Gun Island

Hello Readers,

I am Asari Bhavyang from Department of English and recently we have completed a discussion on Amitav Ghosh's novel "Gun Island". It was a very wonderful novel and we all enjoyed it. Dilip Barad sir has tried his best to explain to us. we have got thinking Activity task so, let's begin...

Amitav Ghosh:-

Amitav Ghosh was born in Calcutta in 1956, and studied at Dehra Dun, New Delhi, Alexandria and Oxford. He was awarded a doctorate from Oxford University. He has written for many publications including The Hindu, The New Yorker and Granta, and taught in universities in both India and the US. His first novel, The Circle of Reason, set in India and Africa and winner of the 1990 Prix Médicis Étranger, was published in 1986. Further novels are The Shadow Lines (1988); The Calcutta Chromosome (1996), about the search for a genetic strain which guarantees immortality and winner of the 1997 Arthur C Clarke Award for Best Science Fiction; The Glass Palace (2000), and The Hungry Tide (2004), a saga set in Calcutta and the Bay of Bengal. His books of non-fiction include 3 collections of essays: Dancing in Cambodia and At Large in Burma (1998); The Imam and the Indian (2002), around his experience in Egypt in the early 1980s; and Incendiary Circumstances: A Chronicle of the Turmoil of Our Times (2005). His recent novels form a trilogy: Sea of Poppies (2008), an epic saga set just before the Opium Wars, shortlisted for the 2008 Man Booker Prize for Fiction Prize; River of Smoke (2011), shortlisted for the 2011 Man Asia Literary Prize; and Flood of Fire (2015), which concludes the story. He has also published The Great Derangement (2016), a non-fiction book on climate change. In 2007 Amitav Ghosh was awarded the Padma Shri by the Indian Government, for his distinguished contribution to literature.

Gun Island :-

A lonely, ageing Bengali man who deals in rare books and antiquities in New York finds himself reluctantly drawn into an obscure legend from the Sunderbans. This legend is connected to a shrine to a man called Bonduki Sadagar, or the Gun Merchant, who fled from the ire of the local snake goddess, Manasa Devi, and paid a price for doing so. This is the beguiling premise upon which Amitav Ghosh’s latest novel, Gun Island, is built.

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

Myth:-

working at one of India’s most widely read news magazines, I would often be frustrated when my editor shot down one story idea or other by saying, “This is not what our readers want.” In his mind, there was this mythical magazine reader that could afford to pay the Rs 30 for the weekly shot of news we provided. This reader was not interested in what happened to the small-town boys that became criminal dons in Bombay, nor was this interested in the lives of neglect most of India’s sportsmen lived in, no matter how many awards they had won – unless they were cricketers, of course. These mythical readers were interested, though, in the new Rolls Royce just launched in India, priced at about Rs 40 million, or just about $1 million at that time, in 2007.

These mythical readers are also who the literary publishers cater to – aspirational, middle-class consumers who are far more interested in wasteful spending, even if only in their imagination, than in sustainable living. The grim challenges – or even small victories such as Chhewang Norphel’s artificial glaciers in Ladakh or a technological breakthrough to create a new arsenic filter – related to climate change are not the stuff of novels that publishers feel will sell. It may be that they are right, but if these stories are not commissioned, if they are not published and promoted, how will we ever cultivate the authors that can tease out the complexities of life in this increasingly fragile environment?

Ghosh had insisted that fiction about climate change would be more impactful if it is situated in strictly realistic worlds to drive home the consequences to this world as it is, in real terms. But the occult and the supernatural haunt the pages of Gun Island and propel it forward at every turn – whether it is via hauntings or by the repeated appearance of the creatures associated with Manasa Devi – snakes and spiders.

But Ghosh seems to have marvelously lost his own argument. Nothing about the non-realistic parts of his story takes away from the telling of its story about two intertwined issues – human rights (specifically the rights of refugees) and the climate crisis. He asks urgent, important questions about what migration and movement mean, what closed borders and xenophobia are doing to people whose own countries have been historically devastated by colonialism, what this repeating of imperialist history means for today’s world. They find their most compelling realization in the love story between Rafi and Tipu, two young men from the Sunderbans who make the perilous journey to Europe together until they get separated. Through repeated encounters with the natural world, which is given the same agency it was given in The Great Derangement, he brings home the horror of the climate crisis.

It is the turning over of several binaries and his deeply felt, gentle turning away from the ideals of anthropocentrism that is compelling about his approach to telling Gun Island. Cinta, who is in many ways Deen’s intellectual and emotional mentor tells him:

“You mustn’t underestimate the power of stories. There is something in them that is elemental and inexplicable. Haven’t you heard it said that what makes us human, what separates us from animals, is the faculty of storytelling? But what if the truth were even stranger? What if it were the other way around? What if the faculty of storytelling were not specifically human but rather the last remnant of our animal selves?”

This is done through the experiences of extreme weather events, but also through quieter encounters with the natural in ways that urban populations are increasingly not able to even contemplate – a snakebite in Los Angeles, a venomous spider in a big city apartment that has never been seen before. It is in the terror of these moments that our utter lack of preparedness with the hugest consequences of climate change, when they come, is reflected.

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

Many of the events in the novel that seem magical are dismissed and explained away by its more ‘rational-minded characters almost immediately. A seemingly miraculous ecological event that happens in a climactic scene towards the end of the book theoretically has a logical explanation, as Piya hurriedly explains to Deen, who is finally worn down into being wonderstruck with what is happening to and around him. The hauntings in this book, too, could simply have emotional or talismanic value to the characters they are happening to.

In the end, Ghosh seems not to reject the rationale for the mysterious, but simply puts them both on a spectrum of emotional experience. And it is via this emotional self-awareness, this open-mindedness that his protagonist begins to approach the world, and it's very real and present problems. This is the mental journey that a privileged NRI bhadralok man like Deen, with his particular background and history, is not equipped to make. In the end, the lesson he seems to learn is deceptively simple – in this vast and unknowable world that is being torn apart by human systems, this vulnerability matters, and fuels what we ultimately do with what we have to face in front of us.

The story has its problems, including its flaws in pacing, or its preoccupation with the inner life of its principal character to the neglect of many of its other compelling people, particularly the women (especially Cinta, who feels woefully underused and whose perspective could liven up a novel like this immensely). Even so, this is in some ways Ghosh’s most tender, even most personal novel yet – while simultaneously being global in scope. It is a story full of that particular grace.

3. There are many Italian words in the novel. Have you tried to translate these words into English or Hindi with the help of the Google Translate App? If so, how is Machine Translation helping in the proper translation of Italian words into English and Hindi?

Yes, there are many Italian words in this novel and without goggle translation, it is impossible to tell what that word might be telling or what writer what to say. I think the writer what to see a real picture of readers that is why he has used that type of language so, readers may also feel that they are indifferent space. yes, I also tried to translate the word in English or a different language, and while doing that sometimes I was imagining that word from a different angle and its meaning was totally different. I would like to tell you it was a great experience and it is hard to just depend on goggle translation if we have some idea of background history then only we can get to know the sence.

4. 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?

we can say that Amitav Gosh has tried to see the real Image of the world. that what is going to happen or what is going on in the world we can see that what Amitav Ghosh has written in his Novel that become true in the world. It also wants to see the readers about the contemporary issues that what is happening and how they can come out from it. we can see the magical world in it and there are chance-making schemes that also play a vital role.

we also know that due to climate change people are facing many problems in the world somewhere there is heavy rain and somewhere it is too cold. we see that if tide might come then it can harm people who are close to the river. we also see that people are migrating from one place to another for their better future they just want to get the good lifestyle that is is a reason that they are going to live the city life and leaving the village.

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

The Great Derangement, one of the central questions of which was why authors of literary fiction do not tackle questions of climate change given its grave consequences for humanity. But Ghosh’s treatment of this story in Gun Island is still surprising in some ways. For one thing, although key characters from the Hungry Tide (Nilima Bose, Moyna and the cetologist Piya) return in this story, in its telling and concerns it feels far closer to what Ghosh did with the Calcutta Chromosome.

Like in the Chromosome, the presence of marginalized, even forgotten feminine power acts as a driving force. Similar to the Chromosome, this power is channeled through mysterious deities who are worshipped for who they are and do not feel the need to explain themselves. Like in the Chromosome, the presence of this power challenges hegemonic ways of thinking that rely on so-called ‘objective’ truths.

In the Great Derangement, the author has asked why one of the major issues of our time – climate change – has been neglected by the literary community. In South Asia, the answer is easy to see. By catering to an urban, prosperous and global community, authors and publishers produce books that allow us to ignore the damage taking place in the lives of the marginalized. The literary community is not innocently unaware, but actively complicit in a process that allows us to ignore the damage that climate change is doing to the lives of the poor.

The Ministry Of Utmost Happiness :

   I am Asari Bhavyang and I am a student of English Department at Mkbu. recently we completed "The Ministry Of Utmost Happiness" book by Arundhati Roy. we got a goggle classroom task by Dilip Barad sir. we have talked about Political issues in the novel,  Gender concerns in the novel, Environmental concerns in the novel / Ecofeminist study, Narrative Patterns in the novel. so, let's begin...

Arundhati Roy :-

Arundhati Roy, born in 1960 in Kerala, India, was an architecture student at the Delhi School of Architecture. Although she was trained in architecture, her interest was not in that field; she envisioned herself growing as a writer. Her first work, ‘The God of Small Things’ (1997) kickstarted her career as an author. This work led to her winning the Booker Prize for Fiction and was published in 19 countries in 16 languages, selling around 6 million copies. Her general style of literary output was composed of political nonfiction, capitalism, and struggles related to her homeland. She was often met with conflict with Indian authorities because of her active role in numerous human rights and environmental causes. She faced criticism because she vocally supported Naxalite insurgency groups. She voiced out her concerns and thoughts about various issues such as, the need for inclusion of Afghan women in the peace talks between the Untied States and Taliban, against the arrest of a professor who was arrested for alleged Maoist links, Kashmiri independence, prevention of the construction of dams in Narmada etc. Hence, in recognition of her involvement in her advocacy of human rights, in 2002, she was awarded the Lannan Cultural Freedom Award, the Sydney Peace Prize in 2004 and also the Sahitya Akademi Award from the Indian Academy of Letters in 2006.

The Ministry Of Utmost Happiness :- 

1) Political issues in the novel:- 

The novel, The Ministry of Utmost Happiness, reflects a specific political purpose and acts as a tool of political propaganda. The idea of political fiction became common in the twentieth century, mostly after World War I. This new fictional pattern gave a chance of expressing to those sensible groups of writers who were disturbed by the power-hungry dictatorial governments. Those political works included different political ideologies, the impact of politics on society, people, their hopes, and their fears. Writers found space for writing on issues that were dominant at that time, such as war, gender discrimination, justice, race, economic problems, etc. thus, the genre of political novels gained the attention of the writers.

However, the idea of a political novel has remained unclear because the concept of politics, to be represented by a political novel is vague as well as complicated. In a layman's language, a political novel is a work of fiction that discusses politics, politicians, governments, political leaders, etc. It discusses political behavior and most importantly contemporary ideas, life, and issues of society. Any novel written in support of a particular faction, is in effect a political instrument, even if not in intent. A writer may claim to be impartial, yet the readers may observe the ideology in the work. Such novels present phenomena or people, with intense political seriousness. Joseph Blotner, in his book The Modern American Political Novel, explains the concept of political fiction in detail. He has classified the political novels into the sub-categories, such as, "the novel as a political instrument", "the novel as a mirror of national character", "the novel as an analyst of group behavior" or "the novelist as a political historian". He has further explained the concept of the novel as a political instrument in his book. By political instrument, he means a novel that serves a specific purpose, mainly as a tool of political propaganda for a particular ideology, party, or individual. It could also have been written favoring a particular political faction over the other. 

According to her, the solution to the problem of Kashmir is independence from India. Her stance on the Kashmir issue has been highlighted in the various stages of the second part of the novel. Her ideology of freedom for Kashmir is evident through the character of Musa, a freedom fighter. The novel depicts the activist side of the author, through the characters and the incidents narrated. The historical references of the Ahmedabad Massacre and the Kashmir fight also illustrate the political ideas of the writer. Her choice of the word "Ministry" in the title also shows that the novel aims to point out the political issues under the cover of social matters and the lives of the unique characters.

2) Gender concerns in the novel:-

Hijra is a distinctive South Asia known for their gender and sexual difference and associated with their transgender and intersex identities. Otherwise known as transwomen, they are traditionally subjected to prejudices and embedded within narratives of exclusion, discrimination, and the subculture. As a result, Hijras are typically perceived as isolated, abject, and passive victims who remain social and economic peripheries. Concerning the stereotypical image of hijras, this study explores Arundhati Roy’s The Ministry of Utmost Happiness to examine the novel’s problematization of hijras in India. In this novel, sexual and gender non-conformity are addressed within characters desiring to be neither a man nor a woman.  This framework allows for a manifestation of gender flexibility and feminine writing as a tool for self-emancipation. Both protagonists Anjum and Tilo, illustrate that hijras are not predetermined but are formulated in a complex process of a conscious rewriting of the self. While the former character resists heteropatriarchal normativity through her conscious alterations of the phallogocentric structure of her Urdu language, the latter defies societal conventions of family and marriage with unorthodox views and actions that are materialized in the writing of her story.

3) Environmental concerns in the novel / Ecofeminist study :-

The Ministry of Utmost Happiness, draws out the issues of the deteriorated condition of river due to construction of dams and the sewage system of industrial wastages, the ‘otherness’ of animals , birds, fishes and trees and their easy exploitation, the wiping out of sparrow, vulture from biodiversity due to excessive scientific manifestations, the predicament of zoo animals, the abolition of forest for the steel and mining factories and the uselessness of nuclear testing etc. The author unravels that most of the environmental delapidations are the result of Euro-American ideology of ‘development’ project which is a disguised form of neo-colonialism and imperialism.

The Ministry of Utmost Happiness investigates the current environmental problems and my whole-hearted endevour in  Roy’s influential task in the light of postcolonial ecocriticism.The Ministry of Utmost Happiness has shown this in an unobtrusive way and demands a sharp and scholastic observation from the readers. The novel opens with a prologue and the prologue provides author’s concern for lower species. The unquenchable thirst of human beings has led the demise of ‘white-baked vulture’, the scavengers of dead and the death of sparrow due to environmental changes, -

 “sparrow that have gone missing, and the old white-baked vultures custodians of dead for more than a hundred years, that have been wiped out,”

Thus Arundhuti Roy has expressed her libertarian and ecological ideas in a penetrative way in this novel. The present novel criticizes the development and questions the state-oriented policy and betrays the root cause of ecological problems and explores the after-effect of dominating nature. She caters the whole world by hinting solutions to the ecological problems prevalent in the present world. She tries whole-heartedly to save the costly lives of the people of this world by creating an eco-consciousness among readers. Arundhati Roy’s only concern is to create public awareness about environmental degradation and its negative impact of human life and other species through her writings. And as a responsible writer she has penned her experience beautifully in her present novel and successfully decodes the ecological imperialism of First World nations.

4) Narrative Patterns in the novel :-

The Ministry of Utmost Happiness due to the incoherency in the narrative pattern. The narrative starts at the unusual setting of a necropolis, to depict the long litany of necropolitics created by the corrupted pseudo-democratic setup of India,under the clutches of globalization, materialization, industrialization, westernization and the other long list of existing political scams. By the order of structure, the novel starts with the story of Anjum, a trans-woman, precisely a woman trapped in a man‟s body. The time gap is adjusted to tell the story of Anjum right from her birth to the events that led her to the first setting of the graveyard. Through this part of the narrative, Roy molds the one half of the dystopian sphere by etching the caste craze, media politics, gender politics, globalization, islamophobia etc. that rules the democratic India, which cracked the whole set up and demolished the “the ministry of utmost happiness”. The when Anjum and her party on the process of molding the utopia within the necropolis reaches Janata Mantar, the conjoining point of the novel, Anjum falls into a rabbit-hole, and the readers are tangentially taken into another dystopian half, to bring out some characters from that side into the fabrication of the utopia in the necropolis.

 The novel depicts the tales of four college mates, whose lives are intertwined by love. Tilo, the unconventional, rebellious, architect student and a to-be member of Anjum‟s utopia, is the unfulfilled love of the next narrator Biplab Das, who later to become a bureaucrat, Naga later to become a successful journalist and Musa, a Kashmiri forced to intensely involve himself in the struggle for freedom. The other half of the already framed dystopia is created through the star-crossed love of Musa and Tilo by showing the injustice of the government towards the downtrodden marginalized masses like women, poor, Kashmiri people, orphans, untouchables etc. This phase deconstructs the stereotypical notion of hero-worship of army,and the corruption in other governmental institution like police forces, doctors, politicians etc.

The narrative builds up the dystopian society, giving the readers an apocalyptical warning, whereas in the undercurrent Roy creates a utopia, build up by the rejects of the society under the guidance of Anjum. Miss Jebeen the second or Miss Udaya Jabeen is the ultimate diptych link in the narrative, connecting both halves of the dystopia, and is considered as a savior, who would help in the propagation of the maneuver of empathy, which in turn shows Roy‟s hope in the future generation, unlike her tone in The End of Imagination.

The Ministry Of Utmost Happiness

  I am Asari Bhavyang and I am a student of English Department at Mkbu. recently we completed "The Ministry Of Utmost Happiness" book by Arundhati Roy. we got a goggle classroom task by Dilip Barad sir. we have talked about Political issues in the novel,  Gender concerns in the novel, Environmental concerns in the novel / Ecofeminist study, Narrative Patterns in the novel. so, let's begin...

Arundhati Roy :-

Arundhati Roy, born in 1960 in Kerala, India, was an architecture student at the Delhi School of Architecture. Although she was trained in architecture, her interest was not in that field; she envisioned herself growing as a writer. Her first work, ‘The God of Small Things’ (1997) kickstarted her career as an author. This work led to her winning the Booker Prize for Fiction and was published in 19 countries in 16 languages, selling around 6 million copies. Her general style of literary output was composed of political nonfiction, capitalism, and struggles related to her homeland. She was often met with conflict with Indian authorities because of her active role in numerous human rights and environmental causes. She faced criticism because she vocally supported Naxalite insurgency groups. She voiced out her concerns and thoughts about various issues such as, the need for inclusion of Afghan women in the peace talks between the Untied States and Taliban, against the arrest of a professor who was arrested for alleged Maoist links, Kashmiri independence, prevention of the construction of dams in Narmada etc. Hence, in recognition of her involvement in her advocacy of human rights, in 2002, she was awarded the Lannan Cultural Freedom Award, the Sydney Peace Prize in 2004 and also the Sahitya Akademi Award from the Indian Academy of Letters in 2006.

The Ministry Of Utmost Happiness :- 

1) Political issues in the novel:- 

The novel, The Ministry of Utmost Happiness, reflects a specific political purpose and acts as a tool of political propaganda. The idea of political fiction became common in the twentieth century, mostly after World War I. This new fictional pattern gave a chance of expressing to those sensible groups of writers who were disturbed by the power-hungry dictatorial governments. Those political works included different political ideologies, the impact of politics on society, people, their hopes, and their fears. Writers found space for writing on issues that were dominant at that time, such as war, gender discrimination, justice, race, economic problems, etc. thus, the genre of political novels gained the attention of the writers.

However, the idea of a political novel has remained unclear because the concept of politics, to be represented by a political novel is vague as well as complicated. In a layman's language, a political novel is a work of fiction that discusses politics, politicians, governments, political leaders, etc. It discusses political behavior and most importantly contemporary ideas, life, and issues of society. Any novel written in support of a particular faction, is in effect a political instrument, even if not in intent. A writer may claim to be impartial, yet the readers may observe the ideology in the work. Such novels present phenomena or people, with intense political seriousness. Joseph Blotner, in his book The Modern American Political Novel, explains the concept of political fiction in detail. He has classified the political novels into the sub-categories, such as, "the novel as a political instrument", "the novel as a mirror of national character", "the novel as an analyst of group behavior" or "the novelist as a political historian". He has further explained the concept of the novel as a political instrument in his book. By political instrument, he means a novel that serves a specific purpose, mainly as a tool of political propaganda for a particular ideology, party, or individual. It could also have been written favoring a particular political faction over the other. 

According to her, the solution to the problem of Kashmir is independence from India. Her stance on the Kashmir issue has been highlighted in the various stages of the second part of the novel. Her ideology of freedom for Kashmir is evident through the character of Musa, a freedom fighter. The novel depicts the activist side of the author, through the characters and the incidents narrated. The historical references of the Ahmedabad Massacre and the Kashmir fight also illustrate the political ideas of the writer. Her choice of the word "Ministry" in the title also shows that the novel aims to point out the political issues under the cover of social matters and the lives of the unique characters.

2) Gender concerns in the novel:-

Hijra is a distinctive South Asia known for their gender and sexual difference and associated with their transgender and intersex identities. Otherwise known as transwomen, they are traditionally subjected to prejudices and embedded within narratives of exclusion, discrimination, and the subculture. As a result, Hijras are typically perceived as isolated, abject, and passive victims who remain social and economic peripheries. Concerning the stereotypical image of hijras, this study explores Arundhati Roy’s The Ministry of Utmost Happiness to examine the novel’s problematization of hijras in India. In this novel, sexual and gender non-conformity are addressed within characters desiring to be neither a man nor a woman.  This framework allows for a manifestation of gender flexibility and feminine writing as a tool for self-emancipation. Both protagonists Anjum and Tilo, illustrate that hijras are not predetermined but are formulated in a complex process of a conscious rewriting of the self. While the former character resists heteropatriarchal normativity through her conscious alterations of the phallogocentric structure of her Urdu language, the latter defies societal conventions of family and marriage with unorthodox views and actions that are materialized in the writing of her story.

3) Environmental concerns in the novel / Ecofeminist study :-

The Ministry of Utmost Happiness, draws out the issues of the deteriorated condition of river due to construction of dams and the sewage system of industrial wastages, the ‘otherness’ of animals , birds, fishes and trees and their easy exploitation, the wiping out of sparrow, vulture from biodiversity due to excessive scientific manifestations, the predicament of zoo animals, the abolition of forest for the steel and mining factories and the uselessness of nuclear testing etc. The author unravels that most of the environmental delapidations are the result of Euro-American ideology of ‘development’ project which is a disguised form of neo-colonialism and imperialism.

The Ministry of Utmost Happiness investigates the current environmental problems and my whole-hearted endevour in  Roy’s influential task in the light of postcolonial ecocriticism.The Ministry of Utmost Happiness has shown this in an unobtrusive way and demands a sharp and scholastic observation from the readers. The novel opens with a prologue and the prologue provides author’s concern for lower species. The unquenchable thirst of human beings has led the demise of ‘white-baked vulture’, the scavengers of dead and the death of sparrow due to environmental changes, -

 “sparrow that have gone missing, and the old white-baked vultures custodians of dead for more than a hundred years, that have been wiped out,”

Thus Arundhuti Roy has expressed her libertarian and ecological ideas in a penetrative way in this novel. The present novel criticizes the development and questions the state-oriented policy and betrays the root cause of ecological problems and explores the after-effect of dominating nature. She caters the whole world by hinting solutions to the ecological problems prevalent in the present world. She tries whole-heartedly to save the costly lives of the people of this world by creating an eco-consciousness among readers. Arundhati Roy’s only concern is to create public awareness about environmental degradation and its negative impact of human life and other species through her writings. And as a responsible writer she has penned her experience beautifully in her present novel and successfully decodes the ecological imperialism of First World nations.

4) Narrative Patterns in the novel :-

The Ministry of Utmost Happiness due to the incoherency in the narrative pattern. The narrative starts at the unusual setting of a necropolis, to depict the long litany of necropolitics created by the corrupted pseudo-democratic setup of India,under the clutches of globalization, materialization, industrialization, westernization and the other long list of existing political scams. By the order of structure, the novel starts with the story of Anjum, a trans-woman, precisely a woman trapped in a man‟s body. The time gap is adjusted to tell the story of Anjum right from her birth to the events that led her to the first setting of the graveyard. Through this part of the narrative, Roy molds the one half of the dystopian sphere by etching the caste craze, media politics, gender politics, globalization, islamophobia etc. that rules the democratic India, which cracked the whole set up and demolished the “the ministry of utmost happiness”. The when Anjum and her party on the process of molding the utopia within the necropolis reaches Janata Mantar, the conjoining point of the novel, Anjum falls into a rabbit-hole, and the readers are tangentially taken into another dystopian half, to bring out some characters from that side into the fabrication of the utopia in the necropolis.

 The novel depicts the tales of four college mates, whose lives are intertwined by love. Tilo, the unconventional, rebellious, architect student and a to-be member of Anjum‟s utopia, is the unfulfilled love of the next narrator Biplab Das, who later to become a bureaucrat, Naga later to become a successful journalist and Musa, a Kashmiri forced to intensely involve himself in the struggle for freedom. The other half of the already framed dystopia is created through the star-crossed love of Musa and Tilo by showing the injustice of the government towards the downtrodden marginalized masses like women, poor, Kashmiri people, orphans, untouchables etc. This phase deconstructs the stereotypical notion of hero-worship of army,and the corruption in other governmental institution like police forces, doctors, politicians etc.

The narrative builds up the dystopian society, giving the readers an apocalyptical warning, whereas in the undercurrent Roy creates a utopia, build up by the rejects of the society under the guidance of Anjum. Miss Jebeen the second or Miss Udaya Jabeen is the ultimate diptych link in the narrative, connecting both halves of the dystopia, and is considered as a savior, who would help in the propagation of the maneuver of empathy, which in turn shows Roy‟s hope in the future generation, unlike her tone in The End of Imagination.

Research Methodology Workshop

 I am Asari Bhavyang from English Department in MKBU .We were having Three Sessions in a Workshop and it was conducted on 7th Jan 2022 it was held by Dilip Barad sir and it was a very great experience and we all get to know many more new thing about Research Methodology . and in all three sessions, they all were dealing with a different type of topic which was very attractive and useful.

On Friday Dilip Barad Sir has organized this workshop which was related to Research & Dissertation writing. First Session was conducted by Dr. J P Majmudar Sir on the Importance of Research. Then Second Session was conducted by Dilip Barad Sir who talk about Qualitative Research in Digital Era. Then last but not least third session was conducted by Vaidehi Hariyani Madam she talks about Citation Tools and Techniques.

Dr. J P Majmudar Sir He was a retired person. He was having very good intelligence that he was telling all important things which we have to take care of while doing research and how to write research paper he gave many Example also and he also talk that how Research is important in Ph.D. and at that stage if a Ph.D. person is not Knowing about research so, They have included this paper in post Graduation so, they will at least know that how to write a research paper and by that it will be not new area but it will be familiar to them. Then he also talks that how by reading all the research work which has already been done you may get a new path to think for your topic we have to find a gap of over research topic and we have to just not bluf in our Research topic but have to talk by giving evidence that will prove your point and add incitation that will prove that this was called by other and you agree with who so ever point or disagree and if agree then also give your explanation. The first and main part of your research is to select your topic you have to select the topic in which you are interested, then only you will be able to work nicely. They also inform us that now it will be compulsory to have ph.d degree if you want to be proffer.

Then after break, our Second Session was Conducted by Dilip Barad Sir he has talk about Qualitative Research in Digital Era. In that First Sir Talk about Avoid Plagiarism because it might harm you in Future . we also know that if something is connected to Academic purpose then Citation is important to saw that you have taken this from other and it is authentic and you have not gone throw to any random work. It is oun duty to cite all the things from where you have taken the thing . If we are taking something from book  then also it is our duty to cite , if you are taking from book and you might think that no one might caught you then you are making yourself fool .Once you are caught doing Plagirism then you may have to loss your job also.

Example :- 

1. Hungary's president has to loss his degree due to plagiarism that was a reason that fight was going on.
2. Mr Schmit who has got Gold medal in Olympic from country he has to reatun that due to Plagiarism..
3. German defence ministry has to rezine from his post in ph.d due to plagirism.
4. There are so many Example that people are making suicide due to using Cut+ Copy = Sucide.

How to Know Plagiarism :-

In this there was 10 types of unoriginal work (Plagiarism )

1. Clone :- we can say it is connected with wikipidea information, and I would suggest that don't believe in this type of wikipidea cite and don't cite that.It will make your work doubt.
2. Ctrl+C :- we have to just not copy and past from other cite we have first read from there and write it with our own language.
3. Find- Replace :- In this people are just changing keywords and adding new words for it.(Low Plagiarism)
4. Remix :- In this people are gathering from many cite and making one work.(Low Plagiarism)
5. Recycle :- In this people are publishing there own work time and again .(Low Plagiarism)
6. Hybrid :- In this people are citing only selected cite and remaining they are not citing.(Low Plagiarism)
7. Mashup :- In this they are gathering from all the cite .
8. 404 Error :- in this people are writing about a things which does not exist in this world
9. Aggregator  :- In  this people are only giving information.now able to argurre.
10. Re- tweet :- In this people are talking about others work , that what they think , and what is there oppion.(Low Plagiarism)

we have to inform more and more people to avoid Plagiarism and tell them if they will still do then they might be in problem in future.Internet matters but not for copy past. we have to come up with orignality and now a days there are many machine which will easily catch how much is plagiarism and if your plagiarism will more then 10% then you might have to work again into your topic.

Indentify the Quality of Digital Resource :-

1. Authority :- In this we have to see that all things are proply cited or not and most important thing it to site in order.
2. Educational :- we have see that our Goal of making research is successfully added or not.
3. Internet :-Now a days people are just interested in sell content and not interested in inform user.
4. Originality :-we have to use Journal Article in this then only your work is qualitative research.
5. Quality :-we have not be bayas we have to take good as well as bad thing.

Wisdom

Knowelege

process

Information 

Data

Then Third session was conducted by Vaidehi Hariyani Madam she talks about Citation Tools and Techniques. In that students were divided into 5 group and all has to show that how they are citing during preastation. some were using Citation machine, some from words....

But at the end we saw that without felling all detail there is no any Mechine who is automatically felling all things .we have to fill all thing manually. then madam teaches us how to cite MLA,Journal Article, Youtube video, Image, Dictionary words.......etc.

so, it was very interesting workshop and its was long also but we get to know and more by attended this type of workshop ,I hope you also enjoyed it. I would like to thanks to Dilip Barad sir for organizing this type of Workshop.

conducting Research

 conducting Research:-

1. OBJECTIVES :-

This guide serves to achieve the following;

• To guide students, step-by-step on how to conduct research systematically
• To help students know where relevant material can be located
• To guide students on different types of materials that can be used for academic research

To conduct proper research, one needs to realize that conducting research cannot be done in a 

haphazard manner. To organize or focus the search, the process needs to be keyword driven; 

what you retrieve from a search will be dependent upon the computations you put on the search 

field. Therefore;

• It is advisable to put your topic in question form first
• Then ask some basic questions

 What is the main idea of my paper?

 What specific ideas am I trying to describe or prove?

 What academic discipline does my topic fit into?

 What specific aspect of the topic do I wish to consider?

• Also try to answer the where, when who why and how of your topic

2. LOCATING PUBLISHED INFORMATION

A lot of information is published on every subject imaginable. To retrieve only what’s relevant 

to the topic, you need to identify the type and source of information you collect. The following 

formats are what is acceptable in scholarly research and should form the basis of your research:

• Journals
• Books
• Newspapers
• Government publications
• Primary sources
• The Internet
• Quick reference Publications including Almanacs, Statistical collections, Biographical information, Directories of companies, organizations, and government agencies, Scientific data, Opinion poll data

• General reference publication
• The following are some of the reference sites available online; some are free and some charge a fee for information

 www.encyclopedia.com – a free online encyclopaedia with a general coverage

 http://www.Britannica.com – general coverage encyclopedia

 www.scholar.google.co.za – a search engine linked to the library’s e-resources

 www.sabinet.co.za – a search engine covering South African research papers

 http://journals.sabinet.co.za - The SA ePublications service with the most 

comprehensive, searchable collection of full-text electronic South- and Southern 

African journals in the world (available through SABINET)

 www.isiwebofknowledge.com – a useful citations website with linked full-text 

articles 

 www.emeraldinsight.com – a database dedicated to management research

 www.sciencedirect.com – a comprehensive multidisciplinary database with strong 

emphasis on sciences

 www.ebscohost.com – a multidisciplinary database

 www.jstor.org – Social sciences coverage

 http://stardata.nrf.ac.za/star/ccrplogin.html - Current and completed research 

including thesis and dissertations

 http://ajol.info – African journals

 www.saps.gov.za – crime statistics 

 www.hsrc.co.za – Human Sciences Research Council 

 www.csir.co.za – Council for Scientific and Industrial Research 

 www.gov.za – Government website, for government related information

 www.statsonline.co.za – South African statistics

 www.un.org – United Nations website

3. SEARCH STRATEGIES

A number of strategies can be employed to conduct a search. Depending on the strategy you 

choose, you can either narrow down or expand your search. The following are the methods used 

to conduct a search;

1. Using Boolean Search Terms

Using a Boolean search allows you to define the relationships between keywords and phrases by 

using AND, OR and NOT to enlarge or narrow the search. For example:

• Search for: HIV AND rural women
• Result: all records containing both HIV and rural women
• Search for: HIV OR rural women
• Result: all records containing either HIV or rural women
• Search for: HIV NOT rural women
• Result: all records containing HIV but not rural women

Boolean search terms can also be used in combination with each other to construct complex 

searches. For example:

• Search for: HIV OR treatment AND rural women NOT testing
• Result: all records containing either HIVor treatment AND rural women - but not testing

2. Using Quotations (“ ’’)

Putting quotation marks around search term narrows a search considerably. If you are interested 

in the impact of computers on writing instruction, for instance, you could search for the exact 

phrases, "computers and writing instruction" or "computer-assisted writing instruction." 

3. Using Wild Card Symbols

Wild card symbols can be used to expand a search in cases where one is not sure of spellings. 

() – expands search by entering only root of a word - Entering writ into the search field will 

allow writ, write, writes, writer and written, as well as writing to be returned in your search 

results, whereas entering writing will result only in returning all records that include the word 

writing.

(?) – helpful in retrieving possible spellings of word in a keyword - is useful for including 

possible spellings of a word in a keyword search. For example: 

Entering "S?weitzer" into the search field when unsure of the spelling of Albert Schweitzer's last 

name, will return records with both "Schweitzer" and "Sweitzer" in the search results. As it turns 

out, both are common spellings of the great humanitarian's name.

(%) – use to match any string of 0 or more characters - J%son – matches; Jason, Jackson and 

Johnson.

4. Using Specific Publication Information

Bibliographic details of a book can be combined with search phrases to narrow down a search 

when using a keyword search. Details that can be entered are titles, authors and publication 

dates.

8. EVALUATING JOURNAL ARTICLES

In order to determine whether what you retrieved is relevant to your search here is a checklist:

(substantially reproduced from http://lib.colostate.edu/howto/evaljrl2.html

• Purpose: Why was the article written: to inform, to present opinions, to report research 

or to sell a product? For what audience is it intended?

• Authority: What are the author's credentials? Are qualifications, experience, and/or 

institutional affiliation given? Is the publisher and the author reputable?

• Accuracy: Is the information correct and free from errors?
• Timeliness/Currency: Is the information current enough or does it provide the proper 

historical context for your research needs? Know the time needs of your topic and 

examine the timeliness of the article; is it: up-to-date, out-of-date, or timeless? 

• Coverage: Does the article cover the topic in depth, partially or is it a broad overview? 

Does the information substantiate

• Objectivity: Does the information show bias or does it present multiple viewpoints?

Does the information appear to be well-researched?

• Illustrations: Are charts, graphs, maps, photographs, etc. used to illustrate concepts? Are 

the illustrations relevant? Are they clear and professional-looking?

• Bibliography: Scholarly works always contain a bibliography of the resources that were 

consulted. The references in this list should be in sufficient quantity and be appropriate 

for the content.

Research & Dissertation Writing Workshop

 Hello Readers,

I am Asari Bhavyang, a student of  Department of English in MKBU . It was conducted on 4 Jan 2022.I am glad that Dilip Barad Sir has arranged Research & Dissertation Writing Workshop so, we get ideas.

I am glad that Dr. Clement Ndoricimpa was the resource person of this workshop, and we all are familiar with them because when he got his Ph.D. degree that we were with them and we have seen his hard work in his Ph.D. viva during that viva also he was able to give all question answer with confidence. He has come from Africa to get his degree in Bhavnagar. it is a big success for us that we are completing our Master's degree from Dilip Barad sir who is spending more and more time with his students and he wants his student to achieve success in all the fields without any expectation.

Learning Outcome:-

When First I Heard about Research & dissertations at that time I was a little bit confused and does not know that where to start? and what to do? , What will be the Structure ? and what argumentation will I do ?, all type of question was in my mind but I would say this workshop helped a lot in understanding Research and Dissertation. First, we have to select our topic which type of research we want to do either related to literary work, ELt, Myth...Etc... After deciding on any topic then we have to only think about only one work in that work what we want to see or in which angle we want to show that work or this much work has already done in this field and I want to do my research in this direction. Then we should know what type of Arrangement we are going to do with our topic and in society what is the mindset of people and how society is thinking about that topic, we can say we have to come out of the box and think or think about the larger picture, that what impact it will raise in society. we have to do research on that type of topic which another scholar has not a thing about it.

A researcher has to keep in his mind that he has to just not bluff that he fill this and that.. but, Researcher has to prove his statement by giving evidence that he is not just buffing but he has studied article then he agree with him or disagree that he or she has to define there give his argument that why he agree and why he does not disagree. He or she must try to prove his argument.

• Concept of Research:-

Research should be Scientific and systematic then only we can say your research or Dissertation is in the right direction otherwise there is some problem. There should be clarification in your work because without clarification if we are doing any research then while sharing your thoughts you will also feel that am I going on the wrong path or at the end you should conclude your point or be able to justify that whatever was my question all answers I got in my research. 

If your topic is related to ELT then you have to think about some practical tasks. In that u can think for sample work in that u can see that we have to decide that that for which person you are doing research either Collge student or Department student or scholar because we have to see that while doing sample work the student does not aware that some experiment is happing with them otherwise they will conscious about there writing so, I would suggest you all that if you are selecting ELT as your research then you should see that student should not be concise. We can take the example of the student exam sheet because at that time they might not be in conscious mind so, I think that will help the researcher as well as a scholar.

• Type of Research:-

I think most of our group has selected their research on culture and Historical work. As we have to complete this Dissertation in three months so, Dilip Barad sir has suggested that don't think about the research topic you have only three months so, select that topic which you can easily do. from my observation I found that there is less number of students or non that they are preferring to do Descriptive and correlation work. we can see that in Historical research we have to first see the past event that what was happened and what type of work was done and now what new you want to interpret and what was the gap of that research. it is told that we have to join all the dote then we will able to do your successful research by filling all type of dote. 

• Characteristics of Research:-

It is good to connect all dots it means you have to think of a large picture or think about a large perspective that what impact it will be on society. we have to see what others have to work in that field and what expectations they are not able to see, why they do see from that angle if the story would be like this then?. if we are reading any article then he or she might is hundred percent correct that we do not have to think we have to doubt them time and again and start questioning to your own work then you will get an answer if, there is no question then your path is wrong. ask yourself a question. if you will question your work then it will generate a new question in your mind then you have to start in search of your answer. It will impact your knowledge and you will get more and more Knowledge and then your knowledge will also increase.

• Research process:- 

This first of all it's upon students that they should be ready with their topic and choose that type of topic that you are interested in if you will choose that type of topic which you are not interested then you will be in a problem. first, we have to see that is there any problem with their work. if there is any problem then try to get an answer.

• Data Collection & Analysis:- First we have to collect all data of your work by any way by reading your original work related to your topic that will be the best part, then you can also read from an online book or pdf work . after gathering your data then you have to Analysis your all collected work.

How to write the dissertation:-

1. Introduction:- In this, we have to talk about the work or what type of criticism or theory which you are going to explain that we have to include in this first part and we have to explain in detail your point you have to start with the beginning how it developed and how it started spreading and ht type of effect it happens in society.
2. literary review:-In this, we have to see that other people have worked on your topic or not if they have worked then you have to see that they have worked on which field and in which field all have yet not started thinking.
3. Analyzing in different types of the chapter:- we have to put over point in our research paper but not with our own word we have come with the argument that has done in research paper so, you will try to prove that you agree with them or not and if yes then you have to give reason and explain if yes, then why and if no, then why ..
4. Argument:- you have to give strong arguments that proves that you are able to defend him or your research is strong with the argument.
5. conclusion:-In all research this conclusion will be in your words and in that you will tell that what you were already done and what new you found during this research .that will be your final answer in conclusion
6. Citation:- It is the main part of your research you have to add all citations in your research which of all argument of you have to referred to that article. 

Translation Workshop

 Hello Readers!

I am Asari Bhavyang and I am studying in Mkbu and our professor Dilip Barad sir has arranged one workshop related to Translation, so they have invited Dr. Vishal Bhadani on  3rd Jan 2022. so, let's begin...

1) has your understanding of translation improved?

yes, I can definitely say that my translation has not improved. as we think that translation is quite an easy task and it is easy for all to translate, but u are wrong, when you will start translating any work then you will definitely realize that that how hard is it, I am not telling you will never ever do a translation but my point is that you will need practice then only you can easily do your translation. yes, it is sure that in starting you will face many problems and you will continually refer to dictionary but as you will spend more and more time with it then you will surely improve. and by attending that session I also came to not many Gujarati words which translation is hard to do. then also it quite a difficult task. and I would suggest to you that don't think that translation is useless and it does not help you in getting income, by translation also you can get income and I would say you may get a better amount of money than the government salary. if you are not translating then start translating .new world is waiting for u.

2) can write about translation in terms of metaphors?

yes, I can try to use metaphor in terms of translation as Dr. Vishal Bhadani  sir has use and given many example of moon that is use at metaphor and it give use shine and it is nature element and then second element is Ganesh which is mythical character and we can see that how hanuman face is transpered into elephant nor any other animals. then we get see the example of ramayan that it is use as disctorny and words with the help of that sentence is made . then we get to know about to different culture one is from japanes and second one was from indian both the people have there oun culture and they are known by there culture by there oun culture. then we get too see cat as metaphor that when she is staring at the chess board that show that she is going to talk move in in the life also if we take one wrong step then our entire life if damage or our entire life will be change into new world. It is not easy task that we can study metaphor or we can use metaphor but slowly and steadly when we will have our experience of life then it will easy for us to use methapher.

3) what according to you in the most difficult aspect of practical translation?

definitely  i will say that it is not and easy task to translate any of the work specially the work which is translated in gujrati into English because as sire mention during session that there are many words in gujrati that it is hard for a person to translate that word and i hope same thing happen with all other language . 

Example :- I would like to give Example of Big Boss then in that house it is rule that all have to use only Hindi Language, but we can in that reality show that while fighting or while sharing felling they are naturally only able to fight in English either they want to make fool to their audience or either it's natural prossses . But I have seen when they are crying that time also they are speaking in English . So, it's very hard for any one to only talk in one language.

4) learning outcome from the workshop? 

See, I will not tell lie but it was very Amazing workshop and I got to learn many new things from that workshop , before that I was just thinking that translation is an easy process but when we do practical then we realise then we can not translate in our mother toungh also and if once you will start loving translation then you will enjoy . I would tell my outcome that I also started feeling that yes , translation is having a good type of scope that if once he started loving then there is no another that can push you back .