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ISSN 0976-0814

Labyrinth An International Refereed Journal of Postmodern Studies

Vol.2 - No.2 April 2011 Abstracted & Indexed at Literary Reference Centre EBSCO HOST, USA

Editor

Lata Mishra PG Dept. of English Studies & Research Govt. KRG (Autonomous) PG College, Gwalior, MP

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DISCLAIMER: Articles and views published in this journal DO NOT necessarily reflect the views or policies of the Editorial Board. © COPYRIGHT: Reproduction of the contents of Labyrinth in whole or in part without the prior permission of the Editor is prohibited. All disputes concerning the journal are subject to Gwalior Jurisdiction.

Table of Contents Management of Face in Vikram Seth's A Suitable Boy: A Sociosemantic Study -Vijay Singh Thakur 5 Interpreting the Dialectics of Duality in Anita Desai's Clear Light of Day - Narinder K. Sharma & Rohit Phutela 16 Patriarchy Falls Apart: A Comparative Study of Achebe's Things Fall Apart and Mahfouz's Palace Walk - Abdulrahman Mokbel 27 The Otherness of The Other in Tagore's Mystic Poetry - Swati Samantaray 39 Post Colonialism and Gender Consciousness in The Novels of Shashi Deshpande -Taniya Chakraborty & Joydeep Banerjee 46 Dalit Literature: From Oppression to Emancipation - Shabina Nishat Omar 54 Feminist Mythopoeia: A Study of Shashi Deshpande's Mirrors - A. Sujatha 65 Nayantara Sahgal's Rich Like Us: Political Novel as Postmodernist Non-Fiction - R.G.Hegde 70 Therapeutic Effects of Indian Summer on Strained Relationships: A Study of Indian Summer - Neeta Puranik & Indira Javed 82 A Question of Identity in South Asian Canadian Women Poetry - Amodini Sreedharan 86 Dalit Writing Versus Non-Dalit Writing - Bishun Kumar 93 Feministic Echoes in Attia Hosain's Sunlight on a Broken Column- Anju Bala Agrawal 99 K. V. Dominic's Winged Reason: Poems of Man's Earthly Life and Painful Realities - P C K Prem 104 “The theory of space in Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own - Itishri Sarangi 111 Lesbian and Postmodern Perspectives in Jeanette Winterson's Fiction - B.J. Geetha 114 Reflecting Feminism Through Tehmina Durrani's 'My Feudal Lord' And 'Blasphemy' - Sangeeta Das 121 Versions of India: Visions of Naipaul- Ajay K Chaubey 127 Universalizing Heterogeneity: Celebration of Creole Identity in Derek Walcott's Poetry - Ujjwal Kr. Panda 136 Toni Morrison's Tar Baby: Violent Representations - Suchibrata Goswami 142 Negotiations and Violence in Mahfouz's Death and Resurrection - Mashhoor Abdu Al- Moghales 150

‘I have to speak the truth'- Vijay Tendulkar: Discussing the Man of Genius - Megha Trivedi De-glorification of homogenous world: Kiran Nagarkar's Ravan and Eddie -Nitin Jarandikar Journey as a metaphor in Kavery Nambisan's Mango-Coloured Fish - C.Sharada

157 165 170

Interviews An Interview with Bratati Bandyopadhyay - Soumitra Chakraborty Interview with Patricia Prime - Sunil Sharma

176 181

Short Story From Gloria's Diary Settling in Italy, after a whole life spent in Africa -Albert Russo

189

Book Reviews K.V. Raghupathi: Dispersed Symphonies - P.V. Laxmi Prasad Shaleen Kumar Singh: The Proprietary Pains - Sunil Sharma

197 199

Poetry Death “The Deconstructor”- Marie Josephine Aruna 26 Remembrance of the Corrected Past, The Seed that Grew - Albert Russo 38, 205 Why Do I Exist?, Fighting with Memories - P.V. Laxmi Prasad 53, 175 The Great Indian Mourning - Sunil Sharma 120 From the eyes of a Visitor - Sangeeta Sharma 135 Shark Alley - Graham Vivian Lancaster 169 Voice of Earth - Medha Sachdev 201 Space, Dancing Heads - Anjuli Jain 69, 202 Who Can Answer Them? - M.G. Priya 203 A Second, Believe Me or Not, Cut Throat - Vivekanand Jha 204 Epiphany - Varun Raj Nair 206 Our Esteemed Contributors

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Management of Face in Vikram Seth's A Suitable Boy: A Socio-semantic Study - Vijay Singh Thakur Abstract: There has been quite a lot of work in the studies of Language in relation to Society explaining how speakers are polite to one another in what they say and do, and how they try to mitigate impolite behavior linguistically in order to uphold social cohesion. As literature, in many ways, reflects societies, the investigation of principles of politeness in literary discourse can tell us a lot about language, society, culture and thought and thereby can uncover new meanings, implications, and insights into the nature of literary communication that are generally not explained through a strictly traditional analysis. Based on the premise of who speaks; to whom; when; where; how; and why in a variety of contexts, including social contexts, the present paper examines some suprasentential stretches of dialogic discourse in diverse inter-personal relationships from Vikram Seth's magnum opus A Suitable Boy (ASB) in the light of Brown and Levinson's (1987) Face Saving view of Politeness. Various issues concerning face management related to personal motives, solidarity principle, power principle, etc that are opened up through the analysis of the conversational behaviours of characters and the governing force for their choices of one strategy over others within the framework of face-saving politeness can help us better account for the aspects concerning the construction and performance of various personalities and identities— particularly through the inferences generating about the changes in one's character in different inter-personal and socio-cultural contexts. Furthermore, the application of pragmatic interpretative strategies in the literary studies would also produce multi-level discussions and interpretations of literary texts which may help heighten literary appreciation. Keywords: face, interaction, concord, role-relationship, verbal transaction, politeness- principle. Introduction How do readers of novels get from the words in conversations to judgments concerning the 'personalities' of characters? Generally, the readers' judgment is based on anecdotal references in the story and hence it tends to become tentative. It is against this backdrop that the present paper attempts to show as to how the face-saving model of politeness, as proposed by Brown and Levinson (1987), could be used to uncover real meanings of character utterances through the marked

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Labyrinth | Vol.2 No.2 (Apr. 2011)

culture-specific discourse features in conversational exchanges regulated by the characters' personal motives and their respective milieus. This may help the readers to form better judgments related to the development of different aspects of personalities of characters through the novel. The fundamental assumptions of this face-saving view of Brown and Levinson are combined with Goffman's (1967; 1972) concept of 'face' i.e. an individual's publically manifest self-esteem. Face is something that is emotionally invested by every competent member of a society and that can be lost, maintained, or enhanced, and must be constantly attended to in an interaction. Such cooperation is based on mutual vulnerability of face. Put another way, normally, everyone's face depends on everyone else's being maintained. Since people can be expected to defend their faces if threatened, and in defending their own faces, also to threaten others' face.The notion of face reflects two related aspects: a. Negative Face: It refers to the basic claim to territories, personal preserves, right to non-distraction, i.e. freedom of action and freedom from imposition. b. Positive Face: It is related to the positive consistent self-image or personality claimed by interactants which certainly includes the desire that this self-image be appreciated, understood, ratified, approved of, liked or admired. The two aspects of face can be treated as basic wants which every member knows and every member desires and it is in the interest of every member to partially satisfy them. Negative face wants are related to the politeness of non-imposition whereas positive face wants are concerned with the reduction of person's self-image or personality directed towards the other person. Although the content of face will differ in different cultures, the mutual knowledge of members' public self-image or face and the social necessity to orient oneself to it in interaction are universal. Normally, the respect for face is treated as norms or values but not as an unquestionable one. Face can be, and routinely is, ignored in cases of social breakdown or affrontery and also in situations of urgent cooperation and emergency. In any particular society one may expect the notion of face to be culturally highly elaborative. This core concept of 'face' is subject to cultural specifications of many sorts, e.g.What kinds of acts threaten face; What sorts of person have special rights to face protection;What kinds of personal style (in terms of graciousness, ease of social relations, etc.) are specially appreciated. On the other hand, notions of face naturally link up to some of the most fundamental cultural ideas about the nature of social persona, honour and virtue, shame and redemption and thus to religious concepts. But, despite all rich elaborations, the core ideas in the notion of face have a striking familiarity. Let us, before we actually get down to examining the management of face in ASB, look at the interface between politeness and the concept of face.

7 The Concept of Face and Politeness Politeness, as House and Kasper (1981:157) remark, seems to be a social value that occurs in all civilized societies and the norms relating to what is polite and what is impolite behaviour may vary across cultures. Politeness phenomenon can be derived from the Goffman's (1967, 1972:319-346) notion of face. Every person creates or builds a selfimage in terms of the positive and negative sanctions of his society. Goffman (1972:319-346) argues that the self is a social construction or, more specifically, an interactive construction. One way of viewing the self as a public construction is through the notion of face, i.e. the positive social value a person effectively claims for himself by the line others assume he has taken during a particular contact. A verbal interaction thus becomes a cooperative endeavour or a common pursuit in the direction of maintaining inter-personal faces. When politeness is self-centred, it has a defensive orientation towards saving one's own face and in being other-centred it holds a protective orientation towards saving the other's face. Both these defensive and protective functions are fulfilled by politeness. These two aspects are implied in politeness being seen as strategic conflict avoidance (Leech, 1977:19) or as a device used in order to reduce friction in personal interaction (Lakoff, 1975:64). In correspondence with Grice's Conversational Cooperativeness (1975), Lakoff (1973:298) proposes three rules of politeness in 'Don't impose', 'Give options', and 'Make hearer feel good, i.e. be friendly'. These rules agree with the parameters that Leech (1980:79-117) has set up for defining politeness in language using the cost and benefit scale in minimizing cost to other and benefit to self and vice versa, i.e. maximizing cost to self and benefit to other. Thus, politeness is essentially a matter of consideration for others. Communication of a message is not the sole purpose of human interaction. A major portion of one's verbal and non-verbal interaction is designed to avoid offence and establish camaraderie with one's fellow beings. Put simply, people constantly try to establish and maintain cordial relationships or minimize discord, if any, in their relationship with others. Various views related to the theory of politeness are common in that the notion of politeness involves a description of how language is situated in particular circumstances of social life, and, how it reflects, and adds meaning and structure in those situations. The need for analyzing politeness phenomena through the management of face in ASB is aimed at discovering the socio-cultural descriptions of the conversational behaviour of the interactants in the novel. Such an analysis will lead us into a search for explanations of human conduct and help us interpret various aspects in the novel in new ways entailing a broader perspective of characters' identities. In this paper we shall examine the operation of the face-saving view of

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politeness in ASB. What concerns our discussion here is related to the examination of the characters' perception of each other's public selfimage and the way they threaten it. Needless to say that characters' status, authority, occupation, ethnic identity, friendship, and situational factors will play a major role in dealing with the concept of face in their conversational behaviour.The insight thus emerging from the discussion would help us better understand the growth and development of characters in new ways. It's time now to take up some pieces of dialogic discourse from the novel under study and examine as to how the characters handle the face work in certain communicative situations. Example One Mrs. Rupa Mehra: No, (said Mrs. Rupa Mehra vehemently, shaking her needle for emphasis). My daughter is not going to act in any play. No. (She glared at Lata over the top of her reading glasses.) … Boys and girls together – acting! … Lata: Like in Julius Caesar last year (ventured Lata). Mrs. Rupa Mehra: You be quiet (snapped her mother). No one has asked you to speak. Have you ever heard of Savita wanting to act? To act on the stage with hundreds of people staring ? And going to those nightly gatherings with boys– (777-78)

Analysis: The speakers estimate the cost of a particular speech act in terms of its relative threat to speaker, hearer or both using their perceptions of the degree of social distance between speaker and hearer, the degree of dominance or affiliation, and the relative status of a particular type of act within a given culture. Then they choose the appropriate conversational style. Rejections of requests and proposals are on their own face-threatening but the degree of the involved face threat and face loss varies from culture to culture. In the present extract under investigation the face-threatening act of Mrs. Rupa Mehra's blunt rejection of her daughter Lata's proposed request to act in the annual day play of her college has been done directly and without any ameliorating efforts to cover the involved face threat and face loss. On the other hand the perlocutionary response of Lata in her submissive compliance doesn't seem to display any sad, serious or hurt feeling of losing face as a result of her negative face being challenged in her mother's attempts to control and curb her individual freedom and autonomy with snubbing and scolding. Conversely, in her very cooperative response, she is trying to preserve her mother's positive face in not contradicting and arguing against it in the ongoing conversation. Reasons are socio-cultural. Unlike Western cultures, Indian culture represents in a strong, solid, and unquestioned authority of parents even on their grown-up children to question and influence their personal matters and they are taught (as a part of their growing up) to avoid confrontation and arguments with parents and elders on views and opinions especially when they are at variance with commonly held beliefs. Indians, in general, believe that free mixing of young girls with boys and showing overly free attitude to

9 life are something not to be displayed in public in order to maintain a clean public reputation and image.Thus, Indian culture does not seem to value individualism and personal autonomy and group solidarity is regarded more important than individual identity. The opposite is true for American or British culture where the same conversation between a mother and daughter is most likely to be taken to be extremely facethreatening which may amount to almost total loss of face resulting in a severe retaliatory perlocutionary response from the addressee. Such situations should be referred to as examples of, what Blum-Kulka and Olshtain (1984: 196) call, cross-cultural variation. Example Two Ustad Majeed Khan: Malti (said Ustad Majeed Khan), carry the tanpura with respect, with both hands. It isn't the offspring of a cat. What is the matter with you? Malti: (silence; no answer.) (1265)

Analysis : Ustad Majeed Khan's reprimand in his bitter remark for Malti goes against her positive face wants of individual desire to be ratified, understood, approved of, liked or admired. The speaker is doing his face-threatening act of criticizing in a bald manner, i.e. without any redressive action attached to it. He is scolding the addressee for carrying the tanpura (a musical instrument) with one hand in most direct and unambiguous words without caring about her feelings. Observing the social and cultural tradition of paying a very high degree of deference for one's guru (the traditional reverent concept of teacher in India), Malti maintains a submissive silence as a perlocutionary mark of her apology and deference for her music teacher (Ustad Majeed Khan). The guru's reaction against her student's carrying the tanpura with one hand is motivated by the age-old cultural tradition where music is treated as a spiritual art and the related musical instruments sacred and both are nearly worshipped. In carrying the tanpura carelessly (in a casual manner) like an unimportant routine item reflected that Malti was not paying due respect to the instrument which resented Ustad Majeed Khan. Ustad Majeed Khan's on-record face-threatening act of reprimanding his music student Malti, without any mitigating effort, may sound absurd or eccentric to the observers who are not in a position to share this socio-cultural factor of a special deference attached to the concept of the guru and the art of music and musical instruments in India. Such an understanding of the speech act, especially of the readers from other socio-cultural backgrounds, may lead to the area of what Flowerdew (1988:77) calls, a socio-pragmatic failure. This displays that the question of the appropriateness of realization of the two speech actions involved in the exchange is intricately related to the underlying social and cultural situation of the speech act in question. Example Three Rasheed's father: Anyway … why don't you have a cup of tea now that you've made such an effort to come. I'll summon Rasheed's friend, and we will talk … Football (Tiwariji): No, no– no tea, no tea.

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Labyrinth | Vol.2 No.2 (Apr. 2011) Rasheed's father: But we will all be having it together, Tiwariji, it is not poisoned. Even Kapoor Sahib will join us. Football (Tiwariji): He drinks tea with all of you? Rasheed's father: Indeed. He eats with us too. Football (Tiwariji): … But I have just had tea, you know, with my breakfast– I've just had tea and also far too much to eat before I left my house. Look at me. I must be careful.Your hospitality knows no bounds. But– Rasheed's father: You aren't saying, by any chance, Tiwariji, are you, that what we are offering falls below your expectations? Why don't you like to eat with us? Do you think we will pollute you? Football (Tiwariji): Oh, no, no, no, it is just that an insect of the gutter like myself does not feel happy when offered the luxuries of a palace. Heh heh heh! … (659)

Analysis: In this extract both the participants are doing facethreatening act. In rejecting Rasheed's father's offer of tea,Tiwariji, in effect, is saying that he does not want what his speaker wants. This is a threat to the positive face of the speaker, i.e. to the desire that others want the same thing that self wants. Further, Rasheed's father's criticism of Tiwariji's rejection of his offer is a threat to the negative face of the addressee, i.e. to the desire that one's own needs and wants be unimpeded and unintruded upon. The speaker meaning in both the cases is situated in the socio-cultural context of the ethnic identity of the participants. Tiwariji is a Brahmin and Rasheed's father is a Muslim. Both are friends. The caste rules of Brahmins forbid Tiwariji to eat or drink anything with non-Brahmins. Tiwariji could have expressed his refusal to drink tea, due to caste rules, in an on-record mode without redressal attempts but he was compelled to be evasive in it because of Rasheed's father's status of a friend and his social power of being a wealthy landlord. Motivated by his addressee's strong status Tiwariji had to soften the threat of his rejection by way of giving an elaborate mitigating account. Furthermore, his addresseeelevating and addresser-lowering language is an attempt to bridge the distance created between them as a result of declining the offer of tea on the basis of caste. Tiwariji represents a divided social self caught between his caste rules (that forbid drinking tea with his host) and the personal authority of his host's friendship (which compels him to have tea with him). He tried to balance the situation in being both a public character (in not having the tea) and a private performer (in saving the face of his friend by a tactful mitigating account). Using Strawson's (1971:51-54) interpretation we can term this speech act of offer as a conventional speech act for the reason that the successful performance of the act here depends on the extralinguistic convention of the addressee's caste rules. The ameliorated perlocutionary response of the addressee deserves some explanation. If we refer to the social roles and the relative authority of the interlocutors here, in the Indian social set-up of 1950s (the time frame of the story in the novel), the

11 communicative situation tends to be an unequal encounter. Put simply, the relative social authority of a Brahmin will be powerful over the nonBrahmin. In such a context of social powers and the expected patterns of relative behaviour; the mitigating account of Tiwari, given to his nonBrahmin and non-Hindu addresser, hints at the changing trend and caste rules going into the melting pot on the one hand and also approving of the relative social authority of the addresser as a friend and as a wealthy landlord on the other. Example Four Jha: I have seen the circular that has been distributed (said Jha). Sandeep Lahiri: Circular? Jha: About the fund-raising for Independence Day. Sandeep Lahiri: Ah, yes (said Sandeep Lahiri). Jha: I was wondering if I might ask for your help with that. Sandeep Lahiri: If you, Sir, respected as you are, were to encourage people to contribute, it would have a considerable effect … In fact, Sir, I am counting on your help. Jha: And I am counting on your help (said Jha with a broad smile). That is why I have called you. Sandeep Lahiri: My help? (said Sandeep, smiling helplessly and warily.) Jha:Yes, yes.You see, Congress also has plans for Independence Day, and we will take half the funds you collect, and use them for a separate display … Sandeep Lahiri: (This was precisely what Sandeep had feared …) Jha: So, then, I will expect half the funds. Good? … Sandeep: Well– (said Sandeep, and threw up his hands in a gesture that implied that if matters were in his discretion, he would have been delighted to give the entire sum he collected to Jha …) Jha: (Jha's face darkened.) Sandeep:You, see, Sir … my hands are tied. Jha: (Jha continued to stare, then exploded.) What do you mean? (He almost shouted.) No hands are tied. Congress says that no hands are tied. Congress will untie your hands. Sandeep: Sir, it is like this– (began Sandeep Lahiri.) Jha: (But Jha did not let him continue.) You are a servant of the government (said Jha fiercely) and the Congress Party runs the government.You will do as we tell you. Sandeep Lahiri: Mmm (said Sandeep Lahiri in a noncommittal voice …) To be fair, sir, we would have to give an equal amount to all these parties– to the Communist Party, to the Bhartiya Jan Sangh … Jha:What! (burst out Jha.) What? (He swallowed.) What?You are comparing us to the Socialist Party? … Sandeep Lahiri: Certainly, Sir, why not? The Congress is just one of many parties. In this respect they are all the same … Jha: You equate us with the other parties? (he asked …) In that case (continued Jha ), I will show you. I will show you what the Congress means … (962-64)

Analysis: The face work in this dialogic discourse is based on specific role relationship and the network of distance, power, and ranking between the two conversants Jha and Sandeep Lahiri. As the role

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relationship goes, Jha, a 55 year old senior Congress man is an important political figure in being a friend of the Chief Minister and the Chairman of the Upper House of the State Legislature. Juxtaposing him Sandeep Lahiri is an SDO (Sub Divisional Officer) in Rudhia District. As a contextual clue to the ongoing conversation there is an attitudinal contradiction between the style of working of the politician and the administrator. Jha was used to being consulted by the SDO on all important matters but Lahiri on the other hand saw no need to consult a party leader on matters of routine administration and he tried to keep local politicians at arm's length. The extract under examination displays two different approaches that the participants adopt in maintaining each other's face. In the given situation Jha is, by all means, superior to Sandeep Lahiri in respect of power and ranking. Obviously, with his powerful status he is not worried about redressive actions for his addressee Sandeep Lahiri. But Lahiri, being an administrative subordinate to him, has to observe and maintain an official distance in his conversation with him. So, he needs to adopt deferential modes. The communicative situation is related to the issue of fund-raising for the Independence Day celebrations and there seems to be a difference of opinion between the two. Jha, in his utterances, is overtly threatening Sandeep Lahiri's negative face in challenging and interfering in his individual administrative freedom and autonomy without using any redressive device by referring to his own political status and giving orders and even issuing official threat. On the other hand Sandeep Lahiri is trying to protect Jha's negative face by mitigating his face-threatening act of contradicting and disobeying his order in avoiding confrontation and arguments with him adopting a hesitant and indirect deferential mode of expression. Lahiri is exploiting deferential modes to claim immunity from imposition and freedom of action and also to suggest to the speaker (Jha) that though he holds a powerful political status he is not powerful enough to coerce his compliance. Thus deference seems to be a two-sided phenomenon which manifests both in observing compliance and flouting it. The aggressive conversational behaviour of Jha against a submissive and polite behaviour of Sandeep Lahiri in this extract displays a culturespecific feature related to the expression of disagreements and disapprovals. Indians often tend to see disagreements with another person as a personal matter. That is how Jha's behaviour grew aggressive and ended up in a threat. Frank criticism or expression of disapproval is not typically expressed, unlike Western cultures, in such situations as meetings and conferences, where people of different rank and status are interacting. Thus, a traditional Indian is often surprised, for example, when he sees Americans or British vigorously disagreeing or questioning each other's opinions in a class or conference and then cordially chatting or sharing a drink outside the meeting room. From an early age Western children, it seems, are encouraged to express their opinions, even when these are at variance, with those of their parents, siblings, teachers, and so forth. Disagreement is regarded as an essential element in situations,

13 where information and attitudes are exchanged or discussed, such as meetings or conferences. Indians, motivated mainly by their solidarityoriented cultural texture, are trained to do the opposite. Thus the tendency for Indians to downplay disagreement can be seen manifested particularly in international conferences, meetings, and seminars. Thus the speech act realizations of this illustration reflect Hudson's (1980:111) sociolinguistic stance which stresses the cultural aspects of speech acts and suggests that speech act categories are cultural concepts, hence are expected to vary from one society to another. Example Five Maan: Nand Kishor! (he shouted.) What are you doing in this gang? Aren't you ashamed of yourself? You're supposed to be a teacher. (Nand Kishor, a middle-aged, bespectacled man, looked sullen.) A young Man: Shut up– (said the young man to Maan viciously.) Just because you like circumcised cocks do you think we'll let the Mussalman go? (Again he prodded Firoz and drew another smear of blood down his sherwani.) Maan: (Maan ignored him and continued to address Nand Kishor. He knew that the time for dialogue was short. It was miraculous that they had been able to speak at all– that they were still alive.)You teach my nephew Bhaskar. He's part of Hanuman's army. Do you teach him to attack innocent people? Is this the kind of Ram Rajya you want to bring about? We're doing no one any harm. Let us go on our way. Come! (he said to Firoz, grabbing him by the shoulder.) Come. (He tried to shoulder his way past the mob.) The young man: Not so fast.You can go, you sister-fucking traitor– but you can't (said the young man). Maan: (Maan turned on him and, ignoring his lathi, caught him by the throat in sudden fury.) You mother-fucker! (he said to him in a low growl that nevertheless carried to every man in the mob.) Do you know what day this is? This man is my brother, more than my brother, and today in our neighborhood we were celebrating Bharat Milaap. If you harm one hair of my brother's head– if even one hair of his head is harmed– Lord Rama will seize your filthy soul and send it flaming into hell– and you'll be born in your next life as the filthy Krait you are. Go home and lick up your own blood, you sister-fucker, before I break your neck … (1060-61)

Analysis: The conversational behaviour of the participants in the dialogic transaction under investigation is being directed by the powerful situational factor which is fierce and chaotic and leading to surface the worst in human beings. Due to religious conflict and confrontation between the two processions led by Hindus and Muslims on the occasion of Moharram and Dussehra, which coincided that year, a devastating riot broke out. Muslim mobs were roaming around the city setting fire to Hindu shops and murdering any Hindu they could find. Hindus, on the other hand, were doing the same to Muslims. In the event depicted in this transaction Maan and Firoz were caught by an angry Hindu mob which suspected Firoz to be a Muslim from his dress code and wanted to kill him. Maan is trying to save his Muslim friend from them. The conversation of the young man from the Hindu crowd with Maan is highly offensive causing maximum face costs to both the addressees. As it

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is a situation of social breakdown, affront, and quarrel the conversational behaviour of the speaker is aggressive, loud, angry, and bombastic. The addressees' face needs and feelings are totally ignored and neglected. To use Lachenicht's (1980:658) view, it's a negative aggravation of “coerce and impinge on hearer”, the victims of which are being denied any kind of freedom of action and freedom from imposition and the social personality of the addressee is totally disapproved and shattered. In challenging the addressees in this case the speakers are trying to offend their sensibilities and negative face and are also trying to cause humiliation and physical harm to the hearers. As a defensive effort, in a subdued manner, Maan is also trying to offend the speakers' Hindu beliefs and sensibilities in explicitly challenging them in order to withstand their aggressive behaviour. This face-destructing conversational behaviour of the participants should be seen as targeted against the community rather than an individual / individuals here. Then the factors of individual power, ranking, and distance become neutral in influencing the facethreatening acts involved in the verbal transaction. It is the situation of civil war that is taking over these factors in guiding the face-threatening activities in the conversational behaviour under consideration. Conclusions: The present discussion of politeness principle in ASB is restricted to the face management in the inter-personal communication of the interactants. We have discussed here the operation of politeness principle in terms of face work in diverse socio-cultural communicative contexts of mother-daughter talk about the degree of public freedom to girls; of guru-disciple exchange on the issue of showing proper respect for musical instruments; a satirical conversation in an unequal hostguest situation; an official talk between a politician and his subordinate bureaucrat over a power play; and an exchange of arguments between attackers and attacked in a Hindu-Muslim riot situation. In these situations we saw as to how participants in the novel create, build, estimate the cost and benefit lines and maintain and threaten each other's public self-images or faces. The functional explanation of facesaving and face-threatening strategies, as employed by the characters in ASB, entails not only the structure and functions of these strategies but also various personal and socio-cultural factors that determine and influence their use in particular ways. As has become apparent from this study the character utterances in the novel are sensitive to the social and cultural contexts and the values and the subjective experience of the participants. The whole gamut of interpersonal communication is mainly influenced by these factors. Thus the real significance of the Indian English Fiction under study or any other fiction for that matter cannot be studied, discussed, and appreciated without the correct understanding of the socio-cultural issues involved in the story. Then the most pivotal conclusion takes the form of a pedagogically important recommendation of an urgent need to inculcate and develop the right kind of cultural, textual, and linguistic competence in the students of Literature in order to enable them to study and

15 appreciate the discourse patterns in the novel in right perspectives. In order to avoid the pragmatic errors of interpretation that the students may make while studying various aspects of growth and development of characters in the novel, it is most important to include the pragmatic aspects of language use in the courses on literature teaching. To use House and Kasper's (1981:184) argument it seems also important to keep in mind that pragmatic considerations of communication, for example the markers of politeness, are an integral part of the foreign cultural system and should neither be used nor interpreted by reference to one's own native system. Thus, more effective teaching of the behavioural component may minimize native cultural interference and prevent impolite, ineffective, or inappropriate interpretation of the character utterances in the novel. As for a statement on the limitations of this study, the kind of analysis which has been undertaken here is based on a relatively precise methodology and that a plural approach to conversation analysis of literary texts involving many different sociolinguistic frameworks / models is necessary if one is to capture the richness of character(s). Works Cited : Ÿ

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Blum- kulka, S. and Olshtain, E. (1984). Requests and apologies: A cross-cultural study of speech act realization patterns (CCSSARP). In Applied Linguistics, Vol.5, No. 3, 196-213. Brown, P. and Levinson, S. C. (1987). Politeness: Some universals in language usage. Cambridge: CUP. Flowerdew, J. (1988). Speech acts and language teaching. In Language Teaching. (Formerly LTLA),Vol. 21(2), CUP, 69-82. Goffman, E. (1967). Interaction ritual: Essays on face-to-face behaviour. New York: Garden City. - -. (1972). On face-work: An analysis of ritual elements in social interaction. In J. Laver and S. Hutcheson (eds.) Communication in Face-to-Face Interaction. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 319: 346. Grice, H. P. (1975). Logic and conversation. In P. Cole and J.L. Morgan (eds.) Syntax and Semantics,Vol. 3, Speech Acts. NewYork: Academic Press, 41-58. House, J. and Kasper, G. (1981). Politeness markers in English and German. In F. Coulmus (ed.) Conversational Routine,Vol. 2, The Hague, The Netherlands: Mouton Publishers, 157-185. Hudson, R. A. (1980). Sociolinguistics. Cambridge: CUP. Lachenicht, L. G. (1980). Aggravating language: A study of abusive and insulting language. In Papers in Linguistics: International Journal of Human Communication, Vol. 13, 607-88. Lakoff, R. T. (1973). The logic of politeness; or minding your P's and Q's. In Papers from the Ninth Regional Meeting of the Chicago Linguistic Society, 292-305. - -. (1975). Language and woman's place. NewYork: Harper & Row. Leech, G. N. (1977). Language and tact. Linguistic Agency, University of Trier, Series A, Paper 46. - -. (1980). Language and tact. In Leech (1980), 79-117. (originally Linguistic Agency, University of Trier, Series A, Paper 46, 1977.) Seth,V. (1993; rep. 2001). A suitable boy. New Delhi: Penguin Books. Strawson, P. F. (1971). Logico-linguistic papers. London and NewYork: Methuen.

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Interpreting the Dialectics of Duality in Anita Desai's Clear Light of Day - Narinder K. Sharma & Rohit Phutela Abstract: Duality, in Desai, means a sort of internal confrontation of choices. As life offers various options at every step, it becomes really very difficult to decide what actually should be done. The dilemma often leads someone in a confused territory of thought where making a choice is really very grim. The attempt is to personalize the impersonal time and space thereby bringing it into the domain of conflicting choices signifying an existential desire to manifest freedom. Going a step further, it can be deciphered that the individual desires to make an ideal choice to experience 'authenticity'. However, the quoted desire of making an ideal choice results in the creation of psychic tension. The subject often feels a psychic pull which signifies a 'lack', a 'void' or a possibility of something ideal left out or missed. The contradiction splits an individual apart as subjective reflection takes place with relation to making an existential choice. The dilemmas start haunting the individual.This sort of condition is common to everybody although in some cases, the number may be less. In existentialist parlance, truth is more a matter of decision than of discovery as the nature of the choice is criterion-constituting rather than criterion-less. The criterionconstituting choices give 'unity' and direction to a person's life thereby paving the way for subsequent transcendence wherein selfactualization may become a concrete reality. But we do find ourselves standing at crossroads at various stages of life. The oppositional forces are always there to create this existential anguish. Keywords: Choice, Absurdity, Duality, Authenticity, Anguish, Existentialism etc.

Anita Desai is a writer who does not believe in weaving the plots of her novel merely on a figment of imagination. As one delves in the world of Desai, one feels that though a work of fiction, her creations are grounded in lived experiences that humans often come across. It is important to mention in the present context that her treatment is often subjective as she herself admits. Her greatness as a novelist is not confined to wiping the tears of her female characters or simply empowering them to take cudgels but also to delineate the existential 'duality' that we as individuals as well as members of mass culture often face. This may be considered as conflict, choices or absurdities as our scholar critics may love to call. The fictional universe of Anita Desai is conceptualized around dualities. Life is imbued in with complexity and it does not offer a single formula as

17 its solution. Dualities weave the fundamental texture of life. It is this bewildering ambiguousness of life Anita Desai's weltanschauungweaves and the signifying code suggests the same. Desai skillfully reflects the tragic 'gap' between the individuals who fail to become the carriers of positive values as they proceed on dialectic of desire to achieve a sense of negotiated meaning. The narrative involves them in a mutual 'dialogue' of inter-subjective desire. Usually the characters are unable to achieve a sense of constitutive 'otherness' due to which all the conflict and suffering come into being. Desai's characters are special in the sense that they find it very difficult to connect authentically to 'others' as they find even very intimate relationships to be hostile to their core being. The relational gulf adds fuel to their lacerated existence.The absence of a desired presence makes them feel utterly lonely and they are left with dualistic state of mind foregrounding repression of innermost feelings / yearnings. Extending it further, it won't bewrong to say that the metaphysics of absence create a cyclic phenomenon wherein the metaphysics of presence seem overshadowed. Her narrative is an attempt to displace “some conventional discursive dualisms, such as public/private, empire/nation, popular/elite and male/female. Her texts expose the constructed nature of such polarities” (Chakravarty:27). The major dualities woven in the fiction of Desai are of masculine vs. feminine, tradition vs. modernity, illusion vs. reality, self vs. other, oriental vs. occidental, rational vs. irrational, emotion vs. intellect, lack vs. desire, presence vs. absence, attachment vs. detachment etc. These dualities become foregrounded with the use of the technique of counterpointing one issue with the other connoting darker or brighter aspects of existence. The supporting technical characteristics of her writing connected with the motif of dualities are of recurrent metaphors, metonymic parallelism, ironic reversals, frequent flashbacks, cultural coding, stream-of-consciousness symbolizing dissection of the psyche etc. Her exploration centers on inner emotional world and psychic dilemmas of her individual characters, particularly of her women in all the novels. The psychic dilemmas are basically the result of an everevolving and ever-intensifying duality present in the narrative. Her women characters are caught in the dynamics of lack and desire. Moreover, they always desire to get “freedom”-talking in existential context- from the shackles of human society and are involved in an endless struggle to find out the basic truth of life which can show them the union of opposites manifesting a state of trance and tranquility. The present paper aims at exploring certain dualistic patterns which, in turn, constitute the thematic conflict in the novel Clear Light of Day (1980).The novel Clear Light of Day “surpasses all other novels in English set in India in characterization, poetic use of landscape and integrity of vision” (Daniel: 107). It is sine qua non to understand the etymological meaning of the term duality before we trace it in Clear Light of Day. The term duality has come

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to us from 'dualism'. Dualism as in the register of philosophy refers to the doctrine that man has two natures, physical and spiritual. The duality between the two forms the matrix wherein the contradiction takes birth. For long, the debate is being discussed and rather over-discussed but the establishment of a negotiated stance seems to be the crux problematics signifying core existentialist mores and this keeps the humanity wandering in pursuit of wholeness/self-actualization. Search of such a kind becomes the life force and in the case of Desai and this search becomes the signifier of despair and frustration although Clear Light of Day reveals a standpoint of evolving thought of the novelist. In this context, it will be worthwhile to say that her protagonists get the ultimate triumph not because they prefer escape but because they maintain their wholeness, which also means“holding on to their privacy, not surrendering to the innermost being to the roles they are called upon to play” (Jain: 112). Anita Desai's Clear Light of Day is a unique fictional creation as this novel strikes a significant chord of a desire of the protagonist(s) to revive her/their primary self/selves. The linear time has changed the circumstantial reality of all the characters as we witness that there is a shift in their worldly roles and the same is manifested in their geographical displacement from their old 'home' to new places contextualizing Tara and Raja. The two significant protagonists of the novel namely Bim and Tara become the carriers of subtle signification wherein the dynamics of duality can be traced with a potent desire to return to the primary self of fulfilment with special reference to the character of Bim. The desired 'being' has made them experience chaos and misery only. They now wish to experience a solace in returning to their primary self which connotes a state of unity and tranquility in their beings. The conflicting voices expose the dualistic pattern which the characters experience throughout the narrative. Considering the subtlety of discourse of the narrative, the novel under discussion becomes a unique fictional construction of the authoress in the sense that in this particular novel we are able to see a 'negotiated sense of duality' signifying a state of trance and equilibrium with respect to the writings of Anita Desai. There emerges an understanding unique wherein the dualities integrate and desires are gratified thereby signifying the celebration of existence adding another quality dimension in the ever-rich world view of Anita Desai. In her novel, Clear Light of Day (1980),“Desai skillfully aims at the theme of light” (Kumar: 69).The novel Clear Light of Day can be considered a transition point in the fictional world of Anita Desai- a name which equals Virginia Woolf in multifarious interpretations. Elaborating on the given argument, this novel is somewhat different from the previous fictional creations of the writer. It can rightly be said that this work is the first clear light witnessed by her super-sensitive characters with special reference to feminine sensibility. The title of the novel is very apt as it connotes the thematic structuration of the narrative. The novelist has successfully been able to delineate the multi-layered consciousness of the central character of the

19 narrative, i.e., Bim (Bimla) who is able to reconcile the incongruous duality patterns of existence. This paper is an attempt to explore the discursive semantic significations with a view to understand the central character of the novel, i.e., Bim. Bim can be placed at the center of the narrative while the other characters constitute the 'essential' structural and thematic design thereby contributing the creation of existential conflict in the novel. The narrative clearly manifests a dualistic pattern of illusion and reality in the narrative and the technique of counter-pointing and cross counterpointing is extensively used in narrative. Existentially, the journey of Bim- the main protagonist of the narrativerelates to a search and re-search of her own identity with relation to exploration of meaning signifying the celebration of being. She surges towards an understanding of her own relational placement/situationality with relation to understanding and re-understanding the relationships. The desire to fill in the existential gaps can certainly be seen in her psychic agony as exposed by the narrative.The quoted desire may also be held responsible in the later rejuvenation and re-negotiation which the narrative brings forth about her being. Bim experiences the clear light of the day at the end of the narrative wherein the all the dualities collapse and are negotiated resulting in the conversion of meaninglessness into meaningfulness. Speaking existentially, “Repentance, obligation, and commitment are properly ethical categories and they come into play after a 'leap' or 'conversion' experience that is an exercise of free choice and thus an individuating act”(Flynn: 31). The novel Clear Light of Day is somewhat different from the earlier fiction of the Anita Desai in the sense that it makes a transitional point with relation to the fictional canvass of the writer. The charge which is labeled by a majority of critics relates to the stance that the novel does not have a story.The observation seems to be correct when looked at from the angle of linear depiction of events in the narrative.The moment the focus shifts from this linearity to the psycho-semantic elements of the narrative, the structuration becomes complex rejoicing multi-layered significations. The setting of the novel is typical as per Desai's fictional world view. It is an old home in old Delhi which is counter-pointed to New Delhi. Shifting from the depiction of the old house symbolizing boredom, meaninglessness, pathos and decay, the inmates further enhance the thematic impact of negativity and passivity wherein absence of mutual love is strongly foregrounded. It appears that the house is always been like this, with its overgrown bushes and undernourished flowers, stultifying and strangling human life, and people either die or abandon it(Jain: 417).The parents have been depicted as the carriers of unconcern signifying mechanical relationship with their children. Furthermore, the novel is divided into four parts.The first part refers to Tara's visit to the old house, the second corresponds to the Great Partition, the third paints the character of Mira Masi and the fourth depicts the “individuation” of Bim. The novel is somewhat special with reference to the function of

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time. The novelist herself says,“my novel is about time as a destroyer, as a preserver and about the bondage of time does to the people. I have tried to tunnel under the mundane domesticity” (Desai: 142). The other important dimension of the novel refers to the examination of the major symbols used in the narrative although the quantity of the symbols may be less as compared to the earlier novels of Anita Desai. Desai has resorted to her characteristic technique of using an image as an apparently independent artistic unit or as an objective correlative with a view towards vivifying the psychic state or emotion of a particular character (Prasad: 369).The major symbols of the narrative having metaphoric and metonymic significance are of “well”, “home”, “tomb”, “music”, “city”, “time”, “soil”, “mosquito”, “dust storm”, “tree”, “pond”, “garden”, “water” to quote a few. The symbols employed in the narrative weave the dualistic thematic texture of the text as some of the symbols are counter-pointed in the narrative. In Clear Light of Day, Anita Desai has wonderfully depicted the lives of the women characters and how they strive for their autonomous existence. Through the use of flashback techniques that depict the memories of the female characters in the novel, we see both Bim's and Tara's past experiences, and the narrative also co-ordinates their past with their present. Clear Light of Day, the title of the novel, suggests the characters may escape from oppression and repression and arrive at selfdetermination. It may also be interpreted as the attainment of some form of spiritual enlightenment, a better understanding of their present situation and their ability to come to terms with it. We can see in the novel that some women characters like Tara just moves from one domain of oppression to another, and some, like Bim repudiates the conventions of becoming a wife and submissive to men only faces isolation. Bim has to make adjustment to her own value system and to accept reality so as to connect herself to her family and thus the community. The current paper is also an attempt to analyze how women's experiences of oppression, suppression and self-determination interact with their spatial existence in the domestic and public sphere both in their childhood and adulthood signifying the dualistic patterns of existence. The plot interweaves family history with the nation's history signifying postcolonial undercurrents as well. Bim-the eldest daughter in the family- is the main female protagonist in the novel. The evaluation of Bim with other women characters in the novel, like Tara, the Misras girls or Aunt Mira, represents a subversion of the traditional model of women. She is portrayed as assertive, firm, and insistent on ruling others rather than to be ruled.She makes an existentialist choice of assuming the role of 'heroine' in the narrative. Her aim is at achieving autonomy by rejecting the traditional role and destiny of a woman.She appears to be the only one who can achieve a greater degree of individuality in her lived experiences. Throughout Bim's childhood and adulthood, her spatial movements are only confined to

21 places in the house and its limited surroundings: out on the veranda; into her neighbour, Misras' house; to LodiGardens, and then to the college as a teacher. Unlike her brother, Raja, and her sister,Tara, who are both able to leave the country, she is the only person in the family who treats her home as the only domain for her survival, and the small neighbourhood which she lives in as her territory for movement. In the novel, there are several instances to show that Bim cannot accept the way women are marginalized in society, and in her childhood and teenage years, she has attempted to break away from all the restrictions that result in women being treated unequally. Her one clear spatial movement, though still within the house, is made into men's domain, when she leads Tara into Raja's room. This contravention into men's space and changing into men's attire - putting on Raja's trousers - make her feel superior and confident. What is signified here is that women's attire imposes a certain societal value and expectation on them. Bim feels that her individuality is suppressed here and as such value system is imposed on women from the outside. Hence, the wearing of the trousers, which is the symbol of men's power, can be seen as Bim's attempt to raise her status in the family and ask for some kind of recognition normally only given to men. Speaking metaphorically, the act conveys a duality wherein 'self' desires to be privileged over the 'other(s)' and dominance seems to the signifying tool for the gratification of the quoted desire. Interestingly, the time when Bim is asked to take up household duties coincides with the period of time of the partition of India and Pakistan in 1947. The Partition, which is a momentous historical event, is interwoven into the smaller events that happen in the Das family. What happens outside in the nation runs parallel in some respects to events that happen in the family. With the death of the parents, her brother Raja's tuberculosis, and the widowed aunt Mira-masi's gradual retreat into alcoholism, Bim formally takes over the charge of the Das household. Instead of a closely bonded family, each individual suffers his or her own misfortunes: the family threatens to fall apart, and Bim is left to hold the family together. In other words, the family is threatened with partition, and Bim has to perform the role of the unifier or integrator. Thus, the narrative of an individual family resonates with the larger pressures and counter-pressures of Indian nation at large. However, Bim's dream of having a united family is shattered during the Partition War in 1947, and the meta-narrative of the nation is linked to the mininarrative of the family in another way. The war that results in the separation of two nation states runs parallel to the separation of Bim from Raja. Bim's sisterly love towards Raja and her act of taking up the duties of looking after her family members imply that family and the house they live in mean a lot to her. Her acts of self-determination and looking after the family exert contrary pressures and make her an ambiguous character because of the patterns of duality. This dualistic pattern also suggests that no matter how independent a woman wants to be in Indian society, she can never leave aside or separate herself

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completely from the traditional duties expected of her. In her adulthood, after Raja and Tara have left her and she remains in the house with only Baba, her half-witted, brother to accompany her, she suffers more from suppression than oppression. This is the result of the distance her brother and sister keep from her as it constitutes the paradox/riddle which disturbs her the most. As they have left and abandoned her alone in the old house, she can have no one to talk to or to share her sufferings of being isolated. With the arrival of Tara in the very first section of the novel, she finally has a chance to release her anger by being mean and sarcastic to Tara. On one occasion, for example, Bim teases Tara for not wanting to return to the life they used to have in the past and says: But you wouldn't want to return to life as it used to be, would you? … All that dullness, boredom, waiting. Would you care to live that over again? (Desai: 4). This comment reflects Bim's thought of not having any change or meaningful existence. The narrative exposes a very subtle counter-point between the Old Delhi and New Delhi. The building of New Delhi by the British during the colonial period had left those living in the old city, like Bim, on the periphery of social change. The novel uncovers the anguished history of fratricide, of partition, of religious bigotry and of treatment and representation of women (Mukherjee: 199).Without the possibility of any personal escape, and disconnected from social change, they are left decaying in Old Delhi. Though Bim is not able to escape physically from the old house, she can still pass the existential test by attaining some form of spiritual enlightenment. As time goes on, she knows the family bond has been destroyed and the family members are all apart, yet the memories are still embedded in the old house. She has finally received the mental liberation from all the constraints and frustrations she has experienced in the past. Bim opts for singlehood, establishes an identity for herself as a teacher; manages her household activities as well as looks after her retarded brother, Baba. The seclusion into home and hearth, the caressing of husband, the nurturing of children, are all beyond Bim's imagination (Mukharjee: 12). We may believe that Bim who had sacrificed her ambitions and abilities to be “dutiful” is a tragic figure in that she does not comprehend her own wasted potential. This lack of comprehension of her potential and the sacrifices she has made; may also be seen as an inability to reach at the 'clear light of day'. Bim's relationship with the male character 'Raja' also holds an important factor. Though Raja is her only male companion in her childhood and adolescence, she still shows her individuality by not conforming to all her brother's way of thinking. Raja is a man of senses and emotions and in this manner a carrier of confrontation signifying the dualistic patterning of the narrative. One instance is when Raja brings her romantic fictions but she feels that she wants 'something different-facts, history, chronology. 'Though she is accused by Raja of not having any imagination, she has her own perspective on the world. She thinks knowledge is much more important than imagination. The counter-

23 point is very subtle conveying strong dualistic weaving. She challenges Raja's assumption that romantic fiction is the appropriate reading matter for women, or is what young women like to read. Once again, Bim is able to show her self-determination by choosing what she likes, and defies her brother's conventional male perspective on her. Though at first she is accepted, such acceptance later turns to rejection when Raja abandons her and leaves the house. Bim is eventually thrown out from the Raja's domain of recognition.Her encounter with Bakhul and DrBiswas also shows her individualism.When they are at the Misras, and Bakhul is leading the conversation, as he used to, Bim is able to disrupt his conversation and make sarcastic comments so that Bakhul cannot be the 'chairman' of the meeting. This shows that she is capable of behaving unconventionally. Her short encounter with Dr. Biswas who is interested in her and wants to marry her also shows that Bim is not the same as other ordinary women in India. Her refusal to marry Dr.Biswas shows that she has her own freedom in marriage.However, Dr. Biswas sees Bim's refusal to marry him as a result of her family responsibility and that assumption shocks Bim. Dr. Biswas's view of Bim as a self-sacrificing woman arises mostly from traditional values. Nevertheless, Desai has actually used Bim as a means to mock and reject earlier discourses that portray women as self-sacrificing heroines arousing sympathy in others. This is consistent with her earlier rejection of romantic fiction and those patriarchal assumptions that make Raja offer her the romantic fiction. The second counter-point in the narrative is Tara- another conflicting voice in the novel.The family dynamics become foregrounded“as the sisters confront their differences and struggle to balance old and new worlds”(Lacom: 143). She appears to have escaped from the sufferings and oppressive atmosphere in her childhood house after her marriage and residence in a foreign land although the changes she thinks she has accomplished are just delusions.Part one of the novel describes the memory she has after returning to her childhood home.Tara's visit to her parental home in Delhi stirs up innumerable memories of the past. Inspite of the differences in their personalities and attitudes, the sisters Bim and Tara try to forge a close relationship by recalling and reliving the past(Nityanandam: 19). Her reason for the return to her domestic home is to seek a sense of continuity. However, the way she expresses this desire sounds forced, as if what she says represents what Bakul wants rather than her own thoughts. This shows that after marriage, she has lost much of her selfidentity and determination and is like an object moulded by her husband. Her spatial movement, like all her travels, is not individualistic but accompanied by her husband; even her escape from her domestic home is only the result of her marriage. Hence, we cannot say that she has attained liberation at all from such physical movement away from her domestic home to her marital home in America. Her reliance on her husband shows her lack of self-determination. In Tara's case, ironically, physical movement is not described as a sign of liberation from a

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subordinate position to men or from the domestic sphere. Though Tara seems mobile and Bim immobilized in their childhood home, in fact, Bim attains greater self-determination by being mistress of her own house, and as an unmarried woman, gains better control over her own life. As a child, in the childhood house,Tara feels it is filled with boredom and dullness. For her, the house is a place of ignorance, death and hopelessness. She is ignored by her parents who spend most of the time playing cards and by Bim and Raja, who spend time with each other reading poetry and having their own expeditions outside. All the sufferings that she experiences are suppressed and no one in the house ever pays any attention to her. She later confesses that her marriage to Bakul is a means to escape from all the frustrations she experiences and sees in the old house as a child.Finally after marrying, it seems that she can physically escape from this existential decay and see the 'Clear Light of Day', but still we can see that mentally she cannot free herself from all the past memories like seeing her father injecting her mother and thinking he is murdering her, or feeling guilty about leaving Bim when her sister is in need of help. Besides, the escape from her childhood house to her marital home abroad only represents her movement from one type of oppression to another. In her childhood house, she is ignored by her siblings; in her husband's domain, he treats her like an object to be moulded at his will. There is really no true escape for her. As an adult, coming back to India has matured her mentally and she seems able to see things objectively. She is able to study Bim more carefully and know that her sister is not contented with her life. She realizes that what she thinks of Bim when she is a child is no longer true. Bim is no longer competent and capable of managing the house.She even blames Bim for having no taste of her own: 'Had she developed no taste of her own, no likings that made her wish to sweep the old house of all its rubbish and place in it things of her own choice?' (p.16) This interior monologue shows that Tara is disappointed to see the old house remaining motionless while she appears to have changed so much herself. Her physical movement seems to arouse in her a new perspective of seeing things. However, she has not realized that her perspective of seeing the old house and judging Bim is just superficial. The old house has certainly changed with the death of Mira-masi and the leaving of Raja and Tara herself.Through her stay in the house in Delhi, we know about her relationship with her husband. Most of the time, we can see her husband is not able to understand her. He wants Tara to live a life according to his own will and wants to instill in her the qualities that she lacks, like decision, firmness, and resolve.Therefore, in her husband's domain, she feels constrained, tired and powerless. The house has also aroused in her the strength to refuse her husband's demand. Though she feels anguished and impatient at the sight of old habits and things still kept in the house, the place reminds her of the pleasure that she is no longer able to have under her husband's control. It is a place of nostalgia for her: 'If she had been sure Bakul would not look out and see – she would have

25 run down the veranda steps and searched for one (i.e. a guava) that was whole.' (p.18 ) The above analysis of the central character of the narrative, i.e., Bim (in relation to the other major characters of the novel) certainly highlights the inter-play of duality of illusion and reality and the same finds its trace on the perspectives of the major characters of the novel. The major characters of the narrative may be tagged as the representing the conflicting voices which counter-point and cross counter-point each other resulting in the creation of the dualistic pattern of existence which poses a great challenge with respect to achieving a negotiated a sense of being in the universe. Voice is presented in the novel as an inescapably intertextual device that foregrounds the composition of subjectivity(Mohan: 50). The dynamics of lack and desire certainly force the characters to search for the gratification of their desires although the quoted search results in another search although the main protagonist of the novel is able to negotiate this dualistic matrix at the end of the novel. The spatial journey ends at the point which may be referred as the 'initial' point- the point of the primary self. The quest of life and peace, for selfhood is a fundamental human need; the search is the goal of life (Patil: 64).This kind of realization can be seen in the evolution of Bim towards the end of the narrative wherein all the dualistic opposition collapses and an existential synthesis takes place. The classical raga of the old master produces the moment of illumination of Bim after which the 'transcendence' happens as she feels, “her own house and its particular history linked and contained her as well as her whole family with all their separate histories and experiences- not binding them with in some dead and airless cell but giving them the soil in which to send down their roots, and food to make them grow and spread, reach out to new experiences and new lives, but always drawing from the same soil.That soil contained all time, past and future, in it.”(p. 182)This is how Bim is able to see the 'clear light of day' wherein the contradictions are harmonized out of which a rejuvenated self emerges celebrating existence. Works Cited : Ÿ

Ÿ Ÿ

Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ

Chakravarty, Radha. “Radical Self-Fashioning: Language, Culture and Identity in Anita Desai's Novels”, Desert in Bloom, Ed. Meenakshi Bharat, New Delhi: Pencraft International, 2004. Daniel, Shouri. “Anita Desai's Clear Light of Day”, Chicago Review, Vol. 33, No.1, Summer 1981: 107-112. Desai, Anita. Clear Light of Day. London:Vintage, 2001. (All subsequent textual references are from the same edition and page numbers are given in the parentheses.) Desai, Anita. India Today-I. December 15, 1980. Jain, Jasbir. “Airing the Family Ghosts: Anita Desai's Clear Light of Day”, Journal of PostcolonialWriting, Vol.24, No.2, 1984: 416-422. Jain, Jasbir. Stairs to the Attic: The Novels of Anita Desai. Jaipur: Printwell publishers, 1987. Kumar, Brajesh. “Feminist Perspectives in the Novels of Anita Desai”, Critical Responses to Feminsim, Ed. Binod Mishra, New Delhi: Sarup& Sons, 2006.

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Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ

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Labyrinth | Vol.2 No.2 (Apr. 2011) Lacom, Cindy. “Revising the Subject: Disability as “Third Dimension” in Clear Light of Day and You Have Come Back”, Journal of Feminist Disability Studies, Autumn 2002: 138-54. Mohan, Rajeshwari. “The Forked Tongue of Lyric in Anita Desai's Clear Light of Day”, Journal of Commonwealth Literature, 32.1, 1997: 47-66. Mukharjee, Shubha. “The New Women in Anita Desai's Novels”, Women Writers in English, Ed. Gauri Shankar Jha, Delhi: Authorpress Global Network, 2008. Mukherjee, Arun P. “Other Worlds, Other Texts: Teaching Anita Desai's Clear Light of Day to Canadian Students”, Third World Women's Inscriptions, Vol. 22, No.1, February 1995: 192-201. Nitanandam, Indira. Three GreatWomen Novelists. New Delhi: Creative Books, 2000. Patil, Ujwala. “Sexual Violence and Death in Anita Desai's Fire on the Mountain”, Studies in Indian Fiction in English, Ed. G.S. Balarama Gupta, Gulbarga: Jiwe Publications, 1987. Prasad, Madhusudan. “Imagery in the Novels of Anita Desai: A Critical Study”,World Literature Today,Vol. 58, No.3, Summer 1984: 393-369. R. Flynn,Thomas. Existentialism. United States: Oxford University Press, 2006.

Death ─ “The Deconstructor” - Marie Josephine Aruna Mind Speak: Did Derrida have You in mind? When he spent a life time ─ In positing his theory of “Deconstruction” That caught the world unawares. Someone the other day did find You as the great “Leveler” of grime. Did he not Ensoul you of “Destruction?” That caught the world unawares. Death Speak: I am the Ensorcerer who dares to bind Everyone on earth to earth and slime As your poet and critic say I am the “Unction” To remove the pain of Meaninglessness, That caught the world unawares: I am the sole defier to differ and defer Life.

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Patriarchy Falls Apart: A Comparative Study of Achebe's Things

Fall Apart and Mahfouz's Palace Walk - Abdulrahman Mokbel Abstract: Naguib Mahfouz and Chinua Achebe are the most important novelists in Arabic and African literatures in the last century. They focus in their works on tradition / modernity dichotomy and the conflict between the 'foreign' and the ' local' in their societies. One of the objectives of this modest study is to trace out the analogous creative credo these two novelists share and also decipher it through their masterpieces Palace Walk and Things Fall Apart. The focus is on examining how social change affects the social institution of patriarchy in two societies that undergo a transition resulting, in varying degrees, from contact with an alien culture. Another objective of the study is to shed light on the two writers' understanding of the social forces at work at the time and the way they use their knowledge of human psychology to develop their central characters Al-Sayyid and Okonkwo. This study is divided into three sections: the patriarchs and women, the father-son conflict, and the two protagonists 's attitude towards change. The study moves from the private world to the social world, from family to society making the comparison between the two patriarchs as comprehensive as possible. The study touches upon some points that can be later developed into full- fledged research papers. One of them is the relationship between patriarchy and colonialism as two forms of exploitation and dominance and the second one is a comprehensive comparison between the reaction of Egyptian society and Igbo society towards Western colonialism and culture. Keywords: tradition / modernity dichotomy, patriarchy, political awakening.

Naguib Mahfouz and Chinua Achebe may be seen as two different writers with not much in common , but a deeper reading of two of their masterpieces PalaceWalk and Things Fall Apart shows that they are not as different as they might seem. Both began writing during the colonial period and continued to write after their countries gained independence from British rule. Their novels chronicle the political, social and cultural changes in Nigeria and Egypt during the last century. Both are careful and fastidious artists in full control of their writings. They have clear vision of the duty which the writer owes to his society.What is remarkable about them is their ability to grasp the historical dialectics of their societies in change. In the two novels chosen for this study, Mahfouz and Achebe try to examine the historical evolution of their societies at a very

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critical period. The focus is on examining how social change affects the social institution of patriarchy in two societies that undergo a transition resulting, in varying degrees, from contact with an alien culture. Basically, Mahfouz and Achebe are historical novelists fond of plucking themes, plots and settings of their novels from the corridors of recent history, related with their native lands. Mahfouz the Nobel Laureate and the "shahrazad" of the Arabic narrative, rooted the setting of Palace walk in the early 20th century urban background of Algamalia in Cairo, while Achebe , a modern African novelist, in Things Fall Apart finds setting in late 19th century placid Nigerian village called Umoufia. In his typical social narrative plot with romantic and historical overtone, Mahfouz echoes Walter Scott, Balzac, Tolstoy, and Dickens, while Chinua Achebe' Things Fall Apart with its vibrant political , historical and colonial theme, strikes close reminiscence of E.M. Foster's A Passage to India and Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness. What is most fascinating about these two great writers is their avowed dealing with the burning contemporary social and national issues, highlighting them perhaps with great didactic purpose to revive past and also to mirror the present in the unforgettable past background. A dispassionate study of these novels unfolds meticulously inlaid themes of social morality, cultural conventions, obsolete and obtuse social mores etc; strongly manifesting their respective society in superb allegorical and fictional form. One of the most remarkable features of these two novels is their penetrating psychological insight, delving deep into ethnological psyche of the general mass.These novelists present a painstaking study of the effects of the Western civilization on the sensibility of the colonized people, caused by interaction with the Europeans' open culture and too liberal religion. These novelists seem well aware of the 19th century "New Woman" movement and its phenomenal impacts, symbolically reflecting through rebellious gestures of the female characters, signaling rise of women and matriarchal values, decline of domestic tyranny represented by Al-Sayyid and Okonkwo and thus collapse of patriarchy as a whole. One of the objectives of this modest monograph is to trace out the analogous creative credo these two novelists share and also decipher it through their masterpieces. The let motive that brings them together on the same platform is to mirror the haunting specter of the British colonial rule, dismantling traditional values and cultural conventions of the Egyptian and Nigerian societies. Besides ransacking material wealth from these colonized nations, the white rulers disrupted normal atmosphere of social harmony by sowing the seeds of "Divide and rule". But despite all negative roles and exploitations, the Western colonial regime introduced some hidden positive tenets too in these novels, opening new vista of democratic norms and respect for women by sounding death-bell of the patriarchal system, which Mahfouz and Achebe have woven meticulously in the scintillating texture of the novels. Mahfouz and Achebe focus in their works on tradition / modernity dichotomy and the conflict between traditional way of life and the

29 modern way brought by the British. Both draw attention to the nature of the conventional dichotomy between 'foreign' and ' local'. As we know literature, and the novel in particular, has the ability of recording the characteristics of times including the social manners , customs , how people act and react ,what they do , think , like and dislike. As Wellek and Warren rightly argue , literature as a social document can '' yield the outlines of social history '' (P.103). Palace Walk and Things Fall Apart provide us with social pictures of whole societies through the stories of two families Al-Sayyid's and Okonkwo's. The two works derive their strength from the quality of their writers' understanding of the social forces at work at the time and the way they use their knowledge of human psychology to develop their central characters Al-Sayyid and Okonkwo. Both works deal with a time in which their countries are under British rule. In a colonial setting, both men and women are suppressed and the patriarchs are no exception. Both Al-Sayyid's and Okonkwo's families are affected in one way or another by the foreign presence. With the involvement of some members of the family in the public affairs, the personal interacts with the political and the social. Through this interaction of the personal and social, the theme of colonialism is linked with the theme of patriarchy. The two novels dramatize how conditions are changing around the patriarchs especially in the social sphere bringing about many changes in the attitudes of people towards many issues. They also dramatize the conflict of the new culture with the traditional culture and the consequences of that conflict. The study is divided into three sections: the patriarchs and women, the father-son conflict, and the two protagonists 's attitude towards change. A- The Patriarch and Women:- In his novel, Mahfouz describes the Egyptian society in Cairo of the first half of the 20th century while Achebe describes the Igbo society in the period between 1850 -1900. AlSayyid and Okonkwo stand for their respective societies at the moment when the social fabric is about to be altered. Social change in the two novels is dramatized through the stories of these two patriarchs, their attitude towards women's place in society, their reaction to the new culture coming from the West and their relationship with the new generation especially their own sons. The two novels show both AlSayyid and Okonkwo as domestic tyrants pervading the whole houses and terrifying every inhabitant. They completely subordinate their families making every member subservient to them. Cooke tells us that Al-Sayyid is "a stern patriarch who rules his household with unrelenting rigidity" (p.111). He has an overwhelming personality with an iron will in whose hands all power in the family lies. Okonkwo, like Al-Sayyid , is a tyrant father and husband who does not hesitate to frighten his wives and children by pressing the trigger of his loaded gun. The power lies in his hands while his wives and children are helpless. Comparing these two overwhelming personalities, one finds that there are striking similarities in their behavior. Both deal harshly with their wives, but their attitude towards women in general is not identical. While Al-Sayyid has only one

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wife, Amina, Okonkwo has many wives. Okonkwo does not show any sensuous interest in other women while Al-Sayyid continues to preoccupy himself with other women as playthings. However whenever these women try to encroach on his life, he backs away. But at large both are men who never take women seriously as individuals, lest they threaten their self-image. Both Okonkwo and Al-Sayyid are the product of their culture and social background. They are representatives of their own societies. To understand their character better, one has to understand Egyptian and Igbo societies at the time. The catalyst for change in both Igbo and Egyptian societies is the western culture. Both societies faced colonialism through the British presence that led to various social, economic and political changes. The reaction of both societies to change is as different as the reaction of both patriarchs. The colonial experience in Egypt and Nigeria was also different. In Egypt it was more of a cultural encounter than comprehensive intrusion. In PalaceWalk, we find that the English occupy key positions in pre-independence Egypt but there is no social interaction between the English and the Egyptians. In Things Fall Apart, we find a good example of what Fanon calls 'Cultural Racism' in which the colonizer makes the colonized" hate his language, dress, techniques, value-system, social institutions, historical past, religion and practically everything that is not connected with the colonizer." Cairene society of the early decades of the 20th century was an urban society, one of the most developed societies in the Middle East at the time. Its contact with the western culture dated back to more than a century ago. In his trilogy ,of which PalaceWalk is the first part , Mahfouz , "presents characters whose dilemmas reflect the values and mores of Egyptian society that is changing rapidly through contact with the catalyst of an intrusive , alien , and materialist civilization advancing from the west "(Le Gassick 3 ). Egyptian society in the first half of the last century was patriarchal giving the right to man to use woman as he wished. on the other hand, Okonkwo's life as R.S. Sharma tells us, "embodies the tensions that a society has to go through when a tradition fails to cope with change and when its exceptional individuals come to rely on their personal enterprise rather than relying on traditional wisdom."(38). S.A. Khayyam tells us , Igbo society is a traditional society, "a masculine, hierarchical, self – contained, coherent, and organic" society that is based on male chauvinism (P.32). Both Egyptian and Igbo societies are polygamous and a man can have several wives. The two novels abound with examples of exploitation and violence done by Okonkwo and Al-Sayyid to their wives. But the most discussed examples are Al-Sayyid's harsh punishment for his wife's unforgivable act of leaving her house without his permission and Okonkwo's beating of his fourth wife for being late. The two incidents reflect clearly the two patriarchs' attitude towards women in general.The reaction of both Okonkwo and Al-Sayyid to the disobedience of their wives in the two incidents reflects the basic difference in their character.

31 While the Nigerian patriarch is unable to control himself and he immediately physically attacks his wife in the week of peace, his Egyptian counterpart waits patiently till his wife fully recovers from her injuries and then asks her to leave his house as a punishment for leaving the house without his permission. In Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo, as Weinstock Ramadan states " is consistently associated with masculinity, and he virtually always mistrusts, opposes, and attacks anything feminine or linked with femininity"(129). Okonkwo has a false concept of power that sees all human feelings like love, sympathy and compassion as feminine. He views everything around him through the lens of a male – female dichotomy. This dichotomy is best expressed through the story of the vulture and the tortoise which has a very important symbolic meaning in the novel. This dichotomy exists within the fabric of Igbo society but Okonkwo is more rigid and inflexible than his society in ignoring the female principles in life. Beating one's wife is not an offence except in the week of peace. Okonkwo violates the sanctity of the week of peace by beating his wife for returning late from a visit. His obvious disregard for Ani the earth goddess and the source of all fertility shows his disrespect for the feminine. Al-Sayyid values his masculinity too. He is very proud of the effect he has on women. In fact Al-Sayyid has become a symbol of Eastern men who take mighty pride in their masculinity. In many parts of the Middle East, a man who has total control of his house is called 'ci AlSayyid". As Somethk tells us , ''through (Al-Sayyid) we are acquainted with a representation (an individual representative – that is), of that colorful old race of patriarchal merchants. As a father , he is despotic yet loving , as a merchant, astute yet generous, as a lover indulgent, yet majestic.'' (p.114). Somethk goes on to call Al-Sayyid "a pious sinner '' in whom belief and blasphemy, holiness and profanity, dwell side by side. Unlike Al-Sayyid, Okonkwo holds to a rigid system of values in all situations and under all circumstances. He suppresses the feelings of tenderness and love because they are feminine qualities.This explains his relationship with both his father, Unoka, and his son. He hates his father and what he stands for. Unoka stands for " the poetry of life ' or the human feelings that are essential in man's life. He loves poetry, music, and merriment, the very things that Okonkwo despises. Here lies an important difference between al- Sayyid and Okonkwo. Al-Sayyid is both Okonkwo and his father because he has the characteristics of both. With his family, he is Okonkwo , but with his close friends and mistresses, he is Unoka, a lover of fun , music , and enjoyment. This difference as will be elaborated later, explains the different ends of both patriarchs. R.S Sharma tells us that in excluding the poetry of life Okonkwo" strikes at the very sources of renewal so that when the crisis finally comes, he finds himself utterly helpless" (41). When we talk about patriarchy in these two literary works, we do not mean that Achebe and Mahfouz were avowed feminists. They deal with the conditions of women in their societies as part of the larger picture of a

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society at a transitional period. The two societies are built on manhood and women have to learn to act in complicity with social customs set by men. "In traditional societies the woman who willingly and happily submits to her husband and father is an ideal, the submissive wife" (Images of women: 17) In both novels the majority of women are shown to have a resigned acceptance of their social reality and they will not question or challenge male superiority. But in both societies, there are signs that some women are trying to make choices within the rigidity of the patriarchal system. Zanuba and Okonkwo's fourth wife represent women who refuse to be only objects for sexual coercion and subordinate partnership. Zanuba uses her seductive wiles to lead Al-Sayyid to marry her. She has no choice but marriage and must use every device to achieve it. Al-Sayyid, however, does not yield to passion and resists her encroachment. He prefers to protect himself by having only temporary liaisons with women. Zanuba does succeed in marrying into a higher class than she was born into when she marries Yaseen, Al-Sayyid's eldest son. She defeats the patriarch forcing him to accept her as a member of his family and a respectable wife. Okonkwo's wives are traditional women who live with a polygamist. But Ekewfi is shown as a rebellious wife who leaves her first husband and comes to live with Okonkwo. One can argue that part of Achebe and Mahfouz's aim in dealing with many female stereotype is to raise awareness that helps women to overcome being helpless and passive which is the main reason for their oppression in patriarchal society. B- Father-son Relationship:- One of the important aspects in the two novels is the Father-son relationship or the relationship between the patriarch and his son. Al-Sayyid has one wife and five kids while Okonkwo has three wives and eleven kids. Both have several sons and daughters but the focus is on two of them Fahmi and Nwoye. Both are resolute fathers who never imagine that one of their sons will dare oppose them in anything. What is remarkable is that the son's revolt against his father in both novels is connected with the alien influence. It is the son's attitude towards the British presence that prompts their disagreement with their fathers.The two patriarchs expect their sons to adopt whatever attitude they impose on them without reservation or questioning. In his book, The Gender Knot G. Allan Johnson, states that one of the important characteristics of patriarchy is "an obsession with control as a core value around which social life is organized". Patriarchs, thus "come to see themselves as subjects who intend and decide what will happen and to see others as subjects to act upon" (P.15).Their status is threatened when they start losing control. In Things Fall Apart and Palace Walk, the two patriarchs gradually lose their control over their household and the world around them. The difference between them lies in their reaction to that loss and it is the nature of this reaction that determines the end of each one of them. Fahmi revolts against his father when he joins the revolution against his father's advice and distributes hand bills and participates in

33 demonstrations. The relationship between Fahmi and his father is one based on fear and respect. He always tries to avoid his father and, like his brothers and sisters, is relieved whenever he is not at home.That does not mean he hates his father or wishes him ill. He rather admires his father and sees him as a great man but his love for his country is so powerful that he can not take a negative stand vis-a-vi the political activities around him. Mahfouz deals with a time and environment in which there is a violent resistance to the British in the form of the 1919 revolution. It came as a reaction to the arrest of the Egyptian leaders. Even Al-Sayyid is moved by the events but he is content to limit his patriotism to an emotional participation and not taking any action that might have altered his life. He is generous with his financial contribution to the cause because it is easier to part with money than to take active part in an activity that may threaten his position. Unlike Okonkwo who wants to lead his tribe against the British intruders, Al-Sayyid hopes that the revolution will achieve its goals quickly before he or a member of his family is harmed. He dreams of independence but without bloodshed or sacrifice. This is why he is enraged when he comes to know that Fahmi is taking part in the revolution. He rebukes him, threatens him, and tries to force him to swear on the "Holy Quran" not to be involved in the activities. For the first time Fahmi says no to his father. His revolt is not as radical as that of Nwoye. It is a soft revolt that does not entirely destroy the father-son relationship. Both are against the British presence, and it open culture and liberal religion. Fahmi, unlike Nwoye, is not fascinated by the western culture and religion. His tragic death in a peaceful demonstration in the streets of Cairo is a turning point in the life of his father who appears in the second and third parts of the trilogy a weaker and more subdued human being. Iloyd Brown attributes the heavy hand with which Okonkwo rules his family to "Fear, the fear of being his father in "Failure and weakness" (Cultural Norms: 32). It is his distorted image of manhood that leads him to deal in a rigid way with other people. He even misunderstands his father and his own son. In trying to avoid his father's failure, Okonkwo becomes rigid and inflexible with no room for feelings and emotions. He classifies things and actions into two categories "womanly" and "manly." For him, as O.Solomon Lyasere tells us, "one is either a man or a woman; there can be no compromise, no composite"(Narrative Techniques 104). This distorted view of manhood shapes his attitude toward his son. He laments that Nwoye "has too much of his mother in him". Al-Sayyid does not have such extreme view. This is why the conflict between father and son in PalaceWalk is not intense as in Things Fall Apart. Nwoye is capable of feeling and emotion and his soul is open to compassion and pity. Unlike his father, he is not willing to follow the rigid old values without questioning them". Nwoye is repelled by his father's equation of masculinity with violence and bloodshed "(Cultural Norms 32). His conversion to Christianity is a proof of his openness to new values and ways of life and a rejection of the shortcomings of his own

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society. In other words, Nwoye's defection is an act of revolt against his father and the society he represents. Nwoye becomes, "a symbolic negation for his father, the living denial of all that Okonkwo accepts and stands for". (Critical Perspectives 13). Okonkwo's sees his son's revolt as a crime," To abandon the god's of one's father and go about with a lot of effeminate men clucking like old hens was the very depth of abomination" ( TFA 108). He refuses to accept the new culture and decides to fight this powerful force that has enabled his son to revolt against him. Like Al-Sayyid, Okonkwo feels helpless and unable to control his own son. The difference between them is that Al-Sayyid cannot force his son to stop working against the British, Okonkwo cannot prevent his son from adopting the white man' culture and religion. The missionaries who came to Umoufia did succeed in converting many people to their faith, especially those who were not happy with their social lot. They also succeeded in shaking the private world of the great invincible giant whose word was undisputed in his tribe. C- The Changing and unchanging Hero:- Both Mahfouz and Achebe believe in change as a fact of life. Achebe is quoted by Bu-Buakei Jabbi , stating that "Life just has to go on, and if you refuse to accept changes, then tragic though it may be, you are swept aside"(135). Things Fall Apart is a novel of striking contrasts built around the opposition involving before and after the arrival of the white man. Two different worlds , one traditional and the other one is the present reality in which the old values including patriarchy are falling apart. The Igbo society he presents in his novel is at a transitional phase in which there is a conflict between the old and the new values , the former is deeply rooted in mythology and age-long traditions and the latter is developed under the influence of an alien culture. The novel dramatizes the gradual disappearance of Umuofia's customs and traditions. Okonkwo sees the traditional values of his society disintegrating and tries to protect these values by confronting the foreign influence. Stephen Creswell tells us that Okonkwo has to choose between accepting the new order or "standing firmly, but perhaps futilely against it "(11). Okonkwo chooses to act against the forces of change though he is aware that he has no hope of succeeding in his mission. In the last part of the novel, Okonkwo appears a lone man who finds the process of change around him incomprehensible and too quick for him to cope with. When he returns to his village, he is faced with a world" out of joint" and he sees it as his responsibility to "set it right". But he acts rashly without carefully measuring his steps. "Unable to change himself, he will not accept change in others, in the world around him, in the people of Umulfia" (Lyasere 107). Okonkwo fails to view time as both a negative and positive force moving steadily, bringing about changes that help societies to move forward. His death is viewed as "the result of his

35 inability to understand the irreversibility of changes" (Ravichandra 231). The much admired patriarch and strong, feared hero, finds himself alienated from his society. He is "swept aside" because he is unable to change or accept change. To fully understand the reaction of the two patriarchs to the changes in their societies, one has to understand the nature of change in both societies. In the case of Egyptian society, the change is not rapid and radical, but slow and affects some social aspects. On the other hand the encroachment of British civilization destroys the whole social fabric of Umuofia. In the former it is a matter of amalgamation of the new and the old, while in the latter the new civilization erodes the traditional values. Change for Al-Sayyid is a process that gradually affects individuals, families, and the whole community. But change in Umuofia takes Okonkwo by surprise like a nightmare that he has never expected. Through the story of Al-Sayyid and his family , Mahfouz explores the changing norms of Egyptian society and emergence of a new modern morality. The institution of patriarchy was also affected by the process of change. For Mahfouz change is a process that affects individuals, families and communities. Al-Sayyid moves from a great invincible giant to a man who gradually loses his grip on his world. Although Al-Sayyid dies only in the last part of the trilogy , by the end of PalaceWalk, there are signs that the patriarch is losing control of the world around him. He is devastated by the death of Fahmi with British bullets and this loss affects his life in a powerful way. The more he loses control, the more tormented he is with the sense of helplessness in the face of events. He is reduced to just a shadowy figure of what he was – a colossus giant , now reduced to a dwarf. In the last two parts of the trilogy, Al-Sayyid is shown to have reluctantly accepted the new social values and norms. Here lies the most important difference between the two patriarchs:- Al-Sayyid has always maintained a happy medium in dealing with the outside world. Unlike his Nigerian counterpart, he does not try to fight the forces of change; he learns how to make concessions and accept changes. He does not try to act as the defender of the old society. He accepts to fall into oblivion, to be dropped by life and to spend the rest of his life awaiting death watching events but not participating in them. He rather wheels away his solitude reminiscing about the good old days. He does not meet Okonkwo's end because he is keenly conscious of the rapid passage of time and realizes and accepts the fact that society changes. Al-Sayyid tries to adjust to the changing times and accept the new values. If Okonkwo's end is caused by his inability to come to terms with his reduced manhood, Al-Sayyid's survival lies in his ability to accept his reduced manhood and live in a society in which women play greater roles than before. Right from the beginning, Al-Sayyid is aware of the significance of the tender values of love and affection.True he tries to live separate levels of life, but he is unable to sustain this duality and he is forced to recognize the role of the feminine in the society. By the end of Al-Sayyid's life, he has lost his power over his household and the

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members of his family are enjoying absolute freedom. Even his wife is now free to see the outside world. In fact she becomes a significant means through which he is connected with that world. This is a clear sign of the triumph of matriarchy and the fall of patriarchy. One of the similarities between the two novels is depiction of the death of the protagonists. Their death symbolizes end of patriarchy and emergence of matriarchal values, replacing domestic tyranny by democratic system in family and society at large. While Okonkwo is forced to end his life in utter helplessness, Al-Sayyid dies a more groaning and grueling death with his defeated ideals, languishing illness, crippled and confined to bed. But their painful end has a cluster of symbolical traits left behind to be pondered over by the readers. On the one hand, it may symbolize shattering of the native age-old values due to foreign invasion on the cultural sensibility of the respective community, on the other hand it may signal the emergence of new social values rejuvenating social life with modernity. The conclusive part of Palace Walk signifies political awakening in form of people's revolt against the colonial regime, heralding complete independence of the Egyptian people and regeneration of good values and empowerment of woman. However, Chinua Achebe prefers to sum up the novel on melodramatic note, dramatizing things fall apart, yet spirits of change and reawakening are remarkable symbolical notes woven artistically in the narrative texture of the novel, which he prescribes to be adopted for a progressive future. It should be noted that the death of Okonkwo does not mean the end of patriarchy in Igbo society, it only marks the beginning of the end of that old-age social phenomenon. Similarly Al-Sayyid's gradual fall and his acceptance of change does not mean that the whole Egyptian society no longer holds to traditional values. Rather it marks the beginning of a new era in which women will have more rights than before. Mahfouz and Achebe share the view that society has good and bad sides.They focus on the positive and negative social changes that are brought about by internal and external historical forces. They share anti-patriarchal attitude and take sides with the oppressed and exploited. Through the stories of their memorable patriarchs, they succeed in dealing with patriarchy and colonialism as two forms of exploitation and dominance in which the stronger dictates his wishes on the weaker. Both Mahfouz and Achebe believe that time is both a negative and positive force moving steadily creating changes that help nations to move forward. It is, therefore, natural that a way of life with its age-old traditions fall apart making way for a new world. In their two masterpieces, they succeed in portraying typical patriarchs who take a mighty pride in their "manliness" and mistrust anything feminine. The authority emanates from them and women are subordinated to their will. These domestic tyrants face a changing world around them. They adopt two different attitudes towards that change which is prompted by the western intrusion. This attitude towards change not only reflects the character of the protagonist but also the society to which he belongs. Okonkwo's rigid

37 stance towards the new culture is the product of his personality which is in turn the product of Igbo culture, while Al-Sayyid's flexible attitude is the product of his Egyptian culture which is a mixture of Pharonic, Roman, Islamic and Western cultures. The Egyptians made good use of the positive contributions of the West while keeping the good values of their own culture. Unlike Igbo society, Egyptian society created a harmonious synthesis of the two cultures. This point needs further study on the two societies and the impact of colonialism on all aspects of social life. Works Cited : Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ

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Achebe, Chinua. Anthills of the Savannah. Garden City: Doubleday Anchor, 1988. _ _ _. Arrow of God. 2nd Ed. NewYork: Doubleday Anchor, 1974. _ _ _. MorningYet on Creation Day: Essays. London: Heinemann, 1975. _ _ _. The Trouble With Nigeria. 1983. African Writers Series, Oxford, Portsmouth: Heinemann, 1984. _ _ _. Things Fall Apart. London: Heinemann, 1958. Barakat, Halim. “Arabic Novels and Social Transformation.” Studies in Modern Arabic Literature. Ed. R.C. Ostle. London: Aris and Philips 1975. 126-37. Bu-Buakei Jabbi. "Fire and Transition in Things Fall Apart" Critical Perspective on Chinua Achebe. Ed. Innes, C.L. and Bernth Lindfors, Edinburgh: Heinemann Education Books Ltd., 1979. Cooke, Miriam. “Men Constructed in the Mirror of Prostitution.” Michael Beard, and Adnan Hayder, eds. Naguib Mahfouz: From Regional Fame to Global Recognition. Syracuse: NewYork University, 1993. Das, Bijay Kumar. Aspects of Commonwealth Literature. New Delhi: Creative Writing , 1995. El-Enany, Rasheed. Naguib Mahfouz: The Pursuit of Meaning. London: Routledge, 1993. Ibironke, Olabode. "Chinua Achebe and the Political Imperative of the African Writer" in Journal of Commonwealth Literature.Vol. 36 No I, :2001, p 75- 89. Johnson, G. Allan. The Gender Knot: Unraveling Our Patriarchal Legacy. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2005. Khayyoom, S.A. "The Neo-anthropological Novels of Chinua Achebe" Commonwealth Fiction, ed. R.K.Dhwan, New Delhi: Classical Publishing Company, 1998. p 24-39. Lyasere, O. Solomon. "Narrative Techniques in Things Fall Apart" Critical Perspective on Chinua Achebe. Ed. Innes, C.L. and Bernth Lindfors Edinburgh: Heinemann Education Books Ltd., 1979. Mahfouz, Naguib. Palace of Desire: Cairo Trilogy II. Trans. William Maynard, Iorne M. Kenny, Olive E. Kenny. New York: Anchor Books, 1992. (First Arabic version 1957; First English Trans. 1991). _ _ _. Palace Walk: Cairo Trilogy I. Trans. William Maynard Hutchins, Olive E. Kenny. London: Black Swan, 1994. (First Arabic version 1956; First English Trans. 1991). _ _ _. Sugar Street: Cairo Trilogy III. Trans. William Maynard Hutchins, Angele Botros Samaan, New York: Anchor Books, 1993. (First Arabic version 1957; First English Trans. 1992). Miller, Pavla. Transformations of Patriarchy in the West: 1500-1900 Interdisciplinary Studies in History, BLOOMINGTON AND INDIANAPOLIS: Indiana University Press, 1998.

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Labyrinth | Vol.2 No.2 (Apr. 2011) Ravinchandra, C. , Vijayasree." A Journey through History: A Study of Chinua Achebe' Fiction. Commonwealth Fiction, ed. R.K.Dhwan, New Delhi: Classical Publishing Company, 1998. p 24-39. Sharma , R.S.. "Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart: The Parable and the Fable"' The Literary Criterion. No 2,Vol. XIII, 1978. p 37- 45 Somekh, Sasson. The Changing Rhythm: A Study of Najib Mahfouz's Novels. Leiden : E.J. Brill, 1973. Wadud, Amina. Quran and Woman: Rereading the Sacred Text from a Woman's Perspective. NewYork, Oxford University Press: 1999. Weinstock, Donald J. and Cathy Ramadan " Symbolic Structure in Things Fall Apart" Critical Perspective on Chinua Achebe. ed. Innes, C.L. and Bernth Lindfors Edinburgh: Heinemann Education Books Ltd., 1979. Witz, Anne. Profession and Patriarchy. London and NewYork: Routledge, 1992. Innes, C.L. and Bernth Lindfors. ed. Critical Perspective on Chinua Achebe. Edinburgh: Heinemann Education Books Ltd., 1979.

Remembrance of A Corrected Past -Albert Russo (included in the book of poetry The Crowded World of Solitude-Vol.2 )

When poring over the yellowed photograph of a radiant and beautiful woman, bringing it to your lips, you play the alchemists, changing its musty odor into the heady fragrance of a tropical flower ... When you close your eyes and see the youngish looking man on her right, bearing your features, with that indefinable stare which could be mistaken for a smile ... You wish you were never bonn to the most desirable of aIl madonnas, for you know that she wouldn't have allowed you to waste your breath or let your heart become the seat of infinite oppression You then flip the pages of the album and consider the portrait of that same woman posing before your lense half a century later She is still handsome and in her grayish-green eyes you read so much wisdom it burns your chest like the most lethal of poisons, Then again, you wish you were never born to a madonna

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The Otherness of The Other in Tagore's Mystic Poetry (To commemorate the 150th birth anniversary of Gurudev)

- Swati Samantaray Abstract: In the mystical poetry written in all languages of the world, there are some common characteristics – the longing for afar, reaching for the inaccessible, searching for the ideal heart's compassion and the desire to know the unknown, for instance, which can be traced in many passages written by English Romantic poets, especially Blake, Wordsworth, Coleridge and Shelley, and in many Indian poets including Kabir, Sri Aurobindo, Lalan Fakir and, of course, Rabindranath Tagore. In this paper the mystical overtones in Tagore's poetry and his all-embracing vision of the Otherness of the Other are explored. A modest attempt has been taken to locate the moments (which come like flashes), when Tagore's soul has touched the Infinite and has become intensely conscious of it through illumination of joy. Keywords: Mysticism, Brahman, atman, Infinite, love, nature, poetry

Mysticism is the bridge to the beyond - the road to self-actualization. It is the relation between the higher and the lower, the other world and this the interaction between the two. Mysticism is not a system of beliefs, but a method of approaching life. The mystic always aspires for afar and is essentially a transcendentalist, who integrates all the forces of mind into a unity and reconciles himself with the community and with the totality of experience as a spiritual system. Eventually, a mystic seeks ecstatic union with the Divine. The path to that union is by and large developed by purgation of desires, purification of the will, illumination of the mind and unification of one's will or being with the Divine. A mystical experience may come through visions, ecstasies or through meditation. This experience has thus, been said to be unique for each individual; yet we find that there is a marked resemblance between the experiences of mystics, not merely of the same race or cult, but also of different social orders and religions. We may identify vast differences between Eastern (oriental) and Western (occidental) approaches. To cite a few, we may say that the Eastern goal is usually unitive and introspective whereas the Western is dualistic and extroverted. The Eastern mind tends to see God everywhere, in all things; it perceives everything as sacred. Obviously, the Western mind considers it as a heresy to believe that God pervades all things, and makes a strong difference between what is sacred and what is profane. In general, we notice the Eastern holding to karma, reincarnation and liberation, the Western postulating a single life for the soul, followed by reward or punishment. It is a commonplace of criticism that much of

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Eastern thought transcends rational reckoning and the goal is to reach a spiritual world beyond. In contrast, the Western viewpoint, while searching for reality, aims at distinguishing one from the other. It endorses subtle relation to other objects in the cosmos. In the East to know reality is to pass beyond distinction, to realize the oneness of all, being one with the All. Eastern thought makes no distinction between humans and cosmos.The name for this is monism - the belief that all that is, is one. The Christians (considering Western mysticism) believe for that matter, in a personal God Who is separate from His creation i.e. they have the Creator / creature distinction. In Christianity, God is distinct from creation. God is certainly present with His creation, but He is in no way a part of creation. God is not an amoral entity, but a moral agent who says 'Thou Shalt Not' and calls people for repentance and faith. In Eastern mysticism, 'Death' is simply the final stage of growth; it is an illusion. Human beings are a part of the divine essence; for death to exist would mean the extinction of part of the One. Reincarnation, as it is usually understood in Hinduism, states that plants, animals, and human life are so interrelated that souls are capable of 'transmigrating' from one form of life to another. However, this version is unpalatable to Western tastes. The two essential points of Christianity - sin and salvation, are both missing in the East. If there is no sin, no salvation is needed, only what is sought is enlightenment. The summit of Hinduism (considering Eastern mysticism) is the mystical experience or liberation from the illusion of finitude, realization of tat tvam asi, Thou Art That (i.e. Brahman). At the center of a person's being is not individual ego but Atman, Universal Self which is identical with Brahman. Eastern liberation is not the same as Western salvation. The Westerner must work for his own salvation, but ultimately it comes to him only through the love and mercy of God. In an act of grace, the transcendent deity may bestow his gifts upon some erring soul. From the Eastern viewpoint the evil deeds are a product of ignorance. According to the doctrine of maya, humans do wrong through ignorance. Knowledge is the path to righteousness, and the person who has knowledge will never commit sin. Thus the goal of wisdom is liberation from maya and human beings must strive for liberation through selfknowledge. In this perspective, mysticism implies, the abolition of individuality, of that hard separateness, that I, Me, Mine which makes of man a finite isolated thing. To define is to limit, and no single definition will cover every aspect of mysticism. It is essentially a movement of the heart, seeking to transcend the limitations of the individual standpoint and to surrender itself to Ultimate Reality, for no personal gain, to satisfy no transcendental curiosity, to obtain no other-worldly joys, but purely from an instinct of love. The mystic, thus, is in love with the Absolute. Referring to the mystical faculty of perceiving transcendental reality, Aldous Huxley in his book Grey Eminence: A Study in Religion and Politics states that a totally unmystical world would be a world totally blind and

41 insane. Paradoxically enough, the Western mind views the Eastern approach as mystical, far-fetched and other-worldly. For them, it proves to be the other. The word 'Other' as we know, is used invariably in conjunctions with descriptions of 'the self' or subject with which the 'other' is contrasted and which it therefore defines. The Other is not a direct interlocutor but the symbolic place, the site upon which the subject is constituted; the something it lacks, but must seek. It therefore, directs the subject's desire and destiny. The self finds the Other as the Infinite. With this background, let us now look at Rabindranath Tagore, especially his mystical approach, as realized in his creative pursuits. Tagore's spiritual vision is embodied in all his works – novels, plays and paintings – but especially in his poetry. As a poet of the Indian Renaissance, Rabindranath has noted that man has a feeling that he is truly represented in something which exceeds him. The main bulk of his poetry is suffused with a mystical glow. There are some common characteristics in his poetry - the longing for afar, reaching for the inaccessible, searching for the ideal heart's compassion and the desire to know the unknown (Kar 52-55). Tagore's poetry in English is as much Indian as it is Universal. In Indian mystical thought, he offers a system in which the theism of the Bhagavad Gita, the metaphysics of the Vedas, the Upanishads, the mysticism of the Bauls and the philosophical principles of Vaishnavisim and Sufism exist in synthesis. He was also influenced by the English Romantics (most notably Shelley). Shelley's “The desire of the moth for the star and night for the morrow” (Palgrave 338) and his “we look before and after/and pine for what is not” (Palgrave 407), for instance, have mystical and transcendental gleams which is not very different from Tagore's mystical utterances. Although Tagore received inspiration from different sources, he never belonged to any religion. His concept of religion is apparent in the following lines: “My religion is essentially a poet's religion; its touch comes to me through the same unseen trackless channel as does the inspiration of my music” (Tagore & Das : 688).

He was not satisfied with subjective meditation (that is, he did not reject the finite in the attainment of the Infinite) but wanted to realize the Creator in his creations. Gurudev was nurtured on the Upanishads which speak of the immanent Brahman - the Supreme Reality which is an all suffusing force that transcends comprehension and any sort of description. The Hindu idea is that all things in the cosmos, even the famous Hindu deities, are only temporal manifestations of the Brahman. In Tagore's verses the poetic, philosophic and religious sentiments are moulded into one to occasion “the mystic lyrics of the Bhakti tradition of India” (Ignatius 218). His mysticism flows into poetry, his poetry bathes in mysticism. In Gitanjali (Song Offerings) the mystic poet presents the Divine as the great affirmation, the fountain of energy, the source of life and death, and also the belief of the Vedantic doctorine Tat Twam Asi.


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As we know Rabindranath has assessed the truth of his beatific visions by his own observation and has found them capable of leading him to the brink of a transcendental realisation of the Supreme Reality. For him love is the ultimate meaning of everything around us, but essentially God-love it is. He appeals thus: 'where is this hope of union except in thee, my God' (The Gardener: 50). In Gitanjali, the expression is still vivid and inspiring: The morning light has flooded my eyes – this is thy message to my heart. Thy face is bent from above, thy eyes look down on my eyes, and my heart has touched thy feet. (Gitanjali: 59)

Further, The great pageant of thee and me has overspread the sky. With the tune of thee and me all the air is vibrant, and all ages pass with the hiding and seeking of thee and me. (Gitanjali: 71)

In fact, his magnum opus Gitanjali is a dialogue between thee and me. The “me”, the poet confesses, “is my own little self, my Lord, he knows no shame; but I am ashamed to come to thy door in his company” (Gitanjali: 30). Eventually, 'I' is the Atman, who is also the Brahman. But the me is the limited worldly self, which is incessantly aspiring after the 'I' – and, of course, the aspiration may take the path of Bhakti (devotion), Jnana (knowledge) or even Niskama Karma (disinterested action).Thus, the 'I' is open to realization and once the process of realization is complete, the Atman becomes the Brahman. 'Thee', for Tagore, is God, the image of the infinite, the shadow of the Brahman with whom the 'me', the shadow of the Atman endeavours to establish the rapport. The 'me' and the 'thee' have forms while the Atman and the Brahman are formless. The 'me' must develop into the whole being and should transform itself in the company of the 'thee' to enter the realm of Sat-Chit-Anand.Therefore the supplication: Oh, grant me my prayer that I may never lose the bliss of the touch of the One in the play of the many.(Gitanjali: 63)

Another example of a similar yearning, of course, in a different context: Let the links of my shackles snap at every step of thy dance, O Lord of Dancing, and let my heart wake in the freedom of eternal voice. Let it feel the touch of that foot that ever sets swinging the lotus of the muse and with its perfume maddens the air through ages. (Poems: 82)

Eventually after all, Tagore was also a person of firm faith in the basic spiritual values of life. He tried ceaselessly to express the infinite, the supreme Soul, or the spirit of the universe. For him love leads to joy, which is, in a sense, “the realization of oneness, the oneness of our soul with the world and the world-soul with the Supreme Lover” (Sadhana

43 116). He articulated the gist of India's spiritual message thus: “the fundamental unity of creation was not simply a piece of philosophical speculation for India; it was her life-object to realize this great harmony in feeling and in action” (Sadhana 7). What Tagore sought is the perfect union where and when heaven and earth, time and space, pleasure and pain, death and life amalgamate together in an unbearable ecstasy. Therefore, the yearning: 'I want thee, only thee' (Gitanjali), which led time and again to flashes of the mystical height: You have come, Radiant One,You have broken upon the door May Victory be yours… Victorious Hero, with the dawn of a new day… Let my bondage break, Victory be yours. (A Tagore Testament: 67)

In his unique poem Sonar Tari (The Golden Boat) we discover the finite wants to meet the infinite. Further, the finite wants to be one with the all – pervading Infinite. We find that Tagore is a voyager to Infinity's shore where the finite has at last its perfect play. He feels that humans, being engaged in the practice of only mundane and selfish deeds, have fenced themselves off from God. When we look at the world through the veil of our desires, we make it small and narrow and fail to perceive truth. He believes that by shedding ego-centrism and being selfless, humans by their good deeds and thoughts can enter the domain of God. Happiness and sorrow, life and death, are transient and if borne with detachment the path of God remains unhindered. For a religious poet, like Tagore, Love is essential to everything. Through the beauty of this universe, through the loveliness of our dear ones, it is ultimately God, the all pervading One, who is ever drawing us to Himself. The joy ran from all the world to build my body, the lights of the sky kissed and kissed her till she woke. Flowers of hurrying summer sighed in her breath and voices of winds and water sang in her movements. The passion of the tide of colour in clouds and in forests flowed into her life and the music of all things caressed her limbs into shape. She is bridle, she has lighted her lamp in my house. (Fruit Gathering: 72)

The theme of God-love is also represented in the following lines: 'Where is this hope of union except in Thee, my God'. (The Gardener: 50)

He believes that love alone is the meeting point of the finite and the Infinite: 'God kisses the finite in His love and man the Infinite' (Stray Birds: 302)

For him love leads to joy, which is in a sense, the realization of oneness, the encounter of our soul with the world and the world-soul with the

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Supreme Lover. The poet's quest of the Other (the Infinite) is blended with his deep love of the earth and nature. Much of Tagore's religious inspiration comes from Nature. Nature gives his poetry its ethereal beauty. The poet is of the opinion that God gives himself in the beauty of Nature. Nature is conceived by him as spiritual, as the Eternal consciousness gets expressed through it. We are here reminded of Radhakrishnan's assertion: “Earth is crammed with heaven; all existence is suffused with God” (Radhakrishnan 45). It is believed that humans and nature have an inner bond of kinship, and both are manifestations of the same reality which is all-permeating and all-pervading. 'The same stream of life that runs through my veins night and day runs through the world and dances in rhythmic measures'. (Gitanjali: 69)

In his poems Rabindranath sings of the man-God relationship which takes a number of forms, friendship (sakhya), service (dasya), love (prema), and so on. Mysticism is another aspect of this relationship. He conceives of the divine nature of the finite souls who come in communion with God and have their own existence and individuality. For Tagore, God is Satyam, Shivam and Sundaram, that is, Truth, Goodness and Beauty. He feels that there exists a personal relationship between God and man. Love, music and poetry are the means to come closer to God and thereby to remain in continuous communion with Him. He seeks deliverance not through renunciation but through the bonds of creation. Eventually,Tagore believes that the fundamental principle of life is not an abstract principle as science might believe; it is a creative principle out of which everything has taken and has been taking its rise. Nevertheless, “the human body is the temple of the soul, the human soul is the temple of God. The human soul is nought unless it is inhabited or 'filled' by the Spirit. Birth and death are but the filling and the emptying of the soul by the Spirit, and the individual – insignificant as he may seem to be – verily partakes of God's endless life, His immortality” (Iyengar 111). According to Gurudev death is not the end of life; it is not even the negation of life and it plays an important role in the spiritual process of the extension of consciousness: 'Thou hast made me endless, such is thy pleasure. This frail vessel thou emptiest again an again, and fillest it ever with fresh life.' (Gitanjali: 1)

When the poet writes “O Thou the last fulfilment of life, Death, my death, come whisper to me! / Day after day have I kept watch for thee,” (Gitanjali: 91) romantic ecstasy surges through every word. He realizes that death is an illusion; the soul is more real than any object, and he sings of death as a joyful voyage home to the eternity from which he sprang. Life for Tagore is an unceasing pilgrimage that meets the finale with death - the reveller of eternity; the fulfilment of life. The theory of

45 evolution, designed to meet the rational human needs, is also equally acceptable to Tagore, though the dimension he adds is purely psychological in nature. “Rabindranath Tagore grasps the eternal reality in his poetry. His pilgrim soul voyages through the myriad ways of life to the region of the timeless, the Ultimate” (Naik 64). A close observation of his poetry forces us to accept the mystical overtones in his verses and his allembracing vision of the Otherness of the Other. In this sense, Tagore's cry for the afar is simply not a romantic longing, rather, it is the craving of the inner self to reach the higher state, the One which every living soul must/should strive for, and aspire after. Works Cited: Ÿ Dutt, Indu Tr. A Tagore Testament, London: Meridan Books, 1953. Ÿ Ignatius, G. 'All Mine, My True Love, and I All His,' Proceedings of Indian Philosophical Congress, 26th Session, Published by Rabindranath Tagore Birth Centenary Celebrations,Visva-Bharati. Ÿ Iyengar, K. R. Srinivasa. Indian Writing in English, New Delhi: Sterling Publishers Private Limited 1984. Ÿ Kar, N. “Mystical and Transcendental Flights in William Blake and Sri Aurobindo', The Indian Journal of English Studies, Vol. XLI, 2003-2004. Ÿ Naik, M.K. Perspectives on Indian Poetry in English, New Delhi: Abhinav Publications, 1984. Ÿ Palgrave, Francis Turner. The Golden Treasury, London: Mcmillan & Co., 1875. Ÿ Radhakrishnan, S. The Philosophy of Rabindranath Tagore, Kessinger Publishing, 1918. Ÿ Tagore, R. & Sisir K. Das. A Miscellany, Sahitya Akademi, 2003. Ÿ Tagore. The Gardener, London: Macmillan & Co., 1912. Ÿ ______ Gitanjali, London: Macmillan & Co., 1912. (Subsequent references are from this edition) Ÿ ______ Poems from Tagore, Calcutta: Macmillan & Co., 1922. Ÿ ______ Sadhana, London: Macmillan, 1930. Ÿ ______The Golden Boat, London: Allen & Unwin, 1932. Ÿ ______ Fruit Gathering, London: Mcmillan & Co., 1916. Ÿ ______Stray Birds, NewYork: Mcmillan & Co., 1916.

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Post Colonialism and Gender Consciousness in The Novels of Shashi Deshpande - Taniya Chakraborty Abstract: Being a prominent and prolific literary figure Shashi Deshpande comes to the limelight for some uniqueness. She claims a distinguished place among both the expatriates and other Indian writers of vernacular languages. Deshpande's individuality is delineated by her conscious effort in her technique. Whether the term 'post colonial' is applicable to Deshpande's writings or not, is a question of dispute as she never dealt with the avowed post colonial themes such as alienation, diaspora, immigration, hybridity etc. Despite the fact, her works can be interpreted from the post colonial perspective as her works reflect a kind of 'Indianness' through the use of language, minute descriptions of the way of life of an average Indian, the details of native customs and rituals, hegemonic beliefs and superstitions. Deshpande is concerned with a typical Indian 'mind' which has been nourished in a typically, conventionally Indian background. In short, in her writings, one can find India as a nation which is still burdened with the age –old customs and hegemonic rituals, though simultaneously, prospering apparently with west. Deshpande brings out the characters which are very realistic and rational. She describes the surroundings from the perspective of an educated and enlightened Indian woman, who till date, is not allowed to live as an individual being. Thus, the paper is not concerned with the fact how Deshpande differentiates the 'east' from the 'west', but, is eager to point out how Deshpande has depicted the picture of a 'modern' Indian society which is still meandering in its conventional culture and gender discrimination even in the 21st century. Keywords: Contemporary, Diaspora, Indianness, Alienation, Immigration, Mysticism, Post colonial, Mythology, Nehruvian, Hybridity, Gender

Shashi Deshpande is among a few contemporary Indian writers whose works have been recognized both in India and abroad. She holds a unique position among her contemporary writers for her excellent approach towards several social issues of contemporary India, her deep insight of human psychology and her earnest effort to bring together time and space in order to correlate with the multiple literary tradition of language, gender and culture. She would not be counted among expatriate writers as she resides in India; neither can she be listed up as a member of Regional Literature as she writes in English, a foreign

47 language.Though she herself believes: I feel I belong to the same class as regional writers do. I'd like to be one of them. But, I'm not, only because I write in English. (Pathak, 234)

She is unique for another reason. She has consciously distanced herself from the particular style of writing that is being encouraged in Indian English Literature. Her consciousness of the difference makes her work unique among all her contemporaries. Like some other novelists who have been categorized as the postcolonial writers, she never indulges the themes like alienation, diaspora, immigration, hybridity etc. Now the question arises why we call Deshpande a postcolonial author. We consider Shashi Deshpande a post-colonial author not only because she writes in a post-colonial era, but also because she presents a postcolonial India in her writings. Her use of language, myths, history and cultural heritage evokes such an exclusive cultural ethnicity which can be interpreted as 'Indianness'. Renowned critic Jasbir Jain opines that the 'Indianness' of a literary work is perceived by insiders and the outsiders through few ways. The insiders work through the process and the outsiders through the visible techniques. But together they allow a person to have an idea of the signs of 'Indianness' through “the philosophical and religious beliefs, the notion of the self, the family and community, the attitude to time and space and the view of history and reality.” (Jain, 237) By these paraphernalia Deshpande's work could be interpreted in a newer light. She is concerned with inner recesses of mind. Her women characters are home-bound. They restrict themselves within homes, flats, kitchens, corners and in their families. Nature or outside world is never an active participant in their lives. Deshpande is more concerned with the landscapes of mind, with dreams, nightmares, memories, unfulfilled desires and various complexes. She presents India from the point of view of a commonplace Indian woman. Deshpande has a unique affinity towards her native culture which embellishes her writings with a special shade. She is particularly concerned with Indian families. Critics also find an excellent picture of woman psyche that pines for the conflict of personal aspirations and ultimate failure. She depicts the life of an average Indian woman who tries to transcend her limitations but has to cope with her predicaments. She tries to delve deep into the psyche of the people of India which is burdened with many hegemonic discourses. Deshpande finds the roots of this difference within the cultural heritage of her nation. Her psyche is deeply rooted into her cultural heritage, therefore, she concentrates herself within her nation and its people. Reading her novels gives an overt impression of her native concerns. Once in an interview with M. D. Riti, Deshpande clearly stated: I do not use Indianisms to make my writing like Indian. I never try to make India look exotic. I do not think of a western audience at all. I belong to Indian literature. I would not like ever to be called an Indo-Anglican writer. I feel strongly about that. (Pathak, 240)

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Indeed, in her writings, there is no show off; there is no resonance of mysticism or religious moorings. She deals with the 'reality' of the commonplace struggle of an average Indian householder. She is very much indebted to her native culture and she brings forth the cultural nuance in her writings. She presents a very Indian society which is unequal and uneven in social structures, a society that is still carrying immense burden from the past in the form of child marriage, caste system, gender biasness and many more social malpractices. Deshpande never has attempted to differentiate the 'east' from the 'west' neither she has dealt with any diasporic discourse; rather she voluntarily tries to relocate India as a part of global enterprise. She uses the Indian myth of Yajnavalkya and Maitreyi, and Ruscolnikov and Sonia simultaneously. She quotes from Tulsidaas and from Kierkegaards, gives recurrent references to various books of World Literature and thus she transgresses all the limitations between Indian Literature and World Literature. Her women protagonists are convent educated, highly sensitive in mind and they are aware of the names of Betty Friedan or Virginia Woolf. Even then also, all the Indian women have to abide by the axiom, 'a husband is the sheltering tree'. Though they are aware of their deprivations, they don't even think of taking decisions like their western sisters. They even never think of leaving their families. Thus they are quite different from the western women. Deshpande herself admits: …it is difficult to apply Kate Millett or Simone de Beauvoir or whoever to the reality of our daily lives in India. (Pathak, 248)

Deshpande's language is also unique. She writes in a language which is 'Indianised' English. It is not the typical scholarly English which is typified by Oxford and Cambridge. It is a kind of English that is used in the commonplace households of Indian society. Besides she uses multitudes of Indian words in her novels like, Akka, kaka, ajji, kaki, Atya, Mavsi, dada, chawl, bhakries, bhajiyas, vadas etc. in order to give the language a native touch. She tells in an interview: … I've used a lot of Indianised words – kaka (uncle), kaki (aunt) etc. If you try to make everything easy for everyone, then, you end up belonging nowhere. So, I've left it at that – characters with their locales, without providing glosses for the Western reader… (Pathak, 234)

She uses the English that is used in any enlightened Indian household. It is not only the language of “Elites”, but also is used by the lower – middle class families too.To Deshpande English is a language of communication which is used throughout the world. Though she admits that writing in English makes her to some extent alien in the field of Indian literature, she is happy with her choice. Deshpande opines: By writing in English, I am again in another small circle, that's all. It does not make me non-Indian in any way. I do not even like the word Indo-Anglican. I am an Indian writer. My language just happens to be English, which cannot be called a foreign language at all because it is so much used in India. (Pathak, 240)

Another aspect is very interesting in Deshpande that in all her novels a

49 sense of awe for the language English is reflected from the behaviours of the common people. Though of late it is used by almost all, the language has a very domineering influence on the commoners. Most probably the “elite” origin of this language is responsible for this. In this context we may refer to the incident in “That Long Silence”, when Jaya during her pregnancy went to the hospital. She was asked some questions by the doctor in his “convent-accented Hindi”. When she responded in fluent English, despite her plain attire she received a respect and worm service instantly by the doctor. This is the impact of the language of our colonial lords that still influences us even after so many decades of freedom from the colonial rule. A girl in India is taught in a convent not because she would be able to be established on her own feet, but because this quality would secure a groom for her in future. There is a typical middle class mentality which she describes in her writing. Jaya, in “That Long Silence” was married to Mohan as she had fulfilled one of the criteria that the wife should be an 'English-speaking' girl. This inclination to this particular language is prominent by the fact that Tara the maid of Jaya's household sends her children to a convent school. Kalpana, a young girl in “The Binding Vine”, becomes a butt of attack for her ridiculous efforts to speak in English. In “The Country of Deceit” we find another woman, Bhavani, comes to Devayani, the protagonist of the novel, “to learn English to help her husband's career, to improve her own status and social life and so that her children should not be ashamed of her.” (46) This is the instance of the colonial hangover that we face till today in our social life. It is no more restricted within the higher class people; rather it has been spread among the common people. Her novels are restricted within small towns and they tell the stories of different generations of the same household. In “In the Country of Deceit”, Devayani's aunt Sindhu lives abroad and in Sindhu's letters we find the differences between the life styles of India and United States. The references of various household rituals like Mangala-Gouri Puja, bahu-vij, Chaitra-Gouri Puja, Hartalika makes an effort to draw a realistic chiaroscuro of an average Indian household. Deshpande's fictional world is not any makebelief world of imagination, but is a world of stark reality. The aroma of experience comes out of her observations of life. Shashi Deshpande never portrays India as an exotic nation with full of mystery and mysticism, instead she decides to excavate the quotidian lifestyle of the average Indian. According to Jasbir Jain Deshpande's novels, “are overpopulated like our country.They hum with characters as relatives and friends and long-lost memories compete with each other for attention”. (Jain, 241) Her fictional world is centered on the middle class life giving the working class a place on the peripheral side. Deshpande even provides the political atmosphere which is extended over the entire nation. Deshpande's novel, “Small Remedies” has a sub text which is based on the aftermath of the demolition of Babri Masjid. There had been a fierce riot between two communities and in this background Madhu reveals how personal relationships are influenced by these macabre calamities. She thinks:

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Labyrinth | Vol.2 No.2 (Apr. 2011) I am not a liberal. I believe that evil should be punished, that wrongdoers should get their deserts. I believe that we are responsible for our actions, that there are no excuses we can shelter behind…. An eye for an eye. But whose eye do I exact in revenge? Which one human in the faceless mob can I hold responsible? And what do you do when the masks of evil are taken off and you see instead the faces of vulnerable human beings? (122-123)

Here the reality behind the violence is evoked in this way. The background of the riots which we perceive in the Partition Literature or in the books written in that context is different from Deshpande's as Deshpande describes that environmental anarchy through personal grief. In this book again the outside evil is projected through Madhu's personal relationship with her husband. She says: Hostility, suspicion and anger, which have become a part of my life at home with Som, are waiting for me when I go out of the house as well. There's a miasma, the smell of disaster in the air but we are still free of it, still immune to it. Or so we think. (299)

There are many instances where the political anarchy is reflected through the personal grievances. Jaya's observation can be said a kind of critique of the Nehruvian thought of mutual co-operations between two countries. Jaya in “That long Silence” describes the background before the historical war between India and China: I could only see the girls in the hostel, all of us, standing on our balconies and watching the road-lining crowd wave flags and cheer the two men who folded their hands in a greeting and smiled blandly back. I heard the cries of 'Hindi-Chini bhai bhai. But almost immediately came the war. We had been stabbed by our 'brother'. Yes, that betrayal had been the watershed between hope and cynicism, between dreams and disillusionment. Things would never be same again. (59)

Deshpande considers an individual is a part of the nation and so personal responses are always very important in Deshpande's point of view. It is through the individual that the public affairs are projected. This is also a unique quality in Deshpande. Deshpande brings forth the life of a common Indian woman who is completely dependent on a male in the various phases of her life, in her childhood on her father; after her marriage, to her husband and at the old age, on her son, if she has any. Thus, the Indian woman never achieves freedom of her 'self'. Here also Deshpande is showing a potent difference between the concepts of 'self' in east and west. In India most women are housewives and so they find a fulfillment in their families. They negate their 'self' for the happiness of their families. In Indian culture, no woman wants to be isolated in society as 'family' is very important bond. Deshpande has observed: May be not being a working woman, I've been able to feel more for a housewife, who is most devalued … women who do not go out to work, who are literally trapped, who are scared to get out of family relationships. Without that, she feels she has no claims whatever. Most women are still very emotionally dependent on the family –

51 they want to be good daughters/wives/mothers always. (Pathak, 235)

Therefore, the protagonists of her novels try to cope with their predicaments. Some critics have opined this kind of negation of 'self' as compromise with the situation, but Deshpande does not approve of the word 'compromise' applied to her protagonists' decisions. She says that it is not any compromise that her characters do in order to save their respective families. They are all sensible and rational persons capable of self- analysis and what they do at last is for the welfare of their families. When Deshpande was asked in an interview why her protagonists compromise with their situations, she said: No, no. I don't agree with that at all. There is no compromise … Where is compromise in confrontation? If you have believed that it is compromise, then you have not understood my novels. (Sree, 146)

In western lifestyle, a woman may live without the support of her family, but, in India, family and children are the two most important bonds without which one's life becomes void. Deshpande weaves the plots in which she brings to the light the typical Indian society which is patriarchal by nature and one dimensional in power-structure. The women are mere puppets in the society to meet up various expectations in life, to follow some archetypes and to serve their respective families as many ways as possible. Even the male members of society also suffer in various situations. Deshpande tries to seek the reason behind it. She conveys the fact that the fundamental and mutually dependent criteria of maintaining a relationship are communication and co-operation with each other. In every relation these two qualities are mandatory. If a person fails to communicate with another, he would not be able to co-operate. In all the novels by Deshpande people suffer because they fail to communicate with the other and consequently each of them becomes a separate island.Women suffer most in this case as they are supposed to abide by all the decisions taken for them by their family. This is the actual scenario of the entire Indian society. Gayatri Chakraborty Spivak writes in her article, “Can the Subaltern Speak?”. In Indian society a girl becomes a woman after certain social processes and those processes start at her tender age. Deshpande very adroitly portrays the process through which a girl becomes a woman. In “The Dark Holds No Terrors” Saru (abridged version of Sarita) was restricted to come in front of her father without wearing proper dress. An excerpt in worth mentioning where it is described how a girl is prepared since her very childhood for marriage. Sarita remembers an incident of her childhood: Don't go out in the sun.You will get even darker. Who cares? We have to care if you don't.We have to get you married. I don't want to get married. Will you live with us all your life?


52 Why not? You can't. And Dhruva? He's different. He's a boy. (45)

This differentiation is very prominent in Indian society. A boy child is very adorable and acceptable to his parents, but a girl is not. If we try to delve deep into the reason of this differentiation we will find that the root of this difference is in the mythology. In Hindu mythology it is stated that: Whatever wrong has been done by him, his son frees him from it all; therefore he is called a son. By his son a father stands firm in this world. --- Brhad-aranyaka Upanishad (1.5.17) (91)

Shashi Deshpande thinks that myths perform very significant roles in constructing the social discourses. India being the nation of a very rich cultural heritage, gives much impetus to various myths. The veteran author spontaneously uses quotations, gives allusions to various mythological stories with a deliberate purpose. She says in an interview: …we relate a great deal of our personal lives, our daily lives, to the myths.We find parallels as matter of course. And we do this with all the myths, any myth that seems appropriate, whether they were originally about men and women. In that sense it is part of a language, a grammar that one knows and understands, rather than a conscious literary device. (Pathak, 246)

From these mythologies develops the concept of Sita and Savitri, the extremely dedicated and loyal wives. The image of women is based on these two ideal wives in India. But the modern and educated women refuse to comply with the image. Therefore, the conflict starts. Deshpande is against of these social pressures which makes an individual to succumb to the situations. Deshpande thinks everyone should be given the priority to chose his life, be it a man or a woman as life is precious for all. Deshpande is a very sensitive person who is not biased in her approach. She writes for women but her writings do not ventilate any kind of 'ism' within them. She wants the individual to move towards the path of selfrealization and emancipation of a repressed 'self'. Deshpande wants the women of her country to be educated and she thinks that would be the only way to eradicate poverty and many persistent malpractices in Indian society. Shashi Deshpande and all her characters are Indians in all respects and they are rooted in their conservative culture. Therefore, all of them reiterate the fact that one should courageously face the reality. The ultimate 'modernity' in Deshpande lies in the emergence of an individual consciousness as it interrogates the past and draws upon the quality of courage to look it in the face and accept the responsibility as escape is not a solution of any problem.

53 Works Cited : Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ

Ÿ

Deshpande, Shashi. Roots and Shadows. New Delhi: Disha Books, 1983. Print. ---.The Dark Holds No Terrors. New Delhi: Penguin Books, 1980. Print. ---. That Long Silence. New Delhi: Penguin Books, 1989. Print. ---. The BindingVine. New Delhi: Penguin Books, 1993. Print. ---. A Matter of Time. New Delhi: Penguin Books, 1996. Print. ---. Small Remedies. New Delhi: Penguin Books, 2000. Print. ---. Moving On. New Delhi: Penguin Books, 2004. Print. ---. In the Country of Deceit. New Delhi: Penguin Books, 2008. Print. Jain, Jasbir. Gendered Realities, Human Spaces. New Delhi: Rawat Publications, 2003. Print. Pathak, R.S. Ed. The Fiction of Shashi Deshpande. New Delhi: Disha Books, 1998. Print. Creative New Literature Series-19. Spivak, Gayatri Chakravorty. “Can the Subaltern Speak?” Nelson Cary and Lawrence Grossberg. Eds.“Marxism and the Interpretation of Culture.” London: MacMillan, 1988. Print. Sree, S. Prasanna. Woman in the Novels of Shashi Deshpande: A Study. New Delhi: Sarup & Sons.2003. Print.

Why Do I Exist? Awaken'd 'n' Vigilant host, morning friend as I greet reading-hands to readable heights, relishing spicy spices in printed lines along truthful freshenings catch my guests young around the world I'm centr'd hitting Knowledge-wings on life-lines varying, messenger of good-will, trust, equality, shining rays I stretch out radiating, rotating traces, origins, horizons likes of which elegant facts

- P.V. Laxmi Prasad lie beneath the hiding clouds. arrows of pointed, painted sketches by all alike carried in my womb of multi-dimensions unveil'd each hour, day that passes by, to stand by ever-dazzling not simply by drum-beating. sleepless solider as I watch battling “deathless letters” amid vehicles of veracity. possess'd of breath impeccable pulsating, nauseating minds, enduring unwilling, spirited spirits --I'm of newspaper

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Dalit Literature: From Oppression to Emancipation - Shabina Nishat Omar Abstract: Dalit literature addresses the oppressed, the untouchables, the victims, as well as their oppressors. It is a literature of protest, pain and agony. One its main conerns is the plight of the Dalit woman. Doubly oppressed by a patriarchal and casteist tyrannical society, a Dalit woman requires exemplary endurance and indomitable spirit to face her double marginalization. The articulation of the female voice in English translations of Marathi Dalit autobiography written by women shows the dynamics of negotiations between the self 'I' and the community 'we'. An essential feature of the dalit autobiographical narratives is that they do not isolate the individual from his whole historical environment, family, community and society at large. The distinctive difference does not seem between the individual as an isolated subject and the context against which he/she carves out his/her subjective identity as a world by itself. Dalit literature in general and autobiography in particular insists at length upon the condition and mechanism of oppression of the individuals and their communities, and upon the access to school and education as the essential way towards employment and social mobility in a modern urbanised setting, that is, allowing for an escape from the grip of traditional repressive systems. This article seeks to examine the articulation of the female voice after a long culturally imposed silence in and through Dalit autobiographies written by women. Keywords: autobiography theory, dalit literature, feminist writing, historical specificity, identity, marginalised entity, narratology, patriarchy, self, textual authority

The term 'Dalit literature' can be traced to the first Dalit Literary Conference in 1958 in Maharashtra in India. Dalit is the literature of the Untouchables of Maharashtra, of those who are looked down upon even by other workers. Dalit is Marathi for 'the spurned'. The term was first used for the Untouchables in 1930. It is a comprehensive expression which now includes Harijans (such as Mahars), Mangs, Mallas, Chambhars and Pulayas. Dalit Literature is a protest literature against all forms of exploitation based on class, race, caste or occupation. Iin India, both before and for many years after Independence, the Dalits were treated worse than animals. Their presence was usually banned from upper-class localities. Even then they were bound to hang clay pots from their necks so that they may not pollute the streets of the privileged by their spittle. They carried brooms tied to their bodies so that while passing through such 'upper lanes' they could wipe away their footprints.

55 Arjun Dangle gives a harrowing picture of their wretchedness in a poem entitled 'Chhavni Hilti Ha', ('The Cantonment Has Begun to Shake'). We fought with crows, Never even giving them the snot from our noses. As we dragged out the Upper Lane's dead cattle, Skinned it neatly And shared the meat among ourselves, They used to love us then. We warred with jackals--dogs--vultures--kites Because we ate their share.

Marathi Dalit literature in the state of Maharashtra in India has been a base for several revolutionary and reformist movements including the Dalit movement.The roots of the same had far reaching consequences in other parts of the country as well. Dalit literature forms the backbone of Marathi literature today and has relieved it from the stereotypes it had been reduced to in the last three decades. Dalit literature is marked by protest, revolt, and negativism. It foregrounds the aspirations, endeavours and zeal for freedom of a group of people infamously called “untouchables.” They were historically oppressed victims of social, cultural and economic inequality. In their world women were casually stripped and molested, men brutally murdered, and this had been going on for centuries, generation after generation. These were Untouchables who invited death if they dare to quench their thirst from a common pond. Even the Brahmin's god is not their god. He does not accept their supplication. He is not even capable of feeling their misery. Keshav Meshram challenges this God in 'One Day I Cursed That...God', in these words: Would you wipe the sweat from your bony body With your mother's ragged sari? Would you work as a pimp To keep her in booze? O, father, oh, god the father! You could never do such things. First you'd need a mother---One no one honors, One who toils in the dirt, One who gives and gives of her love.

There are numerous theories about the origin of Dalit Literature, ranging from Gautama Buddha in 6th century B.C. and the birth of a revolutionary dharma that placed equality and compassion as the highest, to Chokhamela the 14th century saint poet who through his abhangaas in honour of God also revealed the plight of his fellow beings, to Mahatma Jyotirao Phule (1828-90), the pioneer of women's education who began the first school for women irrespective of categories and class hierarchies and felt that the “varna” system was oppressive and obstructive to the betterment of the downtrodden, to Prof. S .M. Mate (1886-1957). These personages are hailed as its pioneers by various activists and /or ideological groups. These great men

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were deeply concerned about the plight of the untouchables.They fought against all the unjust and prejudiced hierarchal divisions in society and created a rich plethora of literature around their teachings and visions. Although all of them were concerned deeply about the plight of the untouchables, history reveals that it was Dr. B.R. Ambedkar who pioneered Dalit literature. His revolutionary ideas stirred all the Dalits from the lethargy and stoic resignation of their abject misery and servility and inspired them with an existence, a new meaning and a new sense of self worth. Dalit literature is thus a literary expression of this renewed consciousness of the power and essence of individual existence within a collective culture. It was Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, a great modern visionary, the architect of the constitution of India and a relentless critic of the caste system, who demolished the myth of divine origin of caste hierarchy. He inspired the creative intellectuals of India to enforce the socio-cultural upsurge for the total emancipation of the Dalits. Dr. Ambedkar believed that only education could bring about a change in the oppressed lives of the Dalits. He established many schools and colleges exclusively for Dalits in Maharashtra. Realizing the importance of education, hundreds of Dalits sent their children to study in these Dalit institutions. The institutions produced the first generation of Dalit literates who eventually started their own magazines and printing presses. Education gave Dalits a lot of self-confidence and propelled them to fight against their oppressors. In the words of M. F. Jilthe, 'The voiceless found a voice here; the wordless found a word here.' (Jilthe p.46) The 1960s in Maharashtra was a period of great turmoil and many innovations occurred in Marathi literature. The poet Narayan Surve wrote about the problems of workers, the little magazine movement flourished and Marathi literature acquainted itself with the image of the angry young man as portrayed in the short fiction of Baburao Bagul, the works of Shakarao Kharat, Anna Bhanu Sathe etc. The 1970s witnessed many intellectual Dalits who began to theorise on the role and significance of Dalit literature as a separate idiom. A periodical like the Asmitadarsha began promoting young conscientious writers like Daya Pawar, Namdeo Dhasal, Arjun Dangle, Keshav Mesharam etc. Greatly influenced by the African-American struggle for liberation and equality in the white dominated America, Dalits in Maharashtra united themselves to fight against the tyranny of caste. J.V.Pawar, Namdeo Dhasal And Raja Dhale and some others established a political movement formed the Dalit Panthers Party (inspired by the Black Panthers Party) in 1972, and decided to spread awareness amongst the Dalits of their dehumanized existence and the need to achieve emancipation from the fetters of untouchability and exploitation. The leaders of this movement were all writers and thus another wave of writing that delineated Dalit experience in provocative language swept Marathi literature. For the first time in India creative writers became political activists. These writers continuously interrogated the dynamics of democracy, justice, equality and freedom. Like education and politics,

57 religious conversion to Buddhism was another important factor in the development of Dalit literature. During this period a lot of movement literature-------polemics, biography, folk songs, and even drama furthering the cause of equality was written. Till date street literature continues to be popular. Despite its limitations Dalit literature continues to remain an important breakthrough in the literature of India. However there remains a deep schism between the prose of mainstream Marathi literature and Dalit literature. The language, protagonists and issues of Dalit literature are completely different. The writers reflect the material and psychological realities of the downtrodden groups of marginalized people living in slums, rural ghettos, as well as those that have risen to the middle class status hood through special facilities given to their caste etc. The characters are shown struggling for survival at different levels confronting limitations, abject poverty, misery inhuman brutality, pollution and so on. Several other stories demonstrate the position of Dalits in rural society, their relentless fight for existence giving glimpses into how they wish to live their lives honourably and with respect, on terms on equality and how in their attempt towards self improvement they remain persecuted by higher caste groups. Having been silenced and oppressed for centuries, when the Dalit writers began writing to express themselves, they discovered that they could mostly introspect and describe personal experiences. The Dalit Literary Movement began in Maharashtra, the home state of Dr. Ambedkar. An endeavour of the Neo-Buddhist elites to create a new culture of social equality, it is based on wider socio-cultural, political ideas to transcend the narrow space of the old concepts of culture and social hierarchy and create new, broad and open spaces of inclusion and assimilation. Dalit literature addresses the oppressed, the untouchables, the victims, as well as their oppressors. It is a literature of protest, pain and agony. One of the main concerns of Dalit literature is the plight of the Dalit female. Doubly oppressed by a patriarchal caste within and tyrannical casteist society without, a Dalit woman requires exemplary endurance and indomitable spirit to face her double marginalization. The articulation of the female voice in English translations of Marathi Dalit autobiography written by women shows the dynamics of negotiations between the self 'I' and the community 'we'. As Cudjoe writes: 'A public rather a private gesture “meism” gives way to “our-ism” and superficial concerns about “individual subject” usually give way to “the collective subjection” of the group'. (Cudjoe pp. 272). 'An autobiography,' wrote James Olney in his seminal work Metaphors of the Self, 'is a monument of the self as it is becoming a metaphor of the self at the summary moment of its composition.' Its objective is 'to build a metaphoric bridge from subjective self consciousness to objective reality.' Olney argues that if all selves are unique and if they are constantly evolving and transforming then it would be difficult to define such a self and even more difficult to give a sense of it to anyone else. The only way

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to communicate such a self to others is to do so by discovering or creating some similitude for the experience to evoke the same experience in others. The psychological basis of the metaphorizing process, according to him, is to grasp the unknown through the known or to 'let the known stand for the unknown and thereby fit that into an organized patterned body of experimental knowledge.' In the same book Olney discusses several male-authored self narratives to illustrate how each of them invents a unique, exclusive and fresh metaphor to express the self. Jung, Montaigne, Mill, Newman, Darwin or Gandhi------- each of these men invents a special objective correlative to reach his reader. Olney's theorizing from this point onwards becomes patronizing, imperative and patriarchal. In an extremely declamatory fashion he prescribes preconditioned for the metaphorizing process and perspective stating that such a view and practice 'must be' unitary, especially human and personally unique. (Olney, pp.12-15). This specifically excludes the minorities and the marginalized entities from the metaphorizing process. Georges Gusdorf had earlier advocated the 'individualizing paradigm of the centrally located isolate autobiographical self' (Gusdorf translated by and quoted in Olney p.8) and thus excluded the marginalized entities, blacks and women from the purview of autobiographical writings and studies. Similarly Olney overlooks the marginal identity here thus confirming his affinity with the school of critical thinking which regarded minorities as either unfit to be autobiographical subjects because of their lack of 'isolate individual self' or maintained silence over their attempts at autobiography writing and thus excluded them from the canonical discourse. These patriarchal theorists missed a very important point. As Susan Stanford Freidman writes in Private Self, the 'self creation and selfconsciousness are profoundly different for women, minorities and nonwesterners.' (Freidman, p.27) She further argues that Gusdorf's theory does not take into consideration the importance of the culturally imposed group identity for the minorities including women. If 'separate selfhood is the very motive of creation [autobiography]' and if autobiography is 'a mirror in which the individual reflects his own image,' then this mirror does not reflect back a unique image to women. 'it projects an image of WOMAN, a category that is supposed to define the living woman's identity,' writes Shari Benstock (Benstock, p.12). As a result 'an awareness of the meaning of the cultural category “woman” [dictates] the patterns of woman's individual destiny,' writes Freidman (Freidman p.36). The feminist theories of the nineties and onwards like those of Estelle Jelinek, Shari Benstock, Sheila Rowbotham, Nancy Chodorow, Susan Freidman and Maison et al expose the inapplicability of Gusdorfian theory to the autobiographies by the minorities and assert the need for a separate poetics for such self-referential writing which will take into account the socio-cultural attributes of their personality. Olney's theory of the autobiography as a metaphor of the self is indeed patriarchal and exclusionist. The three pre-conditions of the self that he

59 establishes for the metaphorizing self are luxuries of the privileged classes which cannot be enjoyed by or even availed by minority groups. Logically metaphorizing of the minorities, the deprived, the exploited and the marginalized would be extremely different from that of the elite, the hegemonic and the privileged. These metaphors, like their personalities, would be collective instead of individual and repetitive instead of unique and fresh. Although James Olney's theory is acceptable upto the point of every autobiography being a metaphor of the self, one must also assert beside it a special space for women and minorities in the theory of metaphorizing and a respectful acknowledgement of such an act by the canon. Instead of dismissing female authored autobiographies on the basis of gender [which are both male constructs] and incompatibility [again a male view]; its the responsibility of the serious scholars of the genre to explore the specificities of women's self- writing from a gynocentric view. Autobiography as a literary genre has always been a contested category of in India as well as in the west. It was valued for an interpretation of life in its totality but not as a literary text.With the loosening of the formalists New Criticisms hold on literary scholarship, several critics began reading autobiography as a literary text rather than documented history. Within women's studies autobiographies acquired a special position as women's arrival on the language scene if not on the literary scene. It was on the one hand a step into the public sphere and on the other an expression of the private self. Though fiction and autobiography are supposed to be two poles, autobiography does have the narration of a structured “I”. Within women's tradition where women were assigned identities and role models by the patriarchy, autobiography meant arriving at a site of one's own choice. The autobiography creates a self in the very act of seeking it. An autobiography projects a single radical and radial energy originating in the subject centre, an aggressive, creative expression of the self, a defence of individual integrity in the face of an otherwise multiple, confusing swarming and inimical universe. Psychoanalytic critics of autobiography often focus their analyses on the way in which self-creation in the text negotiates the writer's past interrelations with his/her parents. According to psychoanalytic theory the psychological development moves from identification to separation. Feminist critics lay emphasis on the sense of identification interdependence and community. The double consciousness of women and minorities can be understood better in the light of these considerations. For instance Nancy Chodorow uses the phrase, 'a more complex relation constellation than man's' for the relational world of women (Chodorow, p. 34). Her analysis of self in female autobiography uses the concept of interdependent existence which is useful while addressing concerns of family in autobiography. The family is the most important part of the female experience as it is the primary cultural space available to a woman. The male members of the family as well as the women breadwinners who go 'out in the world' bring public life-----or

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part of it into their homes. A woman is conditioned to perceive family as her protective shell, she is also tutored into being the protector of the family, upholder of its traditions etc. Anyone outside the immediate family circle or outside the extended family is relegated to the position of the other or outsider. Women's autobiographies derive their value from their subjectivity and subjunctivity. As Raymond Williams asserts, 'The notion of experience as subjective witness is offered not only as truth but as the most authentic kind of truth as the ground for all reasoning and analysis.' (Williams, p.33) We live 'in a world with powerful histories of resistance and revolution in daily life,' notes Chandra Talpade Mohanty in her introduction to Third WorldWomen and the Politics of Feminism. She asserts that 'these challenges suggest new questions for feminist historiography and epistemology as well as point toward necessary re-conceptualizations of ideas of resistance, community and agency in daily life.' Mohanty does not 'posit any homogeneous configuration of third world women who form communities because they share a “gender” or a “race” or a “nation”. (Mohanty, pp. 4-5). Her essay “Under Western Eyes” demonstrates the problems in associating third world women with images of underdevelopment, oppressive traditions, high illiteracy, rural and urban poverty, religious fanaticism' and other stereotypical concepts. Mohanty suggests a useful direction in stating that 'any definitions, descriptions and interpretations of third world women's engagement with feminism must necessarily be simultaneously historically specific and dynamic, not frozen in time in the form of a spectacle.' Just is there is no single homogeneous category of 'western women' similarly there is no 'automatic unitary group' of 'third world women…It is Third World women's oppositional political relation to sexist, racist and imperialist structures that constitutes our potential commonality.' (Mohanty, pp. 196-220) An important consequence of post-colonialism has been the acknowledgement and reappearance of women's experience after being concealed from the histories of colonial societies. Many of the fixed representations of non-Western women have been powerfully rejected in a plethora of contemporary writings; most of them in their different ways refute western imaginings about them. Writers like Jean Rhys, Anita Desai, Buchi Emecheta, Olive Senior, Nadine Gordimer, Grace Nichols and Arundhati Roy have placed women at the centre of history as makers and agents of history, not mute witnesses to it. Writing is an extremely difficult task and has been regarded primarily as male territory. Now of course women have stormed this bastion but have usually been regarded as trespassers. The woman who writes has stepped out of her own perceived area of the senses and appropriated a male gesture. When a woman writes she is not just describing life as we witness it, but is rather transcribing experience into words. Critical dogmas, a patriarchal experience, often distract her from the concrete to the abstract and

61 create academic distance between her and reality. All across the world, especially in the Indian sub-continent, the act of writing is for a woman essentially an act of breaking her silence because her repressive patriarchal/racial society has taught her to be culturally silent. The feminine is essentially the marginalized consciousness that operates on the periphery of patriarchal discourse. As Virginia Woolf wrote: 'A woman's writing is always feminine; it cannot help being feminine; at its best, it is most feminine; the only difficulty lies in what we mean by feminine.' (Woolf quoted in Showalter, p.247) The concern with the historical functionality of the dalit autobiography in Maharashtra since the sixties is an important aspect of Dalit literature. An essential feature of the dalit autobiographical narratives is that they do not isolate the individual from his/ her whole historical environment, family, community and society at large. The distinctive difference does not seem between the individual as an isolated subject and the context against which he/she carves out his/her subjective identity as a world by itself. The oppression, struggles, assertion and quest of identity of the individual who is the subject-matter. Dalit literature in general and autobiography in particular insists at length upon the condition and mechanism of oppression of the individuals and their communities, and upon the access to school and education as the essential way towards employment and social mobility in a modern urbanised setting, that is, allowing for an escape from the grip of traditional represssive systems. This does not touch upon the question of the will to autonomy of the Subject as distinct from his social personage and appearance as an individual among others. In reference to the will to liberation that motivates the dalit autobiography, the critical question that our analysis points to is about the individual not only as one from within his community but as himself wishes to stand in front of his community and society. Marathi literature has a significant tradition of the autobiographical tone. From the thirteenth century onwards Bhagvat Dharma, a religious sect (post Buddhism) accepted women members and gave them the rights denied tot hem by Manu-Smriti.This sect had allowed saints from all classes to mingle together. It was a sect that assumed equality before religion not in the villages but in the sands of the rivers. Women brought their oral culture to the sect, they used images of their household work, they talked of women crossing the threshold of the home. These women like Janabai, Nimata, Muktabai, Soyara were not householders in the traditional sense but they brought their images of the householder, the autobiographical tone to Marathi poetry. The most striking metaphor used by them was the contrast between a “pativrata nari” (pious lady who worshipped her husband) and a “vesava” (prostitute). Women's voice was heard and written about for the first time. Mahanubhav sect also had women who questioned their seer teacher Chakradhar. Mahadaisa Or Mahadamba wrote wedding songs for Lord Krishna but they are

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compositions of a householder who had given up life within the family.In the British period the second generation of the educated elite wrote novels. The first few novels were written by men but they were womencentred, they were structured as women's lifestory. Upto 1930 we see novels written in an autobiographical mode where women is the protagonist. These social novels depicted high caste middle class joint families in great detail. From Haribhan Apte to Mama Warerkar, authors took on women's voice to talk about the oppressive atmosphere of the joint family. The beginning of the 20th century saw women writing autobiographies. They usually used the word “Atheewani” meaning memories (less formal than memoirs) or Puran. Ramabai Ranade, the wife of Justice Ranade called her autobiography “Amchya Athawani”. She was the narrator but she names Ranade as 'self' or 'swatavishayi'. In Ramabai's autobiography we see the predicament of the wife who is supposed to please her husband by her attempts to become a modern educated woman and yet win the respect of all here elders. The enlightened husband would not be seen supporting her against the traditional elders. In two famous autobiographies , one entitled 'Smrutichitre' by Laxmibai Tilak and the other by Baya Karve, both women are seen to have a mind of their own. Inspite of their famous husbands they have constructed their own selves in the narration of their stories. But both these women had families which were hardly traditional or casteist.The picture of their families or extended families is hardly representative. However there is an unspoken hurt behind their stories as they seem to be taken for granted by their spouses. In the post –Independence period many autobiographies were written by women and most of these were more candid and overtly expressive, ranging from tales of social exploitation, family harassment, domestic politics, discrimination to the intimate man-woman relationship. Female writers were searching for an idiom of self articulation and the autobiography was the fittest vehicle. The traditional Dalit autobiographies were written with a sense of fulfilment where most writers chose to end their narratives with a deep sense of contentment when they crossed their peripheral existential frontier and entered the mainstream. Later Dalit autobiographies expressed deep angst and concern for the figure of the mother who suffered due to caste stigma and the ensuing depravity. When dalit women began writing autobiographies they bespoke the problems of not just caste opression within mainstream society but also patriarchal oppression within their caste. Thus they were doubly exploited and doubly marginalised. The focus of dalit women's autobiography is the negotiation of the “I” and the “we”, the individual and the community. In “Jine Amuche” by Baby Kamble, the title itself means “our Life.” The writer tries to examine the dynamics of social change and the interaction of the caste system and the new economic system. She describes her position in society and also relates that she was called “baby” because of

63 her father's declining business when she was born. Her autobiography hardly mentions her personal history, rather it insists on the depiction of the life of dalit women in a small village, doubly oppressed by their patriarchal family on one side and caste on the other. She also uses a slightly rhetorical style in the latter half of her narration to emphasize the influence of Babasaheb Ambedkar on the Dalits. The use of Mahvi dialect makes her style poetic and cadenced thereby adding a rare sensitivity to the portrayal of women's sexuality, patriarchal domination and caste politics. Another contemporary autobiography is by Shantibai Kamble entitled “Majya Salmuchi Chiterkatha”. Shantibai was a trained teacher who along with her husband was part of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar's movement. But her husband had a second wife and thus she had to go throught he hurt of being ignored and humiliated in the domestic sphere, something which was common even for activist women of that time.This autobiography asserts this fact but evasively and thus once can understand that family censorship played a very important part in the life writing by women. This brings us to the nature of the historical specificity of the doublevoiced structure of women's narratives as it reveals the tensions between their desire for narrative authority and their concern about excessive self exposure. Many feminist historians are anxious about the answers to questions such as ------- How can we historicise experience? How can we write about identity without essentialising it? In this regard on may refer to Gayatri Spivak's comment that : It ought to be possible for historians to make visible the assignment of subject positions, not in the sense of capturing the reality of the objects seen but of trying to understand the operations of the complex and changing discursive process by which identities are ascribed, resisted or embraced and which processes themselves are unremarked and themselves achieve their effect because they aren't noticed (Smith and Watson, p.1998).

This does not mean that assuming the appearance of a new identity of women writers/ autobiographers--that of a dalit woman autobiographer-- is not inevitable or determined, not something that was always there simply waiting to be expressed, not something that will always exist in the form it was given in a particular political movement, or at a particular historical moment. Autobiography is a narrative, a story, a history, a memoir, a confession. Thus it can also be analysed narratologically as a text without its contextual framework of the so called “real world” or it can be looked upon from rhe perspective of the “I” which is constructed during the process of narration. This “I” or the self within the narration can be multiple, can reflect the theoretical, political debate in the outside world, it might have internalised the tradition which is negating. The complexities of the multifarious strands of Dalit literature is enormous. The way in which the Dalit female author / autobiographer authorises her claim to writing, the way she negotiates the gendered fictions of self-

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representation and how her textual authority is marked by the presence or absence of her sexuality as the subject of her literature is what makes dalit women's writing so complex and multilayered. Dalit literature then can be seen as traversing a long and poignant trajectory of human experience, from the oppressed to the emancipated resulting in the articulation of the silenced subaltern voice through literary expression. Works Cited : Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ

Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ

Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ

Ÿ

Ÿ

Jilthe, M. F., Dalit literature:A New Sensibility. (The Indian P.E.N. 1984). Cudjoe, R. Selwyn & Angelou, Maya in Gates Jr., Henry Louis (ed.) Reading Black. Reading Feminist (NewYork: Meridian, 1990). Olney, James; Metaphors of Self: The Meaning of Autobiography (Princeton University Press:1981). Gusdorf, Georges; “Conditions and Limits of Autobiography,” trans. Olney, James in Autobiography, Autobiography: Essays Theoretical and Critical (Princeton: Princeton University Press: 1980). Freidman, Susan Stanford; Mappings - Feminism and the Cultural Geographies of Encounter (Princeton University Press:1998). Benstock, Shari; The Private Self : Theory and Practice in Women's Autobiographical Writing (Routledge:1998). Freidman, Susan Stanford; “Women's Autobiographical Selves:Theory and Practice” in Benstock, Shari; The Private Self : Theory and Practice in Women's Autobiographical Writing (Routledge:1998). Chodorow, Nancy; Feminism and Psychoanalytic Theory (Yale University Press: 1989) Williams, Raymond; Culture and Society (Columbia University Press : 1958).p.33 Mohanty, Chandra T.; Third World Women and the Politics of Feminism (1991) (Indiana University Press:1991). Mohanty, Chandra T.; “Under Western Eyes: Feminist Scholarship and Colonial Discourses” in Colonial Discourse and Post-colonial Theory ed. Williams and Chrisman (Indiana University Press: 1993). Woolf,Virginia; A Room of One's Own quoted by Elaine Showalter in Showalter ed. The New Feminist Criticism: Essays on Women, Literature and Theory (London: Virago,1986, rpt. 1993). Smith, Sidonie and Watson, Julia (ed.) Women Autobiography, Theory: A Reader, (University of Wisconsin: 1991).

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Feminist Mythopoeia: A Study of Shashi Deshpande's Mirrors - A. Sujatha Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to discuss the feminist approach to the myth of Nahusha. While myths extol the glory of Indra and the rishis in quelling the pride of Nahusha, Deshpande's short story views the entire episode from the women's point of view – women who have almost been pushed into oblivion in androcentric myths and legends. The two women who play a vital role in this story are Sachidevi, the wife of Indra, and Ashoka Sundari, the wife of Nahusha. What is most appealing about the story is the poise with which the women keep their secrets and succeed in bringing about a revolution. Keywords: Mythopoeia, gender asymmetry, power, infidelity

Myths have always been a source of fascination to any individual. But what is more fascinating is the ability to rewrite myths in order to throw light on a particular aspect of society. As far as Indian Writing in English is concerned, mythic feminism has become one of the most significant trends, particularly with feminists. Mythic feminism has been taking giant strides in questioning the portrayal of women and goddesses in various myths and legends from an androcentric and patriarchal perspective. According to Jane Caputi, One of the most significant developments to emerge out of the contemporary feminist movement is the quest to reclaim that symbolizing/naming power, to refigure the female self from a gynocentric perspective, to discover, revitalize and create a female oral and visual mythic creation and use it, ultimately, to change the world” (425).

Mythopoeia is yet another term for mythmaking. The word owes its genesis to the poem 'Mythopoeia' by J.R.R. Tolkien, where he lyrically opposes C.S. Lewis' view that myths are “lies breathed through silver.” According to him, Though all the crannies of the world we filled with elves and goblins, though we dared to build gods and their houses out of dark and light, and sow the seed of dragons, 'twas our right (used or misused). The right has not decayed. We make still by the law in which we're made. (65-70)

Mythopoeia does not necessarily mean, as Tolkien asserts, designing or creating a new myth. It also refers to the modification of existing myths in order to highlight a particular perspective. As Diane Purkiss aptly remarks, For feminists, the rewriting of myths denotes ... the struggle to

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Labyrinth | Vol.2 No.2 (Apr. 2011) alter gender asymmetries agreed upon for centuries by myth's disseminators. When feminists envisage that struggle, they often think of the rewriting or the reinterpretation of individual stories: for example, by changing the focus of the narrative from a male character to a female character. (441)

Indian women writers have undoubtedly proved their prowess in this realm. Sara Joseph, Shinie Antonie, Mahashweta Devi, Shashi Deshpande, and many others have conjured powerful feminine images that have decentred their male counterparts and have driven them to the margins. Mahashweta Devi's Draupadi explores the myth of Draupadi from a post-modern perspective. In this story, Dopdi Mehjen, the tribal protagonist, prefers to remain disrobed, unlike her mythical counterpart who appeals for divine intervention to save her from being disrobed. Through this story, Mahashweta Devi presents the effect of assault and oppression on the tribal woman. Another powerful mythopoeic piece is Shinie Antonie's Gandhari. The story is significant mainly because of the key symbol – the blindfold. The conclusion is most striking for it poses a question to the reader – did Gandhari control her blindfold or did the blindfold control Gandhari? Therefore, mythmaking in the hands of women writers is no doubt a powerful tool. As Paula Gunn Allen rightly says,"The feminist use of myth stems from an understanding of myth to be a language construct that contains the power to transform something (or someone) from one state or condition to another..." (103). The focus of this paper is to analyse the 'mythopoeic' approach adopted by Shashi Deshpande in the short story, Mirrors. This short story explores the myth of Nahusha from Sachidevi's point of view. All of us have heard of the story of Nahusha, of how he was selected the King of Heaven in Indra's absence. At the outset, Nahusha was humble and ruled wisely. But, gradually he became power crazy, and power soon gave way to lust, when he desired to ravish Sachidevi or Indrani, the wife of Indra. Sachidevi, who was a pativrata (chaste woman) didn't want to relent to Nahusha's desires. So, she consulted Indra, who was in hiding in a lotus stem and he asked her to inform Nahusha that she would be willing to yield to him only if he comes to meet her in a palanquin borne by the saptarishis (seven celestial sages). Nahusha agreed and set out to meet Sachidevi in his palanquin. The sages were not swift enough, since they weren't accustomed to such tasks, particularly Agasthya, who trudged along slowly because of his short stature. Nahusha, who was eager to meet Sachidevi, became furious and kicked Agasthya shouting 'Sarpa!' (Move quickly) Agasthya cursed that he may be turned into a Sarpa (snake). Finally, Bhima redeemed Nahusha from his curse. Shashi Deshpande's story however dismisses the entire myth of Nahusha as mere sham.What is most significant about the story is that it attaches a lot of importance to Nahusha's wife, Ashoka Sundari or Viraja (a rarely known name) who has always remained incognito in most myths and legends. Only the Bhumikhand of the Padma Purana mentions her

67 name and states how she was born of the Kalpaka Vriksha (the wishfulfilling tree). Sachidevi is indeed right when she muses, 'You have no place in any of the stories that are being told about what happened, none at all in the court poet's poem. And it is as if you never existed' (Mirrors 76). Sachidevi reminisces the days when she was content with her position as the queen of Heaven. She was so proud of her position that she quietly endured Indra's lasciviousness. She knew that he was a coward who killed Vritrasura using guile, though poets and 'legend makers' portrayed it differently. But the identity of a queen is always coupled with qualities like meekness, docility and absolute servility to her husband, which of course, apply to any woman. Since Sachidevi is forced to adorn the mask of docility, she is unable to give vent to her anger and disillusionment at her husband's activities. Therefore, she merely relapses into silence and serves as a mirror, reflecting the reverse image of her husband as a hero, the lord of Heaven, and a great warrior. I wanted to shout my rage, to scream, to tear him apart. I did none of these things. I withdrew instead behind the mask of the loving wife, into the shell of the dignified, gracious queen. But behind the mask, within the shell was a bewildered woman asking herself, “Why? Why does he need those women? (Mirrors 79)

The predicament that Sachidevi and Ashoka Sundari encounter is something that is constantly heard of in the history of civilization, in real life incidents, in myths and legends. What is most amusing is that chaste women, according to Indian myths and legends, are those who merely tolerate the whims and fancies of their spouses and revere them as incarnations of the Cosmic Divine. Fidelity in marital life applies only to women, not to men. A.S. Altekar raises this issue in his book, The Position ofWomen in Hindu Civilization, Did husbands...carry out their conjugal duties as devotedly as their spouses? Did they live up to the high ideal laid down for them? Did they make a serious effort to carry out the obligations laid down in marriage vows? It is not easy to answer these questions...But it has to be admitted that the percentage of those who honoured the marriage vows more by breach than by the observance was much greater in the case of husbands.... (103)

Therefore, Sachidevi and Ashoka Sundari treat the infidelity of their husbands as a feature of the androcentric world. In fact, Sachidevi is only surprised when Indra 'rapes' mortal women, for she wonders how he could lust for such ordinary-looking women. 'I could understand his enjoying the skilful beautiful women he had in his court, but these…?' (Mirrors 79) The great queen of Heaven becomes panic-stricken when Indra is forced to go into hiding after killing Vritrasura. She fears a threat to her identity when Nahusha and Ashoka Sundari are made king and queen. “I had a sense of being ignored. As if Indra had been the filter through which they had seen me. I felt myself becoming invisible without him. It's not for long, I told myself, trying to give myself courage. Indra will return and things will again be normal” (Mirrors 78).

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It is this sense of insecurity in Sachidevi's mind that creates an aversion towards Ashoka Sundari. She sees Ashoka Sundari as the woman who has usurped her position. But when Ashoka Sundari comes to meet Sachidevi, her simplicity and unassuming ways lead to an anagnorisis (in Aristotelian terms, realization of one's folly). Sachidevi realizes that a queen's identity is frail and ephemeral, for isn't the queen after all a woman? “Only the façade, only the costumes, nothing more. To be beautiful, dignified and gracious, to add to the king's glory, to be available to him when he wanted me – that was all!” (Mirrors 81). When Nahusha hankers for Sachidevi, Ashoka Sundari does not protest openly. Instead, she voices her anger in her eyes. Nahusha, the power-crazy king, however ignores it. Sachidevi, who has always been meek and docile, feels helpless and doesn't know how to tackle the situation. Again, it is Ashoka Sundari who comes to her rescue. Deshpande clearly dismisses the patriarchal depiction of the story of Nahusha by portraying Ashoka Sundari as the pivotal point who puts an end to Nahusha and thereby brings about a change in order. According to her mythopoeic version, it is she who tells Sachidevi to ask Nahusha to arrive in a palanquin borne by the saptarishis. Perhaps she thought that a virtuous man like Nahusha would never consent to such a blasphemous thought. However, Nahusha is so blinded by lust that he readily consents. As in the original myth, it is Agasthya who puts an end to the whole thing, but here it is a different move altogether.When the palanquin passes near a vast abyss, Agasthya signals to the other rishis and they tilt the palanquin with Nahusha in it, into the abyss. Sachidevi wonders if this is also part of Ashoka Sundari's plan. This leads her to yet another revelation that being a human being is more important than being a pativrata. Towards the end of the story, we find Ashoka Sundari quietly returning to earth and Sachidevi restored to her former position as the queen of Heaven. But while she appears unchanged outwardly, her personality and attitude undergo a transformation. The story ends with an incomplete statement, 'But, perhaps some day…' (Mirrors 86). This is clue that someday, perhaps, Sachidevi might also choose to end Indra's 'misrule' as well. In short, decentering of patriarchy and the replacement of matriarchy are child's play if a woman chooses to. Deshpande's mythmaking is remarkable because of the decentring of the masculine realm. She exposes Indra as a coward, who goes into hiding after treacherously slaying Vritra, who rebelled against his tyranny. She highlights Ashoka Sundari's strength during times of crisis, her understanding of the world, her silent attack against her own husband when he sets eyes on Sachidevi, and her quiet return to the mortal world after everything is over. In short, the story mirrors the feelings of those women, who have hitherto been hidden from view by male-centred myths and legends.

69 Works Cited : Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ

Deshpande, Shashi. “Mirrors”. Stories.Vol. 1. New Delhi: Penguin Books India, 2004. 78-86. Allen, Paula Gunn. The Sacred Hoop: Recovering the Feminine in American Indian Tradition. Boston, Beacon Press, 1986. Altekar, A.S. The Position of Women in Hindu Civilization: From Prehistoric Times to the Present. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Private Limited, 1999. Caputi, Jane. “On Psychic Activism: Feminist Mythmaking.” The Feminist Companion to Mythology. Ed. Carolyne Larrington. London: Harper Collins, 1992. 425-440. Purkiss, Diane. “Women's Rewriting of Myth.” The Feminist Companion to Mythology. Ed. Carolyne Larrington. London: Harper Collins, 1992. 441-457. Tolkien, J.R.R. “Mythopoeia.” 24 Jan 2010.

Space Space is the ethereal Part of cosmos Above the earth's Gravitational force Where other celestial Bodies reside And cast an influence On human lives. Without space Words make no sense Without space A forest gets dense Without space Relations get tense A rose too cannot Spread its fragrance. Space in marriage Space in relations Is a concept new, It emerged since women Learnt to reason, To question and to argue; Space is faith, Space is trust Space is freedom Space is a must. Space too little, can make slums Choke and cause suffocation

- Anjuli Jain Mar the beauty of any creation Deflect the sense of any sensation. Too much of space Makes a house a palace; Too much of space Breaks all barricades Loosens links and connections, Evaporates the essence of relations; Space through a hill Creates a tunnel, Space in water Forms a bubble Space can kindle Fire in fuel; Space is a channel For the prayer to travel. In space mind wanders In space soul wanders In space divine light traverse In space divine light disperse Space is the conduit That connects soul to its divine abode Space is the route That enables it to merge in the divine Om.

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Nayantara Sahgal's Rich Like Us:

Political Novel as Postmodernist Non-Fiction - R.G. Hegde Abstract: This paper is an attempt discuss a very significant dimension of post-modern fiction through a study of Nayantara Sahgal's novel Rich Like Us. Postmodernism has introduced several dimensions to the writing of fiction. A very significant dimension is that, increasingly fiction is narrated as non-fiction, wiping out many of the features of a traditional fictional narrative. A classic example for fiction narrated as non-fiction is Nayantara Sahgal's Rich Like Us. The novel, set under the thick backdrop of emergency is an afterthought on the politics of emergency when the traditional Gandhian values were relegated to the background. The novel does'nt narrate a story. Very little action takes place. Characterizations are sktetchy. The novel is narrated so close to reality that it reads like a treatise on a contemporary political event. Hence the novel represents a major dimension of postmodern fiction. Keywords: Postmodernism, emergency, polyphonic, emperor's new clothes, narrative, bleak book, masquerade, non-fiction.

Nayantara Sahgal (1927) has been on the literary horizon, quite prominently, as a novelist and as a political columnist for a long time. Born into the 'most political' family in India, i.e. of Nehru's, (She is the second daughter of Vijayalaxmi Pandit and the niece of Jawaharlal Nehru) her credentials for the writing of political fiction are impeccable. She has the advantage of being an 'insider' to the political happenings and political decision-making for a long time. Probably no other novelist in India has the advantage of being so closely connected to the leading political actors and the situations for more than over half a century, starting from the Gandhian era to the present. Placed into such a political ambience she naturally heard “politics for breakfast, lunch and dinner”. [S. Varalaxmi, “An Interview with Nayantara Sahgal”, Indian Women Novelists, New Delhi: Prestige, 1993, p.14. ] So, as a critic points out, politics is embedded in her “bones and marrow” and in her “emotional and intellectual make up”. [Nayantara Sahgal, “The Book I Enjoyed Writing the Most”, Bhavan's Journal, Vol. 20, 12, (January 6 1974), p.44.] Her fictional and the non-fictional works breathe politics. Her autobiographies, From Fear Set Free and The Prison and the Chocolate Cake are replete with her personal memories mixed up with

71 the story of the Indian struggle for freedom. Her fictional works A Time to be Happy (1958) and This Time of Morning (1968) deal with the themes of the Indian freedom movement. Her third novel Storm in Chandigarh (1969) has the story of the division of Punjab in to the modern states of Punjab and Haryana. The Day in Shadow (1971) deals with the post-independence political situation where there is a gradual deterioration in the political and the moral values. The novel contrasts the Gandhi-Nehru era with the present 'practical' politics representing the fall in political values in no uncertain terms. This theme of the moral collapse is a recurring theme in many of her later novels. Her next novel, A Situation in New Delhi (1977) deals with the political situation after the death of Jawaharlal Nehru. Her novel's Plan for Departure (1985) and Mistaken Identity (1988) continue with the political themes in a clear reflection of her unending passion for politics. In terms of her “primordial predilection with politics” [Shyam Asnani, “Contemporary Politics”: Its Portrayal in the Novels of “Nayantara Sahgal” in Critical Response to the Indian English Fiction, New Delhi: Mittal Publishers, 1985, p.109. ]she draws a natural comparison with Mulk Raj Anand, another Indian novelist, who has a burning obsession with the political themes in his fiction. But there are some basic and fundamental differences between the two. Anand is a committed writer with acknowledged leftist leanings. There is a burning sense of social reform in Anand's fiction as politics for him is a tool for socio- economic reform. But Sahgal seems to be only an analyst and a critic representing and reinterpreting political chronicles in her fiction. As Shyam Asnani rightly observes Sahgal “does not possess any specific political stance nor does she propagate any definite political values or futuristic utopias” [Ibidp.108. ] in her fiction. Representative of these concerns of the novelist, Rich Like Us, published in 1983, is a complex and comprehensive account of the emergency and its impact on the contemporary society. The novel, which won for its author both the Sahitya Academy Award in 1985 and the Sinclair Prize for fiction in 1986, has received rave reviews from critical circles, often rating it as one of the best novels written so far in India. [Neena Arora, “Rich Like Us: A Note”, Indian Women Novelists, New Delhi: Prestige, 1990, p.96. ] Nayantara Sahgal in an interview speaks of her notion of politics and of the political novel. She says, politics is not the art of leading the country or anything like that, but is the use of power and also the abuse of power. Developing the logic she feels that, hence “a political novel would be an awareness of the use of power; and also the abuse of power...whether directly in politics or reflected in domestic life or other aspects of it”. [Jasbir Jain, “Establishing Connections, Interview with Nayantara Sahgal”, Indian Women Novelists, New Delhi: Prestige, 1993, p.186.]This use and the abuse of power directly in politics and indirectly in the personal relationships are the themes of Rich Like Us. Further the

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novel is an attempt to present the individual in relationship with politics and the collapse of the values, using the backdrop of the “emergency, the peg on which the events are hung”. [S.Varalaxmi, op.cit- p.14. ] The novel opens under the thick shadows of the emergency. The emergency is hardly a month old when the novel begins. But its impact on life is unmistakable. The “huge posters of the prime minister's stern unsmiling face and the hoardings proclaiming the nations support for the emergency” have come up all over the city. The total collapse of the democratic order, the sense of decency and the cherished political values in the wake of the emergency are abundantly made clear in the beginning itself. Dev, one of the important characters in the novel is proud of what has happened: ...this emergency is just what we needed. The troublemakers are in jail. An opposition is something we never needed. The way the country is being run now, with one person giving the orders, and no one being allowed to make a fuss about it in the cabinet or in Parliament, means things can go full steam ahead without delay and weighing pro's and con's forever. Strikes are banned. It's going to be very good for business (p.10).

In the new culture, the deals are made in the late night parties, as is seen in Dev's house in the beginning of the novel. The projects can be started or stalled at the whims of the power's that be, on occasions like these. Dev, the major product of the emergency and a beneficiary of it, knows it better than anybody else. He speaks to a visiting businessman informing him about the changed rules of the game: “And now that you have seen the Minister, our project will get started very soon. Your visit to the Ministry tomorrow is a mere formality” (p.12) As the novel unfolds, seemingly everything is well, but there is a definite sullenness building up along New Delhi's heavily policed roads”. The emergency seems to be “a thinly disguised masquerade, preparing the stage for family rule”. The emergency had given all kinds of new twists and turns, and converted one of the largest democracies in the word into looking like “two bit dictatorships”(p.31). Thus the emergency has been brilliantly rendered in the novel with its sense of suffocation, which had sunk the “voices of the people into whispers”. The story of the impact of this emergency on the characters is presented in the novel in a polyphonic technique” [Makarand Paranjape, “Cultural and the Political Allegory in Nayantara Sahgal's Rich Like Us”, Indian Writing Today, (Ed.) C. V. Vishweshwara Rao, Delhi: IAES, 1996, p.135. ] as a critic, Makarand Paranjape puts it, i.e., the novel narrates the story in the Post-Modernist, double-edged narration breaking the conventional techniques of novel writing. The narration keeps rotating between the objective the distant view of the narrator and the close up, subjective view of the protagonist Sonali, thus imparting a multiple vision to the events narrated in the novel.

73 Sonali, the protagonist, is a young upright bureaucrat, who refuses to give into shady underhand deals and consequently, finds herself out of favour of the political big bosses after writing an unfavourable note on the file about a fizzy soft-drink factory - Happyola. Sonali understands the implications only afterwards that the factory was only a cover up deal for importing the spare parts for the proposed car-manufacturing factory of the Prime Minister's son. As a result of her refusal to comply with the wishes of the establishment, Sonali is demoted and transferred to her home state.To compound to her shock she finds that Ravi Kachru, a political turncoat takes over her position. Sonali's opinion is overruled and the Minister for Industry clears the project receiving huge kickbacks in Indian and foreign currency through his daughter-in-law. Dev, the aggressive street-smart businessman, a product and a major beneficiary of the emergency, becomes the Chairman of the project. In the chaotic situation where the values tumble like the proverbial house of cards Sonali has only one friend left in Rose, who still reveres the traditional values. But the goons of Dev belonging to the ruling party kill Rose as a symbol of the ruthless manner in which the emergency suppresses dissent. Ravi tries to intercede on Sonali's request and consequently goes out of favour of the ruling coterie, and is about to be sent out of Delhi for this act of his. At the end of the novel a dejected Sonali finds her solace and vibrancy in academic pursuits on the decorative arts of medieval India. Thus the novel is a presentation of the reversal of values that had set in, in the wake of emergency where the just, the honest and the well-intentioned people suffer in contrast to the meteoric rise of the reckless-ones. The novel narrates the story of the transformation of India and its people in the wake of the emergency in a 'biographical style' [Jasbir Jain, “The Novel as Political Biography”, in Recent Commonwealth Literature, (Eds) R. K. Dhawan, P. V. Dhamija, A. K. Shrivastava, Prestige Books: New Delhi, 1989, p.142.] as Jasbir Jain rightly puts it. The novel truly is a biography of the emergency India. This story of the emergency India is told intermixing the political story with the personal story of the characters in the novel. As in a 'Problem Play' the characters in the novel are portrayed largely as the metaphors for the political ideas in order to build the final thesis of the novel. The novel provides an exhaustive account of the emergency times. As Jasbir Jain rightly observes, “from the point of view of time, the novel begins after the declaration of the emergency and doesn't take us to its end” [Jasbir Jain, “The Emperor's New Clothes: The Emergency and Sahgal's Rich Like Us” in The New Indian Novel, (Ed.) Viney Kirpal, New Delhi: Allied Publishers, 1991, p.33.] (only to the beginning of the end). The story of the novel is built using this time frame provided by the emergency. There are two clear, strands in the story; one, Sonali's brave resistance to the emergency; two, Rose's attempts to make a living in India with Ram's family as his second

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wife. The novel is Sonali's story as much as it is of Rose'. Only, their spheres of activity differ. Sonali belongs to the family of the bureaucrats and has inherited the values from her father who had served the governments in the past with an exceptional sense of dedication. She could have laid out a bright career for herself by sacrificing her integrity, just as her friend Ravi Kachru does. But instead she chooses to pick up the gauntlet and fight against the corrupt political system. She is fully aware of what the emergency had done to the political system and to the people: We were all taking part in a thinly disguised masquerade, preparing the stage for family rule. And we were involved in a conspiracy of silence, which is why we were careful, not to do more than say 'hello' when we passed each other in the building, and not to talk about our work after hours, which made after-hours sessions very silent indeed. No one wanted trouble. So long as it didn't touch us, we played along, pretending the Empress's new clothes were very beautiful. (p.29).

Sonali is also fully conscious of the corruption and the politicisation of the bureaucracy. She knows fully well that the distinction between politics and the service had almost disappeared during the emergency pushing the country to the brink: The two sides were hopelessly mixed, with politicians meddling in administration and favourites like Kachru, the prime example, playing politics, as if his life depended on it. (p.28)

The novelist provides a rich commentary on the contemporary politics through the interior monologue of Sonali. Sonali who has grown up imbibing the political values of the past often keeps wondering, “where had the tradition we were trying to build gone wrong?” (p.28). She is aware of the times, in which she is living and that the emergency had changed the attitudes of the rulers to the ruled “Making the worlds largest democracy into a two bit dictatorships we had loftily looked down upon (p.31). So Sonali decides to stick to the rules designed towards the self-reliance of the country and not to okay the fizzy Happyola drink factory knowing the times fully well, which is truly a brave decision. Sonali is demoted, punished and humiliated as a consequence of this decision. The insult and the injury heaped on her only daze her, but can neither bend nor break her. Sonali feels paralysed by the 'midnight knock', but she knows that she was not just alone in this fight: The same soundless nudge that landed me in the ditch had carted thousands off to jail, swept hundreds more out of sight to distant 'colonies' to live, herded as many like animals to sterilisation centres (p. 32).

Sonali hopes that like her liver, which regenerated itself after a brief spell of Hepatitis, the political system also could rejuvenate itself. The moral questions like, what an administrator, who sees a citizen kicked and cuffed and arrested for standing on the pavement talking should do, keep

75 coming back to Sonali time and again. The “power and the authority so nakedly displayed on the pavement” (p.35) makes her question the castiron idealism that she had been brought up with. She also starts doubting the theories that believed Indians to be moderate and tolerant people steeped in civilised ways. For sure, she knows that an era of idealism had ended. Sonali's battle is both external and internal. Externally she has to cope with an entire society that had been corrupted by the political system. She is really shocked to find that no single caller came to meet her after her humiliating transfer and demotion. Her own sister Kiran too wishes her to make compromises with the systems. Internally, Sonali's battle is against the new value systems, where the moral and the ethical questions are conspicuously absent. Her firm resolve not be carried away by the emergent value systems is made evident in the novel in her choice of the academics studies to keep herself alive. Sonali's character, thus, has been sketched as the voice of conscience in the midst of the political turbulence that had uprooted all sense of right and wrong. is another 'Sonali type' character, who is also waging a battle against the collapsing value systems Rose though in a different context, that is, inside the family. Married to Ram N. Surya the Indian businessman as his second wife, the British born cockney Rose is fighting the traditional power structures within a Hindu family. Sonali and Rose belong to two different generations: different in their age, class and race. Rose was hardly out of her teens when she met Ram, “who popped out of the blue one fine day sweeping her off her feet” (p.40). Though she knew that marrying a man who was already married was like “walking blind folded of a gang plank into the blue deep sea”, (p.44) she could not resist following him that changed her life forever-some forty-three years back. Like Sonali who gets caught in the whirlpool of politics that is alien to her temperament, she gets caught in marriage by the strange logic of a situation. As a consequence of her marriage with Ram, she becomes a witness to the whole range of political happenings in India starting from freedom movement to the emergency. Rose is sharply satirical of the falling standards in business, as well as in politics. Her confirmation to the traditional value systems gives her the strength to criticise the present unscrupulous methods right in front of Dev: What you call entreprenner-ship now, or however you pronounce it, is one minute you are nothing and the next minute you are an entreprenner and a bloomin' millionaire. Where's all the money come from all of a sudden, I would like to know? I like Maharaja's better. (p.12)

She makes fun of the car-manufacturing project of the Prime Minister's son: “ Sounds like Emperor's new clothes to me… First of all there is no car, and then you nationalize the one there isn't”. (p.235) Often she can face the people point blank. She interrogates Nishi who is leading a vasectomy spree: “This man is your father's age. Would you drag your

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father off to a vasectomy camp?”(p.89). Rose has the exceptional courage uncharacteristic of her age which Nishi notices with a sense of awe: “How dare you, how dare you, she wanted to shriek insanely”(p.89). Rose more often than not represents the voice of the author in her views on the contemporary situation in the novel. If Sonali is meditative and reflective, Rose is harsh and garrulous, particularly when drunk. It is through her character that the novelist notices the nature of politics and the society that are obsessed with the present, symbolised by Dev's house where there is not even a shadow of things past, or things to come (p.9). The symptoms of the malady are recognised by Rose, with an unfailing eye. She notices that there is no idealism of the past or the sense of shame of history in the emergency situation. Rose sees in her stepson Dev this 'disease' of the times: He had nothing in his head except the present. There's no more to him than that, she thought, no dreams at all. Even-especially- the mad have dreams. There hasn't been even the saving grace of a natural, harmless madness. Locked in the present like a cell, he's a lunatic of another kind, cut off from continuity before or behind (p.157).

The character of Rose is indeed very significant from the point of view of the relationship between politics and the individual in the novel. She has nothing much to do with politics, excepting that she gets caught in the vortex of politics and suffers because of it. She keeps complimenting the character of Sonali in the novel, as she is an outsider to the political system whereas Sonali is an insider.Thus through the character portrayal of these two the novelist is able to put together a variety of responses to the contemporary political situation. Rich Like Us works through a series of contrasts: past and the present, and 'the rich' and 'the poor'. As C. S. Vijayashree, a critic rightly observes, Nayantara Sahgal uses the past, particularly the Gandhian age, as a “point of reference, and presents its contrast with the troubled times of the seventies” [C. V. Vijayashree, “Rich Like Us”, Indian Women Novelists, New Delhi: Prestige Books, 1993, p.23.]in the novel. The past is presented chiefly through the human symbols: Ram and Rose. Ram is dying, like the fading values of the past. Rose dies at the end of the novel to complete the picture of departure from the past. There are also the other characters in the novel such as Keshav Ranade, the father of Sonali and 'K. L,' who belongs to the group represented by Sonali and who like her try to resist the present. The contrast between the 'rich' and the 'poor' is presented in an ironical manner. The 'rich' in the novel, for instance, the beneficiaries of the emergency like Dev are poor in terms of the moral values. It is the 'poor' who keep resisting the system are ironically rich in terms of their confirmation to the traditional value systems.Thus the title of the novel is highly suggesting and symbolic. Further the title has the introspective and critical dimensions also as it seems to symbolise the attitude of selfquestioning in the novel.

77 As a critic C. V. Vishveshwara Rao further observes these characters are contrasted with 'They', the characters that represent “the deteriorating landscape of the mind in the post - independence period” [C. V. Vishweshwara Rao, “From Sacrifice to Sacrilege: A Study of Rich Like Us”, Indian Women Novelists, New Delhi: Prestige Books, 1993, p.55.] in the novel. Dev, the son of Ram by his first wife, the dashing and aggressive young man is a characteristic specimen of the emergency times, representing the massive shift in values in personal and the political life. He is blissfully oblivious of the traditional past. As Jasbir Jain rightly points out, if Sonali's obsession is with the past, Dev's mind is fully occupied with the present [Jasbir Jain, “The Emperor's New Clothes”, Op. Cit., p.29.]. He is the symbol of a state of mind which arises out of emergency and which is the beneficiary of it. Dev has no hangovers of the traditional value systems and the fear of conscience. He can do immoral things with perfect ease and without any hassles. He can hijack cars for fun and help himself to money from the till, and along with his ice cream guzzling gang, abduct girls from Miranda house at the university for a lark (p.40). He can 'fix' things in politics or business with finesse and throw lavish parties where the crucial decisions are made. As a result of these 'qualifications' his rise is so meteoric that he becomes the chairman for the shady 'Happyola project', a cover up for the Prime Minister's son's car manufacturing project. Dev can spare no one. He forges his father's signatures withdrawing huge amounts in a carefree manner. His cruelty, ruthlessness and clean insensitively reach their nadir in his attitude to Rose that eventually becomes the cause of her death. Makarand Paranjape, a critic rightly observes that the novel represents the Lumpenisation of Indian politics. [Makarand Paranjape, Op. Cit., p.142. ] Dev is the chief symbol of this new trend in Indian politics. He wants so represents the emerging nexus between politics, business and crime. The dramatic rise of Dev to end up as a Cabinet Minister is a commentary not just on his ruthlessness and freedom from conscience but on the political breeding ground that nurtures and nourishes such out laws. Hidden in the story of Dev is the tragedy of the postindependence times, particularly that of the emergency. The moral vacuum shown in the novel has no gender restrictions. Nishi is the female version of Dev. She is a social climber who wants to be rich and powerful at whatever cost. She accepts all that the emergency stands blindly for personal gains, but unlike Dev, she is deceived by emergency, as her father becomes a victim of the same emergency. Along with Dev she shares the same forgetfulness of the past. The character of Nishi in the novel stands for those who supported emergency without thinking that it was hurting them too. In her characterisation is the ironical portrait of a contemporary human being who thinks that he is a victor, but who in reality is vanquished by the politics of the times. A classic

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instance of the total reversal of values presented in the novel is the portrait of the Minister for Industries, who symbolises corruption and hypocrisy to the core. He receives billions of rupees for the Happyola project and uses the past only to deceive the people. He is a fine instance of the double standards that had become part of the contemporary politician's repertoire. He speaks in, Mellifluous Hindi about the Vedas, the undimmed glory of India's heritage, the high place of selflessness and sacrifice in her tradition” and in the same voice speaks of the “brightness of the future assured by the emergency. (p.49)

The character portrayal of Ravi Kachru is very significant in the novel as he stands in between these two binary divisions of characters in the novel. Ravi Kachru, a friend and classmate of Sonali, a handsome, elegant officer stands for the 'conspiracy of silence' of the civil services at the time of emergency in the beginning of the novel. Ravi a professional turncoat, “a very old type in Indian politics”, [Ibid, p.139. ]is shown to be the right hand and the left leg of the Prime Minister. Though Ravi is too polished to have the ruthlessness of Dev, he has an indifference to the moral issues on hand. He stands by the new values of commitment to the ruler, rather than to the system. Ravi, the one time Marxist, has no trouble in becoming a puppet in the hands of the administration. Thus he is a typical symbol of the contemporary bureaucracy; hypocrisy, well concealed in the garb of honesty, transparency and nicety: Kachru has the current socio-economic jargon, at his fingertips, those tongue twisters that have banished simple sentences forever and made experts in one field incomprehensible to all others, and certainly to the public at large. Fluent phrases had rolled off his tongue like choicest silk. He radiated sincerity (p.31).

But significantly, the novel presents a remarkable transformation in the character of Ravi Kachru. He is the only character in the novel that records a total metamorphosis from being a supporter of the emergency to the one who completely moves away from that position. The hidden decency in him surfaces after the emergency reaches its nadir resulting in the death of Rose. He moves away from his earlier position of being a supporter of the emergency to the one who rebels against it. He joins hands with Sonali and consequently finds himself out of favour of the political establishment, holding out portents for the beginning of the end of the emergency. The contrast between the value systems in the novel is established not just through the characters, but through the situations also. For instance, the differences between the jails of the past and the present are prominently highlighted. For instance, the novel compares between the jails of the past and the present. The novel recalls how Pandit Nehru found in jails a great chance for education and the writing of books, with pencil and paper provided. But these modern jails prove to be everyman's library of torture, classic illustrated, itemized editions

79 upside down hangings, rods up anuses, lighted cigarettes held to tender organs and much more (p.207). The mass delusion and hysteria that have come to be a part of the emergency are conveyed in the novel through the parable of the “Emperor's New Clothes”. The narcissist emperor in the story thinks that he is wearing the new gold clothes, though in actuality he is not wearing any thing at all. The obedient courtiers too see the clothes that are not existent. The Prime Minister and the courtiers in the emergency are similarly playing a game of delusion. Both fail to grasp the reality. This masquerade of democracy in the emergency period is conveyed to us in the novel through this powerful imagery. There is a vision of this 'collective will to cowardice' portrayed. The citizens are kicked and handcuffed on the streets of Delhi and dragged to the vasectomy camps like animals. The civil service practices the conspiracy of silence. The elite of society, like the editors, the lawyers and the professors toe the official line, not only meekly, but also being positively appreciative of the new values.The chief editor supports Madam's son for his 'organisational talent' in vasectomising the lower classes, blowing up tenements and destroying the lives of slum dwellers to beautify Delhi. The professor of Delhi University, the lawyer and the editor are excited about the gains of the emergency. There is a complete unanimity among these sections of the society “to give madam powers to fight the disruptive forces”(p.94). The other minor characters, Kiran, Sonali's mother Bhabijan and Kachru's mother are all happy with the “mother's blessings”(p.95). The indifference of the others to the emergency is so much pronounced that they prefer to talk about the hair dye instead of how the emergency had defiled the political system, justifying Rose's description of them as “cherry stones on a plate, not like people”. The bank manager, like most other common characters in the novel is helpless against Dev's forgery. He is aware of the wrong doings, but can't do much to stop it for it would have been suicidal for him to do so: 'Between looking down at the cheque in his hand and up at me his face registered the arrival and assimilation of conquerors, the need to lie low, the story of survival' (p.176). The novel is full of the stories of helplessness of the people and ruthlessness and callousness on the part of the administration. The civil servant who is submissive, the manager who knows but has no voice to speak out, Mona whose feeble protests had been the prayer meetings, Ram who is suffering from paralysis and the beggar who has no limbs are presented as powerful images of the human beings suffering because of the politics of the times. Commenting on the novel, Makarand Paranjape, a critic rightly observes that Rich Like Us is a “bleak book” but which doesn't despair totally”. [Ibid, p.141. ]As the critic rightly feels there are some signs of hope in the seemingly hopeless sea of despair, however weak they are. There are several instances in the novel that hold out a ray of hope: Sonali finds herself vibrant again and the crippled

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beggar gets limbs for himself. Most importantly 'Kachru' becomes 'Ravi' again, regaining his sense of dignity. Thus even if there is an overwhelming sense of gloom, there are indications hope for a better future in the novel. In terms of the fictional mode Rich like Us could be described as a 'non-fiction' in the tradition of the post-modern narratives. As a post-modernist critic A. S. D. Pillai observes the 'nonfictional novel' seeks to “purge the text of all traces of fiction as far as that may be possible”. [A. S. D. Pillai, Post Modernism, Theresa Publications,Thiruchirapalli]. Further, very little of action takes place in a non-fiction novel.The novel bases itself on hard realism resembling the actual realistic details to such an extent that the novel often reads like a report. Following this tradition of the narratives Rich Like Us tells no conventional story unlike most Indian political novels where there is a parallel movement of a story with that of a political story. The novel is more in form of a critique of the contemporary times. Very little fictional action and more of meditation take place in the novel. Probably one can also say that the place where the action happens in the novel is the interior landscape of Sonali and not so much the streets of Delhi. She provides the central consciousness to the events in the novel that are presented in the form of a critical analysis of the emergency. The characterisation in the novel also serves to strengthen the non-fictional nature of the novel as most characters in the novel become instruments for the discussion of ideas. So the characters in the novel typically in the non-fictional tradition become mere types rather than being the characters in flesh and blood. Probably except the character of Ravi Kachru there is no other character, which is sufficiently humanised in the novel. The non-fictional character of the novel is highlighted by another important dimension of the novel. As Jasbir Jain rightly observes, there are no protagonists in the novel in the conventional sense; the real protagonist is India. [Jasbir Jain, “The Novel is a Political Biography”, Op. Cit., 1989, p.142. ] The novel has largely the feel of the 'India books' of V. S. Naipaul that try to construct a vision of India at particular movements in the national life. Rich Like Us largely seems to belong to the tradition conveying the condition of India existing during the emergency period. The thesis of the novelist that is the presentation of the story of the corruption and the collapse of the modern Indian democracy in the wake of the emergency, is realised in the novel through the use of the two broadly compartmentalised characters: Sonali, Rose and the others on the one hand and Dev, Nishi and the others on the other. Towards this end the novel is narrated in an interpretative and an analytical tone. Rich Like Us as mentioned already, is a post-modern narrative. It makes a clean break from the past in terms of the narrative art of the novel. As discussed already the novel is less 'fictional' and more analytical as the novel focuses its attention on the analysis of a contemporary political

81 episode rather than on a fictional story. Further the constant rotation of the narrative between the first person and the third person is another of the prominent Post-Modernist narrative strategies prominently used in the novel. The novel has been subjected to a wide-ranging critical scrutiny and the artistic success of the novel has been debated at great lengths. There are conflicting views about the artistic success of the novel. As mentioned in the beginning of this chapter, several reviewers have rated the novel as one of the best books to come out of India. However, there are more moderate and sober views like the one held by a critic, Makarand Paranjape who says that the novel is definitely an important, ambitious but a flowed book. [Makarand Paranjape, Op. Cit., p.145.] Flawed the novel definitely is, though not for the reason offered by the critic. Seemingly, the weakness of the novel emanates not out of its depiction of the Indo-British encounter, which is found unsatisfactory by critics including Makarand Paranjape.The chief weakness of the novel seems to be the result of a clear bias of the author to the situation portrayed in the novel. The author seems to have taken sides of the political fence before the action in the novel really begins. The novel thus portrays a strongly one-sided vision of the emergency seen through the coloured glasses of the novelist. It is this prejudice on the part of the author that seems to have cost the novel in terms of its artistic success. Works Cited : Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ

Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ

Ÿ

Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ

S. Varalaxmi, “An Interview with Nayantara Sahgal”, Indian Women Novelists, New Delhi: Prestige, 1993. Nayantara Sahgal, “The Book I Enjoyed Writing the Most”, Bhavan's Journal,Vol. 20, 12, (January 6 1974). Shyam Asnani, “Contemporary Politics”: Its Portrayal in the Novels of “Nayantara Sahgal” in Critical Response to the Indian English Fiction, New Delhi: Mittal Publishers, 1985. Neena Arora, “Rich Like Us: A Note”, Indian Women Novelists, New Delhi: Prestige, 1990. Jasbir Jain, “Establishing Connections, Interview with Nayantara Sahgal”, Indian Women Novelists, New Delhi: Prestige, 1993. Makarand Paranjape, “Cultural and the Political Allegory in Nayantara Sahgal's Rich Like Us”, Indian Writing Today, (Ed.) C.V.Vishweshwara Rao, Delhi: IAES, 1996. Jasbir Jain, “The Novel as Political Biography”, in Recent Commonwealth Literature, (Eds) R. K. Dhawan, P. V. Dhamija, A. K. Shrivastava, Prestige Books: New Delhi, 1989. Jasbir Jain, “The Emperor's New Clothes: The Emergency and Sahgal's Rich Like Us” in The New Indian Novel, (Ed.) Viney Kirpal, New Delhi: Allied Publishers, 1991. C. V. Vijayashree, “Rich Like Us”, Indian Women Novelists, New Delhi: Prestige Books, 1993. C. V. Vishweshwara Rao, “From Sacrifice to Sacrilege: A Study of Rich Like Us”, Indian Women Novelists, New Delhi: Prestige Books, 1993. A. S. D. Pillai, Post Modernism,Theresa Publications,Thiruchirapalli, 1985

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Therapeutic Effects of Indian Summer on Strained Relationships:

A Study of Indian Summer - Neeta Puranik, Indira Javed Abstract: Pratima Mitchell's 'Indian Summer' brings a complete metamorphosis in the lives of the characters i.e.Sarla,Bina ,Siddharth and their parents.The Indian summer provides a much required healing touch to various strained relationships. The paper focuses the fact that Indian summer at Daroga gives a befitting platform to Sarla, an American, who reexamines her relationships and consolidates her ties with her mother Rita. Bina also comes to terms with the fact that Sarla and she are cousins.It is also in the summer that brings a defining turn to mother daughter relationships as well. The novel thus presents an apt platform where relationships nourish and develop into a life time bond. Keywords: Broken family, Society, Mother, Relationship,Culture, life, Indian summer,Warmth, Balming wounds

Indians relish and cherish a golden memoir of their summers spent during their teens in their grandparents' houses. Indian summer is always associated with redefining and consolidating old relations. After summers, one feels charged up with new energy and enthusiasm. Indian summers are significant for the reunion of families which always opens new horizons and possibilities for growth in relationship. The warmth of the summer helps in warming up ties, bonds and brings people of a clan closer. The novel 'Indian Summer', too, signifies this warmth very categorically. In Pratima Mitchell's 'Indian Summer', the summer provides a much required 'healing touch' to various strained relationships. It becomes Sarla's most amazing summer ever. It also offers a much needed solace and comfort to Bina, who was living a hellish and suffocating life earlier. The clash of Indian and American cultures creates ruckus initially. But both cultures blend when Sarla and Bina share and experience the naked truth of their lives together. Their experiences bring them closer and very soon they get along well and begin to appreciate and understand each other's views and problems. Indian summer also brings a defining turn in mother- daughter relationships as well (between Sarla and Rita, Shobharani and Bina).The novel also focuses on lasting friendship among Sarla, Bina and Siddhartha. The trio experience life's most eventful and tumultuous summer. In a true sense the soaring heat of Indian summer cools and fizzles away the bitterness in relationships, resulting into deep love and empathy amongst all the characters hence providing respite from the blazing sun.

83 The novel opens up with bitter relationship between Rita, a star television reporter who is a single parent and her teenaged daughter Sarla. Rita is a 'super woman', who could do anything except housekeeping which she thought was meant to be for 'inferior species'. Sarla cannot digest this paradigm shift in the role of a mother. A broken family and her mom's total focus towards her career makes her feel lost and unwanted. Sarla has a longing for a 'complete family'-“My mom slogged out her guts to get to where she was. After all she'd left my dad because she was so single minded about work….” (Indian Summer, 16) Her desire of a close knit family was ruined. She craved for affection, pampering and attention. Her feelings for her mother are complicated starting from 'irritation to pride to concern.' Later on teenaged Sarla's pent up emotions get rebellious outbursts as she misses an extended family abroad……."A familiar feeling rose up with the pain: the feeling that I didn't have a proper family life and everything around me was rackety and disorganized. Rita and I were like gypsies- chaotic and mad and unsettled, unconventional and arty-farty. I just hated it!"(Indian Summer, 16, 17) We do get glimpses of the Indian culture in Sarla's blood. She wishes her mother to behave like a 'normal mother'- attending school half term play, baking cakes etc. The lack of album felt by her shows her craving for a real family. She regrets that they have” no albums in our flat”, only photos kept in envelopes. An album symbolizes a feeling of togetherness, belongingness and reflects of the bond shared, doing activities collectively, enjoying certain occasions with family, the memories of which trail in life etched on mind and treasured. Unfortunately Sarla and her mother had no such reasons of celebration or rejoicing in the family. Thus her soul is totally shattered because of the present scenario. The loneliness, the feeling of insecurity is so dominant that she has this 'morbid imagings'. At this juncture she decides to run away to India to her grandparents. Irony had it that life had come to a full circle. Sarla undergoes a complete transformation when she comes to India. Although at the beginning she is reluctant and feels that she had taken a wrong decision by coming to India. Gradually she realizes what she missed all her life was present here in India. Her curiosity and excitement is well expressed Family had always been something other people did and which I wanted more than anything for myself. That belonging, being inside a magic circle, was incredibly glamorous and exciting----.I was on my way to be with my family, to spend holidays with my own blood…….. (Indian Summer, 58)

Yes, of course, this sounded “corny”, but for Sarla it was thrilling prospect of a life time. Sarla's desires were not limited to a nuclear family. She was envious of her friend Elizabeth who had a nice older brother. She felt her friend was 'so lucky'. Siddhartha was a perfect match for a brother. Her expanded and vast desires were endless. Sarla could feel the warmth of relationship and need of these ties distinctly from the summer

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heat. The embraces, the hugs, the touch, pat showered from Nana-Nani made her excited. She felt like a princess by the attention and pampering given to her. Her blood ran faster. “There was a lump in my throat because I felt so terribly happy. I wasn't used to being showered with so much love and attention" (Indian Summer, 74). It was during her stay in India and with her grandparents that Sarla was guided by Nani regarding the culture, dress sense, food in India. Sarla learnt and imbibed all that went around her. The “Indianness” began to permeate into her. Gradually there came a change in her attitude and mannerisms. Bina was her “filler” for a sibling. They both began to share things, and after the “Jeevan episode”Sarla had an urge to protect Bina. Siddharth was 'candy', in her life, providing the adventure, spice which she lacked in her life. Sarla's sensibility for and about relationships too enhanced, “……Grown ups think they're invincible .I suppose it comes with the whole package of power, authority, being old and wise and all that stuff. Even the nicest grown- ups think they can pretend and get away with it….(Indian Summer, 116)”

Her visualization of the Indian society, customs and tradition is broadened by her interaction with varied characters. Even when her mother's secret was unearthed, that she was a part of a 'most bizarre family', she withstands the shock bravely. Thus Sarla had undergone a makeover during her summer holidays and she digests the stark reality of life calmly. Sarla doesn't feel humiliated and accepts the fact delivered to her by Rita quite saintly. “In that great rush of new information that flooded my head then my consciousness, I was aware only of my mother weeping silently. I gently wrapped her in my arms and hushed her. I stroked her hair and told her how much I loved her and how glad I was that she'd shared this with me. (Indian Summer, 276)”

This Sarla was quite unlike that Sarla who boarded the flight to India. Quite incidentally Bina too is sailing in the same boat with Sarla, facing a chaotic life in India. Both of them harbour a hidden urge to love and to be loved. As Sarla fathoms the emotional complexities of Bina's life she realizes that she was living in a far better comfort zone. Sarla understands that Bina is a traumatized soul. Her mysterious face has a lot to do with her background as her mother is a bandit queen of the jungle, now in jail. She also learns that Bina is being blackmailed by Jeevan. So Bina's agony is palpable. She has suffered the pain of an orphan, the rage of society living constantly under fear that Jeevan, their chauffeur, would disclose her mother's secret to school authority bringing social disgrace to her. Beena, thus, seems to be the pivotal character that carries with her family secrets, adventure, romance and all complexities of life faced by a typical Indian girl. Bina's anxiety regarding the life of a woman also distresses her. She faces all fears, queries faced by a growing girl. Like any other middle class Indian girl she dislikes the custom of matrimonial procedure .Against all odds she, however, fights for identity.

85 “……nearly everyday I wondered, what should I do when I growup. It became a complete obsession. I did not want meekly to agree…” (Indian Summer, 24)

Sarla and Bina become great pals they share their secrets, woes and are true friends. Bina's romance with Siddharth blossoms in the warmth of this eventful summer. For Bina, summer unfolds all mysteries and she gets answers to all her queries regarding her mother. The warmth of the sun brought light and enlightened Bina with her mother's troubled past. Her meeting with Sadhuram confirmed that her mother was the Queen of the Hills, a Goddess, a Saviour. She was so overwhelmed that she “was reminded of Mary Lobo's Holy Virgin”. Bina succeeded in overcoming the biggest fear of life and now she accepted her mother with grace and pride. Siddharth's presence in the lives of Bina and Sarla is like a raindrop after scorching heat. In someway, Bina, Sarla and Siddharth are a great support for each other as all three face unnatural childhood. Bina becomes bold enough to face the fact of her mother and decides to stand by her. “….my poor, extraordinary, brave, foolish, reckless, strong now helpless mother…May be now was the time for me to reach out to her.”(Indian Summer, 266) Thus, summer was very eventful and fruitful in the reunion of Bina and Sarla to their mothers. Siddharth finds solace in Bina's company. Her crystal clear mannerisms enabled both to come close, share their feelings and also plan for a future together. Siddharth gathered courage to talk about his family, to accept the dark side of royalty. By doing so his heart felt lighter and he felt connected to Sarla, Bina and the rest. All major events in the lives of these characters, the adventures, unfolding of secrets of their lives happened in summer. No wonder Indian summer does play its magic by its warmth, to ignite desired fire in the relationships to burn them for lifelong. During summers the lingering long warm afternoons are great opportunity to stay indoors, forcibly thus giving chance for lot of interaction. The friendship between Sarla and Bina was initiated in summer and their rocking support and lasting friendship was a balm which soothened the deeply rooted emotional turbulence in their lives. Sarla became a sensible person by the happenings in Daroga and Khera. All characters Bina, Sala, Siddharth and Rita are relieved of emotional trauma. They imbibe the warmth of relationship in the blazing heat of Indian summer. Indian summers, therefore, are looked forward to by every Indian family. (And why not?) The milieu of the summer blends so well with human psyche in the Indian soil that it brings harmony in the lives of the people who feel it and experience it. Works Cited : Ÿ

Mitchell Pratima, Indian Summer,Walker Books Ltd, London, 2009.

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A Question of Identity in South Asian Canadian Women Poetry - Amodini Sreedharan Abstract: Shakti's Words: An Anthology of South Asian Canadian Women's Poetry is edited by Judith Kearns and Mc Gifford and was published 1993 (TSAR Publications).The anthology comprises of eleven women poets from different parts of Asia i.e. Suniti Namjoshi, Surjeet Kalsey, Himani Banerjee, Nilambari Singh, Uma Parmeshwaran, Lakshmi Gill, Arzina Burney etc. These women are highly educated and economically independent and settled in Canada. They are from different, social, cultural, geographical background. Above all these women poets are also experiencing the life as an immigrant too. But the paper zeroes in assessing an aspect of their life time anguish of being a 'female' irrespective of being educated and independent in modern sense. In spite of tall claims of government and society in general she feels vulnerable. Her poetry limns the torments and age long tragedy of being a woman in search of identity. The paper focuses on those specific poems which asserts boldly and fearlessly 'a question of identity' written by these South Asian Canadian Women poets. Their poems present diametrical opposition: treatment on native soil vs. experience as an immigrant and there is no much difference for a female. One can pick up the common thread of 'a question of identity' which is inserted in the canon of the contemporary Indian/ Canadian literature subtly with unanimous pain and pathos of being female. Keywords: Post colonialism, Feminism, Eco-Feminism, multicultural view.

“Imaginatively she is of the highest importance; practically she is completely insignificant…” - VirginiaWoolf Himani Banerjee, Surjeet Kalsey, Nilambari Singh and Suniti Namjoshi are amongst few poets who comprise an anthology namely, Shakti's Words: “An Anthology of South Asian Canadian Women Poetry” edited by Judith Kearns and Deanne McGifford in 1996. The emergence of Independent immigrant female poets put forth their experiences in a different way. Leaving their homeland for better jobs or for sound established spouses; whatsoever the reason unfortunately again starts her journey to reassert identity or with 'a question of identity'. These female poets have proved their worth more efficiently than their

87 counterpart as doctor, computer engineer, a teacher as their primary profession. And writing came to them as an outlet. Economic independence didn't exempt them from their conventional responsibility. Over and above she was 'marginalized' in a society were she was term as immigrant too. She is subject of her own poetry and is analyzing the 'self' as object. Thus the quest/question/search for identity can be seen in the verses of South Asian Canadian Women poets. She desires to set new roles but her hopes are shattered and there is only struggle for her. The poems of these contemporary women poets/ writers/authors are reflections of diametrical opposition: self determination vs destiny, city life vs rural life, change vs stairs. A common thread of pair in search of 'identity' is inserted. A common thread of invisible point of view is inserted into the canon of contemporary Indian/Canadian literature by these South Asian Canadian Women Poets. Shakti's Words: Anthropology of South / Asian Canadian Women's Poetry has eleven poets in it particularly settled in Canada. Suniti Namjoshi permeates feminist consciousness. To name a few Himani Banerjee's work echoes the cultural construction of women. Surject Kalseey deals with pain and pathos of women. In romantic Literatures of the world 'she' was glorified as a beloved or revered as a mother, she enjoyed affection as a daughter and as a wife too, she could sometime wield tremendous power. But in actual practice women has been an object of exploitation. Women has lived in an almost oriental seclusion, regarded with indifference, even contempt in this masculine society. In the male dominated, macho chauvinistic milieu, it is rather difficult to make an attempt or objective evaluation of woman's place and status. Inspite of tall claims women's coming to terms with man, she still remains vulnerable to man's exploitation and atrocities. She is still regarded as a plaything of man's wanton pleasures and must dance to his whims, caprice and fancy. Our distorted social customs advocate the concept that the feminine qualities best blossom in the confinement of the house. Something which the men folk of our society still longingly and ardently believe, so much so that even all the developments and the advancements of the present age have not been able to clear the cobwebs of misconceptions. · Where is the place of women in our Indian Society? · What are the problems that women face? · What ails our society so deeply that the situation does not seem to improve at all? “I am Chitra. No goddess to be worshipped, nor yet the object of common pity to be brushed aside like a moth with indifference. If you design to keep me by your side in the path of danger and daring, if you

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Labyrinth | Vol.2 No.2 (April. 2011)

allow me to share the great duties of your life, then you will know my true-self.”(Scene IX). Like Chitra of Tagore's play second sex only pleads for equal status and identity of her 'true-self'(Nehru;41). Laski believes, Utopias are written out of both hope and despair. (Kaul;25)

South Asian Canadian Women poets commonly and forcefully articulate certain besetting problems and difficulties facing the feminine world in a male-dominated racially discriminated alien society. They with their writing, came out boldly with their ideas and attitudes against the established norms and tortuous conventions of society feminine sensibility comes out at its best in their writings who are gifted with a fertile imagination and personal experiences. Their writings are convincing when they write about certain purely feminine subjects. Himani Banerjee's 'Wife' is a very pathetic poem. The Author herself being a woman is trying to define woman in one of her roles as wife. Married life assumes different forms in different cases. But for great many woman the day passes in much the same fashion – the husband leaves in the morning. She is free; children to to school, she is alone, attends to a thousand small tasks; her hands are busy. She lives only for her family. As poet puts, A Woman a small limited form marked by softness curves hair teeth two giving hands and a little resting place inside (‘Wife', S.Words, p. 3)

The poet assumes that the wife should have all these humanistic qualities i.e. sympathetic, compassionate sentimental, affection towards others always with “two giving hands”. According to author wife always gives but doesn't receive anything Poet is not able to see woman a humanbeing when she like a magician calls “Wife-appear”. She finds what appears is not a human being but a metallic form. A rocky form which was enameled from centuries with its colour and shape and finally turned into a 'cave house' where she protects everyone with her rocky strength. Like a fort she protects but can't move and has to stay stable. The Poet says that she is like 'Noah's Ark'. Nobody knows her real identity. Although through centuries. She is speechless, gloomy sombre, obscure, mysterious but her “inner fire” i.e. her vehement emotions, spirit, fervour, vivacity makes others hearty and enthusiastic. But the poet is afraid of this construction she pleads and prays for an 'earthquake' to break this rock into pieces which is built by male hands. And through this poem she is very much successful in portraying condition of 'wife' and inspires her to struggle for her identity. In 'She and He – 2” Surjeet Kalsey is eager to protect her womanliness. The charms and the delicacy of a feminine personality like 'a flower' is snatched away from her from the possessive instincts of the dominating

89 personality of man. She cries, Give myself back to me you guard sense with the red hot iron bars of tradition. (She and He-2, S.Words, p. 39)

Infact, like many other poets, Surjeet Kalsey has tried to voice liberation through self-actualization and discarding the rules ordained to her by the society. Tradition is the enemy of woman, selling her ready for the responsibility of both man and his society. She is perfect feminine to reject the social possessiveness. The modern poetess not merely speaks of the dragon – like icons at the backstage of mind casting their tall shadows (Tilottama Rajan) and the tormentations that a woman is exposed to through out her life but also of her unfulfilled passions and desires. Like any other human being a woman possesses a deep emotional and spiritual life. She has her own urges and passions. She is love hungry. But in a society of havocs and barriers observing comfortable morality true love is a forbidden fruit. Same equates with Nilambri Singh's Sonnet – Two Moral Selves speaks of virtuous passions of a woman. The fulfillment of the passions, the pleasance of the luxurious moments the free giving of the feminine charms and the exploration of genuine love is possible only in the darkest self. The passionate meeting with the lover is a secret affair it has its rendezvous deep down the heart. The light of the society with its cramping standards of morality is an arch enemy to it. The poetess revels in her passions in the turbulent exchange of love but only in the dark of her mind. She is really cut in twain. The love that she gets from her male partner sanctioned by the laws of comfortable morality is mechanical. It isn't a free and bounteous giving of the 'self.' It is a rape and physical tormentation that a women is forced to endure every night which put the poetess breathing in the cramped society. Genuine love is waiting, struggling, craving and looking for the right times. Surjeet Kalsey, with her entire being tries to break the silence. Her poem 'Breaking the Silence' presents how a woman feels clamped, cramped and confined under the crushing weight of lifeless traditions that have annihilated the whole race of woman. Like an average Indian Women with her wings clipped off and her words choked up in her throats. She tries to be in dialogue with the setting sun and the full moon. The Sun disappears everyday My words remain trembling in the thick fog I don't know why I want to tell Something to the full moon. (Breaking The Silence, S.Words, p. 46)

The poet reads out the tumult tormentations travails and deep seated tragedy of a woman's life in the turbulent sea stretching miles and miles long. She is in the state of lachrymose. Author herself feels and identifies

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herself with a female character in an ancient forgotten Indian Tale. Woman is a tragic figure who with passage of time has been turned into a Chattel and a piece of furniture. She has been deprived of the freedom once she enjoyed. Her tongue has been clipped off and she has been muted to silence. Where as once she used to talk a lot. But unlike the figure in the ancient tale, Kalsey's poem has a rebellious spirit she puts forth as; I've come to you as an ancient statute forgotten, denied my stone body and broke down the walls of tradition I don't want to live death anymore There is life everywhere. (Breaking The Silence, S.Words, p. 46)

She would like to kill herself than to suffer the regular death; Poem is an open protest to male's superiority along with search for identity. 'An Eclipse' of Kalsey speaks the discrimination between male and the female has a long ancestry. The feudal times made into a law. Ugly customs of the feudal times still sticks in full prominence to thousands of Indian families. The birth of a male child is an event. The parents sent into a rapture acclaim. The male child as an saviour to release them from the rounds of existence. The female child is either hushed to death in its very swaddling cloth or rejected as a stigma to the family. Instead of enhancing the glory of the family it eclipses it the child grows and is always under a bondage. An Eclipse of the moon that what they called her when she first entered the threshold of his parents' house His house. (An Eclipse, S.Words, p. 48)

The poet further explains that even the holy books and scriptures hesitated in giving her the rightful place. They denied a woman an independent existence. She was a part of Adam's flesh. The male dominated society not merely stripped her physically naked but spiritually slashed her chip by chip. It seems the story of her suffering is as old as the ancient hills; Over the years… they know art of taming a woman to make her a harmless docile creature (An Eclipse, S.Words, p. 48)

The poem conveys the male dominated society has thrown her into a thralldom, very gently, cut her to a size she become a piece of decoration. Males are very smart they kill woman by inches. Not even allowing her to wail. And finally she turns into a figure of great disgrace. Suniti Namjoshi is a multi-dimensional poet. She wants to revolt against the male society, in her poem.

91 She's a female Protagonist Straight out of James and with a centre of consciousness So indisputably human That no one could protest. (For The Student of Literature, S.Words, p. 53)

The poet wants to convey that the literature, consisting works of the male writers, presents woman often as a second line character, complementating to the demands of a male character. She is always beautiful, sensitive, living, kind, generous and willful creature, having no other goal in life except marriage and domestic duty. But the author protests and says “But there's no place for me in that portrait of hers”. She doesn't want to remain a docile creature. She claims “I am a little Villanous.” She is a real female protagonist when confronted to the razor – sharpness of her poetry. There is something obnoxious and cruel about her, I don't shut up | and I am not dead

She speaks out. She is a full women and hence she understands the misery of woman and struggles for her Identity. Taking recourse to the Greek myths of Sisyphus and Penelope the poet on one hand paints the unfruitful round of existence and on the other a house wife's tragedy. 'Archetypes' of Suniti Namjoshi mention the tragic situation of woman. According to author 'Sisyphus' suffered cause he was cursed to do so. But she asks, But Penelope was housewife | What governed her?

The mention of Sisyphus in 'Archetypes' deepens the woman's tragic existence she is caught in a nightmarish round of existence and eternally suffers and she suffers because she is a woman and a virtuous woman. As the puts,Virtuous Women punish themselves. The poem has a deep irony. Modern Woman has not to play a Penelope and drag a Sisyphean existence. On the contrary she has to raise her voice against the suitors hungry of her flesh. She hasn't got to be virtuous like Penelope and suffer passively. Suniti paints the miserable and disgraceful life of a woman some times shaping out a statute sometimes bringing a 'Penelope' in focus and sometimes reading her tragic situation in “The Fur Seals As Shown On Television”The beachmaster like brutes torment and tortures the female. They assert the dominance of the male. The beachmaster sometimes 'bellows' and 'staggers' after her. Sometimes hits her on her sleek and beautiful head and sometimes grabs her. Of course the female gets herself into a scuffler. She reads out, Can't the female run? Perhaps the female does not wish to run? (The Fur Seals As Shown On Television, S.Words, p. 56)

The modern woman is by degrees getting her voice. She asserts against


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the so called male society. The tormentations that seals are exposed to torture the poetess. She feels bruised she catches her reflection in the fur seals and cries out, I feel bruised. My head hurts Suniti Namjoshi in her poetical extracts explores the identity of women lost in the sandy deserts that male dominated society has created. The second stanza of the poem. “In Those Early Photographs” she begins with a note – On the island of Sorcerer's asked for a vision of my female ancestor crowd of strange women appeared before me. I did not know them I looked puzzled and a little worried.

The shadowy figures or the phantoms of women conjured up by the poetess of course speaks of the human ties. But at the same time points out their tragic situation. Women playing the part of a sister, a wife and mother has always showered her affections on menfolk but they in their turn were imprisoned in the four walls of the house.The crowd of strange women conjured up by the poetess raises a question pertaining to their identity, But in our long ancestry Where are the woman?

The sense of pride that one feels in being a woman is shattered. South Asian Women Poets' writings suits their temper and poetic taste. In articulating their thoughts and feelings they do not suppress their individuality in any way. Their poetic voice imbued with a feminine cum feminist sensibility is typically their own and it can't be confused with anyone else's. She inspires the whole female word to get hold of their useless life as weapon and destroy 'something' that is destroying them. This shows gone are the days of silent sufferings and now its an announcement of open war. We can conclude that these woman poets came out boldly with their ideas and attitudes against the established norms and tortuous conventions of a society. Holding the patriarchal causes and values. Of these poets Suniti Namjoshi, Himani Banerjee and Uma Parmeshwaran are much vociferous in voicing their fears and concerns about the fate of womankind in uncongenial conditions or surroundings. It is certainly not that woman has unfurled the inception of the liberation movement just because of her political frenzy for equality; instead, it is a call for the expression of her identity with complete outlet to her energies, equating men or all fronts of existential reality. Works Cited : Jawaharlal Nehru, The Discovery of India (Oxford University Press, 1946), p. 41. Iqbal Kaur, Gender and Literature (B.R. Publishing Corporation, 1992), p. 25. Ÿ Judith Kearns, Mc Gifford (Ed.) Shakti'sWords: An Anthology of South Asian Canadian Women's Poetry,TSAR Publications, 1993. (Abbreviated as S. words in the text) Ÿ Ÿ

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Dalit Writing Versus Non-Dalit Writing - Bishun Kumar Abstract: Dalit Literature as a Postmodernist and Marxist thought gained impetus with the word 'Dalit' that was coined by Mahatma Jyotiba Rao Phule in Marathi which means 'the ground crushed, broken down and reduced to pieces'. The word proved an outlet for the 3000 years old buried history of oppression which nobody had courage to document. Dalit literature received its potential with the first 'Dalit Literature Conference' held in 1958 in Maharashtra. On its broader perspective Dalit literature connotes the literature about the downtrodden and sufferers. To quote Valmiki: Dalit literary movement is not just a literary movement. It is also a cultural and social movement. Dalit society has been imprisoned for a thousand years in the dark mist of ignorance, deprived of knowledge. Dalit literature is the portrayal of the wise and aspirations of these oppressed and tormented Dalits. [Valmiki,O P. Dalit Sahitya ka Saundarya Shashtra. Delhi: Radha Krishnan, 2001] In this aspect Dalit Literature comprises the literature about shudras, scheduled caste, labourers, proletariats and women. This newly originated Literature seems divided into two streams. First is the literature written by the Dalits and Dalit Panthers like Dr. Ambedkar, Namdeo Dhasal, Praveen Gadhvi, Om Prakash Valmiki, Narendra Jadhav Jyotiba Phoole and Limbale etc and the second is the Literature written by the Non-Dalits like Mulk Raj Anand, Munshi Prem Chanda, Mahashweta Devi, Romesh Basu, Arundhati Roy, Raja Rao etc which for convenience be called 'the literature about the Dalits'. My paper aims at distinguishing the two streams of Dalit Literature and tracing the gaps, conflicts and contradictions between the texts written by the Dalits and texts written about dalits by the Non-Dalit writers. Keywords: caste hegemony, anger, rebellion, feudalistic mindset, suppression

Non-Dalit writers think that in real sense Dalit Literature is the literature about Untouchables (Achoot), Pasis and Nats etc, on the basis of the complaint about their menial and backward position in the society which requires sympathy while Dalit writers like Valmiki define it as: Dalit literature is the literature of the masses. It is a literature of action, based on human values, which wages a struggle born out of anger and rebellion against feudalistic mindsets (Mukherjee, Arun Prabha, Introduction to Joothan, p-xxvi).

The former type of literature is an outcome of uncontrollable pain, suffering and questioning spirit. To quote Prof. Abidi, “Dalit

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Literature originates from the pain” and “Dalit autobiographies are the capsule of their agony” (Abidi, in National Conference held on 22nd and 23rd march 2009 at D A V (P G) College, Dehradun, Uttarakhand) while the latter type of literature takes birth from the extended sympathy out of humanity towards the oppressed and the suppressed. The writing of the former literature has anguish and sense of revolt against inhuman treatment meted out to them while the writing of the latter literature attempts to console the anguish of the former and to win the hearts of the revolutionary counterparts by showing sympathy thereby making them mute tolerator. Dalit writers obviously seem awakened to recognize the energy of the Dalits to fight a war against the ill treatment while non-Dalit writers present these sufferers as helpless, as 'a caged bird' which can never come out of the cage without pleasing its owner and taking him in belief that he needs not fear a counterstrike. Dalit writing 'claims' for their rights while non-Dalit writing 'talks' of the rights of the Dalits as given in baksheesh. The characters of Dalit works are dynamic, determined and living while characters in non-Dalit writing are simple and sensitive but helpless and neutral. The victims of Dalit writing revolt rightfully against economic and social inequality while of non-Dalit writing seem tempted towards aristocratic life or passively accept the stereotyped role assigned to them.The views of Dalit leaders like Ambedkar differed radically from Non-Dalit writers like Gandhi on the question of 'reforming' Hinduism. Ambedkar used the language of rights and legislated remedies while Gandhi believed in the removal of untouchability through penance and acts of social service by caste Hindus, as opposed to mandated change in the law. To quote the words of Gail Omvedt: The point is that Gandhi, who feared a political division in the villages, ignored the division that already existed in his warning against the spread of violence. He ignored the violence already existing in the lives of the Dalits. (Omvedt,1994.172)

The characters and sufferers in Dalit writing, themselves struggle to overcome their suppression and to find solution while in non-Dalit writing they look dependent upon others like social reformers belonging to caste Hindu. Non-Dalit writer like Mulk Raj Anand is supposed to be the champion of the Dalits who in his novels, has raised the lowest of the low as Bakha in Untouchable, Munoo in Coolie and Bhikhu in The Road to the heights of the 'heroes' but the leading characters like Bakha, Munoo and Bhikhu should never be misunderstood as 'heroes'. Anand's works like Untouchable, Coolie and the Road are the accurate portrayal of what really happens with Dalits in India. They are but the passive and the life long bearers of the suppression and victims of extreme marginalization who could never bring the revolution for social change. They are such characters who can win sympathy but can never

95 identify themselves to be the human being no less than those who make them a pig out of a man. Dalit writers here raise a question, “Can any revolution take place without revolt?” Anand has disabled his characters to revolt against inhuman treatment with them and thereby begin a revolution to change the society. In Untouchable Bakha bears the torture of the upper caste boys. More miserable is that Pt. Kalinath attempts to molest his young sister Sohini but his blood could not boil to revolt against it to take revenge upon the hypocrite pundit. Munno in Coolie is exploited and consummated by the upper class finally but could not gather courage to fight against his exploitation. Same thing happens in the Road where upper class Hindus oppose Bhikhu and disagree to walk on the road made by the untouchables. Bhikhu dares not to revolt against it instead he himself chooses his way to city. The important question here arises that, “Can these characters bring any change or revolution in the society?” Perhaps, 'No'. They certainly indicate that there is no way to over come such problems except insensate tolerance. However, Non-Dalit critics defend Anand praising him that he was a realist and not an agitator but Dalit critics want to remind them that in case of the treatment of women characters Anand goes beyond the then social reality. His characters like Maya in The Village, Janki in The Big Heart and Gauri in The Old Women and the Cow revolt against the then social norms of entering into marriage. Maya flees to her lover Lal Singh and demands legal status of wifehood. Janki lives openly with her lover Ananta revolting against society. Gauri even talks that education is the only thing that would really transform the women to the equal position of men and she finally does it standing on equal footings to her husband Shiv Ram and revolting against her husband's inhuman treatment with her while Dalit characters neither talk of education that could enlighten them nor revolt against inhuman treatment meted out to them. But the noticeable point is that Anand's Dalit characters win sympathy of the high caste people and weaken their cruel spirit that helped the Dalits to reach in the mainstream without bloodshed struggle. In Dalit writing characters are always ready to counterstrike while in Non-Dalit writing they are tolerant. In the former characters wish to fight their battle by their own while in the l high caste people attempt to direct and suggest them. Dalit panthers like Sharan Kumar Limbale and Om Prakash Valmiki ask non-Dalit scholars and leaders, “Where do we exist in your community?” (In National Conference held on 22nd and 23rd of March 2009) while non-Dalit scholars say to them, “You are but my forgotten brothers”. However, Dalit writers seem still unrelieved from the suffering and their mental agony which is pinching them from inside all the time, and they long for pouring out their anger and announcing publicly all that for which they were left unheard and unvoiced. In Joothan Valmiki writes:

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Labyrinth | Vol.2 No.2 (April. 2011) We need an ongoing struggle, a consciousness that brings revolutionary change both in the out side world and in our hearts a consciousness that leads the process a social change. (A Note on Joothan by Mukherjee, Arun Prabha,p-x)

This shows that Dalit Literature is at its budding stage, it has yet to attain a flowering a mature stage and to nurture it to achieve its spiritual strength while Non-Dalit writers feel what they have done is enough and make effort to console them, to cool up their temper and to limit their scope. The scholars of high literature crticise the Dalit Literature for having no genre and poetic beauty which Dalit scholars defend claiming that almost all modern literatures prefer to portray realism through imagined situations and characters in form of free verse while Dalit literature goes one step ahead and portrays real reality through autobiography that describes the real situations with the real victims of suffering. Sharan Kumar Limbale says: Freedom is the highest aesthetic value ... equality, freedom; justice and love are basic sentiments of people and society. They are many times more important than pleasure and beauty (Limbale, 115).

Non-Dalit writing seems to keep pace with Dalit writing but instead of accelerating, it makes every effort to retard the movement of Dalit writing. None of the non-Dalits works could accept any low caste to be the intelligent or to become owner, ruler or the master of upper class. But if any low caste person supersedes the upper caste, they jump to him and pretend to suggest for their well being and upliftment while in actual they insure their position no less than any Dalit. The literature mirrors the social realities. None of the non-Dalit writers could satirize or utter a word against the ancient of glory of Vedic principles and Hindu religion however up to some extent they have modified the interpretation to reform its ills and evils while Dalit Panthers like Ambedkar unhesitatingly proclaimed: “You have got to apply the dynamite to the Vedas and the Shastras which deny any part to reason. (Ambedkar, Annihilation of Caste, 1979:75) and on 25 December 1927 he burnt the Manusmriti in a bonfire. In a nut shell, one can say that the literature of the first type deals with what it ought to be while the literature of the second type deals what is happening at present. Dalit literary movement asYeats belief, moves in gyres: Turning and turning in the widening gyre The falcon can not hear the falconer, Things fall apart, the center can not hold Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world. (Yeats, W. B., 'The Second Coming')

Though, at occasions of seminars and conferences, both non-Dalit and Dalit scholars claim to go ahead hand in hand but there is always difference between them. Dalit writers like Valmiki and Limbale never agree with what non-Dalits say. Even more they never seem agree with non-Dalit writing to be the Dalit literature. Valmiki here gives

97 justification for it: If the Non-Dalits are unfamiliar with the burning miseries of Dalit life, it is because of the distance between Dalits and Non-Dalits that has been created by the Indian social order. When they do not know the reality of this Dalit life, whatever they write about, it will remain superficial born out of pity and sympathy, and not out of a desire for change or repentance (Joothan, 34).

Valmiki's this concept is similar to that of Professor Abidi. To quote Prof. Abidi, “As only a woman can understand the suffering and pains of women similarly only a dalit can feel the pinching agony of the Dalits”(Prof. Abidi, The Head of the Dept. of English, University of Lucknow, Lucknow, in National Seminar held in Vasant Kanya (P G) College, Varanasi on 26th and 27th November 2005). On this statement a critic overtly commented upon him that, “Do we have to take rebirth as a woman or a Dalit to understand their condition”.They even do not agree with the thoughts and concepts of Gandhi who is famous as messiah of Dalit. It was Gandhi who identified the low castes to be the human beings and to remove the stigma of untouchability; he renamed them as 'Harijans', 'the creation of God'. But Valmiki's advocacy against it is that Gandhi's claim that untouchables were an individual part of the Hindu fold was merely an expedient. Ambedkar saw it as a ploy to allow caste Hindus to grab political power and continue to keep untouchables under their feet. During National conference at DAV (PG) College, Dehradoon, (Uttarkhand) I asked Valmiki, “Why don't you agree with Gandhi who struggled hard to uplift the position of Dalits?” He aptly responded: Undoubtedly Gandhi had sympathy for the miserable condition of the lower castes like untouchables, he worked hard to remove their suffering but severe evil in him was that he was not in favour of abolition of caste system. Moreover, he never fought for the equality of the Dalits. He (Gandhi) favoured education of dalits just for the welfare of society as a whole and work social machinery of India well but that no doubt proved to be the 'Caliban Complex' without his knowing.

Literatures of all the periods have their distinct motif. The motif of neoclassical literature was to criticize the evils, follies and meanness of the society strictly following the poetic discipline. However, in romantic age poets raise a revolt against form dominated literary style rather than content. Again in modern age literature proved to be the medium of social change. Impact of modernism and of machine changed the man's attitude. Similarly Dalit literature is a weapon to cut off all the factors that functions as hurdle against the natural flow of currents of humanity that makes a person pig out of a human being, that constrains high caste hegemony and all that cut them off from the mainstream. Thus, Dalit


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Literature is an outcome of agitation syndrome. It is anguish of the Dalits born from suffering, suppression, agony and pain that makes the two streams different from each other. The sufferers' literature (Literature written by Dalits) expresses pain of their degradation and extra-marginalization from the society as well as determination to win equality, liberty and fraternity while non-sufferers' literature (works by non-Dalits) deals with consolation of Dalits with the fear that they might reach in the center and begin to counter-marginalize the upper caste. The difference is obvious if we compare the autobiographies of Dalits and the works by non-Dalits. Characters in Dalit writing seem to stand on equal footings, capable to do everything that upper caste people do while in non-Dalit writing characters seem incapable and helpless. But the fact is that both the streams go hand in hand functioning as counterparts of each other. If non-Dalit scholars accept principles and ideals of Dalits, Dalit literature seems to be propagating on its path of success and if non-Dalits disagree with it, it studies that dalit literature has yet not reached its destination to achieve its goal. Works Cited : Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ

Ÿ Ÿ

Valmiki, Om Prakash. Joothan- A Dalit Life. Trans. Arun Prabha Mukherjee. New Delhi: Samya, 2003. Anand, Mulk Raj. Untouchable(1935). New Delhi: Arnold Heinemann, 1984. Anand, Mulk Raj. Coolie(1936). New Delhi: Arnold Heinemann, 1985. Anand, Mulk Raj. Two Leaves and a Bud(1937). New Delhi New Revised ed: Arnold Heinemann, 1983. Anand, Mulk Raj. The Big Heart(1945). New Delhi: Arnold Heinemann, (1980). Anand, Mulk Raj. TheVillage(1939). New Delhi: Arnold Heinemann, (1984). Anand, Mulk Raj. The OldWoman and the Cow(1960) Renamed as Gauri. New Delhi: Arnold Heinemann, 1984. The Infinite Riches: An Anthology of British, American and Indian English Poetry. Ed. The Department of English and Modern European Languages, Lucknow University. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1999. Attended National Seminar on Dalit Literature held on 22nd and 23rd of March 2009 in D A V (P G) College, Dehradoon, Uttarakhand. Attended National Seminar on Dalit Literature on 26 and 27 November 2005 in Vasant Kanya Mahavidyalaya,Varanasi, Lucknow.

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Feministic Echoes in Attia Hosain's Sunlight on a Broken Column - Anju Bala Agrawal Abstract: Attia Hosain is one of the earliest woman writers of Indian subcontinent who sought self development and also attempted to criticize the inequalities of social condition. Generally Indian women are considered as family oriented, domestic, religious, semi-literate and indecisive. She is contrasted with the white woman who is depicted as sexually liberated, educated, secular and always in control of her own life. Literary works show that Indian women, when judged in their own historical, political and ethnic contexts, prove that she was not always a powerless victim of the patriarchy but was educated, aware and secular in her own way. Sunlight on a Broken Column deals with a young woman's personal crisis set against the larger historical background of communal hatred. This novel sharply brings out the undergoing change, the individual lives suffer a change just as the country's political situation changes. It shows that one change goes hand in hand with another. Keywords: patriarchal domestic norms, resistance, controlled freedom

Laila, the narratorheroine, revolts against the traditional values of her family and continues to grow and change. Similarly, the country also revolts against its rulers and undergoes a drastic change. The narratorheroine is a 'passive observer' so far as political actions are concerned but she is also a 'central agent' of the personal drama that is enacted against the political background. Laila being an inquisitive rebel from the beginning is both an insider and an outsider, a participant and an observer. This enables her not only to dramatize the taluqdari way of life in its immediacy but also to contextualize it objectively as an aspect within the broader relief of the contemporary historical milieu. Through the character of Baba Jan, Attia gives a symbolic presentation of the unquestioned authority of patriarchal domestic norms. Until Baba Jan's death, there was strict control for women in the family.They had to live in zenana. After Baba Jan's death, situation changes to some extent. Attia writes from a Muslim point of view about the intense life of the Muslim family. Her study of Laila is very firm, clear, and sympathetic, and exhibits the sort of dilemma which the overwhelming claustrophobic life of the family in India tends to bring about–the character with a bias to independence and solitariness who becomes almost a solipsist in reaction to the smothering family. Laila is Attia's spokesperson in the novel. She has been depicted as a new woman who defies the harmful tradition of her community. Though she has never

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gone abroad she has the western ideals of enlightenment. Attia enjoyed the opportunity of having an English governess for her education at home. She studied outside her domestic environment, first at the elite La Martiniere School and later, at the Isabella Thoburn College in Lucknow. Attia had the honour of being the first woman from the feudalistic Taluqdar family to graduate from Lucknow University. Her novel is autobiographical, in the sense that Laila gets a chance of getting education by a Christian governess and later she also goes to college to get higher education. Education for girls was looked at as a defiant challenge to the dynamics of social system. Female education was considered an antithesis of the established norms of home life. Laila's existence within her home is constrained by various types of home norms and is “guarded by a thousand taboos fiercer than the most fiery dragons.” On the contrary, Zahara is a tradition bound girl. She uncritically clings to her domestic norms and has a stronger claim on cultural belongingness. Laila is culturally dispossessed. She is unable to remember her ancestors' names as she is a byproduct of western education and value system, while Zahara has a stronger claim on cultural belongingness. She could remember many names, which Laila was unable to do. Women's confinement to home works as a big hurdle against female education. Laila faces a stiff resistance in her pursuance of learning from Hakiman Bua works as a natural instrument of patriarchal will: Your books will eat you. They will dim the light of your lovely eyes, my moon princess, and then who will marry you, owl eyed, peering through glasses? Why are you not like Zahra, your father's-God rest his soul-own sister's child, yet so different from you? Pull our head out of your books and look at the world, my child. (14)

The self-confidence of Laila makes her different from other girls of her time. She has her own opinion on different issues especially concerned with women. Though she was only seventeen year old, she searches answers for critical situation. When Begum Wahida comes to see Laila as a prospective bride for her second son, Mrs. Wadia and Laila's aunt talk about a scandal at Laila's College. A Muslim girl ran away with a Hindu boy. Parents of boy denied to accept the girl and pressurized the boy and the boy “yielded to pressure and abandoned the girl.”(133) Parents of the girl also abandoned her as she had put a blot on the izzat (honour) and sharum (modesty) of the family. The girl had to commit suicide because she could not comply with the feudalistic patriarchal norms. The twin concepts of izzat (honour) and sharum (modesty) are presumed to be embodied in women whereas men are free from such concepts. When Begum condemns the girl; calling her wicked, Laila blurts out that she was not wicked. She feels sympathetic to the girl and at the charges of her aunt and Begum, she replies, “I am not defending wickedness. She was n't a thief or a murderess. After all, there have been heroines like her in novels and plays, and poems have been written about such love.” (133-134) In fact, Laila expresses her disapproval of such strict gendered norms. In this matter Laila resembles Attia herself as

101 Attia herself defied “the demands of family loyalty and 'honour'(izzat)”2 by marrying her first cousin Ali Bahadur Habibullah against her mother's wishes. In the novel, Laila marries against the family expectations. Her aunt Saira wants that Laila should live in the family and marry one of her son, but they are not interested in Laila. Besides it, Laila falls in love with Ameer, a distant relative of Raja of Amirpur. As Ameer belongs to a poor family and is not equal to Laila's family, he is not approved as a good husband for Laila by her family members. In the beginning, Laila is somewhat afraid how to disclose her decision to the family as she says to Ameer, “I have never been allowed to make decisions; they are always made for me.”(265) In order to attain her personal fulfillment, Laila discloses her decision to marry Ameer. Her defiance against family norms terribly angers her elders. Even her most beloved aunt Abida was terribly angry with her, as Laila puts, “She (Aunt Abida) refused to see me or reply to my letters once I had told her I could not obey her, nor my family, and deny Ameer.” (312) In a fiery exchange of words Abida reprimands Laila, “you have been defiant and disobedient.You have put yourself above your duty to your family.”(312) Laila tries to reconcile her “purity of love” for Ameer with her loyalty to family. But in a conservative family specially in India, nobody can give importance to the choice of girl. Laila knows the Uncle Hamid and Aunt Saira are not happy with her decision but at least Aunt Abida can support her but she also seems cruel to her. Uncle Hamid tries to change Laila's decision by showing her reality that life cannot be lived without money and Ameer had no means to support her. Her determination to satisfy herself ends her marriage with Ameer “with the blessings of not one of my (Laila's elders) elders.”(312) As nobody was happy at Laila's decision but her marriage was arranged at the same time as Saleem's so that the ugliness of other's disapproval could be hidden by the joy and celebration of the one. Laila finds satisfaction even in the meager resources at Ameer's home. Ameer's house is Laila's first utopian home where she moved as his wife, and thus realized her personal fulfillment. As Laila says: “I was happy to have a home of my own, to live in it as I pleased without dictation, though it was small and simple, and without scores of servants as in Hasanpur and Ashiana”(315) After Ameer's death, she does not return to Hasanpur or Ashiana but she makes her second utopian home, which is all-female home where she lives with Shahla, her daughter by Ameer and with Nandi. She likes to live in her own home at hills uninhabited by any male, so that she could live by herself without any patriarchal oppression. Her home is different from Baba Jan's patriarchal home that “does not welcome” (313) her. Only visitors to her house were Sita and Romana. By making her utopian home, Laila realizes her dream of living her own life, and she has been “able to break from traditional customs.”(316) She disregards the patriarchal notions of izzat and sharum. Thus, for the realization of a woman's fullest independence, there is a need for a home of her own that gives her a strong sense of belonging. This need for home

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is strongly felt in the work of Attia. Through the representation of Laila's home, Attia presents an alternative home, where women have control over their own life. Another character in the novel who shows some individuality is Nandi. Nandi is beaten by her father Jumman because, “the wretch (Nandi) was found by the driver with the cleaner in the garage.”(27) Nandi's whining self-defence that she “went to give him a shirt that he had forgotten”(27) was not accepted for the obvious reason that she challenges the feudalistic rule of gender segregation and thus offends the patriarchal norms.The servant girl Nandi is humiliated and expelled from the house for having an affair with the cleaner. She returns home only after her mother's death so that she could look after her younger sisters and brothers. When she comes to know that Gulam Ali, the head servant of the family is responsible for the death of Saliman, another servant, she plans to take revenge. First, she allures Gulam Ali in her love, then one day when her father is not at home, she screams in the midnight and blames Gulam Ali for assaulting her. Though it is false, she takes her revenge on Gulam. Like Laila she refuses to fall in line with traditional marriage. She criticizes the traditional marriage system which reduces women to the status of a slave. Although a minor servant, her views on patriarchal mode of marriage are very clear. As she says: “Some old man will want a young slave to cook his food and press his feet. But he must suffer first. I know, and could have told her. but do you think she would have listened to advice? Did I ? Does anyone? No, Bitia, we cannot escape our destiny, or the devils inside us.(169) She shows her reaction to love and sexuality by saying that “ A Man's love is not different from an animal's”.(170) and she shows courage to live her own life. She lives with Laila and remains unscathed even though she has become pregnant through extramarital sex. Nandi says to Laila: If I had stayed at home, even if he (Nandiji's “old dotard” husband) had not dared, my father would have thrown me out. Or the old fool might have fancied his youth had returned and claimed the child, and I would have been tied to him for ever. I could not endure him any longer, and I wanted the child. So I came to you, knowing I would be safe here. (291)

In Sunlight on a Broken column, Attia represents the troubled period of partition and disintegration through the consciousness of a young woman, Laila. She describes the events with its own feminist value judgments. In the novel, two struggles go side by side: struggle for the independence of India from the British rule and Laila's struggle to free herself from the shackles of patriarchal familial cords and her longing for freedom. Attia advocates that a woman's life should be down-to-earth and pragmatic. She should be ready to face every situation. In the character of Aunt Saira, Attia provides an example of woman who does not lead a realistic life. She had always dominated the family as she knew “only the fruits of possession, not the mechanics” of family.(276) That's why, she became totally lost when the feudalistic family structure broke down because of partition. Sita Agrawal marries where her parents

103 decide. inspite of being a modern girl could not gather courage to marry Kemal and has the pretext of communal disharmony. Perin, daughter of Mrs. Wadia is Parsi but she has the courage to marry Kemal. Inspite Kemal's mother's hysterical reactions, she had been so ready to defy everyone to marry him. Attia makes a social protest against the deadening confinement of women. She presents the character of Rani Sahiba.When the Rani is brought out from domestic confinement to cast vote, she looks “a frightened animal in unfamiliar surroundings.”(257) She does not know as to how and who to vote, as her conversation with Laila adequately shows: I said slowly, “you have to vote for out of the eight whose names are on the paper.” “Vote ? I do not understand. And I cannot read. Manager Sahib knows. (258)

Attia represents home as an ideological background where contending ideas clash with each other. In Laila's world, there is one rule for men and another for women. There is a difference of freedom even for married women and unmarried women. Girls have limited or “controlled freedom”(202). A plethora of patriarchal norms were employed to restrict “an unmarried girl's freedom” (210) but a married young woman enjoys a degree of advantage over a non-married one. After her marriage, Zahra enjoys a greater freedom. She seems to have earned some liberty and starts attending social functions and parties. Despite her show of modern woman, Laila casts a doubt on her actual aptitude to live a truly liberated life: “I knew she has not changed within herself. She was now playing the part of the perfect modern wife as she had once played the part of a dutiful purdah girl.”(140) In Miss Hossain's sensitive novel there is an attractive Persian glitter, a kind of strange dignity, a mare masculine force in the character of the women than one often gets in other Indian novels. This complicated and impressive novel keeps a number of different themes smoothly in play and firmly in order. The tense bitter Laila evokes in her character and suffering a great section of life in the Indian sub-continent which has been rarely heard of from the inside–the woman shouldering, snobbing and suffocating in Purdha.Thus Attia shows that patriarchal domination is a threatening space for women, but Laila, inspite of facing so many threats tries to live according to her own will. In fact, Attia has shown that women should have equal opportunities and education. They should be treated as equal if not superior to men. True liberation comes when they make best of their private and public spheres and women earn a strong sense of belongingness. Attia wants women to earn their conscious liberty and use its productivity. Works Cited : Attia Hosain, Sunlight On a Broken Column (New Delhi: Arnold Heinmann, 1979) p. 191. All the references to the text are from this edition and have been indicated by page numbers in parentheses. Ÿ Nabar, V.”Fragmenting nations and lives: Sunlight on a Broken Column.” In H.Trivedi and R. Allen(Ed.) Literature and Nation: Britain and India,1800 to 1900. London: Routledge, p.123. Ÿ

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K.V. Dominic's Winged Reason: Poems of Man's Earthly Life and Painful Realities - P C K Prem Abstract: Winged Reason is a collection of poems of earthly imagination. Lofty thoughts and ideals are not areas obviously it looks but deep down Dominic conveys anxieties of human life. Dominic's poetry is a document of social concerns in lyrics, beautiful and rhythmic. Winged Reason enshrines a definite message. Perhaps it is a rare collection of poems in Indian English Poetry that is realistic. Here, the words with the tonal values do not distract with multi-faceted meanings. The poet believes in simple, straight and plain language while showing genuine anxiety for socially neglected segments of society. He is ruefully conscious of the rampant corruption whether political or religious. Whatever concerns man's life, living and society is the theme of his poetic creation with minimum use of simile, metaphors and images. In a long preface, the poet makes a statement about poetic morality, theme and philosophy of life in totality while underlining the miserable conditions of the poor. Each poem exhibits invisible and disregarded existence of obtrusively stark realities of hard working poor people, and the sheer obscurity they confront around; and this challenges a sensitive mind while leaving a powerful and enduring impact and here lies poems' beauty and strength. Keywords: humanism, anxiety, communistic philosophy

Dominic is profoundly conscious of the hiatus between the rich and poor; and the degree of bias and exploitation governing the life of the poor. He, with aching intensity experiences the agonies and sufferings of women, old men and the downtrodden, as if to him rural life is ideal, simple and innocent where no evil ever enters but urbanites are cruel and unsympathetic, materialistic and avaricious. In fact, life without philosophic nuances is the subject matter of Dominic's poems and through objective and realistic social evaluation if efforts are sincerely made, man's life can be meaningful, the poet asserts. Dominic is a poet of humanity and speaks of man and society. His compassion is concentrated on man. His humanism is patently perceptible, when one goes into the lyrics' emotional areas. This journey into the heart of the poems is an experience of stillness, terrific eruption of feelings, volatile stirring of suppressed emotions, and subdued but sublime creation of a loving and rich world. Here, the poet does not take the reader to the regions beyond sky or probes into the depths of heart. He is also not worried about the other world. The idea of love, birth and death do not worry. But, what occupies the entire intellectual strength and physical

105 borders of the capacity of Dominic is the explored and still to be explored dimensions of man's worldly needs. He experiments with multifaceted experiences drive him to the heart of the society where man lives, flourishes, suffers and intellectualizes life and this truth in little fragments is revealed through indefinite mystery. Bereft of philosophic undercurrent, poems are greatly subjective but with an objective outlook. He interprets life from experiences gathered after conscious understanding of man. Worries of bread and shelter disturb and lead the poet to a calculated criticism of society. It is a personal indictment of the rich who he observes morally responsible for the injustice perpetrated on the poor and helpless. The injustice and poverty are the recurring themes of his poems while he does talk scathingly of the dirty politics and degeneration of value-system. Interestingly, in simple words with straight meaning the poets underlines an inherent irony. At times, the poet appeals to mankind to look below and ameliorate the pitiable conditions of the ignored segment. It is predicament of the poet that despite a genuine desire to alleviate the sufferings of the poor, he is unable to translate sublime thoughts to reality of life. Squalor and extreme deprivation appear to hurt not only the poor man's soul but it is physically torturing, the poet says. Genuinely thinking of the poor, he goes through a nightmarish experience of unrelenting anguish. In straight words like “an obese boy” and “a bony child” he vividly describes prevailing hunger and nauseating richness. In “A Nightmare,” he tells poetically of a wedding feast, ragged girls, garbage bin, and public school; and this intrinsic agony simply upsets. Even in sleep the poet feels the heat of these words and the pictures he conjures up are a commentary on the poor man's life. Tears streamed down my cheeks / I could see nothing more; Nor did I wish for it; / The siren sounded as usual To disturb my nightmare! (“A Nightmare,” Winged Reason 23)

In “Harvest Feast” the poet hints at an effective education system which can serve the country better. In vociferous words he exhorts that coming generation if imparted education in agricultural related activities, it can definitely make a dent in the perennial shortages of essential commodities and food grains. If dignity of labour finds favour, mankind will be happy, he observes. Their teachers taught them the great lessons: how education can be vocational; and the beauty and dignity of labour; a lesson too to the adult world: the way to solve the food crisis, and save the world from poverty. (“Harvest Feast,” Winged Reason 35)

The poet's tries to draw parallels and comparisons here and there and does not falter.The words like- obese, bony and wedding feast need to be deeply understood. It is a commentary on the present day deplorable

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scarcity of food grains or lopsided allotment system through controlled channels. It is also a reflection on the government apathy in the handling of surplus food grains. It is often claimed that there is no scarcity of food items but the masses are not properly fed or are deprived. It is an appalling parallelism between the rich and the poor and ironically it is happening in a country where moral values are often much flaunted. In “A Nightmare” the poet is extremely sarcastic where emotions of pathos disturb a sensitive heart. A hint at queues speaks more that what the words say. For the poet the sufferings determine the fate of the poor, who work hard but get nothing. Man's life is seen from different perspectives. Each incident observed around is infused with meaning and this shows poet's inherent strength to generalize logically. The insightful and empathetic mind and heart of the poet connect the sentiments and thoughts with humanity. Nothing escapes his ardently vigilant eyes. He views man from various thought-processes but the sardonic indictment remains an inseparable part of poet's anxiety. The poet philosophically laments that the creator never had thought of any division among men. Whatever disintegrating factors there are, these have been created for serving self-interests. Nature feeds all but man eats up even nature and crafts a vacuum, a disruption in the perennial flow of life and thus the very oxygen of life is exhausted. If man has done magnificently well, he is equally destructive. Despite lofty achievements, millions are dying of hunger and it appears strange phenomenon but murderous truth. Poets' painful regret is that division is injustice and here he gives bent to his socialistic thoughts with sarcastic parallels. Perhaps the poet has in mind the great divide man is attempting to bring about in the society by splitting it into not only classes but castes, religious sects and regional and fissiparous tendencies predominating the society and man. But power corrupted / leaders turned tyrant; the philosophy failed. / Equality to man utopian. Capitalism rules the day; / Have-nots number swell. (“Haves and Have-nots,” Winged Reason 36)

This thought horrifies as the revealed truth frightens man when the poet further says, “Shattered and smashed / are their dreams / of health and happiness.” Irony hurts as even plants and animals do not behave in partisan's manner, the poet avers. The poet is an inveterate advocate of workers and “Lal Salaam to Labours” is tribute to the workers. It is because of the workers than society lives and survives. The working class makes humanity happy. Excitement is apparent when he praises workers. It is an emotional outburst which also highlights socialistic thought and ideology, the poet espouses. It is a communistic philosophy, he appears to advocate with the precise dictum that only workers are the backbone of society. Let us not be unjust / When we pay them wages, for we can't do what they do / Give them at least their due; the more we give the more we get; Put charity in humanity / a spiritual bliss that never dies.

107 (“Lal Salaam to Labour,” Winged Reason 45)

An elegy on the death of E K Nayanar is singing of paeans in praise of socialist pattern of society where labour class gets reward for the hard work without being exploited. A pathetic and repulsive contrast is also transparent between the city-dwellers and the villagers. The poet finds rural people an epitome of virtues and compassion whereas urbanites appear selfish and impassive with no reverence for human relations. If one looks at these poems one observes a scathing ironic vein running through each word which makes it more authentic. Poet's intention is not advocate the cause of the poor but he is emphatic that riches do not make society a better place to live in as exploitation and distance among the rich and the poor widen scope. Another beautifully poignant poem “Tsunami Camps” attracts but the poet is ruthless in describing the apathy of the government machinery engaged in mitigating the miseries of the people who suffered natural calamity when a terrible storm 'Tsunami' brought about unparallel devastation everywhere. When people were brought to the newly established relief camps, the life seemed more miserable. Even the so-called people with leftist philosophy failed to discharge duties properly. In hours of crisis, man is essentially self-seeking and it is the rich who gains. The lamentations of the refugees living in the camps are unbearable and speak volume of the indifference and cold-hearted attitude of man to man. We don't get any help / either from the Right or from the Left. Unending wails and unending sobs; / not even gods listen to their cries. (“Tsunami Camps,” Winged Reason 34)

If one deeply examines the implied meaning of Onam, a great festival of Kerala, one is attracted to the sheer sense of joviality, gay abundance and feeling of cheerfulness among the people of Kerala on the occasion of Onam festival. It is a tribute to the hard working people who work and water, till fields, sow seeds and reap rich harvest so that fellow brethren do not go hungry. Here, a system is born where equality is all pervasive and values of life enrich every mind and heart. A spirit of renunciation and sacrifice is quite visible among the people and the poet though a communist it appears, reposes faith in undefined and invisible force. It is interesting to read these simple poetic lines: the golden rule of Maveli / an icon of the just king. Equality prevailed in society; / no lies, no crimes, no deceits; no poverty, no child death. All were happy / heaven cannot be different (“Onam,” Winged Reason 54).

An ideal concept of equality where happiness and joy triumph usually fascinates poets. It is an irony of circumstances that nothing concrete happens despite pious sentiments. Poverty is a recurring theme of Dominic's poems and even if he does not make a reference the disquieting thought runs invariably in the poems. This collection is a prayer and a petition to the rich to come forward and eliminate the ghostly phantom of poverty and sufferings from this earth. In the same strain, the poet narrates an incident where the “sacred ornaments of

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Krishna are stolen” and elsewhere “golden rosary” is missing but there is no trace of thieves.The anger of the gold-crazy gods and the golden robes of the priests present a hilariously pathetic picture. Slightly different, he speaks of pleasures and pains in life. To the poet it appears sufferings and pains dominate life of a man whereas there are very few moments of joy and happiness. Pleasures and pains: / two sides of a coin. We toss it early morning; / majority gets the pains side. Pleasures come like sprinkles, / while pains fall like a deluge and continue like monsoon. Happiness is a mist / while sorrows shower like snow. (“Pleasure and Pains,” Winged Reason 68)

Undoubtedly, the poet is often troubled by the pre-dominance of miseries in life but somewhere he does keep the flame of hopes alive and perhaps he indirectly wishes to say that from such pains a spring of inspiration flows out to invigorate sagging spirits. It is only possible if a man has positive attitude to life. The poet avers that his areas of concerns are Man, Nature and God and truthfully this encompasses life in entirety with no derivations. Around these three dimensions, the total life of a man moves and defines limits of acts. He concentrates on Man with intensity and each word, even if he uses it inadvertently focuses on the anxieties and predicament of human life. In “Old Age” the poet is vivid, realistic and harsh when he talks that “Human life is a cycle:” This verse is a true portrayal of life. It is a journey from pains to pleasure and then again from pleasure to pain and this cycle is perpetual and from here meaning of life has to be derived, the poet appears to say with an innate irony: Old age begins to play its colour – / The monarch of yesterday, Feels humbled today. / Imprisoned amidst unripe ripeness: Utterly helpless. (“Old Age,” Winged Reason 51)

At another level, the poet's anxiety are apparent when he observes that only strenuous work makes man's life meaningful and only workers are the true custodians of a life of meaning and truth. Such patterns of thoughts continue to flow in the verses of Dominic. All great religions tell man to work sincerely and devotedly with faith and he will be rewarded suitably. Here the poet emphasis on the theory of Karma in the true sense of the word and possibly because of this irrevocable and deep conviction in work that he holds the workers in high esteem. At times he appears to digress and touches other themes but the idea of man's life and happiness continues to occupy his philosophy of life. People govern themselves through the elected representatives and that is the government and gist of governing theme. When the poet speaks of a common man, a worker and the masses, he does not forget to talk of the rich and powerful. But in different perspectives, he spells out that the rich are the products of unhealthy and deformed economic system where the concept of equality in social, economic and political life is quite utopian. As theory it is good and enriching. As a sublime notion, it harmonizes distressing thoughts but when translated into reality, it is a burden as man can't accept

109 equality even when he is poor; and this truth and fact of life must be understood properly by the elites and advocates of equality. Socialism and democratic system of government is a developing system where perfection is still a mirage. Perhaps, even Communism has failed and democracy is not entirely a noble and virtuous system to govern man and society. In many of poems, the poet talks of Communism and Socialism or socialistic pattern of society and now in “Indian Democracy” he takes a pessimistic view of life of people and one can see the consequences: Secularism butchered; / caste and religion raise their hood; /Regionalism and parochialism Devour / nationalism and patriotism. . . . / Gullible people / they vote them again and again; no other options. / Still democracy shall prevail or tyranny will / sit on the Chair. (“Indian Democracy,” Winged Reason 60-61)

One is stunned when sufferings and agonies of hungry do not elicit an iota of charity from the haves and in the recurring state of disturbed mental frame elsewhere he reaffirms the origin of sufferings: Man is a wonderful work; / Unimaginable his achievements; Equally heart-rending his destructions Achievements prove beneficial / only to Haves a minority. When millions die of hunger, / thousands compete for delicacies. (“Haves and Have-nots,” Winged Reason 36)

Instead of alleviating the sufferings of the masses, democratic system has failed miserably. It is bound to happen because the bases of democratic system have been damaged beyond recognition. The virus of voting pattern has in reality divided Man but to talk of society and the nation. India is a vast country with a wonderful parliamentary system but it is also “a stage of heinous means” But unfortunately, the politicians in the country exploit sentiments of people by raising the non-existing issues of communalism and thus divide the people. Once unknown, communalism now is eating into the vitals of people's energies and faith. Religions are no more a sustaining force but these are splitting men on the basis of caste, creed, class and region/geography. In such circumstances, what is expected of workers who suffer, cry and fight for rights? But these too are segregated on the above lines of various divisions enumerated above. Thus while the “gullible people” suffer, violence and terrorism thrive. Here, the very existence of man is meaningless.Whereas in a system which has people's welfare in the heart, it is life of man and how it should be made optimistic and happy should be the objective Presently this noble idea has lost credence. Though the poet is disillusioned with the kind of governance people get despite vociferous claims to the contrary yet hopes sustain faith in the spirit of man.The poet observes in another context: What right has the mortal man to divide and own this immortal planet? What justice is there for the minority' / to starve the majority? The Have-nots found a haven / in socialism and communism; no private property; / state-owned wealth;

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Labyrinth | Vol.2 No.2 (April. 2011) selfless work for the society. / But power corrupted; leaders turned tyrants; / the philosophy failed. Equality to man utopian. (“Haves and Have-nots,” Winged Reason 37)

While going through the poetry of Dominic, it is obvious, he conveys a certain message and he is sure of it and that is the singular exquisiteness and power of his lyrics. When he thinks of Man, Nature and God, he is more worried about the synthesis among the three only, it would appear, which again, to the poets' mind is the fountainhead of peace and harmony on earth. He tries to establish a relationship between the objects of nature and finds that nature is fundamentally kind and generous. It is man who brings disharmony in life. He hints at the formidable gaps among men. There are ferocious and brutal disparities among the rich, the powerful, the poor and the weak whereas nature does not differentiate. For all these acts, man tries to involve God and justifies the prevailing differences between man and man. It is the thinking man, the social animal who erects walls of separation when animals and plant life are symbols of peace and prosperity. Dominic is definite and optimistic when he indirectly exhorts men to show compassion and sympathy to men in distress. His philosophy is a search unending where he must rest only when true happiness comes to everyone. It appears the poet is not only inclined to a socialistic thought but deep down he is vastly influenced by the philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi and John Ruskin. He without directly making a mention hints at the ethical values determining the life of man. Here the poet is uniquely contemporary and yet a bit ancient while he is apprehensive about the value-system in economic and social life, a rare commodity indeed. Dominic's social concerns are genuine and he is forthright in unequivocal condemnation of the rich. This is possible only for a person who is committed to an ideology. Dominic is an advocate of a socialistic pattern and the moral system he champions implicitly borders on values that care for the poor and downtrodden. Dominic's social perception is quite evident in many poems and he is aware of the continuing process of change in values of life that transforms the mindset of people keeping in view the movement of man in time and space, for; he is unwittingly susceptible to outside influences. As a teacher, he feels deeply about men and matters and takes philosophically a humanitarian view of men in distress. He believes that words sublime and true, sincere and forthright cannot provide happiness to the downtrodden but definite and positive efforts are needed so that they get all the essential things of life necessary to live and so food, shelter and good hygienic conditions must be provided which also include water and functional infrastructure to make lives comfortable. Works Cited : Ÿ

Dominic, K.V. Winged Reason. New Delhi: Authorspress, 2010. Print.

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The Theory of Space in Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own - Itishri Sarangi Abstract: Proxemics is the hidden dimension of human culture. A small space is needed to create and cultivate our identity to make our life meaningful and worth. A room is a space of enunciation to think and the longing for one room along with money is to unfold oneself and drive towards a creative self-expression. Woolf portrays the real discrimination experienced by women through Victorian society and the women with talent and creativity had to overcome a degree of prejudice against women. In order to have intellectual freedom, women must be freed from financial obligation and social restrictions and must have money and space if she is to write fiction. Woolf emphasizes that the right of women is to be independent and want to make an implicit call for those who wanted to write and develop their creative ability and find a place of their own i.e., a room of their own Keywords: economic reality, artistic creation, financial obligation, social restrictions

Proxemics is the hidden dimension of human culture. Almost all of us are swept along by life with hardly a moment to call our own. A small space is needed to create and cultivate our identity. A small bit of time and space helps us to create our life meaningful and worth. Woolf in the essay A Room for One's Own emphasizes on woman of genius who has have not an opportunity to use it because of their lack of money and privacy. Room is synonymous with woman's independence and is used as a symbol for freedom, privacy, leisure and independence. Women need financial stability in order to have intellectual freedom to truly become an artist. Woolf associates writing not to sexual difference but to a state of mind where writers can express themselves and portrays the real discrimination experienced by woman through Victorian society and the women with talent and creativity had to overcome a degree of prejudice against women. Since sex is one of the few bases of differentiation it has been accredited more weight age than it deserves. “A Room of One's Own explores woman's conflicting role as fascinating inhabitants of literature and her real social position: uneducated, undervalued, and ignored.” (Mac Donald, 24 December 2010.) During Woolf's time, there was a strong feminist movement outside the political sphere. Adeline Virginia Woolf was an English author, essayist, publisher and writer of short stories.Woolf is considered to be the founder of movement Modernism. Virginia Woolf belongs to the first wave of Feminist writers

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who fought for suffrage. Woolf's A Room of One's Own published in 1929 was the first voices for literary canons for women. The book opened the world's eye to the injustice and inequality that has befallen women in literature. The essay is based on a series of lectures titled “Women and Fiction” at two women's college at Cambridge University. A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf is an impressive proposal for women's independence in creative endeavor. The essay is the turning point for feminism. First time in literary history unapologetic female voices demanded that women be recognized as individuals and Woolf's vision of ideal condition of literature and her conviction that in order to create work of genius, woman must be freed from financial obligation and social restrictions. “A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction.” Women lack the 'material thing' on which 'intellectual freedom depends' (Woolf.1945. p- 6). Shakespeare's imaginary sister remains a powerful reminder of woman need for financial independence and intellectual freedom. Judith Shakespeare brings to mind the choices women face today as working mothers. Judith was created by Woolf in order to fill the historical gap. Woolf speculated as to why there were so few talented women from that time. The sister was a complete fabrication on Woolf's part but it captured Woolf's point. During 1920s women were not allowed into universities and libraries. They were allowed to express themselves and were not acknowledged by men. Education being one of the most impartial, Woolf believed that women must have full access to it. Woolf was denied of formal education. Even though she had a traumatic childhood, having maniac-depressive illness, she is a brilliant writer. The particular essay let the men know about women from her writings. “It is obvious that the values of women differ very often from the values which have been made by the other sex.Yet it is the masculine values that prevail” (Woolf). Woolf challenges the patriarchal system where men chooses a livelihood he desires and a woman to support her instead of deciding her own path. Woolf associates writing not to sexual difference but to a state of mind where the writer can truthfully express himself in a phenomenal way. Although Woolf was a keen critic those days, she was not acknowledged by men. Virginia Woolf's female aesthetic elevates sexuality to a female creative experience that holds mystical implication's with both transcendental and self-destructive vulnerability. Woolf's opening sentence is a question that is stylistically effective because it unconventionally introduces her polemic. Woolf's argument is thought provoking because it is an original argument for the equal rights for women in the literature world. The line, “a room of one's own” is powerful technically because the idea acts as a metaphor for freedom that provides an argument for why women are not writers. (Doyle, 2010) In the last line of her paper, Woolf summarizes her goal for developing more female writers by saying, “but even a woman who remains obscure

113 and impoverished would want to become a writer, if she was given the opportunity to do so” (103). In her essay Profession for Women, Woolf complained only that women's social obligations hindered a writing career though women were not fundamentally different from men in their psychological need and outlook. Though men paid lip-service to equality, they would resist its implementation.Woolf states that a woman, in order to be able to write fiction, needs an allowance of at least 500 dollars a year, as well as the freedom of being “unencumbered by demanding family members” (98).Woolf notes that women have been kept from writing because of their relative poverty, and financial freedom will bring women the freedom to write. "In the first place, to have a room of her own… was out of the question, unless her parents were exceptionally rich or very noble” (58). A room for speaking one's mind and being oneself is a space of enunciation to think, create and write about absolutely subjective self i.e., based solely on personal wishes, feelings and perception rather than on objective facts, reason or principles without any intuitive core. The Room of One's Own bridges the gap between woman's economic reality and her artistic creation. The longing for one's room along with money is to unfold oneself and drive towards a creative self-expression and the western concept of creativity solely depends on one's privacy. The book educates the people about the work of women writers and artist and their impact on the society. Woolf was defending women against common accusation that work by female writer were not good enough. She emphasizes that the right of women is to be independent and want to make an implicit call for those who wanted to write and develop their creative ability and find a place of their own i.e., a room of their own. Works Cited : Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ

Woolf, V. (1929) A Room of One's Own. New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, Inc., 1957. Woolf,Virginia.A Room of One's Own. NewYork: Harcourt Brace & Co., 1989. Mac.Donald, Andrea. “A Room of One's own-The Burlon Taylor Theatre (24 December 2010) Woolf Virginia, A Room of One's Own, Harmondworth: Penguin, 1945 Ezell, Margaret J.M. Writing Women's Literary History, Baltimore and London: John Hopkins University Press. 1993 Doyle, Justin. An analysis of Virginia Woolf's “A Room of One's Own” (24 December 2010)

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Lesbian and Postmodern Perspectives

in Jeanette Winterson's Fiction - B.J. Geetha Abstract: The interrelation between the lesbian and the postmodern is idiosyncratic. It reflects cultural and ideological connections between the two perspectives. Both are characterized by the concept of “excess”. Jeanette Winterson's two novels The Passion and The Power Book furnish excellent material to explore the interaction and tension between the lesbian and postmodern 'excess' and recast interesting romance narrative which is otherwise an excess narrative. The lesbian, like the feminist, is committed to a political agenda over the years. It aims to combat homophobia to achieve social and political agenda. The term 'romance' implies much uncertainty and redefines in a new perspective deliberation. In the process of redefining Winterson's novels concern to create a meaning for the genre of romance. The author emphases through storytelling and intertextual references the past in the light of present of present day lesbian vein and also through fantasy and magic realism to create gay aesthetics. Winterson utilizes postmodern concepts with the sexual-political aim of exploring love between women. Villanelle, the prime character in The Passion, is the signifier of lesbian love signifying it in the hetero-patriarchal context. Ali in The Power Book, masquerades as a boy poses the question- what was myself? Her performance of masculinity problematises the existence of an authentic or original gender. Keywords: feminine masquerade, transgression, gay aesthetics

It reflects cultural and ideological connections between the two perspectives. Both are characterized by the concept of “excess”. Jeanette Winterson's two novels The Passion and The Power Book furnish excellent material to explore the interaction and tension between the lesbian and postmodern 'excess' and recast interesting romance narrative which is otherwise an excess narrative. The lesbian, like the feminist, is committed to a political agenda over the years. It aims to combat homophobia to achieve social and political agenda. The term 'romance' implies much uncertainty and redefines in a new perspective deliberation. In the process of redefining Winterson's novels concern to create a meaning for the genre of romance. The author emphases through storytelling and intertextual references the past in the light of present of present day lesbian vein and also through fantasy and magic realism to create gay aesthetics .Winterson utilizes postmodern concepts with the sexual-political aim of exploring love between women. Villanelle, the prime character in The Passion, is the signifier of lesbian love signifying it in the hetero-patriarchal context. Ali in The Power Book, masquerades as a boy poses the question- what was myself? Her

115 performance of masculinity problematises the existence of an authentic or original gender. Like many postmodern novels, The Passion is strongly preoccupied with the rhetoric of story-telling, its pleasures and contradictions. The novel teems with numerous interrelating narratives. In typical postmodern fashion, the public met a narrative of the Nepoleonic Wars narrated by the French peasant Henri, which in the opening pages Winterson teasingly leads the reader to believe will assume centre-stage, becomes increasingly marginalized, serving chiefly as a frame for the characters accounts of the different passions (love, religion, hero-worship) that motivate them, and the acts of folly and rashness they prompt them to commit. A story which plays a key role in the novel, the one on which I intend to concentrate, is that of Villanelle, the Venetian girl with whom Henri falls in love. This, instead of being a linear narrative, the episodes of which are recounted consecutively, is interrupted by the stories recounted by other characters. Its content is further complicated and on occasion, put in question by the fact that, instead of being related entirely by Villanelle, it is told in part by Henri. Villanelle features in the novel as the signifier of lesbian desire, and in keeping with this, her story centers on the brief but passionate love affair in which she engages with the mysterious women she terms 'the Queen of Spades', whom she encounters while working at the Casino in Venice. Villanelle's recognition of the transgressive nature of lesbian love in the hetero-patriarchal context of eighteenth- century Europe is signaled by her comment to Henri. 'it was a woman I loved and you will admit that is not the usual thing'. The fact that the Queen of Spades is married increases the illicit nature of the two women's relationship, causing it to take place under conditions of secrecy, masquerade and lack of social recognition- all the features, in fact, which today we encompass in the term 'the closet'. The centrality that the concept of the closet assumes in Villanelle's narrative is advertised, as we shall see, by Winterson herself in the punning reference she makes to the term in the later stages of Villanelle's story. Linda Hutcheon argues that the reconstruction of material from the past in the light of present –day issues typifies the genre of historiographic metafiction. Adapting this device, Winterson treats a topic which, as illustrated by the number of women identifying as lesbian or bisexual who still feel socially compelled to pass as heterosexual, is of key interest to the lesbian/ queer community today. Postmodern strategies of metaphor, magic realism and intertextuality are the tools she utilizes to achieve this. Two different approaches to closet are discernible in lesbian gay culture and politics. The one, associated with the Gay Liberation and Lesbian Feminist moments of the 1970s and 1980s, concentrates on exposing its approssive effects and foregrounding the psychological damage which the social and ideological pressers to conceal their sexual orientation inflict on lesbians and gay men. The other reflects poststructuralist perspectives and develops the aesthetics of artifice, style and wit

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associated with the writing of Marcel Prost and Oscar Wilde. Though acknowledging the closet's oppressive effects, this second approach seeks to investigate the richly inventive language of counter-codes, masquerade and parody which lesbians and gay men have traditionally used to perform the complex feat of concealing their sexual orientation from heterosexual society while discontributing to their homosexual peers. As Lisabeth during and Terri Fealy, contributing to the later approach comment, 'Mimicry, innuendo and inversion, originally strategies of self-protection, have become part of production of gayness, a distinctive aesthetic. Sue Ellen Case, investigating the aesthetic the closet has produced, remarks on the way in which 'The survival tactic of hiding and lying [has] produced a camp discourse…in which general referents are suppressed, or slip into one another, fictional lovers are constructed [and] metaphors substitute for literal descriptions'. She argues that this strategy of indirection 'works to defeat the reign of realism' and alerts attention to the aesthetic of 'artifice, wit, irony, and the distancing of straight reality and its conventions' that it promotes. The idea of a gay aesthetic , itself a postmodern concept, furnishes an appropriate context for discussing Winterson's narrative of Villanelle and her love affair with the Queen of Spades, illuminating its focus on performativity, metaphor and wit. In recounting it,Winterson introduces instances of masquerade and, as suits the topic of her heroine's closeted relationship and acts of role-play and subterfuge it involves, moves, in the course of the text, from a naturalistic plane to a fantasy realm of magic realism and parodic intertexts. Two motifs with fantasy connotations play a prominent part in Villanelle's story: her webbed feet, interpreted by critics as a signifier of her sexual difference, and her heart which, as a result of the intensity of her infatuation, she loses to the Queens of Spades. Both carry intertextual resonance, representing a lesbian recasting of motifs traditionally utilized in a heterosexual context in literature and art. Villanelle's webbed feet,to which the reader is introduced at the start of her narrative,position her as sexually transgressive, since they carry demonic, perverse connotations. Marina Warner illustrates how the devil and his minions are sometimes depicted in medieval art with webbed feet and, commenting on representations of witches and succubi, describes webbed feet as 'a recurrent sign of contrariness, and, in women of deviancy'. The grotesque appearance of Villanelle's feet and the deviancy they signify understandably result in her seeking to conceal them. As well as carrying connotations of deviancy, Villanelle is also associated with performativity and masquerade. This is illustrated both by the male drag that she wears while working at the Casino and by the admiration she expresses for the acts of daring, sexual as well as gymnastic, performed by the acrobats during Carnival. She describes how: 'Now and again, one will dangle by the knees and snatch a kiss from whoever is standing below. I like such kisses. They fill the mouth and leave the body free.To kiss well one must solely. No grouping hands or streaming hearts.

117 The lips and the lips and the kisses are pleasure. This description of the acrobats' movements and the kisses they steal anticipates, and acts as a metaphor for, Villanelle's love affair with the Queen of Spades which resembles them in being precarious, illicit and sexually exciting. Villanelle's account of the stylized positions that she and her lover adopt and their exclusive focus on mouth recalls the acrobats' positions: She [the Queen of Spades] lay on the rug and I lay at right angles to her so that only our lips might meet. Kissing in the way is the strangest of distractions. The greedy body that clamors for satisfaction is forced to content itself with a single sensation and just as the blind hear more acutely and the deaf can feel the grass grow, so the mouth becomes the focus of love and all things pass through it and are re- defined. It is a sweet and precise torture.(p.67)

This passage, in describing the artificial positions that Villanelle feels forced to adopt to conceal her gender and sexual orientation, can be read as wittily parodying the strategies of subterfuge and masquerade that, throughout the ages, lesbians and gay men have adopted to conceal their sexual identities, while none the less forming relationship and achieving sexual pleasure. Referring to the aesthetic of masquerade and artifice which the role-play and subterfuge associated with the closet have produced, Danae Clark comments, 'Lesbians are accustomed to playing out multiple styles and sexual roles as a tactic of survival and have this learned the artifice of invention in defeating heterosexual codes of naturalism. Winterson continues Villanelle's narrative of the closet, developing the themes of secrecy and deceit involves, in the little episode of magic realism she introduces subsequently, focusing on Villanelle's loss of her heart to the Queen of Spades. This again foregrounds a gay aesthetic of fantasy, metaphor and wit. The literal manner in which Villanelle treats the conceit of the lost heart and her insistence that her own heart is no longer in her possession astonishes Henri. It prompts him to question her sanity. 'Was she mad?' he wonders. 'We had been talking figuratively. Her heart was in her body like mine. Only when she invites him to ascertain for himself the absence of a heart, does he credit her words: 'I put my ear to her body and crouched quite still in the bottom of the boat and a passing gondolier gave us a knowing smile. I could hear nothing'(p.194).

Winterson's introduction of the conceit of the lover's loss of his heart, while recalling the lyrics of John Donne and Sir Philip Sidney, radically recasts it, employing it to demonstrate both the intensity of lesbian love and the closeted existence to which hetero-patriarchal society conventionally relegates it. Refusing to remain the passive victim of love and asserting a degree of agency, Villanelle, as is typical of Winterson's dynamic heroine, assumes the initiative and persuades the astonished Henri to retrieve her heart from the Queen of Spades' thrall. Determined to prove his devotion, he surreptitiously enters the latter's house at night

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and, alerted by the tell-tale beating of the heart, discovers it, just as Villanelle said he would. It lies concealed in a jar in a location with Winterson, punning on the secretive nature of the two women's love affair while also signaling to the reader the word's modern meaning, wittily describes as 'a vast walk-in closet'. Henri takes the Jar and, leaving the house unobserved, gives it to Villanelle. She uncorks it and pops 'this valuable, fabulous thing' back in her breast, apparently none the worse. The action signifies her regaining of control of her life, appropriately concluding on a note of postmodern fantasy this particular episode in her romance narrative. The Power Book explores love, sexuality and gender. The novel raises the following questions- Is sexuality masculine or feminine? Does the ambiguity of a partner's sex change the love or physical boundaries between them? What makes The Power Book unique is its technological spin. The story is about a writer who offers people a chance to be someone else through just one story – just one e-mail. The writer is Ali or Alix and the reader is anonymous. The book is unveiled through e-mails from the author to the man she is writing to and the stories that she writes. The most enjoyable thing about Winterson is her ability to make reader to feel like they are part of the narrative. Her characters tug at their heartstrings in just the right way. At the end of each story, one wish one could see what else happens and hear more about the characters. Like The Passion, The Power House foregrounds the art of storytelling. Winterson's centers an encounter between two women on the intent to develop the postmodern focus on narrativity by giving it a new and fashionable slant, and by increasing the emphasis on story-telling and accentuating the ambiguity of the division between fact and fashion, life and art. The postmodern concepts of gay aesthetics with fantasy, magic realism are also developed. Ali, the protagonist, is rather a woman who uses the male name for in the virtual world it is difficult to distinguish the real from masquerade. Ali receives an e-mail reading- 'freedom, just for one night'. It comes from unknown correspondent who signs herself 'Tulip'. Ali who is a writer by profession accepts the challenge of inventing a set of narratives depicting Tulip and herself meeting in an exotic location. Ali, in her stories announces “I can change the story. I am the story” (p.5), introduces herself as a Turkish girl who masquerades as a boy substituting tulip bulbs and a stem for penis and has sex with Tulip herself. Ali's performance of masculinity problematises the existence of an authentic, original gender. It exemplifies Butler's “the imitative structure of gender”. Unlike Villanelle whose initial sex act with Queen of Spade limited to kissing due to lack of male organ; Ali , as a result of Winterson's handling of magic realism, is able to enjoy full sexual congress with Tulip. Ali summarizes her excitement in the following words

119 As the Princess kneeled and petted my tulip, my own sensation grew exquisite, but as yet No stronger than my astonishment, as I felt my disguise come to life. The tulip began to stand... A delicate green-tinted sap dribbled her brown thighs. All afternoon I fucked her. (p.22)

Winterson's representation of Ali and Tulip engaging in a love affair on the web gives the her the opportunity to explore the postmodern concept of the feminine masquerade. Winterson perceives the difficulty of distinguishing between the persona that the female subject adopts on the web and her real –life identity is not unique to the world of virtual reality. Joan Riviere asks “where do I draw the line between genuine womanliness and the masquerade?”The postmodern refusal to postulate an authentic femininity that exists prior to the masquerade is a key premise of Winterson's novel. This new book navigates the seas of fiction and love. Jeanette Winterson explores the opportunities offered by the net, the wardrobe door that leads to many a magical land. The heroine of this novel flits here and there, choosing exotic locations as she pleases. However, much of this book is also based in the real as much in the imaginary. There's an ongoing plot in The Power Book, a very modern love affair. It's the beauty of the prose which is really outstanding though. Winterson goes to Capri and uses the funicular railway as a metaphor in a manner that seems entirely natural, unforced, but prone to gravity. Winterson discusses the fact that nobody really seems to be content now, and that they always want more. That nobody wants to settle. Just waiting for the next opportunity, the next love affair. A society where everyone wants love, but wants to be left alone. So, this book is perfect for of a generation of short attention spans. The genre which the novel prioritizes is the romance and, as in The Passion, Winterson utilizes the postmodern strategy of intertextuality to construct a lesbian version of the form. In the persona of Ali, she discusses the meaning of the term 'romance' and investigates its ambiguities. In contrast to Tulip, who is portrayed as a sophisticated rich girl with her heart set on real-life amours, the writer Ali associates the term with romantic literature. The contrast between real-life romance and its literary counterpart is problematised by the fact that the affair between the two women, though appearing to belong to the category of 'real life' exists only on a fantasy plane. The encounter between Ali and Tulip happens for the majority of the times in virtual reality and certain episodes appear to imply that they do eventually meet in person and make love in the flesh. This ambiguity suits the concept of gay aesthetic which endorses postmodern perspective priorities of masquerade and facade which surface over authentic identity, body and depth. Both The Passion and The Power Book show Winterson's ability to utilize perception and strategy associated with postmodernism such as –story -


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telling, performativity, intertextuality to construct two lesbian love stories that transform and subvert the heterosexist connotation of the romance genre. Whereas in the former she explores the gay aesthetic related to the closet, in the later she situates the relationship between her two female lovers in virtual reality. By interrelating lesbian and postmodern perspectives, she thus creates an innovative and intellectually challenging form of fiction. Works Cited : Currie, Mark. Postmodern Narrative Theory :London Macmillan, 1998, pp-1-5. Doan, Laura, ed., The Lesbian Postmodern. New York: Columbia University Press, 1994. Ÿ Winterson, Jeanett.The Passion. London :Vintage, 1987. Ÿ ---.The Power Book. London:Vintage, 2001. Ÿ Ÿ

Sunil Sharma

The Great Indian Mourning When little Rita died, Her anemic thin short And starved Ma cried, This eight-year-old Was the quietest Of the big quarreling brood, Always caring for me and others, Bringing leftovers from the families Where the child ceaselessly worked For long hours, Her slender back broken by labour Of two adults, Now she is no more, My precious child! What will I do now? Who else will do her chores? She brought a few hundred rupees in our unlit hovel In the dark slum, We are poorer by those few hundreds. Another sober old woman Muttered, Grieve not Sita, Your second daughter

Is finally free From regular beatings by her Drunkard useless violent father, And hunger and possible repeated rapes By the rich slumlords and others in eternal wait. The poor child is free at last And gone to heaven, ---We all hope so, The poor are the favourite of God, the Dear, So the holy books say--But all of us Graying women Are still Continue to be Permanently Shackled and hapless prey To The ugly Male Lust and power That makes us cower, Even in our Ruined impoverished homes.

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Reflecting Feminism Through Tehmina Durrani's My Feudal Lord and Blasphemy - Sangeeta Das Abstract: Feminism is more of a political term which came about as a political recognition for the campaign against the patriarchal highhandedness and undue subjugation of women both mentally and physically. It started as a strong body to fight for social and political standards of women and the feminists made the texts the battle-ground to test their powers against men. Many women writers have supported the betterment of woman in their novels but the two novels that struck me were those written by Tehmina Durrani in which women have been reflected as they had existed before the feminist movement came about and such a state of affaires in the existing society is highly deplorable and put the various theories against it to test. Hence I have chosen to discuss her novels here to confirm that the patriarchal roots are embedded deep down and to uproot it to establish a new co-operative society where man and women can exist cordially on equal terms is a dream which is yet to be materialized. Thus we see that the ideology of the feminist theory has become congealed in texts and very little has been put to practice.Tehmina Durrani's novels disclose the stark reality of today belying the dreams of the leaders of feminist movement. Keywords: hypocrisy, deception, transgression, disillusionment

Feminism is more of a political term which came about as a political recognition for the campaign against the patriarchal highhandedness and undue subjugation of women both mentally and physically. It started as a strong body to fight for social and political standards of women and the feminists made the texts the battleground to test their powers against men. Writers like Mary Wollstonecraft (1792), J.S. Mill (1869) and Friedrich Engels (1884) wrote vehemently against the social oppression of women. In the early twentieth century, writers like Olive Schreiner, Virginia Woolf and Simone de Beauvior joined the gang to press their demand against gender difference on educational, social and sexual grounds. In 1960's, the movement and campaign of the women gained momentum. With the mammoth representation, the representation became strong and the foundation of the patriarchal society was shaken to the roots. The following literary figures supported the feminist movement in their own way but the main cause that formed the prime factor in the movement was the upliftment and the establishment of the individuality of the women and of pulling her out of the cloud of ignorance and give her a place of recognition in society.

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Virginia Woolf was strongly against gender oppression and patriarchal supremacy that prevailed at her time as mentioned in 'A Room of One's Own' (1929) and 'Three Guineas' (1938). She herself was prey to patriarchy in which her brothers were educated while she being a girl was detained from college education. She believes that the values of women remain intoto even if they get educated and rather help the society to maintain moral and social values. Simone de Beauvoir protested against the category of others in which the women was put in 'The Second Sex' (1949). Her identity was merged with man and the association with man formed the basis of her existentialism. All the positive qualities such as virility, reasoning and strength are associated with man whereas women are projected as weak, emotional, unreasoning and fragile human beings. Women are framed with the qualities chosen by men and widely acceptable by the maledominated society. Such expectations by men from women are enforced on them since childhood and are thus not allowed to form an image of their own. Kate Millet in her 'Sexual Politics' (1969) strongly defied the sexual bias between men and women by compartmentalizing women as prostitutes, virgins, unchaste, chaste etc. men tried to control the women through dictating their physical weakness, resorting to either violence or coercion. Millet held a strong opposition against Freud's theory of masculine sexuality in which he maintained that males were physically stronger than females and they look upon men for physical protection and hence reinforcing male domination on female. Juliet Mitchell in her work 'Woman's Estate' (1971), she stressed that women were subject to oppression due to their role as a factor of society, sexuality leading to production and reproduction. Elaine Showalter's 'The New Feminist Criticism' (1985) and 'Speaking of Gender' (1989) demanded a female parameter for female literary work. She was strongly against the female writers following the masculine norms and theories in writing. She was very much opposed to the relegation of female authors to unimportant subjects and considering them incapable of dealing with sound critical matters. Ellen Moers throws light on the interact ional influence of women authors on each other in her 'Literary Women' (1976) Gilbut and Gubar in their 'The Norton Anthology of Literature by Women' (1985) revealed the concept of self-division by the women authors in which they both accepted the patriarchal influence and rejected it at the same time. Eli Zaretsky emphasized the emotional, mental and physical pressures of a woman who worked as a paid labourer outside while as unpaid labourer at home. For her, work and life were amalgamated and became one, upholding the human values for which she was actually looked upon by men. Her work 'Capitalism, the Family and Personal Life' (1976) supports this. Michele Le Doeuff hits the front with her 'The Philosophical Imaginary' (1989) in which she absolves philosophy from being the tool for men alone. She believed that philosophy is based on reason and rationality which cannot be the power of a single gender, which means the woman, can also have the right to independent thinking and reason can alone

123 establish ones identity. Luce Irigaray is another ardent feminist who too defied Freud's theory of 'phallocentrism' like Kate Millet. She ridiculed Freud by pointing out in her discourse that if Freud centralized male organ as a criteria of male supremacy and lack of it in female as its subjugation, then he should also prepare himself to face the lack in males i.e. the lack of milking breasts to suckle the babies for whom it is the source of life both male and female. In her works – 'This Sex Which is Not One' (1987) she has argued over this. Helene Cixous in her writings such as 'Readings' and 'The Newly Born Woman'(with Catherine Clement, translation in 1986) cited against the treatment of women as a commodity of exchange between father and husband. The change of identity of a woman as under father to as under husband attributes and establishes the authority of the phallus. The individuality of a woman is a nonentity and thus is not recognized in the male-dominated society. Cixous rejects such distinction made on the basis of sex, stressing that both male and female are inter-dependent and thus 'each is the other'. Pauline Johnson another feminist who had a different approach of proceeding through humanist ideals. In her 'Feminism as Radical Humanism' (1994), she opposes the rebellious attitude of the feminists and chooses to suggest women to take to cultural and humanistic path without alienating themselves from men and society. Thus in the contemporary times, the main aim of feminism is not to stand up and belittle the men but to improve and upgrade the social, literary and financial conditions of the women. This could be done by revising the modes of representing women in the society. Their contribution both to the family and society has to be highlighted and recognition of their existence as an integral part of men and not as a secondary element has to be established. Keeping these issues in mind, the contemporary feminism hints at establishing females as human-beings as a whole and without making them stand face to face before man politically, it aims at making a place for her besides man. So much work has been done by our women precursors for the feminine mental and social recognition in the society but the patriarchal roots are so deep and ingrained in the hearts and minds of the women all around the world that though the change had started, much has yet to be done if we read Tehmina Durrani's novels 'My Feudal Lord' and 'Blasphemy'. The servile subjugation by the women before the egoistic attitude of men would definitely make the bodies of our precursors turn in their graves. Tehmina Durrani would seem to a revolutionist as a woman with some mettle who had guts in a world of inhuman men. Her novel 'My Feudal Lord' is a mind boggling work which also fills us with disgust for the submissive, encouraging and incriminating nature of women towards their erroneous men who not only pummel down their originality perforce but also plug all the sources and means which would help them establish that. Tehmina Durrani has made a commendable effort to come out her shell and make public a life, which is a great stigma for the women in a progressive society. Her books 'Blasphemy' and 'My Feudal

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Lord' both fill us with abhorrence for the men who have no humanity in them and can be conveniently dumped as deplorable characters totally averse to the guidance of God. Followers of God has always proclaimed that all human beings are equal and should be treated equally whereas this concept is totally bypassed in both the novels of Tehmina. The readers are forced to ponder after reading the novels that do women belong to the class of human beings because the atrocities practiced on them and their power of forbearance towards the injustice is blood curdling. Husband is a respected person in a wife's life, no doubt about it but does that exonerate him from the crime he commits. The over obliging attitude of the wives not only encourage their men in their evil tactics but also exacerbate the conditions. While reading Tehmina's novels, I often feel irritated over the conscious ignorance of the women. It may be their indifference and conscious- ignorance of their husbands' debauchery which is greatly responsible for their predicament. In 'Blasphemy' Heer repeatedly complied with his desires inspite of her knowledge of her husband's debauchery. She should have revolted when he had tried to molest his own daughter but to hide her husband's degradation and to save her daughter from further danger, she endangered the life of an orphan girl, whom she used as a bait for her husband. This grave crime not only incriminated her and lined her up with her heinous husband but also brought further miseries for her in its wake. She was made a vulnerable prey to her husband's sadist desires. His, bringing in strangers to bed-in with his wife and making video films of everything not only give us goose-flesh but fill us with abhorrence for such men who try to abuse their very existence in a woman's life. To add to her misery, her younger son after his father's death picks up the thread and follows the same track. He not only condemns his mother when she tried to pull down Pir's high-flown personality in the eyes of public but also incarcerated her, branding her as insane. Her planned death, which was an eye- wash for her son, brother-in-law and the public, was conveniently and unquestionably accepted by her son as the best alternative to save the respect of his father and himself. The ruthlessness of men is thus obvious and the extent of their cruelty and inhumanity towards the women is complete. To clear the smudged image of men, Tehmina also inserts a male character named Ranjha who had loved Heer once when she was young and unmarried and remained stable in his love and does not refrain from accepting her as his wife. The new life of Heer was like resurrection for her. She was released from a hell-born life and was finally delivered. From this novel, we can surmise that man can be both loving and detestable in his attitude towards women. Our feeling of abhorrence and distaste is immediately dissolved with the appearance of Ranjha as an upright, steadfast and a loving husband, which every woman would desire. In Tehmina's 'Feudal Lord' too we come across to many characters of diversive qualities. One was her first husband Anees quite decent, civilized and gentleman in true sense while the second husband Mustafa

125 Khan though handsome, overpowering, enigmatic and erotic proves to be mean, selfish, egoist and deceptive person who make a hell of her life. Tehmina's fault lay in her surreptitious attraction for Mustafa inspite of her being a married woman with a child. Such an overture is not objectionable in our society alone but was highly condemnable in her society in Pakistan. Though any woman of morals would defy Tehmina and relegate her as a victim of her wrong doing but being a woman I just could not overlook the injustice and insidious edging of her life to total disaster. In the introduction of the novel, the reader is made to believe that Tehmina is a most balanced and amicable young woman but is at once led to wonder over the sudden idiosyncratic change in her approach which not only shocks the reader but is jolted into the region of desire for romance and adventure. Tehmina's apparent desire for thrill and romance could not escape the sharp eyes of Mustafa Khan who being a lascivious man was ever-ready to exploit such desire. Mustafa Khan had a wife in Kot Addu; he married Naubahar, a dancer whom he divorced with no compunction. Then he married Sherry whom he rendered mentally a total wreck before he married Tehmina by mercilessly disrupting her home and leading her to a clandestine relationship with him long before he married her. It was not so that Tehmina was not cautioned by Sherry about Mustafa, who was a grotesque sadist and used women for his desire and no sooner did he lay his eyes on a fresh prey than he disposed the present one. But thanks to love and desire which blinds and blurs the reasoning till it is too late. A divorced woman loses her dignified position in a society until she is restored by being accepted by another man-so was Tehmina with her marriage to Mustafa Khan. Little did she know that a horrendous future awaited her round the corner. Physical and mental torture became the course of her life each day aware of their affair. Though Tehmina proved a failure in her first marriage, she tried her best to sustain the second so much so that she repeatedly forgave Mustafa and tried to start life anew with him. Not only this, she stood steadfast beside him when he was jailed, propagated for him as an aspirant political candidate. Inspite of her ill-health she visited him without fail, stood by him through thick and thin just as a dutiful wife would do and as soon as he was released and started tasting the fruits of her labour, her popularity became unbearable for him. In twinkling of an eye, he forgot all her endeavours not only to popularize him but also to free him and veered back to his original detested self. He further went as far as revoking his old relationship with Adila and vicariously enjoyed Tehmina's disillusion. Hypocrisy to such an extent of a man towards a woman taking her to be his personal property and not a human being is highly objectionable and so thought Tehmina too, and went for a divorce from Mustafa. Ingratitude of Mustafa towards Tehmina was so immense that the reader is left totally flabbergasted. It is not just the highhandedness of a man towards a woman but swindling of a human-being by the other. Mustafa in his deception had transgressed the limit laid down by the scales of humanity. How easily he could shirk the tie of love, devotion, duty, and

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perseverance treasured by Tehmina. He left no stone unturned to disagree, disenchant and deceive her in every sense of the word. The inhuman attitude of Mustafa Khan towards Tehmina after all efforts to re-install him in a shattered life both political and social, fills the reader with bitter taste and leaves one with a feeling of futility towards the heavenly bond of marriage. The utter degradation and degeneration of a woman's life due to the salaciousness of a wicked husband is lamentable and the society that sides with such an intransigent person is equally culpable and needs total reformation. Tehmina had sincerely loved Mustafa Khan though she had renounced her previous husband and she had sufficiently proved herself by abiding by him through all the hazards and not caring for her health and looks and had always complied with his wishes. The bludgeoning of her spirit that she received for all her sincerity is nerve-chilling and pernicious and downright condemnable. Humanity on any grounds cannot allow such a ruthless man to survive and inject poison in the throbbing nerves of a healthy society. Only a sick society can sustain such a villain. Of the two novels, the relieving twist in Tehmina's 'Blasphemy' happens when the tortured, tired, disillusioned and distraught Heer is put to death and a new leaf is turned when Heer is resurrected from the waste of her early life to a prospective future with Ranjha her old spark who had ignited the lamp of love in her heart. We are enthralled and our souls go out in blessing for the two much tested souls of time and are forced to acknowledge the truth that man can be as magnanimous and preponderate as Ranjha also, who stand in sharp contrast against the malevolent and maliciousness of Pir and Mustafa Khan. Thus we see that the ideology of the feminist theory has become congealed in the texts and very little has been put to practice. Apart from the social harassment in Tehmina Durrani's novels, women face distinction even in the job front by being denied jobs on the ground of their physical weakness.They have further to strike compromise between home and office. Even today an educated and working woman is not accorded that respect and acceptance as her counterpart. So the theory of feminism which when started by the leaders of movement was primarily intended to improve the deplorable conditions of the women by waging a textual war against men, softened into the fight for social recognition and identity divided on the basis of racial, financial and literary standards by the later advocates of feminism and further the modern feminists wanted cultural, literary and economic identity of women without ruling out the essential existence of men as a part of women and not as a separate identity above them. But even then, the women of today are not emancipated either socially or economically and the feminists have yet to see the day of the fulfillment of their dream. Works Cited : Pramod K. Nayar, Literary Theory Today, , Prestige Publications, 2002 Tehmina Durrani, My Feudal Lord, Corgi Books, 1994, 1996 Ÿ Tehmina Durrani, Blasphemy, Feroz Sons, Jaipur, 1998 Ÿ Ÿ

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Versions of India: Visions of Naipaul - Ajay K Chaubey Abstract: India is undoubtedly a fascinating country. Its history, religion and philosophy, its monuments and its people comprise the many facets of gem which is being discovered and admired every passing year by an increasing number of foreign visitors. Since time immemorial India has baffled and captivated many foreigners by its culture and civilization, trend and tradition and its flora and fauna and over and its religious scriptures. If we glance over the ancient history we find many travellers, who trotted India, were fascinated by its splendid beauty. Naipaul's trilogy on India is comprised of An Area of Darkness (1964), India: A Wounded Civilization (1977), and his final analysis is India:A Million Mutinies Now (1990). All three are accounts of extensive travel in India during those years. In India orientalist studies were interpreted as political tools and are responsible for the stereotypical views which the West has about the East. In this context Naipaul's writing on India is seen to be coloured by metropolitan flavour. Naipaul is an Indian Brahmin twice removed from the land of his origin by virtue of his grandfather having migrated to Trinidad as an indentured labourer; he is a West Indian as he was born and brought up in Trinidad, though the crucial childhood years were marked by a Brahmin way of life; lastly, Naipaul is an expatriate in London, because of self –chosen exile, both from the country of his ancestors and from the country of his birth. My present paper aims at Naipaul's views, which he has drawn from his visits as well as going through the Indian classics, on ancient Indian art and culture, socio-economic and political issues and religious adherence. In this paper I have tried to prove that Naipaul has fallen in love with the land of his ancestors despite his colonial mindset. But Naipaul's myopic views on the land of ancestors landed him in the controversy which, nowadays, is summum bonum of every writer. Keywords: Brahminic tradition, history, ancient myths and classics, colonial experience, Displacement

V S Naipaul is a name to be remembered for spitting venom on India. India is the only country in the world with which Naipaul is always in dilemma like Hamlet, and the dilemma is 'belonging and not belonging'. The dilemma is acute. Though he was born and brought up in Trinidad, he never felt at home over there and Trinidad always remained an exile to him. The search for roots and home took Naipaul to England and India, but each time he rejected these countries and remained a rootless writer. While the fact is that any country is home to one man and exile to another at the same time.India has baffled many Western travellers since time immemorial. Many a foreign traveller wonders on India's unity and

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diversity. India is the land of various cultures, languages, civilizations, various religious sects and over and above its natural resources. Its unity in diversity compels the visitors to write something and produce a great feat. Many modern writers from Indian Diaspora –Salman Rushdie, Bharti Mukherjee, Kiran Desai, Rohinton Mistry, Amitava Ghosh and Malin Suri, a professor of Mathematics, Hanif Kureishi, Jhumpa Lahiri and so on write on Indian theme and bring forth its cultural importance on the literary dais and they have been very successful in bagging almost coveted and prestigious literary awards and accolades of the world like the Booker Prize as well as the Nobel Prize for literature. Naipaul's trilogy on India is comprised of An Area of Darkness (1964), India: A Wounded Civilization (1977), and his final analysis is India: A Million Mutinies Now (1990). All three are accounts of his extensive travel in India during those years. In India, orientalist studies were interpreted as political tools and are responsible for the stereotypical views which the West has about the East. In this context Naipaul's writings on India are seen to be coloured by metropolitan flavour. His practical insistence on cleanliness, reason and logic had branded him a staunch colonial by Western and Indian critics of the 70s. Many have noted his disillusionment with the land of his birth and have also concentrated on his affinities to Brahminism, to which they attribute his love for order, purity, and even his comments on caste. Rather than deploying one or the other strain in his work as the dominant one. One will be concerned with studying how Naipaul sees India. In the light of his childhood constructions and his life in Trinidad, and his long sojourn in London, one will try to build up the image of the Indian “nation” as it appears in his trilogy. The present paper has been divided into following sub-headings to evaluate the Naipaul's views on India with different perspectives: (a) Naipaul's views on ancient India (b) Naipaul's views on medieval India (c) Naipaul's views on colonial India (d) Naipaul's views on post-colonial India If one looks Naipaul as a writer of history it would not be wrong-because Naipaul's observation is very minute whether he views about place, person or thing. First of all one would like to write Naipaul's have glance at ancient era. Naipaul's views on Ancient India: In ancient age India was rich in religion, literature, arts, movements, culture, civilization and language etc. and these facets have attracted many foreigners since time immemorial. One would like to mention the name of some travellers who traveled India and described it beautifully in their works. Megasthanese who visited India in reign of Chandragupta Maurya and in his book entitled Indica threw the light on the contemporary culture and society. Fa-hein, a Chinese traveller, visited the reign of Chandragupta II and he penned about society and culture of Madhya Pradesh. Huen-Tsang

129 visited in the reign of Harshvardhan and spent 16 years in India. He got educated for 6 years at Nalanda University and he wrote a travelogue known as Si-U-Ki in which he described 138 countries. He described contemporary society, religion, politics etc. As far as Naipaul's views on ancient India are concerned, one would like to say that Naipaul, being a cosmopolitan, observes very minutely on every aspect i.e. culture and civilization, race, region and religion, flora and fauna, cast and creed and so forth and so on. He goes in the depth of the origin of anything or any person belonging to any race, region or religion. And apart from things and persons he is very closer to the places and views on these from historical point of view. One would like to say that his pilgrimage to Amarnath is a search for the equation between the grandeur of India and its present derelict condition, a balance between the living religious consciousness of Karan Singh and the apprehension of physical beauty in the migrant unbeliever. And there seems to be no connection-except the ancient Indian logic that one looked for. He writes in his first travelogue on India in these words: I feel an urge to go now to Kashmir, the holy land of Hindus, and the land of holy cave of Amarnath, the purifying icy lake of the thousand serpents, and plain where the Lord Shiva danced. (Naipaul, 156)

Naipaul is quite conscious about the hierarchical caste system of India, but he doesn't want to write anything about this issue because this is one of the very sensitive issues of India. Actually the stronger reason behind writing on the caste system is that he was quite fed up with the Brahminic tradition and he wanted to flout it because he says that he cannot go through all the theatricalities of thread ceremony that has been and is prevalent in Brahmin caste since Vedic era. Then he searches the evidences of caste system delineated through books and literatures in English and he finds M R Anand's Untouchable the suitable base to delineate the older caste system of India. Since I am exploring his views on ancient India, it would be quite better to quote him on the Gita rather than Untouchable. To quote Naipaul in this reference: Caste, sanctioned by the Gita with almost propagandist favour might be seen as part of the older Indian pragmatism, the 'life' of classical India. (Ibid, 79)

After the Gita, Naipaul comes to the Kamasutra, an ancient classic that highlights and reveals the concealed way of performing adultery. It has established a different and significant mile stone in the field of reading, re-reading, purchasing and translating in almost all the languages of the world. In the womb of past there have been a lot of myths and stories, culture and literature and by these sources people have been quite unaware. But researches, archeological surveys and excavations have brought miraculous and meticulous things before people. There are so many books that are related to ancient India that speak and bring forth lots of myths and truths: the Mahabharata is one of them that tell the story of Kaurawas and Pandavas; their battle for women and wealth.

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Naipaul also could not keep himself aside from such alluring books. It is all right that Naipaul's colonial mind set checks him to accept India as his home but his inner-self or rather one can say his sub-conscious mind also compels him to accept that India has glorious past. He delineates the glory of India through Indian epics which have always been the source of an inspiration and exploration for the scientists. It is also said that the art is only imagination but science is sketch imagination. If we go through the Ramacharitmanas by Tulsidas we find the illustration of Puspak Viman. So after finding this, scientist might have taken the inspiration to make aero plane. And when the Ramsetu was being made on Setusamudram all heavy stones, touched by two Vanaras (monkeys) i.e. Nal and Neel, were floating on the surface of water. After seeing and reading this epic, scientists might have crushed with an idea of making ship. Naipaul also supports about these illustrations and writes in the chapter 'Fantasy and Ruins': The aero plane was known to ancient India, and the telephone, and the atom bomb: there is evidence in the Indian epics. Surgery was highly developed in ancient India; here, in an important national news paper, is the text of a lecture proving it. Indian ship building was the wonder of the world. And democracy flourished in ancient India. (Ibid, 215)

As I have written in the abovementioned paragraphs that Naipaul observes anything minutely but historically. He always tries to explore the unexplored. In the third thesis on India, India:A Million Mutinies Now Naipaul, while visiting Madras and Mysore, comes across with a man of Tamil origin and then he comments like an expert of history and archaeology on the origin of the very race in the chapter 'Little Wars' of the very book in these words: This Tamil civilization of ours is a very old one. Say, about 5000 years old. The cities of Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa – Mohenjo-Daro now in Sind in Pakistan – are Dravidian cities. They go back to 5000 BC. That is what historians say. Till about 2000 years back, the society was a casteless society. What happened at that time was that this foreign civilization came from the north, and they started differentiating among classes. Every century since then there has been a protest by some Tamil intellectuals against the caste system….They said that religion was necessary and God was necessary. But the Aryans were introducing superstitions. (Naipaul, 231)

It is really very hard nut to crack to write in Naipaul's views on ancient India but what I have tried to explore is really very new thing to re-write the history from Naipaul's perspective. After going through his Indian trilogy, I found that apart from ancient myths and classics, Naipaul has been adhered to perceive the Muslim imperial architecture. It would, therefore, be quite better to put his views on Muslim imperial rule and its impact on the country under the following sub-heading. Naipaul's views on Medieval India: As far as Naipaul's views on Medieval India are concerned he has reiterated his superficial and

131 schematic view of Indian history. One of the most remarkable episodes of this time was the journey and long sojourn in India of one of Islam's greatest intellects, Al-Beruni, forever known as the master, a philosopher, a mathematician and an astronomer of great repute had accompanied Mohammed Ghazni down into the Punjab. Having settled there, he proceeded to make a thorough study of Sanskrit and of Hindi literature, and has left to us a penetrating description of India in his famous work, Tahkik-i-Hind (An Enquiry into India). In this brilliant and yet scholarly study of India in the eleventh century, we have a mine of information about the country and its people on the eve of the great Muslim invasions. This book is based on the sayings whatever he heard through Indians. He threw the light on society, religion, trend and tradition and politics of Rajput era. His view of Indian history cannot be described in nutshell because it begins from an Islamic invasion from approximately AD 1000 which has vandalized a self- contained essentially Hindu India, followed by an intellectually debilitating Muslim imperialism and an intellectually regenerative British imperialism, the main victims in all of which have been Hindu Indian. In this connection, Naipaul writes: For more than six hundred years after 1000 AD the Muslim invaders had ravaged the subcontinent at will. They had established kingdoms and empires and fought with one another. They had obliterated the temples of the local religion in the north; they had penetrated deep into the south and desecrated temples there. (Naipaul, 22)

The great achievement and landmark of the medieval era is its architecture. It's all right that Mogul Emperors were very much oppressive but they were also very creative; not so creative but one can remark luxuriant. Naipaul could only remark this: “In the north the ruins speak of waste and failure, and the very grandeur of the Mogul buildings is oppressive.'' (Naipaul, 220) After seeing The Taj Mahal, Naipaul could only remark. “The Taj Mahal is exquisite.'' (Ibid) Naipaul seldom comments direct on any issue in his books. He speaks through characters to which he meets on the way or at any particular place or anywhere else. One thing is clear that he has always been a very severe critic against Muslims and Muslim invaders. Meena Kandasamy appropriately remarks: “Naipaul's views on Islam are stark enough to show his Hindu prejudice and his limited knowledge.”(Kndasamy, 8) He has not criticized Muslim invaders only but their creations and their modus operandi and modus vivendi also. Kandasamy again quotes Naipaul in the support of the previous comment, “The Taj is so wasteful, so decadent and in the end so cruel that it is painful to be there for very long.”(Ibid) In this second last chapter of the book India: A Million Mutinies Now, Naipaul comes to an end with conclusion that medieval India has left deep wound on the body of India and the root cause of this wound is Muslims.They ruled, ruined, looted and abused the antique and glorious

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culture and civilization of India. In an interview with Rachael Kohn Naipaul dictates: India was destroyed by the Muslim invaders, they ruled it severely and ravaged it for five to six centuries and they left nothing behind. They didn't build a school, no institutions, so that was the cause of the poverty, that utter wretchedness where people had no faith in institutions, had no–one to appeal to ever produced this idea of holy poverty. I think we have to understand that. (Kohn, 4)

But Naipaul finds that India has been wounded by her mutinies in the utter darkness. On his first visit Naipaul took with him the conventional ideas of India, people then knew as the land of Gandhi and Nehru. It would, therefore, be appropriate to assess Naipaulian views on India of the very two political giants who have played a very prominent role in colonial India.

Naipaul's views on Colonial India: I had learned my separateness from India and was content to be a colonial, without a past, without ancestors. (An Area, Naipaul, 274)

In this section I have tried to study the 'nation' from an emigrant's perspective. By questioning the identity of India beyond geography and place the point of view of the emigrant helps to broaden the frame-work within which India is defined. Through a reading of V S Naipaul's trilogy on India, it will be argued that Naipaul's world view strike on ambivalent relationship with his experiences in India. One will study how emotions of tenderness and pleasure vie with the zeal and short-sightedness of a colonialist. That is why his visit to the country have been attempts as much to get to grip with its reality as to come to term with his own past. In 1962 he feels so cut off from this past that he almost abandons the hope of ever being able to dig it up or make sense of it. That is why he fancies himself as 'a colonial without past, without ancestors.' India shocked Naipaul because it challenged his idea of himself. The contradiction between the imagined India of Trinidad and the actual country was too overwhelming to be confronted. The only immediate solution available was that of escape. That is why An Area of Darkness begins with 'Resting Place for the Imagination' and ends in 'Flight.' Naipaul's fear of India is obviously read in An Area of Darkness, “As India had drawn near; I had felt more than the usual fear of arrival.” (Naipaul, 38) Naipaul expected India to be a land of his fairy tale. But it was not so. He finds it quite different from his expectations. As a colonialist writer, Naipaul uniquely documented the predicament of the colonial society with an authenticity and sensibility found in few writers of our time like Amitava Ghosh, Salman Rushdie and Bharti Mukherjee etc. Born in Trinidad, with its population of French, British, Portuguese, African, Indian, Chinese and mixed breeds, Naipaul

133 inherited a legacy of multiculturalism that he has developed through travels in different continents. After his initial disappointment with England, Naipaul undertook two long voyages one to Trinidad and other to India. The two visits were very worthwhile for Naipaul. After going through An Area of Darkness, one can surmise that Naipaul has not only spat on India and Indians but also on Trinidad and Trinidadians with his schizophrenic mind: The outer and inner worlds do not have the physical separateness which they had for us in Trinidad…It is the special mimicry of an old country which has been without a native aristocracy for a thousand years and has learned to make room for outsiders, but only at he top. The mimicry changes, the inner world remains constant: this is the secret of survival… Yesterday the mimicry was Mogul; tomorrow it might be Russian or American, today it is English. (Ibid, 55)

The rejection of India and the projection of England created chaos and commotion. Naipaul finds India to be a victim of its capacity to endure of its acceptance of everything in order to maintain a sense of continuity which in reality is just an illusion. On the other hand, he finds that India survived the colonial experience only on account of its ability to accept its predicament as an unexamined continuity. The contradiction is fatal. It froze India and made it static. None of the conquerors before the coming of the British had forced India into such a sterile state. The common Indian still listened to the proceedings in courts being conducted in English in Independent India with the same bewilderment as he had done during imperial rule. Naipaul finds that 'ancient culture' have been deteriorated because of the dilution of the negative and positive principles. And in this colonial era everything including spiritual sense is also lost.

Naipaul's views on Post-colonial India: The post colonial world has been affected by travel in many respects; the centuries in question were discovered, explored, conquered or settled by people who came to them from Europe. Displacement is an experience particularly associated with the post colonial condition, which, for many individuals, entails a history of transportation, migration, expatriation, Diaspora or exile. Barbara Korte quotes the significance of V S Naipaul as a post colonial traveller: If travel is of special pertinence to Britain's former colonies, the travel writing produced in these parts of the world has been practically ignored by scholars until recently with the prominent exception of V S Naipaul. (Korte, 152)

Among post-independence travellers to India, V S Naipaul has a special place because of his curious love-hate relationship with the country. It is a strange predicament, mainly a tension emanating from Naipaul's desire to remain past from the mainstream tradition of the country visited and not quite succeeding, out of which in born some sensitive travel writing,

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impressionistic, emotional and in his first book on India, rather controversial. As a post colonial traveller who was unable to establish an Indian identity and had given up the attempt after his first visit to this country, Naipaul held the view that India should sever all connections with the past, which is understandable. After his first visit to India, Naipaul realized that the country was not and could not be his home. Yet he could not reject it or remain indifferent to it. When Naipaul revisited India in 70s, he could find that this country takes much time to understand even after the departure of the British. In the foreward of the second book on India, A Wounded Civilization, Naipaul writes: India in the late twentieth century still seems so much itself, so rooted in its own civilization, it takes time to understand that its independence has meant more than the going away of he British; that the India to which Independence came was a land of far older defeat; the purely Indian past died a long time ago. (Naipaul, foreword)

To Naipaul, India was not a socio-cultural alternative. For him at that point of time, India was a 'Third World' country, without a sense of history, without a racial sense, had to break off all ties with its past in order to get the best out of its present, which, according to Naipaul, would progress as understood in the Western context. Unquestionably, he criticized Westerners who consider India an alternative and was quite contemptuous about them.That is why Naipaul says that India should be judged in Indian way. India was only to be experienced, in the India way. (Naipaul, 25) Naipaul, in his third book on India, A Million Mutinies Now, depicts the contemporary political set up of the country like Indira Gandhi's thrust of Emergency, Binoba Bhave's Bhodan andolan, J P Narayan's Jail bharo andolan, Naxalite movement in different regions of India like West Bengal, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh etc and DMK movement in Madras. Naipaul has not forgotten to describe The Operation Blue Star and its impact on the country and moreover, Shiv Sena's anti-humanitarian approach in Maharastra. That is why he writes that Sena army is xenophobic (p. 52). When Naipaul revisited India in 21st century, he seemed to be in favour of India demolition of Babri Masque in Ayodhya. He said that it was true and justified. In an interview with Dilip Pandgaonkar, Naipaul confesses: The people who say that there was no temple they are missing the point. Babar, you must understand, had contempt for the country he had conquered….In Ayodhya the construction of a mosque on a spot regarded as sacred by the conquered population was meant as an insult. (Padgaonkar, The Times of India, July 18, 1993)

And this shows his Hinduite self.This is the reason why Salman Rushdie, another writer from Indian Diaspora, calls him cheerleader of BJP.

135 Naipaul seems very much on the side of India. His response is totally positive. He talks in support and favour of India and its mutinies. The excess he sees now felt to be excess in India.The mutinies were helping to define the strength of the general intellectual life. Mutinies not to be wished away as were part of the beginning of a new way for many millions a part of India's restoration. But Naipaul's colonial mindset has carved a niche in his heart to make a home in India that is why he says that India is for me a difficult country it is not my home and cannot be my home…. I am at once too close and too far. (foreword) Works Cited : Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ

Naipaul,V S, An Area of Darkness, Picador, 1995. _____. India:AWounded civilization, Picador, 2002. _____. India:A Million Mutinies Now,Vintage, 1998. Padgaonkar, Dilip, An Area of Awakening, The Times of India, July 18, 1993, website Kandasamy, Meena, Casteist,Communalist, Racist, and Now A Nobel Laureate, website Kohn, Rachael, India Through V S Naipaul's Eyes, website Korte, Barbara, English Travel Writing form Pilgrimage to Post colonial Explorations, Macmillan, 2000.

From the eyes of a Visitor

- Sangeeta Sharma

Jaipur, the pink city, is literally rosy. The rich architecture makes it the pride of India Who says India is filled with mere dirt and grime? Here history summons you! The harks of the Maharajas and Maharanis guide you Through the labyrinthine Jharokha studded walls and fine alleys of the forts and drive you to the historical past. Bougainvillea decks the city heavier than the breastplates, bracelets, armlets and anklets of the native belles. Pink and yellow blooms that dot the thick green stretches anoint your desensitized heart. No wonder it is the tourists' hotspot And an answer to all the Global warming concerns.

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Universalizing Heterogeneity: Celebration of Creole Identity in Derek Walcott's Poetry - Ujjwal Kr. Panda Abstract: The paper throws light on Derek Walcott's strong defense of the cross cultural, synergistic and syncretic nature of Caribbean identity. In the Caribbean islands the possibility of an uncontaminated cultural formation becomes a far-off dream as a result of almost 700 years of colonization, mass-migration and miscegenation. As a man of mixed-blood Walcott is very much aware of this fact and so, he never went abroad to ferret out his cultural root like most of his contemporaries. He envisages the cultural and racial hybridization as a prelude to the universalization of heterogeneous societies. The curious intermixture of 'high' and 'low' in his poetry successfully dismantles any valuing system dependent upon the difference between Art and Pop and quite convincingly captures the post-modern penchant for cultural assimilation which destroys only to create.

Keywords: cross-culturalism, synergy, creolization, assimilation, post-modernism. When Derek Walcott, the most internationally acclaimed among the Caribbean poets, was awarded the 1992 Nobel Prize for Literature, the Swedish Academy in its citation acknowledged that they were motivated by his “poetic luminosity sustained by a historical vision, the outcome of a multicultural commitment.” Quite appropriately. Walcott is perhaps, the only writer from the West Indian Islands who all through his huge oeuvre most reliably caught the cross-cultural, synergistic and syncretic nature of Caribbeanness and unlike most of other greats who went into exile, cursing provincial colonial society as backward, nomadic and uncreative, celebrated it as a model of the postmodern society where high and low cultures, standard and peripheral languages, the white and the black admix and give birth to a multiplicity of viewpoints, “a polyphony of voices' (to quote Bakhtin), a mélange. He never left his native St. Lucia and was never overtaken by the negative feeling what Naipaul called the “threat of failure, the need of escape…. Living in a borrowed culture, the West Indian, more than most, needs writer to tell him who he is, where he stands” (Naipaul, The Middle Passage, pp. 45,73) He loved to call himself a “hybrid” and a “mongrel” and was quite convinced that synergistic literary tradition is the hallmark of postmodernity and in this sense, his being a Caribbean is an advantage,

137 not a pit fall. Actually, the process of Creolization is now seen as a global phenomenon– a recognition of the intense nature of cultural and racial hybridization as a prelude to the universalization of heterogeneous societies. The position of the Caribbean Islands in the context of European colonization in Africa, in the Indian subcontinent and in the Americas is most complex. The islands carry with them the longest history of colonization which started with the arrival of the Spanish explorer, Christopher Columbus there in 1492. Since then, these small patches on the Caribbean sea remain to be a hot destination to the explorers from England, France, Spain, Portugal and Netherlands and even today they are a hot destination for a different reason altogether- as a tourism hub. The battle between the colonizing powers for the grasp over different islands has brought a particular island under more than one ruling authority and under many cultural and linguistic influences. The physical and cultural hegemony on the Caribs, the small Red Indian community living there, almost destroyed their language and cultural history and they were totally obliterated first with the introduction of slaves from Africa and, second, of the indentured labourers from the Indian subcontinent. The co-existence of people from different ethnic, national and linguistic groups and the consequent miscegenation has produced new and powerful synergistic cultural forms like 'creole', 'Patwa', 'Mongrel', 'Mestizo' etc. So, the Carribbeans have no history that is not informed by the European interaction. They belong to nowhere and, quite interestingly, belong to every where as a result because every cultural destruction indicates new beginning. Therefore, rather than trying to retrieve his own past Walcott forges a new present and future out of many pasts. In his real life Walcott was a 'nowhere man' in the real sense of the term from biological, cultural and national points of view. Having an Englishman as paternal grandfather and a Dutchman as maternal grand father, while the women of his ancestry were predominantly of African origin, makes Walcott's ancestry intriguingly mixed. His birthplace St. Lucia, also played a pivotal role in deepening this nowhereness. The colonial control of the island swung fourteen times between the French and the British before it finally became a British colony in 1814 and by then the language of the place was a French-based 'patwa'. So, although his first language was a French-patwa, Walcott received an English education, an apprenticeship in language that his mother, head teacher of a Methodist infant school, and a lover of literature, supported at home and acquainted him and his twin-brother, Roderick, with such great masters of English literature as Shakespeare spenser, Whitman and others at an early age. Again his being an English protestant in a predominantly French Catholic St. Lucia made him an essential 'other' among his own countrymen. From the very beginning of his life Walcott

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was conscious of divisions everywhere- in language, in culture and in socio-political behaviour and this aspect of liminality and in-between ness is the characteristic feature of the very terrain where he was born.To quote him from What the Twilight SaidIn that simple schizophrenic boyhood one could lead two lives : the interior life of poetry, and the outward life of action and dialect.(Dream on Monkey Mountain and Other Plays, p.4)

Walcott's now famous assertion in The Schooner flight (1979), “That's all them bastards have left us: words”, stands for the lack of native linguistic tradition in the West Indies. In the process of formulating a distinct Caribbean vocabulary Walcott differs drastically from the other great Caribean or Black British poets like Edward Braithwaite, Grace Nicols or Louise Bennet who tried to form a separate Caribbean canon by almost exclusive use of Creole. Walcott's language, on the other hand, is the standard English language much in the line of his favorites like Shakespeare, Donne, Marvell, Eliot, Auden and Hart crane. He thinks himself a poet of English language and like the famous figures of English poetry he also is carrying a tradition. He never wrote a poem entirely in Creole although both the English-based Jamaican and Trinidadian dialect and the French based speech of his own island are frequently interspersed. In 1948, when he published his first collection Twenty-Five Poems, English and American critics often have been ambivalent about his use of the western literary tradition. Walcott has also drawn criticism from the Caribbean critics, who accuse him of neglecting native form in favour of techniques derived from his colonial oppressors. But, these critics were just trying to perpetuate the well-known stereotypes related to the literature of the colonies. Neither had they understood that in the Caribbean, there is hardly a clear binarism between the colonizers and the colonized, nor they mince the fact that there are no firm cultural opposition in this hybrid place and society. What Walcott did was the real duty of a modern artist. In stead of rejecting a tradition for the other, he embraces both and by doing so, he truly captures, the variegated, polyphonic voice of the post-modern art.The forty-two poems of his first landmark book, 'In a Green Night: Poems 1948-60' (1962), are often highly allusive to the European literature and its style but their essence is unmistakably Caribbean.The title of the book is itself a reference to a line from Andrew Marvell's Bermudas, a poem delineating a number of themes- colonialism, exploration, the sea, time past and present and the responsibility of the imagination. For instance, the much anthologized “Ruins of a Great House” is a poem about a plantation slave-owner's decaying mansion and Walcott, cunningly, includes into it the mimicry of a long tradition of European verse upon the transience of greatness as apposed to the permanence of poetry. The mimicry of the so-called 'high art' rhetoric of imperialism,quite contrarily, celebrates the decay of the slave-based power. In the words of Dennis WalderThere is no doubt about the almost overwhelming intertextuality of the verse: explicit in an epigraph from Sir Thomas Browne's treatise Urn Burial (1658), in the Horatian

139 tag in the first lines ('Stones only, the disjectamembra [scattered remains] of this great house') and references to Raleigh, Donne, Kipling and Faulkner- all involved in one way or another, in one part of the world or another, with the remains of the empire- living or writing its greatness, but also its brutality, corruption or waste.(Walder, p.123)

The experiences of a mixed heritage enable the poet to discover the paradoxical nature of the rise and fall of empires where good and bad, beauty and cruelty co-exist. History of the World is a history of deaths, both for the colonized and the colonizers. The blazing anger of the poet, thus is satiated when he thinks of what happened in Albion and he ends up on a note of compassion for the dominant and the dominated quoting a line from Donne's famous tract on DeathAny man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.

As a poet he is not ready to take any side and this rejection is the subjectmatter of another well-known poem from the book, A Far Cry from Africa, where the dilemma of a man of mixed heritage is wreaked to the hilt. The poet cannot fully sympathize with the white Spanish people or with the black Kenyans during the Mau Mau Revolution because, for whatever cause they fight, they are the children of violenceI who am poisoned with the blood of both, where shall I turn, divided to the vein? (A Far Cry from Africa: In a Green Night, p. 18]

The curious intermixture of 'high' and 'low', the standard English and 'Creole' in the poems like Parang and A Map of the Antilles signifies a trans cultural space where the search for an uncontaminated cultural root is a far dream and therefore, futile. Quite Naturally, Walcott's resistance to the 'Black Power' Politics of the immediately post-independence period and the astounding range of his writing recognize him simultaneously as a Caribbean artist and a figure in the world history and suggest the veracity of his remark- “it is insufficient to dedicate myself to the revival of an unjustly recognized negro civilization” But there is a constant allegation among the Caribbean academia against Walcott that he is not faithful to his African roots. In this context, the most convincing defense was made by Mervyn MorrisWalcott, some say, is not West Indian enough. He is too much concerned with world literature and international sophistication. Of course, the fact that Walcott has actually chosen to live in the West Indies is given little weight by West Indian pundits who assert their commitment from some address in London. … Walcott has written many poems about race, but usually they are exploratory enough to displease the propagandists… like any worthwhile poet, Walcott speaks to people anywhere, but very often his primary significance is for

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Labyrinth | Vol.2 No.2 (April. 2011) his own West Indian people or for Negroes. (Morris, Walcott and the audience for poetry in Critical Perspective on Derek Walcott. pp. 174-92, pp. 178-79)

Actually, Walcott's poetry defies the reader's preconceived ideas about a Caribbean text, that is, it will be replete with some post-colonial themes such as diaspora, displacement, emplacement, rootlessness etc. Because, as a writer of English language which he considers 'his birthright', he time and again craves to situate his works in the main light of English literary tradition and so, tries to tell his Caribbean experiences in standard English. But his utterances are different from the European poets and his open allusiveness towards European literature and history is only an attempt to locate the common experiences of violence, rootleness and displacement in both places and to universalise this common trait. So, in The Castaway from The Castaway and other Poems (1965), Crusoe, Friday and Adam become the universal symbols of isolation of people identifying them in relation to the natural world of the island and the surrounding. Again, in Laventille, a poem dedicated to V.S. Naipaul, the poet engages with the traumas of colonialism and it drives him in to 'hopelessness and rage' .But this closed and imprisoning sense of identity which resulted in cynicism and despair to the sterile and violent Caribbean politics is resolved in the character of the bastard Shabine, ostensibly, the alter-ego of Walcott. In the words of Dennis WalderShabine's (from The Schooner Flight ) perspective enables him to transcend as he accepts the wounds of the past: from the original annihilation of the Carib and Arwak people, slavery, the decline of empire through present post colonial neglect – all referred to in his long narrative (some five hundred lines) (Walder, p. 128)

Shabine is too black to be a white and too white to be a black. The hegemonic imperial power and the overwhelming corruption of post independence 'black' government equally disgust him. As he has 'Dutch, nigger and English' in him, his mixed blood, race, language and the potential insult of 'nigger' at least bestows him with the huge claim of “either I'm nobody, or I am a history”. In the course of the poem it becomes clears that Shabine's language mingles the so called 'low' humour, Calypsonian notes with bardic lyricism. 'Creole' becomes a different dialect available within the repertoire of modern English, it never asserts superiority between the European and African languages and this intermixture of the so called 'high' and 'low' creates a cosmopolitan identity which may be greater than the confines of class, race and self. In the Caribbean context, cultures mix and transform to create a new form and idiom as in Mass Man [from The Gulf (1962)] the carnival in Trinidad has been described as a hybrid representation- a popular annual event inaugurated by the white planter-class and appropriated by former slaves and their descendants who brought into if their steel bands and calypsonian spectacle.

141 Thus, Walcott's works reflect a rejection of boundaries and this stubborn rejection has made him a citizen of the world. He proudly accepts the fluidity of his identity and tries to rewrite the history of his country which is transcultural, assimilative and consequently, procreative. So, he never felt the necessity to leave his native land in search of his root, either black or white, because it is no longer possible. He successfully assimilates into him both cultures and transforms them into a new one. Like Rushdie he also believes: Mélange, hotchpotch, a bit of this and a bit of that is how newness enters the world. It is the great possibility that mass migration gives the world, and I have tried to embrace it. (Rushdie, Imaginary Homelands, p. 394)

Because, “the idea of society as an integrated culture has become unpersuasive in the post-modern context.The reassuring dichotomies of 'primitive' as opposed to 'modern' of 'periphery' as opposed to 'centre', have yielded a pervasive sense of the cross-cultural that has increasingly undermined the concepts of cultural difference or otherness. In a world gone inexorably cosmopolitan, the ideal of Creole identities is seen as transcending earlier myths of race and nation.” (J. Michael Dash, Psychology, Creolization, and Hybridization in New National and Postcolonial Literatures p. 45) Walcott's poetry stands for this view and this blending of 'high' and 'low' alludes to the destructive yet unpredictably creative nature of colonial enterprise in the Caribbean. The liquid, mongrelized cultural identity is the chief characteristic of postmodernism which would collapse any valuing system dependent upon distinctions between Art and Pop because “we are all Caribbean now in our urban archipelagoes.”(Clifford, p.173) Works Cited : Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ

Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ

Clifford, James, The Predicament of Culture (Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 1988). Dash, J. Michael, Psychology, Creolization, and Hybridization, included in New National and Post-colonial Literatures ed. by Bruce King (Oxford, Clarendon Press, 2002). Donne, John, Meditation XVIII, 1624, reptd. in The Literature of Renaissance England, eds, John Hollander and Frank Kermode (Oxford University Press, 1973). Morris, Mervyn, Walcott and the audience for poetry, reptd. Critical Perspective on Derek Walcott. ed. Robert D. Hamner (Boulder, Lynne Rienner, 1993). Naipaul,V.S., The Middle Passage, First Publication, 1962 (London, Penguin 1975). Rushdie, Salman, Imaginary Homelands (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1992). Walcott, Derek,What the Twilight Said in Dream on Monkey Mountain and Other Plays, (New York : Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1970). Walder, Dennis, Post-Colonial Literatures in English: History, language, Theory (Oxford, Blackwell Publishers Ltd. 2002) Walcott, Derek, In a Green Night : Poems 1948-1960 (London, Jonathan Cape, 1969). Walcott, Derek, Poems 1965-1980 (London, Jonathan Cape, 1979) Walder, Dennis, Post-Colonial Literatures in English: History, language,Theory (Oxford, Blackwell Publishers Ltd. 2002)

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Toni Morrison's Tar Baby: Violent Representations - Suchibrata Goswami Abstract: The aim of this paper is to locate in Morrison's Tar Baby the emergence of the 'new' African American woman in a gendered world that is avowedly racist and violent. The fact that the African American woman has to see herself as black and female results in a violent initiation that is 'different'. The female protagonist of the novel, the Sorbonne-returned Jadine Child, finds herself trapped in the cobweb of her career as a supermodel and demanding responsibility as an African woman. The paper tries to see how the violent binary oppositions enable her to emerge as an independent woman. Her initiation into selfrecovery and self-realization may not satisfy many of Morrison's critics, but certainly unfolds a new dimension of creating independent black female self, however disordered in representation. Keywords: African-American, disordered representation, female initiation, gender violence, new woman, self etc.

In many ways Tar Baby (1981) is the “most ambitious” (Irving 21) of Morrison's works. It is also seen as “an aberration in her development as a writer” and “somewhat marginal in her canon” (Duvall 325). The lack of critical agreement on the meaning and method of the work is instructive, to say the least, because some of the confusion on the novel can be attributed to the numerous and self-contradictory interview remarks of the novelist. Using Morrison's comments to interpret her work is fraught with the same dangers that one encounters in the case of Faulkner. While answering questions, the writer revisits her work and reinvents it with changed perspectives. So such interpretations can illuminate as well as obstruct the interpreter's passage. It is necessary therefore to use Morrison's comments on this novel with caution. Set against the background of a scared and broken world of nature, the mysterious and Edenic-looking Caribbean “Isle des Chevaliers,” the seemingly celebrates peace and harmony, where Valerian Street, a retired, self-exiled white American candy baron plays god to his black servants, a tried and trusted couple, and hosts their Sorbonne-returned artist niece, Jadine Child. Against his own will, he shelters a jailbird, Son, who seems to have jumped ship, and prepares for a traditional Christmas. But once around the same table, black and white, master and servant, break violently disguised but hither-to secure social codes. The eruption results in cantankerous revelations, hollows out the paradise, and forces a violent redistribution of roles that leads everybody to a new understanding of their own inadequacies and strengths. Particularly, it

143 is Jadine whose world is turned upside down by the coming of Son, a small town black man, who stands between her career as a super model and role as a black woman. Like most of Morrison's female characters the question of initiation becomes vital for Jadine as she finds herself entrapped in a world of racism and sexism.This paper locates a 'different' female initiation in the portrait of Jadine as a modern African American woman who struggles against this seemingly tranquil but potentially explosive world of black women. Her initiation into self-recovery and self-realization may not satisfy many of Morrison's critics, but certainly unfolds a new dimension of creating independent black female self, however disordered in representation. The novel presents various oppositions to depict the reality in a black woman's life. It moves too and fro in the exotic world of Paris, the fashioners' paradise and small town Eloe to emphasis the plight of a black woman, her extraordinary privilege and the gendered identity in that world. The author's struggle with the appropriation and colonization of African American beauty by whites comes to a head in her portrait of Jadine. Paris is set as a multicultural paradise, and Jadine is seen as an exotic animal who could warm the hearts of rich Europeans. Interestingly, the text is ambiguous on who the parents of Jadine are, and also if one of them is white. Repeated references to the fact that she is yellow, not exactly black, suggests that she may be mulatto. Her “honeycolored” skin, on which Margaret and Son comment separately, explain and substantiate her acceptability in Paris and Son's initial fascination with her When the novel opens Jadine is on the run from a patriarchal, sexualized world of multicultural Paris, clearly a Morrisonian construct that may or may not reflect the Parisian reality, that refuses to see her as anything other than a commodified body, desirable because it is exotic or because it is black. She conforms to the slogan of the time 'black is beautiful'. Though skin colour means a lot in a racist society, the animal sexuality associated with blackness makes Jadine desirable, if not admirable. It is interesting to observe that the concept of 'pig meat' in Sula (1973), a raw animality, to which a black female body is associated, is a subject of great critical enquiry in Morrison's fiction. Her female characters are often either dehumanized or misrepresented by such an identity. This male gaze that forces Sula to flee from the world of body love to form another identity, is equally prevalent in Jadine's world. In fact, the novel is close to the idea that it is not her intelligence but her tremendous physicality that determines Jadine's existence in the world of the whites. The only difference is that in the sophisticated world of Paris it takes an exotic shape. In an extraordinarily ironic reversal of roles white men and women compete with one another to do her bidding. Jadine glides languorously through this shopper's paradise in Paris, and buys—or rather gets—everything that she wants given her Sorbonne degree and the super model status.

Labyrinth | Vol.2 No.2 (April. 2011) It is no surprise then that the whole group of caretakers in the island are shocked when Jadine says that she not only wants to leave Paris but also a lucrative career of a model, specially at a time when “she has the whole of Paris dancing to her tune”. She wants to escape from this culture of body-love, not because she sees through it as an ideological apparatus but because she is tired, and afraid of its consequences. That Jadine is disenchanted with what Paris offers, or afraid of what Paris could offer, is seen later on in the novel when she compares her life with her Parisian lovers with what Son's company offers: “She was completely happy. After all those sexually efficient men, all those foreplay experts and acrobats, and the nonverbal equipment men, his wildness and fumbling, his corny unself-conscious joy was like blue sky water” (227). Jadine's retreat to her benefactor's island signals her attempt to step back and assess the competing demands of the white world and of racial identity. Jadine's return is important, both as return from/to a world that is not her but she must verify at least for once. Apparently the island does not make her feel different from the world of Paris in its exotic flavour. But it is the coming of Son, the rogue criminal from Eloe offers a suitable contrast of both the worlds. Though his coming to the island seems accidental, in reality nothing in Morrison is unplanned and sudden. Son, with a shared past of slavery and an agrarian background of his hometown Eloe not only stands on the other side of Paris but also of Jadine. Son's ways impresses Jadine as she wants an escape from a world of body-love that cannot see the “me” (45) within her. The alternative Jadine searches for is initially offered by the coming of Son. Son's Africanness--- natural simplicity, his unsophisticated manner and straight forward behaviour attracts Jadine towards him. With him she sees the potential of making her self. But the fact that Son is not only deceptive, but can also be dangerous is soon anticipated. This same person looks at Jadine while sleeping and tries to “manipulate” her “dreams” so that he could get into them. It is interesting to observe that his dreams are no way different from the ones that sees a woman only as a homemaker.

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…he had thought hard during those times in order to manipulate her dreams, to insert his own dreams into her so she would…dream steadily the dreams he wanted her to have about yellow houses with white doors which women opened and shouted Come on in, you honey you! And the fat black ladies in white dresses minding the pie table in the basement of the church and white wet sheets flapping on a line,…while the children scooped walnut up off the ground and handed them to her. …he knew that any moment she might talk back or, worse, press her dreams…then who would mind the pie table in the basement of the church? (119-20)

The passage clearly reflects Son's patriarchal dreams, the dreams of an ideal home where his woman is not a career maker but a homemaker,

145 mother of his children and a preserver of his concept of womanhood. Interestingly, Jadine's education and her lucrative career are only fear factors for him, a fear of losing the patriarchal hold. Son not only disallows them in his dream but also tries various tactics to get rid of them. Clearly his dreams are not innocent, but gendered.The fact that he wants them in his way is also politically motivated. However, Jadine resists this politics and with great frustration confronts Son's typicality as a man. But at the same time her expectation of Son as different from the men of Paris is also fraught with danger. Unfortunately, Jadine's resistance to Son's initial violent gesture is followed by further violence that culminates in the rape, the turning point in Jadine's life. The rape, more figurative than literal, unfolds the reality of black women, however superior in position. Morrison foregrounds this frame of rape as the crucial question of a woman's consent or lack of it. She packs an ironical punch at the patriarchal construction of the reader's mind by suggesting that not seeing the possibility of rape among lovers is a gendered-failure. Because from the duplicity of stalking women to manipulating Jadine's dream, from verbal violence to real physical violence, Son attempts in every mean way to subordinate the self in Jadine. Each example not only suggests violence but also a coercive attempt to deform the self that is independent of its action. Contrary to that Son denies all possibility to change his rouge ways for the sake of Jadine. Suggestively, this figurative rape, an attempt to destroy the original self is evident almost throughout the novel. It is depicted through a deformed presentation of the nature's world that is synonymous with the female body. Nature, in this novel, is the worst victim at the hands of the intruding forces. The epigraph itself tells the story of this violence and violent formation. The world of nature in Isle des Chevaliers is a witness to the violence done---“the land, clouds and fish were convinced that the world was over…” (7). Consequently nature loses its true course and runs everywhere in search of it lost identity. This fate of nature has affinity with Jadine's fate. Like the world of Isle des Chevaliers her world is also crested, demented, insulted and finally left without a possibility to “form its pools and waterfalls.” It is possible to say that Jadine is not only deprived of her true self but also of a possibility to create herself anew. Jadine's desire to see herself as something other than conventional is the manifestation of her inauthenticity as an African woman who has forgotten her “true and ancient property” (304), that is the essence of black womanhood. She neglects the primary duty of a woman as daughter, mother and a bearer of African progeny. Critics have interpreted the various images related to fertility and motherhood associated with Jadine as an ironical reminder of her loss of Africanness. Her dreams are often interpreted in terms of her inner desires and fears of being trapped in the world of typicalities. Such one dimensional critical views tend to project Jadine as an anti-heroine, a “cultural orphan”.

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A recurring image in her dreams is an encounter she has with an African woman dressed in yellow in a supermarket. She is black, has a prominent mouth, exquisite teeth, and holds three ivory-white eggs in her hand ,looking at her in disdain, and spiting at her. The image of the woman with the eggs is the archetypal African mother-woman, a mother goddess who gives birth and nurtures. Her reaction to Jadine's popularity and fame in the dream sequence suggests the futility of an African American woman's search for Parisian stardom. Jadine epitomizes the figure and person of the Parisian womanhood, but the African woman reminds her of its parasitical nature that must necessarily preclude the womb and motherhood. Alternately, this woman could also suggest the threatening figure of the succubus. In African folk tales as well as in Morrison, the succubus is a figure of fear in the sense that she traps, and has sex with men and women who transgress certain socio-sexual boundaries, in the process robbing them of their sexual power or fertility, symbolized here by the eggs.The woman showing her hands with eggs is thus a reminder of the conventionality Jadine has supposed to transgress by her liberating steps in the world of opportunities. But at the same time it is difficult to overlook Jadine's achievement as a black woman. To attain an education and career like hers one must transgress certain social boundaries. In any case Jadine is forced to see something that has no connection with her desires and expectations.Various binary oppositions thus disturb Jadine's position in her world constantly barring forwarding movements in the world of opportunity and success. It can be suggested that recurring image of the woman with eggs hints the other side of the critical enquiry. Instead of interpreting her dreams as manifestations of her inauthenticity as black woman, one can explain them as buried femininity yet to be explored. In fact, Jadine tries to search them within and outside her world when she decides to go to Eloe following Son's path. Once she accepts Son as her lover, she also tries to step in his world, however difficult it might be for her. But Eloe too offers nothing that can dissuade Jadine from accepting Parisian ways. Contrary to that the way the people of Eloe, men and women with a shared African past, react to the unannounced arrival of Jadine with Son, shows how difficult it would be for Jadine to adjust in the world of Soldier and Old Man and Aunt Rosa. Even before Jadine is troubled by the night women, Soldier and Old Man make it known that women in Eloe are expected to be homemakers, sex objects, Mommas or powerful matriarchs, but can never aspire to be partners. Any possibility of a woman to walk side by side with the men is not only dismissed by these people but also by Son himself. It is interesting to observe that once Son reaches Eloe, he becomes a different human being, indifferent to Jadine's needs and sentiments. From an ardent lover to a reluctant son of the community, Son's transition is a violent revelation for Jadine. Her reaction at this moment echoes the

147 same feelings that Sula experiences about men, that, “a lover was not a comrade and could never be---for a woman” ( Sula 121). Soldier, Son's friend, is loyal to him in his own way but still leers at Jadine the moment he is alone with her. He insists on finding out who controls the relationship because in his world there has to be a clear-cut hierarchy in relationship for them to hold. Asked about Son's former wife, Soldier says: “'she wasn't pretty, but you had to hand it to her though. She had the best pussy in Florida, the absolute best…'” (256). As she reflects on her situation, she realizes that “Rosa made her feel like a slut, and now soldier was trying to make her feel like a virgin competing with…” (256; ellipsis in text). Jadine's feeling is further intensified by the subsequent image of the night women. While the men deny seeing a woman anything other than the body, the night women, representing the conventional African society, see in this body the potential for childbearing and motherhood alone. This dream has much similarity with that of the previous one as both of them signify the one dimensional predicament of a black woman. In her encounters with the night women, Jadine sees the power of the forces that successful young men and women of the African American community resist: family, community, motherhood (not just for women). The women offering her breasts are women who give everything they have to keep their world going, epitomized in the novel by Aunt Rosa and Ondine, Jadine's aunt. Likewise, the tree women also epitomize the “sacred properties” of “exceptional femaleness” which they want to transfer to the next generation. Leaving their ways means selfishness on the one hand and liberation on the other. The right to choose must rest with the black female, Morrison would seem to suggest. The power of the female to nurture is what gets centre-staged at this point. But what Judith Wilson asks is also equally important so far rare opportunities open for a black woman in a racist society is concerned. Wilson's query, “Are you saying that women like her, who are privileged, with a college education and a lucrative career, should feel guilty about themselves…?”(Wilson, 135) raises several issues that are manifested in the character of Jadine. This very sense of guilt is made to feel again and again by these images that rest on the “arrogance” that women like Jadine try to be something “other than they were”. Interestingly, like succubi they are after her alone, “taking her sex away…but not his” (260), constantly reminding her of her limitation as a woman, “and her alone--not him”(264). Even if one was conscious of the fact that the ancient women in the novel represent a past that is tied with the memory of slavery and a present bound by that bond, it is difficult to conform to the idea that the future must be a replica of their past and present.Thus, what Jadine experiences and feels in Eloe, the other opposite of Paris, is the voice of any modern African American youth. She feels that in Eloe “there was may be a past but definitely no future…All that Southern small-town country

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romanticism was a lie, a joke, kept secret by people who could not function elsewhere” (259). In fact, de Weever too echoes the same voice with that of Morrison's quester that, “such an ideal (the one Eloe represents) is not possible, and especially not for black women” (Weever, 173). Again, Jadine says something very pertinent to Son in her advice that, “there is nothing any of us can do about the past but make our own lives better….that is the only revenge, for us to get over….But no,…you don't know how to forget the past and do better”(274). Looking forward to a future, something other than their predecessors, is what Jadine strived for. Insofar as the African American community is concerned, Jadine represents a significant cultural cost of the blacks who identify with white culture to the extent that they violently reject their own. But Eloe is far away from the idea that the “traditional boundaries of identity such as place, race, gender and class have become fractured by the flow of people, cultures, information and ideas across geographical frontiers” (Peach, 94). As a result of this the kind of “ideal wholeness” Son or the people of Eloe strive for is not only virtually impossible but also problematic for greater assimilation. Jadine's rejection of such an ideal is more due to the fact that she fits into the European scheme. Hers is not an internalization of white standards like many of Morrison's characters. In fact, Jadine's fight is not so much against white standards of female beauty, as against black representations of womanhood. Colonization of black beauty has been a dominant critical enquiry in Morrison's fiction. What modern African American women want is a way out of it which has been offered through a return to the community. But what the community in Eloe offers here is the same colonization she escaped from. The 'night women', representing an age old tradition of womanhood, are “in agreement” to “Grab the person she had worked hard to become and choke it off with their soft tits” (264). This community projects only one side of a woman, completely rejecting the other, the one Jadine is fortunate enough to achieve. Jadine must get rid of it if she wants to be someone of her own. In a sense critic like Linden Peach seems to agree with Jadine's dilemma when she enquires Son's and thus the Eloe community's one sided assessment of Black womanhood. Her view that they make the mistake of trying to define AfricanAmerican identity in terms of an “imposed traditional Africanism without recognizing that, at one level, it offers little opportunity for growth and intellectual development, especially for black women” (Peach, 94) justifies Jadine's problem. Thus the honey-colored Jadine is claimed by the African woman and by the European man. But none of the worlds offers her a complete sense of self she wants to create in her. However, unlike female characters such as Pecola in The Bluest Eye who is destroyed by internalized views of white beauty, Jadine in Tar Baby champions an identity based on her

149 preferences, if not conventional standards. Since neither she nor Son will compromise—Jadine will not give up her hard-earned independence to mind the pie tables in the church basement and Son will not try to assimilate, i.e. get an education and a "real" job—she seems to return to life in the Paris fashion world. If it is assumed that Jadine has lost her soul but must claim it back, she claims it back not at the cost of her dreams and desires. Morrison compels the reader to re-visit the twin sites of intra- and interracial divide and reconciliation. As in other novels of Morrison, quest remains the primary motif in Tar Baby too. The novel deals with the efforts of rootless individuals to return to their roots, either by way of love or of hate, but offers no terminal solutions. At the end of the novel Jadine chooses to reject the swamp women and Son, and decides to return to her life in Europe. This may look like Jadine's return is to a colonized state, but by placing this issue of beauty and aesthetic value in the context of colonization, and by making colonization a choice rather than an inescapable fact, Morrison achieves two things. On the one hand, she manages to free the black woman from her obsessive need to be free from colonization of ideas such as white/black and choose a 'decolonized' stance.The fact that she chooses to go, and is not compelled to go to Paris, is significant. She may not be conventional in her representation of the black woman, may not perhaps carry the authenticity that is socially significant, but she is independent, and is not crushed under the burden of guilt. The scene of Jadine's final departure is suggestive of this independence. When her plane takes off, Jadine sees herself in an apocalyptic scene, hanging in midair and copulating, alluding to the giant female ant that does so for the survival of her race. But then instead of the male guiding her into or out of this act, the queen ant “surmises, by some four-million-year-old magic she is heiress to, that it is time” (293). As elsewhere in Morrison, the key to survival is a violent redistribution of traditional order, both psycho-sexual and civilizational. Works Cited : Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ

De Weever, Jacqueline. Mythmaking and Metaphor in Black Women's fiction. New York: St Martin's Press, 1991. print. Duvall,John. “Descent in the 'House of Choloe': Race, Rape and Identity in Toni Morrison's Tar Baby”. Contemporary Literature. 38.2 (1997):325-349.print. Irving, John. Review of Tar Baby. Critical Perspective Past and Present. Ed. Henry Louis Gates and K.A. Appiah. NewYork. 1993. 21-25. print Morrison,Toni. Sula. 1973. London:Vintage,1998. ------------------Tar Baby. 1981. London:Vintage, 1997. Peach, Linden. Toni Morrison: Contemporary Critical Essays. London: Macmillan, 1998. print. Wilson, Judith. “A Conversation with Toni Morrison”, Conversations with Toni Morrison. Ed. Danille Taylor-Guthrie. Jackson: UP of Mississippi. 1994. 129-137

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Negotiations and Violence in Mahfouz's Death and Resurrection - Mashhoor Abdu Al-Moghales Abstract: This paper aims at investigating how Naguib Mahfouz views war and violence and how deceptive negotiations lead to unrest and instability. Mahfouz as a humanist writer dislikes violence. His pacific stance is present in the first volume of One-Act Plays. On a close reading, one feels that Mahfouz detests violence as in Death and Resurrection or in The Mountain. The play I have selected illustrates how people react to imposed violence. And, under the result of a dominating power (the Giant), the whole nation represented through the character of the Man, staggers and is unable to stand.The reaction to the violence initiated by a pretending peacemaker (the Giant), the man determines to fight back, leading to another round of violence. Keywords: violence, instability, negotiation, dignity, patriotism

Introduction: Mahfouz is a humanist who lived through many critical phases that Egypt underwent, at the top was the war with Israel. The play in question was written during the 1967 debacle, the most critical period of the Egyptian history in which Egypt faced a humiliating defeat by Israel. It had a deep impact on the Arab world in general and Egypt in particular. Mahfouz as a common man had suffered the trauma of war and defeat. War and its aftermath was the gossip at all levels in Egypt. During the 1950s and 1970s, Mahfouz had started experimental writings which includes short stories and one-act plays. He stopped writing novels and shifted to theatre in the late 1960s. The trauma of horror and anguish caused by war had forced him to change his medium of reflection. He felt that it was theatre which was suitable to this world, in which man is getting lost and degraded. He stated that it was the time for the theatre to take over and to readdress the current issues in the Egyptian society, after the 1967 debacle. Mahfouz comments: “There is no doubt that today we live in the age of theatre.The present moment [in our history], fraught with ideas and problems, can only be debated through the theatre. ... The novel needs calmness, consideration and settled conditions, and because of this it must now step aside and let the theatre take control” (El-Enany 207).

In Death and Resurrection, he criticized the violence imposed on his country by employing absurd elements, such as the two absurd characters - the Giant, a visible figure, and the mocking voice which is heard again and again throughout the action. In this play, he uses symbolism to avoid confrontation with the government such as the plague which refers to Nasser and the Beggar which refers to the deteriorating conditions, as a result of the Plague's regime. In this play,

151 Mahfouz conveys his audience how the Egyptians had felt and reacted to the defeat. On that unforgettable incident, Mahfouz's observation is: At the 'Karnak'*, talk centered always on one and the same topic. Day after day, hour after hour, week after week, month after month, year after year, -- there was no other topic of conversation. All were the same, as far as this was concerned. Sometimes . . . one of us would say: 'Find another subject, before we all go crazy.' At once, everyone would vigorously talk of something else . . . but soon enough, we would revert to the fixed topic, exhaust it and exhaust ourselves, with no break, endlessly. 'War, there is no other way except war.'. . . 'Peace is also a possible solution.' 'The only feasible solution is a solution jointly imposed by the superpowers.' 'Negotiations are tantamount to surrender.' 'Negotiations are imperative. Every nation negotiates, even America and China and Russia, and India and Pakistan.' (Meital 16)

It was difficult for writers to address such issues realistically due to the censorship. Therefore, Mahfouz used the Absurd Tradition to tackle this issue. Esslin's words describing the Absurd Tradition as “the feeling of deadness and mechanical senselessness of half unconscious lives” (390) can be traced in the stage setting of Death and Resurrection.The back area of the stage is dimly lit and scattered with dead-like figures, who at the end of the play wake up and start marching mechanically one after another till the stage is filled with them. This symbolic act of violence ends the play as a reminder to the audience of the consequences of the war and violence. No one is alive; all are “dead corpses” after the Man has been flung by the Giant into the dim area of the stage. The only one left contemplating on the action was the Woman who had been doing her best to establish peace and harmony. Mahfouz has chosen the Absurd Tradition because it suits the political set up of his police-like government. Modes of expression were under continuous censorship by the regime, and the writings of intellectuals were banned in Egypt. It includes Mahfouz's too. Such kind of suppressions had forced Mahfouz to abandon his realistic techniques which he used in many of his novels. He shifted to symbolism, allegory, and even to absurd elements to describe the economic, political, and social downfall that had virtually shaken the Egyptian society. Violence and Negotiation in Death and Resurrection The play opens with curses, threats and blows indicating an atmosphere of violence, foreshadowing the sequence of terrible verbal and physical confrontations that will take place later in the play. The Woman has the greatest role in reducing the intensity of violence and thus does her best to convince the Man to drop the idea of retaliation. The Woman acts as a peace negotiator trying to bring harmony and tranquillity back to her environment. She goes between the two parties, the Giant and the Man * A popular Cairo coffee house where intellectual and common people used to stay for long time

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standing for two different nations. The Giant stands for the western powers and the Man stands for Egypt and the conscience of the people. In her first appearance, she exclaims that the sun will never shine on “a tranquil contented earth” (133).This pacifist woman has a similar role to that of the woman in Tawfiq Al-Hakim's The Perplexed Sultan in which she brings her society back to normal. The above statement made by the woman is true in the context of our world which has lost its balance, resulting in day-to-day incidents of violence. The violent atmosphere marks the daybreak and the opening lines of the play. Another act of violence, as the stage direction indicates, is the violent way by which the Man has been flung into the stage on head first. The situation in which the Man is upside down, symbolises how the Man, representing mankind, can be uprooted, displaced and degraded due to violence and instability. In this scene, no one was there except the Woman who helps him regain his strength and consciousness. After he gets his balance back, he attempts to get away from the Woman who saved him. Even in this appalling situation, the Man does not want to listen to the Woman. Like Nora in Sean O'Casey's The Plough and The Stars, the Woman tries to persuade the Man to keep off this violence. She knows that the Man's determination to take revenge will lead to another act of violence which might be worse than the earlier one. But, as it is the nature of the man, he has to follow this act of violence and the woman pays for it. The Woman asks the Man to look at the bright side of life and not at the dark one. She tells him that life has to go on, despite its pitfalls and dark moments. The Man cannot forget the glorified past of his ancestors. He compares his own situation with that of his forefathers who had lived glorious victories over their enemies. This obsession of the past is the source of violence the Man is suffering from. These two opposing views on violence, war and blood are brought to us through the Man and the Woman who tries to draw the Man's attention to the danger surrounding him. She tells him that everything can be compromised except death. But the Man looks at the Woman's warnings as something baseless, since dignity is the most valuable thing he should guard. Again, like Nora in O'Casey's The Plough and The Stars, the Woman fails in her attempt to change his mind. She accuses him of being selfish: “you are selfish you have had your fill of me and now you cast me off and hanker after the smell of blood” (137). The man's nature is different form that of the woman's. The Man states that he does “loathe groveling in the dust” (137). The Man underlines that he does not like violence and blood shedding but he has been forced into it and he finds it natural to defend himself and avenge for his defeat, unlike the Woman. The Woman is characterized as an opponent to war and violence, which the man advocates. She loathes the sight of the corpses of the dead people. When the man points at the recumbent figures lying on the shadowy steps at the back, the woman diverts her eyes. But, the dead are a source of inspiration for the Man. They bring life back when he

153 remembers them to the Woman. This sense of patriotism will lead the Man to unpleasant consequences. She warns him not to let his pride break up his life (138). For the Woman, everything can be compensated for, except death. She believes that “death is life's foremost foe” (139). Therefore, she thinks that the man has to accept the situation imposed on him and he has to negotiate with his enemy through a third party, the Giant who offers to do so. The Man disagrees with the Woman who suggests the Man “to submit to anything but death” (139) and objects the Woman's words for he feels that she attempts to kill his spirit of patriotism and his sense of dignity. He feels that he cannot live with the shame of defeat and robbed identity. He does not look at woman's words as wise and truthful but he regards them as intoxicating and, if he follows them, he would find himself “trampled underfoot” (138). That's why he decisively rejects her suggestion that “time heals everything except death” (139). The Man wants to live a life with dignity and peace; a life with no violence, neither humiliation nor defeat. His existence on this earth has been under threat which he intends to fight. He feels that he is meaningless and purposeless under the trauma of violence, as a result of war with the enemy and the ruling dictators as well. Mahfouz addresses this issue with expressionistic mode of presentation. He uses nameless characters, short dialogues. He divides it into two parts – the backstage is dim and shadowy with “recumbent figures suggesting sleep or death” (133). The image spreads fear and fright among the audience and reflects the author's state of mind – a state of turbulence. Under a state of total confusion and concealed conspiracy, the Man behaves like a maniac, shocked by the horror of defeat. Mahfouz's message is perhaps to convey the horrifying experience of the people underwent during the 1976 setback. As the play dramatizes, the people – symbolically the Man, were profoundly affected by the 1967 defeat. People were quite sure that it would not take long to defeat Israel because of the growing defence system that President Nasser had been boasting of besides the heavy taxes imposed on the people to build up a defence system for the country. This defeat has also created a public aversion against Nasser's regime, symbolised by the Plague. After the 1967, people were divided into supporters and opponents of the Nasserite regime. Some wanted him to go on despite the setback while others wanted him to resign because Egypt's infrastructure had deteriorated a lot due to his policy. He could not bring peace and stability to the Egyptian people who were living in “A bottle of liquid sorrows” (144), as the Man says. Many others wanted peace and nothing but peace. It was difficult for the people to cope up with the existing situation in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The unexpected Israel's attack on Egypt had created a sense of insecurity and confusion among the Egyptians, intellectuals and political leaders. The Egyptian economy had undergone a serious fall and had forced many people to live under the poverty line. The play is marked with confusion. The audience cannot decide who is

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right - the Man or the Woman? The arguments between the Man and the Woman have created a sense of scepticism among the audience who cannot decide whom to follow - the Man with his decisive stance to take revenge for his wounded dignity or to follow the Woman's logical stances to accept peace and drop away the idea of violence? The Woman argues with the Man with a hope to give peace a chance if there is sincerity for reconciliation from both sides. But the man realizes that the Giant only pretends to be a peace negotiator whose hidden intention is to dominate and to impose his power on the Man. When the Man makes up his mind to fight his enemy, the Giant was the first one to confront. On the one hand, Mahfouz, through the Woman's voice, negotiates peace and remarks that there is always a way to achieve it if there are good intentions. This imbalance is the outcome of the Giant's intention for dominance and the Man's obsession for revenge. With those two opposing stances, peace is difficult. Therefore, a new round of violence is expected. The 'ridiculous' act on the part of the Man is suggestive of overreacting to the issue of defeat and it seems to be resolved through negotiation. The Man deeply thinks of his defeat as something humiliating for which he seeks revenge to bring his robbed dignity back. The other thought that disturbs and forces him to take up violence, is the glorious past of his ancestors. He seeks gratification from the memories of his forefather's heroic drives. He attempts to emulate them and follow their steps and direct the blow to his enemy without the help of others. Mahfouz makes this revenge impossible because of the political violence engulfing the whole world. So the best way to resolve disputes and differences, as the play moves on, is through negations. But the author shows there is an obstacle to peace. This idea is brought out by the defiant stance the Man takes, and by the manipulation of the Giant who had no real intention to create peace. The Man's doctrine is to “die fighting” (162). Such kind of clash between the Man and the Giant cannot lead to peace. The Woman is a wise person with moderate views. Unlike the Man, she prefers to solve the dispute diplomatically because she dissents violence, blood shedding and instability. She favours negotiation and insists on the man to surrender to it. She does not support the Man in his just cause and suggests him that he should open his “heart to the voice of reason, not to the call of death” (162). But the Man gets more and more violent, and determines to fight his enemy back, especially, after the Giant exposes his true identity. When the Giant fails to convince the Man to draw back from counterattacking, he tells him that the mocking laughter is his cousin and he would stand by his side if the Man attacks. He further tells him that he has to fight two giant enemies instead of one.The Giant, after that, dictates certain conditions to the Man if he wants his help. That is, he has to accept the Giant's domination over everything. This imposed domination irritates the Man who clings to his “die than submit” (167) motto for he feels “human dignity is more important than life itself” (167). The Man finally decides “to fight for” his “dignity till

155 death” (173). The Giant describes the Man's stance as “the slogan of the plague which has milled millions of fools” (173). The Giant uses the plague symbol to refer to President Nasser. This verbal confrontation between the Man and the Giant probes into Nasser's politics for so many people hailed him as the greatest Arab leader to have brave and courageous stance against Israel. So many people chanted Nasser's bold slogan: “what was taken by force can only be recovered by force” (Meital 16). But many Egyptian thinkers as Tawfiq Al-Hakim and Mahfouz were against Nasser's war policy and they were against war. They felt that Egypt would not afford another war. As communicated through the play and confirmed by Mahfouz: Mahfouz told me that he began thinking of peace after the defeat of 1976, while Nasser still ruled. Peacemaking was not a course that he could explore openly, though he said he talked about it with Hakim, and both agreed it was senseless for Egypt to be mired in Nasser's posture of no-war, no peace. “i witnessed five wars in my generation,” he said to me. “After every one, we had to start from zero to rebuild our country. That's why i was against war. Sadat knew we could not wage another war, and so did Nasser. So why not peace? Unlike some, i did not believe it would destroy Arab pride.” ( Viorst 107)

The play ends with violence as it begins.The fight breaks out between the Man and the Giant when the Man walks in the direction of the mocking laughter, his enemy. The Giant stops the Man from advancing. Mahfouz's words describe the act of fighting as the play ends: The Man turns round and advances intently towards it. The Giant leaps at him. The Man pushes him away. The Giant holds him by the shoulders and flings him in the direction of the 'mastabas'. The Man disappears in the shadows for a moment then springs back like a ball that hit a wall; He falls headlong on his face, then stand up swaying. It appears as if his movement has woken up the sleeping figures and drawn them out of their inertia. The first rolls down the steps until he reaches the front of the stage and pulls himself up slowly and heavily like someone waking up. Another follows. Repeating the same movements until the stage fills with them. ……The sleepers are now fully awake, they hold themselves up straight, and their faces wear a determined look.The rest march behind him resolutely until all disappear, and only the sound of their steps is heard. ( D&R 173-174)

The Man does not fight his 'real' enemy. He is engaged in fight with a third party, the Giant who was supposed to be the peace negotiator. The dispute could have been settled down if the Giant has been neutral without imposing himself on the Man. His unconditional dictations to the Man has created hostile attitude on the part of the Man. Conclusion: It can be said that this play addresses the futility of war and violence and argues certain issues such as life and death. Following the tradition of the Absurd Theatre, the play also draws the attention of the audience to the importance of existence and co-existence. The play

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dramatizes the issues concerned with “the ultimate realities of human condition, the relative few fundamental problems of life and death, isolation and communication” (Esslin 392). The play ends with a note that violence takes place due to the absence of sincere efforts to contain and resolve the conflict. The Man realizes that the Giant is not sincere in his efforts to create peace and this drives him to fight his enemy back. Thus, the play ends signalling another round of fighting, though imbalanced, while the Woman, frustrated, “listens sadly” (174) to the march of the sleepers led by the Man. Mahfouz remarks that war is negative and that there is a chance for peace to be established if the two parties work out a just and peaceful plan without the interference of a third party. He has been against the war with Israel and he supported the Camp David Peace Treaty between Egypt and Israel. He praised President Saddat for his peace efforts and stability he had brought to the Egyptians as communicated in Naguib Mahfouz at Sidi Gaber in which Mahfouz talks about Anwar AlSaddat's role to bring peace to Egypt (119). That is, he encourages peace which comes as a result of sincere peace negotiations satisfying the two sides and not that peace which is based on submission. He also wants peace between the Palestinian and the Israelis and encourages them to co-exist which is the only formula to live peacefully as pointed in Naguib Mahfouz at Sidi Gaber (117). Works Cited : Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ

Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ

El-Enany, Rasheed. Naguib Mahfouz: The Pursuit of Meaning. London: Routledge, 1993. Esslin, Martin.The Theatre of the Absurd. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books,1968. Selaiha, Nehad. “Naguib Mahfouz as playwright.” Naguib Mahfouz Nobel 1988: Egyptian Perspectives: A Collection of Critical Essays. ed. M. M. Enani. Cairo: Egyptian General Book Organization, 1989. ---. “Introduction.” Naguib Mahfouz: One-Act Plays. Cairo: General Egyptian Book Organization, 1989. ---. “Dramatic ventures.” Al-Ahram Weekly Online. 13 - 19 December 2001. Issue No.564. Oct 6, 2006. < http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2001/564/3sc1.htm> Gordon, Haim. Naguib Mahfouz's Egypt: Existential Themes in His Writings New York: Greenwood Press,1990. Maḥfūz, Najīb. Naguib Mahfouz at Sidi Gaber: Reflections of a Nobel laureate, 19942001. Cairo, AUC, 2001. Mahfouz, Naguib. Death and Resurrection. Trans. Nehad Selaiha. In Naguib Mahfouz: One-Act Plays. Cairo: General Egyptian Book Organization, 1989. Meital, Yoram. Egypt's Struggle for Peace: Continuity and Change, 1967-1977. Gainesville, FL.: University Press of Florida, 1997. O'casey, Sean. The Plough and The Stars. In Three Plays By Sean O'Casey. London Macmillan & Co Ltd., 1957 Viorst, Milton. Sandcastles: The Arabs in Search of the Modern World. New York, First Syracuse University Press, 1994. Whitting, Ken. “Egyptian Drama.” MERIP Reports, 52, 1976. Oct 10, 2006 (13-19). * similar to stairway tombs used in Egypt during Pharaonic period which later developed to pyramid complexes

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I have to speak the truth - Vijay Tendulkar: Discussing the Man of Genius - Megha Trivedi & Vini Jain Abstract: The present article discusses one of the most creative Indian Playwrights- Vijay Tendulkar. He has enhanced the Indian drama and theatre by highlighting varied problems of indigenous life in Maharashtra. Tendulkar is a gigantic Indian dramatist and all his plays are penetratingly focused and enlightening. Thematically, his plays have ranged from the estrangement of the modern human being to contemporary political affairs from social-individual apprehensions to the convolutions of human character from the dominating patriarchy to reinterpretations of history. Several themes like conservative ethics, corruption, gender discrimination, sex, violence, marriage, and issues of moral judiciary system have been featured importantly in his plays. Keywords: conservative ethics, corruption, gender discrimination, moral judiciary system

Vijay Tendulkar-one of the most significant playwrights of India was born in Kolhapur in the year 1928. He along with Girish Karnad, Badal Sarcar, Habib Tanvir gave a look life to Indian theater by writing about modern-day issues and themes in their works. He introduced a new structure and content in his writing. He has written thirty full-length plays, seven one-acts, six collections of children's plays, four of short stories, two novels, and seventeen film scripts to his credit. His distinguished plays are: Shanta! Court Chalu Ahe (Silence! The Court is in Session, 1967), Sakharam Binder (Sakharam, the Bookbinder, 1972), Kamala (1981), and Kanyadaan (The Gift of a Daughter, 1983). His play Ghashiram Kotwal (Ghashiram the Constable, 1972), a musical combination of Marathi folk and contemporary theatrical techniques, is one of the most performed plays in the world, with more than six thousand showings in India and abroad. He has been the most significant dramatist and theater persona in Marathi. Maharashtra always had a strong theatre custom and Marathi audiences have been acquiescent to different experiments on the stage. Tendulkar has always stunned and titillated them with variety of appalling themes and realistic dialogue. His plays are marked with revolution and have always fascinated the audience that required a mutiny from conservative theatre. He wrote his first story at age six. He read western plays at a very early age and felt motivated to write plays himself. In 1967 his Silence! The Court is in Session was a milestone not only in his career but in the history of whole

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Marathi drama. He has received an outstanding appreciation for the way in which he has stirred Indian theatre through his risky experiments on integrity, primacy and violence. He explored social issues of the contemporary time and received enormous accomplishments. His plays revealed the condition of a woman as downtrodden emotionally, publicly, and physically. He highlights fruitfully a comprehensible insight into the life of his individual characters and brings to mind pity for them. His works hold logical observation of current Indian social reality by implementing and experimenting with different literary forms and structures. In an interview with Sumit Saxena,Tendulkar has noted: I have not written about hypothetical pain or created an imaginary world of sorrow. I am from a middle class family and I have seen the brutal ways of life by keeping my eyes open. My work has come from within me, as an outcome of my observation of the world in which I live. If they want to entertain and make merry, fine go ahead, but I can't do it, I have to speak the truth. (Tendulkar: 1)

The temperament of India society with all its anger, frustration and brutality is depicted by Tendulkar in his plays. The stern controversy neighboring his plays is an obvious indicator of their deep rootedness in the social-political background on which they were written. Man is shown as a totally powerless creature against the brutal circumstances in which he is trapped by the society. The receptive, affectionate and munificent people become the victim to miserable circumstances and surrenders at the end. Balachandran mentioned: Today in every modern Indian language, one can discern many schools of theater-the 'traditional, the experimental, and the post-modernistic'. Tendulkar is the traditional artist with extraordinary talents, and his plays reveal modernistic qualities. He received the attention of artists during the seventies and in his plays is found irony and satire, which of course were written elaborately in ancient India. (Balachandran: vii)

Most of the plays of Tendulkar deal with the themes that unravel the exploitation of power and latent violence in human relationships.Women play a central role in the plays of Tendulkar. All the female characters in his plays represents lower and middle classes housewives, teachers, mistresses, daughters, film extras, slaves, and servants. The characters in his plays amalgamated of conflicting personalities fraught between passion and intellect; values and contradictory actions; in quest of independence yet passive, stressed between physical requirements and ethics. While delivering the prestigious Sri Ram Memorial Lectures for Performing Arts in 1997 in New Delhi, Tendulkar narrated his enduring contribution in theater. He said: What I like about those years is that they made me grow as a human being. And theater which was my major concern has contributed to this in a big way. It helped to analyze life--my

159 own and lives of others. It led me to make newer and newer discoveries in the vast realm of the human mind that still defies all available theories and logic. It's like an everintriguing puzzle or a jungle that you can always enter but has no way out. Not that I am any wiser than the fool I was when I entered the theater. I still act like a fool and think like one; but there is a difference. Now I am aware of what I am doing while I do it. I am my own audience and the critic, if one may use the language of the theater. Now I enjoy my foolishness and laugh at it; and of course the foolishness of others too, at times. (Tendulkar: 36)

His plays mark a definite break with the mainstream Marathi drama in particular as well as Indian drama in general. They are marked with a unique characteristic and represents real life situations. The play Kanyadan represents the life of a Dalit poet Namdev Dhansal; Silence! The Court is in Session depicts the dialogue Tendulkar heard at a mock trial enacted by a group of players; Ghashiram Kotwal is constructed on the basis of a historical incident in the Peshwa regime; Kamala has its roots in the real happening appeared in the newspaper. A Friend's Story reveals the life of a person whom Tendulkar came across in Pune. All the plays portray complexities, cruel forces, miseries and suffering caused by conventional Indian society. According to Arundhati Banerjee: Tendulkar presents modern man with all its complexities. He portrays life as it is from different angles, without trying to moralize or philosophize in any way. All the works contain a latent critique of modern Indian society, mostly middle class and lower middle class though from different angles. (Banerjee: viii)

Tendulkar moves from an individual to a group and from a group to society at large in his plays. His dramatic success lies in his magical combination of currency and timelessness that are manifested in his social plays. According to Dinesh Thakur, Director and actor in some of the Tendulkars' plays: Vijay Tendulkar continues to be my favorite Indian Playwright because of the sensitivity and accuracy with which he depicts social issue.The astonishing range of his plays, be it the victimization of the individuals by the society in Shanta! Court chalu Ahe or the moral collapse of family in Ghidhade, the ruthlessness of media in Kamala, provides a director a very thematic canvas to choose form. At the same time, the lack of moralizing gives the plays a very open-ended feel, leaving ample scope for directorial interpretations (Thakur: 11)

Ghashiram Kotwal deals with political brutality. It is a Marathi play written by Tendulkar in 1972.The play was as his response to the rise of a local political party, Shiv Sena, in Maharashtra. The play is a political satire, written as historical drama. It is based on the life of Nana Phadnavis (1741-1800), one of the well-known ministers in the court of

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the Peshwa of Pune. Ghashiram Kotwal has been the longest-running plays in the history of Indian Theater. It begins with a prayer to lord Ganesha. The play highlights the Brahmins of Pune and the morally corrupt state of affairs in Pune. Nana Phadnavis who is the Diwan (Chief Secretary) of Pune is also corrupt and visits the lavani dancer. Ghashiram was working with the lavani dancer. He barters his own daughter to get the post of Kotwal (police chief) of Pune from Nana. Tendulkar through his writings has uncovered the theme of man's existential seclusion. The play characterizes the game of power politics by exposing violence, treachery, sexuality, brutality and immorality of those days. It also exposed male dominance and women's defenselessness in the Indian social chain of authority. The play highlights the cruelty persisting in the Indian society which praises the corrupt Nana and punishes the straightforward and innocent Ghashiram. The play reminds the lines from the poem of J.G. Holland titled 'True Men': The rabble with their well- worn creeds, Their large profusions and their little deeds, Mingle in selfish strife, lo, freedom weeps, Wrong rules the land, and waiting justice sleeps (True Men: 174)

According the Tendulkar: Though Ghashiram was my reflection on the rise of Shiv Sena, I was ultimately interested in examining the situations which led to the creation of Ghashiram-like forces in the society. The Ghashiram of the world die, but the situation which gives birth to such forces recur and are personified in the character of Nana Phadnavis. Beneath the superficial changes in the history, the large dynamics of power are cynical. (Tendulkar: 5)

Tendulkars central distress has been the relationship between individual and society.Tendulkar has made a successful manifestation of the hidden hostility prevailing in the middle class society which leads to seclusion and substantial demolition of man. One can find naturalism and humanism in all his plays. His play Sakharam Binder explores a significant issue of sex and violence. It projects the plight of women in all the helplessness. Sakharam is the main protagonist of the play but the action revolves around the character called Laxmi. According to Vasant Palsikar, a Marathi Critic: Actually the play Sakharam Binder is not about Sakharam. Initially, the playwright may have intended to make Sakharam the protagonist. But the play slips from his hand, it becomes the play that focuses on the character of Laxmi, and at this point she becomes the protagonist of the play (Palsikar: 11)

The play reflects the hypocritical Indian attitude of male where a woman is suppressed and degenerated to fulfill the man's intention. The story revolves around a man who battered the rural villages of his region in

161 India for deserted wives. He offered them a place in his home and used them in exchange. Kamala on the other hand is a story of a tribal woman brought to city by an investigating journalist Jaisingh Jhadav to investigate about woman exploitation in name of 'woman trade'. The play contains layer of complications and reveals the malice existing in the society. Jaisingh exploits Sarita and Kamala for the accomplishment of his most wanted journalistic goal. Sarita was a wife of Jaisingh but her condition was as miserable as of Kamala in the play. Both are exploited at one end or another and represent the despondent condition of women in Indian society. Tendulkar has added new dimensions and reshaped the life of Kamala according to his interpretations and called it as a 'true story'. Jaisingh represents selfishness, cruelty and ruthlessness prevailing in the modern young generation and also brings out the oppressive and dominating nature of society. Sarita rightly pictures the character of Jaisingh as: … a man who is in the year 1982, still keeps the slave, right here in Delhi. I am going to say: this man is a great advocate of freedom. And he brings home a slave and exploits her. One can use and throw away. He gets a people to call him a sworn enemy of tyranny. But he tyrannizes his own slave as much as he likes, and does not think of anything of it – nothing at all. Listen to the story of how he brought the slave Kamala and made use of her. The other slave he got for free –the slave's father shelled out the money –a big sum. They (woman) must only slave away. Dance to their master's whim. Laugh when he says laugh. Cry, when he says-cry. When he says pick up the phone, they must pick it up. When he says, come to the party, they must go. (Kamala 46)

Kamala and Sarita symbolizes sincerity, innocence, generosity and simplicity in the play. Tendulkar ridicules the drawbacks of the so called civilized society, where youth is only interested in pursuing their selfish goals at the cost of human values. Tendulkar has also attacked marriage as an institution by throwing light on the relationship of Jaisingh and Sarita. Like in his previous plays, in Kamala, Tendulkar has explored the condition of women in contemporary Indian Society, women who are toppled through out and are treated as lifeless objects as if they have no emotions. Mitra, in The Friends Story is the main character of the play. She in the first half of the play represents a much powerful woman but again fell prey into the male dominated society towards the end and suffered a tragic destiny. All the plays of Tendulkar present the complexities and ugliness in the world at large. Greed, Money, Sex, Power, Politics, Fame, Man-Woman relationship has always been the themes of Tendulkar’s plays. Chandrasekhar Barve, a Marathi Critic observed: The depiction of life in Tendulkar's plays has an invincible but a solid foundation in the philosophy of life. His philosophy of

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Labyrinth | Vol.2 No.2 (April. 2011) life includes Man, his body and soul, his ego, his association, the futility in the relations between men, the resultant sense of loneliness, the idea of sin and virtue, the uncertainty of all this, it can be observed that Tendulkar's plays tend towards existentialism. ( Barve: 23 )

The play Silence! The Court is in the Session deals with the tragedy of Miss Leela Benare, a teacher. Her private life was discussed in the public during the mock trial of the play within the play. The play is attempt to revolt against the deep rooted evils of gender discrimination in the Indian society. Ms. Benare represents the dilemma and pillage of a helpless woman, a victim of middle class psyche. She is a remarkable character who breaks the tradition in order to exterminate patriarchy. The play is a question on the male bigotry, hypocrisy and pretentious judiciary system. It is a bitter lampoon against the social evils and a remarkable challenge to disparage the follies that prevail in our culture. It identifies society as a root cause to follows duel standards and holds only women responsible for the immoral practices. Mukabala was written in 1967 by Tendulkar. It is a political allegory which represents a truthful picture of the late 60's and the early 70's of the history of India. It also depicts various evils prevailing in politics like lust, corruptions and diverse scandals. The Vulture represents a moral degradation of a middle class family in the modern society. It was originally written in Marathi. It was translated by Priya Adarkar in English in 1971. According to Tendulkar: The Vulture was born out of the personal crisis in his life, that is poured out of him within the short span of four plays and he himself was shocked that he could give expression to so much of violence. It was almost a cathartic process. (Five Plays: XIII)

Tendulkar has revealed violence, sensuality, wickedness, brutality in the Vulture with the help of different characters like Hari Pitale, Ramakant, Umakant, and Manik.Vasant Dahake, a Marathi critic commented: Outwardly, the characters, Umakant, Ramakant and Manik in the play Gidhade, appear, indecent, violent, and indifferent. However, they are grief-stricken somewhere in the heart of their hearts. Individually speaking, each one of them is hollow in his or her mind. In his dialogue with Umakant, Ramakant challenges him saying “If you are a man, smell a woman's belly for a change…! No heir to his name” (213). The theme implicit is that Umakant is Impotent. Likewise, Ramakant is frustrated for being childless and Manik's love for Raja does not fructify. The so-called cruel characters are split personalities in that they are grieved inwardly, but outwardly using bad language, are involved in treacherous acts. The author intends to show that all human beings deserve pity. ( Dahake: 12)

Tendulkar has drawn different characters in his plays that keep changing

163 with the changing surroundings. Some of the characters are sensitive and tenderhearted. They rouse compassion in the minds of audience from the beginning to the end. Some of the characters are shown wicked, violent and aggressive. His characters and their actions are determined by the forces that shapes their temperament and deeds. The play Encounter in Umbugland is also a political allegory. The story and the characters depict the political situation of India in the late sixties and the early seventies. Vijay Tendulkar wrote for himself. He has expressed his views on writing in an interview with Joideep Sen as: Life still has some meaning. I'm fortunate that I can still write and apply my mind to what I'm doing. And I will continue to write, but the difference between what I used to write once and what I'm writing now, is that this writing is more or less for my self, necessarily. Meaningful work can possibly mean the proper application of the mind. Over time one becomes a professional writer, especially in theater, if you are with a theater group, because they need scripts. I was financially dependent on writing more or less all the time. At this stage, writing doesn't happen because of these reasons - it necessarily comes because I feel like writing. Writing has become more or less a need, like reading – or like talking to one's self, which I do in fact – I talk aloud to my self when I'm alone. Such needs I think are necessary in the phase of life in which I am now. Otherwise, writing is more or less along the same lines; I try to explore situations, problems, aspects of my reality. It was more or less the same throughout, but then other needs also existed then. Now there is no such need, now I write essentially and totally for myself. (Tendulkar: 2)

Tendulkar has demonstrated Society and it's so called rigid norms as adding to the depreciation of an individuals and depriving them of most of the human rights, relative to life, liberty, equality and dignity. He has questioned the false social norms prevalent in the society which ask everyone to confirm to its standard of modesty and proprietary. His plays explore the layers of internal mind and expose the psychological findings by highlighting the vitalities of contemporary life. He has focused on the human mind and detects the ugliness in it. His plays are the result of his surveillance of the life, society and different incidents in his own life. It is noted that Tendulkar in his plays like Silence! The Court is in Session and Kamala dealt with the theme of gender discrimination with adamant pragmatism, merciless questioning of human nature, and sincere scrutiny of individual and group psychology. Works Cited : Aiyer, Ramnath ed., “Protection of Human Rights Acts, 1993”, Legal Dictionary Nagpur;Vadhava and Co., 1940, reprint 2007, p. 537. Ÿ Banerjee, Arundhati. “Introduction,” Five Plays, New Delhi; Oxford India Paperbacks, 1995, Eight Impression, 2006, p. vii- xxi Ÿ Banerjee, Arundhati. Introduction toVijay Tendulkar, Five Plays. Ÿ

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Labyrinth | Vol.2 No.2 (April. 2011) Barve, Charvkarndrashe. “Vijay Tendulkar:The Man who explores the Depth of Life” the extract is the transaltion by Ajit Soman and Arun Belsare in Sukhakar Pandey and Freya Taraporewala (eds) Contempoary Indian Drama, new Delhi: Prestige Books 1990, pp.23. Dahake,Vasant. (1975) “ Kraurya Natya ani Gidhade”, Satyakatha, Sep. pp.12 Gokhle, Shanta. "Tendulkar on his Own Terms," in Geeta Rajan and Shoma Choudhry (eds),Vijay Tendulkar (New-Delhi: Katha, 2001), p. 81. Holland, J.G. “ True Men”, in English Reader, Kumar Bharati, Maharastra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education, Pune, 1994, p.174. Iyer, Natesan Sharda. Musing on IndianWriting in English. New Delhi: Sarup and Sons, 2007 Vol. 3 Kalb, Jonathan, "An Indian Father Courage, Using and LosingWomen." New York Times, November 3, 2004. Maitra, Kiran Shankar. The Twilight Zone: Ladies of the Night, New Delhi: Sterling Publisher Pvt. Ltd, 1997. Mehta, Kumud: "Introduction" Silence! The court is in session. Vijay Tendulkar, 1978 Oxford university press, Delhi. Mohanthy, Jeetendranath. Classical Indian Philosophy. Lanham MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2000 Nair, Sreenath. Restoration of Breath: Conciousness and Performance. Amsterdam/New York, NY: Rodopi, 2007,VI, pp.198 Palshikar,Vasant. Sakharam Binder, Pralishtham, May 1973, 11. Ramanathan, Ramu "Play the Devil," Tehalka Newspaper online, Nov 12, 2005. http://www.tehelka.com /story_main14.asp?filename=hub111205Play_the.asp Saxena, Sumit, "A Conversation with sir Vijay Tendulkar," Passion for Cinema, 20 December, 2006. http://passionforcinema.com/a-conversation-with-sir-vijaytendulkar Subhramanyam, Lakshmi. Woman in Modern Indian Theater, New Delhi: Har-Anand Publication, 2002. Tendulkar,Vijay. The Play is the Thing, New-Delhi: Sri Ram Memorial Lecture, 1997), p.15. Tendulkar,Vijay. “Kamala”, Five Plays, New Delhi: Oxford India Paperbacks, 1995, Eight Impression, 2006, P. 46. Tendulkar, Vijay. 'I am against sensational Journalism' The Sunday Observer, October, 1982. Tendulkar, Vijay. Ghasiram Kotwal, English trans. (Seagull Books, 1986). Quoted in introduction by Samik Bandyopadhyay, p. iv. Tendulkar, Vijay. Five Plays (Bombay: Oxford University Press, 1992). The five plays translated in this book are: Kamala, Silence! The Court is in Session, Sakharam Binder, The Vultures, and Encounter in Umbugland. See the Introduction by Arundhati Banerjee, p.x. Wadikar, Shailja. Vijay Tendulkar: A Pioneer Playwright. New Delhi: Atlantic Publisher and Distrubutor, 2008.

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De-glorification of homogenous world: Kiran Nagarkar's Ravan and Eddie - Nitin Jarandikar Abstract: The post-Rushdie Indian English novel very often tends to be a 'nation narrative'. These novelists paradoxically connect nations with individuals assuming nation as a myth. They try to deconstruct India as a nation from her fragments. These writers even question the identity of the nation. The contemporary Indian English novelists celebrate the fractured, the fragmented identity of the nation.They also interrogate the falsity of the notion of secularism. Though it is pretty difficult to locate Kiran Nagarkar in the post – Rushdie generation, being a different kind of novelist, his fiction does share the prominent features of the post – Rushdie Indian English novel. His Ravan and Eddie (1991) certainly raises the issues of nationalism, secularism, and making of the nation. In a typical postmodernist way, Nagarkar deconstructs the homogenous and harmonious world through the novel Ravan and Eddie. Keywords: chawl culture, nationalism, fundamentalism, multiculturalism.

The post-Rushdie Indian English novel very often tends to be a 'nation narrative' or what Frederic Jameson defines “the national allegory” (Choudhary xxix). The fate of the protagonist and the fate of the nation move simultaneously towards the same kind of disintegration. For instance, the protagonists of Midnight's Children (1980), The Moor's Last Sigh (1996), Such A Long Journey (1991), reveal the allegorical parallelism of “the growth to maturity of the individual and the growth of an Independent India” (Mee:323). These novelists paradoxically connect nations with individuals assuming nation as a myth. They try to deconstruct India as a nation from her fragments. These writers even question the identity of the nation. The Rushdie generation's doubt about the national identity and the death of nationalism take its cue from the postcolonial thought of Homi K. Bhabha and Gayatri Spivak Chakravarty and their anti-nationalistic stance. While talking about the post-Independence Indian English novelists, Makarand Paranjape argues that, these novelists remained “insulated and secure from most of the major shocks of post-Independence India…At least politics did not upset our novelists” (Poetics 40). But the post-Rushdie novelists do not comply with this observation. Rather they follow Rushdie who refutes the Orwellian notion of political quietude on the part of the novelist. Therefore, most of these novelists try to remain

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'outside the whale'. If pre-Independence Indian English novel is based on the Gandhian ideology of Ram Rajya, the post-Independence Indian English novel is modelled on the Nehruvian ideology of secularism. But the post-Rushdie novelists go a step ahead and subvert the notion of secularism. The secular ideals of the nation collapsed particularly in the post-Ayodhya period. Thus, the contemporary Indian English novelists celebrate the fractured, the fragmented identity of the nation. They also interrogate the falsity of the notion of secularism. Though it is pretty difficult to locate Kiran Nagarkar in the post – Rushdie generation, being a different kind of novelist, his fiction does share the prominent features of the post – Rushdie Indian English novel. His Ravan and Eddie (1991) certainly raises the issues of nationalism, secularism, and making of the nation. In a typical postmodernist way, Nagarkar deconstructs the homogenous and harmonious Indian world through the novel Ravan and Eddie. Ravan and Eddie is quintessentially a Mumbai novel. It depicts the chawl culture, the unique identity of Mumbai, unknown so far, to the Indian writing in English. Chawls in Mumbai are the multi-storey buildings with common amenities built in the 19th century by the cotton-mill owners for the mill workers. Girangaon was a specific locality in Mumbai where these chawls were saturated initially, since most of the mills were in Girangaon (Giran, in Marathi, means a mill). The workers, who came to Mumbai from the different parts of Maharashtra and India, lived in these chawls harmoniously for years. The chawls witnessed, and very often participated in the socio-political agitations that took place in pre and post-Independence India. By and large, it is assumed that the chawls in Mumbai are associated with multiculturalism and multilingualism, in true sense. In the decades of the 80s, the mill-workers declared the indefinite strike. The dead-lock could not be resolved for various reasons. And the result was the extinction of the cotton mills. It fatally affected the chawl culture and even the chawl entity itself. The decades of the 90s witnessed the emergence of the land-mafia, Tower culture, malls, clubs and discotheques, at the cost of the destruction of the chawls. At present, in Mumbai, there are handfuls of dilapidated chawls, which are in a desperate need of maintenance, sustaining the glimpses of the gone culture. Marathi literature, which has powerfully depicted the unheard voices living on periphery for years, through the Dalit and the Gramin literature, surprisingly, has not depicted the chawl culture comprehensively. The plays like Batatyachi Chaal, Sakkhe Shejari, or Sambhusanchya Chalit have portrayed the chawls, but that depiction is restricted to a stereotypical representation. The mill workers and their plights have been depicted significantly by the Marathi poets like B. S. Mardhekar, G. V. Karandikar or Narayan Surve, but the chawl entity has not been foregrounded. To some extent, the Hindi cinema has depicted the chawl in its real sense.

167 Against this background Kiran Nagarkar's chawl is altogether different. It is not a nostalgic return, but a critical revisiting. He doesn't project the harmonious blend and homogenous world of the chawl. On the other hand, he exposes the undercurrents in the chawl culture. Ravan and Eddie, the protagonists of the novel, live in a CWD chawl, no. 17, Mazgaon, Mumbai. Nagarkar describes the structure of the chawl, its common amnesties, its corridors, and all such things in an elaborate way. The location of the chawl provides a space for Nagarkar to enquire into the issues of social equality and secularism of Independence India. Through the depiction of the chawl Nagarkar tries to crack the notion of the so-called homogenous world in the chawls. The founding fathers of the Indian republic tried their best to form and frame India as a democratic, secular identity. They didn't promote any religious creed for their political attainments. On the constitutional ground, India has been a secular state barring a state-religion. However, in the decades of the 1990s, because of the identity politics and the growing fundamentalism, the identity of secular India melted. But, Nagarkar's proposition is that this procedure has been started way back in the 50s and the 60s. While depicting the earlier decades of the post-Independence India, Nagarkar projects the undercurrents in the so-called homogenous society through chawl entity where the tensions between Hindu – Christian worlds and the tensions between so-called Hindu high-class and the untouchables are predominant. Considering the metaphorical implications of the chawl entity in the novel, Ravan and Eddie can be considered as a 'national allegory'. The life in chawl is not at all a matter of pride or celebration. Its heterogeneity does not reveal 'unity in diversity'. Rather divided by their class, caste, race or gender the cultural world of the chawl negates any possibility of homogenous identity of the people living in it. Nagarkar very specifically points out such state of ambivalence in the chawl culture. The chawl includes the people from the different communities such as Hindu and Christian. In every chawl, the fifth floor is reserved for Christians. The separation between the two communities is so rigid that it divides them into two different worlds. They share “neither a common colonial heritage nor a common language”. Thus, there is a constant awareness of the communal identity underlying the awareness of difference, which Nagarkar highlights throughout the novel. The Christians are the Goan Catholics. They always linger in the Portuguese colonial heritage of Goa. At home, they switch over to Konkani, and at other times they speak in English. Their children go to English medium schools run by Catholic priests and nuns. They celebrate Christmas and are devout to Pope and Rome. But they are more devout to kiss the toe of Saint Francis in Panjim and are more eager to attend the carnival in Goa. In contrast to this, the 'ghatis', the Marathi speaking community considers these Christians as outsiders. They go to Marathi medium schools run by the corporation. The Ganapati festival is a special occasion of their merriment. If Christian boys play a game like football,

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the Marathi boys play games like cricket, kho-kho, hu-tu-tu or gilli-danda. Like other common amenities, the separate water taps in CWD chawls are reserved for the Catholics. The Hindus hail them “those people” and believe that even their shadows may pollute them. In this way, Nagarkar pinpoints the undercurrents in the so-called homogenous multi-cultural society. In an essay that comes in the novel, “A Meditation on Neighbours” Nagarkar shows the dichotomy of the Hindu - Christian world in an elaborate way, from trivial things like bathing - eating habits to wearing clothes and following the religious practices (172-182). Even the names also matter a lot in this world. Paul Senior, the only Catholic freedom fighter from CWD chawls, has named his son Mohan, after the father of the nation, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. But the Catholics consider it unfashionable to give a vernacular name, and so they prefer to call the child as Paul Junior. The Hindu – Christian worlds which run parallel to each other never meet in the novel. It is a disjointed world based on paradigmatic events and characters such as: Ravan - Eddie, Parvati - Violet, Lele Guruji - Mr. Billimoria, malkhamb - tae-kwon-do, Dil Deke Dekho - Rock Around the Clock, and so on. Nagarkar, while observing this divided world, asks at one place through Eddie: “how Christians can be discriminated from Hindus, when as a human being there is no difference?” (164). Nagarkar exposes the homogeneity of chawl culture in one more aspect where he shows the disparity between the high class Hindus and the 'untouchables'. In spite of the mass movements and the constitutional declaration of social equality on the basis of gender, caste and religion, the decades immediately after independence reveal the crisis of discrimination. In CWD chawls, if the fifth floor is reserved for the Christians, the ground floors are reserved for the untouchables. Ironically, in such kind of discrimination, Hindus conspire with the Catholics. Neither Hindus, nor Christians would speak with these untouchables. To illustrate, Shahaji Kadam is untouchable wholoves Tara Sarang, a girl from upper class society. Ravan works as a gobetween Tara Sarang and Shahaji Kadam. Tara lives in Ravan's neighbouring house and Shahaji lives on the ground floor. Ravan finds no difference between Shahaji Kadam and the other men in the CWD chawl. In fact, Ravan considers Shahaji as a more strong, stout and macho than the others in the chawl. Naturally, he is disturbed by the questions like “who and what and why were Shahaji and his people untouchable?”(93). Tara's father, Mr. Sarang, who is otherwise worried about his seven daughters' marriages, doesn't want to marry his daughter to 'the untouchable slime from the ground floor'. Mr. Sarang becomes very angry with Tara when he comes to know that she is three months pregnant. He cries in an agony, “No daughter of mine is going to live with an untouchable” and slams powerfully into Tara's belly (113).In this way, through the entity of a chawl, Nagarkar exposes the harmonious, multicultural and secular world in post–Independence India, which is defunct all in all.

169 Works Cited : Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ

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Nagarkar, Kiran. Ravan and Eddie. New Delhi: Penguin Books, 1995. Print. Bhabha, Homi. K. The Location of Culture. London : Routledge, 2007. Print. Bharucha, Nilufer, Vrinda Nabar., ed. Mapping Cultural Spaces. New Delhi:Vision Books, 1998. Print. Choudhury, Amit. Introduction. The Picador Book of Modern Indian Literature. London: Picador, 2002. xvii - xxxiv. Print. Jameson, Fredric. “The politics of theory: Ideological positions in the postmodernism debate”. Ed. David Lodge. Modern Criticism and Theory: A Reader. N. Delhi: Pearson Education, Inc., 2007. 366 – 377. Print. Mee, Jon. “After Midnight: The Novel in the 1980s and 1990s”. An Illustrated History of Indian Literature in English. Ed. Arvind Krishna Mehrotra. New Delhi: Permanent Black, 2008. 318 – 336. Print. Paranjape, Makarand. Towards a Poetics of the Indian English Novel. Shimla: Indian Institute of Advanced Study, 2000. Print.

Shark Alley Big as a mini sub, Gash mouth armed, Head on confrontational Sharp grey focus in blue; The only way out is up; She's not going to take it And it's too late for me! Avoid challenge, Don't look in its eyes! But how will I know When it's going to bite my head off In a once red cloud If I'm looking down? Dead little grey eyes meet mine, One metre, half Close enough Twin blasts of air roar From my octos.

- Graham Vivian Lancaster Get away! I've lived a good life Bigger than begging, More aggressive. Pointed head turns sharply away Thank you God! Tail wash slap Bruises mask into face Thud, thudding coursing blood Clinging wetsuit too tight For legs to shake At its retina tattoos Needle point laced teeth. Whale song Of my ancient father's Urgent calling voices fill my ears; Get out of there!

Graham Vivian Lancaster lives in Pietermaritzburg. South African Writers Circle Quill Award winning author and 2010 American Pushcart Poetry nominee, 2010 English Academy of Southern Africa poetry judge, 2011 English academy of Southern Africa Gold Medal proposal, he writes in ten genres from the many eclectic facets of his adventurous life. Widely published in anthologies, with twenty eight published books of his own, his teenage adventure series and poetry are being taught in schools. SCUBA diver, sometimes sky diver, photographer, fisherman, publisher, life is exciting.

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Journey as a Metaphor in Kavery Nambisan's Mango-Coloured Fish - C. Sharada Abstract: Kaveri Nambisan is a writer and a surgeon, who is adept with her sharp language as she is with her scalpel. In her third novel Mango-Coloured Fish, she depicts the life of a young girl, Shari, who is caught in a complex entanglement of uncertainties and disillusionments she has about the institution of marriage. Shari has always felt lonely and stifling amidst her sophisticated mother, a passive sister and a submissive father. The emotional distance has always been compelling and grueling. Just before her marriage to a successful software engineer, she undertakes a journey to meet her brother and her childhood friends to find answers to her many questions on the multi-layered meaning of marriage. Her journey, though physical on the outer surface is in fact a plunge into the deep reaches of her heart and psyche. She drifts into her past and tries to rediscover herself by resurrecting the long forgotten memories and finally resurfaces as a woman with a new found freedom and a better understanding about marriage. This paper focuses on the journey of Shari - physical and mental, external and internal and how it has been employed as a metaphor for Shari's situation, who is in search of identity, freedom and meaning of marriage. Keywords: marriage, myopia, angst, resentment, disillusionment Your life is a sacred journey. And it is about change, growth, discovery, movement, transformation; continuously expanding your vision of what is possible, stretching your soul, learning to see clearly and deeply, listening to your intuition, taking courageous challenges at every step along the way.You are on the path... exactly where you are meant to be right now... And from here, you can only go forward, shaping your life story into a magnificent tale of triumph, of healing of courage, of beauty, of wisdom, of power, of dignity, and of love. --Caroline Adams

The novel begins with a proverb from the Bible –Better a dinner of herbs where love is, than a stalled ox and hatred therewith. This dictum on love vs. hatred launches the theme of the novel. Shari feels suffocated and stifled in the presence of the artificial sophistication and finesse of her mother, who always tries to control and run others lives. Shari never likes to be tied down, nor controlled by others. She wants take her own decisions, eat the food the way she wants to and wear the dresses that she is comfortable in. She doesn't like to wear a watch for she would not like time to dictate her or control her. -'The watch, for instance, I never wear one because I don't want my life chopped into bits by a monster ticking on my wrist'. Shari always longed to break free, breathe easy and rip apart the strings that hold her fast and tight. On the other hand her father most of his time takes refuge by burying himself in books and projects as a

171 passive and submissive husband. Her sister is a strict stickler to her mother's orders. The distance between her and her mother freezes her emotionally and psychologically as she feels: 'If I had a choice I would not only have a different set of parents but a different sister' (61). Shari's aunt and uncle are more close to her, they are like surrogate parents. Her aunt is an opposite version of her mother, coarse, crude and rustic but very natural in her disposition and is very close to Shari's heart. When her parents arrange her marriage with a successful software engineer, Gautam, and discuss the gifts (dowry) to be exchanged, she feels very awkward and embarrassed about the dowry, but fails to raise her voice as she is conditioned to remain passive. She doesn't open up her feelings any time, things just happen to her. Her mother and sister are larger than life and loom large trying to lay control over everything - from the dresses to tresses, from marriage to honeymoon. Shari on dizzy heights, writes a letter to her blind friend Naren that she loves Gautam, which she realizes it as a big LIE as things start unfolding for her. Shari slowly realizes that the would-be-groom is a man for money. He discusses with her foreign assignments, premarital sex and computers in the same breath. When she shudders at the hint of premarital sex, he advises her - 'you must learn to be less of a prude. You are letting your emotions get the better of you' (35). He asks her to stop teaching at a school, and instead pursue MBA; here she tries to answer her conscience - 'we all try to live up to someone's expectations.' But Gautam's expectation was that he could easily mould her. Shari critically reasons 'Moulded. How? Pulled, pushed, elongated, flattened, hammered, punched and gouged out until I was the right specimen, the perfect wife?'(72). She now is sure that she is heading towards self destruction. She was for sure her 'self'; her identity would be merged with his, as she has already started thinking and behaving like her mother in his presence. Self destructive choices would most likely be eliminated if women were able to engage in critical reasoning, if they were truly competent - acting and living according to one's own choices, values and identity - (Nancy J. Hirschmann: 203)

Shari has many questions which are all lined up to be answered—her proposed marriage to an emotionally stoic person, her identity and self, her choices, her freedom are on the brink of merging and fading. She is confused, agitated and disturbed. She wants to know the meaning of marriage. She realizes that before her marriage to Gautam, she has to find answers for her many questions on marriage.Then, she undertakes a journey to her brother, Krishna, who lives at Vrindavan. 'I want to find more about theirs. Study it, learn; and be so well prepared that the confusion in me will quieten and ease'(45). She stays with them for a brief period and closely observes them. They are very busy doctors in a small town, dedicating their lives to the service of the local people. Teji,

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her sister-in-law is not happy with her husband as he is not ambitious and that he wants to continue his practice in the town, for her 'marriage is a mirage because people choose to see only the icing on the cake.' Krishna says that city life warps his judgment. About his marriage he says –'there is fire in our marriage; it is not fat and placid like Chitra's.' She understands that her brother's marriage from outside appears like an icing on the cake but there are major differences between them, which makes it empty from within. Shari then continues her journey to Delhi, to meet her childhood friend, Yash. Shari remembers that in school days,Yash would say – 'one should marry only for love' – but ultimately, she bows down to marry the boy of her parents' choice. Shari felt – 'I was reminded of chickens waiting to be slaughtered.' Yash's marriage on the surface appears to be a happy one, yet Shari finds out that Yash is being unfaithful to her husband. When confronted by Shari, she admits that there is no love in their marriage. –'He knows nothing about my mind or body' (74). Shari is reminded of Gautam, who doesn't believe in the intimacy of mind. When Yash continues that she is only a show piece in her husband's life. Shari remembers her brother advising against Gautam -'I am afraid, you will be laundered and ironed and folded into something Gautam is looking for to complete his image.'(63).Her brother warns her that her decision to marry Gautam is wrong -'Shari, don't do anything for the wrong reasons. He glitters, like the ring on your finger. He's the type of guy who thinks the world needs him.' At that point of time, Shari, who is reeling heavily under illusions thinks that her brother is jealous of Gautam. Once, when Shari and Yash observe a beautiful fish in the aquarium placed on the window sill, they find the fish changing their colour from green to brown to pink and to blue. The little daughter of Yash says that the fish are mango coloured. Each one of them finds a different colour, every time they look at them they are a different colour. They change, when the light changes its direction. Then yash observes – 'don't we have fractured, segmented personalities? We are every one of us, mango coloured. We too change colour according to the situations and circumstances.' Shari decides to stay back in Delhi for a while, move into a hostel and spend some time all by herself and be away from the dictatorial regime. As a child she always wanted to be away from her mother's empire, now she has a chance to live on her own. She feels that distance lends everything the face of serenity. Exulting in the freedom and peace that loneliness has lent her; she grapples with her past memories trying to rediscover her lost self. 'I must look back, so I look forward'. (132) She now journeys into her past, and remembers her blind friend, Naren, whom she thought she was in love with. Until one day another friend tells her – 'You are not in love with him but with his mind.' Naren is an idealist, who wants to do good to the society. He detaches himself with

173 Shari to move on with his journey. Her feelings towards him slowly start fading and she writes a final letter to him that she is in love with Gautam. But now she realizes that it is a lie, which she wants to undo.The dilemma about her love for Gautam and the decision on her marriage still dangling, she takes off her engagement ring and wraps it in a hanky and keeps it on a shelf. Memories take her back to her childhood days, when she spent some time with her uncle and aunt. She finds them deeply in love with each other. She asks them - 'Why are my parents not as happy as you are? I don't think they like each other. My parents' is a synthetic alliance.' (179) Later, much later she discovers the true relationship of her uncle and aunt. She finds that her uncle is a drunkard and slips frequently into violent spells. Once she sees both of them almost trying to kill each other. Her illusions about their wonderful relationship slowly fade as she discovers that on the surface there is love in their marriage, but deep below the layers there is violence and hatred. Another memory surfaces, when her mother brings a swamy and brags about the wonderful relationship she shares with her husband; Shari who has been a mute witness to the mutilated soul of her father, shouts aloud as if a glass casket explodes - The teenage angst, resentment, disillusionment in love, generation gap, parental control - all break free and like a deluge cascade down in uncontrollable gushes. The purgation helps her to cleanse all the bottled angst. She can feel herself leaping out of the cage she has imprisoned herself in. Now she slowly tries to understand the meaning of marriage, it is like the mango-coloured fish that changes colour with the light. Marriage too is seen differently, in different perspectives. It is not the same with every one; it need not be the same. Her parents' marriage is wonderful on one side, on the other it is marked by submissiveness. Krishna and Teji's marriage is marked by contentment on one side but empty on the other.With uncle and aunty it is love on the surface but deep inside there is violence. In Yash and Satyamutrthy's relationship, it appears to be brilliant on one side but unfaithful on the truer side. She finally realizes that one should have a sense of understanding, love, freedom, identity and room for 'self' in marriage, which she has come to know after talking to George, her hostel mate, who celebrates marriage anniversary all alone, his wife being dead long ago. He seems to be a contented man, whose life is blissful and cheerful. He loves his wife even after so many years of her death. She was a judge and he was a plumber, yet there were no differences, no ego hassles, except respect, love and space for each other. Shari comes to know that true love in marriage continues even after the death of the spouse, physical distance doesn't kill the love between them. Since her childhood, Shari had been myopic or shortsighted, both literally and metaphorically. She cannot see things that are far away from her. Very well aware of her short coming, when she fails to recognize people or imagines something on her own or sees an illusion she would refer to herself as –'I am not only short-sighted but stupid (49) or 'I am

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short-sighted and vain'. (97) She critically observes about her sight-'To my short-sighted astigmatic eyes, everything –stars, flowers, and peopleappears big, hazy and haloed. What you miss in clarity can be compensated for with imagination'. (85) Living in the hostel room in Delhi, she would every day see through the window, a man in red shirt constantly working in a garden in the neighborhood. She has been in awe of him, looking at him working through out the day. She decides to meet him before she left Delhi. Just before she leaves the hostel, she goes to meet the man in red shirt, only to find that it is a portion of a redpainted wall that her short-sighted eyes had mistaken for a man- 'I stand there, grieving the loss of my silent friend, and laugh at my foolishness.'(238). Metaphorically, Short-sightedness refers to decision making that is narrow sighted or lacking in concern for wider interests or longer term consequences. Shari has been myopic and has been seeing illusions all these days. Now that her illusions are being cleared and that she is aware of her short-coming, she has to steer towards clear vision and take correct decisions that do not negatively affect her future. Standing at the redpainted wall, she listens to two birds singing, which transport her back to the days of her friendship with Naren. Listening to the song of the two birds, Naren interprets the meaning of the song as misunderstandings and differences in marital life and further questions her- 'Do you think they all end up that way?'(238) Reflecting over her short-sighted decisions and the interpretation of the song of the birds by Naren, she decides- to cancel the proposed marriage with Gautam as she feels she is not the right girl for him, and that her socalled love for him is another illusion. She is so confident about her decision that she feels - 'there is no need to explain myself. No more lies. I need to stop the big lie that I started with my letter to Naren. 'To do that, I must undo the lie to Gautam' (240). She takes off the engagement ring to relieve herself from carrying the burden of the lie. She refuses to be moulded, refuses to lose her identity and freedom. She has always been thinking for others, living for others, and living someone else's life. To peel off the false identity she has been forced to wear, she asks the tailor to stitch all her dresses she was supposed to wear on her wedding, as she feels that until it is time for her to leave, she can pretend to be living someone else's life, which symbolizes the end of one stage that paves way to the beginning of another. She decides for herself now, to call off the proposed marriage with Gautam and continue to work as a kindergarten teacher and not to pursue MBA to satisfy his fancies. She may have to use or may not have to use the wedding sarees in the future but for now, they can wait. Shari's journey from Chennai to Vrindavan and from there to Delhi has helped her to 'see things clearly' and not with blurry eyes, to think on her own, decide for herself and live her life to the fullest. The journey, though physical has helped her to explore her inner self, and focus on the experiences of her past, reflect and understand them fully and finally to

175 realize her emotional side, her identity, see the truth and set things straight. The journey helped her to dive into the center of her deepest self and back out into the world with a broadened understanding of who she is. Shari moulds herself to listen to the sayings of her heart and mind and live for herself, for when the moment of reckoning comes, she knows what to do… 'Pilgrim's Progress', indeed! Works Cited : Hirschmann,j Nancy. The subject of Liberty: Towards a Feminist Theory of Freedom. Princeton University press, 2003. Ÿ Nambisan Kavery, Mango- Coloured Fish . Penguin books, New Delhi, 1998. Ÿ

Fighting with Memories - P.V. Laxmi Prasad

Shatter'd moments of life making four-sided dances. no occasions of differences matter'd much, experiences of unburnt passions coiled around, not to let lives loose. Flood of tearfuls to greet touch of lips, no force of universe to block the moment of extremities, nor heart-beats of deeper depths ever burden'd to roll down juicy eyes. evidences of memories in printed photocopies shakes thinking brains like cyclonic storms. undecorated silence descends to dim, brighten faces of travelled lengths of imagination. moments to disappear into passages of winged birds. reality of life's an unchaseable tunnel of images & shadows. my fading eyes embrace laps of hopes that encircle layers of memories. a dreamy world rebuilt, by stocks that meet to collide with occasions.

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Interviews An Interview with Bratati Bandyopadhyay - Soumitra Chakraborty Biographical Note: Bratati Bandyopadhyay is a 'Bright Star' in the galaxy of the Bengali elocutionists and reciters. She has elevated the art of Bengali recitation and elocution to a conspicuous height by popularizing it amongst the masses and generating a unique interest in them. The ease and clarity of pronunciation, restrained emotion, use of dramatization, melodious voice– its excellent modulation and exquisite control are some of her qualities, which have made her popular amongst the Bengali recitation-loving audiences. In terms of the style of presentation, she really has created a 'genre' of her own, which is different from her contemporaries in the field of recitation and elocution. Mrs. Bandyopadhyay is one of the rarest artists in India, who have taken recitation and elocution solely as a profession. But perhaps the sole credit of Bratati Bandyopadhyay lies in the fact that she is the only artist in Bengal, who has globalized the art of Bengali recitation, taking it on the international platform through her own website: www.bratati.com. Bratati has pleased the recitation-loving Bengali audiences through her diversified works. Her works on Tagore include, 'Shatobarsho pare' (After Hundred Years), 'Jharer Kheya' (The Boat of Storm), 'Aamar Rabindranath' (My Rabindranath), 'Ebang Streer Patra' (And Wife's Letter) etc. Her works on Bengali modern poems are 'Asthir Samayer Kabita' (The poetry of the Turbulent Period), 'Aamiyee Sei Meye' (I am that Lady), 'Kathamanobi', 'Ek Sandhyay Eka Bratati' (Only Bratati in a Lonely Evening), 'Mondo Meye' (The Bad Woman), 'Phire Eso Aagun' (Come again, Fire), 'Sudhu Kabitar Janyo' (Only for Poetry), 'Romance', 'Bharat Aamar' (My India), 'Chiradiner' (For Ever) etc. Bratati's works are classified for the children and students as well. Her works, 'Chhotoder Rabindranath' (Rabindranath for the children), 'Hip Hip Hurrah', 'Phul-Pakhi-Tarader Sange' (With the Flower-Birds-Stars), 'Dao Phire Sei Chhelebela' (Give us back that Childhood Days) are meant for the children, where as her works, 'Sudhu Abrittir Janyo' (Only for Recitation), 'Shiksharthider Mukhomukhi' ('Face to Face' with the Students) are meant for the students. Her performance, 'Ek Sandhyay Eka Bratati' (Only Bratati in a Lonely Evening) in 1996, a solo exposition of elocution of some of the best creations of illustrious poets for a duration of two hours and half was a breakthrough in her career. Simultaneously with recitation, she has fascinated the Bengali audiences with her competent acting in the role of 'Labanyaprabha' in the film, 'Rangeen Godhuli' by Debanik Kundu.Bratati's sincere as well as knowledgeable efforts and untiring activities have duly been endorsed and recognized by different organizations and Institutions with various awards. She has been endowed with 'Heritage 2010 Samman (A Creative Personality Award)' (2010) by the Heritage World Society, 'Airtel Women of the year' (2008) and 'Women of the year' (2007) from Calcutta Club CentenaryYear International Women's Day `07. Bratati has extensively travelled USA and Middle East on account of live performance. She attended a memorable elocution tour in US cities like New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Detroit, Kansas and other cities. Presently, Bratati is successfully performing the duty of making the future reciters and elocutionists with her recitation teaching school, 'Kabbayan'.

Q: Is your advent to the world of recitation, a co-incident or a contemplative decision? A: Partly co-incidental. I did not plan to take recitation/ elocution as my career from the very beginning, rather I practiced it as a part of extracurricular activities. I was passionate to it. I studied economics and then joined a research project at CMDA. Then I took a break to dedicate more time to recitation which ultimately became my profession.

177 Q: How long are you associated with this form of 'fine art'? A: I'm associated with recitation since my childhood, but not professionally. Since early nineties I'm working professionally. My solo recital in 1996 'Ek Sadhyay Eka Bratati' was a breakthrough for me. Q: Being a student of economics, it was quite natural for you to sit on the responsible chair of a corporate company or a reputed educational institution. But why is the reality different? A: I suppose it is same as the answer to the first question. Q: Who is/are your inspiration in recitation? A: My father was my direct instructor. I got the major inspiration from him. But my family environment mattered a lot. There was a tradition of reading books, listening to music which helped me grow my sense of art. I learnt a lot and got inspiration for communicating poems from earlier elocutionists as well. Q: How do you evaluate 'the art of recitation'? A: It's a basic form of art. It's needed by all sorts of performing artistes – drama persons, film actors, vocalists. The basic requirements for recitation like good voice, modulation, expression of feeling are required by all forms of performing arts. Q: Don't you think that as a fine art, 'recitation' is lagging behind other fine arts, in terms of recognition and popularity? A: Not really, at least at this point of time. It is as popular as other forms of performing art in terms of number of CD production, number of programmes, quality of programmes, remuneration and so on. But I agree the picture was not so rosy few decades ago. Q: Are the gamut (Swaralipi) and style of recitation followed by you, your innovations? A: As such, recitation doesn't have its own notation. While communicating a poem, an elocutionist creates his/her own notation. I do the same and usually follow the same. But it's quite flexible. Q: Do the tone and voice matter most in recitation? A: It's one of the most important factor but not the most important one. Somebody, who has a very good voice but no feeling for the poem, cannot do justice to the poem. Q: I think you are amongst those rarest jewels, who have successfully created a genre of their own in their relevant fields of perfection. How do you view this observation? A: I'm a visionary. I experimented with communication of poems. People appreciated my effort.That's it. Q: People say that Bratati is more comfortable in recitation of post modern poems than the poems of Tagore. How do you react to this observation? A: I beg to differ. I like Tagore's poem the most and personally I'm most comfortable with his work.

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Q: Do you have separate feelings in recitations of Tagore's poems as well as the post modern poems? A: The way of presentation of Tagore's poem is little bit different from others. It's true not only for Tagore but for any other poet. Every poet has his/her own signature in their poems. For instance, Nazrul doesn't match with Jibanananda, Jibanananda doesn't match with Sakti and so on. Every poet and even every poem has its own demand. I have to meet the demand of the poem itself while reciting. The same holds good for Tagore's poems. I do have separate feelings for communicating different poets – be it Tagore, Nazrul, Jibanananda or anybody else. Q: Do you think that the postmodern poems appeal most to the contemporary sentiment, in comparison with the poems of the stalwarts like Tagore? A: The answer is yes and no. The form of modern poems, in terms of language and comparisons, are more inclined towards our daily life. We can relate them with our daily life easily. That's why modern poems appeal more to a section of poetry-lovers. But there is a different view as well. Modern poems are more abstract and more condensed. They tell a lot in few words. A major portion of the readers feels more comfortable with Tagore's poems as this group fails to touch the heart of modern poems due to their abstract nature. Q: What kinds of poems touch you most? A: Those that speak of relations. Q: So far my idea is concerned; your recitation of the poem, 'Aamiyee Sei Meye' is the most popular recitation. Please tell us something about the poem and your recitation of the same. A: It's a very popular poem. It's a message to the society to stop cruelty to women. The poem depicts oppression to women in different forms but ends with a very positive note where women become the ultimate power – the Mother and the creator. It's a very positive message and I feel charged while delivering the message through its recitation. Q: In most cases, you recite others' poems. Why do your fans rarely get your published poems? A: It's simple. I don't write poems because I don't. Does everybody need to do everything? However, I love writing prose. Q: It is often said in contemporary Bengal that there are good many poets, but not good reciters in adequate number. Do you agree with this view? A: Many youngsters are coming up and doing well in recitation. Some of them are really good.There may not be a big celebrity at this point of time but some of them may create a landmark in near future. Q: According to you, what criteria an individual are required to fulfill for being a perfect elocutionist and a well versed reciter?

179 A: Good voice, sense of literature and understanding the poem, proper expression and good voice modulation. Q: Do you think that by the grace of your recitation teaching school 'Kabbayan', Bengal will get standard elocutionists and qualitative reciters? A: Definitely, that's why I'm working. I would be happy to see one of students as the most successful performing artistes in Bengal. Q: Like drama, can poetry be a medium of protest against inequality, oppression, and social injustice? What do you think? A: Why not? Poetry is doing this job for long. You can protest against social injustice, oppression and whatever you like through poetry. You can do a poetry recital for the purpose. Q: You have acted in a cinema, 'Rangeen Godhuli', directed by Mr. Debanik Kundu. Would you kindly share some of your feelings & experiences with us, regarding that? A: It was a new experience for me. I was ignorant about the film unit, the technicalities of film acting and direction that I experienced and learnt while working for the film. I enjoyed the team work, the group activities and giving shots. At the beginning I was a novice to screen acting but I've learnt a lot and I'm sure I would do better in the next one. Q: Please tell us something about the character Labanyaprabha, in whose role, you have acted in the cinema, 'Rangeen Godhuli'. A: I found the character very real. Labanyaprbha met her old flame in her middle age when she was settled in her married life. She got a different feeling and she started reacting accordingly. This was quite natural. She portrays a character who is emotional but balanced. I feel most women, at least those who are educated, are like that. I liked the character and loved enacting it. Q: In how many cinemas you have acted? Why are your fans not getting you frequently in contemporary films? A: I acted in two films in my early life as side characters. After that I concentrated on recitation and took it as my profession in a very serious manner. The answer is simple – by profession I'm an elocutionist and not an actress. I have to compromise with my profession if I go for acting frequently. But if I get an offer from a renowned or promising young director and if I like the character I would definitely work. Q: What is your view about the contemporary Bengali cinema? A: I may not be the right person to give a comment on this. I watch movies once in a while and I'm a bit choosy about this. I go through the reviews in several newspapers/magazines and then I watch a movie if I feel an urge to watch. I love watching films by Rituparno

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Ghosh, Aniruddha Ray Chowdhury and some other contemporary directors. I do watch good Hindi and English movies. I love watching old Bengali films as well. But to be honest, I don't feel like watching contemporary movies which are so-called successful to box office. What is the future of Bengali recitation, according to you? I am eagerly waiting for somebody who would create a landmark in Bengali recitation and I'm sure it would happen. In your own assessment, what is your best production till now? Why? The answer is same for all the artists: 'My next work'. What new productions are going to be launched by you in the near future? Kindly tell us something about those. I'm working on Tagore right now for making a cine-poetry 'Chirasakha'. Recently I have recorded 'Sesher Kabita' with Debshanker Halder as a co-artiste. We also have a plan to stage the production in early February. I've started working on Joy Goswami for my next production. You are a famous reciter, a learned anchor, an actress and even being a teacher of elocution, you have to go to your schools, located in different places across Bengal. How do you harmonize all these facets of your personality? I'm honest in my profession and work. I forget every other aspect when I do a particular job. That makes my task easier. Most importantly, I don't try to be what I'm not. What is your message to your contemporary elocutionists, poets, artists, and the lovers of recitation? Poems can be a good friend just like good music. A poem can convey a message in two or three sentences which would otherwise need an entire book. What I can say is that do your work with a passion. Everybody can contribute to poems in his or her own way.You have to find your way through which you can contribute. You may contribute to the world of poetry by reciting poems, writing articles on poetry/recitation, doing some sort of research work on it, even presenting a CD of recitation or a book of poems. At this age of globalization, we need to be more passionate about our own language and literature. The entire world is coming together and we should take the opportunity to put forward out culture, art and literature before the world. What is your hobby? How do you pass your idle moments? I read books. Also, I love spending time with my near and dear ones. How do you view life as a whole? Life is a journey. The road is not smooth – there are several hurdles, ups and downs; but we have to move forward. I enjoy the way with all its hurdles and beauty. Or, you may say life is like a multicoloured picture. You may not like all the colours; but that's its beauty. Enjoy all the colours of the picture and every moment of the journey.

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An Interview with Patricia Prime - Sunil Sharma Biographical Note: Patricia is a member of The New Zealand Poetry Society, a member of The New Zealand Author, and a member of the Tanka Society of America. She is on the panel of editors for the Indian publication Poetcrit, a member of the review panel of Metverse Muse, is on the review panel of Voice of Kalkata, co-editor of the New Zealand haiku journal Kokako, reviews editor of the ezine Stylus and the New Zealand journal Takahe and is on the panel of judges for the Seashell Game in the British haiku publication Presence. Patricia was honoured with the Poet of the Millennium Award by the International Poets Academy in 2001. Her articles, reviews, interviews and poetry have been published extensively in the small press and in anthologies, and her poems have been anthologised in Catching the Light, the shortcut home, The World Poetry Anthology, The World Poetry Almanac (Mongolia), and others. A selection of her poems, reviews, interviews and haiku has appeared on the Internet, and her work has been published worldwide in books, newspapers and magazines. Her haiku have been featured in The Second New Zealand Haiku Anthology and in The Haiku Canada Anthology. In 1998 Les Editions David published ten of Patricia's haiku in Anthology of Haiku, directed by Andre Duhaime, Canada. In 1999 Patricia collaborated with two poets to produce a collection of haiku Every Drop Stone Pebble. She collaborated with Indian haijin, Kanwar Dinesh Singh, to produce a collection of haiku called Deuce. She has collaborated with fellow New Zealand haijin, Catherine Mair, on two books of linked verse, sweet penguin and first rays of the sun. Patricia won a prize for her haiku entry in a contest commemorating the 10th anniversary of the HIA (Japan), and an award for her haiku for the A-bomb Memorial Day (Japan). Haiku entries were highly commended in the New Zealand International Poetry Competition and her poems appeared in their anthology, tapping the tank. In 2001 she judged the Junior Haiku Section of the New Zealand International Poetry Competition. She recently won the inaugural haiga online contest. Patricia has written on New Zealand women poets for Creative Forum (India). She has written essays on contemporary Indian English poetry and on Australasian poetry. The New Zealand poetry anthology Something Between Breaths, published by Bahri Publications, India, is the first book she has edited. Her first solo collection of poetry Accepting Summer was published in 2001 by Bahri Publications, India. She has interviewed many poets/editors for the Australian online magazine Stylus, for the NZ publication Takahe and for the online journal Haibun Today. Patricia is Associate Editor of Haibun Today and one of the editors of the Take Five Anthologies 2009, 2010 and 2011. She is on the editorial panel of the Indian publication New Fiction Journal and is a member of the Guild of Indian English Writers, Critics and Editors. Q: In typical haiku, please describe a talented Patricia Prime for her global admirers. A. I suppose I could give two answers.The first is the more private one of how I began my writing career. I loved the challenge of manipulating language in the way many people do in their teens when I sent poems to women's magazines and the children's pages of newspapers, and my work appeared in my school's magazine. Writing became more of an interest for me later on in life after I became a widow and my young daughter and I went to a creative writing course at night school. She gave up after the first year but I went on to take a course by correspondence through The Writing School in Wellington. This course taught lessons in playwrighting,

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articles, short stories and novels. I have only been writing seriously since 1989. I began with poetry as that seemed, at the time, the easiest form. I was still working fulltime as a teacher and only had the weekends in which to write. Gradually I became interested in other genres and now write haiku, tanka, haibun, linked collaborative verse, articles, criticism, reviews and interviews for Stylus Haibun Today and Takahe. The first poem I had published was called “Street Kids” and was printed in a journal edited by the late Bernard Gadd, with whom I co-edited the haiku magazine, Kokako. I was surprised and pleased with Bernard's immediate acceptance of my poem and with seeing my name in print for the first time in New Zealand.With haiku, after I head read other peoples' work, it seemed to come naturally Rhythm is basic. Hearing our hearts beat, feeling our lungs breathe, walking, dancing, sex, and sport, all create and require a sense of rhythm. In speech there are rhythmic patterns that we use to peck out meaning and phrase from the strings of syllables that we hear. To create and shape these rhythms, and to manipulate readers with words underpinned by them, is part of the poet's job. To choose a form is to make a decision about structure, metre, rhyme, punctuation and tone. Much twentieth-century poetry in free verse has an open form; this does not mean that there is no form, but that the form is variable. As with free verse and metre, open form doesn't mean you don't think about forms while you are writing or reading. All lines have a rhythm that can be metrically described, and all poems have a form. Q: Why haiku at the age of fourteen, when other girls think of Barbie? A: I didn't write haiku until I was in my fifties, but the New Zealand Poetry Society holds an annual competition for both adults and children. On the Katikati Haiku Pathway www.katikati.co.nz there are haiku from the Katikati haiku competitions by both children and adults engraved on paving stones, including those from children as young as five. No-one is too young or too old to write haiku. Q: As haiku-practioner and avid promoter in the west, your experiences with this non-European form? A: I have published haiku online, in books and journals and have edited the haiku journal Kokako for 16 issues, 2 issues per year. It is the only journal in New Zealand which publishes haiku, tanka, haibun, tanka prose and linked verse.We have only a handful of poets in New Zealand writing these forms of poetry and they reside mainly in the cities: Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin. However we run an international haiku competition in Kokako and an international tanka competition on alternate years. The New Zealand Poetry Society holds an international haiku contest every year, which is open to both children and adults. The NZPS has also published two haiku anthologies and publishes an annual publication of poetry and haiku from their poetry competitions.Two

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international haiku conferences have been held in New Zealand: one in Picton, South Island and the other in the capital,Wellington. Q: Can we compare haiku in a different cultural context? A: From my experiences editing Kokako, I can say we receive a wide range of haiku/tanka from several different cultures: American, European, Indian and Chinese, to name a few. The kigo (or season word), which is a fundamental part of haiku, changes from culture to culture, from country to country. For instance, it is difficult for Southern Hemisphere haiku poets to write seasonal haiku when our seasons differ from those in the Northern Hemisphere. Many New Zealand poets choose to use Maori words, such as marae, waka and aroha, or plant and bird names which are unfamiliar to overseas readers. Sometimes these can be acceptable overseas with a note of explanation provided. Each culture has its own kigo and, as an editor, I receive many submissions which contain unfamiliar words. However, these can easily be googled for information. Q: Nature and reverence for nature are the hallmarks of the early Japanese haiku. Basho is the famous philosopher who thinks nature in haiku. In today's world where nature has been plundered, raped and degraded, can this sensibility prevail? A: Definitely. The reverence for nature and the environment is part of the New Zealand way of life and as haiku poets we must do everything in our power to protect our native flora and fauna, waterways and forests, historic buildings and culture. Q: In the alarming age of rapid climate-change, what message can a haiku poet deliver to the sceptics? A: That's a difficult question to answer. We've seen a rise in global temperature over the past year, which has led to increasing storms, flooding, earthquakes, tsunami and the melting of the polar ice caps. As haiku poets we can only do our personal best by leaving as small a fossil fuel footprint as we can. This can be achieved by conserving energy, recycling, not wasting our resources and electing the best possible candidates for government. Q: Tanka is a beautiful blend of prose and poetry. This is a unique mix not seen in the Western literary tradition. How can this be imported into an alien artistic context? A: Tanka is not prose. It is a 'song,' written in 5 lines: short, long, short, long, long, in 31 syllables or less, and should be read in one breath. The tanka was originally used by Japanese courtiers to send notes to their lovers or to other people and a return poem was expected from the other person. Q: You edit an elegant journal called Kokako. Can you give your take on the current breed of these writers of compressed language and startling images? A: Haiku/tanka poets come from all ages, different genders, different countries and all walks of life. The art of haiku is gathering

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momentum worldwide and with the Internet, Twitter, Facebook, blogs etc. it can be at anyone's fingertips. Of course, this may mean that some crass work is published, but there are many worthwhile sites which publish excellent work: Simply Haiku, Prune Juice, Lynx, to name a few. Q: What is the role of an image in tanka and haiku? A: Images are a most important feature of both haiku and tanka. “Haiku moments” are very much like other flashes of inspiration which, when transported into other media, became paintings, stories, dreams etc. Haiku should be written in three short lines 5-75 syllables or less, using the principles of comparison, contrast or association. This technique provides the pivot on which the reader's thoughts turn and expand. One must ask oneself if there is a comparison, a contrast or an association between the images and if these relations are clear and understandable for the reader. Q: Is technique more important here than the thought process? A: Technique and the thought process must go hand-in-hand in both haiku and tanka. We often see or sense something that gives us a desire to put it into words. Perhaps out poems are to commemorate a loved one's passing, a poem for a lover, or simply a scent on the wind that catches us momentarily. When we compose a poem we are saying, “It is hard to tell you how I am feeling. Perhaps if I share with you the event that made me aware of these feelings, you will have similar feelings of your own.” These are our thought processes. With technique we can look at the variety of genres that make up the whole of traditional Japanese poetry each with its own characteristics, content and formal structure. As in other traditional poetry, the content of each genre is almost as “fixed” as the form. So, in haiku, we have those “moments in time” expressed in 5-7- form, while the tanka, which was a vehicle for love poetry, expresses not only the appreciation of nature, but also expresses the poet's feelings. Some might argue that we do not need tanka in the West, where we have a strong tradition of the lyric poem. The best response to this is the creation of poems that work for the writer. Q: Does gender play a role in the composition of tanka and haiku? A: Gender is of no importance in the composition of poetry, haiku or tanka. Vivid, clear writing will give the reader clear images and meanings. This results in a vicarious experience in which the reader pictures what the writer's words show, hears what they sound, feels what they touch, and so on. If a writer captures the images of experiences that produce emotion, then the reader will have a similar emotion based on the images provided by the writer. Such emotions may be felt by both males and females and conveyed to both sexes. Q: You innovated linked verse. How did the idea come? Can two poets create an enduring body of verse through such a

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mutually compatible medium of production of good literature? A: I didn't innovate linked verse. The forms of renku, renga were practised by the Japanese long before the tanka and haiku came into use. Many of these linked, or collaborative verses are still read today. My friend, Catherine Mair, and I began writing and publishing traditional poetry at about the same time. Catherine was a dairyfarmer's wife, bringing up four children in the rural town of Katikati in the Bay of Plenty, whilst I, widowed early, was bringing up four children and working as a teacher in Auckland. We began writing linked verse in collaboration with each other several years ago, and have since published several collections, including sweet penguin, last rays of the sun, East Cape and Morning Glory. Our linked poems contain lines which are “moments in time” captured in a haikulike form.The links may be subtle, created by writing in the same place at the same time. For this informal type of linked verse to work there needs to be balance and empathy between the writers. In much the same way that renga evolved in Japan, as enjoyable entertainment and communication, so our collaborative verse began. We don't see our linked verse as haiku or renku, but rather as “stream-of-consciousness” lines written when we are in close proximity: walking, talking, or visiting places of interest. For those readers who haven't seen our writing, I would suggest that our links follow certain themes of time, place, feeling and “togetherness,” rather than following the Japanese idea of the mind “leaping” from one image to something totally different. This, we have been told, is part of the “rebellious” nature of our work, and is what makes it different from the formal style of renga. It is what makes it popular, gives it a certain charm, and makes it more accessible to many readers. An example of one of our linked verses from first rays of the sun is the following poem that was composed on a visit to The Mount in the Bay of Plenty, an extremely popular place for visitors to walk around and enjoy panoramic views of the ocean: The White Shell Path from the historic stone jetty he casts his line two boys – their bright yellow lifejackets a backpack filled with mussels for bait empty in the shade – carved bench seats climbing the stile, I hold open the wire gate standing at Stoney Point Reef, the warmth on our backs from the cliff walk my shadow moves along the sand sound of children's footsteps behind us on the shell path naked the bronze warrior crouches in spring sunshine one white boulder among all the black ones on a rock his suitcase full of video gear Catherine Mair & Patricia Prime: In 2002, about the time that we thought of publishing a second collection of our linked verse, we began writing linked haiku, linked tanka and linked haibun.Werner Reichhold, editor of the online magazine LYNX, who has been particularly supportive of our work, published the first of

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our linked tanka. A poem of which I'm particularly fond for its memories and images is “The Perfumed Air,” which was written on the occasion of a visit to the Lavender Gardens in Katikati, during which we were looking for a small gift to send to a poet Janice Bostok in Australia, who is both a friend and mentor, and is herself a world recognised haijin. lavender fields choosing a card to send her from the display I break a sprig of flowers to carry home a thin jet of water from the lion's mouth into perfumed air afterwards you caution me parked on the bank's brink dusk approaches you work-out at table tennis in the garage my first short story takes shape on the computer cooler now wide flung windows closed against mosquitoes the photographers have gone taking their talk & laughter Patricia Prime & Catherine Mair : The idea of writing collaborative haibun came later. The idea was planted and wouldn't go away. The narrative sometimes presents itself as a problem – a challenge; and the solution was for one person to begin with a paragraph (with or without the addition of a haiku), followed by a linking narrative paragraph, which would open out the haibun. We were thinking all these things out, and at the same time telling ourselves this was not something everyone could do. One has to have the right temperament to work with another poet, but the energy created by the input of ideas was astonishing. Our imaginations were set in motion and we couldn't leave the idea alone. We began by writing narrative, in a short story like way, but we felt that the pieces lacked something we wanted them to have. And once the poems (haiku, tanka or a short poem) were included, we felt that what had been missing had been supplied.There are some ideas that are purely instinctive in writing and one must follow what they tell you to do. In our case, it was a particularly strong feeling. One reason is that a narrative doesn't want to deny anything that's beyond the prosaic, the real, the factual, and the mundane. It wants to acknowledge something “higher” – an element of the ideal if you like. Therefore, writing the prose and presenting the poems, which are not simply a repetition of ideas in the narrative but something more, seem to give the prose a lift and imbue it with a special resonance. It seems to me that we are pulling together two of the strands which define us as creative writers – our work in short stories, articles and reviews and our work as poets – and intertwining them. It was only when we began to write collaborative haibun that we realised for the first time we'd found a way of being both fiction writers and poets in a single work. We simply write down what we experience in our everyday lives as inspiration for the prose part of the haibun,

187 then add the haiku to create a new dimension, to change or alter the scene, voice or time, in a similar way as the two parts of a tanka are related.

Q: What is your attitude towards Western traditions of versification? A: My answer is that a basic knowledge of structure is necessary for an understanding of and ability to judge, the elements of a Western poet's craft. Profoundly different as they are, Chaucer, Shakespeare, Emily Dickinson, Sylvia Plath etc. could readily talk with one another about the techniques that they have in common. There are students of poetry and readers today who know little more about metre beyond the terms “blank verse” and “iambic pentameter”, much about form beyond “couplet” and “sonnet”, or anything about rhyme more complicated than that two words do or don't rhyme. The form, rhyme or metrical device of a poem is noticed more easily by the reader if they have some knowledge of these things. We cannot avoid this engagement with technique when we give a close reading to a poem. Close reading is only a beginning, to be followed by more distant reading, which for the reader it is a sensible place to start. Q: Does poetry sell? A. In New Zealand there has been closure of several poetry journals. Many people now use the Internet to publish their work. There they have almost immediate gratification at seeing their work published and don't have to wait 3 months or even a year to hear back from an editor. Wherever there are people who are “in touch” with the world of their senses, and with their own feeling response to it, poetry will continue to be written, published and sold worldwide, for there is nothing to excite one more than the feel of a new book of poems, to turn the pages and to relax into someone else's world. Q: Why do we write poetry? A. We write poetry because we must. The arts in general – are, in our lives, what cooking, gardening, and so on, represent in other peoples' lives. Q: How do you feel as a publisher? A. I'm proud to be a publisher. It's given me great pleasure over the years to come into contact with people from around the world. In this technological age, it's simple to keep in touch with poets, to read their work and to make decisions about which poems are most suitable for a publication. Q: Do you think you should go beyond New Zealand circles and publish struggling poets from other nations as well? Your endorsement will help these struggling brave-hearts of the misty land of the Muses. A: The problem, as I see it, in publishing poets from countries with English as a second language, is one of their uses of English. A good place for those wanting to write and submit their poems to overseas

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journals, is to purchase good reference books, such as William J. Higginson's The Haiku Handbook” or to go online and read some of the lesson plans for writing Japanese forms.The AHA poetry website www.ahapoetry.com edited by Jane Reichhold, offers many useful articles on the topics of haiku, tanka and renga. Q: From Britain to New Zealand to a global poet. Your view of this long journey: personal and artistic? A: As a global poet, editor, reviewer, prose writer, I've really not been writing that long, but it was something I always knew I could do. It was really a matter of time. As a solo mother, having to bring up four children and provide them with a home, gain some teaching qualifications, and go out to work, there wasn't much time for my own pursuits. It's given me great pleasure to work with other poets and editors who are passionate about what they do and I've met several of the New Zealand poets and editors and also some from overseas. Q: Post-retirement, as a mature point, your view of life and the global world, please? A: As a mature poet, I believe the world is shrinking. We are brought together more and more through the use of the internet, email and the other technology and it would be sad to see a decline in our individualities as poets if we tried to copy one another. While it is wonderful to meet other poets at meetings, conferences and seminars, I feel that we need to guard complacency and to keep our unique features as individual poets. Q: How much of Pat is there is Patricia's Prime's economical, restrained, lyrical pieces of both controlled prose and poetry? A: “Pat” or “Patti” as the Americans like to call me is really the child within in the face of poetry. Everything I know and have learnt seems not enough.What an art form! That you can do it, and think about it, and read it for so many years . . . and still be learning, still be interested, that it still presents puzzles and avenues which are new and that you can still participate in a sort of deep play with all the resources of language, sound, music, image, and technology, is fantastic. Q: Your advice to poets? A: My advice to poets is to keep reading, especially the journals or online sites to which you are going to submit your work, keep subscribing to publications, keep writing, keep submitting your work.

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Short Story From Gloria's Diary Settling in Italy, after a whole life spent in Africa - Albert Russo When I see with what difficulty my little Dalia was trying to adjust to her new environment, here in Monza, a medieval town shrouded in the wintry mists of Lombardy, she who until then had only known the warm light of Africa, I asked myself if settling in Northern Italy was the right choice. Sandro had insitially wished us to move to the Cape instead, and many a time I had been inclined to yield to his request, inasmuch as I held this city close to my heart, for having visited it so often and I had made a number of good friends there, while I was still living in Rhodesia. Rather than England, to which I had traveled twice, staying with relatives, and where, in spite of their kindness, I hadn't feltl comfortable, nor liked the climate, it was South Africa, mainly with Capetown, but also with Durban and Port Elizabeth, that we looked up to as our 'mother country', where we found a mixture of British, American (we thought it so modern) and African cultures. We would also spend our vacations in Beira, for Mozambique was much closer to us, and we enjoyed the 'Continental' atmosphere the Portuguese offered us. It was only towards adolescence that I had realized how much the apartheid system had corrupted the soul of white folk in South Africa. Man, when he manages to subjugate his former enemy, can lose all sense of justice, ending up believing in his own lies, mistaking good for evil, by twisting the tenets of religion to suit him. Before Ian Smith had pronounced his unilateral declaration of independence in 1964, leading the country to civil war, veering by the same token to the extrem right as he had implemented new racial laws, similar to those applied by the government of our powerful neighbor to the south, Rhodesia had lived in peace, if not in harmony, a state shared by its population, black and white. We never felt the tension that existed in South Africa, in spite of the fact that the Shona majority and the Ndebele who were often at odds with each other, both legitimately aspired to more justice and to greater autonomy. But they also benefitted from the bounty of our nation, which was indeed a land of milk and honey, before that other ogre, Mugabe, almost completely destroyed it, forcing millions of his people to flee, because of torture, famine and disease, while at the same time accusing the West for all his crimes. Rhodesian white rule could be said to resemble the colonial regime existing in the Belgian Congo rather than that of South Africa, or of the Portuguese possessions, which in spite of widespread miscegenation, had remained, after half a millenium, much poorer than their neighbors. There was, however, a major difference: the white Rhodesians, many of

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whom were one- or even two-generation settlers, considered themselves to be 'European Africans', much more than Britons in transit. The majority of the Belgians, on the other hand, civil servants, for the greater part, and though they lived comfortably in the colony - they were far from being, according to myth, filthy rich -, never thought of making the Congo their permanent home.There were a scant 100,000 Whites within a population of 14 million Congolese when the country became independent. Unlike Algeria, which fought a long and bloody war of liberation, the Congo plunged into chaos once it gained its independence, not before, with tribal feuds reignited in the most savage manner. The number of Congolese casualties was far greater than the few hundreds of Europeans killed in the aftermath. Its disastrous coming of age and the sad experiences of other African nations 'freed' from colonialism convinced me that moving to South Africa was not a good alternative for our family. I believed, as many historians did then - we were fortunately proved to be dead wrong in this case - that, in spite of its strong white minority, the racist republic would explode into a carnage the magnitude of which couldn't even be fathomed. But that was without counting on the intervention of one of the 20th century's greatest political figures: Nelson Mandela. Never was the black man treated with such contempt and indignity, at least after the Second World War. Sorry, here again I'm mistaken, for the Sudanese Islamic government repressed its southern Christian and animist population with extreme violence, causing the death of at least two million people. Years later, the Arab gangs of Janjaweed horsemen were responsible for the death of more than three hundred thousand Darfurians. Then too, there were the civil wars in Nigeria, with the tragedy in Biafra, in Sierra Leone, in Rwanda, and the list continues. I was going to forget Liberia, that small country on the West coast of the continent, created by former American slaves with the support of President Monroe. How wrongly it bore its name though, for its rulers imposed a ruthless dictatorship over the indigenous population, thus imitating their white oppressors of yore. Until the day when a man of the land overthrew the hated 'foreigners'. Unfortunately that self-appointed 'savior' ruled his country with the same iron fist, the same greed for power, betraying his countrymen and perpetuating their misery. These examples can in no way excuse the arrogance and the cruelty of the white settlers, inasmuch as they claimed to bring to the 'heathen' a 'higher' form of civilization. All of this to say how distressed I felt to leave that African soil in which I had dug so many roots, from its southern borders to its very heart, with the crowning conclusion, living on the magnificent shores of Lake Tanganyika. Despite its dull winter climate and a new language, northern Italy appeared to be our best alternative; it was, after all, the country of Sandro's origins or, at least, of his culture, and I had the intuition that I would, sooner or later, adopt its customs and be happier there than if I had gone and settled in England, the land of my forebears, which had depressed me so much the two times I had

191 visited it. Soon however most of the myths and the romantic ideas which foreigners embrace, about a nation sun-kissed and alive with the accents of music, bathed in an atmosphere of insouciance, fell one by one, at least as far as Lombardy was concerned. During those trying first months of settling in Monza, I had been lucky enough to have Roberto Garini, Sandro's partner, by my side, along with his wife, Marisa. Roberto would take care of all of the administrative paperwork, thus unburdening me from a huge weight which befall all newcomers, inasmuch as I spoke no Italian and, from what I gathered, as this country is well-known for its nervewracking bureaucracy. To every officer or public servant we were introduced, Roberto would discreetly slide an envelope. When, puzzled, I first asked him what was in it, he winked at me and whispered: “This way, we won't have to wait too long for things to be done.” In the beginning this kind of attitude, that is, bribing people left, right and center, as a matter of course, hurt my Anglo-Saxon sensibility whose puritanical education, though quite hypocritical in the province of sex, did not allow anything but full transparency in matters of public affairs and the Civil Service, which stands as one of the guarantees of our democratic society. Little by little, however, I resigned myself to such underhand dealings, not without letting out now and then a sigh of disapproval. I must admit that the Italians, even in the north of the peninsula, where work is highly prized - that was one of my big initial surprises, since I was led to believe, like so many foreigners, that everyone in this country was a bit lazy by nature, much preferring la dolce vita to industry - cheat with such elegance, I would even add, with a certain charm, which, if it doesn't always elicit a smile, is often quite disarming. They have an art de vivrewhich colors every aspect of their life, for good or evil. And what I would tolerate from them, I could not have tolerated from another nation. Even though she spoke broken English Marisa turned out to be very supportive and we soon became good friends. She introduced me to Monza's main storekeepers where she was a regular patron. I soon began to appreciate the advantages of living in a smaller town, where you would recognize most of the people you came across, as opposed to the often cold reception you received in a metropolis like Milan. As serious and as somewhat stiff in his demeanor as Roberto could be which did not subtract from his kindness - Marisa was full of life, with a touch of extravagance. She often made me laugh, especially when we went out, in the company of Roberto, who would dart at her reproachful looks which, to his exasperation, she would ignore, pulling her tongue behind his back, and that, of course, would give me more fits. The couple had two daughters, Carlina and Giosi, who both frequented Colegio Bianconi, a Catholic school for girls led by the Sisters, and where Dalia was introduced just a few days after we arrived in Monza. Carlina was two years younger than Dalia, but since my daughter had to start from scratch, she found herself in her same class. Thank goodness for Carlina, because Dalia felt doubly humiliated, not only was she a total

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stranger, but she was also the eldest of the class. The funny side in this situation was that Carlina behaved with her protégée like a big sister, mollycoddling her. But she did this with such enthusiasm and such genuine kindness, that Dalia, who, in Africa, emulated her older sister, showing an increasing sense of independence, finally resigned herself, accepting her new status of 'inferiority' as inevitable, so long as it would remain transitory. Giosi was already in high school and had the preoccupations of an adolescent, which put a distance between the two sisters, not mentioning with Carlina's friend. The girls seldom went out with Giosi, inasmuch as the latter now had a fidanzato - a boyfriend in Italy, even if he is a minor, is considered like a fiancé. Because, most of the times, such juvenile bethrothals go on for years. In the beginning I was quite surprised to see how faithful these young Italian lovers were throughout, especially when I think of my Rhodesian pals, who, not only were pretty forward, some even brazen, but who also changed boyfriends much more often. During the first months of our settlement, Dalia would come home, eyes red from tears, for not only could she not understand her classmates, towards whom she was too proud to show her feelings, putting on a mask of indifference, but she disliked everything around her: the apartment we were renting, which to say the truth was very cosy, her bedroom facing the magnificent landscape of the snow-capped pre-Alps - yes, I should add that more often than not the view was shrouded in a persistent mist. She also found the city of Monza unattractive, with its “ankle-breaking” cobblestones, its soot-covered buildings and what she called the “uuugly, old-fashioned and so-called historic landmarks, dating back to the Dark Ages”. I have to thank Carlina who pepped her up, relentlessly, forcing her to look at the brighter side of life. She would come and fetch Dalia at least three times a week, to accompany her for errands or to go to the movies together. She was thrilled to have her friend with her during the sales period, especially at Christmas time, for Carlina was crazy for shoes, bags and custom jewellery. I knew I could leave Dalia in her safe company and would always give her some pocket money, so she wouldn't feel spare. I even urged her to buy nice things.Yet, in the beginning, whilst her friend indulged herself, Dalia would come back home, empty-handed. “I didn't find anything I liked.“ she would retort, with a pout of disgust, shrugging off the subject, as if it was too trivial to pursue. She got me really worried, to the point where I even thought of consulting a psychologist. It was Marisa who finally advised me against the idea, maintaining that it would pass. “You will see,” she said, “with the advent of Spring, things will appear rosier to her. Don't we, adults, who grew up here, suffer from the Winter blues?” And she was right, for, as soon as the Parco Reale, which we could admire from an angle of our seventh-floor apartment, became alive with the lush greening of its woods and the palette of its wild flowers, my daughter opened up and was happy to take, with Carlina, long strolls in the Park this is actually a misnomer, since the Parco Reale, one of the largest in

193 Europe, looks more like a small forest, interspersed with wide glades, containing a stable, an olympic-size swimming-pool, several cafés, at least one posh restaurant, and the famous Formula-One race track, known here as Autodromo di Monza. And I haven't mentioned its crown jewel, the splendid Renaissance-styleVilla Reale, which was the Summer Palace of the Italian Royal family and which nowadays accommodates trade and art shows, among other occurrences. It took Dalia about a year to fully adapt to her new environment and to speak Italian, almost like a native. She couldn't roll her r's and thus kept a slight French accent. But this small 'defect' of pronunciation gave her an edge over her classmates, since she sounded either like a snobbish little Florentine or like a Parisienne, making her sound as if she belonged to some kind of aristocracy. This bothered her at first, for my darling Dalia couldn't care less for social differences, especially since she mocked those 'ladida, fat birds that strut like constipated ostriches'. The funny expressions she used to express her dislikes were hilarious. But with time, she found that she could take advantage of her accent, stressing it to shoo away the boys who chased after her and Carlina. “Oh oh!”, they would exclaim, “we aren't good enough for the signorine.” And they would turn away. It seems that boys in this country get interested in the other sex earlier than elsewhere, and they do it quite conspicuously, sometimes with a flourish, emulating their elders. And it is not rare to see a bunch of teenagers, as young as twelve, reeling off this kind of nonsense: “E bellezza! you're the most beautiful chick I've ever seen, haven't I seen you in a movie lately? I imagine how gorgeous your mother must be. Come one, give us a kiss, just a little kiss, will you!” And our two gals would retort: “Scram, you pipskeaks, good for nothing, go buy a lollipop.” Oh, they knew how to defend themselves all right, even if the youngsters continued to snigger and giggle, while they were already on the prowl, aiming at new 'targets'. During the first Summer vacations we spent at home - yes, now Dalia and I could call Italy home - we had the immense pleasure of welcoming Sandro, Astrid and Daviko amongst us. What joy I felt to have the whole family reunited again.You should have seen how Dalia's face lit up, when they asked her to show them around. She insisted on serving as their personal guide and was, of course, proud to introduce Carlina to them, calling her 'my dearest amica italiana. When just a few months earlier, she would scorn at the 'narrowmindedness' of the Monzese, finding fault wherever she could, here she was now praising the city's main sites, showing theml'Arengario, which nestled, under its medieval arcades, contemporary art exhibits and a regular flee market, the elegant cathedral, adorned with green marble slabs and which contained a steel crown that, according to legend, girded Christs' head. She then led them through the park. Dalia had never ventured into the swimming-pool, because she did not dare show herself in a swimsuit, not that she was prudish, at the Cercle Nautique, in

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Usumbura, she would dive from the highest springboard, with the dexterity of a dolphin, sinking deeply into the water, after raising noisy and joyful splashes. What bothered her here was that her skin, used to being perennially tanned under the African sun, took on, what she considered, a sickly white coloring, which made her feel 'naked', even when she looked at herself in the bathroom mirror with just her underwear on. She needed Astrid's and Daviko's prodding to go swim with them and with Carlina. Which they did promptly, since it was getting quite warm. Oh how she admired her big sister, who already looked like a young woman and who sported so much self-assurance, and how proud she felt to have Daviko by her side, with his beautiful natural bronze hue and the smooth and curvaceaous body of a Greek athlete. You should have seen with what stratagems the girls around him tried to get his attention. Even Carlina was afraid to look him straight in the face, lest she turn red as a beetroot. But Daviko was so modest by inclination that he never realized how attractive people found him. We decided to spend the initial part of this first Italian summer all together on the Adriatic. Exiting Monza, we soon reached the main highway; it was already so clogged with traffic, that I began to panick.The lines of Fiat 500 and 600 were unbelievable - they looked like so many dodgems, and it was quite strange to see, squeezed here and there, between these midget cars, the gleaming and high-powered Ferraris, Maseratis or Lamborghinis, as well as the luxurious Lancia and Mercedes sedans: what a surrealstic sight, indeed! Sandro, who was our principal driver - I would relay him during the other half of the trip - was also sighing in disbelief, but he soon bucked up and got in control of things, as he always did, however difficult the situation might be - after all, hadn't he lived most of his life through the vagaries of the African bush, with its terrifying cloudbursts during the rainy season, and the unheralded encounter with dangerous wild beasts? None of us, of course, had ever experienced such long queues in the past, which explained the silence that reigned in the car. After about an hour's drive, we stopped at an Alemagna rest area, to fill up the tank with gasoline and to savor some of those delicious panini with mortadella cheese and smoked ham, which are the typical local snacks. The children had ice cream after that, while Sandro and I got two creamcapped capuccini sprinkled with cinnamon. Back on the autostrada, we were now a little less tense and payed more attention to our surroundings. Daviko couldn't stop raving about the few stupendous cars of the three big Italian makes I mentioned earlier that we encountered, yet his favorite one was the more modest but sleek Alfa Romeo GT Sprint, especially in its flaming red garb. How very relieved I was when, after having gone through this initiation motoring rite, with not so much as a bump - even if at times we stood at a mere ten centimeters from our neighbors, both in front and at the back of us - we arrived safely in Riccione (pronounced 'Ritchowneh'), our final

195 destination. It was only the third week of July and the long sandy beaches were already pretty crowded. Roberto and Marisa who had recommended the small pensione where we had reserved three rooms for the family, had warned us not to go there during the Ferragosto vacation (mid-August), where half of the Italian population spilled over its shores. Thank goodness we heeded their advice, for I can't begin to imagine how we would have managed, surrounded by two or even three times the number of people. Sandro and the children greatly enjoyed the sea, especially when there were big frothy waves. We didn't mind really that the water was not the clear blue that we expected, actually it had a light brownish color, like the sand itself. Because of my delicate freckled skin, I remained most of the time under the sunshade and joined them into the sea only when the heat became unbearable. Whereas I didn't particularly appreciate the shouting of children and the transistor radios blaring around us, neither did I like them playing hide and seek near me - a kid even threw, unintentionally, some sand over my bust -, my darlings seemed to be in their element amid such racket. They played ball, hailed the passing vendors who were chanting: “Come and get my delicious chocolate, vanilla, strawberry and pistachio gelati, my glazed apples, my fresh slices of coconut, my peach and grape nectars. All of prime quality!You will sing my praise.” We would walk back in our shorts to the pensione to eat our lunch, then we would go to our respective rooms for a nap, leaving the windows wide open, to let in the warm coddling breeze. And come 3.30 / 4 pm, my foursome would return to the beach. I would join them a little later, for that was the time I preferred, when the temperature was cooler and the place less crowded. After bathing, like a small army, we would all trot toward the dike where someone was grilling meat kebab and scampi. The smell was so enticing that I had to warn my babies: “Save some space for dinner, ok!” I must admit that I too could have woolfed down a dozen of these skewers, if I were to heed the rumbling calls of my belly. Dinner was not included in our hotel package, so that we could choose any of the numerous terraced trattorie that either lined the boardwalk or were immersed in patches of greenery. They were often enlivened by a pianist or a small band. Evenings in Riccione's restaurants were indeed a feast for us. We would taste something different every time. If it was not spaghetti alle vongole (tiny mussels), it would be tagliattelle alla bolognese, cheese- or potatoes-filled gnocchi , ravioli with ground meat or spinach, not to mention the incredible variety of pizzas, whose dough was so fine and crunchy - not like the thick ones people cook outside of Italy and which have the consistency of rubber -, that its mere perfume, wafting from the brick kiln as you entered a trattoria, would titllate your buds. There were also excellent fish, caught the same morning, grilled or marinated, and all manner of fowl, such as turkey or chicken breasts, or those divine and so tender little quails, served with polenta (a purée of corn), which at first I had found distasteful but soon learnt to savor. As for the desserts, the choice was as vast as it was gaudy: tiramisu (layers of

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pound cake, pudding and biscuits, all of it soaked in rhum or in grappa), baked apples and pears, fresh water melon, prunes in syrup, Neapolitan ice cream, and, again, the best and most suave gelati in the world, presented in a palette of hues matching the rainbow. I was lucky to remain slim in spite of my good appetite - true, I ate often, but in small quantities, I've never really been greedy -, that was probably due to my metabolism, will had nothing to do with it. Dalia had my constitution, which wasn't the case of Astrid, who had gained weight and who didn't like to show herself in a swimming suit. My eldest had a tendency towards depression and her body would automatically be affected. I was worried about her, especially since she always insisted on being so independent. What comforted me was to know, that, when she was in Africa, now, so far away, she and Daviko were very close, insasmuch as these last three years her relationship with her father had been somewhat rocky. Those two were so alike that they were bound to flare up now and then. Nature can be so quirky! If anyone should have been rebellious, it was Daviko, not Astrid, for having spent his whole childhood protected by the cocoon of his tribe, then for having been so brutally thrust into the urban world, where the separation between Europeans and Congolese was so obvious and threrefore much more humiliating for him, even if he was privileged enough to attend the Athénée interracial, where youngsters of all origins learnt to mix, to know each other and to play sports together, something that didn't exist in the British colonies, at least not that I know of. Dalia used to make me laugh with her picturesque beach anecdotes.“You should have seen those stuck-up teeny boppers,” she'd report, “ how they would find any stupid excuse to approach Daviko, the ugliest ones too thought they could have a try, pulling such monkey faces. One of them even pretended she hurt her toe and began to hopscotch just under his nose. She expected that he would play doctor with her, cretina ! But what took the cake”, Dalia would go on, blinking in the fashion of an automaton,“took place on the way back to the hotel. Astrid and I purposely stayed on the opposite pavement, to watch their shenanigans. There was always one or the other of those nitwits who kept following him, hoping that he would turn towards them and invite them for an ice cream, or something, and the funniest thing was that Daviko who was, as usual, in the moon, didn't have an inkling of what was going on behind his footsteps. Then all of a sudden, out of nowhere, a young blond guy appeared, with long straw-colored hair - he looked Scandinavian and was, I must say, quite cute; he should have come to us, this world is so unjust! - and walked up to Daviko.This time, the boy was so close to him, that our brother woke up in a startle and he began to look for us, in a panic. When he did find us - we were giggling so loudly, we couldn't be missed - he was full of reproach.Why did we abandon him, he grumbled, what was the fun all about? How naive, that beloved brother of ours! He is so serious and has no clue about life, least of all, about l'amore!”

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Book Review K.V.Raghupathi: Dispersed Symphonies, A.P.H. Publishing Corporation, New Delhi, 2011, ISBN 978-81-313-0962-9, ` 595/-, Pages 227 Book Review: P.V. Laxmi Prasad “Dispersed Symphonies” by Dr. K.V. Raghupathi is the 13th Poetry collection. It is dedicated to Shri Aurobindo, the great seer, yogi and philosopher. As the title of collection indicates, they are scattered reflections on varied subjects and themes. It is a collection of Poet's actual experiences over a decade. They are transcendental meditations and experiences. They contemplate man in various shadows of life. They are, no doubt, tranquilizers for a disturbed mind. They tranquilize readers by a strong base of philosophy. The poet goes down the memory lane when he presents those reflections to the readers.They are seriouslybuilt reflective meditations. Shri Aurobindo Ashram Trust, Pandicherry serialised these reflections in a volume with sympathy and generosity. It is a collection of reflections on mundane and spiritual worlds. The Poet projects his reflections on varied aspects: music, earth, sky, seas, clouds, abrasions of Time, ultimate silence, memories, Clouds, Tapestry, leaves and flowers, Empirical man, and world, dancing peacock, humming bee, butterfly, the rising of the day, the falling of the night, the gliding of the sun, the drifting of the clouds, the unfolding of the buds, the beating of winds, the retreating of trees, soaring eagles, irrationalities, absurdities, human cacophony, world of eternity, eerie hours of silence, mellifluous sounds, strange voices and feelings. The poet finds his breath in the music of silence “ I hear music in everything that drops, that moves, that sways, that rises and that falls.... My breath is my music in silence” – (P.9)A Philosophical Raghupathi presents the roots of memory by his creative and lived experiences. “Memories are strong with war stories, I read too much with shock and fear – the stories of men killing men for supremacy until I grow up with wounded mind to seek healing from the melodies from the northern hills”. (P.209) A nostalgic Raghupati finds life in his home town TIRUPATHI where the Lord of Seven Hills dwells. He finds busy roads, insipid sounds, and wasteful thinking in sheer frustration. Instead, he wants freedom of life full of rationalities. He feels he is the most fortunate, fulfilled and blessed if the lord shows him a way out of this world. “But my longing wanders like the west wind in the Tirumala Hills, unabated” (P. 93) What then is Nirvana? Raghupathi puts forth his symphonies: “It is the desire that has no frontiers, as vast as the unlimited sky. It is the desire that can never be fulfilled by all the treasures in the human world. It is the desire no human being can ever comprehend. It is the desire that can confront and pulverize all other desires, the desires of all human being. It is the desire that human theories and doctrines can never explain with strange sophistry. It is ever present, deathless ever recurring like the cheesy clouds. I may die but I fear it might persist and even haunt with such intensity in my next birth that might get devoured. It is not a mere desire

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but a deep yearning for total dissolution.”Nirvana (P. 89) The poet projects his reflections on those birds which enjoy unlimited freedom. He wants to be one among them, He finds a world of solace and relief when he hears honeyed songs, tranquillity harmony in metrical notes, much splendour in unknown chords, love and understanding in perfect symphonic tones.The poet urges the pranky birds of those woods : “to give me your freedom, your cosmic joy, your endeavours, and your dharma. Soak me in silence so that I may lose my petty 'self' and be like you.” (P. 63)The poet presents the contrasting worlds of nature and human beings. Whereas world of Nature is unselfish, bestowing and pure, the world of human beings is comparatively different that is selfish, inhuman and treacherous The poet recalls his visit to blue mountains and valleys in mid June and remembers the depth of silence they hold in their heart deeper than silence, timeless and deathless. He puts forth three conditions for mankind to get salvation or moksha”. “To be our child, you should give up your holdings and hoardings because we do not hold and hoard. These plants and trees grow and die on their own. To be one with us, you should be content to receive what is given unto you and not grieve over that which is not given unto you. To be one among us, you should give up all your claims and counter claims over not only what you have gained over the years but also the garb you wear. If you fulfil these three conditions, then you may come and live with us as a life member of our community, the moment you leave us by deception and trickery, you shall lose that which we bestow upon you.” (P. 109) What is mind, body and heart? Raghupathi goes philosophical: “Think of a heart that contains all hearts of creatures. That is Cosmic heart. Think of a mind that contains all minds of creatures. That is Cosmic mind. Think of a body that contains all forms of all creatures. That is cosmic body, Think of a being that has all the three. Who can be that? It is not God, But all these dwell in you.” (P. 127) An insightful reflection on “love” can be found in the lines crafted on transcendental experience, “Hitherto you have sought wealth, power, prestige, status, and honour which have left you with misery at the end because you seem to have been less satisfied with them. Now, seek that which encompasses your heart like the wind, the globe that dwells deep in your heart imperishable and indescribable, that is love.” (P. 127) The poet contemplates on the destination of life. “I am at the junction of crosswords, each is divergent leading to one destination. This is man-made. Men and Women travel to pick up their dreams, unrealized aspirations scattered in the wide spectrum of life. I move leisurely treading, trampling and ploughing the land strewn by grisly grown grass pebbles, stories and bushes.This untrodden path is the essence of my life and those are the paraphrases of their plight. (P.163)

To conclude the review, I reckon that Dr.K.V. Raghupathi builds these reflections on meditative, reflective and transcendental experiences which have been actually lived through. Though they are written in the prosy style, they are poetically structured in similes, metaphors and beautiful imagery. Philosophically, they carry an enlightened wisdom to readers. A bulk of heightened comparisons makes the collection mesmerising and gripping. Philosophy is explicitly, incidentally and inherently convincing, contextual and guiding.

199 Shaleen Kumar Singh: The Proprietary Pains: A collection of short poems, Poets Printery, East of London, South Africa, 2009, ISBN978-0620-43029-6. Book Review: Sunil Sharma Proprietary Pains (PP) is haunting! The way the old Spanish or the soaring Gothic castles are still haunting for the contemporary tourists! Or, the mystical vast Russian steppes in Turgenev or Chekov--- running down to the very rims of the infinity in a rugged series against a clear and somber blue sky and seen fresh from new eyes on a sun-lit and silent morning from a moving wagon---are for the post-modern readers. Or, the majestic Brahamputra of Assam, flowing down across the heart of an ancient land, is for the tired travellers. Or, the fleeting ruins of a Rajasthani haveli are for the newly-arrived foreginers as seen in the quivering haze of the afternoon sun of hot May.Things that refuse to fade from your mind already exposed to info-overload of media-society. After reading the PP, you get the same feeling of calmness. It is like hearing the rustling wind in an empty room of an abandoned colonial-era bungalow set on a steep brown hill: It is the sad but redeeming MUSIC of the inner space vacated recently by somebody very dear. As we all remember songs from our childhood and cannot erase them from our remembering adult heart, in the same manner, some precious persons/ special moments can never be forgotten by a caring grieving heart. They get enshrined in sympathetic memory. The PP by Shaleen does that for him and his readers. The young bearded poet mourns his father---an unsung college teacher, in the hinterland of North India---in this bouquet of 104 short poems, published from South Africa, in a stunning book, designed by the world-known surgeon-poet-painter Amitabh Mitra, now settled in East of London, SA. The poems come straight from a grieving son and the tender poet within transforms that personal loss--- a great family tragedy but a routine thing for others outside the immediate circle---into haunting music and marvelous verbal cadence. It is about remembering an ordinary father, in a celeb-driven age, where the very act of remembrance is Herculean resistance against trivializing mass culture that reduces everything, including art, to mere dross and fizzy nothingness; where family and values are all dying fast, and, where the human beings and early robust humanism have been all made redundant by the emerging consumerist society. Amnesia is promoted here. Man is superfluous. Only ads, objects, sensations, ephemeral things are made sacred and desirable, crowded out by others competing for your eyeballs. In this universal age of instant gratification and instant replacement, memories of the dead, of the past, personal histories--- of a person and nation, are all heroic attempts to retrieve a slice of the slipping past and capturing it in verbal structures of pure harmony and beauty and thereby, resisting the general forgetfulness endemic to nations and groups. Shaleen pays glowing tributes to a father in a minimal, sparse poetic style and transmutes the felt pains into flowing, arching Niagra fall of loss and recovery, in the face of extreme pain, hardships and emotional


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black-outs. All poems are three-liners and stunning in imagery and sudden impact: A agony/Bleeding/ In the heart. A search/ Of mine/ To know you. (Ibid.P.2) Or: Melting/ Freezing and/ Melting… Frozen eyelids/Long wept after/ Lacerated heart. (Ibid. P.4) These are simple lines, yet very profound in import, almost Miltonic in grandeur. And very difficult to compose by young trembling hands, at the altar of a departed semi-god, in the gathering gloom in and outside a gentle heart… In the cathartic process, a son feels orphaned by the parental death but a promising poet is born…cleansed by mourning and finding strength in that personal tragedy, emerging as a true person, down but not out by the slings of misfortune…the stuff of serious art anywhere and occasion for deep meditations on Life. It is also an elegy on patriarchy, now in the throes of crisis everywhere. Broadly, it is about the loss of father figure, an angst felt by us, while growing up. It is about finite that is man and an infinity that is art!

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Poetry Voice of Earth My heart bleeds It hurts. Your tools Cut me down. Digging into me, You insert pipe Down my throat. My throat was moist I quenched your thirst But you didn't care. Parching my throat You spilled water Here and there. I was open I was wide Breathing air fine. You choked me With your illusions. My domicile once Echoed with shouts Of little children. They ran, they played. I don't find Those children now. You have closed All the doors Hiding the children From my sight. I was warm Sun- my friend Met me everyday. You separated us Erected walls betwixt us. He comes daily With a wish In his heart To see me with The next day's start. He waits and watches To get a Glimpse of me,

- Medha Sachdev But sad in heart Goes he away Glowing very hard. I was fertile But your pesticides Spoiled my taste. Your greed for gain Robbed me each day Bullying me – Extracting juice from me. Silently I bore Extending my hand To fulfill your wish. Although I cried, My cry was mute Dry tears few Never reached you. Weak have I become Unable to hold. Now and then My limbs give way Pulling your huge Dimensions down. Can't you see my misery? Can't you stop this history? My life is short. I may die This very moment. Give my friends Back to me Let me play With air and sun, Let me watch The children in fun. Open your eyes See my woe Care to listen O my son! I promise to Keep you intact If you give My friends back.


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Dancing Heads

- Anjuli Jain

Heads ahead, heads behind Heads to the left, heads to the right Heads, heads, heads all around That bent sideways, up and down. So many heads collected at one place To watch the show on the stage. A little shift of the head ahead Propagated the shift behind Little ones stood or stretched To watch the show in line. Tall ones enjoyed the unobstructed sight Rest had the restless plight. The one ahead was jiggling with his keys Suddenly it fell on the ground To pick it up he ducked down Then I could watch with absolute ease. How much I wished for that posture to freeze When a giant passed by, looking for a vacant seat. Then he felt the vibrations in his pocket He fumbled for his cellular phone in it Switched it on and placed it on his ear And blocked my view so clear. I don't know what transpired between he and his phone That he immediately rushed out of the show-zone. Just when the show was to reach the climax The one ahead stretched out her arms to relax The baby screamed well ensconced in her laps I again lost track and adjusted sight through the gaps. As in the show, so in life throughout We keep focusing, zooming in and out. Watching a show like this Is like reading a novel and skipping pages Due to unavoidable disturbances Painting the missed scenes with educated guesses. The left and the right , fill the void in between The scene unseen appears as if seen. Now I wonder why the audience In front were the distinguished guests They enjoyed the show in a relaxed ambience Without the dancing heads. A show without the dancing heads Would not be a show of living but of dead. How akin is life to a show Life is but a lifelong show!

M.G. Priya

Who can Answer Them…? They were born neighbours – Friendly neighbours …sharing their food and crops And milk and eggs With no fence between the two houses – Mohammad Salmaan, and GitaLakshmi. They played 'goti' and 'stapu' and 'Hide&Seek' Together As children, they could not Stay from each other, They spent all their wakeful hours Together… Neighbours, same school, same tuitions, Same auto, same stores,… But as they grew, things changed too… With them grew their differences too… Her father erected a barbed wire fence, His father erected a huge brick wall, Between the two houses Which were always the same, all these years… He was sent to a different school She was not allowed to meet him now The two just shared a fleeting glance Waiting at the bus stop – one to the North, and the other to the South… It hurt them both, together, though… Her father fixed her marriage now, The previous night, She went to the barbed wire fence, And he to the brick wall… They looked at each other… Lots to say… But no words… Together, they thought of their childhood days, The beautiful life of the beautiful past, And then they parted ways… Both into their houses… …two lives of sacrifice …with a lot of unanswered questions… Who can answer them? Can his father? Can her father? Can Allah? Can Krishna? Can the Quran? Can the Gita? Who can answer them…?

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Vivekanand Jha

A Second A second of scorn Turns years of affection Into enmity of eternity. A second of innocent love Turns two souls To oscillate, live and die together In all fair and foul. A second of opportunity Transforms penury To disproportionate property. A second of mistake Puts life at stake And debars one From any give or take. A second of adversity Makes diversity to know What is unity? A second of carnal burst: Relationship exhibits no trust. A second of ejaculation The world is sitting On the volcanic mouth of Population explosion.

Believe me or not Believe me or not I speak as I suffered But not preach The world has been Only to those Who are happy and glee. On the mistake of others Don't show your teeth And to be laughed at Don't give any width. Once they come to know You are a beggar and you beseech Men are such a bee They would suck the left over blood Like a leech. So this is a lesson One must learn and teach Even in poverty looks like a rich For this you don't need Any investment and fee.

Cut-throat Man, chief justice of animals, To dictate stringent sentence On their innocence Punishment in all cases And will be no less than death, Only nature of death will differ As per the belief And religion of human beings. In the name of religion, Divide men themselves Into different factions, Scapegoat they their scriptures For their own atrocious activities. Even in sentencing slaughter Some say we are kind As we prefer to eat The meat of those animals Whose throats are Chopped off in one go Thus making their death Only momentary painful. Some say believe we in brutality As we prefer to chew The mutton of those animals Whose throats are cut Slowly and steadily Thus arousing pain And tantalizing them for death. They take enjoyment Of peculiar and bizarre Song and music, Emanating from the animals, Gasping for death, And thereby relish Nibbling tallow and sucking the soup Inside the shank of wholesome And palatable flesh and bone.

The Seed That Grew

- Albert Russo

India has been on my mind ever since I was a little boy it all started in my grandfather's small tailor shop on Manica road, behind Salisbury's railway station - Zimbabwe's capital is now called Harare I loved to go and visit him after school for he often invited his Hindu, Muslim and Christian friends for a cup of tea and biscuits and they would discuss about life, their families, their jobs, philosophy and religion, comparing the verses of the Bible and of the Kuran, and commenting upon them, often with such gusto, that it sometimes grew into shouting matches, but those were always benevolent exchanges that ended with laughter and blessings I was too young to understand the implications of these heated debates and I would soon leave that joyful assembly to amble along the street where I would stop before narrow storefronts that were a jumble of knick knacks and house tools, with at times strings of tiny bulbs alight that gave you the impression it was always Christmas there were the inevitable dead flies stranded in the corners often amid these fascinating goodies stood the alabaster model of the Taj Mahal and that was when my imagination went wild, dreaming of maharajahs and of princesses one more beautiful than the other, who wore jewels only the Queen of England could match Eventually I saw that most splendid of all mausoleums with my own eyes and cried I was so overwhelmed then too, at the Ashoka, I caught a glimpse of the most magnificent female specimen of the human race she was tall, haughty and wore a golden sari her hair tumbled down almost to her waist like a glinting cascade her skin had the delicacy of translucent porcelain she disappeared like a vision to the point that I still wonder whether she was real I was a teenager when my family and I moved to Bujumbura, in the former Rwanda-Urundi there, I had the privilege of attending an 'interracial' public school, with European, African,

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American, Indian and Pakistani classmates On Saturday afternoons, I would go to the Asian quarter to visit some of my new friends whose folks always welcomed me with great kindness, offering me homemade cookies and freshly pressed juices I would inhale the pungent smells that came in from the kitchen as if they were pure mountain air then we would go to the Kit Kat movie house where I was introduced to the Indian cinema long long before Bollywood would become known and there too I watched my first Soviet films

that is how India grew in my heart Varun Raj Nair

Epiphany The lights were dim and the ghosts were running free, there were parrots in the holes and rabbits on the tree. One of them was sleeping i thought he was dead, Sensing me he got up and this is what he said: "Oh take me to the place where the water tastes like wine, we'll swim in the water stay drunk all the time." I asked for Alice, said she was long gone, Has gone until dusk she told me at dawn. "Who needs alice and her bottomless aquarium,? when you can have lucy and the endless imaginarium?!! And kites flew up in colors of black and white. and with it i saw lucy in mid flight. Lucy! i called out, when she was in plain sight, but out of earshot, apparently because of height. i Want you girl here by my side, when the seas roll in and high is the tide. She won't listen to me how many flowers i'd send, and then i realised that Diamonds were her friends!! And there was the end of "endless" imaginarium.

Varun Raj Nair born 10th Feb. 1991 is BALLB First Year student at National Law Institute University (NLIU) Bhopal, (M.P.).

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Our Contributors Vijay Singh Thakur is Assistant Professor at Department of Languages and Translation in Dhofar University, Salalah, Sultanate of Oman. Narinder K. Sharma is Lecturer in English at Department of Applied Sciences, DAV Institute of Engineering & Technology, Jalandhar, Punjab. Rohit Phutela is Assistant Professor in English at DAV Institute of Engineering & Technology, Jalandhar, Punjab. Abdulrahman Mokbel is Co-ordinator , dept. of English language and Translation, Faculty of Sciences and Arts, Taibah University- Al-Ola, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Swati Samantaray is Associate Professor in School of Humanities, KIIT University, Bhubaneswar Orissa. Taniya Chakraborty is an Institute Research Scholar in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, National Institute of Technology Durgapur. Joydeep Banerjee is Assistant Professor, the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, National Institute of Technology, Durgapur,W.B. Shabina Nishat Omar is Assistant Professor at Department Of English, Aliah University, Salt Lake, Kolkata West Bengal. A. Sujatha serves as Professor in the Department of English, King College of Technology, Namakkal, Tamil Nadu. She is an ardent storyteller and storytelling was her area of doctoral research. Besides, she conducts workshops on Storytelling, Teacher Development and Language Teaching through Literature. Her chief areas of interest include World Mythology, Feminism and Mythopoeia, and The Role of Women in Ancient Civilization . R.G. Hegde is Associate Professor and Trainer in Career and Soft Skills at Dept. Of English, B N Degree College, Dandeli (U K), Karnataka. Neeta Puranik is Assistant Professor English at Govt. Hamidia Arts & Commerce College, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. Indira Javed is Assistant Professor English at Govt. M.V.M. College Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. Amodini Sreedharan is Guest Faculty at Department of English, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh. Bishun Kumar is Asst. Professor in Institute of Technology and Management, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. Anju Bala Agrawal is Reader in the Dept. Of English, R.C.A. Girls' P.G. College, Mathura, Uttar Pradesh. She has authored “William Wordsworth: A Collection of Critical Essays” and edited an anthology “Post Independence Indian Writing in English” in two volumes. PCK Prem (IAS, Retd.) is an academician-turned bureaucrat, a bilingual novelist, story writer, poet and critic in Palampur, Kangra (HP).

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Itishri Sarangi is Assistant Professor in Trident Academy of Creative Technology, Bhubaneswar, Orissa. B.J. Geetha is Assistant Professor English at Periyar University, Salem, Tamil Nadu. Sangeeta Das is Associate Professor, English Department, D.G. (PG) College, Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh. Ajay K Chaubey teaches at Dept. of English, BBDNITM, Lucknow (UP). Ujjwal Kr. Panda is a registered Ph.D. Scholar in the Dept. Of English, Vidyasagar University, West Bengal. The topic of his research is 'The Sense of Place : Divergent Responses in the Works of Seamus Heaney and Philip Larkin'. Suchibrata Goswami has done her Masters and Ph.D in English from Dibrugarh University, Assam. Her field of research was AfricanAmerican studies with special reference to Toni Morrison's fiction. Her current area of interest is translation, post-colonial studies and missionary works in Assam. Presently she teaches in IGNOU and Krishna Kanta Handique Open University(KKHOU)under Debraj Roy College and Furkating College, Golaghat, Assam. Mashhoor Abdu Al-Moghales is Assistant Professor of English at Department of English, Faculty of Education,Taiz University,Yemen. Megha Trivedi is Principal Academics at ELITE Research Center, Indore, Madhya Pradesh. Vini Jain works at School of Languages, Gujarat University, Ahmedabad. Nitin Jarandikar is Asst. Professor at Radhanagari Mahavidyalaya, Radhanagari, Dist. Kolhapur, Maharashtra. C. Sharada is Assistant professor at Dept. of English, Osmania University, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh. Marie Josephine Aruna teaches at Tagore Arts College, Pondicherry. Medha Sachdev is Assistant Professor in English in Tika Ram Kanya Mahavidyalaya, Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh. She has 2 books published and 2 translated from English to Hindi to her credit. She has been awarded Shri Premnath Goel Memorial Award (I prize) by Wider Association For Vedic Studies (WAVES) for Outstanding Research Paper presented in 13th India Conference, Delhi University, Delhi in 2009. Anjuli Jain, Associate Professor at Dept. of Humanities in Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology, Bhopal has two poetry collections, one, 'Spontaneous Outpourings' from Alankar Publishers, Delhi and the other under publication. She has also translated a book of poems of a famous Hindi poet Ashok Chakradhar. She also writes articles on various issues for newspapers and magazines. M.G.Priya is Assistant Professor at Amrita School of Engineering, Ettimadai, Coimbatore,Tamil Nadu. The other esteemed contributors are at the Editorial Board of Labyrinth.