Assignments - Reg

Dear Students,

For all of you who have your assignments with me, kindly send me an e-copy of your abstracts/assignments. I shall get back to you shortly. Some of you have sent me your assignments  and am yet to reply you, as i am out of station. Shall get back to you all shortly. 

And, for those of you who are yet to submit your abstracts, you are expected to work on your full-length paper only after your abstracts are approved by your course teacher (SR).  

Postmodern Articulations:

The Two-day National Conference on “Post-modernism and Progressive India: Literary Articulations and Non-Literary Interventions” organised by Garden City College, Bangalore saw a host of luminaries inspire the myriad-minded scholars of all hues and shades drawn from 78 cities from across the country.

One of the salient features of the Conference was the excellent hospitality provided by the host institution which remains and will remain etched in our hearts in a long long time to come. Be it the hospitable volunteers at the reception desk, or the affable and affectionate staff members at the conference venue, or the catering students at the food department, or the gala entertainment provided by GCE students on both days of the Conference - it was ‘relishing’ all the way!

The first day saw a varied intellectual treat by scholars drawn from diverse fields. Dr.Poile Sengupta, one of the topmost promising English playwrights in India, spoke on women in theatre, from a linear, chronological point of view, tracing it down from the time of the Natya Shastra’s treatise on theatre way back in the 3^rd century BC. Although theatre has a solid 68% of women in the audience, when it comes to representation, it is a minimal 2:1 ratio, she opined.

The nature of women was 'stereotypically' classified into three types viz:

1)      Uttama (superior woman, calm, bears no malice, most excellent)

2)      Madhyama (jealous of her rivals, gets angry easily, intermediate)

3)      Adhama (inferior type of woman, harsh, angry for no reason, bears grudges always, evil, indifferent, neutral)

Celebrating Tribal Literatures across the World

The National Conference on “Tribal Literature: Across Continents and Cultures” organised by TJELLS and V.O.C College, Tuticorin, on 7 & 8 March 2013, was a pioneering attempt to study and to showcase the life and culture of the indigenous peoples around the world. Dr. Eric Miller from the World Story Telling Institute, in an interactive talk with the audience (along with Mr. Murugan Kani a tribal representative), kept the audience spell-bound by his depiction of tribal life and culture in Tamil Nadu.

Eric Miller’s talk was titled “Tribal Peoples as leaders of Society in a Future in which Fossil Fuels might be Scarce, with Special Reference to the Kani Tribal People of South India”.

Key Ideas from his talk:

The world's supply of 'Fossil Fuels' (oil, gas, coal etc) is depleting. It seems production of these resources in usable form has passed its peak, and these resources may become increasingly scarce and expensive in the coming years. The 'Hydrocarbon Age' began in the mid-1800s, with the coming of the wide-spread use of electricity and the "Industrial Revolution". It reached a peak around the year 2000, and we may now be on a downward slope. One estimate is that 30 years from now, we will have approximately half of the current supply-flow, and less and less after that. The term, "Peak Oil" refers to this idea. It seems the heart of the "Hydrocarbon Age" might be 1900-2100. In the coming time of possible "Energy Scarcity", Mainstream society and culture might do well to learn from Tribal society and culture regarding methods of recycling and salvaging resources, and living sustainably with nature. Tribal people tend to be expert in these areas. 

Biological, Linguistic and Cultural Diversity are valuable, and support each other.

Tribal methods of conserving and nurturing nature, living sustainably with nature, and recycling and salvaging materials, include

For residential huts, and also for huts for watchmen in fields of kilangu and other crops – strips of plants, bark and vines can be used to lash poles and beams together.

Areca-nut tree leaves, Bamboo leaves, Plantain leaves – can be used as toys (as a car that is pulled); for beating rice; and for thatch (tutti), woven for baskets, walls, roofs, doors, mats,

Honouring Distinguished Alumni @ MCC

Distinguished Alumni Series | First Edition

A Report

The first edition of the Distinguished Alumni series got off to a grand start at the Anderson Hall to a bright-eyed audience, bubbling at the brim, breaching barricades to see their best and brightest alumni being honoured by their alma mater!

Two illustrious alumni of our college were honoured on the occasion – Mr. T. N. Seshan IAS, and Ms. Chandrika Tandon.

Others present included Dr. Besant C. Raj, Ms. Savithri Devanesan, Dr. Francis Sounderraj, Mr. K. Mammen and other well-wishers of the College.

The Principal Dr. Alexander Jesudasan, welcomed the gathering and said that MCC has the oldest alumni association in the India. He praised the Alumni Association of MCC, which was 'founded in 1891 by Rev. Dr. William Miller and has seen some of its greatest luminaries including the President of India and the Chief Election Commissioner in its Hall of Fame.

Lauding the achievements of our alumni, he said - 

“Prestige and esteem come to people who are in good positions, but our alumni have given prestige and esteem to the positions that they have occupied”.

Dr. Besant C. Raj commended Ms. Chandrika Tandon for donating a whopping $ 100,000 to her alma mater MCC, and also had a word of praise for Mr. T. N. Seshan.

A college which had a mere 15 women in its rolls in its founding days, now has women students outnumbering their men counterparts in all disciplines, which is a meteoric rise, and well-deserved,

he added.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Mammen said –

It was Dr. Chandran Devanesan who inaugurated a separate office (APRO) devoted to the alumni in the mid 60s.

The dynamic growth of MCC is its 1) inherent strength to connect. 2) its achievements and 3).

Its resilience to face the challenges of the future.

Welcoming Ms. Chandrika who was his contemporary who was always seen with a guitar singing ‘Dum Maro Dum’. “Her secular work and her social responsibility has found echo in her soulful music,”

he signed off.

Mr. Davidar IAS, introduced Mr. Seshan. Eulogising him as the Father of Electoral Reforms in India, he said -

Mr. Seshan graduated in BSc Physics in 1952.

He was a resident of Selaiyur Hall, and then became a demonstrator of Physics in MCC for three years, when he was a resident staff in Heber Hall for one year and in St. Thomas’s for two years, and later joined the IAS in 1955.

After assuming a lot of important portfolios, he went on to become Cabinet Secretary which is the senior most position in Indian Civil Service hierarchy.

He received 40,000 + false election returns and disqualified more than 14,000 potential candidates.

From 1990 to 1996, he brought about a wide range of changes especially in Voter Awareness Campaigns.

For the first time ever, he appointed Expenditure Observers, who probed the expenses of candidates in elections.

He also took initiatives to ban graffiti. Moreover, under Shri T. N. Seshan there was, for the first time, a phased conduct of elections in India. He was also responsible for Shri Rajiv Gandhi’s visit to MCC in its 150th year,

he added.

Speaking on the momentous occasion, Mr. Seshan fondly remembered the events leading up to his admission in MCC. His speech was laced with his inimitable eloquence, charm and sense of humour. He said - 

Joining MCC was quite accidental. In fact, I made the mistake of scoring 150/150 in maths, physics and chemistry, and with such good marks, I thought I would get a seat in engineering, effortlessly.

You see, the gentleman who interviewed me for the engineering seat asked in Tamil,

‘Do you know Sivaji Ganesan.’

I answered, ‘Yes’. But unfortunately, in the very next question, he failed me.

Well, he had asked me, “How many movies did Sivaji star in?”

To this question I flunked.

Not having got an engineering seat, I rushed back to MCC. Back then, you could get your Master’s Degree for just Rs.30,

said Mr. Seshan.

Ms. Chandrika Tandon, recollected the adventurous ways in which she gained admission in MCC.

She said –

Well, I had to go on a kinda ‘hunger strike’ to get into Madras Christian College. Well, that’s because my mother had other plans for me. She wanted me to join Stella Maris College, which was quite close to my house, and she didn’t want me to go to MCC because, it was considered a boys’ college.

Since I was the first daughter of the house, and also since I had to take a long train journey to reach MCC, my mother was against my wishes. But again, I wanted to pursue my BCom in MCC, because, my father and my grandfather studied in MCC.

That’s how I was released into the wild of Madras Christian College.

But most of the credits I owe to my grandfather, as he was quite instrumental in getting me into college. My sister Indra Nooyi, who is also an alumnus of the college, and I would sit on a little brown stool and listen to him read original plays and poems,”

she said.

Picture Courtesy: Mr. Srinath, The Hindu

The Indian Cinema - K.M. Munshi - Critical Summary

Introduction:

K. M. Munshi is the founder of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. In this essay, “Indian Cinema” he talks about the evils that have plagued Indian cinema, and expresses dissatisfaction at the growth of cinema in India. He choses the Hindi movie titled “Hunterwali”, a 1935 film featuring Nadia as the heroine, as representative of the malady of Indian cinema, and how Nadia makes a mockery of Indian womanhood in the film.

Sweet Sixteen without its Sweetness:

This wandering homeless orphan girl, though by appearance thirty, tries to play the pranks of ‘sweet sixteen’ but without its sweetness, charm or modesty. She rushes about on horse-back, and then goes around performing stunts like jumping over a moving carriage and then defeating 20 soldiers in one sweep with an irritating style.

Disgusting and Indecent:

A zamindar’s son, also looking about thirty, attracted by her, acts like a vagabond. They are shown as making love to each other, but without charm, grace or dignity. Their love-making takes the form of shameless freedom of bodily contact, difficult indeed to find in real life, except among the ill-bred. They both jostle each other, throw each other down, fling sand in each other’s eyes. In short, they do everything which would be enjoyable if they had been a boy and girl of eight; it is disgusting to adults, and unthinkable as a normal relation between men and women of decent upbringing.