'You have wakened not out of sleep, but into a prior dream, and that dream lies within another...'

Natsume Soseki | In Tamil 📰

Regular readers of our blog would well remember our series on the Metaphor, in which we had discussed Natsume Soseki, a high-renowned Japanese writer, who also has claim to fame as the Father of the Modern Novel in Japan.

You may want to read more on that article on Natsume Soseki, on our past blogpost HERE!

Interestingly, in today’s Hindu Tamil Thisai, [Tamil morninger] I chanced upon an insightful review of Natsume Soseki’s Ten Night’s Dreams translated into Tamil by K. Ganeshram.

Today's Hindu Tamil Thisai, 31 July 2021

Felt so happy that I thought of taking some little time off to translate this article into English for the benefit of a wider reading public!

So here goes [select excerpts] from the article by Asai Thambi –

You have wakened not out of sleep, but into a prior dream, and that dream lies within another, and so on, to infinity, which is the number of the grains of sand. The path that you are to take is endless, and you will die before you have truly awakened,

says Jorge Luis Borges, in his 1949 short story titled, “The Writing of the God”.

Borges is one among the rare few crop of writers who has succeeded greatly in creating fiction with dream illusions on them!

A very important forerunner even to the great Borges in making dreams into literature would be Natsume Soseki (1867 – 1916).

Soseki also happens to be Haruki Murakami’s most favourite Japanese writer.

Well, Murakami had written a novel titled, Kafka on the Shore, in the year 2002, with Kafka as its protagonist.

In this novel, Murakami acknowledges that Soseki was the favourite writer of the hero Kafka of the novel.

From then on, the entire world got interested in the works of Soseki, with renewed interest.

Well, it’s more than a hundred years since Ten Night’s Dreams was first published.

Moreover, this sequence of dream stories was written at a period in time when a Japan, rooted in its past traditions was trying hard to counter the Western cultural onslaught.

Hence, most of the stories in this dream sequence have elements of the Japanese tradition rooted firmly within their structure.

Samurai, Buddhist Monasteries, Zen concepts, Japanese calendars are some of the recurrent features that are found in these dreams.

Added, most of the times, the prose of Soseki borders on the poetic, in such simple, beautiful and compact phrasing!

K. Ganeshram’s translation has come out so beautifully well.

The success of the translator lies in the fact that, although the book has been translated from the original Japanese into English, and from English into Tamil now, the beauty and simplicity of the original has been beautifully carried forward into its Tamil version as well.

The design and the layout of the book provides a rich treat both on the visual and the reading fronts as well!

You may contact the writer at asaithambi.d@hindutamil.co.in

'The Move is On...!'

30 July 1994 | Some Reflections

#memoriesfromdiaries 😍

[27 years ago] 💕

When I look back at my past diary entries, with every passing year, I now come to realise how our focus and priorities have kept changing every month and every year - for the better!

Just one cursory look at a sixteen-year old’s diary entry [my personal diary entries I mean!) and I find that, I’ve given a lot of focus on the food that was served to us in the hostel, and the sports, recreation and other entertainment that was available to us all through the year!

Although I’ve given ample mention of those class hours and subject hours that happened to us during our week days, still, they don’t seem to occupy much space on a teenager’s priority list I guess!

Added, packing a whole lot of events and incidents of a particular day into one single page was [and is] in itself a challenge!

That’s hence, I guess, only those events that I could recollect about the day alone, and events that I’ve considered important from my point of view alone, I’ve jotted them down, with all excitement on me!

The rest simply didn’t matter at least for me! Or rather, didn’t have space on my priority list, or to-do list!

One reason why, perspectives differ!

To each, their perspective!

Be it a memoirist who recollects her life on the page from memory for posterity’s sake, or an autobiographer who lists down the majorly events from his life on the page, one is sure bound to have their own points of view – focalization – to their very own descriptions of their life events - the way they’ve felt it! the way they’ve experienced it! 

They may have their own biases, their prejudices, their whims, their fancies, their likings, their dislikings, their loves, their hates, etc!

But still, those were / are their felt experiences, unique to them!

These experiences have conditioned their way of life, their perspectives for them!

That’s hence Scupin Richard says with all conviction that,

We are the products of our stories we grew up with! We are the narratives that we feel, we breathe and we experience! And our narratives fashion a sense of who we are!

In short, we are storied beings!

And again, it’s uniquely our felt experience, as we’ve felt it! As we’ve experienced it!

As with perspectives, so also with opinions!

Celebrating alterity is hence, celebrating alternative perspectives! Alternative voices! Alternative opinions!

There’s aura in the alternative as well!

In today’s diary entry, I’ve similarly jotted down my experience with the Uppuma on the breakfast menu with the phrase - ‘I didn’t like’!

The words, ‘I didn’t like’ the Uppuma ‘served’ to me, could also serve as an indicator to my fondness for good food back then as a teenager (Something that I’ve never mentioned in my college year diaries in this detail, because I guess, the focus has changed by then!)

Added reason why, I was fond of Rajinikanth’s Petta!

When the Warden Kaali (Rajini) questions the mess people on the pathetic quality of the food served, the mess warden expresses his inability and helplessness to set things right, blaming the corruption rampant in the contract allocation for the sordid state of affairs and for the awful, woeful food!

Hence, one fine day, Kaali takes upon himself the responsibility of preparing lunch for all the inmates of the hostel!

By which means he captures their hearts as well!

Syncs well with a good ol’ adage, [albeit slightly sexist in tone], that says,

‘The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach!’

You may want to read my little review of Rajinikanth’s Petta on our past post HERE!

Coming back,

Swimming was one of my favourite pastimes back then!

So I had taken eight ‘Swimming forms’ for me and my friends, this particular Saturday, and we all together, enjoyed swimming to our heart’s content!

Tea/Coffee was yet another addiction for me back then as a teenager!

The descriptions on food –

Uppuma for breakfast,

Curd rice, keerai & eggs for lunch,

Then, rava laddu for evening snacks, and

A special noting nay jotting for Yummy Ice cream for which I had spent Rs.75/- even back then, that bespeaks to the craving for ice-cream (especially the choco-duet and mango-duet varieties that were my favourites back then) -

they indeed give a sense of the priorities in line for a teenager, namely, entertainment, chatting with friends, sports and games, tea and snacks, etc.

Recollecting on those good ol’ days today, I feel that one unique feature about us – humans is that, we keep evolving over time!

Change, then is the only constant!

Something that the bildungsroman novel does, by tracing the development of the protagonist from immaturity to maturity, or from childhood to adulthood!

The word Bildungsroman is a combo of bildung, meaning formation, [in German] and roman, meaning novel.

One reason why, the Bildungsroman was considered a novel that had moral, educational, psychological and philosophical value for young adults, since it depicted protagonists who bettered themselves every passing day and week and month and year, ‘putting off’ their childishness to attain maturity on them!

In essence, we press forward, getting better and better each passing day, by putting off our foibles, our errors, our mistakes, our childishness, each single day of our lives, and move on towards maturity!

Maturity then becomes a process, and a journey - that continues on and on, until the very end of our sweet lives on this planet earth!

The move is on!

Yes! the move forward – on the road towards maturity!

'Demystifying Syngrafi' - Workshop Promo Video

 

12, 13, 14 August 2021

Demystifying Syngrafi...

 

We are happy to announce the details regarding DEMYSTIFYING SYNGRAFI - MAKE WAY FOR ART, A Workshop on Innovative Research in English Literature to be held via Zoom, on 12, 13, and 14 August 2021, from 9.30 am to 1 pm.

Please find the Invitation, Brochure, Promo, and Registration Link for the same.

https://forms.gle/yHRrTGJF1DanUBNP6

KINDLY NOTE –

REGISTRATION WILL BE ON A FIRST-COME-FIRST-SERVED BASIS. 

Once we reach the designated number of participants, the registration link will be closed.

Kindly make a note of the Confirmation Message that will appear when you submit the Google Form. Link to pre-reading materials and Official Whatsapp Group will be provided in the confirmation form.

In case of any doubts or clarifications kindly contact Prof. Sam Golden, Assistant Professor- 9488810778

Warm regards,

DS Organizing Team

'The Adivasis did not want to mix with the others...'

In Tandem | A Report

[Symposium Updates]

In Tandem, The Research Club of the Department of English, Queen Mary’s College (Autonomous), Chennai, organized their fortnightly symposium today at six pm on Google Meet!

In Tandem, by the way, is also a vibrant community of researchers of all hues, [on Whatsapp] who keep themselves up-to-date, on a regular basis, on the latest trends in Research.

This fortnight’s symposium was on the theme –

Adivasi Experience in Literature and Literary Studies

Dr. R. Sreelatha, Associate Professor & Head (Retd), Department of English, Chellamal Women’s College, Chennai, was the chairperson of today’s Symposium, in which two delegates gave their insightful presentations.

Dr. Maria Preethi Srinivasan, Head, Department of English, Queen Mary’s College (Autonomous), Chennai, was the Organiser of this Symposium, while Ms. Malini, C was the coordinator.

Just a few excerpts (paraphrased at places) from Dr. Sreelatha’s talk this evening –

The Adivasis took pride in their land! They also have a spiritual connect with their land!

The Adivasis did not want to mix with the others. They did not want to lose their way of living. But when their land is taken away from them, they lose their spiritual connection with the land, and they also lose their close association with their natural resources, etc.

Although there are numerous laws in India that support Tribals and their lands, yet nothing is put in practice.

The Santhals kept moving places. Hence, the knowledge they have of their land, and their resources like herbs etc, which were part of their collective memory, now gets lost!

When the tribals move from place to place, their numbers dwindle.

Why do they move?

Because of our developmental projects.

How they have to relocate!

People who live on the river beds, relocate to the hills.

People who do agriculture, move to the forests!

Although the government says we should not displace but rehabilitate, still it happens!

Very soon, through process of culturation and integration of the larger community, they lose touch with their origins.

During the pre-Independence era, the British criminalized them and gave them many pejorative labels, and ignored them. Nehru in his five-year plans, did much to improve their status.

When the last of the Adivasis is gone, we lose a wealth of resources, their rich culture!

Although we might say they become upwardly mobile, their traditions, their access to their own indigenous resources, and their regional knowledge, etc are completely lost to us.

G N Devy has written a number of texts on the Adivasis.

Today the Santhal tribes have their own scripts!

Even for the Administrative exams, although the Question paper is in Hindi, they can write in their own script!

The Adivasi culture - the tribal culture is oral!

For generations, we have stories being told!

But with the Adivasis being displaced, we lose access to their stories and their ways of living!

The first novel by the first tribal novelist from the South is –

Narayan’s Kochareti, originally published in Malayalam in 1998.

Narayan here documents the lives of the Malayarayan community of fishermen!

That brings us to the question of translations –

The adivasis sometimes write in their own language – because they are educated.

Kochareti has been translated into English!

Because I know Malayalam, I read it in Malayalam!

With language, the culture changes!

When the life of a people is translated into other, the cultural baggage is lost!

Translation loses out on the aura!

Rajam Krishnan lived with the Badugas, to write about them!

I read it in English!

But in Tamil, the feel would have been better!

Much is lost in translation.

As regards our perspective towards the adivasis, the motto should be -

‘Live and let live!’

Prof. Kavitha Venkatesan presented on the topic –

The Adivasi Experience in Handsa Sowvendra Shekhar’s The Adivasi Will Not Dance!

The term ‘Tribe’ came into existence only during colonial times, for colonial administrative purposes.

Earlier, the term adivasis was in vogue!

Adivasi literature mainly focusses on the search of identity, threat to their existence etc.

Adivasi literature is oral literature, passed on from generation to generation, and hence NOT documented.

Their favourite genre is poetry, and now they’ve ventured into fiction and non-fiction.

The developmental projects that have affected adivasis, have resulted in the displacement of the adivasis.

The mega projects like dams, roads, mining projects, that would boost our economy, paved way for lot of job opportunities.

But one thing we failed to notice, is that, 8.6 % of the population bear the cost of it. Their locality is being disturbed for all these projects.

Their place is conducive, and they are a vulnerable group as well!

They suffered because of Liberatlisation, Privatisation, Globalisation

Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar is a medical doctor and a writer, from the Santhal community!

Most of his work focusses on the Santhals – the third largest tribes in India!

To be continued… 

'That one look said it all!...' 😇

Quiz Club | 23 July 1997 😍

#memoriesfromdiaries 💛

[24 years ago!]

Yet another interesting activity that we engaged in - during our spare time - apart from the DOE Club activities, was the Quiz Club!

Well, we had one of the finest Quiz Clubs in College.

Quiz Club Members [seniors] were busy going around each and every class, announcing - with such verve  and gusto - on the activities of the Quiz Club.

Even as they were listing out the activities of the Quiz Club to all of us in class, an impulsively energized Bhagat Singh gently turned around and looked at me! 

That one look said it all!

That ‘carpe diem’ moment! 😇

A gesture that connoted to mean,

‘Rufus, shall we give it a try?’ 💪🏻

And I smiled back an affirmative nod!

And so it was, that, Bhagat Singh and myself, we both tried our luck at the Quiz Club for the first time today.

Participants were divided into seven teams of two members each, and we came fourth! ☺️

Impressed by our showing, the Quiz Master Srivatsava (our senior) asked us to come prepared for Sports Quiz for the following week’s Quiz Club Meet!

Coming back to our next diary entry of the day - 

Well, today, Ebi-mon (a senior and a family friend) came to take me along with him during SF Sir’s class.

Well, you see, it’s not that easy to convince dear SF Sir to part with his students from off his classes.

Hence, as was expected, SF Sir asked him to ‘wait’ outside the class!

We used to call them, the ‘Waitlisted’ Category!

That’s because, just a kutty little peek outside your class, and you’ll see at least four more ‘gentlemen callers’ standing sincerely out there at SF Sir’s bidding, on the Waitlisted category!

Ebi-mon was fifth on the Waiting List!

'A clone is a ‘manufactured person’, and hence called a ‘genetic copy’ of someone else...!'

22 July 1997 | Dolly & DOE! 🐑

#memoriesfromdiaries 💕

More than half the class bunked classes today. I forget the reason though! 😋

During our afternoon class, we were only a few in class, when Ebimon, (a family friend from the final year) came and called me out from Prof.S.S’s Class, to give me a few books from his past (junior year) collection! 📚

Evening we had our DOE Club rendezvous as usual. P. Bhagat Singh, our much loved Class Representative, was also a regular participant in all the activities of the DOE Club! Today the two of us represented our class at the DOE!

Since this particular year [1997] also happens to be a landmark year as regards the groundbreaking work done on cloning, we had a Debate [in our DOE Meet today], on the topic,

Is cloning moral or immoral?

Well, as most of us would have known, Dolly the first cloned adult sheep, was announced to the world just this year, with a paper published in the journal Nature.

The journal article in Nature titled,

“Viable offspring derived from fetal and adult mammalian cells”, mentions the lamb cloned thus, as the first example of an animal cloned from an adult cell! 🐑

Interestingly, the cloned lamb was referred to as “6LL3” in the journal article!

Only later was she named Dolly, after the singer Dolly Parton. (The ‘sexist’ overtones of which would be meet for yet another post!)

According to the Roslin Institute’s page on Dolly -

Dolly’s birth was a significant milestone because it proved that scientists could turn back the clock on a fully developed adult cell to make it behave like a cell from a newly fertilised embryo.

Although scientists at The Roslin Institute no longer create cloned animals, their work on genetically modified livestock continues to this day.

Dolly - a 'manufactured', 'genetic copy'

After Dolly’s existence was announced to the public on 22 February 1997, [the news was broken by a British Sunday newspaper even four days ahead of Nature's publication] it gained much critical attention in the media, and among the general public as well!

Again, although Dolly was not the first animal to be cloned, she received much media attention chiefly because she was the first animal to be cloned from an adult cell.

Dolly spent her entire life at the Roslin Institute in Midlothian, where she was bred with a Welsh Mountain ram and she went on to produce six lambs before she died in the year 2003!

Now, coming back to our ‘debate at DOE’ on cloning -

Well, a clone is a ‘manufactured person’, or in other words, a ‘genetic copy of another individual’, where the clone doesn’t have a biological mother or father!

This was reason enough for the moral brigade to be up in arms, tooth and nail against these ‘violations’ or rather, ‘aberrations’ against Nature!

Hence, and as was expected, numerous ethical and moral implications were raised during ‘media trials’, that conveniently outsmarted and outwitted the political and the religious ones!

Hence a debate we too had had!

Coming back to the next diary entry of the day,

Well, hostels – our home away from home, are also high renowned as abodes for those blessed combined-study times, ain’t they?

And that’s exactly what we did today as well!

Today was my turn to explain to all of us on our little lively fraternity, the Age before Chaucer!

As regards the entertainment side,

two of our classmates (let them remain anonymous, as always, please!)😍🙏🏻 bunked classes to watch the just released movie, V. I. P! 

This 1997 Tamil movie, (the first Tamil film for actor Simran) features Prabhu Deva, Abbas, Rambha and Simran in the lead roles!

Nights after dinner time, all of us used to sit together over our cups of coffee, for the duo to narrate the movie to us in all its intricate detailing, scene by scene!

PS: On an aside, let me add with such added joy, that, the skills that we had acquired through all these blessed exciting literary activities back during our college days, we were able to impart them to our students as well!

With the glad go-ahead given by our past HoDs, we were able to conduct a series of Saturday sessions based on the DOE model for our kids at MCC!

a file photo of Prof. DD at the Language Enthusiasts' Meet, Sat, 17 Aug 2007

Again, as was at DOE, attendance was purely optional!

And the reception was phenomenal by all means.

Needless to say, we usually brought our Saturday sessions to a close, with Coffee Unlimited & snacks, to all our participants! ☕😋

You may want to look up a sample Saturday session HERE on our past post! 💛

image of Dolly - britannicadotcom