Thinking Activity : The Ministry of Utmost Happiness

“Human beings often claim to understand events when they manage to formulate a coherent story or narrative explaining what factors caused a specific incident to occur. Stories assist the human mind to remember and make decisions based on informative stories. Narrative writing also prompts periods of intense reflection that leads to more writing that is ruminative. Contemplative actions call for us to track the conscious mind at work rendering an accounting of our weaknesses and our strengths, folly and wisdom.” 

― Kilroy J. Oldster, (Dead Toad Scrolls)

That is why narrative technique is very important to understand the style of the author. How the author represents the event is important to see. Here we see the narrative technique of the novel "The Ministry of Utmost Happiness" by Arundhati Roy. 

Narrative technique of "The Ministry of Utmost Happiness"

The novel is very complex to read. Roy uses many references of true events in her novel. If you are not aware of real events you won't be able to understand the novel. It is also divided into five major worlds (places) where all the things happen, but the events are broken in between. The story of Anjum connects all the events of the novel. But to read the original novel is very hard. We can read the interpretations and understand the novel. 

"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." (Ann Theres Joy)

The novel has an omniscient narrator, and it has multiple points of view. The narration is changing from first person to third person Narration. Novel begins with the Jannat; setting of the graveyard, then it moves to Shahjahanabad, Delhi then to Khwabagh or the House of Dreams to the Jannat Guest House. From there it goes to Jantar Mantar. And lastly it shifted to Kashmir. Covering all the events it ends with the exposure of the letters of Revathy.  Here you can see board work on characters(complexity) of the novel by Sir, 

Political Issues in the Novel

Arundhati Roy is an amazing writer of this present era who possesses defiant and reformative voice. In comparison to other women writers, Roy is less moving in her books. Her plays include the harsh reality of life. Arundhati Roy never showcases any kind of hesitation to articulate or write on any kind of wrongful issue. As a writer, Roy has never been agog to draw up fairy tale, romance, or fantasy rather than unravelling the suffering of mankind. All her books outline religious, war, political, nationalism, capitalism and the plight of people in this hour of crisis. Arundhati Roy always try to create a healthy environment for the disadvantaged people. Roy raises questions on the patricentric society, social stigmas and the authority of political power. Her works are the reflection of her outrage, discontentment and compassion. Roy states in an interview with Kathy Arlyn Sokol(Kyoto Journal). 

The novel includes many political events such as land reform, 2002 Riots in reaction to Godhara train coach burning, Kashmir insurgency, reference of Una flogging of Dalit-chamars by Cow-Vigilantes also it illustrates the sufferings, pain and the rights of the LGBT community in contemporary India. The novel also deals with many social and political events occurring in India. We have seen these events in the class,

This frame is about the episode in the novel when Anjum and Zakir Mian travel to Ahmedabad, Gujarat during 2002 Riots in reaction to Godhara train coach burning in which 56 pilgrims died.

In the novel Saddam Hussein (Daya Chand) refers to Una flogging of Dalit-chamars by Cow-Vigilantes.

 

This frame has a reference to 'Revathy' / 'Comrade Maase'. She is mother of Udaya Jebeen (the second). She abandoned her baby at Jantar Mantar as she was born of rape by six police-men and she wanted to dedicate her life for Moist movement.

Gender Issue in the Novel

As Danish Suleman writes in the article, since ancient times the culture has been split into the weak and dominant, where vulnerable people are subjected to the dominance and flattery of society's authoritative class and hence become the perpetrators of paranoia. In society they have no name and life. Their identity is at stake, or they live with a decapitated uniqueness. They are the miserable species in this world who have no experience, thus are the perpetrators of deep lowliness and feel always terrified to be insulted. This study addresses transgender abuse and identity crisis at the root of the gender identity issue. Gender identity insinuates a person's identity due to the level of feminine or masculine characteristics in an adult that conforms to the traditional concept of society as a male or female. A person's gender identity is a psychological component of an individual's sexual orientation. In an article, “Let Us to Live: Social Exclusion of Hijra Community”, Hijra (Eunuch) or Transgender has been identified by Sibsankar Mal (2015) as “an umbrella term to signify individuals who defy rigid, binary gender constructions and who express or present a breaking and blurring of culturally prevalent stereotypically gender roles”.

We have two genders in our thoughts, minds, everywhere. And apart from that third gender community people didn't get a place in society. They have to fight for their rights. This problem is discussed by Roy in this novel. 

Environmental Concern in the Novel

In the novel "The Ministry of Utmost Happiness" various environmental issues are raised by Arundhati Roy. Issues ranging from Indian vulture crises, deforestation, dismal condition of migrants and quarry workers, predicament of captivated zoo animals, deficient health facilities, scum-laden rivers, mushrooming slums, mounting poverty, speedily increasing dumping grounds, unplanned urbanization, unrestricted consumer indulgence, enslavement of Adivasi (tribal) girls and genetic modification have been comprehensively studied. 

She writes to inspire action and encourage her readers to participate in the process of nation-building and for creating a more sustainable planet (Syed  Wahaj).

We see a dung beetle is portrayed as earth saver here. With the point of nature Roy includes  insects, birds, animals and they are playing a pivotal role in their life which are connected with human life and their actions and activities affect them. The important aspect was about Vultures. 

Researchers have expressed concern over use of the anti-inflammatory drug diclofenac in cattle since it was approved for veterinary use in Spain in 2013, as the drug is toxic to vultures who may consume it via dead cows. Now, modelling by Rhys Green, a conservation scientist at the University of Cambridge, UK, and his colleagues suggests that the drug could cause populations of that country’s Eurasian griffon vultures (Gyps fulvus) to decline by between 1–8% each year (Rachel Becker). 

Vultures are friendly old birds. They are the cleaners of earth and they are now dying because of this diclofenac. 

References

Becker, Rachel. Cattle drug threatens thousands of vultures. Nature (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature.2016.19839 

Joy, Ann  Theres. “Seaming a Shattered Story: Roy’s Narrative Patterns in the  Ministry of Utmost Happiness.” Journal of Research in Humanities and Social Science, vol. 6, no. 12, Dec. 2018, pp. 20–23. 

Mal, Sibsankar. 2015. “Let Us to Live: Social Exclusion of Hijra Community”. Asian Journalof Research in Social Sciences and Humanities, 5(4): 108-117. 

Mohsin, Syed  Wahaj. “Environmental Concerns in Arundhati Roy’s The Ministry of Utmost  Happiness: A Critical Study.” Galaxy: International Multidisciplinary Research Journal, vol. 8, no. 6, Dec. 2017. 

Roy, Arundhati. 2011. “Like Sculpting Smoke: Arundhati Roy on Fame, Writing and India”Interview by Kathy Arlyn Sokol. Kyoto Journal, November 5, 2017. Retrieved from

https://kyotojournal.org/conversations/arundhati-roy-on-fame-writing-and-india/ 

Suleman, Danish, et al. “Political and Gender Issues in Arundhati Roy’s ‘The Ministry of Utmost Happiness.’” Indonesian Journal of Cultural and Community Development, vol. 5, 2020, https://doi.org/10.21070/ijccd2020288. 

List of Work Cited

Hello readers ! Myself Latta Baraiya and I'm a student of English Department, mkbu. This task is assigned by Vaidehi ma'am. This blog is about how we can make list of work that we have cited from different sources.

Whenever you incorporate outside sources into your own writing, you must provide both in-text citations (within the body of the paper) and full citations (in the works cited page). The in-text citations point your reader toward the full citations in the works cited page(Jennifer). 

MLA style provides a flexible, modular format for recording key features of works cited or consulted in the preparation of your research paper. This chapter describes several sequences of elements that can be combined to form entries in lists of works. In building an entry, you should know which elements to look for in the source. Not all elements will be present in a given source. Moreover, since MLA style is flexible about the inclusion of some information and even about the ordering of the elements, you should understand how your choice relates to your research project(MLA handbook, 2009).

Although the list of works cited appears at the end of your paper, you need to draft the section in advance, so that you will know what information to give in parenthetical references as you write. 

Placement of the List of Works Cited

The list of works cited appears at the end of the paper. Begin the list on a new page and number each page, continuing the page numbers of the text. For example, if the text of your research paper ends on page 10, the works-cited list begins on page 11. 

The page number appears in the upper right-hand corner, half an inch from the top and flush with the right margin. 

Author. “Title of the Source.” Title of the Container, Other contributors, Version, Number, Publisher, Publication date, Location. 

See this, 

Center the title, Works Cited, an inch from the top of the page. Double-space between the title and the first entry. Begin each entry flush with the left margin; if an entry runs more than one line, indent the subsequent line or lines one-half inch from the left margin. This format is sometimes called hanging indention, and you can set your word processor to create it automatically for a group of paragraphs. Hanging indention makes alphabetical lists easier to use. Double-space the entire list, both between and within entries(MLA handbook, 2009). 

Arrangement of Entries

Entries in a works-cited list are arranged in alphabetical order, which helps the reader to find the entry corresponding to a citation in the text. In general, alphabetize entries in the list of works cited by the author's last name, using the letter-by-letter system. In this system, the order of names is determined by the letters before the commas that separate last names and first names. Spaces and other punctuation marks are ignored. The letters following the commas are considered only when two or more last names are identical(MLA handbook, 2009). Like this, 

• Descartes, Rene

• De Sica, Vittorio

• MacDonald, George

• McCullers, Carson

• Morris, Robert

• Morris, William

• Morrison, Toni

• Saint-Exuperv, Antoine de

• St. Denis, Ruth

If two or more entries citing co authors begin with the same name, alphabetize by the last names of the second authors listed.

• Scholes, Robert, and Robert Kellogg

• Scholes, Robert, Carl H. Klaus, and Michael Silverman

• Scholes, Robert, and Eric S. Rabkin

Other kinds of bibliographies may be arranged differently. An annotated list, a list of works consulted, or a list of selected readings for a historical study, for example, may be organized chronologically by publication date. Some bibliographies are divided into sections and the items alphabetized in each section. A list may be broken down into primary and secondary sources or into different research media or genres (books, articles, films). Alternatively, it may be arranged by subject matter, by period, or by area(MLA handbook, 2009). 

Two or More Works by the Same Author

To cite two or more works by the same author, give the llame in the first entry only. Thereafter, in place of the name, type three hyphens, followed by a period and the title. The three hyphens stand for exactly the same name as in the preceding entry. If the person named edited, translated, or compiled the work, place a comma (not a period) after the three hyphens, and write the appropriate abbreviation (ed., trans., or comp.) before giving the title. Ifthe same person served as, say, the editor of two or more works listed consecutively, the abbreviation ed. must be repeated with each entry. This sort of label does not affect the order in which entries appear; works listed under the same name are alphabetized by title(MLA handbook, 2009). Like this,

Borroff, Marie. Language and the Poet: Verbal Artistry in Frost, Stevens, and Moore. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1979. Print.

---, trans. Pearl. New York: Norton, 1977. Print.

---. "Sound Symbolism as Drama in the Poetry of Robert Frost." PMLA

107.1 (1992): 131-44. JSTOR. Web. 13 May 2008.

---, ed. Wallace Stevens: A Collection of Critical Essays. Englewood Cliffs:

Prentice, 1963. Print. 

Two or More Works by the Same Authors

If you have two or more works by the same author, alphabetize your list by the author’s last name, and then the title of the book(Adrienne,2020). To cite two or more works by the same authors, give the names in the first entry only. Thereafter, in place of the names, type three hyphens, followed by a period and the title. The three hyphens stand for exactly the same names, in the same order, as in the preceding entry. Authors' names whose order in the source work is different from that of the previously listed names should be listed in the same order as in the work and alphabetized appropriately(MLA handbook, 2009).

• Gilbert, Sandra M., and Susan Gubar, eds. The Female Imagination and the Modernist Aesthetic. New York: Gordon, 1986. Print. 

---. "Sexual linguistics: Gender, Language, Sexuality." New Literary History 16.3 (1985): 515-43. JSTOR. Web. 26 June 2007.

In this way you can cite if two or three works are by the same author. 

 Cross-References

To avoid unnecessary repetition in citing two or more works from the same collection, you may create a complete entry for the collection and cross-reference individual pieces to the entry. In a cross-reference, state the author and the title of the piece, the last name of the editor or editors of the collection, and the inclusive page or reference numbers. If the piece is a translation, add the name of the translator after the title, unless one person translated the entire collection (MLA handbook, 2009).See this, 

• Agee, James. "Knoxville: Summer of 191 5." Oates and Atwan 171-75.

• Atwan, Robert. Foreword. Oates and Atwan x-xvi.

• Kingston, Maxine Hong. "No Name Woman." Oates and Atwan 383-94.

• Oates, Joyce Carol, and Robert Atwan, eds. The Best American Essays of the Century. Boston: Houghton, 2000. Print.

• Rodriguez, Richard. "Aria: A Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood." Oates and Atwan 447-66. 

References 

Mathewson, Adrienne. “Arranging Numbers in Works Cited List.” Bibliography.com, 17 Sept. 2020, https://www.bibliography.com/mla/arranging-numbers-in-works-cited-list/. 

MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. THE MODERN LANGUAGE ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA, New York, 2009, https://eclass.uoa.gr/modules/document/file.php/ISLL125/MLA+Handbook+for+Writers+of+Research+Papers.pdf. 

Yirinec, Jennifer. “Formatting the Works Cited Page (MLA).” Formatting the Works Cited Page (MLA) | English Literature I, University of South Florida, https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-britlit1/chapter/formatting-the-works-cited-page-mla/. 

Workshop on Research and Writing a Dissertation

Learning outcome from workshop : Research Writing & Dissertation Writing

On 4th January 2020 we had a workshop on Research and Writing a Dissertation at the Department of English, mkbu. This workshop helps us in selecting our dissertation topic and how we will write our further topic. Our resource persons were Dilip Barad  sir and Ndoricimpa Clement sir. This are the objectives of the workshop :

1) Understand what is involved in research :-

Before understanding what is involved in research, we have to see what is research. Research should be scientific and systematic. It is scientific because it uses scientific methods by making an integrated use of inductive-deductive reasoning and it is systematic because it follows certain steps that are logically connected. 

There are different types of research. Like, historical, descriptive, correlation, Cultural etc. 

2) Select an appropriate research topic :-

Selecting a topic is not an easy task. And the most confusing part is how to select a topic and which topic I should select ? You can select a topic that is closely connected to your intellectual interests, personal experiences, and favorite research areas. It is not like someone has chosen this topic so I'm also choosing this. Also we have to see our ability to complete our research on that topic. 

3) Select and define a research problem :-

After selecting the topic you have to see what research has done in that area. What are the problems in this area? Then you can connect it with your research area, that this has done, this hasn't done and this is what I want to do research on. 

4) Select appropriate research methods and design :-

A good research defines the research problem with the appropriate arguments. It involves the literature review, and with the use of seminal writers. From that the research came to her/his main argument of the topic. This is how the researchers prove their points. 

The research design is the blueprint for meeting the objectives and answering the research questions. It involves asking questions such as: what type of research will it be? Quantitative? Or Qualitative? Survey? Exploratory? Comparative? Experimental? Correlative? Etc.

Considering these questions will guide the researcher to the types of data she/he will collect, the participants and sampling techniques and the methods s/he will follow in the analysis of the data.

5) Organize and write a dissertation, and understand the style of argumentation :-

The structure of a dissertation,

• Introduction

• Literature review

• Research methods/theoretical framework for literary studies.

• Interpretation and discussion of the findings

• Conclusion.

In this way we can write our dissertation.  This workshop makes things clear in our mind about our dissertation topic and how we are going to put questions in it and how we will give answers to these questions. Here you can see some glimpses of workshop,

Learning Outcome : Translation Studies

On 3rd January 2022 we had a workshop on translation study at the department of English MKBU. We have a paper in our syllabus of : Comparative Literature and Translation Studies so this workshop is helpful to us to understand more in this field. Our guest speaker Vishal Bhadani sir tells us about his love story with translation. 

Dr Vishal Bhadani  Sir gained 5 years of teaching experience from the leading universities of Gujarat, now he works as a Director, International Center for Applied Gandhian Studies, Lokbharti Sanosara which is the first residential institute of rural higher education in the country. He translated Dhruv Bhatt's two Gujarati novels into English. 

1. Timirpanthi as The Pilgrims of Darkness

2. Akoopar as The Blue Marble

Learning outcome :-

1) Has your understanding of translation improved? 

Yes, In the first session sir gave us examples of different approaches to translation. What are your ways of looking at translation that sir explained and what are the possibilities as translator that we understood after this session. And the second session was about practical translation in which sir gave us some exercise. We learn, as Gayatri Spivak said,

"Translation is the closest reading of text".

Before this workshop I didn't even know that there were lots of possibilities of work in the field of translation. People have several myths about translation like,

• Untranslatability 

• Translation is a small industry

• Most translators translate book

• Machine translation is crushing the demand for human translation

• Translation is either beautiful or faithful. 

So these are all myths, there is scope in the translation field, machines can not translate regional words. So my understanding of translation has improved. 

2) Can you write about translation in terms of metaphors? 

Yes, we can take examples of metaphors from nature, mythology, epic, culture, music. The first example is from nature,

1] The Moon :- The moon's calmness is the translation of the sun's light. 

2] Ganesha's head :- to put the similar thing instead of the original; it means we can use the similar words in place of the original words. That looks similar to the original. 

3] Kevat :- We know that famous scene of Rama and Kevat. 

So Rama is a text and that woman is a dictionary. It means while translating you need the help of a dictionary. 

4] Western - Eastern Culture :- Exchange of one another's culture. 

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

During the translation the question that arises in our mind and sir also explained the question about translation is that, Google also provides translation, there are also apps available so what is the need of human translators ??? The answer sir gave is, 

- machines crushes the meaning of some regional words

- they are not giving proper meaning of some words sometimes

Sir gave us one sentence to translate is : મા તે મા બીજા વગડાના વા ! (તમે પણ પ્રયત્ન કરજો 😄, શું આવે છે કેજો). Google translator gave us this sentence : Ma te ma bija vagada va !!!. 

So here we need a human translator !!! It is the difficult part of translation when we translate the regional words. 

4) learning outcome from the workshop :- 

Doing translation is not an easy task. You have to be very careful while translating, because one wrong word can change the whole meaning. The other thing that I learned from the session is that you have to use dictionaries while translating. A good translator is also a good traveller. You have to observe the things around you so you can use it in your work. 

Overall it was amazing. We enjoyed the whole session 🤩. Here are some glimpses :- 

Thinking Activity : Petals of Blood

Write a short note on the first chapter of the novel (Interrogation of characters) Petals of Blood. 

Petals of Blood :- 

Petals of Blood is a novel written by Ngugi wa Thiong'o. Ngugi wa Thiong'o is a Kenyan writer and academic who writes primarily in Gikuyu. His work includes novels, plays, short stories, and essays, ranging from literary and social criticism to children's literature. He is the founder and editor of the Gikuyu-language journal Mũtĩiri. His short story The Upright Revolution: Or Why Humans Walk Upright, is translated into 100 languages from around the world. 

It was first published in 1977. Set in Kenya just after independence, the story follows four characters – Munira, Abdulla, Wanja, and Karega – whose lives are intertwined due to the Mau Mau rebellion. In order to escape city life, each retreats to the small, pastoral village of Ilmorog. As the novel progresses, the characters deal with the repercussions of the Mau Mau rebellion as well as with a new, rapidly westernizing Kenya. 

The novel largely deals with the scepticism of change after Kenya's independence from colonial rule, questioning to what extent free Kenya merely emulates, and subsequently perpetuates, the oppression found during its time as a colony. Other themes include the challenges of capitalism, politics, and the effects of westernization. Education, schools, and the Mau Mau rebellion are also used to unite the characters, who share a common history with one another. 

Chapter One 

✍️The novel starts with the investigation of murder and two police man goes to the houses of all suspected persons. First they came to Munira. They asked Munira to come with them to the police station. Munira easily agreed with them and he took one holy book with him and talked about the end of the world and the second coming of Christ. The Policeman changed the topic and asked him about since when he is living here. And Munira answered him twelve years later. 

✍️The second scene is about Abdulla. The police went at Abdulla's place and tell him to go with him because they want ask him some questions about the murder that happened yesterday. 

✍️The third scene went to the hospital, where Wanja had been admitted. She is on the bed. Doctor tells the police man that she is not able to speak anything and she is still in delirium about what had happened. 

✍️The fourth scene is at the house of Karega. He was just awake and a policeman took him in. They want to ask him about the murder that happened in Ilmorog. That news spread everywhere and the workers marched toward the police station and demanded the release of Karega. Because before this night they all planned a strike, and they thought because of this decision police arrested him. But the policeman told them that it's investigation about murder. 

✍️Fifth attention we have seen is that Daily Mouthpiece newspaper printed the headline that, 

"MZIGO, CHUI, KIMERIA MURDERED" 

So in this way the news was spread out everywhere. And chapter one includes these five scenes. And in this way we came to know about the characters and their interrogation.