Literary Quest

  R.K.Narayan’s “The Astrologer’s Day” is a short story that deals with a day in the life of an ordinary astrologer in the Town Hall road of Malgudi. The astrologer with all his professional equipment like cowries shells, charts, and Palmyra writing ran a business under a Tamarind tree. It was amply crowded with different trades and traders like medicine sellers, hardware and junk, magicians, cloth – sellers, etc. The groundnut vendor’s gas light enabled him to carry on his business even after sunset.  The astrologer’s forehead with sacred ash and vermilion gave his eyes a prophetic light. He wears a saffron turban to attract customers. He was a shrewd person who hardly had any knowledge of astrology. He just made guesswork when people approached him. He was a mastermind at analyzing the human mind and psychology. His strong perception made him diagnose the exact problem of his customers. His customers would finally leave satisfied. He had to work hard to earn his wages....

  Ella Adkins is a modern British Dramatist. Her “Grandmother’s Gold” is based on the Greek legend of King Midas. He was granted magical powers by the God Dinoysius to turn whatever things he touches into gold. He couldn’t even touch his food because it is turned into gold. When he embraced his daughter, she turned into a golden statue. Ella Adkins uses the legend in a modern context in this play. The story opens at Mrs. Griggs’ tea shop in Cheesebury Green. Betty Griggs, aged seventeen sells a small piece of her chain for five and six to Mr. Rubenthrope, a dealer who purchases gold. But her mother feels that she is swindled. He was asked to leave. Alfred Midas, aged about twenty-one carries two books, for Betty and Grandmother which they asked him to bring. Mrs.Griggs does not look pleased to have Alfred. Betty says that it is because of his disclosure of him being the descendant of King Midas. Griggs doesn’t believe his story. Betty asks him if he has any document or any piec...

                                                 Chapter I – A Daughter is Born Introduction Malala Yousafzai is a strong, intelligent, and passionate crusader for women’s rights and the right to free education. The Talibans banned entertainment and enforced restrictions on women and harsh punishments.   In early 2009, when she was 11, she wrote a blog under her pseudonym Gul Makai (cornflower) to detail her life during the Taliban's occupation of Swat led by  Maulana Fazlullah . In October 2012, Malala was shot by a gunman on the left side of her head. She got treated in Birmingham, England. In 2013, she co-authored  I Am Malala . In 2014, she was the co-recipient of the  2014 Nobel Peace Prize , with  Kailash Satyarthi  of India. She was the youngest-ever Nobel Prize laureate at the age of 17. Malala’s Birth: ...

            Rabindranath Tagore’s “Kabuliwala”, set in early twentieth-century Kolkata, is about a five year old girl Mini and a Kabuliwala, Rahamat exploring the bonds of friendship, affection and parting  transcending the borders of race, religion and language . Kabuliwala was a middle-aged Pathan dry fruit seller from Afghanistan, who comes to Kolkata, leaving his family and in particular his favourite daughter, and Mini was a chatty girl who “can’t stop talking for a minute”. In the opening of the story, Mini frequently visits her father(the narrator) in his study to talk and hide from her impatient mother. He desires to let Mini be herself. Mini is friendly and quickly makes friends with the Afghan peddler. Rahamat offers her the opportunity to learn about different worlds. Mini’s father is a writer and describes himself as something of a dreamer who wants to explore the world but is “condemned...

Poem Where the world has not been broken up into fragments By narrow domestic walls Where words come out from the depth of truth Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit Where the mind is led forward by thee Into ever-widening thought and action Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake . Essay          Rabindranath Tagore’s Gitanjali is a collection of 103 song offerings to God. Tagore got Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913. Song 35 “Where the Mind Is Without Fear” turns from a religious to a patriotic poem.      Tagore dreams of an independent and progressive India. The poet prays for the spiritual emancipation of his country.  He asks for a country,  where a man can move fearlessly and hold his head high with nobility and generosity;  Where every individual can be imparte...

  Bhabani Bhattacharya writes about the realities of life. His short stories have an Indian vision. In “The Faltering Pendulum “, Bhattacharya gives a touching and moving sketch of the life of a dejected young woman. A rag woman purchases three ripe pumpkin seeds embedded in the flesh of a sliced crescent piece, and a month-old goat youngling. She lives in a hut lonely amidst rags. She is often chased and teased by the young boys in the weavers’ settlement around the mango grove. The boys mock at her goat calling it a puppy. In a fit of anger, she curses them badly. But soon she regrets to use those contemptuous words.  At every moment of her emptiness, the goat fills her with soothing sounds like Moo-oo. She is a widow who led her life without bearing a child. The barrenness within her makes her believe that she is unlucky. As a result of shocks and disappointments in life, she wants to seek some fulfilment through the young limbed pumpkin vines. But the vines have tricke...

  Definition: Drama presents fiction or fact in a form that could be acted before an audience not read in private. A play has a plot, characters, dialogue and atmosphere, and an outlook on life. Basil Worsfold defines Drama in “Judgement in Literature”, “Drama is a composite art, in which the author, the actor, and the stage manager all combine to produce the total effect” Structure: A play requires five phases: 1.                      Exposition explains the circumstances or situation from which the action is to take its  course 2.      Complication or Rising Action progresses the action and reveals the conflict . 3.      Climax is the action that takes a turn for the better or worse - the central conflict is addressed in a way that cannot be undone . 4.      Denouement or Falling Action unravels the complication 5.       Re Soluti...