Thinking Activity : Gun Island

 Thinking Activity : Gun Island

Hello , 

I am Bhumika Mahida Student of the Department Of English M K Bhavnagar University. Here I'm going to write a blog on the 'Gun Island' novel by Amitav Ghosh. I have to write this blog in response to the blog 'Gun Island' by Dilip Barad sir , M K Bhavnagar University. So , let's begin…

Author's Introduction :

Amitav Ghosh

Amitav Ghosh (born 11 July 1956)[1] is an Indian writer and the winner of the 54th Jnanpith award, India’s highest literary honor, best known for his work in English fiction. Ghosh's ambitious novels use complex narrative strategies to probe the nature of national and personal identity, particularly of the people of India and Southeast Asia.[3] For more information visit the given link 👉https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amitav_Ghosh

Gun Island 

Amitav Ghosh’s latest novel, Gun Island, traces familiar crosscultural patterns evident in his earlier novels. There are journeys by land and water, diaspora and migration, experiences aboard ships, the world of animals and sea-creatures. Ghosh foregrounds environmental issues like climate change and the danger to fish from chemical waste dumped into rivers by factories, concerns that carry over from earlier books like The Hungry Tide and The Great Derangement.

Gun Island describes the quest of Deen, a scholar and collector of rare books, who returns from New York, his city of domicile, to the Sunderbans in West Bengal to unravel the mystery and legend of a seventeenth-century merchant, Bonduki Sada-gar, translated “The Gun Merchant,” and his persecution by Manasa Devi, mythical goddess of snakes. In a talk held in New Delhi after the release of the novel, Ghosh stated that the merchant “was a trope for trade.” The merchant and the goddess dramatize “the conflict between profit and the world.” In the novel, the goddess pursues the merchant to make him aware of other realities like the animal world: “Humans—driven, as was the Merchant, by the quest of profit—would recognize no restraint in relation to other living things.” for more reading visit the given link 👉https://www.worldliteraturetoday.org/2019/autumn/gun-island-amitav-ghosh#:~:text=Gun%20Island%20describes%20the%20quest,his%20persecution%20by%20Manasa%20Devi%2C

Let's discuss some points of the novel…

1. How does Amitav Ghosh use the myth of Gun Merchant 'Bonduki Sadagar' and Manasa Devi to initiate discussion on the issue of Climate Change and Migration/Refugee crisis / Human Trafficking?

Amitav Ghosh uses the myth of Gun Merchant 'Bonduki Sadagar' and Manasa Devi to initiate discussion on the issue of Climate Change and Migration/Refugee crisis / Human Trafficking.In this novel we can find many incidents that are talking about climate change.The incidents like the floods in Sundarban , tides in Venice and The wildfire in Los Angeles.While reading we can see that Nilima talked about the cyclone that came in Sundarban.Because of pollution and human disturbance many animals and various species are changing their places. Fertiliser and other chemicals create a dead zone in water and because of that dolphins have to change their place and path often. 

In Gun Island with the use of myth Ghosh wants to talk about the serious problem that we are facing today and these problems are climate change and migration. Amitav Ghosh very intellectually used this myth of The Gun Merchant and Manasa Devi.The whole story is about the pilgrimage of Gun merchant as well as of Dinanath. 

Ghosh’s novel intervenes in mainstream discussions on the “migrant crisis” in two ways: by positing human migration as a continuum rather than an exceptional event, and by underscoring the agency of the migrants by showing how Rafi and Tipu carefully execute their plans against pressures from human traffickers and border security guards. Gun Island’s juxtaposition of a premodern myth with ongoing anthropogenic climate change reframes contemporary discourses of climate change migration by pointing out that our shared species history is marked by both human and non-human migrations. By so doing, one also recognizes how the environmental humanities can offer interventionist criticism of events such as the Poland-Belarus face-off by critiquing the utilitarian and sedentarist view of the nation-state, foregrounding an ethics of alterity by situating humans relationally with other non-human and geophysical agencies. 

2. How does Amitav Ghosh make use of the 'etymology' of common words to sustain mystery and suspense in the narrative?

Etymology is the study of the history of words.By extension, the etymology of a word means its origin and development throughout history.In this novel Ghosh uses many words with its etymology.

1.Gun Island

2.Bhut - Ghost 

3.Possession 

4.Land of Palm Sugar Candy

5.Land of Kerchieves 

6.Island of Chains

1.Gun Island

Gun here is refer as a reference of foundry.There is one foundry where armaments, including bullets, were cast. And the word used for foundry in Venetian dialect is "ghetto". And the world "ghetto" is derived from "getto" and it is connected with Jews.But again there is no reference of Jews in the novel. 

2.Bhut - Ghost

Deen explains that in Bangla bhoot/bhuta means according to Sanskrit root "bhu" means "to be" or "to manifest". So "bhuta" simply means "a being" or "an existing presence". This word "bhuta" also refers to the past, in the sense of "a past state of being".  

3.Possession

There is reference to the word possession in the novel. Possession is when someone is taken over by a demon. And the demon is nothing but it's just a metaphor for greed, an imaginary thing. So possession is not like someone's soul comes into our body and all things ! It's our greed that we have taken over that greed. It is a kind of awakening also, you are waking up to things that you had never imagined or sensed before. 

4.Land of Palm Sugar Candy

The Bengali word for this is "taal-misrir-dish". Desh = country, taal= kind of palm tree that produces a sugar syrup, Bengali word for sugar candy is misri. Cinta said that the Arabic word "Misr" is used for Egypt. So this place is referred to as Egypt. 

5.Land of Kerchieves 

Cinta asked for the Bengali translation of this word. Deen told her it was called Rumaali-desh. In Bengali Rumaal is a handkerchief. Chinta said it is about Rumelia, and this Rumeli-Hisari is located in Turkey. 

6.Island of Chains

The Bengali word for this is "shikol-dwip". And this is a reference to Sikelia and that is now Sicily. So the Island of Chains is used for Sicily. 

3. What are your views on the use of myth and history in the novel Gun Island to draw the attention of the reader towards contemporary issues like climate change and migration?

Gun Island uses the myth of the Gun Merchant as a nexus to draw parallels between the Little Ice Age and our present-day scenario where droughts, floods, cyclones, wildfires and epidemics have become a part of our everyday lives. Gun Island projects unprecedented climatic conditions as the primary cause for these natural disasters. It becomes a clarion call for climate induced migrations as it skillfully portrays people and entire communities being uprooted from their native land and the drastic changes in the migratory patterns of different species due to changing climes and warming waters. Instead of projecting warnings of impending doom and apocalypse Gun Island focuses on giving the readers hope for a better tomorrow.

4.Is there any connection between 'The Great Derangement' and 'Gun Island'?

Gun Island may seem like a fun, fast-paced adventure story, but there’s a lot going on beneath the surface that’s easy to miss on a first read. To really get the most out of this novel, it’s helpful to read it critically using Amitav Ghosh’s nonfiction book The Great Derangement as a guiding framework.In the novel, Ghosh explores the hesitancy of literary fiction to address climate change and questions why books that do address climate change are often disregarded or looked down upon by the literati as pulp or science fiction. 

5. There are many Italian words in the novel. Have you tried to translate these words into English or Hindi with the help of google translate app ? If so, how is machine translation helping in proper translation of Italian words into English or Hindi ?

Yes , there are lots of Italian words in the novel. I've tried to translate the words from Italian to English and also I got a proper meaning of particular words. With the help of Google Translation it has been done successfully , for reading this novel Machine Translator is the most important tool. 

Here are some videos for better understanding of the novel…👇

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Thinking Activity : Petals of Blood

 Thinking Activity : Petals Of Blood 

Hello , I am Bhumika Mahida , student of Department of M K Bhavnagar University, here I'm going to write a blog on the task on the unit '  Petals of Blood ' which was assigned by Yesha Ma'am from Department Of English M K Bhavnagar University . So, let's begin…

Author's Introduction : 

Ngugi wa Thiong'o

Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o (Gikuyu pronunciation: [ᵑɡoɣe wá ðiɔŋɔ];[1] born James Ngugi; 5 January 1938)[2] is a Kenyan writer and academic who writes primarily in Gikuyu, and who formerly wrote in English. His work includes novels, plays, short stories, and essays, ranging from literary and social criticism to children's literature. He is the founder and editor of the Gikuyu-language journal Mũtĩiri. His short story The Upright Revolution: Or Why Humans Walk Upright, is translated into 100[3] languages from around the world.[4] ...to read full biography please click here 

Petals Of Blood 

Petals of Blood is the fourth novel written by Ngugi wa Thiong'o, who is more commonly known simply as Ngugi. The novel describes the inequality, hypocrisy, and betrayal of peasants and workers in post-independence Kenya. As with Ngugi's other works, many of the events depicted in the novel have their basis in historical and social fact. The work is a damning indictment of the corruption and greed of Kenya's political, economic, and social elite who, after the struggle for freedom from British rule, have not returned the wealth of the land to its people but rather perpetuate the social injustice and economic inequality that were a feature of colonial oppression. In addition to criticizing this neocolonialism, the novel is also a bitter critique of the economic system of capitalism and its destructive, alienating effects on traditional Kenyan society.

The deeply political novel takes the form of a detective story. Three prominent industrialists in the town of Ilmorog in north-central Kenya have been murdered, and four suspects are questioned by the police. These four are the protagonists of the novel, whose interrelated stories are recounted against the background of Kenya's past and present. The shifting perspectives and timeline of the novel reinforce the sense of dislocation and disorientation of the once proud community of villagers who now struggle against the indignities of the neocolonial world.

 

 

In this video you can watch the full summary of the text please watch it👆

Thank you for visiting my blog…

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Learning Outcome - Research and Dissertation writing workshop

 Thinking Activity: Learning Outcome-Research & Dissertation Writing Workshop

Hello, 

I am Bhumika Mahida , student of Department of English MK Bhavnagar University , in this blog I'm going to write about the learning outcome of the workshop conducted on 4th January 2022. So, let's begin…

The Resource Persons of this workshop were Prof. Dilip Barad and Dr. Ndoricimpa Clement.This blog is assigned as a part of Thinking Activity by Dr. Dilip Barad sir . 

In this workshop the resource persons gave the speech on the topics like…

1.Concept of Research

2.Selection of a Topic

for Research

3.Research Process

4.Writing a dissertation

1. Concept of Research

As a concept of research they told that how to select a topic for a dissertation writing ? 

Also they discussed about types and Characteristics of the research. 

2.Selection of a Topic

for Research

They gave information about to selection of the good topics for dissertation writing and more.

3.Research Process

They provide a information on such topics like...

• Defining Research Problem

• Research objectives, questions / hypotheses

• Literature Review (Review of the concepts and of previous studies)

• Research Design

• Data collection

• Data analysis

• Interpretation and discussion of the findings 

4.Writing a dissertation

There are four types of research : 

1 .Historical

2 .Descriptive

3 .Correlation

4 .Cultural 

After discussing about the types of research they discussed about the characteristics of research.Research must consist the characteristics like.. 

1. It is based on the works of others;

2. It can be replicated (duplicated)- reliability;

3.It is generalizable to other settings (external validity);

4.It is based on some logical rationale and tied to a particular theory (content validity);

5. It is doable;

6. It generates news questions;

7. It is important;

8. It advances the frontiers of knowledge. 

 Form this session we know such a great knowledge on dissertation writing and learnt more on this. 

Thank you…

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Learning Outcome - Research Methodology Workshop - 7 Jan 2022

 Learning Outcome - Research Methodology Workshop - 7 Jan 2022

Hello , 

I am Bhumika Maida , student of Department of English MK Bhavnagar University . On 7th January 2022, students of Department Of English attended a workshop on Research Methodology. It was the workshop on Research Methodology. In this blog, I am going to write about the learning outcome from this workshop. So , let's begin …

Workshop is decided into three sessions 

1. Importance of Research- by Prof.J.P.Majmudar

2. Avoid Plagiarism- Qualitative Research in Digital Era - by Prof. Dilip Barad 

3. Citation-Tools and Techniques - by Vaidehi Hariyani  

1. Importance Of Research- by Prof.J.P.Majumdar 

The first session of workshop is by prof. Majumdar sir , in this session he gave the speech on Importance Of the Research . 

He is a retired Prof. of the Department of M.B.A and is the first coordinator.  He also gave great speech on what is the importance of research ?  Systematic Scientific inquiry is necessary while doing research. If we conduct any research there must be problems first. And for that, it requires the reading of existing literature of the contemporary period. 

He also said that good research starts with the gaps in the existing literature. And I like this session very much in this workshop.

2. Avoid Plagiarism- Qualitative Research in Digital Era - by Prof. Dilip Barad

Second session of this workshop is by Dr. Dilip Barad sir 

click here to view the blog on plagiarism 

In this session we learn that , How to avoid plagiarism? and what is the importance of it in research? What is qualitative research and how can we make our research qualitative. We did a workshop in this session. 

There were 5 criteria for the research in digital era

1. Authority

2. Educational Value

3. Intent

4. Originality

5. Quality 

And this session is very helpful for the dissertation writing. 

3. Citation-Tools and Techniques - by Vaidehi Hariyani ma'am 

In this session She gave the speech on Citation . 

In this session, the students did group work on various tools of citation and learnt new things. Students did citation through Citation tools. In this tool, students find many difficulties such as suffix, volume, and some other information. So in Citation Machine(tool), there are two options for doing it.

1. Automatic Citation

2. Manual Citation

And this was very interesting session of this workshop. 

Thank you ….

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Thinking Activity : The Ministry Of Utmost Happiness

 Thinking activity : The Ministry of Utmost Happiness 

Hello , 

I'm BHUMIKA MAHIDA , Here I'm going to write a blog on the novel , 'The Ministry Of Utmost Happiness' which we have discussed in our classroom , I have to write this blog in response to the blog https://blog.dilipbarad.com/2021/12/the-ministry-of-utmost-happiness.html which is assigned by prof. Dilip Barad sir , so let's begin …

Arundhati Roy : 

Suzanna Arundhati Roy (born 24 November 1961)[1] is an Indian author best known for her novel The God of Small Things (1997), which won the Man Booker Prize for Fiction in 1997 and became the best-selling book by a non-expatriate Indian author.[1] She is also a political activist involved in human rights and environmental causes.

(https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arundhati_Roy)

 Novel Introduction :

 The novel weaves together the stories of people navigating some of the darkest and most violent episodes of modern Indian history, from land reform that dispossessed poor farmers to the 2002 Godhra train burning and Kashmir insurgency.[3] Roy's characters run the gamut of Indian society and include an intersex woman (hijra), a rebellious architect, and her landlord who is a supervisor in the intelligence service.[4] The narrative spans across decades and locations, but primarily takes place in Delhi and Kashmir.

(https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ministry_of_Utmost_Happiness)

Political issues in the 

novel :

The novel ' Ministry of Utmost Happiness ' includes many political issues , there is reference of current political parties and their mysterious  names , there is a reference of Anna Hazare movement which we have discussed in our classroom for this novel , also there is a reference of Godhra Kand , land reform, 2002 Godhra train burning . The reference of Emergency in 1975 is also mentioned by Arundhati Roy in this novel.

2.Gender Concerns in the novel

In this  novel we can find very complications gender issues because the novel told by the Character of Anjum , who is a transgender woman and former sex worker who was born with both female and male genitalia. The Urdu word for trans gender  is 'Hijra' , an identity that is very important to Anjum and the other trans women she lives with. 

3.Environmetal concerns in the novel/Ecofeminist study:

In this novel Roy describe the transwoman Anjum.She is transgender woman . But first I want to introduce you with the word ' Ecofeminism '

' Ecofeminism '

Ecofeminism is a branch of feminism that sees environmentalism, and the relationship between women and the earth, as foundational to its analysis and practice. Ecofeminist thinkers draw on the concept of gender to analyse the relationships between humans and the natural world.  (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecofeminism#:~:text=Ecofeminism%20is%20a%20branch%20of,humans%20and%20the%20natural%20world.)

In this novel the reference of Ecofeminism is for the character 'Anjum ' and also for the characters like    Tillotama,Maryam Ipe,Revathy. In all this character we can see ecofeminism. 

4.Narrative pattern in this novel 

At the narrative technique level , the novel turned first person to the third person point of view . The novel starts with the setting of the Graveyard, then moves backward to Shahjahanabad, Delhi then to Khwabagh or the House of Dreams to the Jannat Guest House. Then it takes a shift to the urban Delhi or the city only to come back to Kashmir, to complete the dystopian sphere, but ultimately the two loose strands join in the Jannat Guest House, completing the utopian dream. In terms of the setting, this setting of the city can be seen as an evolution of the writer from a smaller canvas to a bigger one. In this novel Arundhati Roy uses varied narrative techniques like epistolary, stream of consciousness, pamphlets, news articles, hospital records, photographs, poems, addressed to an unknown character etc. 

Here I've attached some video recordings for this novel by Department of English MKBU : 

 

 

 

 

Thematic study of this novel :

 

Symbols and motifs :

  

 

Thank you…

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Translation workshop : Learning Outcome

 Translation workshop: Learning Outcome 

Hello Readers,

Here I'm going to write this blog as learning outcomes of the translation workshop which is held by Dr . Vishal Bhadani sir and organised by Dr. Dilip Barad sir . So , let's begin…

Let's have a look at the introduction of Dr. Vishal Bhadani sir …

After gaining 5 years of teaching experience from the leading universities of Gujarat, he now works as a Director, International Center for Applied Gandhian Studies, Lokbharati Sanosara which is the first residential institute of rural higher education in the country. Here, they  conduct workshops on Green Startups, Minimalism, Faculty Development, Agro Tourism, Nature Photography, Farm Stay, Organic Farming, Khadi & Fashion Design, etc.  

          (https://www.linkedin.com/in/vishal-bhadani-32598188)

Based on our workshop on 3rd January , 2022 by Dr. Vishal Bhadani sir , here I want to share my learning outcomes with you … 

1) Has your understanding of translation improved?

Obviously , because before this session , for me translation is Just a change of language one to the another language , but after attending the session by Dr. Vishal Bhadani sir, I've realised that translation is something great in its own world. It has its own importance. 

2)Translation in terms of metaphors?

We can say that translation is like an interesting metaphor. He gave various metaphors to understand  how translation Studies are connected with each other. It is like the closest reading of the text and to use our own thoughts with our own familiar language. Also Dr. Vishal Sir's title is something like Fantastic ' My Love story with Translation ' from the very title I'm very interested in attending the session. 

3) What according to you is the most difficult aspect of practical translation?

I've shared some images , with these images we can understand that what is the translation itself?

The most difficult aspect of practical translation is to find an appropriate meaning of the particular words. Dictionary is a very important tool in the study of translation . Sometimes it happens that we can not find an appropriate meaning of a particular word in various languages. Practical translation becomes very difficult for starters.

4) Learning outcome from the workshop.

For this session I want to say that to become a translator it's not an easy task for everyone. But it's not impossible either. Hardwork and practice will make a  person who he wants to become in his life. From my point of view "Translator not actually a Translator , we can say he is a creator". And I also enjoyed the session very well. And I learnt something new from this session of translation studies. 

Thank you…

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