E-Journal Entry 1

On

Neech -

By Razia Sajjid Zaheer

Neech (lowborn)

The story is written by Razia Sajjid Zaheer, who is clearly a progressive writer and part of progressive movement in Urdu literature. Her contribution is mainly in Urdu short stories. Her stories represent women who question social restriction and find her place in the male dominated society. She is a early 19 century writer. Razia was well educated (Master’s degree), Married to the Marxist and write stories on a wide range of subjects concerned with the miseries of the women, their conflict and their self- realization. Her Stories are definitely progressive  in nature.  She has won many awards for her progressive writing, including Nehru award in 1966 and Uttar Pradesh State Sahitya Academy Award in 1972. She was proficient in writing both, upper class condensed Urdu and dialect of working class. 

Neech is one such story that shows how a woman name Shymali coming from a low caste background took a bold and a challenging step to leave her husband and live independently.  This story also talks about breaking the stereotype prevailing in society about low caste people. According to me story is written from the perspective of 2 protagonist Shymali and Sultana. In the story Sultana belong to higher caste and class structure. She belongs to Muslim community and is a professor at the local university. On the other hand Shymali belongs from Dalit community and works as a cook for Major Sahib. One can clearly see differences in their life experiences and behaviour from the text. Their perception about their husband differs drastically. For Shymali her husband is as good as dead while for Sultana still wait for her husband. Sultana wonder how can anyone thinks of her husband in that fashion. I think the context and background of both the women affect their perception about their husband. the co- dependency of wives on their husband is less in low class. Both the partners work and earn for house. I think  that is reason why Shymali was able to take a bold step to leave her. 

Neech is also a love story between higher caste man and low caste women, who is also a divorced women. I find this part most engaging as it was very interesting for me to read about their love story in addition to the non - acceptance from society. Shymali left her first husband because she dis not like the way her husband treated her for financial reason. She took a bold step to leave him and live independently. After her divorce, She started working as a cook and fell in love with the watchman Ram Avatar, who belongs to upper caste background. Both of them faced lot of criticism from the society to an extent that ram avatar was threatened to leave his job because of their relationship. Shymali did not want him to sacrifice his job because of their relationship and she did not want to live under the burden of guilt. therefore she left her job, and Ram Avatar and went to a new place to work. 

I really like the end of the story where sultana asks for explanation for running away from Ram Avatar. In reply yo this question, Shymali said a very powerful line “but he did not lose his job bibiji”. I think only strong headed women like Shymali can have that courage to take such a bold step. I also think that financial security gave her that power to take that decision for herself and stand strong in the male dominating society. She was not dependent on anyone. She was living an independent life with self respect and  self esteem. I salute her. 

Literary elements in text. 

    There are 2 main protagonists in the story Sultana,  who is  from upper caste background and who is highly educated and is a professor at local university. She has a daughter. She also waits for her husband to come back home. One quality that I really like about her is that she is not judgemental about people. She don’t make judgement based on the opinions of other people. She was neutral for Shymali and not making her opinions about her based on her caste. Although stereotypical thoughts did come in her mind that she has heard during her childhood about the low caste people. On other hand, Shymali has been be depicted as a strong personality who is much sorted in life. She takes her own decisions. She is attractive belongs to lower caste. She has left her husband and in love with the watchman who belongs to upper caste.

The story is set up in the small town which is evident by the facts that sultana teaches in a university. No other clue has been given which tells explicitly about setting.  In terms of theme of the story,  I think the story is dealing with the caste system and its effect on the life of the people. It also talks about the strong stand that the woman take to break the stereotypes prevailing in society and stand strong.

My understanding of the text has certainly enriched during literacy discussion which was built around the story. Our group did discussions on different themes and there was agreements and disagreements and different in opinions. This type of talk has certainly enrich my understanding on this literature. Our group member interpretations were more or less in the same continuum. During the discussion everyone was expressing their thoughts, Introducing the theme , others were building on it by giving their opinions. Moreover it was an accountable discussion as everyone in the group has read the story before. We talked about stereotype image of Dalit community in story and strong headedness of Shymali. There were a lot of discussion on both the characters in the story and how contrast they are from each other. There was just one instance of disagreement when one of the group members bought the angle of lesbians in the story and many of us were convinced with her. 

Reflection 

I think as a language educator, I found literacy circle very useful because it gives an opportunity to deepen the understanding about the story through discussions and dialogues build around the text. As a reader, I have developed skills in reading text with understanding. There are lot of instances in the text that force reader to read between the lines. As a language educator, I would love to encourage literacy circles in teaching - learning process as it gives space to multivocality, where each member in literacy circle shares accountable talks about the text, share their opinions, that will enrich understanding and help to develop deeper meaning from the text. I think this could be one of activity that teacher can undertake under comprehension curriculum. 

According to me high quality literature depend on the selection of the literature. literature should have the quality to connect with the readers. I was able to connect with the text, so for me it was a good literature. This practice has also builds awareness in me, specially in terms of genre that in turn helps in improving analysis skills. As a language educator I can use this activity to introduce learners to new genre of literature. Familiarity with the language and genre is very important to comprehend the literature. if one is familiar with the language, then one is familiar with the experiences and context and he/she is able to better connect with the text.  Literacy circle gives spaces for agreement and disagreement; there is no one correct way to interpret the text. One text can be interpreted in multiple ways. It also helps in building upon ideas and perspectives and makes connections from our prior experiences. In addition, it give value to the multiple voices and help in deepen and enriching our understanding about the text.