a transdisciplinary biannual research journal Vol. 3 Issue 1 January 2016 Singularities International Conference on Power Special Volume a transdisciplinary biannual research journal Vol. 3 Issue 1 January 2016 Postgraduate Department of English Manjeri, Malappuram, Kerala. www.kahmunityenglish.in/journals/singularities/ Chief Editor P. K. Babu., Ph. D Associate Professor & Head Postgraduate Dept. of English KAHM Unity Women's College, Manjeri. Members: Dr. K. K. Kunhammad, Asst. Professor, Dept. of Studies in English, Kannur University Mammad. N, Asst. Professor, Dept of English, Govt. College, Malappuram. Dr. Priya. K. Nair, Asst. Professor, Dept. of English, St. Teresa's College, Eranakulam. Aswathi. M . P., Asst. Professor, Dept of English, KAHM Unity Women's College, Manjeri. Advisory Editors: Dr. V. C. Haris School of Letters, M.G. University Kottayam Dr. M. V. Narayanan, Assoc. Professor, Dept of English, University of Calicut. Editor's Note Singularities aspires to be a journal which not just records the researches through publishing, but one which also initiates dialogues and urges involvement. True research writing need to take on the job of intellectually activating untrodden tangents . The Singularities Conferences, envisaged as annual events, are meant to be exercises in pursuing the contemporary and wherever possible to be efforts in leading the contemporary too. Power being a tenet that permeates our lives in umpteen ways, the first Singularities International Conference has chosen that concept as its theme. We are passing through an era in human history in which 'Power' is rampantly reformulated to accommodate partisan principles couched in self serving, sectarian and pseudo-secure terminology. Rather than evolving into a more humanised and democratised version, as many of us would have thought through our humanist simplicity, Power is assuming technological and theological proportions in unimagined ways. This explains why Power has to be dialogued and critiqued in its differing trajectories. The first Singularities International Conference is achieving this goal, as is evident from the conference papers compiled in this first of the two Conference Special Issues. Surveillance to Satyagraha, theyyam to cinema, politics to pornography, Geography to gender - the papers which make up this issue testify to the spread of the unseen filaments of the concept, and the manifold ways in which it affects/effects the ecosystem of cultural pathways. We are happy to present the Singularities Power Conference issue which offers stimulating read in terms of perspectives and power. P. K. Babu., Ph. D Chief Editor Contents 1. Indrani Das Gupta 9-16 Analysis of Nation-State Power in R.K. Narayan's The Man-Eater of Malgudi 2. Jinan Ashraf 17-22 On Becoming Animal: Harnessing the Power of Smell in Patrick Suskind's Perfume 3. Swathy. H. 23-30 The Play of Gender and Power in Beegam Panikkar 4. Sachin Rajeev 31-36 Controlling the Body: Power, 'Bare Life' and the Ownership of the Body in Select Contemporary Films 5. Harish. G & Jasheena. P. B. 37-44 “ You are being videotaped, Smile !!!” Everyday life, Power, Surveillance and Freedom in Democratic India 6. Lakshmi. R. Nair 45-51 From Gendered Subalternity and Marginality to Gendered Revolution and Empowerment: Mao Dun's “Creation” as an Epitome of Nora-ism. 7. Lucy Marium Samuel 52-56 Who Calls the 'Cut'? : A Study of the Permutations of Power in Mahesh Dattani's Tara 8. Dr. Vijayan. A. V. 57-63 Mohammad Kawish Haider Powerful Impact of Children's Literature on Children: A Study Based on J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter Series 9. Sweta Ravindran 64-68 The Past and Its Influence over the Present: A Critique of the Novels of Amy Tan 10. Aasha. N. P. 69-74 Power Practices on Nature: An Ecocritical Perspective 11. Aravind. S. 75-80 Impact of Social Media in Discourse of Power: An Analysis 12. Aiswarya. P. K. 81-86 Traditional Myths in the Construction of a New 'Kerala Space': Cyber Imagining of Kerala and the Play of Power 13. Meena. J. Panikker 87-91 Shifting Emphasis: The Ideologies of Power and Catholic Culture in the works of Achebe, Adichie and Paton 14. Chinmay Murali 92-100 Disrupting “the Moral”: Kiss of Love and the Politics of Sexual Morality in Kerala 15. Jayalakshmi. E. 101-107 Autobiography as a Site of Counter Power: a Study with Special Reference to The Autobiography of a Sex Worker 16. Dr. T. Gangadharan 108-113 M. Mohankumar “Colonial Masters and Postcolonial Slaves”: A Study of Power Manipulatory Syndrome in Rohinton Mistry's A Fine Balance 17. Anu Paul 114-119 Power Politics in Slave Narratives: Experience of Slavery in Jacob's and Douglass' Narratives 18. Duna Liss Tom 120-126 Food as the Wellspring of Love and Power in Laura Esquivel's Like Water for Chocolate 19. Aswin Prasanth 127-134 Rose Mary Jose Power Restricted Realties: A Poststructuralist Critique of The Matrix 20. Dhanesh. M. 135-140 Power and the Dialectics of Appropriation: An Analysis of Power Operations in the World of Micros. 21. Deepak Jose Vadakoot 141-146 Kishor Kumar. E. Power of Visibility: How Social Visibility is Crucial to Empowerment of LGBT. 22. Solmaz Nourzadeh Torkdeh 147-152 Relative Reality in A History of the World in 10 ½ Chapters by Julian Barnes 23. Nayanthara Rajeev 153-159 Power and Freedom of expression 24. Neenu Kuruvila 160-166 From groves of North Malabar to international festivals: A study of the impact of colonization and globalisation on folk art Theyyam 25. Gincy. P. Kuriakose 167-173 Power and Individuality in the Dystopias of 1984 and Hunger Games, a study based on Michel Foucault's The Subject and Power. 26. Alphia Tracy 174-179 Power and Politics in George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire Series 27. Lakshmi Chithra Dilip Kumar 180-185 Grinjo Joseph Textual Space Representing History, Politics, Identity and Resistance in J.m Coetzee's Life and Times of Michael K. 28. Surya Kiran 186-192 Social Control and Formation of Dystopias in Ballardian Short Stories 29. Mary Regitha Bellarmine 193-198 Sex-role Stereotypes in Children's Literature: A Study of Select Novels 30. Dr. Mekala Rajan 199-205 Power of Change, Culture, Narratives and Divine Intervention in Literary Ventures 31. Dr. Sajitha. M. A. 206-212 The Neocolonial Power in The Good Lie 32. Surya. K. 213-217 Gender Politics and Cultural Representation: The Dynamics of Power in Women's Magazines 33. Dr. Raheena. K. K. 218-222 'Madness' as a Language of Resistance: A Psychological Reading of Ganga in Manichitrathazhu and Rani in Nagamandala. 34. Manjusha 223-230 Why Alternative Modernity in India? The Relevance and Reflections On Kannada Modernity with Reference to Vachana Movement Indrani Das Gupta Analysis of Nation-State Power in R.K. Narayan's The Man-Eater of Malgudi Abstract The Man-Eater of Malgudi published in 1961, along with The Vendor of Sweets (1967) and The Painter of Signs (1976) represents the maturity of R. K. Narayan's art. Since the time of its first publication, The Man-Eater of Malgudi has held its place as one of the canonical works of Indian English writing. The richness and complexity of this novel can be gauged from the numerous critical readings it has spawned. Most of the readings on this novel centres on it being a mythical fiction which translates the epochal battle between good versus evil and follows the structural pattern of order to disorder and finally the re- establishment of order.John Thieme identifies the novel as at once structured around the mythical element of Indian culture and traditions and also, as a novel governed by a sense of “familiar Malgudi territory” (114). Thieme describes this stable world as ruptured by the entry of a 'stranger,' a world which is an enclosed space reified by a border. In this chapter, these critical readings of the novel are not rejected but are used to examine the novel in a new light.What has not been studied in detail in any of the critical studies so far on this novel is the fact of Vasu's (the antagonist of this novel) connotation of being an 'outsider' to one's tradition and values as embodied in the space of Malgudi inhabited by like-minded community. Borrowing from the earlier insight of John Thieme, in this paper, thehallowed space of Malgudi/printing press, office parlour of Nataraj abruptly infringed by the 'man- eater' of the title, is what I undertake to study in this novel within the rubric of the space of the nation-state, a 'space' both mythical and contemporary. In understanding this space as symbolic of the space of the nation-state, I will look upon the outsider/insider relation in terms of the concept of citizenship. Furthermore, my analysis of the novel emphasizes how the state is experienced, perceived and manifested by the citizens of the semi-urban town of Malgudi. The most important event in the novel, I argue, i.e. the religious procession of the marriage of Krishna-Radha led by the temple elephant Kumar encapsulates how the state enforces its governance on 'strangers' bordering on its territory while at the same time, substantiating its claims as the cultural repository of a given community. This paper examines the notion of 'space' as it is represented through the character of Vasu, as a wrestler cum taxidermist whose translation of the space of akharas confronts the 'space' of the mythical/socio-political place of Malgudi and the 'space' of home/printing press of Nataraj. These various spaces in their opposition, inversions and replication document the relationship of an individual with the state, the power of the state, as well as the connection with other citizens or individuals.