Sairandhri: A poem of Lost Identity

નમસ્તે વાચક મિત્રો !


આ બ્લોગ માં હું વાત કરીશ ગુજરાતી ભાષા ના આધુનિક કવિ વિનોદ જોશી રચિત પ્રબંધ કાવ્ય સૈરન્ધ્રી ની.
આ કાવ્ય મહાભારત ના વિરાટપર્વ પર આધારિત છે. જેમાં વાત કરી છે પોતાની મૂળ ઓળખ ગુમાવીને જીવી રહેલી પાંચાલી, દ્રૌપદી અને સૈરન્ધ્રી ની. કવિ વિનોદ જોશીએ આ કાવ્ય તેમના ઓસ્ટ્રેલિયા પ્રવાસ દરમ્યાન લખ્યું છે. SBS ગુજરાતી ના જેલમ હાર્દિક સાથે કવિ વિનોદ જોશી ના સંવાદ ના અંશો અહીં લિંક માં પ્રસ્તુત છે. ઇન્ટરવ્યૂ સાંભળવા માટે અહીં ક્લિક કરો.

જયારે પાંડવો અજ્ઞાતવાસ માં હોય છે ત્યારે દ્રૌપદી સૈરન્ધ્રી બનીને રહે છે અને પોતાની મૂળ ઓળખ છુપાવે છે. પરંતુ કવિ વિનોદ જોશી કહે છે મારી સૈરન્ધ્રી મહાભારતકાર થી જુદી છે. આ પ્રબંધ કાવ્ય માં કવિએ શૃંગાર રસ નો પણ ઉપયોગ કર્યો છે. અને પાંડવો ની પત્ની એવી દ્રૌપદી ને કર્ણ પ્રત્યે મોહિત થતી બતાવી છે. કવિએ  દ્રૌપદી ના આ સ્વરૂપ વિષે એટલા માટે વાત કરી છે કારણકે સૈરન્ધ્રી નું વ્યક્તિત્વ લગભગ દરેક મનુષ્ય ને સ્પર્શે છે.  કવિ કહે છે કે આપણે બધા જ ક્યાંક ને ક્યાંક આપણી મૂળ ઓળખ છુપાવી રહ્યા છીએ. હવે મજાનો મુદ્દો તો એ છે કે અહીં એક હિન્દી ગીત પણ યોગ્ય રીતે પ્રસ્તુત થઇ શકે કે :

"एक चहरे पे कई चहरे छुपा लेते हैं लोग...

અહીં વધુ એક સંદર્ભ અંગ્રેજી સાહિત્ય માંથી ટાંકવાનું મન થાય કે રોબર્ટ લુઈસ સ્ટીવન્સન લિખિત ડૉ જેકિલ એન્ડ મિસ્ટર હાઇડ નામની નવલકથા માં એક જ પાત્ર ના બે અલગ અલગ સ્વરૂપ બતાવવામાં આવ્યા છે. જોકે આ સંદર્ભ પુરેપુરી રીતે પ્રસ્તુત મુદ્દા ને લાગુ ન પાડી શકાય પરંતુ તેમ છતાં જ્યારે માણસ ને પોતાની મૂળ ઓળખ છુપાવવી પડે છે ત્યારે આ ઉદાહરણ હું અચૂક મુકું છું. અને જેમ કવિ આગળ કહે છે તેમ, આપણે લોકો ની વચ્ચે બસ મેનેજ કરી રહ્યા છીએ. અને આખરે માણસ એક કોયડો બની ગયો છે.

કેટલીક કડીઓ અને કાવ્ય ના અંશો થી આપણને એ ખ્યાલ આવે છે કે કર્ણ પણ સૈરન્ધ્રી ની જેમ પોતાની મૂળ ઓળખ છુપાવી રહ્યો છે. દ્રૌપદી એ કર્ણ ને પોતાને પ્રેમ કરવા યોગ્ય માન્યો છે. જયારે અર્જુન તેની બીજી પસંદગી છે. કવિએ અહીં કર્ણ ના વ્યક્તિત્વ નું અદભુત વર્ણન કર્યું છે. જયારે દ્રૌપદી નો સ્વયંવર યોજાય છે અને તે જયારે કર્ણને પ્રથમ વખત જુએ છે ત્યારે મનમાં જે ફર્સ્ટ ઇમ્પ્રેશન ઉભી થાય છે તેનો આસ્વાદ અહીં કવિના શબ્દો માં માણીએ.

વક્ષ વિશાળ ભુજા બળશાળી, નેત્રે વિદ્યુત ચમક નિરાળી

તત્ક્ષણ મોહિત થઇ પાંચાલી, વરણ કરી નિજ મનમાં મ્હાલી.

સર્વ નૃપાલ સ્વયંવર માણે, હતો કર્ણ નિર્હેતુક જાણે

સ્થાન હતું એને મન ઉત્તમ, કરવા કોઈ અનન્ય પરાક્રમ.

દ્રષ્ટિ સહેજ સ્પર્શીને સરકી, પાંચાલી નખશીખ ગઈ  થરકી,

રહી બાહુબલી નરને જોતી, તરત પરોવ્યાં મોતી.

વજ્રદેહની અદભુત કાન્તિ, વિલસે વદન પરમ વિશ્રાંતિ

પ્રતિપળ ઉદ્યત પુંસક ભાસે, યથાપૂર્ણ આદિત્ય ઉજાસે.

મન્મથ મત્ત વિભાવે મોહે, ઓષ્ઠકંપ અનુભાવે સોહે,

ફરકે લજ્જા ઉચ્છલ અંગે, જાણે હળવી થાપ મૃદંગે.

લીધો તરત મનોમન સેવી, કરી કામના કરવા જેવી,

પૂર્ણ થઇ ગઈ સર્વ સમીક્ષા, આજ પુરુષ ની હતી પ્રતીક્ષા.

સંદર્ભ : SBS ગુજરાતી સાથે થયેલી કવિ ની વાતચીત માંથી...

Thinking Activity 4 - Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet

Hello Readers !

On 14th August, an academic movie screening of Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet was organised at the Department of English, M.K. Bhavnagar University. There are many movie adaptations of the play Hamlet like Haider directed by Vishal Bhardwaj. Director is free to make all changes and editions to enhance the viewer experience. He can edit and cut some unnecessary dialogues and also add some scenes which are not written in the original play. But, Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet is the only full version of movie which has no editing or cutting of dialogue. This thinking activity is given by Dr. Dilip Barad to students during the screening of this academic movie.
Click Here to view blog.

These are the questions which we have to answer after watching the film.

Post – Viewing Tasks:

• How faithful is the movie to the original play?

Ans.: Any movie which is adapted form any literary work can never exactly be made as it is written in fiction, but Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet is much faithful to the original play in the context of dialogues. Incidents and course of action is well maintained by the director. So, indeed the movie is faithful to the play, but only in some context like characters play their role faithfully as depicted in the play. Of course this faithfulness differs while the plot of Denmark is shown as Elsinore Castle, but one must say that after diving into the depth of the movie, as the movie proceeds one can't differentiate the plot setting between Denmark in the original play and Elsinore Castle in the movie. The very length of the movie shows the faithfulness of the movie to the original play. 

• After watching the movie, have your perception about play, characters or situations changed?

Perceptions change time after time, but before watching the movie I was thinking that some characters may not be able to give the full justice to their role, but I must admit that all the major as well as minor characters acted extraordinarily. This faithfulness has removed all my misconceptions about the original play. Some situations in the movie also played very vital role. For example we can say that very fair use of silence is creating many impressions at a time on the viewers' mind. If a person holds the original play in one hand and continues to watch this movie, he will surely be more clear about all things. Earlier these concepts were unclear to me, but after watching the movie, my perceptions about characters and situations of the play have become more sharp and clear.

• Do you feel ‘aesthetic delight’ while watching the movie? If yes, exactly when did it happen? If no, can you explain with reasons?

When Elsinore Castle is shown for first time in the scene, I felt aesthetic delight and thought that how a good cinematographic effect is created, in other scene of the ceremonial scene of Claudius and Gertrude, while celebration was going on in the hall, Hamlet stood very silently between the two majestic chairs. This scene also gave me aesthetic delight.

• Do you feel ‘catharsis’ while or after watching movie? If yes, exactly when did it happen? If no, can you explain with reasons?

Yes, I felt catharsis at the end of movie when Hamlet and Laertis ended the sword fight and they both were injured, Gertrude was also dying at one side and Hamlet was also speaking soliloquy. When Hamlet stood up and rushed towards Claudius, made him drink the poisoned wine forcefully, I felt catharsis at that moment. The reason why I felt catharsis in this scene, is that, throughout the movie Hamlet is delaying in killing Claudius. This delay impacts the suspense of the coming scenes and longing plus waiting from the viewer's eye. Hamlet, then finally found a way to kill him, and catharsis happened.

• Does screening of movie help you in better understanding of the play?

Yes, definitely. This movie screening helped me a lot in the better understanding of the play. While watching the film I was also going through some of the important dialogues and soliloquies from the play, which we had discussed in the class. I was also observing the dialogues from movies that gave better understanding of the play.

• Was there any particular scene or moment in the movie that you will cherish lifetime?

Yes, there are some certain scenes which I will cherish lifetime. In this movie, wherever the moment or a scene; in which Hamlet was speaking philosophical dialogues came, I would cherish those dialogues like 'Frailty, thy name is woman', 'Readiness is all', 'The rest is silence' and 'To be or not to be...' There is also grave digging scene in which Hamlet makes a conversation with the grave digger, and very true to life and death dialogues take place. These scenes I will cherish lifetime.

• If you are director, what changes would you like to make in the remaking of movie on Shakespeare’s ‘Hamlet’?

There are many changes which I would make if I were a director of this film. There is one scene before the sword fight between Laertis and Hamlet. A person who plays a role of some kind of referee, makes a long conversation with Hamlet when they meet each other for the first time. I would cut that scene and make it very brief. Secondly, when Ophelia becomes mentally abnormal, and acts impatiently in the hall of Elsinore Castle, some frames are shot from a distant angle, which I would make them closer and I would try to show the real emotions and feelings of Ophelia with a close up camera, it would create a great impact on viewers if this would shown very closely.

• In the beginning of the movie, camera rolls over the statue of King Hamlet out side the Elsinore castle. The movie ends with the similar sequence wherein the statue of the King Hamlet is hammered down to the dust. What sort of symbolism do you read in this?

The statue of King Hamlet has played significant role in the movie. In the beginning of the movie, while the statue of King Hamlet is shown, it is seen with pride that Denmark once had a King like Hamlet was ruling over the kingdom and at the end of the movie The statue is getting hammered down, because Fortinbras has become the king and the empire of King Hamlet has fallen after the the death of Hamlet. The following lines spoken by Hamlet are very symbolic in this context :

O, that this too too solid flesh would melt

Thaw and resolve itself into a dew! 

• While studying the play through movie, which approach do you find more applicable to the play? Why? Give reasons with illustrations.

While studying the play through movie I have found moral, philosophical approach and psychological approach more applicable to the play. Hamlet is unable to take judgment and delays taking in revenge, takes much time in thinking a single incident in different ways. Hamlet is also a student of philosophy, that's why we find many of his soliloquies very philosophical and morally rich.

• Which of the above mentioned approaches (in Pre-viewing task) appeals you more than other? Why? Give reasons.

Many approaches are used to understand the play Hamlet. To me, Psychoanalytical approach is more appealing more than others, because when any soliloquy begins we start thinking about Hamlet's mental condition that through how much pain he is suffering from. One more element that makes me this approach more appealing that when Hamlet is cursing Gertrude for her wrong-goings with Claudius, the ghost of King Hamlet comes in the bed chamber and explains that he should look forward to take revenge for which he is set to. These scenes make me study the entire play with the psychoanalytical approach. Character study becomes very easy with the help of this approach and we come to know their actions and decisions very precisely.

Metaphysical Poetry: Reflective Blog

Hello Readers!

On 16, 17, and 18th of August the guest lecture was organised on the topic Metaphysical Poetry and Dr. R K Mandalia was invited as the guest lecturer. Dr. R. K. Mandalia is the Head of the English department of Sardar Patel University in Anand. Dr. Dilip Barad, the head of English department of M.K. Bhavnagar University, invites him every year for better understanding of the topic. As part of the syllabus, there are six metaphysical poems, all written by John Donne. Mandalia sir has immense deep knowledge of this topic and students also enjoy every moment of this three-day's session. This blog is assigned by Dr. Dilip Barad via Google Classroom.

ગુજરાતી કાવ્યોનો આસ્વાદ કરાવવો હજુ સહેલો પડે પણ અંગ્રેજી કાવ્યને પણ ગાન કરીને ઊંડાણપૂર્વક ની સમજણ આપવી એ ઘણો અનુભવ અને મહેનત માંગી લેતું કામ છે. ભલભલા યુવાનને શરમાવે તેવી  ગજબની સ્ફુર્તિ અને જુસ્સા સાથે જયારે માંડલિયા સર ભણાવતા હોય ત્યારે લાગે કે ખુદ જહૉન ડન પોતે જ કવિતા સમજાવવા છેક સત્તરમી સદી માંથી આવ્યા.

John Donne (1572-1631) image credit: biography.com

Students can do either any two or all three activities.

• (1) Characteristics of Metaphysical Poetry with explanation of a few metaphysical poetry written by John Donne as well as any other Metaphysical Poet.

Ans: Metaphysical means something which is superior or beyond to physical objects. The term Metaphysical Poetry was firstly coined by the critic Dr Samuel Johnson in his biographical work "The Lives". In the first half of the 17th century, a group of poets emerged whose poetry is called metaphysical poetry. John Donne was the pioneer of this group and it was called The School of Donne. George Herbert, Abraham Cowley, Andrew Marvell, Richard Crashaw, and Robert Southwell were the followers of John Donne. This school of Donne, wanted to make a new style of poetry which was very new to the people of 17th century.

Far-fetched images 

Many elements we can consider as the characteristics of metaphysical poetry but far-fetched images are somewhat major ones. Though the main theme of the metaphysical poem remains on love, separation, death, religion and sometimes sexuality also. But when we find the images of mechanical and architectural engineering images, agricultural images, geometrical images, biological elements etc. Here poets were attracting people to read their poems by using such images. And they wanted to show their wit and knowledge that we can also do and create something different. These images have nothing to do with love and philosophy and religion, but still, the metaphysical poets have used them successfully in various metaphysical poems. For example we can say John Donne's poems like "The Flea", "Death be not proud", "The Sun Rising" etc. If we take any one of his poem under consideration, we can understand these elements and far-fetched images deeply. Let's take "The Flea" for explanation. Click on the title below to read full poem.

 The Flea by John Donne

The Title: The name of this poem relates with a very tiny creature called flea. The title explains that poet has used the biological far-fetched image in this love poem, which attracts the reader to go through the full poem.

Theme: The theme is love, and pain. mercy of the creature.

Explanation: In this poem, the lover observe that one flea has sucked the blood of both his and his beloved. And the lover wants his beloved to accept the love, and to do so, he explains his beloved that this flea has sucked both of our blood. So, even without any physical touch, our blood has become one, as the flea contains both of their blood. After knowing this, beloved tries to kill the flea and again the lover explains her not to kill this insect, because the flea contains not only the blood of we two but its own also. If the beloved kills the flea, it would be the killing of the lover, the beloved and the flea also. Instead of committing this sin, the beloved should accept the genuine proposal of love. No woman ever loses her honor if she accepts the genuine love proposal. It is the basic argument of the lover.

• (2) Write critical analysis of metaphysical poems of poets other than John Donne.

• (3) If you can write creative poems, try to rewrite or create new metaphysical poem in either English or Gujarati or Hindi or Sanskrit language.

"फानी से फ़ना हुए"

लो फ़िर हमसफ़र बना लिए कुछ हमने, राह के चलते वक्त के गुजरते, सड़क ने बताया कुछ और ही रास्ता, कुछेक ने साथ दिया, और कईयों ने छोड़ा।

चल रहे थे हम वफा - ए - आदत अकेले, यूहीं मचल रहे थे, किसी के साथ के लिए, मगर फिर तन्हाई ने याद दिलाया, यहां कौन है तेरा, जिसने तुझे तोड़ा।

चल दिए थे जहां के लिए, मंज़िल ना मिलनी थी वहां, चले जा रहे थे बस यूंही चले जा रहे थे।

फिर मिले कुछ ऐसे हमनवां, जी जान लगा के जी रहे थे सदा, सिखाए प्यार के कुछ ऐसे उसूल, की लगा अब तो इश्क का ही कर लें सजदा।

क्या मिटेगी प्यासे की प्यास और क्या बुझेगी भूखे की भूक जब तक ना मिले तेरा दीदार,
इस एहसास के वजूद को मै मिटा दूं गर, कैसे होगा इस बात का इजहार।

लकड़ी की फांस जो लगी इस तरह, तेरे पल्लू का सिरका जब लगा बंधियारा, हुआ डूबते को तिनके का जैसे सहारा।

भेजा था ख़त मैंने भी दूर किसी ज़माने में, लगी पूरे शहर को आग़, जहां हमने था सपनों का घर सजाया।

चल दिए बस यूंही वहां से, राख कहीं, तो कहीं दिखे जले मकाँ, बस एक सड़क थी जो कहती थी चल अकेला जब तक है जान।

- रोहित व्यास

Karnad and Kontroversies

Welcome Readers!

The true value of any artist is mostly depended upon the people around him, whether he is a writer, painter, musician, actor and so on. If people don't like his art, he won't be accepted as an artist. So it falls at the first place that any artist should explore the world, thoughts and beliefs about certain things. But especially when an actor or writer like Girish Karnad goes beyond the thinking of people, or does something which majority people don't like, they start opposing him. After his death on 10th June 2019, many obituaries and tribute-articles were written in various newspapers and much coverage was shown in news channels and social media also. Some of them were in favour of them and some of them were not. There are some controversial deeds and decisions taken by Karnad, which provoked people to oppose him.

This blog is the response of the blog written on the obituaries of the death of Girish Karnad, by Dr. Dilip Barad. Click here to visit blog.

Girish Karnad was a Kannada playwright, actor who was born in Matheran, Maharashtra in the year 1938. He wrote many plays like Hayavadana, Tughlaq, Yayati and also acted in several movies like Ek Tha Tiger, Swami, Iqbal etc. He was awarded with Padma Bhushan, Sahitya Akademi award, Jnanpith Puraskar Film Fare award, etc.

He was in the controversies for actively supporting the leftist people in their activities of separatist movement. His hatred towards Indian culture and love towards western thoughts is reflected in many of his writings. In the play Tughlaq, Karnad portrayed the cruel and dictator Tughlaq as a saintly personae. When it was not known to Bollywood that villains can also be portrayed as good person, new to Karnad had already started to do so in his writings. Karnad also negatively criticized Rabindranath Tagore and V. S. Naipaul.

Here is the video that best explains about all the gossips in the air.



Reference: Wikipedia, YouTube.

The Reluctant Fundamentalist - Movie Review

Welcome Readers !

Fundamentals are the essential driving force of a civilized human being. Having fundamentals is like having everything clear about certain things in mind. What happens when we have everything clear about fundamentals ? Does society allow us to imply them in our life ? Film Reluctant Fundamentalist raises such question in our mind.

Film: The Reluctant Fundamentalist

Director: Mira Nair

Release Year: 2012

On 12th October 2019, a screening of this film was organized at the Department of English, MKBU. But as I received the message of film screening,  I watched entire film on YouTube the day before. At first, I liked the music at the opening scene and the parallel event of the kidnaping of the professor. The kidnaping scene becomes more intense as the song goes at the climax. The song name is Kangana.

The story is about a transformation of life of the character Changez Khan. He tells the story of his experiences when he was in USA, and how his life caught up after a terrorist attack on the twin towers of World Trade Centre in New York. People's behavior changed after the attack. When he is strictly checked by the officer at the airport, he was shocked. When his friend Erica uses the word 'Pakistani' in one exhibition, and shares about their relationship in public, Changez gets furiously disappointed. Even being the lover of America he was considered as an outsider citizen.

"During his interview with Lincoln, Changez says he was approached by a terrorist cell to become a mujahid and was tempted to accept, angry and disillusioned by "the arrogance, the blindness, the hypocrisy" of the US. He refused when told about the "fundamental truths" of the Quran, echoing a phrase from Jim Cross during their first encounter, "focusing on the fundamentals." Changez explains that both Islamic fundamentalists and blind capitalists like Underwood Samson similarly simplify and exploit people for their own means." (Wikipedia)

The final dialogue of this movie is really very thought provoking. After the accidental death of his student, Changez conveys the message from the dead student's parents at the scene of cemetery.

"उन्होंने कहा है, की हमारे बेटे के लिए आंसू ना बहाना, ये दरिया आंसुओं से कबका लबरेज़ हो चुका है। उन्होंने कहा है, हमारे बेटे का इंतेकाम ना लेना, इस दरिये में बहोत खून बह चुका है। उन्होंने कहा है की किस्मत को ना कोसना, हमारा बेटा अल्लाह को प्यारा हो गया है।"

"पोंछ लो अपने आंसू, और दुआ करो एक ऐसे मुस्ताक दिन के लिए, जब ज़ामिल और ज़ादिर नहीं होंगे, हमलावर नहीं होंगे, और आओ, अपने हमसायों को साथ लेकर आओ, और ये महरताबा से जाकर कह दो... वो अपनी किरणों को गिन के रख लें, में अपने सहरा के ज़र्रे ज़र्रे को खुद चमकना सीखा रहा हूं।"

It has become one of my favorite films because screenplay, direction, music and the story has the power to hold audience till the end.

Thank You!

Thinking Activity 3 - Dr. Faustus : A Play by Christopher Marlowe

Welcome Readers!

Brainstorming is the term which is used by multinational companies and many corporate sectors. In order to bring out new ideas and suggestions, all the colleagues sit together and discuss the pros and cons of any topic, and rethink the entire plan or agenda.

At the department of English, MK Bhavnagar University, Dr. Dilip Barad encourages students for brainstorming, in which, students rethink the entire syllabus and units, and write their own answers in their blogs. This thinking activity is related to Dr. Dilip Barad's blog in which he has asked questions regarding the play, Dr. Faustus by Christopher Marlowe. Click here to visit blog.

Que. (1) The play directed by Matthew Dunster for Globe theatre ends with this scene (see the image of Lucifer). What does it signify?

Last Scene: Lucifer with wide wings

Ans : Lucifer is one of the chief characters in the play. He is master of Mephistophilis and ruler of the Kingdom of Hell. In the stage performance Mephistophilis takes Faustus's soul and bows down in front of his master Lucifer. Each time any soul enters into Lucifer's Kingdom of Hell is expanded. May be his devilish smile and widespread wings shows the wrath and cruelty of his character.

Que. (2) Is God present in the play? If yes, where and how? If No, why?

Ans : When we say the word "GOD", we are actually imagining some personality, which, as a human beings we've never seen. This play somehow denies the theory of existence of God with reference to Dr. Faustus's character. It can not be established that, a person with good moral and ethical values should be considered as Godly Persona. There may be some place for virtues as well as vices in every person.

Que. (3) What reading and interpretation can be given to this image (see the image of Daedalus and Icarus) with reference to central theme of the play Dr. Faustus?

Father Daedalus and Son Icarus

Ans : This picture is related with Greek Mythology. Daedalus, a master craftsman and artist, is ordered to prevent the knowledge of the Labyrinth and not to be shared to anyone. He wants to escape from the prison-like ship from which he cannot come out, he fabricates wings with bees wax, joins all feathers and ties them with strings. He makes waxen wings for himself and for his son, Icarus as well. Daedalus tells Icarus not to fly closer to the Sun; it would melt the wings, and also not to fly nearer to the sea surface; it would soak the wings. Icarus forgets father's instructions and flies higher and too close to the Sun, wings melt down and Icarus falls in the water and dies.

This incident can be perfectly connected with the play Dr. Faustus. With the context of the play, Daedalus, can be seen as Old Man and Good Angel, and Icarus can be seen as Dr. Faustus. Dr. Faustus ignores the sayings of Good Angel and Old Man throughout the play, and tragic end occurred. Just as Icarus met with tragic death.

Que (4) How do you interpret this painting?

Ans : This painting, at first sight, seems very normal. A ship is sailing ahead, a farmer is ploughing the land, a shepherd is going on his way, and an angler is busy with fishery. But the painter Peter Bruegel the Elder, has perfectly minimized a tragic incident. In the lower right corner, we can see that a person is drowning in water. He is none other than Icarus, a son of Daedalus. Father makes Waxen Wings told son not to fly closer to the Sun, but Icarus goes flying higher and higher. Greater the height, greater the fall. Because of the heat of the sunlight, Icarus loses his waxen wings and falls in the water. People around him don't even know that Icarus is drowning in the water. In the previous question, the idea of Fall was in the center, but here it has become a periphery, somewhere in the corner. This picture makes us think how the dynamics of the time changes gradually. Myth of a fallen hero, is considered as insignificant thing in the picture, weather a person lives or dies, nobody is concerned to that, the routine life goes on.

Que. (5) Read this article by Bhagat Singh. In light of the arguments made by Bhagat Singh in this article, can you re-write last monologue of Doctor Faustus?

Ans : Bhagat Singh was a strong atheist. If we place Bhagat Singh in place of the character of Dr. Faustus, the end would be very different. The last monologue of Bhagat Singh can be like this.

(Half an hour left to twelve.)

Bhagat Singh : O Lucifer, don't make me wait this long, if you want to take my soul, take right now, I am not going to weaver or repent for my deeds, nor I shall pray to God because I am an atheist. O stars of the heaven stop not till you end up your lives. O the eternal time, make your clocks faster so that I can die on the very moment. Let Lucifer and Mephistopilis take my soul and enlarge the kingdom of hell, I challenge all the mighty powers that keep your weapons ready, make your armors tight, I will never stop my quest for knowledge, take me, take my soul, let my books burn with entire library, I will return, O Mephistophilis, I will return.

Que. 6) Summarize articles discussed in the class:

• Marlowe and God: Tragic Theology of Dr. Faustus

- Summary of the article

Here, Robert Ornstein has pointed out the atheism of Marlowe and the depiction of spiritual machinery of good and bad angels. Faustus struggles a lot with his spiritual self but fails to judge what is good and what is bad. Ornstein has taken the reference of Faustbook to raise arguments about plot structure. By writing this play, the author is doing his own catharsis. Marlowe's life was full of controversies. In this young age, the fiery passion he has got, is unbearable to him, that is called Marlovian Enthusiasm. It looks like Marlowe has succumbed down from atheism to theism, because his character, Faustus does is so.

• Myth, Psychology and Marlowe's Doctor Faustus

- Summary of the article

In this article, Kenneth L Golden, points out the theory of psychology of archetypes given by Carl Jung. According to Carl Jung, the images of Christian Mythology, created in Dr. Faustus, continue to operate in a neurotic way, and that images fail to form a basic concept of a healthy approach towards life. Jung points out that some dialogues and behavior of Faustus shows ego-inflation state of the human psyche. In prologue, we can see, Faustus is "swollen with cunning of a self-conceit". Many dialogues and exclamations are taken for deep psychological studies. Gradually after meeting mephistophilis, Faustus becomes more childish, primitive, thoughtless and vindictive prankster. In myth this change of behavior is called enantiodromia.

Movie Screening - Super 30

Hello Readers !

Movies give a remarkable message with a new horizons of thoughts. Movies enable us to think our contemporary issues like corruption, poverty, starvation, unemployment, brain-drain, political malpractices, frauds with common men, etc. We're talking about a Bollywood movie, Super 30. Here are some details of the movie.

Production House : Phantom Films
Co-producer : Sajid Nadiadwala
Director : Vikas Bahl
Release Date : July 12th, 2019

On 1st August, 2019 a movie screening of Super 30 was jointly organised by the department of English and Hindi, MK Bavnagar University, at the Top-3 Cinema, Bhavnagar.

A Patna based mathematician, Anand Kumar starts free coaching for unprivileged students, who want to take admission in IIT. Fighting with different threats and dangers, he succeeds in the mission, all 30 students pass the IIT exam.

This movie rightly shows how the education in India has become a business. Poor and needy people are easily neglected. The right to education doesn't support any kind of cultural, religious, and class biases.

Anand, right from the childhood, develops interest in mathematics and becomes a scholar student in higher studies. He earns gold medal for good performance. He is interested in solving more and more complicated equations, he solves one from an international journal, Librarian pulls him out of the reading hall, peon suggests Anand that if he publishes an article in the journal he can get free issues of it. He works very hard and at last, his article is published in Cambridge University Journal. Anand gets admission in Cambridge University. He starts preparing for going to Cambridge, but, being poor he doesn't get financial help from anywhere. Lower middle class family tries much hard for collecting money. Anand's father dies due to tension of money. Anand doesn't give up the plan of going foreign. One day, Lallan, finds Anand on the street and convinces him to leave this hardships and start working as a teacher his coaching institute. At first, Anand finds this work very beneficial because financial condition becomes good. But at certain point he realizes that he is being used as a puppet in this big coaching business. He decides not to work with anybody, but to start his own classes. He makes IIT coaching free for needy and poor students. 30 students join his class and gradually after facing many hurdles and downfalls they all successfully crack the IIT entrance.

Interesting Points to Notice

Very inspiring dialogue of Anand's father, अब राजा का बेटा राजा नहीं बनेगा, जो राजा बनने का असली हक़दार होगा वही बनेगा।

Idea of capitalism is reflected in the movie

Anand explains students the art of questioning. Each question must generate one more question.

The art of visualizing the question and then finding the answer of equation. In the movie this scene is best shown with good graphics.

Case study of failure. What are the causes that failure occurred ? Student describe their problem that how classicism became barrier to face the exam. Speaking English is a big problem for students. Anand challenges students to speak English without mistake. He tells students to organize a play, and it must last 20 minutes. Students give very good performance with great confidence, Occasion of Holi, fills the color and joy to the scene.

Problem of food, the unbeatable question. By cleverness and wit he manages to get food from a restaurant. With the proper use of mathematical calculations, he convinces restaurant manager.

To bring the grass-root change in society is the courageous task. Students apply all the rules and theorems of science and mathematics to fight with goons, Anand gets injured by a gunshot, but survives the attack.

Endless motivation helps student to pass the exam. Happy ending.