Orientalism by Edward Said

    In this task students have to give five concepts which he/she liked from the Edward Said's interview on Orientalism. For further information related to the task click here....

     

       By listening the interview we came to know about the widened definition of Orientalism. In Said's words it is not sheer study of middle east but with that it has provided the other knowledge too. Like postcolonial studies and history and anthropology etc. 

1- Tries  to give real history : 

        When we read the introduction that time we finds that he felt dislike about the representation of Arab and from that he got inspired to write real history. Because Arabs were represented as a rigid people. But by giving the example of Arab-Israeli war of 1973 he has tried to prove his point. And another thing is how outer person's notion remains wrong about his own land that he tries to convince by giving the references of Ang and Gerome. 

2- Predictable : 

      In this context we can say that how western countries sees middle east. They have already been conceived their mind set by describing east as a terrorist groups. 

3-  Foreign Policy of western countries : 

      Here Said describes the different motives of France, America and Europe towards the colonies. French imperialism was very different than Europe and America. Further he said that French did not invaded like Spaniard invaded the new world, looking for a loot. But Nepolian invaded Egypt for the survey of Egypt while Europe invaded the new world looking for loot. 

4- In Popular Culture : 

     Whenever we watch movies based on war that time  we finds the representation of Arab in more negative way. Most of the time western countries tries to represent middle east as a cruel things without any investigation. 

5- Contrapuntal View :  

         In the end Said says that everyone has something good or bad. But by putting our own side on higher position one can not react negatively towards other. And mainly all people are not supposed to be bad and if you think like that way by preconceived notion then whites are also violent. So one should not think as same as other think. 

                                         Thank you...  

       

Review of the movies : The Reluctant Fundamentalist & Midnight's Children

   This task has been given to the students to study Postcolonial elements in the movie. For more details about the given task click here... 

         The Reluctant Fundamentalist

      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)

    The story starts with an interview. The American CIA agent Bobby Lincoln gives an interview for the abduction of American Professor in Lahore. Bob was Taking interview of Changez Khan in the Coffee cafe in Lahor that he may be involved in this abduction or in the matter of 9/11. Here Mira Nair interestingly used the flashback technique which was move us from Pakistan to America in eye opening way. The title of the movie give us two different views one is that fundamentalist in terrorism and other business fundamentalist.

       
       The film starts with an interview of Changez Khan By Bobby in which Changez Khan narrates his story about his life in America. The hero of the novel was very young, intellectual, businessman and highly reputed. There he was living a good life with his beloved Erica, a very good artist in photography. But suddenly all the things changed  with Changez after the attack on WTC tower. All people look towards him like he is terrorist, he insulted by FBI and many American fellows and abused him. Once, he loved America like his native land but after abusing and insulted her sincerity he came back to Pakistan and starts delivering lectures in University. 
      But this American agent blames him that you are teaching terrorism in university, which was not the truth.He lost his innocent fellow by the fire of American Agent then CIA agents realized that they have done mistake and killed innocent man. But at the end of the movie Changez wants to freedom from Mujahid and America's business culture and he wants to live a meaningful and simple life with the happiness of family. 
      In this movie we finds avery good use of narrative technique like flashback technique to make movie very interesting, and also used very good camera focus when we see the scene of attack on WTC tower when camera on the face of Changez rather on live telecast, to know the expression of Changez towards it. Also a very good meaningful background musics are there to convey the nonverbal ideas.  So in a nutshell we can say that movie has tremendous effect on audience. Because what people were not able to see that this movie has tried to represent. 

        While trying to see the Postcolonial elements in the movie we came to know that how western countries sees the Muslims and especially Pakistani. Mostly Americans view over them is much problematic. But no one can raise the question against the power. And that same thing we can see in this movie. 
    
                          Midnight's Children 
        
    

       Midnight's Children is a 2012 Canadian-British film adaptation of Salman Rushdie's 1981 novel of the same name. The film features an ensemble cast of Satya Bhabha, Shriya Saran, Siddharth Narayan, Ronit Roy, Anupam Kher, Shabana Azmi, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Seema Biswas, Shahana Goswami, Samrat Chakrabarti, Rahul Bose, Soha Ali Khan, Anita Majumdar and Darsheel Safary. With a screenplay by Rushdie and directed by Deepa Mehta,^[3] the film began principal photography in Colombo, Sri Lanka in February 2011 and wrapped in May 2011. Shooting was kept a secret as Mehta feared protests by Islamic fundamentalist groups.( Wikipedia) 

            The film starts with the year 1917, the birth year of Indira Gandhi and end with the emergency or we can say that the last stage of Indira Gandhi's Life. So, some may have question that why the protagonist of the film narrated the the history before the thirty years when he was not in her mother's womb? Well, I don't know why Rushdie connected Indira Gandhi's era throughout the film, we must read the novel to understand the connection. The story about the Children who were born in the stroke of the midnight 15th august 1947 with the magical power, in which two major character like Saleem Sinai, the protagonist belong to reach family while the Shiva who was born in poor family later joined the Army and fought in the battle with Pakistan to free Bangladesh.

        The main idea of hybridity in culture and identity we can see in the movie, as per the quote 'Let reach to be poor and poor to be reach' Saleem, actually, the son of British man William Methwold and poor Marathian lady and the Shiva was the son of Ahemad Sinai and Amina, but, Mary, a nurse in the hospital changed these both baby boy with each other because her lover was a Marxist and pursued mary to protest against an elite groups. 
          While moving further we finds that Saleem went to pakistan and Shiva Joined Indian Army, so here we can see the partition of India and pakistan. later on, After the war, Saleem came to India, his mother land and marry with Parvati, beloved of Shiva and she gave birth to baby boy who was the son of shiva so, we again see the hybridity. And also we can see the culture of India like snake Charmer. Thus,  movie ends with the diverse range of interpretations. And film maker has tried to represent real India through the technical aspects. 

        Postcolonial studies : 

   

Hybridity : Mixing of two  - Saleem is the perfect example of hybrid man, who was the son of colonizer and poor Indian lady and also the other character, Shiva was another example of hybrid man who was the son of Muslim parents.

Miscegenation : In simple words we can say  that a relationship between different races. In the movie we can find the sexual relation between White colonizer Methwold with black skin Indian Poor lady and another sexual relationship with white Saleem with black skinned Parvati. Which highlights the themes of  the book Black Skin White Mask. 

Magic Realism :  Here this term referred as to show India as a country of Snake Charmer. In the movie it is used as a plot moving theme too. But has significant meaning. Same way in movie we finds Saleem has power of sense of smell to feeling the different things and people whereas Parvati also has power like Abrakadabra to hide people or things in the trug.  

     

                       Thus, we can say that these both movies has widened our mind by showing the real India, how western countries sees us. And ultimately it throws more light on Postcolonialism.   

                                                 Thank you...                                       

The Birthday Party by Harold Pinter : Thinking Activity

         This  post viewing task has been given to the students to overcome from a traditional mindset that mere watching of movie is not enough. One must should watch movies with minute observation and try to connect events with the contemporary time. For more details about the given task Click Here...

         

•    Why are two scenes of Lulu omitted from the movie? 

       According to me Director don't wanted to divert the attention of audience. Otherwise the main intention might be subdued. Because for mere audience it becomes more difficult to understand the concept of it. Another interpretation we can give is that if your main content is powerful then there is no need of any other unnecessary things which may subdued the main motif. 

   

•    Is movie successful in giving us the effect of menace? Where you able to feel it while reading the text? 

    Yes,  there are so many scenes where we feel the effect of menace. We can find the effect of menace from the starting of the play. Where pause creates the fear. 

Same way knocking of the door also creates the fear in person's mind. Harsh sound gives the horrible feeling. There are many other scenes like interrogation scene, a scene where light goes off, etc. But yes compare to text film gives more fearful effect than text. 

•  Do you feel the effect of lurking danger while viewing the movie? Where you able to feel the same while reading the text? 

     Yes, throughout the movie we can feel the lurking danger. Like knocking the door, in the game of  blindman's buff, etc. But in reading the text we can't feel the same. Because in movie we finds the benefits of audio visual effects. 

• What do you read in 'newspaper' in the movie? Petey is reading newspaper to Meg, it torn into pieces by McCain, pieces are hidden by Petey in last scene.

       The first scene shows the gender gap. Like husband stands for an intellectuality, or we can say he is more near to the outer world. Where's wife stands for household works, and She has nothing to do with the outer world. 

• Camera is positioned over the head of McCain when he is playing Blind Man's Buff and is positioned at the top with a view of room like a cage (trap) when Stanley is playing it. What interpretations can you give to these positioning of camera? 

        During the whole movie we can find an important role of camera. Here camera is described as a third eye of McCann. And now Stanley can't escape from his trap.

 • Pinter restored theater to its basic elements: an enclosed space and unpredictable dialogue, where people are at the mercy of one another and pretense crumbles." (Pinter, Art, Truth & Politics: Excerpts from the 2005 Nobel Lecture). Does this happen in the movie?

       Yes,  we can see this thing in Stanley's context. As we knows that Petey and Meg helps him in all his works. But when Stanley was in danger that time no one helps him. Somehow they neglects the thing. We can see this hidden agenda in power centric nation. 

 • How does viewing movie help in better understanding of the play ‘The Birthday Party’ with its typical characteristics (like painteresque, pause, silence, menace, lurking danger)?

   Obviously yes, this movie helped me a lot in developing the different insight of watching movies.  By reading we may not get exact effects of it. We can feel the pinteresque qualities in the movie like pause, silence, lurking danger like knocking and in the game of blindman's buff. Throughout the movie shrill voice gives more fearful effect. 

 • With which of the following observations you agree:

o “It probably wasn't possible to make a satisfactory film of "The Birthday Party."
o “It's impossible to imagine a better film of Pinter's play than this sensitive, disturbing version directed by William Friedkin”

   I am agree with the second view because it is quite good film. Most of the theme remains same regarding the text. Normally we can't even think of making film on this kind of topics where nothing happens. But to put this things in visual director has done great job. 

 • If you were director or screenplay writer, what sort of difference would you make in the making of movie?

   If I was director or screenplay writer I don't think there is any needs of change. 

• Who would be your choice of actors to play the role of characters?

My choice of actors : 

* Stanley - Rajkummar Rao 

* Goldberg - Sidharth Malhotra 

* McCann - Varun Dhawan 

* Lulu - Shraddha Kapoor 

   

* Petey - Paresh Rawal 

* Meg -  Shabana Azmi 

Sunday Reading - Gujarati Short Stories by Mahendrasinh Parmar

     This task has been given to the students to cultivate the habit of imagination / interpretation.

    

    # Intellectual Indubhai and # ISI no hath are the Short Stories from the  " Polytechnic " - A collection of Short Stories. Which was published in 2016 by Mahendrasinh Parmar. 

    

      Here we can see the importance of literature in society. How literature unfolds the pitfalls of society.  If one has read the essay calls "Tradition and Individual Talent"  by T. S. Eliot, where we find the term # Historical Sense. Which is must required in contemporary time.

# Intellectual Indubhai : 

          In this story we find a person whose name is Indubhai. An intelligent  teacher by  the designation and a benevolent person. Who teaches not only the subject knowledge but humanity too. In a way he plants the seed for the better civilization. He uses the references of Camus, Kafka, Freud, Nietzsche, Eliot, Premanand, Narsinh, Meera, Darwin and Milton in his teaching. Which shows his wide reading and knowledge. But one day some of the troops starts burning the houses and suddenly whole region turns into fire. In that repercussion Indubhai's whole thing vanished. Amidst this he sees his students in that troops. Which puts him in misery. He says to his students that this is what I  have taught you...? After loosing everything he starts criticising the western thinkers.

 # Real life Event :

         When we read the story we can identify the historical context of it. Which tells the story of Post- Godhra riots. How whole state turned into violence. People were killing each other. And this majority -minority groups were the reason behind it. Mass raped of women, train burning and so many other things happened.

# Other interpretations :

         The title it self suggests so many new things. In contemporary time intellectual people has to suffer a lot. It becomes necessary to read about the above mentioned thinkers. Which shows the wide reading of writer too. Here one question arises in our mind is that by not using the surname writer wants to hide the identity or tries to break the concept of casteism...? After reading further, Can we say that if person is not an intellectual one then he / she may suffer from distinctiveness....?
              While moving further we finds a bitter but real satire on students. So many times we hear the news that some students are caught with weapons in examination. They threatens the teacher for not allowing  cheating in the exam. Same thing happens with Indubhai when he spot his students in that troops.
                  Another interesting thing we finds is that how humanities is dying. We can see the hypocrisy of the people. They thinks that they all have virtues because they all have studied  the " Gujarat no Nath ," " Krishnanu Jivansangit, " "Satyana Prayogo ," etc. But suddenly they all becomes violator. In recent time we sees the attack on Hindi- speaking workers in the state.
          So many time we find peoples who denies to support  because of the invisible  threat of # Monty. Same way in story also Dr. refuses to help.

# ISI no Hath : 

        It is a fabulous story to read. Which shows the skillfulness of the writer. In this story we finds that somebody has attacked on the temple. And within 24 hours all victims are caught. After the interrogation we came to know that they all are the local citizens of the town. First one is Ishwar Dabhi - a " Sanitary Engineer," Second one is Sharad Joshi - "a caterer," and the third one is Indrajit Dholakiya - " a professor. "
            Now the whole case is in the hand of S. P. Shinge. Somehow he shows empathy towards them and tries to give fair judgement. Meanwhile we get the news that they attacked on temple because this temple is the reason of their unemployment. The end of the story is very interesting. Because it has not the usual ending. All three person are now works in that temple who had great hatred for it. And suddenly S.P. Shinge disappears and media tries to find him.

# Real life Event : 
     
    It gives the picture of Aksharwadi Temple,  Bhavnagar. It has been famous for the encroachment. They have started so many boarding houses and tavern kind of things for their hidden motif. In a way it has stolen the customer of others. Day by day people are becoming sheeples.

# Other interpretations :
 
     We can say that Title of the story is very significant. Whenever we hears about ISI that time our mind always thinks about a terrorist group. But here this ISI is different. It is an acronym of these three victim. We can say that there are so many peoples who lives around us are more dangerous than terrorist. Or we can say that it describes the theory of Orientalism by Edward Said. 

     One more historical context we can give to this story is the attack on Akshardham Temple,  Gandhinagar. Another interesting thing we find is the danger of privatisation in every institution.

       When we see the end it describes the selfish motives of people. How easily people can be driven by the political power, that thing we can see in it.  And people like Shinge who tries to resist they suddenly vanish from the sight.

             Altogether we can say that how literature helps us in unfolding the evil. In a way it shows the insight of writer. Who has fearlessly portrayed the bitter but real image of society.

# Thank you...
# Courtesy...
 

       

Thinking Activity on Existentialism

     This task has been given to the students as an understanding of absurdity and of existentialism. For more details Click Here.

     Here are the some points which I like the most from the videos. 

V-1 : Individuality 

Yes, Existentialism begin with the philosophical thinking of an individuals. Thinking about individuality, passion and freedom remains in the center. By staying away from the herd we might get more understanding about it. A conjecture in God is not an answer of the struggle. One must should possess the understanding of absurdity. Theme like death, despair, absurdity and suicide makes this theory more attractive.

       
V-2 : Absurd Reasoning 

People often thinks of suicide because they never find any meaning of life. According to them life is absurd. And this is it what Camus calls philosophical problem. But longing for death is not an answer of it. One must should perceive hope as a survival. Further he replies that what he suggests is the source of  replacement.

V- 3 : Philosophical Suicide & Absurd mind 

What Camus says about Philosophical Suicide is that it is like an escapism from the struggle. The whole notion of desire is the consequences of the human beings. Do grapple with the struggle in total absence of hope. For absurd mind reason is useless and there is nothing beyond reason. But existentialist tries to put faith as a solution and ultimately it becomes escapism. Sometime taking leap also becomes risk.

V - 4 : Dadaism /Change 

A creative  change is always necessary. Dadaism was an art movement. It was all against the war. Most of the time old values creates chaos in the society. It was a great movement to be free from the obstacles.

V -5 : Existentialism -Rescue & Cure 

So many time it becomes difficult to find the meaning of life. This inner turmoil like despair, anxiety and absurdity never seems to leave. But existentialism gives the rationale sense of life. It was post war movement. Above mentioned inner turmoils were in every corner of an individuals. As a response of it existentialism stand up to rescue and cure. It tells to choose your  own meaning and take responsibility of it.

V-7 : Existentialism - Philosophical Movement


It is not a Philosophical system nor set of doctrine. But it is a movement which gives the meaning of life in the absurdity. In existentialism there were questions like problem of life as a human being. What is human condition. It stresses more on human perspective compare to divine perspective. And yes there is a difference between nihilism and existentialism. Because nihilism means nothing where's existentialism means to create something in life by accepting the fact.

V-8 : Do it at your own 

Nobody likes rules. According to Nietzsche why one behaves in certain ways? There is no need to believe in this rules. Because we can make our own rules. For that he gives the example of Ubermensch. Whatever you want you can do freely. Just get out from the chain. And whatever you want to do,  Do it at your own.

V-9 : Why I like Existentialism 

There is Two main sides of it. It appeals to our mind and heart. To understand it one must should possess an intellectual quality. An average person can not be an existentialist. It helps in expressing the darker side of life. One can accept own self. It develops rebellious thinking. Most of the time existentialism becomes the reason of refreshment too. Many time it affects every day life like in laughing, in intelligence, and also it makes compassionate. After pondering over it one can read the pain and never sees suffering as an enemy. By reading the existentialism one can live the moment of life with reality.

V-10 : Meaning of life 

Altogether what existentialism tries to say is that find a meaning of life. Because essence of life is necessary. No one can give meaning of life to you. One must should think  on his/her own.

• Video number 9 I like the most. Because it helps a lot in developing the personality of existentialist. It makes us broader thinker. We see life as a pragmatic things. We feel unconstrained.

• Obviously yes, This Flipped learning is like  a boon for so many students. It helped me a lot in understanding. It has widened my perception towards the Existentialism. By watching these videos I came to know about some another knowledge too.

                                                 Thank you...