Expert Lecture by R. B. Zala on 'Waiting for the Barbarians'

J.M. Coetzee, in full John Maxwell Coetzee, (born February 9, 1940, Cape Town, South Africa), South African novelist, critic, and translator noted for his novels about the effects of colonization. In 2003 he won the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Dusklands (1974), Coetzee’s first book, contains two novellas united in their exploration of colonization, The Vietnam Project (set in the United States in the late 20th century) and The Narrative of Jacobus Coetzee (set in 18th-century South Africa). In the Heart of the Country (1977; also published as From the Heart of the Country; filmed as Dust, 1986) is a stream-of-consciousness narrative of a Boer madwoman, and Waiting for the Barbarians (1980), set in some undefined borderland, is an examination of the ramifications of colonization. Life & Times of Michael K (1983), which won the Booker Prize, concerns the dilemma of a simple man beset by conditions he can neither comprehend nor control during a civil war in a future South Africa.

Waiting for the Barbarians is a novel by the South African-born writer J. M. Coetzee. First published in 1980, it was chosen by Penguin for its series Great Books of the 20th Century and won both the James Tait Black Memorial Prize and Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize for fiction. American composer Philip Glass has also written an opera of the same name based on the book which premiered in September 2005 at Theater Erfurt, Germany.

The story is narrated in the first person by the unnamed magistrate of a small colonial town that exists as the territorial frontier of "the Empire". The Magistrate's rather peaceful existence comes to an end with the Empire's declaration of a state of emergency and with the deployment of the Third Bureau—special forces of the Empire—due to rumors that the area's indigenous people, called "barbarians" by the colonists, might be preparing to attack the town. Consequently, the Third Bureau conducts an expedition into the land beyond the frontier. Led by a sinister Colonel Joll, the Third Bureau captures a number of barbarians, brings them back to town, tortures them, kills some of them, and leaves for the capital in order to prepare a larger campaign.

Characters:

• The magistrate
• Colonel Joll
• The nomad girl
•  Warrant officer Mandel
• The birdlike girl

Themes:

• Imperialism
• Colonialism
• Mail Sexuality
• Power
• Interrogation
• Fear of the other

Coetzee took the title from the poem "Waiting for the Barbarians" by the Greek poet Constantine P. Cavafy.

Coetzee's novel has been deeply influenced by Italian writer Dino Buzzati's novel The Tartar Steppe.

The White Tiger by Arvind Adiga

The White Tiger is the debut novel by Indian author Aravind Adiga. It was first published in 2008 and won the 40th Man Booker Prize in the same year. The novel provides a darkly humorous perspective of India's class struggle in a globalized world as told through a retrospective narration from Balram Halwai, a village boy. In detailing Balram's journey first to Delhi, where he works as a chauffeur to a rich landlord, and then to Bangalore, the place to which he flees after killing his master and stealing his money, the novel examines issues of religion, caste, loyalty, corruption and poverty in India. Ultimately, Balram transcends his sweet-maker caste and becomes a successful entrepreneur, establishing his own taxi service. In a nation proudly shedding a history of poverty and underdevelopment, he represents, as he himself says, "tomorrow.

1) How far do you agree with the India represented in the novel The White Tiger?

The India which is represented by Adiga is poor, corrupt, uneducated, and cheater also. Well I do agree that not only India but all countries in the world do have these bad kinds of problem but, it doesn’t make them all bad. Adiga has represented the darker side of India. This novel was written in 2008, after India has progressed in many ways but, then even we can not fully deny that poverty, corruption, and illiteracy are vanished from India. Still in some remote places there are landlords who rule over town people. Still there are many people who are not educated properly. So, we can not deny the India which is represented in “The White Tiger” by Adiga, but we can say that, India is not only what is represented by Adiga. There is bright side of India. By bright side I mean There are people who are educated, rich enough and honest.


2) Do you believe that Balram's story is the archetype of all stories of 'rags to riches'?

We can see that the stories which portrays poor as central character at the end of the story the poor becomes rich. We can see many people who are same as Balram. Same like who belongs to poor and also has large family, who didn’t complete their studies, who goes to work from early childhood, and who has bear insults from those who are rich. These types of stories shows the struggle of poor to achieve their dream and for that becoming rich. The ways of reaching to the destination of wealth might differs of each stories but the suffering always remain same. So this way we can say that Balram’s story is archetype of all stories of “Rags to Riches”.


3) "Language bears within itself the necessity of its own critique, deconstructive criticism aims to show that any text inevitably undermines its own claims to have a determinate meaning, and licences the reader to produce his own meanings out of it by an activity of semantic 'free play' (Derrida, 1978, in Lodge, 1988, p. 108). Is it possible to do deconstructive reading of The White Tiger? How?

Yes, it is possible to deconstruct “The White Tiger”. We can deconstruct it with the help of Derrida’s concept of free play of meanings.  To break the language we need to find the loose stone of it. The loose stone of “The White Tiger” is that Balram himself says that he is “Half-backed”. This word breaks all the philosophy and all the ideals which Balram is presenting by giving his own example. Because he is not fully educated. He understand things with his limited power of analysis. He appropriate the deep philosophies with his shallow ideas and thinking. For example, he compares his idea of killing his master and get freedom with the enlightenment of Buddha. This proves his shallow knowledge about Buddha and his idea of enlightenment. So, this way we can deconstruct “The White Tiger”.

Comparison between The White Tiger and Slumdog Millionaire  : 

   

1) Narrative structure :

    The Novel and the  film has almost similar and parallel structure. Both the works starts with flashback techniques. In the film used one reality show KBC in which  question and answer session going on. All the questions leads Jamal into his past. While in the novel wanted poster used. By using this poster writer talking about his past.

2) Indianans : 

● Train :

Train is also found in both the works. It shows the Indianans in the work. In the film highly used train. It also a symbol of poverty and crowd. In the novel also discrimination of train can be seen.

● Corruption :

Corruption can be found in both works. In the novel talking about Corrupt nature of entrepreneur's drivers. How they can earn little extra cash by sell the patrol ,  repair the car from Corrupt mechanics ,sell the whisky bottles , turn master's car into a freelance taxi. In the film shows Corrupt nature of Jamal 's brother. He was Getting more money from tourist. Also thieves  selling the car parts of foreigners. Anchor of KBC show do cheating by telling answer to Jamal.

● Religion :

Religion is also important element of Novel and film. In the novel described  the darker side of religion by talking about Ganga as Black mud river ,  Hanuman as example of faithful servant ,  Buddhism. Similar in the film shows the Hindu Muslim riot which creates problem in the Area , depiction of Lord Rama, criticism of  Darshan do Ghanshyam song . It shows that on the name of religion people do wrong things. They even not care about humanity. Religion consider more important than Humanity.

●Education System :

Both the protagonist Jamal (Film) and Balaram (Novel) are uneducated. In the novel shows darker and Corrupt side of education system : school teachers are stolen lunch  money, Teachers do nothing in the class, Sales uniform of students , No basic facilities in schools : no chair , no duster , no uniform. It shows the darker side of India which is full of thugs and idiots. Similar way because of poverty Jamal could not able to study. Both the protagonist taking knowledge  by observing the people. 

● Darker side of India  ( Poverty ) :

In the film shows Dharavi the  largest slum area of Asia which located in India. Both the works based on the life of poor people's suffering and struggle.  Both the protagonist came  from poverty. Both works criticised poverty as  the darker side of India. Poverty forced them to do wrong things to get rich. 

3) List of the questions asked in the film 'Slumdog Millionaire'

1. Who was the star in the 1973 hit film "Zanzeer"

   a) Shah Rukh Khan

   b) Salman Khan

   c) Amitabh Bachhan

   d) Ranbir Kapoor

2. A picture of three lions is seen in the national emblem of India. What is written underneath it?

    a) The Truth alone triumphs

    b) Lies alone triumphs

    c) Fashion alone triumphs

    d) Money alone triumphs

3. In depiction of God Rama, he is famously holding what in his right hand?

    a) A bow and arrow

    b) A sword

    c) A child

    d) A flower

4. The song " Darshan Do Ghanshyam" was written by which famous Indian poet?

    a) Surdas

    b) Tulsidas

    c) Mira bai

    d) Kabir

5. On the American One Hundred Dollar Bill, there is portrait of which American Statesman?

    a) George Washington

    b) Franklin Roosevelt

    c) Benjamin Franklin

    d) Abraham Lincoln

6. Who invented the revolver?

    a) Samuel Colt

    b) Bruce Browning

    c) Dan Wesson

    d) James Revolver

7. Cambridge Circus is in which UK City?

    a) Oxford

    b) Leeds

    c) Cambridge

    d) London

8. Which cricketer has scored the most first class centuries in history?

    a) Sachin Tendulkar

    b) Ricky Ponting

    c) Michael Slater

    d) Jack Hobbs

9. In Alexander Dumas' book, "The Three Musketeers", two of the musketeers are called Athos and Porthos. What was the name of the third Musketeer?

    a) Aramis

    b) Cardinal Richetieu

    c) D' Artagnan

    d) Planchet

All these questions and their answers are connected with the life of Jamal. It shows that how minutely he observed the things and remember it. This all the questions leads him into his past incidents. All the questions are aptly connected with Jamal ' s life. I don't want to add any other question in this.

4) Deconstruction of film from post colonial perspective.

The Slumdog millionaire can be seen  from post colonial perspective. This film was directed by English director Danny Boyle. In the film  white people are portrayed as good and gentle fellow. In India many foreigners came to visit the famous places of India and to see the beauty and real India. In movie the scene comes where the foreign people had came to visit  the Taj Mahal at that time Salim charged  more money from the visitors but, some how thief stole the car parts of foreigners and sold them. At that time Jamal was suspected and was falsely been doubted for the crime. He was  beaten by the Indian driver and  foreigners shows mercy upon him and gave him some money. So by this director portrayed white people as good , civilized  sophisticated and humble people. While on the other hand Indian portrayed as Poor , dirty, uncivilized, corrupt, uneducated people. The term it self based on the power dynamics. It shows the superiority of white on the Indian people.

5) Compare with Texture and Treatment of subject content in film and novel.

The novel and the Film are based on the darker side of India. The texture of the film and novel differs a bit from each other. In the novel the protagonist himself is the corrupted  person. He himself can be considered as the example of darker side of India while in the film Jamal was good person he never did anything wrong in his life. In the novel if we minutely observed then description of each and every dark part of India is been portrayed. In the novel poetic justice doesn't happens by punishing the Balram. He  killed his master and did many wrong things yet  not caught by police. While in the film poetic justice happened when Salim committed suicide at the end and Jamal became popular and rich. Both the works differs from each other on the bases of  treatment  given to wrong people.

Language Lab - Survey: Dell Software

Dell Software:

Advantages:

• Development of basic skills like: Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing.
• Teacher can easily assess and monitor the students work.
• Ease of operating the software.
• Convenient for group work.
• Students can easily listen to the native speakers and can learn the language.

Disadvantages:

• Inconvenience of time and place.
• Affordability and availability issue of the digital tools.
• Lack of awareness regarding the usage of the software and the digital tools.

Learning outcome:

• It helps in learning new words and phonetics very easily.
• It also helps in learning basic Grammar.

Five New Words:

• Czech
• Veneer
• Liaison
• Silhouette
• Bureau

     

Comparison:

Comparatively, the Namo-Tab can be considered as more convenient than the DELL software; since the tab is user friendly. The learner is not bound by any restriction of time or place when it comes to language learning through Namo-Tab. Neither is there any barrier of the condition of the digital tools. The language lab software in the Namo-Tab appears to be well updated than that of the DELL monitor. As far as the speaking skills are considered though, the DELL software has an advantage over Namo-Tab. DELL software allows the learner to practically test their speaking skills, whereas in the Namo-Tab the learners can only listen to the correct pronunciations and cannot practically test them

One Night @ the Call Center

One Night @ the Call Center is a novel written by Chetan Bhagat and first published in 2005. The novel revolves around a group of six call center employees working at the Connexions call center in Gurgaon, Haryana, India. It takes place during one night, during which all of the leading characters confront some aspect of themselves or their lives they would like to change. The story uses a literal deus ex machina, when the characters receive a phone call from God.

The book was the second best-selling novel from the award winning author after Five Point Someone.

(1) Globalization:

Chetan Bhagat has written that his “call-centre cousins, sisters-in-law and friends” inspired his tale, “providing information, stealing various training materials and arranging meetings” (317). But in One Night’s framing story, a mysterious woman—who, as it turns out, is actually God in disguise—furnishes Bhagat with this information, chastising him for paying too little attention in his first novel to “the biggest group of young people facing a challenge in modern India” (14): the 300,000-strong men and women who work in the Indian call center industry. The author’s wording here is somewhat surprising; in many ways this group would appear to be among the main beneficiaries of globalization in India. After all, in a country where the majority of the population makes less than two dollars a day (Murphy 429), their pay is relatively high; and, as critics have pointed out, as English speakers many of them could find other jobs outside the outsourcing industry quite easily. Instead, in One Night they are depicted as the underdogs of the country’s globalization story, their rights and dignity trampled upon by Americans. The character Vroom compares his dehumanizing call-center work to prostitution: 

“Every night I come here and let people fuck me.”. . . [He] picked up the telephone headset. “The Americans fuck me with this, in my ears hundreds of times a night . . . And the funny thing is, I let them do it. For money, for security, I let it happen. Come fuck me some more,” Vroom said and threw the headset on the table. (216) 

The problem with the call-centre (and thus globalization), Bhagat suggests, is that, as Vroom implies in this passage, it has resulted in a new materialistic culture in India that mirrors American consumerism. Relatedly, working at the call-centre is tantamount to a betrayal of the nation-state and its anti-consumerist social idealist founders. This newly materialistic culture and nationalist betrayal are linked closely to, and perhaps even rendered possible by, the accent neutralization and renaming practices of the call-centre, which undermine, erase, and distort a sense of “authentic” Indian-ness. 

(2) Cyberpunk: 

Cyberpunk is a postmodern science fiction genre. Cyber Punk is connected with science and technology. It features higher science, such as information technology and cybernetics, coupled with a degree of breakdown or radical change in the social order. Cyberpunk plots often center on a conflict among hackers, artificial intelligences, and Mega Corporation, The characters deals with cyber technology. Vroom hacks Bakshi's email and writes email to Esha on his behalf. The American's are terrorized with the help of bug in MS Office as virus attack on Internet . In the world of technology heroes are hiker like Shyam. Machine is controlling human beings. Bakshi controlling heroes and other high teach and law life. Character dealing with Bug, FM radio, Email, Internet (computer). So we can say it classify as Cyber punk novel.

Impressionistic criticism:

For the first time when I read this book I felt that the Bhagat is writing about the young India and what problems are faced by the generation and specially Indian people. This book also reflects the problem of the call center and people working there. He has also tried to touch the basic problem people face in there daily life. In this book we can also see the love hate relation among the characters. I also felt shocked when writer brings in the God's call which catches the attraction. I have never thought that this book would also be having characteristics like self help book, nationalism, globalization etc. 

Journalism

Journalism is a discipline of knowledge .the word journalism is derived from French word “De Jour which means ‘ of the day; .Journalism can be defined in different ways from different perspectives. It is a process.

Running on the ABC principle that is Accuracy, Balance and Credibility, the profession journalism is maintained and balanced by journalist. Journalism as such, is a process of collecting, verifying, reporting and interpreting information of any event and people, has its own importance’s along with its responsibilities. Winston Churchill has said that journalism is a guardian that never sleeps and protects freedom of the people. From his statement it is proved how important journalism actually is. Some importance of journalism are described below:

• It provides information to the public
• It acts as fourt state
• It acts as the ‘ voice of the voiceless’
• It plays the role of watch dog
• It is the mediator between related authorities and public

Journalism is an investigation and reporting of current world affairs which include fashion trends, political or general issue and events to a broad audience. Though there are various purposes for it, the most important aspect is the freedom of expression. The root of journalism comes from people’s right to have an opinion.

Feature Writing:

Feature Journalism is creative journalism. It escapes the hard-news format allowing the creative writers among us to write feature articles in an inventive and compelling way. Unlike short and to-the-point news articles, feature articles deal with a subject in greater depth and, usually, at greater length.

The best journalism engages as it informs. When articles or scripts succeed at this, they often are cast as what is known as features or contain elements of a story. Features are built from facts. Nothing in them is made up or embellished. But in features, these facts are embedded in or interwoven with scenes and small stories that show rather than simply tell the information that is conveyed. Features are grounded in time, in place and in characters who inhabit both. Often features are framed by the specific experiences of those who drive the news or those who are affected by it. They are no less precise than news. But they are less formal and dispassionate in their structure and delivery.

Lead Writing:

In journalism, the beginning sentences of a news story are everything. Called leads or “ledes,” they must convey essential information, set the tone and entice people to continue reading. If you’re interested in becoming an expert journalist, understanding how to write a lead is a key skill for your toolbox.

A lead (also known as a lede) is the first paragraph or several paragraphs of a story, be it a blog entry or a long article. Its mission is to catch readers’ attention and draw them in. Getting them truly involved is the duty of the rest of the story; getting them to that point is the job of the lead.

There are two broad categories of leads, direct and indirect. The first gets right to the basics: who, what, when, where and why, with a dose of how if appropriate.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, born September 15, 1977, Enugu, Nigeria, Nigerian author whose work drew extensively on the Biafran war in Nigeria during the late 1960s. 

In 2008 Adichie received a MaCAurthur Foundation fellowship. The following year she released The Thing Around Your Neck, a critically acclaimed collection of short stories. Americanah (2013) centres on the romantic and existential truggles of a young Nigerian woman studying in the United States.

Adichie’s nonfiction includes We Should All Be Feminists (2014), an essay adapted from a speech she gave at a TEDx talk in 2012; parts of the speech were also featured in Beyonces song “Flawless” (2013). Dear Ijeawele, or A Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions was published in 2017.

There is always two sides of coin, if you know only one your knowledge is incomplete and dangerous also. This is what she talks about in her Ted Talk on “Dangers of Single Story”. She told that how a single story narrated differently every time conditioned the mind of people to think about certain things in a certain pattern. She also talks about the power which narrates the story and conditioned the mind of people. She also said that single story will create archetype and archetypes are dangerous because they are incomplete. At the end she said that, “When we reject single story, when we realized that there is not a single story of any place, we regain a kind of paradise”.

I agree with her point, single story can create stressful situation for people. People should think that every human, every place and everything on this earth has ups and downs. No one has only virtues or only vices. Nothing is perfect, perfection is a myth. One should ponder on both sides of story.

First time I’ve heard Chimamanda and very impressed by her way of telling stories and her thoughts. She tells her own life experience as story. Her pronunciations are very clear and when she speaks she can touch the heart of audience by her words. After listening her speech now I also wants to read her stories. It will be interesting, fun and good experience.

Arundhati Roy

Arundhati Roy, full name Suzanna Arundhati Roy, born November 24, 1961, Shillong, Meghalaya, India, Indian author, actress, and political activist who was best known for the award-winning novel The God of Small Things (1997) and for her involvement in environmental and human rights causes.

'Arundhati Roy is one of the most confident and original thinkers of our time' Naomi Klein

'Unflinching emotional as well as political intelligence... Lucid and probing insights on a range of matters, from crony capitalism and environmental depredation to the perils of nationalism and, in her most recent work, the insidiousness of the Hindu caste system. In an age of intellectual logrolling and mass-manufactured infotainment, she continues to offer bracing ways of seeing, thinking and feeling' TIME magazine

Booker Prize-winning The God of Small Things to the extraordinary The Ministry of Utmost Happiness: a journey marked by compassion, clarity and courage. Radical and readable, they speak always in defence of the collective, of the individual and of the land, in the face of the destructive logic of financial, social, religious, military and governmental elites.

Much of her own experience feeds into The Ministry of Utmost Happiness, not least the fact that she studied to be an architect and has campaigned for Kashmiri independence. For herself, she realized very quickly that architecture was not for her. “I graduated but I didn’t actually build anything, because I wasn’t really cut out to be making beautiful homes for wealthy people or whatever,” she says, smiling. “I had too many arguments with my bosses. Kept getting sacked for bad behavior. For insolence!”

The God of Small Things to wide acclaim. The semi-autobiographical work departed from the conventional plots and light prose that had been typical among best-sellers. Composed in a lyrical language about South Asian themes and characters in a narrative that wandered through time, Roy’s novel became the biggest-selling book by a non-expatriate Indian author and won the 1998 Man Booker Prize for Fiction.

The author’s subversive nature has made her accustomed to criticism. “Each time I step out, I hear the snicker-snack of knives being sharpened but that’s good. It keeps me sharp”, said Arundhati Roy when interviewed by an Indian magazine.

Roy has also concentrated on penning down political issues. She has written on diverse topics such as Narmada Dam project, India’s nuclear weapons and American power giant Enron’s activities in India. She also served as a critic of neo-imperialism and has been linked with anti-globalization movement.