SRI'S HELP

“What could be put up against the noise of time? Only that music which is inside ourselves – the music of our being – which is transformed by some real music. Which, over the decades, if it is strong and pure enough to drown out the noise of time,is transformed into the whisper of history”(125) Julian Barnes The Noise of Time captures the war time Soviet Union during the period of political turmoil and its repercussions in the freedom of artistic creation recorded beautifully through the life of the music composer Shostakovich. It is a multi-layered narrative of small incidents and events I the life of the main protagonist. Much of these incidents is indebted to Elizabeth Wilson’s exemplary multifaceted “Shostakovich:A life remembered (1994) and “ Testimony:The Memoirs of Shostakovich”. The title intrigues as well as attracts – the suffocation of music in the cacophony of political and social turmoil corresponded by the soft melody of music across time to immortality. It is...

Born Again on the Mountain Arunima Sinha Penguin Books India 2014 No of pages 217 Rs. 299 “At 10.55 a.m. on 21 May2013, I was on top of the world. I felt like dancing, crying and laughing at the same time. My mind was a kaleidoscope of emotions. I knelt down, utterly exhausted. I felt like shouting, announcing my arrival to the world. Everyone has a reason to be alive, a role to fulfil. Maybe this was mine.”(192) In the recent spurt of news headlines locating the adventures of mountaineers and the tragic death that many have across in their adventurous conquests, Arunima Sinha’s “Born Again on a Mountain” brings in a breath of fresh air and hope for all adventure lovers. It would be wrong to be prejudiced that this book is only for a certain section of people, it is an inspirational journey that will motivate all human beings. The book is autobiographical in nature and the narrative simple. There is no affluence of words and incidents narrated are at the same time hear...

The Good-Morrow BY  JOHN DONNE I wonder, by my troth, what thou and I Did, till we loved? Were we not weaned till then? But sucked on country pleasures, childishly? Or snorted we in the Seven Sleepers’ den? ’Twas so; but this, all pleasures fancies be. If ever any beauty I did see, Which I desired, and got, ’twas but a dream of thee. And now good-morrow to our waking souls, Which watch not one another out of fear; For love, all love of other sights controls, And makes one little room an everywhere. Let sea-discoverers to new worlds have gone, Let maps to other, worlds on worlds have shown, Let us possess one world, each hath one, and is one. My face in thine eye, thine in mine appears, And true plain hearts do in the faces rest; Where can we find two better hemispheres, Without sharp north, without declining west? Whatever dies, was not mixed equally; If our two loves be one, or, thou and I Love so alike, that none do slacken, none ...

Mulk Raj Anand is a weaver of tales. His stories have a social significance. He was a social reformer whose chief concern was to motivate a sequential change in thinking. Anand’s Coolie , Untouchables  have been landmark texts in this regard. Anand prods an alternative perception to age-old hackneyed social attitude towards subalternity. Whether or not this resulted in any concrete change in the conditions is an economical factor, but his writings have successfully triggered questions of immense relevance. Anand is that big great-grandfather whose art of story-telling draws every far one near and close. The Lost Child is one of Anand’s most successful and popular short stories. This is the story of a small boy travelling with his parents from the village to the fair in town. As he walks , he is enamoured by the wide range of distractions in the form of sweets, toys, garlands etc that are offered to him in the different shops on the way. The destitute, penniless, poverty stric...

Sylvia Plath has always been one of my favourite writers. Her life has intrigued me many a times. Somewhere because as a women of the 21 st century I have faced similar moments… of multitasking and balancing career, family , private and public issues and at the same time hunting for a suitable opportunity to hone my skills in.  I read her  Daddy many years back and loved it.  The familiar circumstances of Plath , Virginia Woolf , Anne sexton have always posed in my mind questions about intellectualism and its connection with women. The Bell Jar was published under a pseudonym Victoria Lucas in 1963, a few weeks after her suicide by burning her face in an oven. A more terrible death could not have been thought for such a beauty as Plath married to one of the greatest writers of the time ,Ted Hughes. It is said that Plath did not want the book to be published primarily because she thought it would hurt her mother. The narrative is semi-autobiographical and is based on...

The First World War brought mixed reactions in England. The Public however was supportive of the Government decision. Nationalistic fervour rose and war was considered an opportunity for the ‘test of manhood’ (27,1914: The Opening Campaigns) Many saw in the War an aspect of liberation from an outworn regime. Intellectuals and ruling classes participated willingly and found in it an opportunity to display their leadership. Workers in the industries and in the urban environment s got a respite from their tedious jobs.The powers had not contemplated for a long war. British military head Kitchner understood well in time that the war would be a long one and would need a huge band. As such, it was essential to provision for man-power well in advance. He got an immediate response and by the end of 1914, more than a million men joined. This was more than what had been asked for, and far more than the number that could be equipped and armed. Compulsory enrolment in military service had been co...

W.B.Yeats "An Acre Of Grass" PICTURE and book remain, An acre of green grass For air and exercise, Now strength of body goes; Midnight, an old house Where nothing stirs but a mouse. My temptation is quiet. Here at life's end Neither loose imagination, Nor the mill of the mind Consuming its rag and bonc, Can make the truth known. Grant me an old man's frenzy, Myself must I remake Till I am Timon and Lear Or that William Blake Who beat upon the wall Till Truth obeyed his call; A mind Michael Angelo knew That can pierce the clouds, Or inspired by frenzy Shake the dead in their shrouds; Forgotten else by mankind, An old man's eagle mind. Reading W.B.Yeats poem "An Acre of Grass" after a decade  gave a new lease of life. The poem should not be read alone but along with  other poems of Yeats like ' The Lamentation of the Old Pensioner', 'Memory', 'Broken Dreams', 'Sailing to Byzantium', ...