Thinking activity : Revolution 2020

 Thinking Activity : Revolution 2020 

Hello,

I am Bhumika Mahida. Here I'm going to write a blog In response to the blog https://blog.dilipbarad.com/2021/12/revolution2020.html , which is done by Dr. Dilip Barad sir , here I have to give my point of view for some points of the novel R2020 , so let's see…

Author's Introduction :

Chetan Bhagat is an Indian author and columnist. He was included in Time magazine's list of World's 100 Most Influential People in 2010. Bhagat graduated in mechanical engineering at IIT Delhi and completed a PGP at IIM Ahmedabad.(https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chetan_Bhagat) 

3) 'For a feminist reader, Aarti is a sheer disappointing character.' Do you agree with this statement? If yes, what sort of characteristics you would like to see in Aarti. If you disagree with this statement, why? What is it in Aarti that you are satisfied with this character? 

Yes , I agree with this statement . Aa we know that in the novel R2020 Arti plays a role of beloved person for Raghav and Gopal. Arti is the only one female character in the novel who plays a major role in this novel. Aa we know that Gopal and Raghav both are lovers of Arti and but Arti is not able to make the right decision for her. Arti is just a symbol of the trophy (award) , for these two participants (Raghav and Gopal) of the race in which both want to win the race just because of the precious trophy. So , Arti is unable to make the decision with whom she wants to live or who is the best person for her. So , in this novel the whole feminist idea is lost , and Arti stands as a shallow character for feminist point of view in this novel. So, the statement is very right for this character that , 'For a feminist reader, Aarti is a sheer disappointing character.'

4) 'For a true revolutionist, the novel is terribly disappointing.' Do you agree? If yes, what sort of changes would you make in character or situation to make it a perfect revolutionary novel? If you disagree, what is in the novel that you are satisfied?

Yes , I agree with this point . We can say for this novel that for 'For a true revolutionist, the novel is terribly disappointing.Because as we know that in the novel R2020 the character of Raghav stands for a revolutionary character , but the whole story of the novel mainly deals with the love story and both the protagonists are wants to win the Arti . And also the character of Arti wants to live with Gopal just because he becomes rich , and not with Raghav because he becomes very poor just because he wants to change society and bring revolution . If the writer wants to make the novel a revolutionary novel then he surely makes it with some changes in some characters and some events. If he makes the character of Arti as a true feminist character who has a true point of view for a person that who is the right person for her and if she will live with the true person . And another change is to be done in this novel is that if the character of Raghav does not want to win the Arti then also it's possible that the novel becomes a revolutionary novel . So , with these types of changes the novel has the possibility of becoming a revolutionary novel.  

👇Here are some reviews for the book Revolution 2020. 

Book review: 

'Revolution 2020'

Chetan Bhagat’s latest novel is not, as the title suggests, about a revolution. It’s the story of a love triangle, set in the time of engineering entrance exams in Varanasi.https://www.dnaindia.com/lifestyle/review-book-review-revolution-2020-1604778

Chetan Bhagat on 'Revolution 2020'

October 8, 2011

https://www.ndtv.com/video/shows/just-books/chetan-bhagat-on-revolution-2020-213122

Chetan Bhagat's 'Revolution 2020' disappoints

'Revolution 2020' is dramatic in a garish way, idealistic without the backing of reason and sadly self indulgent.

https://www.news18.com/news/books/chetan-bhagats-revolution-2020-disappoints-410331.html

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Thinking Activity: Cultural Studies : Media Power and truly educated person

 Thinking Activity:

Cultural studies:

Media power and truly educated person

Hello readers,

Here I'm going to write a blog on the topic 'Cultural studies :Media power and truly educated person' which is assigned by prof. Dilip Barad sir . So, let's begin…

Power:

So What is "Power"? Power plays a vital role in the study of culture. Without power the study of culture is incomplete, and power is connected to the extensive use of media.There are six main sources of civic power ...

1) Physical forces

2) Wealth

3) State action

4) Social norms

5) Ideas

6) Numbers

• There are three laws of Power:-

1) Power is never static

2) Power is like water

3) Power compounds 

Power is everywhere around us. To read power, one has to start thinking about the things which happen around them. Think how it happens and which type of power is working behind it. After having the habit of doing this one can understand the power and also can save themselves from the trap of power.

Media

Noam Chomsky gives five filters about mass media:

• Media ownership

• Advertising

• Media Elite

• Flack

• The common enemy

Noam Chomsky is talking about mass media and how mass media controls the perceptions of large numbers of populations. In our day to day life who decides how certain things work? Well, seemingly it is the government but behind that it is mass media or newspapers, news channels which control our perception. We blindly believe what news channels tell us but, before showing any news to us, news channels also filter the news. They decide what to show and what not to show, they decide how debates are going to end, in a way every certain thing which news channels are showing is pre-decided and planned or we can say scripted. Media controls the elite group of the population and it makes us think in a way which they want.

At last they are talking about what actually is being a truly educated person and as Noam Chomsky says, “It's not important what you cover in class, it's important what you discover”. It is about to inquire and create constructively, independently without external controls. Truly educated person has the spirit of questioning, they don’t accept what comes to them they question in a certain way to identify the fact.

Conclusion:

So, this is how power controls the media and the media controls people but the work of a truly educated person is not to believe everything first question then believe what comes from what your understanding says.

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Thinking Activity: CS and Feminism - Cyberfeminism : Artificial Intelligence and the Unconscious Biases

 Thinking Activity: CS and Feminism - Cyberfeminism: Artificial Intelligence and the Unconscious Biases

Hello readers, 

I'm Bhumika Thinking Activity: CS and Feminism - Cyberfeminism: Artificial Intelligence and the Unconscious Biases , Here I'm going to write a blog about Thinking Activity on CS and Feminism - Cyberfeminism: Artificial Intelligence and the Unconscious Biases. This task is assigned by Prof. Dr. Dilip Barad sir, Head of the English Department of Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavsinhji Bhavnagar University (MKBU). 

Cyberfeminism and Artificial Life examines the construction, manipulation and redefinition of life in contemporary technoscientific culture. The book takes a critical political view of the concept of life as information, and traces it through the new biology and the discourse of genomics incorporating the changing discipline of Artificial Life and its manifestation in art, language, literature, commerce and entertainment.

There is a great deal of ground to contest even when there are no clearly demarcated territories, and the gendered and racial legacy of territorialism must surely be no great loss. Biology no longer occupies a territory that can consistently and reliably be named ‘nature’, and feminism does not preside over a pure, abstract extrapolation of nurture called ‘culture’.

1. Kirti Sharma: How to keep human bias out of AI?

In this video Kirti Sharma talk about human bias regarding AI. Emotion and bias have always been one of the most controversial topics of AI. That is because of an unintentional premonition due to bias in training data. Furthermore, things like sexist/racist steps taken by humans have a similar effect on AI models.

2. Robin Hauser: Can we protect AI from our biases?

 

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Thinking Activity : The Culture Of Speed and the Counterculture of Slow Movement

 Thinking Activity:

The culture of speed and the counterculture of slow movement 

The Culture of Speed and the CounterCulture of Slow Movement

When we talk about technology it is always helping us in one and another way.As we know that it is helping us in each and every step. Whenever we go whatever we come across, there might be some functions that connect through technology. It has made our life tremendous fast and more efficient. Ranging from kitchen appliances to home entertainment gadgets like televisions, home theater system, CD, DVD and Blu-Ray players, disc jockey mixer (DJ Mixer), various video game machines; medical and healthcare equipments like sphygmomanometer, treadmill, nebulizer; to communication devices like smartphones and computers. Right from the thinkers to manufacturers and distributors of these technologies are the people who are in power. As a consumer society, we are influenced by their marketing and advertisements and we attract towards the products and we purchase them. Thus consumerism works.

A German sociologist, Ulrich Beck propounded the term Technoculture in his book Risk Society: Towards a New Modernity. He further explains how risk theory works in various cultural artefacts like, in the cyber world we find computer anti-virus software are sold on the grounds of risk and threats of bug attacks.

Things which are governed by risk become a risk society. Beck explains that risks are not real but they are about becoming real. When a certain risk is predicted, it is just an assumption of future incidents. But when risk becomes real it becomes a disaster or catastrophe.

It can be said that today's society is risk society. People are constantly acknowledged with several risks through various mediums. These risks are majorly health related. Several examples of risk society can be taken such as the industry of edible oil. The manufacturer of sunflower oil might highlight the hazards and risks of heart attack by consuming other edible oils such as groundnut oil, til oil etc. The television watchers will accept the theory of risk explained by the company and purchase sunflower oil. Customer will also do mouth publicity for that oil company, by emphasizing on the risk of heart attack, and will also say the benefits of using sunflower oil.

Concept of speed and slow movement

In the era of doing everything fast and first, this slow movement tries to retain the connection with nature and humans among whom we live. Journalist Carl Honore explains with very agreeable statements that the world needs re-connection with itself. 

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Thinking activity: Why are we so scared of Robots?

 Thinking Activity: Why are we so scared of Robots/Als?

Hello readers,

Here I'm going to write a blog on the topic 'Why are we so scared of Robots?' which is assigned by our prof. Dilip Barad sir . So , let's begin…

3 reasons why people are afraid of Robots?

Many times we find that , most of the people afraid of Robots , here are some reasons of their fear about the Robots. 

Robots have become an integral part of the manufacturing industry, but they’re also moving into other industries as well. As they continue to become a larger part of our society, people are voicing growing fears about them. Whether it’s a fear for their jobs, their lives, or something else entirely, it’s all built on a lack of knowledge.

3 Major Fears About Robots That Simply Aren’t True

We’ve all seen science fiction films about robots turning on their masters and we’ve certainly heard naysayers talk about how robots are coming to steal human jobs, but are they really so bad? The answer is no. Let’s explore three fears that about robots that simply don’t hold up to the light:

1. They’re Not Safe

First and foremost, you’ll hear about how robots aren’t safe. While it’s true that fenced robots in manufacturing are behind said fences for a reason, that’s not to say that their collaborative counterparts are dangerous as well.

Today’s standards, combined with safety technology, has resulted in several excellent options for safety with collaborative robots:

• Power and force limiting

•  Speed and separation monitoring

• Hand guiding

New safety technology continues to emerge as time goes on, quickly revealing that humans have no need to fear their safety around robots in the workplace, so long as they are well informed.

2. They’ll Take Our Jobs

 

Throughout history, people have always feared technology, because they were scared it would make their jobs obsolete. Cars, the printing press, industrial technology, all of these things were met with fear in the past. People were afraid these things would put them out of work, but in every case, they did not.

Instead, technology creates new industries, new jobs, and more prosperity as a whole. With robots, the same thing is happening today. People in manufacturing are afraid their jobs will be taken, but new jobs are already being created.

Whether it’s someone to program the robots, or a human to work on more intricate tasks that robots can’t perform, new roles are emerging as robots increase production and lower costs. Back-breaking jobs that humans hate can now be given to robots, thus freeing them up to do more rewarding work.

There’s nothing to fear, because technology creates far more than it destroys when it comes to industries, jobs, and careers.

3. Artificial Intelligence Is Dangerous

People who think about decades in the future may have concerns about the intelligence of robots being used against us, but that’s not something we need to worry about now.

The current landscape of robotics puts us squarely in control. As a result, the idea of robots turning on us or becoming sentient is still in the realm of science fiction. Major technology figures like Elon Musk, Stephen Hawking, and others are already thinking about how to properly harness A.I.

Geoff Hinton, known as the “godfather of deep learning,” told the BBC that “You can see things clearly for the next few years, but look beyond 10 years and we can’t really see anything. It’s just a fog.”

Instead, we should focus on the fact that today’s A.I systems can process information too vast or too complex for humans to grasp. There’s nothing to fear from the growth of A.I as we are still in the infancy of the technology.

Is there a danger Robot/AIs is going to take over the world?

According to Joanna Bryson..

"There's a lot of really intelligent people who aren't trying to take over the world. There's a broken idea that anything that's intelligent will want will have the same kind of ambitions as we have," 

Example of a cheetah "The idea that just because humans are the smartest animal, anything that is intelligent will become a person is broken. That's like thinking any animal that becomes fast will turn into a cheetah." 

Here is one video about some helpful robots 

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Thinking activity: Dino Daan by Rabindranath Tagore

 Pre-independence Literature Dino Daan by Rabindranath Tagore

Hello Readers,

Here I'm going to write a blog on the poem Dino Daan by Rabindranath Tagore . So, let's begin…

 

Dino Daan by Rabindranath Tagore

There is no god in the temple….

Said the royal attendant, “Despite entreaties, king,

The finest hermit, best among men, refuses shelter

In your temple of gold, he is singing to god

Beneath a tree by the road. The devout surround him

In numbers large, their overflowing tears of joy

Rinse the dust off the earth. The temple, though,

Is all but deserted; just as bees abandon

The gilded honeypot when maddened by the fragrance

Of the flower to swiftly spread their wings

And fly to the petals unfurling in the bush

To quench their eager thirst, so too are people,

Sparing not a glance for the palace of gold,

Thronging to where a flower in a devout heart

Spreads heaven’s incense. On the bejewelled platform

The god sits alone in the empty temple.”

At this,

The fretful king dismounted from his throne to go

Where the hermit sat beneath the tree. Bowing, he said,

“My lord, why have you forsaken god’s mighty abode,

The royal construction of gold that pierces the sky,

To sing paeans to the divine here on the streets?’

“There is no god in that temple,” said the hermit.

Furious,

The king said, “No god! You speak like a godless man,

Hermit. A bejewelled idol on a bejewelled throne,

You say it’s empty?”

“Not empty, it holds royal arrogance,

You have consecrated yourself, not the god of the world.”

Frowning, said the king, “You say the temple I made

With twenty lakh gold coins, reaching to the sky,

That I dedicated to the deity after due rituals,

This impeccable edifice – it has no room for god!”

Said the tranquil hermit, “The year when the fires

Raged and rendered twenty thousand subjects

Homeless, destitute; when they came to your door

With futile pleas for help, and sheltered in the woods,

In caves, in the shade of trees, in dilapidated temples,

When you constructed your gold-encrusted building

With twenty lakh gold coins for a deity, god said,

‘My eternal home is lit with countless lamps

In the blue, infinite sky; its everlasting foundations

Are truth, peace, compassion, love. This feeble miser

Who could not give homes to his homeless subjects

Expects to give me one!’ At that moment god left

To join the poor in their shelter beneath the trees.

As hollow as the froth and foam in the deep wide ocean

Is your temple, just as bereft beneath the universe,

A bubble of gold and pride.”

Flaring up in rage

The king said, “You false deceiver, leave my kingdom

This instant.”

Serenely the hermit said to him,

“You have exiled the one who loves the devout.

Now send the devout into the same exile, king.”

The poem is about a sage who tells a king that the temple which has been built with "two million gold coins" does not have a God inside. Upon hearing this, the king gets angry, calls him an atheist, and asks if such a grand temple could be empty. The sage then reminds the king that it was wrong on his part to spend the riches in building a temple in the same year when the people of his kingdom were struck by a calamity and had nothing for themselves.

1) The poem was written 120 years (approx.). Can you find any resemblance between the poem and the pandemic time? 

we find the resemblance between the poem and the pandemic.The poem talks about the conversation between the king and the hermit. Now it talks about the relevance of Ram Mandir, when our Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid down the first bricks of the much-contested Ram Mandir in Ayodhya. In the same manners of people are dying due to corona. Hospital has no bed, no oxygen cylinder and so many people meet death lack of doctors that time our kind was busy with making of that temple.Still others have questioned the need to perform such a ceremony at a time when the country is fighting the coronavirus pandemic.

2) Why do you think the King is angry with the Sage?

In the poem the King is angry with the sage because the sage is speaking about the harsh reality of the society and of the temple. 

3) Why do you think the Sage refuses to enter the temple?

The sage knew that when the people needed shelter, the king refused them to give shelter. At the same time the king thought that the sage would come to the temple because it is built with gold. No, God is not in any so-called golden temple. No God is in humanity, in compassion not in any temple. The sage is the true devotee of God. That’s why he refuses to enter the temple. 

Serenely the hermit said to him,

“You have exiled the one who loves the devout.

Now send the devout into the same exile, king.”

The sage said that by exiling people you also exiled God. Now I am a devotee of them and so exiled him also because God is not in the temple.

4) Can there be any connection between the text of the poem and the verdict of Ayodhya Ram Mandir?  

Yes , we can find the connection between them.In the poem, a saint reminds the king that he turned away from helping the suffering poor even as he built the temple at a cost of 2 million gold coins.In the course of the conversation, the saint reminds the king that the poor masses were left devastated without food or shelter in a recent drought. At the time, the king had turned them away when they sought help but he is now glad to spend his gold on the grand temple.

The English translation of a 120-year-old poem by Nobel laureate and freedom fighter Rabindranath Tagore is going viral on social media, a day after the groundbreaking ceremony for the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya. While the event, which was led by PM Narendra Modi, has been celebrated by many, several others have expressed their grief at what this means for the secular fabric of the country. So this connection we find between the poem and Ayodhya Mandir.

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The Final Solutions : Movie Adaptation by Mahesh Dattani

 Thinking activity: 'The Final Solutions' movie adaptation by Mahesh Dattani

Hello readers,

Here I'm going to write a blog on 'The Final Solutions' by Mahesh Dattani in response to the answers to the question of this thinking activity. So, let's begin…

Final Solution by Mahesh Dattani

 

In the play Final Solutions, Dattani represents the three female characters – Hardika, Smita and Aruna. He adopts an innovative narrative technique and the major dramatic events float through the consciousness of Hardika, the grandmother in Gandhian family. The dramatic conflict springs and develops through the reflection of Hardika whose consciousness remains rooted in the horrible events of partition that took place forty years back. The dramatic narration shifts between the present to 31st March 1948 when Hardika, the grandmother was a young girl of 14, known as Daksha and in her reflections she concludes that nothing as has changed and prejudices of communalism are haunting their consciousness continuously. In her diary entry, she mentions: 

After forty years … I opened my diary again. And I wrote a dozen pages before. A dozen pages now. A young girl childish scribble. An oldman’s shaky scrawl, yes the things have not changed that much. (Act I)

In Final Solutions, Dattani represents the female characters like Hardika, Smita and Aruna. They make realization that women are not a shadow of male. Today woman is making her spaces. She has a better understanding of realization of identity both inside and outside the family. A woman of liberal ideology views the situation as an individual and constructs the image of life beyond the specified ideology of religious and community-based prejudices. She retains the power to change the conventional thinking and to make better realization of her hidden potentials. She wants to take decision for herself and if it is right she can protest against those agencies who are responsible for her sublimation.The post-modern ideology suggested the way of interpreting the life condition beyond the set patterns of ideologies. It accepts that human experiences are persistently in a state of flux and it’s set pattern of ideologies becomes a burden for the free growth of the individual. In this new method of literary investigation, the feminist ideologies have also undergone a drastic change. It is not confined only to defend the cause of female emancipation and the spaces for the economic and social security of woman. The post-feminist interrogations of the female identity and female roles aim at the deconstruction of the constructed patriarchal structure. It has provided a wider canvas to construct the voice of women in family, society, professional life and personal relationship.In post-feminists phase of feminism, female identity and female consciousness to assert their voice has been reflected in the diverse ways. Her individual strength helps her to express her potential in social, patriarchal and personal spaces.

Feminine consciousness focusing to restore a position in the process of social justice. According to Mahesh Dattani a woman has the equal sensibility and better realization of feelings.

In Final Solutions, beyond the contentions of traditional language, he constructs the language of wounded psyche sharing the burden of communal hatred. Alyque Padmasee as a director of the play tried to investigate the hidden motive of the play and comments:

As I see it, this is a play about transferred resentment. About looking for a scope goal to hit out when we feel let down humiliated. Taking your anger on your wife, children, or servants is an old Indian custom. This is above all a play about a family with its simmering undercurrents.” (Padmasee : 161)

In Daksha’s reflections and recollections of Diaries, Dattani exposes inner world of individuals encountering tensions and conflicts of personal relationships. She recollects the memories of her husband Hari and the friend Zarine. She also feels nostalgic for the melodious songs of Noor Jahan. In Final Solutions, Dattani uses two time spaces to indicate the construction of collective consciousness. Disrupting, Hardika’s flow of consciousness, Smita appears with the rumours of bombing the Muslim Hostel where her Muslim friend Tasneem live. The violence erupted after the sabotage of Hindu Rath Yatra. Curfew was clamped in the city. Ramnik, the father tries to divert the attention by a casual remark, “Wait a minute. That wasn’t a bomb.

Smita, Gandhi’s daughter talks to her friend Tasneem whose hostel was the centre of blast. Smita, a girl of liberal ideology views the whole situation as an individual and constructs an ideology beyond the ideology of religious and racial prejudices. She reveals her feeling to her mother:

It stifles me! yes! May be I am prejudiced because I do not belong. But not belonging makes things so clear. I can see so clearly how wrong you are. You accuse me running away from my religion. May be I am embraced, Mummy. (Act III, 57)

It signifies that feminine psyche is more sensitive to the issue of partition. In the second Act, Dattani within the texture of Final Solutions, constructs the psychology of prejudice, contempt, anger and rescue that is an integral aspect of community consciousness. Javed took revenge upon neighbours by dropping pieces of meat in his backyard. The incident robbed him of his own insecurity of life conditions. The individual anger becomes a part of the anger of community as a whole and its cumulative effects can become a burden to the solidarity of nation.

Dattani, through the confession of different characters, assert that they might sacrifice their communal identity. Ramnik fails to see Javed as a sensitive youth turned into a rioter by ill luck till Bobby gives him the truthful account of Javed. In his dramatic narration, Bobby unfolds the past of Javed. Besides of presenting the psychology of Javed and Bobby, Mahesh Dattani in expressing religious fanaticism constructs mob psychology also. Mob has its own cruel psychology and cannot discriminate right and wrong. So far mob psychology concerned, there is no difference between Hindu and Muslim mob. Finally, Bobby gets success in convincing Javed and ultimately to take shelter in the house of Ramnik. Even Aruna has a realization of her weakness and there is drastic change in her attitudes and ideologies. Aruna’s consciousness moves in the direction of the positive acceptance of religious differences. The rational arguments of Smita and Javed make her speechless. Smita, no longer cares for the group and community identity. 

1.What is the difference between the movie and the play?

At the very beginning of the play it is a diary which tells story of past and present of Daksha or Hardika.if we look at the movie there was the chair used instead of diary.And these both things symbolise as the medium of expression of Daksha.The play and the movie are parralel to the plot.But still if we look at the difference between original play "Final Solution" and the movie directed by Mahesh Dattani himself has slight differences.

2. How is the beginning and the end of the movie?

In the beginning of the movie , there is lots of  disturbance , As if Muslims and Hindus are enemies. So, even after we got independence, peace was not achieved. Muslims and Hindus were quarreling. Traitors were against Hindu Idol worship. Even Aruna was not accepting Muslim people or their touch and presence in their home or even in the filling of water or for worshipping God. She thinks they should not touch her holy things, it may make her God angry and may spoil her holiness.

In the end , the film seems to be solved. The husband of Aruna regrets burning the shop so as to buy it at a cheaper cost. there is calmness, we see the traitors in white dresses, while in the beginning they were shown in black dresses. In the movie, flashback and the present, when she is of 15 and and now of 50 years. She writes her thoughts in a diary. 

 The final Solutions by Mahesh Dattani:

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