The Bet

THE BET

-by Suchitra Bhattacharya

 

There are two main characters in the story – Basundhara and Debanath. The story was written from Basundhra’s point of view. Basundhara is a Bengali, educated women. The story is set in 1960’s in Bengal. Though the girl is educated and has a broad understanding of the world, but still, she is from a Bengali Indian family. After her graduation, she is pushed to marry to a well settled business man, Debanath, who was 12 years elder than her.

The girl had a dream of a French lover as her husband, but when she saw the photograph of Debanath as her husband she judge him from his looks and also did not like him. He was not much educated. As she dislikes him from the starting, she made her mind to stay away from Debanath. She was not happy with her marriage and does not want to involve in it.

In the story, bets were something which increases the gaps in both of them. Basundhara use it as trick to stay away from Debanath and Debanath was the victim of the bets. The first bet was not intentional. It just came out of her mouth, as a habit. It was on the Raag playing outside the room. This was on the occasion of their first night and what she asked for it was that Debanath will not sleep with her. She won the bet and Debanath did in accordance with the bet.

The second occasion was on her writing. Basundhara likes to write and also when she has nothing to do anything in her home, she started writing again. Writing just takes Basundhara’s whole attention, though she wanted this but Debanath did not like it, hence he start hiding her paper and pen. On this event she threw a bet that if her story will publish in the magazine, he will never stop her from writing. Story got published, but Debanath hide it from her. And later when she got to know this, she started hating Debanath more…..

The next bet was on their baby. Debanath wanted a baby girl. While Basundhara did not think about it, but just because Debanath wanted a baby girl, she said if it would be a boy. She threw a bet on this and the wager this time was that he will not demand other child from her. Ultimately she won the bet, and they never had other child. This time the gap between them expanded a lot. They start living in different rooms. As the story tell that Basundhara get so involved in raising their son and also in her writing. They both did not talk to each other and get involved in their own lives. They live different lives and like strangers, under one roof. Still, there is a liaison developed between son and father.

But one day, when Basundhara got acute chest pain, Debanath started taking care of her. During this time, she started feeling for him again. They involved in one more and the last bet. There was no wager this time. The bet is on who will die first. For me it was not clear that who won the bet, as in the story it was not clear that Debanath die or not. But he was no more in Basundhara’s life, he has gone far away.

Their relationship was at the stake for whole life, but neither of them tried to make it work out. Debanath seems to be more conservative. He did not express his feelings, but he does care for people in his life, either his father or his wife Basundhara.

To me he loves Basundhara very much but, never expresses it to her. He makes sure of her comfort, and also she should be able to spend time with him. That’s why servants did all the house chores, so that she doesn’t have to do anything. Though, they both do not speak a word, when they are together, which make the moments very awkward. Debanath was the man of his words, as the people in his work place say and it was quite visible when he always act as per their bet, but it was questioned when he hides the news that Basundhara’s story was published. 

Basundhara was an educated lady with dreams and aspirations. But being in a Bengali, Indian family, she has to sacrifice her dreams and marry to a well settled business man. Though she married to Dibanath, but it was always in her unconscious mind, that she did not like him, and hence whenever she gets a chance, she does something to stay away from him, like bets. Basundhara seems to be a strong lady, who does not care about the society. In an Indian society, where husband is considered as equivalent to god, she took a step and demands such things from him, which actually negatively affect their relation and she did not worried about it ever. She was fond of writing, especially when she does not have anything to do. When she came out of the relation, she gave her most of the time in bringing up her son and writing. She was good at writing and was able to establish herself as a good writer. She has very cold feelings for her husband and her dislike towards him increases by the time. Basundhara was a strong lady and she tried to break a lot of norms of the (Indian) society. Like when she did not take care of her husband, which is considers as a first duty of a wife (at least in Indian society). She writes and become independent. She goes out in conferences on writing and also earns fame as a writer, which as per my understanding; it must be a big deal at the time, when story was written. She found ways to create her own space in the house. And fight with her husband and lead her own way. She brought up her son, the way she wanted and gives him freedom of doing what he wants.

The marriage of Basundhara and Debanath, I would say, was a disturbing marriage. It was very clear that Basundhara was not happy with the marriage. It also reflected when she writes that her son marry to a girl of her choice. She doesn’t want her son to suffer as she suffered the whole life. Though Debanath was a caring husband (as I feel), but he was never expresses it in a proper way. Basundhara’s attitude towards this marriage was also negative. Both of them never put in any effort to make this marriage workout rather they start living their different lives under a roof.

Silver Water - Amy Bloom 

•       Research the author - ‘Genetic criticism’ can be used to connect the author and the story

The story which I had chosen is Silver water by Amy Bloom So basically the story is written by a trained social worker and psychotherapist. The story was published in 1993 in a book called come to me.  So at first when I read the story I thought that it might be experience of the author but when I tried searching more about the author I came to know about her background which says she was psychotherapist so it is possible that she might have had such experience while practicing. The way author had described the bond between sisters makes me think that it might be the bond of author and her sister.

The story is narrated by Violet who has elder sister called Rose who becomes mentally ill, diagnosed with schizophrenia. The young sister remembers how she had taken her to some opera show and sang a song in a parking lot for her and she says it was like water pouring out of silver pitcher and Jesus would love to visit earth at that time. So basically she narrates this story to every psychotherapist who comes for her sister to show that the girl who sings jingles and advertisements is not the same who used sing opera songs. The story goes on with showing the struggles of family with child’s illness. Throughout the story family plays a big role even they go to different counselors and they also act as counselor to Rose. But with time Violet moves away from family for her study and but she keep visiting home every weekend and one weekend when she goes to meet her family and Rose, that very night elder sister dies.

•       Did you like the story? / Why? Why not?

I liked the story because especially it is about hope for the best. There is always ray of hope in any situation and one should not forget that. The way the family treats the child and her illness is tremendously courageous and sensible for me. I like the description of the story and the way the author had used metaphor for everything is very beautiful. I liked it because somehow I can connect it to my life and people around me.

•       Which of the literary elements did you find the most engaging?

·         Why?

The way it is written is very beautiful. Narration and the metaphor used in story.  Plot of the story is very engaging in itself and I really like the part where the author is not completely gone into emotions or into settings. I have found it very balanced but by using some medical terms I think the story lose its charm because if it had been written in layman’s language. One can easily read and connect to it. But because of this terms I personally diverted from the story and tried looking for the word for me which was distracting.

•       Did your interpretation of the story match with other members of your circle?

·         Why? Why not?

Yes, my interpretation matched with almost all of the members but one of the member felt that the way they were taking Rose’s illness was not so optimistic, it was pessimistic. But rest of us didn’t feel like that and when we tried to engage in dialogue, we came to know that she also had similar kind of experience and she was trying compare the whole thing. But overall all the members had similar interpretation.

•       Did being part of the circle deepen your understanding of the text?

·         Why? Why not?

I think it really helped in a way that we sat and discussed about particular story and it is amazing to know different people’s opinion and interpretation because everyone carries their own world with themselves. I also liked the idea of literary circle because you can actually come to know the parts of the story which one might have missed because sometimes I as a reader see some parts only which attracts me. So in this way literary circle really helped.

•       What have you understood about yourself as a reader?

I have realized as a reader that first of all I try to imagine the settings and then characters and emotions. I have also realized that I was trying to be in those settings with the characters, imaging the atmosphere. But, as an outsider, I try to be there untouched by any emotions trying to understand what is happening but as I read it again I was actually feeling the emotions and feelings of the character.  Also, started building connection with them.

•       As a language educator, what insights would you carry about literary discussions?

As a language educator I cannot say many things but I must say that this kind of discussions in classroom really helps children to understand different perspectives and views about the story and helps them to think critically.

A  Muslim Girl goes to School

The story “A Muslim Girl goes to School” is much more relevant to the real life situation as it shows us the real condition of Muslim girls.  The issue which is brought out through this story is relevant and the way in which the Muslim girl becomes successful in completing her education gives a motivation to the rest of Muslim girls. The struggle of the girl was much more inspiring and it keeps on reader involve into the story as the curiosity to know more about her increases in the story.

If we think from the reader’s point of view the story was much more interesting it involved me kept my constant engagement with the story as the story was related to the real life situation. If we think about this story from the theoretical point of view we would be able to get all the important elements which the an story has for ex. Plot,Character and Setting. The plot can be seen in this story strongly as the story shows us the connections between various incidents which were happening constantly but, the good thing is that the incidents was showing connectivity and the relevant nature.The plot of the story gives the feeling of the real life situation and is involving the reader into the reading the story. The content was of the story was good as it was presenting the real life situations.  The plot of the story involved me emotionally and at one instance I felt that the story is related with me as well.

The next important element which I think was strong into the story was Character. The character of Muslim girl was strong as it was one of the leading character. The character was presented very strong and as the characte was strong the whole plot was revolving around the character. THe character of the Muslim girl was based on the real life situation. The chacter was connected to rest of the plots. The character was presented as it is one of the struggling character. The character of Muslim girl presented her own struggle for getting sucessfull in the life. The character was related to the life of the every muslim girl who struggles to percieve education. The character was presented in the motivational way.

The setting is  also regarded as one of the most important element of the story. The setting from which the muslim girl was , was actually too much attached to the culture. The Muslim Girl was not having freedom to percieve the education as per her wish. The freedom of muslim girl was restricted by her pamily members, the way in which the family members were behaving was obivous as the setting from which they belong was having strong cultural sense. The setting of the story helped in connecting the other elements of the story like character and plot.  The setting from which the girl belonged  was not allowing the girl to come out its circle, the setting was more sticked to religion and the members of the society as it was presented as the muslim dominated area.

The story was interesting but I think that this story can’t be used for story telling as the strong sense about the religion comes out from it. This story can be used particularly for motivating girls but we should have to look it from others perspective as I think that it will make the thinking of the child bais. 

TOPI

I was not an avid reader but when I started exploring the reading material I used to look for the topic specifically for storybooks so that I could get a sense about what is a story all about. I applied the same strategy while selecting the text and I selected ‘TOPI’, the reason I opted for it was because of its appealing title and I thought that it would turn out to be fun loving and humorous because of its name but eventually it came out in a way which I could not think of. The story is set in a small town which is more or less in Bihar and our author is also from Bihar so that is why he was able to bring out the picture clearly because he might have experienced it or observed it. The story portrays a time when poverty, unemployment, corruption was very prominent which was affecting the lives of the people at that point of time.

The author Sanjay Sahay talks about a protagonist Ramai who lives in a small town which is in Bihar and the story moves around his struggles and problems which he is facing in his life. The loss of his job provides a building plot for the story and it adds up to the societal view on things, the behaviour of his wife and so on. The story takes a turn when he drives the jeep of the DSP who is a very powerful person and that journey remarks changes in his life.

The story talks about the struggles of a common man in daily life and it gives one a vision about how difficult is to survive in this life when there is no job. It is very poignant at one point that how one has to survive in society and how work is being done on the basis of bribe which eventually leads to corruption. It talks about if one has approach of another person like in the story Ramai’s mama knew the DSP who is an authoritative figure. I was able to relate it quite well to what happens in our lives in which corruption, bribe, approach is so common and work becomes difficult if it is not supported by any of these.

The plot of the story takes an interesting turn when Ramai wears the Topi of the DSP without realizing it, he wanted to protect him from cold until and unless he realizes that it was a symbol of power and authority. He realized it when he got salute from one of the traffic police who was at his duty. After the realization also he did not remove the Topi and at this point the story gives us a space to question that why he did not remove the Topi and so on. He started liking the phase of power at that particular point of time and he wanted to see what happens more with this symbol of power and authority. It might be possible that he kept on wearing the Topi because he was already very frustrated with the problems that he was undergoing and because of it he did not remove it. On the other hand it also depicts a common behaviour of a human being who has been deprived of lot many things in his life and when one gets a chance to be in power no one leaves it and every one look forward to experience it.

The text gives one space for exploration in which one could raise lot many questions about one’s life, about the entire notion of power, poverty and survival. It makes one sensitize of how people are surviving and how they get influenced from others who have some sort of power and authority. It talks about struggles of a common man which is quite connecting and nothing was alienating for me when I was reading the text. It also gives a sense of how people fall into a trap when they are helpless and for their family they end up doing things which they never want to do it.

I realized that how an interesting title can turn the tables entirely the other way round which one could not even think of. It was an enriching experience for me and it reminded me of a saying that ‘one should not judge a book by its cover’.

small story of Janki

Umar quid by Hajira shakoor

This short story written by Hajira shakoor  and this story published in the journal “subeh Adab” in the 1977. She wrote this story in the Urdu, her literature reflects the problem faced by the Indian women and it is mostly about the middle class women struggle.

          This story deals with the problem of dowry, women identity and its own struggle with her. In this story writer of the story described the women situation which is narrated by her husband. Janki is the main character of the story but from the beginning character “Janki” in silent mode. In the story supporting character her husband describing his own view about his wife condition, so we cannot get janki’s perspective about her situation, may be the writer intentionally made janki’s character silent so that we can think and make assumption about her situation.

           Janki belongs to lower middle class but belongs to the higher caste “Brahmin” which is reputed cast in the Hindu religion in India. Her father is teacher in the ordinary school. Her husband knows her from the childhood and they grew together. He also knows her nature like she was very shy and quiet. He also mentioned that anything not worthy to notice in her. It’s fairly shows that he was not had any interest in her. When her marriage fixed by her father, he promised to groom party for some dowry which is became a reason for unmatched marriage. Story running in the husband’s flashback when the Janki was died and he regrets that he failed became an ordinary man when he was thinking about the Janki’s situation.

This short story made dent on the Indian society and its culture. Janki  sacrifices  her  life  for  the  pride  of  her  father  and  for the dowry  which was  not paid by  her  father. In the Indian society every time man is hero and women is helpless and every time depended on the man and who live at the Mercy of the man. In this story Janki depend on the father and after the marriage she depend on the husband.it is very natural in the male- dominated society  where  the  women are  slave  and  they can’t  take  decision for their  life  in this  if  we assume that when groom party was  demanding  more dowry from her father may be  janki will stand  up against  the  dowry and marriage and could have  refused  to marry but  no, how can she do it?  it has been happening form so many decades that  women’s are not independent, if  you saw the Ramayana, Mahabharata, character of Sita and droupadi  are not very similar  to janki but  they also indicate  the  same  things  which is  happened  with the janki. Like Sita not choosen groom for her. Her father called many kings to marry with Sita in “swayamver.”droupadi married with five “Pandvaas” if  you see  that  those  incident  which was happened  in the  Ramayana and in the  Mahabharata they shows the  women situation in that  time  and  Janki situation is same. She was helpless because she can’t choose her life partner from her choice. Writer talk about that  jamidar  son stand up like  a national hero and  finalized that  he will marry with Janki, nobody asked to the Janki that  she want  to marry or not.

Writer very fairly and step by step plots the problem in front of the reader. After marriage when she went to her husband home her husband told her that “I expect you will never cause my mother any displeasure and will never make my brother and sister feel as if this house is not their own. I have faith in your tranquil personality and trust you will always remember to all thoughtfully.” Janki may not be expecting this thing from her husband because she already faced very embracing thing in her home and she already in fear when her husband and she came her husband home. We can only assume that what the janki was thinking on that time? Why she didn’t speak with her husband  why  she  took her  hand  back to take  the responsibility of  home  when her husband’s mother was  giving to her? Writer tried to analysis her situation though her husband points of view that she repaying the dowry as a form of services. It’s happened when the daughter-in-law enter the house without or less jewelry, money and with other things she faced so many taunts from the  her husband side and she spends her life with  pain and suffer.

Janki only love her father because he was person who cares the Janki but when he died janki brakes down from the heart and she started crying and said that “Babuji, in whose care have you left me?” these  words shows  that Janki don’t have any  emotional attachments with her  husband’s home and husbands family. Her husband also mentioned that she care the children like a nanny because she don’t show any attachment with children, she fulfill their needs and demands as per the requirement.

                         If we analyze whole story, it is plotting very nicely and accurately the problem of the Indian women’s and there situation in the society after independence which is very negligible in the Indian society. The main character was Janki, story moving around her but her quietness raising the question in the heart of reader. If she speak or talk in to the story it will destroy the suspense and the story of the heart. She wants to leave not one question in the mind rather she left so many question in our mind.

For Esmé:-- With Love and Squalor [Dhruva]

For Esme. Summarizing this story is particularly difficult, for me. It's about an American soldier, I suppose, who is in Britain towards the latter half of the war. He heads out for a walk on his last day of training, before he gets involved with the invasion, and ends up watching a school-choir practice session that he really enjoys. He notices one girl in particular from that choir, as the most attractive [he thinks she's approximately 13, at this point] as well as the one with the best voice there.
He leaves the practice and ends up in a tea-room, shortly after which the girl walks in, with her younger brother and nanny [or guardian, or something] in tow. She notices him staring, and walks up to him and strikes up a conversation, introducing herself as Esmé. I'm not going to try to summarize the conversation, because doing that would kill it, for me; it was fascinating and bizarre, and disjointed, to a point where it needs to be read to be believed, I think.
The conversation ends with him promising to write her a story, and her taking his mailing address so she can mail him to begin a correspondence. The story she wants needs to be squalid, or moving.
We then transition to the squalid, or moving part of the story. Sergeant X is sitting in a room, clearly in bad shape, physically and mentally. Corporal Z, a robust young man named Clay, enters his room and generally harasses him by being healthy and cheerful, until he leaves in slight nervousness and disgust, mixed with sympathy. [Their interaction also, I cannot record in detail, there was too much in it, this will stop being a summary at that point and turn into the entire story in my words.] It's at this point that Sergeant X sees a letter that has reached him after a long time [given his movement with the army]. The letter is from Esmé, beginning their correspondence. Upon reading the letter, X suddenly feels sleepy, the representation of some kind of catharsis. As he says himself 'You take a really sleepy man, Esme, and he always stands a chance of again becoming a man with all his fac-with all his f-a-c-u-1-t-i-e-s intact.' From the beginning and the end of the story, it seems fair [thought nothing is every to be taken for granted in the world of this author] to assume that this entire story, the story we've just read, is the story X wrote for Esmé.

The author is one J.D. Salinger, a notoriously odd writer, a recluse, but also hailed as one of the geniuses of our time. With this assessment, I agree, his seminal book 'The Catcher in the Rye' is one of the greatest things I've ever read. That too followed an odd path, very different from most books that were popular at a time, following a strange, disjointed, stream-of-consciousnessesque pattern, where the narrator and principal character was a very alienated and thoughtful teen aged boy. 

But back to the present. I thought this short story was fantastic, to be honest, but to be more honest, I probably can't tell you why. As my group members will attest to, my review of this story can probably be summed up as 'I really liked it; it was so Bizarre'. I'm not even entirely sure if those two statements, or sentiments, are related. 
One thing I really enjoyed was the way language was used here, especially in the two conversations, particularly so in the conversation between X and Esmé. Word choices that the author had made got me scratching my head for hours, and possibly annoyed my group members a lot as well. Our group was able to agree about very few things, and any time we would, we'd come up with something else that struck one of us that was alien, as an idea, to the rest of the group. 
Among other things, I'm unable to separate what I think is written in a matter-of-fact way, and what I think is written fantastically, though I do think both these elements exist. I suppose what I really like is the fact that one can read this story and enjoy it so throughly, all seven of us, and yet have completely different reasons for liking it, or even completely different interpretations of it. I think a part of the reason for that is that the author wanted it to be that way, but if I claim that I'd be accused of intentional fallacy, and my accuser would be right, so I would like to humbly retract that statement. 

I most enjoyed, as I mentioned, the dialogue. I suppose through that I also enjoyed the characters a lot. For some reason I remain fascinated with X's wife, a character who showed up as a reference thrice in the story, each in a seemingly insignificant role, but I think if you're to immerse yourself in the story you can't avoid her, she's the reason he's writing this letter, in a way, she's who stops this story from being a romance, and she's referenced in the letter that brings X back to life, as it were. Apart from her though, I enjoyed the construction of all the characters a lot, Esmé, X, Charles in particular, and also Z, and to some extent Loretta. Even with the smallest of references, you can form an opinion about these characters, even if you feel you can't form a picture of them; it's genius. 

The plot, the setting, all of it hinged around the interactions, so while I won't disregard them as contributing factors to the story or my enjoyment of it, I won't talk very much about them. Suffice to say that I think this story could've been about a man in a hospital or a woman in an office, set anywhere in the world, and I think an interaction like that would have had me enjoying it anyway, though that's a patently ridiculous statement to make; in any other situation the interaction would have been different. I hope you understand what I mean, if not, I apologise, bear with me. 

Did being a part of the circle deepen my understanding of the text? Well it certainly confused me often, which is definitely a step towards a deeper understanding, it's just that I didn't take any more steps after that one. But as I mentioned, this is a story everyone got something different out of, so hearing all those opinions certainly was interesting. That said, I'm not sure how many of us were willing to change our views [if we had any] at all, so I don't know if in that way it could have been said to have served any point. I did enjoy the discussion enormously, if nothing else just as a forum to make intelligent conversation about an intelligent book, which is why I was really glad we got to have a second discussion, even though there may have been some people who may not have thought it was important at all [but hey, extension, so no complaints I suppose]. 

What have I understood about myself as a reader? Precious little, apart from the fact that I pick on things that most people don't consider very important, and that sometimes I can't tell if I'm being antagonistic towards a book for a real reason or not. That's actually quite an important realisation I suppose, but I can't take it seriously because I last thought about it in the context of Harry Potter [you broke my heart, Joanne, I will never be the same again]. I tend to focus on language as much as literature, which makes reading both fascinating and very very difficult for me. 

There's more to all of this, but too much exposition frightens me. 
Oh wait, one more question. 
What insights do I carry about literacy discussions? Good grief. I feel like I'm being interviewed. 
I'd make sure everyone has their say, I suppose. If there's one thing this story has given me, it's the reinforcement of the idea that there's almost never [never that I've come across anyway] a right and wrong about how to read, or what one has read. 
I also think accountable talk is important, but sometimes overrated. One of the best things about a great discussion around a story is that it can get you talking or thinking about things that you never have before, and they may not be related to the story at all, but the story is what birthed the process that you're engaged in at that moment. 
Encourage people to challenge, criticize, question, and also agree with, but defend that agreement. For everything, one should have a justification. It's sadly ironic that at this point I feel like I'm not in a position to adequately justify that position. 
This seems in theme with the rest of this E-Journal entry, so I'm going to sign off now. Best of luck, peer reviewer. 
Goodnight. 

For Esme

This is a story of a militant during the second world war time. The story is written by  J. D. Salinger. His full name is Jerome David Salinger. He was an American author who started his career with writing short stories for magazines in Manhattan, New York, USA.The story starts in 1945 when he receives an invitation for a wedding from Esme and he goes back into the past and writes down this story.This particular story is of a young girl Esme that this militant person meets at the church in which children's choir practice was going on. The militant just happened to be there. The militant closely observes Esme during the choir and then leaves the church as the choir ends. He goes to the near by cafe and spends sometime there alone. After a while Esme, her younger brother and the care taker enters the same cafe. The girl, Esme approaches the militant and he feels warm and connected to talk to her. This young girl, Esme tries to be witty for age during the conversation with the militant. The militant observes her patiently. Esme's younger brother also makes a move to have a word with the militant in a very innocent manner. Esme kept telling him about her family. After an interesting conversation Esme, her younger brother and the care taker had to leave the cafe. However during the conversation the militant promised Esme to write a squalor stories on her humble request and Esme promised to write him a letter. After she leaves the story takes turn into the third person writing another story. This story was written by the militant for Esme as promised. He narrates his life at the camp in third person to keep the anonymity. He also mentions that he had received her letter and her father's watch from Esme.

While reading the story I kept the context of the characters very well in mind that its a war time and the story is written from the militant's point of view. The story is sequenced in a little confusing manner for me as it went into flashback at different times. This confusion was cleared off by the group members during our discussion.

Theme of the story according to me is about a random conversation that a militant had with a very young girl at a cafe. They have a small talk as strangers and feels the connect and may be some warmth too. As mentioned above the setting and context of the story is war time. There are not many characters in the story. Majorly the story involves Esme, her brother- Charles,care taker,Army man, his wife, mother-in-law, his friend at the camp and his girl friend. However there was a mention of a dog too. But I'm ambiguous about his his real existence in the story. I doubt it could be entirely his imagination of the dog being there. The friend's (Clay's) girlfriend, Lorreta, was a psychology student.

I think the most striking take away for me from the literary discussion of this story with my peers was that each one of us had a variation in our interpretation of it. Each of us identified different key points which we felt were highlights of the story and then through the sharing process, making sense of the story in terms of the theme, the characters, the dialogues etc. became a richer experience.

During the discussion there were couple of questions raised by all the members and clarifications were given to all the questions. There were not much arguments or disagreements regarding the interpretations of the story other than if the the story has a touch of love story effect or is it just a simple fiction story. Well for me there is a little bit of affection attached with both the parties in the story. They share some good connection. Otherwise why would Esme give her dead father's wrist watch to the man whom she met at a cafe when she was 13. I definitely would agree that there is no romance involved in the bond that they are sharing. And why is he affected by her wedding? in reference with the following, All the same, though, wherever I happen to be I don't think I'm the  type that doesn't even lift a finger to prevent a wedding from flatting. Accordingly, I've gone ahead and jotted down a few revealing notes on the bride as I knew her almost six years ago. If my notes should cause the groom, whom  I haven't  met, an uneasy moment or two, so much the better. Nobody's aiming to please, here.  More,really, to edify, to instruct.

All of us agreed that the story is sort of semi autobiography.  As a part of our literacy circle discussions we came across some of the questions and some were answered some are still in the air and much to ponder upon. One of the questions was did they continue writing letters? Who knows? I personally don't think that they wrote letters to each other quite often. If they had then the author would have mentioned in somewhere in the story. Next question was why did the author started narrating story in 3rd person in disguised manner? Well from story's point of view some of the group members said may be the author is not able to trust his own voice hence taking the third person's stance he can reason out his own character in that way. The next question that we came across was that was the author depressed? or too sarcastic? Did the author feel disconnected from the world? Well for according to my understanding yes I think the author felt little disconnected from the world because he was living at the war site in war time and army men become quiet, aloof, lonely and silent persons. Yes the story had a sarcastic tone at times but I also felt that the story ended on a happy note. Was it bizarre for Esme to give her father's watch to this man? I think it was. If I were at Esme's place I don't think I would give away my father's wrist watch to a stranger that I'd met couple of years ago in a cafe. Lastly I think all of us are still not very clear about the change in 3rd person writing mode and is there love attached from either of sides?

A Muslim Girls goes to school

Literary circle

MUSLIM GIRL GOES TO SCHOOL 

As it is clearly shown by story’s title that it is a big thing that a Muslim girl is going to school. This is an autobiographical story of Sara, she depicted how a Muslim girl faces shackle of society and her own family. The main character of story are: Sara is the main character of the story and her parents, Elder brother, her maternal uncle and grandparents. The story is based on Kasaragodu small town situated in Kerala and Karnataka border. So there is influence of both languages and people. Her father was well educated and want to change the point of view of their community towards the girl’s education. At that time the religious sentiment were very high regarding girl’s education, their dressing etc.

 He send his daughter (Sara) to the school just to set an example in the community but they were also somehow stereotype because Sara was not allowed to go anywhere  She love to play throw ball but her family doesn’t allow her to play and meet with her friends, no picnic and no outside the house. Her family was secular and tolerant towards other religion and helped their non-Muslim neighbours. She belonged to an economically and socially strong family and her maternal uncle was very rich man of southern canara so nobody raise their voice against their family. So community didn’t oppose their decision to send a Muslim girl to school.  It is also showed the thinking of society and their community. Only the poor and socially backward people are being oppressed. The community couldn’t raise their voices against her father’s decision to send her school. Her eldest brother was very close to her and she loved her brother very much. There was contradiction in her father’s thinking, the intention of her father was good but it was not to educate her, he just want to break old tradition by sending her daughter to send school because at that time nobody from the community want to send their girls to school. Sara loves to play throw ball and to be in the library of the school. She also went to school just to play and read book in the library but there was restriction from the family, it was because of the thinking of 60’s that girls are only for household work. She managed to complete her education till 10^th standard, story contains happy and sad moments and emotions consistently floating in the story and it ends with sad note, when two of her brother died and most painful for her because, she lost her eldest brother who was her well-wisher and supporter. Because this is an autobiographical story so point of view are from author’s side and she depicted all the view lively.

There were some particular situation that makes “Muslim Girls being at school” a big thing at that time. These were: the way she was not allowed to go to school, community and society at that time was not excited and in favour of girl’s education, there were stereotypies in the society, who doesn’t support girl’s education.

Her mother opposed the idea of her father to send their daughter to school and she said that “girls are just to do household work and to be a slave of her husband through the life.” This comment shows the thinking of the women toward women because it was influenced by society.

She was being sent to Kannada medium school instead of Malayalam medium school because it was close to their home, although her family speak Malayalam so she deprived to get literate and educate in her mother tongue. She was literate in Kannada not in Malayalam.

There was tradition in Muslims that Muslim Girl’s ears being pierced many time, though it was very painful and they faced some more restriction e.g. dressing, can’t go outside, and can’t talk other than family members.

The other thing is Muslims are considered as Minority in India though they are also consider as minority but in that time, it was very big thing to send a Muslim Girl to send to school because only Hindus were sent their girls to school, these were also few in numbers.

Its setting is also that makes some change in the story because at that time it was a big gap between Cities, Towns and Village and their society was totally different. In Cities society was little bit liberal, in Town and Villages it was stereotype and old fashioned.  

In this story the main character Sara gradually change her point of view according to situation, in starting when she being sent to school she didn’t interested in academics but she likes to read books in library and play; face restriction but didn’t react but as the intensity of restriction being high then she became rebel and she got engaged in academic as well.

The plot of the story changed suddenly although it is about a Muslim Girl and hurdles to get in the school but it is mainly depicted the restrictions they generally face in the home and outside home and Gender is the main factor that is showing specialty in this story.

In our literary circle we discussed that these restriction are also in practice nowadays but not in that manner. Navneet shared her field experience that Muslim girls are sent to Madarsa instead of Mainstream school and use wear Burka when go outside.It is somewhat similar to the story of Malala Yusufjai as she mentioned in her autobiography “I am Malala.” And also a movie named “Bol” which depicts the condition and view of a Muslim girls. It is the reality of our society that society is biased towards girls whether she belongs to any religion but in every community and religion its intensity is accordingly. In our society girls are considered as burden and responsibility. 

TOPI

When I pick up books or stories to read I usually look at the title which doesn’t give away much but still gives me a sense of what the story maybe about. So when I saw the title ‘topi’ for the first time I thought it would be story about two friends and the growth of their relationship around this ‘topi’. But writer Sanjay Sahay represents the Topi in a way that I hadn’t really thought off.

Topi is a story about a common man named Ramai who struggles to makes ends meet. The loss of this job only makes his problems worse. His nagging wife, the judgemental society and the local goon have made him meek, timid and someone with low self – esteem. His frustration and angry about being a poor commoner come out only when he drives the DSP’s jeep through town. This ride although momentarily, changes his life.

The story is set in a small town of Bihar (probably) given that our author Sanjay Sahay is from Bihar at a time when poverty, corruption, unemployment etc. were at it its peak or should I say quite prominent. The writer beautifully brings out the regular struggles of a common man and the dominance of power both legal and illegal and how they affect the thought process of not only an individual but also the society at large.

What I liked about the story was that along with the representation of power and struggles of the common man it also brought out the beauty of a small town. When Ramai is laid off he is given a uniform for the work he did and also maybe because the union couldn’t do much for him and the others like him. Another aspect was a small town which was seen was that the news about Ramai unemployment reached the others even before he reached home. You could say that there is no level privacy in such towns but at the same time there is a feeling of oneness among the people maybe because they amount of fear they have for the local goon Baalu and the DSP are on the same level.

The main characters of the story are Ramai and the Topi itself. The DSP and Baalu along with the society help build Ramai character and in a way make him who he is. Both these characters (DSP and Baalu) represent both legal and illegal power. The Topi represents this power. For example, when Ramai goes to the DSP along with his mama the DSP knows that he can’t really do much for poor Ramai but instead of helping him looks at Ramai as meat or “prey” who is walking into the lion’s den willingly. In my opinion we can see this level of corruption even today. Even if one wants to take the right path or the path of honesty he is only hurt more. An honest individual has no place and as a result this honest person also takes the route of bribery and corruption in order to get work done. (I say this after personal experience.)

There is a flat character in the story named Babban, the local goon before Baalu, who is part of the assembly or is an MLA. We see this even today. The people at power are local goon or people with connections to local goons and have criminal records that are never ending. This is another reason why power is misused more than it being actually used for the benefit of the common people. So when you give power in the hands of those who only want to use that power to fill up their pockets (Babban and Baalu) while the common man (Ramai) struggle to make ends meet the future of not just our country but any country that functions in this manner is bound to have high level and deep seated corruption which is very difficult and close to impossible to eradicate.

The first time Ramai wears the Topi is to protect himself from the cold and doesn’t really realise what he had done and the power of the topi until the traffic police saluted him and pretended to do his job. But even after he realised the power one Topi he didn’t take it off instead kept it on and wanted to see how else or what else the Topi could do. At this point every action and thought was no longer Ramai’s but was of the Topi. It was as if the Topi and its power had consumed the under confident and meek Ramai and transformed him into a person full of confidence and so much power that it even made Baalu change his colours momentarily.

In my opinion the Topi came as a ray of hope for Ramai as he had begun thinking about mustering money for the bribe so that he could to wear a topi. All the time he had the Topi on his head he was respected. More than anything else he was respected as a human being and I think that’s what we all want. But power is something that doesn’t allow for this to happen. Why is it that the common man has to depend on someone with a “Topi” just get what is his right? Isn’t power for the deserving too? Aren’t hardworking, honest individual entitled to respect and a respectable life?

Once you understand what role the Topi plays in the story you tend to overlook certain things that the writer has added just to bring out the theme of the story. During our discussions we questioned if Baalu hadn’t recognised that it was Ramai who was wearing the DSP’s Topi? And when he did why didn’t he do anything about it? Also, given that Ramai was a meek and timid person how come he didn’t take off the Topi when he realised what he had done? Why did he keep it on? Where did he get this sudden confidence from? It looked like as if some parts of the climax were forced just to convey the message behind the story.

His form of discussion of text really helps as it brings various views to the table. It help me reason out my own views regarding the story and also added perspective to it. Initially I didn’t look at the Topi as a character but merely an object around which the story was centred but it was through these discussions that I was able to understand the text better.

This experience was great fun and I think we should do this more often!! 

Ammachi, a memory

A memory called Ammachi is a short story originally written in Kannada by Vasanti whose is very popular in the literary circle by her pen name Vaidehi. The base for the story is the real life incidents happened with the author who is also part of the story. Vaidehi recalls her memory and remembers the time she spent with Ammachi, whom she remembers for being bold, expressive and one who was challenging the traditional norms which were not allowing her to be herself. The author came into contact of Ammachi at very early age. At this time the community saw Ammachi as a disobedient, disrespectful for the elders, immodest girl and thought if their children come in the company of Ammachi it’s all over. The author was very young and from a well-educated and affluent family. The family members of the author  never stopped her to go to Ammachi’s house neither be in her company. Even Ammachi did not have friends of her age. All these became the causes for their friendship. The author was fascinated by the personality of Ammachi, which gave her a different perception of women which at that time very hard to imagine in a village setting.

The author narrates that Ammachi was the only child of Seetatte and at her very young age lost her father and there was no male member in the family. It was Venkappayya who was himself six years entered the house to help her family later became the dominant male member. It is evident from the incidents happen and the voice of the author and the mother of Ammachi again and again mentioning about the importance of the help from venkappayya saving their family,  that how difficult for a woman to live or look after the family if there were no male members in the family.  Ammachi never liked Venkappayya and had a special liking for Shyambhatt’s house whose son was studying in the city. She was visiting Shymbhatt’s house often though there was strong discontent from Venkappayya who was intending to marry Ammachi and she never liked and hated him a lot. The author recalls in the story how amused it was to listen to Ammachi in commenting about Venkappayya, as squint eyed, bullock is better than him or calling him as bald head. The laughter of the author stimulated her to go on commenting. The author also remembers that Ammachi was a great beauty conscious, whenever she was going out for market or elsewhere. The author narrates with many examples of it when she uses the Himalayan powder, carefully adjusting her pallu or looking into the small mirror many times. The way author mentioned these incidents shows that Ammachi still kept the belief of that time for a woman’s being. The author shared intimate relation with Ammachi and narrates that her company made her feel good and she would not have been anywhere if the author was not there with her. The author greatly amused about the sense of humour and time senses in replying to the uncomfortable questions posed to Ammachi, may it be calling Venkappayya as Kunkappayya or giving reply to the tailor to stich the back button blouse or telling Venkappayya that she was going to Tokara Gudde to buy poison. It was not possible to anyone to talk anything against her as she had a ready wit to offer to them.  

There is another incident that the author recalls from her memory when they go to Rama teacher who is also a tailor. She asks her to stich a back button blouse for her for which the teacher laughs sarcastically. She finds it offensive there is a concern which the author expresses that if the people from a certain caste and class are willing to follow a popular culture it was seemed as if it was only meant to certain class if the same thing was done by somebody they were mocked. This issue we discussed and I too felt the same way that the author felt. It has become a fashion for some people to wear torn clothes or tear the proper clothes and wear and for some it is misfortune to wear and seemed like they are mocking at the people those do not have the clothes to wear. The gender and marriages were other issues came up in our discussion. Venkappayya even not married and started dominating Ammachi like anything even gone up to assaulting her physically. We came up with the conclusion that as soon as people married the husband gets the licence over her husband and the wife has to serve and listened to him for all of his life missing of which may result in the physical assault of the wife. In the story also there are many incidents where Venkappayya exercises his power over Ammachi on many issues for which she even not married to him had to listened to him because of her mother and other social restrictions which could have labelled her something else. The main discussion was around the gender bias, Ammachi though being bold enough to go against the social restriction could not get away with marrying Venkappayya. The end of the story where Ammachi loses her husband seemed like there was no end for the apathy of her which she had been suffering from her birth and it was not the end of the story but the start of her story of plight again….

A New Way to Look at Life- I Can Jump Puddles

“I Can Jump Puddles” is an autobiographical account of a child who wins over his disability. Set up in Australian background, Alan is inflicted by polio at the age of 6. How he starts riding again despite everyone thinking of him not being able to ride as the most obvious thing is what he has written about.

I seem to enjoy those jokes the best which are said with a straight face. What is special about this story is similar. Alan describes an incident/ achievement with a straight face- no extra emotions, not wanting extra emotions from the reader, reporting as it is and trying to give a reason sometimes to his actions or thoughts.

When I first read the book, I understood the storyline. When I read the book the second and third time, I understood a lot more things, between the line meanings, smaller meanings that I have missed out, linking up different things. The literary circle has been a help in this regard- a lot of things/ details that I missed out on during my first read, I kept a keen look out for them in my second read and made more connections. It was interesting to note different interpretations. While I was reading it, such interpretations didn’t even come to my mind thinking that no other interpretation is possible.

Another major thing that I had not realised while reading the book, which was raised by Sanket in the literary circle meet, was the lingo of the book- there were many words like  trot, canter, etc., which were specific to horse riding world. Of course, they were English words but somebody who has ridden a horse before, would understand them way better than somebody who has not. I never realised how easily it came to me, and that the words didn’t seem foreign to me at all. I had completely ignored the strong language base that was needed to understand the story, let alone relate with the word.

The story starts with the father asking Alan about his day, if he got a chance at the reins of the horses. The conversation shows how Alan excitedly talks about horses and as a reader, we feel, how naturally “horsing” comes to him. Alan notices that his father had stopped talking about horse-riding and for the first time after a lot of years, mentions to him that it is okay if he cannot ride. What I also noticed is the way Alan presented the conversation affects how a reader thinks about it; he could have written that conversation in any light and the reader would have been blinded by it. It is difficult to not take situation in a negative manner. People find it easier to blame circumstances but Alan here has dealt with his situation differently.

It is a little hard to point to the exact reason that instigated him to start riding horses again. The group talked about various things like- Starlight being the attraction for the star horse that it was, proving to the father that he can ride, or his love for horse-riding. Here, I think, it is up to the reader as to what he/she relates to the most or how much evidence has the reader collected while reading. For me, it was his love for horse-riding; the passion and love for horse-riding seems to be dripping off the first two pages. Though I do think that the statement by his father that he won’t be able to ride again in the future was like a slap on his face which catalysed him riding again. A very interesting thought was the horse being used as a crutch. Alan talks about venturing into unknown territories with the horse and the horse being the crutch which he was not afraid of being slipping. This did give rise to the doubt if this was the reason for him into riding the horse again, but the reason that these feelings rose after Alan started riding again, made me dismiss it as a reason to start riding again. But it was a beautiful thought. I try to imagine- how would it feel when I dance beautifully, my legs are amputated and I can’t dance anymore, and when I get artificial legs, the feeling of dancing again, or the hope to dance again. It is a feeling beyond expression. It is an altogether different feeling from not having the ability since birth. The feeling overwhelms me and I hope that readers let this feeling sink in.

The major chunk of the story describes the ladder steps that Alan had to climb before he reached the pinnacle. How careful he had to be about everything, how every small thing would be as if it was under a microscope and it would look huge. This also reminds me of the story of the spider where he kept on going until he succeeded. This story makes me realise, how we take things for granted- the ability to walk, the ability to sit, the fact that if we are hurt we don’t need to necessarily always wait for someone else. These are such small things which we don’t even realise in daily life. It is only when an ability is snatched away from us do we realise the value. Does that also not relate with everything else- human relationships too? It made me think a lot about how much I not value things- relationship, abilities. Does it make me any more sensitive towards other people? I don’t know. I sure hope so.

He expresses his anger towards his body, how his body doesn’t support his thoughts, how his mind is so ahead of his body. The feeling is so realistic. He realises his disability at every instance. He realises that other children run over puddles but he has to reroute because of it; how for others it so easy to sit on a horse, but for him not; how he always wary of the ground- in case his crutch slips, uneven ground. Did you, before reading this story, ever think of such small things?

This story makes me realise about perception. It depends on every person to person- how they choose to look at things. In the whole story, Alan has not talked about pitying looks. It is only in the scene with the woman does it come up- “...looking at me with tragic eyes”, “I saw so much of this sadness in grown-ups who talked to me. No matter what I said, I could not share my happiness with them.”  It is truly Alan’s beauty that he makes the world around him look beautiful. He has always described everyone around him so beautifully and also even the lady. He wants to comfort her as well. He notices the tears in her eyes. Alan in himself is such a happy person, realising the happiness at small instances. He wants to give happiness to her as well. This sort of feeling is sometimes overwhelming, knowing that there are such happy people in the world. And that I need to find my happiness in the smallest of the things, as if I don’t need a reason to be happy. The smallest excuse is enough to be happy.

This is a very different sort of inspirational story for me. For me it is the happiness that Alan represents. The way he looks at world is so different. And then I realise that everything is how we make meaning of it. Anything can be turned happy as long as I look at it in that manner. I wonder how the story would have turned out if instead of being autobiographical, would have been a biography.

Reviw of Ghatasharddha

‘Ghatasharddha’ story about a widow of typical Brahminical society written by U R Ananthamurthy, a famous kannda language contemporary writer and critics also considered one of the forerunners of the Navaya movement. Basically author has taken a dig at the rituals and customs of the brahamnical society and especially the orthodox behaviour towards the women in the society. This story is about a widow who is daughter of priest running a Vadic school and a child called ‘Nani’ who has studied their narrated this story. Nani narrate his experience of priest house with Yamunakka (The widow, daughter of priest) and his two other fellow staying with him in the same vadic school. Nani started with his day to day rituals activities they were performing at the school and the close interaction with the Yamunakka. Yamunakka was pregnant and unaware about what was happening around her. Everyone in her neighbourhood were aware about her relationship with a school teacher and her pregnancy including two of the Nani’s fellow students Shastri and Ganesha. Nani was younger than them and not at the stage to understand the situation of Yamunakka ‘a pregnant widow’. He kept struggling to understand why neighbours are asking different type of question about Yamunakka, why people stop coming to Yamunakka house? Why Ganesha’s father brought him back? Why Yamunakka stop him to go out and restrict him to answer any question to outsider? Why Shastri also started staying at others house? Why was yamunakka gone to the forest alone to meet teacher? Why Yamunakka wanted to kill herself? Why Yamunakka’s father performed her last rite when she was alive?

This story is basically present the existing religious beliefs, Brahamanical culture, superstitions and condition of woman in the society at that time. A small brahmanical vadic school student from an aristocratic Brahmin family who was learning traditionally about brahamnical culture, customs and going through the hard daily routine with his two other student who were elder than him. He has been taught that he cannot touch lower cast people, cannot play like other children. He narrated his experience very innocently, others reaction about the Yamunakka’s pregnancy and is being excommunicated from the society. She has gone to lower cast people’s house to have abortion and Nani has also gone there searching her and stayed in that house than he also has been taken back home by his father.

Author has chosen a child as a narrator of the story in spite of fact that this is more or less adult story. May be author would have wanted to describe every activity and showing reaction of the society without any interpretation. If any adult would have narrated this then possibility of narrator’s interpretation would have increased. A child was not able to understand the orthodox situation of a pregnant widow, so story progressed having suspense since child could not assume the society’s reaction and result.

Brahamincal society where women have to shave her head and were not allowed to live their normal life after death of her husband. In the same society a widow had relationship and got pregnant, were not supposed to touch Shudra but as story progressed writer has shown how story character Yamunakka and Narrator Nani get involved with all the activity which were prohibited by the society. For instance, Yamunakka’s Pregnancy, Nani go to search Yamunakka with a shudra hold his hand scarcely when Yamunakka has gone to commit suicide in the forest. And then Yamunakka has been excommunicated from the society and even her father performed her last rite while she was alive and get married again. Here, Author has gave a clue of an orthodox situation of the society that how society treat woman, at the beginning he has mentioned that Yamunakka’s father has called her back to his house to take care of the house after death of her husband since her mother had also not alive and when she has been excommunicated from the society than her father got married because one woman need to take care of the house.

However, being a not believer/follower of superstition I personally do not like the story very well. But I could relate this with my own family experience where I have experienced/been taught to not follow superstition. After my grandfather death my father had refused to follow any traditional last rites processes proposed by Brahamnical society and had quarrel for this issue.

Though, I don’t believe in any superstition but also I found some sorts of biasness from the author perspective. At one side author is highlighting the orthodox/superstition situation of Bramahanical society/Hindu whereas at the other side he introduced a situation where a Christen priest was asking the Yamunakka to accept his religion saying that “your people (religio) will not accept you so come with us, show faith in our creator we will save you. Come to the church”. From my understanding, this seen somewhat shown the compression of two society (religion) without providing proper evidence from both the perspective. May be, author has pointed out because of the his background itself, being a Brahaman he has married with the Christen woman and that time he had faced some disagreement from the society.

However, this story has shown the actual condition of the Brahamanical society at that time even somewhat now also.