Readers

Eyes-10


"Metaphors are dangerous. Love begins with a metaphor. Which is to say, love begins at the point when a woman enters her first word into our poetic memory." --
Milan Kundera


"Day or night, the moon,
Never complains of its plight.
For its palace is built deep inside the sky,
Just like I live, deep in your soul.
Open your eyes or close them,
I will remain there at least as a dream." 


[To be continued...]

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A CONVERSATION THAT SPREADS LIGHT: Sree Narayana Guru: Part I Paragraph Notes

Image
Readings on Kerala (1A02ENG) I Semester UG Common Course This section is dedicated to the Under Graduate students of Kannur University. The discussion topic here is the common course text for I BA/B Com/BSc/BCA courses. The syllabus is newly installed and therefore faces a dire shortage of materials from which students could make notes to prepare for exams. These materials are shared here in the sincere hope that students would be able to make use of the materials while preparing for their semester examination. 1 A CONVERSATION THAT SPREADS LIGHT: Sree Narayana Guru Paragraph Questions: 1. What are Guru’s instructions regarding the code of conduct for the pilgrims?  Vallabhassery Govindan Vaidyar and T K Kittan Writer visit Sree Narayana Guru on 19 January 1928. The purpose of their visit was to request Guru to declare Sivagiri as a holy place. Vaidyar and Writer suggested that once the place is declared holy people from the Ezhava community and other downtrodd
Read more

The Kuttippuram Bridge (Kuttippuram Paalam) by Edasseri Govindan Nair: Essay Questions

Kannur University Common Course Readings on Kerala (1A02ENG) 1. 'Edasseri's poem "The Kuttippuram Bridge" is a critique of mindless urbanisation.' Explain. & 2. 'Edasseri's poem "The Kuttippuram Bridge" conveys its message through a series of strategically placed images and symbols.' Elucidate.            Edasseri's poem "The Kuttippuram Bridge" is translated from Malayalam by A J Thomas. It is a critique of mindless urbanisation. This poem conveys its message through a series of strategically placed images and symbols. Edasseri's poetry is inspired by his childhood experiences. His mother and elder sister inculcated in his a taste for poetry. His poetry and plays are characterised by their portrayal of the nature and culture of Kerala, its environment, vegetation, rituals, and festivals. His poems reflect the problems of farmers, the nationalist struggle, and the agonies of working-class people.
Read more

About my Race: A Song by Poykayil Appachan : Essay Questions

Updated Kannur University Common Course Readings on Kerala (1A02ENG) 1. Poykayil Appachan's poem "About my Race: A Song" is a criticism of written histories. Elucidate. & 2. Poykayil Appachan's poem "About my Race: A Song" attempts to locate the intricacies of Dalit life in Kerala. Explain. & 3. How does Poykayil Appachan's poem "About my Race: A Song" represent the people belonging to his race?             In his poem "About my Race: A Song", Poykayil Appachan foregrounds the question of race.   The poem is translated into English from Malayalam by Jessica Sudhir M.  The concept of "race" refers to the evicted and marginalized first people of Kerala. Poykayil Appachan was also known as Sree Kumara Gurudevan. He was a revolutionary Dalit leader and social reformer hailing from Central Travancore. His parents worked for a rich Christian family as slaves. He started his work as a preacher at
Read more

Readings on Kerala: Summary- The Whole Text at a Glance

Kannur University Common Course Readings on Kerala (1A02ENG) Module 1 1. A Conversation that Spreads Light: Sree Narayana Guru by M K Sanu Vallabhassery Govindan Vaidyar and T K Kittan Writer visit Sree Narayana Guru on 19 January 1928 to request Guru to sanction a pilgrimage to Sivagiri. First Guru asks them if they want a pilgrimage centre, as there are other sites for pilgrimage. They insist by saying that pilgrimage centres of Upper caste Hindus are not open for people of the lower caste. Guru grants permission. Guru tells his disciples to observe ten days of abstinence and Buddha's five ideals of purity (Purity of body, food, mind, word, deed), wear yellow garments, practice thrift and discipline. According to Guru, eight aims of pilgrimage are- education, cleanliness, piety, organization, cultivation, trade, handicrafts, technological training). Starting of pilgrimage 1 January 1933. 2. Curing Caste by Sahodaran Ayyap
Read more

Eri by Pradeepan Pampirikkunnu: Essay Questions

Readings on Kerala Readings on Kerala (1A02ENG) I Semester UG Common Course Essay Questions: Updated 1. How does Eri question mainstream notions of scholarship and knowledge? & 2. Why is the narrator doubtful about finding sources for writing the history of Eri? Is it because mainstream histories do not document the lives of lower caste communities? Explain. Eri is a novel written by Pradeepan Pampirikkunnu and published posthumously in 2017. Eri, the character represents the historically downtrodden people in the Parayan community in Kerala. Pradeepan Pampirikkunnu uses the medium of the novel to establish the prehistory of the Parayan Caste. The narrator of the story is a research scholar, who uses memories, memoirs, oral histories, ritualistic performances, gossips, books, and other oral/literary sources. The novel attempts to historicize the making of a Paraya community in its transit to modernity and retells the renaissance of Kerala from a Paraya male per
Read more

CURING CASTE BY SAHODARAN AYYAPPAN: Essay Questions

Essay Questions How does Sahodaran Ayyappan’s poem “Curing Caste” criticize casteism? &                                    Sahodaran Ayyappan uses images and symbols borrowed from Ayurveda in the poem  “Curing Caste”. Discuss. Sahodaran Ayyappan is a social reformer, revolutionary, poet, rationalist, administrator, and legislator. His contributions in ushering progressive thought in the Kerala polity are significant. In his poem “Curing Caste”, Ayyappan uses a medicinal simile to articulate his anti-caste views. Caste is a form of discrimination that had its claws sunk deep into the society of Kerala until the mid-twentieth century. Sahodaran Ayyappan was involved in public discourses where he vociferously voiced the rights of the marginalized and questioned their subjugation by the elite upper class.  Ayyappan founded the  Sahodara Sangham  (Brotherhood Association) to facilitate the young members of lower caste communities to participate in movements initiating social
Read more

Curing Caste by Sahodaran Ayyappan: READINGS ON KERALA

Image
Curing Caste Sahodaran Ayyappan Paragraph questions: 1.       Explain Sahodaran Ayyappan’s coinage “Caste Disease”. “Curing Caste” is a poem written by Sahodaran Ayyappan, translated by Dr Ajay Sekher and published in the book  Sahodaran Ayyappan: Towards a Democratic Future . Sahodaran Ayyappan uses the phrase “Caste Disease” to denote the practice of discrimination based on caste that existed in Kerala society. He uses medical terms to symbolically phrase the harsh realities of the caste-based social order prevalent during his time. Sahodaran Ayyappan suggests two cures for the caste disease: one is applied from the outside and the other is from the inside. The cures that are only applied externally leave the real causes of the caste problem unsolved. External solutions are short-lived. Without being eradicated, the caste disease could cause further damage in the psyche of the individual as well as the in the function of the society similar to a disease that is left un
Read more

Kelu by N Sasidharan and E P Rajagopalan: Essay Questions

Essay Questions: (Answer in not more than 200-250 words) 1. Critically comment on the different attitudes towards Art that the conversation between Kelu  and the Poet reveals.  &  2. The “mirror scene” in the play brings together reality, representations, visions, and  constructed images. Explain.  &  3. Attempt a critical analysis of the play Kelu.   The play Kelu dramatises the life of Vidwan P Kelu Nair, a nationalist leader who also became popular as a dramatist in Malabar under the British Raj in the early twentieth century. The play Kelu deals with many nuances of the art of writing. The centre of the play is the dilemma faced by a writer who faces a writer’s block. The play brings together the present and past generations of writers in one frame. Through the interaction with the past generation of writers, Balakrishnan overcomes the limitations that clutch the process of his writing. The beginning of the play is a meeting where the assignment of writing the play is
Read more

Parting from the Path of Life (Jeevitapata) by Cherukad Govinda Pisharodi: Essay Questions:

1. Based on the events described in “Parting from the Path of Life” give a brief description of Kunjammaman’s character and his role in the narrator’s life. & 2. What salient features of Kerala’s past can be identified in the autobiographical sketch of Cherukad? Parting from the Path of Life (Jeevitapata) is written by Cherukad Govinda Pisharodi. He is popularly known as Cherukad. He was a committed writer and a communist from youth. His novels, short stories, and dramas, written in the manner of social realism, are significant for the insight they provide into the life of the downtrodden in pre-independence Malabar. His major novels are  Manninte Maaril  (1954),  Muthassi  (1959),  Shanidasha  (1959), etc.  Mudramotiram  (1954),  Chekuthante Koodu  (1958) and  Cherukatinte Cherukathakal: Sampoorna Samaharam  (1995) are his major short story collections. His play  Nammalonnu  (1948) is regarded as an important piece of committed theatre that paved the way for the consolidat
Read more

ERI by Pradeepan Pampirikkunnu: Readings on Kerala

Readings on Kerala (1A02ENG) I Semester UG Common Course Paragraph questions 1. Why is the recovery of the history of Eri important to the narrator?    Eri, the character represents the historically downtrodden people in the Parayan community in Kerala. However, the history of Eri is unwritten. Pradeepan Pampirikkunnu uses the medium of the novel to establish the prehistory of the Parayan Caste. The recovery of the history of Eri is important to the narrator because he was impressed as a subaltern linguist by the legend of Eri. The narrator had heard stories of Eri from his father. Eri lived during the time of his father’s father. The narrator’s father had also seen Eri. According to the narrator’s father, Eri appeared clean and was always dressed in white. A rudraksha chain was around his neck. The house in which he lived was a hut, clean and mud-plastered. It was situated on the slope of the Kannambath temple. The narrator is confronted by some conflicting questions such as wh
Read more