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The Political Exploitation of Feminine Sensibility in Alphabet of Lust
Get PDFKamala Das is one of the great voices of feminine sensibility in the history of Indian English literature. She wrote poetical and non-poetical works on love and sex very openly and frankly. Political issues have also been a concerning matter in the personal as well as political life of Kamala Das. Her poetical or non-poetical works have the source of political issues in the form of feminine exploitation to the core of life in the patriarchal society all over the world. Her literary works have a great source of such exploitation in not only her social views but also in the politics, extending from the local to the upper level of cabinet ministry. The present research paper is trying to explore the political exploitation of the feminine sensibility in her novel, Alphabet of Lust, 1976
Multilingualism and Subversion: Articulating Plural Identities in Stand-up Comedy in India
Get PDFLaughter has become a serious business in India now. Over the last decade, the growth of stand-up comedy has been phenomenal in India. From having late-night comedy shows on televisions that employed the same stream of jokes repetitively, the comedy scene in India has evolved into an entire industry of stand-up comedians performing in pubs, clubs, auditoriums, and digital platforms like YouTube channels and other streaming platforms. The huge popularity of stand-up comedy hints at the license given to the stand-up comedians by the audience to discuss the current socio-political issues of the country. The audience’s laughter in response to the comedian’s joke might suggest a collective agreement to the stand-up comedian’s opinionated jokes. Therefore, an understanding of the relevance of stand-up comedy in contemporary culture becomes pertinent. Since stand-up comedians use the medium of language to connect with the audience to convey their jokes, it becomes important to take into cognizance the role language plays in the performance especially in a multilingual country, like India. This research paper is thus an aim to analyze the role of multilingualism in stand-up comedy in articulating issues pertinent to India to locate the contemporary pluralistic culture of India
To Lie or Not to Lie: Revisiting Albert Camus’ The Outsider
Get PDFMeursault is different. He will not lie. He will not pretend. He is true to himself. So when his mother dies and he is unmoved, he refuses to do the proper thing and grieve. Returning to his native place after the funeral, he carries on life as usual until he becomes involved in a climatic murder scene. In court, it is clear that Meursault’s guilt or innocence will not be determined by what he did or did not do. He is on trial for being different- an outsider. For example in court when the police man asked Meursault if “he is ‘nervous’. He said no. Infact, in a way it would be interesting to watch a trail” (Camus, The Outsider 81)
English Language Acquisition of the Secondary School Students Belonging to Tribal Area of Nanded District: An Investigation
Get PDFBeing an International language English holds an important position in school curriculum of India. It is introduced as a second or third language. The students not only study it as language but as a subject. However the performance of the students in English is a matter of discussion. There are some issues regarding English language acquisition at secondary level of school education. These issues are much intense in Tribal area of the country in general and Maharashtra in special. The remote, backward, notified tribal areas of the Maharashtra are known for the diversity of sociolinguistic factors. Nanded district located to south east part of Maharashtra state has the tribal region covering Kinwat and Mahoor tehsils. Most of the people in this area are the people from Scheduled Tribe and Nomadic Tribe social categories. The schools located in this tribal area are mostly in vernacular language i.e. in Marathi. Despite of the strenuous, Himalayan efforts undertaken by the state government, a sorry state of affairs is still rampant to exist in the achievement of English and the acquisition of English language of secondary school students belonging to tribal area of Nanded district in Maharashtra state is not satisfactory. The dialects, social background, weaker economic condition, aloofness from the advanced world, lack of amenities, health issues, ignorance are some of the social issues. Poor infrastructure, lack of teaching aids and competent teachers in tribal schools are some causes behind poor performance in English language. Students commit mistakes in spellings, sentence formation in addition to wrong pronunciation. 
Gail Omvedt’s Dalit Visions: A Look at Various Alternative Movements Which Rose Under the Larger Dalit Movement
Get PDFThere is no denying the fact that whenever any section of the society is overly exploited, agitations and protests are a natural consequence and the agitation by the Dalits in India are no exceptions. The 1920s was the time when a number of Dalit movements came to the forefront, nurtured by the rising consciousness to fight back against any kind of exploitation. This paper seeks to analyse Gail Omvedt’s Dalit Visions, a book which explores how various small Dalit movements emerged under the larger Dalit movement and toiled to create for themselves equal opportunities as other upper caste and class sections of the Hindu society had. Omvedt in her book talks about how different groups of society challenged the different aspects of the hegemonic Hindu society. If we club together all the various movements which emerged under the larger Dalit movement, then we can see that though they all differed in their specific methods and objectives and, all had the common and more general agenda of resisting all kinds of exploitation and Hindu hegemony
Use of Folktales in the plays of Shakespeare
Get PDFThe present paper aims at to discuss the use of folktales in some notable plays of William Shakespeare. World widely he is well accepted and acknowledge a great dramatist, but this fame of Shakespeare is relied on his use of folklores of various languages and cultures. He became master in using folklores in his plays with new flavour and glamour. As we know that folklores are the foundation of modern literary forms. They are deep rooted in cultures and languages. Folklores have a tradition that they are not available in any written form but they are moulded in order to suit best in new modern literary forms. Shakespeare was the master in doing so. Folklore is a very broader term includes everything about humans and their cultures. For most of his plays, Shakespeare borrowed the material from folklores. But it’s very unfortunate that many scholars of Shakespeare concentrated themselves only on literary forms instead foundation of his plays ignored or paid no attention. So here I am making a small effort to talk about those folklores that supplied rich materials for his plays The Merchant of Venice, King Lear, The Taming of The Shrew, The Comedy of Errors, Titus Andronicus, All’s Well That Ends Well, Cymbeline and The Tempest. Apart from this there are some well-known literary sources as Holinshed’s chronicles, Plutarch’s The Lives of Noble Greeks and Romans and Ovid’s Metamorphosis
Swami Vivekananda and Social Change
Get PDFWe often wonder what would be the relevance of the message of a monk today, who was born more than 100 years ago, lived the life of a mendicant and left for his heavenly abode at a very young age of 39 years. In this paper, I would focus on the relevance of Swami Vivekananda philosophy of work in modern era. Swami Vivekananda taught on both broad and very deep aspects (not restricted to India alone) encompassing Spiritualism, Universal values, Religion, Character building, Education, Spirit of Service and Social issues. Teachings and philosophy of Swami Vivekananda stressed on different aspects of religion, youth, education, faith, character building as well as social issues pertaining to India. His teachings influenced contemporaries, inspired innumerable followers and started off movements all over India. Swami Vivekananda symbolizes courage, boundless energy and fiery enthusiasm. Millions have been influenced just by his personality. His words ring true and shake people out of their passivity, laziness, weakness, Inertia and sufferings. The ideas of Swami ji have been seen through various eyes and new light has been thrown upon these ideas
The Apparel Apparatus: Covert Body-Politics and Violence against Women in India
Get PDFIt is an undeniable fact that crime rates against women has increased to an alarming degree in India over the past few decades. With this alarming condition has risen up the question, where the ‘reasons’ behind such situation lie. The increasing number of violent atrocities against women has led to a number of debates in the present day scenario. One very important among them is the responsibility of the women themselves in such cases. Many have blamed the rapid westernization of our country in the past few decades and the changes that entailed them are loosening the moral values of our society. Such changes include the changing roles of the women in our country, such as working outside, having not only a private but also a public life, wearing western clothes etc. Some traditionalist termed these clothes as immoral and provocative to male eyes and should be discarded for they can loosen the moral of the male part of the society. Now the question is how far the women can be responsible for wearing an ‘immoral’ cloth or even crucial, can a ‘cloth’ be termed as ‘immoral’? What is this ‘moral guideline’, if any, that the women should follow? Is it even ‘moral’ to have such a guideline? Or is it another agenda of the hierarchical society to mask the reality colonization behind ‘morality’? 
In Pursuit of Secularism: Religious and Political Complexity in Selected Works of Shashi Tharoor
Get PDFThe term secularism means separate from religion or having no religious basis. It indicates to what the dissociation of religion from political economic social and cultural aspects of life. It advocates the equal opportunities for the follower of all religion. Sanatan Dharma (Hinduism) believes in the holistic and comprehensive religious belief and trying to integrate them. The term related to the Vedic concept of Dharmnirpeksh (the indifference of state to religion) and the Vedic philosophy Sarv Dharm Sambhava (the destination of all part follower of all religion is same). In Indian constitution the word ‘secular’ is added by making forty-second amendment act in 1976 with a belief of equality and equal protection to all community. In the other hand, it has taken the power to interfere in religion so as remove evils in it such as dowry system, child marriage, triple talaq, uniform civil code, CAA, law of overpopulation control act etc. In India there are mainly two perspectives regarding Secularism. One perspective related to the views of Mahatma Gandhi. The followers of these views accept that secularism in India can only be possible with an adoption of pluralism by every Indian citizen. The other perspective related to the views of Sangh Parivar. The followers of this view accepted that the secularism is western concept that is not suitable for the Indian context and must be replaced with cultural nationalism
Literature and Culture: A Survey of Ruskin Bond’s Works in Special Context to the Present World
Get PDFThe most ancient and the mother of almost every culture of the world, Indian culture has been immortal with its traditional entity. It is the purest one with its refined traits and inside it; there lies love, respect and egoless personality. Basic elements of it have been inspiring and combining not only Indians but the foreigners also. In spite of the diversity, whole India is a unity because of its common culture and that is why when the ancient cultures and civilizations of the world e.g., Greek, Egyptian and Rome have perished but Indian culture and civilization is intact even today. Behind Indian culture there are major features such as the spirit of deism, coordination, unity in diversity, ancientness, and benevolence and these are life-giving elements that calm us down and assure us to withstand the attack of post modern mechanized culture. History tells that the imbibing power of Indian culture is employed under its currents, either trying to make itself most beautiful or battling and defeating inner or outer foes. Today the whole world is accepting the greatness of Indian culture, besides many causes, contributions of many philosophers and ideologists are also appreciable in its publicity and dissemination. Classical writers like Kalidas, Shudrak, Bhas, Shri Harsh etc. have disclosed the culture of the golden era of India in their works; for in the shadow of literature, features of particular age are hidden. Later a long series of the writers of regional languages have echoed and expanded the Indian way of living, thinking, and behavior, according to their own style. Anglo-Indian literature is also not spared this particular subject and many writers are contributing in spreading Indian culture throughout the world. Ruskin Bond is one of the shiniest stars in this galaxy and his whole literature is based on ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’ ideology. The present paper is an endeavour to evaluate Ruskin Bond as a writer and a Culturist