tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27587481171575921162024-03-29T08:58:48.505+05:30Thillaiakathu Literary GazeboThulasidharan V Thillaiakathuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13602717630369917476noreply@blogger.comBlogger98125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2758748117157592116.post-27069595866232584592024-03-28T09:07:00.000+05:302024-03-28T09:07:44.454+05:30Literary Studies in an age of environmental crisis – Cheryll Glotfelty<p style="text-align: center;"> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/DV4RYlI6sTg" width="320" youtube-src-id="DV4RYlI6sTg"></iframe></div><b><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://youtu.be/DV4RYlI6sTg">https://youtu.be/DV4RYlI6sTg</a></span></b><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Cherryl Glotfelty (born in 1958) is
the professor of Of literature and the environment at the University of Nevada
Reno. She is the co editor of ‘The Bioregional Imagination: Literature,
Ecology, and Place’. It was William Rueckert who used the term Eco-centrism in
1978 as a movement owes much to Rachel's silent spring. It was Cheryl Glotfelty
who came out with Eco criticism Reader along with its three phases. She also
defined eco criticism as the study of the relationship between literature and
the physical environment. In her Eco criticism reader, she talks about ‘literary
studies in an age of environment crisis’.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Though race, class and gender were
the inevitable topics of the 20th century literature, there where newspaper
reports about oil spills, lead and asbestos poisoning, toxic waste
contamination, extinction of species, growing hole in the ozone layer,
predictions of global warming, acid rain nuclear reactor disaster in Chernobyl,
droughts, floods and hurricanes. But, the other disciplines like history,
sociology, philosophy, law and religion talk about the environment since 1970.
Unfortunately, literary studies and literary criticism were not aware of the
environmental crisis or they have remained indifferent to the environmental
concerns. However, there were individual and cultural scholars and they had
shared their ecological theories and criticism isolated since the seventies. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As they didn't organize into a group, eco criticism
didn't have its presence in the modern language association (MLA).<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In 1985 teaching environmental
literature Materials Methods, Resources that included the outputs of 19
different scholars made the American universities include literature courses in
their environment studies curricula and some of the English departments begin
to offer minor courses in environmental literature. In 1992 a new association
for the study of Literature and Environmental (ASLE) was formed with the
intention of promoting the ideas and information to strengthen the relationship
between human beings and the natural world. Glotfelty is also of the opinion
that Elaine Showalter's model of the three development stages of feminist
criticism provides a useful scheme for describing three analogous phases in eco-criticism.
In the first stage how nature is represented in literature is discussed. In the
second stage the neglected genre of nature writing is discussed and in the
third stage the dualism that prevalent in western thought and its diving
humanity from nature is discussed. Thus, she proves the strong link between eco
feminism and eco criticism. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Eco criticism has brought an
eco-centered (earth-centered) approach to literary studies instead of
anthropocentrism. It began to ask questions like, Are the values expressed in a
work consistent with ecological wisdom? Do men write about Nature differently
than women? As everything is connected to everything else in this earth,
literature can't float above the material world anymore. As we have reached the
age of environmental limits, as our wants and needs have out stripped the
ability of the earth to provide, either we have to change our ways or we have
to face the global catastrophe.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">According to Glotfelty, an
ecologically focused criticism will help us to solve the environmental
problems.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It will redraw the boundaries
of literary studies; bring about important changes in the curriculum and
university policies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Aldo Leopold’s ‘A
Sand County Almanac’ and Edward Abbey’s ‘Desert Solitaire’ should be prescribed
for students.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All students should have
at least one inter-disciplinary course in environmental studies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then only they may feel, think and sometimes
say what Loren Acton, her father, said on his viewing the earth from the space
shuttle in 1985,<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“……Below was a welcoming
planer…….that’s where life is; that’s where all the good stuff is”.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">-------Thulasidharan V</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>Thulasidharan V Thillaiakathuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13602717630369917476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2758748117157592116.post-58966395737396328432024-03-21T12:02:00.005+05:302024-03-26T12:22:01.783+05:30Towards an Understanding of Environmental Aesthetic – Preeti Ranjan Ghosh<p style="text-align: center;"> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/tSvFN2yIn_A" width="320" youtube-src-id="tSvFN2yIn_A"></iframe></div><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><a href="https://youtu.be/tSvFN2yIn_A">https://youtu.be/tSvFN2yIn_A</a></b></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">‘Environment’ means what surrounds
us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It may be living or non-living
things.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It includes physical, chemical
and other natural forces.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>‘Aesthetic’
that has come from the Greek word, ‘aisthesis’ means ‘perception by
senses’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Apart from the sensory
awareness, to the mind, ‘aesthetic is the cognitive act of describing and
explaining that experience.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That
experience may be positive or negative.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>So, aesthetic value is assigning a value to an object based on its
appearance and emotional effect.<span></span></span></b></p><a name='more'></a><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></b><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">Though there were discussions and
descriptions on the aesthetics of nature centuries ago, only in 20th century
environmental aesthetics began to deal with the aesthetic values of the environment
and began its role in going deep into the environmental issues. Actually in
North America and in Europe, wild nature was often feared rather than
appreciated for aesthetic qualities before 18th century. It was Immanuel<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Kant (1724-1804) who talked about the
disinterested pleasure that lays at the root of appreciating the aesthetic
qualities of nature especially it's beauty and sublimity. Kant's ideas
influenced romanticism and the 'nature worship' expressed through the
literature, music, and visual arts of the 19th century. Kant's aesthetic theory
elucidates that the beauty of nature is associated with delightful, pleasing perpetual
qualities and tranquil contemplation whereas the sublime is associated with a
'negative pleasure' on one's seeing towering cliffs, raging seas and vast
deserts.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">The Poetry of William Wordsworth
(1770-1850) was notable for its deep aesthetic engagement with nature John
Ruskin’s (1819-1900) Modern Painters (1873) talked about the aesthetic
scientific and spiritual sensitivity shown for nature in landscape
paintings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>William Gilpin (1724-1804),
with his theory of the picturesque influenced the conservation movement that
developed in the United States in the nineteenth century.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The transcendentalist aesthetic of Henry David
Thoreau (1817-1862) brought reverence to wilderness. His Walden (1854) that
narrated<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>his experiment<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>of living close to nature at Walden pond grew
receptivity to untamed landscapes and wilderness worship.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thus transcendentalists stood against the
dehumanizing effects of technology and urban civilization.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thus wild nature became a source of spiritual
regeneration and a messenger of profound moral truths.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This environmental aesthetics is also found
in Aldo Leopold’s (1887-1948) ‘A sand County Almanac’, where he combines
ecological knowledge and aesthetic sensitivity in valuing environments.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thus, the discussions of philosophical
aesthetics, landscape theory and practice and early conservation literature
together form the historical foundation of environmental aesthetics.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">Environmental Philosophers like
Rolston go deep into the principles of aesthetics and ethics and argue for
environmental education.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It will promote
a responsibility for well-informed aesthetic appreciation and will encourage
people to care for the environment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thus
environmental aesthetics has brought philosophical attention to issues in
aesthetics as they relate to environments, natural objects within environments
and natural phenomena and processes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As
the principal aim of environmental aesthetics is to seek a philosophically
informed understanding of aesthetic value and judgment, it has had and it will
have its significant role in environmental disciplines and practices.</span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""Latha","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">----Thulasidharan V</span></b></p>Thulasidharan V Thillaiakathuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13602717630369917476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2758748117157592116.post-63167437631108337922024-03-18T16:17:00.003+05:302024-03-23T14:13:02.027+05:30The Conservationist – Nadine Gordimer (1923-2014) <p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/jAbJyZULjAY" width="320" youtube-src-id="jAbJyZULjAY"></iframe></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"> <b><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-size: medium;">https://youtu.be/jAbJyZULjAY</span></b></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">Nadine
Gordimer (1923-2014), South African novelist, short story writer was also a
political activist.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She received Nobel
Prize for literature in 1991.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She was
active in anti-apartheid movement and her writings helped abolishing apartheid
in South Africa.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nadin Gordmer’s ‘The
Conservationist (1974), that won the Booker Prize was banned in South Africa
because of its critique of apartheid.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The characters and events portrayed in this novel imbued with symbolic
significance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Moreover, Gordimer delineates
the life style of a particular rung of white Johannesburg society through the
protagonist of this novel.</span></b></p><a name='more'></a><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></b><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">Mehring
is a forty-nine year old industrialist and financier who buys a 400 acre farm
located 25 miles away from the city.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As
he needs the farm productive, he practices conservation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Though he learns much about agriculture and
husbandry, he is only a weakened farmer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>There is Jocobus, the black chief herdsman, who looks after the farm,
cattle and machinery.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Terry, an
estranged teenage son of Mehring leaves South Africa to join his mother who is
in New York as he doesn’t want to serve his term in the Army.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If he stays in South Africa, he should have
the term.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His ex wife has left South Africa
having realized the loss of white minority rule and the collapse of apartheid
in future.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In her absence he has many
mistresses.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Among them Antonia, a
liberal activist was one with whom he had a long term relationship.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Actually she didn’t like the deplorable
conditions of his workers in the farm.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>She too left him soon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Much of
the novel consists of Mehrings stream of consciousness.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">Mehring
discusses the routine farm works with Jacobus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>All the emergencies caused by drought and fire are managed well by
Jacobus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One day a black man is found
dead in the property. Without having any investigation, the white police ask
them to bury the body there. Once, Mehring spends a New Year eve alone at the
farm.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He gives his workers a single slab
of meat then.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As they don’t have a place
to store, a dog steals it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Though he
sees them beat the dog to get it back and fail in their attempt, he doesn’t buy
a new slab.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then once he spends an
entire plane ride touching a teenage girl next to him. Though she screams for her
mother’s help on landing time, he escapes using his power and status.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He criticizes his female workers for being
late to work without considering their tending their children during that
time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then once when he walks by the
river alone he gets his foot stuck in the deep mud.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mehring thinks that the dead man has grabbed
at his foot.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">Actually
on the few occasions each year when Mehring has the company of his son in the
farm, he doesn’t try to overcome the barriers between them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His son, like his ex-wife and lover, does not
believe that apartheid and white privilege can survive for long.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then the wet season starts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The rain starts and it doesn’t stop for two
weeks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As the road to the farm is washed
out, he is in panic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the final chapter
of the novel, the unidentified body that was buried in the farm is brought to
the surface by flooding.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jacobus makes
the black workers get a coffin and give the man a proper burial.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the meantime, Mehring is engaged in another
of his faceless sexual encounters.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
picks up a young woman on the way to work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>She leads him to a remote area under a bridge.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No sooner had he realized that it was a trap,
on seeing two men there, than he escaped from that place.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">As
there are chances to continue similar things in future, Mehring will definitely
be killed and won’t get a decent burial sometimes. The people like him in South
Africa will definitely have ignoble ends.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Their claim to the land of South Africa is only momentary.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Gordimer suggests that the unknown black man,
whose body buried there in the farm, has more of a claim to the land than
Mehring has. That is why she has made Mehring’s ex-wife in the novel say “That bit
of paper you bought yourself from the deeds office isn’t going to be valid for
as long as another generation…..The blacks will tear up your bit of paper…..No
one will remember where you’re buried”.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">-----Thulasidharan V</span></b></p>Thulasidharan V Thillaiakathuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13602717630369917476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2758748117157592116.post-47161942598991929892024-03-18T16:13:00.004+05:302024-03-22T17:08:08.705+05:30The Three Mulla Mulgars (The three Royal Monkeys) – Walter de la Mare<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/RDkLSQhOu9k" width="320" youtube-src-id="RDkLSQhOu9k"></iframe></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>https://youtu.be/RDkLSQhOu9k</b></span></div> <p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 16pt;">Walter
de la Mare (1873-1956), who is best remembered for his works for children and
for his supernatural horror writings, was a great English poet, short story
writer and novelist. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 16pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 16pt;">His ‘The Three
Mulla Mulgars’ (1910) that was later re-titled as ‘The Three Royal Monkeys’, a
fairy tale is considered as a ‘classic animal fantasy’.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 16pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 16pt;">In it De la Mare describes the adventurous
journey of the Three Royal Monkeys to the valleys of Tishnar.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 16pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 16pt;">Though it is a book for children, its humour,
excitement and poetic description captivates all the ages.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 16pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 16pt;">It makes the readers think about a time when
animals and unreal characters were dominant on the earth and the role of nature
and its elements then.<span></span></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">Mutta
Mattuta, an old grey Mulgar, who is in her death bed tells her children Thumma,
Thumbulla and Ummanodda (Nizza Neela) that they should go to the valley of Tishnar,
their father’s country, after her death. Their father Seelem, the brother of
the Prince of Assasimon, a Royal Mulgar came to the forest of Munza and lived
with her for 13 years and left before 7 years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>On his departure he asked her to send their children to the valley of Tishnar.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To get help from Tishnar, he left the wonder
stone for his children there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Moreover,
he taught his children how to make fire, to cent, to take honey, to find ways
with the help of stars, to make huts and to speak in the common languages for
forest monkeys.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thumb, Thimble and Nod
are the short names of them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The mother
instructs Nod to spit on the milk white wonder stone and rub three times softly
to get help from Tishnar.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She says that
he should not lend or give away that wonder stone to anyone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Among the three, Nod has magic in him to use
the wonder stone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They leave their home
after the death of their mother.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">On
their way some pigs destroy many of the things that they have.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They see squirrel tails and Ephalantoes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When one Ephalantoe raises him he says that
they are the servants of Tishnar and escapes from it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After 5 days journey, they see the dwelling
of a Gunga Mulgar.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To cross the river
that was filled with coccadrilloes, they need the boat of the Gunga
Mulgar.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Though Gunga Mulgar prisons Nod,
he escapes from the Gunga Mulgar and they cross the river on the boat of the
Gunga Mulgar.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When they eat the bread
that Nod has taken with him from the Gunga Mulgar, they become
unconscious.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When Nod opens his eyes he
finds that he is imprisoned by Minimules. They were actually wounded by the poisoned
darts of the Minimules. However with the help of wonder stone they all escape
on three Zevveras, the horse of Tishnar.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But on the way Nod gets separated from his brothers.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">Nod
gets help from Mishcha, an old grey hare, Quatta and is saved from Minimules.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then Nod meets an Oomgar, who is a human,
Andy Battle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He teaches Nod to speak
English words.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mishcha meets Nod and
tells about Immanala, the queen of Shadows, that will kill the Oomgar.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If he wants to save him, he should kill
immanala.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To that he needs magic,
cunning and courage. With the help of the wonder stone, Nod kills Immanala and
leaves him with this brother to the Valley of Tishnar.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After crossing Kush, Zut, Kippel, Solmi,
Makkri and Moot, they see faraway the seventh hill Arakkaboa. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On the way they get help from Mulla Moona, who
sends Ghibba and others with them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Though Nod misses the wonder stone on their being attacked by eagles, he
finds it from the mouth of an eagle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>From the story narrated by Ghibba, Nod and his brothers come to know
that he has known their father who once passed those ways.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Again with the help of wonder stone, Nod and
others safely cross the phantom guarded orchards, the Mulgar Meerez.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">Nod
thoughtlessly gives his wonder stone to one water Nymph but as the nymph cannot
use it she returns to Nod. Then she
helps Nod and his brothers to cross the river and reach the Palace of
Assasimon. Thus the three Royal Monkeys
reach the place of their father after a long journey where they have to cross
forest and river, forest, swamp and river, the mountains of Arrakkaboa and help
Andy Battle, a human. De la Mare makes
the reader see the wonder land that might be here on this earth before a few
centuries, before the mechanization, industrialization and urbanization.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>------Thulasidharan V</b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p>Thulasidharan V Thillaiakathuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13602717630369917476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2758748117157592116.post-77976347536631461662024-03-17T09:43:00.002+05:302024-03-17T09:46:42.804+05:30Staying Alive: Women, Ecology and Development – Vandana Shiva<p style="text-align: center;"> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/wx7Wjm3atoc" width="320" youtube-src-id="wx7Wjm3atoc"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><b><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://youtu.be/wx7Wjm3atoc" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/wx7Wjm3atoc</a></span></b></div></b><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">Vandana Shiva (born in 1952) is a
renowned environmentalist, philosopher and green activist, who plays a major
role in the global Eco-Feminist Movement.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>She has authored more than twenty books and over five hundred papers in
leading scientific journals.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She started
her ecological movement with Chipko movement that began in 1972.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She was awarded Right Livelihood Award in
1993.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Her book “Staying Alive: Women,
Ecology and Development” talks about the feminine perspective in the human
interaction with nature.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> <span></span></span></span></b></p><a name='more'></a><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></b><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">It is one of the fundamental books
of the eco-feminism. According to Vandana Shiva, modern science is used by men
only to slave women and nature.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She
proves that how ecological crisis, patriarchy, colonization and oppression of
the women have a strong link together through this book.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">She starts her book with a question
on the basic concept of the development that sees forest merely as the source
for the industries but not as the system which is essential for the
living.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With the concept of western
patriarchy it destroyed the whole ecology and created disbalance in
nature.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, the hunting mentality of men
should be stopped and the philosophies and practices of women should be practiced
in the field of production and renewability of the life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">As the culture of the forest has
fueled the culture of Indian society, Indian women were fully aware of the
unifying principle of life in diversity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>So, they know earth democracy which is the freedom for all species to
evolve within the web of life and the freedom and responsibility of humans as
member of the Earth family, to recognize, protect and respect the rights of
other species.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That was why they started
Chipko movement to uproot anthropocentrism and establish ecocentrism.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">According to Vandana Shiva the role
of woman in food gathering is inevitable women consider forest as their mother
because forest feeds them, helps them to maintain livestock, provides wood for
burning and many herbs for medicinal use, whereas patriarchal developments
practiced a mal-development that didn’t respect diversity. Instead it started
exploitation and neglected traditional knowledge and values of women and tribal
communities. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">That was how they came with the
scientific forestry that was based on the profit maximization and extracted
valuable natural resources.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That created
water crisis which became a threat to the survival of plants, animals and
humans. Moreover, the reductionist nature of science chose high yield crops
that required more water than the local crops which were actually suitable for
our environment.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">Vandana Shiva concludes her book by
saying the current economic and ecological crisis can only be overcome with the
traditional sustainable methods of different ecological movements practiced by
the third world women.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because, they are
non-violent, non-gendered and human inclusive alternatives. So, they are easy
and effective.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">Thus she supports and respects the
traditions and practices of the indigenous community.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She also points out the danger of our high
consumption and profit driven society.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>She is also of the opinion that the entire environmental crisis has
their root in modern science and reductionist thinking of the Patriarchal
society.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">Thus, Vandana Shiva makes all think
about biases of development, modern science and gender discrimination and their
consequences.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She is also of the opinion
that apart from the sustaining culture of the third world women, as there are
growing movements of people in the West for innovative methods for life
sustaining culture, an apt solution will get shaped and practiced to overcome
the global ecological crises. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p>----Thulasidharan V</o:p></span></b></p>Thulasidharan V Thillaiakathuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13602717630369917476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2758748117157592116.post-37922545898659772052024-02-28T09:34:00.008+05:302024-03-17T09:44:01.843+05:30Replenishing the Earth-Wangari Mathai (1940 -2011)<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/KnUVtl8ka0o" width="320" youtube-src-id="KnUVtl8ka0o"></iframe></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href=" https://youtu.be/KnUVtl8ka0o" target="_blank"> <b><span style="font-size: medium;">https://youtu.be/KnUVtl8ka0o</span></b></a></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 24.5333px;">"In fact, scientists are only now beginning to understand the vast range of services-natural, social, psychological, ecological and economic - that forests perform: the water they clean and retain; the climate patterns they regulate; the medicine they contain; the food they supply; the soil they enrich; the carbon they entrap; the oxygen they emit: the species of flora and fauna they conserve; and the peoples whose very physical existence depends on them". These are the words of Wangari Mathai who won the Nobel peace prize in 2004.<span></span></span></p><a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 24.5333px;"><o:p></o:p></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 24.5333px;">She was a Kenyan social, environmental and political activist who found the Green Belt Movement that focused on the planting of trees environmental conservation and women's rights. In her book “Replenishing the Earth: Spiritual Values for Healing Ourselves and the World”, she stresses the need of mobilizing the communities to become the resources with environmental thinking and activism to replenish the earth.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 24.5333px;">Mathai founded the green belt movement in 1977 in response to the environmental concerns raised by the rural Kenyan women. She got ‘seed money’ from the United Nations Voluntary Fund for women and paid a small stipend to the women who planted seedlings throughout the country. Through seminars she developed in the minds of the people love for the environment, gratitude and respect for the earth’s resources, self empowerment, self betterment and the spirit of service and volunteerism. Moreover, they understood the root causes of ecological destruction and the need to set it right. As Mathai drew inspiration from the Jewish mandate ‘tikkun olam’ (repair the world) and from the Japanese term ‘Mottainai’ (don't waste). She believed that we might bring about healing for ourselves and the earth.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 24.5333px;">In ‘Replenishing the Earth’, Mathai explores the broader application of the core values that continue to guide the Green Belt movement and that remain at the centre of its activities. The book is divided into three parts. The first part deals with her trip into the Congo rainforest that illustrates many of the earth’s wounds. The second part enumerates the three ways of looking at our planet. The first from the space, the second is viewing of earth’s history over the eons. The third view is the picture of earth with its relationship with the locals and the small. The third part examines the relevance of the four core values of the green belt movement. Love for the environment motivates one to plant trees and nurture them, protect animals and their habitats and conserve the soil.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 24.5333px;">Gratitude and respect for earth’s resources entrails valuing all that the earth gives us and practicing ‘Mottainai’ of Japan, the three R’s: reduce, reuse and recycle. Self empowerment and self betterment improve one’s life and life circumstances through the spirit of self reliance. The spirit of service and volunteerism make one to use one's time, energy and resources to provide service to others without expecting or demanding compensation, appreciation or even recognition.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 24.5333px;">According to Mathai these values are not unique to the Green Belt movement. Neither are they contained within certain religious traditions. They are universal. When these values are ignored they are replaced by vices like selfishness, corruption, greed and exploitation. Unfortunately, majority of the people have got detached from the natural world because of industrialization, mechanization, urbanization and habitat loss.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 24.5333px;">The intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) estimates that the sea levels are expected to rise by the end of this century due to the global warming, by between 11 and 17 inches. Majority of the low lying areas and small Island States will be swallowed by water. We have reached a point in the evolution of this planet where our needs and wants are outstripping the ability of the earth to provide. That is why storms droughts and other catastrophic weather events are becoming more frequent and more intense. Since the wounds that have been created in the earth are so deep we all have to work hard with speed to heal the wounds of the earth. If we fail to assist in the earth’s healing process, the earth won't take care of us. As the scientist Love Lock has hypothesized, the earth will find ways to return to thermal equilibrium by whatever regulatory means it can.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 24.5333px;">So, as we are both the custodians and dependents of the planet and as Nature is Almighty, a love for the environment, similar to the giving of one's self that are seen in the lives of Prophets, Saints, local heroes should be inculcated in all human minds. This should also be practiced by everyone, everywhere to replenish the earth.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 24.5333px;"><br /></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 24.5333px;">----Thulasidharan V</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 24.5333px;"> </span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p>Thulasidharan V Thillaiakathuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13602717630369917476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2758748117157592116.post-36024230256741032472024-02-22T08:56:00.005+05:302024-03-17T09:45:09.513+05:30Silent Spring – Rachel Carson (1907-1964)<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/SfM7HcS6I-c" width="320" youtube-src-id="SfM7HcS6I-c"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><b><span style="font-size: medium;"><div style="text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://youtu.be/SfM7HcS6I-c">https://youtu.be/SfM7HcS6I-c</a></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b> </b></div></span></b><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">Rachel Carson, an
American biologist, writer and conservationist, with her Sea trilogy explored
the whole of ocean life from the shores to depth. In the late 1950s, she turned her attention</span>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">to
conservation and came out with ‘Silent Spring’ (1962) that dealt with the
problems caused by synthetic pesticides and the ways and means to solve these problems.
Actually this book brought environmental concerns to the American public and
that led to the creation of the United States Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) in 1970s. Thus, ‘Silent Spring’ Sparked the global grass roots
environmental movement in 1962 by proclaiming as humans are dependent on their
living environment, the environment’s protection is inevitable.</span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">Carson begins with the
description of an idyllic American town with beautiful plant and animal life,
with abundant birds and fish and with wildflowers, oaks and maples. Thus drew
admiration from travelers and delighted locals. Suddenly, 'strange blight’ stroked
the area.</span> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">Birds were found dead, trembling violently.
Inexplicable illness among both adults and children puzzled the town’s doctors.
Apple trees bloomed, but without bees to pollinate them there were no fruits.
The fairy tale villain was none other than the poisons that the humans created.
Many of the changes Carson described had taken place over just the previous 25
years. Thus the vibrancy of spring was replaced with stillness and silence. The spring became silent.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">During the World War II
the scientist involved the chemical warfare, discovered many substances to kill
enemies. So, later they were used as pesticides and insecticides to protect crops.
But according to Carson actually they were biocides as they could not target
unwanted pets and insects selectively. By spraying the pesticide over 885,000
acres of Woodland to kill the Bruce budworm, they also killed the natural
predators of Spider-Mites. Carson says that there are two groups of harmful
synthetic pesticides: chlorinated hydrocarbons including DDT and organic
Phosphorus insecticides.</span> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">Modern industry makes the chemicals
without understanding its side effects. So, all use them everywhere all the
time. So, all the people are surrounded by the 'Elixirs of death' throughout
their lives and they can't avoid exposure. Carson provides evidence of DDT in
fish and birds that were not in the areas where the pesticides sprayed.
Pesticides penetrated everywhere and in everything. Not only waterways even
underground water too had been contaminated, as they infiltrated and persisted
in soils.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">Carson talks about the
campaign to replace sage brush with grassland in New England, that caused death
of fish and loss of mammals that depended on the sage for food.</span> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">Similarly
the campaign against Japanese Beatles in Michigan results in many unintended
victims from dead birds to sick humans. Thus the efforts to control fests
actually remove the best controllers of pests, the nature’s own safeguards or
policemen.</span> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">Thus Carson proves that when humans destroy nature
no doubt they tried to destroy themselves. The chemicals that enter into the
body damage the cells production of energy. The genetic information in the
cells too destroyed that causes chromosomal damage and mutations. This is
similar to put a crowbar into the spokes of spinning wheel.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">Carson says that the
insects are much better equipped to become resistant than humans. The scale insects
have already developed resistance to lime sulphur. The house flies body lice
malaria spreading mosquitoes have also become resistant. So, according to her,
humanity's use of weapons against pests and insects have turned into a war
against the earth. So, either we have to stop the use of dangerous chemicals or
exploring alternatives to these dangerous chemicals. One such promising
alternative is the 'Male Sterilization' technique for insect control. Another
is the use of lures or attractants. Using sound for insect control and using
insects’ natural enemies are also the other techniques.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thus Carson has armed the reader with the
ammunition of information and asks to speak out against the uncivilized and
immoral acts otherwise she warns that nature will take its course, “Striking
back in unexpected ways.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;"><b><span style="color: #2b00fe;">------Thulasidharan V</span></b></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>Thulasidharan V Thillaiakathuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13602717630369917476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2758748117157592116.post-9627114703121809512023-11-15T09:48:00.003+05:302024-03-15T07:49:52.472+05:30Sir. Roger at Church - Joseph Addison(1672-1719)<p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Augustan Age saw the rise of Journalism and periodical literature. Following the periodicals ‘The </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Review</span><span face="Latha, "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">’</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"> of Daniel Defoe and </span><span face="Latha, "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">‘</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">The Examiner</span><span face="Latha, "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">’</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"> of Jonathan Swift, in 1709, Richard Steele brought out his Whig paper </span><span face="Latha, "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">‘</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">The Tatler</span><span face="Latha, "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">’.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"> Having decided to keep the Politics away Joseph Addison and Richard
Steele started </span><span face="Latha, "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">‘</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">The Spectator</span><span face="Latha, "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">’</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"> in 1711. The Periodical had two
objects, that is reforming of the contemporary society and presenting the true
picture of the Age very faithfully. Out
of 555 essays, Addison wrote 274 essays.
'The coverly Papers' were part of 'The spectator' and they were 35 in
number. The principal instrument employed by Addison and Steele was gentle satire. They ridiculed at the eccentricities and
idiosyncrasies and never abused. Their
ridicule was gentle and ironical and their humour was tolerant and gentle.<span></span></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-hansi-font-family: Latha;">Sir.. Roger De Coverly was one among five members
of the spectator club.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was an English
Squire of Queen Anne's reign.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was once
a town gallant but then a country-gentleman. He was portrayed as lovable but
somewhat ridiculous, making his Tory Politics that was seemingly harmless but
silly. He was also said to be the grandson of the man who invented the English
country dance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the coverly essay, </span><span face=""Latha","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">‘</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-hansi-font-family: Latha;">Sir. Roger at Church</span><span face=""Latha","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-hansi-font-family: Latha;">, Sir. Roger has been characterized vividly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As he is a good church man, he has beautified
the inside of his church with several text of his own choosing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He has also given a handsome pulpit-cloth and
raised the communion-table at his own expense to attract the people to the
church.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Apart from supplying his parishioners
Common prayer books, he employed an itinerant singing master to instruct them
rightly in the tunes of the Psalms.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-hansi-font-family: Latha;">As, Sir. Roger was the land lord of the whole
congregation he had authoritative power. So, he kept the people in good order
and never allowed anybody to sleep in the church.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If he happened to see anyone nodding at the
church he either woke them up himself or would send his servants to them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He not only encouraged people to come to
church, he even appointed the clergy man for the church on his own accord and
suggested them to follow the instructions of different professors for
sermons.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He loved not only the servants
of his house but also the people who lived around them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He had the habit of asking about the
condition of the people who were absent in the church.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Apart from showing his concern of the
absentees, it was also to be understood as a secret reprimand to those who were
absent.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-hansi-font-family: Latha;">There was a fair understanding between Sir. Roger
and his chaplain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the very next
village was famous for the differences that rose between the Parson and the
Squire, who actually lived in a perpetual state of war.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, the Squire never came to church and
thereby he made all his tenants atheists.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But in the case of Roger he was a true lover of Religion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He used to do a lot of jobs for
religion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Although he was gentle natured
he had some eccentricities and oddities.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Sometimes he used to stand up in the middle of the congregation and
start counting the number of people to understand whether any of his tenants
missing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He also had the habit of saying
Amen three or four times because of his more concerning of his tenants.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Through the nature of Sir. Roger and his
tenants and through the incidents happened there, Addison gives us a clear
picture of the eighteenth century churches and tells us how one should and how especially
one should not behave in public places like churches.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-hansi-font-family: Latha;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-hansi-font-family: Latha;"><b>-----Thulasidharan V </b></span></p>Thulasidharan V Thillaiakathuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13602717630369917476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2758748117157592116.post-32300551514700153232023-10-09T11:58:00.003+05:302024-03-15T07:50:07.467+05:30The Remains of the Day – Kazuo Ishiguro (1954 - )<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt;">Kazuo Ishiguro was born
in Nagasaki in 1954.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt;">As his family
shifted to Britain in 1969, he had his education in Kent and in East
Anglia.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt;">His two novels won Winifred
Holtby prize and the third one ‘The Remains of the day’ won Booker Prize in
1989 and was filmed, acted by Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson and won many
awards.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt;">Ishiguro, as a writer more
interested in what people tell themselves happened rather than what actually
happened.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt;">Similarly ‘The Remains of the
day’ is characterized by nostalgia as Stevens the hero of the novel, looks back
to what he regards as England’s golden age.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt;">
</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt;">Hero recollects his memories in fragments that happened in between the First
World War and the Second World War. Apart from this ‘emotional restraint’, a
traditional trait that is said to be one of the characteristics of English has
a big role to play in this novel.<span></span></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">James Stevens is a
butler at Darlington Hall which was earlier owned by Lord Darlington Hill and
now by John Farraday, an American. Stevens entered Darlington in 1920s.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then Lord Darlington used to continue his
status as a hereditary English nobleman as his ancestors.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But in 1956, his new employer, Farraday, who
is less formal than Darlington was and who cares the well-being of his
employees, asks Stevens to take the car and go for a trip, which Stevens has
never done before.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There he decides to
visit Miss. Kenton the ex-house keeper of Darlington Hall.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Recently Stevens has got a letter from Miss
Kenton with her nostalgic expressions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Mr. Farraday has asked Stevens to hire new staffs too. So, he believes
that his visit of Miss Kenton will make her return to work in Darlington
Hall.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But, Miss Kenton was not blindly
loyal to Lord Darlington as Stevens.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She
never supported Lord Darlington’s act of anti-Semitism. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That was why when two Jewish housemaids were
dismissed by him she became extremely upset.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Actually, she tried to convey her romantic feelings towards him, but his
professional façade didn’t allow him to accept it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It even didn’t allow him to be a loving son
to his father, who had worked for sometime in Darlington Hall as an
under-butler.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When his father died, he
cried without seeming to realize that he was doing so.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To that extent his professional life
influenced his personal life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
embraced whole heartedly his role of butler as his true authentic self. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Mr. Farraday makes Stevens
to take a trip to see his own country’s beautiful landscapes. This physical
journey through the English country side equivalent to the emotional journey he
takes as he reminisces.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mr. Farraday
attempts to banter with Stevens.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But to
Stevens bantering is something new and uncomfortable in between an employee and
employer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But it is a shift from the old
world to the new world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However,
Stevens, during his trip, observes people bantering on the pier at way mouth in
the evening.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As, it can create warmth
between people, he resolves to become better at banter at the end.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Moreover, his personal history was interwoven
with his employer Darlington’s pro-Nazi politics and actions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Though he was proud to work for Darlington,
later he regrets for his blind loyalty to Lord Darlington. However, Stevens
acknowledges that he was not in a position then to question his employer’s
views.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">After the World War II,
the social order changed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Many wealthy
land owners in England like Lord Darlington were forced to sell estates.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Actually, apart from Mr. Farraday, Mr. Smith,
whom Stevens meets on his travel, makes him to be aware of the social
change.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In Dorset, when Stevens needs
his car’s radiator to be checked, a Valet helped him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>During the conversation when Stevens is asked
whether he has worked for Lord Darlington, Stevens evades that question and
says that he is working for Mr. Farraday.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>On his stay in Salisbury, in a guest house, he visit the Cathedral that
was recommended in the book ‘The wonder of England’ that he has read
earlier.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then he visits Taunton and
Little Compton in Cornwall.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On his way
he thinks about “Lesser butlers’, who will abandon their professions on
provocation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the great butlers like
him will never be affected by external events, however surprising, alarming or
vexing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">On his meeting Miss
Kenton at Clevedon they share their memories of Darlington Hall.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Stevens asks whether she is happy in her
married life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She says that though she
had not been happy earlier then, she is.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Moreover, she wonders what her life would have been with Stevens if she
had married him and it would have been better she means. These words break Steven’s
heart.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Moreover, Stevens realizes that
on her marrying Mr. Benn, Miss Kenton becomes attached to the institution of
marriage rather than the domestic system where she once worked.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Here he recollects the words of a retired
butler on his way who has advised him not to spend so much time thinking about
the past, but to look forward and enjoy himself. Even Miss Kenton says “It is
of no use to dwell on what might have been”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>So, he decides to sharpen his little used skills at bantering and become
a loyal butler to Mr. Farraday.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thus,
through this novel Ishiguro helps us to see how people come to terms with the
inevitabilities when they happen to face truth about themselves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Moreover, through the old butler, Ishiguro
makes the reader to think about his country, its politics, its history and its
culture.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That actually makes this novel
a different one. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/WRa-kTg66YY" width="320" youtube-src-id="WRa-kTg66YY"></iframe></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><b style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"><a href="https://youtu.be/WRa-kTg66YY">https://youtu.be/WRa-kTg66YY</a></b></div><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; line-height: 115%;"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> ----Thulasidharan </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>Thulasidharan V Thillaiakathuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13602717630369917476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2758748117157592116.post-69987100937538384612023-08-21T07:00:00.008+05:302024-03-17T09:45:51.316+05:30THEYYAM IN NORTHERN KERALA<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">The word ‘Theyyam’
might have originated from the word ‘Daivam’(God).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It also has its origin from ‘Ancestor
Worship’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b>There are more than 400 types
of Theyyam, namely Vettaikkorumakan, Machilot Bhagavathy, Sree Muthappan and
Kathivanoor Veeran.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is mainly
performed in Northern Malabar especially in Kasargod and Kannur districts and
in the taluks of Koyilandi and Vadakara in Kozhikod district.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></b><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDzi2rZsTPYUdqpXSysBEhaWaKtO5G8iRMS1VblMZnJbWisiOhqS-aWEXqHcFYT4OokbEUHcqvWZMOSe1aIMF0d7yZdagNMlLa_Z788zB7YIWi3Vmfnbqy86WY2UBDZpZ-6q3AzkCteQPRshhiPUmCOEvmb_nrSJlUE4nofaPM632zJ1-NMaWzPaesURID/s259/vettaikorumakan.jpg" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="259" data-original-width="194" height="259" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDzi2rZsTPYUdqpXSysBEhaWaKtO5G8iRMS1VblMZnJbWisiOhqS-aWEXqHcFYT4OokbEUHcqvWZMOSe1aIMF0d7yZdagNMlLa_Z788zB7YIWi3Vmfnbqy86WY2UBDZpZ-6q3AzkCteQPRshhiPUmCOEvmb_nrSJlUE4nofaPM632zJ1-NMaWzPaesURID/s1600/vettaikorumakan.jpg" width="194" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNR3i6ItQfqmg35gTwJLTNb680DjooC8IWQJadNjQ-RQ73BknXog3nAVvQId9vm38NkWcTXumTdYLxahoUmKUoYI4tRDPtkV8mEiqvGXJj-LHzMr5eNslE7QERMR5RONPRpQ-4UHJV5Mu2zIQePkFtE6kH4ImhPAfKRv_LQKf1VoSwRM93cXo6cbr-UjUm/s1227/Muchilot_Bhagavathy%201.jpg" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 18.6667px; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1227" data-original-width="840" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNR3i6ItQfqmg35gTwJLTNb680DjooC8IWQJadNjQ-RQ73BknXog3nAVvQId9vm38NkWcTXumTdYLxahoUmKUoYI4tRDPtkV8mEiqvGXJj-LHzMr5eNslE7QERMR5RONPRpQ-4UHJV5Mu2zIQePkFtE6kH4ImhPAfKRv_LQKf1VoSwRM93cXo6cbr-UjUm/s320/Muchilot_Bhagavathy%201.jpg" width="219" /></a><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijfrwpAOvMjNhg67CE4gzO4q7dL09KUfd_br3842pvGOOYZiZ4z9QEgjICY3KC9-8t_W1UbQMjABshbwCjCp7R0sYGt2En_bsNqtX62CVkWdo6z52Irdxracv06y5PIEy-657kKZPGhRE3Tim0qdrii0eLbsSrfWpjtN46oGZkmRQQlZKNB-jogQmU_xDk/s235/Muthappan.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="235" data-original-width="172" height="235" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijfrwpAOvMjNhg67CE4gzO4q7dL09KUfd_br3842pvGOOYZiZ4z9QEgjICY3KC9-8t_W1UbQMjABshbwCjCp7R0sYGt2En_bsNqtX62CVkWdo6z52Irdxracv06y5PIEy-657kKZPGhRE3Tim0qdrii0eLbsSrfWpjtN46oGZkmRQQlZKNB-jogQmU_xDk/s1600/Muthappan.jpg" width="172" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAgj8VY4UprA_oCLcOl0VfnIs-BRLDZWr-TruKjjyWhhA11AZWN15jgDfl7bEyMRXqbfP8lktZULFezK4d1HG5P85BmH5GSI-z3eXB_N5qB5dCJzlvFxpftu0s_fcSe-11ZJ29anXFEgdq_XycH-l8ZEEXTCgk8901TfVCOvrixB9Tkck05DBmgakzRrVu/s251/kavithanoor%20veeran%20theyyam%203.jpg" style="font-size: 18.6667px; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="251" data-original-width="201" height="251" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAgj8VY4UprA_oCLcOl0VfnIs-BRLDZWr-TruKjjyWhhA11AZWN15jgDfl7bEyMRXqbfP8lktZULFezK4d1HG5P85BmH5GSI-z3eXB_N5qB5dCJzlvFxpftu0s_fcSe-11ZJ29anXFEgdq_XycH-l8ZEEXTCgk8901TfVCOvrixB9Tkck05DBmgakzRrVu/s1600/kavithanoor%20veeran%20theyyam%203.jpg" width="201" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Theyyam deities have
their origins from people who were in the lower castes of the Kerala’s caste
system and so they were also performed by them.</span><span style="font-size: 14pt;">
</span><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Theyyam season covers seven months, starting from the tenth of ‘Thulam’
(Malayalam month) and ends in the middle of ‘Edavam’ (from October to May of
every year).</span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Theyyam is also known as
‘Kaliyaattam’ and ‘Tira’.</span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 14pt;">It is actually
considered as a channel to a ‘God’ and thus people seek blessings from Theyyam.
Theyyam is performed in front of the village shrine or kaavu.</span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm6xpKGov6Gu-qfnbN0HtzSebiJnUBIfDcFgwyths9qI6UA72Y-KWcW7-cvzc1dx5xe9xFQpLKbRIzjt5aHnwVuc6wCFnYkOKTRLwtrd6l-MygzeF_wQliEXdRtWDChDxGhseMKE17pSlIvGZVKyRWcbExV9JFI-AjR4bMMyJsf09tZh277BNNFYiUtY3P/s254/tandava.jpg" style="font-size: 18.6667px; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="254" data-original-width="198" height="254" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm6xpKGov6Gu-qfnbN0HtzSebiJnUBIfDcFgwyths9qI6UA72Y-KWcW7-cvzc1dx5xe9xFQpLKbRIzjt5aHnwVuc6wCFnYkOKTRLwtrd6l-MygzeF_wQliEXdRtWDChDxGhseMKE17pSlIvGZVKyRWcbExV9JFI-AjR4bMMyJsf09tZh277BNNFYiUtY3P/s1600/tandava.jpg" width="198" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2LTFsuPWfgieCWPAyB0zJWOTi9JQ80V8LWW1AMoRzcTQ9CsAuLiSvPwKepekMWhVa0l2VNgwlqIXw8WYneQb0wwlta_PU_ySJw_ZMpcu3AzTzctjKNn7BTxAoMtH-P6nF5LBOAQXlvpTK5NDALO-mB4uwzlunpNHQeqtWcvSfBED2TfrpQIGEvIub4ZXh/s300/lasya.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="168" data-original-width="300" height="168" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2LTFsuPWfgieCWPAyB0zJWOTi9JQ80V8LWW1AMoRzcTQ9CsAuLiSvPwKepekMWhVa0l2VNgwlqIXw8WYneQb0wwlta_PU_ySJw_ZMpcu3AzTzctjKNn7BTxAoMtH-P6nF5LBOAQXlvpTK5NDALO-mB4uwzlunpNHQeqtWcvSfBED2TfrpQIGEvIub4ZXh/s1600/lasya.jpg" width="300" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">The dancers use
‘</span><b style="font-size: 14pt;">Thandava’ and ‘Laasya</b><span style="font-size: 14pt;">’ in their performance.</span><span style="font-size: 14pt;">
</span><span style="font-size: 14pt;">They wear war bonnet, breast plate, waste dress and head dress
(Mudi).</span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 14pt;">They are made up of bamboo
sticks, red clothes wooden pieces and coconut leaves.</span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 14pt;">The body painting and face art of Theyyam is
one of the best examples of folk painting in Kerala.</span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 14pt;">The natural colours like red, orange, yellow,
black and white from sandal wood, red sandal wood, turmeric, lime, rice flour
are used for them.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvrxp9wkvGMDhv071L675SvMVW9UtHDGBQRzuoRwJDyegFp80K8Ba_e7he8bGp_rjkpIbGDTCUpX8NSuGIW3pzymM-WHpniGXdT6WK1Z2ZUVC8Ewj-_KCpP-UZZd3weyhF4CgoPBNFQINAWXcGj0nAcKbCLtslPZ45fHaZ0xoVNZy2NYfLQp_bbqGaVOD4/s1024/kathakali%20support.jpg" style="font-size: 18.6667px; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="731" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvrxp9wkvGMDhv071L675SvMVW9UtHDGBQRzuoRwJDyegFp80K8Ba_e7he8bGp_rjkpIbGDTCUpX8NSuGIW3pzymM-WHpniGXdT6WK1Z2ZUVC8Ewj-_KCpP-UZZd3weyhF4CgoPBNFQINAWXcGj0nAcKbCLtslPZ45fHaZ0xoVNZy2NYfLQp_bbqGaVOD4/s320/kathakali%20support.jpg" width="228" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSzvQdtgNWkGhpSbRPLLwXTsKRd9Yc9BW6sCpbz8G-vpkOu9zJgZrVMcsFLOhN2MnZ4wVlmZsUEpkwv6TQSSwZ7uXb5dOdmrz1_8qfP5ix1ul9USjN9GNu3rXzikbB138TVQmcjuxd7_sfGMm8HSmhBp6VRyrSdIujmcQlMG5t23wzisKnEB74sr7GEUgV/s227/kathakali%203.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="227" data-original-width="222" height="227" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSzvQdtgNWkGhpSbRPLLwXTsKRd9Yc9BW6sCpbz8G-vpkOu9zJgZrVMcsFLOhN2MnZ4wVlmZsUEpkwv6TQSSwZ7uXb5dOdmrz1_8qfP5ix1ul9USjN9GNu3rXzikbB138TVQmcjuxd7_sfGMm8HSmhBp6VRyrSdIujmcQlMG5t23wzisKnEB74sr7GEUgV/s1600/kathakali%203.jpg" width="222" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">The dancer comes in
front of the shrine and the ‘metamorphosis’ of a Theyyam into the particular
deity of the shrine happens then.</span><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="font-size: 14pt;">This
performance is a combination of playing musical instruments like chenda, thudi
and kuzhal.</span><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="font-size: 14pt;">The dancer also has a shield
and a sword in his hand.</span><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Classical
dances outshone folk dances at the course of time. Similarly, ‘kathakali’s
marketing outshone ‘Theyyam’ and it became the face mark of Kerala.</span><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="font-size: 14pt;">‘Theyyam’ however, survives in the northern
part of Malabar even now.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/OoOj4Fy8RNc" width="320" youtube-src-id="OoOj4Fy8RNc"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;"><b><a href="https://youtu.be/OoOj4Fy8RNc">https://youtu.be/OoOj4Fy8RNc</a></b></span></span></div><br /><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">-----Thulasidharan V</span></div></div></div></div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>Thulasidharan V Thillaiakathuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13602717630369917476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2758748117157592116.post-28215865631869468302023-08-17T05:18:00.004+05:302024-03-15T07:50:24.369+05:30Malayalam’s Ghazal – Jeet Thayyil<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Jeet Thayyil (1959 - )
is a performance poet, journalist, writer, editor, </span><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;">and guitarist who has published four collections of poetry and fiction</span><span style="font-size: 14pt;">.</span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt;">
</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt;">He has won many awards including DSC (Distinguished Service Cross) prize
for South Asian Literature and Sahitya Academy award for English literature.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt;">‘Malayalam’s Ghazal’ is a poem taken from Jeet’s
‘Collected Poems’.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt;">The poem depicts what
is lost in translation.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt;">As every
language has its own identity and depth, the poet asks the readers to open the
windows to the fresh air of their mother tongue.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt;">The word ‘Malayalam,’ a palindrome is
repeated at the end of all couplets in the poem. That adds beauty to this poem.<span></span></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Symmetry refers to a sense
of harmonious and beautiful proportion and balance in poetry.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, it is very difficult to achieve in
poetry.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the name of the language of
Kerala, ‘Malayalam’, we can find it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Because Malayalam is the longest Palindrome, that can be read forward
and backward.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The poet says that
Malayalees won’t “despair” for anything as they don’t have a word in Malayalam
to mean it and as they are optimistic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Jeet always lived in foreign countries and so studied in English.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, he developed a love for Malayalam
because of the influence of his parents.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The poet feels Malayalam as a dynamic language, though it doesn’t have
proper words for some English words.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So,
he asks the reader to open the windows and get the fresh air of Malayalam, when
they have to be too long in the rooms of English.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That will help to keep them optimistic and
hopeful.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Actually, world
literature comes to Malayalam through translations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Translations always take away something or
add something to the actual meaning of the word in the original language.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, it fails to give effectiveness to the
reader.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Actually, it happens when
Malayalam gets translated into English too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Though poetry has become the school of ‘lost tongue’, the poet has
understood the identity and depth of both Malayalam and poetry.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, he greets the ancestors, scholars and
linguists of Malayalam, who really enriched it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Here, he also remembers his father, who used to recite Baudelaire, the
great French Poet, in Malayalam.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>However, it seems challenging to Jeet, to write a couplet in Malayalam,
as his father said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That is why he has
written this ‘Malayalam’s Ghazal’, a poem in a traditional rhyming couplet with
the refrain 'Malayalam ', where each line has the same meter. Thus, Jeet has
shaped a fine couplet on Malayalam.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>----Thulasidharan</b></span></p>Thulasidharan V Thillaiakathuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13602717630369917476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2758748117157592116.post-85372947116955929702023-08-01T20:25:00.001+05:302023-08-29T11:42:14.394+05:30Agni – Sithara. S (1972 - )<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt;">Sithara is a Malayalam
short story writer and translator of repute.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt;">
</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt;">She has won Kendra Sahitya Academy Golden Jubilee Award and also Kerala
Sahitya Award for her short stories.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt;">
</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt;">Sithara’s characters are rebels with a difference.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt;">They just pass over shameful situations and
laugh at the stereotypification of gender roles.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt;">Her heroines search for their genuine individualities.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt;">Her ‘Agni’ is the story of a rape survivor
who declines either to be prosecuted or to be destroyed with disappointment or
disrespect.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt;">She resolves to penalize the
wrongdoers on her own way of vengeance.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">When Priya finished typing in her office, it was dark.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She
had to ride her cycle for ten minutes along a narrow lane with undergrowth
lining its sides to reach her house. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On
seeing three men standing on the road, she stopped her bike in shock.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One of them was Sanjeev, a burly fellow who
ran a telephone booth near her office.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The other one was Ravi, a spoiled rich boy whom once Priya had slapped
for his taking an obscene liberty with her in a bus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The third one was a stripling who had barely
sprouted a moustache.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One picked her off
and the other clamped her mouth shut.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The third hesitated slightly on seeing a sanitary pad, but that didn’t
stop him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All her struggles had no any
use.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All the three raped her
brutally.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After raping, Ravi slapped her
and shouted that she should learn how it would be if she played with men.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Priya slipped into a semi-conscious state as
the third one moved away from her.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">When she came to her
senses, Priya dragged herself to her feet with great effort.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Her body was full of unfamiliar aches.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She got into her clothes that were lying
scattered somewhere, took her bicycle and reached home.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Her mother was in the kitchen, her sister
before the television and father was not at home from work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Priya went into her room and closed the door.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She washed her body twice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She decided not to cry.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The next day Priya went to the office as
usual.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On seeing her Sanjeev asked her
how she felt the previous day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Priya
said that he wouldn’t be able to satisfy a woman.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then she turned to Ravi and said that he was
a real man.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On her way home from work in the evening, she stopped her bike, ignored Sanjeev but smiled at
Ravi.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When she got home, the stripling
was waiting for her.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He sobbed and
begged to forgive him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Priya patted his
hair and asked him to go.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Priya went to
Sanjeev’s booth every day and called up all her friends and watched the feeling
of inferiority creeping over his face every time, with the spirit of
vengeance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Similarly, whenever she saw
Ravi, smiled at him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, that
created uneasiness in Ravi.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Actually, these small triumphs gave great satisfaction to Priya.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">When Ravi asked Priya
one day why she smiled at him, she said that she liked him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For the next two days Priya did not go to the
office.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Priya felt she hated herself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ravi came to her house, when she was alone
and said that he has realized his love towards her.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then Priya asked Ravi whether that love began
the day that she had slapped him. The confused Ravi asked whether she was
taking revenge on him and then buried his face in his hands and started to
cry.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Priya too started crying and said
that his love was her revenge.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Raising
his face, Ravi then touched her tear-stained cheeks as if to console her with
retreating fingers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thus ‘Agni’ presents
sexuality and man-woman relationship from a totally different perspective.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>----Thulasidharan V</b></span></p>Thulasidharan V Thillaiakathuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13602717630369917476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2758748117157592116.post-68419364028260270332023-07-31T20:38:00.009+05:302023-08-28T20:29:07.784+05:30 Christian Heritage – Vaikkam Muhammed Basheer (1908-1994)<p><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt;">Vaikkam Mohammed
Basheer (1908-1994), an iconic figure in Malayalam literature was born in Thalayolaparambu
near Vaikkom.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt;">He received modern
education in an English Medium School.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt;">
</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt;">He was greatly interested in the national movement of Gandhi and later
to the revolutionary ideas of Bhagat Singh.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt;">
</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt;">So, he was imprisoned twice and to escape further arrest he travelled
widely.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt;">Those travels and experiences
became apt materials to his stories and novels.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt;">
</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt;">Thus, he became one among the realist writers, who wrote about the
downtrodden and the marginalized people.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt;">
</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt;">Apart from this, his unique style, subtle humour, profound human
sympathy, specialized use of the language of the commoners and genuine
descriptions of the world where he lived, made him much venerated and widely
read author.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt;">His ‘Pathumayude Aadu’, ‘Sthalathe
Pradana Divyan’, ‘Ormayude Arakal’ and ‘Nerum Nunayum’ etc have brought new
style and diction to Malayalam literature.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt;">
</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt;">His ‘Neela Velicham’, ‘Balya Kala Saki’, ‘Mathilukal’, and
‘Premalekhanam’ were adapted to feature films.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt;">
</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt;">Apart from numerous prestigious literary awards, Basheer was awarded
Padmasree in 1982.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt;">His story, ‘The
Christian Heritage’, talks about an unexpected guest who visits Basheer’s house
just to see him in person.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">One day on seeing a head
bobbing up near the gate, Basheer invited him and came to find that he was
there to see Basheer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was a Christian
from Changanassery. His name, Kochu Thommi, an industrious labour, settled in
Malabar for eight or nine years, planting coffee and black pepper.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His wife was no more.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Blessed with four sons and five
daughters.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All were married and had
settled with their families.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was
hospitalized for a month.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When he got
discharged from the hospital he came straight over to see Basheer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Bahseer felt proud for a Christian’s visit to
a Muslim.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They spoke for a long
time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They exchanged stories from
Chenganassery, Thalayolaparambu and Vaikkom.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Basheer’s wife Fabi brought tea.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They drank and talked about the market value of rubber, black pepper and
coffee.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">It became dark.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Kochu Thommi seemed to have no plans of
leaving.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Talks continued even after
supper.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Basheer asked why he didn’t stay
there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Kochu Thommi gave a big yes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> F</span>abi spread out a mat in the reading
room.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>‘Christian heritage in India’, by
Sri. John Ochanthuruth served as his pillow.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Basheer could hear him snoring shortly after.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, the next day, Thommi left after
breakfast. When Basheer gave him ten rupees as way-fare, he didn’t refuse.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Basheer thought that it was wonderful to
treat Thommi in that way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A relative of
Basheer’s son-in-law came there after two weeks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>‘Christian heritage’ was there to serve again
as a pillow.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When Fabi opened the book,
two hundred rupees notes fell from it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It must be kept there by Thommi, a rugged peasant and an avid reader of
Basheer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Here, through this story
Basheer questions our society’s deep rooted prejudices against commoners like
farmers.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>----Thulasidharan V</b></span></p>Thulasidharan V Thillaiakathuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13602717630369917476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2758748117157592116.post-36271876604352573502023-07-29T14:02:00.007+05:302023-08-26T17:40:04.469+05:30Daughter of Humanity – Lalithambika Antharjanam (1909-1987)<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt;">Lalithambika
Antharjanam (1909-1987), the best known novelist and social reformer, used her
writing as a powerful weapon to expose the injustices existing in the society.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt;">She has enriched Malayalam literature with
nine volumes of short stories, six collections of poems, two books for children
and a novel ‘Agnisakshi (1976) that won the Sahitya Academy Award.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt;">Some of her major themes are the plights of
antharjanams, the freedom struggle and the dilemmas of a woman writer.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt;">Daughter of Humanity(Manushyaputri) was
written after the communist government’s enacting the land reforms in 1959 that
put an end to the Janmi system in Kerala.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt;">
</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt;">Here, she portrays the miserable condition of a woman in the Namboothri
house-holds who visits a minister with a small prayer.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">The story begins with
the entering of the Minister Govindankutty after a long and exhausting
journey.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Though he has a headache, he
talks to all who have waited for him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At
last a lady enters with a seven year old boy as if she were a woman from an
eighteenth century story book.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When she
says, ‘I think you haven’t recognized me, Govindankutty,’ he notices a familiar
scar on her forehead.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is Kunhathol
Amma, who used to mix curd and mango pickle with rice and give him on his
bringing flowers for her prayers every day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>After the death of his father, his mother Lakshmikutty suffered a lot to
bring him up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was Kunhathol Amma
to help them with words and deeds. After the death of his mother the only
refuge was Kunhathol amma, who often gave him money and sweets from the
offerings to the deity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Giving food and
helping others were Kunhathol’s necessary part of her everyday life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Every evening someone from the Illam would
come to the gate and ask if there is anyone who needed food.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Among the many Govindan Kutty was one there
to get food, when he was a boy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">When Govindan Kutty
finished his school and left the village, he did not think it necessary to say
good bye to Kunhathol.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Soon he became a
success on public platforms and a valuable member of many groups.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When years passed he began to forget his old
village.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On his way to a function, he
passed the village once.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then he came to
know that the Illam was sold to clear the debt incurred for the funeral
ceremonies of the senior Namboothiri.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The older son was stricken with arthritis.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The younger one left the house after joining
a political party.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>An old tenant who
felt sorry for Kunhathol had arranged for her to move with her invalid son and
his children to a small house that had once been part of their property.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Though he thought to meet Kunhathol, he
couldn’t meet her then. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Kunhathol who
stands<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>in front of him, wants Govindan
Kutty’s help to send the child to school and if that happens he would at least
get a meal at noon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hearing this,
Govindan Kutty feels sorry and tears run down his face.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Annapoorneswari herself begs for an afternoon
meal for her grandson.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Though he was one
among the people who destroyed her illam on their fighting for the cause of the
starving, she hasn’t found fault with them instead she envelops him with
blessings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, he says that though he is
not sure of doing what she needs him to do, he begs her to be a mother to
motherless Govindankutty.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then he asks
his secretary to take his mother Kunhathol to the car and inform that as he has
a son’s duties to attend his mother, he can’t attend that day’s meeting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thus, the story ends with a startling moment
of the realization of the Daughter of Humanity by Govindankutty.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He decides to be the son of the helpless
mother at the end.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> -----Thulasidharan V</o:p></span></p>Thulasidharan V Thillaiakathuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13602717630369917476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2758748117157592116.post-24691441941715011302023-07-28T06:56:00.004+05:302023-08-26T21:27:53.299+05:30Vakkam Moulavi: My Grandfather the Rebel – Sabin Iqbal<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt;">Vakkam Abdul Khadir
Moulavi (1873-1932), the Father of Islamic renaissance in Kerala, was an
author, Social reformer, religious scholar, freedom fighter and founder and
publisher of the vernacular news paper, ‘Swadeshabhimani’.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt;">As he was born in a prominent and affluent
family of traders, he imported an automatic flat board printing press directly
from England for ‘Swadeshabhimani’, the first news paper in Kerala.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt;">As Moulavi had strong faith in the critical
role of the media in social reformation and in achieving and protecting civil
right and liberty, he had given full freedom to K. Rama Krishna Pillai, the
editor of ‘Swadeshabhimani’.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt;">His severe
criticism made the British authorities confiscate the press,</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt;"> i</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt;">n 1910.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt;">
</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt;">Sabin Iqbal, Moulavi’s grandson and a well known novelist and journalist,
talks about Moulavi, who has been side tracked by Kerala history, in this
autobiographical essay.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Sabin quotes Ngugi Wa
Thiong’o’s words “Omission is an effective tool to alter the narrative” and
says when the editor is known with the historic news paper, “Swadeshabhimani”
by its title, the text books, has an ‘unknown Maulavi’ in it to show the owner,
who is known as the ‘father’ of Muslim socio religious reform movement in
Kerala.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Vakkam Moulavi foundation Trust
had to suffer a lot to replace the photograph of 'unknown Moulavi' from the text books.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Vakkam Maulavi, effectively used
communication networks to promote his ideas of patriotism, modern education and
religious reform.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Apart from
Swadeshabimani, he used his journals ‘Muslim’, ‘Deepika’ and ‘Al-Islam’ to
motivate Muslims to pursue modern education and to bring them to the fore front
of the nationalist movement.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>According
to M. A. Shakoor, London Correspondent of ‘Pakistan Times’, 'Maulavi Abdul
Khadir' did not accept the puritanical excesses, petty intolerance and the
violent methods of enforcement often associated with Muhammed ibn Abdul Wahhab
and his movement.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Maulavi was a man with
beautiful mind with dreams of a secular and united India where people of
different faiths lived in harmony.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
encouraged students to study science and carried articles on photography and
films. Influenced by the reformers of earlier centuries like Muhammad Abduh and
Muhammad Rashid Rida, Maulavi launched his own call for return to genuine Islam
that included the reinterpretation of Quran and Tawhid (unity) in the light of
modern needs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Apart from this Maulavi
Abdul Khadir had great faith in Ramakrishna Pillai’s integrity, patriotism and
political ideals.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That was why he gave
full freedom to his editor Ramakrishna Pillai. When the press of Swadehabhimani
was confiscated and the editor was arrested he didn’t want to apologize and get
back the press without the editor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Actually that brought him a huge financial loss. As he was not a
businessman, he wanted to achieve only public welfare and prosperity through
his news papers.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Jose Abraham, who wrote
‘Islamic Reform and Colonial Discourse on Modern India’, is of the opinion that
it is unfortunate that Vakkam Maulavi, the founder of the Swadeshabimani has
not been given his due place and recognition in the journalistic history of
Kerala, when Ramakrishna Pillai, the editor of Swadeshabhimani, remains a hero
today.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As Chimamanda Ngoze Adichie says,
the journalistic history of Kerala should have the power to tell the definite
story of Vakkam Maulavi instead of just telling the story of one “Unknown
Moulavi’. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>-----Thulasidharan V</b></span></p>Thulasidharan V Thillaiakathuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13602717630369917476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2758748117157592116.post-75919897459116588722023-07-26T11:16:00.003+05:302023-07-26T11:16:15.753+05:30No, not a Single letter is seen – Poykayil Appachan (1879-1939)<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: times;">Poykail Appachan (1879-1939), revolutionary Dalit leader and
social reformer was born in Eraviperoor near Thiruvalla. He changed his name Kumaran to Yohannan on
joining Marthoma Church. Though he
became a preacher, he realized that even after conversion, Dalits continued to
be marginalized and discriminated against by Church. He founded Prathyaksha Raksha Daiva Sabha (PRDS)
on 1909, where he himself was the God, for the liberation and empowerment of
all sections of Dalits without discrimination.
He preached his new philosophy that instead of being something that
comes after death, salvation should be visible here and now. He declared that both Hinduism and
Christianity would fail the cause of the Dalits and he even burned the Bible in
one of the meetings.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: times;">Poykayil Kumara Gurudevan, “Appachan” nominated to Sree
Moolam Praja Sabha in 1921 and 1931, and argued for legislative measures in
favour of Dalit people. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He opened the
first English Medium School for Dalit community and established spinning mills
for the betterment of the Dalit people. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was also a member of SJPS of
Ayyankali.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was an ardent writer who
used his literary kills to criticize the evils of the society.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His song and speeches drew people to his
meetings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His poems speak of injustices
and brutalities faced by the downtrodden and the wretched.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“No, not a single letter is seen’ was recited
at the famous Raksha Nirnaya Yogam held in Kulathoor Kunnu in 1910.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It speaks about the criminal silence of
history on its being asked to speak about the history of the people of his
race.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The downtrodden people don’t find
room in the history books and so he says that it is his duty to speak about his
people.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: times;">So many histories are seen on many races.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even after scrutinizing each one of the whole
histories of the world, not a single letter is seen on the race of the
speaker.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a pity that there was no
one on this earth to write the history of the downtrodden in the olden
days.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So the poet, Poykayil appachan mentions
the story of his people who lived in Kerala since the ancient times and how
they became demons.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He says that he has
no shame to say the faults of his caste, though his men blame him as a cursed
one.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He concludes the poem by asking two
questions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How is it possible that all
blame the marginalized till the end of the earth?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How can God, who shaped everything, allow
these kinds of injustices to happen on earth?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In this way, Poykayil Appahan talks about the silence of everyone on the
injustice done to the Dalits.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thus,
along with the other renaissance leaders like Sree Narayana Guru, Ayyankali,
Chavara achan and Vakkam Maulavi, Poykayil Appachan too gets a place among the
great men who shaped Kerala modernity by his words and deeds.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: times;">----Thu</span></span><span style="font-family: times; font-size: 14pt;">lasidharan V</span></b></p><p></p>Thulasidharan V Thillaiakathuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13602717630369917476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2758748117157592116.post-16008134091908747922023-07-23T17:19:00.000+05:302023-07-23T17:19:00.711+05:30Ayyankali (1863-1941)<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt;">Mahathma Ayyankali (1863-1941),
the revolutionary leader of the Dalits of Kerala, was a major figure in Kerala
Renaissance.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt;">He was born in Venganoor,
Thriuvananthapuram into a marginalized caste and his parents were agricultural
labourers.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt;">Dalits were denied almost all
fundamental rights at that time.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt;">
</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt;">Ayyankali questioned the practices and customs and proved that even a
single man resist the society at large and make a difference.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt;">His ‘Villuvandi Yathra’ in 1893 is one of the
best examples for this.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Ayyankali was inspired
by the fellow reformists like Ayyavu Swamikal and Sree Narayana Guru.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When he enrolled the Dalits student Panchami
in the school at Ooruttambalam, the upper caste Hindus set the school on
fire.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ayyankali, then, declared the
first ever strike of Agricultural labourers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The government intervened and removed the school restrictions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Similarly his protest against wearing stone
ornaments of Dalit women too became successful.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In 1912 he was nominated to be a member of the Srimoolam Praja Sabha and
fought for the rights of Dalits.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This
extract taken from ‘Ayyankali: A Dalit leader of Organic Protest’, co-authored
by Nisar and Meena Kandasamy, talks about the establishment of Sadhu Jana
Paripalana Sangam (SJPS).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Education, the powerful
resource was denied to Adiyalar (Slave-Castes) of Kerala even in colonial
period.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The upper castes and
intermediary caste groups not only utilized this facility of modern education
but were more conscious of the need to guard it from outside intervention, especially
from the Dalits. As far as the Dalits were concerned, they possessed knowledge
only about the various techniques and methods of agricultural productions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, they can’t enter into the public
sphere.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However from the teachings of Thikkatt
Ayyavu Swami, he decided to take equality and universal brother-hood.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was actually more concerned about the
economic development of the Dalits rather than any kind of Spiritual upliftment.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Moreover, Ayyankali
understood that neither Christianity nor Brahma Nishta Sabha was going to solve
all the problems faced by the Dalits.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So
he decided to create a platform for the Dalits.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In 1907, The Sadhu Jana Paripalana Sangam (SJPS) was formed under his
leadership.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was not meant for any
single caste, but it unified all the depressed servile people
(slave-castes).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Apart from fighting
against inequality and social discrimination, it brought solidarity among the
depressed castes and unified them under the title of Sadhu Janam.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Though SJPS has similarities with name,
policies and programs of SNDP (Sree Narayana Gharma Paripalana Sangam), its
activities can be considered the genesis of the emergence of Modern Dalit
Consciousness in Kerala. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">----Thulasidharan V</span></p>Thulasidharan V Thillaiakathuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13602717630369917476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2758748117157592116.post-47530521117606054132023-07-19T11:25:00.003+05:302023-08-20T08:56:15.089+05:30Indulekha - O. Chandnumenon (1847-1899) <p> </p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><div style="text-align: justify;">Oyyarathu Chandu Menon (1847-1899), who wrote the first and finest novel in Malayalam was honoured by the British Government with the title of Rao Bahadur in 1898. He was then the Sub Judge and earlier he had worked under William Logan to shape the Malabar Manual. When Chandumenon translated English novels into Malaiyalam for his wife, he realized that the Western scenario was inscrutable and un-relatable to Malayali readers. So, he decided to write ‘Indulekha’ a love story of Indulekha and Madhavan. It was first translated into English by Francis Dumergue in 1890 and then by R. Leelavathi and Anitha Devassia.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Indulekha, an English-educated woman, skilled in English pastimes like embroidering, painting and playing musical instruments, is in love with Madhavan, an educated and handsome young man in the family. When Panchumenon decides to marry Indulekha off to Suri Nambudiripad in the form of Sambandham, the hero and heroine decide to move to Madras at the end of the Novel. Through this novel, Chandumenon exposes the importance of English education, argues for the need of changing the matrilineal family system prevalent in the Nair community and stands against the immorality of Sambandham, a non-legal but accepted form of marriage. The present excerpt is taken from the translation of Anitha Devassia.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Madhavan is a man of intelligence, courage and courtesy. He has passed all his examinations in first class and won different prizes and scholarships. He is not afraid to speak his mind openly. He speaks against the injustice his valiammavan, Panchumenon showed to Kummini Amma’s family. When his valiammavan is unwilling to send Shinnan for English education, he is determined to get him educated. His uncle Sankaramenon thinks that it is his English education that has made Madhavan forget their customs, traditions and ways of life. That is why he is speaking against Valiammavan. Even Parvathiamma says that everything is to be decided by Valiammavan. When Sankaramenon talks about Valiammavan’s anger and its consequences, Madhavan thinks about Indulekha and his love for her. Sometimes he may not allow their marriage. But Madhavan being an educated man decides to do things that are right.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Madhvan knows very well that the money left in the hands of Valiammavan by their ancestors is meant for the well-being of all the members of the family. He treats Kummini Amma and her children as servants. He paid no attention to Kalyanikutty’s education. He has also decided to raise the little Shinnan as a bull. He says that he won’t allow his valliammavan do this. Thus Madhvan argues for English education and against the matrilineal system in ‘Indulekha’.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>----Thulasidharan V</b></div></span>Thulasidharan V Thillaiakathuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13602717630369917476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2758748117157592116.post-69875584908221571362023-07-17T13:31:00.005+05:302023-07-17T13:45:22.178+05:30Atmopadesasadakam – Sree Narayana Guru (1856-1928)<p> </p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal"></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; text-align: left;">Sree Narayana Guru (1856-1928), the social reformer and spiritual leader was born in Chembazhanthi, in Thiruvananthapuram. He is considered as the leading figure of Kerala Renaissance. It was ‘Thycattu Ayyavu’, a ‘Hatha Yogi’ and philosopher from whom he learned meditation and yoga. He established a hermitage at Maruthwamala where he held an austere life of seclusion, meditation and yoga for eight years. He believed and preached that the ultimate reality that underlies the being of everything phenomenal is one and the same. So, he preached equality and universal brotherhood and condemned all discrimination in the name of caste, creed and religion.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">He built temples for the backward communities as they were denied entry into temples. Though he consecrated Sivalingams earlier, later it became mirrors and lamps to establish the fact that true worship should be of one’s own inner worth and wisdom. His famous dictums ‘one caste, one Religion and one God for human beings' and ‘ask not, say not, think not caste’ effectively summarise the entire corpus of his spiritual teachings. He believed that education is the only path to achieve self knowledge and thus salvation. He was also an accomplished poet, who wrote Advaita Deepika, Athma Vilasam, Shiva Sathakam, Atma bodham, Vivekodayam, Atmopadesasadakam etc. In’Atmopadesasadakam’ (one hundered verses on self instruction), Guru propses his philosophy of egalitarianism. It expounds the philosophy of Advaita (non-dualism) in the search for knowledge. It contains hundered verses written in Mrugendramukam meter.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span style="text-align: left;">Guru says that attaining the core reality that transcends all ordinary knowledge, that radiates the knower and all other external objects, requires the turning inward of all senses accompanied by repeated prostrations, reading, chanting and mastering scriptures. All the people in the world share the ultimate reality, the ultimate knowledge which is God. God is called by different names in different religions. But ultimately he is the same. According to him, mental faculties, senses, the body and the many tangible worlds are the various forms divinely assumed by the one Sun. The illusory appearance of the five basic elements namely earth, water, fire, wind and space exists only externally. They are inseparable as the rows of waves arising in the ocean. So, The knowledge, The object known and the knowledge of the knower are actually nothing but the variations of God, the one that has no beginning and end. So, man’s endeavour should be to get united with that Ultimate Reality, God. Through meditation, he can attain this. Thus Guru establishes the great fact that realizing the Ultimate Reality, The God, is accepting the Universal brotherhood and equality without discrimination</span><b style="text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">.</span></b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b style="text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">------Thulasidharan V</span></b></div><p></p>Thulasidharan V Thillaiakathuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13602717630369917476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2758748117157592116.post-9896836629625590692023-07-17T11:57:00.003+05:302023-07-17T12:21:57.042+05:30Tribals of Kerala<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Prof. S Achutha Warrier’s (1941- ) book ‘Kerala Samskaram’ is considered as an authentic text on the cultural history of Kerala. This extract taken from this book provides an over view of the tribal life and culture in Kerala. The general attitude of Indians to adivasis and their lives, is inherited from the colonial masters believing that modern education should be provided to them to save them. But, Achutha Warrier is of the opinion that a new sensibility is needed in this regard.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">According to Achutha Warrier, the tribals might have come to Kerala near around 4000 BC. That is why only the weapons of Neolithic age were found in Kerala. The available geographical and linguistic evidences have proved that, the tribals of early life came from the eastern side of the Sahya Mountain range. That was how the terms ‘Kizhakku’ (Keezhadhikku) and Mekku (Meldhikku) came to the language. Several anthropologists opine that the majority of the Indian tribes, including that of South India, belong to the Australoid, as they have striking similarities with the tribes of Australia and of Ceylon (Srilanka).</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">The common Aboriginals in Kerala are Paniyar, Irular, Kuruchiyar, Muthuvanmar, Malayarayar, Ulladanmar, Malavedar and Kanikaar. Paniayr tribe is the most backward among the adivasis of Kerala. Kurichiyar are found only in Wayanad. They are known for the skills of Archery. Irular is widely seen in Attappadi. Muthuvanmar seen in Devikulam, Peerumedu and Udumbanchala are said to be from Tamilnadu. Malavedar and Kanikkar are seen in Kollam and Thiruvananthapuram districts. Kanikkarwere living in caves and tree houses till the last century. As the regions of tribals very close to Mysore and Tamilnadu, their language are either Malayalam-Kannada mixed or Malayalam-Tamil mixed.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">The tribes in Kerala live in communities (gothram). Gothrams join together to form Ganam (cluster). Each Ganam has symbols like Neem, Kadamba, bow and fish. The food gathered was common to them, where as weapons, ornaments and utensils were private. Among the tribals, Kurichayar, Kanikar and Malambandarans followed Matrilineal tradition. Uncles had authorities towards the children of their sisters. Property transfer and after death rituals were given to Anantharavan (male) and Anantharaval (female). Marriages between the children of their sisters and brothers were common among the tribals. Kudippaka (community feud) wa also prevalent among the tribes. If one member is attacked or humiliated, the entire community takes it to avenge him. each community has a leader. Marrying a brother’s widow was also common among them.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">The tribes worship Kali, Hill Gods and Muthappan. They believe that the anger of Amman (Kali) leads to flood, drought and epidemics. For the blessings they made the Goddess happy with milk, blood and alcohol. During festivals they sing, dance and dine together. Pulikali (Leopard dance) and Kaduva Kali (tiger dance) are common among them. They spend most of the time in hunting and collecting forest resources. As the forest area dwindled considerably now, the resources became scare. So, they engaged in small farming and became labours in plantations. The welfare measures of the government, no doubt, changed their habitat, dressing and language. But their indigenous is being lost and unfortunately they are being exploited in many ways.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b>------Thulasidharan V</b></span></div>Thulasidharan V Thillaiakathuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13602717630369917476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2758748117157592116.post-68653297110085526242023-07-16T12:21:00.005+05:302023-07-17T15:13:44.070+05:30Ghoshayatra – Kunchan Nambiar<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br /></p>
<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Kunchan Nambiar (1705-1770) was a great satirist, performer and the inventor of Thullal, an indigenous performance art form of Kerala. Nambiar is believed to have devised the ‘Thullal’ form overnight to avenge a ‘Chakkiar’ who ridiculed him for falling asleep at the ‘Mizhava’ (a percussion instrument)during the performance of ‘Koothu’. Nambiar designed ‘Thullal’ borrowing elements from Padayni, Kolam Thullal and other folk arts. ‘Thullal’ songs are sung in the accompaniment to the performance. The stories adapted from the puranas and other classics are retold in rhythmic verse in ‘dravida’ meters. Nambiar composed songs for all three kinds of Thullal named Ottan Thullal, Sithankan Thullal and Parayan Thullal. The simple Malayalam he used, gave elegance and appeal. As his hilarious poems are filled with wisdom and rare insights, they are used as proverbs. He used to ridicule the follies and foibles of the then contemporary society, through his songs.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">In ‘Ghoshayatra’, Nambiar takes an event from ‘Mahabharatha’. Padavas are sent into an exile of thirteen years and an additional year to be spent in disguise as per a bet in a gamble that they lost to Kauravas. Kaurava king Duryodhana sends a person to gather information about Pandavas, who are in Dwaithavanam. In the first part of the poem the messenger who has come back, says that as Pandavas are adorned with the blessings of the Gurus, they live peacefully with the sages in the Dwaithavanam. As they are at the feet of the God, the enemy of the Hell, Duryodana’s betrayal hasn’t touched them. This makes Duryodhana angry and in the second part he says that the messenger eats his food with Duryodhana and sides with his enemies, Pandavas. So, he should go and join Pandavas and eats the berries and fruits of the forest. According to Duryodhana enimies are better than friends who are kind to and support the enimies.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">‘Gosha’ of the title refers to pastures where cattle and cattle herders live together. Dwaithavanam has many Goshas where Pandavas live in exile. The poem doesn’t simply narrate an event from the epic. It superimposes the cultural and social scenario of the 18th century Kerala and satirises both. Duryodhana is cast as a local king in Kerala with ‘Nair Pattalam’. He satirises ‘Nair Pattalam’ of the Kerala rulers as they eat a lot, spend time with their wives and generally laze around. Thus through this incident Nambiar ridicules both the soldiers who are not loyal to the king and the king who feed these soldiers who support his enemies.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">----Thulasidharan V</span></div>Thulasidharan V Thillaiakathuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13602717630369917476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2758748117157592116.post-6819350620326922532023-07-09T21:18:00.007+05:302023-07-14T09:30:20.297+05:30Who the hell are you?<p> </p><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">I am one who is waiting for ‘Godot’ not like Samuel Beckett and his characters, without having any idea about ‘Godot’, but like Emily Dickson waiting to be taken in chariot to ‘Immortality’. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEibV7Z8vlhl0nq3sfyMydXkc8NlmUcBTbUXRUXsRd8EyeHBnm7mAlpU5_5_9jhzArD3N3TGn2bvaOqG0fgc2zJ-MfHjbTPhGH3Z7IVKSRtDDD9pVPqMBiefU_4MqJ7bHxaIf1-AjLm9PE6xxGykGSF5yqKctsGzSqzXLhNDPc_kO_Ybj0L6NMrTMt6I7ygZ" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="262" data-original-width="192" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEibV7Z8vlhl0nq3sfyMydXkc8NlmUcBTbUXRUXsRd8EyeHBnm7mAlpU5_5_9jhzArD3N3TGn2bvaOqG0fgc2zJ-MfHjbTPhGH3Z7IVKSRtDDD9pVPqMBiefU_4MqJ7bHxaIf1-AjLm9PE6xxGykGSF5yqKctsGzSqzXLhNDPc_kO_Ybj0L6NMrTMt6I7ygZ=w293-h400" width="293" /></a></div><b><span style="text-align: justify;">Beckett - Pic.- Courtesy - Wikipedia</span><br /></b><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Beckett is an existentialist, who considered that, life is accidental and meaningless. Survival is the only thing what we do. So, as his characters, he is not even sure of one character 'Godot' in his drama 'Waiting for Godot'.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg-F-DsGxETZ0x22hpdfrEyOO0PhfKbh_MvGqZrgerqde6a6cYXKBkgMXKegseAP29KRNqKGX3Pu9pCEJEaoZRyAbzrKKxsljGMjG8v8poMtaUk8tG-udyusbHFuf1yfNjopepUeIkg7_4er6uI5gGjWtTYXmW2TojVF8BupsvZGv64ZFvy-Uiukd2QA5f3" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="212" data-original-width="210" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg-F-DsGxETZ0x22hpdfrEyOO0PhfKbh_MvGqZrgerqde6a6cYXKBkgMXKegseAP29KRNqKGX3Pu9pCEJEaoZRyAbzrKKxsljGMjG8v8poMtaUk8tG-udyusbHFuf1yfNjopepUeIkg7_4er6uI5gGjWtTYXmW2TojVF8BupsvZGv64ZFvy-Uiukd2QA5f3" width="238" /></a></div><span style="text-align: justify;"><b>Emily Dickinson - courtesy - Publishers Weekly</b></span><br /><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Emily Dickinson went behind Revelation, and tried to reveal the divine mysteries through visions and dreams. She considered Death as her lover taking her in a 'chariot' to 'Immortality '. So, you might get a hint about me now. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">A Saivite that is, one who believes in ‘Advaita Philosophy’, a diminishing section among Hindus. One who believes in the words and deeds of Thirumoolan, Vivekanandan and Narayana Guru waiting for ‘Moksha’, the birthlessness, hope fully. So far so good, expecting to say so till the end with the Grace of God, the Omnipresent and Omnipotent. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">As Thiruoolan mentioned Him as ‘Siva’, I call him ‘Siva’ </span><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">(எங்கும் திருமேனி, எங்கும் சிவசக்தி</span><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"> – everywhere is Shiva and everywhere his power). As he also said ‘</span><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">தென்னாட்டவரின் ஈசா போற்றி பிறநாட்டவரின் இறையே போற்றி’</span><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"> (We pray you, the Almighty whom we, the southerners call ‘Eesa’ and whom all others call ‘God’), I don’t have any rivalry with other religions. I love all. Not only the believers of God, I love the non believers too. Even in them, I see the presence of the ‘Omnipresent’. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">But I feel sorry for the radical thinkers in all religions who have misunderstood the fundamentals of their religions. Among Saivites too, there are these radical thinkers. Instead of establishing unity in diversity with the help of love, they try to establish diversity in unity with the help of hatred. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">As I am not blind to see and deaf to hear such things practised in the past and are being practised in the present, I can’t be without saying anything about it. So, don’t categorize me into any other radical section that radicalizes their beliefs. As I believe in Advaita and as I see the presence of Omnipresent in everyone and in everything, if any of my words and deeds hurt you, it is incidental not intentional. If we try to please all, we will please none. Our pleasing one will definitely un please another. 'To err is human, to forgive is divine'. So, bear with me, please.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">I have two blogs. ‘Thillaiakathu Chronicles’ <a href="https://thillaiakathuchronicles.blogspot.com">https://thillaiakathuchronicles.blogspot.com</a> </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">and ‘Thillaiakathu Literary Gazebo’ </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><a href="https://thulasithillaiakathu.blogspot.com">https://thulasithillaiakathu.blogspot.com</a>. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">‘Thillaiakathu Chronicles’ is a Tamil Blog where I share my experiences and opinions in the form of stories and articles. ‘Thillaiakathu Literary Gazebo’ is an English blog which is for the students of English Literature and for those are interested in literature. Many of my translated Tamil stories and articles are also there. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Apart from these, I have a YouTube channel -<a href="https://youtube.com/@MrThulasidharan-Thillaiakathu">https://youtube.com/@MrThulasidharan-Thillaiakathu</a>. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">There, I have eight short films, which are of near around thirty minutes each. Among the eight, three are with contemporary incidents and experiences - <b>'Parole', 'Parotta Karthik'</b>, <b>'Vivekanandam'</b> where as the five are based on the historical incidents -<b> 'Sravan The Great', 'Mahamudi The Great', 'Carpenter The Great', 'Poet The Great', 'Saint The Great'</b>. Apart from these there are videos meant for <b>improving English Language - Proficiency in English Language with explanations in Malayalam and Tamil</b>, for meeting University examinations, <b>travel videos, videos on birds, and videos on various subjects</b>. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: large;">Then two books I have written. One in English named <b>===></b> </span><b><a href="https://store.pothi.com/book/thulasidharan-v-thillaiakathu-how-analyse-visualized-drama-and-achieve-english-proficiency/" style="font-size: x-large;" target="_blank">‘How to analyze a visualized drama and achieve English Proficiency’</a><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></b></span><b style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: medium;">(Available in this Link) </span></b><span style="font-family: times;"><b><span style="font-size: large;"><===</span></b><span style="font-size: large;">. Another book is a novel in Tamil ‘</span><b style="font-size: x-large;">Kaalam Seitha Kolamadi</b><span style="font-size: large;">’ </span></span><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><b>காலம் செய்த கோலமடி</b></span><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"> available in <b>===></b> <b><a href="Amazon.https://www.amazon.in/%E0%AE%95%E0%AE%BE%E0%AE%B2%E0%AE%AE%E0%AF%8D-%E0%AE%9A%E0%AF%86%E0%AE%AF%E0%AF%8D%E0%AE%A4-%E0%AE%95%E0%AF%8B%E0%AE%B2%E0%AE%AE%E0%AE%9F%E0%AE%BF-%E0%AE%A4%E0%AF%81%E0%AE%B3%E0%AE%9A%E0%AE%BF%E0%AE%A4%E0%AE%B0%E0%AE%A9%E0%AF%8D-%E0%AE%A4%E0%AE%BF%E0%AE%B2%E0%AF%8D%E0%AE%B2%E0%AF%88%E0%AE%85%E0%AE%95%E0%AE%A4%E0%AF%8D%E0%AE%A4%E0%AF%81-ebook/dp/B09R4GSXW3" target="_blank">Amazon</a> <===</b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Having got my retirement as a vocational Higher Secondary School teacher, now, working at SVPK Arts and Science College, Palemad as Asst. Prof. in English since 2018.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">As we live in a digital and speedy world, I think it’s better to give a brief about me. It is good to say something about us instead of being said by others. Otherwise, you many sometimes have a question in your mind, ‘Who the hell is he?’ or who the hell are you to talk like this?’</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">----Thulasidharan</span></div>Thulasidharan V Thillaiakathuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13602717630369917476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2758748117157592116.post-68454965859918861902023-07-03T17:04:00.003+05:302023-07-03T17:05:58.334+05:30EARLY HISTORY OF MALABAR – WILLIAM LOGAN<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><i style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: large;">William Logan (1841-1914) was the collector of Malabar under the British administration. He is remembered for his ‘Malabar Manual’, a guide to the Malabar district that was published in two volumes in 1187. The book has four chapters – province, people, history and land, with several subsections. This portion of ‘Malabar Manual’, describes the journey of Vasco da Gama to Kerala and his association with the Zamorins, the ruler of the kingdom of Kozhikkode. This journey is historically very important because there began colonial mercantilism and subsequent colonization.</span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large; font-style: italic;">Vaco da Gama started his journey from Belem near Lisbon on 25th March 1497 in three vessels namely, San Raphael, San Gabriel and Miguel. Each ship carried eighty men, officers, seamen and servants. After five months, their fleet arrived at St. Helena Bay in South Africa. After staying at many places and after dismantling San Miguel, they reached Melinde on 29th April 1498. They stayed there for three months. The king of Melinde gave them pilots and a broker to help them in trade. He also advised to sail for Capocate (Calicut) instead of Cambay (Khambhat-Gujarat). They left Melinde on 6th August 1498 and sighted the coast of Malabar on 26th August 1498. Then the two ships anchored near Pantalayani, Kollam.</span></p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i><div style="text-align: justify;">The arrival of Portuguese aroused jealousy in the Moors or Muhammadans. There were three persons in authority under the Zamorin – The overseer of the treasury, the King’s Justice, and the Chief Officer of the palace guard. The Moors bribed both the overseer and the King’s Justice to obstruct the Portuguese. However, Nicholas Coelho, who had commanded San Miguel, got the sanction of the king, written on a palm leaf, for opening trade. Then Gama met the King. The King was a very dark man, half naked, clothed from the middle to the knees. He had a bracelet above the elbow, studded with rich jewels. Round his neck he wore a string of pearls and gold chains studded with rubies and emerald. His long hair gathered up and tied on the top with a knot. That too had a string of pearl around it.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">On both sides of the king, there were two page boys. One had a shield and a sword. The other had a gold cup with a wide rim into which the king spat. There was a Chief Brahman who gave a folded green leaf every now and then, which the King ate and spat into the cup. This is how the king is portrayed in the manual. However, Vasco da Gama remained standing during the interview with the King. The King allowed the Portuguese to erect a factory on shore for trading purpose. But the Moors bribed the Chief Officer of the palace guard. He took Gama in a palanquin for a second interview. Gama was then taken to different places and the Chief Officer tried to discourage the Portuguese. But the Portuguese overcame everything with their patience. Later they become the rulers of India.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>----Thulasidharan V</b></div></i></span>Thulasidharan V Thillaiakathuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13602717630369917476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2758748117157592116.post-88878542650392250352023-06-28T15:33:00.000+05:302023-06-28T15:33:12.504+05:30Myth and Literature – M. T. Vasudevan Nair (1933---)<p> </p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>M.T. Vasudevan Nair, a novelist, short story writer, screen play writer, film director, critic and editor is a prolific and versatile writer. His works depicted the problems of human life with keen social perception. He was awarded Padmabhushan, Kerala Jyoti and he has won Kendra and Kerala Sahithya Awards. He has directed seven films and written screen plays for 54 films. When he delivered a speech at Sahithya Academy, in 1995, he talked about the ways in which Malayalam literature has been influenced by myth, folk lore and legends.</b></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>M. V. Vasudevan Nair is of the opinion that literature has always been affected by the history, geography, myths and the provincial wisdom of the places of its origin. Ramayana and Mahabharata have a pan-Indian influence. “Aithihyamala” is the most sold book in Kerala, which is a compilation of regional legends. The genesis of Kerala itself is linked to a myth. Parasuraman decided to get absolved himself of the sins of committing kshatriya murders. So, he donated all his property to Kasyapa Muni. When the muni reminded him that he doesn’t have an inch of land as his own, Parasuraman hurled his axe into the sea, standing on Mount Gokarna. The sea retreated and gave up a piece of land that came to be know as Kerala. This myth has been the raw material for many poets in Kerala. When Balamaniamma connects the axe with sacrifice, Vyloppilli Sreedhara Menon salutes the axe that was with the early migrant societies to pierce the depth of forests.</b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Though Kerala is a coastal area, our lieterature don’t have much sea related legends in it. In the novel “Chemmeen”, “Kadalamma”, the sea goddess, expects the women folk to live a taint-less life, while their men are toiling in the sea. Many criticized this novel and the film for upholding superstitions. But, the late C. Rajagopalachari justified the superstition saying, “What harm could come out of it, if the women of a remote locality continue being chaste believing in an old legend?”</b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Prominent Malayalam story writers of thirties and forties were under the sway of the concept of class struggles. But, the lives of our ancient writers are actually linked to several myths and legends. Ezhuthachan, the father of Malayalam language is the reincarnation of a ‘Gandharvan’ (an ethereal spirit). Similarly stories of divine and supernatural interventions are there in the lives of the Poonthanam Namboothiri and Melpathur Narayana Bhattathiri.</b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>However, in our modernist literature of O.V. Vijayan, Kovilan, Punnathil Kunhabdulla, N. P. Muhammed and M. Mukundan, regional folk tales are used with the status of parables and allegories. Moreover, young novelists like K.P. Ramanunni and T.K. Kochubava recreate the folk tales for contemporary times. They consider the myths and legends not as fabrications but as imaginary possibilities. Apart from this, they rediscover the past and blend it with the present as they echo our culture and civilization.</b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>----Thulasidharan V </b></span></div>Thulasidharan V Thillaiakathuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13602717630369917476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2758748117157592116.post-47420281178340301742023-06-25T18:52:00.000+05:302023-06-25T18:52:40.623+05:30Rain-at-Night – Sugatha Kumari (1934-2020)<p> </p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Sugatha Kumari (1934-2020), an illustrious poet and social activist, won numerous awards and recognitions including Kerala Sahitya Academy award, Sahitya Academy Award and Padma Shri. She was the founder secretary of Prakrithi Samarakshana Samithi, an organization for the protection of nature and of Abhaya, a centre for destitute women. In Rain-at-Night (Rathrimazha) Sugatha Kumari not only addresses the rain as a comforting acquaintance but also identifies herself with the rain. It is a romantic poem juxtaposing a sudden downpour with the confinement of the poet in a sanatorium bed.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The poem begins with the weeping laughing and whimpering of the rain-at-night, who is referred to as the pensive daughter of the dusky dark. She is gliding slowly like a long wail into the hospital, where the narrator is admitted. She extends her cold fingers through the window and touches the narrator, who is in her sick bed, when the poet puts her hand to her ears, on her hearing the anguished cry of a mother. The rain at night comforts her. As the narrator has a diseased heart it can’t be cut and removed as other parts of her body. It should only be healed like this.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Rain-at-night, thus witnesses the narrator’s love and grief and lulls her to sleep. So, it becomes an auspicious night to the narrator, who is thrilled with joy. Actually, before the arrival of the rain-at-night the narrator had sleepless hours and was about to freeze into a stone. It gave more joy than the bright moonlight did.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Then the narrator says that she knows the kind and sad music of the night rain, her pity and suppressed rage, her coming in the night, her sobbing and weeping when all alone. And when it is dawn, she wipes her face and forces a smile. Then she hurries to do her routine work as the narrator does. As the narrator is also like the night rain, she knows all of these of the night rain. Thus, the narrator identifies herself with the rain-at-night. The different emotional status of the night rain are similar to the shifting moods of the narrator. That’s why she says at the end, ‘My friend, I too am like you’.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">As the emotions of the narrator are expressed effectively in an imaginative and beautiful way and as it reflects a lament for the suffering sick, this poem is considered a fine lyrical elegy.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>----Thulasidharan V</b></span></div>Thulasidharan V Thillaiakathuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13602717630369917476noreply@blogger.com0