THE PUPIL OF LITERATURE

P articipatory theatr e is a form of theatre in which the audience interacts with the performers. Cited as avant-garde, the genre is unorthodox in the sense that it breaks "the fourth wall" that traditionally separated the performer from the audience. The performance engages the audience, making them active participants.  Every Brilliant Thing , a participative play written  by Duncan Macmillan and Jonny Donahoe  about addressing mental health, family and love, invites the audience to share the joy found in everyday objects.  The play- an intrepid one-man show, performed by underrated Vivek Madaan and adapted for the Indian audience by Quasar Thakore Padamsee has at its crux a boy who compiled a list of "brilliant things" for his 'amma' to cheer her up when she attempted suicide. Only seven, the perplexed boy seeks answers to his baba's rather unconvincing remark-"She did something stupid."  With the pandemic induced stressors and the suicide ...

  Hello, Sir! I hope this email finds you well. While watching this episode of yours, a few concerns came to my mind. It isn't related to your cooking skills, but what example you are setting in the society at large.  A few minutes later in the video, you say, “ I think every mother should gift her children a wonderful gajar ka halwa memory. “   While to a non- suspecting mind this line is of no consequence. But for me, it did raise a question- “ Why only women and not men?”, “ Why a ‘male’ chef who went against the tide to prove his mettle in a largely patriarchal order, come up with a line that it is only mothers who can give cooking memories to her children and not fathers?” Unknowingly, you are perpetuating the stereotype you stood up for.  My elder brother once sent me a video of yours featured in Josh Talks titled, “ Masterchef’s Success Story”. Interestingly, it were the women in the house who lit the fire inside you. But there was Munir Chacha too- ...

INTRODUCTION RTE.ie  is an Irish brand and broadcaster. Called Radio Television Ireland, its headquarter is in Dublin. It started its radio service on 1 Jan 1926 and television broadcast on 31 December 1961.  WHY IN THE NEWS? RTE has released dramatized content of Ulysses and other audios related to Joyce and his works.  Ulysses remains Joyce's one of most important works. It is considered a path-breaking work in Modernist Literature.   Originally broadcast in 1982 to celebrate James Joyce's 100th birthday. The RTE adaptation is considered widely for its 29 hrs and 45 minutes duration.  Click here  for a full view.  A peek at  RTE.ie audio dramatization

  In the dead of the night, She stood in front of the mirror. In the company of her incompetence   Struggling to drape a saree. Rustling noises Cacophony of expectations  Jingle of the jhumka Burning kohl Ruddy    lips Flushed cheeks Coloured manicured nails  A bindi placed in the middle  To hold together. Her ragged nerves Met face to face   A woman  Staring long and deep  At lifeless cast aside skin. In her artwork  Carrying a draped complex fabric  The colours and hues The fragrance She set to walk in an arid landscape. Her feet bled  To water the listless  Her brow sweat  To provide refuge  Her eyes burnt brighter Than the scowling sun Her saree  Turned into a bed of lush greenery  As she lay to rest. 

KING LEAR: AN ADVANCED STUDY The article intends to bring together a representative selection of the most useful criticism available upon Shakespeare's King Lear. Coleridge called King Lear ' the most tremendous effort of Shakespeare the poet' The tragedy, derived from the legend of Leir of Britain(a mythological pre-Roman Celtic king), tells the tale of a king who decides to hand down his land and power to his three daughters. The third daughter failing to flatter the King gets nothing while the other two are showered with her half for fawning.  Now, the two daughters upon having wealth and power make the furious old man stripped of titles wake up to the painful realisation of false love and respect. This makes Lear reconcile with his third daughter before she tragically passes away.  A.D Nuttall observes that Shakespearean representation allows us to see aspects of reality we would not otherwise recognise. Harold Bloom goes beyond Nuttall to suggest that Shakespeare mo...

THE WHITE MAN'S BURDEN INTRODUCTION In the backdrop of Philippine- American War( 1899-1902), Rudyard Kipling justifies imperialism, eurocentric racism and the noble enterprise of civilization through industrialization in his poem " The White Man's Burden: The United States and the Philippine Islands" (1899). Interchanged with poem "Recessional" for the Diamond Jubilee celebration of Queen Victoria's reign ( 1837-1901), Kipling rewrote the poem to exhort Americans to colonize the Philippine Islands conquered from Imperial Spain.  Echoing the related American Philosophy Manifest Destiny , the poem was first published in The New York Sun on 10 Feb 1899. Later, Kipling included the poem in his 1903 collection The Five Nations. The belief of the Western World that colonization is the way to civilise the Third World made Senator Tillman argue against the Treaty of Paris ratifying the claim of US over the Philippine Island.  THE IMPERIALIST INTERPRETATION AND ...

INTRODUCTION Marriage aided by matchmaking is the most basic traditional institution of human life around the world. In the olden days, marriage was based on the strategic alliance of the Kings. The Anglo-Saxon society or the Indian janapadas extending their belts to become mahajanapadas saw ties to establish peaceful relations by acquiring a territory.  Marriage, especially in Hindu custom is a      ' sanskara ' or purificatory ceremony obligatory for every Hindu. It is a sacred institution in India marking a turning point in an individual's life as he enters the second important phase or ashram of his life- the 'Grahasthyaashram'. ALLIANCE TO MUTUAL CONSENT However, in 1140 the Benedictine monk Gratian brought the concept of consent. From here on, there was more to marriage and matchmaking than just land or property. For instance, the marriage of Dushyanta and Shakuntala is an example of swayamvara.  We have instances of a matrilocal marriage in the Indus Vall...