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Urdu comes from 'Ardu' meaning army Noor- Represents dying Urdu - very secular He does not find liqour sinful portrayal of Urdu as a secular language - not always islamic Noor also did not find poetry religious  1) cohabitation of languages -English narration of a story about Urdu and Hindi -Reaches wider audience, unbiased, neutral - no condescending or patronizing tone; chronicling the death of a language 2) social life of language -Linguicide -Languages do not exist in isolation; must be spoken to live on 3) hero worship -Especially of intellectuals like Noor -Attitudes may be either of awe or utilitarian -This explains his marriage to Begum, the poet and intellectual - earlier his disciple - now his wife and companion 4) title, 'In Custody' -All characters in custody of someone else -languages also change hands (mouths) 5) politics of language -North/South divide - butt of jokes -elite/ordinary - social status http://www.indianrumination...

Urban India is where the communal drama unfolds -> co-survival triggered by secular issues communal violence - political strategy; communal base; minority leaders hatred in public - cordial relations at a personal level - "Animosities are for politics." - tight compartmentalization of political and personal interactions. 250 million semi-modernized, semi-westernized middle classes = new emerging caste, which the BJP has tapped Fear of the "other" - as constructed by fundamentalists - prompts communal violence. Promoted by absence of ideology in politics - their community wants them in power (as with the Dalits or OBCs like Yadavs, Kurmis, Lodhs, and Mayawati or Laloo) NRIs fuel communalism - uprooted persons, who fear a loss of identity Communal politics remains a way of secularizing politics new kind of a political culture - free for all - minimum conformity with the laws Possible questions: Why does Ashis Nandy cite the story of the Muslim old m...

I have no notes, but no worries - this analysis is perfect: http://www.scribd.com/doc/98370314/Short-Story-Analysis-of-The-Prophet-s-Hair-by-Salman-Rushdie

Painful and helpless situation of voters - angst, frustration Questionable morality, ethics of rally men http://cuenglias.blogspot.in/2015/03/the-election-sitakant-mahapatra.html Our jeep crawls to your village seeking strange melodies get attention from people. All the promises are built from songs from the roaring sun: 'the common will' drawn out by politicians from the criss-cross geometry geometry always symmetric also, smaller problems filtered for larger ones of private agonies. Our dark longings don't touch you, ulterior motives hidden nor our trappings of posters, symbols, speeches, handbills, for your grief outlives empires. metaphor: how deep, how lasting their grief is The cold grandchildren awaken in your heart as you discern All speeches, posters - people know that all politicians want is to stay in power. muted allegories An allegory is an extended metaphor - in the songs and speeches, there is a wide use of rhetoric and of symbols...

journey experiences more important than the quest changing source of water static to fluid very strong rural metaphor binary of urban and rural - great divide fluidity of identities canal far away - takes all day to reach urban sights near the canal, but as they return to the village, the city's parks and kids and balloons are left behind empty hopes - children supposedly represent freedom but are not free; children are victims. Social norms, rules, expectations, roles and identities are forced onto them - bequeathed onto them. All other "claimants" to this inheritance have stepped aside - naturally. Who would want such an inheritance "Our steps the only steps." - No one else walks their path  <In Frost's The Road Not Taken, he doesn't say whether it was the right choice taking the road not taken, just that it has made all the difference. Likewise here we mustn't ever assume that on an individual level, the move from urban to rural is...

tone is of sly civility - civil but if you read between the lines, THREAT!!! cooperation in spite of circumstances because he thought it was for the greater good of India risked life during Boer war treachery of Mr Lloyd George and the fact that it was appreciated by the British exploitation of resources - basically saying "we know what you're up to" Punjab atrocities condoned sick burn: "But though my faith in your good intentions is gone,I recognise your bravery, and I know what you will not yield to justice and reason,you will gladly yield to bravery."-Englishmen do not respond well to reasoning-brawn over brains,which they lack. disregard of India's poverty disarmament and emasculation  degrading treatment meted out to Indians "ensured our incapacity to fight in open and honorable battle" however, bravery of the soul still an option - strong spirit cooperation would only lead to greater enslavement   the masses not responding to ...

Manjula Ranganathan's style Wicked commentary on TSRs dangerous - physiological hazard motorized disasters also mentions unemployment and the general bad attitude of the drivers make up in numbers what they lack in size and agility, like flies personalizations and modifications remove the reverse gear to sell as spare parts bikaneri phut-phut autorustic god's rocket baroques-on-wheels hell's trishaw auto-ethnotic strato-darter road rani

Translated from Urdu by Tahira Naqvi Treats them like property patriarchy and the imagined necessity to control women Use and abuse Not a strong rock Literally domesticates women - complete transformation - cannot raise 'The body' - clear difference between male and female Women and transition Food as a metaphor for psyche of women Emotional eating Exerting rights Greater over wife Sister may do as she pleases - she has a voice, and agency - all women not treated the same Suppression of women with no direct violence shown Exposes injustice Links to follow:  http://www.urdustudies.com/pdf/20/11RajakumarQuilt.pdf Ismat Chughtai's story "The Rock" chronicles the transformation of two young, spirited brides into frumpy, docile housewives, each left in turn for younger, more svelte and more spirited women. The irony is that the husband and the female members of his family are responsible for the transformations, the first narrated in detail and th...

summary (Done on Nov 17) themes: marriage status norms and barriers destiny it's a marriage of convenience they have everything but love ma'am drew parallels to matrimonial ads - or advertisements in general, where both parties have something to offer, exchange In her perspective, she is lucky to even be married, since she has no value as a person in society otherwise. But she's not fortunate as much as she is really, really stupid.

Themes: morals and age inconvenient truths fragile safety in forgotten truth read more "Was doing, to delight us, a comic Dance... " Innocence of childhood - gravity of the situation later understood "Became an altar then, a sunny shrine" Nani's memory sacrificed for some truths "With that question ended Nani. Each truth Ends thus with a query. ..." Truth dies when its credibility is questioned. Also, question remains unanswered - answered, instead, with a question The fact that it is not answered means that the Grandmother has not made peace with it consciousness of speaker differs vastly from that of those (adults, elders) around her Deliberate movement from fact to emotion to philosophical questioning "... It is this designed Deafness that turns mortality into Immortality, the definite into The soft indefinite. ..." Nani the woman of flesh and bone dies, but the idea of Nani remains.

I I am Ganga Snow from the mountains birth in the glacier The keeper of water contains water I am the plains I am the foothills plains and foothills is where it goes Note the commonness that the Ganga brings to the mountains, plains and foothills I carry the wishes of my streams Wishes = prayers; streams -> where it comes from To the sea I am both man and woman No gender to achieve commonness I am paper boats for children entertainment I am habits for the fisherman livelihood I am a cloud for shaven monks mysticism I reflect all movements does not stand for any one particular activity omnipresent I am the bridge unifier, transport I am the fort and the archer protects, like in Narnia Taking aim I am the great dissolver of men two meanings - either it renders all differences obsolete or, it is a morbid reference to the ashes of the dead I give life and I take it too. II I go out into the world I am the world As Ganga runs its course along its t...

TOBA TEK SINGH NOV 10, 2014 Evolving understanding of Partition Identity crisis: 1. Existential crisis 2. Loyalties - Indian or Pakistani - not just territorial or political but also highly personal, an individual choice 3. identity itself fluid and contextual about madness in and of Partition Madness because of the cost of separation Madness incomprehensible, but meant to be so: 1. no outsider can comprehend the reality of the Partition 2. the Partition SHOULD NOT make sense to us, because it is not our tragedy to understand 3. trauma narrative -------------- NOV 14, 2014 Components of a short story: plot (twist) (message) characters time point of view - but better to call it focalization setting  mood fact or fiction style of writing "When you learn how to read a text, it 'disables' you from merely summarizing it in the exam" Paratexts (outside elements) title preface prologue epilogue foreword introduction blurb in...