Wednesday 18 August 2010

Mathemagician Invites U...!

Mathemagician

At Spaces, 1, Elliots Beach Road, Besant Nagar

on 21 & 22 August 2010

Duration: 1 hour 15 minutes

Admission Free Call: 98404 74186

Cast & Crew:

Vocal: Bombay Jayashri

Actor: V. Balakrishnan


The Story

The monodrama interweaves dialogue, music and poetry, to take you to Babylon 500BC, the commercial centre of the ancient world. Castrated and sold into slavery by his father, Nikor is apprenticed to Plautus, the Chief Economist of Babylon.With his brilliance in mathematics and statecraft, he attains incredible fame and wealth as the state’s Chief Mathematician, Accountant General and Keeper of the Seals. When he finds his childhood friend Salla again, now the wife of a debauched prince, Nikor is haunted by questions about himself, and what Salla means to him.


The Music

 The monodrama has a subtext of live music – sung by Bombay Jayashree, and played by Sheejith Krishna. The raags and the lyrics – thumri, ghazal and geet, belong to the Radha-Krishna and Sufi genres of romance, in the tawaif (courtesan) and bhakti traditions.


Mathemagician is being staged at Spaces, Chennai, by JustUs Repertory, and at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, by the Holy Cow Performing Arts Group, Scotland, on the same days: 21, 22 August 2010

Playwright/Director’s Note


As I was writing Mathemagician, I thought I was looking at issues universal and contemporary:
ravages of empire, effects of war on civilian life, ills of slavery, human trafficking, child abuse, gender issues, misuse of science and knowledge. All MCC-ians are Welcome..!

Friday 13 August 2010

The Case for Short Words

Guide for Reading the Essay "The Case for Short Words":

1. The title of the selection "The Case for Short Words" gives you a clue to the author's opinion about short words. Did this essay convince you to use short words in your writing? Why or why not?
2. Which of the two student essays did you like better? What did you like about it?
3. What do all the words in the first four paragraphs of the essay have in common?
4. What well-known authors does Lederer quote to make his case for short words?
5. When Lederer compares short words to specific objects - like sparks, the dawn, or a blade, - he is creating powerful images. How does this help make his point?
6. In the last paragraph, the suggestion to set up a sign is not meant literally. Why do you think the author makes the suggestion?
7. Do you think the effectiveness of your writing would increase if you used more short words? Why or why not?

Critical Thinking:

Inspired by his students, a best-selling author and a teacher, Richard Lederer explains that the idea for his essay "was inspired by real-life examples of the power of short words." These examples came from the many fine essays submitted to him by his students in response to an assignment on the topic of long and short words. In making his case for short words, Richard Lederer relies on three different kinds of sources: his own writing, quotations of well-known writers and literary works, and students' writing.

A VERY INDIAN POEM IN INDIAN ENGLISH - Critical Summary

Introduction:

Nissim Ezekiel is one of those Indian poets writing in English who creates an authentic flavor of India, by his use of Indian English - Pidgin English on Bazar English, as it is often called. In this poem, the Indian flavor has been created by stressing the various mistakes which Indians commit in their use of English, by bringing in the hopes and aspirations of free India, and also the attitudes of her two hostile neighbors, China and Pakistan.



Poetic Inspiration for the Poem:



It all started as a comment by a friend who said that you write in English no doubt and you write English well but you don't seem to even know or realise that thousands of Indians speak what can only be called Indian English, So from that time in all his train journeys from Mithibai College back home, he started to take some interest in the way English was being spoken on the train. Every time he heard an obvious Indian English phrase like, "I'm not knowing only." he would take it down. When he had about a thousand of these, he thought of creating this present poem.



The Indian Living Conditions:



Ezekiel presents that the new generation is going after 'fashion and foreign things.' He presents the typical Indian make - up. The Indian living conditions are sought to be portrayed. The India of yester years is no longer to be seen here, as modernization and industrialization have speeded up the process of change.

The regrettable thing in the modern world is the act of violence and anti – social tendencies proving to be a menace. Still the positive aspects like regeneration, remuneration and contraception could be thought of as a way out of the present muddle. One can certainly hope for the better and propagate the best that is thought as unique.



Ancient Indian Wisdom:



In the second stanza, the readers get a peep into things - Indians as Gandhi's heir, he would opt for peace and non - violence. He is puzzled why others are not following Gandhi's advice - while in this estimate, the ancient Indian wisdom is correct, contrastively the modern generation takes it to whatever is western and fashionable - like other Indians, he too has to improve his English language. The student interest and petty agitations make him feel sickening line Antony's appeal to the Roman mob, he will call upon the fellow citizens to think of the past masters.



Thus in the third stanza, he pronounces, In order to get away from that which is disgusting, he wants to have a cup of lassi which is very good for digestion. It can be taken as equivalent to the western wine if only a little salt is added to make it a lovely drink. The poet confesses that he is the total abstainer from drinks while it is taken by addicts to gunch themselves, he for his part would turn to simple drinks like lassi. Thus, the poet tries to receive the old Gandhian days.



The World Situation Today:



In the fourth stanza, the poet is able to think aloud and offer his comments on the world situation today. The present conditions all over the world speak of a bad trend that give an edge to the production of dangerous weapons and try to be superior to others. The countries of the world often tie with each other in keeping themselves ahead of others in this mad competitive world. This retrace often leads to conflicts resulting in loss of precious human lives. If only one considers the other as the brother; the trend could be changed.

Unity in Diversity:



India is a land where the principle of 'unity in Diversity' is practiced. Here many communities live together even though there are some problems. This ideal situation in which one Co-exists with the other is described as Ram Rajya by the poet. He gives the hand of friendliness to the visitor and expects him to come again. The poet is optimistic when he says that he enjoys every moment of good company. So, he ends the poem by saying that he does not feel the necessity of celebrating ceremonies.



Common Mistakes ‘highlighted’ in the Poem:



Substrate influence on grammar is quite common. It is often frowned upon as "wrong", but eventually becomes a regular part of the new language variant. "The Patriot" contains a number of Indian English examples: the reduplication of verbs in "fighting fighting", the lack of indefinite and definite articles in "threw stone at Indirabehn" and "all people of world", the use of one instead of the indefinite article a in "one glass lassi", the excessive use of the definite article the in "not that I am ever tasting the wine", the excessive use of the continuous tense (the -ing form) in "I am standing for peace and non-violence", the omission of an obligatory object pronoun in "modern generation is neglecting" (instead of "neglecting this") etc. Again, this is a satirical poem rather than a genuine example of Indian English, but the phenomena exemplified are genuine enough.



Conclusion:



Nissim Ezekiel occupies a unique position among Indo-Anglian poets of post-Independence era. Nissim opposed the idealism and romanticism of the earlier group of Indian writers in English, and tried to look at any typical Indian situation with an Indian attitude, with a novel and dynamic Indian insight. He cleverly manipulated Indian English to bring out the Indian worldview.



Thus Ezekiel uses 'Indian English,' or 'Babu Angrezi' in his poetry to depict the characteristics of Indian attitude. He used irony as a weapon to depict the characteristic features of Indian attitude.

Tuesday 10 August 2010

I CIA Test - Portions for I BSc Pbt/Zoo Students..:

Dear Students of I BSc Pbt/Zoo (Reg),

You will be tested on the following three texts, for your I CIA which is to be held on 16 Aug at 11.30 am.
1) Ezekiel's "A Very Indian Poem in Indian English"
2) Kipling's "If"
3) Lederer's "The Case for Short Words".

Clarifications, can be made, (not when the exams are around, but much ahead) directly, between 1.30 and 2 pm on all working days, at the Dept of English, or through email at rufusonline@gmail.com
Regards and all best wishes,
Rufus

Monday 2 August 2010

Guest Lecture - II - on 31 July - A Report...:

The second series of Guest Lectures, for students of Literature, [or rather, for students having a love of literature] was inaugurated by Dr.Stephen Jebanesan, Warden, Selaiyur Hall, MCC at 9.45 am at the Sel Hall Indoor Theatre.

Prof.Daniel David introduced Dr.Bennet Sundersingh, from National College, Trichy.

Dr.Bennet started off with the modus of preparing for UGC-NET Exams, and outlined the new format of paper III. He started from Chaucer's contribution to literature, his narrative poetry, the "Mutability Cantos" of Spenser, [The Faerie Queene], the curtal sonnet form, invented by Gerard Manley Hopkins, and used in three of his poems, etc. He explicated on the various genres and the important adherents to those genres, from ballads, sonnets, plays and novels. While making a comparison between the Jew of Malta - Barabas, the Jew of Venice - Shylock, the Jew of Oliver Twist - Uncle Faggins, he emphasized the fact that studying facts of history become simpler by making these subtle connections between characters in literature. He asked a lot of interesting questions like, 'how Mephistophilis was related to Beelzebub?', on why Greene called Shakespeare an 'upstart crow', 'sieze the day' poem of Marvell, 'Sieze the Day' - a novel by Saul Bellow, etc.

He asked for an elaboration on the nine muses, and had special facts about Dryden, Swift and Pope, and their unique contributions to literature. He also gave info on closet plays, which were meant to be read, than to be performed, on the influence of "Gulliver's Travels" in Carroll's "Alice in Woderland," which inspired the comedy film "Honey, I shrunk the kids".

"Having a chronological, historical sense, as to who/what comes after who/what, helps a lot in easy approach to that particular literature", he said.

In the second session, Dr.Bennet touched upon Literary Criticism, and expounded the various theories of the Literary Critics, right from Aristotle down to Antonio Gramsci. Dr.Bennet finished his talk at 1:20 pm., and then interacted with students at the Guest Room.

The afternoon session, which started at 2:20 pm, saw Prof.Daniel David give a splendid explication on Structuralism. (excerpts on that, to follow...)

[Our sincere thanks to Dr.Stephen Jebanesan, Warden, Selaiyur Hall, for being a great source of support and encouragement to us. We also thank the L&D Secretary, Selaiyur Hall, for facilitating in the successful conduct of the program. ]