‘Zoot Suit

‘Zoot Suit,’ a classic play about discrimination, finds renewed purpose

It's the story of a real-life murder trial and the so-called Zoot Suit Riots, set amid rampant discrimination in 1940s Los Angeles. A play called "Zoot Suit" was a cultural phenomenon in the 1970s and ‘80s, launching the careers of many Chicano actors. Now it's in revival at the theater where it all began. Jeffrey Brown reports talks to writer and director Luis Valdez.

From: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Le99Z0KVbro

‘Zoot Suit,’ a classic play about discrimination, finds renewed purpose

Diwali Song

Happy Diwali, everyone! It’s time to light up your house, dish up some sweets and spread all kinds of goodies around. Here is a song that tells you all about this sparkling festival.

from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLXazdZPlcA

Exile by R Parthasarathy

Exile by R Parthasarathy, a video made by Zaheer Abdul Ghafoor.Y.A for the students of The New College, Chennai-14

from:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GkX7iGxTHk

English Grammar Non Finite Verbs

A non-finite verb is any of several verb forms that are not finite verbs; they cannot perform action as the root of an independent clause. Most non-finite verbs found in English are infinitives, participles and gerunds (They sometimes are called “verbals”, but that term has traditionally applied only to participles and gerunds).

Noun Clause

This animation teaches the learner to define, identify a noun clause in given sentences. It also teaches the learner how to use noun clause as subject of a verb, as object of a verb, as object of a participle, as object of an infinitive, as object of a preposition, as complement of a verb of incomplete predication, as adjective complement, in apposition to a noun or pronoun. And the leaner can also learn to identify noun clause as subject of a verb, as object of a verb, as object of a participle, as object of an infinitive, as object of a preposition, as a complement of a verb of incomplete predication, as an adjective complement, in apposition to a noun or pronoun in given sentences.

From: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cslLNfoESGw

Glossary Gandhi

Adivasi: original inhabitants, indigenous people

Ahimsa:  nonviolence

Anna:  one sixteenth of Indian rupee

Ashram:  spiritual community

Bania:  third highest class in Hindu social hierarchy, Gandhi’s caste.

Bapu:  father

Bhajan:  devotional song or hymn

Bhangi Bustee: weeper colony

Baisakhi : A festival marking the beginning of a solar year.

Bhoodan:  Gift of land, associated with Vinoba’s Bhoodan movement

Bustee: colony

Brahmacharya: celibacy

Charkha: spinning-wheel

Chipko: to cling or hug,

Crore: a sum of 10,000,000

Dalits: the oppressed, ‖ formerly called the untouchables, ‖ or harijans‖ as Gandhi called them, scheduled castes, under the Indian constitution.

Darshan: to see, to pay homage

Dharma: duty, ethics, moral law

Dharana: sit-ins, a sit-down strike.

Diwan: prime-minister

Dhoti: cloth covering waist down to ankles

Durbar: royal court

Hartal: cessation of all economic activities

Harijans: children of God, a term Gandhi used for the untouchables

Jain: follower of Jainism, a sixth century BCE religion in India

Katha: story

Khadi: home-spun cloth, made famous by Gandhi

Khudai Khidmatgars: Servants of God, the nonviolent soldiers of Islam

Lathi: stave, steel-clubbed stick

Mahatma: the great soul, the title Tagore gave to Gandhi

Mandir: sacred space, a temple

Mantra: sacred formula

Metta: amity, friendship

Moksha: salvation, final goal in Hinduism

Mullah: religious leader in Islamic traditions

nai taleem: new education, holistic model aimed at the development of mind, body and spirit.

Panchayat: village council, a form of local self government in the villages

Pandal: a temporary or permanent structure made for an event

Patidars: land-owning farmers

Pranami: a syncretistic sect of Hinduism that venerates the Quran

Prarthana: prayer

Poorna swaraj: complete freedom, freedom for all

Pugri: turban

Raj: British rule in India, literal meaning is rule.

Ryot: tenant-farmer

Sabha: organization

Samadhi: memorial

Sarvodaya: welfare of all, awakening of all

Satyagraha: insistence on truth, firmness in a true cause

Satyagrahi: one who observes satyagraha

Shanti sena: peace brigade

Shramadana: gift of service or physical labour

Sthitha-prajana: the one who maintains equanimity

Swaraj: self-rule, self-government, freedom

Swadeshi: pertaining to one’s own country

Tilak: auspicious mark or symbol of devotion marked on forehead

Tinkathia: an exploitative system in which fifteen percent of the land rented by ryot had to be planted with indigo for the landlord

Vaishnava: Belonging to the sect which worships Vishnu, a Hindu God

Improve Your English Writing Skills

How to improve your English writing skills? - Free English lesson

I will share easy and quick tips that will improve writing in formal and academic settings.

• Avoid using contractions – Do not use contractions while constructing your sentences, esp. if you  are writing a business email or formal letters i.e. words like don’t, can’t, shouldn’t, couldn’t, wouldn’t, isn’t, haven’t should be avoided.

• Avoid there are/ there is – It will make your sentence more lengthy and boring to read. e.g

There are many problems in her class (incorrect)
Her class is facing many problems. (Correct)
There is an exhibition at the hotel. (Incorrect)
The hotel is holding an exhibition. (Correct)

• Avoid using unnecessary words in your sentences like   very; really, a lot instead use better vocabulary. It will definitely not change the meaning of your sentence but will make it sound interesting.

                Students think literature is very hard.
                Students think literature is difficult.

• Make use of strong verbs – It will make your sentence sound more appropriate and concrete.

                  He gave assistance to my friend. (weak verb)
                  My friend assisted him. (Strong verb)

From: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6qVJ1KhHek

Proverbs and Their Meanings

1. One flower makes no garland - A single person cannot be powerful.

2. Waste not want not - Do not waste, be frugal.

3. Pen is mightier than the sword - Words can be more powerful than the wars.

4. To err in human - No one is perfect.

5. Haste makes waste - Hurry makes worry.

6. United we stand, divided we fall - Union is strength.

7. Work is worship - Be conscious of your duty.

8. Truth alone triumphs - Always speak the truth.

9. Blood is thicker than water - Your relatives are more interested in you.

10. Covet all, lose all - Do not be over ambitious.

11. All that glitters is not gold - Do not be misguided by appearances.

12. As you sow as you reap - Accept the result of your actions.

13. Look before you leap - Think well before taking any action.

14. Make hay while the sun shines - Act in the right time.

15. Too many cooks spoil the broth - A work should not be entrusted to many people.

16. Birds of the same feather flock together - Like minded persons always help one another.

17. Better late than never - Even if delayed attend the meeting.

18. No pain, no gain - One cannot succeed without hard work.

19. Seeing is believing - Do not believe in rumours.

20. Strike while the iron is hot - Make use of every opportunity.

21. Honesty is the best policy - Always speak the truth.

22. Empty vessels make much noise - People who talk more will achieve nothing.

23. Many a drop makes an ocean - Small saving makes one rich.

24. Manners maketh a man - You should learn good manners.

25. Even Homer sometimes nods - Even perfect people fail some time.

26. Reading makes a perfect man - Try to read as much as possible.

27. Borrowed garments never fit well - Don’t imitate others.

28. Rome was not built in a day - Nothing can be achieved at once.

29. Brevity is the soul of wit - Be short while speaking and writing.

30. Where there is a will, there is a way - Strong will power is needed to achieve anything.

31. Health is wealth - Take care of your health.

Famous English Proverbs

Proverbs are experiential truths passed down for generations. They serve as guidelines that are worth following... Here is a collection of English proverbs that would definitely be of great use to you and your children!

An apple A Day Keeps the Doctor Away - 00:03

First come, first served - 00:57

Practice makes Perfect - 01:57

Don't cry over spoilt milk - 02:56

A stitch in time saves nine - 04:02

Time and Tide wait for none - 05:07

Action speaks louder than words - 06:09

A penny saved is a penny earned - 07:06

The early bird catches the worm - 07:56

Eat to live but do not live to eat - 08:52

Look before you leap - 09:44

A friend in need is a friend indeed - 10:47

Prevention is better than cure - 11:41

Cleanliness is next to godliness - 12:38

Where there's a will there's a way - 13:45

Kill not the goose that lays golden eggs - 14:56

God helps those who help themselves - 16:02

A bird in hand in worth two in the bush - 17:14

The early bird catches the worm - 18:30

Experience is the best teacher - 19:28

Every cloud has a silver lining - 20:21

Spare the rod and spoil the child - 21:24

One rotten apple spoils the rest - 22:16

As you sow, so shall you reap - 23:19

Empty vessels make the most noise - 24:20

Time heals old wounds - 25:28

All that glitters is not gold - 26:36

Cut off your nose to spite your face - 27:31

Unity is strength - 28:42

There is no place like home - 29:33

Action speaks louder than words - 30:27

Every dog has its day - 31:25

Who keeps company with wolves, will learn how to howl - 32:28

Silence is golden - 33:39

Money is the root of all evil - 34:40

Half a loaf is better than none - 35:37

From:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlNdxrVUczg

President John F. Kennedy's Peace Speech

What Kind of Peace Do We Want?

President John F. Kennedy
Commencement Address at American University, Washington, D.C. June 10, 1963.

President Anderson, members of the faculty, board of trustees, distinguished guests, my old colleague, Senator Bob Byrd, who has earned his degree through many years of attending night law school, while I am earning mine in the next 30 minutes, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen:

It is with great pride that I participate in this ceremony of the American University, sponsored by the Methodist Church, founded by Bishop John Fletcher Hurst, and first opened by President Woodrow Wilson in 1914. This is a young and growing university, but it has already fulfilled Bishop Hurst's enlightened hope for the study of history and public affairs in a city devoted to the making of history and the conduct of the public's business. By sponsoring this institution of higher learning for all who wish to learn, whatever their color or their creed, the Methodists of this area and the Nation deserve the Nation's thanks, and I commend all those who are today graduating.

Professor Woodrow Wilson once said that every man sent out from a university should be a man of his nation as well as a man of his time, and I am confident that the men and women who carry the honor of graduating from this institution will continue to give from their lives, from their talents, a high measure of public service and public support.

"There are few earthly things more beautiful than a university," wrote John Masefield in his tribute to English universities--and his words are equally true today. He did not refer to spires and towers, to campus greens and ivied walls. He admired the splendid beauty of the university, he said, because it was "a place where those who hate ignorance may strive to know, where those who perceive truth may strive to make others see."

I have, therefore, chosen this time and this place to discuss a topic on which ignorance too often abounds and the truth is too rarely perceived--yet it is the most important topic on earth: world peace.

What kind of peace do I mean? What kind of peace do we seek? Not a Pax Americana enforced on the world by American weapons of war. Not the peace of the grave or the security of the slave. I am talking about genuine peace, the kind of peace that makes life on earth worth living, the kind that enables men and nations to grow and to hope and to build a better life for their children--not merely peace for Americans but peace for all men and women--not merely peace in our time but peace for all time.

I speak of peace because of the new face of war. Total war makes no sense in an age when great powers can maintain large and relatively invulnerable nuclear forces and refuse to surrender without resort to those forces. It makes no sense in an age when a single nuclear weapon contains almost ten times the explosive force delivered by all the allied air forces in the Second World War. It makes no sense in an age when the deadly poisons produced by a nuclear exchange would be carried by wind and water and soil and seed to the far corners of the globe and to generations yet unborn.

Today the expenditure of billions of dollars every year on weapons acquired for the purpose of making sure we never need to use them is essential to keeping the peace. But surely the acquisition of such idle stockpiles--which can only destroy and never create--is not the only, much less the most efficient, means of assuring peace.

I speak of peace, therefore, as the necessary rational end of rational men. I realize that the pursuit of peace is not as dramatic as the pursuit of war--and frequently the words of the pursuer fall on deaf ears. But we have no more urgent task.

Some say that it is useless to speak of world peace or world law or world disarmament--and that it will be useless until the leaders of the Soviet Union adopt a more enlightened attitude. I hope they do. I believe we can help them do it. But I also believe that we must reexamine our own attitude--as individuals and as a Nation--for our attitude is as essential as theirs. And every graduate of this school, every thoughtful citizen who despairs of war and wishes to bring peace, should begin by looking inward--by examining his own attitude toward the possibilities of peace, toward the Soviet Union, toward the course of the cold war and toward freedom and peace here at home.

First: Let us examine our attitude toward peace itself. Too many of us think it is impossible. Too many think it unreal. But that is a dangerous, defeatist belief. It leads to the conclusion that war is inevitable--that mankind is doomed--that we are gripped by forces we cannot control.

We need not accept that view. Our problems are manmade--therefore, they can be solved by man. And man can be as big as he wants. No problem of human destiny is beyond human beings. Man's reason and spirit have often solved the seemingly unsolvable--and we believe they can do it again.

I am not referring to the absolute, infinite concept of peace and good will of which some fantasies and fanatics dream. I do not deny the value of hopes and dreams but we merely invite discouragement and incredulity by making that our only and immediate goal.

Let us focus instead on a more practical, more attainable peace-- based not on a sudden revolution in human nature but on a gradual evolution in human institutions--on a series of concrete actions and effective agreements which are in the interest of all concerned. There is no single, simple key to this peace--no grand or magic formula to be adopted by one or two powers. Genuine peace must be the product of many nations, the sum of many acts. It must be dynamic, not static, changing to meet the challenge of each new generation. For peace is a process--a way of solving problems.

With such a peace, there will still be quarrels and conflicting interests, as there are within families and nations. World peace, like community peace, does not require that each man love his neighbor--it requires only that they live together in mutual tolerance, submitting their disputes to a just and peaceful settlement. And history teaches us that enmities between nations, as between individuals, do not last forever. However fixed our likes and dislikes may seem, the tide of time and events will often bring surprising changes in the relations between nations and neighbors.

So let us persevere. Peace need not be impracticable, and war need not be inevitable. By defining our goal more clearly, by making it seem more manageable and less remote, we can help all peoples to see it, to draw hope from it, and to move irresistibly toward it.

Second: Let us reexamine our attitude toward the Soviet Union. It is discouraging to think that their leaders may actually believe what their propagandists write. It is discouraging to read a recent authoritative Soviet text on Military Strategy and find, on page after page, wholly baseless and incredible claims--such as the allegation that "American imperialist circles are preparing to unleash different types of wars . . . that there is a very real threat of a preventive war being unleashed by American imperialists against the Soviet Union . . . [and that] the political aims of the American imperialists are to enslave economically and politically the European and other capitalist countries . . . [and] to achieve world domination . . . by means of aggressive wars."

Truly, as it was written long ago: "The wicked flee when no man pursueth." Yet it is sad to read these Soviet statements--to realize the extent of the gulf between us. But it is also a warning--a warning to the American people not to fall into the same trap as the Soviets, not to see only a distorted and desperate view of the other side, not to see conflict as inevitable, accommodation as impossible, and communication as nothing more than an exchange of threats.

No government or social system is so evil that its people must be considered as lacking in virtue. As Americans, we find communism profoundly repugnant as a negation of personal freedom and dignity. But we can still hail the Russian people for their many achievements--in science and space, in economic and industrial growth, in culture and in acts of courage.

Among the many traits the peoples of our two countries have in common, none is stronger than our mutual abhorrence of war. Almost unique among the major world powers, we have never been at war with each other. And no nation in the history of battle ever suffered more than the Soviet Union suffered in the course of the Second World War. At least 20 million lost their lives. Countless millions of homes and farms were burned or sacked. A third of the nation's territory, including nearly two thirds of its industrial base, was turned into a wasteland--a loss equivalent to the devastation of this country east of Chicago.

Today, should total war ever break out again--no matter how--our two countries would become the primary targets. It is an ironic but accurate fact that the two strongest powers are the two in the most danger of devastation. All we have built, all we have worked for, would be destroyed in the first 24 hours. And even in the cold war, which brings burdens and dangers to so many nations, including this Nation's closest allies--our two countries bear the heaviest burdens. For we are both devoting massive sums of money to weapons that could be better devoted to combating ignorance, poverty, and disease. We are both caught up in a vicious and dangerous cycle in which suspicion on one side breeds suspicion on the other, and new weapons beget counter weapons.

In short, both the United States and its allies, and the Soviet Union and its allies, have a mutually deep interest in a just and genuine peace and in halting the arms race. Agreements to this end are in the interests of the Soviet Union as well as ours--and even the most hostile nations can be relied upon to accept and keep those treaty obligations, and only those treaty obligations, which are in their own interest.

So, let us not be blind to our differences--but let us also direct attention to our common interests and to the means by which those differences can be resolved. And if we cannot end now our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity. For, in the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children's future. And we are all mortal.

Third: Let us reexamine our attitude toward the cold war, remembering that we are not engaged in a debate, seeking to pile up debating points. We are not here distributing blame or pointing the finger of judgment. We must deal with the world as it is, and not as it might have been had the history of the last 18 years been different.

We must, therefore, persevere in the search for peace in the hope that constructive changes within the Communist bloc might bring within reach solutions which now seem beyond us. We must conduct our affairs in such a way that it becomes in the Communists' interest to agree on a genuine peace. Above all, while defending our own vital interests, nuclear powers must avert those confrontations which bring an adversary to a choice of either a humiliating retreat or a nuclear war. To adopt that kind of course in the nuclear age would be evidence only of the bankruptcy of our policy--or of a collective death-wish for the world.

To secure these ends, America's weapons are non-provocative, carefully controlled, designed to deter, and capable of selective use. Our military forces are committed to peace and disciplined in self- restraint. Our diplomats are instructed to avoid unnecessary irritants and purely rhetorical hostility.

For we can seek a relaxation of tension without relaxing our guard. And, for our part, we do not need to use threats to prove that we are resolute. We do not need to jam foreign broadcasts out of fear our faith will be eroded. We are unwilling to impose our system on any unwilling people--but we are willing and able to engage in peaceful competition with any people on earth.

Meanwhile, we seek to strengthen the United Nations, to help solve its financial problems, to make it a more effective instrument for peace, to develop it into a genuine world security system--a system capable of resolving disputes on the basis of law, of insuring the security of the large and the small, and of creating conditions under which arms can finally be abolished.

At the same time we seek to keep peace inside the non-Communist world, where many nations, all of them our friends, are divided over issues which weaken Western unity, which invite Communist intervention or which threaten to erupt into war. Our efforts in West New Guinea, in the Congo, in the Middle East, and in the Indian subcontinent, have been persistent and patient despite criticism from both sides. We have also tried to set an example for others--by seeking to adjust small but significant differences with our own closest neighbors in Mexico and in Canada.

Speaking of other nations, I wish to make one point clear. We are bound to many nations by alliances. Those alliances exist because our concern and theirs substantially overlap. Our commitment to defend Western Europe and West Berlin, for example, stands undiminished because of the identity of our vital interests. The United States will make no deal with the Soviet Union at the expense of other nations and other peoples, not merely because they are our partners, but also because their interests and ours converge.

Our interests converge, however, not only in defending the frontiers of freedom, but in pursuing the paths of peace. It is our hope-- and the purpose of allied policies--to convince the Soviet Union that she, too, should let each nation choose its own future, so long as that choice does not interfere with the choices of others. The Communist drive to impose their political and economic system on others is the primary cause of world tension today. For there can be no doubt that, if all nations could refrain from interfering in the self-determination of others, the peace would be much more assured.

This will require a new effort to achieve world law--a new context for world discussions. It will require increased understanding between the Soviets and ourselves. And increased understanding will require increased contact and communication. One step in this direction is the proposed arrangement for a direct line between Moscow and Washington, to avoid on each side the dangerous delays, misunderstandings, and misreading of the other's actions which might occur at a time of crisis.

We have also been talking in Geneva about the other first-step measures of arms control designed to limit the intensity of the arms race and to reduce the risks of accidental war. Our primary long range interest in Geneva, however, is general and complete disarmament-- designed to take place by stages, permitting parallel political developments to build the new institutions of peace which would take the place of arms. The pursuit of disarmament has been an effort of this Government since the 1920's. It has been urgently sought by the past three administrations. And however dim the prospects may be today, we intend to continue this effort--to continue it in order that all countries, including our own, can better grasp what the problems and possibilities of disarmament are.

The one major area of these negotiations where the end is in sight, yet where a fresh start is badly needed, is in a treaty to outlaw nuclear tests. The conclusion of such a treaty, so near and yet so far, would check the spiraling arms race in one of its most dangerous areas. It would place the nuclear powers in a position to deal more effectively with one of the greatest hazards which man faces in 1963, the further spread of nuclear arms. It would increase our security--it would decrease the prospects of war. Surely this goal is sufficiently important to require our steady pursuit, yielding neither to the temptation to give up the whole effort nor the temptation to give up our insistence on vital and responsible safeguards.

I am taking this opportunity, therefore, to announce two important decisions in this regard.

First: Chairman Khrushchev, Prime Minister Macmillan, and I have agreed that high-level discussions will shortly begin in Moscow looking toward early agreement on a comprehensive test ban treaty. Our hopes must be tempered with the caution of history--but with our hopes go the hopes of all mankind.

Second: To make clear our good faith and solemn convictions on the matter, I now declare that the United States does not propose to conduct nuclear tests in the atmosphere so long as other states do not do so. We will not be the first to resume. Such a declaration is no substitute for a formal binding treaty, but I hope it will help us achieve one.  Nor would such a treaty be a substitute for disarmament, but I hope it will help us achieve it.

Finally, my fellow Americans, let us examine our attitude toward peace and freedom here at home. The quality and spirit of our own society must justify and support our efforts abroad. We must show it in the dedication of our own lives--as many of you who are graduating today will have a unique opportunity to do, by serving without pay in the Peace Corps abroad or in the proposed National Service Corps here at home.

But wherever we are, we must all, in our daily lives, live up to the age-old faith that peace and freedom walk together. In too many of our cities today, the peace is not secure because the freedom is incomplete.

It is the responsibility of the executive branch at all levels of government--local, State, and National--to provide and protect that freedom for all of our citizens by all means within their authority. It is the responsibility of the legislative branch at all levels, wherever that authority is not now adequate, to make it adequate. And it is the responsibility of all citizens in all sections of this country to respect the rights of all others and to respect the law of the land.

All this is not unrelated to world peace. "When a man's ways please the Lord," the Scriptures tell us, "he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him." And is not peace, in the last analysis, basically a matter of human rights--the right to live out our lives without fear of devastation--the right to breathe air as nature provided it--the right of future generations to a healthy existence?

While we proceed to safeguard our national interests, let us also safeguard human interests. And the elimination of war and arms is clearly in the interest of both. No treaty, however much it may be to the advantage of all, however tightly it may be worded, can provide absolute security against the risks of deception and evasion. But it can--if it is sufficiently effective in its enforcement and if it is sufficiently in the interests of its signers--offer far more security and far fewer risks than an unabated, uncontrolled, unpredictable arms race.

The United States, as the world knows, will never start a war. We do not want a war. We do not now expect a war. This generation of Americans has already had enough--more than enough--of war and hate and oppression. We shall be prepared if others wish it. We shall be alert to try to stop it. But we shall also do our part to build a world of peace where the weak are safe and the strong are just. We are not helpless before that task or hopeless of its success. Confident and unafraid, we labor on--not toward a strategy of annihilation but toward a strategy of peace.

classroom

Poorna's Classroom Demonstration on EVS

Karukku By Bama In Tamil and English

In Karukku, Bama focuses the vulnerable condition of Dalit people and how they are victims of circumstances due to their poor economic background. They remain landless agricultural labourers who are politically, powerless. She focuses other major problems such as untouchability, discrimination in the new religion, Christianity. She painfully notes that their rich culture is robbed and they are left with no culture.

An Excerpt from the Fictional Autobiography, Karukku, by Bama:

UNTIL THE TIME that I was in the eighth class, I worked in my village in all these ways. All the time I went to work for the Naikers, I knew I should not touch their goods or chattels; I should never come close to where they were, I should always stand away to one side. These were their rules. I often felt pained and ashamed. But there was nothing that I could do. They belonged to a higher caste. They had the money. We had to listen to what they said. However furious or resentful I felt in my heart, I have stepped aside for them, along with the other women of my community.

I was admitted into the convent school in the nearby village so that I could attend the ninth class. There I did not have to work all the time like this. I ate my meals, and I studied; that was all. Children who boarded at the convent and studied there certainly has a special status in our village. All the same, when I went home I did all the chores that fell to me customarily.

After the tenth class, I finished my final exams and went home. My mother was walking from the street of the Naikers with a bundle on her head, made up of mango wood which she had gathered and tied together. I went along with her, back and forth, with two or three head-loads of firewood which I gathered for her. To come to our part of the village from Naiker Street, you had to cross the Nadar Street, the Thevar Street, and then come past the oil-press and bazaar. Some people who had seen me carrying the firewood said to my mother in astonishment, ‘Your daughter has finished her schooling at the convent, yet she doesn’t mind carrying firewood like this’. I don’t know why they were so surprised. In those days I really enjoyed that kind of hard physical labour. It is only recently that I find I cannot do it anymore. Because I have been to other places and have been engaged in studying different things, I find that my body isn’t as flexible as it used to be.

When I saw our people working so hard night and day, I often used to wonder from where they got their strength. And I used to think, that at the rate they worked, men and women both, every single day, they should really be able to advance themselves. But of course, they never received a payment that was appropriate to their labour. And another thing. Even if they did the same work, men received one wage, women another. They always paid men more. I could never understand why.

Even though they worked so hard and suffered bodily pain, our people laughed and were cheerful. This is a community that was born to work. And however hard they toil, it is the same kuuzh every day. The same broken-grain gruel. The same watery dried-fish curry. It seems they never ever reflect upon their own terrible state of affairs. But do they have any time to think? You have to wonder how the upper-castes would survive without these people. For it’s only when they fall asleep at night that their arms and legs are still; they seem to be at work all other times. And they have to keep working until the moment of death. It is only in this way that they can even half fill their bellies.

Mind you, things get steadily worse and worse. In the old days, it is true, even tiny tots would hold on to sheep and cattle, and look after babies as they tumbled about in the streets around their houses. Nowadays, poor things, they go to work like adults. At crack of dawn, even before the Madurai bus makes its appearance, these days, the van from the match-box factory will arrive. These tiny crab-like children pour their kuuzh into their carriers half asleep, totter along to the van, climb in and go off to work. They work at sticking on match box-labels; they make firecrackers and use chemicals; and they return home exhausted, at seven in the evening. At an age when they should be going to school, studying like everyone else and playing around in the evenings, they are shut up inside the factories instead. There are two or three schools available for the children nowadays. But these little ones’ fate is the smell of match-box solution, not the smell of knowledge or learning. How can they afford to study, there it is such a struggle even to fill their bellies?

Notes:

Naikers: The land-owning dominant caste in Bama’s village.

Street of the Naikers: Bama’s village, like most Indian villages, is divided into streets on the basis of caste. Caste groups live in segregated clusters, closely sharing the space and not allowing any person from a different caste to live there. While the dominant caste groups and their streets form the main village, the low caste groups settle on the outskirts. This stratification is so strict that it is possible to identify people’s caste by the location of the street in which they live.

Kuuzh: A thick porridge of millet or grain.

The Carpenter's Complaint

The Carpenter’s Complaint
By
Edward Baugh

Now you think that is right, sah? Talk the truth.
The man was mi friend. I build it, I
Build the house that him live in; but now
That him dead, that mawga-foot bwoy, him son,
Come say, him want a nice job for the coffin,

So him give it to Mister Belnavis to make -
That big-belly crook who don't know him arse
From a chisel, but because him is big-shot, because
Him make big-shot coffin, fi-him coffin must better
Than mine! Bwoy it hot me, it hot me

For true. Fix we a nex' one, Miss Fergie -
That man coulda knock back him waters, you know sah!
I remember the day in this said-same bar
When him drink Old Brown and Coxs'n into
The ground, then stand up straight as a plumb-line

And keel him felt hat on him head and walk
Home cool, cool, cool. Dem was water-bird, brother!
Funeral? Me, sah? That bwoy have to learn
That a man have him pride. But bless mi days!
Good enough to build the house that him live in,

But not good enough to make him coffin!
I woulda do it for nutt'n, for nutt'n! The man
Was mi friend. Damn mawga-foot bwoy.
Is university turn him fool. I tell you,
It burn me, it burn me for true!

The Wicked Prince

THERE lived once upon a time a wicked prince whose heart and mind were set upon conquering all the countries of the world, and on frightening the people. He devastated their countries with fire and sword, and his soldiers trod down the crops in the fields and destroyed the peasants’ huts by fire, so that the flames licked the green leaves off the branches, and the fruit hung dried up on the singed black trees. Many a poor mother fled, her naked baby in her arms, behind the still smoking walls of her cottage; but also there the soldiers followed her, and when they found her, she served as new nourishment to their diabolical enjoyments; demons could not possibly have done worse things than these soldiers! The prince was of opinion that all this was right, and that it was only the natural course which things ought to take. His power increased day by day, his name was feared by all, and fortune favoured his deeds.

He brought enormous wealth home from the conquered towns, and gradually accumulated in his residence riches which could nowhere be equalled. He erected magnificent palaces, churches, and halls, and all who saw these splendid buildings and great treasures exclaimed admiringly, “What a mighty prince!” But they did not know what endless misery he had brought upon other countries, nor did they hear the sighs and lamentations which rose up from the debris of the destroyed cities.

The prince often looked with delight upon his gold and his magnificent buildings, and thought, like the crowd, “What a mighty prince! But I must have more — much more. No power on earth must equal mine, far less exceed it.”

He made war with all his neighbours, and defeated them. The conquered kings were chained up with golden fetters to his chariot when he drove through the streets of his city. These kings had to kneel at his and his courtiers’ feet when they sat at table, and live on the morsels which they left. At last the prince had his own statue erected on the public places and fixed on the royal palaces; nay, he even wished it to be placed in the churches – on the altars, but in this the priests opposed him, saying, “Prince, you are mighty indeed, but God’s power is much greater than yours; we dare not obey your orders.”

“Well,” said the prince. “Then I will conquer God too.” And in his haughtiness and foolish presumption, he ordered a magnificent ship to be constructed, with which he could sail through the air. It was gorgeously fitted out and of many colours; like the tail of a peacock, it was covered with thousands of eyes, but each eye was the barrel of a gun. The prince sat in the centre of the ship, and had only to touch a spring in order to make thousands of bullets fly out in all directions, while the guns were at once loaded again. Hundreds of eagles were attached to this ship, and it rose with the swiftness of an arrow up towards the sun. The earth was soon left far below, and looked, with its mountains and woods, like a cornfield where the plough had made furrows which separated green meadows; soon it looked only like a map with indistinct lines upon it. At last it entirely disappeared in mist and clouds. Higher and higher rose the eagles up into the air, then God sent one of his numberless angels against the ship. The wicked prince showered thousands of bullets upon him, but they rebounded from his shining wings and fell down like ordinary hailstones. One drop of blood, one single drop, came out of the white feathers of the angel’s wings and fell upon the ship in which the prince sat, burned into it, and weighed upon it like thousands of hundredweights, dragging it rapidly down to the earth again. The strong wings of the eagles gave way, the wind roared around the prince’s head, and the clouds around — were they formed by the smoke rising up from the burned cities? Took strange shapes, like crabs many, many miles long, which stretched their claws out after him, and rose up like enormous rocks, from which rolling masses dashed down, and became fire-spitting dragons.

The prince was lying half-dead in his ship, when it sank at last with a terrible shock into the branches of a large tree in the wood.

“I will conquer God!” Said the prince. “I have sworn it. My will must be done!”

And he spent seven years in the construction of wonderful ships to sail through the air, and had darts cast from the hardest steel to break the walls of heaven with. He gathered warriors from all countries, so many that when they were placed side by side they covered the space of several miles. They entered the ships and the prince was approaching his own, when God sent a swarm of gnats — one swarm of little gnats. They buzzed around the prince and stung his face and hands; angrily he drew his sword and brandished it, but he only touched the air and did not hit the gnats. Then he ordered his servants to bring costly coverings and wrap him in them, that the gnats might no longer be able to reach him. The servants carried out his orders, but one single gnat had placed itself inside one of the coverings, crept into the prince’s ear and stung him. The place burned like fire, and the poison entered into his blood. Mad with pain, he tore off the coverings and his clothes too, flinging them far away, and danced about before the eyes of his ferocious soldiers, who now mocked at him: The mad prince, who wished to make war with God, and was overcome by a single little gnat.

Silent Letters English Pronunciation Vocabulary Part 2

This lesson is about silent letters in English words. Yes, that's right! We sometimes don't pronounce letters in English words! This video will give you some tips and clues to help you pronounce English words correctly. Best wishes, Emma

Acknowledgements: YouTube Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wprp1N2srIw

Silent Letters English Pronunciation

This lesson is about silent letters in English words. Yes, that's right! We sometimes don't pronounce letters in English words! This video will give you some tips and clues to help you pronounce English words correctly.

Best wishes, Emma

Acknowledgements

YouTube Video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUccn2K0fjw

Bangle Sellers

Bangle sellers are we who bear

Our shining loads to the temple fair...

Who will buy these delicate, bright

Rainbow-tinted circles of light?

Lustrous tokens of radiant lives,

For happy daughters and happy wives.

Some are meet for a maiden's wrist,

Silver and blue as the mountain mist,

Some are flushed like the buds that dream

On the tranquil brow of a woodland stream,

Some are aglow with the bloom that cleaves

To the limpid glory of new born leaves

Some are like fields of sunlit corn,

Meet for a bride on her bridal morn,

Some, like the flame of her marriage fire,

Or, rich with the hue of her heart's desire,

Tinkling, luminous, tender, and clear,

Like her bridal laughter and bridal tear.

Some are purple and gold flecked grey

For she who has journeyed through life midway,

Whose hands have cherished, whose love has blest,

And cradled fair sons on her faithful breast,

And serves her household in fruitful pride,

And worships the gods at her husband's side.

__Sarojini Naidu.