Visit to an Art Gallery : Ajanta Exhibition

Ajanta Exhibition 

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                      Today I'm going to write about my experience of visiting an art gallery of Ajanta Caves Paintings.

                       On 26th September,2021 Me and My classmates of Sem-3 were visited Shree Khodidas Parmar art gallery exhibition about paintings of Ajanta Caves.

India have large History about Caves of Ajanta and many others Caves. And they all have their own Historical moments for that we all remember that today also. And you want to refer more about Ajanta caves for that go threw the link given below...

Ajanta Caves

Also the Image we can see of Ajanta Caves..

અજંતાની ગુફાઓ મહારાષ્ટ્ર રાજ્યના ઔરંગાબાદ જિલ્લાના અજંતા ગામ પાસે આવેલી છે. સહ્યાદ્રી પર્વતમાળાને કોરીને ઘોડાની નાળ આકારે અહીં કુલ 29 ગુફાઓ આવેલી છે. વાસ્તુકળાંની દ્રષ્ટિએ અજંતાની ગુફાઓ મહત્વની છે. અહીંની ગુફાઓને 2 વિભાગમાં વહેંચી શકાય 1) ચિત્રકલા આધારિત ગુફાઓ અને 2) શિલ્પકલા આધારિત ગુફાઓ. આ ગુફાઓના ભીતચિત્રો અજોડ અને ઉચ્ચકક્ષાના છે. આ ચિત્રોનો મુખ્ય વિષય બૌદ્ધધર્મ છે. અજંતાની ગુફાઓ તેની અનોખી કળા સમૃદ્ધિના કારણે માત્ર ભારતમાં જ નહીં પણ વિશ્વભરમાં પ્રસિદ્ધ છે. ચિત્રકલા, શિલ્પકલા, અને સ્થાપત્ય કલાના અપૂર્વ સુમેળરૂપ આ ગુફાઓમાં થયેલા ક્લાસર્જને ભારતીય કલાને વિશ્વમાં ગૌરવ અપાવ્યું છે.

When we visit Art Gallery from there we meet Raju Chauhan sir and he told us about the Paintings that they all paintings were painted in same size and same way from the real paintings of Ajanta Caves. He also told that in those paintings all painters were used natural colors like red Indian colors etc... Ajanta caves paintings were painted in darkness because Ajanta Caves were 'U' shaped so sunlight can't reach there. And all the paintings painted by students of Khodidas Parmar's students from Bhavnagar. And all the paintings were amazing.

The Ajanta paintings became famous all over the world. They were often compared to other styles, but it soon became clear that they represented an indigenous style and a unique vision. The artist at Ajanta added extra dimensions to their work, so that a sense of touch was implied, and the volume of the painted figure could be conveyed to the viewer.

 Bodhisattva Padmapani 

A painting in cave number 1 of Ajanta caves, this is Buddha’s former existence portrayed as a painting. Cave number 1 of Ajanta caves is known for some of the most elaborate carvings and sculptures from the life of Gautam Buddha.

Blogger as a Learning tool

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Blog

ICT Workshop 2021

1.                         R.K. Narayan, in full Rasipuram Krishnaswami Narayan, original name Rasipuram Krishnaswami Narayanswami, (born October 10, 1906, Madras [Chennai], India—died May 13, 2001, Madras), one of the finest Indian authors of his generation writing in English.

Ict workshop presentation on blog from ChandaniPandya3

The Home and The World

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 Today I'm going to write about The Home and The World Thinking Activity task given by our Ma'am. So let's see... 

The other important benefit of this activity is we get any information second with the use of digital humanities. Traditional humanities are very time consuming. But digital humanities take only a few seconds to find the data.

The Home and the World (1916) which he inputted his beliefs on The Swadeshi Movement which was a movement in obtaining independence from the British colonization, which the movement had started around 1905. (India Today). In his novel he shows two different sides of The Swadeshi Movement, one whose side would do whatever it takes to gain freedom from British involving violence and sacrificing their own morals. While on the other side was not as outspoken, but still wanted the best for India, but maintaining their morals in a changing time. In the journal article “I Will Make Bimala One With My Country: Gender and Nationalism in Tagore’s The Home and The World” by Indrani Mitra she writes, “Swadeshi movement went from a campaign for constructive self-development to militant activism in its final phase.” (Mitra 244). Tagore, displayed this side of the movement through Sandip, an outspoken activist who lures Bimala to his side while also manipulating her. Kathleen M O’Connell writes in the article “Education at Santiniketan”, “Initially a leader in the movement, he became disillusioned as the movement disintegrated through factionalism and terrorism.” (O’Connell 25). Tagore did not want think the people should not resort to violence to gain freedom for India. His novel was a way to express his feelings on the movement. As Nikhil says in this line in The Home and the World, “My heart has become all eyes. The things that should not be seen, the things I do not want to see,-these I must see.” (Tagore 38). In this line, Nikhil is almost speaking as Tagore himself, not wanting to see how some people have changed for the worse. It is a message Tagore is saying to the people of India, to look what has become of the movement, to not turn to violence and think for the good of the people.

Bimala plays a central role in The Home and the World by Rabindranath Tagore as readers see she is caught between two different sides of the movement. In the beginning of the novel, Bimala has been married to her husband Nikhil for some time, and who is dedicated to her husband first foremost. As Pokkuluri Suryaprakash writes in the journal “An Appreciation of the Principal Characters in Tagore’s The Home and the World”, “Bimala is the household goddess and the queen in the happy limited world of home.” (Suryaprakash). Bimala is sheltered and has lived a comfortable life in her home. Her needs are met, and her husband Nikhil treats her well. When Nikhil tells her to go outside and experience the world she does not want to as she does not want to go through any change. She says, “If the outside world has got on so long without me, it may go on for some time longer. It need not pine to death for me.” (Tagore 10). Bimala feels that the world does not want her, as it is something she has experience for a while, and is happy the way things are. In the article, “Revisiting Rabindranath Tagore’s The Home and the World” by Cielo Festino they write, “His desire is to see her as a free woman, who will choose to love him, not because he dictates it, but of her own accord..” (Festino). Nikhil wants her to be free and to be free to love him. Bimala eventually budges, but she had no desire to experience the world and to be a part of it. Her desired place was to be in the home.

All That Glitters Isn't Golden

Bimala, after going out into the world was enticed by Sandip, a man part of the Swadeshi Movement, but resorts to violence to get what he wants entices her. Bimala after hearing words of seduction by Sandip is influenced by him, and resorts to doing things that she would not normally do, like be actively against her husband on certain social topics. Granted, it was because she was told by Sandip what to think. Sandip puts her on a pedestal and she savors it. In the article “Three Women and their Men: Comaparing Tagore’s Bimala with James’s Isavel and Foster’s Lilia” by Amiya Bhushain Sharma, she writes, “Her flaw is innocence or simple mindedness.” (Sharma). Bimala likes the attention she is getting from Sandip and feels she is important because of it. In the article “Rabindranath Tagore’s The Home and the World: Story of the Failure of the Nationalist Project” by Chi Pham they write, “It seems like the more Bimala talks, the more invisible she becomes, as she just mimics vocabularies and thoughts of others. (Chi). Bimala doesn’t think for herself and she didn’t know what to expect when she let the world in. Thus, it was easy for her to follow under Sandip’s spell. “Sandip Babu made it clear how all the country was in need of me. I had no difficulty in believing this at the time, for I felt that I had the power to do everything.” (Tagore 53). Bimala is not a good example who is a follower of the movement, as she goes along what others tell her. Sandip was able to manipulate her as she did not have experience of the outside world. She claimed to be for the movement, but she was supporting the wrong people the whole time.T

The Unsuspecting Hero

Nikhil is what Tagore wanted for people to follow as an example to be part of a movement. Nikhil was for the Swadeshi Movement, but he did not turn to violence to accomplish his goals. He did not agree with Sandip’s views on doing whatever it takes to gain independence, including unmoral deeds. As David W. Atkinson’s article “Tagore’s The Home and the World a New World Order”, he writes, “Nikhil is the enlightened humanist who asserts that truth cannot be imposed…” (Atkinson 96). Nikhil knows his values, and still remains true to himself, even when everyone is against him, including Bimala. It is easy to go along with what everyone is saying, but he does not budge. In A.H. Somjee’s article “The Political Philosophy of Rabindranath Tagore” they write, “An imperialist ‘Nation’ does a great deal of harm to its own people as well to people whom it subjugates.” (Somjee 142). This is similar to what Nikhil says to the characters in the story. They are supposed to be fighting from oppression, but then go against some of their own people. There is constant back and forth between Sandip and Nikhil, but Tagore shows Nikhil in a positive light. Nikhil says in the novel, “To tyrannize for the country is to tyrannize over the country. But that I am afraid you will never understand.” (Tagore 144). This accurately represents what Tagore wanted his readers to get. He was seeing his own people turn against one another when they all needed to be united. He was hoping the message to the world to not resort to violence as Sandip’s character was doing. Bimala was under his spell and finally she was able to wake up and see what kind of a person he truly was, by doing horrible things for his own gain. Nikhil is the unsuspecting hero the whole time, and he represents what Tagore wanted from the Swadeshi Movement to follow to accomplish their goals for freedom. 

Digital Humanities

 Digital Humanities 

Hello Readers! 

                            Today going to write about Thinking Activity task given by our Professor Dr. Dilip Barad Sir. This task is about Learning outcome of the edX MOOC on Introduction to Digital Humanities and Thematic Activity from CLiC Activity book. So let's see....

Introduction:

Digital Humanities is a broad field of research and scholarly activity covering not

only the use of digital methods by arts and humanities researchers and collaboration by

Digital Humanities specialists with computing and scientific disciplines but also how the arts

and humanities offer distinctive insights into the major social and cultural issues raised by the

development of digital technologies. Work in this field is necessarily collaborative, involving

multiple skills, disciplines, and areas of expertise.

The use of computers to analyze research data in arts and humanities disciplines such

as literature and history dates back to the 1940s. The University of Cambridge was a pioneer

in the development of humanities computing, with the establishment in 1964 of the Literary

and Linguistic Computing Centre under the chairmanship of Roy Wisbey

The digital humanities, also known as humanities computing, is a field of study, research, teaching, and invention concerned with the intersection of computing and the disciplines of the humanities. It is methodological by nature and interdisciplinary in scope. It involves investigation, analysis, synthesis and presentation of information in electronic form. It studies how these media affect the disciplines in which they are used, and what these disciplines have to contribute to our knowledge of computing. 

So DH connected with art, science, sociology, history and many other subjects. It is the computational or we can say computing system of study. 

•What is the need of Digital Humanities ? 

The question that comes to our mind is, after all What is the importance and need of digital humanities ? So the digital humanities teaches us how to become Real Human being. That humanities sees that people will not become a Robot. 

Digital humanities have a connection with the English departments. These are the reasons given by Matthew G. Kirschenbaum to explain what DH is doing in English Departments. 

• We see the simultaneous explosion of interest in e-reading and e-book devices like the Kindle, iPad, and Nook and the advent of large-scale text digitization projects, the most significant of course being Google Books.

In this activity we have to look at the noun chin. We can find different ways in which the noun is used to describe fictional characters. To begin with, we can check how frequently chins appear in Dickens compared with other authors, or compared with general usage. You can also try !

The other important benefit of this activity is we get any information second with the use of digital humanities. Traditional humanities are very time consuming. But digital humanities take only a few seconds to find the data.

Dino Daan by Rabindranath Tagore

Dino Daan by Rabindranath Tagore 

Hello Friends!

                            Today I'm going to write about the blog to the response of the task assigned by Heena ma'am. as a part of our syllabus we are studying Rabindranath Tagore's poetry and today in this blog I am going to answer the questions assigned by ma'am as a task.

About Poet :- 

      Rabindranath Tagore Bengali Rabīndranāth Ṭhākur, (born May 7, 1861,calcutta [now Kolkata], India—died August 7, 1941, Calcutta), Bengali poet, short-story writer, song composer, playwright, essayist, and painter who introduced new prose and verse forms and the use of colloquial language into Bengali literature, thereby freeing it from traditional models based on classical Sanskrit. He was highly influential in introducing Indian culture to the West and vice versa, and he is generally regarded as the outstanding creative artist of early 20th-century India. In 1913 he became the first non-European to receive the Nobel prize for literature.

Poem :- 

A translation of Tagore’s poem ‘Deeno Daan’ (’Destitute Donation’)

Said the royal attendant, “Despite entreaties, king,

The finest hermit, best among men, refuses shelter

In your temple of gold, he is singing to god

Beneath a tree by the road. The devout surround him

In numbers large, their overflowing tears of joy

Rinse the dust off the earth. The temple, though,

Is all but deserted; just as bees abandon

The gilded honeypot when maddened by the fragrance

Of the flower to swiftly spread their wings

And fly to the petals unfurling in the bush

To quench their eager thirst, so too are people,

Sparing not a glance for the palace of gold,

Thronging to where a flower in a devout heart

Spreads heaven’s incense. On the bejewelled platform

The god sits alone in the empty temple.”

At this,

The fretful king dismounted from his throne to go

Where the hermit sat beneath the tree. Bowing, he said,

“My lord, why have you forsaken god’s mighty abode,

The royal construction of gold that pierces the sky,

To sing paeans to the divine here on the streets?’

“There is no god in that temple,” said the hermit.

Furious,

The king said, “No god! You speak like a godless man,

Hermit. A bejewelled idol on a bejewelled throne,

You say it’s empty?”

“Not empty, it holds royal arrogance,

You have consecrated yourself, not the god of the world.”

Frowning, said the king, “You say the temple I made

With twenty lakh gold coins, reaching to the sky,

That I dedicated to the deity after due rituals,

This impeccable edifice – it has no room for god!”

Said the tranquil hermit, “The year when the fires

Raged and rendered twenty thousand subjects

Homeless, destitute; when they came to your door

With futile pleas for help, and sheltered in the woods,

In caves, in the shade of trees, in dilapidated temples,

When you constructed your gold-encrusted building

With twenty lakh gold coins for a deity, god said,

‘My eternal home is lit with countless lamps

In the blue, infinite sky; its everlasting foundations

Are truth, peace, compassion, love. This feeble miser

Who could not give homes to his homeless subjects

Expects to give me one!’ At that moment god left

To join the poor in their shelter beneath the trees.

As hollow as the froth and foam in the deep wide ocean

Is your temple, just as bereft beneath the universe,

A bubble of gold and pride.”

Flaring up in rage

The king said, “You false deceiver, leave my kingdom

This instant.”

Serenely the hermit said to him,

“You have exiled the one who loves the devout.

Now send the devout into the same exile, king.”

Translated from the Bengali by Arunava Sinha.

Questions/Answers :- 

1) The poem is written before 120 years (approx.). Can you find any resemblance between the poem and the pandemic time?

- Yes, I find that the poem is relevant to pandemic time also. Because in the corona pandemic time there are infinite people died because of corona and some of them died because of no space in hospitals. In India and some other countries people spent lots of money in other unnecessary things and also believe in religion rather than humanity. When corona spread in India everywhere during that time many people were died because some important things they can't effort and during that time everything was closed. People were stayed their home, even all the companies, factories, theaters, and temples were closed that time. Same situation we can see in the poem that sage told to king that...

• “I found it extremely meaningful and topical. I saw the poem being shared by more and more people on social media. There are many non-Bengalis on my friend list. I thought they should also know the essence of the poem. I translated it in English and shared a second post in the afternoon."

In this conversation of Sage and king we also find same situation relevance of Ram Mandir. When our Prime Minister Narendrabhai Modi laid down the first bricks of the much-contested Ram Mandir in Ayodhya. In the same manners of people are dying because of corona. Many hospitals have no bed, no Oxygen cylinders also because of lack of doctors. At that time some people were busy with making that temple. 

2) Why do you think the King is angry on the Sage?

- King is angry with the sage because sage was speaking about the reality of the society that there was no humanity in their hearts and also talk about temple that, 

At this,

The fretful king dismounted from his throne to go

Where the hermit sat beneath the tree. Bowing, he said,

“My lord, why have you forsaken god’s mighty abode,

The royal construction of gold that pierces the sky,

To sing paeans to the divine here on the streets?’

“There is no god in that temple,” said the hermit.

In this response sage tell king that God is not there in the temple, God has gone away with poor people. There were no need of temples if you don't help people. So because of this reason king became angry. 

 3) Why do you think the Sage denies to enter in the temple?

- The sage denied to enter in the temple because he believes that God is not living in the gold temples. He thinks that God is living with the pure and holy people. Who don't have enough food for survive. In front of them temples is useless and also God will choose the tree for live there because the poor people take rest under the tree. 

4) Can there be any connection between the text of the poem and the verdict of Ayoydhya Ram Mandir? 

- Yes, we can find the connection between Ram Mandir Nirman and this poem. In the poem, a sage reminds the king that he turned away from helping the suffering people even he built temple at a cost of 2 million gold coins. 

Same situation is that when PM bricks  the stone in Ram Mandir Ayodhya that time we can see the poem came out in Media. As we know that people in India are very religious.

 They spent kota of money to build temples and in front of that many people died because lack of things for survive. 

THANK YOU...

Marxist, Ecocritical Feminist and Queer Criticism

 Marxist, Ecocritical Feminist and Queer Criticism

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                            Today I'm going to write about four critical theories that Marxist, Ecocriticism, Feminist and Queer Criticism this thinking activity given by our Professor Dr. Dilip Barad Sir..so let's see...

Marxist Theory:

Introduction

            Marxism can be defined as a set of theories (mostly political and social), a system of thought and analysis formulated by Karl Marx, a German philosopher who lived in the nineteenth century.   These theories had tremendous political, social and literary influence during a major part of the twentieth century.  Marxism still retains an aura of past glory though as a political system its future has become bleak after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

        

            The basic aim of Marxism is to correct the evils of capitalism such as political and economic inequalities in society. This aim it hopes to achieve by overthrowing capitalism and bringing in socialism.

            Marxism is not a simple doctrine as may seem from the above statements. Rather, it is a complicated doctrine with three dimensions in Philosophy, History and Economics.

a. Marxism and Philosophy

        

                As a movement in Philosophy, Marxism is much indebted to the doctrines of Hegel, Kant and other German philosophers. Based on their theories, Marx evolved a new branch of philosophy called Dialectical Materialism. According to this, all political / historical events in the world have their base in the conflict of social forces. These social forces originate from man’s material needs.

b. Marxism and History

        

            Marxism opens a new way called Historical Materialism to understand History. According to this, historical or social changes happen not because of any non-human or super-human force like God or destiny but these changes are caused by man’s material culture. By material culture, Marx means the tools, objects and other materials man use in their daily lives. These tools are also described as “instruments of production”. Marx believes that the modes of production in a society decide its organization into different social groups.

          

           Marx views capitalism as a mode of production that emerged from medieval feudalism. Like feudalism, capitalism is also an unjust system. Exploitation of the poor and working class is inbuilt in the system. Marx believes that capitalism will collapse because of its internal contradictions. It will give way to socialism and to a higher form of socialism called communism. When communism is achieved all social changes will end and there will be no more injustice in the world.

      According to Marxism, History is a struggle between the working class (proletariat) and the capitalists. In between these two groups stand the middle class (bourgeoisie), which identifies itself with the capitalists. But the middle class has neither control over the mode of production nor any share in the profits.

The Marxist tenets can be summarized thus:

1. All political and historical events are the result of the conflict of social forces, which are based on man’s material needs.

2. The mode of production determines historical and social changes.

3. All recorded history is a history of class-struggle

4. Capitalism originates from feudalism. Capitalism will give way to socialism, which will reach a higher stage in communism. This will put an end to exploitation and class struggle.

5. Art (Literature), science and religion are mere ‘superstructures’. Their ‘base’ is in economics.

2 Marxism and Literature

          Chernyshevsky, who lived before Marx laid the foundation of Marxist theory on literature.  He developed a purely materialistic view of art that placed art subordinate to reality. He believed that the highest beauty is that which man sees in the world and not that which is created by art. He viewed art only as an empty amusement. The basic premise of Marx’s view on art is not much different. Marx views art as subordinate to society. It is just “one of the forms of social consciousness”. Marx also believes that “art is not created in a vacuum”. It needs a society for its existence.

           

         Marx and Engels authored another work – The German Ideology (1845 –46) – that brings out some other important concepts of Marxism; especially connected to ideology. The dominant ideology of any period is the product of the socio-economic structure of that period. That is to say, ideology originates from class-relations and class-interests. Ideology is a ‘superstructure’ with its ‘base’ in contemporary economic system. Literature is part of the cultural ideology and therefore it is only a ‘superstructure’.

Who are the “Vulgar Marxists”?

         

               Elsewhere the role of “Vulgar Marxists” in distorting Marxism is mentioned. With Stalinism reigning unchallenged in the Soviet Union these group of Marxist theoreticians began to lay down rules and principles for creative writing. For example, in an article called “The Crisis in Criticism” in the ` New Masses` of February 1933, Granville Hicks drew up a list of requirements, which the ideal Marxist work of literature should possess. The primary function of such a work must be “to lead the proletarian reader to recognize his role in the class struggle”. Therefore it must (1) ‘directly or indirectly show the effects of the class struggle’; (2) ‘the author must be able to make the reader feel that he is participating in the lives described ‘ and finally, (3) the author’s point of view must be that of the vanguard of the proletariat. This formula, according to Hicks, will help us to recognize the perfect Marxian novel’ – and adds – ‘no novel as yet written perfectly conforms to our demands’.

          

  Similar attempts by the “Vulgar Marxists” to put creative writing in a straight jacket earned a bad name to Marxism. Marxism began to be looked upon as a crude theory because of the utterances of such dogmatic critics like Hicks. Fortunately, the ideological dictatorship of the “Vulgar Marxists” did not last long and good sense and taste returned to Marxist studies with critics like Christopher Caudwell and Edmund Wilson whom we can call liberal Marxists.

Louis Althusser assimilated the principles of structuralism into the Marxist theory.

       

The structure of society as a whole is constituted by diverse social formations or “ideological state apparatuses”.

    

 Religious, legal, literary and political institutions are part of the ideological state apparatus.

      

Ideology vary according to the form and practices of each mode of state apparatus and the ideology of each mode operates by means of a discourse which ‘interpellates’ the individual to take up a pre-established ‘subject position’.

    

A great work is not a mere product of ideology, for its fiction establishes for the reader a distance from which to recognize the ideology from which it is born.

What Marxist critics do

1. They make a division between the 'overt' (manifest or surface) and 'covert' (latent or hidden) content of a literary work (much as psychoanalytic critics do) and then relate the covert subject matter of the literary work to basic Marxist themes, such as class struggle, or the progression of society through various historical stages, such as, the transition from feudalism to industrial capitalism. Thus, the conflicts in King Lear might be read as being 'really' about the conflict of class interest between the rising class (the bourgeoisie) and the falling class (the feudal overlords). 

2. Another method used by Marxist critics is to relate the context of a work to the social-class status of the author. In such cases an assumption is made (which again is similar to those made by psychoanalytic critics) that the author is unaware of precisely what he or she is saying or revealing in the text. 

3. A third Marxist method is to explain the nature of a whole literary genre in terms of the social period which 'produced' it. For instance, The Rise of the Novel, by Ian Watt, relates the growth of the novel in the eighteenth century to the expansion of the middle classes during that period. The novel 'speaks' for this social class, just as, for instance, Tragedy 'speaks for' the monarchy and the nobility, and the Ballad 'speaks for' for the rural and semi-urban 'working class'. 

4. A fourth Marxist practice is to relate the literary work to the social assumptions of the time in which it is 'consumed', a strategy which is used particularly in the later variant of Marxist criticism known as cultural materialism.

Queer Theory 

Queer Theory is field of critical theory that emerged in early 1990s. Feminist challenges to the idea that gender is part of essential self and upon gay and lesbian studies close examination of the society constructed nature of sexual act and identities. Feminism was contrast between sex and gender - Queer Theory offers the view that all identities are social construction. 

What is Queer Theory 

An approach to literary and cultural studies that rejected traditional categories of gender and sexuality critical theory that emerged in 1990s. It is not only sexual desire but it is  emotional desire. Queer Theory does not concern itself exclusively with homosexuality - it is about all forms of identity. 

What lesbian/gay critic do?

1. Identify lesbian/gay episodes in mainstream work and discuss them as such (for example, the relationship between Jane and Helen in Jane Eyre), rather than reading same-sex pairings in non-specific ways, for instance, as symbolising two aspects of the same character (Zimmerman). 

2 . Set up an extended, metaphorical sense of 'lesbian/gay' so that it connotes a moment of crossing a boundary, or blurring a set of categories. All such 'liminal' moments mirror the moment of selfidentification as lesbian or gay, which is necessarily an act of conscious resistance to established norms and boundaries.

Examples

•  Dickson Experimental Sound film. 

Nineteenth century and in the mid 1930s and 40s, Hollywood saw its queer characters as nothing but flamboyant, laughing stocks who were just there to establish a twitchy note within the films. Conventional sexual behaviour between the same sexes was not accepted on the silver screen and was only used to typify homosexuality as a mental illness. “Sissy” looking man or the “hardboiled” woman in a film came only to enrich the negativity as perceived by the white Christian middle class culture.

Feminism :- 

Feminism is one of the most recent ideologies to emerge, although its origins canbe traced far back into history. We examine its historical roots and identify anddiscuss the different forms of feminism that have developed over the last twocenturies. We then link feminism with other ideologies and conclude with acritique and assessment of feminism in the modern world.

Feminism is a relatively new ideology, dating, for all practical purposes, from the late eighteenth century. Three ‘waves’ of feminism can be detected. The first, of about 1830–1930, was concerned chiefly with legal and political rights. The second, in the 1960s and 1970s, focused on much more funda-mental personal and relationship issues. The ‘third wave’ in the last decade or so has been essentially a reflection on and reappraisal of what has been achieved. Feminism is different from other ideologies in that it largely ignores or takes for granted much of what other ideologies are concerned with. Even more significantly it denies the boundaries between the ‘private’ and ‘public’spheres. The key target of feminism is ‘patriarchy ’ – male domination in all its myriad forms. Feminism can, however, be divided into several different‘schools’ each with a distinctive focus – liberal, socialist, conservative and radical – that sit uneasily with each other. Critics of feminism have denied that it is really a distinctive ideology at all; the most sceptical have dismissed it as an indulgence of middle-class Westerners. Finally, unlike almost all other ideologies which eventually give birth to political parties, feminism has not done so. Its influence, at least in the West, has been enormous.

 ‘First-wave’ feminism

The ‘first wave’ of feminism (roughly 1830–1930) was similar to other nineteenth-century political campaigns, such as Catholic emancipation or anti-slavery, in which women had been active. These early feminist philo- sophical arguments were translated into political movements that focused on property and divorce rights, and equality in voting rights.

In the USA the rights of man, spelt out in the Declaration of Independence, were an obvious starting point to argue for the rights of woman. A ‘National Women’s Suffrage Association’ was set up in 1869 to advance these rights. Political campaigns by women began later in Britain, but in 1903 the ‘Women’s Social and Political Union’ was formed to fight for female suffrage. So was born the Suffragette movement.

‘Second-wave’ feminism

A radically new development occurred in the 1960s and 1970s, the so-called ‘second wave’ of feminism, inspired by such writers as Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex (1953), Betty Friedan, The Feminine Mystique (1963), Kate Millet, Sexual Politics (1970) and, most famously, Germaine Greer, The Female Eunuch (1970). It shifted the entire debate from what might be generally considered political to the psychological, cultural and anthropological fields. These explorations extended the women’s movement far outside the conventional bounds of political discourse and posed a formidable challenge to most basic assumptions of culture and civilisation. Women needed radical social change and political emancipation if they were to be ‘liberated’ from thousands of years of male oppression. Liberal and radical feminism agreed in their demand for both elements to improve women’s lot. Both equal rights legislation and considerable social change, especially in popular attitudes on gender issues, are needed to improve the lot of women and redress the power balance between men and women.

‘Third-wave’ feminism

By the 1990s some feminists argued that second-wave feminism was becoming rather dated. Major civil liberties and legal advances for women had occurred. Technological developments, such as the contraceptive pill and household labour-saving devices, had liberated women from the burdens of unplanned childbearing and the grind of housework that had held back earlier generations. Some of the major writers of second-wave feminism, such as Germaine Greer in Sex and Destiny (1985), became sympathetic to the impor- tance of family life and child rearing for women, while Camille Paglia, in Sex, Art and American Culture (1990), questioned the ‘victim’ status of women in much feminist writing. The 1990s, it was claimed by feminists of what might be called ‘third wave’ or ‘new’ feminism, was the time to consolidate what had been achieved. Women are still disadvantaged in many areas of life in modern societies, but the principle of female equality, now largely accepted and backed by legislation, needed to be made a stronger reality in practical rather than just theoretical terms. A number of issues of gender discrimination remain to be addressed: female pay in Britain remains, on average, around 75 per cent of male wages; women are more likely to be found in low-paid, part-time, low-status, insecure, low-skilled and temporary work than men are; few women are at the top of the major professions of law, medicine, academia, the media and the senior civil service. In addition, in 2001 40 per cent of the FTSE Index companies were identified as having no women on their board and the proportion of leading businesses with women on the board fell from 69 per cent in 1999 to 57 percent.

References

1. Raymond Williams: Culture & Society (1780-1950)

2. Peter Dermetz: Marx, Engels and the Poets.

3. Terry Eagleton: Marxism and Literary Criticism.  

4. Bryson, V. ‘Feminism’, in R. Eatwell and A. Wright (eds.)

5. Contemporary Political Ideologies (Pinter, 1993), pp. 192–215.

6. Bryson, V. Women in British Politics (Huddersfield Pamphlets in

History and Politics, 1994).

7. Goodwin, B. ‘Feminism’, in B. Goodwin, Using Political Ideas (John Wiley and Sons, 2001), pp. 189–221

8. McCormack, M. (2012). Queer masculinities, gender conformity, and the secondary school. Explorations of Educational Purpose, 21, 35-46.

Thinking Activity:An Astrologer's Day

An Astrologer's Day

Hello Readers!

                         Today I'm going to write about Analysis about R. K. Narayan's  story 'An Astrologer's Day'. So this task is given by Vaidehi Ma'am. so first we can see the brief introduction of R. K. Narayan...

R. K. Narayan (Indian Author) 

                     R. K. Narayan, in full Rasipuram Krishnaswami Narayan, original name Rasipuram Krishnswami Narayanswami, (Born October 10, 1906, Madras [Chennai], India - Died May 13, 2001, Madras ), one of the finest Indian authors of his generation writing in English. Narayan typically portrays the peculiarities of human relationships and the ironies of Indian daily life, in which modern urban existence clashes with ancient tradition. His style is graceful, marked by genial humour, elegance, and simplicity.

Among the best-received of Narayan’s 34 novels are The English Teacher (1945), Waiting for the Mahatma (1955), The Guide (1958), The Man-Eater of Malgudi (1961), The Vendor of Sweets (1967), and A Tiger for Malgudi (1983). Narayan also wrote a number of short stories; collections include Lawley Road (1956), A Horse and Two Goats and Other Stories (1970), Under the Banyan Tree and Other Stories (1985), and The Grandmother’s Tale (1993). In addition to works of nonfiction (chiefly memoirs), he also published shortened modern prose versions of two Indian epics, The Ramayana (1972) and The Mahabharata (1978).

 

About the story "An Astrologer's Day"

The short story 'An Astrologer's Day' by R. K. Narayan deals witha single day in the life of an ordinary astrologer. His day begins as anyother day but the day ends with unexpected events. When he is aboutto wind up his business, he meets a rogue character, Guru Nayak whois a part of the past life of the astrologer. Towards the end, as readers,we receive a shock that Guru Nayak and the astrologer belong to thesame native towns. They were once upon a time good friends and hada quarrel one day. The result was that both were into bad companyand had a fight. The astrologer tried to kill Guru Nayak by attackinghim with a knife and when Guru Nayak fainted, he threw him into anearby well. Fortunately, a passerby saved Guru Nayak. Theastrologer left his native village forever and became an astrologer.Thus suddenly he confronts his past unexpectedly but smartly tackles the situation.

Questions/Answers

Q: 1 How faithful is the movie to the original short story?  

In this movie the Adaption is good explained. But in both things we can see there are many differences. In the video many scenes that are not in the story. In the video that his daughter is missing in real story. But in film his daughter's character play a role very good way. And also see some situations were changed in the movie adaption. 

Q. 2   After watching the movie, has your perception about the short story, characters or situations changed?

Yes, There are some changes in the story and film adaption but also all the things are relevant with the text through story as well as the film adaption. 

Q. 3   Do you feel ‘aesthetic delight’ while watching the movie? If yes, exactly when did it happen? If not, can you explain with reasons?

Yes, I feel 'Asthetic delight' while watching the movie. It happened when Mystory of Gurunayak was solved. In this i feel that about relationship between the Astrologer and Gurunayak,  from beginning we can't understand the relationship between both characters but at last we know about the relationship between both while his wife asked him to go back to their Village.

Q.4   Does screening of movies help you in better understanding of the short story?

Yes, because 'picture is worth a thousand words'. Means that we see the video or Image. Visual are always better than reading.

Q.5 Was there any particular scene or moment in the story that you think was perfect?

Yes, I think that all the scenes capture very well. Everything is perfect through the characters. All the scenes of movies are interlinked with story.

Q.6 If you are a director, what changes would you like to make in the remaking of the movie based on the short story “An Astrologer’s Day” by R.K. Narayan?

yes, I will get the chances of remaking the movie so i wanted to do several kind of changes like while he felt that was a murder of the Gurunayak so that's the idea to how can we thing because it was not appropriate to see, However the idea of Gurunayak can easily trust on the Astrologer if Gurunayak might have a Educated person so The might be end will different of the story.

THANK YOU..