“I can handle this”, “This too shall pass”, “It is just a matter of time!” are beautiful phrases that will cause the light within oneself to shine brighter…!

Book Review | Joni Eareckson Tada

Reviewed in Class by: Jean Elizabeth Mathew

Transcribed by: Sruthi Jacob

Jean Elizabeth started her book review by asking the class to reflect upon a question, “Have you ever felt stuck in life?”

She narrated a personal experience when she felt stuck with her music. She couldn’t sing. She stated that there are different situations in life when one feels stuck.

The book that Jean had chosen was Joni Eareckson Tada.

She then narrated the story behind her possession of the book which was a precious and happy memory for her.

Jean used to get prizes in Sunday School events as coupons to redeem. Her Mom got her this book for such a coupon and told it would be a great investment in herself if she enjoys reading it.

The book revolves around spirituality and optimism. The title of the book refers to the name of the protagonist. Joni is a girl who is a jovial spirit and loves swimming. She focused on God and majority of her prayers were self -centered. She had great hopes and she often dreamt about America.

At one particular point in time, she felt that she was wrong in being so self-centered and asks for a sign from God.

Soon she encounters a tragic accident while swimming and fractures her neck. Despite the surgeries and treatments, she got paralyzed and confined to a wheelchair.

She became frustrated and depressed by this incident and lost all her hopes in life and God. Her friends used to visit her.

She gave her a Bible verse that states the plan of God. It was a verse of hope. In her frustration she didn’t read the verse completely. She began questioning God as she confronts many more problems.

Her life changed as a result of her friend asking her why can’t she use her mouth. That friend Ken Tada ensures he will be by her side forever.

That love and concern changes her. She began painting and became popular. She started doing testimonies and influenced a lot of lives.

At that point of time only she realised the second part of that Bible verse that stated the hope God had for her future.

Jean feels that the work is a journey through faith. The struggle of the narrator and the powerful narration brought her to tears and influenced her greatly. It gave her a spirit to believe in herself and move on in any situation.

She returned to her question and beautifully gave the answer to that question. The solution to the problem of getting stuck is the real discovery of the Self. Everyone should be able to encourage and inspire oneself in such a situation.

“I can handle this”,

“This too shall pass”,

“It is just a matter of time”

are beautiful phrases that will cause the light within oneself to shine brighter.

Teacher’s Remarks: Awesome, Jean! You did a fabulous review of the book! The way you combined strands of the book with an effective personal connect, and the way you presented the review with such felicity of expression is amazing! We were all glued to your review from start to finish. This book is a real revelation of sorts! Added, it was a very rewarding Book Review Session for all of us. Kudos to you!

Photos: Thank you Manimaran for the lovely snaps. 

Paintings: Joni’s! [from Jean]

"It is only through your heart that you can see clearly. The eyes do not see that which is most important".

Book Review | The Little Prince

Reviewed in Class by: Ganesh Aadhitya S

Transcribed by: Gayathri K

Ganesh started his book review of Antoine de Saint Exupery's novella The Little Prince (French novella) with the quote from the famous Greek philosopher Heraclitus that says -

No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man.

According to Ganesh, it should transform you as a person.

He then explained the cuteness of the little prince from a planet that is the size of a house.

He believes that the world is limited to children compared to adults. We have a tendency to look down upon children as we grow older or when we know more.

There are lots of lessons for adults in children's books. The curiosity of the childhood goes missing when we become older.

Citing the famed Austrian poet, Rainer Maria Rilke's - celebration of childhood,

"Jewel beyond all price, that treasure house of memories?" - enormous past is compared with that, we leave behind enormous thoughts when we become old.

Grown ups don't understand his drawings - boa constricter - hat - innocence of the childhood. Then, Ganesh started narrating the crisp of the story, there are six little planets. It goes like Sahara desert meets narrator, one person in every planet to symbolize the narrow thinking of adults, grownups would not understand many things compared to children. Unlike children, adults are guided by pride, judgements, materialistic culture can be seen.

Geographer - only records - echo chamber - geographer - singular view of the world- serious things - ephemeral lives - such a large world.

So the little prince takes care of his one rose that he talks to everyday, thus he shares a special bond with the rose, FRIENDSHIP - Tamed - he listens to her. He listened - "complaining, boasting, and even to her silence".

One day he found thousands of roses while walking next to a garden. But the bond he shares this with one rose is so special. Caterpillars except the two or three so she could see the butterflies - 4 thorns against the world - attention.

The little prince feels that he should protect the rose as it has only 4 thorns to protect itself. The time spent with the rose makes it important.

Later, Ganesh quoted from Kafka's love letter to Milena - "how tired you sound in your letter from Saturday evening - is there anything nicer than simply being with me and allowing me to sit in front of you?"

- rather the existence you have bestowed on me.

Then a fox explains the secret of life - "it is only through your heart that you can see clearly. The eyes do not see that which is most important".

Then he mentioned how judgmental the society is, social media plays a crucial role in making people's mind so judgmental. There is a trend of having a singular mission, oneness, absolute lack of empathy in this ordinary world. The Culture Industry- commodified individuals - Instagram- insta - worthy - genz - so commodified by Instagram that they look at themselves to Instagram.

Psychological problems due to over concern about pimples - body image concerns,  hate following, false consciousness - the magic mirror- shatter these deception.

Art and culture - social activity- produced and consumed like other products. Maintaining an online identity.

“Eyes do not see which is more important”, it only looks at your outward appearance.

At the end of the story - Railway Switchman - constantly boarding different trains - only children look out the windows - adults try to be busy all the time.

“All grown ups were once children only a few of them remember it”.

A lamp lighter - busy lives - 30 seconds - lights - signifying day and night.

The Prince’s fate is left a mystery.

Ganesh himself said that he is a practical person, thus he believes that there should be a balance in life. That childishness will always be there in everyone.

Finally he completed his book review with a beautiful quote, “Be carefully entertained, Dare to be different”.

Teacher’s Remarks: Excellent, Ganesh! You had an intense and absorbing range of interesting connects that were highly thought-provoking and engaging - all through your Book Review! Yes! We were all hooked in toto to your review from beginning till end! Keep up the spirit!

Thanks a lot to Manimaran. S, for the lovely snaps.

'For the first 15 pages, you might not understand everything given in the book. It's fine. Because the author will be busy setting up a plot for you'

Book Review | The Night Circus 

Reviewed in Class by: Preethi. B

Transcribed by: Angela Rachel Mathew                                    

Preethi started her review of the book - The Night Circus by Erin Morgrnstern,  drawing our attention towards Five lessons in a Book Journey.   

* The first point she made was to focus on yourself as a reader than going after the recommendations, because it's your interest that drives you throughout.

Adding on to it, instead of stressing and reading a book in one stretch, try to read it in your own time. As an aid, you can refer sites like Goodreads that provides book review without any spoilers, she observed.

*Never read a book because of the hype. It might not be your cup of tea, and that's okay.

*If you disagree with a book, you always have the freedom to walk away from it and to move on to the next.

*For the first 15 pages, you might not understand everything given in the book. It's fine. Because the author will be busy setting up a plot for you.

*Your Imagination is powerful than any Visual Effects. The Writer is the one who gives the colour scheme. But it's you who makes it into a movie in your brain, using your Imagination.

These valuable points for good reading were then followed by the Book review.

Preethi invoked the interest of every student by introducing the Book Cover with a colour code of Black, white and Red, just like the attire that she was wearing for the presentation.

The novel The Night Circus was written for National Novel Writing Month - The reward for the winning book being published without any cost.

This book which was written within three months, is a free ticket to a magical experience.

The Novel focuses on two Schools of Magic-

One - that believes magic is Inherited.

Other – Argues that magic is a skill to be learned,

- and the conflict between them.

The author walks us through the excited sounds and smell of delightful cuisines, blended with magical elements like "Cloud maze" and "wishing tree".

Preethi concluded her Book Review by rendering extremely mind-blowing, dramatic images from the novel which will attain its completion only by reading the whole Novel.

Teacher’s Remarks: Awesome review, Preethi! Your review was highly engaging from start to finish. Added, it was highly structured as well. There was never a dull moment for any of us anytime throughout your review. And as Angela had rightly pointed out, you had come all geared up for the occasion, with a strikingly similar attire that beautifully complemented the cover of the book. A very highly rewarding session for all of us! Keep up the spirit! 

Thanks a lot to Jean Elizabeth Mathew for the lovely snaps.

Life’s purpose is achieved when a person moves over from the ‘human being’ mode to the ‘passionate being’ mode!

On Passion | Personal Reflections

Well, the prod and the propellant for this passionate post happens to be – a series of cute and concerned messages and mails from a bevy of friends, scholars, researchers and colleagues alike – who’ve been following our academic YouTube page – Literary Delights - for long!

Well, what started off as a space for sharing Literary Delights for more than a decade ago, then slowly branched off into a sweet spate of literary talks, discussions, book reviews, books & coffee, pandemic-time on-line lectures, etc!

But then, last month I had to close down my ‘Literary Delights’ blog!

Thanks to all your mails, love and concern, the latest being – Prof. N. S. K. Sundhar (Theni), Dr. Aparna, Dr. Sharon, Prof. Wesley, Prof. Dinesh, Dr. Srilatha, etc.

Thank you dear all for your love!

It’s something akin to a Dickensian analogy from The Old Curiosity Shop, or Hemingway-ish compare from his Old Man – if I could put it that way!

Ever since childhood, one thing that’s always impelled me or driven me on - is the word – Passion!

Yes! Passion!

To me, personally, this word seems to top the charts on my dictionaried hierarchy, among the plethora of 14,50,000-odd words you’ve got in the English language!

Something that I’ve always gently exhorted my students as well to do!

Last week in the I MA English class I had told them, ‘If you feel you cannot do this programme with passion and commitment, it’s better you quit this Programme, and gently donate the seat to a more deserving candidate, while you in the meantime, introspect on your USPs and strive to follow them!’

Passion then, to me would be this –

To do what you love, and love what you do!

That simply put, would mean – if you do something without passion, it’s not worth it. Just drop it!

I was on PoemHunter for more than ten years. But for the past three years I couldn’t feel the urge and the nudge to connect with that platform. So I had to take a huge decision – delete my Account on PoemHunter!

The same with Twitter. For more than 12 long years I was an avid user! But for a couple of years again, I couldn’t feel the urge to connect with the chirps on twitter. So yet again, I deleted my account in toto!

The same with my Academic YouTube channel! I was so passionate about it for more than a decade! When Ngugi wa Thiong’o and Spivak shared the dais in New Delhi, I went all the way there to the Indian Habitat Centre, video-ed their talk and uploaded it on my channel. Same with a host of other luminaries including Anita Nair, Amitav Ghosh, etc.

But you see, when the passion is at an ebb, you gracefully oblige your heart, ain’t you?

Never try to stick on to anything sans passion! You’ll do more harm than good that way!

That’s when I took a decision to delete my YouTube channel as well!

But yes, I’m on this my Academic Blog for more than 19 years now, and I am passionate about blogging!

The simple formula is –

When you read a book, read like you’re the bestest reader on the planet!

When you clean your room, clean your room as if you’re the most efficient connoisseur on the job!

When you drive your car, drive as if, you’re the most elegant driver in the whole planet!

When you play on the guitar, play as if you’re the most gorgeous groover ever on the turf!

When you teach, teach as if, you’re the bestest on the terrain!

When you write, write as if, you’re the bestest writer on the globe!

When you love, love as if, you’re the besest lover on the land!

When you sing, sing as if you’re the bestest singer on earth!

When you study, study as if you’re the bestest student on the academic turf!

When you write a diary, write as if you’re the bestest Pepy-ist on the planet!

That’s passion! There’s no substitute for this passion!

And well, well, well, if you feel, you cannot be the bestest on doing anything, it’s better you please don’t do it!

If you don’t have a passion for teaching, just quit it! Don’t do it with half your heart and half your soul on the job!

If you don’t have a passion for studying a particular programme, just quit it, and look out for what suits you best!

Same day, four years ago...

If you can’t love with passion, just quit loving!

In short, if you can’t do anything with passion – you better not do it at all!

As eminent critic Scupin Richard rightly points out,

the average person exists!

the passionate person lives!

Life’s purpose is achieved when a person moves over from the ‘human being’ mode to the ‘passionate being’ mode!

A Passionate being!

And that makes all the difference to our sweet lives and living, ain’t it!

Are you passionate about what you do?

So passionate about doing it, that it proves the impulse to your very being on this great grand planet?

If so, you’ve got company!

Well, the passionate ones reading this blogpost, just send me a message or a mail telling me what you’re so passionate about! And er… um… No comments here on this post, please!

Added, I also have a soulful wish for y’all –

May passion be your propellant!

May passion be your stimulant!

May passion be your motivation!

May passion be your inspiration!

May the passionate being in you propel, enthuse, motivate and inspire a stream of human beings, and help them cross over to the ‘passionate mode’ of living!

To conclude then –

If to Keats, the axiomatic lifeline to his life was – ‘Oh for a life of Sensations!’

To us passionate beings, it could be tweaked to a tee to tune to – ‘Oh for a life of passion’.

That’s all ye need on earth! And all ye need to know!

Here’s wishing y’all such a passionate life dear gentle reader!

'This year, you’re seeing a far lesser crowd...' 😍

On SRO - Stephen Annan | Musings

Stephen Annan – as we all call him, is our ever-green dynamic, spirited staff at the Student Records Office.

He turned 59 years young just around a week ago, and the ‘spring-liness’ and the ‘sprightliness’ on him have only increased in their ‘spiritedness’ over the years!

In short, he is blessed with such an enigmatic joie de vivre that so vividly stands for his style, personifies his temperament and exemplifies his character…

And all three to a tee at that!

Right from the great Shri K Vijay Kumar, IPS to the latest Officers in the Indian Civil Services – to the topmost honchos in MRF - almost every alumni of our great grand Institution are regularly in touch with him just for the sheer joy of connecting with their alma mater, and keeping themselves updated with the latest on their beloved alma mater.

Suchmuch is the aura of Stephen Annan!

Having been associated with MCC for well over three decades now, the name Stephen Annan is synonymous with the good ol’ days of MCC for any many MCC-ians!

Interestingly, his son and daughter studied at MCC as well, and his daughter completed her Masters just this last past year.

Well, on that note, this last past week, I was in for a cute surprise, when Stephen Annan came up to my table and with such a pride on his face, he said,

Rufus annan, please I want you to see this beautiful watch gifted to me by my daughter. It’s the first precious gift from her on my birthday, after her College days, and I feel so proud wearing it, Annan’, said he!

Felt so happy that I impulsively hugged him and said, ‘I’m gonna take a snap of this for inspiring our students as well, Stephen Annan’.

He gladly agreed for a snapshot of the watch!

That precious watch from his daughter! 

More power to you dear Stephen Annan!

Let me finish this little blogpost on Stephen Annan with an incident that happened in February.

With the upcoming Graduation Day Ceremony, all our vibrant staff at the Student Records Office were working overtime for any many days in a row, and Stephen Annan proved our great impetus and inspiration on all those blessed evenings.

Stephen Annan - in his Professional Attire 😍

On one such over-time evening, I decided to upload a little ‘Status update’ on Stephen Annan with the caption, ‘Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection!’

A few students who had seen my status, had instantly replied to me sharing their great love for Stephen Annan, and the lovely times they had with him at the helm in the Records Office.

One particular alumna of ours had even responded to the status update, saying that, she had always wanted to gift something to Stephen Annan on G-Day – Graduation Day.

I was so happy that she had resolved to honour such a sweet and lovely soul!

One rare occasion, when you spot Stephen Annan on 'Silent Mode' 😍

G-Day came, and I was in for a surprise, when I saw, a host of graduands – of all hues - making a beeline to the Student Records Office.

We were all curiosity personified, and asked them the reason!

Said one – Sir, we’ve got our little gifts for Stephen Annan. Could you please just tell us where he is?’

I then took them along with me to the Examinations Gallery, where to my utter surprise, I saw at least twenty to thirty of such graduands crowding around their Stephen Annan and taking snaps with him!

Stephen Annan, at our monthly get-togethers in the SRO 😍

So delighted and surprised, I came back to the SRO, and promptly shared my joy with our staff at the Records Office, saying, This is such a beautiful gesture, ain’t it, dear all?

One of the senior staff in the Office then remarked, saying, ‘Sir, every year at least hundreds of students throng around him vying with each other to take snapshots and selfies with their legendary hero. This year, you’re seeing a far lesser crowd, due mostly to the pandemic situation. Else, the scenario woulda been totally different!’

She really had us there!

A candid shot last week at the Staff Tiffin Room 😍

And here I was, intensely delighted - at the love of the students, the liveliness of Stephen Annan and the sustaining legacy of this great grand institution!

Live Love MCC!

& Long Live Stephen Annan! 😍

'This slim novel stews in the passionate juice of wronged love...'

Book Review | GAYATHRI K

The Poison of Love by K.R. Meera

Gayathri K, gave us all a very intense book review in class today, on the novella titled, The Poison of Love by eminent Malayalam writer K. R. Meera.

Over to Gayathri –

Ministhy is not a translator by profession. But she involves herself in translating stories/articles just for the joy of it.

Well, we all must have heard about the sweetness in love, but have any of us heard about the poison of love?

I shall read an important excerpt from the book –

"Love is like milk. With the passage of time, it sours, splits, and becomes poison."

This story has a lot of autobiographical elements to its weave as well.

Tulsi is a product of IIT Chennai, and being a topper in class, she lands herself a very posh job as well.

Now, a journalist by name Madhav comes into her life, and his honeyed words and looks had a great influence on her. He was irresistible to her!

Such was the charm of Madhav on her, that she even left her dream job and came along with him. She then gives birth to two children with him.

However, she soon comes to know that he woos almost every girl in the same way with his honeyed words.

You can read about the emotions of the girl in the book. The book is available at Amazon.

Towards the end of the story, she kills both her sons, simply because she does not want these boys (of a womaniser and a traitor) to call her mother.

Madhav while he keeps wooing other women, he also keeps flattering her at the same time! However, the moment she comes to know that he made another woman pregnant, she had to take a call!

Every chapter begins with a picture depicting a few ants following a corpse. As the chapters increase, the ants also increase in the picture. The novella also has a nostalgic feel to it.

Now, because of the ignominy the family had to face because of this girl, they don’t allow her younger daughter for her higher studies.

In short, the whole family perished because of Madhav’s philandering ways towards all women he laid his eyes on!

Outlook says, ‘This slim novel stews in the passionate juice of wronged love... Intensity breathes through [Meera’s] style and every sentence is almost anguish... The plot seethes and twists... Ministhy is new to translating K.R. Meera but manages to wring out each drop of obsession’.

Teacher’s Remarks: Gayathri - you did a passionate and spirited book review, which was responded with an equally spirited ovation from your classmates. The book was quite new to most of us and hence, prompted some of us to get ourselves a copy of it too!

Kudos to you Gayathri on such an excellent book review! You had us all glued to your review right from start to finish. Congratulations! 

PS: Thanks a bunch to Preethi and Manimaran of II MA English, for the lovely snaps. 

"As Students of Literature, we are much more powerful than Psychiatrists as well...!"

Book Review | Fanny

II MA English Class Today

Fanny Praiselin began her review by showing us all her copy of Sidney Sheldon’s Tell Me Your Dreams, and then she foregrounded her concerns on issues relating to Multiple Personality Disorder - a mental health condition wherein a person exhibits traits of two or more separate personalities.

Over to Fanny –

Well, Dissociative Identity Disorder or Multiple Personality Disorder is a kind of disease or a mental health condition that is not spoken about very often in the public domain.

A person suffering from such a disorder is affected by a split personality!

There are three main characters in the novel -

Ashley - an introverted workaholic,

her coworker - Toni Prescott, an extroverted singer and dancer,  

and their third coworker - Alette Peters, an introverted artist!

All three fall in love!

When they go out, five mysterious murders take place – and all of them have an identical pattern to them.

Evidence also strongly points towards the same woman having been involved in all the murders.

Surprisingly, Ashley is identified as the serial killer and she is subsequently arrested.

It is then revealed that, the three women are in fact, three selves of the same woman who has been suffering from multiple personality disorder!

I chose to review this book because I wish to emphasise on the fact that we all have demons from the past; however, only when we open up, we can try and exorcise those demons of the past from off our lives!

At the same time, we should also be empathetic listeners to such people who have this MPD on them.

When I was in my third year UG here at MCC, I had a friend who called me up to talk to me about her problem. But it was highly unfortunate that I couldn’t attend her call then.

Three days later, I heard the news that she passed away – she had committed suicide.

That news haunted me much. It led me into a kinda depression as well. It took me sometime to come out of it.

This incident made me go deep and probe into the issues connected with depression.

We can make a great difference by the love we show to others.

I want to do this in my life!

As students of literature, we are much more powerful than a psychiatrist, because we have lived through the lives of so many characters in the vast stream of literature, signed off Fanny.

Teacher’s Remarks: Fanny, you are a real revelation! Hats off to you on choosing a book that resonates with a real-life personal incident. Your review was intense and had us all spell-bound from start to finish!

In short, you literally tugged at our heartstrings - of all of us - your ardent listeners in class today!

The awesome ovation from your classmates that impulsively followed in such quick succession, the moment you were done with your delightful review, is an added vibrant indicator to that!

You simply rocked the floor today Fanny.

Keep up the good work!

Thanks a bunch to Jean Elizabeth Mathew & Preethi for the wonderful snaps.