Friday, October 15, 2010

An excerpt from "On the Face of It" by Susan Hill

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 DERRY: I don't like being near people. When they stare...when I see them being afraid of me.
MR LAMB: You could lock yourself in a room and never leave it. There was a man who did that. He was afraid. You see. Of everything. Everything in this world. A bus might run over him, or a man might breath deadly germ onto him, or a donkey might kick him to death, or lightning might strike him down, or he might love a girl and the girl would leave him, and he might slip on banana skin and fall and people who saw him would laugh their heads off. So he went into this room, and locked the door, and got into his bed, and stayed there.
DERRY: For ever?
MR LAMB: For a while.
DERRY: Then What?
MR LAMB: A Picture fell off the wall on to his head and killed him.
[ Derry laughs a lot]
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The XIXth Commonwealth and After

The 2 weeks' wonderful sporting celebration captured the imagination of India and the world. No doubt, it was a life changing experience and it was a new beginning for Indian sports. This event was an evident to show the world that what India can do. Above all, we get many heroes and youth icons.

The event was a big success for India in this sports fiesta we gripped the second position by 101 medals including 38 gold. At the closing ceremony, what we realized that we are left with a mixed legacy- a legacy of world class infrastuctures, a developed city- Delhi, and a better understanding about our nation in the world community. the wonderful and exciting city Delhi delivered a successful sports event. Delhi remained really exception whether it be medical fecility, transport and other fecility- these all were of highest quality.

The event was a mega success which reflects in the fact that 75 new world records have been met in this sporting event. The spectacular closing ceremony including the tune played by the band of Army, Raga, the wonderful laser show, the performance by the Highland dance by the artist of Scottland where the 20eth Commonwealth is about to happen in the city of Glasgow- everything was spectacular and awesome, something which is beyond descrisption.

The present time is the time of our nation India for its place in the Security Council of the UNO, boost economy, the successful 19th Commonwealth, a clean sweep over Australia in Cricket. After thes sporting event definitely India got many stars and many will come out. Thank You Delhi, Thank you India, but it's not a time to lull ourselves in celebration, its time to go stand with greater intesity, to sweat out and to let the world know that India has guts.

Monday, October 11, 2010

Verse Immortal from a Class VI Child

"I am a teacher by choice.....because I know a teacher affects eternity, he can never tell where his influence stops", futher I added , "...for I realize that it is better than a thousand days of a diligent study than one day with a great teacher".

For I was responding in one of the interactive sessions, in response to the question of a little angel that was ,"You are a teacher by choice or fate?". I got another bouncer, "You are the youngest teacher. What makes you to opt teaching as your profession?". "To teach is to touch a life... forever!" was my reply. I concluded by saying , "I opted teaching as my profession for I wanted to remain enthusiastic, young and innocent like you guys, always. For you people are highly energetic, open-minded, free from all kind of prejudices and above all I get a lot of chance to learn from you".

Today, when I look back over my short career of teaching, I never regret of my being a teacher, but I am proud of, and will be proud of always. Soon, I am going to migrate to the national capital for my further study, I do feel, I must miss everything. One thing, I am damn sure of, if  you give your time in teaching, you will find your soul revjuvenating for there will be various occasions when spring will blossom into your heart. This I realized once again today like many other instances, when one girl of class VI, KARISHMA RAJ, composed some verses on the spot as a part of creative writing. The verses have depth beyond measures, simplicity beyond words and beauty unfathomable, and above all these verses were pregnant with messages.

Hereby, I take the privilege to quote her verses IMMORTAL (as I do feel):


१. जब बहुत तेज धुप होती है,
एक थका हारा इन्सान,
पेड़ की ठंडी छाया के नीचे आकर बैठता है
तो लगता है की जैसे जन्नत मिल गयी
पर लोग तो उसी जन्नत को कटते है,
क्यों?

२. सूरज की वह मुलायम किरने
जो बादल की छन्नी में छन् कर आती हैं
कितनी मुलायम लगती है,
वैसा ही होता है इन्सान
चलते वक़्त में तो कठोर होता है,
पर जब प्यार मिलता है तो
प्यार की छन्नी में छन्ना हुआ प्यार मिलता है.

३.चाँद की चांदनी,
हाय! कितनी सुंदर,
गुलाब के फूल पर
अँधेरी रातो में उसकी चांदनी,
जैसे किसी सुन्दर लड़की ने ओढा हो,
चांदनी की चादर,
यह है सुन्दरता की परिभाषा.

४. बहती नदी का पानी
चमकीला, बहुत चमकीला,
इसके बहने की आवाज,
चूड़ियों की खं-खं से भी मीठा,
पर लोग कर रहे  मैला
रोकना होगा, वरना सबकुछ
हो जायेगा तबाह.

Sunday, October 10, 2010

SAND & STONE

Once upon a time, two friends were walking through a desert. Through some point of their journey, they had an argument, and one friend slap the other in the face. The one got slapped was hurt, but without saying anything, he wrote in the sand:
 "TODAY MY BEST FRIEND SLAPPED ME IN THE FACE".
They kept on walking until they found an oasis, where they decided to take a bath. The one, who had been slapped, got stuck in the mire and started drowning, but the other friend saved him. After he recovered, he wrote on a stone:
"TODAY MY BEST FRIEND SAVED MY LIFE".
The friend who had saved his best friend, asked him, "After I hurt you, you wrote in the sand and now, you write on a stone , why?"
His friend replied: "When someone hurts us, we should write it down in sand where winds of forgiveness can erase it away. But, when someone does something good to us, we must engrave it in stone where no wind can ever erase it".
LEARN TO WRITE YOUR HURTS IN THE SAND, AND TO CARVE YOUR BENEFITS IN STONE.

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

THE CALCULUS OF CHETAN’S CULT

Literature is a linguistic phenomenon- an outcome of feeling, imagination, impression and its artistic expression with a wonderful selection of words with grammatical accuracy that gives validity to a very human psyche of the time in which it is produced. Lows rightly affirmed, "Chaucer found English a dialect and left it a language" and it would not be an exaggeration to say that Chetan found the sophisticated mode of the language English and presented it in a hybrid form; a perfect blend of slang and the narrative mode of the language; easy to the reach of every reader.

The rhetoric interrogation before us is, "What is the secret of Chetan's Cult?". Looking into his body of works that includes 'Five Points Someone'(2004), 'One Night @ Call Center'(2005), 'The Three Mistakes of My Life'(2008) and recent blockbuster '2 States' subtitled 'The Story of My Marriage', a few things become obvious that he uses as killer-apps: Use of Slang, Manipulation of Simple and Lucid Language, Delecate Handling of the Theme of Friendship, Economic Voyage, Love, Politics, Marriage and Cultural Clash, Clarity of Expression, Audacious and Ballsy Statement, and above all Lack of Details.

Before the calculation of Chetan's cult, we need to consider the mode of communication today. In the present scenario, with the revolution in the field of communication, many milestones have been created. Email replaced traditonal mail and cell-phone replaced telegram. SMS emerges as an effective mode of career of information as well as entertainment bit. In a world where electric public domain (internet) through social networking sites redefined the mode of communication, where emoticons as well as textual abbreviations are liked well by youth, a new language is taking shape and who knows that in the years to come many words would be listed as archaic words (of course, it is a continuous process).

Chetan Bhagat is basically an entertainer whose sole purpose is to entertain. Sometimes it presents the bitter pills of didacticism in the sweet coat of entertainment. The most important fact is that he is champion in the art of story telling for he knows how to tell what he has to tell. His narrative technique, audacious and ballsy statement- these are the things that make him stand head and shoulder above of the contemporary authors, but simultaneously he is being criticized for the very reason. To remind the fact his frequent use of 'F' and 'P' words can be quoted. It is an undeniable fact that he has voiced the feelings of the present generation. He, undoubtedly, is one of the most read Indian authors, who is ruling the market. Hats off to this youth icon for his vision to redefine the writing industy.

Monday, October 4, 2010

From National Shame to National Pride

The nineteenth Commonwealth Games has become of saga of a journey of a nation from national shame to national pride with its grand opening ceremony. It will be noted in the pages of history for many reasons including its various aspects of economy, rumour vs facts, and defence.
The spell-bound performances in the opening ceremony including 'Rhytm of India', 'Swagatam', 'Tree of Knowledge', 'Yoga', and 'The Great Indian Journey' let the world leave in a state of pleasant surprise. Everything seems to be so magical that words seem unable to express the worth of it. The epithets like 'spectacular', 'magnificent', 'awesome' and many more are not enough to describe the event. The welcome song by Hariharan, performance on tabla by a seven-year old genius Keshav of Puducheri, the performance of the 1500 B.C. old art of Deng Chain, Bihu, and Bhangra, the spctacular show of the Seven-Cycle of Indian Culture with Beejmantra, Kundalini yoga and Padmasan everything were beyond words. The programme concludes with the theme song 'Yarron, India bila liya' and the Oscar winning 'Jai Ho' by A.R. Rehman. 65,000 people witness the programme live in the Jawahar Lal Nehru Stadium and 3 billion people across the world watch it on the televison.There comes defining moment in one's life that can not be defined in terms of words. There was one such moment in history of a great country called India.
The fact, 4,800 athletes, 1,900 officials, 71 countries, 17 sports, 826 medals 619 members in Indian teams and a festival for 12 days, in itself articulates that this is the biggest sports event in the history of India.
The CWG also speaks voluminous in the field of defence and economy as it will leave a positive effect worth US$ 4 billion and 940 million on Indian GDP and 2 million 4 hundred and 7o thousand people will get employment. India bears lots of allegations regarding this CWG and the much talked about issue is 'corruption'. The opening ceremony sets the ambience for the events. Now, the ball is in the hands of Indian players who furl the Indian flag high. Let India rock.