English Notes

Introduction The essay “Where There Is A Wheel” is taken from the book ‘Everybody loves a good drought’ written by P. Sainath a noted Indian journalist who writes columns regularly in leading journals on issues such as social problems, rural problems and poverty post globalization. Theme / Summary  This essay is about a social movement through cycling in Pudukkottai district of Tamilnadu in 1992 where over 100,000 rural women took to cycling. Most of them were neo-literates who used cycling as a symbol of independence, freedom and mobility. According to P. Sainath, cycling has given new meaning and social identity to women, agricultural workers, quarry labourers and village health nurses. Even balwadi and anganwadi (baby sitter) workers, gem cutters and school teachers have joined the bandwagon. There are also gram sevikas and mid-day meal workers who have joined the new movement. The Arivoli Iyakkam (Light of Knowledge Movement) that led the community literacy m

P Lankesh is an Indian writer who has written in Kannada language. His story “The Gardener” is a narrative of human competition that turns into rivalry, thanks to greed. The writer has adopted two different modes of narration: the writer sets the tone while the character, Tammanna narrates the whole story. An old man takes up work on a coconut farm near Chennarayapatna after walking several hundreds of miles. He was a labourer, overseer and philosopher, all rolled into one. This well-versed farmhand was very useful whose work made the income from the garden improve dramatically. While he worked hard, the owner changed his lifestyle. He became crowded with colourful events in the company of new friends. When the landlady was in a fix, the gardener narrated a convincing story to make her understand the reality. Tammanna, a rich man owned 1000 acres of land whereas his rival Basavaiah had 800 acres of land. He wanted to buy another 200 acres from Tammanna. As he was not w

                Click for the Questions and Answers George Mikes is a Hungarian artist, author, publisher, illustrator and journalist.  These     excerpts are from ‘The Land of the Rising Yen’ and ‘How To Tango’. Here he writes about his travelling experiences from two different places of the world, Japan and Brazil.  Travel writing is about writing one’s experiences of travelling and visiting alien places. Travel writing has become very popular as more number of people have begun to explore new places on the globe.  Though much of the earth has been explored, and almost everything has been written about, the popularity of travel writing is still growing.  There are exclusive channels on travel and the influence of new media has further increased its popularity. The travel narratives are telling comments on how a culture gets represented by another.  Japanese Manners / Courtesy - substitute privacy The writer observes that Japanese ar

  Interview with Jorge Luis Borges  Introduction Jorge Luis Borges was an Argentine short story writer, essayist, poet and translator. In this interview conducted by Roberto Alifano a poet, storyteller, essayist and journalist from the city of General Pinto, province of Buenos Aires Borges talks about his early years of reading, his family, his blindness, books, poetry, metaphors and literature.  First Reading / On his mother Asked about his first reading, Borges proudly says that he was educated at his father’s library where he first read Grimm’s Fairy Tales. His mother, according to him, was an extraordinary person but he regrets having not been understanding of her. He didn't give her happiness which makes him guilty. He says that all of us take our mother for granted. Accordingly, we should treat our mother better. He remembers his mother as an intelligent and gracious woman.   On blindness Blindness to Borges is a way of life. He calls whatever happens to anyone is a resou

Click for the Questions and Answers Vandana Shiva is an internationally renowned activist for biodiversity and against corporate globalization. In the essay “Everything I Need To...” she reveals to the readers all about her early lessons of environmentalism. She further tells us how she learnt all the major ideals of a good life from the forests such as diversity, freedom and co-existence. Vandana Shiva’s ecological journey started in the forests of the Himalaya. Her involvement in the contemporary ecology movement began with “Chipko”. Chipko Movement It was a nonviolent response to the large scale deforestation in the Himalaya region. In the 1970s peasant women in the Garhwal, Himalaya had come out in defence of the forests. Vandana Shiva noticed a steady loss of forests in this region. She decided to become a volunteer for the movement. Bio-diversity - Navadanya Farm / Navadanya Movement Chipko Movement taught Vandana Shiva about biodiversity. She re

Introduction Click for the Questions and Answers “Too Dear!” is a st ory written by  count Leo Tolstoy, a famous Russian writer, master of realistic fiction and is widely considered one of the world’s greatest novelists. The story “Too Dear!” is a parody of one of the modern systems of governance. It ridicules the ways of punishing criminals and dispensing justice in modern states. The story is narrated in a matter-of fact-tone but with an undercurrent of sarcasm. Leo Tolstoy satirizes the thirst for power, exercised by men of upper class, and how it affects society. In addition, it also raises a serious question on capital punishment. Summary / Theme / Story background All is well in the kingdom of Monaco until a man commits a murder. The king had never had to deal with the murder until the man was sentenced to death.  He runs into considerable trouble trying to carry out the sentence. Monaco had neither guillotine nor an executioner, so they requested the government of Fran

Introduction Challapalli Swaroopa Rani is a prominent Dalit writer. Her mature poetry focuses mainly on the issues of gender and caste. Her translated piece “Water” by Uma Bhrugubanda is a metaphor that shows the plight of the untouchables in our society.    Theme / Summary The poem is a heart rending account of a Dalit voice. It is a graphic portrayal of humiliation and insult suffered by the downtrodden. The evil practices of the century-old caste system is the theme of this poem. The poet gives us a firsthand account of the agony and sorrow experienced by Dalits. Water is holy; it purges our sins according to our holy scriptures. It is our basic commodity. However, water becomes the symbol of revolt over equal rights.    Water through the eyes of the speaker becomes omniscient that knows the age-old conflict between the village and the Wada. According to the poet, water also knows very well that untouchability remains as long as discrimination prevails.   The poet cites th