Postcolonial Studies: Film Screening: Midnight's Children and The Reluctant Fundamentalist

Screening films related to the themes of Postcolonial studies with a task to review these films

1) Midnight's Children: 

From one of the most acclaimed novel Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie, emerges this drama Midnight's Children 2013 film highlighting the lives of two individuals born at the stroke of midnight when India achieved its independence from the British. The legendary yet dramatic Midnight's Children movie features a great story that marks it as an epic saga of the decade. This movie takes us through all the ages beginning from the grandparents to the grandchildren. Switched at the time of birth by a nurse at a Bombay hospital, the lives of the two individuals are mysteriously intertwined. As fate would have it, one (Saleem) is a son of a beggar woman whereas the other child (Shiva) becomes the destined son of a wealthy couple. Over a period of time, their fate makes them face each other on the field of rivalry, politics, romance and class.

The Midnight Children film is a controversial potboiler that has tragedy, romance and comedy. A journey of two individuals through the tragic disasters, trials and triumphs gives you an incomparable experience of watching India in the early years of Independence. It offers an astute view of the divide when the rich become poor and poor rise to power. Brilliantly directed and compiled by Oscar nominated director Deepa Mehta, the movie features some unforgettable moments that make your heart bleed and then there are those that bring a smile to your face. Midnight's Children English movie has a dramatic and mysterious touch that gets you an entire picture of India's journey through all its trials. Offering some fodder for thought and complete visual delight, this Midnight's Children DVD is a story that touches your soul. (This blurb is taken from Amazon product details)

The problem is that some - in fact a good many - of the events of Midnight's Children actually happened. it is not a historical novel in the conventional sense, but what Timothy Brennan has called "patches of straight history" are woven into the extravagant, nonlinear, fictional narrative of the novel's hero, Saleem Sinai. This "baggy monster of a book", as Rushdie has described it using Henry James's phrase, contains a detailed, chronological survey of the major events in India from the Amritsar massacre of 1919 to the end of the Emergency in 1977. In fact, Rushdie himself has said on several occasions that the novel is actually 'about' history and the way in which memory recovers and recreates the past. Not many critics, however, have chosen to pursue this approach to the book.

Rather than explore the novel's relation to history, the Academy has discussed it as a 'postmodern epic', a work of magic realism (or not), and a hybrid text that crosses elements of the Indian oral tradition with a critique of earlier British writers such as E. M. Forster and Paul Scott. 

From - Katherine Frank's  'Mr. Rushdie and Mrs. Gandhi' (https://www.jstor.org/stable/23539764)

Refer to this article to understand Hybridity and Postcoloniality in Midnight's Children

Fundamentalism

2) The Reluctant Fundamentalist: 

A young Pakistani man is chasing corporate success on Wall Street where he finds himself embroiled in a conflict between his American Dream, a hostage crisis, and the enduring call of his family s homeland.  It is a 2012 political thriller drama film based on the 2007 novel, The Reluctant Fundamentalist byMohsin Hamid, directed by Mira Nair, starring Riz Ahmed and Kate Hudson in lead.^[4] The Reluctant Fundamentalist is a post-9/11film, a movie about the impact on one man of the Al Qaida attacks and the American reaction to them. (Wikipedia)

3) The Black Prince:

The last King of Punjab, Maharajah Duleep Singh's kingdom was one of the most powerful and prosperous kingdoms of the 19th century before it was annexed by Britain. Placed on the throne at the age of five, he was robbed of his legacy by treason at the hands of trusted courtiers. He was then torn away from his mother and taken to England by the British at the age of fifteen. While in England, he was introduced to Queen Victoria, who took an immediate liking to him, calling him The Black Prince. Meeting his mother again after thirteen years, the Maharajah is awakened to the realities of his former life in Punjab. He then begins the arduous journey to regain all that was lost, and re-embrace the faith of his birth, Sikhism. As the character of Maharajah Duleep Singh evolves, is torn between two contrasting cultures - his royal ancestry from the Kingdom of Punjab as its last King, set against his upbringing in the UK as he embarks in a new journey of exile, away from his mother. Duleep Singh's lifelong journey to regain his identity, dignity, and Kingdom took him across the world but his struggle was not met with success. He never won the chance to set foot again in his own land of Punjab.(CBFC/DIL/2/62/2017-MUM)

Provider:Vista India

Rating

U/A

Release date

2017

Running time

2:00:54

Language

Punjabi

Actors

Satinder SartajAmanda RootShabana AzmiJason FlemyngRupinder MagonSophie StevensDavid Essex

Director

Kavi Raz

Producers

Kavi RazJai KhannaJasjeet Singh

Writer

Kavi Raz

How to Analyze a Film:

Read this in detail to understand basics to analyze a film

Points to remember while reviewing a film:

• A film review should have a number of purposes:
• To inform. The review needs to tell people who is in the film, who it is by and where or when readers can see it.
• To describe. The review should describe the story, characters and some of the action - without spoiling the plot or giving too much away!
• To analyse. A good review gives an opinion on whether the film is good or not and why.
• To advise. Finally, the review should tell the reader whether or not to go and see the film.. .  Read BBC link from the below given links for further study.
• A good movie review should entertain, persuade and inform, providing an original opinion without giving away too much of the plot. A great movie review can be a work of art in its own right. Read on to learn how to analyze a movie, come up with an interesting thesis and write a review as entertaining as your source material.
• Method 1 of 3: Studying Your Source Material
• 1. Gather basic facts about the movie

2. Take notes on the movie as you watch it.

3. Analyze the mechanics of the movie

Method 2 of 3: Composing Your Review

1. Create an original thesis based on your analysis.

2. Follow your thesis paragraph with a short plot summary.

3. Move into your analysis of the movie.

4. Use plenty of examples to back up your points.

5. Give it some personality.

6. Wrap up your review with a conclusion

Method 3 of 3: Polishing Your Piece

1. Edit your review.

2. Proofread your review.

3. Publish or share your review (in form of COMMENT under this blog and also on your personal blog) . . . read more on wikihow link given below.

Some examples of reviews:

1. To do cinematic justice to Salman Rushdie’s novel “Midnight’s Children,” it would take a razzle-dazzle entertainer with Bollywood flair and a literary bent, someone equally at home with comedy and allegory, ghosts and little snot-nosed boys, Indian history and Indian myth. (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/26/movies/midnights-children-adaptation-of-salman-rushdies-novel.html?_r=0)
2. Though a bit literal for a film that traffics in magical realism, Deepa Mehta'sMidnight's Children is both dreamy and dramatic, a fascinating view of Indian history seen through the prism of a personal -- and occasionally twinned -- story. (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marshall-fine/movie-review-imidnights-c_b_3153638.html?ir=India&adsSiteOverride=in)
3. The film, directed by Deepa Mehta (“Water”), is stunning to watch. Between the colorful textiles and the lush landscapes, the elephants on parade and the stilt walkers, “Midnight’s Children” is a visual treat. (http://www.washingtonpost.com/goingoutguide/midnights-children-movie-review/2013/05/01/123822fa-b1cb-11e2-9a98-4be1688d7d84_story.html)
4. As a result, Midnight’s Children has neither the magic nor the realism of the magic realist narrative it regurgitates into soft, digestible pablum for a Western audience it clearly expects little but cooing approval from. (http://vancouverweekly.com/midnights-children-film-review/)

Some examples of reviews of 'The Reluctant Fundamentalist':

1. Relations between east and west, and the experience of the subcontinent diaspora in Britain and North America, have been the predominant concern ofMira Nair. Her perceptive, generous, inquiring films have pursued issues that the older, more reserved, less politically engaged Merchant-Ivory-Jhabvala team held back from. Based on a well-regarded novel by Mohsin Hamid, this schematic film interweaves two narratives in 2011 Lahore. (http://www.theguardian.com/film/2013/may/19/reluctant-fundamentalist-review-mira-nair)
2. In his slim 2007 novel, “The Reluctant Fundamentalist,” the Pakistan-born writer Mohsin Hamid takes these two words and rubs them together until they throw off intellectual sparks. Written as a monologue, it is a somewhat claustrophobic blurt of a book that, given world events, continues to feel eerily timely. (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/26/movies/the-reluctant-fundamentalist-directed-by-mira-nair.html)
3. The story is recounted in flashback by Changez, now an academic back in Lahore, to an American journalist (Liev Schreiber) on the trail of a kidnapped professor. How deeply is this reluctant fundamentalist implicated in anti-American insurgency? Nair, adapting from the 2007 novel by Mohsin Hamid, draws a terrific performance from Ahmed as the divided hero, mild-mannered then warier by degrees. (http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/film-review-the-reluctant-fundamentalist-15-8609955.html)
4. But Khan's challenge comes less from without and more from within. He questions his identity, while his conscience struggles with his ethical choices. He is a Third World man rising to the heights of an imperialist nation. As an American, he benefits from our foreign interventions exploiting his "own people." Further, he contributes to the problem: In arranging mergers and acquisitions, he himself drives thousands of people into unemployment. (http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-reluctant-fundamentalist-2013)

A few Reviews of The Black Prince:

1. https://www.criticalmuslimstudies.co.uk/the-black-prince-and-coloniality/
2. https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/jun/17/how-film-and-tv-romanticises-life-in-india-after-the-raj

Reading resources on 'How to review film?'

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/english/creativewriting/movingimagesrev2.shtml

http://www.wikihow.com/Write-a-Movie-Review

http://twp.duke.edu/uploads/media_items/film-review-1.original.pdf

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_theory

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_studies

Worksheet: Dr. Faustus: A Play by Christopher Marlowe

(Draft of the post)

Doctor Faustus: Christopher Marlowe

Quiz on the Play: Dr. Faustus

Thinking activity :

1) The play directed by Matthew Dunster for Globe theatre ends with this scene (see the image of Lucifer). What does it signify?

Last Scene: Lucifer with wide wings

2) Is God present in the play? If yes, where and how? If No, why?

3) What reading and interpretation can be given to this image (see the image of Daedalus and Icarus) with reference to central theme of the play Dr. Faustus?

Father Daedalus and Son Icarus

4) How do you interpret this painting?

5) Read this article by Bhagat Singh. In light of the arguments made by Bhagat Singh in this article, can you re-write last monologue of Doctor Faustus?

6) Summarise articles discussed in the class:

• Marlowe and God: Tragic Theology of Dr. Faustus
• Myth, Psychology and Marlowe's Doctor Faustus

You can take help of below given reading resources.

1) View presentation on contribution of Christopher Marlowe to English Drama:

Christopher Marlowe's Contribution to English Drama from Dilip Barad

Themes in Christopher Marlowe's Doctor Faustus from Dilip Barad

Students' Fight for Academic Freedom

There are two interesting poems (Tagore's Where the mind is without fear' and A Mysterious Marriage by Freedom Nyamubaya - Zimbabwe) on the idea of 'Freedom'. As and when we celebrate 'The Independence Day', these poems ring the bells of our conscience. These ringing chimes pierce the soul when we read the stories of life of young students on University campuses. 

After reading this (This Independence Day, Here's To The Students Fighting For Freedom: From Delhi To Pondicherry), we can feel the truth of this poem:

Once upon a time

there was a boy and a girl

forced to leave their home

by armed robbers.

The boy was Independence

The girl was Freedom.

While fighting back, they got married.

After the big war they went back home.

Everybody prepared for the wedding

...

Even the disabled felt able.

The whole village gathered waiting

Freedom and Independence

...

Independence came

But Freedom was not there.

An old woman saw Freedom’s shadow passing,

Walking through the crowd, Freedom to the gate.

..

Independence is now a senior bachelor

A lot still say it was a fake marriage.

You can’t be a husband without a wife.

Fruitless and barren Independence staggers to old

Age,

Since her shadow, Freedom, hasn’t come."

And our deep cravings for what Rabindranath Tagore said in this poem flares up, once agian:

Where The Mind Is Without Fear

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high
Where knowledge is free
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.

We can't escape from our memory of W B Yeats's these lines from 'The Second Coming'

The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
    Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
    Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
    The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
    The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
    The best lack all conviction, while the worst
    Are full of passionate intensity.

And the journey which we began as a Nation on 15th August 1947 with the first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru who used to keep Robert Frost's  famous poem (Stopping by woods on a snowy evening) always before his eyes, sees no destination in near future:

And miles to go before I sleep,   

And miles to go before I sleep

It is the truth universally acknowledged that no nations can have FREEDOM, if their academia is not free. Any form of social equity, idea of equal opportunity, liberty or brotherhood must first be practiced (yes, PRACTICED, not merely PREACHED) on the University campuses. Then and only then, we can imagine these virtues to percolate in society and we can think of materializing Tagore's idea of Freedom. 

There is interesting movement for Academic Freedom

Its statement reads:

‘We, the undersigned, believe the following two principles to be the foundation of academic freedom:

(1) that academics, both inside and outside the classroom, have unrestricted liberty to question and test received wisdom and to put forward controversial and unpopular opinions, whether or not these are deemed offensive, and

(2) that academic institutions have no right to curb the exercise of this freedom by members of their staff, or to use it as grounds for disciplinary action or dismissal.’

Click http://www.afaf.org.uk/ to read more.

Universal Human Laws in 'The Waste Land'

Universal Human Laws in the modern epic 'The Waste Land' by T.S. Eliot.

The connection between epic and myth is that of an egg and the chicken. Just as the famous riddle by Sphinx ("What is the creature that walks on four legs in the morning, two legs at noon and three in the evening?"), whether the egg came first or the chicken is the riddle which puzzled many for centuries. Is myth the product of an epic or does epic sprout from the myth? The sphinx riddle was answered by Oedipus ("Human Being") and the 'egg-chicken' one by scientists ("Researchers found that the formation of egg shells relies on a protein found only in a chicken's ovaries. Therefore, an egg can exist only if it has been inside a chicken"). Similarly, we can say that myth pre-exist the epic. In fact, epic poet legitimizes myth as history or truth. The epic is the daughter of the mother, Myth/s. Thus, an epic can be studied as myth. The tools and theories to study myth can easily be applied to epic.  

Are myths / epic subtle codes that contain some universal truth? Are they a window on the deep recesses of a particular culture? Or are they just entertaining stories that people like to tell over and over? Functionalism explains human society as a whole in terms of the function of its constituent elements; namely norms, customs, traditions, and institutions. A functionalist reading of myths/epic might extract the universal human laws.

Have a look at this presentation with various Universal Human Laws in 'The Waste Land'.

Universal Human Laws in The Waste Land (T.S. Eliot) from Dilip Barad

Task:

After studying these Universal Human Laws, would you like to give priority to the UHLs which you find more Universal than the other? Click this link to open an online form and give your priority:

Worksheet: Aristotle's Poetics (Short Video Lectures, Quiz and Questions)

Worksheet

Aristotle's Poetics

On this worksheet you will find Short Video Lectures, Quiz and Questions on Aristotle's Poetics

Plato and Aristotle

Download Ingram Bywater's translation of 'Poetics'

Download S H Butcher's translation of 'Poetics'

Download Study Material

Download Sophocles's Oedipus, the Rex

View these Short Video Lectures and respond to the questions given below. Give your responses as ‘Comment’ below this blog. Please attempt the quiz also. The link of the quiz is given below embedded videos.

Plato's Objection to Poetry and Aristotle's Defence from Dilip Barad

Short Video Lecture - 1

Plato's Main Objections against Poets and Poetry:

Short Video Lecture - 2

Aristotle's reply to Plato's charges

Short Video Lecture - 3

Theory of Mimesis

Short Video Lecture - 4

Definition of Tragedy

Short Video Lecture - 5

Plot is the Soul

Short Video Lecture - 6

Tragic Hero

Quiz on Aristotle's Poetics

Questions to Respond: (Give your responses in Comment below this blog)

1.  How far do you agree with Plato’s objection to freedom of expression and artistic liberty enjoyed by creative writers? Name the texts (novels, plays, poems, movies, TV soaps etc which can be rightfully objected and banned with reference to Plato’s objections)

2.  With reference to the literary texts you have studied during B.A. programme, write brief note on the texts which followed Aristotelian literary tradition (i.e. his concept of tragedy, catharsis, tragic hero with hamartia etc)

3.  With reference to the literary texts you have studied during B.A. programme, write brief note on the texts which did NOT follow Aristotelian literary tradition. (i.e. his concept of tragedy, catharsis, tragic hero with hamartia etc.)

4.  Have you studied any tragedies during B.A. programme? Who was/were the tragic protagonist/s in those tragedies? What was their ‘hamartia’?

5. Did the ‘Plot’ of those tragedies follow necessary rules and regulations proposed by Aristotle? (Like chain of cause and effect, principle of probability and necessity, harmonious arrangement of incidents, complete, certain magnitude, unity of action etc)

Quiz on Modernist English Literature

This quiz is based on the Modernist English Literature.
If you are unable to load quiz page here under, click here to view quiz on new browser window.

Bhavnagar: The Future Smart City of India

India to have 100 Smart Cities across 21 States in next 5 years

Priy Bhavenavasi,

SWACHHTA Sarvexan Antargat Bhavnagar City ne TOP 75 SWACHH SAHER ma STHAN APAVVA ANE VISHESH LABH APAVVA aje j tamara family na darek smatphone ma App http://bit.ly/29LX9YQ download kari Register karo Ane tema location tarike Bhavnagar Pasand karvanu bhulso nahi.

To know more about Smart / Future city project, visit following website or scroll down this blog.

(Source: http://www.smartcitiesindia.com/)

(Scroll Down, to view videos from CNBC Awaz and other News Channels)

A total of Rs 98,000 crore has been approved by the Cabinet for development of 100 smart cities and rejuvenation of 500 others. For Smart Cities Mission, Rs 48,000 crore and for Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT), a total funding of Rs 50,000 crore has been approved by the Cabinet. Bhavnagar is one of the cities selected from Gujarat state for Future Smart City Project.

CNBC Awaz, the business news channel, has prepared a series of short videos on the Bhavnagar city. Those videos are embedded on this blog.

Future road-map for Smart Cities in India

•		100 smart cities: The government has allocated an outlay of Rs 98,000 crore (US$ 15,329.26 million) to execute 100 smart cities, and the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT), which is an urban rejuvenation programme for 500 towns and cities in next 5 years.
•		Smart heritage cities: The government has introduced a project to develop 12 heritage cities across the country. Called HRIDAY Scheme or National Heritage Development and Augmentation Yojana, the cities included are Ajmer, Amaravati, Amritsar, Badami, Dwaraka, Gaya, Kanchipuram, Mathura, Puri, Varanasi, Velankanni and Warangal.
•		Smart ports: The government plans to connect 12 smart cities with the maritime hubs at an estimated cost of Rs 50,000 crore (US$ 7821.05 million).
•		Smart armed force stations (SAFS): There is a proposal to develop 6 smart armed force stations (SAFS). Of the 6 stations; 3 will be army stations, 2 of airforce and 1 of the navy.
•		Smart aerotropolis: The West Bengal government plans to develop first airport city called the Bengal Aerotropolis Pvt Ltd (BAPL) at Andal in Burdwan district.
•		Smart railways: Ministry of Railways has introduced world-class station programme to upgrade and revamp the existing railway stations. New Delhi Station will be the first station to be redeveloped within this programme spread over 86 hectares land with 18 platforms to handle in excess of 500,000 passengers per day. The Surat railway station is also to follow with 2.27 lakh square metre for redevelopment of new station. Along with this a total of 1,052 stations have been identified for upgradation of passenger amenities. It is proposed to include 200 more stations under this scheme.
•		Smart villages: Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (Parliamentarian's Model Village Scheme aims to ensure holistic development of identified gram panchayats. Under this programme, Andhra Pradesh is the first state to launch the 'Smart Village' plan aimed at making AP, a top state in the country by 2029.
•		DMIC: The Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) running through six states Delhi, Western Uttar Pradesh, Southern Haryana, Eastern Rajasthan, Eastern Gujarat, and Western ans to build a dedicated freight corridors along the Delhi-Mumbai. The cities that have been identified are Dholera in Gujarat, Shendra-Bidkin in Maharashtra, Greater Noida in UP, Ujjain (MP) and Gurgaon in Haryana.
•		SEZ: Guizhou International Investment Corp (GIIC) has signed an MoU with Kakinada SEZ (KSEZ), a subsidiary of GMR Infrastructure to develop industrial park over 2,000-acre land for setting up Chinese high-end equipment manufacturing plants. GIIC will invest $500 million in developing the infrastructure and various facilities of the industrial park. These Chinese companies will invest $2-3 billion in setting up their operations over the next 5 years and generating more than 5,000 jobs for both skilled and unskilled workers.

Memorabilia 2015

Dr. Vedant Pandya releasing Memorabilia 2015

The publication of Memorabilia is one of the many traditions of the Department of English, M.K. Bhavnagar University. For last five years, students are publishing this booklet. The booklet is collection of creative and critical writings of the students. Poems, short stories, paintings, pencil sketches, cartoons, posters, abstracts of research papers published by students, reviews of books / movies, critical observations of current affairs etc are some regular columns in this booklet. The Compilation and Editing, which is very difficult task, is also carried out by a group of students. They have to collect contents from students, compile it, edit it (where ever necessary), convert into common format and make it ready for publication on the Annual Function Day. The Memorabilia is released by the guest on this day.  The Memorabilia is one of the many ways to evaluate students' creativity and critical acumen. It gives platform to students to publish their critical thoughts and creativity. That's fine. But what is more important is the ability of the chief editor and the team working for the Memorabilia. It is ultimate test of this group of students. From working in team (getting works done by each other, persistently requesting classmates to give their contributions, managing time from regular lectures and other learning assignments) to solving problems of compilation, editing and working on front page design to people-problems which are the most toughest nut to crack, these students have wonderful learning of 21st century skills. Yes, we, at Dept. of English, believe that the students in today's classrooms are going to work and live in 21st Century. Hence, the learning of these skills should be incorporated in daily activities and routine teachings at the Department. For this purpose, we have identified the 21st Century Skills Map which is the result of hundreds of hours of research, development and feedback from educators and business leaders across the nation (USA). The Partnership between 21stcenturyskills.org and National Council of Teachers of English has come up with interesting map of these skills. They are: 

1. Critical Thinking & Problem Solving 
2. Communication
3. Collaboration
4. Information Literacy
5. Media Literacy
6. ICT Literacy
7. Flexibility and Adaptability
8. Initiative & Self-direction
9. Social & Cross-cultural Skills
10. Productivity & Accountability
11. Leadership & Responsibility. (Curios to know more about these skills, click here)

It is this group of students who work on this Memorabilia, who are not only tested on these skills, but it also provides them to hone these skills. This year, Poojaba Jadeja and group of students have done quite satisfactory work. You can have a look at Memorabilia 2015 here under. As it is embedded from slideshare.net, if it takes time in loading, you can click here to open Memorabilia 2015 in new window. 

Click here to download.

From the Desk of the Head of the Department (Form Memorabilia 2015)

The withering signifies an end of things. The end suggests new beginning. Nothing ends in itself without stirring up the trace of new beginning. Now, as the batch 2013-15 is passing out, we look forward to see them marching ahead in their lives with renewed power, vitality and energy. As we have seen in past for some years, the number of girls in the department are outnumbering boys. What was so curious to observe was that they did not outnumbered boys only in arithmetic numbers, but also in classroom discussion, interaction and in debating views and counter-views. It obviously proves that given an opportunity, the female of the species would outsmart their male counterpart!

Questions! Yes, it is the questions raised by students, which make teachers happier than happy. This year, in both classes, there were several such happy moments. Especially, the participation of Riddhi Jani, Poojaba Jadeja and Lajja Bhatt was noteworthy. Yes, we missed Amrutha Reddy, who surely would have raised the level of interaction in the subsequent semesters, had she not left during second semester.

Overall, the participation of students was encouraging. They were always on their toes, rushing to complete several offline and online tasks, apart from managing several other affairs of Department. With all the burden of routine work, they actively participated in co-curricular activities. The students in the year 2014-15 represented in 39 events! We are proud to see that Saryu Baraiya and Kaushal Desai represented department in 11 events, each.

We run Online Discussion Forum, to engage students with learning and to connect classroom with ‘real life’ situations. During the year 2014-15, twenty-four discussion threads well opened for email discussion. We are glad to see 402 emails being exchanged with total of 75,355 (seventy five thousands three hundred and fifty five) words used by students. Drashtri Mehta remained most active student on this forum with 5,882 words written in various email discussions!

Apart from the academic activities, if there is anything that recurs in my memory, at this moment, it is Gardening and Library Committee. Under able guidance and leadership of Sejal Vaghela and Saryu Bariaya, both committees did extraordinary work. Sejal Vaghela was, always, found forward thinking and planned all days of gardening quite meticulously.

I remember in no particular order the shining examples like that of Pratiksha Solanki ( in displaying situational leadership in managing Picnic), Namrata Gohil (in quest of difficult topics for presentation and assignment), Vinod Rabhadia (commitment to participate in Cross Country at Botad), Kaushal Desai, Shubhda Parmar and Lajja Bhatt (reading and publication of research papers), Hitesh Parmar (for his passion for General Knowledge), Arati Maheta (for her punctuality) and many other students whom I miss to mention here, which does not mean they have not contributed. There were many other talented students in the class but, may be, because of other priorities, they were not able to give their 100% to the Department. It is our loss and failure to see that we could not get 100 % engagement form 100% students.

I would like to give special congratulations for the perseverance of Shabana Khalani - the Malala of our class -  for her persistence efforts to continue with study in spite of her marriage, becoming a mother of a child and failing in exams. It requires out-of-the-world courage and bounce-back ability to do what she has done! 

It would be nothing less than ingratitude if i do not thank all those students (Kinjal Patel, Urvi Bhatt, Shital Italia, Drashti Mehta and Kaushal Desai) who spent their valuable time for Murals. A special thanks to Sejal Vaghela for an innovative idea to draw colourful mural near the entry of the Department.

This memorabilia is the hard work of Poojaba Jadeja. Without her painstakingly collecting content form all students, minute editing and creative organization, this Memorabilia would not have seen the light of the day. I am thank full to all other students who helped in this Memorabilia (they are acknowledged in her note so i am not repeating names), specially for the creativity in designing front page.

Shubhda Parmar, the G.S., should be commended for her able leadership qualities. She managed all the affairs and activities efficiently. She led from the front and kept the class together.

Being a believer in the Darwinian theory of evolution, I firmly rely on the fact that every new generation is smarter than the previous. Similarly, this batch was better than the previous batches. We hope to see new batch of students outsmart this batch . . . but till then we will relish the memory of live interaction and healthy discussion . . . and will miss the hungry haste and tireless striving to learn . . . which we have seen in your eyes!

On behalf of all the teachers of Department of English, I feel privileged and pleasure to wish you all exceptional academic career. We wish you best wishes to lead the word wherever you are, whenever you get an opportunity, in what so ever role future makes you accountable, with moral scruples, dignity and faith in self! 

Thank you.

~ Dilip Barad

The Image of the Front Page of Memorabilia 2015