Friday 6 March 2020

salma and me : After 377 Article



"LAWS have been made but it still depends on how people would take us…", she said.
Speaking to a transgender Salma, she said, “We are happy that the law has been passed in favor of us, but I still don’t know whether my lover and his parents would accept me as a normal woman.” She further said, “I love him endlessly and proudly tell everyone in my community that he is my lover, but his relationship with me is always kept a secret by him.”
“The doctor declared me as a boy, but I always wanted to dress like girls, wear make-up, talk to them and be with the girls in groups”, she said. Her journey after discovering her tendencies of a female began at the age of 13. She was always teased for acting or behaving like a woman by her neighbors and friends and also at home. They said, “How can you behave like a woman being a MAN!!” after running away to Mumbai from Hubli alone at the age of 13, she was threatened to be killed by her family. This made her not to return home for 15 years then later only to attend the funeral of her father. She is 31 and it is only since 3 years that she visits home sometimes but it should be made sure that she comes home only in the mid-night and steps out to return only the next mid-night.
“We are like you akka (sister), I completely do what you, as a woman do. Only thing is that I won’t be able to give birth to a baby”, she told me.  She then added, “There are lot of woman who won’t be able to bear children”, as her eyes brimmed with tears. I asked her, “Do you think a woman could be defined by an organ of a body, a womb?” She laughed and said, “This is what people should understand.” And went on narrating a story of her far-relative baby being born with both the sexual organs- that of a man and a woman. She said, “The baby will be operated and made a girl”, she stammered feeling a bit uncomfortable to use terms of sexual organs. “I was born as a male but I dint feel I was one, it was my decision to become a woman and I am happy with what I have become- a woman, but, I had to gather a lot of strength to become so.” She said, “Akka”, she paused for a while and said, “gandu aadh taksna gandu aage erbeku antha aanu ella!” (Meaning: There is no rule that a man should always feel and be a man). There was a long pause and then she said, “We have to be accepted and be treated like any other woman out on the street. We are always teased and called names. We are ready to take up jobs but are not given. For our livelihood we either have to beg or work as a sex ….worker…” she stammered and the aggressive tone fell. She then said, “Laws have been made but still depends on how people would take us, akka ennu baala hooradadidhe”. (Meaning: Sister, we still have a lot of things to be fought for)

Friday 30 March 2018

Journey from the Window to Door



She had a beautiful connection with a window of their bedroom. Every morning she woke up, she first saw lying on her bed the window with its curtains open- sometimes to realize that its still dark outside and she can sleep for more time and sometimes to realize that its dawn and rather late to cook and pack boxes for him. Not just this, there was something more in relation with this window in her life. When she went to bed with him the best thing that she did was to stare at the limitless sky through the window from the bed - look at the moon which peeped through and remembered her soulmate and sent telepathic massages though they were no more in touch and smiled. On other days she tried counting the stars that she could see. There were also days she could see nothing in the sky just the darkness spread - yet she never failed to imagine the beautiful moon and the twinkling starts and always slept happily smiling.

In the mornings, after finishing her chores, with a mug of coffee she would return to the same window contemplating over things in her life. She would stand there watching the third floor of another building where she observed a father and a mother holding their kid and trying to feed it. The mother many a times even said to the baby, "Look at the aunty there!"and when the child saw her standing by the window the mother pushed a morsel into its mouth and it cried protesting. There were also very short conversations conducted between the mother of the child and her like :"Come home aunty", "finished the chores aunty?".... and the reply was only "Yes" always from her. She always got disgusted with the use of the word aunty!!! she believed she was much younger to be called an aunty!!!! This though made her laugh sometimes!!!

Through the same window she also saw a little boy who stood  and stared  the empty space next to his house where some pigs and dogs slept early in the mornings. He resided in the second floor of the building below the house of the child who protested to eat. When children wake up in the morning they tend to stand numb staring at things that they see and try to make place for them in their fantasy world, she thought. It was a calm location and she could just read the kids mind and smiled lovingly. This entire fantastic event of connecting with the kid always ended with his father or mother coming to the window and  checking what the boy was looking at for a second and the
n drag him from the window shouting, "what are you watching, get into the bathroom at once", "Are you not going to school?", and the boy was no more near the window. She missed the innocent face at the window many times. She continued standing there and looking at the same pigs and dogs- some sleeping, some in a playful mood and wondered how the boy enjoyed watching them.

Standing their, by the window she dreamed of being a mother and having her own kid and raising it against all the norms of the society but the thought  was equally scary for her. This thought had recurred in her mind many a times. But it was not the same that day. She ran to the adjacent room, took a sheet of scrape paper, unable to control her emotions wrote:

                                          VOICES OF A MOTHER: TO BE
She should not become a victim
Nor should he be a doer
NO NO... the other way
He should not become a victim
Nor should she be a doer
If SHE.... oh no.....
I will have to live long to protect her
If HE.... he shall imitate his father
They can inherit qualities form anyone...
Those lies, the taunts, using someone
NO not at all a girl
nor it should be the boy
History of parents repeat in small quanta in their children.
I can see my mothers' history repeating in me
And mine shall repeat in her
or in him will be his....no and never
should this happen.
I shall adopt and give life
and he or she shall not take his or my name
HE or SHE would be called SUCCESS and
shall write his or her own destiny without any boundaries.
                                                                               24. 2. 2017
She then laughed and smiled and then rather returning to the window opened the door and stood out with confidence, took a deep breathe sipped with joy the coffee which had turned cold and said to herself, "This tastes much better", and laughed .


Friday 17 January 2014

Loving you forever without fear...

Dedicated to my LOVE... one and only. I love you as you are.
Without Fear, without boundaries and without any obligation to love me in return.....
Celebrating your 'coming back' in my life...15/8/2013 and again on 24/8/2013

When I decide to write something,
The first word that comes to my mind was YOU.

So I begin, begin to write,
Humming the music- which spoke only about YOU.

After experiencing many absurd things in life,
The only thing that gives me hope to love you more is YOU.

Whenever I saw the waves hitting the shore and becoming one with the sand,
I remembered the lines that were whispered  by YOU.

My heart yearns to acquaint again and again
The sparkle in my eyes when I see YOU.

I give my love the wings to fly in the sky
Without a though of possessing YOU.

I am not afraid of losing
As my love is eternal for YOU

Life is too short
To love someone like YOU

 Despite knowing that you can never be mine,
My heart, soul, mind and body just says: YOU, YOU and YOU...

Wednesday 14 August 2013

Feminism : Literature and stages

Dear 1st Year Students,

Felt very good engaging class for you on Feminism.

You people were quiet vocal in the class and it was quiet interestinmg to take class for you guys.
So, as i had promised i am making the ppt that i used in the class available for you.  

Have made the link available for you guys to make notes and read more about it....
Hope this will be of some help to the you.

http://www.slideshare.net/meghapatil165/feminism-literature-and-stages

Thursday 11 July 2013

PART III: REVISING CHAUCER



TIT BITS:
1.      In the Physician’s Tale, a daughter is killed by her father.
2.      The Knight’s Tale deals with two Theban warriors.
3.      Chaucer’s The Parson’s Tale is based in part on a notable French sermon of Friar Laurens.
4.      Chaucer translated the French work Roman Da La Rose into English titled Romance of the Rose.
5.      House of Fame, Legend of Good Women, Troilus and Criseyde: Works of the Italian Period.
6.      The Book of Duchess by Chaucer was an allegory on the death of Blanche, the wife of his patron.
7.      The writer who gave the first full expression of the ‘English sense of humour’ was Chaucer.
8.      Langland is known as The Morning Star of the Renaissance.
9.      There are three (3) pilgrims in the Prologue to Canterbury Tales which represent the military profession.
10.  The pilgrims in the Canterbury Tales were going to the Shrine of St. Thomas at Canterbury.
11.  The character Griselda appears in Clerk’s Tale.
12.  The Merchant tells the story of January and May in Chaucer’s Prologue to Canterbury Tales.
13.  Troilus and Criseyde of the Chaucer’s work has the Trojan War at its background.
14.  Pandarus  is a Chaucerian character who appears in Troilus and Criseyde
15.              No hadde I er now, my swete herte deere,
            Ben yold, ywis, I were now nought here!
Famous lines said by Criseyde in Troilus and Criseyde.
16.  Miller’s Tale and Reeve’s Tale are the examples of fabliau.
17.  One of the portraits in the Prologue is that of the Wife of Bath. Bath is the name of a town.
18.  ‘He was as fresh as the month of May’. ‘He’ refers to the Squire.
19.  The Nun’s Priest’s Tale uses the tradition of the Beast Fable.
20.  The Parson’s Tale is in the form of prose.
21.  Chaucer went on diplomatic missions abroad from 1370-78. This phase initiates the Italian phase.
22.  The Prologue to Canterbury Tales is supposed to have been written in 1388.
23.  ‘His voice is merrier than the organ’s tone
In church on solemn mass days loudly blown”
These lines are taken from Nun’s Priest’s Tale.
24.  The Canterbury Tales is considered to be the epitome of the 14th Century.
25.  Chaucer found English a dialect and left it a language.
26.  Pandarus is the first great comic character in English Literature which is depicted by Chaucer.
27.  Troilus and Criseyde is the first English novel in verse.
28.  The idea of the Canterbury Tales is taken from Boccaccio’s Decameron.
29.  The House of Fame bears close resemblance to Dante’s Divine Comedy.
30.  Chaucer is the first to use heroic couplet in the Legend of Good Women.
31.  The Canterbury Tales entitles the title Father of English Poetry.
32.  In the Prologue to Canterbury Tales the merchant has a forked beard.
33.  Wife of Bath is deaf.
34.  In the Prologue to Canterbury Tales, children are afraid of the summoner.
35.  In the Nun’s Priest’s Tale, the poor widow has three Children.
36.  Kenelphus, the noble King of Mercia is referred to in Nun’s Priest’s Tale.
37.  Andromache is the wife of Hector.
38.  In the first line of the Prologue, Chaucer refers to the month of April.
39.  Chaucer begins his story with the description of the Knight.
40.  The Yoeman is wearing a green coat.
41.  In the Prologue, the Monk is fond of Hunting and riding.
42.  The Monk’s favorite dish was fat roasted swan.
43.  Chaucer’s The Book od Duchess was written in the end of 1369.
44.  In The Parliament of Fowls, Chaucer celebrates Saint Valentine’s Day.
45.  In the Book of Duchess, a love story has been told with a delicacy of psychological awareness.
46.  The Nun’s Priest’s Tale is a superb satire on human marital relationships.
47.  The French period of Chaucer ranges from 1360-70.
48.  The Period of Italian influence ranges from 1370-85.
49.  Chaucer was elected the Knight of the Shrine of Kent in 1386.
50.  Chaucer celebrated some princely betrothal in The Parliament of Fouls.
51.  Chaucer lived in the reigns of Edward III, Richard IV and Henry IV.
52.  The Canterbury tales is allegorical.
(Notes: Allegory is an expressive style that uses fictional characters and events to describe some subject by suggestive resemblances.)
53.  The rocks of Brittany feature in Franklins’ Tale.
54.  The verse in Canterbury Tales consists of rhymed couplets.
55.  There are three (3) women characters in Canterbury Tales.
56.  Chaucer’s pilgrims go on a pilgrimage in the month of April.
57.  The Book of Duchess is an Allegory.
58.  There are eight (8) ecclesiastical (=connected to Church) characters portrayed in the Prologue.
59.  Treatise on the Astrolabe is Chaucer’s prose work.
60.  Troilus and Criseyde is also called a ‘psychological novel’.
61.  Chaucer uses Rhyme Royal in Canterbury Tales.
62.  Chaucer uses the technique of mock-heroic in The Nun’s Priest’s Tale.

MCQ’s From various sites:
1.      Canterbury Tales introduced all the following stylistic devices EXCEPT
a) satire.
b) irony.
c) point of view.
d) predominance of all-powerful gods.                         (d)

2.      Chaucer's character development is original because
a) his characters have supernatural qualities.
b) they are flawed.
c) like real people, they have strengths and weaknesses.
d) they represent people from all stratas of society.       (c)

3.      Chaucer developed his Canterbury Tales using a device called
a) a fable.
b) the frame story.
c) monologues.
d) poetic narrative.                             (b)

4.      A pilgrim whom Chaucer describes as negligent of his duty is the
a) Parson.
b) Knight.
c) Pardoner.
d) Monk.                                                (d)

5.      Chaucer satirizes the Monk because the Monk
a) is too concerned with courtesy and matters of etiquette.
b) cheats the poor peasants by selling them false religious relics.
c) begs from wealthy people but spends no time with poor people.
d) spends too much time hunting and too little time on religious duty.    (d)

6.      Which class of society is NOT represented in Canterbury Tales?
a) feudal
b) urban
c) ecclesiastical
d) monarchy                                   (b)

7.      When Chaucer describes the Friar as a "noble pillar of his Order", he is using
a) irony.
b) simile.
c) understatement.
d) personification.                       (a)

8.      That the Nun is worldly is supported by the fact that
a) "her nose was elegant, that her eyes were glass-grey".
b) "she used to weep if she but saw a mouse".
c) "her mouth was very small, but soft and red".
d) she was "pleasant and friendly in her ways".        (d)

9.      The trip to Canterbury is an important plot device for Chaucer because it
a) allows characters to meet.
b) brings together persons of diverse social rank in a natural way.
c) allows Chaucer a chance to make fun of the church.
d) was a popular pilgrimage of the time                       (b)

10.  Which is NOT characteristic of Chaucer's style?
a) realism
b) vivid description  
c) irony
d) stock (stereotyped) characters                (d)

11.  In the "Prologue" to Canterbury Tales, the pilgrim who preached with a "honey tongue" to win silver from the crowd was the
a) Friar.
b) Summoner.
c) Pardoner.
d) Parson.                        (c)

12.  The narrator in the "Prologue" to Canterbury Tales pretends to be
a) naive.
b) irritable.
c) immoral.
d) witty.                    (a)


1. 
In the Prologue to The Canterbury Tales, the Parson’s brother is the
a.
Doctor.
b.
Knight.
c.
Plowman.
d.
Oxford Cleric.


ANSWER: 
C
 
 
2. 
The Canterbury Tales is structured as a
a.
parody.
b.
folk ballad.
c.
melodrama.
d.
frame story.


ANSWER: 
D

3. 
In the opening lines of “The Prologue” to The Canterbury Tales, the narrator
a.
criticizes chivalry.
b.
attacks the corruption in the Church.
c.
rejoices in the renewing cycle of life.
d.
establishes the ideal of the Renaissance man.


ANSWER: 
C

4. 
The narrator in “The Prologue” to The Canterbury Tales appears to be
a.
naive.
b.
irritable.
c.
immoral.
d.
anti-social.


ANSWER: 
A

5. 
In “The Prologue” to The Canterbury Tales, the pilgrim whose profession gives him “a special love of gold” is the
a.
Parson.
b.
Doctor.
c.
Summoner.
d.
Franklin.



ANSWER: 
B

6. 
In “The Prologue” to The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer’s characters are
a.
on a religious pilgrimage.
b.
part of a wedding party.
c.
in a riding club.
d.
on their way to the Holy Land.


ANSWER: 
A

7. 
Chaucer’s Wife of Bath is
a.
shy.
b.
patient.
c.
independent.
d.
humourless.


ANSWER: 
C

8. 
Immediately prior to joining the other pilgrims in Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tale, the Knight had
a.
been at court.
b.
gone to visit his rural estate.
c.
been engaged in battles overseas.
d.
bought new clothes for the pilgrimage.



ANSWER: 
C

9. 
In “The Prologue” to The Canterbury Tales, the pilgrim who neglects his religious duties in order to hunt is the
a.
Parson.
b.
Monk.
c.
Pardoner.
d.
Summoner.


ANSWER: 
B

10. 
In describing the Friar as “a noble pillar to his Order,” Chaucer uses
a.
epigram.
b.
irony.
c.
inversion.
d.
apostrophe.


ANSWER: 
B

 GUYS HAVE TRIED MY BEST TO COMPILE LOT OF IMPORTANT MATERIAL. I AM SURE ITS GONNA HELP. IF U DON'T UNDERSTAND AND NEED MORE EXPLANATION DON'T HESITATE TO APPROACH ME