sex consciousness’ in men’s writing to the effects of the suffrage campaign-‘ it must have roused in men an extra ordinary desire for self assertion’ (ROO89) - though the passage must surely be surely be read in past ironically. The truly extraordinary fact, Woolf hints is that the patriarchal privilege had formerly been so little challenged that ‘a few women in black bonnets’ could produce such extreme fear and anger. Woolf also recognized that in the words of the sociologist Viola Klein, ‘the exaggeration of sex differences is one of the unconscious techniques of the masculine mind to maintain its feeling of dominance undisturbed when the ideology of feminine inferiority is losing its strength’. The proliferation of scientific, psychological ,philosophical and sexological theories

93 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015 of sex and gender in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century’s is satirized in A Room of One’s Own Throughout the book, the narrator emphasizes the fact that women are treated unequally in her society and that this is why they have produced less impressive works than men. She urges women to remember their current advantages as well as their contours of their unwritten history , and to see their own work not only as worthwhile in itself , but as part of the crucial preparation for women writers to come. Woolf threads a conceit of light and purity as a metaphor for genius. The word most frequently associated with genius is ‘incandescence’; for Woolf , genius objectively illuminates the reality of the world while not concerning itself with its owners personal grievances .The core argument of the text is that a woman needs money as well as a room of her own in order to express herself and to produce creative works. A Room of One’s Own has been the most influential book in the sphere of literary feminism. Woolf’s construction of an independent female literary tradition, a separate story of women’s literary tradition a separate story of women’s literary development has perhaps been the most significant model for feminist criticism and to the literary dimension of women’s studies. Woolf’s assertion that ‘we think back through our mothers if we are women’ , in the rhetorical contexts of A Room of One’s Own a more ambiguous claim than it would first appear , but it has proved an immensely powerful model of literary matrilinearity none the less . Woolf also constructs a literary history around women’s absence and exclusion pointing to the gaps on the library shelves. This model of silences ha s again been central to feminist accounts of women’s writing. In 1928 Woolf gave two lectures to women students at Cambridge with the title “Women and Fiction” and these formed the basis for A Room of One’s Own published the following year. Woolf retained the discursive form of the lecture .The book opens with a ‘but’ as if Woolf has intervened in the middle of a discussion with an apparent digression: ‘but you may say we asked you to speak about women and fiction- what has that got to do with a room of one’s own ? I will try to explain’ (ROO 3).As Woolf points out discussion of the ‘two questions’, women and fiction could lead anywhere or nowhere; she elected instead to begin with a conclusion – that ‘a woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction’ – and ‘to develop in your presence as fully and freely as I can the train of thought which led me to think this’. Emphasis is thus placed throughout the text on the process of, or journey taken by thought a foregone conclusion could imply a rigidly analytical or logical line of assignment but Woolf deliberately transgresses this opting instead for a free- associative method as in the psychoanalytic technique of exploring the unfolding of associations leading to an idea or a dream thought. Or at least this represents the textual ideal in fact Woolf dramatizes the ways in which the free subliminal movement of thought is repeatedly broken into by a series of male ‘censors’ who interrupt the line path or train or current taken by her associations and recall her to the reality principle of her inferior status as a woman . Her conclusion moreover is in no sense a neat summation of texts argument. A Room of One’s Own both intrigues and frustrates critics and readers in large part because of its inconsistencies. Woolf’s play with the links between rooms, thought and identity suggests that is A Room of One’s Own is at one level a satirical reworking of one of the key texts of European philosophy 94 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015

Descartes Discourse on Method. Descartes’ ability to construct a ‘method’ derives, he writes from his keeping to the straight road of reason and reflection, than those who run and wander off it. Woolf as we have seen charts her meanderings and the progression of her ‘trains of thought’ along roads and routes that are far from straight. Woolf’s nineteenth century women writers attempt to create a space for writing, the self not only confirms its substantiality but makes the transition from the autobiographical ‘I’ to the universal ‘I’ of epistemology, the Cogito. The question we could then pose to A Room of One’s Own is that of the nature of the (female) ‘I’ which will at some future date find itself in the eponymous room. CONCLUSION In fact concepts of both ‘I’ and ‘a room’ are called into question. Woolf desubstantialises the ‘I’ throughout the text; ‘I’ is only a convenient term, for somebody who has no real being; thoughts ‘think’ the narrator and ‘had me entirely at their mercy’ a reversal surely of the ‘I think therefore I am’ of the Cartesian Cogito. References Klein, Viola. The Feminine Character: History of an Ideology (1946) (3rd edition, London: Rout ledge, 1989), 59-60. Woolf, Virginia. Women and Fiction: The Manuscript Version of A Room of One’s Own, ed S.P Rosenbaum(Oxford:Blackwell,1991) Zwerdling, Alex. Virginia Woolf and the Real World (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1986), 211.

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PREDICAMENT OF IDENTITY IN DAVID MALOUF’S REMEMBERING BABYLON

Dr. Ancy Elizabath John Assistant Professor, Dept. of English Girideepam Institute of Advanced Learning (GIAL)Vadavathoor, P.O., Kottayam Dist.

ABSTRACT Identity invariably becomes the underlying theme and hallmark in all post-colonial literature embodying an entire string of post-colonial concepts, such as; place, displacement, otherness, ambivalence, hybridity, language, mimicry and so on. The quest for one’s identity and the need for belonging forms to be a human being‘s fundamental need. The term identity evokes questions relating to the consequential, psychological repercussion inflicted on the human mind and penetrates the most prominent in the key-concepts pertaining to the field of post-colonial theory.

INTRODUCTION History never provides us with just one truth. Remembering Babylon considered as one of the masterpieces of Australian literature was wrote during the political wake of the first strings of Aboriginal protest. The novel reflects the psychological and social reflexes of the White man’s policy towards the Australian continent and its native inhabitants. Aboriginal writing point towards the continuing call of ‘identity crisis’. Contemporary fiction in Australia reflects the conflicts between power and ownership, high and low cultures, traditional and contemporary writers. The traditionalist discourse set up an oppositional relationship between Australia and Britain. But the contemporary writers look in for reconciliation among the two to lessen the gap in terms of ‘margins’ and ‘periphery’. Malouf approach the story from different point of views and reflects on this sub liminality wherein he tries to create an in-between space, a threshold area. Remembering Babylon primarily addresses issues concerned with the impacts of colonialism and how the different aspects of colonialism affects the human psyche and gradually changes one person‘s or a group of people‘s sense of belonging. The novel takes a view of Australia‘s colonial past, vividly portrayed through a group of British settlers‘ first meeting with the vast country and its Aboriginal history. The story revolves around Gemmy, the half British, half Aboriginal boy, who has lived half his life growing up as a street boy in the British Isles and the other half living among an Aboriginal tribe in Australia‘s outback.

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The reader is allowed to view the story from different angles and is therefore open for deeper historical and contextual understanding of the Aborigines and settlers. Issues related to identity are shaped and re-shaped by history, environment and a feeling of belonging, all the characters in the novel experience a loss of identity, - national, cultural and social. Settlers in their meeting with the new and unfamiliar gradually undergoes emotional conflicts but gradually as time passes they adapt to their new existence, lose touch with their old self and unconsciously develop new identities. The characters in te novel are individuals of different backgrounds experiencing different life situations and all have different reasons for migrating to Australia but finally they all learn to reconcile themselves to form a new identity with the new geographical roots they have established. Remembering Babylon demonstrates how the two fields of literature and history interconnect with one another. Malouf initiates a whole string of questions concerning the Australian identity revisiting generations back in time to find out the real history beyond the two hundred years after Captain Philip Cook raised Britain‘s flag at Sydney cove, from where official history of Australia is documented. Australia as every colonized country has suffered from severe identity issues which have affected the cultural development till today. The agency of identity when discussed in relation to Australian nationality, the first aspect to be considered is on the aboriginal population who are the real denizens of the land. Their loss of the land and the destruction of the natural habitat after the intervention of the settlers was a serious issue which still has not been resolved. Secondly, the issue of the British settlers who were put up in slavery in their own homeland and was exiled to this land as convicts. And thirdly, the new wave of Asian immigrants. All this express a feeling of uncertainty about the country‘s future. In Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, the word “identity” is defined as “a person`s name or who they are […] the qualities and attitudes that a person or a group of people have, that make them different from other people.” Acclaimed post-colonial theorist and author of Orientalism, Said, focus on the differences and disparities between the colonizer and the colonized Remembering Babylon breaks with the conventional view of the colonizer as the oppressor and the colonized as the oppressed. By making the unknown familiar, characters overcome personal boundaries which able them to connect with the land, and come into contact with the spiritual and full self. The novel manages to create a different experience of the past, by bringing characters to life that elsewhere in history appear faceless and silently merge into the bigger crowd. Many white Australians who fear that the growing Asian population will have a negative impact on Australian culture. By white Australians, the Asian immigrants have been criticized for neglecting the Australian culture, which they seem to have little interest in adapting to. The absence of a unified, Australian identity challenges Australia as it is rapidly developing into a multicultural nation with a mixed population of Aborigines, white Australians and Asians. The novel‘s portrayal of the conflict between the two opposing groups, the white settlers who underwent a personal crisis of identity in the new continent, and the cultural changes to which the Aborigines were forced upon increases the confusion. The novel sheds light on current issues relating to indigenous groups living in the outskirt of the modernized world, which still today, experience much condemnation.

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Malouf views the colonization process from several angles, and illuminates the fact that members of a seemingly homogenous group may experience the same situation differently from one another. The strong feeling of being a misfit which characterizes the neither-white-nor-black character Gemmy may be said to mirror the settlers‘ experience of having lost their sense of self in their meeting with the new, strange country and its alien culture. The overwhelming feeling of not belonging which affects both Gemmy and the settlers runs as a connective thread throughout the story and evokes a string of questions revolving around the ageless theme of identity . As Ashcroft says ‘[w]e discover that who you are is vitally connected with where you are, (Ashcroft 58). The Aborigines are a developed and mostly peaceful people that the Europeans ravaged with both violence and disease in their colonization of Australia. They believed in magic based on nature and the earth. Their belief was that there were spirits that needed to be respected or feared and magic that needed to be replenished when necessary. The earth was believed to give energy and all the natural resources’ were believed to be a rebirth of their ancestors. Here lies the greatness and inseparable attachment with which Aborigines were tied up to their land. For them the very thought of having private property and settlement was out of Aboriginal life. The aborigines had a very complex culture that was not understood by the settlers. They had very complex skills, used for hunting and communication, which the settlers could have learned from. The minister, Mr. Frazer, finds that Gemmy’s knowledge about the local habitat is valuble and they work to categorize the various kinds of plants and fruits in the area. Gemmy shows him what uses the different plants have and which ones are edible. This shows how Aborigines were the real masters in their land. Mr. Frazer uses the information to write a report showing how the colonists can make use of the native crops. Like Remembering Babylon the post-colonial theme of identity is evident in many of Malouf’s novels like; Fly Away Peter (1982) The Great World (1990), The Conversations at Curlow Creek (1996), Dream Stuff (2000) Remembering Babylon demonstrates how the two fields of literature and history interconnect with one another. David Malouf novel becomes a counter discourse where he analyzes the concept of shared suffering by exploring indigenous and non-indigenous trauma, colonial history and indigenous culture. The novel throws light on the Australian landscape which clearly portray how important is their environment to understand the vagrant humanity adrift in a world of echoing space and silence. Works Cited 1. Ashcroft, Bill. ‘The Return of the Native’. Commonwealth 16.2 (1993): 51-60. 2. Andrew Taylor. ‘ David Malouf, Remembering Babylon’. WESTERLY: Vol. 38, No. 3,SPRING, 1993, Pages 123 – 125. 3. Bhabha Homi. An Introduction to Post-Colonial Theory. Routledge: London,1995. 4. Jones, Jo. ‘Ambivalence, Absence and Loss in David Malouf’s Remembering Babylon’ .Australian Literary Studies;Vol. 24 Issue 2, 2009. p69. 5. Malouf David. Remembering Babylon. Paperback: Random House, 1993.

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DIASPORIC FEMALE IDENTITY IN INTERPRETER OF MALADIES

Sreelakshmi K.P. P.G.Scholar (English), Baselius College, Kottayam

ABSTRACT Indian writers have been making a significant contribution to world literature since Independence. However, there is a great deal of Indian writers with few themes that loosely link them together the issues of identity and language; for example, the themes of exile and Diaspora which have been focal points of most of the Indian fiction. The immigrant experience, the question of identity and the expatriate experience continue to furnish remarkable material for fiction. The migration has become one of the most important issues of the contemporary world. Travelling and adapting across cultures have turned into major issues and concern of the contemporary globalizing environment. Jhumpa Lahiri’s works deal with the dilemmas and conflicts based on Diaspora. The Short story collection is a mirror that holds the reflection of the complications of immigrants and women in Indo- American community.

INTRODUCTION Interpreter of Maladies indicates interpreter of emotional pain and affliction. The nine stories are examples of various aspects of Indian immigrants living in America. Indian Heritage is the basis of her short stories in which she deals with the question of identity, alienation and the plight of those who are physically and psychologically displaced. The work reveals her admirable grasp of biculturalism and reliable style. Lahiri’s stories describe universal sympathy, the break up of identities, the alienation and sense of loneliness experienced by all immigrants. The psychologist Erik Erikson defines identity crisis as the failure to achieve ego identity during adolescence . It is an unresolved crisis which leaves individuals struggling to’ find themselves’. Interpreter of Maladies is the story of an Indian-American couple Raj and Mina Das who comes to Indian along with their three children. They hire a tour guide, Mr.Kapasi. Besides working as a guide, he also works as an interpreter in a Doctor’s office. Mina Das reveals a long kept secret to Mr.Kapasi hoping that he might provide a remedy for this. The thematic conclusion is also clear, in order to overcome the maladies, one has to interpret them and seek refuge in one’s own self.

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The story is about Mr and Mrs Das born and raised in America, although their retired parents have now moved to India. Soon after marriage as Raj becomes busy with his teaching assignments, life became dull for Mina: “she was left at home all day with the baby… Always cross and tired” (64). Her problems were further complicated when she conceived her younger son Bobbie because of a sexual encounter with a friend of her husband. She tells Kapasi about her ‘secret’, though her husband Raj “doesn’t even suspect it” (65). Kapasi, because of his typical Indian background and patriarchal ideology can’t understand the complicated situation. Mina has been through as a young lonely housewife and mother. Mina is not ready to accept that it is her guilt that makes her suffer. Kapasi believes that like Raj and Mina, he and his wife were a bad match. The narrative focus is generally on the female protagonist: a lonely individual struggling to come to terms with her new environment, oppressive matrimonial or extramarital relationship, an alien culture, social and economic security or her natural support to survive with an identity of her own. There is no attempt to present the matrimonial relationships explored in these stories as typical representative of Indian or even expatriate Indian population in general. Mina’s ‘secret’ for Kapasi is a matter of unfaithfulness and traces her pain and suffering to her feelings of guilt. In the story, Lahiri shows the difficulties that Indians have related to Americans and the ways in which Indians and Americans are caught in the middle of two different cultures. Mr. Kapasi wishes for a close connection with Mrs.Das, but when she finally does leak her secrets, her affairs, her true feelings about her husband, Mr.Kapasi is overwhelmed and disgusted. In the story Mr.Kapasi plays the role as a cultural broker, tour guide and interpreter for a doctor. As a guide he shows English speaking Europeans and Americans the sight of India as an interpreter, he helps the ailing from another region to communicate with their physician. He admits that he is only an interpreter of languages, not of her guilt. These relationships explore the idea of displacement through isolation and identity both cultural and personal. The role of Mina can be compared to Nora of Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House. Locked within the mould of the perennially bewitching child-wife ,Nora is denied all claims to intelligence and identity. When Helmer, her husband reminds Nora that’ before everything else ,you are awife and a mother ,Nora flashes back- I don’t believe that any longer, I believe that before everything else I am a human being -just as much as you are…(84). The husband with his patriarchal ideology almost completely ignores the individual needs of the wife. Camera is the symbol in this story. Mr. Das’ camera represents his inability to see the world clearly. Mr. Das misses the realities around him. All characters are defined by isolation of some form or other: husbands and wives, immigrants from their families and homes, children from their parents. In this isolation, the characters feel that they are missing something very important to their identities. The women have their subjectivities defined by the male perspectives and are kept as objects of male fancies and desires. Though Indian Constitution guarantees equal rights for women with men, we notice that even after Independence, their status has not improved much and they remain 100 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015 disadvantaged group in many ways. Many reasons can be attributed to this pitiable state. In the Indian society men have always control knowledge and even interpreted classical texts. To the Indian society, Sita of Ramayana represents the epitome of proper wife and the model to be emulated. Then it is not surprising that in such a society women have lost the power of explaining and defining themselves and realities of their experiences. It is the man who decides everything and who must be always obeyed. The paradox inherent in woman’s predicament is such that she is forced to occupy a menial subordinate position. On the one hand in the affairs of social intercourse, but at the same time she is glorified as the Goddess on the other hand. The wifely role is one of subordination, devotion and dutifulness. From childhood begins, a girl’s training is how to be a good wife. She learns that as womanly virtues she should have submission and docility as well as skill and grace in various household tasks. Her devotion to her husband should extend to his family members also. It is strictly instructed in the strictures that even though the husband is destitute of virtue and seeks pleasure else where he must be worshipped by a faithful wife. So Indian wives are “pativrathas”, subservient and the Indian tradition has always applauded their self-effacement and promoted their subjection. By the effects of cultural conditioning in the mind of a person, other than personal qualities inherited from his parents, there operate the standards and tastes of the social class to which he belongs. Erik.H.Erikson has pointed out the relation between the individual and his communal culture in the discovery of a person’s self. This longing for self-awareness is present in every individual. A feeling of self-sameness rejuvenates the individual that it is followed by a sense of identity and integration with his community. During this process he experiments with various roles. They are accepted and rejected for a better one. This is what Erikson calls ‘identity diffusion’. The failure to reach proper identity makes him a split personality whose actions do not reveal his true self. Nora and Mina are victims of women in a claustrophobically conservative society, where their natural talents are not allowed to blossom, and where they are sacrificed at the altar of respectability. CONCLUSION In the story, Mina is un able to reveal his true self. Mr.Das firmly believes that Mina is his apt better half and she has immense love towards him. Even though theirs is a love marriage, after the sexual encounter with the Punjabi she has been disillusioned. Mr.Das loves Bobbie as his own child, whenever Mina sees this; she has a prick in his conscience. It may not be a huge problem for Western culture but Mr.Kapasi who is an Indian thought it is as her insincerity. The love he felt for her disappeared in a second when he came to know about her ‘secret’. The story gives a close view on the predicament of Mrs. Das. We find her as a bird caged within the bond of family. She is married and lived with initial romanticism, but gradually as the romance gone she becomes a victim of boredom and ennui. Mrs. Das tries to find solace in their children. Ignoring Mr.Das completely, she seeks her refugee at the end of the story, in her parental duties, nursing injured Bobby ,her illegal son. She has a special care for Bobby and it is revealed in the last. It can be considered as a protest from her side to Mr.Das. She always has an aversion to Mr.Das; it is clear through

101 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015 her conversations. Their love marriage ended in disappointment, she loses her identity forever and her children or her position as a mother is his only solace. She decides to live the rest of her life in the identity of ‘mother’. Work Cited 1. Bala Suman,ed.Jhumpa Lahiri,the Story Teller : A Critical Response to Interpreter of Maladies. New Delhi: Koshla Publishing house,2002. Print. 2. Barry Peter. Beginning Theory. New Delhi: Viva Books.Pvt. Ltd,2012. Print. 3. Lahiri Jhumpa. Interpreter of Maladies .UK: Haper Collins Publishers,1999. Print. 4. Isben Henrik. A Doll’s House. New Delhi: Dorling Kindersley Pvt. Ltd,1992. Print. 5. Thakur.S. “Displacement in Jhumpa Lahiri’s Interpreter of Maladies”.Web. 24sept2014.,shodhaganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstrem/10603/10930/8/08>.

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SILENCING VOICE AND VOICING SILENCE: ADDRESSING INHABITED MUTENESS IN SHASHI DESHPANDE’S A WALL IS SAFER

Bijitha P. P.G. Scholar (English), Baselius College, Kottayam

ABSTRACT Shashi Deshpande is a major contemporary Indian woman writer whose fiction can be read as a manual to understand how the tendered identity in the Indian society. She always tries to show that the traditional norms of our Indian society mould women’s inner life and encourage them to put up with the insensitivity of the male ethos. Her woman characters are very much conscious of their marginalised position in the male dominated society and want to achieve their individuality. In all her works, she shows how the independence of the girls is limited by the social norms of the male dominated society. Whatever liberty is given to the boy is denied to girl. Even the birth of a daughter is considered as misery. The girls are encouraged by the society to play their roles such as daughter, wife, and mother. They are not supposed to do anything more constructive and creative than man. Deshpande writes her short stories within the frame work of socio literary themes and institutions such as home, family, society of Indian middle class. Gender indifference is the centre of her writings. She doesn’t write for a specific reader. Her stories can be categorised as those which mirror the reality. Most of her stories are subjugated position of woman in India. Her stories are primarily centered on family relationships between husband and wife, mother and daughter. She gives importance to the problems faced by woman as daughter, wife and a mother. My attempt is in this paper is to talk about how women are considered as marginalised, voiceless groups in the patriarchal society, which is highlighted in Deshpande’s short story A wall is safer

INTRODUCTION Deshpande believes that in India there is a wrong notion of feminism and argues that walking away from tradition and tantrum do not constitute feminism in real sense. According to Deshpande feminism is for the betterment of life of a woman. Feminist criticism is characterized by its political commitment to the struggle against all forms of patriarchy and sexism, it follows that the very fact of being female does not necessarily guarantee a feminist approach. In her incisive essay, ‘Are Women’s Feminist Novels?’ Rosalind Coward discusses the general confusion of feminist with female writing, both within the women’s movement and in publishing and the other media. ‘It is just not possible to say that woman-centered writings have any necessary relationship to feminism’,(Page no.120), Coward argues. Behind the frequent confusion of feminist with female texts is a complex web of assumptions. It is for example, often assumed that the very fact of

103 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015 describing experience typical of women is a feminist act. On the other hand this is obviously true: since patriarchy has always tried to silence and repress women and women’s experience, rendering them visible is clearly an important anti-patriarchal strategy. Deshpande’s short stories deal with the subjugated position of women in India. In her short story “A Wall is Safer”, she talks about the protagonist Hema, she forgoes her lawyer’s profession and settles in a remote village along with her husband who is an agricultural scientist. She has done it as she has other alternative. The reason for her action is that she cannot tolerate month of separation from her husband. Though she keeps on saying that, she is at pace with her life, she has the grief that she cannot continue with profession, she gives importance to her husband’s satisfaction. This is evident in the following line.” I go to bed in good mood , but I am surprised by a fierce of surge of longing to be one of those women who carry their work about with them – a writer, a painter, a musician”( Page no. 99) She even has a hint of envy on looking her husband’s job satisfaction. This is evident in the line “I only know that I bitterly envy Vasant, when he comes home tired, satisfied and full of what he has been doing”(Page no. 98). Deshpande’s Hema is not only concerned with her own emotions and worries but also forceful acceptance of the patriarchal norms to balance the social status. Marriage is the be-all and end-all for a women. They don’t have control over their lives, lose their decision making ability and freedom of choice. They recognise the need for change but at the same time they continued to cling to the old values in which they have been brought up. Our traditional society which follows the precepts of Manu (Manu Smruthi) does not grand women’s identity separate apart from that which she has a daughter, a wife, a sister or a mother. She shows through her stories that even in modern times, women are regarded as inferior to men in spite of their economic independence and high educational standards. Her stories portray how society allows the woman to get education and get into job without allowing her to go out of the traditional framework ordained for her as a wife and a mother. Apart from this aspect, she proves through her stories that women’s education and aspirations do not allow them to fit in the socially ordained groove which results in their loneliness and alienation. As a result the women readers of the present age can identify themselves with the characters and feel comfortable with her stories. Shashi Deshpande’s protagonists carry within their consciousness, the burden of the past generation of women’s sufferings. The protagonist Hema represents a typical Indian woman, who use to sacrifice everything for the well being of the family. John Stuart Mill in his essay “Subjection of Women” says that the relationship between a husband and wife is like a patriarchal master and slave, who tides his slave thorough emotional caring. She argues that that women are not participated in the process of word making, stories, myths and legends in our puranas and epics. It has been written by men. Women have been continued by myth to a great extent “ to be pure as Sita”, “as loyal as Draupade” “as beautiful as Lakshmi”, “as strong as Durga” etc. In this short story, there are five characters such as Hema, Vasant, Sushama, Ramachandra and Sitabai. When the story starts, Hema is waiting for her servant Sitabai because Ramachandra brought her a letter from Vasant. She thinks that the names Ramachandra and Sitbai are perfectly matched names, but not perfectly matched couples. This comparison indicates that the dissatisfactory

104 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015 life of Hema with Vasant also. Here Hema is unable to rise her voice because she is boxed up with homely responsibilities. A man can go with his own profession, but not a woman. For the sake of her family she devoted herself and give up her job. When everybody goes out, she thinks to built a wall around the house. But metaphorically the wall signifies the protection, the privacy, the freedom, security etc of Hema. Usha Bande remarks that “Deshpande’s novels and short stories primarily explore experiences of expression of Indian women in the domestic set up, experiences which are rooted in the presumption that a women is an inferior being of carrying the burden of being an unwanted female child, of having to battle an ingrained deeply entrenched patriarchal of which all give rise to problem specific to their sex”. On the other hand Deshpande tries to bring the two shades of women’s character. Sitabai who belongs to a lower class, working very hard to look after her baby. Her weeding and actions indicates her power of quality. She is portrayed as a woman who fight against the patriarchal norms. She is uneducated, but she is voiced. On the other hand Hema, an educated middle class woman is unable to fight back her conditions, she is voiceless. CONCLUSION Deshpande attempts to reconstruct the numerous level of patriarchal and sexist bias employed towards girls and women in Indian middle class society, particularly in marriage or within the family set up. the women are exploited by the social conditions and beliefs - thus each becoming a victim of socio-cultural constructions one way or the other. To be at norm with the society they have to sacrifice something or the other. Due to their patriarchal mind-set ingrained from their childhood via socialization they fail to walk out of the traditional norm. Her stories can be categorized as those which mirror the reality examining the subjugated position of woman in Indian society and the stories that mend the situation depicting the woman s positive reaffirmation of herself. But in all these stories she hardly allows her women to move away from the traditional norms of the society. Her stories generally centre on family relationships – the relationship between husband and wife, mother and daughter. The conflicts faced by a woman as a wife, a mother and a daughter are given importance. Thus, it is very evident that Sashi Despande has a rare perception and awareness of the dilemma facing the women in society which is predominantly patriarchal. She presents the silencing patriarchal voices ingrained in the society and psyche and also how women manage to find their voices after wading through the inhabited muteness. Works Cited 1. Barry Peter. “Beginning Theory: An Introduction To Literary And Cultural Theory”. UK: Manchester University Press, 2009, Print 2. Deshpande Shashi. “Collected Stories Vol- 1”. New Delhi: Penguin Books Ltd, 2004. Print. 3. Kurian Shobhana. “Breaking The Silence”. New Delhi: Ani Books Pvt Ltd, 2013. Print 4. Manjari Shukla. “Scratching The Labels: A Feminist reading of Shashi Deshpande’s Select Short Stories”. Web. 2014. www.pintersociety.com 5. Vishnupriya NS. “Shashi Deshpande’s Stories” Web. 2010. www.musindia.com

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IMAGINED MORE THAN A WO(MAN): A RETROSPECTION OF APHRA BEHN’S TO THE FAIR CLARINDA ON QUEER THEORY

Blessan Sara Philip P. G. Scholar (English), Baselius College, Kottayam Kerala

Queer theory is a field of post-structuralist critical theory that emerged in the early 1990s out of the field of queer studies and women studies. One of the main points of post-structuralism was to ‘deconstruct’ binary opposition showing firstly, the distinction between paired opposites is not absolute. Queer theory expands its focus to encompass any kind of sexual activity or identity that falls into normative and deviant categories. It has been associated mostly prominating with bisexual, lesbian, gay, transgender subjects. Aphra Behn’s To the Fair Clarinda is a love poem with surprisingly modern sensibilities. In this playful, candid erotic piece the female speaker addresses her lover Clarinda, who though biologically female, plays both masculine and feminine roles in her sexual conquests of woman. The speaker begins the poem by confidently addressing Clarinda as “fair lovely maid” (1) and suddenly rethinking the inadequacy of the gender specific titles she momentarily bypasses the problem by simply applying calling her both “fair lovely maid” (1) emphasizing her feminine beauty and “lovely charming youth” (4) suggesting the masculine charm, but cannot be entirely genderless. In The History of Sexuality V.1, Foucault writes that “homosexuality came to be conceived of as a kind of hermaphrodism of the spirit, as soul which is both male and female, in away that transcends the mere physicality of the body”. The next section of the poem sees Clarinda not as a world at large might label her, but rather as she appears to the speaker in the course of flirtation and seduction. The speaker explains: “This last (the youth) will justify my soft complaint, While that (the maid) may serve to lessen my constraint” (5-6) It is Clarinda’s masculine half, says the speaker, with which she has fallen in love and that justifies her sexual feelings. Some critics have commented that the poem is a celebration of lesbian love. In the sight of the world Clarinda is a woman but only the speaker is aware that she is actually a hermaphrodite. In the first lines of the poem, Clarinda is a woman and the speaker loves her which may imply the lesbian feminism, later her masculinity is revealed which proves that she is a hermaphrodite. The speaker adds playfully: “For who, that gathers fairest Flowers believes A Snake lies hid beneath the Fragrant leaves” (16-17) 106 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015

The world is deceived by Clarinda’s outward beauty and womanly appearance. Clarinda looks like a woman or a “fair flower” and so no one knows there is a male part of her, a “Snake” a phallic symbol which denotes the masculine sex organ which gives relevance to the title…Imagined more than a wo(man). The description of Clarinda in the first stanza sets up a second, more erotic meaning for these last lines. As well as describing Clarinda’s androgyny, the first stanza makes several references to the physical act of love, alluding to Clarinda’s naked form (“when so much beauteous woman is in view”), suggesting tumultuous sexual play or forceful seduction with “we struggle but in vain,” and finally explicitly praising non-penetrating sexual activity: “In pity to our sex sure thou wer’t sent, That we might Love, and yet be Innocent” In the couplet that concludes the first stanza, the speaker’s increasingly physical language emerges as full-blown fantasy in which Clarinda is literally both male and female, anatomically hermaphroditic. The image of the phallic snake leaves no doubt that the speaker is enjoying the idea of her lover with male as well as female genitalia. In the speaker’s imagination, Clarinda physically reflects what the speaker already knows to be figuratively true. Queer theorists scorn traditional definition of “homosexual” and “heterosexual”. There is no strict demarcation between male and female. Instead, queer theorists say, taking their cue from the historian Michel Foucault, sexuality exerts on a continuum, with some people preferring sex partners of the opposite sex, others preferring partners of both sexes. Queer theory insists that all sexual behaviors, all concepts linking sexual behaviors to sexual identities, and all categories of normative and deviant sexualities, are social constructs, set of signifiers which create certain types of social meaning. Later, the speaker refers to a mythology, imagining Clarinda as “soft Cloris with the dear Alexis joined” (18). Here the ambiguous use of ‘joined’ indicates both Clarinda’s androgynous personality and suggests the sexual nature of a union of opposites-Cloris and Alexis combined in Clarinda’s body through act of joining or sexual intercourse which reiterates that Clarinda is a hermaphrodite rather than giving importance to her homosexuality. And the speaker’s pun on Hermis and Aphrodite, where a woman can experience both friendship and sexual love than a man can compete. In relation to the poem, it simply does not matter about one’s sexual identity; ‘queer’ is what one does, rather than what one is. As David Halpherin puts: “Queer is by definition whatever is at odds with the normal, the legitimate, the dominant. There is nothing in particular to which it necessarily refers. It is an identity without an essence”. In other words, queer will be the opposite of whatever dominates. The most despised sexual castes currently include transsexuals, transvestites, fetishists, sadomasochists, sex workers such as prostitutes and porn models and the lowliest of all, where eroticism transgresses generational boundaries. CONCLUSION The old religious taboos were primarily based on kinship forms of social organization. Sex laws derived from Biblical pronouncements which aimed at preventing the acquisition of the wrong

107 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015 kinds of affinal partners: incest, the same gender (homosexuality), or the wrong species (bestiality). Queer is innately transgressive, challenging and subversive. Judith Butler acknowledges that, however, to be in gender is to be perpetually in gender ‘trouble’. Queer readings are deconstructive and post-structuralist, they read ‘natural’ structures as constructed, silences as speech and bodies as highly contested. Queer theorists, therefore, often prioritize the ‘collapsed’ binary in the readings, focusing particularly on the transgressive states of acting a gender in opposition to the body. Drag, transgender, same-sex desire, cross dressing, sexually active children, men in a single sex group, artificial insemination- all of these and more have the potential to be queer practices that challenge heterosexuality’s binary categories of gender. Works Cited 1. Barry, Peter, Beginning Theory: An Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory (Manchester University Press, 3rd edn, 2009).pp.138. 2. Behn, Aphra, To the Fair Clarinda (First published in A Miscellany of New Poems by Several Hands, 1688).Print. 3. Leitch, Vincent.B, The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism (W.W.Norton & Company. New York. London, 2nd edn, 2010).pp.2389. 4. http://blogs.bcu.ac.uk/virtualtheorists/gender-queer-theory.web.

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IDENTITY AND POETRY

Cijo Joseph Assistant Professor, Kristu Jyoti College of Management and Technology Kurisummoodu P.O, Chethipuzha, Changanassery, Kottayam, Kerala-686104 e.mail: [email protected]

ABSTRACT This research paper tries to explore the sense of identity that has been the hallmark of many female writers and how their inherent social and political identities shape and mould their literary identities in the course of their literary careers. The writers, in question, in this paper are Kamala Das, Sylvia Plath and Meena Alexander. These female writers had been influenced by the politico –social environments in which they lived and worked time in and time out. In fact their literary identities cannot be separated from the societies they functioned as literary figures of merit. When the topic ‘Voice of the Voiceless’ is mentioned, people have the propensity to think in terms the discrimination being faced by linguistic and cultural minorities and the problems being faced by Dalits and other marginalized people in the society.But, the fact of the matter is that many women writers of consequence had to adapt to a situation wherein they had to make compromises in terms of their writings. They had to write in such a way so as to reflect the styles of writings carried out by the male writers of the society in a stark manner. In this compulsion to adhere to the male literary structures of the world of literature, many female writers of the past had to express their literary abilities as per the predetermined male opinions concerning literature. The three female poets, in question, in this research paper, had broken away from this trend of hiding their real identities and views. They in fact had come out with their views concerning literature and social issues through their poems. This kind of open rebellion created a whole lot of problems for them from the traditionalists in the society. They weathered that storm by clinging on to their true identities. This paper, in a way, delves deep into their true identities in the light of their poems and also brings forth the voice of these seemingly voice less female poets in terms of their description of themes with respect to their literary creations.

INTRODUCTION The poems of different poets have the inherent theme of identity in them; the personality of a poet has so much to do with the poems of that poet. The poems of different poets are born out of theme of identity. When a poet expresses his identity in a poem, it can be played out in different forms and dimensions. So many internal and external factors contribute to the articulation of the theme of identity in a poem written by a poet. But one thing which should be given primary importance in exploring the theme of identity in a poem is that what is the reason behind the poet’s 109 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015 determination to find out his true identity and the expression of it later on his poetry? In this context three female poets poems are adequate examples in the expression of theme of identity. These three female poets come from different backgrounds which would enable the readers to understand how the identity of a particular poet is evolved and nurtured. The identity, a poet is expressed in a poem solely because of the need of the poet to pour out what he/she feels about a particular event or incident and he/she should react to such a dramatic development. The background of a poet plays an important role in the formation of identity of a poet. The three female poets whose poems are under discussion here to find out the theme of identity in them are Kamala Das, Sylvia Path and Meena Alexander. These three poets have made fundamental inroads into the cultural and literacy fields of the societies in which they work and operate. Their poems are legendary. They express in a clear –cut and comprehensive manner about anything under their consideration. They are not constrained by the different pressures on them. They always take a straight –forward line with respect to different principles, concepts, ideologies, ideals and issues in a society. Kamala Das is very well-versed in the technique of articulating the theme of identity in her poems. In her different poems she gives importance to her true inner feeling than anything else. She removes the veil of misconception about different things by expressing herself well through her poems. She, in fact, confesses her identity through her poems. She doesn’t budge an inch with respect to the expression of her own feelings and identity. She speaks frankly through her poems about her true identity. In her autobiographical novel My Story, she expresses her thoughts about society at large, these thoughts are part of her own identity in a society which she thinks doesn’t go in tandem and conformity with her own whims and fancies. I needed to disturb society out of its complacence. I found the complacence a very ugly state. I wanted to make women of my generation feel that if men could do something wrong; they could do it themselves too. I wanted them to realize that they were equal. I wanted to remove gender difference I wanted to see that something happened to society, which had strong inhabitations and which only told lies in the public (Kaur 5) Kamala Das’s identity is closely related to her strong views on feminism and other matters. She is not able to disentangle herself from the clutches or shackles, being placed on her in the forms of her articulation of feminism. Then the question arises, does feminism have anything to do with the identity of a female poet? The answer to such a question is a straight- forward yes. The issues confronting women are given adequate attention by female poets, when the society is in a state of confusion with respect to its treatment of women. A female poet cannot keep quite through her poems, she has to express what she feels about the mal treatment of women by a male dominated society. Such an expression has its own validity and credibility solely because such articulations are born out of the identity of a female poet. She only expresses what she intensely feels and experiences as a social and family human being. So the identity of a poet has relevance in this context in which socially sensitive issues related to women are discussed and deliberated upon. So in that way the poetry of a poet is interlinked with his/her identity.

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Kamala Das in her poem. An Introduction gives out her identity in a comprehensive and holistic manner. The lines of this poem are straight-forward articulation of her views regarding her identity. Who are you; I ask each and every you’re. The answer is, it I. Anywhere and everywhere, I see the one who calls himself. I; in this world, he is tightly packed like the sword in its sheath. It is I who drink lamely drinks at twelve, midnight, in hotels of strange towns. It is I who laugh, it is I who make love and then feel shame, and it is I, dying with a rattle in my throat. I am sinner, I am saint. I am the beloved and the betrayed, I have no joys which are not yours no. Aches which are not yours. I too call myself I (Lines 50-60) Sylvia Plath through her poems also brings to the forefront of the society certain issues which have so much to do with identity in poetry. Sylvia Plath’s poems are a self-revelation of herself and identity. She delves deep into her poems to incorporate her poems with the theme of identity. The identity of a poet is evolved from the background and the circumstances one is in. Even poets shape their identity from the socially important events or incidents that occur in the society. The structures which hold together a society also to a certain extent define the identity of a poet. So, it is wrong to attribute that a poet is defined in accordance with her taste in the literary field. For example how does a poet react to a particular event of huge proportation in society? She/ he can react in two ways one she/he can place himself /herself as a mute observer, expressing things without siding with any social group or community second he/she can simply take up the fight for the empowerment of his/her community in the society. If a poet uses his literary ability for the second purpose, he/she can be called partial. This favoritism is shown by the poet because of several reasons, one of which is the identity of the poet. She cannot simply erase her identity from herself. It will be there forever. So indirectly the theme of identity is expressed by a poet through her poetry. In the case of Sylvia Plath also, her identity as a liberal woman forms her overall attitude towards the society. In her poems she advocates views which would go in complete conformity with the chaotic self she does have. When a female poet talks about feminism for example her views are more honest accounts solely because she presents before the reader a part of her identity as a woman. Then the question arises, does the gender of a poet determine his/her literary identity? The answer to that question is a reluctant yes because gender identity does play an important role in shaping the identity of a poet in her poems. But if a poet stands for her own community in order to affirm her own identity, then that is not a good sign at all. But in the case of Sylvia Plath, she often distances herself from her personal subject matter by assuming a sharply ironic tone. Whatever be the subject matter- Tulips, her Daddy, her experiences as wife – there is an undercurrent of terror in her poems. As a rule, she externalizes her internal experiences by adopting some personae. The ‘Tulip’ is a fine example of this characteristic of her. The speaker in this poem is a woman, a Patient who is recuperating after a surgery. She loves to remain in the hospital, as she wants to keep away from those who love her but her passive mindscape is rudely shaken by the “too excitable” tulips, a gift from the world outside. They force her to rid herself of her ennui and lassitude. The patient protagonist’s 111 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015 transformation from indifference to warmth, and finally to vitality is beautifully pictured. In this poem the poet is remained of her connection with the outside world by the two beautiful tulips which are sent to her. In fact she is remained of her identity in society and also in a family set up. She can no longer turn her back on the hard realities of life. She has to express herself well. The theme of having nostalgic feeling. So the poet is too occupied with maintaining herself intact without giving any consideration to the feelings of others. But she has to give in at last because her identity does call her back. Nobody watched me before, now I am watched. The tulips turn to me, and the window behind me. Where once a day the light slowly widens and slowly thins and I see myself, flat, ridiculous, a cut-paper shadow between the eye of the sun and the eyes of the tulips, and I have no face, I have wanted to efface myself the vivid tulips eat my oxygen. (Tulips lines 42 to 48) Now days post –modern theories give much importance to the theme of identity crisis occur in a poet’s life? The identity crisis occurs in a poet’s life due to the different identities a poet does have in his/her self. The poets who have cross-cultural connections do experience this identity crisis in their life. In this search for identity by these poets in their true life is reflected through their poems also. The identity crisis reflected in a poem can be born out of a feeling of alienation of the poet from his cultural and social fields. If a poet is forced to live in a culture alien to him, there is a chance of identity crisis in his life and later on in his poetry. So the cultural isolation can bring about a quest for identity in the self and literacy mindset of a poet. So the culture of a poet plays an important role in shaping the identity of a poet in his/her poems. Another point which should be mentioned, related to the theme of identity in the poems of different poets is the generation of emotion within the minds of the poets. Does the emotion of a poet have anything to do with his/her identify? The answer to that question is a big yes. The theme of identify which is reflected through the poem of a poet has so much to do with the emotional background of a poet. The identity of a poet is expressed through his/her poems. So, when Wordsworth mentioned that “poetry is “the Spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings and thoughts recollected in tranquility”. He has only stated his identity in the society in which he lived in. The theme of identity in a poem has connections with psychoanalytic criticism. How both the theme of identity in a poem and psychoanalytic criticism are related? In accordance with Thomas Carlyle psychoanalytic Criticism is defined in the following ways. Psychoanalytic criticism is mainly of a psychological sort, to be answered by discovering and delineating the peculiar nature of the poet from his poetry. Literature is correlated with its author’s distinctive mental and emotional traits 1) reference to the author’s personality in order to explain and interpret a literary work; 2) reference to literary works in order to establish, biographically, the personality of the author; and 3) the mode of reading a literary work specifically as a way of experiencing the distinctive subjectivity, or consciousness of its author. (Cited from literacy, terms P 263-64). In accordance with psychoanalytic criticism the poetry of a poet is the exploration of his/ her personality. In fact the personality of a poet is derived of his/her identity. So if a poet depicts the theme of identity in a poem, it has much to do with the personality and the background of the

112 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015 poet. But it should be remembered that a poet in the creation of his poetry files in the wings of imagination. So dovetailing the identity of a poet or the social group she/he belongs particularly in the Indian context doesn’t make sense because poetry is process in which imagination is given a predominant importance. Meena Alexander in her recent poems such as Aftermath, Invisible City, Pit fire and Petro glyph also brings out the theme of identity. In her case, it is to be stated that she writes her poems out of a deep responsibility to the society in which she lives in she is from a south Indian background right now residing in the multicultural multiethnic and multi religious city of New York. Her experiences as an Indian while living in New York are expressed through her poems. The terrific events in New York had shaken this tender poet so much that she came out strongly against all sorts of terror tactics to slaughter innocent and defenseless civilians. Her poems also mark distinctively the identity she has as an Indian living in the city of New York. She expresses her identity through her poems. She uses her poems to free herself from all social, political and moral barriers placed on her path to progress. So the theme of identity is evolved in the poems of Meena Alexander through the experience of living in a multicultural American society. In a recent interview with Lopamudra Basu, Meena Alexander has this to say about identity and the poetry she writes. CONCLUSION In the composition of poetry, something that is very difficult to face is brought within the purview of language into a zone of images, and is crystallized. And that act of crystallizing the emotion through the image actually has its own peculiar grace, which frees one if only momentarily of the burden of the great gift of poetry. It eases the burden of lived experience if only very briefly, in a way that a piece of music might. So, the lyric does have this function, it makes for transport, but draws from the one of bodily being. (Extract from the poet in the public sphere). So, it should be undoubtedly stated that poetry and identity are interlinked. One cannot be separated from the other. The identity theme delineated in a poem has much to do with the personal and literary identity of a poet. The identity of a poet is evolved from different factors such as his background and the society in which he/she lives in. the culture of the society a poet lives in also contributes to the representation of identity in a poem by a poet. The identity of a poet is built by the social, economic, religious, ethnic and political backgrounds of a poet. Bibliography a. Abrams, N. H - A Glossary of Literary Terms, New Delhi: Macmillan, 1993 b. Freud, Sigmund - A General Introduction to Psychoanalysis, New York: Washington Square Press, 1960 c. George, Abraham - Summer Showers, Kottayam. D. C. Books, 2000 d. Lyengar, K.R.S - Indian Writing in English, New Delhi: Sterling Publishers, 1987 e. Kaur Lqbal - It is Aminal last, Banglore Longman, 1989 f. Lacan Jacques - The Four Fundamental Concept of Psychoanalysis, New York: Norton, 1978 g. Vyas, Ravi - Wings of Poesy, New Delhi. Cosmo Books, 1998

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ASSESSMENT OF THE FINANCIAL STABILITY OF PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANIES USING Z SCORE

Dr. Shaji Unnikrishnan Senior Faculty of Commerce Indian School Muscat. PB 2470, PC 112, Sultanate of Oman e.mail: [email protected]

ABSTRACT The Indian pharmaceutical industry is likely to lead the manufacturing sector of India. It is one of the fastest growing industries in the world competing with the global pharmaceutical industries. The Indian Patent Act 1970 was the main reason for the fast and continuous growth of the Indian pharmaceutical industry. Financial health plays a significant role on the successful functioning of a firm. The recent financial crisis and the ensuing economic downturn have had a significant impact on the corporate sector. For companies, being able to meet their financial obligation is an integral part of maintaining operations and growing in the future. It is important for investors to know how to evaluate the short term financial health of companies. Therefore, an attempt has been made to measure the financial health and growth potentials of selected pharmaceutical companies in India by using Altman’s z score rating technique Keywords: Pharmaceutical Industry, Financial Health, Z score

INTRODUCTION The Indian pharmaceutical industry is the world’s second-largest industry by volume and is likely to lead the manufacturing sector of India. It is one of the fastest growing industries in the world competing with the global pharmaceutical industries. The Indian Patent Act 1970 was the main reason for the fast and continuous growth of the Indian pharmaceutical industry. Financial health plays a significant role on the successful functioning of a firm. The recent financial crisis and the ensuing economic downturn have had a significant impact on the corporate sector. For companies, being able to meet their financial obligation is an integral part of maintaining operations and growing in the future. The Z score model is a critical business tool which utilizes to inform how to improve the financial health of the business. Altman has described that firms with scores between 1.81 to 2.99 should be thought of as a grey area. Firms, with Z scores within this range, are considered uncertain about credit risk and considered marginal cases to be watched with attention. Altman (1968) formerly described the grey area as the “zone of ignorance”. This area is where firms share distress and non-distress financial characteristics and should be carefully observed 114 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015 before it is too late for any remedial or recovery action. Firms with Z scores below 1.81 indicate failed firm, Z score above 2.99 indicates non-bankruptcy. Altman shows that bankrupt firms have very peculiar financial profiles one year before bankruptcy (Ray, 2011). In the present paper, an attempt was made to evaluate the growth and financial health of 60 pharmaceutical companies for 10 years (2002-2011) in India. Objectives a) To study the growth of 60 selected pharmaceutical companies b) To evaluate the financial performance of selected pharmaceutical companies in India c) To examine the existence of financial distress among the selected companies in pharma sector using Altman’s score model. Hypothesis: All the sample pharmaceutical companies selected are equally sound with respect to financial health. Research Methodology A sample of ten years (2002-2011) has been used for the purpose of present research work. A study of 10 years seems to be appropriate for establishing a trend. The statistical techniques used to conduct this study are Ratio Analysis, Multidiscriminate Analysis, Mean, Standard Deviation, Skewness and kurtosis. Data Collection and Sample Design For preparing this paper, information are mainly collected from the annual report of the respective companies, stock analysis paper from various brokerage houses and company’s website. Financial statement for 10 years 2002-2011of 60 pharmaceutical companies are selected at random from pharmaceutical industry. In the present study, stratified random sampling techniques were used for selection of samples of allopathic Indian Pharmaceutical Industry. The companies were graded to various strata based on the net sales of 2011. Companies having sales of less than 500 crores per annum are treated as small category companies, companies having sales between 500 to 1500 crores per annum are treated as medium category companies and companies were having sales above 1500 crore per annum are treated as large category companies. Twenty companies each from all the category are proportionately selected as samples in such a way that they represent the pharmaceutical industry. The ratio analysis is considered as a powerful tool for analysis but combining different ratios into single, measure the probability of sickness or failure more powerful. The Z-Score Model for predicting bankruptcy was published in 1968 by Edward I. Altman is a linear combination of five common business ratios, weighted by coefficients which help to measure the financial health of the company. Multivariate Discriminate Analysis model as developed by Prof. Altman was used to test the overall financial soundness of the selected pharmaceutical companies. Altman has described that firms with scores between 1.81 to 2.99 should be thought of as a grey area. Firms with Z scores below 1.81 indicate failed firm, Z score above 2.99 indicates non-bankruptcy. The following model proposed by Altman (1968) for manufacturing companies is used for the study: Z = 1.2 X1+1.4X2+3.3X3+0.6X4+1X5 Where, X1 = Working capital to Total assets, X2= Retained earnings to Total assets, X3= Earnings 115 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015 before interest and taxes to Total assets, X4 = Market value of equity to Total liabilities, X5= Sales to Total assets.

Small Category Medium Category Large Category AstraZeneca Pharma Abbott India Ltd. Albert Pharmaceuticals Claris Lifesciences Ltd. Aurobindo Pharma Alembic Pharmaceuticals Dishman Pharmaceuticals & Chemicals Ltd Biocon pharmaceuticals Ambalal Sarabhai Enterprises Ltd. Elder Pharmaceuticals Ltd. Cadila Pharmaceuticals Ltd Astec LifeSciences Limited Fresenius Kabi Cipla Ltd Caplin Point Laboratories Ltd Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Ltd. Divis Laboratories Ltd Fulford (India) Ltd. Granules India Ltd. Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Ltd. Gufic BioSciences Ltd Hikal Pharma Ltd Glaxo SmithKline Pharmaceuticals Ltd Gujarat Terce Laboratories Ltd. Indico Pharmaceuticals Ipca Laboratories Ltd. Hester Pharmaceuticals Ltd. Ind-Swift Ltd Jubilant Life Sciences Limited Jenburkt Pharmaceuticals Ltd. J. B. Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals Ltd. Lupin Limited Jupiter Pharmaceuticals Ltd, Orchid Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals Novartis India Limited Ltd. Morepen Laboratories Panacea Biotech Piramal Healthcare NutraPlus India Limited Parenteral Drugs (India) Limited Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd. Syncom Formulations (India) Ltd. Pfizer Sanofi India Limited TTK Healthcare Ltd. Plethico Pharmaceuticals Ltd. Sterling Biotech Ltd Venus Pharmaceuticals Shasun Pharmaceuticals Ltd.. Sun pharma Wanbury Ltd Strides Arcolab Limited Surya Pharmaceuticals Ltd. Zenith Pharmaceuticals Ltd Unichem Laboratories Torrent Pharmaceuticals Zenotech Laboratories Ltd Wyeth pharmaceuticals Wockhardt Zyden Gentec Ltd.

Review of Literature Edward Altman (1968) used multiple discriminate analysis (MDA) to build a bankruptcy prediction model. Altman made use of five ratios to develop a Z score which helped in the prediction of the financial health of a company. Gordon (1978) developed the Springate model selecting four out of nineteen ratios that best distinguished between sound business and unhealthy business. These four ratios are working capital/total assets, net profit before interest and taxes/total assets, net profit before taxes/current liabilities and sales /total assets. Fulmer (1984) developed a model using multi discriminate analysis to evaluate forty financial ratios applied to a sample of sixty companies of which thirty were successful while thirty failed. Krishna Chaitanya (2005) used Altman’s Z score to evaluate the financial distress of IDBI and predicted that IDBI is likely to become insolvent in the near future as IDBI is not in safe zone.

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Observation and Analysis The average Z score of Pharmaceutical Industries under small category is 11.26 during the period of study. It clearly indicates that pharmaceutical industry has a healthy financial position because Z score is much above the cut off score. Indico Pharmaceuticals reported the highest average ratio of 18.14 followed by Elder Pharmaceuticals Ltd. with 17.78. Pfizer is in the third position with a Z score of 17.53. Fresenius Kabi is showing the lowest Z score of 5.89 in small category but that too is above the cut off level. The Average Z score of Pharmaceutical industries under medium category is 15.39 during the study period. Under the medium category, Piramal Healthcare has a Z score of 2.07 which falls under Grey Zone. The company has to be little watchful. Sanofi has the highest Z score under this category followed by Divis Laboratories Ltd. and then, Aurobindo. The average Z score of pharmaceutical industries under large category is 15.12 during the study period. Under the large category, Morepen Laboratories has the lowest score of 1.83 which falls under Grey Zone. Zyden Gentec Ltd has the highest Z score followed by Fulford (India) Ltd and then, Zenith Pharmaceuticals Ltd. Most of the companies are well above the satisfactory zone with a strong financial health. The tables in appendix from 1 to 18 at the end have shown the detailed worksheets of three segmented companies. Table 2 - Z score Analysis Z category Z < 1.81 (Distress Z between 1.81 – 2.99 Grey Z > 2.99 Safe zone zone) zone Small NIL NIL 20 Medium NIL 1 19 Large NIL 1 19

Findings and Suggestions An overall industry analysis for 10 years reveals that the mean Z score of the pharma industry is above the satisfactory level indicating a very good health condition for the industry. The mean Z score for the industry as a whole is also above the cut off. Out of the 20 Pharmaceutical companies selected under small category, all the companies are in the safe Zone and their financial health is satisfactory. Under the medium category, only 5 % i.e., one company, Piramal Healthcare, is in grey zone and they have to take necessary steps so that unforeseen conditions can be avoided in future. Under the large category also only 5% i.e., one company, Morepen Laboratories, is in grey zone. 95% companies under medium and large category are under safe zone which indicates that the health condition of the industry is satisfactory. Under the small, medium and large categories, Z score of nine companies are above the average Z score. Even though Z score of the rest 11 companies under small, medium and large are below the average, their health is very safe as they are above the cut off level. It is observed that from the table that many companies are in the healthy zone. In this situation, it can be concluded that the overall financial health of companies are in a very safe zone where it is successful in its financial performance and not to fall bankrupt. Reasons can be attributed such as the financial management with special regard to purchases; sales and inventory have to be seen. Credit policy should also be looked into. Major chunk of

117 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015 profit should not be used to pay fixed charges. This may also due to poor market demands, high competition, increased price of raw materials, etc. The management has to be little watchful about the potential growth of those companies under grey zone. Piramal Healthcare and Morepen Laboratories should improve their financial performance as early as possible. Operational efficiency should also be increased by reducing the cost and wastage and improving operating and management performance. It is advised that the companies should take necessary steps in utilizing their assets in generating more sales revenue. Working capital supply should also be adequate. Motivation and accountability for performance achievement should be fixed along with penalization for non achievement. Most of the selected Pharmaceutical Companies financial position and operational performance are satisfactory. They are financially healthy and no scope of bankruptcy and there is no cause of concern regarding the financial health in this sector. The investors are safe with their investments. There is no need for worries for the management regarding the financial health of most of the companies selected. Thus, the pharmaceutical industry will reach in a better position in India as well as abroad in near future. CONCLUSION The analysis of Z score showed that Z score of Piramal Healthcare and Morepen Laboratories is 2.07 and 1.83 respectively, which falls under grey zone. The management has to be little watchful about the potential growth. Under the small category, Z score of nine companies are above the average Z score which is 11.26 and under medium category, nine companies’ Z score is above the average Z score which is 15.39. In the large category also Z score of nine companies are above the average Z score which is 15.12. Even though Z score of the rest 11 companies under small, medium and large are below the average, their health is very safe as they are above the cut off level. It is observed that from the table that many companies are in the healthy zone. When seeing the Z –Score, Only two companies, Piramal Healthcare from medium and Morepen Laboratories from large, are in grey zone and they have to study their performance a little more in depth. It may be concluded that all the overall financial health of companies is in a very safe zone where it is successful in its financial performance and not to fall bankrupt References 1. Annual Report, Department of pharmaceutical, Government of India 2011-2012. 2. Ahmed, Asif, Financial Ratio Analysis of Square Pharmaceuticals Limited (May 23, 2012). 3. Costales, S. B and Geza Szurovy (1994). The guide to understanding financial statements. Mc Grew Hill Inc. New York. p.59. 4. Sukla, R.C and T.S. Grewal. ‘Advanced accounts’ Sultan Chand Company Ltd. New Delhi. 5. Miller, Donald, L The meaningful interpretation of financial statement. American Management Association, New York 1966. p.24 6. http://www.aaii.com/computerizedinvesting/article/liquidity-ratio-analysis 7. Haritha Saranga1 and B.V.Phani; The Indian Pharmaceutical Industry – An Overview on Cost Efficiency using DEA. 8. Gupta L.C, “Financial Ratios as Forewarning indicators of Corporate sickness” Bombay ICICI 1979 quoted by Pandey I.M. op.cit, p 184 9. Altman (1968), “Financial ratio, discriminant analysis and the prediction of corporate bankruptcy”, Journal of Finance, 23(4) 10. Raval D.H. (2006). Analysis of profitability in pharmaceutical industry. Ph.D. Thesis, Saurashtra University

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APPENDIX

Table: 1 X1 = Working capital to Total assets (Small Companies) X1 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 AstraZeneca Pharma 2.32 3.41 2.46 4.74 1.74 2.32 3.41 2.46 4.74 1.74 Claris life sciences Ltd. 2.59 2.29 0.76 1.29 1.61 2.59 2.29 0.76 1.29 1.61 Dishman Pharmaceuticals 2.34 2.61 1.78 0.61 0.40 2.34 2.61 1.78 0.61 0.40 Elder Pharmaceuticals Ltd. 3.85 3.13 3.16 3.36 4.41 1.73 2.07 6.25 1.76 4.68 Fresenius Kabi 1.50 2.18 3.31 4.23 4.02 1.50 2.18 3.31 4.23 4.02 Glenmark 0.49 1.05 1.54 3.54 3.19 4.57 5.99 3.35 3.07 1.59 Granules India Ltd. 0.85 0.75 1.05 1.14 1.50 0.85 0.75 1.05 1.14 1.50 Hikal 3.17 2.35 1.48 1.78 1.59 3.17 2.35 1.48 1.78 1.59 Indico Pharmaceuticals 4.94 4.69 3.36 4.32 4.20 1.75 2.09 2.68 2.85 2.61 Ind-Swift Ltd 1.03 0.76 1.29 2.19 2.78 5.30 5.35 5.33 5.70 5.53 JB Chemicals 1.37 1.54 1.80 2.39 3.14 3.74 3.98 4.61 5.10 4.97 Novartis India 0.36 0.68 0.74 0.47 0.43 0.53 0.46 0.11 0.10 0.07 Panacea Biotech 3.42 2.20 3.58 3.23 3.92 3.42 2.20 3.58 3.23 3.92 Parenteral 3.46 4.29 3.04 2.79 1.66 3.46 4.29 3.04 2.79 1.66 Pfizer 0.90 1.19 1.10 1.07 1.29 0.90 1.19 1.10 1.07 1.29 Plethico 4.70 4.90 3.12 3.13 3.19 4.70 4.90 3.12 3.13 3.19 Shasun Pharmaceutical Ltd. 2.99 2.71 3.40 3.58 2.26 2.99 2.71 3.40 3.58 2.26 Strides Arcolab Ltd. 1.12 0.78 0.57 0.60 0.61 1.12 0.78 0.57 0.60 0.61 Unichem 2.46 2.27 2.11 2.06 2.57 2.46 2.27 2.11 2.06 2.57 Wyeth 2.17 1.53 1.57 1.97 1.48 2.17 1.53 1.57 1.97 1.48

Table 2, X1 = Working capital to Total assets (Medium Companies) X1 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 Abbott India 0.20 0.28 0.25 0.35 0.56 1.05 0.92 1.56 1.53 2.92 Aurobindo 4.73 6.46 6.05 7.37 9.32 11.37 15.90 16.56 21.99 18.00 Biocon pharmaceuticals 2.45 1.57 1.91 1.90 2.95 2.45 1.57 1.91 1.90 2.95 Cadila 0.72 0.69 0.76 0.03 0.85 0.77 2.40 3.46 3.10 3.60 Cipla 4.48 6.40 7.57 9.18 13.72 17.04 19.36 25.34 23.38 27.76 Divis Laboratories Ltd 3.98 3.70 4.34 3.86 4.21 3.98 3.70 4.34 3.86 4.21 Dr.Reddy's 5.12 3.93 4.87 3.73 5.11 11.52 9.83 12.91 5.54 16.02 Glaxo 2.39 1.28 1.58 0.77 0.86 0.42 0.59 0.69 0.25 1.27 IPCA 1.42 1.76 2.23 2.47 2.08 2.90 4.08 4.64 6.04 7.74 Jubilant 0.77 0.56 0.88 0.88 3.43 2.66 3.50 2.63 4.82 4.10 Lupin 2.98 2.58 1.68 1.96 3.22 5.21 8.43 6.13 10.57 14.53 Orchid 2.07 1.90 2.47 3.46 5.77 4.63 4.99 6.70 4.83 6.18 Piramal Healthcare 1.28 2.41 4.74 0.56 1.14 1.17 1.46 1.23 0.46 0.39 Ranbaxy 9.58 5.72 8.48 8.93 12.12 9.01 -18.81 -3.51 3.77 3.05 Sanofi 0.67 0.58 1.40 1.75 1.43 1.60 1.61 1.44 1.57 1.66 Sterling 2.45 2.67 2.90 3.19 5.38 4.14 5.78 10.83 12.91 16.28 Sunpharma 2.05 2.87 1.25 2.41 3.09 4.01 7.47 5.89 9.13 8.82 SuryaPharma 5.67 5.58 5.03 5.37 5.98 5.67 5.58 5.03 5.37 5.98 Torrent 0.14 0.15 0.39 0.63 1.19 1.81 1.32 1.10 1.49 2.89 Wockhardt 0.91 0.59 0.10 1.07 1.66 1.66 2.75 3.91 2.69 2.14

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Table 3: X1 = Working capital to Total assets (Large Companies)

X1 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 Albert 2.94 2.78 3.79 2.82 3.05 3.07 3.08 3.17 1.42 4.19 Alembic 1.22 1.10 0.72 1.04 1.63 1.69 2.96 2.64 2.04 0.58 Ambalal 1.63 1.97 2.27 2.41 2.54 2.86 2.52 9.40 1.20 0.49 Astec 2.89 1.17 1.58 1.96 1.59 3.24 3.80 6.41 4.51 3.35 Caplin Point Laboratories Ltd 1.32 1.41 2.22 0.77 0.75 0.94 0.44 2.67 2.86 3.26 Fulford (India) Ltd. 1.51 0.86 0.99 1.33 1.86 2.51 1.08 2.11 1.06 0.12 Gufic 2.05 3.21 2.61 2.81 2.53 2.50 3.07 2.68 2.07 2.95 GujaratTerce 2.98 3.43 2.92 2.55 2.34 2.98 3.43 2.92 2.55 2.34 Hester 1.84 2.82 3.67 4.34 4.99 1.84 2.82 3.67 4.34 4.99 Jenburkt 2.40 3.63 2.07 1.03 -0.24 2.40 3.63 2.07 1.03 0.24 Jupiter 2.12 1.64 1.45 1.37 1.07 2.12 1.64 1.45 1.37 1.07 Morepen Laboratories 0.61 0.57 0.74 0.68 0.70 0.61 0.57 0.74 0.68 0.70 Nutraplus 3.44 1.75 1.76 2.42 2.60 3.44 1.75 1.76 2.42 2.60 Syncom 4.55 7.93 7.66 7.08 2.88 2.34 0.98 1.49 2.23 1.49 TTK Healthcare Ltd. 0.78 0.58 0.38 0.26 0.88 0.78 0.58 0.38 0.26 0.88 Venus 1.75 2.09 2.68 2.85 2.61 1.75 2.09 2.68 2.85 2.61 Wanburry 0.84 1.30 1.46 0.77 0.04 0.84 1.30 1.46 0.77 0.04 Zenith 3.72 3.75 3.31 2.56 2.12 3.72 3.75 3.31 2.56 2.12 Zenotech 0.27 0.64 0.05 0.12 0.06 0.27 0.64 0.05 0.12 0.06 Zyden Gentec Ltd. 1.83 4.90 7.03 3.59 3.79 1.83 4.90 7.03 3.59 3.79

Table: 4 - X 2 = Retained earnings to Total assets (Small Companies) X2 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 AstraZeneca Pharma . 1.00 0.78 0.80 0.51 0.39 0.33 0.35 0.53 0.59 0.48 Claris life sciences Ltd. 0.79 0.29 0.26 0.65 0.27 0.25 0.16 0.14 0.09 0.09 Dishman Pharma & Chemicals Ltd 0.99 0.87 0.72 0.47 0.21 0.18 0.17 0.14 0.10 0.09 Elder Pharmaceuticals Ltd. 0.73 0.66 0.56 0.43 0.31 0.25 0.20 0.17 0.14 0.10 Fresenius Kabi 0.43 0.33 0.43 0.33 0.25 0.19 0.13 0.14 0.12 0.10 Glenmark 0.71 0.55 0.43 0.24 0.16 0.14 0.12 0.08 0.08 0.06 Granules India Ltd.. 3.61 2.39 1.39 0.83 0.66 0.33 0.33 0.36 0.23 0.16 Hikal 0.74 0.61 0.82 0.44 0.29 0.19 0.25 0.16 0.15 0.13 Indico Pharmaceuticals 0.14 0.14 0.13 0.02 0.26 0.14 0.07 0.15 0.17 0.11 Ind-Swift Ltd 1.05 0.87 0.55 0.20 0.13 1.21 0.08 0.29 0.08 0.07 JB Chemicals 0.63 0.61 0.43 0.33 0.27 0.20 0.27 0.25 0.22 0.20 Novartis India 0.45 0.18 0.37 0.20 0.12 0.27 0.25 0.25 0.22 0.22 Panacea Biotech 0.38 0.32 0.20 0.17 0.07 0.07 0.06 0.06 0.06 0.06 Parenteral 1.87 1.59 1.31 1.35 1.18 1.03 0.55 0.26 0.22 0.19 Pfizer 0.45 0.42 0.35 0.31 0.23 0.16 0.14 0.12 0.10 0.09 Plethico 0.93 0.88 0.54 0.42 0.26 0.14 0.11 0.11 0.11 0.09 Shasun Pharmaceutical Ltd. 0.73 0.66 0.54 0.40 0.35 0.29 0.25 0.23 0.22 0.23 Strides Arcolab Ltd. 0.35 0.33 0.31 0.21 0.19 0.11 0.09 0.06 0.05 0.05 Unichem 1.03 0.81 0.70 0.62 0.43 0.35 0.31 0.26 0.22 0.20 Wyeth 0.06 0.06 0.06 0.02 0.24 0.15 0.08 0.18 0.23 0.13

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Table 5, X 2 = Retained earnings to Total assets (Medium Companies) X2 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 Abbott India -0.08 0.02 0.49 0.43 0.43 0.53 0.57 0.41 0.43 0.25 Aurobindo 0.16 0.18 0.12 0.12 0.08 0.06 0.06 0.06 0.04 0.04 Biocon pharmaceuticals 0.91 0.65 0.20 0.14 0.12 0.09 0.06 0.06 0.06 0.03 Cadila 0.16 0.16 0.14 0.14 0.14 0.10 0.08 0.08 0.08 0.06 Cipla 0.16 0.12 0.08 0.08 0.06 0.04 0.04 0.04 0.02 0.02 Divis Laboratories Ltd 0.78 0.55 0.38 0.37 0.26 0.18 0.11 0.07 0.05 0.05 Dr.Reddy's 0.12 0.10 0.08 0.06 0.04 0.04 0.04 0.02 0.02 0.02 Glaxo 0.22 0.16 0.04 0.02 0.02 0.02 0.02 0.04 0.04 0.04 IPCA 0.53 0.45 0.35 0.27 0.25 0.22 0.16 0.14 0.12 0.10 Jubilant -0.10 0.27 0.27 0.18 0.12 0.08 0.06 0.04 0.04 0.04 Lupin 0.16 0.14 0.20 0.14 0.10 0.10 0.06 0.06 0.04 0.04 Orchid -0.20 0.04 0.10 0.08 0.08 0.06 0.06 0.04 0.08 0.04 Piramal Healthcare 0.23 0.21 0.18 0.16 0.12 0.10 0.09 0.06 0.06 0.01 Ranbaxy 0.06 0.02 -0.20 0.00 -0.24 0.04 0.02 0.02 0.02 0.02 Sanofi 0.29 0.27 0.31 0.27 0.16 0.20 0.18 0.14 0.02 0.10 Sterling 0.31 0.24 0.16 0.06 0.06 0.06 0.04 0.04 0.02 0.02 Sunpharma 0.31 0.22 0.12 0.04 0.04 0.04 0.04 0.02 0.02 0.02 SuryaPharma -1.79 -1.55 -1.25 -0.99 -0.56 -0.41 -0.27 -0.18 -0.13 0.08 Torrent 0.53 0.47 0.45 0.24 0.22 0.20 0.18 0.14 0.10 0.08 Wockhardt 0.06 0.08 0.06 0.06 0.06 0.02 0.08 0.08 0.08 0.08

Table:.6 - X 2 = Retained earnings to Total assets (Large Companies) 200 X2 2002 2003 4 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 Albert 2.46 2.53 2.43 2.11 1.54 1.32 0.93 0.91 0.85 0.86 Alembic 0.43 0.45 0.37 0.33 0.29 0.20 0.10 0.22 0.22 0.51 Ambalal 0.80 0.93 1.07 1.16 1.19 1.12 1.66 2.26 2.09 1.98 Astec 19.58 11.49 19.5 11.49 5.12 3.65 2.34 1.70 0.92 0.81 Caplin Point Laboratories Ltd 24.35 21.60 20.8 19.07 6.28 6.72 4.30 4.32 1.24 1.80 Fulford (India) Ltd. 9.61 8.74 5.12 3.37 1.39 1.17 1.04 0.84 0.71 0.65 Gufic 3.81 3.28 2.36 1.81 1.45 21.79 1.67 7.04 2.36 2.74 GujaratTerce 26.32 26.72 26.6 25.00 25.93 20.65 18.52 15.37 15.52 10.24 Hester 20.32 19.66 18.5 12.04 8.15 2.12 2.04 1.72 1.63 1.43 Jenburkt 1.40 0.44 4.84 2.91 1.55 3.51 4.21 3.97 6.27 5.60 Jupiter 1.60 1.14 0.90 0.75 0.58 0.37 0.24 0.20 0.16 0.09 Morepen Laboratories 0.14 0.12 0.12 0.12 0.12 0.18 0.22 0.23 0.25 0.27 Nutraplus 26.32 25.00 19.3 15.12 15.87 13.71 15.66 13.50 9.34 7.33 Syncom 5.26 5.22 5.17 5.16 3.95 3.39 3.03 2.70 2.18 1.61 TTK Healthcare 1.10 1.31 1.65 1.91 2.08 1.43 1.30 1.38 1.36 1.18 Venus 7.95 7.58 7.22 5.38 2.35 0.88 0.69 0.47 0.40 0.30 Wanburry 5.44 4.43 1.67 1.52 0.80 0.48 0.29 0.30 0.25 0.24 Zenith 25.00 25.04 24.5 23.37 22.36 23.53 24.01 23.65 22.69 22.05 Zenotech 41.79 41.79 5.11 4.47 2.16 1.53 0.93 1.09 1.28 2.15 Zyden Gentec Ltd. 56.91 55.12 48.6 34.31 20.44 18.23 16.51 12.58 11.19 7.32

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Table: 7 - X3= Earnings before interest and taxes to Total assets (Small Companies) X3 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 Astra 0.94 1.83 1.67 2.62 2.18 2.18 6.94 5.06 6.30 7.83 Claris Life 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 15.27 14.02 14.96 15.98 Dishman 0.47 0.81 0.93 1.09 2.67 4.03 6.17 7.41 8.24 8.63 Elder 0.32 0.32 0.54 0.54 0.72 18.96 22.23 23.99 27.41 32.41 Fresenius 0.00 0.00 0.64 0.79 0.49 2.31 3.32 2.83 3.39 3.72 Glenmark 0.99 0.99 1.01 0.82 0.61 4.08 4.50 5.35 7.16 7.98 Granules 0.44 0.44 0.50 0.38 0.41 9.32 9.60 9.82 10.98 12.00 Hikal 1.29 1.29 1.37 1.12 1.01 10.78 13.43 14.49 19.12 20.69 Indoco 1.51 1.25 1.54 0.96 1.02 21.37 22.50 24.67 27.52 31.04 Ind -Swift 0.90 0.77 1.04 0.49 3.62 4.48 5.60 6.94 7.57 7.17 JB Chemicals 1.60 1.79 1.55 1.56 1.52 5.44 5.98 6.87 7.92 9.19 Novartis India 1.74 1.78 3.34 1.73 2.46 13.24 15.28 17.54 20.22 23.95 Panacea 0.79 0.42 0.69 0.65 8.93 11.37 9.88 11.37 11.27 14.44 Parenteral 0.00 0.03 0.13 0.15 0.12 8.58 9.40 15.64 17.23 13.32 Pfizer 1.62 1.62 0.67 0.94 1.27 1.77 23.56 32.83 36.29 42.46 Plethico 0.85 0.85 4.11 1.73 1.63 18.73 19.32 21.57 22.30 20.60 Shasun 0.85 0.85 1.03 1.05 1.12 4.73 5.09 4.34 4.70 3.85 Strides 0.36 0.14 0.59 8.99 0.43 6.09 6.09 8.97 26.48 25.30 Unichem 1.73 1.20 1.70 1.49 2.08 11.22 12.93 15.70 18.44 8.18 Wyeth 1.91 1.15 1.94 1.16 2.06 12.30 12.39 13.02 13.30 18.44

Table: 8 - mX3= Earnings before interest and taxes to Total assets (Medium Companies) X3 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 Abbott India 2.66 2.72 3.55 2.07 1.91 17.38 17.62 21.63 24.32 27.89 Aurobindo 0.85 0.85 0.84 0.20 0.30 18.97 24.72 26.75 37.41 9.61 Biocon 51.12 73.96 5.88 7.56 8.73 10.24 14.45 7.48 8.52 10.59 Cadila 0.70 0.70 1.21 1.06 1.15 7.65 9.14 9.59 12.93 11.12 Cipla 1.48 1.48 1.50 1.71 1.91 4.52 5.25 6.08 8.01 8.96 Divis 1.94 2.04 2.06 1.58 1.18 45.72 14.74 21.22 12.71 15.01 Dr.Reddy's 1.96 1.97 1.22 0.24 0.58 28.36 31.16 34.00 38.15 38.73 Glaxo 1.22 1.90 2.57 3.61 3.34 17.50 19.81 22.62 24.82 24.68 IPCA 1.55 1.55 1.54 1.26 0.93 21.17 26.38 27.83 7.61 9.13 Jubilant 0.59 0.70 1.00 1.01 0.80 7.27 10.26 9.88 14.90 14.64 Lupin 0.60 0.61 1.34 0.70 0.98 12.04 17.47 18.08 30.98 7.69 Orchid 0.18 0.18 0.24 0.19 13.23 8.29 11.38 9.07 15.42 17.53 Piramal 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 4.79 3.93 -0.81 -6.29 -12.37 Ranbaxy 2.40 2.40 1.37 0.48 0.59 7.41 9.17 10.25 13.26 4.97 Sanofi 2.20 2.20 2.83 23.96 2.11 32.70 38.52 43.42 47.35 52.23 Sterling 0.37 0.61 0.69 0.44 0.52 5.96 7.61 8.95 10.02 10.12 Sunpharma 7.64 7.96 9.91 6.48 8.58 13.78 22.12 27.09 30.07 7.03 SuryaPharma 0.55 0.44 0.44 0.50 0.82 10.36 13.39 17.26 22.67 2.89 Torrent 4.48 5.28 4.48 5.28 4.48 5.28 6.56 8.38 10.70 13.16 Wockhardt 2.14 2.01 1.45 1.31 1.33 1.12 10.21 6.74 -1.16 -0.73

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Table:.9 - X3= Earnings before interest and taxes to Total assets (Large Companies) X3 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 Albert 0.84 0.84 1.13 0.58 0.89 8.99 9.65 10.64 12.03 13.53 Alembic 0.65 0.65 0.60 0.88 1.21 3.03 2.69 2.60 2.58 1.45 Ambalal -0.91 -0.91 0.16 -0.42 -0.22 0.78 0.66 0.81 0.83 0.81 Astec 5.96 5.96 6.23 6.33 5.96 6.23 6.33 5.96 6.23 6.33 Caplin -2.68 0.90 0.25 0.55 0.59 1.17 1.32 1.45 1.56 1.84 Fulford -2.25 1.56 3.11 2.77 1.29 30.61 35.86 39.05 41.84 41.91 Gufic 0.94 0.74 0.46 0.80 0.53 0.22 0.23 0.23 0.25 0.26 GujaratTerce 0.02 0.01 0.01 1.26 1.27 1.28 1.24 1.23 1.24 1.50 Hester 1.07 0.53 1.19 2.57 2.15 5.86 7.02 7.69 8.57 9.72 Jenburkt 0.31 0.21 0.36 0.36 0.49 1.69 1.83 1.93 2.42 3.41 Jupiter 1.80 1.37 1.14 0.90 0.84 13.09 16.23 18.80 20.87 12.64 Morepen 0.50 -0.83 0.37 0.26 0.45 0.45 0.70 0.59 0.72 0.62 Nutraplus 0.19 1.34 1.35 0.14 1.44 1.50 1.59 1.74 2.15 2.69 Syncom 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 4.75 4.68 4.99 TTK Healthcare 0.17 0.29 0.04 -0.23 0.23 5.66 7.05 7.72 8.41 9.97 Venus 0.47 0.28 0.68 1.54 2.84 6.90 11.57 18.14 22.99 28.89 Wanburry 0.18 0.34 0.31 0.68 0.60 8.75 10.14 7.56 9.69 7.65 Zenith 0.28 0.29 0.08 0.19 0.12 0.12 0.12 0.12 0.13 0.13 Zenotech -0.70 0.00 -0.01 -1.29 0.11 2.06 4.10 3.46 1.96 1.63 Zyden Gentec -0.18 0.24 1.09 0.32 0.43 1.16 0.16 1.68 0.18 0.18

Table:.10 - X4 = Market value of equity to Total liabilities (Small Companies) 200 200 200 200 200 201 201 X4 2002 2003 2004 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 AstraZeneca Pharma . 0.22 0.24 0.22 0.21 0.24 0.25 0.28 0.41 0.03 0.04 Claris life sciences Ltd. 0.27 0.11 0.11 0.27 0.25 0.25 0.26 0.24 0.18 0.19 Dishman Pharmaceuticals & Chemicals Ltd 0.44 0.41 0.38 0.25 0.38 0.32 0.22 0.21 0.25 0.28 Elder Pharmaceuticals Ltd. 0.32 0.34 0.35 0.23 0.25 0.25 0.28 0.29 0.32 0.33 Fresenius Kabi 0.04 0.11 0.04 0.11 0.09 0.18 0.17 0.22 0.21 0.23 Glenmark 0.21 0.26 0.20 0.36 0.42 0.40 0.20 0.28 0.18 0.22 Granules India Ltd.. 0.30 0.36 0.42 0.33 0.36 0.22 0.23 0.24 0.20 0.19 Hikal 0.32 0.35 0.31 0.37 0.32 0.30 0.40 0.35 0.32 0.33 Indico Pharmaceuticals 0.17 0.17 0.12 0.13 0.09 0.08 0.07 0.10 0.11 0.13 Ind-Swift Ltd 0.27 0.31 0.35 0.27 0.28 0.30 0.36 0.31 0.30 0.26 JB Chemicals 0.05 0.04 0.08 0.11 0.13 0.17 0.18 0.14 0.11 0.11 Novartis India 0.03 0.02 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.60 0.60 0.60 0.60 Panacea Biotech 0.32 0.33 0.27 0.26 0.42 0.17 0.22 0.32 0.30 0.35 Parenteral 0.30 0.31 0.33 0.31 0.34 0.38 0.24 0.20 0.22 0.25 Pfizer 0.04 0.05 0.10 0.40 0.30 0.90 0.40 0.50 0.40 0.30 Plethico 0.24 0.20 0.12 0.12 0.11 0.24 0.31 0.28 0.27 0.34 Shasun Pharmaceutical Ltd. 0.31 0.29 0.20 0.23 0.18 0.20 0.22 0.31 0.30 0.34 Strides Arcolab Ltd. 0.21 0.25 0.28 0.29 0.27 0.48 0.45 0.34 0.28 0.31 Unichem 0.17 0.19 0.14 0.12 0.05 0.04 0.03 0.03 0.02 0.03 Wyeth 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.00

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Table.11-X4 = Market value of equity to Total liabilities (Medium Companies) X4 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 Abbott India 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.02 0.03 0.02 Aurobindo 0.19 0.30 0.26 0.30 0.34 0.41 0.35 0.37 0.30 0.28 Biocon pharmaceuticals 0.26 0.21 0.06 0.06 0.07 0.06 0.06 0.06 0.07 0.05 Cadila 0.20 0.29 0.26 0.23 0.22 0.20 0.25 0.24 0.16 0.13 Cipla 0.02 0.05 0.08 0.16 0.03 0.10 0.13 0.00 0.04 0.00 Divis Laboratories Ltd 0.18 0.12 0.13 0.11 0.18 0.13 0.05 0.02 0.01 0.01 Dr.Reddy's 0.01 0.01 0.02 0.07 0.17 0.04 0.05 0.07 0.05 0.12 Glaxo 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 IPCA 0.29 0.23 0.22 0.24 0.20 0.20 0.22 0.25 0.20 0.20 Jubilant 0.44 0.44 0.40 0.25 0.26 0.37 0.33 0.39 0.29 0.35 Lupin 0.39 0.36 0.27 0.28 0.35 0.30 0.25 0.24 0.16 0.14 Orchid 0.35 0.36 0.39 0.41 0.34 0.46 0.44 0.49 0.37 0.37 Piramal Healthcare 0.01 0.05 0.00 0.20 0.29 0.03 0.20 0.04 0.09 0.02 Ranbaxy 0.00 0.01 0.03 0.18 0.34 0.35 0.30 0.27 0.27 0.42 Sanofi 0.04 0.01 0.01 0.07 0.00 0.24 0.25 0.28 0.34 0.26 Sterling 0.34 0.30 0.37 0.39 0.37 0.37 0.36 0.36 0.36 0.38 Sunpharma 0.20 0.13 0.16 0.37 0.33 0.18 0.01 0.00 0.00 0.00 SuryaPharma 0.30 0.34 0.28 0.30 0.36 0.35 0.38 0.41 0.42 0.41 Torrent 0.04 0.01 0.03 0.23 0.23 0.23 0.22 0.24 0.22 0.21 Wockhardt 0.01 0.07 0.27 0.19 0.26 0.23 0.19 0.44 0.47 0.44

Table - 12, X4 = Market value of equity to Total liabilities (Large Companies) X4 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 Albert 0.36 0.31 0.24 0.27 0.26 0.26 0.32 0.30 0.27 0.23 Alembic 0.31 0.35 0.29 0.26 0.21 0.28 0.33 0.36 0.34 0.15 Ambalal 0.23 0.28 0.21 0.24 0.17 0.34 0.27 0.05 0.07 0.11 Astec 0.20 0.26 0.20 0.26 0.36 0.36 0.35 0.35 0.17 0.18 Caplin Point Laboratories Ltd 0.81 0.72 0.69 0.63 0.26 0.20 0.20 0.16 0.17 0.15 Fulford (India) Ltd. 0.01 0.02 0.55 0.44 0.44 0.50 0.82 0.01 0.01 0.03 Gufic 0.31 0.31 0.32 0.30 0.35 0.32 0.28 0.27 0.29 0.31 GujaratTerce 0.10 0.09 0.09 0.12 0.10 0.20 0.19 0.22 0.20 0.14 Hester 0.23 0.20 0.14 0.10 0.07 0.27 0.23 0.20 0.20 0.18 Jenburkt 0.25 0.28 0.30 0.31 0.30 0.29 0.29 0.21 0.12 0.08 Jupiter 0.13 0.19 0.22 0.23 0.26 0.30 0.23 0.28 0.31 0.20 Morepen Laboratories 0.26 0.30 0.47 0.48 0.46 0.40 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 Nutraplus 0.07 0.08 0.19 0.27 0.25 0.29 0.60 0.60 0.60 0.60 Syncom 0.02 0.12 0.45 0.02 0.09 0.29 0.39 0.36 0.23 0.12 TTK Healthcare Ltd. 0.25 0.25 0.19 0.14 0.16 0.13 0.13 0.11 0.09 0.12 Venus 0.68 0.23 0.19 0.17 0.24 0.36 0.30 0.29 0.27 0.26 Wanburry 0.48 0.39 0.17 0.20 0.21 0.31 0.38 0.43 0.38 0.42 Zenith 0.20 0.30 0.10 0.02 0.03 0.01 0.00 0.01 0.01 0.00 Zenotech 0.02 0.20 0.02 0.10 0.26 0.21 0.07 0.08 0.05 0.03 Zyden Gentec Ltd. 0.15 0.00 0.30 0.01 0.14 0.19 0.05 0.16 0.19 0.32

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Table:- .13: X5= Sales to Total assets (Small Companies) 200 200 200 200 200 200 200 200 201 201 X5 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 AstraZeneca Pharma . 1.79 1.81 2.01 1.77 1.90 1.90 1.99 2.75 2.84 2.51 Claris life sciences Ltd. 0.70 0.52 0.59 1.63 0.90 1.02 0.91 0.79 0.53 1.22 Dishman Pharmaceuticals & Chemicals Ltd 0.61 0.74 0.73 0.64 0.47 0.49 0.50 0.49 0.34 1.44 Elder Pharmaceuticals Ltd. 0.97 1.04 1.04 0.88 0.80 0.82 0.77 0.77 0.69 1.74 Fresenius Kabi 0.49 0.71 0.95 0.82 0.71 0.64 0.35 0.40 0.55 1.41 Glenmark 1.19 1.10 1.00 0.68 0.54 0.60 0.89 0.38 0.41 1.80 Granules India Ltd.. 1.60 1.09 1.22 0.79 0.84 0.67 0.73 0.84 1.27 1.79 Hikal 0.93 0.85 0.85 0.70 0.61 0.59 0.54 0.60 0.62 1.55 Indico Pharmaceuticals 1.20 1.29 1.42 0.86 1.06 1.21 0.91 1.05 1.07 1.99 Ind-Swift Ltd 1.41 1.49 1.35 0.90 0.75 0.57 0.68 0.78 0.75 2.19 JB Chemicals 1.29 1.21 1.06 1.03 1.08 0.88 0.85 0.98 0.90 1.91 Novartis India 2.08 1.87 1.93 1.62 1.53 1.36 1.23 1.17 1.10 2.57 Panacea Biotech 1.39 1.15 0.70 0.87 0.64 1.11 0.76 0.60 0.63 1.85 Parenteral 1.21 0.62 1.14 1.25 1.34 1.28 0.96 0.55 0.66 1.32 Pfizer 2.07 1.78 1.79 1.76 1.66 1.13 0.81 0.84 1.14 2.48 Plethico 0.80 0.90 0.75 0.67 0.59 0.57 0.38 0.37 0.35 1.60 Shasun Pharmaceutical Ltd. 1.69 1.72 1.55 1.41 1.37 1.29 1.20 1.17 1.30 2.42 Strides Arcolab Ltd. 0.57 0.65 0.68 0.50 0.62 0.30 0.40 0.36 0.19 1.35 Unichem 1.98 1.69 1.78 1.73 1.39 1.38 1.29 1.20 1.09 2.39 Wyeth 1.10 1.33 1.20 1.03 1.16 1.11 1.26 1.39 1.02 2.03

Table-14: X5= Sales to Total assets (Medium Companies) X5 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 Abbott India 2.41 2.90 2.46 2.33 2.16 2.68 3.13 2.92 3.39 3.60 Aurobindo 1.04 1.05 0.89 0.66 0.66 0.65 0.75 0.81 0.84 1.75 Biocon pharmaceuticals 1.04 1.31 0.83 0.84 0.76 0.79 0.57 0.59 0.64 2.01 Cadila 0.64 1.03 1.15 1.11 1.09 1.09 0.94 0.85 0.85 1.73 Cipla 1.40 1.25 1.30 1.29 1.22 1.06 0.97 0.99 0.95 1.95 Divis Laboratories Ltd 1.44 1.22 1.06 1.02 0.79 1.05 1.08 0.91 0.59 1.92 Dr.Reddy's 1.02 0.84 0.79 0.66 0.63 0.80 0.63 0.68 0.68 1.54 Glaxo 1.83 1.65 1.47 1.55 1.28 1.16 1.08 1.07 1.10 2.35 IPCA 1.43 1.45 1.48 1.27 1.34 1.31 1.17 1.21 1.21 2.15 Jubilant 1.75 1.59 1.72 1.29 0.96 0.63 0.65 0.63 0.58 2.29 Lupin 0.92 1.06 1.43 1.23 1.06 1.13 1.13 1.27 1.07 1.76 Orchid 0.51 0.53 0.59 0.44 0.46 0.42 0.47 0.37 0.47 1.23 Piramal Healthcare 1.41 1.59 1.76 1.48 1.22 1.11 1.26 1.07 1.23 2.29 Ranbaxy 1.61 1.62 1.43 1.07 0.75 0.71 0.63 0.64 0.60 2.32 Sanofi 2.13 1.96 1.67 1.56 1.47 1.26 1.24 1.10 1.13 2.66 Sterling 0.32 0.39 0.34 0.18 0.23 0.28 0.27 0.28 0.26 1.09 Sunpharma 1.27 1.14 0.72 0.34 0.40 0.47 0.55 0.54 0.32 1.84 SuryaPharma 1.58 1.50 1.50 1.23 0.98 0.85 0.98 1.00 1.13 2.20 Torrent 1.59 1.51 1.49 0.87 1.11 1.19 1.07 0.98 1.02 2.21 Wockhardt 0.38 0.29 0.46 0.38 0.62 0.67 0.60 0.68 0.73 0.99

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Table: -15: X5= Sales to Total assets (Large Companies) X5 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 Albert 2.26 2.37 2.52 1.88 2.03 1.88 1.64 1.85 1.96 3.07 Alembic 1.36 1.33 1.34 1.09 1.22 0.96 1.30 1.36 1.40 2.03 Ambalal 0.85 0.84 0.92 1.08 0.91 0.71 0.73 1.01 0.86 1.54 Astec 1.57 1.35 2.33 1.98 0.98 0.82 0.99 1.11 0.86 2.05 Caplin Point Laboratories Ltd 0.18 0.42 1.25 3.58 1.37 1.84 1.94 1.88 1.69 1.12 Fulford (India) Ltd. 6.50 8.18 5.18 3.82 1.67 1.53 1.45 1.39 1.27 8.88 Gufic 1.65 1.64 1.71 1.86 1.60 1.58 1.78 1.71 1.89 2.34 GujaratTerce 0.81 0.84 1.33 1.29 1.63 1.71 1.75 1.85 2.06 1.54 Hester 0.56 0.62 1.02 1.60 1.31 0.43 0.61 0.54 0.62 1.32 Jenburkt 1.72 1.91 1.84 1.81 2.20 2.51 2.56 3.32 4.02 2.61 Jupiter 0.70 0.57 0.48 0.44 0.39 0.31 0.26 0.24 0.24 1.27 Morepen Laboratories 0.49 0.47 0.35 0.11 0.10 0.17 0.20 0.27 0.35 1.17 Nutraplus 1.33 1.55 1.33 1.14 1.40 1.33 0.83 1.15 0.94 2.25 Syncom 1.55 1.18 1.64 2.06 1.53 1.48 1.49 1.12 1.33 1.88 TTK Healthcare Ltd. 1.49 2.04 2.30 2.70 3.73 3.41 2.82 2.84 3.19 2.74 Venus 1.27 1.20 1.33 1.32 1.59 0.98 1.12 0.96 0.95 1.90 Wanburry 0.72 0.84 0.71 0.90 0.72 0.58 0.92 0.41 0.71 1.54 Zenith 0.48 0.50 0.52 0.49 0.48 0.51 0.52 0.62 0.65 1.20 Zenotech 0.01 0.03 0.02 0.16 0.19 0.14 0.05 0.05 0.06 0.73 Zyden Gentec Ltd. 0.05 0.04 0.13 0.07 1.00 0.82 0.99 2.21 1.40 0.74

Table - 16: Z Score (Small Companies)

Z Score 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 Mean AstraZeneca Pharma . 6.26 8.06 7.16 9.84 6.45 6.99 12.97 11.20 14.49 12.60 9.60 Claris life sciences Ltd. 4.35 3.21 1.72 3.84 3.03 4.11 18.89 15.94 17.06 19.08 9.12 Dishman Pharmaceuticals 4.86 5.44 4.54 3.07 4.14 7.36 9.68 10.03 9.53 10.85 6.95 Elder Pharmaceuticals Ltd. 6.20 5.48 5.64 5.44 6.50 22.01 25.54 31.47 30.32 39.26 17.78 Fresenius Kabi 2.45 3.34 5.37 6.28 5.56 4.82 6.14 6.91 8.50 9.49 5.89 Glenmark 3.59 3.95 4.18 5.64 4.91 9.78 11.71 9.43 10.89 11.64 7.57 Granules India Ltd.. 6.79 5.03 4.58 3.48 3.77 11.39 11.65 12.31 13.82 15.63 8.85 Hikal 6.45 5.43 4.82 4.40 3.82 15.03 16.97 17.08 21 .99 24.28 12.03 Indico Pharmaceuticals 7.97 7.54 6.57 6.30 6.63 24.56 25.64 28.65 31.71 35.88 18.14 Ind-Swift Ltd 4.67 4.20 4.58 4.06 7.56 11.86 12.07 13.65 14.39 15.22 9.23 JB Chemicals 4.93 5.19 4.93 5.42 6.15 10.43 11.26 12.86 14.25 16.38 9.18 Novartis India 4.66 4.52 6.40 4.03 4.56 15.42 17.82 19.67 22.23 27.41 12.67 Panacea Biotech 6.29 4.43 5.45 5.19 13.97 16.13 13.11 15.93 15.50 20.62 11.66 Parenteral 6.84 6.84 5.95 5.86 4.65 14.73 15.44 19.70 21.12 16.75 11.79 Pfizer 5.08 5.07 4.01 4.47 4.75 4.86 26.11 35.38 39.00 46.62 17.53 Plethico 7.53 7.73 8.64 6.08 5.77 24.37 25.01 25.46 26.16 25.83 16.26 Shasun Pharmaceutical Ltd. 6.58 6.22 6.72 6.68 5.29 9.50 9.47 9.45 10.11 9.09 7.91 Strides Arcolab Ltd. 2.61 2.15 2.42 10.59 2.13 8.09 7.82 10.30 27.60 27.62 10.13 Unichem 7.36 6.17 6.43 6.01 6.51 15.45 16.84 19.30 21.83 13.37 11.93 Wyeth 5.26 4.08 4.77 4.20 4.95 15.73 15.27 16.17 16.52 22.08 10.90

126 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015

Table - 17: Z Score (Medium Companies)

Z –Score 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 Mean Abbott India 5.20 5.94 6.76 5.18 5.07 21.64 22.25 26.54 29.70 34.69 16.30 Aurobindo 6.96 8.83 8.16 8.65 10.71 31.45 41.79 44.56 60.58 29.68 25.14 Biocon pharmaceuticals 55.78 77.69 8.88 10.51 12.63 13.64 16.71 10.11 11.19 15.63 23.28 Cadila 2.41 2.87 3.52 2.56 3.45 9.81 12.80 14.22 17.12 16.63 8.54 Cipla 7.54 9.31 10.54 12.41 16.94 22.76 25.75 32.45 32.40 38.69 20.88 Divis Laboratories Ltd 8.32 7.63 7.98 6.95 6.62 51.06 19.68 26.56 17.23 21.20 17.32 Dr.Reddy's 8.22 6.85 6.98 4.76 6.53 40.77 41.72 47.67 44.44 56.42 26.43 Glaxo 5.66 4.99 5.66 5.95 5.51 19.09 21.51 24.41 26.21 28.35 14.73 IPCA 5.22 5.43 5.82 5.51 4.80 25.80 32.00 34.06 15.19 19.32 15.32 Jubilant 3.45 3.57 4.28 3.60 5.56 11.01 14.79 13.57 20.64 21.42 10.19 Lupin 5.06 4.75 4.91 4.32 5.71 18.78 27.34 25.79 42.83 24.17 16.37 Orchid 2.91 3.00 3.78 4.57 19.89 13.86 17.34 16.67 21.17 25.35 12.85 Piramal Healthcare 2.93 4.27 6.68 2.39 2.77 7.20 6.94 1.60 -4.45 -9.65 2.07 Ranbaxy 13.65 9.77 11.12 10.66 13.57 17.52 -8.69 7.67 17.92 10.77 10.40 Sanofi 5.34 5.03 6.22 27.62 5.17 35.99 41.80 46.37 50.41 56.92 28.09 Sterling 3.79 4.21 4.46 4.26 6.55 10.81 14.06 20.46 23.58 27.89 12.01 Sunpharma 11.47 12.32 12.16 9.65 12.44 18.48 30.20 33.53 39.54 17.71 19.75 SuryaPharma 6.31 6.30 6.01 6.41 7.59 16.82 20.06 23.51 29.45 11.56 13.40 Torrent 6.77 7.42 6.84 7.24 7.22 8.70 9.35 10.83 13.53 18.55 9.65 Wockhardt 3.51 3.05 2.34 3.01 3.93 3.70 13.84 11.84 2.80 2.91 5.09

Table.18 - Z Score (Large Companies)

Z – Score 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 Mean Albert 8.87 8.83 10.12 7.66 7.76 15.51 15.63 16.87 16.53 21.88 12.96 Alembic 3.97 3.89 3.33 3.60 4.57 6.16 7.38 7.17 6.57 4.72 5.13 Ambalal 2.60 3.11 4.63 4.48 4.58 5.80 5.84 13.53 5.06 4.94 5.46 Astec 30.20 20.23 29.92 22. 02 14.01 14.31 13.81 15.52 12.69 12.72 18.54 Caplin Point Laboratories Ltd 23.98 25.05 25.28 24.61 9.26 10.87 8.19 10.47 7.53 8.17 15.34 Fulford (India) Ltd. 15.38 19.37 14.95 11.72 6.65 36.33 40.25 43.40 44.89 51.59 28.45 Gufic 8.76 9.18 7.45 7.59 6.46 26.41 7.03 11.93 6.85 8.60 10.03 GujaratTerce 30.21 31.08 30.97 30.23 31.26 26.80 25.12 21.58 21.58 15.76 26.46 Hester 24.02 23.83 24.61 20.64 16.68 10.52 12.72 13.82 15.35 17.65 17.98 Jenburkt 6.08 6.47 9.40 6.43 4.31 10.41 12.53 11.49 13.85 11.93 9.29 Jupiter 6.35 4.91 4.18 3.70 3.13 16.19 18.60 20.96 22.95 15.28 11.63 Morepen Laboratories 1.99 0.63 2.04 1.65 1.83 1.81 1.68 1.85 2.00 2.77 1.83 Nutraplus 31.35 29.71 23.99 19.09 21.56 20.28 20.43 18.74 15.46 15.46 21.61 Syncom 11.37 14.45 14.92 14.31 8.45 7.51 5.89 10.41 10.64 10.10 10.81 TTK Healthcare Ltd. 3.79 4.48 4.56 4.78 7.08 11.40 11.87 12.43 13.32 14.90 8.86 Venus 12.11 11.39 12.10 11.25 9.62 10.87 15.78 22.55 27.45 33.96 16.71 Wanburry 7.66 7.30 4.33 4.06 2.37 10.95 13.04 10.17 11.79 9.90 8.16 Zenith 29.67 29.89 28.53 26.63 25.12 27.88 28.41 27.71 26.05 25.50 27.54 Zenotech 41.40 42.67 5.18 3.55 2.78 4.21 5.80 4.72 3.47 4.60 11.84 Zyden Gentec Ltd. 58.76 60.29 57.15 38.29 25.80 22.22 22.60 23.66 16.55 12.34 33.77

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BUILDING EFFECTIVE COMPETITIVE MARKETING STRATEGIES THROUGH INNOVATION

Dr. James Jacob Associate Professor, Department of Commerce V. K. Krishna Menon College. Bhandup East, Mumbai – 42 Maharashtra State e.mail:[email protected]

ABSTRACT A competitive marketing strategy involves strongly positioning the company against competitors and gives it the greatest possible competitive advantage. Customers will see competitive advantages as customer advantages, giving the company an edge over its competitors. Competitor analysis is the process of identifying, assessing and selecting key competitors. Nations succeed in industries where the skills and resources necessary to modify strategies are present. Firms that rest on a static conception of advantage are eventually imitated and they lose market position. Sustaining competitive advantage demands continual change which is uncomfortable and organizationally difficult. Nations succeed in industries where pressures are created that overcome inertia and promote ongoing improvement and innovation instead of an easy life. Nations fail in industries where firms stop the upgrading process. Firms create competitive advantage by perceiving or discovering new and better ways to compete in an industry and bringing them to market, which is ultimately an act of innovation. Innovation is broadly includes both improvements in technology and better methods or ways of doing things. This can be manifested in product changes, process changes, new approaches to marketing, new forms of distribution, and new conceptions of scope. The markets in India are now in the developing phase and consumer needs in a churning phase. With the rush of new entrants and the spree of expansions, mergers, acquisitions, takeovers and diversifications, players in any industry had to face, in the first place new and stiffer competition from fellow Indian players. This happens in industries like cosmetics, personal care products, passenger cars, and computers and service industries like banking, financial services, computer education, media, entertainment, holiday resorts and so on. Key words: Competitive advantage, Marketing strategy, Competitive strategy, Competitor centered company, Customer centered company, Market centered company

INTRODUCTION Firms gain and sustain competitive advantage in global competitive environment through improvement, innovation and upgrading. Innovation includes technology and methods, encompassing new products, new production methods, new ways of marketing, identification of new customer

128 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015 groups and the like. The innovation that leads to competitive advantage involve an accumulation of small steps and protracted effort as much as dramatic breakthroughs causing more and better customer satisfaction. Firms that gain competitive advantage in an industry are often those that not only perceive a new market need or the potential of a new technology but move early and most aggressively to exploit it. Each significant structural change has the potential to nullify the competitive advantages of previous leaders, creating a new opportunity for shifting competitive position through an early response. Objectives of the study The objective of the study is to present the need to gain competitive advantage in the present era of global competition through innovation that leads a firm and an industry to accomplish greater profit and customer satisfaction Significance of the study Nations succeed in industries where the skills and resources necessary to modify strategies are present. Firms that rest on a static conception of advantage are eventually imitated and they lose market position. Sustaining competitive advantage demands continual change which is uncomfortable and organizationally difficult. Nations succeed in industries where pressures are created that overcome inertia and promote ongoing improvement and innovation instead of an easy life. Nations fail in industries where firms stop the upgrading process. Schumpeter emphasized many decades ago, that competition is profoundly dynamic in character. The nature of economic competition is not equilibrium but a perpetual state of change. Improvement and innovation in an industry are never ending processes, not a single, once-and-for- all event. Today’s competitive advantages are superseded or nullified. At the core of explaining national advantage in an industry must be the role of the home nation in stimulating competitive environment and innovation. Firms create competitive advantage by perceiving or discovering new and better ways to compete in an industry and bringing them to market, which is ultimately an act of innovation. Innovation is broadly includes both improvements in technology and better methods or ways of doing things. This can be manifested in product changes, process changes, new approaches to marketing, new forms of distribution, and new conceptions of scope. Innovators not only respond to possibilities for change, but also force it to proceed faster. Much innovation, in practice, is rather mundane and incremental rather than radical. It depends more on a cumulating of small insights and advances than on major technological breakthroughs. It often involves ideas that are not ‘new’ but have never been vigorously pursued. It results from organizational learning as much as from formal R&D. It always involves investment in developing skills and knowledge, and usually in physical assets and marketing effort. Creating competitive advantage Innovations shift competitive advantage when rivals either fail to perceive the new way of competing or are unwilling or unable to respond. This can be the result of many causes, among them complacency, inertia, inflexible or specialized assets or mixed motives. In global markets, innovations that yield competitive advantage anticipate both domestic and foreign needs. The most

129 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015 typical causes of innovation that shift competitive advantage are the following. 1. New technologies: Technological change can create new possibilities for the design of a product, the way it is marketed, produced or delivered, and the ancillary services provided. It is the most common precursor of strategic innovation. Industries are born when technological change makes a new product feasible. Germany first became the leader in medical imaging products, for example, after the discovery of X-rays in Germany. Leadership is most likely to change in industries when a non-incremental technological change makes obsolete or nullifies the knowledge and assets of existing leaders. For example, Japanese firms have gained a position in medical imaging vis-à- vis German and American firms due to the emergence of new electronics based technologies that substitute for traditional X-rays in some applications. 2. New or shifting buyer needs: Competitive advantage is often created or shifts when buyers develop new needs or their priorities change significantly. Established competitors may fail to perceive the new needs or be unable to respond because meeting them demands a new value chain. For example, American fast-food firms gained advantage internationally, as buyers in many nations came to the value convenience and consistency and local restaurants were slow to adapt. The operation of a fast-food chain is radically different from that of a traditional restaurant. 3. The emergence of a new industry segment: The emergence of a new industry segment: The opportunity for creating advantage arises when a new distinct segment of an industry emerges or a new way is conceived to regroup existing segments. The possibilities encompass not only new customer segments but also new ways of producing particular items in the product line or new ways to reach a particular group of customers. A good example is the lift truck industry, where Japanese firms perceived an underserved segment in small lift trucks for general purpose applications. By focusing on this segment, they were able to standardize designs and transform the manufacturing process into one employing much higher level of automation. 4. Shifting input costs or availability: Competitive advantage frequently changes when a significant change occurs in the absolute or relative costs of inputs such as labour, raw materials, energy, transportation, communications, media or machinery. This may reflect new conditions in supplier industries, or perhaps the possibility of using a new or different type or quality of input. A firm gains competitive advantage by optimizing based on the new conditions while competitors are saddled with assets and approaches tailored to the old ones. Korea and now other Asian nations have become competitive in relatively simple international construction projects as wages in more industrialized countries have risen. More recently, a steep fall in the cost of transportation and communication is allowing new ways of organizing and managing firms that lead to competitive advantage. 5. Changes in government regulations: Adjustments in the nature of government regulation, in areas such as product standards, environmental controls, restrictions on entry and trade barriers are another common stimulus to innovations which results in competitive advantage. Existing industry leaders have failed their activities to one regulatory regime and a shift in that regime may find them unable to respond. Approaches to marketing strategies No one strategy is best for all companies. Each company must determine what makes the 130 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015 most sense given its position in the industry and its objectives, opportunities and resources. Even within a company, different strategies may be required for different businesses or products. For example Johnson and Johnson uses one marketing strategy for its leading brands in stable consumer market such as Band-aid or Johnson’s baby products and a different marketing strategy for its high-tech health care business and products. Companies also differ in how they approach the strategy planning process. Many large firms develop formal competitive marketing strategies and implement them religiously. Some other companies develop strategy in a less formal and orderly fashion. In fact, approaches to marketing strategy and practice often pass through three stages: entrepreneurial marketing, formulated marking and intrepreneurial marketing. • Entrepreneurial marketing: Most companies are started by individuals who live by their wits. They visualize an opportunity, construct flexible strategies on backs of envelops and knock on the back of every door to gain attention. Dhirubhai Ambani founded Reliance as a textile company and made it a global leader in the materials and value chain business. He is regarded as an icon of entrepreneurship in India. His business philosophy was, “Growth has no limit at Reliance. Keep revising your vision. Only when you can dream it, you can do it”. He believed in “Think big, think fast and think ahead. Ideas are no one’s monopoly”, and “dare to dream and learn to excel” was his mantra. Dhirubhai built his multibillion enterprise- India’s largest private sector enterprise and Fortune Global 500 Company with this philosophy. • Formulated marketing: As small companies achieve success, they inevitably move toward more formulated marketing. They develop formal marketing strategies and adhere to them closely. • Intrepreneurial marketing: Many and mature companies get stuck in formulated marketing. They pore over the latest Nielson numbers, scan market research reports and try to fine- tune their competitive strategies and programmes. These companies sometimes lose the marketing creativity and passion that they had at the start. They now need to reestablish within their companies the entrepreneurial spirit and actions that made them successful in the first place. They need to encourage more initiative and “intrepreneurship” at the local level. Their brand and product managers need to get out of the office, start living with their customers and visualize new and creative ways to add value to their customers’ lives. Effective competitive strategies There are many approaches to developing competitive marketing strategy. Michael Porter suggested three winning competitive positioning strategies that companies can follow include: • Overall cost leadership: Here the company works hard to achieve the lowest production and distribution costs. Low costs let it price lower than its competitors and win a large market share. Dell, Big Bazaar and Wal-Mart are leading practitioners of this strategy. • Differentiation: Here the company concentrates on creating a highly differentiated product line and marketing programme so that it comes across as the class leader in the industry. Most customers would prefer to own this brand if its price is not too high. IBM and 131 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015

Samsung follow this strategy in information technology and services and consumer electronics ands household appliance respectively. • Focus: Here the company focuses its effort on serving a few market segments well rather than going after the whole market. For example, Tetra Food supplies 80 percent of the pet tropical fish food. Companies that pursue a clear strategy – any one of the above strategies are likely to perform well. The firm that carries out that strategy best well makes the most profits. But the firms that do not pursue clear strategy – middle-of-the –roaders – do the worst. Premier Automobiles and Hindustan Motors encountered difficult times because they did not stand out as the lowest in cost, highest in perceived value, or best in serving some market segment. Middle-of-the-roaders try to be good on all strategies counts, but end up being not very good at anything. Companies gain leadership positions by delivering superior value to their customers. Companies can pursue any of three strategies called value disciplines for delivering superior customer value. These are: • Operational excellence: The company provides superior value by leading its industry in price and convenience. It works to reduce costs and to create a lean and efficient value- delivery system. It serves customers who want reliable, good quality products or services, but who want them cheaply and easily. Examples include Wal-Mart, IndiGo Airlines and Big Bazaar. • Customer intimacy: The company provides superior value by precisely segmenting its markets and tailoring its products or services to match exactly the needs of targeted customers. It specializes in satisfying unique customer needs through a close relationship with and intimate knowledge of the customer. It builds detailed customer databases for segmenting and targeting, and empowers its marketing people to respond quickly to customer needs. Customer-intimate companies serve customers who are willing to pay a premium to get precisely what they want. This will do almost anything to build long term customer loyalty and to capture customer life-time value. Examples include Lexus, Taj Group hotels, etc. • Product leadership: The company provides superior value by offering a continuous stream of leading-edge products or services. It aims to make its own and competing products obsolete. Product leaders are open to new ideas, relentlessly pursue new solutions, and work to get new products to market quickly. They serve customers who want state- of-the-art products and services, regardless of the costs in terms of price or inconvenience. Examples include Nokia and Apple. Some companies successfully pursue more than one value discipline at the same time. For example, FedEx excels at both operational excellence and customer intimacy. However, such companies are rare – few firms can be the best at more than one of these disciplines. By trying to be good at all of the value disciplines, a company usually ends up being best at home. Balancing Customer and Competitor Orientations Whether a company is a market leader, challenger, follower, or nicher, it must watch its 132 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015 competitors closely and find the competitive marketing strategy that positions it most effectively. A competitor centered company is one that spends most of its time tracking competitors’ moves and market shares and trying to find strategies to counter them. This approach has some positive and negative sides. On the positive side, the company develops a fighter orientation, watches for weaknesses in its own position, and searches out competitors’ weaknesses. On the negative side, the company becomes too reactive. Rather than carrying out its own customer relationship strategy, it bases its own moves on competitors’ moves. As a result, it may end up simply matching or extending industry practices rather than seeking innovative new ways to create more value for customers. A customer centered company focuses more on customer developments in designing its strategies. Clearly, the customer centered company is in a better position to identify new opportunities and set long run strategies that make sense. By watching customer needs evolve, it can decide what customer groups and what emerging needs are the most important to serve. Then it can concentrate its resources on delivering superior value to target customers. In practice, today’s companies must be market-centered companies, watching both their customers and competitors. Conclusion Sustaining competitive advantage for a very long period demands that its resources are to be upgraded. Upgrading advantage demands more sophisticated technology, skills and methods, and sustained investment. Success in global competition demands that firms translate domestic positions into global positions. This allows advantages from the home base to be levered and reinforced by a global strategy. Nations succeeds in industries where domestic firms are encouraged to compete globally. Companies have moved through various orientations like product oriented, customer oriented and competitors oriented over the years. Today, companies need to be market oriented, paying balanced attention to both customers and competitors. Marketing begins with good understanding consumers and the market place. Rather than simply watching competitors and trying to beat them on current ways of doing business, they need to watch customers and find innovative ways to build profitable customer relationships by delivering more customer value than competitors do. A competitive orientation is important in today’s markets, but companies should not overdo their focus on competitors. Competitors are more likely to be hurt by emerging consumer needs and new competitors than by existing competitors. Market-centered companies that balance consumer and competitor considerations are practicing true market orientation. References 1. Philip Kotler and Kevin Lane Keller, (2009), ‘Marketing Management’, 13th ed., Upper Saddle River, NJ, Prentice Hall. 2. Michael E. Porter, (1998), ‘Competitive advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance, New York, Free Press. 3. Michael E. Porter, (1980), ‘Competitive Strategy: Techniques for analyzing industries and competitors, New York, Free Press. 4. Ramaswamy and Namakumari, (2009), Marketing Management, New Delhi, Mac Millan Publishers India Ltd. 5. Prahalad, C. K., and Venkat Ramaswamy, (2004), ‘The Future of Competition: Co-Creating Unique Value with Customers, New Delhi, HBS Press/Penguin Books India. 6. McKinsey Global Institute, Report, (2007), ‘The Bird of Gold: The Rise of India’s Consumer Market, San Francisco. 133 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015

EVALUATION ON MICROFINANCE AND ELF HELP GROUPS IN KERALA

Lekshmi. M.R. Lecturer in Commerce, University Institute of Technology,Yeroor

Tharif Kabeer Lecturer in Commerce,, University Institute of Technology,Kollam

ABSTRACT In the development paradigm, micro-finance has evolved as a need-based programme for empowerment and alleviation of poverty to the so far neglected target groups (women, poor, deprived etc.) and micro-finance has become one of the most effective interventions for economic empowerment of the poor. In spite of various programs initiated by Government of India and various State governments for rural up liftment, rural poverty and unemployment still persist in the country. To tackle this issue the scheme of Micro Finance has been found to be effective for uplifting the poor above the poverty line. Micro finance is the provision of financial services to low income clients, including consumers and the self-employed, who traditionally lack access to banking and related services. Micro Finance in India has grown at a tremendous pace in recent years, achieving significant outreach amongst the poor as well as non- poor households across the country. In India Micro Credit Programs are run by NABARD in the field of agriculture and Small Industries Development Bank of India in other fields such as industry, services and business. The effectiveness of intermediaries such as NGOs and SHGs in the implementation of micro financing programs in Kerala has been very much encouraging. This study aims at finding the problems faced by SHGs in different areas in Kerala and to provide some suggestions to minimize those issues.

INTRODUCTION Micro finance has spread extremely rapidly since its beginning in the late 1970s. It aims at eradication of poverty, promotion of gender equality, empowerment of women and improvement of maternal health. The level of a country’s poverty has long been linked with measures of its economic development. Little consideration was given to the social reorganization of the natural resources . The economies with positive growth rate of Gross National Product (GNP) were measured by their poverty mitigation. This gratitude emphasized on the achievement of wealth and technology as a path for development and assumed that improved lives for all would be the natural consequence. In recent years micro-finance become an important intervention as a tool for rural development and poverty alleviation. . Microfinance is a credit methodology, which employs effective 134 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015 collateral substitute for short-term and working capital loans to micro-entrepreneurs. In India, a number of microfinance institutions including NGOs, NBFIs and Government agencies had intensively intervened. Innovation of group based microfinance especially Self-help Groups (SHGs), Grameen Joint Liability Groups (JLGs), Mutually Aided Cooperative Societies (MACS) etc. which replaced the physical collateral with moral and social collateral for micro-loans had probably led to speed up the microfinance programmes in India. The giant step of NABARD on SHG-Bank Linkage Programme is really praiseworthy which latter considered as one of the biggest microfinance interventions in the world. Micro credit programes works through Self Help Groups (SHGs) and NON Governmental Organizations (NGOs). SHG is the small group formed by the women members ( normally 20 members ) residing in a particular locality, possessing the core skill capability of producing a product individually or in groups and have started business venture of their own with the support of the Government agencies. According to Reserve Bank of India, SHGs may be registered or unregistered group of people.Although men, as well as women, face difficulties in establishin g an enterprise, women have barrier toovercome. Among them are negative socio-cultural attitudes, legal barriers, practical external barriers, lack of education and personal difficulties. In spite of this, for women and especially for poor women, micro-enterprise ownership has emerged as a strategy for economical survival. Self Help Groups are considered as one of the most significant tools to adopt participatory approach for the economic empowerment of women. It is an important institution for improving the life of women on various social and economic components. The basic objective of an SHG is that it acts as the forum for members to provide space and support to each other and get financial sustainability through adopting micro-enterprises based on availability of resources, prevalent skill and availability of markets for sale of products. Group entrepreneurship is ideal for weaker sections of the society and it is an instrument which helps the poor women to overcome their poverty. It gives employment opportunities for illiterates. Government of India through the state Governments are developing SHGs consisting of women members who are interested in taking up entrepreneurship to set up their own business ventures jointly as a group. The groups containing members are identified through magalir mandrams of the rural areas by the Government where the members are from families which are in below poverty line, not much educated and unemployed but young and energetic who are interested in becoming entrepreneurs. Government wants to help these groups during initial period of the business to overcome the teething problems and provides support and training ultimately to function independently as a successful business venture. Role of micro finance and SHGs Micro finance aims at assisting communities of the economically excluded to achieve greater levels of asset creation and income security at the house hold and community level. Micro credit has given the women in India an opportunity to become agent of change. Poor women , who are in the micro credit movement in the country use small loans to start a long chain of economic activity. Micro finance and SHG has to be evolved to see that SHGs do not charge high rate of interest from their clients and improve access to those who cannot sign by making their use through thump impression. Micro fianance sector has travelled a long journey from micro savings to micro credit and then to micro enterprises and now entered the field of micro insurance, micro

135 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015 remittence and micro pension. This gradual and evolutionary growth process ahs given a great opportunity to the rural poor to attain reasonable economic, social and cultural empowerment , leading to better living standard and quality of life. Objectives • To study the importance and role of Self Help Groups (SHGs) and micro finance in poverty alleviation in Kerala. • To study the problems faced by SHGs in different areas in Kerala. Findings On the basis of the survey conducted among a few SHGs in Kerala, it is found that they are faced by a number of problems.Limited financial strength is one of the main problem faced by SHGs in Kerala.It limits the borrowing capacity of SHGs. Lack of professionalism is another problem faced by majority of SHG groups.The main reason for this is that members of the groups are less qualified. Marketing of production poses a major challenge for the SHGs. Consumers reluctance to buy the products when the products produced by the MNCs are available in the market. Inadequate training facilities is another problem faced by most of the SHGs.They lacks training facilities in the areas of product selection, quality, packing etc. They are not adequate to compete with strong industrial units. Shortage of raw materials is another problem faced by them.They usually purchase raw materials in small quantities and hence they may not be able to enjoy the benifits of large scale purchase. Moreover a systematic procurement and preservation is lacking in the case of most of the SHGs. During the survey it is found that strong members try to aquire majority ofthe share in profit by exploiting ignorant members. It is also found that lack of fincial management is another problem faced by them. It is also found that financial assistance provided to them is inadequate to meet their expenses. Suggestions Primarily SHGs have to select right products inorder to face heavy competition from the rivalries. SHGs have to include qualified persons in the management inorder to avoid managerial problems and they should provide proper training in the business management to get updated.They should give importance for capacity building for local resource mobilization. Information about locally available resources and their various uses should be desseminated to SHGs.Supporting initiatives should be made to build equity driven MFIs.A proper supervision and auditing should be conducted in SHGs in order to avoid losses. informal financial institutions should be upgraded in remote areas and they should be linked with banks.Establishing microfinance sector accessible to all segments of rural enterprise is the another step that has to be taken for overcoming the problems faced by them.Cooperation between research funding and development agencies in rural microfinance should also be supported. Frequent camps can be organised by the Rural Development Department to create awareness about the different schemes of assistance available to SHGs. Finally inorder to overcome the problems of marketing, State level organisations should extent their activities throughout the state instead. CONCLUSION India still is the home to the largest population of the poor in the world and about 37% of

136 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015 population is below poverty line. The levels of poverty are high and because of this problem Micro finance and Self Help Groups movement occupies a significant agenda in the poverty reduction and empowerment of women for poor people. Micro-finance program are important institutional devices for providing small credit to the rural people in order to alleviate poverty and SHG bank linkage, have the potential to minimize the problems of inadequate access of banking services to the poor. Many studies highlighted that SHGs have inculcated saving habits in poor. But, In spite of the impressive figures of micro-finance in India as have exposed in tables. It is still too small to create a massive impact in poverty alleviation. The very existence of SHGs is highly relevant to make the people of BPL hopeful and self reliant. It acts as a catalyst for bringing this section of the society to the main stream. Bibliography 1. Dhanabhakyam.M, Latha.M, (2009),” Women Entrepreneurship in rural area”. (Edited by: by Ahmed. R).” Micro -finance and women empowerment”. ( part 3), A Mittal Publication.2009 2. Ganga and Jain D.K. 2009 ”Micro - Finance through Self - Help Group Formation”. (Edited by Ahmed. R).” Micro-finance and women empowerment”. ( part 2), A Mittal Publication.2009. 3. Harper.M, Berkhoff.A , Ramakrishna.R.V.(2006)”SHG Bank Linkage -A tool for reform in cooperatives”. From www.ruralfinance.orgE. 4. Lyer.S,R, (2007),” Role of National Commission for Women, Mahila courts, NGOs and social workers in promoting women empowerment”. (Edited by: Raju.L). Women Empowerment challenges and strategies. Regal Publication, New Delhi.

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IMPACT OF GLOBALISATION ON EDUCATION – AN OVERVIEW

Binija George Assistant Professor, P.G. Department of Commerce, Marthoma College, Chungathara, Nilambur

ABSTRACT Education is undergoing constant changes under the effects of globalisation. The effect of globalisation on education bring rapid developments in technology and communications are foreseeing changes within learning systems across the world as ideas, values and knowledge changing the roles of students and teachers and producing a shift in society from industrialisation towards an information based society. The internationalisation of higher education can be linked to various internal and external changes in the international system. In today’s environment, education provides individuals with a better chance of employment, which in turn leads to a better chance of employment, which in turn leads to a better life style, power and status. This paper discusses the impact of globalisation on higher education and also understands the role played by globalisation on education. Key words: Globalisation, Industrialisation, Internationalisation, UNESCO.

INTRODUCTION The Principal objective of Education has been the development of the whole Individual. The minimum level of education that was necessary to achieve this goal in the agrarian society was basic or primary and in the industrial age, secondary. In the present borderless information society, education needs to be able to respond to additional demands of a rapidly globalising world by raising awareness of the environment, peace, cultural and social diversity, increased competitiveness and the concept of a global village. Education prepared the harmony with the environment around him. Globalisation has changed the size, nature for higher education therefore is to reform, create and develop systems that prepare the individual to work in a borderless economy and live our educational institutions need to produce global citizens. Objectives of the study • To discuss the impact of globalisation on higher education • To understands the role played by globalisation on education. Methodology The study is based on secondary sources. Secondary data is taken from the sources like reviewed articles, books and websites.

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Impact of Globalisation on Higher Education Constant changes under the effect of globalisation. The effect of globalisation on education bring, rapid developments in technology and communications are foreseeing changes within school systems across the world as ideas, values and knowledge, changing the roles of students and teachers, and producing a shift in society from industrialisation towards an information- based society. The rise to a global society, driven by technology and communication developments are shaping children, the future citizens of the world into ‘global citizens’, intelligent people with a broad range to skills and knowledge to apply to a competitive, information based society. Education is becoming a lifelong transferable skills and knowledge that can be applied to competitive markets where knowledge and information is being traded as a commodity. The introduction of technology into the class room is changing the nature of delivering education to students is gradually giving way to a new form of electronic literacy, more programmes and education materials, are made available in electronic form, teachers are preparing materials in electronic form, and projects in electronic form; and students are generating electronic form”. Video projection screens books with storage device secures and CD ROMS as well as the emergence of on-line digital libraries are now replacing blackboards. Even exams and grades are gradually becoming available through electronic means and notebooks are starting to give way to laptops. Also, students can be examined through computer managed learning systems and do tutorial exercises on a computer rather than in a classroom. With such changes and the emergence of Video conferencing and the Internet, the barriers of distance are being broken down at a rapid rate, due to the key aspect of globalisation. Communication and information based technology over the years is the Internet, which is a massive network of Computers located throughout the world. The Computers maintain libraries of text, images, computer software, and other forms of data that can be accessed by anyone, anywhere at anytime. This implementation to be successful and to educate a society, both the students and teachers need. to be technologically literate. Developments in the delivery of education is allowing for individuals to explore new areas of learning and thinking that could not be done with pen and paper. They are discovering knowledge through inquiry and experimentation rather than memorizing facts in a teacher dominated classroom setting. A global education should teach about issues that cross national ecological, cultural, economical, political and technological grounds such as the Globalisation program which draws upon expertise in many areas such as humanities, social science and environmental science. Globalisation and technological advancements are delivering and increasing access to the world and subsequently subjects should reflect this global outlook. The spread of education internationally, as a result of globalisation has clearly had effects on cultures worldwide. The internationalisation of education has become one of the key themes of educational policy and planning in the 1990s. The internationalisation of education, particularly higher education, is a growing phenomenon. It can be linked to internal and external changes in the international system. It is resulted in changes in the labour market, which have resulted in calls for more knowledge and skilled workers with deeper understandings of languages and business methods from all over the world. “Modern education...... is almost exclusively focused 139 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015 on preparing children for an urban future. Education is becoming more invaluable to individuals. In today’s environment, education provides individuals with a better change of employment, which in turn leads to a better lifestyle, power and status. The current globalisation of higher education creates both challenges and opportunities. The relationship between universities education and globalisation gives special attention. Education will be the answer to many problems raised by globlisation. Educational goals are seen to be an area of great concern in the era of globalisation. It is here that universities play a crucially important role, for create better society. It is impossible to ignore the global; universities need to reflect on the impact of globalisation, both theoretically as analysts and researchers, and practically as academic workers involved in an increasingly globalised enterprise. Universities providing a high quality education for the globalised world, despite its focus on internationalism and cross-cultural communication, are still based on an individualistic model of teaching. Education should not become a means of westernising the world. On the contrary it should treat each unique culture and society with due respect, realising that global education is not only learning about the west, but also studying different cultures of the world, using different approaches, ways to teaching and different media. Many people in the developing world are still illiterate. According to a statistical analysing by UNESCO, literacy rates (% of people aged 15 and above who can read and write in their native language) in countries of Southern Asia in 1995 were as follows (www.vis.unesco.org).

Country Year Both Sexes Male Female Afghanistan 1995 32 47 15 Bangladesh 1995 38 49 26 Bhutan 1995 42 56 28 India 1995 52 66 38 Maldives 1995 93 93 93 Nepal 1995 28 41 14 Pakistan 1995 38 50 24 Sri Lanka 1995 90 93 87

The table above, in five of the eight countries less than 50% of the population is literate and in six of them only less than 40% of the female is literate.. It is very surprise that today’s global schooling system, supported by numerous international institutions (UNESCO being one of them), which has already achieved so much in the internationalisation of pre-University and University education, is suffering a global crisis is in the area of primary education. Role played by Globalisation on Education’ Globalisation is to be realised as a worldwide trend to which our country cannot be a more spectator. Whenever a process of change begins in a system, the first priority should be given to education because education is the fundamental necessity for development. But it is seen that the speed of change and reform in the field of education in our country is very slow and unsatisfactory. The main reason for the slow speed of educational reforms process is the mind set, which is not

140 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015 bold enough to experiment with new and unconventional ideas. Even now, the decision to globalise education has not taken shape. Some important prerequisites to globalisation like good quality, is a prerequisite to globalisation which in turn, will keep us on out toes to maintain and improve the quality further. Quality education depends on proper educational and infrastructural facilities like libraries, computers, audio/visual aids, laboratory, workshop, well maintained buildings, furniture hostels, water, telephone etc and continuously updated syllabi. There should be fundamental change in the policy regarding tuition fees and financing so as to enable institutions to develop the faculties to develop the facilities of international standard, which in turn, will attract more foreign students. Therefore, it is very important to have educational and infrastructural facilities of international standards to entire foreign students. We can see that the present era is an era of academic globalisation due to the fact that more and more students are aspiring and seeking foreign education. Education today is considered as a marketable commodity and is being exported or imported through various mechanisms. Therefore globalisation of education should. 1. Ensure that students have not only mastery of numeracy, reading, and writing (where necessary, in both mother tongue and National language) but also the capacity a. As global citizens, to live and act in both a knowledge, based learning. b. As communicators, to integrate themselves into the information revolution ad bridge the digital divide that threatens top marginalise them even further. c. As workers, to adapat themselves to, or create new opportunities to work within, the rapidly changing economic circumstances of their society. d. As preservers of their culture, to search for and strengthen their cultural identity, develop new talents, and expand their creative potential, and e. As lifelong learners, to continue to learn from, and contribute to, an increasingly knowledge based society. 2. Strengthen local and regional responses to globalisation. At the school and community level supported by national policies and programmes. Children can gain initial literacy in their mother tongue, thereby both reinforcing their cultural identity and making easier mastery of the national language. In doing so, government and their ministries of education must: • Reconfirm their commitment to ensuring education for all- not leaving the task solely to the private sector. • Promote decentralisation which ensures genuine local community participation in education and management. • Continue to promote the diversification of educational content and methods and ensure that standardisation of content, methods, and assessment does not lead to the homogenisation of knowledge- at the expense of local, traditional, indigenous knowledge-or the dismissal of systems and schools that don’t make the grade as not deserving of further help. Above all, governments most continue to insist on the autonomy of national education 141 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015 systems on their responsiveness to local needs and contexts. The traditional goals of a good education- the flowering of human potential and the development of ‘complete’ persons-must not be replaced y more instrumental targets of labour productivity and industrial competitiveness. CONCLUSION Globalisation has had many obvious effects on educational technology and communication system change the way education is delivered as well as roles played by both teachers and students. The development of this technology of facilitating the transition from an industrial based society to information based one. At the same time, there is a dark side to globalisation and to the very openness of the new information systems. While the richest countries grow richer, the poor are becoming poorer. In the 21st century, education systems face the dual challenge of equipping students with the new knowledge, skills and values needed to be competitive in a global market while at the same time producing graduates who are responsible adults, good citizens both of their country and of the world. Thus globalisation challenges us to rethink not only how much education is needed but also its ultimate purposes. References 1. The effects of globalisation on education by Kate Francis, Kate Fitzgerald, Rebecca Lacey, Kate Hancock & David Ockendon. 2. Agarwal.R. (2002). Goobalisation of Higher Education and WTO, Journal of Higher Education, Vol.40, No.34, AIU House, New Delhi. 3. Knight J Edewit . H.(1997). Internationalisation of Higher Education in Asia Pacific countries, European Association of International Education, Amsterdam. 4. Rastogi, Sanita, (2001), Globalisation of Higher Education, Journal of Higher Education, Vol.39, NO.35, AIU House, New Delhi. 5. Harsolekar, D.D, (2000), Globalisation of India Higher Education, Journal of Higher Education, Vol.28, No.28, AIU House, New Delhi. 6. www. wikipedia.com

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FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT IN INDIAN RETAIL: A SWOT ANALYSIS

Syamraj K.P. Assistant Professor, Department of Commerce, MES Arts and Science College Perinthalmanna, Palachode P.O, Malappuram e.mail: [email protected]

James Varghese Assistant Professor, Department of Commerce, St. Thomas College, Arunapuram P.O. Pala, Kottayam Dist. e.mail: [email protected]

ABSTRACT Foreign Direct Investment is a key topic of discussion in the international business scenario. For developing and underdeveloped countries, FDI is an important source of capital inflow, as they are famished with respect to domestic capital generation. From Indian scenario, FDI in retail business is a vast concern, as from positive side, it provides India with huge capital inflow which leads to development of infrastructure as well as basic industries and agriculture and from negative point of view, it hoops demise glockenspiel for the domestic retail business. A SWOT analysis of FDI in retail business in India proves there are different strengths and weaknesses for the concern in performing the investment and business function in Indian subcontinent and certain opportunities for growth and challenges to overcome. Key words: Foreign Direct Investment in India, SWOT analysis, Single brand retail, Multi brand retail, FDI in retail, FDI Policy

INTRODUCTION IMF has defined FDI as “foreign direct investment is the category of international investment that reflects the objective of obtaining a lasting interest by a resident entity in one economy in an enterprise resident in another economy. The lasting interest implies the existence of a long-term relationship between the direct investor and the enterprise and a significant degree of influence by the investor on the management of the enterprise”. FDI plays significant role in growth of Indian economy.FDI aid to widen of markets, cost effective supply chain and accelerate the economic development. This paper discussed on FDI policy in retail in India and analysis the Strength, Weakness, Opportunities and threat particularly in small retailers. 143 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015

Objective of the study 1. To study and analyse the FDI policy in India 2. To analyse the strength, weakness, opportunities and threats of FDI in Retail in India 3. To point out major issues and challenges of Indian FDI policy 4. To know the impact on FDI in retail business on small retailers. Data and methodology: This research is an attempt of exploratory research. The theoretical study is based on the available secondary data from journals, magazines, books, articles and media reports. Literature Review CMA Jayashree Ramanan, Dr. K.P.V.Ramanakumar (2014) conducted a study “FDI in India’s Retail”. The FDI in retail gives large opportunities for Indian economy and its main contribution to employment generation.FDI have many positive aspects like better products, large variety of products, better utilisation of manpower, greater employment generation. Negative aspects like instability in foreign exchange reserves and threat to small traders and farmers. Dr. Manish Khare (2013) mentions in “Foreign Direct Investment in Indian Retail Sector - A SWOT Analysis”. FDI in retail attract global retail investors to Indian economy. It’s also help to better utilisation of existing manpower and resources. In FDI retail the government must ensure the trade practice of small investors. FDI in retail policy controls the unfair competition in retail sector and avoid intermediaries in market. K.R. Kaushik Dr. Kapil Kumar Bansal (2012) submitted a study on “Foreign Direct Investment in Indian Retail Sector Pros and Cons”. The development in FDI policy is largely welcomed by all over the world. The FDI in retail helps to consumers to get a wide variety of products and lower priced. FDI in retail boost economic development and stable growth retail sector. Indian retail sector Retail in India is one of the developing sectors and it’s contributing 14% to 15% of its GDP. Indian retail sector tops five retail markets in the world and its total sales amount to 500 million USD. It’s a fast growing sector with 1.2 billion peoples. The retail sector classified into two, organised and unorganised. Organised sector classified into supermarket, hypermarket, speciality store, cash & carry, departmental store. Unorganised sector includes small retailers comprising the local kirana shops, owner managed general stores, pharmacy stores, footwear shops, apparel shops, hand-cart hawkers, and pavement vendors, among others. The rapid urbanisation, growing private income and private consumption expenditure leads to entry of foreign players in retail sector in India. Food and grocery is largest segment within retail sector and its amount to 60% share, followed by telecom and apparel. The contribution is due to large focus of grocery stores, hawkers/street vendors for fruit and vegetables. Others are focusing on food and beverages retailing. in 2012 retail size of Indian business is USD518 BN in that 92% contributed from unorganised sector and 8% from organised sector. The 40% of total retail consumers is from urban population. The top eight cities Mumbai, Kolkata, Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Ahmadabad and Pune reports for around 45% of the total organised retail penetration. The growth in organised 144 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015 retail sector witnessed a consistent change from past 5 years onwards. The highly established hypermarkets, supermarkets and department stores contributes big amount to organised retailing and modern consumer lifestyle and taste also impacted on that development. FDI Policy The liberalisation and globalisation in India force to develop policy regarding FDI. In 2011 government of India started FDI in multi- brand retail and past 3 years Indian government took tremendous efforts and globally acceptable policy regarding FDI in retailing as well as in other sectors of Indian economy. Tables 1 and 2 show the current policy of the Government of India on FDI in single brand and multi-brand retail.

Table 1 – FDI Policy of India on Single Brand Retail Sector/Activity Percentage of Equity/ FDI Entry Route Cap Single Brand product retail 100% Automatic up to 49% / Government trading route beyond 49% (1) Foreign Investment in Single Brand product retail trading is aimed at attracting investments in production and marketing, improving the availability of such goods for the consumer, encouraging increased sourcing of goods from India, and enhancing competitiveness of Indian enterprises through access to global designs, technologies and management practices. (2) FDI in Single Brand product retail trading would be subject to the following conditions: (a) Products to be sold should be of a ‘Single Brand’ only. (b) Products should be sold under the same brand internationally i.e. products should be sold under the same brand in one or more countries other than India. (c) ‘Single Brand’ product retail trading would cover only products which are branded during manufacturing. (d) A non resident entity or entities, whether owner of the brand or otherwise, shall be permitted to undertake ‘single brand’ product retail trading in the country for the specific brand, directly or through a legally tenable agreement with the brand owner for undertaking single brand product retail trading The onus for ensuring compliance with this condition will rest with the Indian entity carrying out single brand product retail trading in India. The investing entity shall provide evidence to this effect at the time of seeking approval, including a copy of the licensing/franchise/sub-licence agreement, specifically indicating compliance with the above condition. The requisite evidence should be filed with the RBI for the automatic route and SIA/FIPB for cases involving approval (e) In respect of proposals involving FDI beyond 51%, sourcing of 30% of the value of goods purchased, will be done from India, preferably from MSMEs, village and cottage industries, artisans and craftsmen, in all sectors. The quantum of domestic sourcing will be self-certified by the company, to be subsequently checked, by statutory auditors, from the duly certified accounts which the company will be required to maintain. This procurement requirement would have to be met, in the first instance, as an average of five years’ total value of the goods purchased, beginning 1stApril of the year during which the first tranche of FDI is received. Thereafter, it would have to be met on an annual basis. For the purpose of ascertaining the sourcing requirement, the relevant entity would be the company, incorporated in India, which is the recipient of FDI for the purpose of carrying out single-brand product retail trading. (f) Retail trading, in any form, by means of e-commerce, would not be permissible, for

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single -bra nd product retail trading. (f) Retail trading, in any form, by means of e-commerce, would not be permissible, for companies with FDI, engaged in the activity of single-brand retail trading (3) Application seeking permission of the Government for FDI exceeding 49% in a company which proposes to undertake single brand retail trading in India would be made to the Secretariat for Industrial Assistance (SIA) in the Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion. The applications would specifically indicate the product/product categories which are proposed to be sold under a ‘Single Brand’. Any addition to the product/product categories to be sold under ‘Single Brand’ would require a fresh approval of the Government. In case of FDI up to 49%, the list of products/product categories proposed to be sold except food products would be provided to the RBI. Applications would be processed in the Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion, to determine whether the proposed investment satisfies the notified guidelines, before being considered by the FIPB for Government approval Source: Ministry of commerce & Industry, Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion, India

Table 2 – FDI Policy of India on Multi Brand Retail Sector/Activity Percentage of Equity/ FDI Cap Entry Route Multi Brand Retail Trading 51% Government (1) FDI in multi brand retail trading, in all products, will be permitted, subject to The following conditions: (i) Fresh agricultural produce, including fruits, vegetables, flowers, grains, pulses, fresh poultry, fishery and meat products, may be unbranded. (ii) Minimum amount to be brought in, as FDI, by the foreign investor, would be US $ 100 million. (iii) At least 50% of total FDI brought in the first tranche of US $ 100 million, shall be invested in 'back-end infrastructure' within three years, where ‘back-end infrastructure’ will include capital expenditure on all activities, excluding that on front-end units; for instance, back-end infrastructure will include investment made towards processing, manufacturing, distribution, design improvement, quality control, packaging, logistics, storage, ware-house, agriculture market produce infrastructure etc. Expenditure on land cost and rentals, if any, will not be counted for purposes of backend infrastructure. Subsequent investment in backend infrastructure would be made by the MBRT retailer as needed, depending upon its business requirements. (iv) At least 30% of the value of procurement of manufactured/processed products purchased shall be sourced from Indian micro, small and medium industries, which have a total investment in plant & machinery not exceeding US $ 2.00 million. This valuation refers to the value at the time of installation, without providing for depreciation. The ‘small industry’ status would be reckoned only at the time of first engagement with the retailer, and such industry shall continue to qualify as a ‘small industry’ for this purpose, even if it outgrows the said investment of US $ 2.00 million during the course of its relationship with the said retailer. Sourcing from agricultural co-operatives and farmers co-operatives would also be considered in this category. The procurement requirement would have to be met, in the first instance, as an average of five years’ total value of the manufactured/processed products purchased, beginning 1stApril of the year during which the first tranche of FDI is received. Thereafter, it would have to be met on an annual basis (v) Self-certification by the company, to ensure compliance of the conditions at serial nos. (ii), (iii) and (iv) above, which could be cross-checked, as and when required. Accordingly, the investors shall maintain accounts, duly certified by statutory auditors. (vi) Retail sales outlets may be set up only in cities with a population of more than 10 lakh as per

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made by the MBRT retailer as needed, depending upon its business requirements. (iv) At least 30% of the value of procurement of manufactured/processed products purchased shall be sourced from Indian micro, small and medium industries, which have a total investment in plant & machinery not exceeding US $ 2.00 million. This valuation refers to the value at the time of installation, without providing for depreciation. The ‘small industry’ status would be reckoned only at the time of first engagement with the retailer, and such industry shall continue to qualify as a ‘small industry’ for this purpose, even if it outgrows the said investment of US $ 2.00 million during the course of its relationship with the said retailer. Sourcing from agricultural co-operatives and farmers co-operatives would also be considered in this category. The procurement requirement would have to be met, in the first instance, as an average of five years’ total value of the manufactured/processed products purchased, beginning 1stApril of the year during which the first tranche of FDI is received. Thereafter, it would have to be met on an annual basis (v) Self-certification by the company, to ensure compliance of the conditions at serial nos. (ii), (iii) and (iv) above, which could be cross-checked, as and when required. Accordingly, the investors shall maintain accounts, duly certified by statutory auditors. (vi) Retail sales outlets may be set up only in cities with a population of more than 10 lakh as per 2011 Census or any other cities as per the decision of the respective State Governments, and may also cover an area of 10 kms around the municipal/urban agglomeration limits of such cities; retail locations will be restricted to conforming areas as per the Master/Zonal Plans of the concerned cities and provision will be made for requisite facilities such as transport connectivity and parking Government will have the first right to procurement of agricultural Products. (vii) The above policy is an enabling policy only and the State Governments/Union Territories would be free to take their own decisions in regard to implementation of the policy. Therefore, retail sales outlets may be set up in those States/Union Territories which have agreed, or agree in future, to allow FDI in MBRT under this policy. The list of States/Union Territories which have conveyed their agreement is at (2) below. Such agreement, in future, to permit establishment of retail outlets under this policy, would be conveyed to the Government of India through the Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion and additions would be made to the list at (2) below Accordingly. The establishment of the retail sales outlets will be in compliance of applicable State/Union Territory laws/ regulations, such as the Shops and Establishments Act etc (viii) Retail trading, in any form, by means of e-commerce, would not be permissible, for companies with FDI, engaged in the activity of multi-brand retail trading. (x) Applications would be processed in the Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion, to determine whether the proposed investment satisfies the notified guidelines, before being considered by the FIPB for Government approval Source: Ministry of commerce & Industry, Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion, India SWOT Analysis of FDI policy in retail The study using literature and secondary data proved that FDI in retail sector has its own strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and strengths. They are pointed out below. 1. Strength a) Main contributor to the GDP b) High constant Growth rate c) large Potential market d) High employment generation. e) Rapid growing sector f) Potential customers with purchasing power. 147 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015

2. Weakness a) Low capital investment b) Large unorganised Sector c) Shortage of skilled manpower d) Improper supply chain e) Lack of competition f) Price instability 3. Opportunities a) High employment generation in future b) Increase of disposable income c) Foreign capital inflow d) Cost effective and quality improvement e) Penetration in organised sector f) Healthy competition. g) Low wastage and quality control. 4. Threats a) Ignorance of small retailers like ‘pan tapri’,’local kirana’ b) High outflow of profits. c) Improper political situation d) High shift in employment. CONCLUSION FDI in retailing is playing very important role in Indian economy and it’s creating a new kind of trade practice and using existed pool of human resources. The government must protect small and medium retailers is their source of lively hood. FDI in retail helps to give better balance of payment, generate more employment opportunities and better tax collection. The MSMEs promoted by way of improvement in product quality, global competition, innovative technology and better economic relationships. FDI in retail improve better supply chain that way consumer will get bigger varieties of product, lower priced products and better shopping experience. The highly improved facilities help to farmers and manufactures to keep better inventory level and reduce wastage. It’s also help to farmers to avoid market intermediaries and better price realisation. For total economy FDI retail will give better working environment and increase standard of living. There are some negative aspects relates to FDI in retail. The main things are impact on foreign exchange position, impact on small traders and farmers. Indian manufacturing sector impacted due to import of low quality product to markets. FDI in retail is needed for the better economic growth of the country but it should consider all traders and small farmers. The policy should ensure a better and stable growth in all levels of economy and better utilisation of existing resources.

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References Bhattacharyya, R. (2012). The Opportunities and Challenges of FDI in Retail in India. IOSR Journal of Humanities and Social Science (JHSS). Deepiaka Jhamb, R. K. (2011). Organized Retail in India - Drivers, Facilitator and SWOT Analysis. Asian Journal of Management Research. Khere, D. M. (2013). Foreign Direct Investment in Indian Retail Sector - A SWOT Analysis. AISECT University Journal. Ministry_of_commerce_&_Industry. (2014). Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion, India. Retrieved November 29, 2014, from Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion, India: www.dipp.nic.in/ english/default.aspx RBI. (2014). Reserve Bank of India. Retrieved November 28, 2014, from Reserve Bank of India: www.rbi.in Salunkhe, D. B. (2012). SWOT Analysis of Foreign Direct Investment in Indian Retail Sector. International Indexed & Referred Research Journal.

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WHY DO THE PEOPLE NOT INTERESTED TO MAKE INVESTMENTS IN STOCK MARKET

Shamna Shafi Assistant Professor on contract Dept. of Commerce, NSS College Nilamel, Kollam Dist.

ABSTRACT The present study seeks the reasons behind the people’s unwillingness to participate in stock market investment. Stock market is the Place in where the financial instruments are traded. Now the stock market offers a wide variety of investment opportunities. But the persons continue to make traditional investment avenues like bank deposit, gold etc. The main reasons may be lack of investors’ confidence, scams, doubtful regarding safety, continuous fluctuation of prices, etc. Key words: stock market, investor’s confidence, risk, return, scams

INTRODUCTION An investment is a sacrifice of current money or other resources for future benefits. Now, there are so many investment avenues are available. Such investment avenues involve bank deposits, post office savings, real estate, gold, stock market investment etc. Among them the stock market offers a wide variety of investment opportunities having different risk and return levels. Stock market is the place in where funds of the public are made available to the companies through financial instruments. Stock market plays a significant role for the industry by providing adequate finance and also for the investor by providing maximum return on their savings. But the investors in villages are not willing to participate in stock market. They continue to choose the traditional avenues. Review of Literature A study of investor behaviour on investment avenues in Mumbai Fenil was undertaken by Brahmabhatt, P.S Raghu Kumari, and Dr.ShamiraMalekar. In this study they analyzed the investor behaviour and their preferences. The objectives for their study were to understand about various investment avenues available in the market, to understand the pattern of investors while making the investments, & to find out the factors that investors consider before investing. Through their study it was revealed that people like to invest in stock market. The percentages of income they make as investment depend on their annual income.

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A study by Dr. Aurangzeb HOD, Business Administration, Dadabhoy Institute of Higher Education on “Factors Affecting Performance of Stock Market: Evidence from South Asian Countries “identifies the factor affecting performance of stock market in South Asia. The data used in this study were collected from the period of 1997 to 2010 of 3 South Asian countries namely, Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka. Regression results indicate that foreign direct investment and exchange rate have significant positive impact on performance of stock market in South Asian countries while; interest rate has negative and significant impact on performance of stock market in South Asia. Results also indicate the negative but insignificant impact of inflation on stock market performance in South Asia. It is recommended that in order to take the full advantage of stock market and carry on with the international markets well managed macroeconomic policies are necessary in which interest rates and inflation rate are thoroughly monitor and try to reduce the value as much possible. It gives the confidence to the investors as well as the industries. It is also recommended that some extra benefits were given to the foreign investors because we observed that the influence of foreign investors is strong in this region. Statement of the Problem Most of the persons kept aside a part of their income as savings and invest in expectation of some return in future. There are so many investment avenues are available. The return and risk are varied with investments. The stock market offers a wide variety of investments ranging from the low risk to high risk and also from low return to high return. But the persons are not interested in it and they continue to invest in gold, real estate etc. Objective of the Study • Identify the reasons behind the people’s unwillingness in making investment in stock market securities. Methodology The study is based on the sample of 50 respondents among the investors in Kollam district. The data are collected from both primary and secondary sources. The secondary source involves magazines, journals and different websites. Primary data are collected through questionnaires. Random sampling technique is used in selecting samples. Gender, age and occupation are the various elements taken for analysis of data. Mean and standard deviation are tools used for analysis. Data Analysis and Interpretation Even though the stock market get significant place among the various investment avenues, the people at villages are not willing to enter in to stock market. The main reasons for such unwillingness may be lack of awareness, continuous fluctuations of prices, fear about safety and Scams and irregularities in company and stock market. The following analysis makes it clearer. The above analysis shown that, major reason for the lack of investment in stock market is unawareness. Both male and female respondents agreed upon it. The other reasons raised by male respondents are continuous fluctuations of prices, fear about safety, Scams and irregularities in company and stock market. The other reasons according to the female respondents are fear about safety, Scams and irregularities in company and stock market and continuous fluctuations of prices.

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Table 1 - Ranking of Reasons (Male Respondents) Reasons R1 R2 R3 R4 Lack of Awareness 10 8 4 3 Continuous Fluctuations of Prices 7 6 7 5 Fear about Safety 4 6 9 6 Scams and Irregularities In Company 4 5 5 11 and Stock Market (Source: Primary Data)

Table 2 - Ranking of Reasons (Female Respondents) Reasons R1 R2 R3 R4 lack of awareness 11 6 8 0 Continuous fluctuations of prices 0 0 10 15 Fear about safety 8 12 5 0 Scams and irregularities in company and 6 7 2 10 stock market (Source: Primary Data) Table.3 - Gender wise analysis of the reasons having no stock market investments Reasons Male Female Mean SD Mean SD lack of awareness 2 1.02 1.88 0.863 continuous fluctuations of prices 2.4 1.10 3.6 0.49 fear about safety 2.68 1.01 2.2 0.711 Scams and irregularities in 2.92 1.13 2.64 1.23 company and stock market (Source: Primary Data)

Table.4 - Ranking of Reasons (Respondents Belonging to the Age Group of Below 30) Reasons R1 R2 R3 R4 Lack of awareness 0 4 2 4 Continuous fluctuations of prices 1 0 7 2 Fear about safety 2 1 5 2 Scams and irregularities in company 4 3 2 1 and stock market (Source: Primary Data) Table 1 - Ranking of Reasons (Respondents Belonging to the Age Group of 30-40) Reasons R1 R2 R3 R4 Lack of awareness 9 2 5 4 Continuous fluctuations of prices 2 2 6 10 Fear about safety 2 10 5 3 Scams and irregularities in company and 2 4 3 11 stock market (Source: Primary Data) 152 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015

Table.6 - Ranking of Reasons (Respondents Belonging to the Age Group of 40-50 Reasons R1 R2 R3 R4 lack of awareness 7 3 4 1 Continuous fluctuations of prices 2 2 3 8 Fear about safety 3 8 4 0 Scams and irregularities in company and stock 2 3 2 8 market (Source: Primary Data) Table.7 Ranking of Reasons (Respondents Belonging to the Age Group of Above 50) Reasons R1 R2 R3 R4 lack of awareness 5 0 0 0 Continuous fluctuations of prices 2 2 1 0 Fear about safety 5 0 0 0 Scams and irregularities in company and stock 2 2 0 1 market (Source: Primary Data) Table 8 - Age wise analysis of the reasons having no stock market investments Reasons Below 30 30 -40 40 -50 Above 50 Mean SD Mean SD Mean SD Mean SD lack of awareness 3 0.89 2.20 1.21 1.93 0.99 1 0.00 Continuous fluctuations of 3 0.77 3.2 0.98 3.13 1.09 1.8 0.75 prices Fear about safety 2.7 1.00 2.45 0.86 2.07 0.68 1 0.00 Scams and irregularities in 2 1 3.15 1.06 3.07 1.12 2 1.09 company and stock market (Source: Primary Data)

It is clear from the above table that, the respondents belonging to the age group of below 30 fears about the various scams in stock market and company and they are less worried about the fluctuation in prices and they also possess some degree of knowledge regarding stock market. The respondents in other age groups said that they are not aware about the stock market invest- ments and its requirements .so they are not interested in it. Table – 9 Ranking of Reasons (Respondents-Business) Reasons R1 R2 R3 R4 lack of awareness 2 0 1 2 Continuous fluctuations of prices 3 1 0 1 Fear about safety 2 1 2 0 Scams and irregularities in company and stock 1 1 2 0 market (Source: Primary Data)

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Table 10 - Ranking of Reasons (Respondents-Salaried) Reasons R1 R2 R3 R4 lack of awareness 9 4 11 1 Continuous fluctuations of prices 2 5 9 9 Fear about safety 3 10 8 4 Scams and irregularities in company and stock 3 5 4 13 market (Source: Primary Data) Table -11 Ranking of Reasons (Respondents-Agriculture Reasons R1 R2 R3 R4 lack of awareness 4 1 0 0 Continuous fluctuations of prices 0 0 2 3 fear about safety 5 0 0 0 Scams and irregularities in company and stock 4 1 0 0 market (Source: Primary Data) Table 12 - Occupation wise analysis of the reasons having no stock market investments Reasons Business Salaried Agriculture Others Mean SD Mean SD Mean SD Mean SD lack of awareness 2.6 1.36 2.16 0.97 1.2 0.40 1.6 0.49 continuous fluctuations of prices 1.8 1.17 3 0.94 3.6 0.49 3.27 0.99 fear about safety 2 0.89 2.52 0.89 1 0 2.40 0.88 Scams and irregularities in 2.2 0.77 3.08 1.09 1.2 0.40 1.2 0.40 company and stock market (Source: Primary Data) Business people raise the problem of continuous fluctuation of prices as main reason for lack of stock market investment. They are also worries about the safety, scams and lack of awareness respectively. Salaried persons said that the main reason is unaware about the stock market investment, agriculturalist doubt the safety of the stock market investment and respondents in other category fears about the various irregularities in company and stock market. FINDINGS • The important reason for having no stock market investment is lack of awareness. • The respondents in the age group of below 30 fears about the irregularities and scams. • The respondents in other age groups stated that, they have no aware about the stock market investment. • The respondents in business and agriculture worried about the safety of funds. • Salaried persons and other category recognizes their unawareness in stock market. Suggestions • Impart the knowledge of stock market on the people and also ensures the participation of people in the economic development of the country. • Ensure the good corporate governance in the companies. • Make investment only after the careful analysis of market. • Seek the assistance of experts.

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CONCLUSION The present study makes it clear that, the main reasons for unwillingness behind the stock market investment s unawareness among the people. Most of the persons are not familiar with the trading systems in the stock market and also unaware about the availability of securities, its benefits, etc. the next reason is the various scams in the company and stock market. It shows that the investor’s lack of confidence in the company’s management and stock market transactions. Persons also feared about the safety of their funds and also return. So they choose bank deposit, gold, etc. Another important reason is that continuous fluctuation in prices. Prices in stock market investment fluctuate at every moment. References • Bhalla v. k., investment Management, S. Chand& Company Limited, New Delhi 2000. • Chartered Financial Analyst, the ICFAI, University Press, December 2004. • John c. Hull, Options, Futures, and Other Derivatives, Prentice Hall of Privet Limited, New Delhi, 2004. • The Financial Express, December 2004. • Kevin s., security Analysis and Portfolio Management, Prentie Hall of India Privet Limited, New Delhi, 2006.

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A STUDY ON CUSTOMER ATTITUDE TOWARDS GREEN PRODUCTS – FMCG IN MEENACHIL TALUK- KERALA

Jithin Joy Guest Lecturer, Dept. of.Commerce, Sree Mahadeva College, Vaikom, Kottayam Dist.

ABSTRACT Our planet is loosing her beauty of greeness due to man’s greed. Non eco friendly application of man’s knowledge leads her to the cliff of death. Then green products pop up as a small step towards removing this decadence. This study is intended to find out customers attitude towards green products.

INTRODUCTION The environmental challenges confronting the world today are greater than at any time in history. Since society has become more anxious with the natural environment, businesses have started to adjust their behaviour in a way to address society’s concerns. The term green marketing emerged as a result of nature’s adverse changes and company’s environment consciousness. The whole world is identifying the need of green marketing. Green marketing can be defined as the marketing of green products that are regarded to be safe for the environment. Green marketing is the process of developing products and services that do not have a detrimental impact on the environment. Such products are called as ‘Green Products’. FMCG sector is a considerably large sector in the economy which has to open their eyes on eco – friendliness. Products which have a quick turnover, and relatively low cost are known as Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG). So this study is considering FMCG to understand the green attitude of customers. Objectives of the Study 1.To study consumers’ attitude and perception towards green products in FMCG 2. To understand the issues and challenges of green marketing practices. 3.To investigate level of consumer attractiveness towards green products in FMCG sector and their impact of purchasing decision. Research Methodology • Sample size and sample design :60 respondents from Meenachil Taluk and convenience sampling

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• Sources of data : Primary and secondary data Primary data has been collected through questionnaire, personal interview as well as observations. Secondary data is mainly collected from websites. • Tools for data analysis : Likert’s- scales, Karl Pearson’s Co-efficient of correlation and Chi- square test. Data Presentation, Analysis and Interpretation Table 1 - Level of satisfaction

Satisfaction Male Female Total Percentage Highly Satisfied 2 4 6 11 Satisfied 30 17 47 85 Not Satisfied 2 0 2 4 Total 34 21 55 100

Table 1 shows that out of 60 samples 55 are green consumers and in that 11 percent of the green consumers are highly satisfied with the consumption of green products and 85 percent are moderately satisfied. 4 percent of the respondents are dissatisfied with the use of green products. So we can conclude that majority of green consumers are satisfied with the use of green products. Table 2 - Attitude towards price level

Attitude Male Female Total Percentage Fair 24 12 36 65 Neutral 7 5 12 22 Unfair 3 4 7 13 Total 34 21 55 100

Sixty Five per cent percent of the green consumers believe that green products are fairly priced , 13 percent believes that prices are over casted and 22 percent are neutral. So the reason behind dissatisfaction may the price of the green products as per table 2. Table 3 - Willingness to Pay Higher Price

Willingness Male Female Total Percentage Willing 7 6 13 22 Neutral 18 11 29 48 Not willing 11 7 18 30 Total 36 24 60 100

Only 22 percent of the respondents are ready to pay a higher price for green products. 30 percent are not willing to pay a premium for the purchase of green products and 48 percent are not

157 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015 yet decided. So it can be interpreted that customers are not willing to bear extra cost for green products and it can be pointed out as the majour challenge for green marketing practices as per the analysis of table 3.

Table 4 - Willingness to Recommend Green Products Willingness Male Female Total Percentage Willing 27 22 49 82 Neutral 9 2 11 18 Not willing 0 0 0 0 Total 36 24 60 100 Eighty two percent of the respondents are ready to promote and recommend green products to others. 18 percent are undecided and none are unwilling to recommend green products. Table 5 - Respondents supporting need for awareness

Factor Male Female Total Percentage Agreed 31 24 55 92 Neutral 5 0 5 8 Not agreed 0 0 0 0 Total 36 24 60 100

Table 5 clearly shows that respondents are supporting the need for awareness about green products. 92 percent of respondents are strongly agreed with need for awareness and none are disagreed. Table 6 - Willingness to Purchase

Willingness Male Female Total Percentage Willing 27 21 48 80 Neutral 9 3 12 20 Not willing 0 0 0 0 Total 36 24 60 100

Eighty percent of the respondents are willing to purchase green products in future and 20 percent of respondents have neutral response. Table 4,5 and 6 shows that there is favorable ground for green products in the minds of consumers. So it can be concluded that there is wider opportunity for green products. Table 7 shows that total weighted mean is 1.07 and since it is above 1, respondents have a strong positive attitude towards green products. However the mean value is so close to one, we cannot say that respondents’ positive attitude is terrific. From this table we can conclude that most of the respondents strongly believe that green product is something good for the environment. Table 8 Hypothesis Testing H0: There is no significant difference between gender and attitude towards green products. H1: There is significant difference between gender and attitude towards green products. 158 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015

Table 7 - Attitude of Respondents towards Green Product

Green products Strongly Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree Mean disagree weight Are good for the 0 0 0 28 32 1.53 environment Are healthy 0 12 1 29 18 .86 Have a good quality 0 0 14 39 7 .88 Have a better 0 11 21 21 7 .4 performance than conventional products Have a reasonable price 0 12 18 26 4 .36

Are part of social 0 0 0 23 37 1.61 responsibility Should be promoted 0 0 0 8 52 1.86 Total Weight 0 35 54 174 314 7.50 Average mean 1.07

Test Level of Degree of Calculated Table value H0: Accepted or Significance freedom value Rejected Chi-Square 5 percent 2 .83 5.991 Accepted

Since the calculated X2 value is less than the table value, the Null hypothesis (H0) is accepted and the Alternative hypothesis (H1) is rejected. That is, there is no significant difference between gender and attitude towards green products. Recommendations Following recommendations can be drawn from the study; 1. The company should ensure that products meet or exceed the quality expectations of customers inorder to override the consequences of higher price. 2. The business organizations should follow strategies in order to get benefits from the environmentally friendly approach as it will save money in the long term. 3. Organizations may use sustainable marketing and communications techniques. It will also helps in spreading the green awareness among mass. 4. The marketers of green products need to be more innovative and dynamic to compete with the changing purchase behavior among customers. CONCLUSIONS Many firms and customers are beginning to realize that they are supposed to behave in an environmentally responsible way. Consumers are in favor of green products, so business organizations have to recognize the competitive advantages and business opportunities to gain from green marketing. As a result of a combined push from government and consumers any company will go into green, a push from the side of customers in the form of a need for green products and from government in the form of various Acts, policies etc..It is not just the need of present but also for our future generation, be green. 159 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015

REFERENCES 1. Priyan, J Vimal. “Green Technology: Motivating Economic and Environmental Benefits from ICT.” Business and Economic Facts for You 1 Mar. 2014"10-15. Print 2. Green marketing consumer attitude towards eco friendly fast moving household care and personal care products. (2013). ShodhGangotri. 3. Green marketing. (n.d.). Retrieved September 1, 2014. 4. Solomon, M. R., G. Bamossy, S. Askegaard, and M. K. Hogg (2010). Consumer Behaviour: A European Perspective.th edition. New York: Prentice Hall. 5. Sachdev, Sudhir. “Eco-Friendly Products And Consumer Perception.” International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research, 1 Sept. 2011. Web. 1 Feb. 2014. . 6. Bridget Martin, Antonis C. Simintiras, (1995) “The impact of green product lines on the environment: does what they know affect how they feel?”, Marketing Intelligence & Planning, Vol. 13 Iss: 4, pp.16 – 23 7. Saxena, R. P. & Khandelwal, P. K. 2008, ‘Consumer attitude towards green marketing: an exploratory study’, European Conference for Academic Disciplines,

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A STUDY ON CONSUMER ATTITUDE TOWARDS VIRAL MARKETING WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO KOTTAYAM DIST.

Joshin Joseph Research Scholar (Commerce) St Thomas College Pala, e.mail:[email protected]

ABSTRACT Advancement in technological and communication environment, on a mass scale, connect people in mass ways that facilitate sharing information, the challenges facing global businesses and the people who lead them are now, more than ever, intertwined in the direct empowerment and involvement of Consumers and stakeholders. But at the same time advancement of technology has opened many cost- effective marketing avenues for business to promote their products. Viral marketing is one of such direct product promotion technique available for marketers through the use of technology. This was an exploratory as well as a descriptive study that was designed to understand consumers’ attitude towards viral marketing. The data was collected through questionnaire from 200 respondents residing across district of Kottayam. Five point Likert scale was used to measure the Consumer attitude that have four dimensions via. informativeness, entertainment, source of credibility and irritation. The analysis is done with the help of SPSS version 16. The findings of the study indicated that Consumers have a positive attitude towards viral marketing. Keywords: Viral Marketing, Consumer, Attitude, Marketing, Perception

INTRODUCTION In a socially connected marketplace, shared knowledge is now emerging as the ultimate resource. Information wants to be free, and in these new markets it is: free of constraints on place, free of control on con- tent, and free of restrictive access on consumption. Internet and Mobile Phone technologies have been adopted by contemporary people very rapidly across the World. Technological outburst and latest modes of communication have provided companies with new means of advertising their products and brands (Pelau & Zegreanu, 2012). In Internet and online advertising viral marketing is a type of marketing technique that relies on and encourages people to pass along a marketing message by word-of-mouth (or word-of-e-mail) marketing. Viral marketing online uses blog and social networks to produce positive word-of-mouth brand awareness. In viral marketing people can pass on product information to their social network, which makes it an

161 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015 effective technique for creating brand awareness. Moreover, it is one of the highly ranked techniques used by consumers not only for gathering information about products but also for making purchase decisions. Viral marketing, viral advertising, or marketing buzz are buzzwords referring to marketing techniques that use pre-existing social networking services and other technologies to try to produce increases in brand awareness or to achieve other marketing objectives (such as product sales) through self-replicating viral processes, analogous to the spread of viruses or computer viruses. It can be delivered by word of mouth or enhanced by the network effects of the Internet and mobile networks. Viral marketing may take the form of video clips, interactive Flash games, advergames, eBook’s, brandable software, images, text messages, email messages, or web pages. The most commonly utilized transmission vehicles for viral messages include: pass-along based, incentive based, trendy based, and undercover based. However, the creative nature of viral marketing enables an “endless amount of potential forms and vehicles the messages can utilize for transmission”, including mobile devices. In viral marketing, interaction with companies and other consumers are conducted via e- mail, instant messaging, homepages, blogs, forums, online communities, newsgroups, chat rooms, hate sites, review sites, and social networking sites (Goldsmith & Horowitz, 2006). People are normally willing to pass on viral marketing messages to their social networks, which potentially increase message reliability in the eyes of the message recipients. A strong viral promotion can reach thousands of consumers and can inspire them to buy a brand (Bambo, Ewing, D R Mather, & Wallace, 2008). According to market research firm Nielsen two-thirds of the world’s Internet population visits a social networking site or a blogging site. Similarly, time spent visiting social network sites now exceeds the time spent emailing. Again around 52 percent of the people, who find news online, share it with their friends either through social networks, e-mails or posts. Likewise, Facebook has more than 750 million active users and more than 250 million users’ access social network sites through their mobile devices. In order to make viral marketing campaigns effective, it is necessary that right message should be delivered to right people. Motivations to forward viral messages depend a lot on the message contents and its features. The message should be persuasive, interesting, and memorable for generating audience’s interest and motivating them to pass it on to their social network. Therefore, marketers should understand factors that result in increased acceptance of viral marketing by consumers. Therefore, this research investigates consumers’ attitude towards viral. More specifically, the study examines consumer attitude towards various factors of viral marketing messages such as, perceived informativeness, entertainment, source credibility, and irritation that significantly affect consumers’ attitude towards viral marketing messages. Objectives 1. To understand consumer attitude towards viral marketing. 2. To explore theoretical frame work on viral marketing attitude. 3. To understand the concept of viral marketing. 4. To identify various factors that influence the viral marketing attitude.

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Methodology The research design adopted for the study was exploratory as well as descriptive in nature. The study covered a period of five months from March 2014 to august 2014. Method of Data Collection The study make use of both primary as well as secondary data. The primary data was collected through questionnaire by conducting sample survey. Sample Frame The study was confined to the district of Kottayam and the respondents for the study were identified with the help of judgement sampling. A total of 200 questionnaire were distributed and out of which 192 were recollected. However 26 were found defective (incomplete and wrongly filled). And thus the final sample size comes to 166. Method of Analysis Consumer attitude is measured with the help of five point likert scale and based on the mean value of the scale, consumer attitude is categorised in to three categories. If the mean value of the scale is 3.5 or above (70 percent), it is estimated that consumers have positive attitude towards viral marketing; if the mean value of the scale is below 2 (40 percent), it is estimated that consumers have negative attitude towards viral marketing; and if the mean value of the scale is in between 2 and 3.5, it is estimated that consumers have neutral attitude towards viral marketing. Literature Review Viral marketing has become more popular as a promotional tool for many of the prominent brands. Its advantages over the conventional media include its ability to deliver more targeted and personalized messages; high speed of message transmission and behavioural responses are potentially more quantifiable (Bambo, Ewing, D R Mather, & Wallace, 2008). As compared to other medium of marketing, viral marketing is less costly moreover it is more directly in nature too and again it can reach to a much large number of audience relatively quickly (Woerndil, Papagiannidis, Bourlakis, & LI, 2008). Through the use of social contacts and its trustworthiness, specifically when the message is delivered by people to their social networks. Moreover, viral marketing messages are free from geographic boundaries and time constraints that make it global as compared to the conventional communications (Goldsmith & Horowitz, 2006). When it comes to viral marketing informativeness is an important factor in determining the effectiveness of advertisements. An informative advertisement not only makes consumers aware about new products, but also informs consumers that how the product is better than the competitors offers (Saadeghdhavasri & Hosseni, 2011). There is a positive association between ad informativeness and consumers attitude towards SMS advertisements. Therefore, more importance should be given to the quality of information delivered through the SMS advertising messages (Muzaffar & Kamran, 2011). Consumers avoid advertisements on social networking sites for a number of reasons, one of which is related to the information provided in those advertisements. On many occasions advertisements fail to target specific consumers thereby making them assume that all the advertisements would be irrelevant to them in terms of the information provided. Little control occurs over information as social media sites are represented 163 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015 as “anything goes” communication channels because, anyone can post anything. Hence, people neither trust these posts nor the people posting those messages (Kelly, Kerr, & Drennan, 2010). Advertisements that containing interesting and customized information that matches Consumer preferences will result into their positive attitude towards mobile advertisements. Furthermore, message variety, appropriate message delivery timings with a right message frequency could also result into a positive Consumers’ attitude toward mobile marketing messages (Reyck & Degraeve, 2013). The level of enjoyment that that the Consumers can perceive from an advertisement have an important impact in developing an attitude towards that particular advertisement. Therefore it is very important that the viral marketing messages contents are concise and, are able to capture consumers’ attention. Entertainment services add value for the Consumers and increase Consumers’ loyalty thereby, leading to a positive consumers’ attitude (Saadeghdhavasri & Hosseni, 2011). According to (Gangadharbatla, 2008) web sites that enhance visitors’ perceived sense of control, entertainment, interactivity, and brand experiences are most likely to draw out positive consumers’ attitudes. This results into actual acceptance of the products and services by Consumers that are offered on those sites. The consumers perceive mobile advertisements less entertaining as compared to other advertising mediums. In order to improve consumers’ attitude towards mobile advertising and its effectiveness, marketers should consider other kinds of mobile advertising formats as well, as consumers perceive that SMS advertising alone does not offer them value (Blanco, Blanco, & Azorin, 2013). Viral marketing messages make irritation among recipients of the message because of the repetitive and annoying nature of the message as well as due to the reception of manipulated or misleading content, and if such things were happened it will lead to the development of a negative attitude among Consumers (Palka, Pousttchi, & Wiedemann, 2009). Irritation caused by the SMS advertising can be reduced by using permission based marketing concept. Hence, non-irritating mobile viral marketing leads to positive consumers’ attitude (Muzaffar & Kamran, 2011). Consumers’ attitude towards e-mail marketing are determined by three factors which include perceived advertising intrusiveness, perceived loss of personal information and the irritation which is caused by such marketing techniques. Perceived ad intrusiveness is the extent to which an undesired marketing communication interferes with an individual’s cognitive process and tasks. Individuals get irritated by deleting unsolicited commercial e-mails as it is time consuming. Furthermore, these unsolicited e-mails redirect the audience to other commercial websites without their consent that results in the message recipients’ annoyance (Morimoto & Chang, 2006). Greater source credibility results in the development more favourable consumers’ response towards the SMS advertisements (Muzaffar & Kamran, 2011). People try to avoid advertising on social networking sites because of the lack of credibility of the medium and lack of trust in the advertisers. Many of the users indicated that because of the lack of trust in terms of the credibility of the medium, thereby, considering the material as spam and are reluctant to provide their personal information to companies as they often think of advertisers as dodgy (Kelly, Kerr, & Drennan, 2010). The credibility and trustworthiness of viral message source is also closely linked with the perceived risk. If the viral marketing message comes from a trusted source, the perceived risk

164 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015 associated with the message is low. The message recipients express no security and privacy concerns, when they receive viral message from their social network (Palka, Pousttchi, & Wiedemann, 2009). Factors that affect Consumer Attitude towards Viral Marketing From the literature review, we can understand that there were several factors that can shape the Consumer attitude towards viral marketing. However certain factors were commonly identified by various researchers and those factors were informativeness, entertainment, source of credibility and irritation. Out-of-these factors the first three leads to the development of a positive attitude towards viral marketing among Consumers whereas the fourth one i.e. irritation leads to the development of a negative towards viral marketing among Consumers. In this study Consumer attitude towards viral was measured with the help of following model.

Figure 1 Model of Consumer Attitude towards Viral Marketing Thus, for the purpose of evaluating consumers’ attitude towards viral marketing, this research work takes into account these four variables; informativeness, entertainment, source credibility and irritation. Literature shows that consumers’ can have both positive and negative attitude towards viral marketing. If the perceived information in the viral marketing messages is relevant and useful then consumers’ will have a positive attitude otherwise it will generate a negative attitude. Similarly, if the marketing messages are entertaining and are able to create consumers’ interest and catch their attention then they would result in a positive attitude. Source credibility plays an important role in developing consumers’ attitude towards viral marketing. When consumers’ receive marketing messages from their family and friends, they are most likely to develop positive attitude because they trust the information, which is received from their family and friends as compared to the information they receive from advertisers or other unknown people whom they do not trust. Likewise, irritation is another important factor that greatly affects consumers’ attitude towards viral marketing. Most of the times such viral marketing messages cause irritation due to their excessive exposure, content repetition, privacy intrusion, or the misleading and irrelevant information provided and thus result in a negative attitude. Viral Marketing Attitude Measurement Scale From Figure 1, it is very clear that consumer attitude towards viral marketing is got affected 165 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015 by four factors. And therefore viral marketing attitude measurement scale consist of four sub scales viz. informativeness measurement scale, entertainment measurement scale, source of credibility measurement scale, and irritation measurement scale. As irritation is negatively related to attitude the items on irritation scale were coded inversely (i.e. Strongly Agree = 1, Agree = 2, Undecided = 3, Disagree = 4, Strongly Disagree = 5). Findings and Discussion Profile of Respondents Personal profile of respondents is an important factor that influence the attitude of consumers. Personal demographics such as age, sex, religion, nationality, income level, etc., all have a very significant impact on consumers’ attitude. Table 1 Profile of Respondents Gender Below - 34 34 - 54 Above - 54 Total

Male 24 34 19 77

Female 30 37 22 89

Total 54 71 41 166

In formativeness of Viral Marketing The information that the consumer received from the message is the one of the most important factor that influence the consumer attitude on viral marketing. If the message is informative, then it leads to the development of a positive attitude. In this study informativeness of the viral marketing message (content) is measured with the help of following five items.

Table 2 Informativeness of Viral Marketing No Elements used for Measurement Mean Score

1 I find e-mail marketing messages informative. 3.89

2 Marketing messages on social networking sites are informative. 3.63 3 Fan pages on social networking sites are informative. 3.34

4 SMS advertisements provide useful information about products. 3.45 5 Internet Blogs are an important source of information. 3.72

Mean score of informativeness measurement scale (total mean score/5) 3.606

As the mean score (3.606) obtained is greater than 3.5, it is concluded that consumers consider viral marketing as informative. Entertainment Level of Viral Marketing The thrill and enthusiasm that the consumer receives on watching and or reading the message have an impact on their attitude. Only an entertaining message or advertisement can struck the attention of consumer. 166 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015

Table 3 Entertainment Level of Viral Marketing No Elements used for Measurement Mean Score 1 I find marketing messages received via e-mails entertaining. 3.3

2 Joining fan pages on social networking sites is entertaining. 3.86 3 The humour and fun in SMS advertisements were entertaining. 4.1

4 It is interesting to share my view about a product on blog. 3.5

Mean score of entertainment measurement scale (total mean score/4) 3.69

As the mean score (3.69) obtained is greater than 3.5, it is concluded that consumers consider viral marketing as entertaining. Credibility of Viral Marketing: Credibility of viral marketing refers to the trust factor associated with the message. Consumers do believe the message only if it was originated from a source that they trust and found credible. Table 4 Credibility of Viral Marketing No Elements used for Measurement Mean Score

1 I trust SMS advertisements received. 3.21

2 I trust the information provided by bloggers. 3.89 3 I trust the information provided by marketers through e-mails. 3.41

4 Fan pages on social media sites are trustworthy. 4.43

Mean score of credibility measurement scale (total mean score/4) 3.735

As the mean score (3.735) obtained is greater than 3.5, it is concluded that consumers consider viral marketing as credible Irritation Created by Viral Marketing Consumers may found viral marketing messages irrelative if they were misleading. Irritation may also cause due to other several reasons and if the message was irritating. It leads to the development of a negative attitude. Table 5 Irritation Created by Viral Marketing No Elements used for Measurement Mean Score 1 E-mail marketing messages are a source of irritation. 3.33

2 I believe that unsolicited e-mails contain viruses. 3.11

3 Marketing messages on social media sites are irritating. 3.84

4 I delete SMS advertisements without reading. 3.78

5 SMS advertisements are annoying. 3.58

Mean score of irritation measurement scale (total mean score/5) 3.528

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As the mean score (3.528) obtained is greater than 3.5, it is concluded that consumers does not consider the viral marketing message as irritating. Attitude of Consumers towards Viral Marketing In this study consumer attitude has got four components and therefore the aggregate of these four components is the attitude of consumers towards viral marketing.

Sub Scale Mean Score

1. Informativeness measurement scale 3.606 2. Entertainment measurement scale 3.69

3. Credibility measurement scale 3.735

4. Irritation measurement scale 3.528

Mean Score of Attitude Scale (total mean score/4) 3.64

As the mean score (3.64) obtained is greater than 3.5, it is concluded that consumers have a positive attitude towards viral marketing. Conclusion The study findings indicate that on the whole consumers have a positive attitude towards viral marketing. Therefore it is worthy for marketers to design and develop new strategies for the promotion of their brands by making use of different mediums such as, social network sites, blogs, e-mails, and mobile phones. Marketers should be paying greater attention to the information content of viral marketing messages. Authentic, relevant, and useful information should be provided to the customers in order to increase the credibility of viral marketing messages. Moreover, entertainment should be made an essential part of viral marketing messages for making it interesting for the customers. Appropriate use of these mediums can help flourish businesses, viral marketing messages build two way communications between advertisers and customers thereby, fostering long term relationship with customers in a less costly manner. Some limitations were also identified in the present study. Fist, because of the time constraint the data was collected from a limited number of people. A larger sample could have generated better results with greater chances of generalization. Second, only a limited number of variables were examined in the present study. Further research is necessary to confirm these findings and to investigate the topic in greater detail. Bibliography Bambo, M., Ewing, M. T., D R Mather, D. S., & Wallace, M. (2008). Effects of the Social Stracture of Digital Network on Viral Marketing. Information System Research, 273-290. Blanco, C., Blanco, M., & Azorin, I. I. (2013). Entertainment and Informativeness as Precursory Factors of Successful Mobile Advertising Messages. Communications of the IBIMA, 20-32. Ferguson, R. (2008). “Word of mouth and viral marketing: Taking the tempreature of hottest trend in marketing”. Journal of Consumer Marketing, 179-182.

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Gangadharbatla, H. (2008). Facebook Me: Collective Self-Esteem, Need to Belonging, and Internet Self- Effciancy as a Predicators of igenerations Attitude Towards Social Networking Sites. Journal of Intractive Advertising, 5-15. Goldsmith, R. E., & Horowitz, D. (2006). Measuring Opinion for Online Opinion Seeking. Journal of Intractive Advertising, 3-14. Kelly, L., Kerr, G., & Drennan, J. (2010). Avoidance of Advertisements in Social Networking Sites : The Teenage Presprective. Journal of Interactive Advertising, 16-24. Morimoto, M., & Chang, S. (2006). Consumers’ Attitudes toward Unsolicited CommercialE-Mail and Postal Direct Mail Marketing Methods: Intrusiveness, Perceived loss of control, and Irritation. Journal of Interactive Advertising, 1-11. Muzaffar, F., & Kamran, S. (2011). SMS Advertising. Interdesiplinary Journal of Research in Business, 230- 245. Palka, W., Pousttchi, K., & Wiedemann, D. G. (2009). Mobile Word-of-Mouth-A Grounded Theory of Mobile Viral Marketing. Journal of Information Technology, 172-185. Pelau, C., & Zegreanu, P. (2012). Mobile Marketing-The Marketing of Next Generation. Management and Marketing, 101-116. Reyck, B. D., & Degraeve, Z. (2013). Broadcast Scheduling for Mobile Advertising. Operations Research, 509-5017. Saadeghdhavasri, F., & Hosseni, H. (2011). Mobile Advertising : An Investigation of Factors Creating Positive Attitude in Iranian Customers. African Journal of Business Management, 394-404. Woerndil, Papagiannidis, S., Bourlakis, M., & LI, F. (2008). Internet Introduced Marketing Technoques: Critical Factors in Viral Marketing. International Journal of Business Science and Appalied Management, 33-45.

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EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT: A REAL BUSINESS BOOSTER

Priya P.S. Assistant professor, Dept. of Commerce, Sacred Heart College, Thevara Cochin - 682013 e.mail: [email protected]

ABSTRACT Over the years one of the toughest challenges confronting the CEO’s, HR managers and business leaders of many organisations, is to retain the employees. A solution to this crucial problem is that to make the employees feel themselves towards the organisations in a way in which they never stay apart with the firm. “Employee Engagement” is a beautiful term which explains this concept. The present study gives an insight into the various employee engagement practices which is followed in some of the corporates, which really boosted them to the world. Of course this is possible for them only through their backbone, ie; the Human Resource. Each and every employee should be made happy and engaged in order to retain them for longer term. Not only that, good employees will have a more direct and significant impact on the overall business development. It is not only the monetary benefits that make the employee’s happy, but also the other social activities like collecting goods for less fortunate, to help a non- profit with yard work, environment cleaning, monetary donations, holiday gifts for orphans etc…, which makes the employees feel pride towards their firm. This research study focuses on to similar employee engagement activities undertaken by Dubai Ports World, Kent Constructions And Boeing Company. Key Words: Employee Engagement, Human Resource, Dubai Ports World, Kent Constructions and Boeing Company.

INTRODUCTION As soon as we hear the word engagement we might think of a long commitment, marriage, family etc… However, today the word engagement is related with one of the blistering topics in Human Resource Management. The concept of the welfare state has now been viewed only in the past literatures, with some fewer exceptions. Today’s young employees are expected by organization, to skip on to another job without any value for the same. As event around us shows that this new construct between employees and employers is irreversible. Dr. Santript Misra of the Aditya Birla Group says that in this radically changed times for the HR managers; employee engagement is the ultimate leadership challenge. Organisation must strive to develop a special bond between the employees which will go a long way in ensuring that they put in more “discretionary” effort into their jobs. That creates a sense of belonging among ones workforce. 170 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015

This present study is conducted in IGTPL, the world’s one such developing organisation, which give due importance to employee – employer relationship rather than mere profit making. Also the study is supported with some similar employee engagement practices which are followed in Kent Constructions, Boeing Company etc. which gives a strong basis for this emerging concept. Historical Background of Employee Engagement Employee engagement has appeared on the management side in a big way recently. A review of the recent studies helps to clarify why it is so popular today. Prior to the 1980’s, employers expected commitment from the employees in return for which they were provided with lifetime employment (Theresa. M. Welbourne). Engagement at work was conceptualized by Kahn (1990) as the ‘Garnessing of the organisational members’ selves to their work roles. In engagement, people and employees express themselves physically, cognitively and emotionally during role performances which indicate the employees connection to their work, organisation, customers, their effort and their results. (S. Ramadoss, 2011) The growing need to improve productivity in a competitive environment where changes are certain to occur, the employees who are the baselines are the only source list. So to keep them completely bounded employee engagement is the only way. Experts claim that engaged employee do more, more passionate about their work and will be emotionally bounded so the duty with the managers is to simply engage their people. Rationale For the Study The present paper endeavors to study the human resource practices followed in a single organisation over a period of 5 years. For the purpose of the study, IGTPL was chosen intentionally. Since it plays an integral part of our life silently, the skill and knowledge of the employees plays not just an important role, but a major role. So, an attempt has been made in the present study to examine how employees are engaged at IGTPL, along with some other engagement practices followed in similar corporates. Research Questions Following are the underlying objectives of the present study: 1. To explore the various employee engagement practices undertaken at IGTPL, Kent Constructions And Boeing Company. 2. To know how the employees viewed this community oriented activities. 3. To understand how the disengaged workforce affects the society. Literature Review A highly engaged employee will consistently outperform and set new standards. In the workplace research on employee engagement (Hartr, Schimidt and Hayes, 2002) have repeatedly asked employees ‘whether they have the opportunity to do what they do best everyday’. Engaged employees care about the future of the company and are willing to invest the discretionary effort exceeding duty’s call to see the organisation succeeds (Rutledge Tom).Engagement is most closely associated with the existing construction of job involvement (Brown 1996) and flow (Csikszentmihalyi,1990). Engagement at work was conceptualized by Kahn (1990) as the

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‘Garnessing of the organisational members’ selves to their work roles. In engagement people and employee express themselves physically, cognitively and emotionally during role performances which indicate the employee’s connection to their work, organisation, customers, their effort and their results. (S. Ramadoss, 2011). Companies that support work life balance and the wellness of their employees are more likely to have loyal, satisfied and engaged employees (Katherine Mehr, 2009). Conversely commitment to the organisational objectives and client’s needs rises in direct proportion to the perception that the organisation is committed to both the work and life success of each individual (Jim Bird, 2006). Organisations have to take on greater responsibility in institutional building that creates a sense of belonging among one’s workforce (V.Karthikeyan, Texas Instruments). Organizations must try to develop a special bond with employees which will go a long way in ensuring that that put in more ‘discretionary’ effort into their jobs. (Dr. Santrupt Misra, Aditya Birla Group). (Barney et al, 1998) said that globally competitive organisations depend on the uniqueness of their human resources and the systems for managing human resources effectively to gain a competitive advantage, Human resources are not only the principle value creators of the knowledge industry, but they are also the intellectual capital or the ‘infrastructure investment’. Therefore, attracting, training, retaining and motivation employees are the critical success determinants for any knowledge – based organisation. Most of these studies kept the eye on the internal activities which support employee engagement, but the present study concentrates on both the internal and external activities in which the company is engaged in, especially the CSR initiatives which made the employees feel pride and privilege towards the company. Data Methods The present study is based upon the primary data collected from the 50 employees randomly selected from various departments of IGTPL and also secondary data were collected as supporting evidence from various magazines, journals, websites and annual reports of the companies. IGTPL was chosen for the effective understanding of employee engagement practices, the reason is that that the company is one of the few organisation, which provides an excellent background for employees, and treat them as a most valuable and accountable asset of the company. So, the present study has focused on how human resources are a part and parcel of the company and for the purpose of the study, a survey was conducted among the employees individually. Employee Engagement in IGTPL: An Analysis Table: 1Distributions of Employees in IGTPL

Departments Male Female Total Operations 112 1 113 Engineering 97 3 100 Administration 18 5 23 Human Resource 8 0 8 Safety and Security 12 0 12 Information Technology 6 0 6 TOTAL 253 9 262

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The table 1 shows the no: of employees in the organisation and the study was conducted among them. The following questions were raised during the survey for data collection.

Questions Always Occasionally Never Do fun games reduce your stress on job? 90% 10% 0 Do CSR activities created any pride and privilege for you 94% 6% 0 towards the firm? Do FTO training has any effect on productivity? 94% 6% 0 Have career progression programmes improved your 96% 4% 0 working skills? Did language training help you to improve your 92% 8% 0 communication skills? To what extend the rewards and recognition awards 98% 2% 0 created motivation in you? Is it necessary to implement ergonomics in a company? 88% 12% 0 Does the interaction programmes helped in building good 94% 6% 0 employee-employer relationship? Is assessor programmes a good way to express you? 90% 10% 0 Do safety programmes in the firm gives protection for 92% 8% 0 you?

The feedback for the questionnaire was remarkable. The inference is that 93% of the employees completely support these employee engagement activities. It was astonishing that none of them had a negative approach towards the entire practices. Such an involvement of the entire team is the success story of the company. Discussions Employee engagement is a long term feeling, which air every organisation to its peak. From the survey conducted among employees a clear picture about the various engagement practices followed in the organisation was explored. The supporting data from the other similar organisations which employed these activities give a strong base for this emerging concept. It was an astonishing fact that all the employees gave a positive reply towards these engagement practices. Though different organisations have their own activities for making employees engaged, all these pinpoints to the overall engaged workforce. The studies reveal that the cost of disengaged workforce is ten times than engaged force, this is why because the engaged employees believe that they can contribute to companies growth whereas disengaged employee creates a negative spiral that affects his work, co workers, customers, productivity and eventually both happiness of the employees and companies performance. An engaged group form an emotional connect with organisation that helps for better performance, communication, greater customer satisfaction, team working and finally lower employee turnover. In short we can say these entire qualities ensemble with none other than IGTPL internally as well as externally. It will be a sin if the researcher excludes the other two esteemed organisation that equally engage their own employees. In Kent Constructions it was found that the team activities and other celebrations help the employees to feel a change from regular work routine. Their tension was lowered and they feel

173 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015 relaxed at work, and one activity the birthday celebration created a sense of affection to the company. Also the Boeing company is well known for its employee engagement programs including activities like volunteering community services, recognition for employees for their occupational excellence and CSR activities such as environmental cleanup, recycling etc… CONCLUSION Employees are the important asset of an organisation. The success of every firm depends upon caliber, honesty, quality and character of the employees working with. Their skill and performance reflects the success or failure of an organisation. The above said corporates are the ever best examples which scoop up the in-depth meaning of the term “Employee Engagement”. Unquestionably it is clear that the activities which mentioned above, if performed in every organisation, will vanish over figured attrition and in turn will flourish societal wellness.

References 1. Sengupta Debashish., & Ramadoss,S.(2011). “Employee Engagement.” Biztantra, Delhi. 2. Achar Ananthapadhmanabha.(2013). “Evaluation of Training and Development Practices in SMEs: An Empirical Study.” Indian Journal of Management, Delhi, pp.19-29. 3. Pandu,A., Hussain Galib Mohammed.(2012). “Relation between Job Attitudes and Attrition: An Exploratory Study on Information Technology(IT) and Information Technology Enabled Services (ITeS) Sector Employees in India.” Prabandan: Indian Journal of Management, Delhi, pp.24-33. 4. Generation Justice, Pallikudam.(July 2013)., Rajagiri Media Publication, Kochi, pp.08-12. 5. Gupta,K.Sashi., & Joshi Rosy.(2002). “Human Resource Management.” Kalyani Publishers,New Delhi. 6. Dessler Gary.(2003).”Why Employee Safety and Health are Important.” Human Resource Management, Pearson Education Pvt. Ltd, New Delhi, pp.428. 7. Aswataappa,K.,(2008).”The e-HR”. Human Resource Management text and cases, Tata Mc Graw - Hill Publishing company Ltd, New Delhi, 29(1), pp.690-700. 8. Diwan Parag & Aggarwal,N.L.,(1998).”Organization Development.” Personnel Management, Excel Books, New Delhi, pp.149-56. 9. Dwivedi,S.R.,(1979).”Communication Sequence.” Human Relations and Organisational Behaviour- A Global Perspective, Macmillan India Ltd, New Delhi, 10(2), pp.381-388. 10. Desai Vasat.(1992).”Basic Problems of Women Dynamics of Entrepreneurial Development and Management, Himalaya Publishing House, Mumbai, pp.108-120. 11. Saiyadain,S.Mirza.(1988).”Internal Mobility.” Human Resource Management, Tata Mc Graw-Hill Publishing Company Ltd, New Delhi. pp.305-320. 12. Chopra,K.Rakesh.(1989).”Professionalization of Human Resource Management.” Management of Human Resources, Kitab Mahal. Allahabad, pp.14-18. 13. Dr.Pylee,V.M., & George, Simon.A .,(1995).”How to Foster Good Industrial Relations.” Industrial Relations and Personnel Management, Vikas Publishing House Pvt. Ltd, New Delhi. pp.03-06. 14. Robbins,P.Stephen.(2004).”Foundations of Individual Behaviour.” Organisation Behaviour, Prentice- Hall of India Pvt. Ltd, New Delhi. pp.37-43.

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15. Roa,Subba.P.(1996).”Whom Do You Satisfy? The Young or Old?.” Essentials of Human Resource Management and Industrial Relation, Himalaya Publishing House, New Delhi. pp.438. 16. Tripathi,C.P.(1978).”Factors Influencing Workers Participation.” Personnel Management and Industrial Relations, Sulthan Chand & Sons, New Delhi. pp.488. 17. Pareek, Udhay.(2004).”Sources of Conflict.” Understanding Organisational Behaviour, Oxford University Press, New Delhi. pp.340-353. 18. Seetharaman,S., & Prasad,Venkateswara.B.(2007).”What Causes The Need for Counselling.” Human Resource Management- Empowering Minds and Nation, Seitech Publications(India) Pvt. Ltd, Kolkata. pp.17.9-17.13. 19. DR.Verma,M.M.”Self Directed Learning.” Human Resource Management Development, King Books, New Delhi. pp.150-164. 20. Sheikh,M.A.(2003).”Need for Management of Time.” Human Resource and Management, S.Chand & Company Ltd, New Delhi. pp.221-226. 21. Roa,P.S.V., & Narayana,S.P.(1986).”Why Mangers Study Perception.” Organisational Theory and Behaviour, Konark Publishers Pvt. Ltd, New Delhi. pp.331-333. 22. Bratton John., & Gold Jeff.(2007).”Rebuilding Trust and Voice.” Human Resource Management Theory and Practice, Pa lgrave Macmillan, New York. pp.559-562. 23. Dr.Kaila,L.H., & Dr.Ravishankar,S.., Dr.Mishra,K.R.(2003).”Dealing with Absenteeism in Industry.” Human Factors in Organisational Management, Himalaya Publishers, Mumbai. pp.82-99. 24. Batra,S.G., & Dangwal,C.R.(2001).”New Issues in Organisational Development.” Human Resource Management New Strategies, Deep & Deep Publications. Pvt. Ltd, New Delhi. pp.65-72. 25. Dash,Sadhana.,& Aswathappa,K.(2008).”Ethics and Social Responsibility.” International Human Resource Management Text and Cases, Tata Mc Graw-Hill Publishing Company Ltd, New Delhi. pp.294-306. 26. Roa,V.T.(2003).”Resource Requirements for Making Human Resource Work.” Future of Human Resource Development, Macmillan India Ltd, pp.130-135. 27. Chhabra,N.T(2000).”Job Evaluation.” Human Resource Management, Dhanpat Rai & Company, New Delhi. pp.293-310. 28. Sigh,K.V.(2009).”Certifying HR Professionals.” Human Resource Management, Essential Book, pp.214- 223. 29. Dr.Balakrishanan,Lalitha.,&Sreevidhya,S.”Quality of Working Life.” Human Resource Development, Himalaya Publisher, Mumbai. pp.128-146. 30. Samanwayam”, (various issues), In-house Journal of India Gateway Terminal, Published and Circulated by World, Kochi. 31. “Namaste Subcontinent.” (various issues), In-house Journal of India Gateway Terminal, Published and Circulated by World, Kochi. 32. http://www.dalecarnegie.com/employee-engagement 33. http://professionalqueries.com/what-difference-between-employee-relation-employee-engagement- 1943.html 34. http://www.ehow.com/info_8528136_difference-between-attrition-employee-turnover.html

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RISK AND RETURN OF SENSEX AND S&P 500: AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS

Jnaneshwar Pai Maroor Assistant Professor and Ph.D Research Scholar Justice K.S. Hegde Institute of Management, NMAMIT Campus, Nitte – 574 110. e.mail ID: [email protected]

ABSTRACT Rolling return is presented in an annualized form and the year at which the return is expressed is based on the length of the time of the investment. Calculation of rolling return made it clear that the return are uncertain only in the short run, return of the investor can be predictable if the length of the investment is long and the investor need not be panic when stocks drops or he need not sell the securities when the market looks bad because history has proven that the market will always recover from bad, though it may take some time to recover. Thereby it has proven that rolling return creates a more reasonable view of investment returns. This study examines the blueprint of index returns from Sensex and S&P 500 for the last 33 years by calculating the rolling return for 1 year, 5 year, 8 year, 10 year, and 15 year. The study also examines the importance of holding period and each market day by showing the fluctuations in returns if investor misses the best some days of the year. Key words: Risk, Stock, rolling return, CAGR, Standard deviation, BSE, Sensex, S&P

INTRODUCTION Stocks are not so popular among people compared to bank deposit and some other sources of investment especially in India this is mainly because people considers stocks as a riskier mode of investment compared to bank deposit and government bonds. Study shows that in India out of total population only 2% of population have their D-mat account, thus on an average should pay higher return to the investor. Our study shows why stocks, with their higher average rate of return tend to perform better over sufficiently long holding period. Report examines the annual rolling return of BSE Sensex and S&P 500 from 1979 to 2012 to chuck the consistency of return over a period of time and also to examine the relationship between risks, return and time horizon over a period of time. Rolling returns Rolling returns create a more realistic view of investment returns. It is the returns on an investment measured over several periods. In other words it is the average return presented in an

176 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015 annualized form. It is also known as rolling period returns or rolling time period. Rolling return reflect the cumulative return on a continuously held investment over a number of consecutive periods. The number of years at which the return is expressed is dependent on the length of time of the investment. For example if a stock is held for 10 years then the return is referred to as 10 years rolling return. Main objective: To know the relationship between holding period, risk and return of Sensex and S&P 500 index, also with knowing how to avoid uncertainties Other objectives • To examine the pattern of rolling return from sensex and S&P 500 • To determine which among Sensex and S&P 500 has performed better over a period of past 33 years • To understand the possibility of loss if the investor misses the best 2 days or best 5 days of investment. • To know how short term fluctuations show their impact over an increase in holding period Methodology Secondary Data: Study is based on the secondary data. Secondary data regarding the closing prices of the Sensex and S&P 500 index for the last 33 years has been collected. It is not necessary that an investor should consider index prices, if he wants to calculate the rolling return of an individual securities, it’s enough if he consider the closing price of that particular security. CAGR Compound annual growth rate helps in knowing the year-over- year growth rate of an investment over specified period of time. It mainly helps while calculating the rolling return for a holding period more than one year. It can be expressed as a formula as shown below.

Current year index 1/n Base year index

Real return It is the average annual return realized on an investment which is adjusted for changes in prices due to inflation other external effects. It is the return which is obtained after deducting the inflation rate for the particular year from the nominal return. It expresses the actual return of the investor. 1+ nominal return 1+ inflation rate

Standard deviation It is the standard measure to determine the risk involved in a particular investment. It 177 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015 expresses the probability that the return received at the end of this year will fluctuate at the end of the next year. ∑(X-x) 2 Review of Literature: Shen (2005) Economic review study finds that, for many investors whose holding period were not sufficiently long, risk for both stocks and bonds were quite high and this is mainly because of many short term fluctuations involved. The article concludes that, historically, longer holding period may have reduced the riskiness of stock investments but not bond investments. It also mentions that in short term many factors influences the return on stocks and bonds. One common fundamental short term risk for both stocks and bonds is business cycle fluctuations. As investors holding periods lengthens, short term risk tend to become less relevant, partly because many short term price movements tend to offset each other over a complete business cycle and article also tells that a complete business cycle at last may exist for a period of 8 years but not more than that in case of any economy. Islraelsen (financial planning 2004) used the Wilshire 5000 total market index for computing the index return on yearly and 5 year holding period basis. The annual return of the Wilshire 5000 ranged from a high of 38.5% to a low of -28.4%. the standard deviation of return over the 33 year period was 18.2%. But it conclude that the performance of an index for a 5 year holding period was excellent and observed only 2 of the 29 five year rolling return were negative. Adrian and Rosenberg made study on the cross sectional pricing of risk, return and market fluctuations. They decomposed equity market volatility into short run and long run components and include factors like market risk, investors’ psychology under short run factors and factors like business fluctuations under long run factors. It concluded that it is the short term factor which has more effect on the returns compared to long term factors. it has shows that due to short term risk volatility the growth value of return ranges from 41% to -22% while long term factors causes the return ranges from 16% to 3%. Data Analysis and Interpretation In this segment analysis and interpretation of the performance of Sensex and S&P 500 index is made by way of calculating rolling return from both index for different holding period. Again the comparison is made between the performance of Sensex and S&P 500 by way of calculating the real return from each index if investor had invest some money on both the indices Interpretation: The table 1 shows the rolling return of Sensex index for 1 year, 3 year, 5 year, 10 year, 12 year and 15 year. It shows that index rolling return varies from year to year, as rolling year increases the number of negative return decreases and result in less fluctuation in return. In above table till 8year there was negative rolling return but there onward no negative return which means, rolling return of 8 year and more holding period shows the actual performance of the index and in all those holding period which is less than 8 years effect of short term movement is high. Interpretation: The table 2 shows the rolling return of S&P 500 index for 1 year, 3 year, 5 year, 10 year, 12 year and 15 year. It shows that index rolling return varies from year to year, as rolling year increases the number of negative return decreases and result in less fluctuation in return.

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Table No. 1 showi ng Sensex rolling return from 19 80 -2013 (Return in %) Year 1 year 3 year 5 year 8 year 10 year 12 year 15 year 1980 0.79 1981 20.31 1982 60.39 24.84 1983 -4.05 22.54 1984 8.02 18.26 24.55 1985 7.42 3.61 16.53 1986 98.18 31.63 28.76 1987 -0.55 28.09 17.02 15.05 1988 -17.9 17.21 13.43 16.85 1989 49.44 6.79 21.04 20.06 19.89 1990 17.29 12.76 23.18 15.46 19.81 1991 25.94 29.86 12.5 19.45 20.36 18.01 1992 134.4 50.66 33.55 31.6 25.01 18.58 1993 16.43 50.29 43.21 32.93 27.45 27.22 25.56 1994 49.02 58.87 43.13 28.27 31.62 26.87 25.56 1995 -9.42 16.09 35.92 26.78 29.4 26.09 24.68 1996 -18.98 3 24.45 26.57 18.32 25.49 21.47 1997 15.37 -5.34 8 22.55 20.09 22.52 18.85 1998 -4.67 -3.73 3.76 19.41 21.9 23.25 18.8 1999 2.83 4.14 -3.66 16.42 17.43 15.96 18.42 2000 57 15.29 7.54 10.73 20.9 16.28 21.42 2001 -16.88 10.19 8.09 6.17 15.98 22.74 14.65 2002 -23.47 -0.05 -0.43 -2.31 3.7 16.88 12.69 2003 -1.83 -14.39 0.16 -1.33 1.95 12.8 14.02 2004 75.23 9.5 11.43 8.66 3.61 10.48 15.23 2005 15.1 25.29 4.72 8.62 6.12 7.84 15.09 2006 51.31 44.51 18.05 15.08 12.96 7.73 16.49 2007 42.05 34.84 33.6 19.83 15.34 7.87 12.7 2008 25.25 38.65 40.27 16.49 18.53 11.99 13.24 2009 -46.6 -1.68 10.6 10.22 11.01 16.13 5.83 2010 73.57 5.05 20.07 22.1 12.13 8.91 10.47 2011 12.04 1.25 13.06 24.14 15.53 14.49 12.86 2012 -6.19 21.95 4.06 14.81 17.91 15.31 11.33 2013 12.97 5.83 1.94 14.54 19.58 10.47 12.58 min return -46.6 -14.39 -3.66 -2.32 1.95 7.84 5.83 max return 134.4 58.87 43.21 32.93 31.62 27.22 25.56 No. of positive return 23 27 28 25 25 23 20 No. of negative return 11 5 2 2 0 0 0 Std. Deviation 36.9316 17.723 13.2126 8.5865 7.5146 6.3192 5.12

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Table No. 2 showing rolling return of S&P 500 from 1980-2012 (Return in %)

Year 1 year 3 year 5 year 8 year 10 year 12 year 15 year 1980 25.77 1981 -9.73 1982 14.76 9.22 1983 17.27 6.7 1984 1.4 10.92 9.15 1985 26.33 14.53 9.25 1986 14.62 13.66 14.59 1987 2.03 13.89 11.93 10.91 1988 12.4 9.54 10.98 9.36 1989 27.25 13.43 16.14 14.15 9.91 1990 -6.56 10.15 9.34 11.26 10.04 1991 26.31 14.52 11.49 12.3 11.48 9.76 1992 4.46 7.23 12.01 12.72 10.2 9.8 1993 7.06 12.2 10.93 10.41 10.8 11.14 1994 -1.54 3.26 5.38 8.33 8.07 10.5 10.3 1995 34.11 12.23 13.28 12.1 9.78 8.91 8.51 1996 20.26 16.67 12.17 13.05 11.6 11.47 11.42 1997 31.01 28.32 17.37 13.46 13.33 11.02 11.77 1998 26.67 25.9 21.39 17.86 13.28 12.26 12.61 1999 19.53 25.64 26.18 17.05 16.1 14.3 14.3 2000 -10.14 10.81 16.47 14.86 12.21 14.89 13.88 2001 -13.04 -2.25 9.16 11.92 10.17 11.6 12.03 2002 -23.37 -15.71 -1.94 8.47 6.55 10.94 10.84 2003 26.38 -5.56 -1.99 7.66 9.24 6.42 8.03 2004 8.09 1.82 -3.78 6.35 7 8.12 7.98 2005 3 12.37 -1.12 3.2 5.36 8.28 9.1 2006 13.62 8.45 4.32 1.8 3.87 8.69 7.62 2007 3.53 6.61 10.79 -0.01 1.79 7.19 8.23 2008 -38.49 -10.22 -4.07 -4.63 -4.75 5.87 7.99 2009 23.45 -7.7 -1.65 -0.36 -1.67 -0.6 4.64 2010 12.78 -5.03 0.15 4.57 0.92 -0.87 4.06 2011 0 11.66 2.38 1.55 3.64 -1.29 3.61 2012 12.43 8.24 -0.75 1.95 -4.75 -0.4 1.75 Min. return -38.49 -15.71 -4.07 -4.63 -4.75 -1.29 1.75 Max. return 34.11 28.32 26.18 17.86 16.1 14.89 14.3 No. of Negative returns 7 6 7 3 3 4 0 No. of Positive returns 25 27 26 30 30 29 33 Std . Deviation 16.2492 9.9231 7.7611 5.7559 5.5333 4.7146 3.4275

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Above table shows that in S&P 500 index only in case of 15 year holding period there was no negative returns and rest in all the holding periods there were one or more negative return. Out of 33 yearly rolling returns maximum return was 34.11% in 1995 and minimum return was -38.49% in 2008 and standard deviation were 16.24. Table has also shown that as the holding period increases, fluctuations in return decreases.

Table No. 3: Comparison of Sensex real return and S&P 500 real return from 1980-2012 Initial investment Initial investment Year Sensex real return S&P 500 real return 10000 10000 1981 12.97 -19.93 11297 8007 1982 46.51 4.58 16551 8374 1983 -16.54 10.8 13814 9278 1984 -1.54 -1.77 13602 9114 1985 1.81 21.22 13849 11048 1986 86.03 10.7 25762 12230 1987 -5.8 0.079 24268 12240 1988 -20.89 8.33 19199 13259 1989 32.58 22.33 25453 16220 1990 38.55 -10.77 35266 14473 1991 44.08 20 50811 17368 1992 13.66 0.34 57752 17427 1993 19.76 3.88 69163 18103 1994 126.52 -4.38 156669 17400 1995 15.88 30.6 181548 22606 1996 29.22 16.94 234596 26436 1997 -14.78 27.19 199923 33624 1998 -26.62 23.75 146703 41610 1999 5.18 17.51 154303 48896 2000 -12.92 -12.18 134367 42940 2001 -5.35 -15.89 127178 36117 2002 45.37 -25.45 184879 26925 2003 -26.49 24.19 135904 33438 2004 -32.7 6.53 91464 35622 2005 -6.88 0.18 85171 35686 2006 61.07 9.87 137185 39209 2007 5.3 0.3 144456 39326 2008 19.07 -40.24 172003 23501 2009 -52.52 18.93 81667 27950 2010 60.64 12.9 131190 31556 2011 -0.61 -1.69 130390 31023 2012 -14.01 8.87 112122 33774

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Interpretation: The above table shows the real return of Sensex and S&P 500 from 1980-2012 and also makes a comparison between the performance Sensex and S&P 500 index for the last 32 years. In India inflation rate and nominal return from Sensex was higher than US. In US inflation rate was very low and in some year it had registered negative inflation also. In overall 32 years highest inflation in US was 12.7% in 1981 but in India inflation was always positive, high inflation was 15.32%. High inflation is not good for the investor and hinders the real return of the investor but in Sensex because of its high nominal return, good CAGR and high growth in economy though inflation was highest in India, stock market has given good return over the year compared to S&P 500 and return from Sensex is Rs78348 more than S&P 500.

Table No. 4 showing the best return calculation of Sensex Return after Return after All days Investment missing best Investment missing Investment Year return (%) (100000) two days (100000) Best 5 days (%) (100000) 1990 17 117000 9 109000 -0.22 99780 1991 33 155610 26 137340 19 118738 1992 21 188288 8 148327 -6.7 110783 1993 14 214648 10 163160 4.5 115768 1994 6.4 228386 1.5 165607 -3.7 111485 1995 -9.3 207146 -12 145734 -16.7 92867 1996 0.5 208182 -4.2 139614 -9.6 83951

Interpretation: The above table shows the Sensex return from 1990-1996, return are calculated on year wise and show what will be the effect if investor misses the best 2 days and best 5 days and shows how his investment fluctuate over a 7 year if misses the best 2 and best 5 days of each year. Suppose investor invested Rs 100,000 in sensex in the year 1990 and stayed fully during the investment period, investor would have earned 208182rs at the end of 1996. If he misses the best 2 days of all the investment year his same investment would have come down to 139615 and would have incurred the loss of Rs68568. Again if he misses the best 5 days of the investment period he would have incurred a loss of Rs16049 at the end of 1996. Thus it clearly states that an investor is unfortunate enough to miss the best days of the year as his return come down to a drastic level. CONCLUSION Short term investment is considered as speculation or gambling because it involves great amount of risk and has all chances of getting negative returns. As the holding period increases, chances of negative return diminish. Holding period of more than 8 or 10 years only give positive return not less than that. If you invest for longer period the chances of getting negative return is less or zero and you will get a better returns over years and risk can also be reduced and there is consistency in return. Rolling returns cannot be used as a single determinant to evaluate the performance of an investment. In our case we have taken return as criteria and analyze the performance of stock. It can be conducted on return, alpha, beta, information ratio and many other investment’s criteria.

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References • Lintner, John, 1965. Security Prices, Risk, and Maximal Gains From Diversification, The Journal of Finance, Vol. 20, No. 4. (Dec., 1965) • Myers S and Majluf S C (1984), “Corporate Financing and Investment Decisions When Firms have information that Investors Do Not Have”, Journal of Financial Economics, Vol. 13, pp. 187-221 • McNulty, J., T. Yeh, W. Schulze, and M. Lubatin, 2002, What’s Your Real Cost of Capital? Harvard Business Review, 80, October, 114-121.

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TRENDS IN EMPLOYEE TURNOVER– A PARADIGM SHIFT IN RESEARCH PERSPECTIVE

Manu Melwin Joy Research Scholar, School of Management Studies Cochin University of Science and Technology, Kalamassery, Ernakulam Dist. email ID – [email protected]

ABSTRACT Considering the extensive research on the topic of voluntary employee turnover in the past 10 years as well as new managerial outlook to employee retention, labor market dynamism, and evolution in research methodology and technology, it is critical that researchers evaluate the current state of the field. In the past decades, turnover research has experienced substantial theoretical expansion. Specifically, the last decade was characterized by seven major trends: (1) new individual difference forecast of turnover; (2) an extended focus on stress- and change-related attitudes (3) empirical research on the unfolding model; (4) more focus on contextual variables with an emphasis on interpersonal relationships (5) an enhanced focus on factors related to staying (6) a dynamic modelling of turnover processes with the consideration of time and (7) increasing our understanding of previously identified relationships. This study focuses on exploring the intricacies of the new turnover trends and analyzes the impact of these trends on the future of turnover research. The present research points towards the inclination of the scientific community toward the dynamic dimension of turnover. The increase in temporal theorizing in turnover study is promising and surely one of the most fertile areas for future research.

INTRODUCTION In the past 10 years, turnover research has gone through considerable theoretical expansion. The last decade was characterized by seven major trends: (1) new individual difference forecast of turnover; (2) an extended focus on stress- and change-related attitudes (3) empirical research on the unfolding model; (4) more focus on contextual variables with an emphasis on interpersonal relationships (5) an enhanced focus on factors related to staying (6) a dynamic modelling of turnover processes with the consideration of time and (7) increasing our understanding of previously identified relationships. Even though there are more theoretical constructs to explain turnover, there is less theoretical consensus among the researchers and still a relatively small amount of overall variance in turnover explained. The result we believe is that the field of study is richer, but perhaps farther from a unified view of the turnover process than ever before.

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Trend 1: Individual Differences Studies that investigated individual difference predictors of turnover have looked at both direct effects and moderators. According to Barrick and Zimmerman (2005), personality may be operating directly on whether one leaves his or her job. He found out that self-confidence and decisiveness combined with bio-data measured during the recruitment process were negatively associated with turnover. Articles by Pelled and Xin (1999) and Thoresen, Kaplan and Barsky (2003) suggest that negative affectivity is likely to result in higher intentions to leave and actual turnover. Study of Allen, Moffit and Weeks (2005) points to the moderating influences of individual differences. They demonstrated that low self monitors and employees with low risk aversion were more likely to translate their intentions to leave into actual turnover. Maertz and Campion (2004) combined content and process models of turnover by proving that their previously developed eight turnover motive forces (affective, calculative, contractual, behavioural, alternative, normative, moral, and constituent forces)are systematically related to four turnover decision types (impulsive, comparison, pre-planned and conditional quitters) such that different groups of quitters are stimulated by different forces. They claim to have identified the eight proximal causes of turnover cognitions and suggest that these causes mediate the effects of all other main constructs in the literature. One of the crucial findings of their empirical test is that employees who quit with no job alternative had more negative affect than users of other decision types, suggesting affect-driven, impulsive quitting. Many efforts such as those of Maertz and other researchers to provide a unifying theoretical framework to direct the many individual constructs demonstrated to influence turnover are important to the field. We can expect more insights into the role of individual differences to emerge leading to an agreed-upon framework to provide perspective on how they relate to other factors is useful. Trend 2: Stress- and Change-related Attitudes With an increased theoretical and applied focus on organizational change and employee adaptation to dynamic environments, stress- and change-related attitudes have received much attention in attitude research in relationship to turnover. It was found out that change acceptance is positively related to job satisfaction and negatively related to work irritation and turnover intentions, which in turn predicted actual turnover (Wanberg & Banas, 2000). Psychological uncertainty, formerly established as a predictor of turnover (Ashford et al., 1989), was found to be positively related to turnover intentions and influenced by frequency of change, planning involved in change, and transformational change (Rafferty & Griffin, 2006). Research proves that transformational change had a direct positive effect on turnover, stressing the importance of employee retention management during times of drastic organizational change. Even though stress had been considered in previous turnover models, research in recent times investigated the potential positive effects of certain types of stressors. Adhering to prior stress research, hindrance stressors were found to lead to lower job satisfaction, lower organizational commitment, more withdrawal behaviours, higher turnover intentions, and higher turnover (Cavanaugh, Boswell, Roehling, & Boudreau, 2000; Podsakoff, LePine, & LePine, 2007). But challenge stressors showed differential relationships and exhibited positive effects on job attitudes and negative effects on withdrawal cognitions resulting in less turnover (Podsakoff et al., 2007). 185 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015

Tepper (2000) who did research on stressful events reported that the positive relationship between abusive supervision and voluntary turnover was mediated by organizational justice perceptions and moderated by perceived mobility such that the effect was stronger for those employees who perceived less mobility. Study done by Sims, Drasgow, and Fitzgerald (2005) showed that experiences with sexual harassment had a direct positive effect on turnover. Because of the escalating dynamism and stress in modern organizational life, the studies included in this trend are valuable contributions to the literature. It is the need of the hour to provide additional clarity on the contextual variables that influence individual turnover decisions. Trend 3: Studies on the Unfolding Model According to Lee and Mitchell, an alternative theory was needed to explain how and why people leave organizations and they came up with unfolding model. The major components of their model include shocks, scripts, image violations, job satisfaction and job search. A shock is a particular, jarring event that initiates the psychological analyses involved in quitting. This leads to a script which is a pre-existing plan for leaving. Image violations occur when an individual’s values, goals and strategies for goal attainment contradicts with those of the organization. Lower levels of job satisfaction happens when a person, over time, comes to feel that his or her job no longer provides the intellectual, emotional, or financial benefits desired. At last, search includes those activities involved with looking for alternatives and the evaluation of those alternatives. The components unfold in due course and together form five distinct exit paths for individuals. In Path 1, a shock forces the enactment of a pre-existing action plan or script. A person leaves without considering his present attachment to the organization and without looking into alternatives. Moreover, levels of job satisfaction are mostly irrelevant in Path 1. In Path 2, a shock triggers a person to reconsider her attachment to the organization because of image violations. After completing these relatively brief thoughts, s/he quits without a search for alternatives. In Path 3, a shock results in image violations that, in turn, instigate a comparison of the current job with various alternatives. Leaving characteristically includes search, offers, and alternative evaluation. With Path 4, lesser levels of job satisfaction are the precipitating state, instead of a shock. The person realizes s/he is dissatisfied and quit, with (Path 4b) or without (Path 4a) searching for alternatives. According to the study done by Great Britain, Morrell, Loan-Clarke and Wilkinson (2004), shocks have a substantial influence on the decision to leave with most calling it an important or “overwhelming influence” on leaving. Main conclusions indicate that: (1) shocks that are expected are more likely to be positive, personal, and lead to unavoidable leaving (2) shocks that are negative are more likely to be work related, associated with dissatisfaction, affect others and lead to avoidable leaving (3) shocks that are more work related are less potent, associated with dissatisfaction and search for alternatives and lead to avoidable leaving and (4) shocks tend to cluster into work and non-work domains. In a nutshell, there is substantial evidence supporting key elements of the unfolding model—particularly the shock concept. Even though all studies come from Western Societies, evidence comes from numerous samples. In future, tests regarding the applicability of the unfolding model in non-Western samples are expected.

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Trend 4: Contextual Considerations The last decade saw the emergence of additional organizational context variables which includes unit-level attitudes and perceptions such as unit level satisfaction and engagement as well as climate perceptions. Negative relationship was identified between employee satisfaction aggregated to the business-unit level and turnover (Harter, Schmidt, & Hayes, 2002). Studies have proved that work diversity influence turnover. Elvira and Cohen (2001) found that the proportion of employees of one’s own sex at various levels of the organization is critical in determining the effects of gender diversity on employee turnover. Diversity climate perceptions were negatively related to turnover intentions among all racial subgroups with the strongest impact for African Americans (McKay et al., 2007). Based on the research done by Bloom and Michel (2002), a firm’s pay distribution affects turnover and outstanding employees may leave a company where there is low pay differentiation. An extensive focus on interpersonal relations and the interface between employees and their environments has given a new dimension to research in the field. Based on the research done by Friedman and Holtom (2002), it was found the social embeddedness is as defined by access to mentoring and social inclusion in predicting turnover. Their study supported the fact that joining a minority network group negatively predicted turnover intentions for higher-level employees and for employees in groups with more top managers. A different dimension of research recommends that overall justice perceptions, including procedural, interactional and distributive elements, are important for understanding satisfaction and commitment as well as the reaction to alternatives and withdrawal behaviors (Colquitt, Conlon, Wesson, Porter & Ng, 2001). In 2003, Simons and Roberson reported evidence of significant and sequential linkages from procedural and interactional justice to employee commitment to intention to remain and turnover. While considering the organizational consequences of turnover, Shaw and colleagues advanced a social capital perspective and recommended that performance erosion is a consequence of turnover (Dess & Shaw, 2001). They identified a negative relationship between organizational social capital losses as a result of turnover and productivity which was moderated by organizational turnover level. According to Shaw, Gupta et al. (2005), effects of turnover on workforce performance are curvilinear, such that the negative effects are strong when turnover is low but weaken as turnover increases. There was also reasonable evidence that workforce performance mediates the effect of turnover on financial performance. While examining the organizational consequences of turnover, recent findings suggests there is an impact on organizational performance. This area of inquiry merits further investigation—not only to clarify the process by which this occurs but also to increase the impact management research has on practice. Trend 5: Focus on Staying, not leaving In 2001, the study done by Mitchell et al. gave turnover study a paradigm shift by introducing the job embeddedness constructs. This construct focused on the wide range of factors that influence a person’s staying in a job. The important facets of job embeddedness are the connections an employee has to other people or the community, how he or she fits in the organization or community and, lastly, what the employee would sacrifice upon leaving the organization, both on and off the job. These three dimensions are called links, fit and sacrifice;they are relevant in both the organization 187 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015 and the community. Job embeddedness is a combined construct formed from the six sub-dimensions that result from the 3×2 matrix suggested previously. The research done my Mitchell et al. (2001) reported that aggregated job embeddedness was negatively correlated with intention to leave and predicted subsequent voluntary turnover. It was also revealed that job embeddedness significantly predicted subsequent voluntary turnover after controlling for gender, job satisfaction, organizational commitment, job search and perceived alternatives. A subsequent study (Lee, Mitchell, Sablynski, Burton, & Holtom, 2004) proved that off-the-job embeddedness was significantly predictive of subsequent voluntary employee turnover and volitional absences, whereas on-the-job embeddedness was non-significant. The study of Allen (2006) established that an organization’s socialization tactics enable the organization to actively embed new employees. Mossholder et al. (2005) found out that network centrality and interpersonal citizenship behaviour were negatively related to turnover Crossley, Bennett, Jex and Burnfield (2007) re-conceptualized job embeddedness and found that general job embeddedness is significantly related to the intention to search, intention to quit and turnover. In contrast, composite job embeddedness only significantly related to intention to search and intention to quit, but not to turnover. A large-scale study done by (Holtom & Inderrieden, 2006) tried to integrate elements of job embeddedness theory and the unfolding model. The empirical results indicated that job stayers have the highest levels of job embeddedness, with shock-induced leavers exhibiting the next highest levels and non-shock-induced leavers having the lowest levels. In the work of Allen, Shore and Griffeth (2003) , they found out that perceptions of supportive human resource practices contribute to the development of POS, which is negatively related to withdrawal. Relying on the fact that employers are looking to increase the probability that valuable employees stay and less valuable employees leave, systematic investigations into the process of staying seem very promising. The research discussed above points to differences between examining staying versus the traditional research focus on leaving. Trend 6: Dynamic Modelling of the Turnover Process The main focus of the research done by Mobley (1982) and Dickter, Roznowski and Harrison (1996) was pertaining to how the turnover process occurs over time. During the last decade, many researchers have directed their energy towards exploring the complex and dynamic nature of the turnover process. Study initiated by Sturman and Trevor (2001) found that quitters’ performance over time did not significantly change while stayers’ performance slope was positive. Evolutionary search model proposed by Steel in 2002 included three distinct job-search phases (passive scanning, focused search, and contacting prospective employers), and two job-search gateways (financial considerations and spontaneous job offers) with attitudinal and job-search processes as linked but separate subsystems. The results showed that the relationship between perceived job opportunities and actual leaving will be quite different from those people who choose to stay or who are not as advanced in the job-search process. The recent fad in turnover research in to research with employed repeated measures designs. Study done by Bentein, Vandenberg, Vandenberghe, and Stinglhamber (2005) showed that changes in affective and normative commitment were connected to changes in turnover intentions over a six-month period, and that changes in turnover intentions were connected to actual turnover three 188 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015 months later. Researchers Kammeyer-Mueller, Wanberg, Glomb,and Ahlburg (2005) compared a static turnover model with measures from only one time period to a dynamic model, which included measurements over multiple time points and found that dynamic model fit the data better than static model. They identified that leavers became less committed and less satisfied over time and had escalated levels of work withdrawal and search for alternatives. According to Kammeyer-Mueller et al. (2005) and Iverson and Pullman (2000), critical events predicted turnover in a manner different from the operation of attitudes, which is consistent with the notion of shocks advanced by the unfolding model (Lee & Mitchell, 1994). Weller (2006) proved that critical search strategies combine with subsequent job satisfaction to predict eventual turnover. While exploring hazard models, he found that people who used a personal search strategy were less likely to subsequently leave than those who used formal search strategies. Therefore initial information people receive before they enter the organization can be an important indicator of later turnover. Honeymoon-hangover effect was supported by study done by Boswell et al. (2005) which stated that job satisfaction was lower for individuals who would leave their job within the next year, higher for individuals who had changed their jobs within the last year, and tapered off in subsequent years with no additional job change. The above researches points towards the inclination of the scientific community toward the dynamic dimension of turnover. The increase in temporal theorizing in turnover study is promising and surely one of the most fertile areas for future research. Trend 7: Expansion of Previous Work Research widening our understanding of the relationships between job satisfaction and turnover and commitment and turnover has continued. Implementing meta-analysis, Meyer, Stanley, Herscovitch and Topolnytsky (2002) identified the weighted average correlations between turnover, and affective commitment, ormative commitment, and continuance commitment. A study carried out by Vandenberghe, Bentein, and Stinglhamber (2004) found out that affective commitment to the supervisor and group predicted affective commitment to the organization; in turn, affective commitment to the organization predicted intention to quit, which predicted in sequence actual turnover. The last decade has also seen an increased focus on moderators in the turnover process as a result of often small correlations between turnover and its antecedents and outcomes. It was identified that the performance–turnover relationship was curvilinear such that low and high performers were more likely to turn over (Salamin & Hom, 2005). This relationship is moderated by salary hike and promotions such that it is more pronounced for employees with lower salary growth and employees with promotions (Trevor, Gerhart, & Boudreau, 1997). According to the word done by Trevor (2001), general job availability, movement capital and job satisfaction interacted with each other simultaneously to affect turnover. The relationship between turnover intentions and turnover was moderated by various personality traits such that the relationship was higher for employees with low self monitoring, low risk aversion, and an internal locus of control (Allen et al.,2005). Moreover, Allen and Griffeth (2001) reported that reward contingencies moderated the job performance–job satisfaction–turnover connections such that the performance–satisfaction link was positive for high rewards and negative for low rewards. 189 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015

Further widening our perspectives of general withdrawal, Morrow, McElroy, Laczniak and Fenton (1999) identified significant associations between prior absences and performance, and subsequent turnover. Recently, Harrison et al. (2006) draw on the compatibility principle in attitude theory to suggest that “overall job attitude” predicts an integrated behavioural criterion. Since meta-analyses have generally reported relatively low estimates of the relationship between job satisfaction and performance or organizational commitment and performance with only slightly higher estimates for these attitudes with turnover, the results are surprising. They found a large meta-analytic correlation between overall job attitudes and a higher-order behavioural criterion construct. Apart from this, the study found support for the withdrawal progression hypothesis indicating that lateness precedes absenteeism, which precedes turnover. CONCLUSION In a nutshell, the recent research has greatly widened our perspectives on turnover in diverse ways beyond the long-held conventional wisdom that dissatisfied employees with feasible alternatives are more likely to quit. Individual differences in personality- and change-related attitudes have stretched our analysis to more distal causes of leaving a job while research on the after effects of turnover has looked at more distal effects. The above study has examined variables at the individual, group and organization level as well as the individual interface with contextual characteristics. By unfolding the moderators of established relationships, the understanding and control of variance in the turnover criterion has deepened. Researchers have also turned the tables by shifting the focus from why do people leave to why do they stay. In addition, more thorough investigation is done on how the process of leaving is a time-sensitive process where precipative events often initiate thoughts of leaving. This has resulted in having a more complex and dynamic view of why people leave their jobs. References • Allen, D.G. (2006). Do organizational socialization tactics influence newcomer embeddedness and turnover? Journal of Management, 32, 237–257. • Allen, D.G., Moffit, K.R., & Weeks. K.P. (2005). Turnover intentions and voluntary turnover: The moderating roles of self-monitoring, locus of control, proactive personality, and risk aversion. Journal of Applied Psychology, 90, 980–990. • Allen, D.G., & Griffeth, R.W. (2001). Test of a mediated performance turnover relationship highlighted the moderating rules of visibility and reward contingencies. Journal of Applied Psychology, 86, 1014–1021. • Allen, D.G., Shore, L.M., Griffeth, R.W., (2003). The role of perceived organizational support and supportive human resources practices in the turnover process. Journal of Management, 29, 99– 118. • Ashford, S.J., Lee, C., & Bobko, P. (1989). Contention, causes, and consequences of job insecurity: A theory-based measure and substantive test. Academy of Management Journal, 32, 803–829. • Barrick, M.R., & Zimmerman, R.D. (2005). Reducing voluntary turnover, avoidable turnover through selection. Journal of Applied Psychology, 90, 159–166.

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• Bentein, K., Vandenberg, R., Vandenberghe, C., & Stinglhamber, F. (2005). The role of change in the relationship between commitment and turnover: A latent growth modeling approach. Journal of Applied Psychology, 90, 468–482. • Bloom, M., & Michel, J.G. (2002). The relationship among organizational context, pay dispersion and managerial turnover. Academy of Management Journal, 45, 33–42. • Boswell, W.R., Boudreau, J.W., & Tichy, J. (2005). The relationship between employee job change and job satisfaction: The honeymoon-hangover effect. Journal of Applied Psychology, 90, 882– 892. • Cavanaugh, M.A., Boswell, W.R., Roehling, M.V., & Boudreau, J.W. (2000). An empirical examination of self-reported work stress among US managers. Journal of Applied Psychology, 85, 65–74. • Colquitt, J.A., Conlon, D.E., Wesson, M.J., Porter, C., Ng, K.Y. (2001). Justice at the millennium: A meta-analytic review of 25 years of organizational justice research. Journal of Applied Psychology, 86, 425–445. • Crossley, C.D., Bennett, R.J., Jex, S.M., Burnfield, J.L. (2007). Development of a global measure of job embeddedness and integration into a traditional model of voluntary turnover. Journal of Applied Psychology, 92, 1031–1042. • Dess, G.G., & Shaw, J.D. (2001). Voluntary turnover, social capital, and organizational performance. Academy of Management Review, 26, 446–456. • Dickter, D.N., Roznowski, M. and Harrison, D.A. (1996). Temporal tempering: An event history analysis of the process of voluntary turnover. Journal of Applied Psychology, 81, 707–716. • Elvira, M.M., & Cohen, L.E. (2001). Location matters: A cross-level analysis of the effects of organizational sex composition on turnover. Academy of Management Journal, 44, 591–605. • Friedman, R.A., & Holtom, B.C. (2002). The effects of network groups on minority employee turnover intentions. Human Resource Management, 41, 405–421. • Harrison, D.A., Newman, D.A., & Roth, P.L. (2006). How important are job attitudes? Meta-analytic comparisons of integrative behavioral outcomes and time sequences. Academy of Management Journal, 49, 305–325. • Harter, J.K., Schmidt, F.L., & Hayes, T.L. (2002). Business-unit-level relationship between employee satisfaction, employee engagement, and business outcomes: A meta-analysis. Journal of Applied Psychology, 87, 268–279. • Holtom, B.C., & Inderrieden, E. (2006). Integrating the unfolding model and job embeddedness to better understand voluntary turnover. Journal of Managerial Issues, 18, 435–452. • Iverson, R.D., & Pullman, J.A. (2000). Determinants of voluntary turnover and layoffs in an environment of repeated downsizing following a merger: an event history analysis. Journal of Management, 26, 997–1003. • Kammeyer-Mueller, J.D., Wanberg, C.R., Glomb, T.M., & Ahlburg, D. (2005). The role of temporal shifts in turnover processes: It’s about time. Journal of Applied Psychology, 90, 644–658 • Lee, T.W., & Mitchell, T.R. (1994). An alternative approach: The unfolding model of voluntary employee turnover. Academy of Management Review, 19, 51–89. 191 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015

• Lee, T.W., Mitchell, T.R., Sablynski, C.J., Burton, J.P., & Holtom, B.C. (2004). The effects of job embeddedness on organizational citizenship, job performance, volitional absences, and voluntary turnover. Academy of Management Journal, 47, 711–722. • Maertz, C.P., & Campion, M.A. (2004). Profiles in quitting: Integrating process and content turnover theory. Academy of Management Journal, 47, 566–582. • McKay, P.F., Avery, D.R., Tonidandel, S., Morris, M.A., Hernandez, M., & Hebl, M.R. (2007). Racial differences in employee retention: Are diversity climate perceptions the key? Personnel Psychology, 60, 35–62. • Meyer, J.P., Stanley, D.J., Herscovitch, L., & Topolnytsky, L. (2002). Affective, continuance, and normative commitment to the organization: A meta-analysis of antecedents, correlates, and consequences. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 61, 20–52. • Mitchell, T.R., Holtom, B.C., Lee. T.W., Sablynski, C., & Erez, M. (2001). Why people stay: Using job embeddedness to predict voluntary turnover. Academy of Management Journal, 44, 1102– 1121. • Mobley, W.H. (1982). Employee turnover: Causes, consequences, and control. Reading, MT: Addison-Wesley. • Morrell, K. Loan-Clarke J., & Wilkinson, A. (2004). The role of shocks in employee turnover, British Journal of Management, 15, 335–349. • Morrow, P.C., McElroy, J.C., Laczniak, K.S., & Fenton, J.B. (1999). Using absenteeism and performance to predict employee turnover: early detection through company records. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 55, 358–374. • Mossholder, K.W., Settoon, R.P., & Henagan, S.C. (2005). A relational perspective on turnover: Examining structural, attitudinal, and behavioral predictors. Academy of Management Journal, 48, 607–618. • Pelled, L.H. and Xin, K.R. (1999). Down and out: An investigation of the relationship between mood and employee withdrawal behavior. Journal of Management, 25, 875–895. • Podsakoff, N.P., LePine, J.A., & LePine, M.A. (2007). Differential challenge stress or hindrance stressor relationships with job attitudes, turnover intentions, turnover, and withdrawal behavior: A meta-analysis. Journal of Applied Psychology,92, 438–454. • Rafferty, A.E., & Griffin, M.A. (2006). Perceptions of organizational change: A stress and coping perspective. Journal of Applied Psychology, 91, 1154–1162. • Salamin, A., & Hom, P.W. (2005). In search of the elusive U-shaped performance– turnover relationship: are high performing Swiss bankers more liable to quit? Journal of Applied Psychology, 90, 1204–1216. • Simons, T., & Roberson, Q. (2003). Why managers should care about fairness: The effects of aggregated justice perceptions on organizational outcomes. Journal of Applied Psychology, 88, 432–443. • Shaw, J.D., Gupta, N., & Delery, J.E. (2005). Alternative conceptualizations of the relationship between voluntary turnover and organizational performance. Academy of Management Journal, 48, 50–68.

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• Sims, C.S., Drasgow, F., & Fitzgerald, L.F. (2005). The effects of sexual harassment on turnover in the military: Time-dependent modeling. Journal of Applied Psychology, 90, 1141–1152. • Steel, R.P. (2002). Turnover theory at the empirical interface: Problems of fit and function. Academy of Management Review, 27, 346–360. • Sturman, M.C., & Trevor, C.O., (2001). The implications of linking the dynamic performance and turnover literatures. Journal of Applied Psychology, 86, 684– 696. • Tepper, B. (2000). Consequences of abusive supervision. Academy of Management Journal, 43, 178–190. • Thoresen, C.J., Kaplan, S.A., & Barsky, A.P. (2003). The affective underpinnings of job perceptions and attitudes: A meta-analytic review and integration. Psychological Bulletin, 129, 914–945. • Trevor, C.O. (2001). Interactions among actual ease-of-movement determinants and job satisfaction in the prediction of voluntary turnover. Academy of Management Journal, 44, 621–638. • Trevor, C.O., Gerhart, B., & Boudreau, J.W. (1997). Voluntary turnover and job performance: Curvilinearity and the moderating influences of salary growth and promotions. Journal of Applied Psychology, 82, 44–61.

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BLOOMS TAXONOMY: AN INNOVATIVE APPROACH FOR BUSINESS EDUCATION

Dr. Mathew C.D. Associate Professor, Department of Business Administration TocH Institute of Science & Technology Arakkunnam-682313 Ernakulam Dist. Kerala Mob:919562894347 e.mail: [email protected]

ABSTRACT Pentagon, the American Military wing has developed war games during 1950’s.Business education has been evolved over a period of time using the technology and opening up for practical exposure. Business games have been evolved based on the foundation of war games. In order to minimize the gap between theory and practice case studies, role plays, process consultation, simulation etc have been included in the curriculum. Blooms Taxonomy makes experiential learning to happen. Key Words: Blooms Taxonomy, Experiential Learning, Case Studies, Simulation

INTRODUCTION Blooms taxonomy is based on the concept that mind is not a vessel to be filled in but it has to be ignited(Plutarch). In another way learning has to be a purposeful investigation, it should not be a fishing expedition or an encyclopedic gathering of facts. These days google is known as the best teacher. Young generation is tech savvy so that teachers role should change from information provider to facilitator or make pupils to think on the curriculum. Asking questions frequently is one way of igniting the minds of students. Research Methodology Research Design As the study starts with drawing insights in to the research problem, at the initial level exploratory research design is adopted. As the study progresses, the research design will be conformed to exploratory research design itself in order to understand the cause and effects of different variables in connection with this study. As the paper is conceptual in nature, primary data has not been taken into account at the problem definition stage. The study makes an honest effort to define and further define the research problem.

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Categorization of Knowledge Blooms Taxonomy categorizes knowledge into four different levels • Factual Knowledge • Conceptual Knowledge • Procedural Knowledge • Meta Cognitive Knowledge Factual Knowledge: Factual knowledge merely have figures and facts. It is just for information and the pupil need to figure out to what extend it can be manipulated to come at a conclusion. Conceptual Knowledge: Meaningfully arranging factual knowledge one comes at a conclusion. For instance temperature at different cities is a factual knowledge. Forecasting weather using the factual knowledge is a conceptual knowledge. Procedural Knowledge: Procedural knowledge is all about how to create working models. For instance Programme Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) Critical Path Method (CPM) is all about project management. It briefs how to evaluate, control and monitor projects viz, software projects, building projects. Meta Cognitive Knowledge Meta cognitive knowledge is actually something related with literature review. It summarises and synthesizes the different literature available with a particular topic and makes the compiler to come at a conscience. The simplest form is to referring more books to have more in depth into the area. It will lead to define and further define an area of knowledge. The knowledge gets exposed to six different levels • Remembering • Understanding • Applying] • Analyzing • Evaluating • Creating Remembering It is all about recollecting an area viz factual knowledge, conceptual knowledge, procedural knowledge, meta cognitive knowledge. The biggest problems faced in BPO firms (Business Processing and Outsourcing) is prevention of attrition and retention of employees. Dictionary meaning of attrition is to make one weaker by repeatedly attacking him. There are renowned BPO firms like Tech Mahindra, Syntel, Sutherland Global Services, 24/7, Allsec, Transworks etc.Salary package is more or less the same. After some time people switch from one job to another. The HRD manager has to contain talent drain and retention of talents. So his initial work is to have a glance of the situation.

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Understanding The HRD manager needs to understand the problems pertaining to employee turnover, it may be Quality of Work Life issues, poor HR policies etc. Cause and effect needs to be analysed and assessed. Applying Once the problems are understood the next stage is to apply remedial measures. Improving HR policies, strike a balance between work and life, add more employee welfare measures etc are integral part of HR policies. Analyzing Analysing part is very important. In this part it is upto the HRD manager to analyse what extent the welfare measures make an impact on employee retention. It is all about understanding the pros and cons of the changed policies. Evaluating Evaluation is done over a period of time. After certain time frame, the HRD manager assess the status quo. That is upto what extent the attrition rate has been controlled. Creating Creating is all about developing a suitable model to counter the adverse situation. Model always need to be a pragmatic one because in certain cases the model works but the business fails. Data Analysis and Interpretation 100 students after undergoing Blooms Taxonomy Exercise was evaluated and the findings are given below

Table No: 1 Categories Number of respondent Percentage of respondents Factual Knowledge 82 82% Conceptual Knowledge 7 7% Procedural Knowledge 9 9% Meta Cognitive Knowledge 2 2% Total 100 100% Inference: From the table 1 we can see that 82% are aware of Factual Knowledge,7 % are aware of Conceptual Knowledge, 9% are aware of Procedural Knowledge and 2% are aware of Meta Cognitive Knowledge Table 2 - Most important factor to ensure effectiveness of this Pedagogy Categories Number of respondent Percentage of respondents Quality 51 51% Delivery 9 8% Learning experience 15 15% Arousing Interest 19 19% Inducing Creativity 6 6% Total 100 100%

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Inference: Fifty one per cent respondent says quality is the Important factor to ensure effective- ness where as 9%,15%,19% and 6% recommended delivery, learning experience, arousing inter- est, and inducing creativity as the important factor to ensure effectiveness.

Table 3 - Assessing the Effectiveness of Blooms Taxonomy Blooms Taxonomy Improves Effectiveness Response No. of Respondents Percentage Yes 83 83% No 17 17%

Inference: Eighty Three per cent of respondents say that Blooms Taxonomy improves teaching effectiveness and 17% say that it does not improve teaching effectiveness Findings From the responses it has been found that 82% are aware of Factual Knowledge,7 % are aware of Conceptual Knowledge, 9% are aware of Procedural Knowledge and 2% are aware of Meta Cognitive Knowledge. It shows that pupils concentrate more on factual knowledge. As far as Blooms Taxonomy is concerned quality of the lecture is the prominent factor that ensures the effectiveness of Blooms Taxonomy. Majority of the respondents have got the impression that Blooms Taxonomy improves teaching effectiveness. CONCLUSION In general Blooms Taxonomy is about categorizing knowledge into factual knowledge, conceptual knowledge, procedural knowledge and meta cognitive knowledge and getting the knowledge exposed to remembering levels, understanding levels, applying levels, analyzing levels, evaluating levels and creating levels. Applied management is the need of the hour so it is up to the B School people to make it pragmatic using innovative pedagogy. Bibliography • Annett.J; et, al (Human information Processing, part ! Units 10-11) (Open university DS 2611). Milton Keynes, Open University Press, 1974. • Beldwin T.T, and J. Kevin Ford, ‘transfer of Training: A Review and Directions for Future Research, Personnel Psychology, 1988, 41.pp.63-105 • Beckhard, Richard ‘Strategies for Large System Change’ in W.L.,French. C.H. Belland R.A. Zawacki, (Ed.) Organisation Development : Theory, Practice and Research. Plano. Texas : Business Publications, 1983. • Cambell, J. P.., M.D. Dunnettee and E.E. Lawler, and Weick k.e. Managerial Behaviour, Performance and Effectiveness, New York:Mcgraw-Hill, 1970. • Chruden, Herbert a, and Arthur w. Sherman, Personnel Management, Cincinnatic: South West Publishing Co., 1968.

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‘RA’- ‘SHE’NAL AND ‘EMO’-‘SHE’NAL MARKETING

Shailesh Sreedharan Nair Associate Professor, Girideepam Institute of Advanced Learning (GIAL) Bethany hiils, Vadavathoor P.O., Kottayam Dist. e.mail: [email protected] Mob: 09447355231

Dr. Abraham Sebastian Principal, Girideepam Institute of Advanced Learning (GIAL) Bethany hiils, Vadavathoor P.O., Kottayam Dist. e.mail: saikara59 @gmail.com Mob: 09447415193

ABSTRACT Marketing as become a discipline of paramount importance. The art of selling never stops for an organization , because the organization thrives on marketing. The foremost drive of business is not to make profit but to create customer. Human nature has natural habit of changing their taste and behavior like an unpredictable climate. The Organization must understand and comprehend this significant and decisive changes that may revolutionize or deteriorate the business . ‘Business if marketing’- the organization has to survive on marketing –profitably and progressively. The organization cannot stick onto the same marketing strategies, those marketing programs must change and adopt new strategies. Differentiation and innovation are the two inevitable aspects of marketing. The article focuses on novel marketing strategies, that has proved successful for quite a few organization

INTRODUCTION The ever since the evolution of human civilization. ‘change’ is an evitable natural phenomenon, occurring at regular intervals and periods. Change is sometimes natural and often deliberate, Revolution and transformation symbolizes change. The art of selling never stops. Organization must thrive on constantly and continuously to discover and search for new avenues of selling and marketing . Survival in the long run depends upon innovation and clever marketing . The entry of new players, Competitors strategies, Competition from substitute, consumer’s

198 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015 attitude, behavior and their loyalty, all these factors influences the organization . It forces the organization to change and restructure its management/business. Ultimately, profit maximization is undoubtedly the sole reason and purpose for doing business. Consumers are unfaithful , expect no loyalty and sincerity from them . Consumers frequently want to experience, educate and entertain themselves with new products. They will show affinity to that product, which will give them maximum benefit ,satisfaction and entertainment. Consumer seek variety and differentiation . This particular behavior is very much active and energetic in , and often exhibited among women folks .Women are very much particular in seeking varieties in products they seek and buy. The economic factor, the Hygienic concern and aestheticism are important determinant and parameters ,when buying. We often categorized women being too emotional. But in reality the rational quotient is also equally balanced in women. At the time of purchase , women play a very dominating and influential role over their men . It is very much evident ,the patience and persistence they exhibit at the time of purchase. Across the sectors from e-commerce to healthcare and consumer application , developers are realizing that while technology is built to be gender agnostics ,the way women use it is very different from men . Experts are of the view that across the globe ,technology ecosystem are only now beginning to realize the need for more women to be involved in the process of creating products that appeal to other women Over the next decade, women will control two thirds of consumer wealth in the United States and be the beneficiaries of the largest transference of wealth in our country’s history. Estimates range from $12 to $40 trillion. Many Boomer women will experience a double inheritance windfall, from both parents and husband. The Boomer woman is a consumer that luxury brands want to resonate with”. – Claire Behar, Senior Partner and Director, New Business Development, Fleishman-Hillard New York Statistical Data Women account for 85% of all consumer purchases including everything from autos to health care: • 91% of New Homes • 66% PCs • 92% Vacations • 80% Healthcare • 65% New Cars • 89% Bank Accounts • 93% Food • 93 % OTC Pharmaceuticals American women spend about $5 trillion annually… • Over half the U.S. GDP • Women represent the majority of the online market • Digital Divas By The Numbers • 22% shop online at least once a day 199 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015

• 92% pass along information about deals or finds to others • 171: average number of contacts in their e-mail or mobile lists • 76% want to be part of a special or select panel • 58% would toss a TV if they had to get rid of one digital device (only 11% would ditch their laptops) • 51% are moms [Source: Mindshare/Ogilvy & Mather] Purchasing behavior of Women in USA • Women influence $90 billion dollars worth of consumer electronic purchases in 2007 • 61% of women influence household consumer electronic buying decisions • Nearly 50% of women say they want more green choices • 37% are more likely to pay attention to brands that are committed to environmental causes. • 25% of all products in a woman’s shopping cart nowadays are environmentally friendly. When women are aware that organization supports women owned businesses 1. 79% would try organization product or service 2. 80% would solidify their brand loyalty 3. 51% would give a company a second chance if a product or service missed the mark the first time • Women make more than 80% of all consumer purchasing decisions • Consulting firm A.T. Kearney estimates that women determine 80% of consumption, purchase 60% of all cars and own 40% of all stocks • 57% of women gardened within the last year • 55% of women spent time reading literature within the last year • Single women are becoming a more influential category versus 10 years ago • In 1998, only 69% of women between 18 and 24 were involved in home electronics purchases. By 2008, that number has grown to 91%, in part driven by the prevalence of personal electronics such as cell phones and computers • Over the past 10 years, the number of women 25-34 who were single or living with a significant other increased 8% to 38% • And they are more educated: the percentage of women who had an undergraduate or graduate degree increased, from 28% to 41%, over those 10 years. In India the situation is not different from that of USA .During the past few decades ,the concept of family set up had been undergoing tremendous and decisive changes .In India Middle class constitute the majority .almost all the organization focus on this class for revenue generation. One of the progressive change that has been continuing ,is the active role played by the women folks . They are no longer restricted and confine within premises of their house .On the contrary ,they active participant and progressive contributor to the growth of the family and nations 200 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015 economy. She is playing a dynamic and constructive role. Due to her busy schedules, resulted in invention of Goods and services like –washing machine, grinder, oven, toaster , dish-washer , ready -to- cook items such as –Maggie, cornflakes, noodles ,etc. These product and service made her life much easier and economical .Women have greater say in today’s busy world . “Customer is the Queen and not King”. She decides and she knows what is best , nutritious ,healthy and beautiful for her husband , parents , children. She knows what is best for the family –She may be a working women , mother ,sister , daughter/ daughter-in-law ,teacher ,house-wife etc. .The Queen is the “decision maker” of the family . The role she plays are those of a wife ,mother, friend, daughter –in-law, teacher to her children , caretaker of her home .she spends her time and money on the various activities concerning the household members , with a small fraction on herself. She worries about the breakfast nutrition of her children and husband .she realizes how important it is, to protect her children and other members of her family from gems and bacteria .She decides what is good for everyone , what things are required for beautifying the house . Eventually ,she has the patients and temperament to buy things wisely and economically .She –”the customer is the Queen” who makes and implements the decision . Women as consumers, make India 12% richer by 2015 and 25% richer by 2025, according to a report commissioned by private equity fund Everstone Capital. The report further projects that India’s working age population will grow by a third in the next 30 years. Within that broad set, growth in the number of women entering the working population (38%)will outstrip that of men (33%). Globally, women controlled about $20 trillion in consumer spending in 2011, and that figure could climb as high as $28 trillion after five years, according to a study by Boston Consulting Group (BCG), a management consultancy. CONCLUSION Organization are focusing their products and service on women .Even when the products are meant for the male , women are deliberately roped in for the promotional campaigns. HDFC Bank, for example, prefers women consumers as they have a lower probability of default and use their loans more productively than men. The modern marketing technique has been fully prepared to woo the women .The emotional quotient exhibited through the product is well balanced. Both rational and emotional aspect is ever present in the product. Reference • Walters, D., 2002, “Operations Strategy”, Palgrave Macmillan • Sheehy, B., Bracey, H. and Frazier, R., 1996, “Winning the Race for Value – Strategies to Create Competitive Advantage in the Emerging Age of Abundance”, American Marketing Association. • Bovet, D., and Martha, J., 2000, “Value Nets – Breaking the Supply Chain to Unlock Hidden Profits”, John Wiley and Sons. • Hutt, M. D., and Speh, T. W., 1998, “Business Marketing Management – A Strategic View of Industrial and organisational Markets”, Dryden Press. • Porter E.Michael.,1985, “Competitive advantage”, Free press, New York . • Kotler,Philip. Marekting Management Prentice-Hall of India ,New Delhi,1999

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• Keller, Kevin, Lane .Strategic Brand Management ,Pearson Education, New Delhi 2004 • Ramaswamy , Namakumari. Marketing Management –Global Perspective Indian context Macmillan Publishers India LtD • Kotler, Philip, “Marketing Management-Analysis, planning, implementation and control”, Prentice Hall of India, 9th edition, 1997. • Bijoor, Harish, “Go Rural”, Economic Times, June 14, 1999. • Marketing: Thrust and Challenges, National Publishing House, New Delhi, 1997. • Gopalaswamy, T.P., “Environment, Problems, and Strategies”, Wheeler Publishing, New Delhi, 1997. • Adner, R., (2006), “Match Your Innovation Strategy to Your Innovation Ecosystem”, Harvard Business Review (April): 98-107 • Min, S., Kalwani, M.U. and W.T. Robinson (2006), “Market Pioneer and Early Follower Survival Risk: A Contingency Analysis of Really New Versus Incrementally New Product-Market”, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 70, (January 2006), pp.15-33. • Mittal, S. and S. Swami, (2004), “What Factors Influence Pioneering Advantage of Companies?”, Vikalpa, Vol. 29, No. 3, (July-September), pp.15-33. • Stewart, T.A. and L. O’Brien, (2005), “Execution without Excuses, Interview with Michael Dell and Kevin Rollins”, Harvard Business Review (March): 102-111. • Urban, G.L., Carter, T., Gaskin, S. and Z. Mucha, (1986), “Market Share Rewards to Pioneering Brands: An Empirical Analysis and Strategic Implications,” Management Science, Vol. 32, No.6, 645-659 • Zahra, S.A, Nash, S. and D.J. Bickford, (1998), “Transforming Technological Pioneering into Competitive Advantage”, in: Thompson, A.A. and A. J. Strickland III, Readings in Strategic Management, tenth edition, McGraw-Hill, Boston • Anderson H.Carol and Vincze W.Julian. (2006), “StrategicMarketing”,second edition Biztantra ,New Delhi • Ramkshen Y, Rural and Agricultural marketing, JAICO publishing house, SecondEdition. • Awadesh Kumar Singh and Satyaprakash Pande, Rural Marketing, Indian Perspective, NewAge International • Peel, Jeffrey. CRM: Redefining Customer Relationship Management. Woburn, MA: Digital Press, 2002. • Rigby, Darrell K., and Dianne Ledingham. “CRM Done Right.” Harvard Business Review November 2004 • http://www.marketing91.com/pricing-strategies/ • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loss_leader

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ROLE OF SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES IN ENHANCING THE INDIAN ECONOMY

Dr. Ramanuj Chakravorty Associate Professor, Department of Commerce, Karimganj Govt. College. Karimganj. Assam e.mail: [email protected]

ABSTRACT Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) sector is the considered as the backbone of Indian economy that produces industrial output, plays significant role in enhancing India's exports, provides employment, creates jobs and makes quality products so essential for the consumers inside and outside the country. SME sector in India now comes of age with the introduction of new technology and modern marketing strategy that help the sector to be globally competitive. But then vast potential of Indian SME still remains untapped. Among multiple problems that the sector faces, external finance of SME still remains major area of concern that calls for immediate attention of all the concerned including the policy makers for its proper understand- ing and management. There is no dearth of Govt initiatives for promoting the sector including the adoption of National Strategy, introduction of Cluster concept and Planning Commission's support for SMEs.

INTRODUCTION SME sector of India is measured as the lifeblood of Indian economy that generate 45% of the industrial output, 40% of India's exports, engage 60 million people, create 1.3 million jobs every year and produce more than 8000 quality products for the Indian and international markets. About 30 million SMEs in India can help 12 million people join the workforce in upcoming 3 years. This segment has been growing at a rate of 8% per year (Economic Survey 20011-12) Government of India is taking different measures so as to increase their competitiveness in the international mar- ket. There are some aspects that have led towards the development of Indian SMEs and that comprise funding of SMEs by local and foreign investors, the new technology add considerable value to the business of SMEs, various trade directories and trade portals help facilitate trade between buyer and supplier and thus reducing the barrier to trade. With this enormous potential, Indian SMEs continue to post their growth stories. Notwith- standing this strong growth, there is vast potential amongst Indian SMEs that still remains unexploited. Once this untapped potential becomes the source for growth of these units, there would be no stopping to India posting a GDP higher than many of the first world countries and becoming the world's economic powerhouse.

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Definition Manufacturing enterprise Sec. - 65 {A} 1&3 state that a small enterprise, where the investment in plant and machinery is more than twenty five lakh rupees but does not exceed five crore rupees where as B Service enterprise Sec 65 B 1 3 small enterprise, where the investment in equipment is more than ten lakh rupees but does not exceed two crore rupees; where as A medium enterprise, where the investment in equipment is more than two crore rupees but does not exceed five crore rupees Importance of SMEs SMEs importance in a developing country like ours has been massive. The economy which has been the casualty of galloping rate of population growth and consequently sprinting rate of unemployment, SMEs can play its part effectively. Again, farm sector in India which has been overcrowded can also be relieved of the extra pressure of population. Definitely, this will have its impact on the total output and productivity of the farmers. In addition to what has been outlined above, SMEs are important for Indian for the following reasons: a). SMEs are much labour intensive than large scale. b). Elasticity in SMEs are higher than large scale concerns. c). SMEs are having the flexibility to adjust with changing environment. d). SMEs are expected to earn more quick returns. e). SMEs are capital light and that is absolutely desirable for capital hungry economy like India. f) SMEs are import light also which is extremely expedient for India in spite of the fact that India's foreign exchange reserve is now comfortable with huge amount surplus foreign ex- change g). SMEs are anticipated to create permanent and immediate employment for huge unemployed labour force. h). SMEs are in a position to meet major part of growing consumer demand. i). SMEs can facilitate the process of mobilization and exploitation of resources with much ease. j). SMEs in India are the vehicle for integration of rural economy with the mainstream economy which call for investment at a moderate rate and that what suits a capital starved economy like ours and finally, k). SMEs are the real worth that can help reach a near reality for Just and equitable distribution of income and wealth in our society. Challenges Small and medium enterprises need to have a long term business plan and be aware of innovations in products and services to build a viable company. As mentioned above, SMEs have emerged as a potent contributor to the country's economic growth accounting for more than 10 percent of the GDP and about 40 percent of exports. However, statistics show that close to 50 204 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015 percent of medium, small and micro enterprises close down within three years of their inception for lack of execution of a judicious financial policy in particular. Thus, the enterprises face multiple challenges in that regard and that include 1) Limited access to collateral free finance. 2) Lack of knowledge and awareness about business process and compliance need. According to Srinivasan, CEO of Reliance Commercial Finance, the product lifecycle of any idea is increasingly getting smaller and therefore an entrepreneur must be in touch with what is happening in the eco system. There are examples where leading corporate houses have failed to make the cut as they did not move to any new idea. Moreover 90 percent of these enterprises do not register themselves and fail to stick to compliance norms. As a result, they fail to gain the trust of funders. 3) Ashish Chauhan the Executive Director of BSE is of the opinion that among SMEs, the issue is that most do not benchmark themselves against peers. Even if these enterprises generate seed capital, they do not have a sustainable model to cover operating losses. SME Role Critical For Indian Economy In order to enable SMEs to achieve competitiveness, the Union Government has decided to implement a National Strategy for Manufacturing, drawn up by the National Manufacturing Competitiveness Council (NMCC) The strategy has been drawn to detect various priority areas for action such as, textiles & garments, food processing, IT hardware & electronics, leather & footwear, automobiles & auto-components and chemicals & petrochemicals and pharma sectors. The idea of Cluster Concept seems to have been evolved clearly at making India's SMEs globally competitive. Under the 11th Plan, the government had recommended to increase financial assistance to existing clusters of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) up to as high as 80 per cent of their financial requirements. Again, to enable MSMEs to become competitive, the government plans to build a pool of consultants under its National Manufacturing Competitiveness Programme. With their cost being born by the Govt, for about one year to a year and a half, the consultants would be deployed to a cluster of 8-10 companies. In its bid to promote and develop SMEs, the government is supported by the United Na- tions Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), which has offered a five-year country strat- egy for India. One fundamental part of this strategy is cluster development along with programmes aimed at upgrading technological capability and building social capital in the country's industrial sector. As is seen in the India-Italy Cluster Development Cooperation, UNIDO is also exploring a new experiment of Twinning and Linking of Clusters. This apart, it is exploring new applications of Industrial cluster-based approaches focusing on Corporate Social Responsibility and poverty alle- viation in micro enterprises. Planning Commission's Support for SMEs Planning Commission too is doing its part recognizing the growing importance of Small and Medium Enterprises. At a function organized by the Indian Merchants Chamber (IMC) to recog- nize the mettle of SMEs for the Ramkrishna Bajaj Award 2007, its deputy chairman, Montek Singh Ahluwalia has said SMEs hold the key to the country's industrial progress, The very acknowledgement

205 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015 of this sector shows that the there is a dawning of realisation of the structural changes that have taken place, the deputy chairman has said. Evidently, SMEs have emerged as a vibrant tier of the economy as they have already taken over as key contributors to the country's GDP. Specifically for this reason, the Planning Commission is considering the existing policies and envisaging the required modifications neces- sary to make the SMEs role more proactive to help accomplish greater economic objectives. The Commission is of the firm opinion that in the radically changing economic scenario, SMEs are the future. SMEs are expected to play a vital role in immediate future, as they can crave and shape out unit growth model for the country. It's time to change corporate perception and not to get swayed by financial highs. The Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram urged bankers to 'open their purses' to help this fast-growing sector, lamenting that Micro and Small Enterprises, which contribute about 40 per cent to the country's exports, remain neglected and unnoticed by lending institutions. Chidambaram, at a function to release one lakh Credit Guarantee Approvals, organised by the Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises (CGTMSE) said the sector was only second to agriculture and was growing at a 'furious pace.' However, a meagre 22 lakh MSE entrepreneurs were registered as against 1.30 crore others who went untouched by lending institu- tions." A large number of young men and women are no longer looking for jobs. They are willing to take risks, become entrepreneurs and create wealth. More importantly, they are willing to create employment and share their wealth with their employees. Bankers should never ignore this class," he emphasized. Accordingly, a radical change is being witnessed in the outlook of Young India and that the credit and lending institutions should adapt to meet the growing demands. "You (bankers) are too conservative to take risk. For every entrepreneur willing to take risk, there must be a banker at the other side of the table willing to do the same," he added. The Finance Minister was keen that the CGTMSE should strive to achieve a bigger target and cover 50,000 more MSE entrepreneurs by year-end. CGTMSE had a corpus fund of Rs 1,584 crore, of which Rs 1,257 crore was contributed by the Centre. The Govt has decided to increase this corpus to Rs 2,500 crore. As and when CGTMSE requires additional capital, the Govt. will give it immediately. But, the Govt wants to ensure timely credit to smallest of small entrepreneur. SME Summit on Exports To bridge the gap between the SMEs and Government policies a Summit was recently held in the Delhi. The objective was to help SMEs develop to their full potential not only by concentrat- ing on the policies initiated by the government but using these to the maximum for their benefit. Inaugurating the Summit, The Minister of State for Industry, Ashwani Kumar inaugurating the Summit had expressed his happiness and maintained that a proactive step in the SME's direc- tion was taken and that the Summit would provide them a platform to explore their potential. The SMEs Summit 2008 was organized by the Birla Institute of Management Technology (BIMTECH), Greater Noida. Unhesitatingly, the SME sector is being designated as the mainstay of the Indian economy. This sector accounts for 95% of the industrial units, is contributing around 40% of the value addi-

206 LUX MONTIS Vol. III No. I January 2015 tion in the manufacturing sector, offers nearly 80% of the manufacturing employment and enjoys around 40% of exports. Over 32 lakhs units are spread over the country, producing about 7,500 items and providing jobs to more than 178 lakh persons. The Institute is of the firm opinion that there has been a need to boost the SMEs sector as it has a tremendous potential. SMEs capability to compete in the International market is reflective of the fact that it is having a 40 per cent share in national exports. Yet, the sector is far from realizing its full potential because of numerous complications, including lack of information and awareness. Undoubtedly, the SMEs, need transnational revelation and outlook, which is vital for successful market penetration in global markets. A flexible combination of government policies and market freedom, together with a mix of macro and micro policies are necessary for the creation of vibrant and dynamic SMEs in the export sector. According to Dr. H.P. Kumar, CMD, NSIC, "India's SME sector has the potential of becoming an important sourcing base for MNCs. But, this requires a national strategy for the promotion of exports from this sector, including greater coordination among different wings of the government, identification of sub-sectors with high export potential and adequate infrastructural support." CONCLUSION It is true that SME accounts 35 per cent of country's total exports. However, exports from the SME sector are just 10 per cent of its total output, which is meagre compared to figures in other competing countries. There is also a lack of diversification in the SME export basket, with just five items garments, leather goods, basic chemicals, marine and processed foods and engineering prod- ucts forming 3/4 of the total exports from the sector. It is indeed heartening to note that a genuine investment friendly wave has started overwhelming the economy at the promulgation of new Govt at the centre inclusive of SME segment. Now, it is to be seen that whether this passion can be really be transformed into performance and the wave of optimism for investment can really be unrelenting and finally, whether this optimism will have its reflection on the economy in the form of increased per capita income and enhanced standard of living of the masses. References 1. Chakravorty R. (2013), Indo- ASEAN Trade Relations: LAP LAMBERT Academic Publishing, Ger- many. 2. Rao Srinivasan. B & Rao C.S (2011), Strategies for Rural Entrepreneurship in Emerging Economies: Mirror Vol.1 No. 1. Kerala. 3. Mitra S. D (1999), Indian Economy in the mid-eighteenth Century: Akansha Publishing House, New Delhi. 4. Purkayastha G & A Chakravorty, (2003), Rural Economy in Assam: Conference Volume, Published by Margherita College, Margherita, Assam. 5. Basham A. L.(1967), The Wonder that was India: Fontana Books in association with Rupa & Co, New Delhi. 6. Bo Sodersten (1971), International Economics: Macmillan Education Ltd, London.

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Guidelines for submission of Research Paper 1. Manuscript should not exceed 5000 words (12-15 A-4 Size pages, typed 1.5 space, Font size 12, Font type - Times New Roman). 2. Language used - English. 3. An abstract of about 150 words should be included at the beginning of the paper. 4. The paper should not have already been published or submited elsewhere for possible publications. A certificate in this regard is to be submitted by authors while submitting the papers to the editor. 5. The authors can use figures, charts, tables and diagram. They may be black and white, and numbered using Roman numerals with a brief title. 6. All footnotes should be indicated by serial numbers in the text, and the literature cited should be detailed under Notes at the end of the paper bearing corresponding numbers, before the references. 7. Place the references at the end of the manuscript following the end notes. All references should note the complete list of journals and books with page numbers. 8. The References should be prepared in the following form: Books Abraham, K. (2001) Ethiopia: The Dynamics of Economic Reforms (Economic Liberalisation and Political Transformation), Addis Abada: EIIPD (Ethiopian International Instt. for Peace and Development). Edited Volume Aharoni, Y. (1991) “On Measuring the Success of Privatisation”, in Ramamurthi, R. and Vernon, R. (eds) Privatisation and Control of State Owned Enterprises. Washington, D.C.: World Bank. Journals Boardman, M. and Vining, D. (1989) “Ownership in Competitive Environments: A Comparison of the Performance of Mixed, Private and SOEs”, Journal of Law and Economics, April, No. 32. 9. Manuscripts not considered for publication will not be sent back. 10. Manuscripts, which do not confirm to these guidelines, will not be considered for publication. 11. No paper of the jounral will be reprinted without the prior permission of the Editor. 12. The journal is published bi-annually in July and January. Papers for publication should be addressed to-

The Chief Editor, LUX MONTIS HOD, PG Dept. of Commerce, Girideepam Institute of Advanced Learning Bethany Hills, Vadavathoor P.O., Kottayam, Kerala. e.mail: [email protected] Contact Number: +91 9745830234

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Call For Papers Next Issue : LUX MONTIS Vol.3, No.2, July 2015

Last date for submission of Research Papers : April 15, 2015 Address for Communication : Dr. A. Sebastian Aikara Chief Editor LUX MONTIS Girideepam Institute of Advanced Learning (GIAL) Bethany Hills, Vadavathoor P. O. Kottayam Dist. Kerala Mob: 09447415193 e.mail: [email protected]

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DECLARATION FORM I (See Rule – 3) STATEMENT ABOUT OWNDERSHIP AND OTHER PARTICULARS OF THE JOURNAL 1. Title of the Newspaper Lux Montis 2. Language in which it is published English 3. Place of Publication Kottayam 4. Periodicity of the Publication Bi-annually 5. Printers Name Rev. Dr. Varghese Kaipanaduka (Whether citizen of India? Yes, Indian If foreign, state the country of origin) Address Director Girideepam Institute of Advanced Learning (GIAL) Vadavathoor P.O., Kottayam Dist. 7. Publisher’s Name Rev. Dr. Varghese Kaipanaduka Whether citizen of India? Yes 8. Chief Editor’s Name Dr. A. Sebastian Aikara Whether citizen of India? Yes 9. Name and address of individuals who Girideepam Institute of Advanced Learning (GIAL) own the Newspaper and partners and Vadavathoor P.O., Kottayam Dist. shareholders holding more than one Kerala percent of the total capital

I, Dr. A. Sebastian Aikara, hereby declare that the particulars given above are true.

Kottayam, (Sd/-) 05-01-2015. Dr. A. Sebastian Aikara (Chief Editor)

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