"When the glass is fogged up, we look at the glass. The glass is all we see" ❤️

Congratulations to the Sweet Seven

III BA English | Clear & Legible Handwriting

15th October 2025

Today I was distributing the answer scripts to the students of the III BA English class.

While giving them their answer sheets, I also gave them an open challenge - If there is any among you who has written in a neat and legible manner, without smudging or over-writing, you may show me your papers and claim your bonus marks.

On that vein, I also wish to appreciate the Hall of Fame from the class for their neat and legible handwriting –

Yamini

Kiruthika

Andrea Bettina

Angel Mariam Thomas

Veena

Gauri

Haokip

I also wish to share my thoughts on the subject.

A clear and legible handwriting is a fundamental element of effective communication, and hence it has a significant impact on academic performance, and influences how you the student is perceived by others.

A messy handwriting can hence create a barrier in communication.

Your handwriting can be seen as a reflection of your personality as well!

In professional settings especially, a clear and legible handwriting conveys professionalism, respect, and care for the person reading it. Sloppy writing can be interpreted as carelessness or a lack of discipline.

Moreover, it can leave a lasting positive impression, suggesting that the writer is organized and meticulous, and hence can be trusted with great responsibilities.

In her lovely book titled, Better Answers: Written Performance That Looks Good and Sounds Smart, Ardith Davis Cole highlights the importance of a clear and legible handwriting.

Says she –

A responder’s spelling, grammar, handwriting, spacing, punctuation, and such will influence most people who read his or her response.

Why handwriting first?

Both handwriting and conventions concern the cosmetics and mechanics of the piece.

When the glass is fogged up, we look at the glass. The glass is all we see. As soon as it gets unfogged we ignore it and see through it to the scene outside. This is a good metaphor to share with kids, because they need to know why it is important to write neatly, and why they must place a priority on bringing the conventions to an optimal level.

First Impressions Count: To me, it seems logical to begin with the issue of readability as it relates to handwriting and neatness. “Why do I believe handwriting and neatness are so important?” you might ask.

My response: “Because if your handwriting is a mess or your paper is smudged, the reader is inclined to feel that the content is probably a mess too,”

says Cole.

English Spelling is A ‘Pseudo-historical and Anti-educational Abomination’ ❤️ Otto Jespersen ❤️

To Hell with Spell!? 😊

#newspaperinlearning

Seriously? Is English Spelling a ‘pseudo-historical and anti-educational abomination’?

This article in Today’s The New Indian Express, Chennai Edition, was short yet witty and highly insightful as well!

It’s about a drawing teacher in Himachal Pradesh who got suspended for their atrocious spelling while writing out a cheque. The words were called a ‘disaster’!

Many have this tendency to blame it on the native language interference of ‘writing what we hear!’, which connotes a connect between the sound and the letter, or the phoneme and the grapheme.

However, the main culprit is not the Mother-Tongue Interference!

It’s English orthography that’s to blame! [Cambridge English Dictionary defines Orthography as the accepted (right) way of spelling and writing words].

English orthography has always been ‘notorious’ for its non-phonetic spelling system, which poses a significant challenge for all non-native speakers.

There’s this amazing book on how our English spelling has evolved over the years. It’s written by  Christopher Upward and George Davidson and it’s titled, The History of English Spelling. (Wiley-Blackwell, 2011).

In fact, Christopher Upward is quite famous for advocating a significant spelling reform system, particularly known for designing Cut Spelling (CS), a system of English-language spelling reform.

Coming back –

The History of English Spelling by Christopher Upward and George Davidson is unique because it presents a highly detailed, letter-by-letter analysis of the historical development of the English spelling system over the ages. It has a repertoire of information relating to English spelling that’s quite rare to find elsewhere.

Upward gives a very interesting reason for the difficulty that we face with English spelling. He attributes it to the polysystemic view of English spelling. He argues that, English spelling combines the spelling systems of various contributing languages (Anglo-Saxon, Scandinavian, French, Latin, and Greek) through the Roman alphabet, one reason it’s quite complex as we ‘experience’ it today.

Sample this -

The g in ghost (ME gost < OE gast) was introduced by Flemish printers on the basis of Flemish spelling (gheest); the spelling of ghastly is influenced by ghost. Aghast (< agast ‘to frighten’) first appears in Middle Scots (the ME dialect of lowland Scotland) in the early 15th century and in English in the early 16th century.

Says Upward -

Certainly, no one who reads any passage of modern English can fail to notice the frequent mismatch between the sounds of English and the letters used to record them, as, for example, in the well-known set of -OUGH words cough, rough, though, through, thorough, plough, or in the case of -OW as in now, know, knowledge.

Given that in many languages there is a clear and predictable relationship between speech-sounds and the written characters that represent them, one might well ask why this is not the case with English. The answer lies in the history of the English language, and the purpose of this book is to trace that history in so far as it pertains to the development of modern English spelling and its relationship to modern English pronunciation.

I found the introduction to the book quite humorous and engaging as well. So here goes –

English has frequently been criticized for the complexity of its spelling rules and for a lack of system and consistency in the relationship between the sounds of the spoken language and the symbols of the written language.

The Danish linguist Otto Jespersen, for example, refers to English spelling as a ‘pseudo-historical and anti-educational abomination’; an American linguist, Mario Pei, has described it as ‘the world’s most awesome mess’ and ‘the soul and essence of anarchy’;

Mont Follick, a former professor of English who as a British Member of Parliament twice, in 1949 and again in 1952, introduced bills into Parliament advocating the simplification of English spelling, said of our present-day spelling that it is ‘a chaotic concoction of oddities without order or cohesion’; and more recently the Austrian linguist Mario Wandruszka pronounced it to be ‘an insult to human intelligence’.

Only slightly gentler in its reproach is Professor Ernest Weekley’s opinion that the spelling of English is, in its relationship to the spoken language, ‘quite crazy’.

The symbols used in spelling modern English are the 26 letters of the Roman or Latin alphabet as it is currently established for English. (When speaking about English, we can refer to this particular set of letters as the English alphabet, in order to distinguish it from the different sets of Roman letters used in writing other languages, such as the German alphabet or the Spanish alphabet.) As we will see, however, the English alphabet did not always consist of 26 letters.

The sound-to-symbol/symbol-to-sound simplicity of that original system, however, was undermined by subsequent events, such as the Norman Conquest itself, after which French-speaking scribes applied some of their own spelling rules to English.

The introduction of printing from continental Europe (with Flemish printers introducing Flemish spellings for English speech-sounds, and by the desire of many scholars in the 16th century to add into English words letters reflecting the Latin and Greek words from which the English words were derived!

In the second half of the 18th century Samuel Johnson’s Dictionary of the English Language (1755) became widely used as a source of reference by the literate section of the population and hence contributed to the general acceptance of a standard, and by the late 19th century there was a fair degree of unanimity among printers, dictionaries and private writers as to how most English words should be spelt.

[To be continued… Part II] 

"A mini-vacation to the pressured soul, a super-fast recharge for the battery within, a soulful sip of coffee on a rainy day, and that well-deserved pause in the pressure cooker..." ❤️

Why I’ve Always Loved Reading Comic Fiction & RomComs

Marina Lewycka | Lecturer, Novelist

#onherbirthdaytoday

12th October

Starting on a personal note, I’ve always loved reading comic fiction, and yes, romcoms in particular.

And I should pretty much confess that I’ve nayver been a big fan of the horror genre and these supernatural thrillers at any point of time – books (or even movies for that matter!) that tend to ‘create’ a sense of fear through frightening situations!

To me, reading comic fiction goes beyond its mere entertainment quotient!

It is real therapy – a mini-vacation to the pressured soul, a super-fast recharge for the battery within, a soulful sip of coffee on a rainy day, and that well-deserved pause in the pressure cooker! 😊😊😊

One reason why I’ve always revelled in - and relied on - the power of comedy / humour as a real stress-buster.

Scupin Richard, the eminent critic says that, reading humorous books trigger the release of endorphins and dopamine, the body’s natural “feel-good” chemicals dose, which in turn regulate our mood, motivation, feelings of pleasure, and sense of well-being.

Yes! Our ‘feel-good’ chemicals dose!

And dose would stand for the ‘feel-good chemicals’ -

Dopamine (drives motivation)

Oxytocin (fosters love)

Serotonin (stabilises mood)

Endorphins (relieves pain)

A power-DOSE really! 😊

In fact, comic fiction also features characters who deal with crises, conflicts and challenges in their lives! However it’s their perspective to their crises, conflicts and challenges that tends to differ!

The characters in a comic fiction tend to view them all in a comedic light. This lovely perspective proves to be real therapy, as it helps the reader to see their own crises, conflicts and challenges in their personal lives also, in a similar ‘lighter’ vein!

And that’s hence, I’ve personally felt that, writers of humorous fiction are of a different breed altogether - as it is the most difficult of genres – in all the world! Indeed - humorous writing requires that perfect sense of timing, relies entirely on the comic sense, the funny, the punny and the creation of absurd scenarios – that prove a natural stress buster.

I’ve also observed this - people who read comic fiction and humorous novels, have this tendency to take life in a happier, lighter vein, not laughing at others for their foibles, but like Chaucer – laughing with others, thereby indirectly suggesting a shared human experience that’s non-judgmental – in good-natured amusement rather than bitter condemnation! One reason his works remains so enduringly popular across ages.

In that vein, one of my all-time personal favourites is P. G. Wodehouse.

He was also my mentor Professor Natarajan’s personal favourite.

He is also cricketer Navjot Singh SIdhu’s personal favourite!

He is also eminent writer R. K. Narayan’s favourite!

He is also Sashi Tharoor’s personal favourite.

In fact, Tharoor has been very vocal about his love for Wodehouse! As a student, he was the president of the P. G. Wodehouse Society at St. Stephen’s College, New Delhi, it seems.

Douglas Adams, Orwell, Amis, Tolkien, Rowling, are among a host of other celebrity writers who are part of the Wodehouse fan base across the world.

And one thing that unites them all is the fact that they all are known for handling life and people in a very light-hearted and cheerful manner. In fact, they don’t get irritated or angry with others! They don’t judge others! They don’t speak bad about others!

That’s because they believe in the shared human experience – wherein the flaws of others are so relatable and hence forgivable! 😊 One reason why they are able to practice that graceful and gentle, empathetic humour on their fellow human beings!

There’s power in humour, you see! 😊

On a related vein, me thought of presenting a lady-Wodehouse – akin to the likes of Khanna or Kher (Twinkle Khanna or Jean Kher, discussed on our July 2019 post HERE) –

Presenting Marina Lewycka, ladies and gentlemen…

[On an aside, Marina Lewycka is also the Winner of the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for comic writing, 2005].

What’s more… the legendary Wodehouse’s birthday is just three days away – on 15th October!

One unique feature of Marina’s writing is her ability to treat even such serious themes as war, grief, conflict or the immigrant experience in a highly comic vein.

Her narrative voice is described as unsettling, eyebrow-raising, with a flair for that much-needed empathetic humour!

She’s known for her genuinely funny stories – in a style that blends humour with social commentary – through the use of linguistic jokes, malapropisms and mispronunciations from her characters!

Let’s take for example –

Marina Lewycka’s The Good, the Bad and the Little Bit Stupid which is a humorous embodiment of “Brexlit fiction” - inspired by the UK’s departure from the EU.

George Pantis is the “little bit stupid,” academic!

His marital breakdown, the central conflict in the plot, literally happens on Referendum night with George (Leave) leaving his wife Rosie (Remain) for “Brexit Brenda”.

There’s also Brenda the hairdresser, and Rosie, a teacher who are the personifications of the ‘Leave’ and ‘Remain’ camps, respectively, who are in a ‘forced’ partnership to ‘rescue’ George.

Well, to sum it up then, Marina’s novels are high renowned for successfully mixing humour and pathos with pressing social and political issues of her time. No wonder then, that her ‘hilarious debut novel’ titled, A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian is described as a “comic masterpiece” that also deals with the “tragic history” of Ukraine.

May Marina’s tribe increase!

An International Day Unlike Any Other - Officially Celebrated on Two Different Days Each Year 💚

World Migratory Bird Day

11th October 2025

Unlike many other international day observances, the World Migratory Bird Day is so uniquely placed, because of the fact that, it is officially celebrated on two different days each year.

(c) rufus

The second Saturday in May

The second Saturday in October

Birding has become not only a hugely popular outdoor activity for millions of people but also an activity that brings people face to face with bio diversity and the threats to its survival.

I have not met a birder who is not concerned about protection of bird habitats and about the impacts of changing climates on birds, whether resident or migratory,

says George W. Cox in his insightful book on bird migration titled, Bird Migration and Global Change, published in the year 2010 by Island Press, Washington DC, US.

(c) rufus

Long-distance migrations of land and freshwater birds involve flights across major climatic zones, and often between continents or hemispheres.

These movements are often more regular in timing than those of short distance migrants.

Strong-flying raptors and shorebirds perform some of the longest migrations. Radio tracking has shown, for example, that Bar tailed Godwits fly nonstop for distances of 10,000 kilometres or more between breeding areas in Alaska and wintering areas in New Zealand and Australia.

The Swainson’s Hawks that occasionally fly over my home in New Mexico in spring spend the winter on the Argentinean pampas. Many small songbirds, however, make intercontinental migratory flights of thousands of kilometres,

he observes.

(c) rufus

The book analyses observed changes in bird migration with reference to climate change, and also highlights the innate capacity of migratory birds to adapt to these changes.

Two chapters that I found quite interesting are –

Chapters 17 & 18, that deal with the evolutionary adaptability of Land Birds and Waterbirds.

Finally, the book concludes by offering practical conservation recommendations in an era of global change.

Says Cox –

Protecting migratory birds in an era of changing global climate will require greater understanding of the changes that are likely to occur in breeding and wintering areas, as well as in the networks of stopover areas used in migration.

he signs off.

(c) rufus

In this regard, it is important for us as academics, to raise awareness about the need to conserve migratory birds and their habitats.

Creating bird-friendly habitats, and planting native species, is very important since, native trees and plants provide essential food - like insects, seeds, and nectar - for migratory birds.

Also, providing clean water for migratory birds, by setting up birdbaths or small water basins, for our flyway friends helps a lot.  

(c) rufus

Lastly, it is vital to protect their habitats, such as wetlands and migration flyways.

Here’s wishing us all a Happy World Migratory Bird Day.

Image for Shared Spaces, Courtesy: worldmigratorybirdday.org

"Migration: The Very Essence of Human Civilisation" | A Memorable Viva-Voce by Ms. Pheba Paul @ MCC Today ❤️

A Memorable PhD Viva Voce Today

Department of English | MCC

10th October 2025

Dr. Pheba Paul

Well, this post is unique because it carries the jottings of a professor who is so proud of his student – Ms. Pheba Paul!

I’ve known Ms. Pheba Paul ever since her first UG days in MCC, in the year 2012. She went on to do her Masters in the year 2015. Then she also registered for her PhD with Dr. Ann Thomas, Research Department of English, MCC as a JRF Scholar, the very next year.

So it’s been an eventful 13 years of study in MCC for Pheba.

All her Professors today testified to how she has evolved so gracefully over the years in her academic journey with us in MCC.

One special highlight about Ms. Pheba Paul is that, she has always been the class topper ever since her first UG days. She is a passionate and voracious reader, (a skill that she has so beautifully passed on to her daughter as well) and to my knowledge, she has never missed a single class with her Professors, all those five years.

Added, whenever she’s in a class, she ensures that she takes down copious notes from all the lectures that she listens to. Moreover, she is one of the few students who frequents the library whenever she gets any spare time on her. No wonder then, that she was able to clear her NET with the prestigious JRF!

All the more reason for our happiness today, when we saw her successfully defend her PhD thesis today in front of a wonderful gathering of Professors, Deans, Research Scholars and her family members.

Almost all of us – her professors turned up for her Viva Voce exam today, as she had won our hearts alike with her commitment and passion to her subject, all through her period of study.

Today being the acme or the pinnacle of her academic life in MCC – when she got the honorific Dr. Pheba Paul – an honorific that is going to be part of her academic identity for the rest of her life.

The Topic of her thesis was – ‘Creating’ Trauma and Journeying to Resilience: A Comparative Study of the Select Novels of Benyamin and Dinaw Mengestu.

She had so beautifully structured her thesis as follows –

Creating Hope for the Traumatised Migrant: The Road to Resilience as depicted in Benyamin’s Novels

Creating Hybrid Identities in the Traumatised Migrant: The Duality of Being and Belonging in Dinaw Mengestu’s Novels.

Trauma as the beginning of the Journey: Modes of Resilience in the Select Novels of Benyamin and Dinaw Mengestu.

Highlighting the fact that, migration has been the very essence of human civilization, and stressing on the relevance of studying works based on migrants, by enumerating the issues of migrant population worldwide, she then stressed on the importance of analysing migrant fiction, and having a knowledge of issues faced by migrants worldwide and assist in finding solutions.

The texts chosen for study: Malayalam writer Benyamin’s novels Goat Days, Jasmine Days; Ethiopian-American writer Dinaw Mengestu’s The Beautiful Things that Heaven Bears, How to Read the Air, and All our Names.

She did an amazing comparative study of the novels – on how they deal with the concept of migration – using the framework of cultural trauma theory – concepts by Jeffrey Alexander, Neil Smelser, Ron Eyerman, etc.

Foregrounding next, the importance of Comparative Literature, as heralding a shift from the Eurocentric view to accepting different cultures and language traditions, she quoted from E. V. Ramakrishnan’s ‘emphasis on difference’, and how the ‘literary’ is constituted variously in each tradition.

She also mentioned a quote from Tutun Mukherjee on the concept of ‘ex-centricity’ – attempting representations from different perspectives, from within specific contextual knowledge.

Comparative literature hence, helps in exploring a variety of discourses, ‘the discrete borders of nationality, culture, language, and such other categories – become porous or there be osmosis between the elements that appear separate to create a new compound, the synergy of which will surpass the sense of being merely the sum of all parts’, and the effort to find ‘affiliations’ between such texts, she said.

Elucidating next, on the reasons for the choice of the writers and their texts, she said that, it was ‘difference’ and ‘ex-centricity’ that were the prime reasons for choosing the texts – the similarity and differences between the writers, which on comparative study reveal ‘affiliations’ based on migration and cultural trauma.

Their different literary and cultural origins united under the theme of ‘migration’, and there is a possibility of exploring how migrant lives all over the world are interconnected.

She then proceeded to discuss the concepts of ‘Trauma and Migration’ as follows –

Discussions on migration interspersed with discussions on trauma

Both deal with loss of meaning and rewiring of identity

Interface mediated by memory

Lost identity cannot be reclaimed – only reconstructed

Study – migrant’s trauma process – journey to reconciliation

The Hypothesis

Migrant trauma is ‘created’ and can be resolved gradually through the trauma process.

The Titular term, ‘Creating’ is from Jeffrey Alexander’s Theory of Trauma. Trauma is a creation, like a story.

After outlining the metholodogy, she then proceeded to give the theoretical framework-

Contemporary Trauma Theory

Jeffrey Alexander’s theory of Social Trauma

Areas from Postcolonialism, Postmodernism, Logotherapy and Postmemory

Dr. Franklin Daniel, our vibrant Head of the Department, gave a very warm welcome address, following which, Dr. Ann Thomas, her Research Supervisor, introduced and welcomed the External Examiner Dr. Armstrong, Head, Dept of English, and Vice-Chancellor In-charge, University of Madras.

Dr. Armstrong then welcomed Ms. Pheba to give her defence.

It was a rewarding PhD Viva voce of sorts!

A day that saw our vibrant student Ms. Pheba Paul evolve so gracefully into her new avatar as Dr. Pheba Paul.

Congratulations Dr. Pheba! We are sooo proud of you.

So happy and proud to note that, her classmate Ms. Aparna Radhakrishnan, defended her PhD Thesis just two months ago, on 5th August 2025 at 10 am in the School of Letters, MG University, Kottayam. We are so proud of you Dr. Aparna Radhakrishnan – one of our bestest students ever!

Coincidentally, even for her Viva Voce, Dr. Armstrong was the External Examiner.

Let your light continue to shine, dispelling the darkness of ignorance, in whatever you do, in your lovely academic sojourn!

You may want to read Ms. Pheba’s lovely assignment on the topic, ‘Adventures as a Bibliophile’ on our past blogpost HERE, in 2017.

You may also want to look up yet another inspirational Viva Voce that happened in our Department, on 11th December 2008, on our past blogpost HERE.

Cordially Inviting You... ❤️ Two-Day Conference on "TATTVAMALA Theatre and Textual Transformations" ❤️

Dnyanprassarak Mandal’s College and Research Centre (DMC)

GOA

TATTVAMALA

Theatre and Textual Transformations

via Aesthetics, Memory, Archives, Lore, and Adaptation

Department of English

A Two-Day National Level Seminar

30th & 31st January 2026

DMC invites Research papers that address any of the following tracks, encompassing various themes within each broad category.

Text ↔ Performance

Page-to-stage transformations and cut scripts

Embodied close reading: scoring the text on the body

Devising from oral histories and fieldwork

Spectator participation and interactive dramaturgies

Scenography-led writing and reverse dramaturgy

Archiving Memory

Cataloguing scripts, posters, promptbooks

Community oral-history labs with elders and troupes

Metadata, rights, and open-access standards

Museum–theatre collaborations and travelling exhibits

Digital & Hybrid Theatre

Live-stream dramaturgies and remote spectatorship

VR/AR scenography and motion capture

Digital archives in theatre

Revenue models: ticketing, paywalls, hybrid festivals

Konkani & Goan Theatre Spotlight

Tiatr historiography and contemporary inventions (music, satire, scenography)

Konkani playwriting across scripts and translation flows

Bilingual staging (Konkani/English/Marathi): audiences and reception

Archiving Goan theatre: scripts, recordings, oral histories, memorabilia

Urban, Rural, Coastal Theatres

Site-specific works: markets, forts, beaches, ferries

Mobile stages and rural touring circuits

City black-box ecologies and indie productions

Migration, labour, and housing on stage

Heritage walks + performance interventions

Community Theatre & Social Change

Public health, sanitation, and awareness plays

Climate/eco-theatre for villages and coasts

Legal literacy, RTI, and rights-based drama

Youth/SHG participatory projects and livelihoods

Submission Guidelines

Abstract - 250 to 300 words with 4 to 5 keywords

Length of the Research Paper - 3000 to 5000 words

Reference Style - MLA 9th Edition Abstracts to be sent to - tattvamala@gmail.com

Abstract Submission deadline - 15th December, 2025

Acceptance of Abstracts - 22nd December, 2025

Seminar Dates - 30th & 31st January, 2026 (Upon scrutiny and selection of abstracts, the registration form and payment details will be e-mailed to the selected delegates by 25th December 2025.)

Important Dates Faculty/Academicians: Rs. 2500 Research Scholars: Rs. 2000 Post Graduate

Students: Rs. 1000 Participation: Rs. 1000 Registration Fees Publication & Awards

Select papers will be published in a book with an ISBN number

THREE Best Paper Awards will be given to the best papers in the Post Graduate Students’ & Research Scholars Section Contact Details 9403960475 / 9823879363 / 9689382809 (Call/WhatsApp)

For more details, click on the link HERE