TNPSC STUDY MATERIAL

GENERAL ENGLISH

SUNDARRAJ RAJASEKARAN
 SYLLABUS – GENERAL ENGLISH Part-B
Literature
S.S.L.C. Standard (Objective Type)

PART A 1. Figures of speech observed in the following Poems:

Grammar
1. Match the following words and Phrases given in Column A with their
meanings in Column B.
2. Choose the correct ‘Synonyms’ for the underlined word from the options
given
3. Choose the correct ‘Antonyms’ for the underlined word from the options
given
4. Select the correct word (Prefix, Suffix)
5. Fill in the blanks with suitable Article
6. Fill in the blanks with suitable Preposition
7. Select the correct Question Tag
8. Select the correct Tense
9. Select the correct Voice
10. Fill in the blanks (Infinitive, Gerund, Participle)
11. Identify the sentence pattern of the following sentence (Subject, Verb,
Object….) Blanks with correct ‘Homophones’
12. Find out the Error (Articles, Prepositions, Noun, Verb, Adjective, Adverb)
13. Comprehension
14. Select the correct sentence
15. Find out the odd words (Verb, Noun, Adjective, Adverb)
16. Select the correct Plural forms
17. Identify the sentence (Simple, Compound, Complex Sentence)
18. Identify the correct Degree.
19. Form a new word by blending the words.
20. Form compound words ( Eg. : Noun+ Verb, Gerund+ Noun)
Alliteration – Allusion – Simile – Metaphor – Personification – Oxymoron –
Onomatopoeia – Anaphora – Ellipsis - Rhyme Scheme - Rhyming Words –
Repetition – Apostrophe
A Psalm of Life - Women’s Rights - The Nation United - English words – Snake – The
Man He Killed - Off to outer space tomorrow morning - Sonnet No.116 - The
Solitary Reaper - Be the Best - O Captain My Captain - Laugh and Be Merry – Earth
- Don’t quit - The Apology - Be Glad your Nose is on your face - A sonnet for my
Incomparable Mother - The Flying Wonder - To a Millionaire - The Piano –
Manliness - Going for water - The cry of the Children - Migrant Bird - Shilpi.
2. Appreciation Questions from Poetry
A Psalm of Life - Women’s Rights - The Nation United - English words – Snake –
The Man He Killed - Off to outer space tomorrow morning – Sonnet No.116 - The
Solitary Reaper - Be the Best - O Captain My Captain - Laugh and Be Merry – Earth
- Don’t quit - The Apology - Be Glad your - Nose is on your face - A sonnet for my
Incomparable Mother - The Flying Wonder - To a Millionaire - The Piano –
Manliness - Going for water - The cry of the Children - Migrant Bird - Shilpi.
3. Important lines from Poems.
Where the mind is without fear - The Solitary Reaper - Going for water - A Psalm
of Life - Be the Best - Sonnet No.116
4. Questions on the Biography of Part-C

Mahatma Gandhi - Jawaharlal Nehru - Subash Chandra Bose - Helen Keller - Authors and their Literary Works
Kalpana Chawala - Dr.Salim Ali - Rani of Jhansi - Nelson Mandela – Abraham Lincoln
1. Match the Poems with the Poets 1
5. Questions on Shakespeare’s
A psalm of Life - Be the Best - The cry of the children - The Piano – Manliness Going
Merchant of Venice (Act IV Court Scene) - Julius Ceasar (Act III Scene 2) - Sonnet
for water – Earth -The Apology - Be Glad your Nose is on your face - The Flying
116
Wonder -Is Life But a Dream - Be the Best - O captain My Captain - Snake -
Punishment in Kindergarten -Where the Mind is without fear - The Man He Killed
6. Questions from Oscar Wilde’s
- Nine Gold Medals

The Model Millionaire - The Selfish Giant

2. Which Nationality the story belongs to?

7. Dr.Karl Paulnack
The selfish Giant - The Lottery Ticket - The Last Leaf - How the Camel got its Hump
- Two Friends – Refugee - The Open Window
Music-The Hope Raiser
3. Identify the Author with the short story
8. Comprehension Questions from the following Motivational Essays:
The selfish Giant - The Lottery Ticket - The Last Leaf - How the Camel got its Hump
Gopala Krishna Gokhale’s Speech on 25th July in Mumbai in response to The
- Two Friends – Refugee - The Open Window - A Man who Had no Eyes - The Tears
address presented to him by students- Dale Carnegie’s ‘The Road to success-
of the Desert – Sam The Piano - The face of Judas Iscariot - Swept Away - A close
Dr.APJ Abdul Kalam’s ‘Vision for the Nation’ (from‘India 2020’) - Ruskin Bond’s ‘Our
encounter - Caught Sneezing - The Wooden Bowl - Swami and the sum
Local Team’ - Hope Spencer’s ‘Keep your spirits high’ - Deepa Agarwal’s ‘After the
storm’ - Brian patten’s ‘You can’t be that no you can’t be that’
4. Whose Auto biography / Biography is this?

9. Comprehension Questions from the following description of Places

5. Which Nationality the Poet belongs to?

Ahtushi Deshpande’s ‘To the land of snow’ - Manohar Devadoss – Yaanai Malai -
Robert Frost - Archibald Lampman - D.H. Lawrence - Rudyard Kipling -Kamala Das
Brihadeesvarar Temple
- Elizabeth Barrett Browning - Famida Y. Basheer - Thomas Hardy - Khalil Gibran -
Edgar A. Guest - Ralph Waldo Emerson - Jack Prelutsky - F. Joanna - Stephen
Vincent Benet - William Shakespeare - William Wordsworth - H.W. Long Fellow -
10. British English – American English
Annie Louisa walker - Walt Whitman - V.K. Gokak
6. Characters, Quotes, Important Lines from the following works of Indian
Authors:
Sahitya Akademi Award winner: Thakazhi Sivasankaran Pillai – ‘Farmer’ -Kamala
Das : 1. Punishment in Kindergarten 2. My Grandmother’s House -R.K. Narayan:
Swami and the sum - Rabindranath Tagore: Where the mind is without fear - Dhan
Gopal Mukherji: Kari, The Elephant - Deepa Agarwal: After the Storm - Dr. APJ
Abdul Kalam: Vision for the Nation- Indra Anantha Krishna: The Neem Tree -
Lakshmi Mukuntan: The Ant Eater and the Dassie - Dr. Neeraja Raghavan: The Sun
Beam
7. Drama Famous lines, characters, quotes from
Julius Caesar - The Merchant of Venice
8. Match the Places, Poet, Dramatist, and Painter with suitable option
9. Match the following Folk Arts with the Indian State / Country
10. Match the Author with the Relevant Title/Character
11. Match the Characters with Relevant Story Title
The Selfish Giant - How the camel got its hump - The Lottery ticket - The Last Leaf
- Two friends – Refugee - Open window – Reflowering - The Necklace Holiday
12. About the Poets
Rabindranath Tagore - Henry Wordsworth Longfellow - Anne Louisa Walker -V K
Gokak - Walt Whitman - Douglas Malloch
13. About the Dramatists
William Shakespeare - Thomas Hardy
14. Mention the Poem in which these lines occur
Granny, Granny, please comb My Hair - With a friend - To cook and Eat - To India
– My Native Land - A tiger in the Zoo - No men are foreign – Laugh and be Merry –
The Apology - The Flying Wonder 2
15. Various works of the following Authors –
Rabindranath Tagore – Shakespeare - William Wordsworth - H.W. Longfellow –
Anne Louisa Walker - Oscar Wilde - Pearl S. Buck
16. What is the theme observed in the literary works?
Snake - The Mark of Vishnu - Greedy Govind - Our Local Team – Where the mind
is without fear - Keep your spirits high - Be the best – Bat – The Piano – The Model
Millionaire - The Cry of the Children – Migrant bird – Shilpi
17. Famous Quotes – Who said this?
18. To Which period the Poets belong
William Shakespeare - Walt Whitman - William Wordsworth - H.W. Longfellow
Annie Louisa Walker - D.H. Lawrence
19. Matching the Poets and Poems
Discovery – Biking – Inclusion - Granny, Granny, please comb My Hair – With a
Friend - To cook and Eat – Bat - To India – My Native Land - A tiger in the Zoo - No
men are foreign - Laugh and be Merry – Earth – The Apology - The Flying Wonder
- Off to outer space tomorrow morning - Be the best - Is life, but a dream -
Women’s rights - The Nation united - English words – Snake – The man he killed
20. Nature centred literary works and Global issue Environment and
Conservation
Flying with moon on their wings - Migrant bird - Will Thirst Become -
Unquenchable? - Going for Water - Swept away - Gaia tells her
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 PART-B Rhyming Words:
LITERATURE Using words with similar sound

1. FIGURES OF SPEECH OBSERVED IN THE FOLLOWING POEMS: Repetition:

Repeating words or phrases in consecutive lines or same line 4
Alliteration:
Repeating initial consonant sound in several words in same line Apostrophe:
Speaking to an imaginary object or person
Allusion:
Indirect Reference to something (object, place, event, etc.)
2. Appreciation Questions from Poetry
Simile:
A PSALM OF LIFE
Comparison between two objects – comparison words like, so, as … will be used
Henry Wordsworth Longfellow (1807-1882), the great American poet, was a
Metaphor: professor at Harvard. His great fame began with the publication of his first
Comparison between two objects, comparison words is not used volume of poems ‘Voices of the Night’ in 1839, which included “A Psalm of Life,”
one of nineteenth century’s best-loved poems. His other collections include
Personification: Ballads (1841), Evangeline (1847), Hiawatha (1855), The Courtship of Miles
Attributes life to non-living objects Standish (1858) and Tales of a Wayside Inn (1863).

Longfellow was the most popular poet of his age and during his lifetime he
Oxymoron: became a ‘national institution’. “His work was musical, mildly romantic, high-
Using contradictory term (opposite terms) minded, and flavoured with sentimental preachment” (Norton Anthology of
American Literature).
Onomatopoeia:
Words denoting the sound produced by an act, object, etc…, “This poem seems to give a great deal of good advice. It tells the reader not to
waste his/her time but to be up and going; not to be discouraged by failures but
Anaphora: to have a heart for any fate; not to judge life by temporary standards but to look
Using a pronoun like terms to denote something that already mentioned in the to eternal.
sentence

Ellipsis: What the Heart of the Young Man Said to the Psalmist
Omission of a part of sentence or word without altering the meaning

Rhyme Scheme:
Order of the words with similar sound
Appreciation Questions 10. What does the poet say about life?

Tell me not, in mournful numbers, Life is not an empty dream. It is real.

Life is but an empty dream! –

Life is real! Life is earnest! 5 5
For the soul is dead that slumbers,
And the grave is not its goal;
And things are not what they seem.
Dust thou art, to dust returnest,

1. Explain: ‘Mournful numbers’? Was not spoken of the soul.

Mournful numbers means ‘Sad Songs’.

1. How is life to be viewed?
2. How does the poet look upon life?
Life is to be viewed seriously and with a positive attitude
The poet has an optimistic view on life
2. Why is life real?
3. Is life an empty dream?
Life is real because it is deathless.
No. Life is not an empty dream
3. What is not the end of life?
4. Who is the speaker?
Death is not the end of life.
The poet, H.W. Longfellow is the speaker.
4. Who does ‘thou’ refer to?
5. What do you mean by ‘ mournful numbers’?
‘Thou’ refers to the mortal man.
Mournful numbers mean sad song.
5. Why does the poet refer to man as dust?
6. Why do some people say that life is an empty dream?
Human beings are referred to dust because the first man Adam was
As their longing and desires are not fulfilled always, they say so. made of clay.

7. Whose soul is dead? 6. ‘Grave is not its goal’ – Why?

The soul of the man that sleeps or inactive is dead. Human soul is immortal. Therefore grave is not the goal of life.

8. ‘Things are not what they seem’ – Explain. 7. Where do you human beings go at last?

In our real life, things happen contrary to our desires and longings. They go back to the dust at last.

9. Why do people complain life as an empty dream? 8. What journey is talked about there?

People complain so because of their dead and inactive soul. The journey of life is talked about here.
9. Who is dust? Art is long, and Time is fleeting,

All human beings are the dust And our hearts, though stout and brave,

10. What does “grave” refer to? Still, like muffled drums, are beating 15
6
Grave refers to death. Funeral marches to the grave.

Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,

1. What are sounding like muffled drums?
Is our destined end or way; 10
The human heart beats are sounding like muffled drums.
But to act, that each tomorrow
2. Why do our hearts beat like muffled drums?
Find us farther than today.
Our hearts beat like muffled drums because of the failures and
discouragement in life.
1. What journey is being talked about here?
3. Why is art ‘long’?
The journey of life being talked about here.
Art is permanent therefore it is long.
2. What do these lines reveal about the mindset of the speaker?
4. Why is life ‘short’?
We should act in the present with the hope that tomorrow will be
better than today. The life span of human being is limited and so life is short

3. What is our destined end or way?

In the world’s broad field of battle,
Getting free from all enjoyments and sorrows is our destined end.
In the bivouac of Life,
4. How should we act?
Be not like dumb, driven cattle!
We should act aiming at progress in all possible ways.
Be a hero in the strife! 20
5. What should be our hope in life?
1. What is the world compared to?
We should hope that tomorrow will be better than today.
The world is compared to the battle field.
6. When should we act?
2. What is life compared to?
We should act to day.
Life is compared to a temporary camp.

3. What is meant by ‘bivouac’?

‘Bivouac’ means the temporary camp made by soldiers.

4. How should men not be? 6. Why is the ‘P” in “Past” capitalised?

Men should not be life dumb driven cattle. The word “Past” is personfied. So it is capitalised.

5. What is the poet’s advice to man? Lives of great men all remind us 25
7
The poet advises man to face the challenge in life like a hero We can make our lives sublime,

6. What is meant by ‘Strife’? And, departing, leave behind us

‘Strife’ means struggle. Footprints on the sands of time;

1. What do lives of great men remind us all?

Trust no Future, how’er pleasant!
Lives of great men remind us all that we too can become great like
Let the dead Past bury its dead!
them.
Act, – act in the living Present!
2. What kind of life should we lead?
Heart within, and God o’erhead!
We should lead a sublime life.

1. Why should we not trust future? 3. Who will leave the foot prints?

We should not trust our future because it is uncertain. Great men will leave the foot prints.

2. Should we be proud of our past? 4. Where do great men leave their foot prints?

No. we should neither be proud of our past nor worry about the past Great men will leave the foot prints.
failures.
5. Where do great men leave their foot prints?
3. What is the advice of the poet here?
Great men leave their foot prints on the sands of time.
The poet advises us to act vigorously in the present, ignoring the past
or future. 6. What do foot prints denote?

4. Why is the word, ‘Act’ repeated? Foot prints denote the ideals of life

The word ‘act’ is repeated because it is the urgent need today. Footprints, that perhaps another,
5. How should one act? Sailing o’er life’s solemn main, 30
One should act confidently having trust in God. A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,

Seeing, shall take heart again.

1. Who will the foot prints guide? 5. What should we learn?

The foot prints will guide the men in crisis. We should learn to labour

2. What is life compared to here?

8
Life is compaed to a dull sea here. WOMEN’S RIGHT

3. Who is a forlorn and shipwrecked brother? – Annie Louisa Walker

The lonely sad youth is a forlorn and shipwrecked brother. Annie Louisa Walker (1836-1907), British-born novelist, children’s playwright and
poet, was educated in Ontario, where she and her sisters operated a school for
4. ‘Take heart again’ – what does, the phrase mean? ladies. Walker published poetry widely in newspapers on both sides of the
‘Take heart again” – means gaining confidence in life border before collecting them in ‘Leaves from the Backwoods’ in 1861-62. She
returned to England to work for her cousin, Margaret Oliphant, a well-known
novelist, and edited her ‘Autobiography and Letters’ in 1899, under her married
name, Mrs. Harry Coghill. She collected her poetic output in ‘Oak and Maple:
Let us, then, be up and doing, English and Canadian verses.
With a heart for any fate; Summary
Still achieving, still pursuing, 35 This poem expresses the wishes of women. Women like to enjoy many rights.
Learn to labor and to walk. Men cannot deny them their rights. Women have a mission. They are strong and
powerful. Men should not ignore their thoughts. Generally, men do not mind the
1. What is the message for the youth in this line? sufferings of women.
The youth should learn to labour (do hard work) and be patient till it Women lead a quiet and peaceful life. They do not even waste a single minute.
brings a good result. They always com-spend their time in looking after their family and children. They
bring happiness to those who are around them. They are like the humble plants
2. What advice does the poet give us here?
that bring forth fragrant flowers.
The poet advises us to cheer up, having confidence to face the
These plants gather water from occasional rains. Likewise women spread the
challenges in our life.
fragrance of happiness though they get meager love from men. They live
3. What does the world ‘labour’ signify? unknown and die unknown

The word ‘labour’ signifies ‘hard work’ and it proves H.W. Longfellow You cannot rob us of the rights we cherish,
to be a typical American poet.
Nor turn our thoughts away
4. What should we do?
From the bright picture of a “Woman’s Mission”
We should work hard and walk steadfast.
Our hearts portray.
Questions 9. Where do men dwell?

1. Who do you think this line is addressed to? Women dwell at home away from harsh, strife and jarring voices
9
This line is addressed to male chauvenistic society 10. Where do women claim to dwell?

2. Who cannot rob? Women want do dwell in their homes

Men cannot rob. 11. How do they want to dwell?

3. What cannot be robbed? OR Whose rights cannot be robbed? They want to dwell calmly and happily.

Women’s rights cannot be robbed. 12. Who claim to dwell alone beneath the household roof?

4. Who does ‘you’ refer to? Women claim to dwell alone under the house hold roof.

‘You refers to the domineering men or husbands. 13. Why does the speaker want to dwell in quiet seclusion?

5. Who are the ‘us’ here? She wants to dwell in quiet seclusion because she wants to be free from
the unpleasant conflicts in this world.
The ‘us’ refers to the suppressed women folk.
14. What is the world full of?
6. What rights are cherished by women?
The world is full of unpleasant conflicts
Women cherish the family more than their own material benefits.
15. What kind of life do women prefer to live?
7. What is the ‘picture’ about?
Women prefer to live calmly and happily.
The picture is about the woman’s rights.

8. ‘Nor turn our thoughts away’ – what does this line imply?
Not in a dreamy and inane abstraction
This line implies that women were not permitted to express their thoughts
freely so far. To sleep our life away,

We claim to dwell, in quiet and seclusion, But, gathering up the brightness of home sunshine,

Beneath the household roof, To deck our way.

From the great world’s harsh strife, and jarring voices,

16. What is meant by inane abstractions?
To stand aloof;
Inane abstraction means stupid inactiveness.
17. ‘Sleep our life away’ – What does it mean? 25. What do humble plants treasure up?

It means wasting our life in laziness. Humble plants treasure up rain water.

18. Who say that women waste their life sleeping and dreaming? 26. ‘Ere the day declining’ – What does it mean? (OR) When do plants yield
fragrance? 10
Men say that women waste their life in sleeping and dreaming.
It means that plants yield fragrance in the evening.
19. What do women want to do?
27. What is the gift of women?
They want to deck and brighten their homes.
Women get love and happiness from their husbands and share them with
20. How do women deck their way?
their children.
They deck their way by gathering happiness at home.
So let us, unobtrusive and unnoticed,

As humble plants by country hedgerows growing, But happy none the less,

That treasure up the rain, Be privileged to fill the air around us

And yield in odours, ere the day’s declining, With happiness;

The gift again; 28. Who fill the air with happiness?

21. Who are compared to humble plants? Women fill the air with happiness.

Women are compared to humble plants. 29. Who are privileged?

22. Why are women compared to humble plants? Women are privileged.

As they spread the fragrance of happiness, women are compared to 30. What is the privilege?
humble plants. Making others in the family happy is the privilege.
23. Where do humble plants grow? 31. What remains unobstrusive and unnoticed?
Small plants grow along the sides of roads. The good done to others by the women remains unobstrusive and
24. What is the gift of humble plants? unnoticed.

Getting rain water and spreading fragrance all around is the gift of plants. 32. What does ‘the air around us’ refer to?

It refers to the family.

 To live, unknown beyond the cherished circle, Surrounded, detached, in measureless oceans of space,

Which we can bless and aid; Ceaselessly musing, venturing, throwing, seeking the spheres to connect them,

To die, and not a heart that does not love us Till the bridge you will need be form'd, till the ductile anchor hold,
11
Know where we’re laid. Till the gossamer thread you fling catch somewhere, O my soul.

33. What is cherished circle?

ENGLISH WORDS
Cherished circle means the family circle.
– V K Gokak
34. Who are known in the cherished circle?
VK Gokak, a famous novelist and poet in Kannada and a professor of English, wrote
Women are known in the cherished circle.
and published poetry in English as well. This poem expresses Gokak’s admiration
35. What kind of death do men want? for the English language. He brings out the efficacy of English words in delightful
Women want to die unknown to those who do not love them. and poignant similes. How the language across the seas changed our hearts is
shown here.
36. In what way are women humble?
Speech that came like leech-craft
They are humble by remaining unknown to the outsiders.
And killed us almost, bleeding us white!
37. What are women known?

They are known only to their family members. 1. What is leech craft?

Leech craft is an ancient medical treatment to remove impure blood.

THE NATION UNITED_NOISELESS PATIENT SPIDER 2. What is compared to leech-craft?

- Walt Whitman English is compared to leech-craft.

A NOISELESS, patient spider, 3. What doe speech refer to here?

I mark'd where on a little promontory it stood isolated Speech refers to English language here.

Mark'd how to explore the vacant vast surrounding 4. What did leech craft do?

It launch'd forth filament, filament, filament, out of itself Leach craft removed all the impure blood.

Ever unreeling them, ever tirelessly speeding them 5. ‘Bleeding white’ – What does it mean?

And you 0 my soul where you stand, ‘Bleeding white’ means removed all the impurities and made pure.
 You bleached our souls soiled with impurities. 13. What is referred to ‘tongues of fire’?

You bathed our hearts amid tempestuous seas ‘English words’ are com pared to tongues of fire.

Of a purer, drearier, delight. 14. Give the meaning of ‘devouring’.

12
Devouring means consuming large quantities.
6. What is meant by ‘bleached our soul’?
15. What do ‘tongues of fire’ do?
It means purification of soul.
The tongues of fire consume the enmeshing creepers.
7. Who does ‘you’ refer to?
16. What made the stunted in growth of trees?
You refers to English language.
The enmeshing creepers caused stunted growth of trees.
8. What are tempestuous seas?
17. What are ‘thornmills’?
The multi-lingualism in India is referred to as the tempestuous seas.
‘Thornmills’ are the vast area of thorny bushes.
9. ‘Soiled with impurities – what it mean?
18. Why is nightshade in the forest?
It refers to the defects in the Indian languages.
Because of the creeper, shrubs and the stunted trees, the forests are dakr
10. Who bleached our souls?
and the dark shade remains there.
English language bleached our souls.
19. What do shrubs symbolise?
11. What are the impurities?
‘Shrubs’ symbolise the impurities in the human speech.
The hard sports in a language are the impurities.
You were the dawn, and sunlight filled the spaces
O tongues of fire! You came devouring
Where owls were hovering.
Forests of nightshade, creepers that enmesh,
20. What is the English language compared to here?
Trees that never remembered to grow,
English language is compared to dawn and sunlight here.
And shrubs that were but thornmills in our flesh.
21. Why are English words called dawn?
12. Which were the thorns in our flesh?
English words are called dawn because they remove the ignorance and
The difficulties or ‘dark spots’ in our native languages were the thorns on make the native languages bright.
our flesh.
22. What were the owls? 30. Explain the comparison.

The dark spots in the native languages were the owls. Fire flies are attractive in darkness. Likewise English words were attractive
to native Indians.
23. What happed to the owls?
31. What are English words compared to here? 13
The owls that are the impurities in Indian languages are driven away by the
advent of English. English words are compared to the swarm of fireflies.

24. What do the owls do? 32. What is the purpose of English words coming to India?

The owls haunt the sky at night. English words came to India with a deep desire to give birth to new speech.

33. ‘New Agony’ – What does it mean?

O winged seeds! You crossed the furrowed seas
Bringing about a renaissance in speech is a difficult task. Therefore it is a
To nestle in the warm and silent earth.
new agony.

25. What are portrayed as winged seeds? 34. What do you mean by ‘pining’?

English words are portrayed as winged seeds. ‘Pining’ means yearning.

26. What did the winged seeds do?

You blossomed into a nascent loveliness.
The winged seeds crossed the furrowed seas.
You ripened into nectar in fruit-jars
27. What does ‘crossed the furrowed seas’ imply?
That hung like clustered stars.
‘Crossed the furrowed seas’ imply that English is a foreign language.
35. What does ‘you’ refer to here?
28. Why did the English words (winged seeds) cross the sea?
You refers to English words.
The English words crossed the sea to settle comfortably in India.
36. Give the meaning of the word ‘Cluster’.
29. How was the earth?
Cluster means a group of many.
The earth was warm and silent.
37. What is compared to the cluster of stars?

The collection of English words is compared to the cluster of stars.

Like a golden swarm of fireflies you came
38. ‘Nascent loveliness’ – What does it mean?
Pining for a new agony, a new birth.
Nascent loveliness means just-born beauty.
39. ‘Nectar in fruit-jar’ – Explain?
English words are so sweet like honey in a jar.
40. What is nectar? Where is it?
Nectar is a sweet juice in flowers.
41. How did English mature?
English matured like fruits which ripen in fruit jar.
O winging words! Like homing bees you borrow
Grown murmurous, the honey of delight,
Pollened within our hearts the coming morrow,
Sweetened within our souls for aeons bright:
42. Explain the comparison:
Honey bees collect honey from many flowers and save in their hives. In the
same way English words enrich the language by borrowing sweet words
from other languages.
43. Why English words are called ‘winging’?
English words travel along many countries. So they are called winging
words
44. What do homing bees do?
Homing bees bring home honey.
45. What do English words do?
English words enrich the language by borrowing sweet words from other
languages.
46. “Grown murmurous” – What does it mean?
By drinking the honey, the bees get intoxicated.
47. Who has caused the pollination?
English words have caused the pollination.
48. What does the pollination promise to yield?
14
It promises to bring forth sweetness fro many ages to come.
49. Where is the honey of delight stored?
The honey of delight is stored in the hearts of the English speaking people.
You kindle in the far corners of the earth
The music of an ever-deepening chant:
The burthen of a waneless, winterless spring,
The gospel of an endless blossoming.
50. Who is ‘you’ here?
‘You’ is the English language here.
51. What does the English language do?
The English language spreads to every nook and corner of the world.
52. How can English spread to every corner of the earth?
The musical quality of the language makes it easy to spread to every corner
of the earth.
53. What is the season referred to here?
Spring season is referred to here.
54. What is the wish of the poet?
The poet wishes an everlasting spring to English language.
55. ‘Winterless spring’ – What does it mean?
It means that English language will blossom always without fading or
diminishing.
56. What is the gospel? 63. You pose the cosmic riddle – What does it suggest?

The good news of spreading English language is the gospel. The poet suggests that English has the answer to the riddle.

64. Why is the ‘word’ capitalised?

Fathomless words, with Indo-Aryan blood 15
It is capitalised because ‘word’ refers to ‘God’.
Tingling in your veins.

The spoils of ages, global merchandise The Word is in the middle

Mingling in your strains! And the Word is Man.

In the end will be the Word

57. Why are English words fathomless?
And the Word will be God in Man.
English words are fathomless because their utility is too deep to be measured.

58. ‘Indo-Aryan blood’ – What does it signify? 65. Why is the ‘word’ in the middle?
It signifies that English is of Indo-Aryan descent. God is the beginning and the end. Therefore the word is in betweeen.
59. ‘The spoils of age’ – What does it mean? 66. Who does ‘God in man’ refer to?
It means that English language has grown rich over the years. ‘God in man’ refers to Jesus Christ.
60. ‘Global merchandise’ – Explain? 67. ‘Words is Man’ – What does it mean?
Merchandise is a commercial term. Here it means that English language It means that the word of God came to the world as man that is Jesus
has developed by travelling like a product travels all over the world for Christ.
trade.

You pose the cosmic riddles:

SNAKE
In the beginning was the Word
– D.H. Lawrence
And the Word was God.
David Herbert Lawrence (1885-1930) occupies a unique position among the
61. Who pose the cosmic riddle? leading Modernist writers of the generation that came of age before the
outbreak of the First World War. D.H. Lawrence was born near Nottingham in the
English words pose the cosmic riddle. English Midlands. D.H. Lawrence spent several years as a teacher before turning
to writing for a livelihood. Although D.H. Lawrence is best known for his novels
62. What is the cosmic riddle? and short stories, he was also a fine poet who wrote free verse. His poetry
The mystery about the creation of the universe is the riddle. concentrates on the life-giving force of nature and exalts the physical and
instinctual over the purely intellectual.
Summary
Snake is a wonderful poem. It speaks about the poet’s feelings towards the snake.
On a hot summer day a snake came to his water trough to drink water. The poet
had to wait for his turn to take a pitcher of water. The snake took a long time to
drink water. This gave the poet enough time to study the snake. It was golden in
colour. His knowledge of education cautioned him that it was a poisonous snake.
His inner voice urged him to kill the snake. He took a log and threw at the snake.
The snake was shocked and ran into its hole. Now the poet felt guilty. The snake
did not harm him. But he harmed the snake. It was like a guest that came to his
house. He insulted his guest. He was so sorry for his mean act.
Poem
A snake came to my water-trough
On a hot, hot day, and I in pyjamas for the heat,
To drink there.
In the deep, strange-scented shade of the great dark carob-tree
I came down the steps with my pitcher
And must wait, must stand and wait; for there he was at the trough before me.
He reached down from a fissure in the earth-wall in the gloom
And trailed his yellow-brown slackness soft-bellied down,
over the edge of the stone trough,
And rested his throat upon the stone bottom,
And where the water had dripped from the tap, in a small clearness,
He sipped with his straight mouth,
Softly drank through his straight gums, into his slack long body, Silently.
Someone was before me at my water-trough, And I, like a second corner,
waiting.
He lifted his head from his drinking, as cattle do,
16
And looked at me vaguely, as drinking cattle do,
And flickered his two-forked tongue from his lips, and mused a moment,
And stooped and drank a little more,
Being earth-brown, earth-golden from the burning bowels of the earth,
On the day of Sicilian July, with Etna smoking.
The voice of my education said to me
He must be killed,
For in Sicily the black, black snakes are innocent, the gold are venomous.
And voices in me said if you were a man
You would take a stick and break him now, and finish him off.
But must I confess how I liked him,
How glad I was he had come like a guest in quiet, to drink at my water-trough
And depart peaceful, pacified, and thankless,
Into the burning bowels of this earth
Was it cowardice, that I dared not kill him?
Was it perversity, that I longed to talk to him?
Was it humility, to feel so honoured?
I felt so honoured.
And yet those voices:
If you were not afraid, you would kill him. I looked round, I put down my pitcher,

I picked up a clumsy log

And truly I was afraid, I was most afraid;
And threw it at the water trough with a clatter.
But even so, honored still more 17
I think it did not hit him,
That he should seek my hospitality
But suddenly that part of him that was left behind
From out the dark door of the secret earth.
convulsed in undignified haste,

Writhed like lightning, and was gone

He drank enough
Into the black hole, the earth-lipped fissure in the wall-front,
And lifted his head, dreamily, as one who has drunken,
At which, in the intense still noon, I stared with fascination.
And flickered his tongue like a forked night on the air, so black,
And immediately I regretted it.
Seeming to lick his lips,
I thought how paltry, how vulgar, what a mean act!
And looked around like a god, unseeing, into the air,
I despised myself and the voices of my accursed human education.
And slowly turned his head,

And slowly, very slowly, as if thrice adream,

And I thought of the albatross,
Proceeded to draw his slow length curving round
And I wished he would come back, my snake
And climb again the broken bank of my wall-face.
For he seemed to me again like a king,

Like a king in exile, uncrowned in the underworld

And as he put his head into that dreadful hole,
Now due to be crowned again.
And as he slowly drew up, snake-easing his shoulders, and entered farther,
And so, I missed my chance with one of the lords Of life.
A sort of horror, a sort of protest against his withdrawing
And I have something to expiate;
Into that horrid black hole,
A pettiness.
Deliberately going into the blackness, and slowly drawing himself after,

Overcame me now his back was turned.

 THE MAN HE KILLED Yes; quaint and curious war is!

–Thomas Hardy You shoot a fellow down

"Had he and 1 but met You'd treat if met where any bar is
18
By some old ancient inn, Or help You shoot a fellow down

We should have sat us down to wet

Right many a nipperkin!" You'd treat if met where any bar is

You shoot a fellow down

But ranged as infantry, You'd treat if met where any bar is

And staring face to face, With half a crown

I shot at him as he at me,

And killed him in his place." OFF TO OUTER SPACE TOMORROW MORNING

-Norman Nicholson

"I shot him dead because Because You can start the Count Down, you can take a last look;

he was my foe, You can pass me my helmet from its plastic hook;

Just so: my foe of course he was; 1. What does the countdown imply?

That's clear enough; although The countdown implies the decreasing time left for the launch of
spacecraft.

2. What is meant by count down?

He thought he'd 'list, perhaps,
Off-hand like — just as I
Was out of work - had sold his traps
No other reason why."
Count down means the final moments counted backwards from 10 to 0
before the launch of a spacecraft.
3. Why does the poet talk about “last look”?
The poet is about the zoom into the space in his spacecraft. Anything may
happen to astronauts in space. So the poet talks about “taking a last look”.
4. What will happen after the countdown is over?
After the countdown is over, the spacecraft will take off from the launch
people pad into the space.
5. Why does the speaker need his helmet?
The speaker needs it for his space journey.
6. Where is the ‘helmet’?
The helmet is hanging on a plastic hook.
You can cross out my name in the telephone book –
7. Who is the speaker?
The astronaut. Noriman Nicholson, is the speaker.
8. Whose name will be crossed out it in the telephone book?
The astronaut poet’s name will be crossed out from the telephone book.
9. Why does the speaker want the readers to strike out his name from the
telephone book?
Space journey is riddled with dangers. The speaker was not even aware if
ever he would return to earth. So, he tells the readers to strike out the
name.
There won’t be any calendar, there won’t be any clock;
Daylight will be on the switch and winter under lock.
10. What does this signify?
This signifies that the poet astronaut will not be conscious of the passage
of days and nights.
11. Where does he not find calendar and clock?
He does not find calendar and clock in his space craft’s cabin.
12. Why would there be no calendar?
Outside the earth’s atmosphere, there is nothing called total darkness, and
stars shine all the time. One cannot distinguish between day and night.
So, there is no need for a calendar.
19
13. How does the speaker make day or night at his will?
If he switches the light on, it is day and when he switches off the light it is
night for him. Accordingly days and nights are under his control.
14. Why is winter under lock?
Seasons change only in the atmosphere around the earth and some other
planets, not in the space.
15. Explain the strange experience of the poet.
As there will be pitch darkness in space, the poet would switch on the light
to make it day. He will experience neither cold nor hot. Seasonal changes
will not be there in the space.
“I’ll doze when I’m sleepy and wake without a knock –“
16. Who is the speaker?
The astronaut – poet is the speaker.
17. When will the speaker sleep?
There is no fixed time for his sleep. He will doze off when he feels sleepy.
There is no regular hour of work and rest.
18. Why does not anyone knock the door to wake him up?
The speaker is the lone traveller in the spaceship. So, there is none to
wake him up.
19. Why wouldn’t the speaker have regular sleeping hours?
He will be in space experiencing timelessness. So he would not have
regular sleeping hours.
20. What mood does the line indicate?
Nonchalance is indicated in the line.
I’ll be writing no letters; I’ll be posting no mail.
For with nobody to visit me and not a friend in hail,
21. Who will be writing no letters?
The poet astronaut will not be writing any letters to anyone.
22. Why will the poet not write any letter?
The poet is in space. There is no postal system to deliver his letters. So, he
will not write any letters.
23. Why will the speaker not post mails?
The poet cannot have an access to usual modes of communications such as
post-office or internet connectivity to post his mail. So, he cannot send
mail.
24. Why there won’t be any visitors or friends? [OR] Why is there nobody to visit
the poet?
The poet is flying faster than sound. None can meet him during his space
flight.
In solit’ry confinement as complete as any gaol”.
25. Bring out the comparison.
The lonely cabin in space is compared to a solitary cell inside the jail.
26. What is the ‘gaol’ to the poet?
The cabin in his space craft is the gaol to the poet.
27. Why does the poet compare his solitary confinement to prison, gaol?
The convicts will not be visited for they will be locked up in a solitary room
in jail. Similarly, the poet is all alone in his cabin room far away from the
world.
20
28. Why does the poet speak about solitary confinement?
No one will keep him company during his space flight. He is all alone in a
cell. So, the poet takes about solitary confinement.
“With the teacups circling round me like the planets round the sun,”
29. Why do cups float and circle around the poet?
Tea cups float and circle around the poet because of lack of gravitational
pull inside the spacecraft. Tea cups experiences weightlessness.
30. How do the circling tea cups look-like?
The circling cups l00o-like satellites revolving around the Sun.
31. Who is compared to the Sun? Why?
The poet is compared to the Sun. He is the centre of activities inside the
spacecraft.
32. Why the cups are called satellites?
The cups float around the poet. They resemble planets around the Sun.
You can watch on television and follow from afar,
Tracking through your telescope my upward shooting star,
33. What can be watched? [OR] what can the people on earth watch on
television?
People can watch the journey of the space craft in their television sets.
34. What is described as “shooting star” here? SONNET NO 116

Generally, shooting stars make downward journey into the atmosphere of – William Shakespeare
the earth. This shooting star makes an upward journey away from the
atmosphere. Let me not to the marriage of true minds
21
35. What is the upward shooting star? Admit impediments. Love is not love

The space craft is the upward shooting star. Which alters when it alteration finds,

Or bends with the remover to remove.

But you needn’t think I’ll give a damn for you or what you are 0, no! it is an ever-fixed mark,

36. Who is the ‘I’ here? That looks on tempests and is never shaken;

The pronoun ‘I’ refers to the astronaut – poet. It is the star to every wand'ring bark,

37. Why is he so indifferent? Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.

He knows his flight will be watched across the globe in various TV Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
channels. But it is not going to reduce the risks in space. So, he does not Within his bending sickle's compass come;
bother much.
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,

But bears it out even to the edge of doom.

With twenty hundred light-years before the first stop,
If this be error and upon me prov'd,
Then you and every soul on earth can go and blow your top –
I never writ, nor no man ever lov'd.
38. When will the poet stop?

The poet would stop after travelling the distance of twenty hundred light
years.

39. How you know that the poet is non-chalant?

He says people on earth can blow their top. From this statement one
understands, he is non-chalant
 THE SOLITARY REAPER Breaking the silence of the seas

-William Wordsworth Among the farthest Hebrides.

William Wordsworth, an eminent poet of nature, was born on 7th April, 1770,
at Cocker mouth, Cumberland, in the Lake District. Though he lost his parents 22
at a very young age, his uncle gave him a good education. His meeting with Will no one tell me what she sings?
Samuel Taylor Coleridge in 1795, proved to be a turning point in his life. They, Perhaps the plaintive numbers flow
together published, ‘The Lyrical Ballads’ in 1798, Wordsworth succeeded
Robert Southey as Poet Laureate in 1843 and remained in office till his death For old, unhappy, far-off things,
in April 1850.
And battles long ago:
Poem
Or is it some more humble lay,
Behold her, single in the field,
Familiar matter of to-day?
Yon solitary Highland Lass!
Some natural sorrow, loss, or pain,
Reaping and singing by herself;
That has been, and may be again!
Stop here, or gently pass!

Alone she cuts and binds the grain,

What'er the theme, the maiden sang
And sings a melancholy strain;
As if her song could have no ending;
0 listen! for the vale profound
I saw her singing at her work,
Is overflowing with the sound.
And o'er the sickle bending —

I listen'd motionless and still;

No nightingale did ever chaunt
And, as I mounted up the hill,
More welcome notes to weary bands
The music in my heart I bore
Of travellers in some shady haunt,
Long after it was heard no more.
Among Arabian sands:

A voice so thrilling ne'er was heard

In spring-time from the cuckoo-bird,

 BE THE BEST O CAPTAIN MY CAPTAIN

-Douglas Malloch -Walt Whitman

23
It you can't be a pine on the top of the hill, O Captain! My Captain! Our fearful trip is done,

Be a scrub in the valley but be The ship has weather'd every rack, the prize we sought is won,

The best little scrub by the side of the rill; The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,

Be a bush, if you can't be a tree. While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring;

If you can't be a bush, be a bit of the grass, But 0 heart! heart! heart!

And some highway happier make; O the bleeding drops o red!

If you can't be a muskie, then just be a bass- Where on the deck my Captain lies,

But the liveliest bass in the lake! Fallen cold and dead.

We can't all be captains, we've got to be crew,

There's something for all of us here. O Captain! My Captain! Rise up and_hear the bells;

There's big work to do and there's lesser to do Rise up - for you the flag is flung - for you the bugle trills,

And the task we must do is the near. For you bouquets and ribbon'd wreaths - for you the shores crowding,

If you can't be a highway, then just be a trail, For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning;

If you can't be the sun, be a star; Here, Captain! dear father!

It isn't by size that you win or you fail- This arm beneath your head!

Be the best of whatever you are! It is some dream that on the deck

You've fallen cold and dead.

My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still, Laugh, and battle, and work, and drink of the wine outpoured

My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will; In the dear green earth, the sign of the joy of the Lord.

The ship is anchor'd safe and sound, its voyage closed and done
24
From fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won; Laugh and be many together, like brothers akin

Exult, 0 shores! and ring, 0 bells! Guesting awhile In the rooms of a beautiful inn,

But I, mournful tread, Glad till the dancing stops, and the lilt of the music ends.

Walk the deck my Captain lies, Laugh till the game Is played; and be you merry, my friends

Fallen cold and dead

EARTH

LAUGH AND BE MERRY -Khalil Gibran

– John Masefield. How beautiful you are, Earth, and how sublime!

Laugh and be merry, remember, better the world with a song. How perfect your obedience to the Light and how noble is your
submission to the sun
Better the world with a blow in the teeth of a wrong.

Laugh, for the time is brief, a thread the length of a span.

I have walked over your plains
Laugh and be proud to belong to the old proud pageant of man
I have climbed your stony mountains

I have descended Into your valleys;

Laugh and be merry: remember, in olden time,
I have entered Into your caves.
God made Heaven and Earth for joy He took in a rhyme,
On the plains I have discovered your dreams,
Made them, and filled them full with the strong red wine of His mirth
On the mountains I have admired your splendid presence.
The splendid joy of the stare: the joy of the earth
And in the valleys I have observed your tranquility

In the caves I have touched your mysteries.

So we must laugh and Milk from the deep blue cup of the sky,
We pierce your bosom with swords and spears.
Join the jubilant song of the great stars sweeping by,
And you dress our wounds with oil and balsam my soul!

We plant your fields with skulls and bones. You are "I" Earth,

And from them you rear cypress and willow trees, Had it not been for my being,
25
We empty our wastes in your bosom, and you fill You would not have been!

Our threshing floors with wheat sheaves,

And our winepresses with grapes. DON’T QUIT

-Edger Albert Guest

We extract your elements to make

Cannons and bombs but out of When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,

Our elements you create lilies and roses When the road you're trudging seems all uphill,

How patient you are Earth, and how Merciful When the funds are low and the debts are high

Are you an atom of dust raised by And you want to smile, but you have to sigh

The feet of God when He Journeyed from When care is pressing you down a bit,

The East to the West of the Universe? Rest, if you must, but don't you quit.

Who are you, Earth, and what are you? Life is queer with its twists and turns,

You are "I", Earth! As every one of us sometimes learns,

You are my sight and my discernment, And many a failure turns about,

You are my knowledge and my dream When he might have won had he stuck it out;

You are my hunger and my thirst Don't give up though the pace seems slow

You are my sorrow and my joy. You may succeed with another blow.

You are the beauty that lives In my eyes

The longing In my heart, the everlasting life In

Often the goal is nearer than, Tax not my sloth that I

It seems to a faint and faltering man, Fold my arms beside the brook;

Often the struggler has given up, Each cloud that floated in the sky
26
When he might have captured the victor's cup, Writes a letter in my book

And he learned too late when the night slipped down,

How close he was to the golden crown. Chide me not, laborious band,

For the idle flowers I brought;

Success is failure turned inside out Every aster in my hand

The silver tint of the clouds of doubt, Goes home loaded with a thought

And you never can tell how close you are,

It may be near when it seems so far, There was never mystery

So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit But 'tis figured in the flowers;

It's when things seem worst that you must not quit Was never secret history

But birds tell it in the bowers

THE APOLOGY

-Ralph Waldo Emerson One harvest from thy field

Homeward brought the oxen strong;

Think me not unkind and rude A second crop thine acres yield,

That I walk alone in grove and glen;(alli) Which I gather in a song.

I go to the god of the wood

To fetch his word to men

 BE GLAD YOUR NOSE IS ON YOUR FACE Your nose, instead, through thick and thin

-Jack Prelutsky remains between your eyes and chin,

not pasted on some other place

27
Be glad your nose is on your face, be glad your nose is on your face!

not pasted on some other place,

for if it were where it is not, A SONNET FOR MY INCOMPARABLE MOTHER

you might dislike your nose a lot. -F Joanna

Imagine if your precious nose I often contemplate my childhood, Mom.

were sandwiched in between your toes, I am a mother now, and so I know

that clearly would not be a treat, Hard work is mixed together with the fun

for you'd be forced to smell your feet. You learned that when you raised me long ago.

Your nose would be a source of dread I think of all the things you gave to me:

were it attached atop your head, Sacrifice, devotion, love and tears,

it soon would drive you to despair, Your heart, your mind, your energy and soul

forever tickled by your hair. All these you spent on me throughout the years.

Within your ear, your nose would be You loved me with a never-failing love

an absolute catastrophe, You gave me strength and sweet security

for when you were obliged to sneeze And then you did the hardest thing of all:

your brain would rattle from the breeze You let me separate and set me free.
Every day, I try my best to be They gilded here, they glided there,

A mother like the mom you were to me They sometimes skinned their noses.

For learning how to rule the air

28
THE FLYING WONDER But each would murmur, afterward,

-Stephen Vincent Benet While patching up his bra

'Am we discouraged, W?

Said Orville Wright to Wilbur Wright. Of course we are not, or

'These birds are very trying. And finally. at Kitty Hawk

I'm sick of hearing them cheep-cheep In Nineteen-Three let’s cheer it

About the fun of flying.

A bird has feathers, it is true. The first real aero plane really flew

That much I freely grant With Orville there to steer it!

But must that stop us, W? And kingdoms may forget their kings

Said Wilbur Wright, it shan't.' And dogs forget their bites.

And so they built a gilder. first„ But not till Man forgets his wings

And then they bulit another. Will men forget the Wrights

There never were two brothers more

TO A MILLIONAIRE

Devoted to each other. -Archibald Lampman

They ran a dusty title shop The world in gloom and splendour passes by.

For bicycle-repairing. And thou in the midst of it with brows that gleam,

And bought each other soda-pop A creature of that old distorted dream

And praised each other's daring That makes the sound of life an evil cry
 Good men perform just deeds, and brave men die So now it is vain for the singer to burst into clamour

And win not honour such as gold can give With the great black piano appassionato. The glamour

While the vain multitudes plod on, and live, Of childish days is upon me, my manhood is cast
29
And serve the curse that pins them down: But I Down in the flood of remembrance, I weep like a child for the past

Think only of the unnumbered broken hearts

The hunger and the mortal strife for bread. MANLINESS

Old age and youth alike mistaught, misfed, -Rudyard Kipling

By want and rags and homelessness made vile

The griefs and hates, and all the meaner parts If you can dream and not make dreams your master;

That balance thy one grim misgotten pile. If you can think and not make thoughts your aim;

If you can meet with triumph and disaster

THE PIANO And treat those two impostors just the same;

-David Herbert Lawrence

If you can force your heart, and nerve, and sinew

Softly, in the dusk, a woman is singing to me; To serve your turn long after they are gone;

Taking me back down the vista of years, till I see And so hold on when there is nothing in you

A child sitting under the piano, in the boom of the tingling strings Except the will which says to them, "Hold on".

And pressing the small, poised feet of a mother who smiles as she sings.

If you can fill the unforgiving minute

In spite of myself, the insidious mastery of song With sixty seconds' worth of distant run,

Betrays me back, till the heart of me weeps to belong Yours is the earth and everything that's in it,

To the old Sunday evenings at home, with winter outside And what is more, you'll be a man, my son

And hymns in the cosy parlour, the tinkling piano our guide.
 GOING FOR WATER Each laid on other a staying hand

-Robert Frost To listen ere we dared to look,

And in the hush we joined to make

30
The well was dry beside the door, We heard,we knew we heard the brook

And so we went with pail and can

Across the fields behind the house A note as from a single place,

To seek the brook if still it ran; A slender tinkling fall that made

Now drops that floated on the pool

Not loth to have excuse to go, Like pearls, and now a silver blade.

Because the autumn eve was fair

(Though chill), because the fields were ours,

And by the brook our woods were there THE CRY OF CHILDREN

-Elizabeth Barrett Browning.

We ran as if to meet the moon

That slowly dawned behind the trees, "For oh," say the children, "we are weary,

The barren boughs without the leaves, And we cannot run or leap;

Without the birds, without the breeze. If we car'd for any meadows, it were merely

To drop down in them and sleep.

But once within the wood, we paused Our knees tremble sorely in the stooping,

Like gnomes that hid us from the moon We fall upon our faces, trying to go;

Ready to run to hiding new And, underneath our heavy eyelids drooping

With laughter when she found us soon The reddest flower would look as pale as snow
For, all day, we drag our burden tiring No walls for me, no vigil gates,

Through the coal-dark, underground, No flags, no machine guns that blast

Or, all day, we drive the wheels of iron Citizens of those border states-
31
In the factories, round and round Brothers of her brother's sons.

"For all day, the wheels are droning, turning; No maps, no boundaries to block

Their wind comes in our faces, My sojourn into unknown lands.

Till our hearts turn, our heads with pulses burning, I spawn and splash in distant spills,

And the walls turn in their places: I breed my brood where'r I will.

Turns the sky in the high window blank and reeling, I won't look down. No I will not.

Turns the long light that drops adown the wall, With speed of wings I hasten past

Turn the black flies that crawl along the ceiling, And close my eyes against the sun

All are turning, all the day, and we with all. To dream my dreams and make them last,

And all day, the iron wheels are droning,

And sometimes we could pray,

`0 ye wheels,' moaning breaking out in a mad SHILPI

`Stop! be silent for to-day!

Steady throb

MIGRANT BIRD Then Staccato rhythm

-Famida Y.Basheer. Harmonic cacophony to oblivious ears

The globe’s my world .The cloud's my kin The tempo is fickle

I care not where the skies begin; Now synchronized, now not,

I spread my wings through all the din: A mirror of his changing moods

Through fears and fright I fly my flight Now sure, now steeped in thought
Bleary eyes 3. IMPORTANT LINES FROM POEMS

Sinews taut yet steady. WHERE THE MIND IS WITHOUT FEAR

Decades of practice -Rabindranath Tagore
32
Heirlooms of rich traditions

In stark evidence Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high
The knocking softens fades, Where knowledge is free
To a mild judicious tap Where the world has not been broken up into fragments
Virgin rock takes form By narrow domestic walls
Rugged lines melt, Where words come out from the depth of truth
Sharp edges merge Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection
Into smooth well moulded curves. Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way

Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit

He Steps back, surveys with Where the mind is led forward by thee
Close scrutiny then sharp critical glare Into ever-widening thought and action
The days of toil Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.
Hammer and chisel laid aside

Only bloodshot eyes betray THE SOLITARY REAPER

Deep pride, then reverence, -William Wordsworth
Lo! God in Man’s image!

Behold her, single in the field,

Yon solitary Highland Lass!

Reaping and singing by herself;

Stop here, or gently pass!

Alone she cuts and binds the grain,
And sings a melancholy strain;
O listen! for the Vale profound
Is overflowing with the sound.
No Nightingale did ever chaunt
More welcome notes to weary bands
Of traveler‘s in some shady haunt,
Among Arabian sands:
A voice so thrilling ne'er was heard
In spring-time from the Cuckoo-bird,
Breaking the silence of the seas
Among the farthest Hebrides.
Will no one tell me what she sings?—
Perhaps the plaintive numbers flow
For old, unhappy, far-off things,
And battles long ago:
Or is it some more humble lay,
Familiar matter of to-day?
Some natural sorrow, loss, or pain,
That has been, and may be again?
Whatever the theme, the Maiden sang
As if her song could have no ending;
I saw her singing at her work,
33
And o'er the sickle bending;—
I listened, motionless and still;
And, as I mounted up the hill,
The music in my heart I bore,
Long after it was heard no more.
GOING FOR WATER
-Robert frost
The well was dry beside the door,
And so we went with pail and can
Across the fields behind the house
To seek the brook if still it ran;
Not loth to have excuse to go,
Because the autumn eve was fair
(Though chill), because the fields were ours,
And by the brook our woods were there.
We ran as if to meet the moon A PSALM OF LIFE

That slowly dawned behind the trees, (What The Heart Of The Young Man Said To The Psalmist.)

The barren boughs without the leaves, -Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

34
Without the birds, without the breeze.

Tell me not, in mournful numbers,

But once within the wood, we paused Life is but an empty dream!

Like gnomes that hid us from the moon, For the soul is dead that slumbers,

Ready to run to hiding new And things are not what they seem.

With laughter when she found us soon.

Life is real! Life is earnest!

Each laid on other a staying hand And the grave is not its goal;

To listen ere we dared to look, Dust thou art, to dust returnest,

And in the hush we joined to make Was not spoken of the soul.

We heard, we knew we heard the brook.

Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,

A note as from a single place, Is our destined end or way;

A slender tinkling fall that made But to act, that each to-morrow

Now drops that floated on the pool Find us farther than to-day.

Like pearls, and now a silver blade.

Art is long, and Time is fleeting,

And our hearts, though stout and brave,

Still, like muffled drums, are beating

Funeral marches to the grave.

In the world‘s broad field of battle, BE THE BEST

In the bivouac of Life, -Douglas Malloch

Be not like dumb, driven cattle!

35
Be a hero in the strife! It you can‘t be a pine on the top of the hill,

Be a scrub in the valley – but be

Trust no Future, howe‘er pleasant! The best little scrub by the side of the rill;

Let the dead Past bury its dead! Be a bush, if you can‘t be a tree.

Act, — act in the living Present!

Heart within, and God o‘erhead! If you can‘t be a bush, be a bit of the grass,

And some highway happier make;

Lives of great men all remind us
If you can‘t be a muskie, then just be a bass-
We can make our lives sublime,
But the liveliest bass in the lake!
And, departing, leave behind us

Footprints on the sands of time;

We can‘t all be captains, we‘ve got to be crew,

Footprints, that perhaps another, There‘s something for all of us here.

Sailing o‘er life‘s solemn main, There‘s big work to do and there‘s lesser to do

A forlorn and shipwrecked brother, And the task we must do is the near.

Seeing, shall take heart again.

If you can‘t be a highway, then just be a trail,

Let us, then, be up and doing, If you can‘t be the sun, be a star;

With a heart for any fate; It isn‘t by size that you win or you fail-

Still achieving, still pursuing, Be the best of whatever you are!

Learn to labor and to wait.

 SONNET 116 4. QUESTIONS ON THE BIOGRAPHY OF

-William Shakespeare MAHATMA GANDHI

Biography
36
Let me not to the marriage of true minds Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was the preeminent leader of the Indian
independence movement in British-ruled India.
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Born: October 2, 1869, Porbandar
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Died: January 30, 1948, New Delhi
Or bends with the remover to remove:
Spouse: Kasturba Gandhi (m. 1883–1944)
O no; it is an ever-fixed mark,
Children: Harilal Gandhi, Ramdas Gandhi, Devdas Gandhi, Manilal Gandhi
That looks on tempests, and is never shaken;
Education: Alfred High School (1877), University College London,Samaldas Arts
It is the star to every wandering bark, College
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken. Awards: Time's Person of the Year
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks Mahatma Gandhi was the primary leader of India‘s independence movement and
Within his bending sickle's compass come; also the architect of a form of non-violent civil disobedience that would influence
the world.
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,

But bears it out even to the edge of doom.

Synopsis
If this be error and upon me proved,
Born on October 2, 1869, in Porbandar, India, Mahatma Gandhi studied law and
I never writ, nor no man ever loved. advocated for the civil rights of Indians, both at home under British rule and in
South Africa. Gandhi became a leader of India‘s independence movement,
organizing boycotts against British institutions in peaceful forms of civil
disobedience. He was killed by a fanatic in 1948.

Early Life

Indian nationalist leader Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, more commonly

known as Mahatma Gandhi, was born on October 2, 1869, in Porbandar,
Kathiawar, India, which was then part of the British Empire. His father,
Karamchand Gandhi, served as a chief minister in Porbandar and other states in
western India. His mother, Putlibai, was a deeply religious woman who fasted
regularly. Gandhi grew up worshiping the Hindu god Vishnu and following Jainism,
a morally rigorous ancient Indian religion that espoused non-violence, fasting,
meditation and vegetarianism.
Young Gandhi was a shy, unremarkable student who was so timid that he slept
with the lights on even as a teenager. At the age of 13, he wed Kasturba Makanji,
a merchant‘s daughter, in an arranged marriage. In the ensuing years, the teenager
rebelled by smoking, eating meat and stealing change from household servants.
In 1885, Gandhi endured the passing of his father and shortly after that the
death of his young baby. Although Gandhi was interested in becoming a doctor,
his father had hoped he would also become a government minister, so his family
steered him to enter the legal profession. Shortly after the birth of the first of four
surviving sons, 18-year-old Gandhi sailed for London, England, in 1888 to study
law. The young Indian struggled with the transition to Western culture, and during
his three-year stay in London, he became more committed to a meatless diet,
joining the executive committee of the London Vegetarian Society, and started to
read a variety of sacred texts to learn more about world religions.
Upon returning to India in 1891, Gandhi learned that his mother had died just
weeks earlier. Then, he struggled to gain his footing as a lawyer. In his first
courtroom case, a nervous Gandhi blanked when the time came to cross-examine
a witness. He immediately fled the courtroom after reimbursing his client for his
legal fees. After struggling to find work in India, Gandhi obtained a one-year
contract to perform legal services in South Africa. Shortly after the birth of another
son, he sailed for Durban in the South African state of Natal in April 1893.
Spiritual and Political Leader
When Gandhi arrived in South Africa, he was quickly appalled by the
discrimination and racial segregation faced by Indian immigrants at the hands of
white British and Boer authorities. Upon his first appearance in a Durban
courtroom, Gandhi was asked to remove his turban. He refused and left the court
instead. The Natal Advertiser mocked him in print as ―an unwelcome visitor.
A seminal moment in Gandhi‘s life occurred days later on June 7, 1893, during
a train trip to Pretoria when a white man objected to his presence in the first-class
railway compartment, although he had a ticket. Refusing to move to the back of
the train, Gandhi was forcibly removed and thrown off the train at a station in
Pietermaritzburg. His act of civil disobedience awoke in him a determination to 37
devote himself to fighting the ―deep disease of color prejudice.‖ He vowed that
night to ―try, if possible, to root out the disease and suffer hardships in the
process.‖ From that night forward, the small, unassuming man would grow into a
giant force for civil rights.
Gandhi formed the Natal Indian Congress in 1894 to fight discrimination. At the
end of his year-long contract, he prepared to return to India until he learned at his
farewell party of a bill before the Natal Legislative Assembly that would deprive
Indians of the right to vote. Fellow immigrants convinced Gandhi to stay and lead
the fight against the legislation. Although Gandhi could not prevent the law‘s
passage, he drew international attention to the injustice.
After a brief trip to India in late 1896 and early 1897, Gandhi returned to South
Africa with his wife and two children. Kasturba would give birth to two more sons
in South Africa, one in 1897 and one in 1900. Gandhi ran a thriving legal practice,
and at the outbreak of the Boer War, he raised an all-Indian ambulance corps of
1,100 volunteers to support the British cause, arguing that if Indians expected to
have full rights of citizenship in the British Empire, they also needed to shoulder
their responsibilities as well.
Gandhi continued to study world religions during his years in South Africa.
―The religious spirit within me became a living force,‖ he wrote of his time there.
He immersed himself in sacred Hindu spiritual texts and adopted a life of
simplicity, austerity and celibacy that was free of material goods.
In 1906, Gandhi organized his first mass civil-disobedience campaign, which he
called ―Satyagraha (―truth and firmness‖), in reaction to the Transvaal
government‘s new restrictions on the rights of Indians, including the refusal to
recognize Hindu marriages. After years of protests, the government imprisoned
hundreds of Indians in 1913, including Gandhi. Under pressure, the South African
government accepted a compromise negotiated by Gandhi and General Jan
Christian Smuts that included recognition of Hindu marriages and the abolition of
a poll tax for Indians. When Gandhi sailed from South Africa in 1914 to return
home, Smuts wrote, ―The saint has left our shores, I sincerely hope forever.
Fight for Indian Liberation
After spending several months in London at the outbreak of World War I,
Gandhi returned in 1915 to India, which was still under the firm control of the
British, and founded an ashram in Ahmedabad open to all castes. Wearing a simple
loincloth and shawl, Gandhi lived an austere life devoted to prayer, fasting and
meditation. He became known as ―Mahatma, which means ―great soul.
In 1919, however, Gandhi had a political reawakening when the newly enacted
Rowlatt Act authorized British authorities to imprison those suspected of sedition
without trial. In response, Gandhi called for a Satyagraha campaign of peaceful
protests and strikes. Violence broke out instead, which culminated on April 13,
1919, in the Massacre of Amritsar when troops led by British Brigadier General
Reginald Dyer fired machine guns into a crowd of unarmed demonstrators and
killed nearly 400 people. No longer able to pledge allegiance to the British
government, Gandhi returned the medals he earned for his military service in
South Africa and opposed Britain‘s mandatory military draft of Indians to serve in
World War I.
Gandhi became a leading figure in the Indian home-rule movement. Calling for
mass boycotts, he urged government officials to stop working for the Crown,
students to stop attending government schools, soldiers to leave their posts and
citizens to stop paying taxes and purchasing British goods. Rather than buy British
manufactured clothes, he began to use a portable spinning wheel to produce his
own cloth, and the spinning wheel soon became a symbol of Indian independence
and self-reliance. Gandhi assumed the leadership of the Indian National Congress
and advocated a policy of non-violence and non-cooperation to achieve home
rule.
After British authorities arrested Gandhi in 1922, he pleaded guilty to three
counts of sedition. Although sentenced to a six-year imprisonment, Gandhi was
released in February 1924 after appendicitis surgery. He discovered upon his
release that relations between India‘s Hindus and Muslims had devolved during
his time in jail, and when violence between the two religious groups flared again,
Gandhi began a three-week fast in the autumn of 1924 to urge unity.
The Salt March
After remaining away from active politics during much of the latter 1920s,
Gandhi returned in 1930 to protest Britain‘s Salt Acts, which not only prohibited
Indians from collecting or selling salt—a staple of the Indian diet—but imposed a
heavy tax that hit the country‘s poorest particularly hard. Gandhi planned a new
Satyagraha campaign that entailed a 390-kilometer/240-mile march to the Arabian
Sea, where he would collect salt in symbolic defiance of the government
monopoly. 38
My ambition is no less than to convert the British people through non-violence
and thus make them see the wrong they have done to India, he wrote days before
the march to the British viceroy, Lord Irwin. Wearing a homespun white shawl and
sandals and carrying a walking stick, Gandhi set out from his religious retreat in
Sabarmati on March 12, 1930, with a few dozen followers. The ranks of the
marchers swelled by the time he arrived 24 days later in the coastal town of Dandi,
where he broke the law by making salt from evaporated seawater.
The Salt March sparked similar protests, and mass civil disobedience swept
across India. Approximately 60,000 Indians were jailed for breaking the Salt Acts,
including Gandhi, who was imprisoned in May 1930. Still, the protests against the
Salt Acts elevated Gandhi into a transcendent figure around the world, and he was
named Time magazine‘s ―Man of the Year‖ for 1930.
The Road to Independence
Gandhi was released from prison in January 1931, and two months later he
made an agreement with Lord Irwin to end the Salt Satyagraha in exchange for
concessions that included the release of thousands of political prisoners. The
agreement, however, largely kept the Salt Acts intact, but it did give those who
lived on the coasts the right to harvest salt from the sea. Hoping that the
agreement would be a stepping-stone to home rule, Gandhi attended the London
Round Table Conference on Indian constitutional reform in August 1931 as the sole
representative of the Indian National Congress. The conference, however, proved
fruitless.
Gandhi returned to India to find himself imprisoned once again in January 1932
during a crackdown by India‘s new viceroy, Lord Willingdon. Later that year, an
incarcerated Gandhi embarked on a six-day fast to protest the British decision to
segregate the ―untouchables,‖ those on the lowest rung of India‘s caste system,
by allotting them separate electorates. The public outcry forced the British to
amend the proposal.
 After his eventual release, Gandhi left the Indian National Congress in 1934, and
leadership passed to his protégé Jawaharlal Nehru. He again stepped away from
politics to focus on education, poverty and the problems afflicting India‘s rural
areas.
As Great Britain found itself engulfed in World War II in 1942, though, Gandhi
launched the ―Quit India‖ movement that called for the immediate British
withdrawal from the country. In August 1942, the British arrested Gandhi, his wife
and other leaders of the Indian National Congress and detained them in the Aga
Khan Palace in present-day Pune.
"I have not become the King‘s First Minister in order to preside at the liquidation
of the British Empire", Prime Minister Winston Churchill told Parliament in support
of the crackdown. With his health failing, Gandhi was released after a 19-month
detainment, but not before his 74-year-old wife died in his arms in February 1944.
After the Labour Party defeated Churchill‘s Conservatives in the British general
election of 1945, it began negotiations for Indian independence with the Indian
National Congress and Mohammad Ali Jinnah‘s Muslim League. Gandhi played an
active role in the negotiations, but he could not prevail in his hope for a unified
India. Instead, the final plan called for the partition of the subcontinent along
religious lines into two independent states—predominantly Hindu India and
predominantly Muslim Pakistan.
Violence between Hindus and Muslims flared even before independence took
effect on August 15, 1947. Afterwards, the killings multiplied. Gandhi toured riot-
torn areas in an appeal for peace and fasted in an attempt to end the bloodshed.
Some Hindus, however, increasingly viewed Gandhi as a traitor for expressing
sympathy toward Muslims.
Assassination
In the late afternoon of January 30, 1948, the 78-year-old Gandhi, still weakened
from repeated hunger strikes, clung to his two grandnieces as they led him from
his living quarters in New Delhi‘s Birla House to a prayer meeting. Hindu extremist
Nathuram Godse, upset at Gandhi‘s tolerance of Muslims, knelt before the
Mahatma before pulling out a semiautomatic pistol and shooting him three times
at point-blank range. The violent act took the life of a pacifist who spent his life
preaching non-violence. Godse and a coconspirator were executed by hanging in
November 1949, while additional conspirators were sentenced to life in prison.
Death and Legacy
Even after his death, Gandhi‘s commitment to non-violence and his belief in simple
living—making his own clothes, eating a vegetarian diet and using fasts for
selfpurification as well as a means of protest—have been a beacon of hope for
39
oppressed and marginalized people throughout the world. Satyagraha remains
one of the most potent philosophies in freedom struggles throughout the world
today, and Gandhi‘s actions inspired future human rights movements around the
globe, including those of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. in the United
States and Nelson Mandela in South Africa
JAWAHARLAL NEHRU
Biography
Jawaharlal Nehru was the first Prime Minister of India and a central figure in Indian
politics before and after independence.
Born: November 14, 1889, Allahabad
Died: May 27, 1964, New Delhi
Spouse: Kamala Nehru (m. 1916–1936)
Children: Indira Gandhi
Awards: Bharat Ratna
Education: Trinity College, Cambridge (1907–1910), Harrow School, City Law
School Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi‘s father, was a leader of India‘s nationalist
movement and became India‘s first prime minister after its independence.
Synopsis
Jawaharlal Nehru was born on November 14, 1889, in Allahabad, India. In 1919, he
joined the Indian National Congress and joined Indian Nationalist leader Mahatma
Gandhi‘s independence movement. In 1947, Pakistan was created as a new,
independent country for Muslims. The British withdrew and Nehru became
independent India‘s first prime minister. He died on May 27, 1964, in New Delhi,
India.
Pre-Political Life
Jawaharlal Nehru was born in Allahabad, India in 1889. His father was a renowned
lawyer and one of Mahatma Gandhi's notable lieutenants. A series of English
governesses and tutors educated Nehru at home until he was 16. He continued his
education in England, first at the Harrow School and then at Trinity College,
Cambridge,
where he earned an honors degree in natural science. He later studied law at the
Inner Temple in London before returning home to India in 1912 and practicing law
for several years. Four years later, Nehru married Kamala Kaul; their only child,
Indira Priyadarshini, was born in 1917. Like her father, Indira would later serve as
prime minister of India under her married name: Indira Gandhi. A family of high
achievers, one of Nehru's sisters, Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit, later became the first
woman president of the UN General Assembly.
Entering Politics
In 1919, while traveling on a train, Nehru overheard British Brigadier-General
Reginald Dyer gloating over the Jallianwala Bagh massacre. The massacre, also
known as the Massacre of Amritsar, was an incident in which 379 people were
killed and at least 1,200 wounded when the British military stationed there
continuously fired for ten minutes on a crowd of unarmed Indians. Upon hearing
Dyer‘s words, Nehru vowed to fight the British. The incident changed the course
of his life.
This period in Indian history was marked by a wave of nationalist activity and
governmental repression. Nehru joined the Indian National Congress, one of
India's two major political parties. Nehru was deeply influenced by the party's
leader, Mahatma Gandhi. It was Gandhi's insistence on action to bring about
change and greater autonomy from the British that sparked Nehru's interest the
most.
The British didn't give in easily to Indian demands for freedom, and in late 1921,
the Congress Party's central leaders and workers were banned from operating in
some provinces. Nehru went to prison for the first time as the ban took effect;
over the next 24 years he was to serve a total of nine sentences, adding up to more
than nine years in jail. Always leaning to the left politically, Nehru studied Marxism
while imprisoned. Though he found himself interested in the philosophy but
repelled by some of its methods, from then on the backdrop of Nehru's economic
thinking was Marxist, adjusted as necessary to Indian conditions. Marching Toward
Indian Independence
40
In 1928, after years of struggle on behalf of Indian emancipation, Jawaharlal
Nehru was named president of the Indian National Congress. (In fact, hoping that
Nehru would attract India's youth to the party, Mahatma Gandhi had engineered
Nehru's rise.) The next year, Nehru led the historic session at Lahore that
proclaimed complete independence as India's political goal. November 1930 saw
the start of the Round Table Conferences, which convened in London and hosted
British and Indian officials working toward a plan of eventual independence.
After his father's death in 1931, Nehru became more embedded in the workings
of the Congress Party and became closer to Gandhi, attending the signing of the
Gandhi- Irwin pact. Signed in March 1931 by Gandhi and the British viceroy Lord
Irwin, the pact declared a truce between the British and India's independence
movement. The British agreed to free all political prisoners and Gandhi agreed to
end the civil disobedience movement he had been coordinating for years.
Unfortunately, the pact did not instantly usher in a peaceful climate in British
controlled India, and both Nehru and Gandhi were jailed in early 1932 on charges
of attempting to mount another civil disobedience movement. Neither man
attended the third Round Table Conference. (Gandhi was jailed soon after his
return as the sole Indian representative attending the second Round Table
Conference.) The third and final conference did, however, result in the
Government of India Act of 1935, giving the Indian provinces a system of
autonomous government in which elections would be held to name provincial
leaders. By the time the 1935 act was signed into law, Indians began to see Nehru
as natural heir to Gandhi, who didn‘t designate Nehru as his political successor
until the early 1940s. Gandhi said in January 1941, "[Jawaharlal Nehru and I] had
differences from the time we became co-workers and yet I have said for some
years and say so now that ... Jawaharlal will be my successor."
World War II
At the outbreak of World War II in September 1939, British viceroy Lord
Linlithgow committed India to the war effort without consulting the now-
autonomous provincial ministries. In response, the Congress Party withdrew its
representatives from the provinces and Gandhi staged a limited civil disobedience
movement in which he and Nehru were jailed yet again.Nehru spent a little over a
year in jail and was released with other Congress prisoners three days before Pearl
Harbor was bombed by the Japanese. When Japanese troops soon moved near the
borders of India in the spring of 1942, the British government decided to enlist
India to combat this new threat, but Gandhi, who still essentially had the reins of
the movement, would accept nothing less than independence and called on the
British to leave India. Nehru reluctantly joined Gandhi in his hardline stance and
the pair were again arrested and jailed, this time for nearly three years.
By 1947, within two years of Nehru's release, simmering animosity had reached
a fever pitch between the Congress Party and the Muslim League, who had always
wanted more power in a free India. The last British viceroy, Louis Mountbatten,
was charged with finalizing the British roadmap for withdrawal with a plan for a
unified India. Despite his reservations, Nehru acquiesced to Mountbatten and the
Muslim League's plan to divide India, and in August 1947, Pakistan was created—
the new country Muslim and India predominantly Hindu. The British withdrew and
Nehru became independent India‘s first prime minister.
The First Prime Minister of Independent India
Domestic Policy
The importance of Jawaharlal Nehru in the context of Indian history can be
distilled to the following points: he imparted modern values and thought, stressed
secularism, insisted upon the basic unity of India, and, in the face of ethnic and
religious diversity, carried India into the modern age of scientific innovation and
technological progress. He also prompted social concern for the marginalized and
poor and respect for democratic values.
Nehru was especially proud to reform the antiquated Hindu civil code. Finally
Hindu widows could enjoy equality with men in matters of inheritance and
property. Nehru also changed Hindu law to criminalize caste discrimination.
Nehru's administration established many Indian institutions of higher learning,
including the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, the Indian Institutes of
Technology, and the National Institutes of Technology, and guaranteed in his five-
year plans free and compulsory primary education to all of India's children.
National Security and International Policy
The Kashmir region—which was claimed by both India and Pakistan—was a
perennial problem throughout Nehru's leadership, and his cautious efforts to
settle the dispute ultimately failed, resulting in Pakistan making an unsuccessful
41
attempt to seize Kashmir by force in 1948. The region has remained in dispute into
the 21st century.
Internationally, starting in the late 1940s, both the United States and the
U.S.S.R. began seeking out India as an ally in the Cold War, but Nehru led efforts
toward a "nonalignment policy," by which India and other nations wouldn‘t feel
the need to tie themselves to either dueling country to thrive. To this end, Nehru
co-founded the Non- Aligned Movement of nations professing neutrality.
Recognizing the People's Republic of China soon after its founding, and as a
strong supporter of the United Nations, Nehru argued for China‘s inclusion in the
UN and sought to establish warm and friendly relations with the neighboring
country. His pacifist and inclusive policies with respect to China came undone
when border disputes led to the Sino-Indian war in 1962, which ended when China
declared a ceasefire on November 20, 1962 and announced its withdrawal from
the disputed area in the Himalayas.
Legacy
Nehru's four pillars of domestic policies were democracy, socialism, unity, and
secularism, and he largely succeeded in maintaining a strong foundation of all four
during his tenure as president. While serving his country, he enjoyed iconic status
and was widely admired internationally for his idealism and statesmanship. His
birthday, November 14, is celebrated in India as Baal Divas ("Children's Day") in
recognition of his lifelong passion and work on behalf of children and young
people.
Nehru's only child, Indira, served as India's prime minister from 1966 to 1977
and from 1980 to 1984, when she was assassinated. Her son, Rajiv Gandhi, was
prime minister from 1984 to 1989, when he was also assassinated
 SUBHAS CHANDRA BOSE
Biography
Subhas Chandra Bose, widely known throughout India as Netaji, was an Indian
nationalist and prominent figure of the Indian independence movement, whose
attempt during World War II to rid India of British
Born: January 23, 1897, Cuttack
Died: August 18, 1945, Taipei, Taiwan
Spouse: Emilie Schenkl (m. 1937–1945)
Children: Anita Bose Pfaff
Education: Scottish Church College (1918),
Contributions
Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose was a freedom fighter of India. He was the
founder of the Indian National Army. During pre-independence period Netaji had
visited London to discuss the future of India, with the members of the Labor party.
His sudden disappearance from Taiwan, led to surfacing of various theories,
concerning the possibilities of his survival.
Life
Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose was born on 23 January, 1897 in Cuttack (Orissa)
to Janakinath Bose and Prabhavati Devi. Subhash was the ninth child among eight
brothers and six sisters. His father, Janakinath Bose, was an affluent and successful
lawyer in Cuttack and received the title of "Rai Bahadur". He, later became a
member of the Bengal Legislative Council.
Subhash Chandra Bose was a very intelligent and sincere student but never had
much interest in sports. He passed his B.A. in Philosophy from the Presidency
College in Calcutta. He was strongly influenced by Swami Vivekananda's teachings
and was known for his patriotic zeal as a student. He also adored Vivekananda as
his spiritual Guru.
British Professor Thrashed
After reading so many incidents about the exploitation of the fellow Indians by
the British, Subhash decided to take revenge. In 1916, Subhash reportedly beat
and thrashed one of his British teachers E F Otten. The professor made a racist
42
remark against the Indian students. As a result, Bose was expelled from the
Presidency College and banished from Calcutta University. The incident brought
Subhash in the list of rebel-Indians. In December 1921, Bose was arrested and
imprisoned for organizing a boycott of the celebrations to mark the Prince of
Wales's visit to India.
Indian Civil Service
His father wanted Netaji to become a civil servant and therefore, sent him to
England to appear for the Indian Civil Service Examination. Bose was placed fourth
with highest marks in English. But his urge for participating in the freedom
movement was intense that in April 1921, Bose resigned from the coveted Indian
Civil Service and came back to India. Soon, he left home to become an active
member of India's independence movement. He, later joined the Indian National
Congress, and also elected as the president of the party.
Subhash with Congress
Initially, Subhash Chandra Bose worked under the leadership of Chittaranjan
Das, an active member of Congress in Calcutta. It was Chittaranjan Das, who along
with Motilal Nehru, left Congress and founded the Swaraj Party in 1922. Subhash
would regard Chittaranjan Das as his political guru.
While Chittaranjan Das was busy in developing the national strategy, Subhash
Chandra Bose played a major role in enlightening the students, youths and labors
of Calcutta. He was eagerly waiting to see India, as an independent, federal and
republic nation.
Dispute in the Congress
People began to recognize Bose by his name and associated him with the
freedom movement. Bose had emerged as a popular youth leader. He was
admired for his great skills in organization development.
In 1928, during the Guwahati Session of the Congress, a difference in the
opinion between the old and new members surfaced. The young leaders, as
against the traditional leadership, wanted a "complete self-rule and without any
compromise". The senior leaders were in favor of the "dominion status for India
within the British rule".
The differences were between moderate Gandhi and aggressive Subhash
Chandra Bose was swelling. The state was so intense that Subhash Chandra Bose
had to defeat Pattabhi Sitaramayya, a presidential candidate, nominated by
Gandhiji himself. Bose had won the election but without any second thought he
resigned from the party. He, then formed the Forward Bloc in 1939.
Formation of INA
During the Second World War in September, 1939, Subhash Chandra Bose
decided to initiate a mass movement. He started uniting people from all over the
country. There was a tremendous response to his call and the British promptly
imprisoned him. In jail, he refused to accept food for around two weeks. When his
health condition deteriorated, fearing violent reactions across the country, the
authority put him under house-arrest.
During his house-arrest, in January, 1941, Subhash made a planned escape. He
first went to Gomoh in Bihar and from there he went on to Peshawar (now,
Pakistan). He finally reached Germany and met Hitler. Bose had been living
together with his wife Emilie Schenkl in Berlin. In 1943, Bose left for south-east
Asia and raised the army. The group was later named by Bose, as the Indian
National Army (INA).
Visit to England
During his sojourn to England, he met with the leaders of British Labor Party
and political thinkers including Clement Attlee, Arthur Greenwood, Harold Laski,
G.D.H. Cole, and Sir Stafford Cripps. Bose also discuss with them about the future
of India. It must also be noted that it was during the regime of the Labor Party
(1945-1951), with Attlee as the Prime Minister, that India gained independence.
Disappearance
Although it was believed that Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose died in a plane
crash, his body was never recovered. There have so many theories been put
forward regarding his abrupt desertion. The government of India set up a number
of committees to investigate the case and come out with truth.
In May 1956, the Shah Nawaz Committee visited Japan to look into the situation
of Bose's assumed death. Citing their lack of political relations with Taiwan, the
Centre, did not seek for the assistance from their government. The reports of
Justice Mukherjee Commission, tabled in Parliament on 17 May, 2006 said, "Bose
did not die in the plane crash and the ashes at Renkoji temple are not his". 43
However, the findings were rejected by the government of India
HELEN KELLER
Biography
Helen Adams Keller was an American author, political activist, and lecturer. She
was the first deaf blind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree.
Born: June 27, 1880, Tuscumbia, Alabama, United States
Died: June 1, 1968, Easton, Connecticut, United States
Awards: Presidential Medal of Freedom
Movies: The Miracle Worker, Helen Keller in Her Story
Education: Radcliffe College (1900–1904),
American educator Helen Keller overcame the adversity of being blind and deaf
to become one of the 20th century's leading humanitarians, as well as co-founder
of the ACLU.
Synopsis
Helen Adams Keller was born on June 27, 1880 in Tuscumbia, Alabama. In 1882,
she fell ill and was struck blind, deaf and mute. Beginning in 1887, Keller's teacher,
Anne Sullivan, helped her make tremendous progress with her ability to
communicate, and Keller went on to college, graduating in 1904. In 1920, Keller
helped found the ACLU. During her lifetime, she received many honors in
recognition of her accomplishments.
Early Life
Helen Keller was the first of two daughters born to Arthur H. Keller and
Katherine Adams Keller. She also had two older stepbrothers. Keller's father had
proudly served as an officer in the Confederate Army during the Civil War. The
family was not particularly wealthy and earned income from their cotton
plantation. Later, Arthur became the editor of a weekly local newspaper, the North
Alabamian. Keller was born with her senses of sight and hearing, and started
speaking when she was just 6 months old. She started walking at the age of 1.
Loss of Sight and Hearing
In 1882, however, Keller contracted an illness—called "brain fever" by the
family doctor—that produced a high body temperature. The true nature of the
illness remains a mystery today, though some experts believe it might have been
scarlet fever or meningitis. Within a few days after the fever broke, Keller's mother
noticed that her daughter didn't show any reaction when the dinner bell was rung,
or when a hand was waved in front of her face. Keller had lost both her sight and
hearing. She was just 19 months old.
As Keller grew into childhood, she developed a limited method of
communication with her companion, Martha Washington, the young daughter of
the family cook. The two had created a type of sign language, and by the time
Keller was 7, they had invented more than 60 signs to communicate with each
other. But Keller had become very wild and unruly during this time. She would kick
and scream when angry, and giggle uncontrollably when happy. She tormented
Martha and inflicted raging tantrums on her parents. Many family relatives felt she
should be institutionalized.
Educator Anne Sullivan
Looking for answers and inspiration, in 1886, Keller's mother came across a
travelogue by Charles Dickens, American Notes. She read of the successful
education of another deaf and blind child, Laura Bridgman, and soon dispatched
Keller and her father to Baltimore, Maryland to see specialist Dr. J. Julian Chisolm.
After examining Keller, Chisolm recommended that she see Alexander Graham
Bell, the inventor of the telephone, who was working with deaf children at the
time. Bell met with Keller and her parents, and suggested that they travel to the
Perkins Institute for the Blind in Boston, Massachusetts. There, the family met with
the school's director, Michael Anaganos. He suggested Helen work with one of the
institute's most recent graduates, Anne Sullivan. And so began a 49-year
relationship between teacher and pupil.
On March 3, 1887, Sullivan went to Keller's home in Alabama and immediately
went to work. She began by teaching six year-old Helen finger spelling, starting
with the word "doll," to help Keller understand the gift of a doll she had brought
along. Other words would follow. At first, Keller was curious, then defiant, refusing
to cooperate with Sullivan's instruction. When Keller did cooperate, Sullivan could 44
tell that she wasn't making the connection between the objects and the letters
spelled out in her hand. Sullivan kept working at it, forcing Helen to go through the
regimen.
As Keller's frustration grew, the tantrums increased. Finally, Sullivan demanded
that she and Keller be isolated from the rest of the family for a time, so that Keller
could concentrate only on Sullivan's instruction. They moved to a cottage on the
plantation.
In a dramatic struggle, Sullivan taught Keller the word "water"; she helped her
make the connection between the object and the letters by taking Keller out to
the water pump, and placing Keller's hand under the spout. While Sullivan moved
the lever to flush cool water over Keller's hand, she spelled out the word w-a-t-e-
r on Helen's other hand. Keller understood and repeated the word in Sullivan's
hand. She then pounded the ground, demanding to know its "letter name."
Sullivan followed her, spelling out the word into her hand. Keller moved to other
objects with Sullivan in tow. By nightfall, she had learned 30 words.
A Formal Education
In 1890, Keller began speech classes at the Horace Mann School for the Deaf in
Boston. She would toil for 25 years to learn to speak so that others could
understand her. From 1894 to 1896, she attended the Wright-Humason School for
the Deaf in New York City. There, she worked on improving her communication
skills and studied regular academic subjects.
Around this time, Keller became determined to attend college. In 1896, she
attended the Cambridge School for Young Ladies, a preparatory school for women.
As her story became known to the general public, Keller began to meet famous
and influential people. One of them was the writer Mark Twain, who was very
impressed with her. They became friends. Twain introduced her to his friend Henry
H. Rogers, a Standard Oil executive. Rogers was so impressed with Keller's talent,
drive and determination that he agreed to pay for her to attend Radcliffe College.
There, she was accompanied by Sullivan, who sat by her side to interpret lectures
and texts.
By this time, Keller had mastered several methods of communication, including
touch-lip reading, Braille, speech, typing and finger-spelling. With the help of
Sullivan and Sullivan's future husband, John Macy, Keller wrote her first book, The
Story of My Life. It covered her transformation from childhood to 21-year-old
college student. Keller graduated, cum laude, from Radcliffe in 1904, at the age of
24.
In 1905, Sullivan married John Macy, an instructor at Harvard University, a
social critic and a prominent socialist. After the marriage, Sullivan continued to be
Keller's guide and mentor. When Keller went to live with the Macys, they both
initially gave Keller their undivided attention. Gradually, however, Anne and John
became distant to each other, as Anne's devotion to Keller continued unabated.
After several years, they separated, though were never divorced.
Social Activism
After college, Keller set out to learn more about the world and how she could
help improve the lives of others. News of her story spread beyond Massachusetts
and New England. She became a well-known celebrity and lecturer by sharing her
experiences with audiences, and working on behalf of others living with
disabilities. Throughout the first half of the 20th century, Keller tackled social and
political issues, including women's suffrage, pacifism and birth control. She
testified before Congress, strongly advocating to improve the welfare of blind
people.
In 1915, along with renowned city planner George Kessler, she co-founded
Helen Keller International to combat the causes and consequences of blindness
and malnutrition. In 1920, she helped found the American Civil Liberties Union.
When the American Federation for the Blind was established in 1921, Keller had
an effective national outlet for her efforts. She became a member in 1924, and
participated in many campaigns to raise awareness, money and support for the
blind. She also joined other organizations dedicated to helping those less
fortunate, including the Permanent Blind War Relief Fund (later called the
American Braille Press).
Soon after she graduated from college, Keller became a member of the Socialist
Party, most likely due in part to her friendship with John Macy. Between 1909 and
1921, she wrote several articles about socialism and supported Eugene Debs, a
Socialist Party presidential candidate. Her series of essays on socialism, entitled
"Out of the Dark," described her views on socialism and world affairs.
It was during this time that Keller first experienced public prejudice about her
45
disabilities. For most of her life, the press had been overwhelmingly supportive of
her, praising her courage and intelligence. But after she expressed her socialist
views, some criticized her by calling attention to her disabilities. One newspaper,
the Brooklyn Eagle, wrote that her "mistakes sprung out of the manifest limitations
of her development."
Work and Influence
In 1936, Keller's beloved teacher and devoted companion, Anne Sullivan, died.
She had experienced health problems for several years and, in 1932, lost her
eyesight completely. A young woman named Polly Thompson, who had begun
working as a secretary for Keller and Sullivan in 1914, became Keller's constant
companion upon Sullivan's death.
In 1946, Keller was appointed counselor of international relations for the
American Foundation of Overseas Blind. Between 1946 and 1957, she traveled to
35 countries on five continents. In 1955, at age 75, Keller embarked on the longest
and most grueling trip of her life: a 40,000-mile, five-month trek across Asia.
Through her many speeches and appearances, she brought inspiration and
encouragement to millions of people.
Keller's autobiography, The Story of My Life, was used as the basis for 1957
television drama The Miracle Worker. In 1959, the story was developed into a
Broadway play of the same title, starring Patty Duke as Keller and Anne Bancroft
as Sullivan. The two actresses also performed those roles in the 1962 award-
winning film version of the play.
Death and Legacy
Keller suffered a series of strokes in 1961, and spent the remaining years of her
life at her home in Connecticut. During her lifetime, she received many honors in
recognition of her accomplishments, including the Theodore Roosevelt
Distinguished Service Medal in 1936, the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1964,
and election to the Women's Hall of Fame in 1965. She also received honorary
doctoral degrees from Temple University and Harvard University and from the
universities of Glasgow, Scotland; Berlin, Germany; Delhi, India; and
Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa. Additionally, she was named an
Honorary Fellow of the Educational Institute of Scotland.
Keller died in her sleep on June 1, 1968, just a few weeks before her 88th
birthday. During her remarkable life, Keller stood as a powerful example of how
determination, hard work, and imagination can allow an individual to triumph over
adversity. By overcoming difficult conditions with a great deal of persistence, she
grew into a respected and world-renowned activist who laboured for the
betterment of others.
KALPANA CHAWLA
Biography
Kalpana Chawla was the first Indian-American astronaut and first Indian woman
in space. She first flew on Space Shuttle Columbia in 1997 as a mission specialist
and primary robotic arm operator.
Born: March 17, 1962, Karnal
Died: February 1, 2003, Texas, United States
Spouse: Jean-Pierre Harrison (m. 1983–2003)
Awards: Congressional Space Medal of Honor, NASA Space Flight Medal, NASA
Distinguished Service Medal
Education:
University of Colorado Boulder (1988), more Kalpana Chawla was India's first
women aeronautical engineer to travel into space. She has been a role model to
several women in terms of achievement and contributions to the field of
aeronautics. Growing up in a male dominant society, Kalpana never let her dreams
of flying be affected in any way. In fact she was the first woman to study
aeronautical engineering in her batch. Some of her memorials are: the Kalpana
Chawla Award given by the Karnataka Government, a dormitory named after her
in the University of Texas at Arlington from where she did her Masters and a
planetarium in Haryana. This sheds light on her meritorious and outstanding
achievements.
Even though her death was sudden and unfortunate, she left a mark in the
nation and will be remembered forever. Read the following sections to know more
about this dynamic personality, her career and life.
Early Life
46
Kalpana Chawla was born on the 1st of July, 1961 in a small town in Karnal
located in the state of Haryana. Her parents, Banarasi Lal Chawla and Sanjyothi
had two other daughters named Sunita and Deepa and a son named Sanjay.
Kalpana was the youngest in her family and hence, she was the most pampered
too. She got educated at the Tagore Public School and later enrolled into Punjab
Engineering College to complete her Aeronautical Engineering Degree in 1982. In
the same year, she moved to the US. She got married to Jean-Pierre Harrison in
1983. He was her flying instructor and an aviation author. In 1984, she completed
her M.S. in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Texas in Arlington. In
1988, she obtained a Ph.D. in the same subject from the University of Colorado at
Boulder.
Career
Kalpana Chawla was a certified flight instructor who rated aircrafts and gilders.
She also held a commercial pilot license for single and multi-engine airplanes,
hydroplanes and gliders. Kalpana was a licensed Technician class Amateur Radio
person certified by the Federal Communication commission. Owing to her multiple
degrees in Aerospace, she got a job in NASA as the Vice President of the Overset
Methods, Inc. in 1993. She was extensively involved in computational fluid
dynamics research on Vertical/Short Takeoff and Landing. It was not until 1995
that she became a part of the NASA 'Astronaut Corps'. Three years later, she was
selected for her first mission i.e. to travel around the Earth in a space shuttle. This
operation consisted of six other members.
Kalpana was responsible for organizing the Spartan Satellite but she was
unsuccessful in her role due to its malfunction. It was found that due to technical
errors, the satellite defied control of ground staff and flight crew members.
Following this, she was vindicated. On the other hand, Kalpana Chawla created
history for being the first Indian woman to travel in a space shuttle. She had the
privilege of journeying as far as 10.4million km. This approximately adds up to 252
times around the Earth's orbit that comprised of 372 hours in space. After the
Spartan Satellite incident, she was given a technical position. Her excellent work
was recognized and awarded. In 2000, she was again assigned on her second flight
mission as a part of Flight STS-107. Kalpana's responsibility included microgravity
experiments. Along with her team members, she undertook a detailed research
on advanced technology development, astronaut health & safety, the study of
Earth and space science. During the course of this mission, there were several
mishaps and cracks were detected in the shuttle engine flow liners. This delayed
the project until 2003.
Death
It was on February 1st 2003 that the space shuttle, STS-107, collapsed over the
Texas region when it re-entered the Earth's atmosphere. This unfortunate event
ended the lives of seven crew members including Kalpana.
Achievements and Accolades
Despite living in America, Kalpana Chawla was considered the pride of India.
She was the first Indian woman to travel in a space shuttle for 372 hours and
complete 252 rotations around the Earth's atmosphere. Her achievements have
been an inspiration to many others in India and abroad. There are many science
institutions named after her. During her lifetime, Kalpana Chawla was awarded
with three awards namely the Congressional Space Medal of Honor, NASA Space
Flight Medal and the NASA Distinguished Service Medal.
Timeline
1961: She was born on 1st July in Karnal.
1982: She moved to the United States to complete her education.
1983: Married a flying instructor and aviation author, Jean-Pierre Harrison.
1984: got an M.S. in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Texas in
Arlington.
1988: She received a Ph.D. in the same field and began to work for NASA.
1993: Joined Overset Methods Inc. as Vice President and Research Scientist.
1995: She joined the NASA 'Astronaut Corps.
1996: Kalpana was the mission specialist for prime robotic arm operator on STS87.
1997: Her first mission on Flight STS-87 took place.
2000: Assigned on her second mission as part of Flight STS-107.
47
2003: Chawla got a second chance for the mission on Flight STS-107. On February
1st, she died when the space shuttle broke down.
SALIM ALI
Biography
Sálim Moizuddin Abdul Ali was an Indian ornithologist and naturalist.
Sometimes referred to as the "birdman of India", Salim Ali was among the first
Indians to conduct systematic bird surveys across
Born: November 12, 1896, Mumbai
Died: June 20, 1987, Mumbai
Awards: Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan
Education: St. Xavier's College-Autonomous, Mumbai, Queen Mary School,
Mumbai
Career: Ornithologist, Naturalist
Nationality: Indian
Almost every one of us is interested in watching colorful and distinct birds
crossing us. But very few are passionate about studying them in detail. One such
man who took extreme interest and excitement in studying birds closely and
categorizing them was Dr. Salim Ali.
One of the greatest biologists of all times, Salim Ali meticulously observed and
documented the birds of the sub-continent for around 80 years, thereby making
immense contribution to the field of ornithology. It was his phenomenal and path-
breaking work in the related field that he was bestowed with the nickname of
"birdman of India". Besides, he was fondly known as the "grand old man of Indian
ornithology" as well. Such was his extraordinary work in the distribution and
ecology of over 1000 bird species inhabiting South Asia that he created history and
made significant contributions in conserving the fauna, which in an integral part of
a mosaic of landscapes.
Early Life
Salim Moizuddin Abdul Ali, or Salim Ali as he is better known as, was born as
the ninth and youngest child in a Sulaimani Bohra Muslim family. He was born in
Mumbai to Moizuddin and Zeenat-un-nissa. Losing his father at the age of one and
mother at three, Salim Ali and other kids were brought up by his maternal uncle,
Amiruddin Tyabji, and childless aunt, Hamida Begum. He was also surrounded by
another maternal uncle, Abbas Tyabji, a prominent Indian freedom fighter. He
attended primary school at Zanana Bible Medical Mission Girls High School at
Girgaum and was later admitted to St. Xavier's College at Mumbai.
However, due to his frequent chronic headaches, he was forced to drop out of
school every now and then since he was 13 years old. He was sent to Sind to stay
with his uncle with hopes of the dry air making an improvement in his health. Thus,
on returning, he just managed to clear his matriculation examination from Bombay
University in 1913. Since childhood, Salim Ali gained an interest in observing birds
closely and had a hobby of shooting birds with his toy air gun. With the help of
W.S. Millard, secretary of Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS), the bird was
identified as Yellow-throated Sparrow, which further increased his seriousness
towards ornithology.
Life in Burma and Germany
After spending a difficult first year in Xavier's College, Mumbai, Salim Ali
dropped out of college and went to Tavoy, Burma to care of his family's Wolfram
mining and timber business. The forests surrounding the area helped him further
develop his naturalist and hunting skills. He developed good relations with J.C.
Hopwood and Berthold Ribbentrop who worked with the Forest Service. On
returning to India in 1917, he decided to complete his studies. Hence, he studied
commercial law and accountancy from Davar's College of Commerce. He used to
attend morning classes at Davar's College and go to St. Xavier's College to attend
zoology classes to complete his course in zoology. Apart from his interest in birds,
Salim Ali was also fascinated by motorcycles and hence, owned his first
motorcycle, 3.5 HP NSU while he was in Tavoy. He later went on to possess
Sunbeam, Harley-Davidson (three models), Douglas, Scott, New Hudson, and
Zenith, amongst other models. He went further to get his Sunbeam shipped to
Europe on being invited to the 1950 Ornithological Congress at Uppsala, Sweden.
While touring France, he even injured himself in a minor accident and cobbled
several times in Germany. He was rumored to have ridden on his bike all the way
from India, when he finally reached Uppsala. Coming back to his interest in 48
ornithology, he was rejected a position at the Zoological Survey of India due to lack
of a formal university degree. With this, he began studying further when he was
hired as a guide lecturer in the newly opened natural history section at Prince of
Wales Museum in Mumbai in 1926 with a salary of Rs. 350 per month.
Being fed up with the monotony of the job, he decided to go on a break and
went to Germany in 1928 on a study leave. He worked under Professor Erwin
Stresemann at Zoological Museum of Berlin University. He was also required to
examine the specimens collected by J.K. Stanford, a BNHS member. Stanford was
supposed to communicate with Claud Ticehurst at the British Museum who did
not like the idea of involving an Indian in his work. Hence, he kept distance with
Stresemann. Salim Ali then moved to Berlin and associated with popular German
ornithologists, such as Bernhard Rensch, Oskar Heinroth, and Ernst Mayr. Apart
from his usual ornithology experience, he also gained knowledge in ringing at the
Heligoland observatory.
Contribution to Ornithology
After studying ornithology in Germany, Salim Ali returned to India in 1930 and
started looking for a job. However, to his surprise, the position of a guide lecturer
had been dropped off from universities due to lack of duns. Left with no option,
Salim Ali, along with wife Tehmina, moved to Kihim, a coastal village near Mumbai.
This place gave him another opportunity to observe and study birds very closely,
including their mating system. He then spent a few months in Kotagiri on being
invited by K.M. Anantan, a retied army officer who served in Mesopotamia during
World War I. He also met Mrs. Kinloch and her son-in-law R.C. Morris, who lived in
the Biligirirangan Hills. Gradually, on traveling places, Salim Ali got an opportunity
to conduct systematic bird surveys in the princely states of Hyderabad, Cochin,
Travancore, Gwalior, Indore, and Bhopal.
He was financially supported by Hugh Whistler who had previously conducted
surveys in various parts of India. Although Whistler initially resented Salim Ali for
finding faults and inaccuracies in the early literature, he later re-examined his
specimens and accepted his mistakes. With this, began a close friendly relationship
between Ali and Whistler. He introduced Ali to Richard Meinertzhagen and the
two went on an expedition to Afghanistan. Initially, Meinertzhagen was also
critical of Ali's views but later, the two became close friends. Salim Ali was more
attracted towards studying birds in the field rather than getting into the details of
bird systematics and taxonomy. However, he did show some interest in bird
photography with the help of his friend Loke Wan Tho, a wealthy businessman
from Singapore. Ali and Loke were introduced by JTM Gibson, a member at BNHS
and Lieutenant Commander of Royal Indian Navy, who had also taught English to
Loke in Switzerland. Hence, Loke provided financial support to th Ali and BNHS. Ali
talked about the history and importance of bird study in India in Sunder Lal Hora
memorial lecture in 1971 and again in Azad memorial lecture in 1978.
Literary Career
Salim Ali was not only passionate about studying birds in general; he also
showed equal interest in capturing his views on them in words. With the help of
his wife Tehmina, a learned scholar from England, Ali improved his English prose.
Thus, began Ali's writing career, particularly journal articles for Journal of the
Bombay Natural History Society. One of his most popular articles was "Stopping by
the woods on a Sunday morning" in 1930 which was reprinted again in Indian
Express on this birthday in 1984. He penned several books as well, the most
prominent of them being "The Book of Indian Birds" in 1941, which was inspired
by Whistler's "Popular Handbook of Birds". It was later translated into several
languages and saw more than 12 editions. However, his masterpiece was the 10
volume "Handbook of the Birds of India & Pakistan", written along with Dillon
Ripley and was often known as "The Handbook". The first edition began in 1964
and was completed in 1974. The second edition came from contributions by S.
Serrao of BNHS, Bruce Beehler, Michel Desfayes, and Pamela Rasmussen. This was
completed after Ali's death.
Besides the national and international bird books, Ali also authored several
regional field guides, like "The Birds of Kerala" (first edition was titled "The Birds
of Travancore and cochin" in 1953), "The Birds of Sikkim", "The Birds of Kutch"
(later renamed as "The Birds of Gujarat"), "Indian Hill Birds", "Field Guide to the
Birds of Eastern Himalayas". He penned his autobiography "The Fall of a Sparrow"
in 1985 where he included his vision for BNHS and the importance of conservation
related activities. One of his last students, Tara Gandhi, published a two-volume
compilation of his shorter letters and writings in 2007.
Personal Life
On his return from Burma, Salim Ali was married off to his distant relative,
Tehmina, in December 1918 in Bombay. She accompanied him to all his
expeditions and surveys. But his life came to a halt when she suddenly died
49
following a minor surgery in 1939. Ali then started living with his sister Kamoo and
brother-in-law.
Death
After battling with prostate cancer for a very long duration, Salim Ali died on
July 27, 1987 in Mumbai at the age of 90.
Honors & Memorials
Salim Ali was honored and credited with several honorary doctorates and
awards during his lifetime, though this journey began late. Starting with "Joy
Gobinda Law Gold Medal" in 1953 by the Asiatic Society of Bengal, he went on to
receive numerous accolades. It was based on the appreciation he received from
Sunder Lal Hora. Thus, in 1970, he was conferred upon with the Sunder Lal Hora
Memorial Medal of the Indian National Science Academy. He was bestowed with
honorary doctorate degrees from Aligarh Muslim University in 1958, Delhi
University in 1973, and Andhra University in 1978. On receiving the Gold Medal
from the British Ornithologists' Union in 1967, Salim Ali became the first non-
British citizen to be bequeathed with such an honor. He received the John C. Philips
Memorial Medal of the International Union for Conservation of Nature and
Natural Resources in the same year.
In 1973, he received the Pavlovsky Centenary Memorial Medal from the USSR
Academy of Medical Science and was made the Commander of the Netherlands
Order of the Golden Ark by Prince Bernhard of Netherlands. He was honored with
Padma Bhushan Award in 1958 and Padma Vibhushan Award in 1976. The
Government of India established the Salim Ali Center for Ornithology and Natural
History (SACON) in Coimbatore in 1990. Further, Salim Ali School of Ecology and
Environmental Sciences has been established by Pondicherry University. The Salim
Ali Bird Sanctuary in Goa and Thattakad Bird Sanctuary near Vembanad, Kerala
have been set up in his honor. The place where BNHS was located in Bombay was
renamed as "Dr Salim Ali Chowk".
Timeline
1896: Born on November 12 in Mumbai
1913: Completed matriculation from Bombay University
1914: Admitted to St. Xavier's College and went to Burma
1917: Returned to India
1918: Married distant cousin, Tehmina in December
1926: Employed as guide lecturer in Prince of Wales Museum, Bombay
1928: Left the job and went to Germany
1930: Came back to India
1939: Wife Tehmina died
1941: Wrote first book "The Book of Indian Birds"
1953: Awarded with Joy Gobinda Law Gold Medal by Asiatic Society of Bengal
1958: Received doctorate degree from Aligarh Muslim University
1958: Honored with Padma Bhushan Award
1970: Bestowed with Sunder Lal Hora Memorial Medal from INSA
1973: Received honorary doctorate from Delhi University
1976: Conferred upon with Padma Vibhushan Award
1978: Received honorary doctorate from Andhra University
1985: Penned autobiography "The Fall of a Sparrow"
1987: Died on July 27 in Mumbai from prostate cancer, aged 90
1990: Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History established at
Coimbatore
RANI OF JHANSI
Rani Lakshmibai, the Rani of Jhansi
Lakshmibai, the Rani of Jhansi (portrayed as asowar)
50
Predecessor Rani Kopal Bai
Successor British Raj
Born Manikarnika Tambe 19 November 1828, Varanasi, India
Died 18 June 1858 (aged 29) Kotah ki Serai, near Gwalior, India
Spouse Jhansi Naresh Maharaj Gangadhar Rao Newalkar
Issue Damodar Rao, Anand Rao (adopted)
House Maratha Empire
Father Moropant Tambe
Early Life
She was born to a Maharashtrian family at Kashi (now Varanasi) in the year
1828. During her childhood, she was called by the name Manikarnika.
Affectionately, her family members called her Manu. At a tender age of four, she
lost her mother. As a result, the responsibility of raising her fell upon her father.
While pursuing studies, she also took formal training in martial arts, which
included horse riding, shooting and fencing. To know the complete life history of
Rani Laxmibai of Jhansi, read on. In the year 1842, she got married to the Maharaja
of Jhansi, Raja Gangadhar Rao Niwalkar. On getting married, she was given the
name Lakshmi Bai. Her wedding ceremony was held at the Ganesh temple, located
in the old city of Jhansi. In the year 1851, she gave birth to a son. Unfortunately,
the child did not survive more than four months. In the year 1853, Gangadhar Rao
fell sick and became very weak. So, the couple decided to adopt a child. To ensure
that the British do not raise an issue over the adoption, Lakshmibai got this
adoption witnessed by the local British representatives. On 21st November 1853,
Maharaja Gangadhar Rao died.
Invasion
During that period, Lord Dalhousie was the Governor General of British India.
The adopted child was named Damodar Rao. As per the Hindu tradition, he was
their legal heir. However, the British rulers refused to accept him as the legal heir.
As per the
Doctrine of Lapse, Lord Dalhousie decided to seize the state of Jhansi. Rani
Lakshmibai went to a British lawyer and consulted him. Thereafter, she filed an
appeal for the hearing of her case in London. But, her plea was rejected. The British
authorities confiscated the state jewels. Also, an order was passed asking the Rani
to leave Jhansi fort and move to the Rani Mahal in Jhansi. Laxmibai was firm about
protecting the state of Jhansi.
The war
Jhansi became the focal point of uprising. Rani of Jhansi began to strengthen
her position. By seeking the support of others, she formed a volunteer army. The
army not just consisted of the men folk, but the women were also actively
involved. Women were also given military training to fight a battle. In the revolt,
Rani Lakshmibai was accompanied by her generals. From the period between Sep-
Oct 1857, Rani defended Jhansi from being invaded by the armies of the
neighboring rajas of Orchha and Datia. In January
1858, the British army headed it's away towards Jhansi. The conflict went on for
two weeks. Finally, the Britishers succeeded in the annexation of the city.
However, Rani
Laksmi Bai managed to escape along with her son, in the guise of a man. She took
refuge in Kalpi, where she met Tatya Tope, a great warrior. She died on 17thJune,
during the battle for Gwalior. It is believed that, when she was lying unconscious
in the battle field, a Brahmin found her and brought her to an ashram, where she
died. For her immense effort, she is referred to as the 'Icon of the Indian
Nationalist Movement'. Throughout the uprising, the aim of Rani was to secure
the throne for her adopted son Damodar. Her story became a beacon for the
upcoming generations of freedom fighters. Lot of literature has been written on
the life history of Rani Lakshmibai of Jhansi. Heroic poems have been composed in
her honor.
NELSON MANDELA
Biography
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was a South African anti-apartheid revolutionary,
politician, and philanthropist who served as President of South Africa from 1994 51
to 1999.
Born: July 18, 1918, Mvezo, South Africa
Died: December 5, 2013, Houghton Estate, Johannesburg, South Africa
Spouse: Graça Machel (m. 1998–2013), more
Influenced by: Mahatma Gandhi, Walter Sisulu, Albert Lutuli
Awards: Nobel Peace Prize, Arthur Ashe Courage Award, more
Movies: Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom
Introduction
Rolihlahla Mandela was born into the Madiba clan in the village of Mvezo ,
Transkei, on 18 July 1918. His mother was Nonqaphi Nosekeni and his father was
Nkosi Mphakanyiswa Gadla Mandela, principal counsellor to the Acting King of the
Thembu people, Jongintaba Dalindyebo. In 1930, when he was 12 years old, his
father died and the young Rolihlahla became a ward of Jongintaba at the Great
Place in Mqhekezweni. Hearing the elders‘stories of his ancestors‘ valour during
the wars of resistance, he dreamed also of making his own contribution to the
freedom struggle of his people.The narrated life and times of Nelson Mandela.
He attended primary school in Qunu where his teacher, Miss Mdingane, gave
him the name Nelson, in accordance with the custom of giving all schoolchildren
―Christian names. He completed his Junior Certificate at Clarkebury Boarding
Institute and went o to Healdtown, a Wesleyan secondary school of some repute,
where he matriculated.
Mandela began his studies for a Bachelor of Arts degree at the University
College of Fort Hare but did not complete the degree there as he was expelled for
joining in a student protest.
 On his return to the Great Place at Mqhekezweni the King was furious and said
if he didn‘t return to Fort Hare he would arrange wives for him and his cousin
Justice. They ran away to Johannesburg instead, arriving there in 1941. There he
worked as a mine security officer and after meeting Walter Sisulu, an estate agent,
he was introduced to Lazer Sidelsky. He then did his articles through a firm of
attorneys – Witkin, Eidelman and Sidelsky. He completed his BA through the
University of South Africa and went back to Fort Hare for his graduation in 1943.
Meanwhile, he began studying for an LLB at the University of the
Witwatersrand. By his own admission he was a poor student and left the university
in 1952 without graduating. He only started studying again through the University
of London after his imprisonment in 1962 but also did not complete that degree.
In 1989, while in the last months of his imprisonment, he obtained an LLB
through the University of South Africa. He graduated in absentia at a ceremony in
Cape Town.
Entering politics
Mandela, while increasingly politically involved from 1942, only joined the
African National Congress in 1944 when he helped to form the ANC Youth League
(ANCYL).
In 1944 he married Walter Sisulu‘s cousin, Evelyn Mase, a nurse. They had two
sons, Madiba Thembekile "Thembi" and Makgatho, and two daughters both called
Makaziwe, the first of whom died in infancy. He and his wife divorced in 1958.
Mandela rose through the ranks of the ANCYL and through its efforts, the ANC
adopted a more radical mass-based policy, the Programme of Action, in 1949.
In 1952 he was chosen as the National Volunteer-in-Chief of the Defiance
Campaign with Maulvi Cachalia as his deputy. This campaign of civil disobedience
against six unjust laws was a joint programme between the ANC and the South
African Indian Congress. He and 19 others were charged under the Suppression of
Communism Act for their part in the campaign and sentenced to nine months of
hard labour, suspended for two years.
A two-year diploma in law on top of his BA allowed Mandela to practise law,
and in August 1952 he and Oliver Tambo established South Africa‘s first black law
firm.
Mandela & Tambo.
At the end of 1952 he was banned for the first time. As a restricted person he
was only permitted to watch in secret as the Freedom Charter was adopted in
Kliptown on 26, June 1955.
52
The Treason Trial
Mandela was arrested in a countrywide police swoop on 5 December 1955,
which led to the 1956 Treason Trial. Men and women of all races found themselves
in the dock in the marathon trial that only ended when the last 28 accused,
including Mandela, were acquitted on 29 March 1961.
On 21 March 1960 police killed 69 unarmed people in a protest in Sharpeville
against the pass laws. This led to the country‘s first state of emergency and the
banning of the ANC and the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) on 8 April. Mandela and
his colleagues in the Treason Trial were among thousands detained during the
state of emergency. During the trial Mandela married a social worker, Winnie
Madikizela, on 14 June 1958. They had two daughters, Zenani and Zindziswa. The
couple divorced in 1996.
Days before the end of the Treason Trial, Mandela travelled to Pietermaritzburg
to speak at the All-in Africa Conference, which resolved that he should write to
Prime Minister Verwoerd requesting a national convention on a non-racial
constitution, and to warn that should he not agree there would be a national strike
against South Africa becoming a republic. After he and his colleagues were
acquitted in the Treason Trial, Mandela went underground and began planning a
national strike for 29, 30 and 31 March. In the face of massive mobilisation of state
security the strike was called off early. In June 1961 he was asked to lead the
armed struggle and helped to establish Umkhonto weSizwe (Spear of the Nation),
which launched on 16 December 1961 with a series of explosions.
On 11 January 1962, using the adopted name David Motsamayi, Mandela
secretly left South Africa. He travelled around Africa and visited England to gain
support for the armed struggle. He received military training in Morocco and
Ethiopia and returned to South Africa in July 1962. He was arrested in a police
roadblock outside Howick on 5 August while returning from KwaZulu-Natal, where
he had briefed ANC President Chief Albert Luthuli about his trip.
 He was charged with leaving the country without a permit and inciting workers
to strike. He was convicted and sentenced to five years' imprisonment, which he
began serving at the Pretoria Local Prison. On 27 May 1963 he was transferred to
Robben Island and returned to Pretoria on 12 June. Within a month police raided
Liliesleaf, a secret hide-out in Rivonia used by ANC and Communist Party activists,
and several of his comrades were arrested.
On 9 October 1963 Mandela joined 10 others on trial for sabotage in what
became known as the Rivonia Trial. While facing the death penalty his words to
the court at the end of his famous "Speech from the Dock" on 20 April 1964
became immortalised:
On 11 June 1964 Mandela and seven other accused, Walter Sisulu, Ahmed
Kathrada, Govan Mbeki, Raymond Mhlaba, Denis Goldberg, Elias Motsoaledi and
Andrew Mlangeni, were convicted and the next day were sentenced to life
imprisonment. Goldberg was sent to Pretoria Prison because he was white, while
the others went to Robben Island.
Mandela‘s mother died in 1968 and his eldest son, Thembi, in 1969. He was not
allowed to attend their funerals.
On 31 March 1982 Mandela was transferred to Pollsmoor Prison in Cape Town
with Sisulu, Mhlaba and Mlangeni. Kathrada joined them in October. When he
returned to the prison in November 1985 after prostate surgery, Mandela was
held alone. Justice
Minister Kobie Coetsee visited him in hospital. Later Mandela initiated talks about
an ultimate meeting be Release from prison
On 12 August 1988 he was taken to hospital where he was diagnosed with
tuberculosis. After more than three months in two hospitals he was transferred on
7 December 1988 to a house at Victor Verster Prison near Paarl where he spent
his last 14 months of imprisonment. He was released from its gates on Sunday 11
February 1990, nine days after the unbanning of the ANC and the PAC and nearly
four months after the release of his remaining Rivonia comrades. Throughout his
imprisonment he had rejected at least three conditional offers of release.
Mandela immersed himself in official talks to end white minority rule and in
1991 was elected ANC President to replace his ailing friend, Oliver Tambo. In 1993
he and President FW de Klerk jointly won the Nobel Peace Prize and on 27 April
1994 he voted for the first time in his life.
President
On 10 May 1994 he was inaugurated as South Africa‘s first democratically 53
elected President. On his 80th birthday in 1998 he married Graça Machel, his third
wife.
True to his promise, Mandela stepped down in 1999 after one term as President.
He continued to work with the Nelson Mandela Children‘s Fund he set up in 1995
and established the Nelson Mandela Foundation and The Mandela Rhodes
Foundation.
In April 2007 his grandson, Mandla Mandela, was installed as head of the Mvezo
Traditional Council at a ceremony at the Mvezo Great Place.
Nelson Mandela never wavered in his devotion to democracy, equality and
learning. Despite terrible provocation, he never answered racism with racism. His
life is an inspiration to all who are oppressed and deprived; and to all who are
opposed to oppression and deprivation.
He died at his home in Johannesburg on 5 December 2013.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN
Biography
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from
March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. Wikipedia
Born: February 12, 1809, Hodgenville, Kentucky, United States
Died: April 15, 1865, Washington, D.C., United States
Spouse: Mary Todd Lincoln (m. 1842–1865)
Children: William Wallace Lincoln, Robert Todd Lincoln, Edward Baker Lincoln, Tad
Lincoln
Movies: The Perfect Tribute, more
Previous offices: President of the United States (1861–1865), more
 Abraham Lincoln was the 16th president of the United States. He preserved
the Union during the U.S. Civil War and brought about the emancipation of slaves.
Synopsis
Abraham Lincoln is regarded as one of America's greatest heroes due to both
his incredible impact on the nation and his unique appeal. His is a remarkable story
of the rise from humble beginnings to achieve the highest office in the land; then,
a sudden and tragic death at a time when his country needed him most to
complete the great task remaining before the nation. Lincoln's distinctively human
and humane personality and historical role as savior of the Union and emancipator
of the slaves creates a legacy that endures. His eloquence of democracy and his
insistence that the Union was worth saving embody the ideals of self-government
that all nations strive to achieve.
Childhood
Abraham Lincoln was born in a log cabin in Hardin County, Kentucky to Thomas
Lincoln and Nancy Hanks Lincoln. Thomas was a strong and determined pioneer
who found a moderate level of prosperity and was well respected in the
community. The couple had two other children: Abraham's older sister Sarah and
younger brother Thomas, who died in infancy. Due to a land dispute, the Lincolns
were forced to move from Kentucky to Perry County, Indiana in 1817, where the
family "squatted" on public land to scrap out a living in a crude shelter, hunting
game and farming a small plot. Thomas was eventually able to buy the land.
When young Abraham was 9 years old, his mother died of tremetol (milk
sickness) at age 34. The event was devastating on him and young Abraham grew
more alienated from his father and quietly resented the hard work placed on him
at an early age. A few months after Nancy's death, Thomas married Sarah Bush
Johnston, a Kentucky widow with three children of her own. She was a strong and
affectionate woman with whom Abraham quickly bonded. Though both his
parents were most likely illiterate, Sarah encouraged Abraham to read. It was
while growing into manhood that he received his formal education—an estimated
total of 18 months—a few days or weeks at a time. Reading material was in short
supply in the Indiana wilderness. Neighbors recalled how Abraham would walk for
miles to borrow a book. He undoubtedly read the family Bible and probably other
popular books at that time such as Robinson Crusoe, Pilgrims Progress and Aesop‘s
Fables.
Law Career
In March, 1830, the family again migrated, this time to Macon County, Illinois.
When his father moved the family again to Coles County, 22-year-old Abraham
Lincoln struck out on this own, making a living in manual labor. At six feet four
54
inches tall, Lincoln was rawboned and lanky, but muscular and physically strong.
He spoke with a backwoods twang and walked with a long-striding gait. He was
known for his skill in wielding an ax and early on made a living splitting wood for
fire and rail fencing. Young Lincoln eventually migrated to the small community of
New Salem, Illinois, where over a period of years he worked as a shopkeeper,
postmaster, and eventually general store owner. It was here that Lincoln, working
with the public, acquired social skills and honed story-telling talent that made him
popular with the locals. When the Black Hawk War broke out in 1832 between the
United States and Native Americans, the volunteers in the area elected Lincoln to
be their captain. He saw no combat during this time, save for "a good many bloody
struggles with the mosquitoes," but was able to make several important political
connections.
After the Black Hawk War, Abraham Lincoln began his political career and was
elected to the Illinois state legislature, in 1834, as a member of the Whig Party. He
supported the Whig politics of government-sponsored infrastructure and
protective tariffs. This political understanding led him to formulate his early views
on slavery, not so much as a moral wrong, but as an impediment to economic
development. It was around this time that he decided to become a lawyer,
teaching himself the law by reading William Blackstone'sCommentaries on the
Laws of England. After being admitted to the bar in 1837, he moved to Springfield,
Illinois, and began to practice in the John T. Stuart law firm.
It was soon after this that he purportedly met and became romantically
involved with Anne Rutledge. Before they had a chance to be engaged, a wave of
typhoid fever came over New Salem and Anne died at age 22. Her death was said
to have left Lincoln severely depressed. However, several historians disagree on
the extent of Lincoln‘s relationship with Rutledge and his level of sorrow at her
death may be more the makings of legend.
In 1844, Abraham Lincoln partnered with William Herndon in the practice of
law. Though the two had different jurisprudent styles, they developed a close
professional and personal relationship. Lincoln made a good living in his early years
as a lawyer, but found that Springfield alone didn't offer enough work, so to
supplement his income, he followed the court as it made its rounds on the circuit
to the various county seats in Illinois.
Entering Politics
Abraham Lincoln served a single term in the U.S. House of Representatives from
1847 to 1849. His foray into national politics seemed to be as unremarkable as it
was brief. He was the lone Whig from the state of Illinois, showing party loyalty,
but finding few political allies. He used his term in office to speak out against the
Mexican-American War and supported Zachary Taylor for president in 1848. His
criticism of the war made him unpopular back home and he decided not to run for
second term, but instead returned Springfield to practice law.
By the 1850s, the railroad industry was moving west and Illinois found itself
becoming a major hub for various companies. Abraham Lincoln served as a
lobbyist for the Illinois Central Railroad as its company attorney. Success in several
court cases brought other business clients as well—banks, insurance companies
and manufacturing firms. Lincoln also did some criminal trials. In one case, a
witness claimed that he could identify Lincoln's client who was accused of murder,
because of the intense light from a full moon. Lincoln referred to an almanac and
proved that the night in question had been too dark for the witness to see anything
clearly. His client was acquitted.
About a year after the death of Anne Rutledge, Lincoln courted Mary Owens.
The two saw each other for a few months and marriage was considered. But in
time, Lincoln called off the match. In 1840, Lincoln became engaged to Mary Todd,
a high spirited, well-educated woman from a distinguished Kentucky family. In the
beginning, many of the couple's friends and family couldn't understand Mary‘s
attraction, and at times
Lincoln questioned it himself. However, in 1841, the engagement was suddenly
broken off, most likely at Lincoln's initiative. They met later at a social function and
eventually married on November 4, 1842. The couple had four children, of which
only one, Robert, survived to adulthood.
Elected President
In 1854, Congress passed the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which repealed the Missouri
Compromise, and allowed individual states and territories to decide for
themselves whether to allow slavery. The law provoked violent opposition in
Kansas and Illinois, and it gave rise to the Republican Party. This awakened
Abraham Lincoln's political zeal once again, and his views on slavery moved more
toward moral indignation. Lincoln joined the Republican Party in 1856.
In 1857, the Supreme Court issued its controversial decision Scott v. Sanford,
55
declaring African Americans were not citizens and had no inherent rights. Though
Abraham Lincoln felt African Americans were not equal to whites, he believed the
America's founders intended that all men were created with certain inalienable
rights. Lincoln decided to challenge sitting U.S. Senator Stephen Douglas for his
seat. In his nomination acceptance speech, he criticized Douglas, the Supreme
Court, and President Buchanan for promoting slavery and declared "a house
divided cannot stand."
The 1858 Senate campaign featured seven debates held in different cities
across Illinois. The two candidates didn't disappoint the public, giving stirring
debates on issues ranging from states' rights to western expansion, but the central
issue was slavery. Newspapers intensely covered the debates, often times with
partisan commentary. In the end, the state legislature elected Douglas, but the
exposure vaulted Lincoln into national politics.
In 1860, political operatives in Illinois organized a campaign to support Abraham
Lincoln for the presidency. On May 18, at the Republican National Convention in
Chicago, Lincoln surpassed better known candidates such as William Seward of
New York and Salmon P. Chase of Ohio. Lincoln's nomination was due in part to
his moderate views on slavery, his support for improving the national
infrastructure, and the protective tariff. In the general election, Lincoln faced his
friend and rival, Stephan Douglas, this time besting him in a four-way race that
included John C. Breckinridge of the Northern Democrats and John Bell of the
Constitution Party. Lincoln received not quite 40 percent of the popular vote, but
carried 180 of 303 Electoral votes.
Abraham Lincoln selected a strong cabinet composed of many of his political
rivals, including William Seward, Salmon P. Chase, Edward Bates and Edwin
Stanton. Formed out the adage "Hold your friends close and your enemies closer,"
Lincoln's Cabinet became one of his strongest assets in his first term in office… and
he would need them. Before his inauguration in March, 1861, seven Southern
states had seceded from the Union and by April the U.S. military installation Fort
Sumter was under siege in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina. In the early morning
hours of April 12, 1861, the guns stationed to protect the harbor blazed toward
the fort signaling the start of America‘s costliest and most deadly war.
Civil War
Abraham Lincoln responded to the crisis wielding powers as no other president
before him. He distributed $2 million from the Treasury for war material without
an appropriation from Congress; he called for 75,000 volunteers into military
service without a declaration of war; and he suspended the writ of habeas corpus,
arresting and imprisoning suspected Confederate sympathizers without a warrant.
Crushing the rebellion would be difficult under any circumstances, but the Civil
War, with its preceding decades of white-hot partisan politics, was especially
onerous. From all directions, Lincoln faced disparagement and defiance. He was
often at odds with his generals, his Cabinet, his party and a majority of the
American people.
The Union Army's first year and a half of battlefield defeats made it especially
difficult to keep morale up and support strong for a reunification the nation. With
the hopeful, but by no means conclusive Union victory at Antietam on September
22, 1862, Lincoln felt confident enough to reshape the cause of the war from
saving the union to abolishing slavery. He issued the Emancipation Proclamation
on January 1, 1863, which stated that all individuals who were held as slaves in
rebellious states "henceforward shall be free." The action was more symbolic than
effective because the North didn‘t control any states in rebellion and the
proclamation didn‘t apply to Border States.
Gradually, the war effort improved for the North, though more by attrition than
by brilliant military victories. But by 1864, the Confederate armies had eluded
major defeat and Lincoln was convinced he'd be a one-term president. His
nemesis, George B. McClellan, the former commander of the Army of the
Potomac, challenged him for the presidency, but the contest wasn't even close.
Lincoln received 55 percent of the popular vote and 212 of 243 Electoral votes. On
April 9, 1865, General Robert E. Lee, commander of the Army of Virginia,
surrendered his forces to Union General Ulysses S. Grant and the war for all intents
and purposes was over.
Assassination
Reconstruction began during the war as early as 1863 in areas firmly under
Union military control. Abraham Lincoln favored a policy of quick reunification
with a minimum of retribution. But he was confronted by a radical group of
56
Republicans in the Senate and House that wanted complete allegiance and
repentance from former Confederates. Before a political battle had a chance to
firmly develop, Lincoln was assassinated on April 14, 1865, by well-known actor
and Confederate sympathizer John Wilkes Booth at Ford's Theater in Washington,
D.C. Lincoln was taken from the theater to a Petersen House across the street and
laid in a coma for nine hours before dying the next morning. His body lay in state
at the Capitol before a funeral train took him back to his final resting place in
Springfield, Illinois
5. QUESTIONS ON SHAKESPEARE’S
MERCHANT OF VENICE
– William Shakespeare
Antonio, a merchant of Venice, and Bassanio are very close friends. Bassanio needs
money to marry a wealthy lady in Belmont named Portia. He borrows money from
a cunning, Jewish moneylender called Shylock. Shylock lends him a heavy sum but
makes Antonio sign a bond that if the money is not repaid within three months,
he would cut a pound of flesh from Antonio's body. Meanwhile, Portia, who has
to face many suitors, waits for the arrival of her beloved, Bassanio. Before he died,
Portia's father, realising her difficulty in choosing the right man, had left a test for
her suitors. Each man was to be presented with three caskets, of gold, silver and
lead. Inside one of them was Portia's picture, and whoever chose this casket would
become her husband.
The Prince of Morocco chooses the gold casket but finds inside it a skull and a
warning. The Prince of Aragon chooses the silver casket and finds the portrait of
an idiot and another warning. Bassaniochooses the lead casket, the one with
Portia's picture, and claims her as his wife. And his friend Gratiano marries Nerissa,
Portia's maid.
As the merry-making commences, there comes a letter from Antonio. His ships are Yet in such rule, that the Venetian law
lost at sea, and hence unable to pay his debt, he has to keep his word with Shylock,
and offer him a pound of his flesh. Portia offers money but Shylock insists on a Cannot impugn you as you do proceed.
pound of Antonio's flesh as mentioned in the bond. (To Antonio) You stand within his danger, do you not?
57
When their husbands leave for Venice, Portia and Nerissa too follow them in Antonio: Ay, so he says.
disguise. Portia disguises herself as a (male) lawyer with Nerrisa as her clerk. Portia
leaves her house in the care of Jessica, Shylock's daughter who has left her father Portia : Do you confess the bond?
and married Lorenzo.
Antonio: I do.
All the great men of Venice gather at the Duke's court but Shylock is unmoved by
their arguments. He feels that the law is on his side and demands justice according Portia: Then must the Jew be merciful.
to the bond. Portia enters the court and changes the entire nature of the Shylock: On what compulsion must I? Tell me that.
argument. She speaks not of justice but of mercy. Portia wins the battle of wits
and Shylock is forced to leave the courtroom in defeat. Thanks to the brilliance of Portia: The quality of mercy is not strain'd
Portia's reasoning, the misfortunes of Antonio, the merchant of Venice, are finally
ended, and the married couples are ready for a life of happiness. It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven

Upon the place beneath. It is twice blessed:

Note: following is an extract from the court scene, Act IV .
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes:
Place: the court of justice in venice.
'Tis mightiest in the mightiest; it becomes
Enter Portia dressed like a doctor of laws.
The throned monarch better than his crown;

His sceptre shows the force of temporal power,

DUKE: You are welcome: take your place.
The attribute to awe and majesty,
Are you acquainted with the difference
Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings;
That holds this present question in the court?
But mercy is above this sceptred sway,
Portia: I am informed thoroughly of the cause.
It is enthroned in the hearts of kings,
Which is the merchant here, and which the Jew?
It is an attribute to God himself;
DUKE: Antonio and old Shylock, both stand forth.
And earthly power doth then show likest God's
Portia: Is your name Shylock?
When mercy seasons justice. Therefore, Jew,
Shylock: Shylock is my name.
Though justice be thy plea, consider this
Portia : Of a strange nature is the suit you follow;
 That, in the course of justice none of us Antonio: Most heartily I do beseech the court

Should see salvation; we do pray for mercy, To give the judgment.

And that same prayer doth teach us all to render Portia: Why then, thus it is:
58
The deeds of mercy. I have spoke thus much You must prepare your bosom for his knife.

To mitigate the justice of thy plea, Shylock: 0 noble judge! 0 excellent young man

Which if thou follow, this strict court of Venice Portia: Therefore, lay bare your bosom.

Must needs give sentence 'gainst the merchant there. Shylock: Ay, his breast -

Shylock: My deeds upon my head! I crave the law, So says the bond: doth it not, noble judge?

The penalty and forfeit of my bond. "Nearest his heart;" those are the very words,

Portia: Is he not able to discharge the money? Portia: It is so. Are there balance here to weigh The flesh?

Bossanio: Yes, here I tender it for him in the court; Shylock: I have them ready.

Yea, twice the sum, if that will not suffice, Portia : Have by some surgeon, Shylock, on your Charge,

I will be bound to pay it ten times o'er, To stop his wounds, lest he do bleed to death.

Portia: I pray you, let me look upon the bond. Shylock: Is it so nominated in the bond?

Shylock: Here 'tis, most reverend Doctor, here it is. Portia: It is not so express'd, but what of that?

Portia: Shylock, there's thrice thy money offer'd thee. ` Twere good you do so much for charity.

Portia: Why, this bond is forfeit; Shylcok: I cannot find it; 'tis not in the bond.

And lawfully by this the Jew may claim Portia: A pound of that same merchant's flesh is thine.

A pound of flesh, to be by him cut off The court awards it, and the law doth give it.

Nearest the merchant's heart. Be merciful. Shylock: Most rightful judge!

Take thrice the money; bid me tear the bond. Portia: And you must cut this flesh from off his breast.

Shylock: There is no power in the tongue of man The law allows it, and the court awards it.

To alter me. I stay here on my bond. Shylock: Most learned judge! A sentence! Come, prepare.
Portia: Tarry a little; there is something else.
This bond doth give thee here no jot of blood;
The words expressly are "a pound of flesh:"
Take then thy bond, take thou thy pound of flesh;
But, in the cutting it, if thou dost shed
One drop of Christian blood, thy lands and goods
Are, by the laws of Venice, confiscate
Unto the state of Venice
Shylock: Is that the law?
Portia: Thyself shalt see the act;
For, as thou urgest justice, be assured
Thou shalt have justice, more than thou desir'st
Shylock: I take this offer then: pay the bond thrice,
And let the Christian go.
Bassanio: Here is the money
Portia: Soft!
The Jew shall have all justice. Soft! No haste:
He shall have nothing but the penalty.
JULIUS CAESAR (FROM ACT III SCENE 2)
The play opens with Julius Caesar's victorious return to Rome after
defeating the sons of Pompey. While people rejoice, there is a group which fears
that all these victories would get into Caesar's head and he would cease to be
59
democratic. Cassius, Brutus and others plot to kill Caesar. A soothsayer
(astrologer) warns Caesar about the "ides of March". Calphurnia, Caesar's wife,
forbids him from going to the Senate House as she has had bad dreams. Decius
Brutus, one of the conspirators, convinces Caesar to come to the Senate House. At
the Senate House, the conspirators surround Caesar. Casca is the first to stab him.
Caesar is shocked when he sees his friend Marcus Brutus with a sword. With an
anguished cry of Et tu, Brute? (You too Brutus) he dies.
Mark Antony, Caesar's trusted friend, meets the murderers and requests
them to allow him to take Caesar's body to the market place. Marcus Brutus
agrees, but warns Antony not to blame them in his funeral speech. In Act III Scene
2, Brutus justifies the murder of Caesar. But Mark Antony, with his eloquence, wins
the public over to his side. The result is that a riot breaks out and people are moved
to a frenzy to avenge the murder of Caesar. Cassius and Brutus flee Rome, and
Mark Antony, Octavius Caesar and Aurelius Lepidus become the `triumvirs'. At the
battle of Philippi, the forces of Cassius and Marcus Brutus are defeated, and true
to his word, Brutus kills himself with his sword.
BRUTUS: Be patient till the last.
Romans, countrymen, and lovers! hear me for my cause,
and be silent, that you may hear: believe me for mine
honour, and have respect to mine honour, that you may
believe: censure me in your wisdom, and awake your 5
senses, that you may the better judge. If there be any in this
assembly, any dear friend of Caesar's, to him I say that
Brutus' love to Caesar was no less than his. If, then, that
friend demand why Brutus rose against Caesar, this is my
 answer, not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved dagger for myself, when it shall please my country

Rome more. Had you rather Caesar were living, and die to need my death.

all slaves, than that Caesar were dead, to live all free men? Antony: Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears;
60
As Caesar loved me, I weep for him; as he was fortunate, I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him. 35

I rejoice at it; as he was valiant, I honour him; but, as he The Good is oft interred with their bones

was ambitious, I slew him. There is tears for his So let it be with Caesar. The noble Brutus

love; joy for his fortune; honour for his valour; and death Hath told you Caesar was ambitious:

for his ambition. Who is here so base that would be a If it were so, it was a grievous fault; 40

bondman? If any, speak; for him have I offended. And grievously hath Caesar answer'd it.

Who is here so rude that would not be a Roman? If any, Here, under leave of Brutus and the rest,—

speak; for him have I offended. Who is here so vile that 20 For Brutus is an honourable man;

will not love his country? If any, speak; for him have I So are they all; all honourable men,--

offended. I pause for a reply. Come I to speak in Caesar's funeral. 45

Citizens: None, Brutus, none. He was my friend, faithful and just to me:

Brutus : Then none have I offended. I have done no But Brutus says he was ambitious;

more to Caesar than you shall do to Brutus. 25 And Brutus is an honourable man.

He hath brought many captives home to Rome,

Enter ANTONY and others, with CAESAR'S body Whose ransoms did the general coffers fill: 50

Here comes his body, mourned by Mark Antony, who, Did this in Caesar seem ambitious?

though he had no hand in his death, shall receive the benefit When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept:

of his dying, a place in the commonwealth; as which of Ambition should be made of sterner stuff:

you shall not? With this I depart,that, as I slew my best Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;

lover for the good of Rome, I have the same 30 And Brutus is an honourable man. 55
 You all did see that on the Lupercal with weeping. 80

I thrice present in a kingly crown Third Citizen. There's not a nobler man in Rome

Which HE did thrice refuse: was this ambition? than Antony.

61
Yet Brutus says he was ambitious; Fourth Citizen. Now mark him, he begins again to speak.

And, sure, he is an honourable man. 60 Antony. But yesterday the word of Caesar might

I speak not to disprove what Brutus spoke, Have stood against the world: now lies he there, 85

But here I am to speak what I do know. And none so poor to do him reverence.

You all did love him once,—not without cause: 0 masters, if I were dispos'd to stir

What cause withholds you, then, to mourn for him? Your hearts and minds to mutiny and rage,

0 judg'ment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts, 65 I should do Brutus wrong and Cassius wrong,

And men have lost their reason!—Bear with me; Who, you all know, are honourable men: 90

My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar, I will not do them wrong; I rather choose

And I must pause till it come back to me. To wrong the dead, to wrong myself, and you,

First Citizen: Methinks there is much reason in his sayings. 70 Than I will wrong such honourable men.

Second Citizen: If thou consider rightly of the matter, But here's a parchment with the seal of Caesar;

Caesar has had great wrong. I found it in his closet,—'tis his will: 95

Third Citizen. Has he, masters? Let but the commons hear this testament,—

I fear there will a worse come in his place. Which, pardon me, I do not mean to read,—

Fourth Citizen. Mark'd ye his words? He would not 75 And they would go and kiss dead Caesar's wounds,

take the crown; And dip their napkins in his sacred blood;

Therefore 'tis certain he was not ambitious. Yea, beg a hair of him for memory, 100

First Citizen. If it be found so, some will dear abide it. And, dying, mention it within their wills,

Second Citizen. Poor soul! his eyes are red as fire Bequeathing it as a rich legacy
 Unto their issue Antony. : Good friends, sweet friends, let me not stir you up

Antony: If you have tears, prepare to shed them now. To such a sudden flood of mutiny:

You all do know this mantle: I remember 105 I am no orator, as Brutus is;
62
The first time ever Caesar put it on; But, as you know me all, a plain blunt man,

'Twas on a summer's evening, in his tent, That love my friend; and that they know full well 130

That day he overcame the Nervii:— That gave me public leave to speak of him:

Look, in this place ran Cassius' dagger through: For I have neither wit, not words, nor worth,

See what a rent the envious Casca made: 110 Action, nor utterance, nor the power of speech,

Through this the well-beloved Brutus stabb'd; To stir men's blood: I only speak right on;

And, as he pluck'd his cursed steel away, I tell you that which you yourselves do know; 135

Mark how the blood of Caesar follow'd it, Show you sweet Caesar's wounds, poor poor dumb mouths,

As rushing out of doors, to be resolv'd And bid them speak for me: but were I Brutus,

If Brutus so unkindly knock'd, or no; 115 And Brutus Antony, there were an Antony

For Brutus, as you know, was Caesar's angel: Would ruffle up your spirits, and put a tongue

Judge, 0 you gods, how dearly Caesar lov'd him! In every wound of Caesar, that should move 140

This was the most unkindest cut of all; The stones of Rome to rise and mutiny.

For when the noble Caesar saw him stab,

Ingratitude, more strong than traitors' arms, 120 Glossary (line numbers are given for easy reference)

Quite vanquished him: then burst his mighty heart; 2 lovers: close friends

And, in his mantle muffling up his face, 5 censure: judge

Even at the base of Pompey's statue, 6 senses: reason (Brutus appeals to the head and not to the heart, as Antony does)

Which all the while ran blood, great Caesar fell. 14 valiant: very brave and determined

0, what a fall was there, my countrymen! 125 15 slew: killed

17 base: depraved; mean 75 Mark'd ye his words? : Did you pay attention to his (Antony's) words?

20 vile: morally base, disgusting 78 abide it: pay for it (someone will have to pay for Caesar's death)

30-31 1 have the same dagger: I will kill myself (Brutus later dies for myself by his 83 mark him: listen to him
own sword) 63
86 so poor: lowly in rank; even in death the lowly placed citizen does not honour
37 of: often Caesar

37 interred: buried, i.e. let the good qualities of Caesar rest with him in his grave 88 mutiny: revolt

40 grievous fault: serious mistake 94 parchment: animal skin used as writing surface

41 Caesar answered it: Caesar paid for it (his mistakes)with his life 95 his will: Caesar's will

42 under leave: under permission 99 napkins: handkerchiefs

43 honourable: honest, upright. Notice the repetition of the word in his speech. 102 bequeathing: leave to a person by a will
From a compliment it turns into a taunt.
102 legacy: gift left in a will
49 captives: prisoners
103 issue: children
50 ransoms: payment for the release of prisoners
105 mantle: cloak. Antony displays the bloodstained cloak of Caesar.
50 coffers: state treasury
108 Nervii: The battle of the Sambre, 57 B.C.Caesar defeated the Nervii, a tribe of
53 Ambition should be : an ambitious personmade of sterner stuff would be strict Gaul.
(but Caesar, points out Mark Antony, was one with the masses)
108-123: By uncovering the body of Caesar and revealing the stab wounds, Antony
56 Lupercal : Lupercalia—an ancient fertility festival in honour of Pan, the god of plays on the emotions of the crowd and inflames them.
the shepherds
109-110: Cassius and Casca - along with Brutus, Cassius and Casca stabbed Caesar.
63 cause reason
110 rent: tear; cut (Note: Antony was not there when Caesar was murdered but
64 what cause withholds you, : what prevents you from then, to mourn for him? he uses his imagination.)
Mourning for Caesar?
112 pluck'd his cursed steel: pulled out the cursed away sword
65 0 judgment! Thou art: men have lost theirfled to brutish beasts capacity to
judge and reason 114 as: as though

69 methinks: it seems to me (that) 114 resolved: informed

74 I fear there will a worse: a person worse than come in his place Caesar might
rule
118 unkindest cut: cruel, unnatural because Caesarloved Brutus and Brutus repaid
his love by stabbing him. (Pay attention to Shakespeare's language—most
unkindest cut)
120-121 Ingratitude: Personification. More strong than traitors' Ingratitude is
personified arms/ Quite vanquished him here.
121 vanquished: defeated
121-122 Then burst his: When Caesar saw Brutus mighty heart/And, in his with the
sword, he did mantle muffling up his face not resist; instead he covered his face
with his mantle.
123 Pompey: the Roman general whom Caesar had defeated
126-128: The crowd does not see the irony in Antony's speech.
132 wit: intelligence
132 worth: reputation. Antony says that he does not have the skills needed for an
orator.
134 to stir men's blood: to stir up emotions
136 poor poor dumb mouths: as the wounds cannot speak Antony expresses their
agony.
139 rue: disturb, upset
140-141: Antony had all along said that he did not want to incite the crowd but his
eloquent speech does just that.
SONNET 116
Refer “Appreciation questions form poetry”.
6. QUESTIONS FROM OSCAR WILDE’S
Model Millionaire
-OSCAR Wilde
64
Hughie was wonderfully good looking with his crisp brown hair, his clear cut profile
and his grey eyes. He was as popular with men as he was with women, and he had
every accomplishment except that of making money. He had tried everything. But
he became nothing, a delightful, ineffectual young man with a perfect profile and
no profession
Hughie wanted to marry Laura Merton, the daughter of a retired Colonel. The
Colonel was very fond of Hughie but would not hear of any engagement "Come to
me my boy, when you have got ten thousand pounds of your own and we will see
about it,' he said. Hughie looked very glum and he cursed himself for his inability
to fulfil the condition.
One morning as he was on his way to Holland Park, he dropped in to see a great
friend of his, Alan Trevor. Trevor was a painter, He was a strange rough fellow with
a freckled face and a red ragged beard
When he took up the brush, he was a real master and his pictures were eagerly
sought after.
When Hughie came In, he found Trevor painting the finishing touches to a
wonderful life size picture of a beggar man. The beggar himself was standing on a
platform In a corner of the studio. He was wizened old man with a face like
wrinkled parchment and a most piteous expression. Over his shoulders was flung
a coarse brown cloak, all tears and tatters; his thick boots were patched and
cobbled and with one her he leant on a rough stick while with the other he held
out his battered hat for alms.
'What an amazing model!" whispered Hughie, as he shook hands with his friend.
"An amazing model?' shouted Trevor at the top of his voice. "I should think so!
Such beggars as he are not to be met with everyday'
Tow old chap!' said Hughie, "How miserable he looks! But I suppose to you
painters, his face is his fortune?
` Certainly you don't want a beggar to look happy, do you?”
-How much does a model getfor sitting?" asked Hughle.
'A shilling an hour.'
"And how much do you get for your picture, Alan?'
Oh! For this I get two thousand pounds
After sometime, the servant came in and told Trevor that the frame maker wanted
to speak to him. 'Don't run away Hughie* he said, as he went out, be back in a
moment". The old beggar took advantage of Trevor's absence to rest for a moment
on a wooden bench. He looked so forlorn that Hughie could not help pitying him.
All he could find was a sovereign and some coppers. Poor old fellow", he said to
himself and slipped the sovereign into the beggar's hand.The old man said, "Thank
you sir". Then Trevor arrived and Hughie took his leave.
The next day when Hughie visited Trevor, he was surprised to hear that the model
kept asking Trevor for all details about him. Trevor informed Hughie that he had
dearly explained Hughie's condition to the old model. 'What! You told that old
beggar all my private affairs'?" cried Hughie looking very red and angry. "My dear
boy, said Trevor smiling, "that old beggar as you call him is one of the richest men
in Europe. He is Baron Hausberg. He is a great friend of mine".
"Good Heavens! I gave him a sovereign!" and he sank Into an armchair.
"Gave him a sovereign!' shouted Trevor and he burst into a roar of Laughter.
"What will he think of me said Hughie.
"Oh, my God! I could not make out why he was so interested to know all about
you but I see it all now. He will invest your sovereign for you, Hughie, pay you the
interest every six months and have a capital story to tell after dinner," commented
Trevor.
Why did Hughie fear an adverse reaction from the Baron?
65
The next morning as he was at breakfast, the servant brought him a card on which
was written Baron Hausberg and Hughie told the servant to show the visitor up.
An old gentleman came into the room. 1 have come from Baron Hausberg'. He
continued, 1 beg as, that you will offer him my apologies,* stammered Hughie.
The Baron*, said the old gentleman with a smile, 'has commissioned me to bring
you this letter". And he extended a sealed envelope on which was written “A
wedding present to Hugh Erskine - Hughie and Laura - from an 'old beggar' and
inside was a cheque for ten thousand pounds.
'Millionaire models' remarked Alan, 'are rare enough, but by Joel Model
Millionaires are rarer still.
THE SELFISH GIANT
–Oscar Wilde.
Note: Oscar Wilde intended this story to be read to children.
Every afternoon, as they were coming from school, the children used to go and
play in the Giant's garden.
It was a large lovely garden, with soft green grass. Here and there over the grass
stood beautiful flowers like stars, and there were twelve peach-trees that in the
spring-time broke out into delicate blossoms of pink and pearl, and in the autumn
bore rich fruit. The birds sat on the trees and sang so sweetly that the children
used to stop their games in order to listen to them. 'How happy we are here!' they
cried to each other.
One day the Giant came back. He had been to visit his friend the Cornish ogre, and
had stayed with him for seven years. After the seven years were over he had said
all that he had to say, for his conversation was limited, and he determined to
return to his own castle. When he arrived he saw the children playing in the
garden.
'What are you doing here?' he cried in a very gruff voice, and the children ran away.
'My own garden is my own garden,' said the Giant; 'any one can understand that,
and I will allow nobody to play in it but myself.' So he built a high wall all round it,
and put up a notice-board.
TRESPASSERS WILL BE PROSECUTED
He was a very selfish Giant.
The poor children had now nowhere to play. They:ttied to play on the road, but
the road was very dusty and full of hard stones, and they did not like it. They used
toVander round the high wall when their lessons were over, and talk about the
beautiful garden inside.
'How happy we were there,' they said to each other.
Then the Spring came, and all over the country there were little blossoms and little
birds. Only in the garden of the Selfish Giant it was still Winter. The birds did not
care to sing in it as there were no children, and the trees forgot to blossom. Once
a beautiful flower put its head out from the grass, but when it saw the notice-
board it was so sorry for the children that it slipped back into the ground again,
and went off to sleep. The only people who were pleased were the Snow and the
Frost. 'Spring has forgotten this garden,' they cried, 'so we will live here all the year
round.' The Snow covered up the grass with her great white cloak, and the Frost
painted all the trees silver. Then they invited the North Wind to stay with them,
and he came. He was wrapped in furs, and he roared all day about the garden, and
blew the chimney-pots down. 'This is a delightful spot,' he said, 'we must ask the
Hail on a visit.' So the Hail came. Every day for three hours he rattled on the roof
of the castle till he broke most of the slates, and then he ran round and round the
garden as fast as he could go. He was dressed in grey, and his breath was like ice.
cannot understand why the Spring is so late in coming,' said the Selfish Giant, as
he sat at the window and looked out at his cold white garden; 'I hope there will be
a change in the weather.'
But the Spring never came, nor the Summer. The Autumn gave golden fruit to
every garden, but to the Giant's garden she gave none. 'He is too selfish,' she said.
So it was always Winter there, and the North Wind, and the Hail, and the Frost,
and the Snow danced about through the trees.
One morning the Giant was lying awake in bed when he heard some lovely music.
It sounded so sweet to his ears that he thought it must be the King's musicians
66
passing by. It was really only a little linnet singing outside his window, but it was
so long since he had heard a bird sing in his garden that it seemed to him to be the
most beautiful music in the world. Then the Hail stopped dancing over his head,
and the North Wind ceased roaring, and a delicious perfume came to him through
the open casement. 'I believe the Spring has come at last,' said the Giant; and he
jumped out of bed and looked out.
What did he see?
He saw a most wonderful sight. Through a little hole in the wall the children had
crept in, and they were sitting in the branches of the trees. In every tree that he
could see there was a little child. And the trees were so glad to have the children
back again that they had covered themselves with blossoms, and were waving
their arms gently above the children's heads. The birds were flying about and
twittering with delight, and the flowers were looking up through the green grass
and laughing. It was a lovely scene, only in one corner it was still Winter. It was the
farthest corner of the garden, and in it was standing a little boy. He was so small
that he could not reach up to the branches of the tree, and he was wandering all
round it, crying bitterly. The poor tree was still quite covered with frost and snow,
and the North Wind was blowing and roaring above it. 'Climb up! little boy,' said
the Tree, and it bent its branches down as low as it could; but the little boy was
too tiny.
And the Giant's heart melted as he looked out. 'How selfish I have been!' he said;
'now I know why the Spring would not come here. I will put that poor little boy on
the top of the tree, and then I will knock down the wall, and my garden shall be
the children's playground for ever and ever.' He was really very sorry for what he
had done.
So he crept downstairs and opened the front door quite softly, and went out into
the garden. But when the children saw him they were so frightened that they all
ran away, and the garden became Winter again. Only the little boy did not run, for
his eyes were so full of tears that he died not see the Giant coming. And the Giant
stole up behind him and took him gently in his hand, and put him up into the tree.
And the tree broke at once into blossom, and the birds came and sang on it, and
the little boy stretched out his two arms and flung them round the Giant's neck,
and kissed him. And the other children, when they saw that the Giant was not
wicked any longer, came running back, and with them came the Spring. 'It is your
garden now, little children,' said the Giant, and he took a great axe and knocked
down the wall. And when the people were going to market at twelve o'clock they
found the Giant playing with the children in the most beautiful garden they had
ever seen.
All day long they played, and in the evening they came to the Giant to bid him
good-bye.
'But where is your little companion?' he said: 'the boy I pu into the tree.' The Giant
loved him the best because he had kissed him.
'We don't know,' answered the children; 'he has gone away.'
'You must tell him to be sure and come here to-morrow,' said the Giant. But the
children said that they did not know where he lived, and had never seen him
before; and the Giant felt very sad.
Every afternoon, when school was over, the children came and played with the
Giant. But the little boy whom the Giant loved was never seen again. The Giant
was very kind to all the children, yet he longed for his first little friend, and often
spoke of him. 'How I would like to see him!' he used to say.
Years went over, and the Giant grew very old and feeble. He could not play about
any more, so he sat in a huge armchair, and watched the children at their games,
and admired his garden. 'I have many beautiful flowers,' he said; 'but the children
are the most beautiful flowers of all.'
One winter morning he looked out of his window as he was dressing. He did not
hate the winter now, for he knew that it was merely the Spring asleep, and that
the flowers were resting.
Suddenly he rubbed his eyes in wonder, and looked and looked. It certainly was a
marvellous sight. In the farthest corner of the garden was a tree quite covered
with lovely white blossoms. Its branches were all golden, and silver fruit hung
down from them, and underneath it stood the little boy he had loved.
Downstairs ran the Giant in great joy, and out into the garden. He hastened across
the grass, and came near to the child. And when he came quite close his face grew
red with anger, and he said, 'Who hath dared to wound thee?' For on the palms of
the child's hands were the prints of two nails, and the prints of two nails were on
the little feet. 67
'Who hath dared to wound thee?' cried the Giant; 'tell me, that I may take my big
sword and slay him.' 'Nay!' answered the child; 'but these are the wounds of Love.
Who art thou?' said the Giant, and a strange awe fell on him, and he knelt before
the little child.
And the child smiled on the Giant, and said to him, 'You let me play once in your
garden, to-day you shall come with me to my garden, which is Paradise.'
And when the children ran in that afternoon, they found the Giant lying dead
under the tree, all covered with white blossoms.
7. DR.KARL PAULNACK
Dr.Karl Paulnack’s
Music – The Hope Raiser SUMMARY:
Introduction:
Dr. Karl Paulnack, Pianist and Director of the music division at The Boston
Conservatory (University of Music) is hailed as the Firecracker of a Pianist and
Master of his instrument by The Boston globe, the famous American daily. He has
partnered in nearly a thousand concerts. This lesson is the fantastic welcome
address given by him to the parents of the incoming students at The Boston on
September 1, 2004.
Music as a career:
Dr. Paulnack feels his parents feared that if he chose music as his career, society
would not appreciate him. Being good in mathematics and science, he had very
good grades (marks) and they thought that he would do better as a doctor or a
research chemist or an engineer. When he revealed his decision to apply to music,
they were not clear about its value or function. Society has classified music as part
of art and entertainment. According to him serious music is the opposite of
entertainment.
How music really works:
Dr. Paulnack says that the Greeks clearly expressed in words how music really
works. Ancient Greeks said that music and astronomy were the two sides of the
same coin. Astronomy was seen as the study of relationships between observable,
permanent, external objects and music was seen as the study of relationships
between invisible, internal hidden objects. Paulnack claims that music has a way
of finding the invisible moving pieces inside the hearts and souls and helping us
understand ourselves.
Art, a part of human spirit:
Dr. Paulnack refers to the touching story of Oliver Messiaen who composed one
of the most famous master works in „repertoire‟. He was a prisoner of war in a
German prisoner of war-camp in 1940. This 31 year old Frenchman composed his
quartet for a cellist, a violinist and a clarinetist, who were fellow prisoners. In 1941
the music was played for the four thousand prisoners there and became famous.
This instance shows that music was created even in Nazi camps where starvation,
beating and torture curshed the prisoners, body and spirit. Not one enthusiastic
oliver Messiaen, but even in concentration camps many people created art. These
were the places where people were people were focused on survival. The camps
were without money, recreation or hope but not without art. It is because art is
part of survival. Art is part of the human spirit which expresses who we are, and
that we are alive and our lives have meaning.
Music, a way to express feelings:
Dr. Paulnack was in Manhattan when the Twin Towers of the World Trade
Centre, New York were destroyed by terrorists. It happened on September 11,
2001. The next day, he sat to play the piano as it was his daily routine. But his mind
was clouded by uncertainty. He felt that playing music soon after the sorrowful
event was irrelevant and irreverent. He did not play the piano that day. He even
thought he would never play again. But on the very evening of September 11th,
he saw people singing around fire houses, we shall overcome and America the
Beautiful. The first organized public event was a concert with the New York
Philharmonic. Military brought security but the hope to live and the will to go on
were given by music.
Music is a basic need of human survival:
From these experiences, Dr.Paulnack realized that music is not just 68
entertainment or pastime. Music is the basic need for human survival. Music gives
meaning to our lives, gives expression to our feelings and makes our hearts
understand when our minds fail us.
Music, the Ultimate way to peace:
As a teacher of music Dr. Paulnack asks his students not only to master music
but also to save the earth with it. Military force or religion has failed to bring peace.
True peace can be achieved only through music. In the concentration camps or in
the evening of 9/11, only the artists helped people in bringing order in their
internal, invisible lives.
Conclusion:
Thus Dr. Paulnack emphasizes the need for music in human lives.
MUSIC- THE HOPE RAISER.
Dr. Karl Paulnack pianist and director of the music division at The Boston
Conservatory, gave this fantastic welcome address to the parents of Incoming
students at The Boston on September 1, 2004:
One of my parents' deepest fears, I suspect, is that society would not properly
value me as a musician, that I wouldn't be appreciated. I had very good grades in
high school, I was good in science and math, and they imagined that as a doctor or
a research chemist or an engineer, I might be more appreciated than I would be
as a musician. I still remember my mother's remark when I announced my decision
to apply to music school she said, "you're wasting your SAT scores!" On some level,
I think, my parents were not sure themselves what the value of music was, what
its purpose was. And they loved music: they listened to classical music all the time.
They just weren't really clear about its function. So let me talk about that a little
bit, because we live in a society that puts music in the "arts and entertainment"
section of the newspaper, and serious music, the kind your kids are about to
engage in, has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with entertainment, in fact it's
the opposite of entertainment. Let me talk a little bit about music, and how it
works.
One of the first cultures to articulate how music really works were the ancient
Greeks. And this is going to fascinate you: the Greeks said that music and
astronomy were two sides of the same coin. Astronomy was seen as the study of
relationships between observable, permanent, external objects, and music was
seen as the study of relationships between invisible, internal, hidden objects.
Music has a way of finding the big, invisible moving pieces inside our hearts and
souls and helping us figure out the position of things inside us. Let me give you
some examples of how this works.
One of the most profound musical compositions of all time is the Quartet for the
End of Time written by French composer Olivier Messiaen in 1940. Messiaen was
31 years old when France entered the war against Nazi Germany. He was captured
by the Germans in June of 1940 and imprisoned in a prisoner-of-war camp.
He was fortunate to find a sympathetic prison (guard who gave him paper and a
place to compose, and fortunate to have musician colleagues in the camp, a cellist,
a violinist, and a clarinetist. Messiaen wrote his quartet with these specific players
in mind. It was performed in January 1941 for four thousand prisoners and guards
in the prison camp. Today it is one of the most famous masterworks in the
repertoire.
Given what we have since learned about life in the Nazi camps, why would anyone
in his right mind waste time and energy writing or playing music? There was barely
enough energy on a good day to find food and water, to avoid a beating, to stay
warm, to escape torture why would anyone bother with music? And yet even from
the concentration camps, we have poetry, we have music, we have visual art; it
wasn't just this one fanatic Messiaen; many, many people created art. Why? Well,
in a place where people are only focused on survival, on the bare necessities, the
obvious conclusion is that art must be, somehow, essential for life. The camps
were without money, without hope, without commerce, without recreation,
without basic respect, but they were not without art. Art is part of survival; art is
part of the human spirit, an unquenchable expression of who we are. Art is one of
the ways in which we say, lam alive, and my life has meaning."
In September of 2001 I was a resident of Manhattan. On the morning of September
12, 2001 I reached a new understanding of my art and its relationship to the world.
I sat down at the piano that morning at 10 AM to practice as was my daily routine;
I did it by force of habit, without thinking about it. I lifted the cover on the
keyboard, and opened my music, and put my hands on the keys and took my hands 69
off the keys. And I sat there and thought, does this even matter? Isn't this
completely irrelevant? Playing the piano right now, given what happened in this
city yesterday, seems silly, absurd, irreverent, pointless. Why am I here? What
place has a musician in this moment in time? Who needs a piano player right now?
I was completely lost.
And then I, along with the rest of New York, went through the journey of getting
through that week. I did not play the piano that day, and in fact I contemplated
briefly whether I would ever want to play the piano again. And then I observed
how we got through the day.
Why didn't the narrator play the piano after the terrible incident ?
At least in my neighborhood, we didn't shoot hoops or play Scrabble. We didn't
play cards to pass the time, we didn't watch TV, we didn't shop, we most certainly
did not go to the mall. The first organized activity that I saw in New York, on the
very evening of September 11th, was singing. People sang. People sang around fire
houses, people sang "We Shall Overcome". Lots of people sang America the
Beautiful. The first organized public event that I remember was the Brahms
Requiem, later that week, at Lincoln Center, with the New York Philharmonic. The
first organized public expression of grief, our first communal response to that
historic event, was a concert. That was the beginning of a sense that life might go
on. The US Military secured the airspace, but recovery was led by the arts, and by
music in particular, that very night.
From these two experiences, have come to understand that music is not part of
'arts and entertainment" as the newspaper section would have us believe. ills MI
a luxury, a lavish thing that we fund from leftovers of MU budgets, not a plaything
or an amusement or a, pass time, Music is a basic need of human survival. Music
is one of the ways we make sense of our lives, one of the ways in which we express
feelings when we have no WOMS, a way for us to under stand things with our
hearts when we can't with our minds.
Frankly, ladies and gentlemen, I expect you not only to master music; I expect you
to save the planet, if there is a future wave of wellness on this planet, of harmony,
of peace, of an end to war, of mutual understanding, of equality, c fairness, I don't
expect it will come from a government, a military force; or a corporation'. II no
longer even expect it to come from the religions of the world, which together seem
to have brought us as much war as they have peace.
if there is a filature of peace for humankind, if there is to be an understanding of
how these invisible, internal things should fit together, I expect it will come from
the artists, because that's what we do. As in the concentration camp and the
evening of 9/11, the artists are the ones who might be able to help us with our
internal, invisible hives.'
Dr. Karl Paulnack, a pianist has been an artiste, teacher, music, director and
conductor for more than two decades at the Boston Conservatory,
Massachusettes. He has performed in many concerts and has been hailed as
firecracker of a pianist and masters of his instrument.
The Boston Conservatory is a top musical school which provides students with
technical skills and performance experience in a variety of musical styles and
settings to become musicians
Important Notes from Lesson:
1. Do you know what happened in the Nazi camps?
The Nazi Germany established about 20,000 camps to Imprison many millions
of victims, between 1933 and 1945. These places were called 'concentration
camps', because those imprisoned were physically concentrated in one
location. In these forced labour camps thousands of prisoners of war (POW)
were shot or gassed. Gas chambers (rooms filled with poisonous gas to kill
those inside) were created to kill thousands of Jews everyday.
2. Who is Messiaen? Oliver Eugene Prosper Charles Messiaen of France was a
child prodigy in music and was academically qualified at a very early age.
During the World War II, he was enlisted as a medical auxiliary owing to his
poor eyesight
3. What happen to September 11 2001?
The 'twin Towers of the World Trade Centre, New York, USA, were attacked
and destroyed on September 11, 2001 by terrorists who hijacked and drove
the planes Into the Twin Towers thereby causing the collapse of the Twin
70
Towers.
4. Johannes Brahms composed the German Requiem between 1865 and 1868.
It comprises seven movements, which together last 65 to 80 minutes making
this work Brahma' longest composition.
The New York Philharmonic (officially the Philharmonic-Symphony Society of
New York) is a symphony orchestra based in New York City in the United
States.
5. Shall Overcome' is derived from Charles 77ndleys gospel song Will Overcome
Someday.'
'America the Beautiful' was a song adapted by Guy Caravan, Cindy Caravan
and a few others, near Tennessee.
6. Did you Know : Zubin Mehta, then one of the youngest of a new generation
of internationally known conductors, became the Music Director of the Royal
Philharmonic In 1978. 1-lis tenure was the longest In Philharmonic history,
lasting until 1991.
llaiyaraaja, an Indian Tamil film composer, singer, lyricist was the first Asian
composer to score a symphony for the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. He was
awarded the Padma Bhushan, India's third highest civilian honour, in the year
2010,
8. COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS FROM THE FOLLOWING MOTIVATIONAL
ESSAYS:
GOPALA KRISHNA GOKHALE’S SPEECH:
Gopala Krishna Gokhale was a great freedom fighter of our country. He delivered
a speech in response to the address presented to him by students, on 25th
July1911 at an open air public meeting near Victoria Hall, Mumbai
My first duty on rising is to tender my most sincere and grateful thanks to the
students of Madras for their address which they have just now presented to me.
There is no doubt whatever in my mind that if I could now go back once again to
the days of my studenthood, I would do so at once with pleasure. The life of a
student is, comparatively speaking, a sheltered life. There are, of course, certain
responsibilities; they are definite and they are assigned to you by those who are
willing to take care of you and there is not much need to be constantly exercising
your own judgments. You know that in later life the position is reversed; instead
of others helping you, you have in the first place to help yourself... Gentlemen,
because this is the happy part of your life, there, are certain responsibilities
attached to it which must be well discharged by you, because no privilege in life is
worth having, unless it is attended by corresponding duties and there are certain
duties which those who placed you in your present privileged (adj) - prestigious
privileged position expect you to perform.
I will consider these duties under four heads. First of all, the duty which you owe
to yourselves; then there is the duty which you owe to your fellow-students; the
third duty is the duty which you owe to those in authority over you, and the last
duty is a duty which you owe to those who are around you, not students, but
people of the wider world.
Duty to yourselves
The duty to yourself is twofold. You have first of all to lay by a stack of knowledge
that will suffice you not sincerely for your examinations but will be helpful to you
in later life. Knowledge Is an exacting mistress; she needs devotion, whole hearted,
on the part of the person who seeks her. Such whole-hearted devotion is possible
only in the days of studenthood. Therefore, the first part of the duty towards
yourselves is to take the utmost advantage of your present position, to lay by a
stock of knowledge that will be useful to you in later life.
Importance of character
But it is not merely knowledge that will help you or help any class of human beings
by itself. Along with that knowledge there is another requisite that you must
secure and that is character. It is almost a truism to say that more depends for
71
success in life on character than on knowledge. It is an invidious thing to
distinguish between comparative values of knowledge and character. But since
both are indispensable, I would urge on you that you should attach as much
importance to character as to knowledge. This character must show itself in
earnestness, in energy of action and in high and generous sentiments being
brought to bear upon the discharge of your duties and in recognizing what is due
to yourselves. You have to acquire a character which will raise the whole life of the
people amidst whom you move and for whom you are expected to work.
As character will naturally have to act on those around you, the stronger, the
firmer and nobler it is, the better work you will do for the country. Even if you
acquire a fairly high character while you are at school or college; it may not always
be easy to retain that character in the struggles of later life, because you are sure
to be acted upon by those who are around you. But if you begin by acquiring a
strong character for yourselves and when you In course of time, occupy the place
of the present seniors, then the students or the younger men of the succeeding
generation will find that the forces that act on them are more helpful for retaining
a good character than possibly what you may be able to find today. This is the
twofold duty which you owe to yourselves — the acquiring of knowledge (I use
'knowledge' in its widest sense) not only knowledge from every quarter which will
be useful to you in later life - and acquiring character which will enable you to
achieve success in whatever work you may take on hand. That, in brief, is the duty
to yourselves.
Duty to fellow-students
Your duty to your fellow-students will teach you in later life and will secure for you
the habit of co-operation. The foundation of the habit of co-operation is really to
be laid in our student days, because you are trained to be together in your class,
and you cannot have it all your own way, if you want to get on with your class.
Therefore, if you use your opportunities property, you will know exactly how to
get on with them by sometimes giving in to them and sometimes standing out for
your own view, being regardful of the feelings and considerations of other people.
This habit of co-operation once acquired will continue with you all your life. It is
not easy to acquire it In later life if you have not already acquired it in your student
days.
Duty to parents and teachers
Your third duty is towards those in authority over you. Obedience to parents,
especially during the time of student hood and reverence for teachers while you
are studying under them — these are two of the most essential conditions
necessary for acquiring knowledge and for taking the fullest advantage of those
opportunities which are placed within your reach while you are students.
What are the two valuable qualities to be practised by you as students?
While you are young men and students, while parents have to care for you and
find means wherewith to enable you to prosecute your studies, it is necessary that
their wishes should prevail with you In all matters, but when once your education
is completed, and the struggle of life commences and when you are able to stand
on your own legs, you owe it to yourselves and to your country, that you should
use your own judgement as to what work you should do.
Reverence towards teachers
In the same way you owe reverence to your teacher while you are at school or
college. Unless your whole attitude in the college and the school is founded upon
a proper feeling of reverence for the teacher, you will miss one of the principal
lessons of the school or college life, viz., the appreciation of discipline. Remember
that In later life, along with the spirit of co-operation, what you will need most and
what you need most in public life is a true spirit of discipline — the true spirit of
that discipline which voluntarily subordinates your Judgement your convenience
and personal gain to common good. Unless you acquire this habit at school or
college, it will not be possible for you to acquire it in later life.
Duty to government
In addition to that, you owe a duty to the rulers, the Government which is the
authority over us all. Students with their generous mind and unsophisticated
hearts naturally fall an easy prey to stirring up emotion. But that very circumstance
unfits them in some instances to exercise independent judgement on current
affairs. In any case, as long as they are students, not standing on their own feet, it
is not their business to do so. While they are students, their attitude towards the
Government of the country, such as it may be good, bad or indifferent, should be
one of acquiescence, loyal acquiescence.
You should do nothing whereby your relations with the authorities will be
disturbed. You should, no doubt, study public questions, but wait for your time.
72
But while you are students you should give no cause to anybody to say that your
attitude towards the authorities is one of greater or less hostility.
Duty to wider world
The last duty that you owe to those who are in the wider world is to acquire a
knowledge of their needs, observe their condition and observe their struggle, and
to acquire an attitude to mind, so as to sympathise with those who are struggling,
even though you are not immediately able to give them redress. There is a great
deal of injustice and suffering in the wider world which requires to be remedied
and when it comes to you to play the part of grown-up men, it is expected you will
contribute your share to remove these things. In the meantime you must not enter
the wider world without knowledge. Observe and study the conditions carefully,
as you are bound to do.
DALE CARNEGIE’S – THE ROAD TO SUCCESS.
Success does not mean the absence of failures.
It means the attainment of ultimate objectives.
It means winning the war, not every battle.
- Edwin C Bliss
The road to success is not a bed of roses, It is full of thorns, pitfalls and gins. Only
those who wade through the hazards and hurdles with grit and determination
could smell success. That is how Gandhi became a leader par excellence; that
made Churchill the greatest and the most successful war time leader. These traits
and qualities have paid rich dividends to Sachin and made him persona grata. After
all, winners don't do different things. They do things differently. Have you the
determination to succeed? Are you willing to devote the time and energy
necessary to achieve success?
Here are some proven techniques that will help you to achieve success and
happiness in life.
The first step is to set yourself clear goals, to define precisely what you want to
achieve. Goals provide direction to your behaviour and guide your thoughts and
actions to the desired outcomes. Goal plans enable you to go beyond momentary
influences and organise your behaviour over extended- periods of time. Goals
should be an extension of your values, your most important fundamental beliefs.
Specific goals are better than general ones. Self-chosen goals are better than
assigned ones. Choose goals that are challenging but reachable. Write down your
short term and long term goals. This will help you in establishing priorities and in
deciding on the actions that you must engage in. Form a very intense, extremely
vivid mental picture of what you want. Verbalise your mental picture with a brief,
concise, forceful 'GOAL COMMAND'. Repeat it everyday to make it easier for your
sub-conscious mind to embrace them. As Swami Vivekananda says, "Take up one
idea. Make that one idea your life - think of it, dream of it, live on that idea. Let
the brain, muscles, every part of your body, be full of that idea, and just leave every
other idea alone. This is the way to success".
Prepare an 'Action plan', outlining the specific steps needed to accomplish the
result you want. You must get timely feed-back on your progress and be able to
modify your strategies when changes occur. Sometimes, even if the goals are not
attained the resultant consequences, feed-back or reinforcement can be
beneficial. There are literally millions of things in this world which are right and
which need to be done - but to which you must mentally, if not vocally say "No!"
No person has the time and the ability to do any but a few things which need to
be done.
The proven success method is this:
(1) Say " No" generally.
(2) Say "yes" very, very selectively
You simply concentrate your thought, time and effort on your one main goal. You
cannot possibly do all of the things you will be asked to do. So you are going to
have to say 'No' to a lot of desirable and worthwhile things, simply because they
are "incompatible" with the necessary work you must do to reach your main goal.
Don't be afraid of failure. Failure is an accepted procedure in experimenting,
research, testing and all scientific forms of "finding out". Failure is simply the
means of finding out what will not work so that it can be eliminated in the search
for what will work. So there is no need to think of failure as something to be feared
and avoided.
73
Edison and his staff conducted 17,000 experiments which failed before they
succeeded in the one experiment which enabled them to extract latex in
substantial quantities from just one variety of plant, which was worth the 17,000
failures! Besides, failure is good for your character and personality. It is a
challenging experience. The next step is to develop proper self-concept. What you
think about yourself is very important. Persons with high self-esteem feel unique,
competent, secure, empowered and connected to the people around them.
Whereas people who have poor self-concept feel insecure, lack self confidence
and become withdrawn. To improve your self-esteem, become aware of your
hidden potentialities and activate them. Take note of your shortcomings and
drawbacks and try to overcome them. You can prepare a 'Weed list' and a 'Seed
list'. Believe firmly that you can improve. As the Bhagavad Gita says, "One should
lift oneself by one's own efforts and should not degrade oneself; for one's own self
is on s friend, and one's own self is one's enemy".
Another aspect of self-development is 'Time Management'. Time is your most
valuable resource. Successful people are those who manage their time efficiently.
They find time for everything; reading newspapers, jogging and even occasional
visits to the cinema. Since they have planned everything, they feel relaxed and do
their work efficiently. What about you? Do you make optimum use of your time?
To know this, write down all you did yesterday with the amount of time spent on
each activity. Then you will realise how much time is being wasted on useless
activities and why you are not able to achieve your targets in time. Draw a time-
table for your daily activities and try to stick to it. Keeping a diary is another useful
habit which you must cultivate. This will help you review and monitor your
progress.
Many people make themselves miserable by trying to imitate others. Mrs. Edith
Allred was one such person. She remained unhappy even after she married into a
poised and self-confident family. A chance remark by her mother-in-law
transformed her life. While talking about how she brought her children up, her
mother-in-law said, "No matter what happened, I always insisted on their being
themselves". In a flash Mrs. Allred realised that she had brought misery on herself
by trying to fit herself into a pattern to which she did not conform. She changed
overnight. She started being herself. She tried to make a study of her own
personality. Now she is the happiest person.
The renowned psychologist, William James was speaking of people who had never
found themselves when he declared that the average person develops only ten
percent of his or her latent abilities.
You and I have such abilities. So, do not waste a second worrying because you are
not like other people. Remember you are unique. There never was and never will
be anybody exactly like you. Make the most of what nature gave you. For better
or for worse, you must play your own instrument in the orchestra of life.
As Emerson says, "Envy is ignorance and imitation is suicide". No real benefit will
come to you except through your own toil. Nature has given you the power. You
only know what you can and cannot do. So, find yourself and be yourself. There
are people who keep on grumbling and complaining. For them here is the story of
Harold Abbott who used to worry a lot. One day, he happened to see a man who
had no legs but looked cheerful and happy. He greeted him with a grand smile. At
that moment, Harold Abbott felt ashamed of his self-pity. He realised how rich he
was. He had two legs and he could walk. This realisation changed his mind. That
was a turning point in his life. If we want to be happy, all we have to do is to
concentrate on the ninety percent things that are right in our lives and ignore the
ten percent that are wrong.
Think of all we have to be grateful for and thank God for all our boons and
bounties. Would you sell your eyes for a billion dollars? What would you take for
your legs? Your hands? Your hearing? Your family? Add up your assets and you will
find that you won't sell what you have for all the gold amassed by the Rockfellers,
the Fords and the Morgans combined. So, "Count your blessings, not your
troubles". Make the best of your time. Be optimistic. Plan your work and work your
plan. Success will knock at your door. Adieu!
DR.APJ ABDUL KALAM’S ‘VISION FOR THE NATION’ (FROM INDIA2020)
India is a nation of a billion people. A nation's progress depends upon how its
people think. It is thoughts which are transformed into actions. India has to think
as a nation of a billion people. Let the young minds blossom full of thoughts, the
thoughts of prosperity.
Nations are built by the imagination and untiring enthusiastic efforts of
generations. One generation transfers the fruits of its toil to another which then
take forward the mission. As the coming generation also has its dreams and
aspirations for the nation's future, it therefore adds something from its side to the
national vision; which the next generation strives hard to achieve. This process 74
goes on and the nation climbs steps of glory and gains higher strength.
The first vision: Freedom of India
Any organisation, society or even a nation without a vision is like a ship cruising on
the high seas without any aim or direction. It is clarity of national vision which
constantly drives the people towards the goal. Our last generation, the glorious
generation of freedom fighters, led by Mahatma Gandhi, and many others set for
the nation a vision of free India. This was the first vision, set by the people for the
nation. It therefore went deep into the minds and the hearts of the masses and
soon became the great inspiring and driving force for the people to collectively
plunge into the struggle for freedom movement. The unified dedicated efforts of
the people from every walk of life won freedom for the country.
The Second vision: Developed India
The next generation (to which I also belong) has put India strongly on the path of
economic, agricultural and technological development. But India has stood too
long in the line of developing nations. Let us, collectively, set the second national
vision of Developed India. I am confident that it is very much possible and can
materialise in 15 20 years' time.
Developed status
What does the developed nation status mean in terms of the common man? It
means the major transformation of our national economy to make it one of the
largest economies in the world, where the countrymen live well above the poverty
line, their education and health is of high standard, national security reasonably
assured, and the core competence in certain major areas gets enhanced
significantly so that the production of quality goods, including exports, is rising and
thereby bringing all-round prosperity for the countrymen. What is the common
link needed to realise these sub-goals? It is the technological strength of the
nation, which is the key to reach this developed status.
Build around our strength
The next question that comes to the mind is, how can it be made possible? We
have to build and strengthen our national infrastructure in an all-round manner,
in a big way. Therefore, we should build around our existing strengths including
the vast pool of talented scientists nd technologists and our abundant natural
resources. The manpower resource should be optimally utilised to harness health
care, services sectors and engineering goods sectors. We should concentrate on
development of key areas, namely agriculture production, food processing,
materials and also on the emerging niche areas like computer software,
biotechnologies and so on. The common link required to bring this transformation
is the human resources. Therefore, adequate attention needs to be paid to
development of special human resource cadre in the country to meet these
objectives.
Beyond 2020
The attainment of a developed status by 2020 does not mean that we can then
rest on our laurels. It is an endless pursuit of well-being for all our people. Our
vision of a developed nation integrates this element of time within it as well. Only
people with many embodied skills and knowledge, and with ignited minds can be
ready for such a long-term vision. We believe that it is possible to develop our
people to reach such a state, provided we can follow a steady path and make
available to the people the benefits of change all through their lives. They should
see their lives and those of others improving in actual terms, and not merely in
statistical tables.
Actions
This means the vision should become a part of the nation, transcending
governments the present and the future. To make this happen, several actions are
required. An important element of these efforts is to develop various endogenous
technological strengths. After all, technologies are primarily manifestations of
human experience and knowledge and thus are capable of further creative
development, under enabling environments.
We have often asked ourselves and others why India in its several thousand years
of history has rarely tried to expand its territories or to assume a dominating role.
Many of the experts and others with whom we had a dialogue referred to some
special features of the Indian psyche which could partly explain this: greater
tolerance, less discipline, the lack of a sense of retaliation, more flexibility in
accepting outsiders, great adherence to hierarchy, and emphasis on personal
safety over adventure. Some felt that a combination of many of these features has
affected our ability to pursue a vision tenaciously.
75
We believe that as a nation and as a people we need to shed our cynicism and
initiate concrete action to realise the second vision for the nation. The first vision,
seeded around 1857, was for India to become politically independent; the second
one is to become a fully developed nation. Our successful action will lead to further
action, bringing the vision much closer to reality. Perhaps in a decade from now
we may even be judged as having been cautious and conservative! We will be
happy if the action taken proves that they could have been still bolder in
advocating a faster march towards a developed India!
We had written this chapter before the nuclear tests on II May 1998. The details
of the numbers projected in the tables and figures may change but our belief in
what we say there remains unchanged. In any case, they are meant to be indicative
of directions for change. We have seen the reactions to the tests within the
country in the Indian and foreign media. We have also had the benefit of private
conversations with many Indians. In all these, I observed one striking feature: a
number of persons in the fifty-plus bracket and especially those who are in
powerful positions in government, industry, business and academia, seem to lack
the will to face problems. They would like to be supported by other countries in
every action we have to take in the country. This is not a good sign after fifty years
of an independent India which has all along emphasised 'self reliance'.
We are not advocating xenophobia nor isolation. But all of us have to be clear that
nobody is going to hold our hands to lead us into the 'developed country club'.
Nuclear tests are the culmination of efforts to apply nuclear technology for
national security. When we carried out the tests in May 1998, India witnessed
issuing of sanctions by a few developed countries. In the process, the same
countries have purposely collapsed their own doctrine of global marketing, global
finance systems and global village. Hence India has to evolve its own original
economic policy, as well as development, business and marketing strategies.
It is not just that the Indian nuclear tests are resented. If tomorrow Indian software
export achieves a sizable share in the global market, becoming third or fourth or
fifth in size, we should expect different types of reactions. Today, we are a small
percentage of the total trade in software or information technology. Similarly, if
India becomes a large enough exporter of wheat or rice or agro-food products to And out for zero,
take it into an exclusive club of four or five top food grain-exporting nations,
various new issues would be raised couched in scientific and technical terms He’s in again
ranging from phyto-sanitary specifications to our contribution to global warming. To strike a ton:
Multilateral regimes to these effects exist in terms of General Agreement on Trade 76
and Tariffs (GATT) and other environment-related multilateral treaties. India A lovely shot
cannot afford not to sign these treaties, though we could have done our
homework a little better during the negotiations. We have to face what we have
with us. We need to play the multilateral game, attract foreign investments, have Then out for one
joint ventures and be an active international player. Still, we have to remember Our demon bowler
that those who aim high, have to learn to walk alone too, when required. There
are economic and social problems in South-East Asia and Japan. Each country is Runs in quick;
trying to tackle them in its own way. There is a variety in the approaches. Some
He’s really fast,
may overcome the difficulties and some may not.

We believe India can still emerge a major developed country and all its people can
Though hit for six
contribute to and share in the prosperity. Our hope lies in the fact that even in the
older generation, there are a number of persons who are ready to face the In cam their slogger;
challenges. Most of the people are proud to see an India that is bold. In addition,
the younger generation is ready to take action in such a complex environment. He swung his bat
Many of them have to contend with difficult hierarchical structures in the Indian
And missed by inches;
systems, whether in the private or public sector, in government or in academia.
They are ready to rough it out. That is where our hopes lie for the realisation of
the Second Vision. Our wicket keeper’s getting stitches.
RUSKIN BOND’S ‘OUR LOCAL TEAM’. Where’s our captain?
Indian youth have become Inspired by great cricketers from around the world ¬the In the deep.
game has caught on like wild fire. Children who show an interest in the game are
often on the lookout for support and encouragement from quarters. Sometimes What’s he doing?
however. Some games don't work.

Here is an Interesting poem showing just how one game doesn't! Fast asleep

Last man in;

Here comes our batting hero
He kicks a boundary with his pad.
Salutes the crowd
L.B.W ! not out?
Takes guard:
The Ump’s his dad!
 HOPE SPENCER’S ‘KEEP YOUR SPIRITS HIGH’
The present seems all dreary
The future very grim,
Your problems are perplexing,
Your chances rather slim,
You're sick and tired of trying,
And your hope is fading,
There's only one solution –
It's 'keep your spirits high".
The way ahead is puzzling,
And clouds obstruct your view,
If this is how you're feeling,
There's Just one thing to do;
Don't prove yourself a quitter
Though you're feeling sad and bitter,
But grit your teeth and bear it
And keep your spirits high!
Good luck is round the corner
So have a smiling face:
For soon your fears will vanish,
And joy will take their place,
Look forward to tomorrow
77
There will be an end to sorrow,
Because you have the courage,
To keep your spirits high
DEEPA AGARWAL’S ‘AFTER THE STORM’
The storm raged all night. Lightning crackled arid the wind howled like a demon.
Saruli cowered under the covers and clung to her mother when she heard the
thunder. A peculiar crack-crack-SNAP, followed by a tremendous crash, as though
a giant had fallen to the ground.
What is that?" she asked her mother.
"The trees,' her mother replied. "The wind is blowing them down."
'The trees!" Saruli was shocked. The wind was strong, very strong. But was it
powerful enough to knock down those enormous pines—so straight and tall?
The next morning she saw it for herself. Row upon row of the lofty pines lay
stretched helplessly on the ground. Sarull was stunned. Half the Jungle seemed
bare. Most of the people from the small hill village were there, foraging for
branches and dragging them away. But Sarull, a wiry girl of thirteen, stood there
stunned.
Gripped with fear Saruli was thinking of the barren hillside across the valley How
desolate it looked! real contrast to the forest near their village, which was full 01
fresh grass and shrubs. Suppose... suppose all the trees fell down ... wouldn't the
forest disappear? With an effort she dismissed these thoughts and began to called
wood. Fuel was always an important need. Saruli gathered a large bundle. On her
way back, she passed Diwan Singh's house, The old man was seated outside. "You
want soma wood, under she asked. Without waiting for an answer she dropped
pail of her bundle in one comer of the paved courtyard.
'The contractors pay money to the Forest Department to tap the trees. They are
allowed to do le said Jaman in a low voice.
Old Diwan Singh was the headman of her village. It was to be expected,' he said
slowly. “he trees have been totally hollowed by the resin-tappers” Saruli's brown
eyes opened wide. l wondered how so many trees had fallen down". Diwan Singh
said, "First they only made one cut on the trees to tap resin. Now they keep on
making gashes till the trees are utterly drained. Even a moderately strong wind can
below them over, they are so dry." 'Cant_ can't someone stop them?' Saruli asked,
horrified. Diwan sighed. 'Who can stop them, girl? The contractors are rich,
influential people. They pay a lot of money to tap the trees:
Saruli got up go home. As she stood up, she glanced at Diwan Singh's strange
nursery. He was growing saplings. Not the baby pines which sprang up themselves
in the rains, but shoots of oak and dewier— the native trees of the hills. Diwan
Singh told Sarull, 'When I was a boy this was a forest of oak and deader. The British
Government cut them down and planted pines."
"But, Why?" Sarull had asked.
"Because pine trees can be tapped for resin and resin has many uses. But they
forgot that oaks bring rain and trap the water. Pines dry out the land."
It was a holiday for school. Saruli took her cow to graze in the forest. The sight of
the fallen trees-trunks was depressing. Many of the other village children were
there too, with their goats and cam. "Come and play hide and seek!" Jaman called.
Rut Sandi shook her head. She sat on a rock, thinking and thinking. How could they
save their forest?
"What is the matter'?'"' Jaman asked afters while.
"I am scared," she replied, after a short pause. 'Suppose another storm comes
along and all the trees are blown down. What will we do then?'
'The contractors pay money to the Forest Department to tap the trees. They are
allowed to do it,'
But Saruli was rushing to the nearest pine tree. There she found several gashes
which had gone dry. At the end of one, there was a conical tin cup, into which the
sticky resin fell, drop by drop. She wrenched off the tin cup and threw it away.
"That is what we can dot" She cried triumphantly. Jaman put some day to seal the
gashes.
The other children gathered around curiously. Saruli cried excitedly. "Come on,
help to save our forest!"
78
She raced around pulling the tin cups off the trees. And Jaman followed with the
clay. The others joined In enthusiastically.
A week passed. The little group managed to remove the tin containers from a large
portion of the jungle. Then, one morning, four men entered the forest to collect
resin. Saruli's heart thudded suddenly. The showdown had come. But she had to
stay calm. She could hear their muttered exclamations of surprise which turned
into anger to find the trees devoid of the resin containers.
Finally, they came up to the children who were swarming up around a tree. 'Do
you know who has done this?' one of the men demanded. Saruli had seen him
around. He was called Lai Singh.
The children looked at each other, not knowing what to say. Then Saruli jumped
down from the kafal tree. "We did it," she said.
"Wha-at?" the man seemed unable to understand.
"Yes,' Saruli said quietly. 'We threw away the containers'.
"You brats! How dare you!" Lal Singh exploded. His companions swore and
muttered angrily. "Now we will have to put them again," Lal Singh continued.
"Don't you dare touch the trees now?"
He produced a chisel-like tool and began to scrape off the mud plaster the children
had applied.
"Stop!" Saruli cried, hurling herself at him. He pushed her aside roughly but Jaman
and the others joined in too.
help from the village. We have got to save the forest!"
Radha ran fast. But the taller man caught up quickly. He was about to grab her.
Suddenly, a jeep jerked to an abrupt halt. 'What Is going on?" a voice spoke from
inside.
Lai Singh sprang forward eagerly. Jaman followed. Then his eye fell on what was BRIAN PATTERN’S “YOU CAN’T BE THAT NO YOU CAN’T BE THAT”
written on the number plate. "The D.F.O. Sid' he muttered nervously.
I told them:
The District Forest Officer jumped out of the jeep. One of the man had Radha by
the arm was gesticulating and pointing to the trees. Radha looked terrified! When I grow up
79
"What is the meaning of all this?" the D.F.O. asked. I'm not going to be a scientist

'She is the ring leader,' Lal Singh said accusingly. Or someone who reads the news on TV.

"Sir, we are only trying to save our forest ! Saruli said vehemently. No, a million birds will fly through me.

Taken aback by Seruli’s Impassioned outburst, the D.F.O. followed her to the edge I'm going to be a tree.
of the forest. He stared otitis fallen tree-trunks and frowned. They said:
"It is the resin-tapping, Sir," Saruli repeated. 'if all the trees fall down, what will we You can't be that, No, you can't be that.
do?

But the D.F.O. was lost in thought. "I shall have to think about it; he said finally.
'OurJob is to preserve the forests. Tell your contractor to talk to me I told them:

Lal Singh's eyes almost fell out with shock, but the children dapped gleefully. When I grow up. I'm not going to be an airline plot,

The D.F.O. got into his jeep and drove away. a dancer, a lawyer, or an MC.

A month went by. The resin-tappers did not come again and the children No. huge whales will swim In me, I'm going to be an ocean.

'What are you up to now? "Diwan Singh asked.' They said:

'answered Saruli. You can't be that No, you can't be that

She smiled happily up at him. Just then, they saw a familiar jeep. °D.F.O. &Weald
Diwan Singh.
I told them:
The D.F.O. got off the jeep and smiled at Saruli 'keep it up,' he patted her back.
'The resin tappers will not trouble you again." I'm not going to be a DJ,

'Thank you, Sir, thank your chanted a chorus of voices. The Jeep sped down the a computer programmer, a musician, or beautician
road. A breeze rustled through the trees making them sound like a dIstant No, streams will flow through me. I'll be the home of eagles;
waterfall. Saruli sighed happily. They would continue to hear that sound. They had
achieved their — goal. They had saved the forest I'll be full of nooks, crannies, valleys, and fountains.

Nothing would destroy their forest now I'm going to be a range of mountains.
They said:
You can't be that. No, you can't be that
I asked them:
Just what do you think I am?
Just a child, they said.
And children always become at least one of the things we want them to be.
They do not understand me.
I'll be a stable if i want, smelling of fresh hay.,
I'll be a lost glade In which unicorns still play.
They do not realize I can fulfill any ambition.
They do not realize among them walks a magician.
9. COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS FROM THE FOLLOWING DESCRIPTION OF
PLACES
AHTUSHI DESHPANDE’S ‘TO THE LAND OF SNOW’.
A Walk to the Milam Glacier on the edge of Tibet.- AhtushiDeshpande
A 24-hour journey in a UP Roadways bus is not the most comfortable way to get
to Munsiyari, I realise, as I count the numerous bumps on my head the morning
after. I had been rudely awakened, several times during the journey - most notably
around midnight, when the bus followed in hot pursuit of a rabbit, the passengers
cheering on the driver. (The rabbit was eventually caught, put in a sack and locked
up in the glove compartment.) But when I step off the bus in Munsiyari, all
memories of the bizarre journey vanish - the five mythological Pandavas stand
proud before my eyes, their legend forever ensconced in the five majestic peaks
of the Panchchuli range. Situated in a remote corner of
Kumaon bordering Tibet and Nepal, Munsiyari was once a bustling entrepot of
trade. On a trekking trail north-west of Munsiyari is the Milam Glacier, one of the
longest in the region.
The four-day trek to the village of Milam at the end of this old trade route to Tibet
80
is dotted with abandoned Bhutia villages. In the wake of the India- China war of
1962, trade came to a halt and the hardy Bhutia traders migrated to the towns and
cities below. I am eager to set off on the trek to the glacier. Mr. Rare, the KMVN
(Kumaon Mandal Vikas Nigam) manager, is helpful and tells me that his father,
Khem Nam, could act as guide on my trek. Khem Nam turns out to be fully 65 years
old, a veteran of these valleys. We make a list of provisions and set off shopping
at the Munsiyari bazaar, a stronghold of the Bhutia traders. As I make my
purchases, the shop-owner proudly tells me that his daughter and son-in-law hold
important IAS posts in Delhi. The Bhutias, who once ruled the trade routes, may
have lost their business, but they have retained their enterprise. It is heartening
to meet Laxmi, our porter, the following morning. He is a sturdy young man and
seems like just the support frailKhem Nam and I need. Rucksacks loaded, we head
straight down to the Gori river.
For three days our path first takes us upstream along the Goriganga, and then into
the shrouded Milam valley where the narrow gorges afford few views. Abandoned
Bhutia villages dot our path and I increasingly get the feeling that we are traversing
a long-forgotten route. On the fourth day we cross the ghost villages of Burfu and
Bilju before we reach Milam.
It is now our sixth day on the trek; it has rained the whole night, and the morning
brings even drearier weather. At over 4000m, firewood is hard to come by.
Keeping warm is tough, and distraction is the best recourse. The sun plays truant
for most of the day, raising doubts about the feasibility of our venturing further
up. Howling winds, clouds, bright sunshine and hailstorms chase each other
through the skies, and I spend the day moseying in and out of our cave. We are
camped at RagashKund, a little pond with a shepherd's cave on a grassy meadow
above the glacier, where we sit out the bad weather for two days and nights. From
Milam village it has taken us a day to get to our current position, en route to Suraj
Kund which (as I am later told) takes a detour via heaven because "you gotta be
dead first" before you get there. The rains of 1997 caused a lot of damage to the
terrain and we are told that no one ventured beyond the snout of the glacier that
year. But Khem Nam is not to be deterred. "I know the glacier like the back of my
hand, I will find us a way", he insists. His confidence is heartening - my map does,
after all, show a trekking trail, and I am fascinated with the idea of seeing this
sacred lake nestled in a far nook of the glacier.
On the slope opposite our camp is the fascinating summit of Mandayo, which
spirals up into the blue sky like a giant corkscrew. Slapped with steep cliffs on all
faces, it looks every inch an insurmountable peak. To my immediate right the
Nanda Pal glacier slopes down sharply. It could easily have been built up as a very
challenging ski slope except, of course, for the fact that it ends in a cold and
menacing snout with icy waters flowing beneath. I feel as if I have trespassed on
some hidden and forbidden world of beautiful peaks and ominous glaciers. For the
locals the glaciated region is one to be feared - a land of demons and spirits waiting
to devour the unholy, but for the avid trekker, a journey into what is literally a no
man's land can be the experience of a lifetime.
To see the cold snowy peaks coming to life with the first rays of the sun is simply
magical. Getting to SurajKund is now the task at hand. Entire slopes have, well, slid
down, taking with them the centuries old path. To my untrained eye, the glacier
looks impossible to walk on. Luckily, Khem Nam thinks otherwise he has done a
recce the previous evening and is now sure of our route. After a big breakfast, we
set off on the final leg of our pilgrimage to SurajKund. It is not an easy path - we
hop overstones on landslides and delicately tread on the glacier rubble. The
majestic mountains towering all around still look surreal, offering distraction from
the fretful path. In all, nine smaller glaciers feed the Milam glacier system, each
with its own set of peaks from which they emerge
Crevasses dot our route as Khem Nam lines it with dark stone markers to help us
return. As we walk dead centre of the glacier, the 80m icefall starting from the
base of the Hardeoli and Trishuli peaks comes Into fuller view.The last leg is up, a
landslide. I turn a comer and there below, in a hidden nook sandwiched between
two glaciers, stand the twin ponds of Dudh and SurajiKund with the stunning icefall
farming a magnificent backdrop. I greedily bend down to drink some water from
the holy pond -it is the sweetest I have ever tasted: it is a long haul back and we
reached our camp at Ragash Kund only after nightfall.
The following morning we return to Milam by afternoon, the skies are showering
down snowflakes the size of my palm. It snows continuously for the next three
days and nights, heaving us stranded in the 'civilisation' of Milam. Patience is an
art well learnt when one is at the mercy of nature. Just when mine is beginning to
wear thin,the skies clear. The autumn landscape is turning wintry.
I am Out on the path by six there is something ft am keen to see. Three kilometres
0Wrif from Milam lie the ruins of Bilju. Icicles hang from abandoned roofs, and
fields of creamy snow line the tops. Facing the ghost village stand the twin peaks
of Nanda Devi main and Nanda Devi. east. I am transfixed. it is like the view you
get from Binsar, but with sin 800mm zoom lens attached to your eyes! 81
I look deeply into its visage, trying to etch in my mind every details of the vast
expanse of the valley and the falorn abandoned village, blessed by a goddess o=no
less than Nanda Devi herself. I Pay my obeisance, Khem Nam and Laxmi arrive, and
we head back towards Munsiyari and traffic.
YAANAI MALAI –BY MANOHAR DEVADOSS
Sometimes, landscapes can speak to us. But they only talk if we are willing to listen
to them.
Manohar devadoss loves his hometown Madurai. A scientist by profusion,the
writer has produced some exquisite pen sketches of Madurai and its surroundings.
One of his sketches of Yaanai Malai has been reproduced here for you.
But what makes him extraordinary is not his versatility. It is his indomitable spirit.
For more than thirty years, Manohar Devadoss has had Retinitis Pigmentosa, an
eye disorder that slowly but surely reduces vision. His wife Mahema, an immensely
courageous person in her own right, was paralyzed below the shoulders, following
a road accident 36 years ago_ The love that they could bring to each other in the
face of great tragedy has been a source of inspiration to all who have known them.
Read, and discover it
The city of Madurai has been in existence for at least 2400 years. Throughout its
history the city has nurtured Tamil literature. Over the centuries, Madura' has
become famous for its temple complex. Rich In traditions, this ancient temple
town has acquired its very own mythologies, evolving its own customs and
festivals.
A dominant landmark of the north-eastern outskirts of Madurai is Yaanai Malai, a
solid rocky hill. When seen or approached from Madurai, this hill has a rather
striking resemblance to a seated elephant - hence the name Yaanai Malai
(Elephant Hill). Dotted with starkly beautiful palmyra trees, this part of rural
Madurai had a character all Its own,
The paddy fields here were nourished by monsoon rains, supplemented by water
from large wells called Yettrams, which have all but vanished from the rural scene
today. Yettrams were extensively used during my boyhood to draw water from
these large, square, irrigation wells. A yettram well had long casuarina poles tied
together with a rope, a large bucket made of leather at one end and a counterpoise
at the other, enabling a man to single-handedly draw large volumes of water.
On a cool moon in October, in the early 1950s, a school friend and I, on an impulse,
decided to take a cross-country trek to Yaanai Malai, climb up the hill and stand
on its head to look at Madurai and the surrounding country. At one stage the hilt
seemed close enough but as we walked on it seemed to move further away.
Suddenly an idyllic rural scene presented itself. We saw watery fields being
ploughed. There was a large, square yettram well from which a wiry old man was
drawing water. Yaanai Malal was an imposing and silent backdrop.
Monsoon clouds began to gather, darkening the upper sky and softening the light
falling on the austere scene. The landscape was placid but the sky was in turmoil.
And yet, there was perfect harmony between land and sky. The sky became darker
and light played games on the hill. A large drop of water hit my head. Almost
immediately, a heavy downpour tore open the sky and the hill instantly
disappeared behind curtains of water. As we walked back to Maduri thoroughly
drenched, my friend complained with chattering teeth that the rain had ruined our
plan.
I thought that what we had witnessed moments earlier was a rare visual gift and
that we could always climb Yaanai Malai some other day. But my destiny decreed
that, in this life, I was not to climb up this hill to enjoy viewing Madurai and its
enveloping beauty. However, many years later - in October 1986 — I was to
capture in ink on paper, the magic of the moment, of that distant afternoon,
before lashing rains obliterated the serene landscape.
During my adolescence, Yaanai Malai inspired in me a sense of mystique. Though
I gave a premium to rationalism then, I had difficulty thinking of Yaanai Malai as a
non-living, huge chunk of stone.
To me the hill seemed like a silent witness to all that was happening in Madurai,
through Its history. To this day, I dream of this hill In ways that relate to visual
pleasure In 2001, at a time when my vision - due to an Incurable visual syndrome,
Retinitis pigmentosa had declined to a level when I was hardly able to see any
details of a distant landscape, I dreamt that my wife, Mahema — who became
paralysed below her shoulders, following a road accident in 1972— was in her
wheelchair and that I stood by her side on top of Yaanai Malai. in this vivid dream, 82
I showed her some of the important landmarks of Madurai, the tower of the large
Vandiyoor temple tank, the cupolas of the historic palace called the mahal, the
great gateway towers of the temple and many hills far and near. I told Mahema In
my dream that had Thirumalal Nayak the ruler who had built the mahal three-and-
a-half centuries earlier, climbed up the hill then, he would have had a view not
vastly different from the one we were looking at.
The monolith, Yaanal Malai looks like an elephant only when it is viewed from the
southwest. Happily, Madurai sits to the southwest of Yaanai Malai. What appears
from Madurai to have a pyramidal shape is in actuality a very elongated hill. The
Melur road from Madurai runs many miles parallel to the south eastern slope of
the hill. When viewed from here, the hill has a different yet dominant appeal, as
one can see from this drawing of the hill that I completed In June 2002 and have
pleasure in presenting below. The broad band of paddy fields ends not far from
the hill and then the monolith rises abruptly and steeply like a mighty fortress. The
pale brown hue of the hill is enriched by discrete downward streaks of rust-red
stains.
During the cool winter months, before the emerald of the paddy fields slowly turns
into a wealth of gold, small flocks of lily-white egrets alight here to feast upon the
tiny, silvery fish that stray into the shallow waters of the fields. The egrets slow,
flapping take-off and the gentle swoop of soft-landing-as they hop from one part
of the field to another — are as graceful as the movements of ballerinas.
The borders of the paddy fields are often lined with rows of palmyra trees. Small
bushes grow wild at the foot of the trees. During the winter season, these plants
burst into thousands of yellow flames of flowers.
BRIHADEESVARAR TEMPLE:
The Brihadeesvarar Temple or The Big Temple as it is commonly called by the
natives of Tanjore, is an architectural marvel of immense glory, that has astounded
the world with its stupendous proportions and grandeur. Built in the year 1010 by
King Raja Raja Chola, this monument of World Heritage has, for a thousand years,
stood as a symbol of the flourishing sculptural expertise and rich culture of ancient
India.
Tanjore, 'the Granary of Tamilnadu' is also the home of carnatic music, dance and
traditional handicrafts. Thanjavur was the ancient capital of the Chola kings, and
the stylized bronze work for which the Chola period was famous, is still produced
in this town.
Having overloaded myself with this and more information on Tanjore, I reached
the palace in search of all the glory of the old Chola capital. The 16" century palace
complex was built by the nayaaks and later renovated by the Marathas. Situated
dose to the old bus stand, the first of the museums I visited here was the Royal
Museum, "Is this the might and valour of the Cholas I heard of? What am I seeing
here?" I wondered: a scantily lit room with drums, urns, perfume bottles, wooden
boxes, manuscripts, gifts, jewellery, weapons and other belongings of the
Marathas.
A painting of a Maratha King welcomes you to the Durbar Hail. On the rear side of
the painting an array of Pallava and Chola statues throws light on the
craftsmanship of their era. The Art Gallery at the palace has an impressive line-up
of granite and bronze monolithic statues, with details of excavation and century
of origin dearly displayed: the gods, goddesses and other statues take you to a
different era. The magnificent monolithic statues evince energy and life; the aura
in their eyes beam a story of fine craftsmanship and effort. Vishnu, Ganesha or
Nataraja look exactly the same as they look in today's images and statues. I also
did notice a Buddha statue from the Pallava era here.
From the palace, I moved to the Brihadeeswara Temple. The structure of the
temple looks majestic. The temple occupies an area measuring about 750 feet by
400 feet, in a fort surrounded by a moat. It is a marvel of engineering, considering
the technology of those ancient times. The towering vimanam is built up with
stones with bonding and notching, without the use of mortar. The topmost stone,
weighing about 80 tons, is still a matter of discussion for engineers who are baffled
as to how the builders lifted it to that height without the help of modem
contrivances. A charming tale is told about a ramp being built from a village —
Sarapallam- four miles away, from where the giant stone was pulled up by
elephants. The details of the stonework of this imposing vimanam are
representative of the masterly craftsmanship of South Indian artisans. The
shilpi(scuiptor) and the sthapethi(architect) came together to create their fanciful
abode for Shiva. Naturally, the shape had to echo the divine Mount Kailash. In its
perfect geometry and distinct clarity of lines, this tower is unbeatable.
The shrine for Lord Muruga is an integral part of the temple. It Is a beautiful,
elaborately carved stone structure, a designer's delight. To copy the unrepeated
83
designs on each of the short pillars of this shrine would take an artist weeks if not
months. One can just imagine how long the stone chiseller would have taken to
complete each piece.
I stood in awe, astonishment and reverence when I saw a walled fortress Inside -
a standing testimony of the Cholas' opulence and vision. The enormity of the
deities reflect the staunch reverence of the King to Lord Shiva. Rajaraja, his sister
and queens donated their possessions of gold and silver to this temple. The gold
the king donated came from his treasury.
The Intricate carvings on the pillars and the inscriptions on the walls make the
temple a delight for a historian's senses. The script used in the inscriptions
resemble Tamil, Thai or some of the South EastAsian languages. The huge (8.7m
height) Shiva Linga in the Sanctum Sanctorum and Nandhi Statue reflect the
munificence of the Cholas. The pillared cloisters beside the main structure have a
series of deities and Shiva lingas, worthy to be admired. The murals narrate the
story Shiva's might.
Among the things visible are the interlocks of the granite stones. The rocks so
perfectly fitted into one another at a height of 10 metres seems to share a
harmonious bonding, unnerved by the rains, winds and heat. Very well
maintained, this structure will leave you with thoughts like, Was it actually built in
the 11th' century?'
Unlike many temples, here the 58m tall and 13-storeyed Vimanam makes the
Gopuram. The inscriptions of the Vimanam talk about Raja Raja Chola's gifts to the
temple. In its magnanimous idea, its grandiose vision, Its display of the herculean
effort in construction, its portrayal of their glorious past of the Chola regime and
their patronage for arts and culture, this temple stands as testimony for all and
ever.
One can spend a whole day in the Big Temple, and still want to come back to
marvel at every detail of its beauty. Many kings had built temples to Shiva on the
banks of the Keyed. Many saints have sung in praise of these deities. But there is
only one temple to Brihadeesvara , and it stands tall, a thousand years after a
devotee-king climbed a ladder with a copper pot (kalasam) anointed with holy  Bowls Lawn Bowling
water from all the sacred rivers, to dedicate it to history. Our history!  Braces Suspenders
 Brawn (The Food) Headcheese
 Breakdown Van Tow Truck
10. BRITISH ENGLISH – AMERICAN ENGLISH  Breeze Block Cinder Block 84
 Bridging Loan Bridge Loan
BRITISH ENGLISH AMERICAN ENGLISH  Bumbag Fanny Pack
A

 Accommodation Accommodations C
 Action Replay Instant Replay
 Aerofoil Airfoil  Candyfloss Cotton Candy
 Aeroplane Airplane  Car Park Parking Lot
 Agony Aunt Advice Columnist  Casualty Emergency Room
 Allen Key Allen Wrench  Catapult Slingshot
 Aluminium Aluminum  Central Reservation Median Strip
 Aniseed Anise  Chemist Drugstore
 Anticlockwise Counterclockwise  Chips French Fries
 Articulated Lorry Tractor-Trailer  Cinema Movie Theater; The Movies
 Asymmetric Bars Uneven Bars  Cling Film Plastic Wrap
 Aubergine Eggplant  Common Seal Harbor Seal
 Consumer Durables Durable Goods
B  Cornflour Cornstarch
 Cos (Lettuce) Romaine
 Baking Tray Cookie Sheet  Cot Crib
 Bank Holiday Legal Holiday  Cot Death Crib Death
 Beetroot Beet(S)  Cotton Bud Cotton Swab
 Bill Check  Cotton Wool Absorbent Cotton
 Biscuit Cookie; Cracker  Council Estate (Housing) Project
 Black Economy Underground Economy  Courgette Zucchini
 Blanket Bath Sponge Bath  Court Card Face Card
 Blind (Window) Shade  Crash Barrier Guardrail
 Block Of Flats Apartment Building  Crisps Chips; Potato Chips
 Boiler Suit Coveralls  Crocodile Clip Alligator Clip
 Bonnet (Of A Car) Hood  Cross-Ply Bias-Ply
 Boob Tube Tube Top  Crotchet (Music) Quarter Note
 Boot (Of A Car) Trunk  Current Account Checking Account
 Bottom Drawer Hope Chest
 D  Flat Apartment
 Flexitime Flextime
 Danger Money Hazard Pay  Flick Knife Switchblade
 Demister (In A Car) Defroster  Flyover Overpass
 Dialling Tone Dial Tone  Football Soccer 85
 Diamante Rhinestone  Footway Sidewalk
 Double Cream Heavy Cream  Fringe (Hair) Bangs
 Draughts (Game) Checkers  Full Board (In Hotels) American Plan
 Drawing Pin Thumbtack  Full Stop (Punctuation) Period
 Dressing Gown Robe; Bathrobe
 Drink-Driving Drunk Driving
 Drinks Cupboard Liquor Cabinet
 Drinks Party Cocktail Party G
 Driving Licence Driver‘s License  Garden Yard; Lawn
 Dual Carriageway Divided Highway  Gearing (Finance) Leverage
 Dummy (For A Baby) Pacifier  Gear Lever Gearshift
 Dust Sheet Drop Cloth  Goods Train Freight Train
 Dustbin Garbage Can  Greaseproof Paper Wax Paper/Waxed Paper
 Green Fingers Green Thumb
 Grill (Noun) Broiler
E  Grill (Verb) Broil
 Ground Floor First Floor
 Earth (Electrical) Ground  Groundsman Groundskeeper
 Engaged (Of A Phone) Busy
 Estate Agent Real Estate Agent
 Estate Car Station Wagon
 Ex-Directory Unlisted H
 Faith School Parochial School  Hairslide Barrette
 Hatstand Hatrack
 Hen Night Bachelorette Party
F  Hire Purchase Installment Plan
 Hoarding Billboard
 Financial Year Fiscal Year  Hob Stovetop
 Fire Brigade/Service Fire Company/Department  Holdall Carryall
 First Floor Second Floor  Holiday Vacation
 Fish Finger Fish Stick  Holidaymaker Vacationer
 Fitted Carpet Wall-To-Wall Carpeting  Homely Homey
 Flannel Washcloth  Hosepipe (Garden) Hose
 In Hospital In The Hospital  Loo (Toilet) John
 Hot Flush Hot Flash  Loose Cover Slipcover
 Housing Estate Housing Development  Lorry Truck
 Hundreds And Thousands Sprinkles (For Ice Cream)  Loudhailer Bullhorn
 Low Loader Flatbed Truck 86
 Lucky Dip Grab Bag
I  Luggage Van Baggage Car

 Ice Lolly Popsicle (Trademark)

 Icing Sugar Confectioners‘ Sugar M
 Indicator (On A Car) Turn Signal
 Inside Leg Inseam  Maize Corn
 Mangetout Snow Pea
 Market Garden Truck Farm
J  Marshalling Yard Railroad Yard
 Maths Math
 Jelly Babies Jelly Beans  Metalled Road Paved Road
 Joe Bloggs Joe Blow  Milometer Odometer
 Joe Public John Q. Public  Minim (Music) Half Note
 Jumble Sale Rummage Sale  Mobile Phone Cell Phone
 Jump Lead Jumper Cable  Monkey Tricks Monkeyshines
 Jumper Sweater  Motorway Expressway; Highway
 Junior School Elementary School  Mum/Mummy Mom/Mommy

K N
 Kennel Doghouse  Nappy Diaper
 Needlecord Pinwale
 Newsreader Newscaster
L  Noughts And Crosses Tic-Tac-Toe
 Number Plate License Plate
 Ladybird Ladybug
 A Lettuce A Head Of Lettuce
 Level Crossing Grade Crossing O
 Lift Elevator  Off-Licence Liquor Store; Package Store
 Lolly Popsicle (Trademark)  Opencast Mining Open-Pit Mining
 Lollipop Lady (Or Man) Crossing Guard
 Ordinary Share Common Stock Q
 Oven Glove Oven Mitt
 Quantity Surveyor Estimator
 Quaver (Music) Eighth Note
 Queue Line
P 87

 Paddling Pool Wading Pool

 Paracetamol Acetaminophen R
 Parting (In Hair) Part
 Patience Solitaire  Racing Car Race Car
 Pavement Sidewalk  Railway Railroad
 Pay Packet Pay Envelope  Real Tennis Court Tennis
 Pedestrian Crossing Crosswalk  Recorded Delivery Certified Mail
 Peg Clothespin  Registration Plate License Plate
 Pelmet Valance  Remould (Tyre) Retread
 Petrol Gas; Gasoline  Reverse The Charges Call Collect
 Physiotherapy Physical Therapy  Reversing Lights Back-Up Lights
 Pinafore Dress Jumper  Right-Angled Triangle Right Triangle
 Plain Chocolate Dark Chocolate  Ring Road Beltway
 Plain Flour All-Purpose Flour  Room Only European Plan
 Polo Neck Turtleneck  Roundabout (At A Fair) Carousel
 Positive Discrimination Reverse Discrimination  Roundabout (In Road) Traffic Circle
 Postal Vote Absentee Ballot  Rowing Boat Rowboat
 Postbox Mailbox
 Postcode Zip Code
 Potato Crisp Potato Chip S
 Power Point Electrical Outlet
 Pram Baby Carriage; Stroller  Sailing Boat Sailboat
 Press Stud Snap  Saloon (Car) Sedan
 Press-Up Pushup  Sandpit Sandbox
 Private Soldier GI  Sandwich Cake Layer Cake
 Public School Private School  Sanitary Towel Sanitary Napkin
 Public Transport Public Transportation  Self-Raising Flour Self-Rising Flour
 Punchbag Punching Bag  Semibreve (Music) Whole Note
 Pushchair Stroller  Semitone (Music) Half Step
 Pylon Utility Pole  Share Option Stock Option
 Shopping Trolley Shopping Cart
 Show House/Home Model Home
 Silencer (On A Car) Muffler  Trade Union Labor Union
 Silverside Rump Roast  Trading Estate Industrial Park
 Skeleton In The Cupboard Skeleton In The Closet  Trainers Sneakers
 Skimmed Milk Skim Milk  Tram Streetcar; Cable Car
 Skipping Rope Jump Rope  Transport Cafe Truck Stop 88
 Skirting Board Baseboard  Trolley Shopping Cart
 Sledge Sled  Twelve-Bore Twelve-Gauge
 Sleeper Railroad Tie
 Sleeping Partner Silent Partner
 Slowcoach Slowpoke U
 Snakes And Ladders Chutes And Ladders
 Solicitor Lawyer  Unalike Unlike
 Soya/Soya Bean Soy/Soybean  Underground Subway
 Splashback Backsplash
 Spring Onion Green Onion
 Stag Night Bachelor Party V
 Stanley Knife Utility Knife
 Starter Appetizer  Vacuum Flask Thermos Bottle
 State School Public School  Verge (Of A Road) Shoulder
 Storm In A Teacup Tempest In A Teapot  Vest Undershirt
 Surtitle Supertitle  Veterinary Surgeon Veterinarian
 Swede Rutabaga
 Sweet(S) Candy
W

 Wagon (On A Train) Car

T
 Waistcoat Vest
 Takeaway (Food) Takeout; To Go  Walking Frame Walker
 Taxi Rank Taxi Stand  Wardrobe Closet
 Tea Towel Dish Towel  Water Ice Italian Ice
 Terrace House Row House  Weatherboard Clapboard
 Tick Check Mark  White Coffee Coffee With Cream
 Ticket Tout Scalper  White Spirit Mineral Spirits
 Tights Pantyhose  Wholemeal Bread Wholewheat Bread
 Timber Lumber  Windcheater Windbreaker
 Titbit Tidbit  Windscreen Windshield
 Toffee Apple Candy Apple  Wing (Of A Car) Fender
 Touch Wood Knock On Wood  Worktop Countertop
 Y __________________________________________________________________
 Yale Lock Cylinder Lock
Z
 Zebra Crossing Crosswalk
 Zed (Letter Z) Zee
 Zip Zipper
NOTE
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 PART-C 7. IDENTIFY THE AUTHOR WITH THE SHORT STORY
STORY AUTHOR
AUTHORS AND THEIR LITERARY WORKS 1) The selfish Giant-------------------------- Oscar Wilde
2) Caught Sneezing-------------------------- Oscar Wilde
1. MATCH THE POEMS WITH THE POETS 90
3) The Lottery Ticket-------------------------Anton Chekhov
4) The Last Leaf--------------------------------O’Henry
1) A psalm of Life-------------------------------- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 5) How the Camel go its Hump------------Rudyard Kipling
2) Be the Best-------------------------------------Douglas Malloch 6) Two Friends---------------------------------Guy de Maupassant
3) The cry of the children----------------------Elizabeth Barrett Browning 7) Refugee--------------------------------------Pearl S Buck
4) The Piano --------------------------------------D. H. Lawrence 8) The Open Window------------------------Hector Hugh Munro (Saki)
5) Snake ------------------------------------------- D.H. Lawrence 9) A Man who Had no Eyes-----------------Mackinlay Kantor
6) Manliness---------------------------------------Rudyard Kipling 10) The Tears of the Desert------------------Paulo Coelho
7) Going for water--------------------------------Robert Frost 11) Sam-------------------------------------------Tammy Ruggles
8) Earth----------------------------------------------Kahlil Gibran 12) The Piano------------------------------------D. H. Lawrence
9) The Apology-------------------------------------Ralph Waldo Emerson 13) The face of Judas Iscariot----------------Bonnie Chamberlain
10) Be Glad your Nose is on your face---------Jack Prelutsky 14) Swept Away---------------------------------Susannah Hickling
11) The Flying Wonder---------------------------- Stephen Vincent Benet 15) A close encounter-------------------------Rex Coker
12) Is Life But a Dream---------------------------- Lewis Carroll 16) The Wooden Bowl------------------------Leo Tolstoy
13) captain My Captain--------------------------- Walt Whitman 17) Swami and the sum-----------------------R.K. Narayan
14) Punishment in Kindergarten----------------Kamala Das
15) Where the Mind is Without fear-----------Rabindranath Tagore
4. WHOSE AUTO BIOGRAPHY / BIOGRAPHY IS THIS?
16) The Man He Killed-----------------------------Thomas Hardy
17) Nine Gold Medals-----------------------------David Roth S.NO PERSON BIOGRAPHY/AUTO BIOGRAPHY
1 M K Gandhi The Story of My Experiments with Truth 1940s
2. WHICH NATIONALITY THE STORY BELONGS TO? 2 Jawaharlal Nehru An Autobiography 1936
STORY COUNTRY AUTHOR 3 L. K. Advani My Country My Life 2008
4 Sachin Tendulkar Playing It My Way 2014
2) The selfish Giant---------------------Irish------------Oscar Wilde
5 A. P. J. Abdul Kalam Wings of Fire 1999
3) The Lottery Ticket-------------------Russian--------Anton Chekhov
6 Khushwant Singh Truth, Love & a Little Malice 2002
4) The Last Leaf--------------------------American-----O’Henry 7 K. Natwar Singh One Life Is Not Enough 2014
5) How the Camel got its Hump-----British----------Rudyard Kipling 8 R K Narayan My Days
6) Two Friends---------------------------French---------Guy de Maupassant
7) Refugee--------------------------------Chinese--------Pearl S Buck
8) The Open Window------------------Myanmar------Hector Hugh Munro (Saki)
S.NO PERSON BIOGRAPHY/AUTO BIOGRAPHY 40 Michael Jackson Moonwalk 1988
9 Rajendra Prasad Atmakatha 1946 Hindi 41 Muhammad Ali The Greatest: My Own Story 1975
10 Bhagat Singh Why I Am An Atheist 42 Winston Churchill Memoirs of the Second World War 1959
11 Subhas Chandra Bose The Indian Struggle 43 Winston Churchill My Early Life: 1874-1904
12 Maulana Abul kalam azad India Wins Freedom 44 Thomas Jefferson Autobiography 1743-1790 91

13 Annie Besant Annie Besant: An Autobiography 45 Benjamin Franklin The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
14 Nirad C. Chaudhuri The Autobiography of an Unknown 1791
Indian 1951 46 Bill Clinton My Life
15 V. R. Krishna Iyer Wandering in Many Worlds 47 Salim Ali The Fall of the Sparrow
16 U. V. Swaminatha Iyer En Sarithiram (My Story) 1950 Tamil 48 Oscar Wilde De Profundis
17 Yuvraj Singh The Test of My Life 2013 49 Albert Einstein Autobiographical Notes
18 Kapil Dev Straight from the Heart 2013
19 Sunil Gavaskar Sunny Days
20 Saina Nehwal Playing to Win Whose Biography is this?
21 Milkha Singh The Race of My Life 2013 1. A famous novelist from England, Sense and Sensibility, Pride and prejudice,
22 Phoolan Devi The Bandit Queen of India Mansfield Park, Emma, Northanger abbey and Persuasion are her important
23 Abhinav Bindra A Shot at History 2011 novels – Jane Austin
24 P T Usha Golden Girl
25 Mary Kom The Unbreakable 2. A famous children’s story writer from Greece. His Stories contains May themes.
26 Barack Obama Dreams from my father 1996 These stories have been translated into many other world languages –Aesop
27 Hillary Rodham Clinton Living History 2003 3. An American novelist who spent forty years in china. Her good Earth, a story
28 Benazir Bhutto Daughter of the East about a Chinese peasant family is very popular. She was a Professor of English in
29 Usain Bolt Faster than Lighting: My Autobiography Nonken University for Time. Her other works are The House Divided, Other Gods
2013
and Dragon seed. She received Nobel Prize in 1938- Pear S. Buck
30 Dalai Lama Freedom in Exile 1991
31 Pele My Life and Beautiful Game 4. A famous musician and composer. He has composed great symphonies and
32 Jackie Chan I Am Jackie Chan: My Life in Action sonatas. His most popular is the 9th symphony. He is known as the Shakespeare
33 Fidel Castro My Life: A Spoken Autobiography of the world of Music. His greatest tragedy was that he became deaf at the age of
34 Andre Agassi Open: An Autobiography 28 years –Luduring Van Beethoven
35 Justin Bieber Just Getting Started
5. Irish born novelist and dramatist. He writes in English and stays in France. His
36 Adolf Hitler Mein Kampf (My struggle)
Famous plays are waiting for Godot and Endgame. His novels are Murphy, Molloy,
37 Nelson Mandela A long Walk to Freedom 1994
Malone Dies, Unnameable and how it is. He was a major contributor to a style of
38 Benito Mussolini My Autobiography: With the Political and
play called ‘Absurd Play’-Samuel Beckett
Social Doctrine of Fascism 1928
39 Charlie Chaplin My Autobiography 1964
6. He was a great English poet and critic. He published Lyrical Ballads along with 16 William Wordsworth British
Wordsworth, in which he contributed The Ancient Mariner. His Other known 17 H.W. Longfellow America
Poems are Kubalikhan and Cristobal – Samuel Taylor Coleridge
18 Annie Louisa Walker Britain & canada
7. First great English Poet, Canterbury Tales and Troilus and Criseyde are hi swell 19 Walt whitman America 92
known works –Geoffrey Chauser 20 V.K.Gokak India
8. He was a famous writer, Mathematician and photographer. His Contribution to
Children’s literature is original and highly acclaimed. His famous work is Alice in 6. CHARACTERS, QUOTES, IMPORTANT LINES FROM THE FOLLOWING WORKS OF
Wonderland – Lewis Carrol INDIAN AUTHORS:
9. Italian poet, the great epic Divine Comedy is his work- Dante

10. A well-known English novelist. His major works are Pickwick papers. David S.NO STORY & AUTHOR CHARACTERS & IMPORTANT LINES
Copperfield, The Tale of Two Cities and Bleak house. –Charles Dickens. 1 Sahitya Akademi Award winner:  Kesavan nair[ small former]
Thakazhi Sivasankaran Pillai:  Outha kutty[big farmer]
5. WHICH NATIONALITY THE POET BELONGS TO? Farmer  Kutti charn
 Kutti mappila
S NO POET COUNTRY BELONGS TO  Land lord.
1 Robert Frost America "cut open bounce in the died of night can
2 Archibald Lampman Canada a farmer do that"- [kesavan nair]
" if you want a good crop you should
3 D. H. Lawrence Britain spend money"-[outha kutty]
4 Rudyard Kipling British Indian ( Born in Bombay ) 2 Kamala Das, kamala surayya:  kamala das
5 Kamala Das India ( Kerala) Punishment in Kindergarten  Teacher
6 Elizabeth Barret Browning Britain ( Durham)  school mates
"Today the world is a little more own"
7 Famida y. Basheer India 3 Kamala Das, kamala surayya:  grand mother
8 Thomas Hardy Britain My Grandmother’s House  kamala surayya
9 Khalil Gibran American Lebanon "my way and beg now at stranger's does
10 Edgar A guest Britain born American to receive love at least In small change"-
[kamala surayya]
11 Ralph Waldo Emerson America 4 R.K. Narayan:  swami nathan
12 Jack Prelutsky America Swami and the sum  swami nathan's father
13 F. Joanna America  shanker-[The most brilliant boy in the
swami's class]
14 Stephen Vincent Benet America
 Samuel-[swami's class mate]
15 William Shakespeare Britain  Ram and Krishna character in the sum
S.NO STORY & AUTHOR
5 Rabindranath Tagore:
Where the mind is without fear
6 Dhan Gopal Mukherji:
Kari, The Elephant
7 Deepa Agarwal:
After the Storm
8 Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam:
Vision for the Nation
9 Indra Anantha Krishna:
The Neem Tree
10 Lakshmi Mukuntan:
The Ant Eater and the Dassie
11 Dr. Neeraja Raghavan:
The Sun Beam
CHARACTERS & IMPORTANT LINES 7. DRAMA FAMOUS LINES, CHARACTERS, QUOTES FROM
“Where the mind is without fear the head
is held is held high where the knowledge JULIUS CAESAR
is free” Characters:
 Kari-[Elephant] 93
 Dhan gopal mukherji 1) Julius Caesar
 Boy from the village 2) Calpurnia –Caesar’s wife
 Saruli-[heroine] 3) Mark Antony
 Diwan singh-[The head of the village] 4) Brutus
 Lal singh-[The ressin taper] 5) Cassius
 Ratha, Jaman-[sharuli's friends] 6) Casca – Conspirators
 DFO -district forest officer 7) Countrymen
“Those who aim high, have they learn to
walk alone to” Appreciation Questions:
 Malar, 1. “-------------------------- not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more.”
 Neela-[malar's friend],
 Malar's grandmother, Who said these words to whom?
 Class teacher,
 Dance teacher, Brutus tells these words to his countrymen justifying the murder of Caesar
 Girls,
2.”Had you rather Caesar were living, and die all slaves, that that caesar were
 Principal,
"Keep your flag flying high you will do dead,to live all free men?”Who justifies the murder of Caesar?
well" Brutus justifies the murder of Caesar. He also declares that he killed him to save
-[By grandmother to malar]
democracy and to protect the freedom of his countrymen.
"I appreciate your love for the tree"
-[By principal to malar] 3. “There is tears for his love;joy for his fortune; honour for his valour and death
 Tendai [small boy listen story from for his ambition.” Who explains this?
grandmother]
 Grand mother Brutus explains that he could pay back Caesar’s love with his tears. His love for
 Dessie- affrican rat Rome and Caesar is sincere. He paid his tribute to Caesar for his valour. But he
 Ant eater-pangolin had to kill Caesar for his over ambition.
"There is more than one way to do a
things" 4. “The Evil that men do lives after them;
 Butter fly
The good is oft interred with their bones;” who said these?
 sun beam
 universe
 cosmos
Mark Antony says these words while delivering the funeral oration. He 4. “Tarry a little; there is something else
comments on the ungrateful ways of men. They even cremate the does with
This bond doth give thee here no jot of blood:
their good deeds without conscience.
The words expressly are “a pound of flesh;” who said this to whom?
5. “There’s not a nobler man in Rome than Antony.” who uttered these words? 94
Portia says to Shylock that as per the bond he can have a pound of flesh but he
One of the Citizens of Rome
should not shed even a drop of Antonio’s blood while cutting a pound of flesh.

5. “The Jew shall have all justice. Soft! No haste;

THE MERCHANT OF VENICE
He shall have nothing but the penalty.” who told this?
Characters:
When Bassanio gives money to Shylock, Portia said that Shylock will have
1) Antonio – Merchant of Venice penalty as per justice and nothing else...”
2) Bassanio – Antonio’s friend
3) Portia – Wealthy lady (Disguised as male lawyer)
4) Shylock – Jewish Money lender 8. MATCH THE PLACES, POET, DRAMATIST, AND PAINTER WITH SUITABLE OPTION
5) Nerrisa – Portia’s clerk
6) Duke – Head of the State S No. Poet/ Dramatist Works
Appreciation Questions: 1 Grace Nicholas Granny,Granny please comb my hair
2 Gayathri Pahlajani Discovery
1. “this mightiest in the mightiest;” who said this?
3 Judith Nicholas Biking
Portia says that mercy is the mightiest in the mightiest. 4 William Blake Night
2. And earthly power doth then show likest God’s 5 Dipthi Bhatia Inclusion
6 Vivian Gould With a friend
When Mercy seasons justice” who said these?
7 Emma Richards To cook and eat
Portia tells that mercy is above this earthly power when it resides in the hearts 8 Douglas malloch Be the Best
of kings and it is an attribute to god himself. Earthy power is revealed like god’s 9 Rabindranath Tagore Where the mind is without fear
power when justice is strengthened with mercy 10 Kamala Surayya My Grandmother’s House
3 Shylock, there’s thrice the money offered thee. Who said this? 11 Brian Patten You can’t be that, No you can’t be that
12 James Kirkup No men are foreign
Portia asks Shylock to take thrice the money and tear the bond. But Shylock fails
to show mercy. 13 Rudyard Kipling Land of our birth, we pledge to thee
14 Leslie Norris A Tiger in the Zoo
15 David Roth Nine gold medals
S No. Poet/ Dramatist Works Best Painters of India
16 Elizabet Barrert Browning Out in the fields with god 1) Abindranath Tagore
17 John Masefield Laugh and be merry 2) Jamini Roy
18 Khalil Gibran Earth 3) Amrita Shergil
95
4) M.F. Hussain
19 Edger A Guest Don’t quiet
5) Nandilal Bose
20 Ralph Waldo Emerson The Apology 6) Mukul Chandra Dey
21 Jack Prelutsky Be glad , your nose is on your face 7) Rabindranath Tagore
22 F. Joanna A sonnet for my incomparable mother 8) Raja Ravi Verma
9) Sathish Gujral
23 Stephen Vincent Bennet The flying wonder
24 Archibald lampman To a millionaire
Famous Painters:
25 D. H. Lawrence The Piano
26 Rudyard kipling Manliness 1) Botticelli – Italian Renaissance Painter
27 Robert Frost Going for water 2) Piero Della Francesca – Italian Painter – Pieros is his famous painting
3) Francesco Pesellino – Italian Renaissance painter -Cassoni is his famous
28 Elizabeth Barret Browning The Cry of the children
painting
29 Famida Y Basheer Migrant Bird 4) Pablo Picaso – Bird of Peace
30 Norman Nicholson Off to outer space tomorrow morning 5) Michelangello – The Pieta and david
31 William Shakespeare Sonnet No.116 6) Leonardo Da vinci – Mona Lisa , Last Supper

32 William Wordsworth The Solitary Reaper

33 Lewis carroll Is life but a dream
34 Walt whittman Oh Captain my captain 9. MATCH THE FOLLOWING FOLK ARTS WITH THE INDIAN STATE / COUNTRY
35 Thomas Hardy The man he killed
S No State Folk Art
36 D.H Lawrence Snake
1 Andhra Pradesh Veethi Nataka, Burrakatha
37 V.K.Gokak English words
2 Assam Ankiya Nat, Kirtania Natak, Ojapuli, Bihu
38 Walt Whittman A noiseless patient spider
3 Bihar Bedesia, Senkela chhau, Jat-Jatni , Bidpada,
39 Annie Louisa Walker Women’s rights
Ramkhelia
40 H.W. Longfellow A Psalm of life 4 Gujarat Bhavai
41 Ruskin Bond Our local team 5 Haryana Swang, Naqqal
42 Kamala Das Punishment in kindergarten 6 Himachal Pradesh Kariyala, Bhagat, Rasihand, Harnatra Haran or
Harin
7 Jammu & Kashmir Bhand pathar or Bhand Iashna, Vetal Dhamali
 S No State Folk Art 10. MATCH THE AUTHOR WITH THE RELEVANT TITLE/CHARACTER
8 Karnataka Yakshagana, Bedara vesha, Dollukunitha, santa, &
Doddata Bayalate, Tala Maddle or Prasang,
Dasaraa, Radhna 11. MATCH THE CHARACTERS WITH RELEVANT STORY TITLE
9 Kerala kodiyattam, Mudiyayyam, therayattam,chavitlu 96
Natakam, Chakiyarkooth
10 Madhya Pradesh Tamasha, Lalit Bharud, Gondha, Dashavatar S STORY CHARACTERS
11 Orissa Palajtra, Daskathia, Mayurbhanj chhau, Mangal NO -AUTHOR
Ras, Sowang 1 The selfish Giant Giant,
12 Punjab Nautanki, Naqqal, Swang, Bhangra -Oscar wilde Little boy( with prints of nail in hands and
feet )
13 Rajasthan Khyal, Rasdhari, Rammat, turra Kilangi, gauri,
children
Nautanki, Ihamtara
2 The Lottery Ticket Ivan Dmitritch ( A Middle Class Man )
14 Tamil Nadu Therukoothu, Veethi natakam, kuravaanji,
-Anton Chekhov Masha ( Ivan’s wife )
Pagalvesham, kavadichindu
3 The Last leaf Sue ( Roommate –budding artist )
15 Uttarpradesh Ram Leela , Ras Leela, nautanki, Bhagat, Sang-
-O'henry Jhonsy ( Joanna)- room mate – Budding
swang, Naqual
16 Goa, Daman, Diu Dashavatar, Tiyatra artist
Bherman ( Painter)
Doctor
Types of European Folk Dance Includes: 4 Two Friends Monsieur Morissot ( Watchmaker )
1) Polonez (Polish) -Guy de maupassant Monsieur Savage ( Draper )
2) Odori (Japanerse Taditional Dance) Prussian Soldiers, Prussian officers,
Colonel Dumoulin
Latin America: 5 How the camel got its hump Camel, ox, Dog, Horse
-Rudyard kipling Djinn ( Incharge of all deserts)
Bailee Folkloric (Mexico and Central America)
6 Refugee Refugees, old man, Noodle vendor,
-Pearl S Buck passer-by, Grandson(Old man’s grandson )
7 Open window Framton Nuttel ( A young man)
South East Asia: -Hector hugh munro (saki) Vera (The Naughty girl)
Philippines – Carinosa, Tinkling Mrs. Sappleton
Three men ( three Figures)
( Mrs. Sappleton’s husband and 2 brothers)
Berite ( The Dog )
 S STORY CHARACTERS WILLIAM WORDSWORTH
NO -AUTHOR
8 The Necklace Matilda ( A beautiful and charming lady ) William Wordsworth, an eminent poet of nature, was born on 7 th April, 1770, at
-Guy de maupassant Mr. Loisel ( Matilda’s husband- A Petty Cocker mouth, Cumberland, in the Lake District. Though he lost his parents at a
Clerk ) 97
very young age, his uncle gave him a good education. His meeting with Samuel
Mme. Forestier ( Matilda’s friend ) Taylor Coleridge in 1795, proved to be a turning point in his life. They, together
Members of the cabinet published, “The Lyrical Ballads’ in 1798. Wordsworth succeeded Robert Southey
as Poet Laureate in 1843 and remained in office till his death in April 1850.
9 Reflowering Rowther ( Blindman- also called as Thatha)
-Sundara Ramaswamy Appa ( Textile shop owner)
H.W. LONGFELLOW
Amma ( Owner’s wife )
Ambi ( Author – Appa’s son)
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882), the great American poet, was a
Kolappan ( Worker in Appa’s textile shop)
professor at Harvard. His Great fame began with the publication of his first volume
Gomathi ( Worker in Appa’s textile shop) of poems ‘Voices of the Night’ in 1839, which included “A Psalm of Life,” one of
Chettiar ( owner of Chettiar’s shop ) nineteenth century’s best loved poems. His other collections include Ballads
Murugan ( Worker in Appa’s textile shop) (1841), Evangeline (1847), Hiawatha (1855), The Courtship of Miles Standish
(1858) and Tales of a Wayside Inn (1863).
10 Holiday Phatik chakrabarthi
-Rabindranath Tagore Makhanlal ( younger bro of Phatik)
Longfellow was the most popular poet of his age and during his lifetime he became
Bhisvambar (Maternal uncle of Phatik) a ‘national institution’. “His work was musical, mildly romantic, high-minded, and
Mrs. Bhisvambar ( Phatik’s Aunt ) flavoured with sentimental preachment” (North Anthology of American
Phatik and Makhanlal’s mother ( Widowed Literature).
Lady )
“This poem seems to give a great deal of good advice. It tells the reader not to
12. ABOUT THE POETS waste his/her time but to be up and going; not to be discouraged by failures but
to have a heart for any fate; not to judge life by temporary standards but to look
Short notes: to eternal reward.” (Brooks and Warren).
RABINDRANATH TAGORE
ANNIE LOUSIA WALKER
th
As we remember Tagore on his 150 birth anniversary, we recall his contribution
towards Indian writing in English. A Bengali poet, novelist and educator, he won Annie Lousia Walker (1836-1907). British-born novelist, children’s playwright and
the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913 which was followed by a series of titles and poet, was educated in Ontario, where she and her sisters operated of school for
awards during his career. In this poem, the poet dreams of a world where ladies. Walker published poetry widely in newspapers on both sides of the border
everyone is truly free. before collecting them in ‘Leaves from the Backwoods’ in 1861-62. She returned
to England to work for her cousin, Margaret Oliphant, a well-known novelist, and
edited her ‘Autobiography and Letters’ in 1899, under her married name,
Mrs. Harry Coghill, she collected her poetic output in ‘Oak and Maple: English and
Canadian Verses’.
Brief notes:
RABINDRANATH TAGORE (1861-1941)
Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) was the youngest son of Debendranath Tagore,
a leader of the Brahmo Samaj, which was a new religious sect in nineteenth-
century Bengal and which attempted a revival of the ultimate monistic basis of
Hinduism as laid down in the Upanishads. He was educated at home; and although
at seventeen he was sent to England for formal schooling, he did not finish his
studies there. In his mature years, in addition to his many-sided literary activities,
he managed the family estates, a project which brought him into close touch with
common humanity and increased his interest in social reforms. He also started an
experimental school at Shantiniketan where he tried his Upanishadic ideals of
education. From time to time he participated in the Indian nationalist movement,
though in his own non-sentimental and visionary way; and Gandhi, the political
father of modern India, was his devoted friend. Tagore was knighted by the ruling
British Government in 1915, but within a few years he resigned the honour as a
protest against British policies in India.
Tagore had early success as a writer in his native Bengal. With his translations of
some of his poems he became rapidly known in the West. In fact his fame attained
a luminous height, taking him across continents on lecture tours and tours of
friendship. For the world he became the voice of India's spiritual heritage; and for
India, especially for Bengal, he became a great living institution.
Although Tagore wrote successfully in all literary genres, he was first of all a poet.
Among his fifty and odd volumes of poetry are Manasi (1890) [The Ideal One],
Sonar Tari (1894) [The Golden Boat], Gitanjali (1910) [Song Offerings], Gitimalya
(1914) [Wreath of Songs], and Balaka (1916) [The Flight of Cranes]. The English
renderings of his poetry, which include The Gardener (1913), Fruit-Gathering
(1916), and The Fugitive (1921), do not generally correspond to particular volumes
in the original Bengali; and in spite of its title, Gitanjali: Song Offerings (1912), the
most acclaimed of them, contains poems from other works besides its namesake.
Tagore's major plays are Raja (1910) [The King of the Dark Chamber], Dakghar
(1912) [The Post Office], Achalayatan (1912) [The Immovable], Muktadhara (1922) 98
[The Waterfall], and Raktakaravi (1926) [Red Oleanders]. He is the author of
several volumes of short stories and a number of novels, among them Gora (1910),
Ghare-Baire (1916) [The Home and the World], and Yogayog (1929)
[Crosscurrents]. Besides these, he wrote musical dramas, dance dramas, essays of
all types, travel diaries, and two autobiographies, one in his middle years and the
other shortly before his death in 1941. Tagore also left numerous drawings and
paintings, and songs for which he wrote the music himself.
Rabindranath Tagore died on August 7, 1941.
HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW (1807-1882)
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882) was an influential American poet,
translator and professor at Harvard University. Longfellow’s most significant work
is, perhaps, Evangeline: A Tale of Acadie. During his life time, Longfellow was
considered the best of all American poets, and his work was widely translated and
published in other European languages: Italian, German and French to note a few.
Some view Longfellow’s literary reputation as nearly sacrosanct, yetEdgar Allan
Poe and Walt Whitman negatively critique his work. Walt Whitmanwould go so far
as to accuse Longfellow as merely being an imitator of European forms. Whitman
would praise Longfellow almost exclusively on his ability to keep his audience’s
favor. He is the only American to be honored with a bust placed in the Poet’s
Corner of Westminster Abbey.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. declared that Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was the
best of American poets and praised the cheer he was able to display in his writing.
On February 27, 1807, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was born in Portland, Maine.
His father, Stephen Longfellow, was a politician and lawyer.
From 1813 until 1821, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow attended the Portland
Academy. In 1820, the Portland Gazette published his first poem. Longfellow
continued his education at Bowdoin College, an institution for which his father was
a trustee. In 1825, Longfellow graduated fourth in his class. Longfellow continued
publishing poetry throughout his time in college. During his time at Bowdoin,
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow befriended the seminal American author, Nathaniel
Hawthorne.
Bowdoin College promised Henry Wadsworth Longfellow a chair in modern
languages on the condition that he tour Europe and continue his studies there.
From 1826 until 1829, Longfellow traveled through France, Germany, Italy and
Spain. This travel had a profound impact on Longfellow. The traces of the tours
influence can be seen not only in Longfellow mode of life, but also his choice of
subjects.
In 1831, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow married Mary Storer Potter, a woman
renowned for her beauty.
Returning to the United States, Bowdoin offered Longfellow a lectureship instead
of the promised chair. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow refused this position. But
when the college created the chair, Longfellow accepted this position as well as an
ancillary position as a librarian. In addition to his work in these positions,
Longfellow also worked on translations and edited textbooks in languages. His
creative writing also continued and he was a regular contributor to North
American Review.
When George Ticknor retired from his positions as Harvard University’s Smith
professor of modern languages and belles-lettres, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
was offered the position. Longfellow went to Europe a second time to gain a better
knowledge of German and Scandinavian languages. His wife accompanied him on
this journey. She died in childbirth in Rotterdam. In his grief, Longfellow redoubled
his efforts of his study. However, during his travels through Switzerland he would
meet his second wife and model for the protagonist of his novel Hyperion, Frances
Elizabeth Appleton.
In 1836, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow returned the United States and had taken
the position at Harvard. Longfellow earned a reputation as a thoughtful instructor.
He invested so much time in his teaching responsibility that he was not as
creatively productive as he would have liked to be. Yet even with his investment
of labor in teaching, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was able to become a
financially successful poet. At one point, Longfellow even set a record by earning
$3000 for the poem The Hanging of the Crane. In 1854, Henry Wadsworth
Longfellow resigned from his position at Harvard University in favor of his friend,
James Russell Lowell, so that Longfellow could spend more time writing.
99
In 1842, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was to turn his poetic prowess in support
of the abolitionist movement. He published Poems for Slavery. Longfellow
considered the work to be so unobtrusive that it approached neutrality that even
a slave owner would not object to. The New England Anti-Slavery Society would
continue to print it in order to further their cause.
Longfellow captures the plight of an enslave people with a delicate pen. At the end
of one poem, he declares “[the slave] did not feel the driver's whip,/ Nor the
burning heat of day;/ For Death had illumined the Land of Sleep,/ And his lifeless
body lay/ A worn-out fetter, that the soul/ Had broken and thrown away!”
Longfellow captures the sentiment that death was the only reprieve available for
the enslaved African Diaspora of the nineteenth century, which despite
Longfellow’s claim “that Slaveholder might read [it] without losing his appetite for
breakfast”, still contains a clear social message.
In 1841, Edgar Allan Poe wrote to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Poe praised
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow saying that Longfellow was “unquestionably the
best poet in America.” Edgar Allan Poe’s criticism changed as Poe’s reputation as
a critic increased his praise from Longfellow ebbed. Poe’s public presentation of
his criticism of Longfellow culminated with an accusation of plagiarism of Alfred,
Lord Tennyson by Longfellow. Despite Poe’s accusations, many critics have
interpreted Poe’s accusations as a publicity stunt to garner attention for the
Broadway Journal, which Poe edited.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow returned to Europe in 1842. He stayed in Europe
into the following year to marry Frances Elizabeth Appleton. Longfellow’s new
father-in-law presented the new couple with Craigie House, which at one time was
George Washington’s headquarters during the American Revolution. The marriage
would last until 1861, when Frances would die tragically. She would inadvertently
set her dress on fire while attempting to melt sealing wax.
In 1860, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow composed Paul Revere’s Ride. This poem
was composed on the eve of the American Civil War. Longfellow hoped to instil in
Northerners a sense of urgency and courageousness. True to Henry Wadsworth
Longfellow’s creative process he wanted to remind his readers of their moral
obligations. Many see this poem as an attempt to remind both sides of their moral
obligations so that they could remember the tenants of American unity. Although
this poem was not entirely historically accurate, it served to create the American
legend of Paul Revere, a Massachusetts silversmith who created a system of
intelligence and alarm to track the British military during the American Revolution.
At one time, Longfellow’s retelling of these events was incorporated into American
history textbooks without much mitigation.
As a widower with five young children, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow devoted
himself to a programmatic process of translation. His translation of Dante
Aligheiri’s Divine Comedy represents the majority of his work in the years after the
death of his second wife. The translation is considered overly literal.
In 1868, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow traveled to Europe for the last time. During
his travels, celebrities flocked to him. Cambridge awarded Longfellow with an
honorary L.L.D., and Oxford awarded him an honorary D.C.L. Despite the renown,
Longfellow felt an internal pain. However, he suppressed outward signs the grief
and comported himself with a cheery air. He is noted for always consenting to
requests for autographs from his fans.
In 1882, Longfellow died suddenly. Ralph Waldo Emerson would give him the
epitaph, "This gentleman was a sweet, beautiful soul, but I have entirely forgotten
his name." During his lifetime, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was one of the first
American writers to achieve international recognition. After his death,
Longfellow’s reputation declined quickly. Many view contemporary readers have
come to view Longfellow’s work as imitations of standard European forms
ANNE LOUISA WALKER
Anne Louisa Walker, teacher and author; b. c. 1836 in Staffordshire, England,
youngest daughter of Robert Walker, a civil engineer, and Anna —; m. 29 Jan. 1884
Harry Coghill (d. 1897) in London, England; they had no children; d. 7 July 1907 in
Bath, England.
Annie Louisa Walker came to Lower Canada as a child with her family. They lived
first at Pointe-Lévy (Lévis) and then moved in 1858 to Sarnia, Upper Canada, where
her father continued to work for the Grand Trunk Railway. That year Annie and
her sisters, Isabella and Frances, opened a private girls’ school. A woman who
attended it described the sisters thus: “They were very English, very dignified, and 100
somewhat exclusive, but were excellent teachers, especially in the departments of
history and English literature. Anna was the . . . best looking. . . . At times her face
had a pensive and somewhat dreamy expression. Her manner was gentle and
sweet.” On the deaths of Annie’s sisters a few years later, the school closed.
In 1861 Annie, who had been publishing poems in periodicals and newspapers
since her teens, brought out a collection by subscription, Leaves from the
backwoods, through the Montreal house of John Lovell*. Shortly thereafter she
returned to England with her parents, who soon died. She then contacted her
second cousin, Mrs Margaret Oliphant, a widow and successful writer, and about
1865 became a member of her extended family. As Mrs Oliphant’s companion-
housekeeper from 1866, she cared for the children during her cousin’s frequent
prolonged absences, acted as secretary, and looked after proofs and other writing
matters. In turn, Margaret Oliphant, although she did not seem to take Annie’s
literary ambitions seriously, urged her to shift her interest from poetry to fiction
and recommended her to publishers. Between 1873 and 1881 Walker brought out
five novels and a volume of plays for children. Following her marriage to a wealthy
widower and move to Staffordshire, Annie did not give up writing completely; she
published one more novel, at least one story, and a second book of poetry.
Of the works in that collection of poems, Oak and maple: English and Canadian
verses (1890), two-thirds had appeared in Leaves. Her poems are largely about
religion or nature. The most effective are those characterized by unpretentious
phrasing and directness of expression, but most are conventional in diction, form,
and subject matter. At times her nature poems are close to transcendental in their
expression of the spiritual in nature. The lyrics of the well-known hymn “Work, for
the night is coming” derive from her poem “The night cometh,” which first
appeared in Leaves. In Oak and maple she remarks on discovering the verses in a
hymn-book, but without accreditation. The meditative poem “In the Canadian
backwoods” makes the frequent complaint of poets about the lack of a mythology
in a new land and notes the absence of nymphs in the Canadian woods, suggesting
that it is simply too cold for them there.
Walker’s first novel, A Canadian heroine (1873), is set in a locale familiar to the of the epic Bharatha Sindhurashmi), drama, criticism and various other forms of
author, a small town on the St Lawrence River. The innocence of the New World is literature, apart from producing many scholarly works in English.
set against the superficiality and corruption of the Old when the 16-year-old
heroine almost loses her Canadian suitor because of her infatuation with a visiting Honours and awards:
English aristocrat, who proves to be unreliable. An element of the Gothic is present 1) Presidentship of the 40th Kannada Sahitya Sammelana in 1958. 101
in the mystery surrounding the heroine’s birth; her father is discovered to be a 2) Honorary doctorates from the Karnatak University.
Jesuit-educated Indian, from whom her mother ran away after he became drunken 3) Honorary doctorates from the Pacific University of the USA.
and abusive. When discovered, her mixed-blood status is accepted by her 4) Central Sahitya Akademi award for his 'Dyava Prithivi' in 1961.
neighbours and lover. Walker’s later novels are set in England and, with one 5) Jnanpith award-for his Bharatha sindhu rashmi, in 1990.
exception, have female perspectives. In the most interesting of them, against her
will (1877), the protagonist is a young woman coping with the problems thrust Works:
upon her by her father’s fragile health. She is portrayed as intelligent, responsible,
and more capable than any of the male characters – a forerunner of the later– 1) Bharatha sinDhu rashmi
19th-century’s “new woman.” 2) Samarasave jeevana
3) Oornanaaba
Walker’s writing career began in Canada and her most telling poems are the 4) Abyudaya
Canadian nature poems written in her youth. The best known of her verses, 5) Baaladeguladalli
however, are the lyrics of “Work, for the night is coming.” In A Canadian heroine 6) Dhyava pruthvi
she was an early exponent of the international theme of the New World versus 7) Samudra geethegaLu
the Old, which American Henry James was to popularize later and Canadian Sara
Jeannette Duncan* was to employ in the 1890s. WALT WHITMAN: 1819-1892

VINAYAKA KRISHNA GOKAK ( V.K. GOKAK): 1909-1992
He was born on August 9, 1909 at Gokak. He had his primary and high school
education in Savanur, and took B.A. in 1929 and M.A. in 1931. he began his career
as an Assistant Professor in Fergusson College, Pune and later he became the
principal of D.E.Society's Willington College, Sangli. In 1936, he done his advanced
studies with distinction at Oxford university. In 1946, he went to Rajasthan and set
up a college in its desert region and in 1949, with the reorganisation of Indian
states, his services in Rajasthan got transferred to the Government of Bombay and
he became the principal of Karnataka College, Kolhapur, in 1952. He appointed as
the Vice-chancellor of the Bangalore University in 1966.
The main phase of his literary career and his life itself began in 1925 when he was
swayed by the magnetic force of the towering figure of Kannada poetry
D.R.Bendre. He given unparallelled contributions to poetry (including composition
Born on May 31, 1819, Walt Whitman was the second son of Walter Whitman, a
housebuilder, and Louisa Van Velsor. The family, which consisted of nine children,
lived in Brooklyn and Long Island in the 1820s and 1830s.
At the age of twelve, Whitman began to learn the printer’s trade, and fell in love
with the written word. Largely self-taught, he read voraciously, becoming
acquainted with the works of Homer, Dante, Shakespeare, and the Bible.
Whitman worked as a printer in New York City until a devastating fire in the
printing district demolished the industry. In 1836, at the age of seventeen, he
began his career as teacher in the one-room school houses of Long Island. He
continued to teach until 1841, when he turned to journalism as a full-time career.
He founded a weekly newspaper, Long-Islander, and later edited a number of
Brooklyn and New York papers. In 1848, Whitman left the Brooklyn Daily Eagle to
become editor of the New Orleans Crescent. It was in New Orleans that he
experienced first-hand the viciousness of slavery in the slave markets of that city.
On his return to Brooklyn in the fall of 1848, he founded a “free soil” newspaper,
the Brooklyn Freeman, and continued to develop the unique style of poetry that
later so astonished Ralph Waldo Emerson.
In 1855, Whitman took out a copyright on the first edition of Leaves of Grass,
which consisted of twelve untitled poems and a preface. He published the volume
himself, and sent a copy to Emerson in July of 1855. Whitman released a second
edition of the book in 1856, containing thirty-three poems, a letter from Emerson
praising the first edition, and a long open letter by Whitman in response. During
his lifetime, Whitman continued to refine the volume, publishing several more
editions of the book. Noted Whitman scholar, M. Jimmie Killingworth writes that
“the ‘merge,' as Whitman conceived it, is the tendency of the individual self to
overcome moral, psychological, and political boundaries. Thematically and
poetically, the notion dominates the three major poems of 1855: ‘I Sing the Body
Electric,' ‘The Sleepers,' and ‘Song of Myself,' all of which were ‘merged’ in the first
edition under the single title Leaves of Grass but were demarcated by clear breaks
in the text and the repetition of the title.”
At the outbreak of the Civil War, Whitman vowed to live a “purged” and “cleansed”
life. He worked as a freelance journalist and visited the wounded at New York City–
area hospitals. He then travelled to Washington, D. C. in December 1862 to care
for his brother who had been wounded in the war.
Overcome by the suffering of the many wounded in Washington, Whitman
decided to stay and work in the hospitals and stayed in the city for eleven years.
He took a job as a clerk for the Department of the Interior, which ended when the
Secretary of the Interior, James Harlan, discovered that Whitman was the author
of Leaves of Grass, which Harlan found offensive. Harlan fired the poet.
Whitman struggled to support himself through most of his life. In Washington, he
lived on a clerk’s salary and modest royalties, and spent any excess money,
including gifts from friends, to buy supplies for the patients he nursed. He had also
been sending money to his widowed mother and an invalid brother. From time to
time writers both in the states and in England sent him “purses” of money so that
he could get by.
In the early 1870s, Whitman settled in Camden, New Jersey, where he had come
to visit his dying mother at his brother’s house. However, after suffering a stroke,
Whitman found it impossible to return to Washington. He stayed with his brother
until the 1882 publication of Leaves of Grass (James R. Osgood) gave Whitman
enough money to buy a home in Camden.
In the simple two-story clapboard house, Whitman spent his declining years
working on additions and revisions to a new edition of the book and preparing his
102
final volume of poems and prose, Good-Bye, My Fancy (David McKay, 1891). After
his death on March 26, 1892, Whitman was buried in a tomb he designed and had
built on a lot in Harleigh Cemetery.
Along with Emily Dickinson, he is considered one of America’s most important
poets
DOUGLAS MALLOCH
Douglas Malloch became known as the “Lumbermen’s Poet,” both locally and on
the national scene. Born in Muskegon on May 5, 1877, he grew up amidst logging
camps, sawmills and lumber yards. Naturally, Malloch came to love the forests
and began writing of lumbering scenes.
At age ten, Malloch delivered newspapers for the Muskegon Chronicle. About that
time he wrote his first poem and it was published in the Detroit News. After leaving
school he took a job on the editorial staff at the Muskegon Chronicle. He remained
with the newspaper for 13 years, becoming a reporter and feature writer. During
that period he got to know Charles Hackley quite well.
In 1903, Malloch joined the staff of American Lumberman, a trade paper in
Chicago. There he wrote a syndicated column. Often his weekly columns took the
form of a poem. He developed into a nationally renowned humorist, lecturer and
radio personality. Many of his poems were eventually collected into a series of
books. His book “In Forest Land,” became a best seller and was reprinted several
times
Much of Malloch’s poetry drew on the solace of the forest as a cure for life’s
difficulties.
“Get up in the timber; the trail and the trees
Will make you a man in a day.
The smell of the soil and the breath of the trees
Will blow all your troubles away.
 There’s pine for you, wine for you, hope for you there—
The sun and the moon and the star—
If the ways of the city are not on the square,
Get up in the woods—where they are.”
(from the publication Timber and Plywood)
Probably Malloch’s best know poem was titled “Today,” a 27-line ode to making
the best of life’s daily storms and troubles.
Over the years as a guest lecturer, Malloch traveled over a million miles,
addressing trade conventions, business groups and social welfare
organizations. He displayed a homespun philosophy and a genial sense of humor.
One of Malloch’s best know poems locally was “This Thing That Men Call Death,”
which he wrote as a eulogy and memorial tribute upon the death of Charles
Hackley in 1905.
In 1911, members of the Chicago Press Club named Malloch president of their
organization. On March 9, 1912, Malloch personally welcomed the President of
the United States, William Howard Taft, to a reception in Chicago sponsored by
the Press Club.
Mr. Malloch married Bertha Keillor of Muskegon in 1898. She died June 30, 1933.
Douglas Malloch died of a heart attack July 2, 1938, at age 61. At the time of his
death he served as the managing editor of American Lumberman. He left behind
two daughters and a son. (Except as noted, the above descriptions were taken
from local newspaper accounts.)
13. ABOUT THE DRAMATISTS
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
William Shakespeare (1564-1616) was born in Stratford-on-Avon and was
educated at the free Stratford Grammar School. There is no authentic
documentations of his early life. He married Anne Hathway in 1582 and moved to
London in 1586 to become an actor; poet, dramatist and theatre manager. His
well-known comedies are Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Merchant of Venice and
Much Ado About Nothing, while his outstanding tragedies are Hamlet, King Lear,
Othello and Macbeth, among many more.
103
Note: The first collected edition of Shakespeare’s sonnets appeared in 1609.
There are totally 154 sonnets and the major themes of these sonnets include the
destructive power of time, the permanence of poetry (art), triangular love and the
analysis of amorous emotion (love). It has to be noted that apart from these 154
sonnets Shakespeare also wrote two long poems titled ‘Venus and Adonis’ and
‘The Rape of Lucrece’.
Sonnet: A sonnet is a lyric (short, personal poem) written in a single stanza
consisting of fourteen lines. Sonnet 116(“Let not to the marriage …..”) deals with
the theme of true love. Many critics consider it “incomparable” and call it “the
finest of all”. In this poem various images are used to highlight the nature of true
and deep love.
THOMAS HARDY
Thomas Hardy (1840-1828), an English poet and regional novelist, whose words
depict the imaginary country “Wessex”. Hardy’s career as a writer spanned over
50 years. ‘Hardy” was the ideal poet of a generation. He was the most passionate
and the most learned of them all ….. And then devote the ending years of his life
to his beloved verses” says Ford Madox. His novels bravely challenged many of
the sexual and religious conventions of the Victorian age and dared to present a
bleak view into human nature. In his poems Hardy depicted rural life without
sentimentality his mood was often stoically hopeless. He wrote several collections
of poems. His great poetic collection, “The Dynast “revealed his disgust for war,
especially the Napoleonic wars.
His poem “The Man He killed’ is also a satire on war. The poet is defining the
curious nature of war.
14. MENTION THE POEM IN WHICH THESE LINES OCCUR B. WITH A FRIEND

I can talk with a friend,

A. GRANNY, GRANNY PLEASE COMB MY HAIR.
And walk with a friend
104
Granny, Granny
And share my umbrella
Please comb my hair.
In the rain
You always take your time,

You always take such care.

I can play with a friend

And stay with a friend

You put me to sit on a cushion
And learn with a friend
Between your knees;
And explain
You rub a little coconut oil,

Parting gentle as a breeze.

I can eat with a friend
Mummy, mummy And compete with a friend
She’s always in a hurry-hurry And even sometimes
She pulls my hair Disagree
Sometimes tugs

I can ride with a friend

... Granny
And take pride with a friend
You have all the time in the world,
A friend can mean
And when you’re finished
So much to me!
You always turn my head and say,
-Vivian Gould
“Now, who’s a nice girl?"

- Grace Nichols
 C. TO COOK AND EAT Well - let me dive into the depths of time,

To cook and eat And bring from out of the ages that have rolled

Is an art. A few small fragments of those wrecks sublime,

105
Yet a part Which human eyes may never more behold:

Of everyday life. And let the guerdon of my labour be

We take it for granted My fallen country! One kind wish from you!

not knowing, - Henry Louis Vivian Derozio

not caring,

that others E. A TIGER IN THE ZOO

may not have this thing He stalks in his vivid stripes

which we so foolishly The few steps of his cage,

waste. On pads of velvet quiet,

- Emma Richards (aged 12) In his quiet rage

D. TO INDIA – MY NATIVE LAND He should be lurking in shadow,

My country! In your days of glory past Sliding through long grass

A beauteous halo circled round your brow. Near the water hole

And worshipped as a deity you were... Where plump deer pass.

Where is that glory, where that reverence now?

Your eagle pinion is chained down at last He should be snarling around houses

And grovelling in the lowly dust are you; At the jungle’s edge.

Your minstrel has no wreath to weave for you Baring his white fangs, his claws.

Save the sad story of your misery Terrorizing the village!

 By love. In every land is common life

But he’s locked in a concrete cell. That all can recognise and understand.

His strength behind bars, Let us remember, whenever we are told

106
Stalking the length of his cage, To hate our brothers, it is ourselves

Ignoring visitors. That we shall dispossess, betray, condemn.

Remember, we who take arms against each other

He hears the last voice at night. It is the human earth that we defile.

The patrolling cars. Our hells of fire and dust outrage the innocence

And stares with his brilliant eyes Of air that is everywhere our own,

At the brilliant stars. Remember, no men are foreign, and no countries strange.

- Leslie Norris - James Kirkup

F. NO MEN ARE FOREIGN G. LAUGH AND BE MERRY

Remember, no men are strange, no countries foreign Laugh and be merry, remember, better the world with a song,

Beneath all uniforms, a single body breathes Better the world with a blow in the teeth of a wrong.

Like ours: the land our brothers walk upon Laugh, for the time is brief, a thread the length of a span.

Is earth like this, in which we all shall lie. Laugh and be proud to belong to the old proud pageant of man.

They, too, aware of sun and air and water,

Are fed by peaceful harvests, by war’s long winter starved. Laugh and be merry: remember, in olden time.

Their hands are ours, and in their lines we read God made Heaven and Earth for joy He took in a rhyme,

A labour not different from our own. Made them, and filled them full with the strong red wine of His mirth

Remember they have eyes like ours that wake The splendid joy of the stars: the joy of the earth.

Or sleep, and strength that can be won

So we must laugh and drink from the deep blue cup of the sky, Chide me not, laborious band,

Join the jubilant song of the great stars sweeping by, For the idle flowers I brought;

Laugh, and battle, and work, and drink of the wine outpoured Every aster in my hand
107
In the dear green earth, the sign of the joy of the Lord. Goes home loaded with a thought.

Laugh and be merry together, like brothers akin, There was never mystery,

Guesting awhile in the rooms of a beautiful inn, But 'tis figured in the flowers,

Glad till the dancing stops, and the lilt of the music ends. Was never secret history,

Laugh till the game is played; and be you merry, my friends. But birds tell it in the bowers.

- John Masefield

One harvest from thy field

H. THE APOLOGY Homeward brought the oxen strong;

Think me not unkind and rude, A second crop thine acres yield,

That I walk alone in grove and glen; Which I gather in a song.

I go to the god of the wood - Ralph Waldo Emerson

To fetch his word to men.

I. THE FLYING WONDER

Tax not my sloth that I Said Orville Wright to Wilbur Wright,

Fold my arms beside the brook; "These birds are very trying.

Each cloud that floated in the sky I'm sick of hearing them cheep-cheep

Writes a letter in my book. About the fun of flying.

A bird has feathers, it is true.

That much I freely grant.

But must that stop us. W?'
Said Wilbur Wright 'It shan’t
And so they built a glider, firs~
And then they built another.
- There never were two brothers more
Devoted to each other.
They ran a dusty little shop
For bicycle-repairing,
And bought each other &Ode-pop
And praised each other’s daring.
They glided here, they glided there,
They sometimes skinned their noses.
-For learning how to rule the air
Was not a bed of rose -
But each would murmur, afterward,
While patching up his bro.
“Are we discouraged, W?”
“Of course we are not, O!”
And finally, at Kitty Hawk
In Nineteen-Three (let's cheer it!),
The first real aeroplane really flow
With Orville there to steer It!
-And kingdoms may forget their kings
And dogs forget their bites,
But not till Man forgets his wings
Will men forget the Wrights.
108
- Stephen Vincent Benet
15. VARIOUS WORKS OF THE FOLLOWING AUTHORS
RABINDRANATH TAGORE
Fiction:
Mashi and Other Stories, Stories from Tagore, The Home and the World, The
Hungry Stones And Other Stories.
Non-Fiction:
Creative Unity, Glimpses of Bengal, My Reminiscences, Nationalism, Sadhana: The
Realisation of Life
Plays:
Chitra, The Cycle of Spring, The King of the Dark Chamber, The Post Office.
Poetry Books:
1) Songs of Kabir
2) The Crescent Moon
3) The Fugitive and Other Poems
Essays:
The Spirit of Japan
Poetry:
Fruit-Gathering, Gitanjali, Stray Birds, The Gardener, The Mother's Prayer, The
Sunset of the Century.
 SHAKESPEARE
Comedy:
All's Well That Ends Well, As You Like It, The Comedy of Errors, Cymbeline, Love's
Labour’s Lost, Measure for Measure, The Merry Wives of Windsor, The Merchant
of Venice, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Much Ado About Nothing, Pericles- Prince
of Tyre, Taming of the Shrew, The Tempest, Troilus and Cressida, Twelfth Night,
Two Gentlemen of Verona, Winter's Tale.
History:
Henry IV [part 1,part 2], Henry IV, Henry V, Henry VI [part 1, part 2, part 3],
Henry VIII, King John, Richard II, Richard III.
Tragedy:
Antony and Cleopatra, Coriolanus, Hamlet, Julius Caesar, King Lear, Macbeth,
Othello, Romeo and Juliet, Timon of Athens, Titus Andronicus.
Poetry:
The Sonnets, A Lover's Complaint, The Rape of Lucrece, Venus and Adonis, Funeral
Elegy by W.S.
WILLIAM WORDSWORTH
Poetry Books:
1) Lyrical Ballads 1798
2) Lyrical Ballads with Other Poems, 1800, Volume 1, Volume 2
3) Poems in Two Volumes [Volume 1, Volume 2]
Poetry:
A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal, Admonition to a Traveller, Anecdote for Fathers,
Animal Tranquillity and Decay, By the Sea, Expostulation and Reply, Goody Blake
and Harry Gill, I Travelled Among Unknown Men, I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud,
Influence of Natural Objects, Lines composed a few miles above Tintern Abbey,
Lines left upon a seat, Lines written at a small distance from my house, Lines
written near Richmond, Lines written when sailing, London, 1802, Love, Lucy,
Mutability, My Heart Leaps Up When I Behold, Ode, Ode to Duty, Ode: Intimations
Of Immortality From Recollections Of Early Childhood, On the Extinction of the
Venetian Republic, Ruth: Or The Influences of Nature, Scorn Not the Sonnet; Critic
109
You Have Frowned, She Dwelt Among the Untrodden Ways, She Was a Phantom
of Delight, Simon Lee, The Old Huntsman, Surprised By Joy, The Affliction of
Margaret, The Ancient Mariner, The Complaint, The Dungeon, The Female
Vagrant, The Foster Mother's Tale, The Fountain, The Green Linnet, The Idiot Boy,
The Last of the Flock, The Leech-Gatherer, The Lesser Celandine, The Mad Mother,
The Nightingale, The Reaper, The Reverie of Poor Susan, The Sun Has Long Been
Set, The Tables Turned, The Thorn, The Two April Mornings, The World Is Too
Much With Us; Late and Soon, Thought of a Briton on the Subjugation of
Switzerland, Three Years She Grew in Sun and Shower, To a Skylark, To the Cuckoo,
To the Daisy, To Toussaint L'Ouverture, Upon Westminster Bridge, We Are Seven,
When I Have Borne in Memory What Has Tamed, Within King's College
Chapel;Cambridge, Written in Early Spring,Written in London; September 1802,
Yarrow Visited, Yew-Trees.
H.W.LONGFELLOW
Fiction:
1) Hyperion: A Romance
2) Poetry Books
3) Evangeline
4) The Golden Legend
5) The Song of Hiawatha
Poetry:
A Psalm Of Life, Birds Of Passage, Hiawatha's Childhood, Hymn To The Night,
Nuremberg, The Belfry Of Bruges, The Building of the Long Serpent, The Building
of the Ship, The Castle Builder, The Midnight Ride Of Paul Revere, The Reaper And
The Flowers, The Reaper And The Flowers, The Tide Rises-The Tide Falls, The
Village Blacksmith, The Wreck Of The Hesperus.
 ANNE LOUISA WALKER Essays:

1) The Night Cometh The Critic As Artist, De Profundis, The Decay Of Lying: An Observation, Pen, Pencil,
2) The Old Men Used To Sing And Poison - A Study In Green, The Soul Of Man Under Socialism, The Truth Of
3) Women's Rights Masks -a Note On Illusion, The Rise of Historical Criticism, The English Renaissance 110
of Art, House Decoration, Art and the Handicraftsman, Lecture to Art Students,
London Models, Selected Prose, Shorter Prose Pieces, Miscellaneous Aphorisms,
OSCAR WILDE Impressions of America, Children in Prison
Fiction:
Poetry:
1) Lord Arthur Savile's Crime
A Vision, Amor Intellectualis, Apologia, At Verona, Athanasia, Ave Imperatrix, Ave
2) The Canterville Ghost
Maria Gratia Plena, Ballade De Marguerite (Normande), By The Arno, Camma,
3) The Picture of Dorian Gray
4) The Portrait of Mr. W. H. Canzonet, Chanson, Charmides, Desespoir, E Tenebris, Easter Day, Endymion (For
Music), Fabien Dei Franchi, From Spring Days To Winter (For Music), Helas!, Her
Non-Fiction: Voice, Holy Week At Genoa, Humanitad, Impression De Voyage, Impression Du
A Critic in Pall Mall, Plays, For Love of the King, A Florentine Tragedy, A Woman Matin, Impression--Le Reveillon, In The Forest, In The Gold Room--A Harmony,
of No Importance, An Ideal Husband, La Sainte Courtisane, Lady Windermere's Italia, La Bella Donna Della Mia Mente, La Fuite De La Lune, La Mer, Le Jardin, Le
Fan, Salome, The Duchess of Padua, The Importance of Being Earnest, Vera, or Jardin Des Tuileries, Le Panneau, Les Ballons, Les Silhouettes, Libertatis Sacra
the Nihilists. Fames, Louis Napoleon, Madonna Mia, Magdalen Walks, My Voice, On The
Massacre Of The Christians In Bulgaria, On The Sale By Auction Of Keats' Love
Short Stories: Letters, Pan--Double Villanelle, Panthea, Phedre, Portia, Quantum Mutata, Queen
1) The Devoted Friend Henrietta Maria, Quia Multum Amavi, Ravenna, Requiescat, Rome Unvisited,
2) The Happy Prince Roses And Rue, San Miniato, Santa Decca, Serenade (For Music), Silentium Amoris,
3) The Nightingale and the Rose Sonnet On Approaching Italy, Sonnet On Hearing The Dies Irae Sung In The Sistine
4) The Remarkable Rocket Chapel, Sonnet to Liberty, Symphony In Yellow, Taedium Vitae, The Ballad of
5) The Selfish Giant
Reading Gaol, The Burden Of Itys, The Dole Of The King's Daughter (Breton), The
6) Poems in Prose
7) The Young King Garden Of Eros, The Grave Of Keats, The Grave Of Shelley, The Harlot's House, The
8) The Birthday of the Infanta New Helen, The New Remorse, The Sphinx, The True Knowledge, Theocritus--A
9) The Fisherman and His Soul Villanelle, Theoretikos, To Milton, To My Wife--With A Copy Of My Poems,
10) The Star Child Tristitiae, Under The Balcony, Urbs Sacra Aeterna, Vita Nuova, With A Copy Of 'A
11) The Sphinx Without a Secret House Of Pomegranates'.
12) The Model Millionaire
 PEARL S. BUCK
Autobiographies:
1) My Several Worlds: A Personal Record (New York: John Day, 1954).
2) A Bridge For Passing (New York: John Day, 1962)
Biographies
1) The Exile (1936)
2) Fighting Angel (1936)
Novels
East Wind:West Wind (1930), The House of Earth, The Good Earth (1931), Sons
(1933), A House Divided (1935), The Mother (1933), All Men Are Brothers (1933),
a translation of the Chinese classical prose epic Water Margin, This Proud Heart
(1938), The Patriot (1939), Other Gods (1940), China Sky (1941), Dragon Seed
(1942), The Promise (1943), China Flight (1943), The Townsman (1945) – as John
Sedges, Portrait of a Marriage (1945), Pavilion of Women (1946), The Angry Wife
(1947) – as John Sedges, Peony (1948), The Big Wave (1948), The Long Love (1949)
– as John Sedges, he Bondmaid (1949), first published in Great Britain infolk (1950),
God's Men (1951), The Hidden Flower (1952), Come, My Beloved (1953), Voices in
the House (1953) – as John Sedges, Imperial Woman (1956), Letter from Peking
(1957), Command the Morning (1959), Satan Never Sleeps (1962; see 1962 film
Satan Never Sleeps), The Living Reed (1963), Death in the Castle (1965), The Time
Is Noon (1966), Matthew, Mark, Luke and John (1967), The New Year (1968), The
Three Daughters of Madame Liang (1969), Mandala (1970), The Goddess Abides
(1972), All Under Heaven (1973), The Rainbow (1974), The Eternal Wonder,
(believed to have been written shortly before her death, published in October
2013)
Non-fiction
Is There a Case for Foreign Missions?, John Day (1932), The Chinese Novel: Nobel
Lecture Delivered before the Swedish Academy at Stockholm December 12,1938
(New York: John Day, 1939), Of Men and Women (1941), What America Means to
Me (New York: John Day, 1943). Essays, Talk about Russia (with Masha Scott)
(1945), Tell the People: Talks with James Yen About the Mass Education
Movement (New York: John Day, 1945), How It Happens: Talk about the German
People, 1914–1933, with Erna von Pustau (1947), with Eslanda Goode Robeson.
111
American Argument (New York: John Day, 1949), The Child Who Never Grew
(1950), The Man Who Changed China: The Story of Sun Yat-sen (1953), For
Spacious Skies (1966), The People of Japan (1966), To My Daughters, With Love
(1967), The Kennedy Women (1970), China as I See It (1970), The Story Bible
(1971), Pearl S. Buck's Oriental Cookbook (1972).
Long and short stories
The First Wife and Other Stories (1933), Today and Forever: Stories of China
(1941), Twenty-Seven Stories (1943), Far and Near: Stories of Japan, China, and
America (1949), "A Certain Star" (1957), Fourteen Stories (1961), Portrait of a
Marriage (1961), Hearts Come Home and Other Stories (1962), Stories of China
(1964), Escape at Midnight and Other Stories (1964), The Good Deed (1969), Once
Upon a Christmas (1972), East and West Stories (1975), Secrets of the Heart:
Stories (1976), The Lovers and Other Stories (1977), Mrs. Stoner and the Sea and
Other Stories (1978), The Woman Who Was Changed and Other Stories (1979),
"Christmas Day in the Morning", "The Refugee", "The Chinese Children, Next Door"
(for children), ″The Enemy", "The Frill", "The Golden Flower".
16. WHAT IS THE THEME OBSERVED IN THE LITERARY WORKS?
S NO. LITERARY WORKS THEME
1 Snake Unity co-existence between man &
animal
2 The Mark of Vishnu Superstition
3 Greedy Govind Life is precious than money
4 Our Local Team How cricket should not be played
5 Where the mind is People must live this by the way of self-
without fear respect
 S NO. LITERARY WORKS THEME “Life is like a game of cards. The hand you are dealt is determinism; the way you
6 Keep your spirits high A solution to face the confusing play it is free will.”
problems, fears and sorrows
“What we really are matters more than what other people think of us.”
7 Be the best Be optimistic, Be the best whatever you
are, self-acceptance “Facts are facts and will not disappear on account of your likes.” 112
8 Bat The nocturnal life of mammals
9 The Piano Memory itself is personified as a person “The art of a people is a true mirror to their minds.”
holding the poet's hand to lead him down “Time is not measured by the passing of years but by what one does, what one
the memory lane feels, and what one achieves.”
10 The Model Millionaire charity flows from one who loves his
fellow men “Peace is not a relationship of nations. It is a condition of mind brought about by
11 The Cry of the Children Child labour a serenity of soul. Peace is not merely the absence of war. It is also a state of mind.
12 Migrant bird Birds have no boundaries to move freely Lasting peace can come only to peaceful people.”
13 Shilpi Man’s creativity & craftsmanship “Failure comes only when we forget our ideals and objectives and principles.”

- Jawaharlal Nehru
17. FAMOUS QUOTES – WHO SAID THIS?

“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.”
"You must be the change you wish to see in the world"
“Be the change that you wish to see in the world.”
"There are people in the world so hungry, that God cannot appear to them except
in the form of bread."
“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.”
― Mahatma Gandhi
“Do not allow yourselves to be disheartened by any failure as long as you have
done your best”
“We cannot do great things. We can only do little things with great love”
“Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies”
“Being unwanted, unloved, uncared for, forgotten by everybody, I think that is a
much greater hunger, a much greater poverty than the person who has nothing to
eat.”
“Even the rich are hungry for love, for being cared for, for being wanted, for having
someone to call their own.”

“I try to give to the poor people for love what the rich could get for money. No, I
“We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm and adventure. There is
wouldn't touch a leper for a thousand pounds; yet I willingly cure him for the love
no end to the adventures that we can have if only we seek them with our eyes
of God.”
open.”
“The most terrible poverty is loneliness and the feeling of being unloved.”
“Culture is the widening of the mind and of the spirit.”
“Joy is a net of love by which you can catch souls.”
“Let us always meet each other with smile, for the smile is the beginning of love.” "In the middle of every difficulty lies opportunity."

“Let us more and more insist on raising funds of love, of kindness, of
understanding, of peace. Money will come if we seek first the Kingdom of God -
the rest will be given.”
“Loneliness and the feeling of being unwanted is the most terrible poverty.”
"Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is
not to stop questioning."
"There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. 113
The other is as though everything is a miracle."

- Mother Teresa “Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about
the universe.”

- Albert Einstein
“We are what our thoughts have made us; so take care about what you think.
Words are secondary. Thoughts live; they travel far.”

“Arise, awake and Stop not until the goal is reached” “Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference.”

- Swami Vivekananda. “Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit
down and listen.”

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”
“Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much.”
- Winston Churchill
“I am so clever that sometimes I don't understand a single word of what I am
saying.”

“To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.” “In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: it goes on.”

"Some cause happiness wherever they go; others, whenever they go." "Hell is a half-filled auditorium."

"I am not young enough to know everything." - Robert Frost

"Bigamy is having one wife too many. Monogamy is the same."

"There are only two tragedies in life: one is not getting what one wants, and the “To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is
other is getting it." the greatest accomplishment.”

“Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson

― Oscar Wilde

"Fill the unforgiving minute with sixty seconds worth of distance run.

- Rudyard Kipling
“Develop success from failures. Discouragement and failure are two of the surest 18. TO WHICH PERIOD THE POETS BELONG TO
stepping stones to success.”
S NO. POET PERIOD
- Dale Carnegie
1 William Shakespeare English renaissance [1564-1616]
The talent of success is nothing more than doing what you can do, well. 2 Walt Whitman Romantic period [1819-1892] 114

3 William Wordsworth Romantic period [1770-1850]

- Henry W. Longfellow
4 H.W. Longfellow Romantic period [1807-1882]
“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” 5 Annie Louisa Walker Modernism [1836-1907]
6 D.H. Lawrence Modernism [1885-1930]
- Thomas A. Edison

“Don’t let the fear of losing be greater than the excitement of winning.”
19. MATCHING THE POETS AND POEMS
- Robert Kiyosaki
1) Discovery --------------------------------------------------Gayathri Pahlajani
"The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched 2) Biking -------------------------------------------------------Judith Nicols
- they must be felt with the heart." 3) Inclusion--------------------------------------------------- Dipti Bhatia
-Helen Keller 4) Granny, Granny, please comb my hair-------------Grace Nicholas
5) To cook and Eat ----------------------------------------- Emma Richards
"If you are going through hell, keep going." 6) Bat ----------------------------------------------------------Randall Jarrel
7) To India –My native Land------------------------------Henery luis vivian derozio
-Winston Churchill 8) A Tiger in the zoo---------------------------------------- Leslie Norris
"The purpose of our lives is to be happy." 9) No men are foreign -------------------------------------James kirkup
10) Laugh and be merry------------------------------------ John Masefield
-Dalai Lama 11) Earth------------------------------------------------------- Khalil Gibran
12) The apology ----------------------------------------------Ralph waldo Emerson
"Don't count the days, make the days count."
13) The Flying wonder --------------------------------------Stephen vincent bennet
-Muhammad Ali 14) Off to outer space tomorrow morning ------------Norman Nicholson
15) Be the best -----------------------------------------------Douglas malloch
"I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work." 16) Is life but a dream --------------------------------------Lewis caroll
17) Women’s rights------------------------------------------Annie louisa walker
-Thomas A. Edison
18) The Nation United –------------------------------------Walt whitman
"Your voice can change the world." 19) English words --------------------------------------------V.K.Gokak
20) Snake-------------------------------------------------------DH Lawrence
-Barack Obama 21) The man he killed---------------------------------------Thomas Hardy
20. NATURE CENTRED LITERARY WORKS AND GLOBAL ISSUE ENVIRONMENT AND
CONSERVATION
FLYING WITH THE MOON ON THEIR WINGS
Bird Migration is the regular seasonal journey undertaken by many species of
birds. At a particular season thousands of birds travel from one place to another.
One of the greatest mysteries of bird life is migration or travelling. Every year,
during autumn and early winter, birds travel from their breeding haunts in the
northern regions of Asia, Europe and America to the southern, warmer lands. They
make the return Journey again during spring and early summer. They are very
punctual too, unless they are delayed by the weather. We may calculate almost to
a day when we may expect our bird friends to return, carrying winter on their
backs.
Some species also move out of one area Into another, not very far away. All birds
have a certain amount of local movements, caused by the stresses of living and
the variations in food supply. This kind of movement Is particularly noticeable In
North India where the seasons are well defined.
Birds which spend the summer in the higher reaches of mountains come down
during the winter to the lower foothills or even the plains. This type is very
common within India where the mighty Himalayas lie close to the Indo-Gangetic
plain
The brave little voyagers face many dangers and hardships, while travelling long,
long distances through the air over hill, forest and plain and over large stretches
of water. Sometimes sudden storms arise and drive them far out of their course.
Often they are blown right out to sea and they drown in the wild waves. Some
times at night bright lights attract and confuse the birds.
Migrating birds do not fly at their fastest. The migration speed is usually from 48
to 64 km an hour and rarely exceeds 80 km per hour. Small birds seldom exceed
48 km per hour, most shore birds fly between 64 and 80 km per hour, while many
ducks travel at 80 to 96 km per hour. Migrants generally fly at a distance under
900 meters, but some travellers have been found sometimes at greater heights.
Some birds make the long journey in easy stages, stopping to rest on the way.
Others fly great distances without pausing to rest and reed. Some fly by day, some
both by day and by night, but most of them speed on their way through darkness
after the sun has set.
Birds usually travel in flocks. The V shaped formation of cranes and geese attracts
much attention as the birds speed across the sky Swallows, flycatchers, warblers,
115
shorebirds and water birds begin to gather in flocks, each with its own kind and
after a great deal of excited fluttering, twittering and calling, they rise up into the
air and away they go
Birds were seen moving from one place to another with the change in seasons
from the earliest times, but people had strange ideas as to why the birds travelled
or where they went. To explain their absence from a place in a particular season,
they said that the birds buried themselves in the mud and slept there throughout
the winter.
Later, detailed studies of migration started. Information was gained by directly
observing the habits of birds, and also by ringing. Bird movements are also studied
by creating artificial conditions and studying their effects on birds.
Today, most of the information on migration has come from ringing young and
adult birds. Ringing is done by capturing a bird and placing on its leg a light band
of metal or plastic. The band bears a number, date, identification mark and the
address to which the finder is requested to return the ring. The bird is then set
free. The place where such a bird is shot, captured or found dead, gives a
clue to the direction and locality to which the bird has migrated.
Ringing has proved that birds cover large distances. There is some evidence to
believe that the woodcock on its winter movements flies from the Himalayas to
the Nilgiris without a pause, a distance of 2,400km. The wild duck comes to our
lakes from Central Asia and Siberia flying 3,200 to 4,800 km over the Himalayas.
The rosy pastor comes from Eastern Europe or Central Asia. The wagtail, about the
size of a sparrow, comes from the Himalayan regions and Central Asia to the Plains.
Smallest of all, the willow warbler, half the size of a sparrow, covers as many as
3,200 km to reach us every winter!
Why do birds migrate in spite of heavy loss of life on the way? Primarily to escape
the bitter cold and a restricted food supply. In the case &water birds, the food
supply disappears altogether, when the water freezes and the fish and other
seafood are difficult to obtain, the main reason for the spring movement is the
availability of nesting sites and the need to escape summer heat.
The migration of birds is a fascinating study indeed, and there are many unsolved
problems which lie ahead. For example, how do the birds know when to start?
How do they know their way over the sea without any landmarks? How do they
manage to return year after year to the same locality? How do the young cuckoos
join the adult birds without previous experience, and without any Guidance from
adult cuckoos which fly to India and Africa several weeks before the young
cuckoos, are ready to leave their foster parents? These and many more such
interesting questions lie ahead of you to solve!
MIGRANT BIRD
The globe’s my world .The cloud's my kin
I care not where the skies begin;
I spread my wings through all the din:
Through fears and fright I fly my flight
No walls for me, no vigil gates,
No flags, no machine guns that blast
Citizens of those border states-
Brothers of her brother's sons.
No maps, no boundaries to block
My sojourn into unknown lands.
I spawn and splash in distant spills,
I breed my brood where ‘r I will.
I won't look down. No I will not.
With speed of wings I hasten past
And close my eyes against the sun
To dream my dreams and make them last
-Famida Y.Basheer.
WILL THIRST BECOME UNQUENCHABLE?
1. It is not yet noon in Delhi, just 180 miles south of the Himalayan glaciers. But in
the narrow corridors of Nehru Camp, a slum in this city of 16 million, the blast
furnace of the north Indian summer has already sent temperatures soaring past
116
105 degrees Fahrenheit. Chaya, the 25-yearold wife of a fortune-teller, has spent
seven hours joining the mad scramble for water that even today defines life in this
heaving metropolis and offers a taste of what the depletion of Tibet's water and
ice portends.
2. Chaya's day began long before sunrise. When she and her five children fanned
out in the darkness, armed with plastic jugs of every size. After day break, the
rumour of a tap with running water sent her stumbling in a panic through the
slum's narrow corridors. Now. With her containers still empty and the sun blazing
overhead, she has returned home for a moment's rost. Asked if she's eaten
anything today, sho laughs: "We haven't even had any tea yet:
3. Suddenly cries erupt — a water truck has been spotted. Chaya leaps up and Joins
the human torrent in the street. A dozen boys swarm onto a blue tanker, jamming
hoses in and siphoning the water out. Below, shouting women Jostle for position
with their containers. In six minutes the tanker is empty. Chaya arrived too late
and must move on to chase the next rumour of water.
4. More than two-thirds of the city, water is drawn from the Yamuna and
theGanges, rivers fed by Himalayan ice. If that ice disappears, the future will
almost certainly be worse. 'We are facing an unsustainable.situation," says Diwan
Singh, a Delhi environmental activist. "Soon - not in thirty years but in five to ten
there will be an exodus because of the lack of water,"
5. The tension already seethes. In the clogged alleyway around one of Nehru
Camp's last Fnctioning taps, which run for one hour a day, a man punches a
womanwho cut in line, leaving a purple blow on her face
6. "We wake up every morning fighting overwater," says Kamal Bhate, a local
astrologer watching the melee. This one dissolves into shouting and finger-
pointing, but the brawls can be deadly. In a nearby slum a teenage boy was
recently beaten to death for cutting in line.
7. Climate change and diminishing water supplies could reduce cereal yields in We ran as if to meet the moon
South Asia by 5 percent within three decades. "We're going to see rising tension
over shared water resources, including political disputes between farmers, That slowly dawned behind the trees,
between farmers and cities, and between human and ecological demands for The barren boughs without the leaves,
water,' says Peter Gleick, water expert and President of the Pacific Institute in 117
Oakland, California. "And I believe more of these tensions will lead to violence Without the birds, without the breeze.

8. For the people in Nehru Camp, geopolitical concerns are lost In the frenzied
pursuit of water. In the afternoon, a outside the slum is suddenly turned on, and
Chaya, smiling triumphantly, hauls back a full, ten-gallon jug on top of her head. But once within the wood, we paused
The water is dirty and bitter, and there are no means to boil it. Like gnomes that hid us from the moon
9. But now, at last, she can give her children their first meal of the day: a piece of Ready to run to hiding new
bread and a few spoonful’s of lentil stew. "They should be studying, but we keep
shooting them away to find water," Chaya says. "We have no choice, because who With laughter when she found us soon
knows if we'll find enough water tomorrow."

Each laid on other a staying hand

GOING FOR WATER
To listen ere we dared to look,
The well was dry beside the door,
And in the hush we joined to make
And so we went with pail and can
We heard, we knew we heard the brook
Across the fields behind the house

To seek the brook if still it ran;

A note as from a single place,

A slender tinkling fall that made

Not loth to have excuse to go,
Now drops that floated on the pool
Because the autumn eve was fair
Like pearls, and now a silver blade.
(Though chill), because the fields were ours,

And by the brook our woods were there

-Robert Frost
 SWEPT AWAY
'Come on. We've got to get out of here now", Serge urged his partner Celine. Flood
water that had Poured into their little terraced home was already 30 centimetres
deep and rising. The couple had lifted the sofa onto the dining table and stacked
as many other possessions as they could out of the reach of the filthy water. It was
2:15 pm on Monday. September 22, 2003 and the small town of lunel in southern
France had been battered by violent storms since mid-morning.
Council worker Serge, 43 and 32-year old Celine, a home help, had lived most of
their lives in Lunel which stands only a few metres above sea level. The flat marshy
area, floods frequently. This was the second time in Just over a year that the couple
had found the home invaded by water.
Serge and Celine stepped out into the street now a fast-flowing thigh-high river.
They waded across the road and Celine stepped over a low hedge which separated
the street from the pavement. Serge was following close behind when he saw
Celine fall. In an instant she had disappeared below the water.
She's dead, he thought it’s all over. All they'll find is her body later. Celine felt
herself being pulled under the water. Instinctively, she reached up for Serge's
hand. She felt his grasp but her relief was short-lived as his hand slipped away.
She couldn't understand what was happening. She was being swept along
underwater, helpless and swallowing mouthfuls of the filthy liquid. She couldn't
breathe. I'm going to die", she thought. I'm drowning. There's no way I can survive
this". Then she found that she could breathe again. In the dim light, she could see
that she was about ten metres from the manhole through which she had plunged,
but the current made it impossible to swim back.
She was in a two-metre wide concrete storm drain which was almost completely
filled with water and it was still rising. Across the drain stretched a small plastic
pipe. Further on, the tunnel was completely black.
I've got to try to grab that pipe", Celine thought. I've got to keep myself as high out
of the water as I can".
Slippery though It was, she managed to grasp the pipe With a supreme effort she
pulled the upper part of her body out of the water and manoeuvred herself against
the wall to stop herself being swept further along the drain.
Above ground. Serge panicked. "Help, help!' he cried. Wading as fast as he could
to his nearest neighbour's house. "Quick! Celine's been sucked down a drain! I've
got to go back. I've got to get her out.
"No," said Louise Martinez, who lived opposite the couple. 'We'll ring the fire
118
brigade."
Drenched and freezing cold, Celine hung on. Thoughts cue to her almost like
photographs. She could see her daughter amandine turning to blow her a kiss as
she hurried into school.'r1l never see her again', she thought. She wouldn't be
there to celebrate Amandine's twelfth birthday in two weeks’ time. "Nor she said
to herself. “I’ve got to be there for her. I've got to survive".
And then there was Serge. She thought of the squabble they'd had that morning.
Now all she could think of was that Serge would have to tell Amandine that her
mother was dead. How will he tell her? She wondered.
It didn't bear thinking about. She couldn't let it happen. "I've got to fight to the
very end".
The firemen finally managed to battle through the floods about an hour after they
had received the cell alerting them to Celine's disappearance. They shone torches
down the manhole and probed with metal rods but there was no sign of the
missing woman.
As she hung from the pipe, Celine saw a bright light it was the firemen, she
realized, shining powerful torches down the manhole. She started tapping on the
pipe and battering the walls with her hands and arms, "I'm hater she shouted.
Tome and get me out
She watched as the firemen lowered metal rods, and she tried hard to shout above
the noise of the racing water.
Then, to her astonishment and anger, the lights and rods disappeared, it was black
now in the drain, and she felt objects smashing against her— bags, branches, the
contents of bins, all swept away in the flood.
Unable to feel her legs, she knew she couldn't hold on to the pipe any longer. I've
got to do something, she thought. The water level had dropped to her chest.
There's got to be an exit further on, she reckoned. "Ali this water has got to go
somewhere. Perhaps there's a grill". If it was shut she could be smashed to pieces
against it, but if it was open she was free. She had to find out.
After a while, she was able to touch the bottom of the drain with her feet the pipe
had narrowed. Her hopes rose until suddenly her face smashed against something
hard protruding from the wall an iron bar.
Celine lost consciousness for a moment and came round to find herself once more
going under the water. At the same lime she could feel something above her. It
seemed to be pieces of plastic hanging down from the roof. She grabbed one.
Soon the water picked up speed, the current became more and more difficult to
resist and Celine could no longer walk. Forced on to her back, she once again felt
herself being sucked along, out of control.
She couldn't hold on to the plastic any longer. She felt her body being thrown
around by the water, turning over and over in the icy deluge. Her shoulder, then
her legs and knees, slammed against the concrete wall. Still being buffeted by the
terrifying force of the storm water, Celine did not immediately realize that she was
in the open air. Night was falling. Then reality hit her. "I'm outside! I'm outside!'
she thought jubilantly.
She was in a ditch whose water had over-flowed into a large flooded area, with
houses on one side and fields on the other. She grabbed some tufts of grass and
reeds but, still unable to lift herself out of the torrent, she screamed for help.
Above the roaring of the water, she heard a man's voice. Jack Poderoso, a 45-year
old teacher, was standing on concrete platform just above the storm drain exit,
checking that his daughter's horse was ail right. is there someone down there?' he
shouted.
"Yes, I'm here, I'm here," Celine yelled back, *what’s the time?"
"It's after 7 pm". He replied.
Celine was amazed. "Have! Been down here for five hours?"
'Ring Serge,* She shouted, "Tell him I'm alive. He thinks I'm dead.'
Jack could see that the woman was weak and still in danger. "No, calm down,' he
said, "You've got to get out of that river?
Celine managed to heave herself onto the muddy bank, but there was still no way
Jack could reach her.
Jack forced Celine to give him Serge's number, repeating it figure by figure above
the water's roar. When nobody answered, Celine managed to recall Serge's
119
brother's number. Celina's head ached but, urged on by Jack, she dragged herself
to her feet.
Then she heard another voice, inquiring 'Where's the body?' it was a fireman
bearing a bag. It was after 8 pm when Serge arrived at Lunet's fire station.
A fire engine pulled up outside. The doors opened. Inside sat Celina, her hair wet
and bedraggled, her face battered. She had no voice left. She could only collapse
weeping into Serge's arms.
No one can understand how Celine survived. She has her own theory. 'When I want
something, I'm very determined. I wanted to be there for my daughter and for
Serge.'
GAIA TELLS HER TALE
I’m Gala, the personification of the primordial mother Earth. I am known by many
names in different languages and in different places. The Greeks call me Gala, the
Indians call me Bhoomi Matha and the English call me Earth. I am a huge bell in
space spinning eta rapid pace while revoking around the Sun. Do you know how
old I am? I was a part of the sun. Millions of years ago. Following the big bang that
occurred In the cosmos, I fell apart.
In the early years of my life, I was a land mass called Pangea and a big water mass
called Panthalasia. Which covers two-thirds of my surface. Due to gravity, I am able
to hold everything in its place! I am the only life supporting planet in the universe.
Scientists are peering through their telescopes even as I am speaking; checking to
see whether there is any other planet with life in IL Research is still on! In the
beginning when there were just plants growing and animals wandering all over
me, we was very peaceful there existed a natural rhythm that bound the entire
species of life. There was peace and loam was abundance, assuring the survival of
every creature.
Of course, I was very happy when man arrived. I was proud that a superior creature
had come to protect and care for me. He not only admired me but also worshipped
me with utmost reverence. Even when your tribe increased, I had no problem
because the ecosystem wiles still well balanced and intact I have a large heart —
large enough to accommodate all of you. However when you became greedy and
under the pretext of development exploited all the natural resources
indiscriminately, my trouble began. I am deeply concerned about the way my
resources are being ravaged. You do not replenish what you consume.
YOU all know it is getting hotter by the day and as a result my glaciers are melting,
my forests burning, my rivers drying up and my animals dying. You are Indifferent
to your own actions. You have also turned a deaf ear to the cry of my creatures.
Where have your warmth and your love for Nature disappeared?
You read the newspapers and Journals and watch documentaries about
environmental pollution. Many of the west of spades have become extinct and
some are on the verge of extinction! Who le to be held responsible for this pathetic
state of affairs? The ozone gas that acts like a canopy, protecting you from the
harmful ultra violet rays of the Sun is depleting. The use of aerosol sprays has led
to the increase of Chloro Fluro Carbon (CFC) content in the atmosphere and has
eroded the ozone layer at the poles. As a result. An expanding hole has been
developing in the ozone layer. Many deadly diseases such as cancer are caused
due to this damage
My forests are very important for your survive! The trees bind the soil and
preserve it. They bring about rain, filing up lakes, ponds and rivers. You cut down
trees mindlessly to meet your immediate needs. The act of deforestation has
reduced the forest area to a considerable extent. The animals which inhabited
these forests have been rendered homeless
Don’t you have the wherewithal to bring back the glorious past? Nothing is
impossible for you, but the choice is yours. As a mother it is my duty to warm you
of the impending dangers of neglecting me. Even your own scientists concur with
my views. How can I put up with the sight of my own children being poisoned and
their safety being threatened? You may be careless, but how can a mother be
indifferent?
My dear little children, I love you so much as I loved your parents in the past That
Is the reason I'm here narrating my tale. Also I remind you of your responsibility at
protecting your own sweet home -your only abode in the immense universal Seek
to restore the harmony of the bygone days.
120
I'm not a mere ball of mud, water and minerals. I too possess a body and mind, a
heart and soul -Just like you. It is you who keep me alive. I live in you; I live with
you; I live for you!
OTHERS
 William Shakespeare-------------------April 26 1564 - April 23 1616
 Walt Whitman---------------------------May 31, 1819 - March 26, 1892
 William Word worth--------------------April 7, 1770 - April 23, 1850
 H.W Longfellow-------------------------Feb 27, 1807 - March 24, 1882
 Annie Louisa walker--------------------June 26 1836 - July 7 1907
 D.H. Lawrence----------------------------Sep 11 1885 -March 2, 1930,
 Dummy Horse dance-------------------Puravi Attam/Poikkal kudhirai Attam.
 Puppetry----------------------------------Bommalattam
 Street play--------------------------------Panguni & Aadi (Mar, Apr &July, Aug)
 Duraisami Kannappa Thambiran----Therukoothu Artist (Tamilnadu)
 Bow Song----------------------------------Villupattu
 Parai----------------------------------------Thappattam
 Parai instrument used -----------------Sangam, chola & pandian coust
 Oyilattam----------------------------------The dance of beauty and grace
 Oyilattam----------------------------------Madurai & Theni
 Poikkal Kudhirai dance-----------------Wooden stilt
 Puppeteers--------------------------------String and Wire
 Therukoothu/street play---------------Purisai (Thiruvannamalai)
 Puravi attam-------------------------------False leg.
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