Admire Literature

 In The Photograph by Ruskin Bond we have the theme of memories, identity, change, equality, acceptance, independence and freedom. Taken from his Collected Short Stories collection the story is narrated in the first person by a man looking back on an incident when he was ten years old and after reading the story the reader realises that Bond may be exploring the theme of memories. The narrator as he is listening to his grandmother talking ab out the picture hears her tell of the day the picture was taken and the activities of the young girl in the picture (who is the grandmother as a child). This may be important as Bond may be linking the activities of the grandmother as an old woman and a child. Suggesting perhaps that as life has passed things have gotten slower for the grandmother. Her rebellious or independent streak may have left her with the passing of time. Though she does recall with happiness how she felt as a young girl. Perhaps the grandmother misses her youth and the f...

 In The Kitemaker by Ruskin Bond we have the theme of tradition, mortality, loneliness, happiness, independence, kindness, pride and change. Taken from his Collected Short Stories collection the story is narrated in the third person by an unnamed narrator and after reading the story the reader realises that Bond may be exploring the theme of tradition. Mehmood once made his living form making kites. However as he grew older there were less people looking for kites and the long serving tradition that had made Mehmood a living eventually died out. However it is interesting that Mehmood still perseveres with making kites even if it is only to please his grandson Ali. What is also interesting about the story is the fact that Bond seems to be highlighting the fact that the landscape has changed. This may be important as symbolically Bond may be suggesting that just as the landscape has changed or the city has grown so too has Mehmood. Though in Mehmood’s case he has grown older. A new g...

 The narrator of the story, Arun, is a 12 year old boy studying in a boarding school. One day he was waiting all alone for his train on platform 8 of Ambala station. It was his second year at boarding school. He was going back to school after vacation. His parents thought that he was old enough to travel alone. His train was to come at midnight. He had come much earlier for his train. It was a long wait. So he passed his time in watching whatever went on at the platform. He spent his time pacing up and down the platform, reading books or throwing biscuits to stray dogs. When he was tired, he sat down on his suitcase. Just then, he heard a woman’s soft voice behind him. She was a woman of over 30 with pale face and dark kind eyes. She was dressed in a white sari. She wore no jewels but had a dignity about her. She asked him if he was alone. He told her that he was alone and his train would come around midnight. She was very gentle and soft in her questions about him. She invited him...

 Introduction:  “The Night Train at Deoli” is a short story by Ruskin Bond.  It narrates the story of a short meeting that takes place between an eighteen year old college student travelling by train and a young girl selling baskets on a railway platform.  He meets the girl only twice during his travels.  He understands that the girl had stolen his heart. The first meeting : An eighteen year old college student travels from the plains to his hometown of  Dehradun every summer. He prefers to travel by the overnight train. Early in the morning the train stops in the  small village of Deoli. The student does not understand why the train had to stop there as no one either got on or off the train at that station.On one such trip, the student notices a pale girl selling cane baskets on the platform. She appears to be poor, but moves with grace and dignity. Her shiny black hair and dark, troubled eyes attracts the author. The girl offers to sell baskets to hi...

 Indian feminist author Shashi Deshpande’s fifth novel, That Long Silence (1989), won the Sahitya Akademi Award, given by the Indian Academy of Arts and Letters to outstanding works written in any of India’s twenty-four major languages in 1990. During her career, Desphande has also been awarded the Padme Shri for cultural contributions and been shortlisted for a Hindu Literary Prize for her novel Shadow Play.    The main character of That Long Silence is Jaya, a girl born into a middle-class family. When she is young, Jaya is clever, curious, and bright, all qualities considered unladylike by mainstream society. Jaya’s grandmother encourages her to act more conventionally so she can get a husband when she grows up, explaining that civilized and cultured girls are skilled at cooking, cleaning, and household labor. In addition, she tells Jaya to learn to be more accommodating and to keep quiet when she disagrees. All young women will have to build good relationships with th...

 The poem “Snakes” is selected from his first collection The Striders. It presents the speaker’s memory of his childhood life where the sight of snakes has made everlasting imprints. At the very beginning of the poem, he tells us that he recalls the sight of snakes while walking not through jungle but through the museum of quartzes or aisles of book stacks. Though uncurved and opaque, ‘golden / yellow colour’ of the book spine reminds him of the twirls of their hisses rise like the tiny dust cones on slow-noon roads winding through the farmer’s feet. These snakes appear to him ridiculous and alien like some terrible aunt. He also recalls an Indian ritual where cobras are worshipped as gods. He remembers his mother who gives milk in saucers to the snakes. She bears the black –line design etched on the brass of the saucer by the snakes. He recalls awesome writhing of snakes around snake - man’s neck who tolerates this for his father’s smiling money’.The image of ‘snake’ reminds him h...

 Critical appreciation of the poem Nissim Ezekiel's poem "Enterprise" described a metaphorical journey toward a specific goal. The travellers on this journey begin in a real physical place, a desert, and argue about how to cross this challenging landscape. One of the members of the group, who wrote the most stylish prose, goes his own way. The rest of the group was left on its own. Some quit the team. A group of men, including the poet, embarked on a voyage to England, where the poet went with a few friends in a group. They called it a   This pilgrimage was both real and imagined. They were spiritually high. In their way they had many hurdles. The first phase went off well, but the pilgrims found that, at the second stage, the sun scorched them; it tested their courage and fortitude. At a spiritual level, the journey to the Holy Land. They bore this well. They were keen observers. They took plentiful notes and recorded their observations "on the things peasants sold ...

 Girish Karnad  Naga Mandala by Girish Karnad is a play where myth takes over reality. Girish Raghunath Karnad is a contemporary Indian playwright, actor and movie director in Kannada language. He is among the seven recipients of Jnanpith Award for Kannada, the highest literary honor conferred in India. Girish karnad wrote the play Naga Mandala in 1987-88.The play is based on two oral Kannada tales he had heard from his mentor-friend and well –known poet, translator and philologist A.K.Rumanian, to whom Karnad also dedicated the play. Through the interesting blend of history and myth, he talks about sociocultural issues of the India.  Plot Summary  Rani is a young bride who is neglected by her indifferent and unfaithful husband, Appanna. Appanna spends most of his time with his concubine and comes home only for lunch. Rani is one of those typical wives who want to win her husband’s affection at any cost. In an attempt to do so, she decides to drug her husband with a ...

 Ashoka also known as Ashoka the Great, was an Indian emperor of the Maurya Dynasty, who ruled almost all of the Indian subcontinent The grandson of the founder of the Maurya Dynasty, Chandragupta Maurya, Ashoka promoted the spread of Buddhism across ancient Asia. Considered by many to be one of India's greatest emperors, Ashoka expanded Chandragupta's empire to reign over a realm stretching from present-day Afghanistan in the west to Bangladesh in the east. It covered the entire Indian subcontinent except for parts of present-day Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala. The empire's capital was Pataliputra (in Magadha, present-day Patna), with provincial capitals at Taxila and Ujjain. Ashoka waged a destructive war against the state of Kalinga (modern Odisha) which he conquered in about 260 BCE. He converted to Buddhism. after witnessing the mass deaths of the Kalinga War, which he had waged out of a desire for conquest and which reportedly directly resulted in more than 100,000 ...

 The White Flower — Short Answer  Questions  1. Where did Krishna meet the girl? Ans. Krishna met the girl at the street tap 2. Why was direct courting not possible? Ans. Traditional culture does not allow a boy and a girl to spend time together before marriage. So direct courting was not possible 3. How did Krishna and the girl communicate? Ans. Krishna and the girl communicated through meaningful glances. The author calls it “optical communion”. 4. Why couldn’t Krishna and the girl progress beyond eloquent glances? Ans. Custom does not allow the boy’s parents to take the initiative in proposing marriage. Moreover, the girl’s father did not know about Krishna and the girl’s interest in each other. 5. Who took the initiative for the alliance? Ans. A common friend of both families initiated the process. 6. Why was the girl’s father ready to marry her off? Ans. The girl’s father was ready to marry her off because she would be fourteen the coming month which was marr...

 The Serpent and the Rope is an autobiographical-style novel by Raja Rao, first published in 1960 and the recipient of the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1964. The book explores themes of reality, existence, and self-realization. Throughout the novel, protagonist Ramaswamy's thought process develops in line with Vedantic philosophy. Every incident or conversation that takes place in the life of the narrator is presented in the context of furthering or hindering his progress on his quest for truth and knowledge. The way the narrative is presented is as timeless as India itself, with the familiar blend of fact and fable. The novel tells the story of Rama and particularly his marriage while reflecting on the flavor and tradition of India. The novel also ruminates on themes of East meets West as Rama leaves his native India and moves to Europe. Rama is described as a kind young man who is somewhat frail because of his tubercular lungs. He has been living and studying in France and has marrie...