“Let the flight wait, until I’m gonna complete this page!“ ❤️

A Rewarding Day @ Pondicherry University

#thedaytoday ❤️

One thing I’ve always noticed, while driving down solo on the highway, is that, when you’re mindful of everything that’s ahead of you on the road, chances are, Lady Fortuna may so gracefully give you a ‘fortunate’ chance to activate the dormant shutterbug in you – for you to happily click away - on the highway! 😊

And this photograph happened in such a fashion this morning.

Something about this photograph struck me much-o-much!

Giving the click here below!

Maybe you could try and write a poem or a short story or an essay, based on the photograph, in about one thousand words.

Yes, just one thousand words.

That’s because, as the adage goes, ‘A picture is worth a thousand words’. 😉

Coming back,

Well, it was such a rewarding day at the UGC-HRDC’s Refresher Course in English, Pondicherry University.

Today also happened to be the penultimate day of the Refresher Course in English.

Dr. T. Marx, Professor & Head, Department of English, warmly welcomed me to his Cabin.

On an aside, Marx Sir was my External Examiner for my PhD Viva Voce.

One thing that strikes you about Dr. Marx is the fact that, he makes you feel at ease in a jiffy.

Just hours before my Viva Voce Exam started, - years ago - I was a bit extra-nervous you see, like most PhD candidates of my ilk usually are, ahead of their defence. 😊

But Dr. Marx, sensing this unease and a slight tinge of nervousness in me, quickly called me over, and asked me to accompany him to one of the biggest restaurants in town.

There we were having the treat of our lives! 😊

Within no time, the nervousness in me, vanished into thin air, and I became calm and relaxed, all geared up for my defence. 😊 

Coming back, 

An established author with more than 12 books authored in the past 10 years, and an expert translator, Dr. Marx is one of the coolest HoDs I’ve known, and one of the nicest and loveliest of human beings I’ve ever come across!

I was glad and honoured when he introduced me this morning to the audience. The participants looked so vibrant and so dynamic.

My session from 10 am to 1 pm was on ‘Cultivating Literary Sensibility through Literary Sensitivity’.

I also made reference to the concept of the Sensitivity Reader, during the course of the Talk.

Much akin to the concept of the ‘Resisting Reader’ put forward by Judith Fetterley, wherein, -

the ‘Resisting Reader’ views their reading activity as inherently political, and resists the imposition of traditional interpretations, preferring instead to look for ways in which a text may challenge its usual reception,

The ‘Sensitivity Reader’ or ‘Authenticity Reader’, is always on the lookout for perceived misinterpretations, misconstructions and misrepresentations, offensive tropes, stereotypes, normative prejudices that underlie a host of stigmas in society, etc.,

It’s no wonder then that Cultural Sensitivity has been promoted as the fifth important skill in language learning.

I highlighted six broad vistas in Literary Studies that demand a ‘Literary Sensitivity’, emphasizing on the importance of Literary Sensitivity, as the ‘heart of literary studies’.

I was so happy to see a host of good friends in the audience as well, and well, I was doubly surprised when one of the participants quoted from our academic blog, and even highlighted the latest post on our blog which was on ‘World Literature’. Thankful to you dear Sir. Means a lot to me.

The participants were highly interactive, and focused, which made the session much more memorable.

After the Talk, I came back to Dr. Marx’s cabin, where I was presented a lovely copy of Benyamin’s Goat Days by our vibrant past student Kathiravan. Thank you Kathiravan.

Well, this is a lovely habit that I so admire and appreciate. Be it a birthday, or a memorable occasion, it would be nice, if, instead of presenting a shawl or a ponnaadai, or a memento, a lovely book is given or rather, exchanged.

That’s the hallmark of a true-blue literary being, and I’m so proud of Kathiravan for that. 

On the academic front, back home @ MCC –

I was so thrilled to see a consistency in performance by a host of students, who are keeping up on their word, and doing what they’ve resolved to do!

Abraham, II BA English, had promised me that he would write one poem each day on his blog.

And he’s been keeping it up regularly for the past one week and more. You may want to read his blogposts HERE. Please encourage Abraham by commenting on his posts.

Two other students from the PG English class, have sent me the first draft of their papers to be presented in an upcoming Conference. So proud of you dear kiddos. Keep up the spirit.

Yet another student had promised me that he will read the newspaper every day, and share something interesting from the daily newspaper with me. He’s been keeping up on his word thus far. So proud of you da.

One student from II BA English, came up to me to my cabin, and we were discussing books, when I asked her about her favourite book.

Spontaneously came the reply –

It’s Verity by Colleen Hoover, Sir.

‘So do you enjoy reading this book?’ I asked, with added curiosity.

She said, “Sir, it’s a real unputdownable, you see. Sir, I’ve had to catch a flight in an hour’s time, but you see, the storyline was so gripping, that, I was like, let the flight wait, until I’m gonna complete this page!” 😊

The excitement and the joy that she had on her face when she described this episode made me so happy. How focused our kids today are, when they take to reading so passionately.

Yet another kid from III BSc Physics came looking for me in my cabin, referred by her Professor Dr. Selvakumari, and she showed me some amazing poems that she’d written.

I was so in awe of her talent, and appreciating her on her poetic talent, I then asked her, ‘What made you take to writing such amazing poetry?’

She said, ‘In school I had a teacher who encouraged me in writing poems, sir. That’s how I developed the much needed confidence to write poetry’, she said.

So much for the power that lies in the encouraging words of a teacher, ain’t it!?

Finally, to end this post,

Today I received a lovely quote from Dr. Maria Preethi Srinivasan which goes like this –

“Teach the child, not the subject”. - John Dewey

And this one I received yesterday from Dr. Preethi, that’s so awe-inspiring! Here goes –

A child's mind is not an empty shell that a teacher fills

It’s a circuit which only a "live- wire-teacher" can get working

In a child's heart a loving teacher can kindle a bright flame, with just a spark

The child has it it him/her

The teacher is only like a wind which fans a flame...

How beautiful! How true!

On the personal front, 

So thrilled to note here that, one of our sweetest cousins, Mrs. Princy Prashanth, who lives in Alabama, came to visit us yesterday. We were discussing the importance of Alabama, Nashville, Kentucky etc, historicising them, when Princy said that, she had the opportunity of visiting Helen Keller’s home in Tuscumbia.

So we were talking about Helen Keller, even while Alfred Uncle was keenly listening to the discussion. 😊

Ivy Green, the birthplace of Helen Keller, contains a museum room in which much of the original furniture and rarest of collectibles of the Keller family are kept for visitors to see!.

It also houses hundreds of Helen Keller’s personal mementos, books and gifts – that she had received ‘from her lifetime of travel and lectures in 25 countries for the betterment of the world’s blind and deaf-blind’.

This morning, Princy sent a lot of memorable photographs from Ivy Green.

Giving y’all a few to relish and to savour the great legend and her life!

Thank you Princy ma. Well, on an aside, Princy carries back with her to Alabama a great assignment from us all. Hope she embark on this adventurous, and rewarding assignment. 😊

"It is a literary bridge over dividing rivers, a spiritual highway over dividing mountains"

Goethe and World Literature ❤️

#onhisbirthdaytoday 

Well, these lovely excerpts that follow, are from a book titled, Goethe and World Literature.

The book has some real spell-binding phrases, lines and paragraphs – lines that drink deep of a divine literary sensibility – lines that keep you truly madly glued and wooed!

The first chapter foregrounds the aura behind the term ‘World Literature’ in such picturesque ways – unique ways in which Goethe had conceptualised and envisaged it.

So here goes –

The term “world literature”, coined by Goethe, immediately brings to the mind a feeling of liberation, of such gain in space and scope as one feels on entering a larger and more airy room.

However vague the expression is, it at least suggests the removal of intellectual barriers between peoples; and it is one of the objects of this book that this feeling should gradually develop into clear understanding, and thereby exert a doubly liberating influence.

World literature is, then, according to Goethe, the literature which serves as a link between national literatures and thus between the nations themselves, for the exchange of ideal values.

Such literature includes all writings by means of which the peoples learn to understand and make allowances for each other, and which bring them more closely together.

It is a literary bridge over dividing rivers, a spiritual highway over dividing mountains.

It is an intellectual barter, a traffic in ideas between peoples, a literary market to which the nations bring their intellectual treasures for exchange.

World literature is thus the intellectual sphere in which, through the voices of their writers, the peoples speak no longer to and of themselves but to each other.

It is an international conversation, an intellectual interest in each other, a mutual helping and supplementing of each other in the things of the mind.

But what ways and means are at the disposal of a literature which is to open up communications between the peoples?

The most important means, and therefore the most essential element in a universal world literature, is the literature of translation, which is the first step in intellectual barter between peoples.

As Goethe says, every translator should be regarded as an active agent in this universal, intellectual commerce.

For, whatever one may say of the inadequacy of translation, it remains one of the most valuable activities in the general traffic of nations.

The Koran says: God has given to every people a prophet in their own language. Every translator is then a prophet among his own people.

A tune can be transposed into any key and yet remain identical. But no literary work can be translated, however brilliantly, without undergoing some change.

What awe-inspiring lines, ain’t they? 😊

To be contd…

"If you happen to have clicked 300 Likes on your Facebook account, the Facebook algorithm can predict your opinions and desires better than your husband or wife!"

On Ray Bradbury

& his Alternate Realities

#onhisbirthdaytoday

A dystopia is a vision of society, often a future society, that is the opposite of paradise, or utopia. It is a vision of society gone horribly wrong.

As eminent critic Scupin Richard rightly points out,

A Dystopianite offers a candid commentary on contemporary society through a negative portrayal of an alternative society, on ‘alternate reality’ mode, thereby providing a realistic critique of totalitarian regimes, their hegemonic ideologies and their offspring - surveillance societies!

Surveillance societies!!!

Yes! Surveillance societies that are controlled by the electronic eye, ably assisted by the ‘thought police’!

In this regard, Yuval - the world-renowned historian, in his 2015 book titled, Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow, offers some really shocking facts to his readers. 

Says he –

A recent study commissioned by Google’s nemesis – Facebook – has indicated that already today the Facebook algorithm is a better judge of human personalities and dispositions even than people’s friends, parents and spouses.

The study was conducted on 86,220 volunteers who have a Facebook account and who completed a hundred-item personality questionnaire.

The Facebook algorithm predicted the volunteers’ answers based on monitoring their Facebook Likes – which webpages, images and clips they tagged with the Like button.

The more Likes, the more accurate the predictions.

The algorithm’s predictions were compared with those of work colleagues, friends, family members and spouses.

Amazingly, the algorithm needed a set of only ten Likes in order to outperform the predictions of work colleagues.

It needed seventy Likes to outperform friends, 150 Likes to outperform family members and 300 Likes to outperform spouses.

In other words, if you happen to have clicked 300 Likes on your Facebook account, the Facebook algorithm can predict your opinions and desires better than your husband or wife!

One reason why George Orwell’s dystopian novel titled, Nineteen Eighty-Four, written way back in 1949 holds relevance even today, especially for its axiomatic line, ‘Big Brother is watching you’.

On quite a similar vein, Ray Bradbury’s 1953 dystopian novel titled, Fahrenheit 451 offers a horrendous account of an alternate reality in which books are forbidden!

In this dystopian world of a future America infested with thought control, carrying, possessing or reading books has been declared an offence!

Hence, squadrons of firemen have been employed to do away with them, by burning them, if and when they are found in the possession of anyone, anywhere, anytime!

Moreover, anyone caught with a book also suffered the ignominy of being immediately arrested and put on trial!

Written way way back in 1953, the book is a brilliant yet shocking critique of a dystopian world in which ‘independent thinking’ and ‘enlightened questioning’ are considered taboo and anathema to society’s ‘interests’!

Also, because books and the ideas contained within them enable a person to exercise independent, sane and rational judgments, they were conveniently considered ‘detrimental’ to the interests of the State and its agenda!

But to Bradbury, books are the most sacred of objects, as they are transmitters of stories!

Hence, by burning books, the ruling dispensation in this dystopian American society, has curtailed the freedom of expression and thereby stifled the human spirit itself!

One such fireman named Guy Montag who is also given the task of confiscating books by the dozens, and burn them down, finds out to his surprise that, storytelling has the wonderful power of binding people into a community of their own!

So he discreetly sets out on a secretive mission of collecting and preserving books, despite knowing full well that books are outlawed in his society, and that his profession especially, forbade him to do so!

One particular tableau of a scene from this dystopian read would real suffice to tell us about the inherent dangers of censorship, and thought control, where people caught having or reading books are immediately imprisoned, no questions asked!

Guy Montag while journeying in the subway one particular afternoon, finds it really difficult to remember the episode of Sermon on the Mount, as books were forbidden in the land.

The train car is lit up all over with a foot-tapping advertisement for a particular brand of a toothpaste!

Guy Montag finds out, to his shock that the passengers on board are busy singing along to the tune of the commercial and tapping away happily to the rhythms of its beat!

Montag loses his cool and shouts at them, asking them to “Shut up, shut up, shut up,” much to the shock and surprise of all of them journeying in the crowded train car.

Some in the crowd even feel that he has gone insane when he shouts at them!

Such is the manner, such is the way in which an ‘enlightened individual’ is stifled in a ‘herd-mentality’ society,

Bradbury quips!

Now Guy Montag realizes full well his onerous duty! Having become quite disenchanted with his work of burning books and destroying knowledge, he finally decides to put down his papers!

So he resigns his job and commit himself full-time to guarding and preserving the precious knowledge that is splashed across the delightful pages of the hallowed books, thus doing his noble part towards the safeguarding of the literature, the culture, and the community bonding of his society!

Well, in this regard, it would be so apt to do an interesting connect with Emerson’s much popular text titled, “American Scholar” which was originally an address delivered at Harvard University.

“The American Scholar” moots the idea of “Man Thinking.”

Emerson prioritizes the idea of “Man Thinking” because he quite feels that, today’s ideas and ideals of an education have moved far away from this ennobling idea!

Students just do their ablest might and mettle at rote learning, learning ‘by-heart,’ lesson summaries, formulas and concepts, without applying their mind and thought to what they really do!

Assumes all the more importance as Emerson was addressing a University gathering, at Harvard!

To Emerson, all human beings have the innate power within them to achieve the highest state of intellect because Nature and the world’s writings are available to all.

To Emerson, then, one’s vital education comes from three main Sources: Nature, Books, and Action.

The scholar’s education, then, according to Emerson, consists of three majorly influences –

1. Nature as the most important influence on the mind

2. The Past manifest in Books

3. Action and its relation to experience

Once a scholar is thus educated, Emerson strongly feels that, this enlightened scholar has the noble duty of sustaining his education, and making his education move forward, by disseminating it for the larger interests of his/her community.

Proper education, thus acquired through the three cardinal sources of Nature, Books, and Action - must flow from each person like an electrical charge, sending currents to every individual!

So much for the power of books in ennobling our minds, enlightening our hearts and enchanting our souls!

This, in a nutshell, is the exact super-power and sway of books over us all! Now if you could please re-read the message from this passionate, vibrant reading soul, you would understand the intense joy there is to reading!

And yesss! Why wait? Join a host of such passionate, vibrant reading souls, in kindling the ‘thinking being’ within you!

Carpe diem! Pull up a lovely book rightaway! Start reading through it! Become a ‘Human Thinking’ straightaway!

[All sources are from our past blogposts on Ray Bradbury]

"All photographs are possible contributions to history" ❤️

The Writer as Photographer

Lewis Carroll & Edward Said | Quick Takes

#WorldPhotographyDay 💜

Yesterday, when I was travelling by car to Tirunelveli to attend an academic programme, I came across this lovely sight on the road, which so fascinated me, that I gently slowed down my car, and took a quick pic of the sight.

Since today happens to be World Photography Day, sitting in a lovely balcony facing the ‘blue ridge’ hills and the Thamiraparani river, in a lovely room in Palayamkottai town, me thought of writing this entry to celebrate the day, and the picture as well. 😊

Well, this sight was extra-fascinating because, we usually see one rider push-riding another bike.

But here, I was surprised to see two riders busy on push-riding mode. On first glance, couldn’t make sense of it at all.

But then, the little literary lamp within me started burning bigtime, 😉 and I was thinking of various lovely metaphoric allusions to the picture.

I thought of how good friends are there supporting and encouraging and uplifting one another, down the long road of our life’s journey etc. etc and etc! 😊

This also made me ruminate on a Math Professor by name Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, who wrote a lot of memorable children’s stories, under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll.

He was also an amateur photographer.

His main subjects for his photographs were children, and the legendary writers of his time, who also happened to be his close friends, including the likes of Lord Tennyson.

In contrast, this post would like to highlight yet another writer from the Postcolonial realm – the late Edward Said, [who was University Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia] who has written a poignant book based on some heart-wrenching photographs.

This poignant photographic portrait is titled, After the Last Sky: Palestinian Lives.

However, in this book, the reflections, ruminations and the main subjects for his photographs were not happy ones.

They were photographs and ruminations that were tinged with nostalgia, sentiment, sadness, and poignancy to the core!

The blurb to the book bares it all -

“A searing portrait in words and photographs of Palestinian life and identity that is at once an exploration of Edward Said's own dislocated past and a testimony to the lives of those living in exile”.

The photographs by Jean Mohr are gripping and tell stories that lie too deep for tears.

Right from the preface till the postscript, the book is a saga of suffering and sentimental ruminations from the past, from the point of view of an exile – an attempt to render Palestinian lives subjectively.

from the Book

A must-read especially for those of us who specialize in Postcolonial Studies or Tricontinental studies.  

As John Berger, renowned art critic and winner of the Booker Prize observes,

All photographs are possible contributions to history, and any photograph, under certain circumstances, can be used in order to break the monopoly which history today has over time!

How beautifully Berger has put it!

You may want to read Edward Said’s amazing review of John Berger’s Another Way of Telling – a lovely book that ‘explores the tension between the photographer and the photographed, between the picture and its viewers, between the filmed moment and the memories that it so resembles’.

This 1982 review by Edward Said is titled, “Bursts of Meaning.”

Even as I’m finishing this post from off my balcony, the HoD of English, St. Xavier’s College, Palayamkottai, is calling me to know if I’m ready to come there to join them for a cup of coffee! 😊

I said yes! 😊

And so yes! I’m winding up on this post for now… 😊

Here’s wishing you all a Happy World Photography Day!

To be continued…

"He always had a word of appreciation for his fellow writers of all genres and hues!"

On Sir Walter Scott | & his USPs

#onhisbirthdaytoday

15th August 1771

‘Skeletons of the good ol’ past come to life with flesh and blood with such reality of representment in the pages of Sir Walter Scott,’ says eminent critic Scupin Richard, on the grace, the elegance and the grandeur in Walter Scott’s novels.

Sir Walter Scott is considered the inventor of the historical novel, and hence by default, also takes credit for having created the genre of historical fiction.

Quite interestingly and ironically at that, Scott had initially published his novels anonymously, because of the simple reason that, writing novels was not considered respectable, at a period in history, when writing poetry commanded great respect!

His contemporary, William Wordsworth was born on 7 April 1770!

He was born on 15th August 1771!

While Samuel Taylor Coleridge was born on 21 October 1772!

Sir Walter Scott’s claim to fame includes the fact that, he always had a word of appreciation for his fellow writers of all genres and hues!

He admired and appreciated Austen’s lively and picturesque descriptions of life. 

Austen, in her novel titled, Persuasion, for her turn, alludes to Scott’s Marmion and The Lady of the Lake!

Scott celebrated Byron for having created a unique ‘Romantic character type’ in his Byronic heroes.

Scott also had a great appreciation for Defoe - for the realism - the ‘attention to detail’, and the ‘solidity of specification’ particularly in Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe!

All the three Bronte sisters seem to have been smitten much by the style and the charm of Scott’s historical writings.

Charlotte Bronte has this memorable scene in Jane Eyre, where St. John Rivers gives a copy of Scott’s Marmion to Jane to provide her with “evening solace”.

Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights was greatly influenced by Walter Scott’s Rob Roy, as much as Shakespeare’s As You Like It was influenced by Thomas Lodge’s Rosalind.

Anne Bronte, in her novel titled, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall has a scene in which Gilbert Markham, the narrator, gifts a copy of Marmion to Helen Graham!

Coming back,

His Ivanhoe (1819), is considered the first great historical novel. Set in 12th century England, the novel, proved a stir and a sensation, launching a huge craze for a mega medieval revival! A revival that would impact and influence art, architecture and literature for generations to come!

If you would like to read more on the historical novel, with specific reference to Walter Scott, one of the best go-to books for you would be Georg Lukacs’ insightful critical text titled, The Historical Novel.

Sample this for an appetiser from The Historical Novel -

Scott very seldom speaks of the present.

He does not raise the social questions of contemporary England in his novels, the class struggle between bourgeoisie and proletariat which was then beginning to sharpen.

Paradoxically, Scott's greatness is closely linked with his often narrow conservatism.

He seeks the “middle way” between the extremes and endeavours to demonstrate artistically the historical reality of this way by means of his portrayal of the great crises in English history.

This basic tendency finds immediate expression in the way he constructs his plot and selects his central figure.

The “hero” of a Scott novel is always a more or less mediocre, average English gentleman.

He generally possesses a certain, though never outstanding, degree of practical intelligence, a certain moral fortitude and decency which even rises to a capacity for self-sacrifice, but which never grows into a sweeping human passion, is never the enraptured devotion to a great cause. 

Not only are the Waverleys, Mortons, Osbaldistons and so on correct, decent, average representatives of the English petty aristocracy of this kind, but so, too, is Ivanhoe, the “romantic” knight of the Middle Ages.