II BTEch II SEM : FAMADIHANA AND OTHER RITUALS

Famadihana and Other Rituals
 

  Main ideas :

 

1.       Madagascar is an island located in the Indian Ocean; it is 400km from the East of Africa past Mozambique Channel, 1300km from the equator and 7000km from the South Pole. The Tropic of Capricorn crosses its southern part. The area is approximately 597000 square kilometers.

2   In the early 19^th century the majority of the island was united and it was ruled as the kingdom of Madagascar by a series of nobles.

3.    When a child is about to be circumcised, all close relatives and friends are invited, a big feast is prepared, and people party at night.

4.      Families in Madagascar have their own Tombstone that their ancestors had built. These tombstones are huge, very spacious and well decorated with many stone-beds that can accommodate the dead bodies of generations after generations.  The dead are described as ‘Gods on Earth’

6It reaffirms the link between dead and the living.

7.       A large number of relatives, guests including the spirits of ancestors are invited to a feast given by members of a family or lineage. So it is considered as a family reunion.

8.       For five years.

9.       The tomb offer an insight into the rich culture of Madagascar. These are fine examples of rich historical tradition of the country. So these tombs have become popular tourist attractions.

10.   South Western Corner.

11.   Fady are taboos(considered unacceptable or improper by community) on the use of certain substances.

12.   The supremacy of Christianity in the central highlands led to the demise of idol worship. Christians have their dead blessed at a church before burying them and invite the pastor to attend a famidihana and place a cross on top of the tomb. Christians argue that the dead have become Christians themselves and continue to be the arbiters of right and wrong.

Looking at Language: Writing Style 

 

 Rituals:

1.       Engagement was the actual wedding for the Malagasy couple. They celebrate it grandly.

2.       Another example of Malagasy traditions and customs is circumsion. When a child is about to be circumcised, all close relatives and friends invited, a big feast is prepared.

3.       Famidihana is another rich tradition which reaffirms the link between the living and dead.

Taboos:

 

1.       To deny hospitality to a stranger is a fady or taboo, as is the act of refusing this hospitality,

2.       It is wrong to stir in the doorway of a house while the rice is sprouting, since the door of the house is compared to the ‘gateway’ of birth and by blocking it, one might impede the birth of rice.

Looking at Language: Vocabulary by theme:

 

Famidihana, razana, velona iray tranto, maty iray fasana, Zanahary, Andriamanitra, ombiasy, mpanandro, Vintana, fady,

Literary Concept: Theme:

1. The people of Madagascar originated from Indonesia, Malaysia, Polynesia and Eastern Africa. The island of Madagascar was divided into many parts and of many types. In the early 19^th century, the majority of the island was united and it was ruled as the kingdom of Madagascar by a series of nobles of the Merina ethnic group. It collapsed when the island was conquered and absorbed into the French colonial empire in 1896, and it gained independence in 1960.

2.      Malagas is the name of the people who live in Madagascar. Malagasy is also the name of the national and official language. The population of Madagascar constituted in 18 ethic groups who lives in 22 regions.

3. There is no particular age for enagements. Engagement in Madagascar is done with a big celebration in front of relatives and friends from both sides. During the celebration, close relatives from both sides are invited, the groom to be brings a gift for the future bride’s parent as an honour and thanks for raising a beautiful daughter, and the engagement ring for the bride to be.

4. They play the role of intermediary between the supreme god and humankind,and are viewed as having the power to affect the fortunes of the living for good and evil.

5.  The supremacy of Christianiy in the central highlands led to the demise of idol worship. The Christian belief in the power of transcendent and somewhat distant. God has blended with older beliefs in the closeness and intimacy of the dead as spiritual beings.

Culture Point: Famidihana:

1.       On the day of Famadihana the tombs are opened and the bodies are carried out from the tombs. They are rolled up in new mats. As soon as the body is taken out, men stay outside the tomb and dances around the tombs. When the dance stops, the body is laid on the floor. Members of the family of the deceased surround the body and they washes and  provides new clothes to the dead. They offer gifts to the deceased. Laughter mingles with tears of joy and sorrow on this occasion. It also involves moving the bones of the dead buried outside the family tomb into the ancestors tomb.

  Fady:

 

1.       To deny hospitality to a stranger is a fady, as is the act of refusing the hospitality.

2.       It is wrong to stir in the doorway of a house while the rice is sprouting, since the door of the house is compared to the gateway of birth.

Space and Time:

1.       Different values and different forces, either active or passive are attributed to each fraction of time. They believe East being superior to West and North being superior to South. North East is believed to be the most favourable direction. People build their houses on the North South axis and reserve the North Eastr corner for prayers.

  Non Fiction:

1.       There are certain facts which can be taken forgranted. One such is engagement in Madagascar and the other is circumsion. But Famidihana is an unusual tradition practiced in Madagascar. There is no corroboration for this unusual fact. So it is difficult to believe this practice of Malagasy.

Literary Concept: Theme:

1.       It covers the unusual tradition that is practiced by Malagasies and it also brings into light rituals and traditions that are shared in our country.

Literary Concept: Metaphor:

1.       Metaphor is a phrase applied to something to which it is not literally applicable, but suggest resemblance. The concept of Fady often expresses metaphorical sense. According to one fady it is wrong to sit in the doorway of a house while the rice is sprouting. The doorway of a house is no way connected with the rice that is sprouting but it is compared to the ‘gateway of birth’ and by blocking it , one might impede the ‘birth’ of the rice.

Reading Journal:

 

1.       Madagascar is an island located in the Indian Ocean. The capital city of Madagascar is Antannarivo. It’s important trade harbours are Tamatove and Majunga. The island gained its independence in 1960 from French. It has 18 ethinic groups who live in 22 regions. Malagasy is the name of the people who live in Madagascar.

Most of the beliefs in Madagascar fit with the local customs. Some of the beliefs are - When two people are in love or ready to move onto marriage, they must first get engaged. Engagement was the actual wedding for the Malagasy people. Another example of the Malagasy tradition and custom is circumcision. When a child is about to be circumcised, all close relatives and friends are invited, a big feast is prepared, and people party all night. At dawn, the child is taken to a hospital to be circumcised.

Another Malagasy tradition is the way people are buried. Families in Madagascar have their own tombstone. These tombstones are huge, very spacious and well-decorated. A dead person of Malagasy should be buried in his or her family tomb. This ceremony is called Famidihana.

II BTech II SEM :THE POWER OF THE PLATE OF RICE

The power of the Plate of Rice

1. The opening part of the story has taken place in Mr.Aziza’s office room.
2. The office of the Principal, Mr.Aziza was not well designed. Mr.Aziza was seated behind a medium-sized desk made of cheap wood and thickly coated with varnish. Books, files, letter trays and loose sheets of paper fostled for a place in the desk.
3. Teachers were not paid salaries properly.
4. Mr.Aziza had ingratiated himself with the powerful and highranking officers of the Board. As he was the principal of one of the elite schools in the state, he used his power to oblige the people in high places.
5. Mr.Aziza has a negative opinion on the women teachers. He refuses to take women , especially married ones in his school. It is the opinion of him that they are lazy and find excuses to be away from school.
6. When she reached home, she found her son was suffering from fever. Her mother –in – law was trying hard to bring down the temperature of her grand son.
7. Mrs. Cheta Adu’s life had become miserable without her husband. It was the endless journey into the land of hardship and frustration. She needs strong finance support. In such hard circumstances, she felt that it was a senseless waste to spent all their savings on burial ceremony.
8. They were at the university together. Mrs.Cheta Adu selected mathematics and her husband selected banking. They were posted to the same state for national youth service. They became engaged at the end of their service and married shortly after.
9. To feed her family and to satisfy the basic necessities of her family.
10. Cheta begs Mr.Aziza for the better part month , imploring him for money and food but when proves obdurate she reduced to following him after work. When she is still neglected, she has eaten the dish kept for him.
11. Mr.Aziza strode the table, and snatched spoon from her hand . He barked her to go to the Brusar and take money.
12. The plate of rice has acted as a weapon to make Mr.Aziza agree to pay her salary.

Looking at Language: Writing style.

 

The story reveals the abject condition of an American woman teacher, who has not been paid her salary for four months. Inspite of many requests, Mr.Aziza has not agreed to pay salary. It mounts tension in the readers mind. But a feeling of relief arises when Mrs.Chetu took a drastic decision to persuade him and not to leave him until he pay salary. She ate the rice that was prepared for Mr.Aziza. She irritated him and created tension in his mind that she would get settle in his house with her children if she was not paid salary.

Looking at Language: Vocabulary by Theme

2. Bubbled like a pot of ogbono, bellowed, strode, smouldering.

3. Mottled(para-2), Smouldering- para -3 , bulbous –  para-6, hitched – para-11.

Looking at Language: Vocabulary by Idiom

1. peace is costly but it is worth the expense.
2. Don’t set sail on someone else’s star.

Literary Concept: Theme.

1. He is a man known for his inflexibility. He withholds ChetuAdu’s salary as she has taken a few days off to tend to her sick child at hospital. Matters are desperate. She is in dire need of money but Mr.Aziza proved himself obdurate.
2. He has been suffering from fever since one month.
3. It is not just imagination. It really happens in day-to-day world. The common people are often denied their rights and can do nothing about it. The bureaucracy has undue power, which they abuse without accountability.
4. When man has no other choice to escape from his troubles, he tries to take drastic decisions out of desperation. Same happened in this story. Mrs Cheta Adu’s desperation had given her courage which she never experienced before.
5. It is an unplanned action. Her circumstances made her to follow him home after work .

Culture point: Universal and Local

1 a.She resorted to a tactic when she was refused by Mr. Aziza to take her into his office. She kept on calling to him until he broke his resistance.

b. she had taken  a courageous step in to bring change in Mr. Aziza she followed him to his house and had eaten rice that was kept for him.

2. a pot of ogbono soup- seed of a wild mango, joll of rice, garri- West African dish, egusi soup- melon soup are some of the words used in the narration.

Some other examples are:

Kunu or millet porridge.

Ogi or maize pop.

Akara – also called beans cake

3. Rapula, Dulue.
4. It is not a kind of punishment but it is one of the ways of keeping the child safe.
5. Chetu Adu and her mother-in-law are the two women. They are looking after the baby who is suffering from fever.
6. It is not merely personal activity. It is the voice of a professional woman whose life is hard in a partriarchal society where men openly voice their reluctance to an employee woman.

Literary Concepts: Symbolism.

 

1. The plate of rice acted as a weapon on the principal, Mr. Aziza. It is symbol for her audacity, courage and master stroke.

Literary Concepts: Strife and Victory.

• Cheta, a teacher at a Nigerian secondary school.

• She is a widow with two young children and a mother – in- law to feed.

• Cheta is magnificient – she is brave and no- nonsense and resourceful. She knows how to resort to a tactic if her requests are not accepted.

2. She would not have done the same thing if she had no family. She would have waited for salary for one more month. Her family gave her responsibilities. She had taken drastic step to satisfy her basic necessities.
3. The bias that Mr.Aziza carries against married women is that women try to find excuses to be away from school. But it is not genuine. Women are sincere in their work. They take responsibility to their heart and they strive for it. The traditions and customs cripple women as much as they can and trying to create women as an unjustified person.
4. It is the general fate of the most of the widows. Once the woman loose her husband, she becomes the sole bread winner in her family.In this lesson, Mrs Chetu Adu lost her husband in an accident. It is a big tragic turning point in her life.  She is the bread winner of her family. She is working in Mr.Aziza’s school not for time pass but to meet the basic necessities of her family.

Reading Journal:

 

There is a fundamental wrong in our general mental outlook. Most of the people assumes the superiority of males and consider women as a meek, submissive and sacrificial.  The feeling of superiority which evolved from ourselves is a big evil in our society. A woman is given a subordinate position in her family as well as society. Her parents neglect her. They try to get rid of her by doing marriage.

   In this story, Mr.Aziza has such an attitude towards women. He feels that most of the married women always find excuses from work and they come for work only for time pass. Having this opinion in his mind, he tried to torture Mrs Chetu Adu. Being brave and resourceful, Mrs Chetu Adu resorted to a tactic which made him to give her her salary.

I BTech :DR. HOMI JAHANGIR BHABHA

DR. HOMI JAHANGIR BHABHA

Dr. Homi Jahangir Bhabha was an all time genius whose altruistic efforts actuated a meteoric revolution in the scientific world. He brought the name of India in the list of seven nuclear powers of the world. He was a true Indian who put the welfare of the country above personal aggrandizement. His profound and relentless efforts in nuclear research will always be a source of inspiration. We can imbibe many lessons from his life.

A visionary, a man of farsightedness and determination Dr. Homi Jahangir Bhabha was the architect of Indian atomic energy programme. To be ignorant of the lives of the most celebrated men of antiquity is to continue to live in a state of childhood all our lives. 

Dr. Bhabha’s life was an embodiment of noble ideas from which many a lesson can be imbibed. Homi Bhabha was a man of integrity. He always puts service before self. All through his life he worked for his country and succeeded in making India a forerunner in the field of nuclear energy. Born on October 30, 1909 in a well to do Parsi family in Mumbai, he had his early education in metropolis itself. He did his schooling in Bombay’s cathedral. After graduating from Elphinstone College and the Royal Institute of Science, Mumbai, he went to Cambridge for further studies. 

He earned his engineering degree in 1930. That was the decade when the world witnessed numerous scientific advancements in the field of physics, from 1930 to 1934 by means of obtaining scholarship. He did significant work in identifying the elementary particles called mesons when the Second World War broke out in Europe. Dr. Bhabha returned to India. In 1940 he was appointed Reader and then Professor of physics in the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore. It was on August 6, 1945 the first atom Bomb exploded in Hiroshima, Japan. All that remained was a flattened devastated land. The world was shaken. The incident upset Bhabha. It was only a year earlier he was contemplating the peaceful use of atomic energy. 

In 1945 founded the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research. Apart from being an eminent scientist he was also a skilled administrator; his scientific achievements personal reputation and friendships with Nehru enabled him to take government finances for atomic programmes and research. He was the first chairman of Atomic Energy Commission of India. He led the team of scientists in setting up Asia’s first atomic sector Apsara at Trombay. As the Chairman of this commission, his work involved two important areas. One of these was research and development the other was setting up of reactors and training personnel in specialized work areas. 

The nuclear plants at Tarapur, Rana Pratap Sagar and Kalapakkam are the fruition of his efforts. He was bestowed the honour of being the chairman of the first United States Nation Conference on the peaceful uses of Atomic Energy held in Geneva in 1955. He advocated checks and balances on nuclear proliferation and outlawing of atomic bombs by all countries. He firmly believed that atomic energy should be utilized for constructive purposes alone. As recognition of his undoubtable efforts and service to the nation he was offered a place in the Union Cabinet, Bhabha refused it. Like Gandhiji he never clamoured for honour and recognition. However, he continued to be the scientific advisor to Nehru and later to Lal Bahadur Shastri.

A talented individual Bhabha took keen interest in music and art. A bachelor all his life, Homi Jahangir Bhabha dedicated his time and energy to scientific purposes. He played an important role in scientific temper in the masses. Instead of searching for employees and scientists for his institute, he founded the institute in order to bring out the vast potential in young scientists and budding talents. His work on atomic energy brought him many honorary degrees of D.Sc. and Phd in India and abroad. On Jan 24, 1966, Dr. Babha was going to attend the international conference in Geneva but unfortunately the plane he was on board crashed on Mount Blanc in the Alps. His mantra ‘work is worship’ was so inspiring that when he died the employees of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, worked extra hours to mourn his death. Today when the world is divided on the issue of nuclear energy, with the super powers adopting double standards and other countries pursuing policies with vested interests, Bhabha’s life should be a shining example and a token of peace and development in the present nuclear age. His message can be summed up in the words of Long Fellow “Let us then be up and doing with a heart for any fate; still achieving, still pursuing learn to labour and to wait.” 

In fact, Dr. Bhabha initiated the process of harnessing nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. Hence, he can be called the architect of Pokhran I and II, which too are meant for maintenance of peace in the subcontinent in view of nuclear threats from our Northern and Western neighbors.

I BTech : JAGADISH CHANDRA BOSE

JAGADISH CHANDRA BOSE

What happens if you take a rich magistrate's son and make him learn in a village school sitting besides the sons of servants and fishermen? He will hear tales of birds and animals that make him curious about Nature. In addition, that makes him one of India's first scientists - Jagdish Chandra Bose.

Botanist and physicist Jagadish Chandra Bose was born in Mymensingh, India (now in Bangladesh) on November 30, 1858. He was educated first at the village school in Faridpur, where his father was a magistrate, Bhagwan Chandra Bose. Later he migrated to St. Xavier’s College, Calcutta at the age of thirteen. There he met Father Eugene Lafont, who was very interested in promoting modern science in India. He later went to the UK, where he got degrees from the universities of Cambridge and London. He also met Prafulla Chandra Ray, another pioneer of Indian science.

He came back and was made a Professor of Physics at Presidency College on the Viceroy's recommendation. However, the principal and other faculty, who were White, were very racially biased against him and gave only an acting appointment. He was offered one-third the salary of the school's white professors, and in protest at this slight, he took no salary at all for several years. They denied him any laboratory facilities, but he carried on his research work, buying equipment with his own salary. 

He remained at Presidency for his entire career, where he assembled the first modern scientific research facilities in Indian academia. He conducted landmark research of the response of plant and animal life to stimuli including electricity, light, sound, and touch, and showed how water and sap in plants and trees is elevated from roots due to capillary action. He invented the crescograph, an early oscillating recorder using clockwork gears to measure the growth and movements of plants in increments as small as 1/100,000 of an inch. His 1902 paper "Responses in the Living and Non-living" showed that plant and animal tissues share a similar electric-impulse response to all forms of stimulation, a finding which challenged conventional science of the time, and also showed that even inanimate objects — certain rocks and metals — have similar responses. In a 1907 paper, Bose established the electro transmission of excitation in plant and animal tissues, and showed that plants respond to sound, by growing more quickly in an environment of gentle speech or soft music, and growing more poorly when subjected to harsh speech or loud music.

Prior to his plant and animal experiments, Bose spent several years experimenting with electromagnetic waves, and conducted successful wireless signaling experiments in Calcutta in 1895. The invention of radio is usually credited to G. Marconi, but a comparison of their records suggests that at certain points of Bose's radio research, he was about a year ahead of the Italian scientist. In Marconi's first wireless trans-oceanic transmission in 1901 a mercury auto coherer was a key component of the receiving device, and while Marconi made no acknowledgment of Bose at the time, subsequent research has shown that Marconi's auto coherer was a near-exact replica of a mechanism invented by Bose, who explained it in detail in a demonstration at the Royal Society of London two years earlier.

Bose was the first Indian scientist to be widely respected as an equal in the halls of western science. When he demonstrated his mechanisms for generating and detecting radio waves in a January 1897 lecture before the Royal Institution in London, it was the first such lecture given by an Indian. He was elevated to knighthood in 1917, and in 1920, he became the first Indian elected to membership in the prestigious Royal Society. Bose, who came from a fairly affluent family, had no particular interest in the profit potential of his work, and refused to file patent claims. Friends in Bose’s name for his 1901 invention of a solid-state diode detector to detect electromagnetic waves filed a patent.

He founded the Bose Research Institute in Calcutta in 1917, which continues to conduct scientific research. He was a contemporary and friend of the poet Rabindranath Tagore. In 1937, Dr. Jagdish Chandra Bose breathed his last. In the pages of history are recorded the glorious achievements of many great men whom the world recognizes, loves and respects. Such men prove to be a true asset not only to their own countries but also to the world. Their lives become a message and a source of inspiration for generations to come. 

Dr. Jagdish Chandra Bose was one such personality who became immortal in the field of science. He was not only a scientist par excellence, but also a warm human being and a modest personality. Dr. Jagdish Chandra Bose was worthy and illustrious son of our motherland whom the nation feels proud of. He brought various laurels to our country. Immense hard working capacity, patience and simplicity were hall­marks of his personality. Dr. Jagdish Chandra Bose was a creative and imaginative scientist, a connoisseur of literature and a great lover of nature.

I BTech :TECHNOLOGY WITH A HUMAN FACE

TECHNOLOGY WITH A HUMAN FACE

E. F.(Ernst Friedrich) Schumacher, born in Germany and educated in England, was for many years the chief economist for Britain’s National Coal Board.

Schumacher never says that technology in itself is bad. However, he urges us to utilize the scientific techniques that help us get to the truth of the matter and increase our knowledge, to focus on technology that does not lead to giantism, speed, or violence and destruction of human-work enjoyment. What he instead asks us is to recapture simplicity in all that we do to produce a self-balancing system of nature.

According to Schumacher, the modern world has been shaped by technology and continues to shaped looks sick. We wonder that technology has helped us in many ways, yet the underlying factors of alleviation of poverty and unemployment have not been solved by technology at all. In that case, we have to consider whether it is possible better – a technology with human face. It very strange to say the laws and principles of technology, the product of man, are generally very different from those of human nature of living nature. There is measure in all natural things in their size, speed of violence. The system of nature, which man is a part of it, tends to be self-balancing, self-adjusting, self-clearing. However, it is not so with technology. It recognizes no self-limit principle in terms of its size, speed, or violence. It does not possess the virtues of being self-balanced, self-adjusting, self-cleansing. Somehow, man is dominated by technology and specialization. The modern technology acts like a foreign body and it has become inhuman in the subtle system of nature.

In his opinion, the modern technology was involved in three crises simultaneously. First, human nature revolts against suffocating and debilitating inhuman technological patterns. Second, the living environment is partially breakdown.  In addition, the third, it is clear that the inroads of the world’s non-renewable resources have become serious bottlenecks and virtual exhaustion loom ahead in the future. It is the result of materialism and limitless expansionism in a finite environment. It is a big question whether we could develop technology, which can solve all our problems, a technology with a human face.

Schumacher says, “The primary task of technology, it would seem, is to lighten the burden of work man has to carry in order to stay alive and develop his potential”. Technology that lightens our burden would help give us had better time to relax and do what we would like, increase our creativity, work things with our hands that give us joy as defined by Thomas Aquinas. Schumacher explains it is not the actual production of ‘total social time’ spent roughly one-fifth of one-third of one half, that is 3.5 percent and the rest 96.5 percent of ‘total social time’ is directly product less.  It pales into insignificance, that it carries no real weight, but alone prestige. Hence, virtually all-real production has been turned into an inhuman chore which does not enrich a man but empties him. Taking stock of our goals, everybody would take it a privilege to work usefully, creatively with his own hands and brains can actually produce things and would benefit the society.

The modern industrial society is not romantic and certainly not utopian. It is in deep trouble and holds no promise of survival. We must have the courage to dream if we want to survive and give our children a chance to survive. We must develop a new lifestyle, which is compatible with the real needs of human nature and living nature around us. In order to avoid the dire consequences, both by rich and poor countries, we need a different kind of technology, a technology more productive with a human face.

Schumacher suggests us small and beautiful thought about what he terms intermediate technology – ‘production by the masses, rather than mass productions’. The system of mass production based on sophisticated, highly capital intensive, high-energy input dependent, and human labour-saving technology is inherently violent, ecologically damaging. The system of production by the masses mobilizes the priceless resources, which are possessed by all human beings, their clever brains and skillful hands, and supports them with first class tools. Schumacher never says that technology in itself is bad. However, he urges us to utilize the scientific techniques that help us get to the truth of the matter and increase our knowledge, to focus on technology that does not lead to giantism, speed, or violence and destruction of human-work enjoyment. What he instead suggests us is to recapture simplicity in all that we do to produce a self-balancing system of nature.  

II BTech II SEMSTER : Morning Bells

Main ideas: 

 1.Rag pickers pick up rag and other waste material from the streets refuse heaps  for    a  livelihood. 

2.Chotu had run away from his home not able to take his beating. Ramu was driven away from by his step mother.Irfan and Munna did not know when they found themselves on the pavements. 

3.They were abandoned children and earning livelihood with small work. The old municipal sweeper was kind to them.

 4.Chotu discovered an infant inside the garbage bin. 

 5.Female infant had been treated as a burden by their parents. So it was left in a dustbin. 

6.They quickly wrapped it up in the old newspaper lying about. They emptied their sack and they put it in the bundle. 

7.They had walked past a small temple on their way to the shed in the old city.

 8.To wash off the accumulated sins at the feet of their gods or feeling sure that their prayers would be answered, or just feeling happy that their attendance for the day is duly recorded.

 9.The rules of beggars are if a beggar falls ill or is unable to make it for a day or two only his or her spouse or children take the place. No other beggar is allowed to usurp the place. The beggar doesn’t have a son. He bent onto adopt Ramu so that his place would not be occupied by other. 

10.Chotu bought few incense sticks and some flowers. 

11.Once they were inside the shed, they had chosen a corner in the shed and dig a small pit. They carried her gently wrapped in a big enough rage. They put her in the pit and filled it up, put the flowers on top and then lighted incense sticks.

 12.This story expounds the kind heartedness of poorboys, in contrast with some of the more prosperous members of the society. It sends message to the people that the true essence of religion is not in the ritualistic acts but in our true act.

Look at Language: Writing style.

1. He carefully separated the things around the object, standing on his toes, bending into the bin.(loose sentence)
2. Once they were inside the shed, Ramu unwrapped the newspaper(periodic sentence).

Looking at language: Writing style

1. Expression of Sympathy- ‘Take what you want but don’t scatter the garbage’- Old Muncipal sweeper.
2. Expression of Satire: They look satisfied with themselves after washing off the accumulated sins.
3. Expression of empathy: ‘All the four boys kneeled beside the pit. They put her in the pit and filled it up in the flowers.’

Looking at Language: Regional Flavour.

·   Intermix the local words and expressions in English stories and novels would bring out culture and tradition of the place.

·         It creates the sense of regionalism in readers mind.

·         it rises interest in reader as it is related to their surroundings.

·         As it is very easy to understand, the reader gets involve in the story and it is also easy to the writer to communicate with his readers.

Regional words that are used in an African story, titled ‘The Power of a Plate of Rice’ are- a pot of ogbono, yam, garri(west African dish made from cassava tubers), egusi (melon)

The above given are the reasons that made the writer intersperse Sanskrit /Hindi words with English.

Looking at language: Vocabulary by theme

1. unearthing.
2. drawn together, taking rest, dustbin, waste things.
3. fate.
4. dragging, gunny bags
5. swarm, well covered.

Literary concept: Theme

1.      The phrase morning Bells signifies the start of new life. Here it symbolize the empathetic feeling of the boys. They had choosen a corner in the shed and digged a pit which was deep enough.They put here in the pit and filled it up, put the flowers on the top and then lighted the incense sticks. They had taken her as their own. The phrase ‘ morning bells’ is a powerful symbol of something that is empathetic and deplorable.

2.      Food, cloth, shelter are the basic necessities for people. The centre characters of this story are Chotu, Ramu, Irfan and Munna are struggling for survival in this world. Their struggle for survival brought the boys together and made them to work together.

3.      A man who had been practicing female infanticide and who had given subordinate status to women would have abandoned the infant in the garbage bin. Female infanticides, Satisahagamanam were some of the regressive traditions that were practiced in India. The man who left the baby in garbage bin would have come under this regressive tradition.

4.      The empathetic nature of Chotu and Ramu prompted to take out the body of the infant out of the garbage bin and give it an honest burial in the shed.

5.      The beggars have their fixed territories . No new entrant is allowed in the precincts without the consent of the congregation.

6.      Ramu, Chotu, Irfan, and Munna had treated the abandoned infant as one of the members in the family and so they had choosen a corner in the shed to bury her and named her ‘Chutki’.

Culture Point: Female Infanticide.

  We need to recognize that there is something fundamentally wrong with a culture that assumes the superiority of males and that celebrates Indian women for being meek, submissive and sacrificial. The feeling of superiority which evolved from our culture proved to be a big evil in our society and also it is one of the important causes behind the heinous practice of sex-selective abortions and female infanticide. Women are given subordinate status in society. She is treated as a big burden to family. Her life is spared; parents often neglect her and expect her to work around the house serving her brothers and father. In rural areas, girls are rarely sent to school, and if they are, they are removed after a few years of education. They try to kill the baby by adopting various means strangling the baby, giving her poison, dumping her in a garbage bin.

Culture point: Hypocrisy

  

Hypocritical show of religion: People enter temple to wash of their accumulated sins at  the feet of their gods, or to feel sure that their prayers would be answered.

Example for the true essence of religion: Ramu, chotu, Irfan, and Munna are known for the true essence of relgion. Inspite of being poor and abandoned they tried to help a small one who was thrown in a garbage bin.

Culture Point: Economy

1. Economic activities that are promoted at a temple:  Flowers, incense sticks and the other things that the temple goers need to worship are sold near temple steps.
2. Many of the people show their gratitude by showering benevolence on the row of beggars seated outside the temple. The beggars have their own fixed territories outside the temple. The more aggressive ones occupy the place closer to the main entrance and get a large portion of the ‘total collection’.

Culture Point: Abandoned Children

1. True essence of religion is clearly pictured in the activity of four boys. They are poor and abandoned. They earn their lively with the waste materials that they collect from garbage bin.  One day, they found a small baby in a garbage bin. It eyes were closed as if it was sleeping peacefully in its mother’s gentle lap and not in the stinking bin.They quickly wrapped it up in the old newspaper and brought it to their shed. They chose a corner in the shed and dig a pit for her. They put her in the pit and filled it up with the flowers and incense sticks. They named her Chutky. They had given a place in their shed and treated her as one of the members in their family.

       This small activity of boys proves that the boys are nearer to God but not the temple goers who go to the temple to wash off their accumulated sins.

Reading Journal

       Chutky is a name of a small baby. Chutky was the name given by the four boys who found her in a garbage bin. She was picked up by the boys who were earning their lively hood with the waste materials that they collect from the garbage bin. They wrapped her carefully in a newspaper and carried her to their house. Usually the four boys return from their journey to the city dump yard with their sacks after the sun is up but that day they decided to turn up quickly to their shed. They walked past the temple teeming with well clad temple goers who gather their to wash off their accumulated sins at the feet of the gods. The four boys took their coins from their pockets and bought the flowers and incense sticks that were sold near the temple steps. They chose a corner in their own shed and buried it. They decorated the pit with flowers and lighted incense sticks. They prayed to the God for few minutes for that small baby.

        This  story is a clear example for the true essence of religion. The four boys who were poor and abandoned were very near to God. They had taken the responsibility of a small baby who was thrown in a garbage bin without the feeling of sympathy. This proves that the true essence of religion is not in hypocritical nature of temple goers but in the innocence of small children.