Rasipuram Krishnaswami Narayanswami ( RK. Narayan)was born in Madras on October 10, 1906. He received the Sahitya Akademi Award and the Padma Bhushan.R.K. Narayan remains one of the most renowned and widely read Indian novelists. He is considered one of India's greatest English novelists.
R.K.Narayan writing style and language is formal and so simple.It doesn’t hit the readers with the pompous and boring long paragraphs as we see in other authors.Gentle humour ,subtle irony , Indianness and Indian middle class themes are his prime arms and ammunition. He published fifteen novels and more than two hundred short stories.
Summary:-
Toasted English (Text)
In American restaurants they call for ‘toasted English’, referring to English muffins which,
though being made in America, now retain ‘English’ as a sort of concession to their origin.
The same may be said of the Americans’ language too. They too went through a phase of
throwing out the British but retaining their language and letting it flourish on American
soil; the resultant language is somewhat different from its British counterpart; it may be
said to have gone through a process of toasting. One noticeable result of this toasting is
that much of the formalism surrounding the use of English has been abandoned.
In America, they have freed the language from the stifling tyranny of the Passive voice.
Where we should say ceremoniously ‘Trespassing Prohibited, their signboards, as Inoticed in the parks of Berkeley, merely say ‘Newly Painted, Don’t Walk.’ Or ‘Absolutely
No Parking’ leaves no room for speculation, and no motorist need spend too much time
peering out and studying the notice. In a similar situation our authorities are likely to plant
a twenty-line inscription on the land to say ‘Under Municipal Act so and so this area has
been reserved, etc., etc., and any vehicle stationed thereon will be deemed to have
contravened sub-section so and so of the Motor Vehicles Act, etc., etc.’ I saw on many
American office-doors just ‘Do Not Enter.’ The traffic signs at pedestrian crossings never
mince words; they just say ‘Go’; or ‘Wait’. In a Hollywood studio I was rather startled to
read, ‘Mark Stevens—Keep Out.’ Mark Stevens is a busy television personality who does
not like to be disturbed by visitors. Incidentally it left me wondering why, if Mr. Stevens did
not like interruptions, he announced his name at all on the door! But it is one of the minor
mysteries that make travel through the country so engrossing.
The ‘toasting’ of English has been achieved through other means also. Americans have
evolved certain basic keywords which may be used anywhere, anyhow, words which have
universal, multi-purpose use. I may make my point clear if I mention the example of the
word ‘check’ which may safely be labelled the American National Expression. While the
British usage confines it to its bare dictionary definitions, the American uses it anywhere,
this expression being so devised that one may blindly utter it and still find out that it is
appropriate for the occasion. ‘I’ ll check’ means ‘I’ ll find out, investigate, examine,
scrutinise, verify, ‘or probe.’ ‘Your CHECK’ means your ticket, token or whatever you may
have to produce. ‘Check room’ is where you leave your possession for a while ‘Check girl’
is one who takes care of your coat, umbrella, or anything else you may leave in custody.
‘Check in’ and ‘Check out (at first I heard it as ‘Chuck Out’ and felt rather disturbed)
refer to one’s arrival in a hotel and departure therefrom. And there are scores of other
incidental uses for the word. Of you are ever hard up for a noun or verb you may safely
utter the word ‘check’ and feel confident that it will fit in. ‘Fabulous’ is another word that
is used in that country freely, without much premeditation. Of course, everyone knows that
fabulous means, but American usage has enlarged its sense. I heard a lady in Wisconsin
declare ‘Oh, those cats of mine are fabulous’ –meaning that they were eccentric. ‘Oh, soand so, he is fabulous!’ may mean anything from a sincere compliment to an insinuation
that so and so plays a mild form of charming lunacy.
‘O.K.’ or okay is another well-known example. It is the easiest sound that ever emanated
from the human vocal cords. Everyone knows how comprehensive its sense can be. ‘Okay’
is a self-sufficient word which needs no suffix to indicate any special respect for the
listener; it can stand by itself without a ‘Sir’ to conclude the sentence. In this respect it is
like ‘yeah’ which seals off a sentence without further ado. ‘Yes sir’ or ‘Yes, Darling’ are
conceivable but ‘Yeah sir’, or ‘Yeah Darling,’ is unthinkable. ‘Yeah’ is uttered in a short
base-of-the-tongue grunt, which almost snaps any further continuation of a sentence. ‘Yes’
involves time as the sibilant could be prolonged.
The refinements if usage in countries where English has a bazaar status are worth a study.
On a London bus you will never hear the conductor cry, ‘Ticket, Ticket’. He approaches
the passenger and say, ‘Thank you’, and on receiving the fare says again, ‘Thank you, Sir’.
I found out that one could calculate the number of passengers in a bus by halving the total
number of ‘Thanks’ heard. In any western country if a receptionist asks, ‘Can I help you?’
it really means, ‘Have you any business here, if so state it.’ Or it may mean ‘Evidently you
have wandered off into a wrong place, go away.’ A man who wants to pass you always
says ‘Excuse me’, while he may with all justice burst out, ‘What do you mean by standing
there gaping at the world while you block everybody’s passage? Stand aside, man!’ When
you send your card in, the busy man’s secretary appears and whispers in your ear, ‘Would
you like to wait?’ Though the tone is one of consultation, you have really no choice in the
matter. The thing to do is not to answer the question but say ‘Thanks’ and look for a
comfortable seat in the waiting-room, although you may feel like saying, ‘No I woudn’t like
to wait. I have other things to do.’
The time has come for us to consider seriously the question of a Bharat brand of English.
As I’ve said in my essay on ‘English in India’ so far English has had a comparatively
confined existence in our country—chiefly in the halls of learning, justice, or
administration. Now the time is ripe for it to come to the dusty street, market-place, and
under the bunyan tree. English must adopt the complexion of our life and assimilate its
idiom. I am not suggesting here a mongrelisation of the language. I am not recommending
that we should go back to the says we heard, particularly in the railways, ‘Wer U goin’,
man? Bharat English will respect the rule of law and maintain the dignity of grammar, but
will have a swadeshi stamp about it unmistakably, like the Madras handloom check shirt or
the Tirupati doll. How it can be achieved is a question for practical men to tackle.
'The Eyes Are Not Here' is a short story written by well-known children's writer and Indian author of British descent Ruskin. He was born on 19th May 1934 and lives in Missouri. His first novel 'The Room on the Roof' was received well by the readers. Bond created a fictional character named Rusty. His literary output includes a wide range of genres, including autobiographical works, novels, short stories, non-fiction, and children's literature.
His popular books are Flight of Pigeons, The Blue Umbrella, Our trees still grow in Dehra. He received the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1992 for the novel ‘Our Trees Still Grow in Dehra’.
Roads to Mussoorie and All Roads lead to Ganga are his popular memoirs.
The present story first appeared in Contemporary Indian Short Stories in English, edited by Shiv K. Kumar (1991). The story is told from the first person point of view. The narrator was a young man traveling to Dehra, and then to Mussorie by train. A girl got into the compartment. Due to his blindness, he was unable to accurately describe her. He liked her voice and the sound of her slippers. The girl said that she would get down in Sharanpur. The man wanted to hide his
handicap from the girl. In their conversation, the girl mentions visiting Mussorie in October because it's the best time. The narrator recollects his memories of spending time in hills covered with dahlias and sitting in front of a log fire at night.Upon being asked by the girl, he moves to the window, pretending to enjoy the beautiful landscape.
The narrator complimented her, saying that she had an interesting face. She was not surprised by his comment, and she said many people praised her pretty face.
The narrator thought to himself that as soon as she left the train, she might forget the brief encounter. He would cherish these moments for the rest of the journey. He wondered if she wore her hair in a bun, plaited, hung loose, or cut short. He wondered if she wore her hair in a bun, plaited, hung loose, or cut short.
As soon as the girl got off the train, a man entered the compartment. The narrator inquired whether the girl kept her hair long or short. He said to the narrator that he had only noticed her beautiful eyes, but she was blind.
"She had beautiful eyes, but they were of no use to her, she was completely blind. Didn't you notice?"
The story's twist is that both the narrator and the girl are blind. They both tried to hide their blindness and pretended they had eyesight. They both fail to perceive each other as blind. Here, Bond presents the human limitations of perception.
Stephen Butler Leacock(1869–1944) was born in England, At the age of 6, he immigrated to Canada with his parents.His books Literary Lapses (1910) and Nonsense Novels (1911) are very popular. The present essay is from Literary Lapses
Stephen Leacock, a Canadian author, wrote this satirical and humorous essay. The writer brings out the follies, especially the young men of his time, who wanted to keep them fit and live long.The title is exaggerating. The writer makes fun of health maniacs and advises youth not to follow fitness freaks.
The writer satirizes health freaks. He ridicules health habits and calls them maniacs. He elaborates on his views about health freaks, giving an example of Jiggins’ life. Jiggins represents many youth, who unnecessarily do excessive exercises to keep them fit. Jiggins wanted to live strong, healthy, and for a long time. He used to take a cold bath and a hot bath every morning, by which he could open and shut his skin pores. He used to breathe through an open window in order to expand his lungs as much as possible.He even does different kinds of exercises in his spare time. Despite his severe workouts and breathing exercises, he died at a young age. He dumb-belled himself to death. Many young men are following his health habits.
The youth wake up in the early hours to go for a marathon run before breakfast. The writer gives an elaborate description of young men's obsession with health exercises. They search for ozone and avoid meat because it contains too much nitrogen. They also do not eat fruit because it does not have nitrogen. They avoid some foods and drinks, stating various reasons. The writer comments that these young people are on the wrong track, and they do not live long.
The writer advises the health maniacs to stop doing all this nonsense. Furthermore, he offers some insightful advice. He suggests we get up in the morning at our convenience. There isn't any ozone. If there is, buy a Thermos bottle full for five cents and put it on a shelf in the cupboard.
Leacock makes fun of cold-bathing because it's something we never did as boys. Instead of a cold bath, take one in warm water.
Next, the author discusses germs and bacteria. We shouldn't be scared of them, because they are not harmful. Then he gives a piece of advice on food. The author suggests that we should not avoid certain food items, citing health reasons. He suggests that we eat whatever we like, until we can't pay anymore. Leacock humorously presents his views, saying, There is no such thing as starch, albumen, gluten, or nitrogen. Even though we want to, we should go to the laundry and get a bag of starch, eat it, drink glue after it, and take a spoonful of Portland cement. That will make one feel healthy and solid.
Leacock talks about fresh air and exercise. Unlike Jiggins, we should give some rest to our lungs. As long as we have others to play baseball for us, run races, and perform gymnastics while we watch the games in the shade, we shouldn't worry about exercising.
The Five Boons of Life is a moral short story with a twist at the end. It was written by Samuel Laughorne Clemens, popularly known as Mark Twain (1835–1910). He was a humorist, journalist, lecturer, and novelist who is well known for his adventure stories of boyhood, especially The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885).
The story is about choosing the right option in one's life. Prioritizing things in our lives is the most important thing. Characters:
The Fairy
The man
The child
The story contains five chapters, each about a boon.A good fairy offers a youth five boons, i.e., pleasure, love, fame, riches, and death. She asks him to choose one valuable gift wisely from her basket. Fairy says only one of the five boons is valuable. He immediately chooses pleasure, which leads to feelings of disappointment. So he laments his choice and asks the fairy for another chance. The fairy appears and offers him the remaining four boons. The boy thinks hard and decides to pick ‘love.’ In his long life, death takes his lovers from him. He grieves, sitting beside his last of many lovers. With the three remaining boons, the 'good fairy' returns to the man. Now he has picked up fame after prolonged consideration. Envy, gossip, defamation, and hatred follow fame. Because of all these negative consequences, the man finds his life filled with misery as a result of all these negative consequences. The fairy reappears and presents the remaining two boons. The fairy reminds him that only one of the five boons is valuable, and that value remains unchosen.The fairy asks him to choose wisely this time, as it is his last chance. He chooses wealth among two boons. After three years, the 'good fairy' reappears and discovers the man in a pitiful state. He is eating dry bread and lamenting the blessings of life. Finally, he realizes that all the boons of the fairy were curses in disguise. He now craves death because he can’t deal with the pain of life. But the fairy discloses that she has given death to a child, who asked her to choose the boon for him. She grants him death, which is the only boon worth the sum of all five. Three years have passed. The man becomes lean and pale and sits shivering in a small room.The man is destined for a miserable old age.The writer teaches us that death is the most valuable thing of all. Death relieves us from the unending pain and suffering of life.
The Russian author Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910) is considered one of the greatest writers in literary history. His novels, novellas, short tales, and essays contain themes like love, war, spirituality, and social justice. His most well-known works are "War and Peace," "Anna Karenina," and "The Death of Ivan Ilyich.” Tolstoy’s influence was great in the literary world. Tolstoy influenced M.K. Gandhi, Anton Chekhov, Ernest Hemingway, Virginia Woolf, and James Joyce. Twenty-three Tales is a popular compilation of short stories by Tolstoy. The present story, Too Dear!, is the 20th chapter in the compilation.
Leo Tolstoy's satirical story "Too Dear!" ridicules the legal system and the idea of the death penalty. The story takes place in a small kingdom named 'Monaco', situated on the Mediterranean Sea's shore near the borders of France and Italy. It is a tiny kingdom with 7,000 people and a mere army of sixty men, ruled by a kinglet. There are taxes on tobacco, wine, and spirit, as well as a poll tax.
The gaming playhouse is the primary source of the king's special revenue. The gaming playhouse owner pays a large sum of money out of his profits to the kinglet. Germany banned gaming houses due to the significant harm they were causing to its citizens. Those who are interested in gambling games go to Monaco. Though the king knows it is a dirty business, he has to do it to maintain his courtiers, ministers, generals, and army.
A man commits murder in this tiny country—a crime never recorded before. The judges, prosecutors, and barristers argue, ultimately delivering a judgment to cut off the criminal's head in accordance with the law. The king confirms the execution. They have neither a guillotine for cutting heads off nor an executioner. The ministers write letters to the French and Italian governments, requesting a machine and an expert to cut off the criminal's head. The French government replies that it would cost 16000 francs, whereas the Italian government agrees to 12000 francs, including travel expenses. The king believes that the population would pay more than 2 francs per head. The king requests the general assign a soldier to sever the criminal's head, but the soldiers decline, claiming they lack the necessary training for such an execution. To reduce the financial burden, the King establishes a committee to provide recommendations on the prisoner's case. The committee decides to change the death sentence to life imprisonment. The committee has sentenced the man to life in prison. There is no strong permanent prison; however, they find a place to house the murderer, assign a guard to keep watch, and arrange for him to receive his food from the palace kitchen. A year passes, and the king notices an expenditure of 600 francs a year, i.e., a criminal's expenditure, in the accounts. The king believes that the criminal's expenses are too high. Ministers suggest dismissing the guard, thereby enabling his escape. But he goes out to the king’s kitchen to fetch his own dinner and returns to the prison to stay inside. The prisoner declines to leave, stating that the sentence has damaged his reputation. The prisoner stands by his decision not to flee, citing the government's failure to carry out the execution. The government sentences him to life imprisonment and dispatches a guard to fetch food, but the guard withdraws after some time. The king agrees to pay a sum of 600 francs to get rid of him. The matter is settled. In advance, the prisoner receives one-third of the annuity and leaves the king's dominions.
With the advance amount, he buys a bit of land, starts gardening, and lives comfortably. He always goes at the proper time to draw his pension. He lives a good and peaceful life.
The themes of the story are governance, justice, morality, and the thirst for power. The writer sarcastically points out the failure of governance and justice.
The title 'Too dear' refers to something that is costly or high in price, but it also signifies something of great value. In this particular story, the cost of executing the criminal is prohibitively high. It is also significant that human life is of great value. In the story, the King's decisions are driven by cost. Because of the prisoner's excessive expenditure, the king's decisions are based on practical considerations.
How does Smriti Sharma bring home the idea of female empowerment and gender equality in her essay? ( KU December 2023)
video lesson తెలుగు లో
About the writer.
Smriti Sharma is a senior lecturer (associate professor) in economics at Newcastle University in England. She is also a research affiliate at the Institute of Labor Economics and a fellow at the Global Labor Organization (GLO). She was previously a research fellow at UNU-WIDER in Helsinki, Finland.
Her fields of specialization are development economics, labor economics, and behavioral economics. Within these fields, she has three areas of interest: (i) education, skills, and labor markets; (ii) the political economy of development; and (iii) caste and gender-based disadvantage and discrimination. Her work focuses mainly on India and Vietnam.
This article was published on November 8, 2016 on the website conversation.com.This is the first of a series of articles in partnership with UNU-WIDER and EconFilms on responding to crises worldwide.
In this article, she talks about gender disparity in Indian society despite growth in GDP.
Despite rapid economic growth, India's progress towards gender equality, as measured by the Gender Development Index(GDI), is disappointing.
A recent survey found a 27℅ gender pay gap in white collar jobs. The writer observes the disturbing upward trend in crimes against women such as rapes, dowry deaths, and honor killings.
A preference for sons.
In Indian society, patrilineality and patrilocality instill a cultural preference for sons. Indian parents prefer sons because they see them as caregivers in old age. The Dowry System is another institution that disempowers women. Dowry-related violence against women by their husbands and in-laws is on the rise across all socioeconomic classes. These practices motivate parents not to have girls as children or to invest less in girls' health and education.
Despite India's ban on sex determination, there were 919 girls under the age of six for every 1000 boys in 2011.
Affirmative action
Though India has experienced economic growth, gender disparities persist. India needs policy initiatives to empower women. The writer states that one-third of reservations for women (33 Percent) in local bodies have shown good results. According to policy evaluations, women are more confident in reporting crimes against them than earlier in villages led by women leaders. Equality in land inheritance rights between sons and daughters got mixed responses. Improvements in labour market prospects also have the potential to empower women.
Training and recruiting young women from rural areas for factory-based jobs in cities provides economic independence and social autonomy.
Getting to Parity.
The writer opines that India needs more coordinating efforts at local and national levels, as well as by the private sector, to bring women to parity with men, and educating Indian children from an early age about the importance of gender equality is a significant step in that direction.
They shut me up in Prose" by Emily Dickinson explores how people can find freedom through their imaginations and, by extension, through writing poetry. Discuss.(KU December 2023)
About the poet.
About the poem
Unit 2
1) Dalit Child Bride to $112 Million CEO:The Wonder Story of Kalpana Saroj,
Rakhi Chakrabortty.
Kalpana Saroj is an object lesson as a female role model. Explain.(KU December 2023)
About the author
Rakhi Chakraborty is an independent journalist and sustainability activist. She blogs at zerowasteindian.com
The present lesson is a biography of Kalpana Saroj, CEO of Kamani Tubes,
with personal assets worth $112 million. She was born in Vidarbha to a police
constable. She had three sisters and two brothers. The parents of neighborhood children did not allow her to play with their children in the quarters because she belongs to the Dalit community. .She was shocked by the behavior of the faculty towards her because she was prevented from participating in extracurricular activities at school. She was
married off in her seventh class.
Child Marriage.
Though her father was not a very educated man, he wanted her to complete her education. Bowing to the community's and extended family's pressure, he arranged her marriage at the age of twelve.
Married life
She was responsible for all the cooking, cleaning, and laundry for ten
people. Her in-laws abused her mentally and physically. Her father found her as
a walking corpse after six months when he came to see her.
Walk with shame.
Her father brought her back home. The community and society accused her of
bringing shame upon her family. She didn’t want to be a burden to her father.
Due to her lack of education or age, she was rejected for the posts of
constable, nurse, and even military.
A second chance
She took the poison to kill herself, but she got a second chance at life.
After this incident, she felt strong, recharged, and empowered. She decided to
move forward in her life.
A New life
She started a new life in Mumbai by doing tailoring work. Her father lost his job. Her parents and siblings joined her in a cramped room.
The tragedy that made me an entrepreneur.
She realised that life without money is useless, when her youngest sister needed
treatment.
Getting started.
Her circumstances gradually improved, after she started a small furniture business
with a govt loan.
Sizing oppurtunities
She took two years to pay off her loan. While she was looking for new business opportunities, she came across a proprietor who sold her litigation-locked land. She fought a legal battle for two years, and at last, with the help of a partner, she established a furniture and real estate business.
The strange case of Kamani Tubes
After Ramjibhai Kamani, the founder of Kamani Tubes, died, a dispute over
ownership arose between his sons and the workers. The Supreme Court transferred
ownership from the legal heirs to the workers union. However, the company faced
imminent closure due to the ongoing struggle for supremacy between the two
unions. She took over the company at the workers' request.
Battle
In 2000, she became the president of the company's board. She pleaded with the
then finance minister to waive off the penalty and interest so that the company
could not go into liquidation. After much consultation with banks, the finance
minister forgave the penalty and interest amount, as well as deduct 25% from
the principle amount. The court transferred ownership of Kamini tubes to Kalpana
Saroj on condition of paying bank loans within 7 years. She settled all the
financial issues and debts soon. She moved the factory to Wada, where she
acquired seven acres of land.
Saroj's narrative is truly inspirational, spanning from the slums of Mumbai to the glittering lights of India's corporate world. The story of Kalpana Saroj's rise from poverty to fortune is really amazing. In 2013, she received the Padma Shri for Trade and Industry.
2) The Kitchen - Vimala
1. The poem "The Kitchen" by Vimala defends individuality and demands a respectful identity for homemakers. Justify. (KU December 2023)
I remember the kitchen's
flavour upon flavour,
a mouth-watering treasury,
pungence of seasonings,
and the aroma of incense
from the prayer room
next door. Each morning
the kitchen awoke
to the swish of churning butter,
the scraping of scoured pots.
And in the centre, the stove,
fresh washed with mud, painted
and bedecked, all set to burn.
We saved secret money in the
seasoning box; hid sweets too,
and played at cooking with lentils and jaggery. We played Mother and Father,
in the magic world of kitchen
that wrapped childhood in its spell.
No longer playground for the grownup girl
now trained into kitchenhood.
Like all the mothers and mothers' mothers before her, in the kitchen,
she becomes woman right here.
Our kitchen is a mortuary.
Pans, tins, gunny bags
crowd it like cadavers
that hang amid clouds of damp wood smoke. Mother floats, a ghost here,
a floating kitchen herself,
her eyes melted in tears,
her hands worn to spoons,
her arms, spatulas that turn
into long frying pans, and
other kitchen tools.
Sometimes mother glows
like a blazing furnace,
and burns through the kitchen,
pacing, restless, a caged tiger,
banging pots and pans.
How easy, they say,
the flick of the ladle and the cooking's done.
No one visits now.
No one comes to the kitchen except to eat.
My mother was queen of the kitchen,
but the name engraved on the pots and pans is Father's.
Luck, they say, landed me in my great kitchen, gas stove, grinder, sink, and tiles.
I make cakes and puddings,
not old-fashioned snacks as my mother did.
But the name engraved on the pots and pans
is my husband's.
My kitchen wakes
to the whistle of the pressure cooker,
the whirr of the electric grinder.
I am a well-appointed kitchen myself,
turning round like a mechanical doll.
My kitchen is a workshop, a clattering,
busy, butcher stall, where I cook
and serve, and clean, and cook again.
In dreams, my kitchen haunts me,
my artistic kitchen dreams,
the smell of seasonings even in the jasmine.
Damn all kitchens! May they burn to cinders! The kitchens that steal our dreams, drain
our lives, eat our days-like some enormous vulture.
Let us destroy these kitchens
that turned us into serving spoons.
Let us remove the names engraved on the pots and pans.
Come, let us tear out these private stoves, before our daughters must step
solitary into these kitchens.
For our children's sakes,
let us destroy these lonely kitchens
englishlanguage-lit.blogspot.com
Summary:-
Vimla wrote the feminist poem "The Kitchen" in Telugu. BBVL Narayana Rao translated it into English.
The poem portrays the sufferings of housewives in the kitchen and their household responsibilities. Housewives have endured confinement and imprisonment in the kitchen for ages. The poet brings out the plight of women in ordinary homes in India. The poet is not talking just for herself but for the women's community.
The poet recalls her childhood association with the kitchen. It was a mouth-watering treasury, filled with a sharp, bitter smell and decorated with well-washed utensils, pans, and tins.
telugu version of the poem వంటిల్లు
In stanza 2, "We saved secret money..." the poet used the first-person plural ‘we’ to apply this phenomenon to all the girls in India. They save their money on seasoning boxes, a practice that is prevalent in every Indian household. For grownups, the kitchen is no longer a playground but a training center where girls are trained to cook a variety of recipes.
The poet calls the kitchen a mortuary and her mother a ghost, as all the pans, tins, and gunny bags crowd like corpses that hang amid clouds of smoke. The poet’s mother sometimes glows like a blazing furnace and works restlessly and at a great pace in a caged kitchen. The writer laments that no one in the family visits the kitchen except to eat, and expresses her anguish over not giving due recognition to their work. Though her mother was the queen of the kitchen, her father’s name was engraved on the pots. The same thing has been repeated in her case as well.
The writer shows the change in kitchen gadgets and compares her modern recipe with her mother’s old-fashioned snacks. She calls the womenfolk to remove the names engraved on pots and tins and destroy the lonely kitchens.
At last, the writer fervently appeals to establish a new kitchen, which was shared equally by all the members of the family, and warns not to step alone into the kitchen
Satyavathi is a Telugu writer. She was born in Kolakaluru, Tenali, to
Satyanarayana Desiraju and Kanaka Durga. She has a postgraduate degree in
English literature, and she taught English at Sayyed Applaswami College until
1998. P. Satyavathi is one of the writers who has brought feminism to the
pinnacle of Telugu literature. The Tamil book, an autobiography of a
transgender person (Unarvum Uruvamum), earned her the Kendra Sahitya Academy
Award in the translation category. The book's English title is The Truth About
Me: A Hijra Life Story, whereas the Telugu version adopts the title Nijam Cheptunna:
Oka Hijra Atmakatha. She received prestigous Kuvempu national award recently. She widely read the novels of Malathi Chandur, Kodavatiganti Kutumba Rao and Rachakonda Vishwanatha Sastri and influenced by their writings. She has published four short-story anthologies, seven novels, and a collection of essays. Her stories often have a feminist angle.
About the story.
Characters:-
Sarada: A housewife who forget her name. (Mrs.Murthy)
Satyanarayana Muthy:- Sarada's husband
Pramila:- Sarada's school friend.
Ammayai- the maidservant
Sarada's children
Sarada's parents.
P. Sathyavathi originally wrote the short story "What is My Name?"
in Telugu, and Vijayalaxmi and Ranga Rao translated it into English. "What
Is My Name" was originally published as "Illalakagaane" (ఇల్లలకగానే) in Telugu in 1990 and has been
translated into almost all the south Indian languages and Hindi.The writer advises to women not to lose their identity
under any circumstances.
It is the story of a young, educated housewife who forgets her name. Her
husband married her for the beauty and dowry offered by her father. She cleans
and swabs the floors spotlessly. Her husband praises her for her dexterity in
cleaning and scrubbing. Swabbing has become her life's chief mission. While
scrubbing the floor, she suddenly thinks about her name, but she doesn't
remember it. She asks her maid about her name, but the maid only knows her as a
mistress. During lunch, the restless housewife asks her children about her
name. They, too, are unaware of her name, as they have always addressed her as
Amma. They assert that they are familiar with their father's name, as it
appears on all the letters. She decides to ask her husband. He is her only
hope, and he can solve her problem. During the evening meal, she asks him if he
knows her name. He laughs at her, saying that she never asked him to call her
by her original name. He calls her yemoi. He informs her that her certificates
bear her name. She never bothered about her certificates after her marriage, so
she hasn’t brought them with her.
When she visits her parents' house, she asks her mother what her name is.
Her mother, too, never calls her by name. For her, she is a daughter married to
a good man. She never imagined that forgetting her own name would pose a
significant challenge in her life. She frantically searches for her
certificates but cannot find them. She comes across her school friend, Pramila.
Pramila immediately recognizes her and calls her by her name, Sharada. . She comes across her school friend, Pramila. Pramila immediately recognizes her and calls her by her name, Sharada. Her friend breathes new life into her by referring to her as 'Sarada!' My dear Sarada!. Pramila was also married and a housewife like her, but she had not made swabbing the sole purpose of her life.
Pramila
reminisces about their school days and Sharada's achievements in drawing and
music competitions. Pramila reminds Sarada that she stood first in tenth class.
At last, she knows her name. Sarada returns to her parents' house, climbs the
attic, and finds certificates, old albums, and pictures she has drawn. Overjoyed,
she returns to her home and warns her husband not to call her yemoi, geemoi.
She asserts her identity as Sarada and expresses her preference for using that
name.
.Themes:-
Female consciousness
Quest for Identity
Gender equality
.
.
Poem:-
“Voice Of Unwanted Girl”
3. The poem "Voice of the Unwanted Girl" by Sujata Bhatt is a voice of protest against the cruel act of female foeticide. Examine.(KU December 2023)
Mother, I am the one you sent away when the doctor told you, I would be
“A Girl”-in the end the had to give me an injection to kill me.
Before I died, I heard the traffic rushing outside, the mansoon slush,
the wind sulking through your city. I could have clutched the neon blue.
No one wanted to touch me except later in autopsy room. I looked like a sliced
Pomegranate. The fruit you never touched. Mother, I am the one you sent away,
When doctor told you, I would be a girl-your second girl. Afterwards, as soon as
You could put on your grass-green sari. Afterwards everyone smiled, but now I
Ask you, to look for me, mother.look for me bcoz I wont come to you in your
Dreams.look for me, bcoz I wont be a flower, I wont turn into a butterfly, and I
am not a part of anyone’s song. Look for me, mother, becoz this is not “God’s Will”.
Look for me , mother, becoz I smell of formaldehyde and still, I wish
