In the Zoo - A.K.Ramanujan

Introduction:

A.K.Ramanujan is the first contemporary Indian English poet to have achieved a remarkable breakthrough in cross-fertilising English with native literary traditions. "In the Zoo: A Tour with Comments" is a wildly satirical poem with a humorous tinge. It is a suggestive poem, as the poet seems to compare his own household to a zoo.

Distinguishing Features of the Adjutant Storks:

Ironically, the poem "In the Zoo" speaks only of storks. They are described as scavenger birds which whould be fit symbols for Calcutta or Madras which are filled with filth. The storks, according to Ramanujan, stand erect on their long legs and look dignified. They look like army-officers (adjutants) in charge of discipline and administration. They look slightly vulgar. They come in three shades 1) faded black like the Madras lawyers 2) a grey and 3) a dirty white colour like the yeasted 'maggoty' curds produced by grandmother at home.

Adjutant Storks: Reminiscences of His Father:

According to the poet, the storks are noisy and heavy when they take off. When they start flying, flapping their wings, they look like the poet's father opening his baggy umbrella in the rain. The umbrella is short of atleast six spokes (ribs) - three taken away by his sons for a fencing match and another three - by the winds of the previous season.

The Air-borne Stork: Reminiscences of a Rainy Day:

Once the bird is air-borne, it circles quietly on motionless wings. At that time... ...

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The Dance of the Eunuchs - Kamala Das

Introduction:

"The Dance of the Eunuchs" by Kamala Das is a descriptive poem. It describes the dance of the eunuchs in an Indian street. Obviously, they are trying to eke out a livelihood by dancing. Their dancing is mechanical and painful. The conditions and the climate are forbidding. The spectators are merciless. Even God seems to add to their woes.

Features of the Eunuchs:

It was very hot even before the eunuchs began to dance. They were wearing skirts. They had long braids. They wore jasmine in their hair and had green tatoos on their cheeks. They were generally dark, though some were almost fair. They were thin in limbs and dry. Obviously they were under fed.

Dance of the Eunuchs:

The eunuchs sang and danced. When they danced, their skirts went round and round. They danced to the accompaniment of cymbals and drums. When they danced, their anklets were jingling and the cymbals produced loud music. They danced under the red gulmohar with their long braids flying and their dark eyes flashing, as they danced barefooted in the hot sun. They bled.

Eunuchs - Behind the Mask:

The eunuchs' voices were harsh and their songs were full of melancholy. The themes of their songs were those of lovers dying and sterility (children left unborn). Some beat their drums while others beat their flat breasts and wept. The joy on their faces was only a mask as they writhed in pain and their faces were really vacant... ... ...

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THE EMPTY COLUMN - Tobias Dantzig

THE EMPTY COLUMN
- An Abridged Version (S.R)

Introduction:

In this essay Tobias Dantzig narrates the story of one of the three R's, namely 'Rithmetic, which though the oldest, came hardest to mankind. The essay opens with a brief epigraph of Laplace which says:

It is India that gave us the ingenious method of expressing all numbers by means of ten symbols…Its very simplicity and the great ease which it has lent to all computations put our arithmetic in the first rank of useful inventions.

The Origin of Written Numeration:

Written numeration probably originated in man's desire to keep a record of his flocks and other goods.

Notches on a stick or tree,
Scratches on stones and rocks,
Marks in clay,

these are the earliest forms of this endeavour to record numbers by written symbols. Archaeological researches trace such records to times immemorial, as they are found in the caves of prehistoric man in Europe, Africa and Asia.

The Oldest records of Written Numerals:

The oldest records of the systematic use of written numerals are those of the ancient Sumerians and Egyptians, both traced back around 3500 B.C. In spite of the distance that separated them , we are struck with the great similarity in the principles used.

The Distinct Cardinal Characters of Old Numerals:

Whether it be
the cuneiform numerals of the ancient Babylonians,
the hieroglyphics of the Egyptian papyri,
the queer figures of the early Chinese records, or
the tally-stick of the English.

We find everywhere a distinctly cardinal principles. Each numeral up to nine is merely a collection of strokes. The same principle is used beyond nine, such as tens, hundreds etc, being represented by special symbols.

The Art of Reckoning In The Middle Ages:

Neither the ordinal system of the Greeks nor the cardinal system of Rome was capable of creating an arithmetic which could be used by a man of average intelligence. That is why, from the beginning of history until the advent of modern positional numeration, so little progress was made in the art of reckoning. When a German merchant of the 15th century appealed to a prominent professor of a university for advice as to where he should send his son, the reply was that, if the mathematical curriculum was confined to adding and subtracting, he could obtain it in a German university, but for the art of multiplying and dividing, he should go to Italy, which was the only country where such advanced instruction could be obtained.

Multiplication and division in those days had little in common with the modern operations bearing the same names. Multiplication, for instance, was a succession of duplations, which was the name given to the doubling of a number. In the same way, division was reduced to mediation, i.e., 'having' a number. A clear insight into the status of reckoning in the middle Ages can be obtained from an example.

Using modern notations:
_______________________________________________________
Today / Thirteenth Century
46 / 46 x 2 = 92
13 / 46 x 4 = 92 x 2 = 184
138 / 46 x 8 = 184 x 2 = 368
46 / 368 + 184 + 46 = 598
598 /

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

thus, computations which a child can now perform required then the services of a specialist.

Difficulties in Calculation before the Discovery of Modern Numeration and How Man Countered Them:

The growing complexities of life, industry and commerce, of property, taxation and military organization, all called for intricate calculations which were beyond the scope of the finger technique. The numeration of those times was incapable of meeting the demand. So man had to resort to mechanical devices which ultimately resulted in the invention of the counting board or abacus, which has been found in practically every country where a counting technique exists.

The abacus consists of a flat board divided into a series of parallel columns, each column representing a decimal class, such as units, tens, hundreds, etc. The board is provided with a set of counters which are used to indicate the number of units in each class. The many counting boards known, differ merely in the construction of the columns and in the types of the counters used. The Greek and Roman types had loose counters, while the Chinese Suan-Pan has perforated balls sliding on slender bamboo rods. The Russian Szczety, consists of a wooden frame on which are mounted a series of wise rods with sliding buttons for counters. The ancient Hindu “dust board” was also an abacus in principle, the counters here being laid by erasable marks written on sand.

To this day, the counting board is in daily use in the rural districts of Russia and throughout China, where it persists in open competition with modern calculating devices. But in Western Europe and America the abacus survived as a mere curiosity which few people have seen except in pictures.

The history of Reckoning: A Picture of Desolate Stagnation:

In the long period of 5000 years of civilized existence, which saw the rise and fall of many a civilization, there was a lack of achievement in the history of reckoning, the earliest art practiced by man. Thus the history of reckoning presents a peculiar picture of desolate stagnation.

The Discovery of the Principle of Position:

The achievement of the unknown Hindu who sometime in the first centuries of our era discovered the principle of position assumes the proportions of a world-event. We know for sure that, without it, no progress in arithmetic was possible. The principle is so simple that today the dullest school boy has no difficulties in grasping it and it is particularly puzzling to us that even the great mathematicians of Greece did not stumble on it.

The 'Anatomy' of Our Modern Numeration:

The principle of position consists in giving the numeral a value which depends not only on the number of the natural sequence it represents, but also on the position it occupies with respect to the other symbols of the group.

Thus the same digit two has different meaning in three numbers -

342, 725, 269 ;

in the first case it stands for two;
in the second case it stands for twenty,
in the third case it stands for two hundred.

but that is precisely the scheme of the counting board, where 342 is represented by
___ ___ ___

True! But there is one difficulty. Any attempt to make a permanent record of a counting-board operation would meet the obstacle that such an entry as may represent any one of several numbers: 32, 302, 320, 3002 and 3020 among others.

In order to avoid this ambiguity it is essential to have some method of representing the gaps, i.e., what is needed is a symbol for an empty column.

No progress was possible until a symbol was invented for an empty class, a symbol for nothing, our modern zero. The concrete mind of the ancient Greeks could neither conceive the void as a number nor endow the void with a symbol.

The Indian term for zero was sunya, which meant empty or blank, but had no connotation for 'void' or 'nothing'. and so, from all probability, the discovery of zero was an accident brought about by an attempt to make a permanent record of counting -board operation.

The Evolution of the Indian Sunya into the Zero of Today:

How the Indian sunya became the zero of today constitutes one of the most interesting chapters in the history of culture. When the Arabs of the 10th century adopted the Indian numeration, they translated the Indian sunya by their own sifr which meant ‘empty’ in Arabic. Sifr was Latinized into zephirum. This happened at the beginning of the 13th century and in the course of the next hundred years the word underwent a series of changes which culminated in the Italian zero.

About the same time, Jordanus Nemerarius was introducing the Arabic system into Germany. He kept the Arabic word changing it slightly to cifra. In the English language the word cifra has become ‘cipher’ and has retained its original meaning of zero.

The essential part played by zero in the new art of reckoning did not escape the notice of the masses. Indeed, they identified the whole system with its most striking feature, the cifra.

This double meaning, the popular cifra of the masses standing for the numeral and the cifra of the learned, signifying zero, caused considerable confusion. The learned had to yield to popular usage, and the matter was eventually settled by adopting the Italian zero in the sense in which it is used today.

The same interest attaches to the word algorithm which today refers to any mathematical procedure consisting of an indefinite number of steps, each step applying to the result of the one preceding it. The word ‘algorithm’ is merely a corruption of Al Kworesmi, the name of the Arabian mathematician of the 9th century whose book (in Latin translation) was the first work on this subject to reach western Europe.

The Period of Transition:

The transition from the ancient unwieldy numeration to the positional numeration was not immediate, but extended over long centuries. The struggle between the Abacists, who defended the old traditions, and the Algorists, who advocated the reform, lasted from the eleventh to the fifteenth century, and went through all the usual stages of obscurantism and reaction. In some places Arabic numerals were banned from official documents; in others the art was prohibited altogether. And, as usual, prohibition did not succeed in abolishing, but merely served to spread bootlegging. Indeed very little of essential value or lasting influence was contributed to the art of reckoning in these transition centuries. Only the outward appearance of the numerals went through a series of changes. In fact, the numerals did not assume a stable form until the introduction of printing. So great was the stabilizing influence of printing that the numerals of today have essentially the same appearance as those of the fifteenth century.

Conclusion:

Conceived in all probability as the symbol for an empty column on a counting board, the Indian sunya was destined to become the turning point in a development without which the progress of modern science, industry, or commerce is inconceivable. By paving the way to a generalized number concept, it played a fundamental role in practically every branch of mathematics. In the history of culture, the discovery of zero will always stand out as one of the greatest single achievements of the human race.

It is indeed a great discovery which has profoundly affected the life of the race, not the reward of painstaking research, but a gift from blind chance.

*

The Nature of the Individual and His Fulfilment

"The Nature of the Individual and His Fulfilment "

- Chinua Achebe

Introduction:

According to Chinua Achebe, every human culture, either now or in the past, has confronted, in some form, the two realities of social man - his individuality and his membership of a group. Differences between cultures must therefore be sought not in the presence or absence of this polarity, but rather on whether they place their emphasis nearer one pole or the other. Yet, it is important to remember that however strongly one culture may seem to be dominated by either of these realities, the other is always present, if only in a recessive role.

Seeds for the Growth of Western Individualism:

When the West was ready to enthrone individualism as a consequence of its peculiar political and economic evolution, there was Biblical authority ready at hand: In the book of Ezekiel in the Old Testament, we find the collective responsibility for sin is superceded by a new morality based on individual accountability. "The soul that sinneth, it shall die" said the prophet [Ezek.18:4]

There were also other and more recent seeds - sown by the Protestant Reformation, which made every man his own priest and later in the democratic revolutions of the eighteenth century in America and France with their ringing assertion of the equality of men. Finally the sweeping success of Freud gave the seal of scientific approval in an increasingly science-oriented age to the growing preoccupation with self.

Difference between Western Culture and Other Cultures:

One of the major differences between Western Culture and the cultures of other parts of the world is the West's celebration of the autonomy of the individual at the expense of society.

Achebe here quotes the protagonist of the novel Ambiguous Adventure, by the Senegalese Muslim writer Cheikh Hamidou Kane, when the hero is asked how the history of Western thought strikes an African, he says:

"Socrates' scheme of thinking does not seem to me, at bottom, different from that of Saint Augustine, though there was Christ between them."

Achebe says that if Socrates - or his student Plato and Augustine were to return to the world today... ... ...

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RUINS OF A GREAT HOUSE - Derek Walcott

"though our longest sun sets at right Declensions andmakes but winter Arches, it cannot be long before we Lie down in darkness, and have our Light in ashes . . ."

- Browne, 'Urn Burial'

Introduction:

"Ruins of a Great House" by Derek Walcott is both a patriotic and a humanistic poem. Here, the poet compares Africa to a great house in ruins. The poet is sad that the long African day is over and that winter and night will soon envelope their lives. The light is now expended and only the ashes remain.

Browne's "Urn Burial" and Its Relationship with Africa:

Thomas Browne wrote his "Urn Burial" when some urns were discovered. Walcott feels that Africa is full of urns carrying dead bodies. The Great House (Africa) is now in ruins. The British lizard with dragon-like claws has swallowed the moth-like girls of Africa. The Guardians (gate-cherubs) of the gates had been slaughtered (streaked with strain). The African coach wheel could not move as the axle had been clogged (like a cart immobilised by cattle droppings).


The Poet's Farewell to the Fields and Groves of Africa: His Reminiscences of Africa:


The country has only eucalyptus trees. Crows are its only birds. Its lime trees are dead and stinking. The British Empire is leprous and contaminated. The poet sadly bids farewell to the green fields and the happy groves of Africa, which are no more.


Africa was once beautiful. It was polished like marble, but now it was a symbol of struggle, like Faulkner's South (of America, where the haves and the have nots clash). Its temporary deciduous beauty is gone. The trees near the lawn are diseased (rashes). They have already shed their leaves. These leaves cover dead animals or human beings. Obviously the colonial rulers have robbed Africa of its wealth and destroyed its people.


The Moral Death of the Great British Empire:


Now, it appears as if Africa has only lime trees, which grow in the silt, not in pure waters (corrosive and corrupt people). The British imperious rakes have carried away the African beauties. The African life (river) flows and the past hurt is slowly forgotten. The great artists of Africa, the craftsmen, have been banished. Now, the great house is worm-eaten ... ...


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Africa Speaks - Michael Dei-Anang

Introduction:

Michael Dei-Anang is furious with people, who call Africa, 'Dark Africa.' Africa is dark, neither geographically nor intellectually. In this poem, Michael Dei-Anang makes Africa speak in a monologue.

Tracing the Origin of the Adjective 'Dark':

Africa traces the origin of the adjective "dark" which is unjustifiably attached to its name. Long long ago, when faithlessness was the order of the day, when man's vision was short and knowledge very limited, men called the continent 'dark Africa.' Men, then, could not understand the real worth of nations because of their bigotry and narrow outlook. They had little knowledge about the world and its treasures.

The Title 'Dark' - Unjustified:

The title 'dark' cannot be justified, according to the poet. Africa was neither ignorant, nor backward, nor stagnant. She has raised the magnificent pyramids, which is one of the wonders of the world. It has not been a dry land and has been in possession of vast fortunes. She has attracted great emperors like Julius and Octavius Caesar; Cleopatra, the queen of Egypt has held Antony and his country under her grasp.

Civilization on the Fertile Banks of the Nile:

The life-giving Nile has nursed the child of civilization on its fertile banks. The Nile valley civilization is considered one of the oldest of civilizations. Africa was on the zenith of civilization when the western nations were struggling to find the roots of civilization. Greek culture and civilization which was copied by the West, has been a gift of Africa.

Cultivation of 'the Tranquil Art' by Africa:

The industrial progress and technological development of the West, is no doubt, unquesionable. But a non-technological nation cannot be denied her virtue and value. In their struggle for supremacy over the world, the West has been producing and using more and more powerful weapons of human destruction. But Africa has thrown away even her primitive and pristine bows and arrows because she believes more in peace and arts than in industrial war and technological struggle. When Africa has chosen to remain peaceful, calm and contended, the West has dubbed her as "Dark."

Africa asserts that peaceful arts of coexistence are dearer and more helpful for international understanding and fearless existence than the cold war generated by the might of atoms and multiplicity of industries. Such fine arts of thinking and living together produced by Africa is more valuable than cold steel and iron.

The Kingly Whistling Palms: Its Significance:

The material prosperity of the West produces fear, envy, cut throat competition and war. But the desert regions of Africa containing kingly whistling palms keep a treasure which none can measure. The palms of Africa symbolise peace and spiritual progress, which is awfully wanting in the West. The West has, therefore, no right to call Africa 'Dark."

Conclusion:

Finally, Africa is in the East. The sun rises in the east. Spiritual meditation, philosophy, Fine Arts and everything useful for a peaceful life dawns in the East. One can see for oneself one of the seven Wonders of teh World, one of the civilizations and one of the most peace-loving citizens in Africa. None has any right and evidence to call the calm continent, "Dark."

Michael Dei-Anang's poem is not a mere outburst of patriotic sentiment, but is a mature judgment of African contribution to the world and to the society at large.

Experience of Literature - Internal Mark Statement

Department	Name	Average
History (R)	Prakash, V	31
Pol. Science	Chidambaranathan, P	32
	Murugavel, K.M	27
	Thanga Manikanda Prabhu, S	30
Economics	Lakshmi Vettom	36
	Jerry Sebastian	39
	Rakesh Kumar Reddy, L	35
	Sadhu Sathiaraj, J	33
	Savio Antony Bernard	38
	Sujoy Nath	39
Philosophy	Manikandan, A. K	30
Commerce	Prasanna, S	30
Commerce(V)	Deepu Jose	35
Mathematics	Jhenifer Sagaya Selvi, A.J	36
	Sarah Faith, J	38
	Shwetha, S	39
	Alfred Williams, J	35
Statistics	Mary Lucia, M.S	38
	Sruthi, S.R	36
Physics	Anu, A	37
	Jansi Rani, R	36
	Mahalakshmi, K	38
	Mercy Gunaseeli	36
	Roselin Jebakani, A	38
	Sharmila, K	37
	Sowmya Keerthi, A	36
	Uvarani, N	38
	Harris George W. Denver	39
	Jaya Prakash, P	32
	Ram Kumar, R	34
	Santhosh Chelladurai, A	35
	Subhakar, S.R	34
Chemistry	Anu Mathew	38
	Jansi Mary, V	37
	Lakshmi Reddy Yannam	22
	Leny Thomas	37
Plant Bio&PBT	Abishek Ebenezer	35
	Albert Selvakumar, M	32
	Perumal, S.M	33
Zoology (R)	Shanthini, C	36
	Barnabas Praveen, M	36
	Kalluri Melliusperemroge	34
	Kannali Jawaharjamaison	34
Zoology (V)	Bhuvanesware, B.G	34
	Rama Poornima, S	35