DREAM - SPEECH

CONFIDENTIAL ORATION

In a conference, my honourable dream said,

“Very respected dignitaries on and off the dais, other luminaries who are invited for the conference, and all other fellow comrades who are listening to me, at present. A very pleasant dawn to all of you.

Ah… very recently I happened to read a blog on “Marital Rapes”. And that was written by a girl, named … some Greeshma, or Greshma, ah… something like that. Well, when I went through the blog, I felt there is a passion in the author. So what I did is, I immediately google searched the details of the author and found it out. There it showed as, she was an intern professor in some college, in the state of Kerala, and currently she is a post graduate student in some well-known college in Bengaluru. Whatever it is, I contacted the person and we talked for a while. From the conversation, I could easily figure out her true aspiration to see a change in the world. She also told me that there are people in her acquaintance circle who have same thoughts and perspectives. So, now I am planning to convoke such kind of people who have real insight within them, to jointly work on these types of social issues. … And I believe, they can definitely bring a change to the world by eradicating all the social evils from the human society, for ever and ever.

Thank you. Thank you so much, for listening me. And I wish you, a good day.”

NEWS - TODAY'S HEADLINES

MARITAL RAPES

Today's topic of discussion is nothing but, marital rapes. To put it plainly, rape is the most brutal violence, one can do to a woman. According to the statistics, published by Dailyhunt in 2013, "With an estimated of 500,000 rape cases every year, ... [South Africa] has one of the highest rate of Rape Crimes in the world. It is estimated that more than 40% of South African women will be raped in their lifetime." (1) In the case of India, "The number of reported rapes in India, a country of over 1.2 billion people, has gone up to 33,707 in 2013 ... In India, a woman is being raped after every 20 minutes. ... 93 women are being raped in the country every day." (1) All these show the case of women, who got rapped by strangers or by ones who were less known to the victims. Then, what about the marital rapes, happened so far and happening at present. Until a while, no one was even bothered of this beastly crimes. Thus they went on and on and on. Can't help, but say, it's the truth.

Marital rape means the unnecessary sexual acts committed by husband upon his wife without her consent. An article titled, "Data On Sexual Violence In Marriages Shows Why India Should Progress Towards Criminalising Marital Rape", it is stated, "According to the UN Women's 2011 report, out of 179 countries ... 52 had amended their legislation to explicitly make marital rape a criminal offence. India is one such country where marital rape is yet to be even recognized ... Section 375 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), which defines rape, makes an exception for marital rape by stating, "Sexual intercourse by a man with his own wife, the wife not being under fifteen years of age, is not rape."" (2) The article continues, "At an all India level, 9 out of every 100 men, agree to the fact that a husband has the right to use force and have sex with his wife even if she doesn't want to." (2) To brief, what does it show ? ... The reality. ... Yes, the face of truth. ... But I pray, not let that fact get mugged up in the shabby skin-torn files, only to get dusty, just as other files got.

In this situation, what we have to do is, we have to take immediate action against these crimes and check all sorts of violence, both sexual and asexual, upon our daughter, sister, mother, grandmother, aunt, niece, and even our friend. Remember, ... if we shut our eyes towards these crimes, one day we too may fall as victims of such crimes. So, think. ... Sorry, we barely have time to think. Thus, we should start working to eliminate the crime even from the corners of the world of mankind.

Another aspect of this case is, though at one side, there is a category of people, like us, who continuously urges the world not to commit such crimes, in the other side, there are people, both educated and uneducated, who forcefully push their own children to married lives, at very young age. As the article, "India Has the Highest Number of Child Brides in the World: How Do We Deal With It", says, "Child marriage remains a social evil that India has seemingly had a hard time eradicating. ... Despite all the ... conversation about protecting our young girls ... certain influential politicians and lawmakers in Madhya Pradesh continue to condone and support such the pernicious practice of child marriage. According to a recent report by the Dainik Bhaskar Post, hundreds of young girls were married off across mass wedding ceremonies in the Rajgarh district of Madhya Pradesh, on the occasion of Akshay Tritiya ... What was even more shocking was the presence of leaders from both the ruling and opposition parties at these mass wedding ceremonies. These leaders reportedly even blessed the couples. The district administration estimates that nearly 1000 minor couples were married off on [that single day]." (3)

By deviating from the crisis of 'child marriage', if we move to the case of matured women, it is not better enough, and more pathetic, i would say. In a country named Kyrgyzstan, in a native community, there is a custom of 'bride kidnapping'. In the details section of a YouTube video titled, "Bride Kidnapping in Kyrgyzstan", it is mentioned, "In rural Kyrgyzstan men still marry their women the old-fashioned way: by abducting them off the street and forcing them to be their wife." (4) According to the video, due to that weird custom of bride kidnapping, lots of young women, soon after their forced marriages, committed suicide.

In short, all these data show that marriage has become a sort of curse in the life of every woman. At this time, one must remember, whatever action, if it is forcefully done upon someone without the person's consent, then it is a crime. This is a fact, known to all. But no one is ready to take a chance to keep things in order. Then what to do??

There are people who speak and write about the want of stopping all those crimes, but they themselves lag behind when they deal their own family matters. For instance, we all say it is one's freedom to choose whether to marry and a lead a responsible family life or to remain as singleton and lead a carefree life. But when this perspective moves to the wing of family, or society at large, the so-called morality holders or keepers insist the poor girls to marry at a certain age even though the girls really don't want. ... Here, where is the morality and where is the freedom?? In a comment written beneath a YouTube video titled, "Fighting forced marriages and honour based abuse | Jasvinder Sanghera | TEDxGöteborg", Afifa Iran notes,

"I'm 26 and my parents somehow just want me to be married off. They think I'll not survive without a man. I am a dentist currently working to take an exam that will lead to specialization. I am not ready or interested in marriage. And i can honestly relate to her. My dad does pressure me but he doesn't throw a tantrum. My mom loses her calm over my marriage. Worst part is when all these families come in to 'see' you to get you into an arranged marriage. This is quite screwed up. Mostly female peers question me and pressure me into settling down. I am not ready for marriage and i don't want it anytime soon. But my parents ignore it like it's a pointless thing. They say "oh she'll be fine once married". Well hello no i won't be! If I'm not ready and you marry me off even to the best guy in the whole wide world, i won't be able to appreciate him and just walk out of it! I wish our mothers could break free of their own fears!" (5)

As a girl or a woman, I felt empathy towards the girl, who posted the comment. Her words stand for the voice of the entire womenfolk. Her words give voice to the voiceless.

To conclude, if we keep on voicing our rights and establishing our status of being human rather than a piece of flesh to chew upon, one day the graph of the above statistics falls down to the level of zero. And I strongly believe, that day is not so far. The count down started. ... (rape, violence, abuse, discrimination, injustice, ......... 3, 2, 1, 0 ......)

1. https://m.dailyhunt.in/news/india/english/east+coast+daily+eng-epaper-eeastco/here+s+the+list+of+countries+with+highest+rape+crime+rate+in+the+world-newsid-90811949
2. https://www.huffingtonpost.in/kumar-rajesh/latest-data-on-sexual-violence-in-marriages-shows-why-india-should-progress-towards-criminalising-marital-rape_a_23367102/
3. https://www.thebetterindia.com/138496/india-child-brides-marriage-law-posco/
4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKAusMNTNnk
5. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_Xh5MXA7yY&list=WL&index=178&t=294s

Penned by,

      Ms. Greshma Clement

(I apologize, if anyone gets hurt due to this write-up.)

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MALAYALAM - "TALE OF FUTURE"

ഞാനും ... ഞങ്ങളും ...


ഇറ്റലിയിലെ മിലാനിൽ, ഒരു രാത്രി ...

27 ഫെബ്രുവരി 2020

എല്ലാവരും (രണ്ടു പെൺകൂട്ടുകാരും, രണ്ടു ആൺകൂട്ടുകാരും, ബാപ്പയും, പിന്നെ ഞാനും) ഒരു ഫ്ലാറ്റിലെ സ്വീകരണമുറിയിൽ ഒന്നിച്ചിരിക്കുന്നു. മുറിയിൽ ഒരു ടേബിൾ ലാമ്പിൻ്റെ നേരീയ മഞ്ഞ വെളിച്ചം മാത്രം. ബാപ്പ ചാരുകസേരയിലും, ഞങ്ങൾ നിലത്തും ഇരിക്കുന്നു. എല്ലാവരും ഒരു ചെറിയ ചില്ലു മേശയുടെ ചുറ്റും. ആ മേശയിൽ നിരത്തിവച്ചിരിക്കുന്ന ആറു വൈയിൻ ഗ്ലാസുകളിൽ മുന്തിരി വീഞ്ഞ് നിറച്ചിരിക്കുന്നു.

പൊടുന്നനെ എല്ലാവരും മുമ്പോട്ടു ചാഞ്ഞുകൊണ്ട് ആ മെല്ലിച്ച കാലുള്ള ചില്ല് ഗ്ലാസുകൾ ഉയർത്തി "ചിയേർസ്" എന്ന് പറഞ്ഞുകൊണ്ട് ആനന്ദം പങ്കിട്ടു. തെല്ലിട വൈകാതെ ഏവർക്കും 27 ഫെബ്രുവരിയുടെ ദിനാശംസകൾ എന്നുപറഞ്ഞുകൊണ്ടു ബാപ്പ ആ ഇരിട്ടുമുറിയിൽ പൊട്ടിച്ചിരിയുടെ വിളക്ക് തെളിച്ചു. എന്നാൽ ഇത് കേൾക്കേണ്ട താമസം, ഞാൻ ബാപ്പയോട് ആരാഞ്ഞു,

"അതിനിപ്പോൾ, 27 ഫെബ്രുവരിക്ക് എന്താ ഇത്ര പ്രിത്യേകത ??"

ഞൊടിയിടയിൽ, ബാപ്പയുടെ മറുപടി,

"എല്ലാ ദിവസവും മറ്റു ദിവസങ്ങളിൽ നിന്ന് വിത്യസ്തപ്പെട്ടിരിക്കുന്നു."

"അതിനിപ്പോൾ...?"

"27 ഫെബ്രുവരി 2020, നാളെ ആഘോഷിക്കാൻ പറ്റുമോ ??"

"ഇതിനിപ്പോൾ, ആഘോഷിക്കാൻ എന്തിരിക്കുന്നു ?"

"സന്തോഷമുള്ളപ്പോൾ അതാഘോഷിക്കണം. അതുപോലെ, സന്തോഷമില്ലങ്കിൽ ക്രിസ്തുമസായാലെന്തു പുതുവർഷമായാലെന്തു, യാതൊരു കാര്യവുമില്ല."

"ഉം... അതു സത്യം."

എൻ്റെ ആ സമ്മതം ബാപ്പയ്ക്കു ഇച്ഛ പിടിച്ചു. എന്നാൽ, ഒരു ദീർക്കശാസം വിട്ടുകൊണ്ട് ബാപ്പ തുടർന്നു,

"നീ ഓർക്കുന്നുണ്ടോ..."

"ഞാൻ ഓർക്കുന്നില്ല... ഒന്ന് നിർത്തു ബാപ്പ... ഹും !!"

പെട്ടന്ന്, ബാപ്പയുടെ അടുത്തിരുന്ന എൻ്റെ സുഹൃത്ത് പുഞ്ചിരിയോടെ അടക്കം പറഞ്ഞു,

"ഉം... ബാപ്പക്ക് വൈയിൻ തലയ്ക്കുപിടിച്ചെന്നു തോന്നുന്നു."

ഇതുകേട്ടതാമസം, ബാപ്പ കൈയിലിരുന്ന വൈൻ ഗ്ലാസ് ഇടത്തോട്ടും വലത്തോട്ടും ചെറുതായൊന്നു ചുറ്റിച്ചുകൊണ്ടു പറഞ്ഞു,

"ഇതു വൈനാണന്നു ആരുപറഞ്ഞു ? ... ഇതുവെറും കട്ടൻ ചായയല്ലേ !!"

ഞൊടിയിടയിൽ, നിലത്തു ചമ്പ്രം പടിഞ്ഞിരുന്നിരുന്ന ഞാൻ, ചാടിയെഴുന്നേറ്റിട്ടു പറഞ്ഞു,

"ഇനി ഞാനിവിടെയിരുന്നാൽ ശരിയാകില്ല... ഞാനതുകൊണ്ടു പോകുവാ... അപ്പോൾ, ബൈ, ബൈ."

അതുകേട്ടപ്പോൾ, എന്നോടുരുമ്മിയിരുന്നിരുന്ന എൻ്റെ സുഹൃത്ത് എൻ്റെ കൈയിൽ പിടിച്ചുകൊണ്ട് എന്നോടാരാഞ്ഞു,

"നിനക്കെന്താ ഒരു ഹൃദയവുമില്ലാത്തതുപോലെ ! ... Hum, you are truly a heartless creature!! ... വേണ്ടാ, നീ ഇനി ഇവിടെ ഇരിയ്ക്കണ്ടാ. നീ നിൻ്റെ വഴിക്ക്‌ പൊക്കോ... പോ..."

ഒന്നു കുലുങ്ങിചിരിച്ചുകൊണ്ടു ബാപ്പ പറഞ്ഞു,

"താനെന്താ പറഞ്ഞേ, അവൾക്കു ഹൃദയമില്ലെന്നോ !! ... ഹും, താൻ പറഞ്ഞതു സത്യമാ, അവൾക്കു ഹൃദയമില്ല. കാരണം, അതു പണ്ടേ മറ്റുള്ളവർക്കു പങ്കുവച്ചുകൊടുത്തതല്ലേ... ഇനി അവൾക്കെവിടുന്ന ഹൃദയം !! ... ഇപ്പോൾപോലും, ഈ സന്തോഷത്തിനു കാരണം അവളുതന്നെയാണ്. ... ഹും, അവളെൻ്റെ വിളക്കാണന്നു ഞാൻ പറഞ്ഞാൽ അതൊരു കുറച്ചിലാവും, കാരണം അവളെപ്പോലുള്ളവർ ഈ ലോകം മുഴുവൻ്റെയും വിളക്കാണ്. ആ ദീപത്തിൻ പ്രകാശത്താൽ നയിക്കപ്പെടുന്ന ജീവിതങ്ങളിൽ ഒന്നു മാത്രമാണ് എൻ്റെതു..."

ആ വാക്കുകൾ കേട്ടനിമിഷം, എൻ്റെ മിഴികളിൽനിന്നുതിർന്ന അശ്രുക്കൾ എൻ്റെ കവിൾത്തടങ്ങളെ ഈറനണിയിച്ചു. ... കൂടെ, എൻ്റെ കൂട്ടുകാരുടേയും, ... ഇപ്പോൾ, നിങ്ങൾ വായനക്കാരുടേയും... .


.... തുടരും ....

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THOUGHT OF THE DAY

Why do the writers write and the orators orate ?? Because, either they observe some fault within the society or they witness some proud moments solely created by the society. But I wonder, then why do they point out the faults all the time. Is it because, the balance is overloaded with weights of faults ??

Think ...!!

👀

QUESTIONS ON TITANIC AS LITERATURE

Am I Drowning with ‘Titanic’ ??

 

Here is a list of a few questions upon the movie “Titanic” (1997), which gives an idea how an English Literature student deals with a work or any academic subject matter.

   1.  Interpret Jack Dawson, the protagonist, as a tragic hero.
   2.  Discuss the false superiority complex prevailing in the aristocratic society, with reference to both the families of Rose DeWitt Bukater, the female protagonist, and Cal Hockley, the antagonist.
   3.  Study about the class system and class-discrimination portrayed in the movie.
   4.  Find out the gender stereotypes depicted in the movie.
   5.  Comment upon the double standards shown in the movie, according to various aspects like culture, gender, wealth, power, class and so on.
   6.  Apply Freud’s psychoanalytic theory on the movie, with reference to the mental trauma of Rose DeWitt Bukater.
   7.  Explain how stream of consciousness works in the case of Rose, the grandma figure who reflects on her early life.
   8.  Interpret the movie as a romantic tragedy.
   9.  Figure out the factors that influenced James Cameron, the director, to knit a tragic love story along with a historical incident.
  10.  Compare and contrast the movie, “Titanic” of 1997 with that of 1953.

Submitted by,

         Greshma Clement

ARTICLE ON TIME MANAGEMENT

Critical Factor for Success

     Everybody from nursery kids to PG student, business magnet to CEO, from homemaker to receptionist complaints “no time”. Have you ever thought of it why?.... Why people lack time? Let’s think.

        Baltasar Gracián said, “Nothing really belongs to us but time, which even he has who has nothing else”. Yes! We are endowed with the free gift of time. Still we say ‘No time’ because we don’t know how to spend this precious commodity carefully, effectively and wisely.

         Of course we need time for our daily routine- say study for a student. Besides this we need time to spend with families and friends, in creative and re-creative activities and so on. And so you can see why the management of time becomes such a critical factor in your life.

What is time management?

        A few minutes of reflection will tell you that the quality of your attention varies at different times. If you are tired, you can’t concentrate. On the other hand, at certain times of the day you are habitually more alert. In this context we can remember the Pareto principle or 80:20 rule. It states that “the significant items of a given group form a relatively small part of the total” for example:

   20: of your time produces,

   80: of your high quality output.

For simplicity, I shall elaborate this as: while you do something without time management your work is 80% and the result is only 20%. Instead, if you are successful in time management you can achieve 80% with an effort of 20%!!!

    So, you can succeed in your life if you can succeed in your personal time management.

How do we manage our time?

       Time management is not a very complex affair, but it is the unavoidable path to simplify our numerous big and small problems we come across.

The fundamental steps of time management are:

*Identify long term goals

A goal is a deliberately selected result that can be won by dedicated and prolonged effort. Example: “My goal is to become a member of the editorial board of THE HINDU” or “My goal is to become an exemplary English professor”

*Find out short term goals

Short term goals are results to be achieved within a short period. Example: “I should complete my PG course in flying colours” or “I should secure an admission for research in oxford”

*Identify the objective

An objective is something tangible, specific and immediately attainable. Example: “I should pass the next semester examinations in O level”

*Make use of your best time

Program your day so that “best time” is given to the highest grade activities such as learning poetry.

*Avoid procrastination

If you plan to do something in a particular time, do it in the appointed time, without postponement. Remember “Procrastination is the thief of time”.

*Plan the day

The longest journey begins with a single step. You will never achieve an objective if you do not break it down into manageable steps. So it is necessary to remind you “do not leave any day without planning”. It is an essential discipline to compile a programme for the day. The daily plan likely to take 15 minutes. In return for this investment, you gain a sense of control, direction and freedom which is otherwise impossible. Set limits for all tasks. Get into the way of always estimating the amount of time required to do each job, such as preparing a project work or writing assignment. Do not extend the time limit set for the tasks. Otherwise work expands and time is lost according to Parkinson’s law-namely that works expand to fill the time available for it.

*Establish your priorities

Make out a list of what you want to do each day. Mark time in the order of priority. If you have worked according to your sense of priorities, you will have done the important jobs and that are what managing your time is about.

*Review

Review each day briefly. Identify the success and analyse the reason for failures. If you couldn’t complete the given task within the allotted time, analyse the reasons for the lack of time and ask yourself “What were you busy about?”

A final word

              The wonderful thing is that tomorrow’s 24 hours now await you untouched and unused. You are now in a position to make more effective use of your time. The end result of organizing or managing yourself and time properly is that you should be in good order. The end result of being in good order is that you are able to use your energies, talents and time more effectively on the things that matter to you and to start linking your daily planning to longer-term goals and objectives and finally leads to success.

Submitted by,

     Greshma Clement

                MA English Literature

                First Year

ECHOES OF CANT OF DUDES

                                FRIENDS

     The seven letters, that bring the whole new world.

     These seven love hands, are hues of rainbow.
     We shared smiles, and we wiped the tears.
     Our friendship had grown, along with us.
     We are one, from the beginning of our lives.
     The love bonds tie, the bestie lot like a chain.
     These buddies are, stars on the crown of earth.
     And these polished gems, are precious forever.