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What makes the works of Saadat Hasan Manto, from over 60 years ago, a significance for the education of an Indian, of a human today? 

From the morning newspaper to the prime-time debates, the average Indian is fed a healthy diet of hypocrisy, hegemonic morality, and jingoistic nationalism while the truth of those in power and that being done through power is marred to produce a confused Indian, at best. College education in a nation like ours is in a dire need of a sense of revolution, which teaches us the choice of what to be and how to be, by showing us what not to be. A mirror to look at our identity as ‘Indians’, as nationalists, as products of the society that builds and breaks us normatively, as humans, is needed.

Enter a man from the 1940s, clad in a kurta, holding a smoke in one hand, an unflinching truth in the other, capable of jolting us into the public sphere of uninhibited discourses, yet taking us home more than anybody else can and anybody else should today. The greatest misconception about this man- Saadat Hasan Manto- a private literary movement for the writer of this piece, is that he wrote obscene stories that do not do justice to the parameters of what makes ‘good literature’.

Image Credits: Kindle
Image Credits: Kindle

“It is very ironical that none of his writings have found a place in these (school) textbooks. I have read Urdu for 15 years and yet I haven’t found a single story of Manto in any of the textbooks. Being a student of Urdu, I think what distinguishes him from the rest of the writers is his courageous writing. Most of Urdu literature is filled with romantic stories but Manto writes in an unconventional way. He does not shy away from detailing love-making scenes which got him into a lot of trouble,” shares MaknoonWani, a second-year student pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism from Delhi School of Journalism.

Tried for obscenity six times, Manto took great pride in his literary prowess, but his prowess today lives on because he showed that a story need not be ‘decorated’ to paint hope, to represent, to defend or to prove, in order for it to stay with you. “Manto’s writings reflect the actual rawness of life in the truest sense. Shattering and spirited, all at once,” says Kartik Chauhan, a first-year student of English at Hindu College. It can be the closest reflection of ‘what is’, like the reality of a time peeling the layers of a conscience he assumes in his reader, burying itself forcefully, without permission of the owner, in the core of your being.

Shaurya Thapa, a second-year student of History at Hindu College, supports this by saying, “Manto might not have the most perfect language compared to other writers of his era but that’s what makes him different from the rest. His writing style was more direct and hard hitting, he didn’t have to have a polished tongue always because his times were surely not. In some stories like the Dog of Thitwal, you can say that he mastered magical realism. Added to that, there’s no doubt Manto can also be regarded as a master of modern horror- in a realistic, grittier sense, Thanda Ghosht and Khol Do being major examples. The very fact that reading Manto makes me uncomfortable shows how powerful his stories were.”

Where Pinjratod has to press to the authorities its right to autonomy, demanding an eradication of discriminatory and oppressive practices of curfew in the year 2018, Manto’s women ran naked over 60 years ago. Many object to the representation of women in Manto, expressing that there is a sexual objectification he endorses in his works. But only when one reads the text he writes, leaving judgement and preconceived ideologies of morality behind, does the realisation of his honesty occur. From a legacy of work, it is foolish and hasty to pick one section out in isolation of everything else and call it unfeminist. His women talked about underwears, religion, prostitution, alcohol, violence and sex in a way that did not define them in totality. He represented them as agents of their own mirth who acted, and must possess choice and control of their individuality. Manto’s women were humans, not metaphors or conduits for another entity or phenomenon.

Image Credits: Blush
Image Credits: Blush

“If you cannot bear these stories, then the society is unbearable,” Sa’Saab would often say within his circle and in his numerous testimonies at the court. Taught from the western ideals of Plato’s Republic, students in India should pick up Saadat Hasan Manto to look at the muddle of a society that birthed their conditioning, at every point of time. His descriptions, never prescriptive in their great simplicity, bring to you the India before and after 1947 that remained, and the destroyed.

Sharvi Maheshwari, a third-year History student at Miranda House, strongly believes that Manto was way ahead of his time, haunting people because of his rawness, and comments, “Toba Tek Singh makes people realise that post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a serious issue.” His personal life deteriorated in the awareness of the times that governed the post-partition India, and parted from his beloved Bombay, his writing lost embellishments, if they ever held any. His lens lives today in the unapologetic courage of his pen.

A thid-year student pursuing BA (Honours) Humanities and Social Sciences at Cluster Innovation Centre, Niharika Dabral says, “The first (and only) story I read by Manto was Khol Do and it haunted me. I didn’t pick Manto again.” It is this unrest and the ability of Saadat Hasan Manto’s words to haunt the readers which makes his literature significant in a time where every statement made is under the threat of brutal censorship. For students to be out on the streets, questioning, fighting, wanting to change and be free, it is an urgency to shudder through Manto’s truthfulness.

Saadat Hasan Manto said, “I feel like I am always the one tearing everything up and forever sewing it back together.” In his 42 years, from struggling for twenty rupees to engaging in mehfils with Ashok Kumar and the who’s who of Indian cinema from the 1940s, he did live a life of creation and annihilation through words and the violence around his words. He was neither a victim nor an activist. Manto was a writer, whose words did not run afraid of time and truth. He never held the onus of teaching the society how life must be lived, but he wrote enough for his readers, years past he has been gone, to see the truth and the choice we can make in our truth.

Image Credits: Wikimedia Commons

Anushree Joshi
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In light of the recent arrests of activists who have been working around tribal rights, Delhi University banned two books, which were prescribed as History readings, for ‘glorifying Naxals’ and ‘legitimising conversion of tribals to Christians’.

Subalterns and Sovereigns: An Anthropological History of Bastar, by Nalini Sundar and Against Ecological Romanticism: Verrier Elwin and the Making of an Anti-modern Tribal Identity, by Archana Prasad are the books which are being removed from the course based on the logic that they are ‘not fit’ for DU students.

Against Ecological Romanticism: Verrier Elwin and the Making of an Anti-modern Tribal Identity is a set of essays which aim to challenge the preconceived notions about tribal life, economy and identity while stating the reality if their lives. Subalterns and Sovereigns: An Anthropological History of Bastar talks about the political changes taking places in Bastar which in turn affected the socio-economic status. It traces these developments from colonial India to postcolonial India.

Both the authors have been highly appreciated for their work in their respective books and have won prestigious awards like Ester Boserup Prize for Research on Development from Copenhagen in 2016 and the Malcolm Adiseshiah Award for Distinguished Contributions to Development Studies in 2017. Sundar points out how it was a couple of BJP leaders’ objection which led to this unjustified decision. She was backed by historian Ramachandra Guha who emphasised on the scholarly importance of the book for academic purposes. 

Feature Image Credits: Culture Trip

Oishee Roy

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With inputs from Times of India

‘Leave something for someone but don’t leave someone for something’. And true to her words, Enid Blyton left millions of children and adolescents a legacy. She left to us and for generations to come worlds full of magic, wonder, nail-biting mysteries, the most loveable characters and taught lessons that one would cherish for a lifetime. 

Her books, which have sold more than 600 million copies, have been among the world’s best-sellers since the 1930s. As a kid, every one of us has spent hours pouring over her prolific works. Here’s a trip down the memory lane to pay a tribute to some of her classic writings.

The Famous Five
The novels feature the adventures of a group of five young children named Julian, Dick, Anne, Georgina (George),  and their dog Timmy. The stories take place in the children’s holidays after they have returned from their boarding schools. The five get caught in numerous adventures involving criminals, lost treasure, camping etc. The five first meet at George’s picturesque house, Kirrin Cottage, located on Kirrin Island. Blyton intended to write only six or seven novels but owing to the massive success, she wrote twenty-one full-length novels. The book received its name after the ninth novel. Till then, it was known as The ‘Fives’ book.

The Secret Seven
Unlike most other series written by Blyton, this one takes place during the school term and not during the holidays. The characters of this detective series are Peter (the society’s head), Janet (Peter’s Sister), Jack, Barbara, George, Pam, and Colin. Jack’s annoying sister Susie and her best friend Binkie often make appearances in the books. They seem to hate the Secret Seven but at the same time, they have a strong desire to be a part of the society. The young detectives meet in a shed with the words S.S painted on it. Peter, the society head, makes everyone obey the rules and remember passwords. Whilst wolfing down rock caves and drinking lemonades, the seven solve mysteries and issues in their local community.

Malory Towers
The series is based on Benenden School, a girls’ boarding school that Blyton’s daughter attended. The books revolve around Darell Rivers, a twelve-year-old, who is eager to enter a new life in school. Although she has a turbulent beginning, she ends up making friends with Sally Hope. Throughout her school life, her hot temper gets her more than once. The series, which is a set of six books, culminates with her leaving for the University of St. Andrews as her younger sister joins the same school.

Noddy
Originally published between 1949 and 1963, Noddy is a masterpiece created by Enid Blyton. The first book explains Noddy’s origins. He was made by a woodcarver in a toy store but ran away later. As he wanders through the woods without clothes, money or home, he meets Big Ears, a sort of hobgoblin. Big Ears thinks that Noddy is a toy and takes him to live in Toyland. Television shows based on the character have run on British television since 1955 and continue to appear to this day.

 

Feature Image Credits: The Enid Blyton Society

Bhavika Behal

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English Honours is a course that doesn’t just teach you literature but pushes you to truly dissect the text, ultimately challenging your perceptions and changing your personality.

English Honours is one of the most sought-after courses and rightly so not just because of the poise and poshness surrounding it, but also because it alters your perspective and outlook towards life. It makes you wiser and modifies you for the better. Here are three ways in which it accomplishes all of that:

  1. It teaches you the plurality of truth

English Honours will make you look at a situation from all perspectives. It will not tell you which perspective is right or wrong because the course is built with the understanding that everything is subjective. Through this one learns to move beyond their opinion and understand the point of view of the person sitting across the table. This further makes one think wholesomely before coming to a decision.

  1. It encourages you to ask ‘Why?’

English Honours will not let you settle with ‘it is what it is’ when discussing ideologies. It will make you question why is an ideology the way it is, why is a certain remark was made, and why was it made by the person it was made by. It entices the student to delve into the things that won’t be said openly. In your lectures you’ll question why is astronomy considered against God in ‘Doctor Faustus’, why does eventually it glorify the perspective of idealism over materialism, was Macbeth really overambitious or just a slave to feudalism, etc. These stories cannot be separated from the dominant, emergent, and residual ideologies of the time they were written in. Therefore, it teaches you as a person to not take anything at face value and to question everything. As this inquisitiveness becomes a part of your personality, you also begin to look for the underlying causes of the behaviour of the people.

  1. It teaches you the importance of history

English Honours teach you that everything in the world today that has ever existed, exists, or will exist is rooted in history and cannot be independent of it’s past. Furthermore, while reading the translated texts, one learns the history of different places. Therefore, etymology doesn’t only help the students understand the different spellings of a word over time, but also talks about why the word acquired it’s meaning in the first place. For example, Rakshash is derived from Rakshak, meaning protectors. The term was actually used for the tribes that wanted to ‘protect’ the forests by scaring away the Brahmins who used it for Hawans. English Honours doesn’t just expand your vocabulary, it also expands your vision and teaches you that meanings move beyond dictionaries.

Feature Image Credits: Louve Smith

Khyati Sanger

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This world book day, DU Beat celebrates the art of reading and brings to you 10 ways to cultivate and preserve your reading habits:

No matter how much convenience a Kindle has to offer, you can never get over the smell of new books or the excitement of finding a rose in between the pages of your old high school favourites. The bookmarks, the coffee stains, the little notes in between the chapters, on every page, make reading a book so much more special. This world book day, we celebrate authors, editors, writers, illustrators, publishers, and libraries for preserving the essence of reading, over all these years. Always.

This celebration of books is marked in over 100 countries all over the world. In 1995, UNESCO decided that the World Book Day will be celebrated on 23rd April every year, to commemorate the death of William Shakespeare as well as the birth and death of several other prominent authors!
This World Book Day, DU Beat brings to you a list of ways through which you can preserve your reading habits and your love for stories;

1. Read a little every day

The first step to cultivating and sustaining your reading habits is to make sure that you take out at least 10-15 minutes from your daily schedule to sit and read. Be it during breakfast or before your bedtime, make sure you read. This will unconsciously create a habit of reading for you.

2. Carry a book along wherever you go

A book can prove to be the best company. It’s proven to be therapeutic and also the most productive use of your time. Be it a 10 minute ride or a 10 hour journey, make sure that you have an out to drown yourself in the world of words.

3. Make a list

Create a list of the books that you want to read. It could be in your personal diary, your journal or your phone’s notes folder, make sure that you constantly have at least 10 names on your to-read list. Keep adding recommendations and crossing out the ones that you’ve read. This will serve as a great source of inspiration to you to read more.

4. Fill your book rack

Keep filling your book shelves and racks with books that are close to your heart, books that feel like home. Buy classics, in an effort, to honour the stories that have shaped our history and always have a book on your bedside table.

5. Visit a library at least once a week

Issuing books from a library is a much cheaper alternative to buying them each time. It also keeps you on your toes about the return dates and the overdue fines.

6. Try out used book stores

You can donate boxes full of your old books and get discounts on the old books. There’s something so special about reading a book that’s already been read with all the footnotes and bookmark imprints and coffee stains.

7. Set a goal

Decide the number of books that you want to read in a year. It could be 10 or 50 or 100. Give yourself a target and actively work towards achieving, rather exceeding that target.

8. Create a log

Create a little diary where you write the starting date, the ending date, and approximately the number of hours you spent reading the book. It’ll serve as motivation for you to read the next book in lesser time.

9. Create a board of your favourite quotes

Write down your favourite quotes and lines on a board, without paying attention to the order. Mess it all up a little. Keep the conversation going and read those sentences every day to remind yourself why you read.

10. Don’t give up mid- book

We all have our phase of a reader’s block and of not being able to find the book interesting enough to be completed, but try your best not to give up mid-book and complete what you’ve started. If nothing else, it’ll give you a feeling of an accomplishment.

More than anything, remember that reading is an art in itself and it makes this world a much more beautiful place to live in! Be it the romances or the comedies, books give you a reason to not give up, to laugh, to love, and to live a little more. They take you to a world that is completely their own but also yours. Cheers to books and stories that make you who you are and make this world a lot more beautiful!

 

Feature Image Credits: Popular Science

Muskan Sethi
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The world may have moved on to Kindles and iPads, but all the eBooks cannot replicate the feeling of nostalgia one gets in a book. However, India’s reputation for having a narrow public mindset has always been a point of discussion. From being deemed to being harmful to the nation’s integrity, to just being subtly offensive, books are banned in India for all kinds of reasons.

Here is a compilation of banned books along with a list of places where they could be found in Delhi:

1. Understanding Islam through Hadis by Ram Swarup
Banned for being harsh towards Islam, this book had also gotten its publisher arrested. Despite having invoked the wrath of the Muslim community, a tawny copy of this book will be found in a small kiosk, left of Golcha Cinema, on Netaji Subhash Marg in Daryaganj.

2. The Price of Power by Seymour Hersh
Morarji Desai, the early Indian Prime Minister was accused of supplying secrets to the CIA in this book. He launched a case and got the book banned in India. However, second hand copy of this book was last spotted by the correspondent in a lesser known kiosk opposite Bhandari House in Nehru Place.

3. The Hindus: An Alternative History by Wendy Doniger
This book, banned for portraying Indian Gods in an unlikely manner, saw a major backlash from the Shiksha Bachao Aandolan Samiti and uncles and aunties alike. However, unbeknownst to the moral police, a source had spotted a copy of this book in a book store, simply called Book Shop, which is tucked in a corner of Lajpat Bhawan’s Sisters of the People NGO building, near the Moolchand Metro Station.

4. Jinnah: India-Partition-Independence by Jaswant Singh
This book was banned for portraying Jinnah in an objective manner rather than as a demonised nation breaker, and for criticising the policies of Nehru and Sardar Patel. Inspite of this, an old and rusty copy of the same was unearthed from under a pile of books by our correspondent in Ber Sarai of Delhi, located between Jawaharlal Nehru University and IIT Delhi, last June.

5. India Independent by Charles Bettelheim
Despite being banned in India, a copy of this book with bright, unmarked pages and firm binding can be found in Arora Book Shop in Hauz Khas Market. It is bound in a jacket which shows minor shelf rubbing and minor edge wear only. The owners will allow you to borrow it, if not buy it, and you can return the book after you’re done reading.

6. Old Soldier Sahib by Frank Richards
In the narrow by-lanes of old Delhi, a more than two-decade-old library, popularly called the Shah Waliullah library, contains ‘extinct’ or rare publications, including dictionaries and poems compiled in numerous languages. Situated a few steps away from Jama Masjid, in Imli gali of Chandni Chowk, it has over 15,000 books in Hindi, English, Sanskrit, Urdu, Persian, and Arabic languages including the banned book ‘Old Soldier Sahib’ by Frank Richard.

7. The Land of Lingam by Arthur Miles
One of the very few Indie bookstores in the city,we hear the owner of May Day book store refuses to stock books by Chetan Bhagat and writers of the similar clan, even though they generate maximum profits. Amongst its selection of second-hand books is ‘The land of Lingam’ by Arthur Miles, which is banned in India.

 

Feature Image Credits: Pixabay

Vaibhavi Sharma Pathak
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Science has always been about quenching the curiosity and putting the derived knowledge into applications. This dynamic field of study has limitless boundaries. The more knowledge we get, the more ignorant we feel. The process of acquiring scientific knowledge goes beyond the limit of four walls of our classrooms and beyond the scope of limited syllabi. To augment the scientific knowledge, a science student must go out of his syllabus and read more books authored by acclaimed scientists.

It’s hard to say what anyone shouldn’t read, but the following books are the most recommended books of all time.

  1. A Brief History of Time: From the Big Bang to Black Holes: Authored by British Physicist, Stephen Hawkings,  this is the most popular science book of all time. Hawkings simplifies cosmology, which includes the structure, origin, development, and eventual fate of the universe using non-technical terms. The book gives an insight into mysterious cosmological phenomena like Black holes and the Big Bang. It tries to explain the Quantum Mechanics and General Relativity. “How did the universe begin—and what made its start possible? Does time always flow forward? Is the universe unending?” – all your questions will be answered.
  2. On the Origin of Species: This is one of the most engrossing and controversial science book ever published. Written by Charles Darwin in 1859, this book laid the foundation of evolutionary biology. It presented a body of evidence gathered during his voyage of Beagle and proved that the diversity of life arose by a common descent through the branching pattern of evolution. He established that  Natural Selection is the force behind the evolution. This book revolutionised the course of science.
  3. The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark: In this book author Carl Sagan tried to ingrain a habit of questioning the scientific theories in the common man. The author explained the way of establishing the difference between myths of pseudoscience and testable hypotheses of valid science. The author very surgically busted the myth revolving around science. This 1995 book propagated that any new idea should be treated with skepticism and should be grilled with vigorous rounds of questioning.
  4. Physics of the Impossible: Here theoretical physicist, Michio Kaku, demonstrated what our current understanding of the universe’s physical laws may allow in the near future.  The book dealt with the scope of time travel, invisibility, and lasers.  It also explained the obstacles and technical issues in realising these science fiction concepts as reality.

Feature Image Credits: AZ Quotes

Sandeep Samal

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As is rightly said, books are a person’s best friends. Books help you evolve, shape your thought process, argues with your limitations and finally, conquers your ignorance. There are certain books that have broken the boundaries of pages and have made their space in the history of everlasting thought that a student of Humanities can never dare to skip. Read below to find a list of 10 such books:

1. The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels – As the book begins with Marx’s words- “I am not a communist.”  This is certainly something you must read to better understand the political and economic landscape of the past and upcoming years – not just in terms of Marx’s view of history, but in terms the impact of his thinking on others and how the society has evolved on basis of class struggle.

2. The Art of War by Sun Tzu- Twenty-Five Hundred years ago, Sun Tzu wrote this classic book of military strategy based on Chinese warfare and military thought. Since that time, all levels of military have used the teaching of Sun Tzu to warfare and civilization has adapted these teachings for use in politics, business, and everyday life. The Art of War is a book which should be used to gain an advantage of opponents in the boardroom and battlefield alike.

3. The Republic by Plato- ‘The Republic’ is either reverenced, reviled or just plain ignored. Though it keeps resurfacing, it has been pushed back often, being accused of bigotry, racism, elitism, casteism, anti-democratic nature, the list is endless. But it is beyond doubt that this is one of the preeminent philosophical works and has been quoted, referenced, or adopted by almost all of the major thinkers since. The practical influence of The Republic is more difficult to gauge than its impact on the theorizing of later thinkers – over the centuries, individuals have discovered in Plato’s works the inspiration for undertaking political or social or educational reform and have used it as the springboard for much revolutionary thought, and deeds.

4. To Kill a Mocking Bird by Harper Lee-  When a court case threatening to disrupt this life came, the court system knew only one person who had the courage to be a defense attorney: Atticus Finch. Despite having a decent chance to win, Atticus realized he had no chance because a jury would never favour a black man over a white regardless of the circumstances. Maintaining the same values at court and home, he told his children Jem and Scout to hold their heads high as rougher days would be ahead, thus, instilling a sense of courage in his children.

5. The Outsider by Albert Camus – Mother died today Or, maybe, yesterday; I can’t be sure. The telegram from the Home says: “YOUR MOTHER PASSED AWAY. FUNERAL TOMORROW. DEEP SYMPATHY.” Somewhere even I am trying to understand if Camus was a nihilist or an absurdist or was surrealist.

6. The Social Contract by Jean-Jacques Rousseau – “Man is born free and everywhere he is in chains.”

The idea of the social contract is to move man from the state of nature (with unlimited freedom and limited security) to a society. The society is a compromise where a man gives up his unlimited freedom and receives security in exchange”. Probably, this book is the need of the hour!

7. Annihilation of Caste by B.R. Ambedkar – Among the numerous writings and speeches of Ambedkar that run into thousands of pages, The Annihilation of Caste is indeed his magnum opus. Judged by any criterion such as content, logic, argument, language, diction, exposition, urge and, above all, the force, it is a manifesto of social emancipation, and occupies a place similar to what The Communist Manifesto once did in the world communist movement.

8. The Personal is Political – Feminist and writer Carol Hanisch’s essay titled “The Personal is Political” appeared in the anthology Notes From the Second Year: Women’s Liberation in 1970. Carol Hanisch’s essay explains the idea behind the phrase “the personal is political.” A common debate between “personal” and “political” questioned whether women’s consciousness-raising groups were a useful part of the political women’s movement.

9. False Economy – Why do some countries thrive and others fail? Over the past few years, there have been competing explanations ranging from geography to culture to natural resources as either a boon or a curse. What does Beattie, former Bank of England economist turned world trade editor at the Financial Times, bring to the shouting match? For one thing, a pleasing modesty. Prosperity, he argues, “is not determined by fate, or by religion, or geology. It is determined by people.

10. Banker to the Poor – Dr. Yunus, a recipient of the Nobel Prize explains his experience in the private sector that how it is not only for one class of the society but also for social-minded individuals.

 

Feature Image Credits: Amazon UK

Naimisha

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As we celebrate the 126th birth anniversary of this author of masterpieces like The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion, we try to locate what makes his books work their magic on the audience, never once being out of print even after decades of their publication, and making W. H. Auden call them the best children’s books of the century.

3rd January was the birthday of “The Professor”. Mr. J.R.R. Tolkien was born in Orange Free State in South Africa. He lived in the United Kingdom for the better part of his life and was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1972, a year before his death in 1973.

In the 19th century, when the world of that time understood and consumed high fantasy only on the scales of the light-hearted, childish, and hence nonsensical Alice in Wonderland books, J.R.R. Tolkien defined on his own terms the pre-understood scope, characterisation, and treatment of the genre, once again posing the question like Homer did with The Iliad that how could the very first book be the greatest ever written since.

The Hobbit came in the fall of 1937. Here, Tolkien defined both time and space on his own terms setting the plot in the times between “The Dawn of the Farie and the dominion of Men”. The novel follows the exploits of Bilbo Baggins and his thirteen dwarf companions as they set themselves on the herculean pursuit of the Lonely Mountain. The sheer volume of the text is terrifying to anyone who tries to see the novel through the lens of a children’s novel. The gravity of the conception of an entire world of multifarious characters and their complex politics is staggering. The tale is thrilling, power-packed with suspense, and glorious accounts of the glorious events. The audience begins like Bilbo Baggins — naïve, innocent, and loving the comfort of a warm home — and finds itself maturing in the buildup of the war, confronting the detrimental questions of right and wrong and finally achieving heroic glory. The follow-up trilogy, The Lord of the Rings and the posthumous novel, The Silmarillion, only further enhanced the unique magic of The Hobbit. The author’s ability to make the audience believe in a world of his own creation, which have their every last detail immaculately curated and the creatures unprecedented yet human — their adventures are of the same elements that dreams are made of.

J.R.R. Tolkien was one of the many authors who was influenced by the events of the war and wrote about it. But as others found solace in crude realism, Tolkien took to romantic high fantasy to create a modern mythology. Moreover, he went on to furnish realism to the fantasy. It is almost as if he toured with Bilbo and later with Frodo and wrote for us what he saw and conversed. And yes, he made us believe that all those who wander are not lost.
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Nikhil Kumar
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Written by Manju Kapur, a former professor of Miranda House,  Difficult Daughters, published in 1998, is a story of Virmati narrated by her daughter Ida.

The book initially promises to be a feminist tale of a mother-daughter relationship set against the ever so interesting backdrop of Partition, but soon all the hopes and expectations dissolve in a pool of disappointment. As a writer on Goodreads aptly writes, “It mostly concerns itself with peculiar family dynamics, little wars, tiny power struggles – pretty much anything that’s left to women who don’t have any other outlet through which they could express themselves or gain a sense of accomplishment.”

if you are someone who loves to read about the mundane things such as day to day chores, then you will find the storytelling engaging. However, there the plot leaves some important questions unanswered. The whole premise of the story is based on Ida’s quest to uncover her mother’s past, but the readers will never understand why Ida wanted to know more about her Mother’s life in the first place.

The story has many feminist figures like Shakuntala and Swarnlata, while the protagonist feels inspired by them, she never quite embodies feminist values which feel uncomforting. Besides, the uncontested acceptance of Harish, Virmati’s husband and Professor throughout the book is upsetting.

The best thing about Manju Kapu’s writing is that the story moves fluidly through time periods and places- Amritsar, Lahore, and finally Delhi. It is so beautifully done that one actually learns a great deal about the cities and its lifestyle prevailing post partition. The literary life of Lahore and vibrancy of Amritsar is capture very vividly, while Delhi because it appears briefly is given just passing mention.

Overall, Difficult Daughter is a pleasant read, not for its multi-dimensional characters or spellbinding diegesis, but for its evocative imagery.

 

Feature Image Credits: Good Reads

 Niharika Dabral

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