My Mother at Sixty-six -Kamla Das

Kamla Das has now passed away but she has left behind her a number of forceful poems coming from her personal experiences surrounding her life that was a rebellious one . She was originally named Madhavikutti , the name she used for her works in Malayalam , her mother tongue . For her works in English she used the name 'Kamla Das . In the last part of her life she had turned a Muslim and died as a Muslim .
Most of her poems spring out of her sexual experiences and though they are more strong poems than this , CBSE would have found them unsuitable for school students and chosen this one .
This poems contains the sentiment of pathos emanating from the pangs of separation and the problems of ageing .
The poet (poetess) is going away from her mother , far as she is going by an aeroplane . On her to the airport , she sees at her mother . The mother is dozing off and her open mouth looks like that of a dead person . She thinks that her mother is now old enough to die and this makes her frightened . She looks now out of her car and sees the energetic children running out of their house and the trees also seem to be running .
At the airport , she hides her fears and smiles and says 'See you ......' . But, at heart she feels the same pain of separation from her mother that a child feels .

How to attempt an artice ? ( C B S E )

In C B S E , there is a word limit for articles in the examinations . You ought to stick to that .
You usually get options . Choose that topic which appears interesting to you but you must also have some ideas and information on it .
The format for the article is very simple . There should be the heading and below the heading
byline ,i.e., the name of the author .
Example :- Pollution and Global Warming
by Rakesh

The article should begin with an arresting introduction , its body should be systematically developed and it should end with an effective conclusion . This necessitates that the article must have at least three paragraphs : the first one introduction , the last one conclusion and the middle one or ones showing the systematic development .

'A Roadside Stand ' by Robert Frost

Robert Frost , an American poet of great repute has written on several aspects of life and his lines "woods are lovely dark and deep ....." have made him emmensely popular . However , even on seemingly mundane issues his poems are not devoid of sentiments or feelings and in his 'A Roadside Stand ' , he seems very much sympathetic unto those who dwell in the rural areas . Here, it is important to note that he had himself been a farmer for sometime and he would have realized that in want of the flow of cash , the rural areas remain perpetually underdeveloped and the standard of living of the villagers remains low.

The poem shows how villagers have made a roadside stand and have put some berries etc. for sale but their trust is shattered as hardly anybody from city stops his car to buy these berries .
If a car stops there , it stops for other reasons .The window of the roadside stand seems to be praying openly for some sales but the traffic on the road seems shamelessly selfish .

Robert Frost seems anxious for the rural areas . Can a magic rod remove their pains overnight ?
Certainly not . Then, how heartless it is that the city dwellers , while passing by the roadside stand,do not stop their cars to buy something and give them some city money to improve their lot ? easternenglish17@gmail.com

The Third Level

In CBSE Class XII English Core , I have noticed several students confused about the concept of waking dream wish fulfilment .This phenomenon has been used by the writer of 'The Third Level' .
It is easy to understand . Sigmund Freud has propounded that those desires of ours which are not fulfilled in our real lives get fulfilled in our dreams . It was night and the narrator while passing through a lonely tunnel , entered a dream even though he was not sleeping properly .

On ' A Thing of Beauty '

Often students of CBSE Class XII fail to follow the process that makes a thing of beauty a joy forever . And, CBSE has often asked why a thing of beauty is a joy forever according to John Keats .
The answer is quite clear and interesting . Look at the lines closely :-
" A thing of beauty is a joy forever
Its loveliness increases , it will never
Pass into nothingness ; but will keep
A bower quiet for us , and a sleep
Full of sweet dreams ,and health ,and quiet breathing ."
Now, these are the opening lines of his poem 'Endymion: A Poetic Romance'.The story in the poem is of Greek origin in which Endymion ,a beautiful young shepherd and poet,gets a vision of Cynthia ,the Moon Goddess and his love unto her goes on increasing and he sets out for her quest . She appears ever more beautiful to her and her quest turns to be ever more joyful .
It is love that makes a thing of beauty a joy forever because if we love a thing it appears more beautiful to us .Beauty generates love and love generates beauty . Thus both keep on increasing and render an everlasting joy .
That's why Keats uses the word 'loveliness' in the second line . By 'loveliness' he means 'beauty generated by love '. And, how can an increasing thing pass into nothingness ? Only diminishing things can do so .
So is a thing of beauty a joy forever .

On 'The Laburnum Top'

This poem by Ted Hughes is important in various ways and even if we simplify our examination of this poem keeping in view class xi students of CBSE ,we cannot escape a comment on it from the feministic viewpoint .
The poem draws the picture of the autumn season in which yellowing leaves make a match with the afternoon sun of September . The autumn , the afternoon and the month of September, all indicate a decadent , sick state of affairs , without any strength or enthusiasm , all its seeds fallen . Where lies the hope ? How does the abominable silence ,suggesting lifelessness come to an end? It ends with the arrival of a goldfinch . She comes with a twitching chirrup and goes hidingly and smoothly ,suddenly and carefully to her nest to feed her youngs and the laburnum thrills with life .This shows the faith of the poet in the feminine strength .Yet ,
can the agile but delicate female force withstand the destructive onslaughts of the agents of death ?
Yes, because the activities of the goldfinch show that the feminine force is very clever and it would somehow carry through the chaotic conditions . With the identity mask and mysterious sound the goldfinch can even terrorise her predators .

Certificate in Business Communication in English

Those days I was interested in the corporate world and was willing to become a practising company secretary . But , I lost interest and entered the field of academics .However , after the formation of Eastern English School Private Limited , I designed a course of business communication and a few students joined it and one even successfully completed it and earned a certificate in the second division . But, soon we saw that Cambridge University launched Business English Certificate . I sat for one to see how they had done it . Theirs was not better than ours from the viewpoint of eastern countries but they attracted more students, though still not many, and through the British Library , Patna , they gave it to those who passed their exams successfully. Our company withdrew the course . But now our company is again willing to come forward with this course .The British Library has withdrawn from Patna and it may be an excellent additional certificate for commerce students .

Eastern English School

CONCEPT
In the wake of post colonialism , it is imperative that we should come to realise the pontentials of our own English and assert it strongly as a means of communication , national and cultural unification and harmony , international understanding and global creativity . If we can digest the concept of American English , why cannot we digest the concept of Eastern English ,i.e.,English in India, Bangladesh , Pakistan , China , Nepal , Srilanka ,etc. as a distinct variety of English with peculiarities of its own ?
And if it is accepted ,can this Eastern English be allowed to take its own course and degenerate or develop into a thousand dialects and turn unintelligible to the western world ? No, English is a global language and British, American , Black, Australian or Eastern , all will have to remain intelligible to one another and thus knowingly or unknowingly contribute into the evolution of a truly global English in course of time .
Besides this, teaching of English to the students of the eastern countries in a wholesome way (making them effecient in the use of English without alienating them unto their own cultures ) is an exciting and challenging task . We gave the foundation of Eastern English School Private Limited in 1997 with this and much more in our minds , two minds are always better .