Bajirao Mastani

Bajirao Mastani

This blog is written as a part of my online discussion at Department of English, MKBU.

Dilip Barad Sir, 

Ref: Interview of writer of Bajirao-Mastani Prakash Kapadia.

We can learn 

1) How long it takes in making of Historical films. 

2) How extensive Research is done by writer?

3) Converting History into Literature is difficult task.

4) When writer says that it is an attempt to see past through today's spectacles/goggles;  we remember the relevance of Eliot ' s concept of Tradition which involves Historical sense which involves past ness of past and it's presence, consciousness of past, timeless n temporal, contemporaenity etc. Not merely protector or the one who lives in Past but the one who sees past through present.

5) the controversy is bound to happen , and there is nothing wrong in  controversy. Literature, through "imagination", tries to answer questions left unanswered by History.

Share your views on the small interview attached. Try to connect it with the study of literature ans literary criticism / theory.

After reading this interview I realize how difficult  work it is to prepare a movie from history. Because history is something which generally remains most controversial issue. And it took 12 year to do research just to make a single movie, it shows writer’s dedication and determination. Prakash Kapadiya tells that since 2002 he was reading, watching other T.V. serial made on this  topic, meeting other historians etc. took a long time to write a script of the movie.

Yes, converting history into literature is difficult task, because  chief characteristic of literature is that it is imaginative, where as history is factual. So there is constant debate goes on this movie or book or TV serial is lying, telling a thing which is far away from reality. BUT WE’VE TO REMEMBER THAT THIS IS ART/ LITERATURE. LITERATURE IS ALWAYS IMAGINATIVE. IT NEVER SAYS WE ARE SPEAKING TRUTH. SO, WE CAN’T CHARGE IT FOR SPEAKING LIE.

They have poetic liberty  and they can change it. As a audience/ reader we have to grow.

Eliot says that pastness of past is not important but its present is more important. Means HOW PAST IS STILL ALIVE TODAY is more important. It is a habit of mind to  see anything by keeping in mind present   time.

I still haven’t seen the movie or I   I don’t know much about history of Bajirao , so it is difficult to say what is reality and what are changes made by movie maker.

Is God a needless hypothesis?

Dilip Barad Sir,

All students:

Read this writeup in context of:
1) A hypothesis which we constructed as a triangle where 'a' is literati re,  'b' is Religion and 'c' is Science. And while studying literature we go on testing our hypothesis of love - hate relations among each other. They neither can love each other, not can exist without each other.
2) Sem 1: Study of Paradise Lost by Milton. How Milton in the process and intentionally trying to justify ways of God to man, subverts his own hypothesis and speaks for human will power and freedom to choose, what ever may befall, including the wrath of God.

After reading in the given context, your task is to answer these questions:
1) Have we outgrown the psychological,  emotional and spiritual need of God?
2) How far can u agree with Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris who have cogently and eloquently argued that far from being a negation of moral codes and an ethical life, atheism as a form of consciousness raising is an affirmation of spiritual transcendence?
3) is it time we outgrew that 'Needless hypothesis'?

who killed more people ?

Religion.

Humanism in Paradise Lost.

let me first say something about Paradise Lost. while in the process of justifying God's ways to men, he actually subverts the hypothesis. His intention was to show that, this is how god operates. That if you break the laws of God, then you will be punished.

But Eve ate the fruit of knowledge. Adam realize that Eve has committed a huge mistake. then even he eats fruit because he thinks that he cannot live without Eve. Adam intentionally chooses Eve over God. he is ready to accept wrath of God, ready to be out of Garden of Eden.

this indirectly suggest to an individual  that how they have to be flexible, radical. HUMAN BEING IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN GOD.

in this world of havoc and terror, we have need to be like Adam. HUMAN BEING IS PRIME, NOT RELIGION.

★ RELIGION IS MADE FOR US, WE ARE NOT MADE FOR RELIGION.

I must say no one knows in true sense, what is religion? what are the fundamentals? and then even we go on killing people on the name of religion.

Religion was made to guide people. Fundamentals of all religion is love, pity, compassion, kindness, service to other, sympathy etc. But today Religion IS A WEAPON TO KILL PEOPLE.

★So, we have to shift from being religious to Spiritual. there is a basic difference between religion and spirituality. One can be spiritual without being religious.- this is the essence of the words of Pop Francis. if any non-believer criticize than people may not consider it worthy, but Pop Francis says this so it is very important. Here to prove him right i would like to ask question again who killed more people??-Religion. be it any, fact is this.

Reference of Nietzsche, is appropriate to think in progressive way, rather than being regressive. Nietzsche gave concept of Death of God and told that one has to develop his own sense of morality. He also gave concept of superman- who pave the new path- which will followed by other.

Need of god is to give psychological support, but one has to grow mature that one can live even without the concept of god. Atheism is now solution to every problem, because religion us rather problematic now a days. 

Ancient Versus Modern

This blog is written as a part of online discussion on Ancient versus Modern writer discussion debate.

Dilip Barad Sir,

Reference: Dryden's Essay.

Point of Debate: Ancient vs Modern.

Read attached writeup from Chitralekha magazine.

Isn't it true that such writings which narrowly focuses on "Who is better?" conditions our mind to think of "comparison"  always in terms of 'good and bad?. Isn't it true that such conditioning narrows our thinking? We are unable to restore connection between the past and the present when we see things as antithesis to each other.  We always think that one should be better than the Other. The idea of mutual coexistence ceases to exist in our mind and thus we fail to coexist with difference.

The writer would have read Dryden's Essay to understand an important point to keep in mind while we "compare".

"Discussion of Ancient and Modern shud not be for who is better, it shud be more filename tally about how "history" itself functioned and shud be read, thus it shud be about the relationship between past ans present, humanity and nature, and human understanding and knowledge."

What is your opinion about this two viewpoint?

It would be good if you support your argument with personal or general real life experiences. 

Sem 3 students should participate along with sem 1 in this online discussion.

Ancient and Modern

It is foolish idea to compare two distinct things and derive conclusion from them, that who is better. Comparison is okay but what is the need to prove one as superior and other inferior?

the same debate is also there in the Battle of the Books by Jonathan Swift, in which books discuss who is better Ancient or Modern?.

In that books Ancients are compared with Honeybees  and moderns are compared with Spiders. Ancients gathers so many material (honey) from here and there, and Moderns use them like Spiders. Eating the fruits of work done by Ancients without hard work. Moderns are lucky that they have raw material, model how to write. Ancients had done lot of works and moderns are just  copying or imitating them.

From Modern point of view , we can criticize Ancient that- As said by T.S.ELIOT in Tradition and Individual Talent, while discussing Historical sense-  that influence of past ruins the new talent. under the influence of great writer it  becomes difficult for Individual to write.

As well as we can defend modern that, they are not  copying Ancients but adding much more in that. New plot structures, experimentive narrative technique, Psychological portrayal of character, fusion of various arts into literature etc. are gift of Modern writers.

so to think of mutual existence of both is a better idea. it is our conditioning of mind since childhood to compare and contrast two things, whether possible or not.

Generalizing anything is major problem. there are plenty of Ancient writers. how can one say that they were good or bad- how can you generalize?? some of them may be artist with great literary abilities , some may not!!!!!! so judge individual by reading them, whether Ancient or Modern. similarly all Ancients are Great Classics and all Modern are rubbish, childish , it is not so.

so even John Dryden, in his essay Of Dramatic Poesy- through characters of Crites, Lesidius, Eugenius, Neander does not give any  conclusion, but gives voice to both.

both are interdependent, like two sides of a coin.

Discussion of Ancient and Modern should not be for who is better, it should be more filename tally about how "history" itself functioned and should be read, thus it should be about the relationship between past and present, humanity and nature, and human understanding and knowledge.↓↓

This is also fact that contemporary society fails to understand/ judge writers. they became great classic only after their death. for example Thomas Hardy- his novels were banned when he was alive. priests have burn his book ( Tess of D'Urbervilles-a pure woman) and drank ashes in coffee. and now he is classic writer.

Even during Elizabethan era Shakespeare was also writing for masses. he was popular not classic. Ben Jonson was holding important place  at that time, writing for Queen. ( Royal family). but today Ben Jonson is almost lost. so time will judge artist. contemporary audience may be wrong.

Even Chetan Bhagat is popular modern writer. but being popular, best seller don’t make him good writer. upcoming time will judge him. Today's Modern are Ancients of tomorrow.

So we have to think about the mutual coexistence of both.

Caste Politics

Dear Friends, this blog is my email group discussion task which i had done as a part of my study at Department of English.

All students,

Two articles are shared for online discussion .

1) Interview of Historian Irfan Habib 

2) Caste-ing Ashoka in Bihar.

History is similar to memory. As in case of individual Memory of past (memory is alwaya about past) helps in organizing present and future. Similarly,  History helps in organising present and future of National / Society.

History is recalled, rewritten ans reinterpreted, time and again. All rereading or appropriation of historical figures/facts gives us understanding about the power and it's relation with History. (HISTORY IS ALWAYS WRITTEN BY THE WINNERS. The defeated are always disparaged in history).

You are invited to share your views / opinions of  the two writeups.  What do you think about the views expressed? Do you agree or disagree with the views? Why? What's your logic?

Respected sir,

My views regarding caste politics and Ashoka is as follow.

 First question is why politicians are remembering Ashoka  now?? Simply because of  elections. They actually have nothing to do with people or with history. They are only in vote banks.  We have discussed in the introduction   of the Modernist Literature by A.C. Ward that how susceptible untutored mind   (youth) were used by Hitler in war.  This kind of people are easily emotionally fooled by people. And caste is a factor which is medium to fool emotionally people. So politicians connects caste of great once with people so they feel bondage towards them and give vote on the name of great politicians.

History and power are closely connected. In Michel Foucalut’s word Power generates meaning about those who lacks power. And all the examples discussed in this articles are fine examples of this. Concept of naming is not innocent. Power operates behind this. There is hidden political agenda behind naming or banning the things. Things are same, whatever name we give to them. From structuralist point of view meanings are conventional, relational, arbitrary and applied. Even if we change name it doesn’t make any difference to that place. But it always happens that those who comes into power they changes name of cities, roads or places which is not innocent.

It is also true that history is written by winners. IT IS IMPORTANT TO JUSTIFY YOUR SELF. And winners easily do that. All great heroes were murderers but they were able to justify them selves. So the same case is in the history, that one is always hero in his own story. And sometimes history is also written by paying money. So there is conflict and definitely it will go on…..   

Library report. Experience as a leader of Library at Department of English

Library Report

Library is essential in a process of giving

students access to knowledge. In present  times

they are needed more than ever before.

Most importantly, however, libraries are the

places where you can expect smart and clear

answers to even most difficult questions.

As Neil Gaiman says: “Google can bring you

back 100,000 answers, a library can bring

you back the right one.”

Department of English, MKBU is full of various facilities, one of them is our Library. Earlier it used to happen that all the students has to go to the university library for books. But since few years we are able to create our own library with large number of books, next to our classroom. And every year numbers of books are increasing. Thanks to Dr. Dilip Barad sir for that.

Department strongly believes in the idea that -To build up a library is to create

a life. It’s never just a random collection of books.

Here it is appropriate to quote the words of Harold Howe that

What an  institution thinks about its

library is a measure of what it

feels about education.

And Department is one such place where lot of planning and preparation is done for better & effective management of library. Every year with the admission of new students, we elect library committee and a Leader. And throughout the year these students run the library.

Every student takes maximum advantage of library. Not only students but also visiting faculties and Research scholar also regularly visit Library. We have so many novels, plays, CD - DVD of so many texts adapted into films, Audio - visual content & reading material of SCOPE to improve LANGUAGE, UGC-NET preparation books, books of theory and criticism as well as so many reference books. The list can be extended....!!

It is appropriate to quote here Woolf and Sheldon....

"I ransack public libraries, and

find them full of sunk

treasure."

–Virginia Woolf

"Libraries store the energy that

fuels the imagination. They

open up windows to the world

and inspire us to explore and

achieve, and contribute to

improving our quality of life."

–Sidney Sheldon

★

Working as a leader of Library committee is amazing experience, though it is a bit difficult task. There may be hardly a single day when i don't have opened library. we don't have fixed any time limit for library. Any time, any one, while working hour may come and say I want to issue books !!!! (Sometimes during recess while taking lunch also!!!!!)& we have never denied to anybody. These are the life skills i've acquire while studying in Department. Dedication and commitment i learn from here.

In the biginning, when i took charge it was a bit difficult task  for me to find books and give it to the students. because the book section is divided like.. Department books, University books, Outer library books, photocopies and so many other things. But slowly and steadily i mastered this and became familiar with each and every corner of it.

All the students, madam and and especially Dilip Sir are great supporters, without their cooperation effective management of library could not be possible.

And i hope that students of coming batches will carry this tradition & give their contribution in growth and development of Department and library.

Semester 4 presentations

Paper 13, The New Literature

Presentation Topic : History is that certainty produced at a point where imperfection of memory meets the inadequacies of documentation- Explain with illustration from Tony''s memory.

To evaluate my presentation Click Here 

Sense of an ending by julian barnes from Dave Nimesh B


Paper 14, The African Literature.

Topic: Concept of tradition and Modernity, as well as Beckettian dramatic features in The Swamp Dwellers.

To evaluate my presentation Click Here

The swamp dwellers by wole soyinka from Dave Nimesh B



Paper 15, Mass Communication and Media Studies.


To evaluate my presentation Click Here

Journalism from Dave Nimesh B

How Literature shaped me ?!!

\ `. .

How Literature shaped me???


Soon, I am going to complete my journey of 5 years of studying literature. So, now I must look back and observe changes in me due to literature.
Though before writing, let me confess that Literature is a 'huge Ocean', no one can discover &knew its vastness, secrets and mysteries in totality. I have quenched my thirst from this ocean by drinking a few sips of it. So, my views also are limited as per what I've read.

Let me tell you something about my personal life that after studying Western theories  & literature I've become more LIBERAL, open-minded towards everything. Now I don't resist changes. I travel every day 110 KM in a bus ( since six years of B.A.(3), B.Ed (1), M.A. (2))., so meet various people every day. Many people pass comments about female's modern clothes or excessive use of mobiles or their new way of approaching the world.

But I don't agree with them. Now I laugh at silly matters like girls should not wear jeans or not to use mobiles. Now I can read PATRIARCHAL Language, that how it operates& I start deconstructing it. I strongly now believe in the concept of 'Individualism'- one has the right to do whatever he/she likes in her personal lives. I try to bring margin(female) into the centre, and then try to read from their point of view.

The very curious thing I observed last month, I don't remember the date but it was a time when Dilip Barad sir was in conference at Chennai, so I left Department early and sat in Rajkot local intercity bus at 4:30. it so happens that in the bus there was a 'Lady Conductor' (Which is a very recent phenomenon that Females are recruited as a conductor in buses, earlier it wasn't so)-i inquired & she told me that she's from 'Modasa' & it is her first trip to Bhavnagar. The main point is that a middle-aged man, sitting in my side seat started arguing with her about the ticket. He wanted to go to a very small village, which didn't mention in the ATM- Automatic Ticket Machine. So, she requested to take a ticket of next stop but he denied & quarrel went on...(how can she give ticket if the place is not in machine & the man refuse to pay a ticket of further place)

Now the main point comes is that:- He started complaining to me about the government that why the government is allowing girls as a conductor?? Govt. should stop this. Females look good as a teacher, not as a conductor. They cant do this tough job and many more...

I was listening to his complaints and laughing sarcastically over his thinking without letting him known. Soon, this discussion was joined by another man, who joins the bus from Press Quarters. He was young & looking educated, doing some good job. He spoke a line, which is centre of my attention that -"If females will start doing a job, then what will we (men) do???- cooking in the kitchen!!!!("LANGUAGE BEARS WITHIN ITSELF THE NECESSITY OF ITS OWN CRITIQUE"(Post Structuralism-Derrida)- This is a LOOSE STONE ( Aporia) to Deconstruct their views. Now I got the loose stone, so I'll undermine, subvert, blast this entire(building) discourse & create ( New discourse)something which was hidden meaning. (Thank u, Derrida!!!)

While studying CULTURAL STUDIES, there was a line that "NOTHING IS INNOCENT, THERE IS A DEEP POLITICS BEHIND EVERYTHING". I read this incident like this that the real problem is not a ticket or extra money. but the problem is that the privileged position of men is now being challenged by women. The real problem is that your JOBS are taken away by someone, so you despise them in one or another way.

Conditioning girls from childhood as soft, delicate, giving toys rather than hard tools, teaching household things is ALL WELL PLANNED CONSTRUCTION.
IT IS A POLITICS BY MEN TO SECURE THEIR JOBS. As time is changing women are competing with men in every respects. so their jobs are taken by females. 
So, this incident I observe opens up the gate for new discourse. Many people were there on the bus. But they don't read this the way I've read. So, this is a gift of literature & various theories that I can think in this way, which is obviously anti- established order.
I am telling to you since beginning literature shaped me, but almost forget to tell you  What is Literature??

Literature is not just imaginative stories written in leisure time only for entertainment. But it is a reflection of time, place and society in which we are living. Literature is a mirror or photographic image of society. equally, literature is also an x-ray image portraying ugly, darker sides of society.
Still, whatever definition we try to give literature will remain incomplete because its exactly like 5-7 blind men defining Elephant, by touching it. Whatever aspect they will touch upon, will define like that. So, lets it leave it aside and come back to the point.
Even though I am studying literature for five years, texts and theories which I've studied in M.A have affected & shaped me more. In B.A. while reading my focus was largely on aesthetics. I choose the text on the principle that whether it gives aesthetic delight or not. & even after completing reading books like 'Namesake', 'Heart of Darkness', 'Kim', 'Moby Dick' or 'The Bluest Eye', I wasn't able to derive anything except story(summary) part of the book. After reading, if someone tells me to explain by implying theories then I cant.
But now when I revisit the texts, I can realize its worth in a far better way.
Dr Jakyll & Mr Hyde taught me how humans have two faces- one public and other personal. It gave me a deep understanding of the human psyche. 'Ghasiram Kotwal' taught me that at what extent one can fall to gain power. At the same time Vijay Tendulkar being Brahmin criticizes (Peshwas) his own Brahminical traditions. Which taught me to remain very much open towards self-criticism. Rather than hiding hypocritically, accept it. It will give the opportunity to learn from the past & make a better tomorrow.

Literature taught me to be an observer, not judgmental. Rather than preferring one over others, I try to view both neutrally. While reading books, I unintentionally put myself into the place of character & start thinking that what if I were in his or her place. which cultivated in me a humanitarian approach. Now I strongly believe that Humanity is more important than religion, authority or so-called morality. The finest example of it is Hester Prynne, of The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Even though she has committed Adultery, literature will always stand for humanism. Even how society tags individual is also interesting to observe.
Another change now I can see in myself is challenging and doubting everything. Now everything is held to be open for question.

While returning from Bhavnagar to my village every night, I pass nearby a village temple. Rather than viewing them as God, whenever I pass from there I remember a line from The White Tiger for Hanuman-  "...You will find an image of a saffron-coloured creature, half man half monkey: This is Hanuman, everybody's favourite god in darkness. Do you know about Hanuman sir? He was the faithful servant of the god Rama, and we worship him in our temples because he is a shining example of how to serve your masters with absolute fidelity, love and devotion. These are the gods they have foisted on us, Mr Jiabao. Understand, now, how hard it is for a man to win his freedom in India." - So, my faith or say blind faith is somewhat disturbed by reading literature. Two ideas are at a clash in my mind. Emotional and rational thinking goes parallel in my mind, but now I see rational thinking overpowering, winning over the other.

Because now I believe in the words of Franz Kafka, that..."I think we ought to read only the kinds of books that WOUND and STAB us. If the book we are reading doesn't wake us up with a blow on the head, what are we reading it for?..... we need the books that affect us like a disaster, that grieve us deeply, like the death of someone we loved more than ourselves, like a suicide. A book MUST BE THE AXE FOR THE FROZEN SEA INSIDE US".

Books like Harry Potter taught me that LIFE IS ALL ABOUT CHOICES YOU MAKE, Right choice at right time will decide your future. No one will come from the sky to help you.
Dedication, determination and hard work I learn from Santiago of The Old man and the Sea. Even though he fails, he wins in the minds of the readers.

Frankenstein kind of science fiction still terrifies me. But when Narration turns to Monster it is one of the best parts of literature I've ever read. And I think, This is the beauty of Literature that Monster (Antagonist, villain, murderer) is given very WONDERFUL LINES. I was born innocent, but society corrupted me-, is I think the best line we can apply for the character of Monster. 

When we read Monster's narrative we start sympathizing for him. (which perhaps won't happen in real life. We never allow Other, second to put forward his arguments. We directly judge people. we must give chance to others to explain his/her side.)After reading Monster's narrative, anyone will question that Who is real Monster??? Victor or Monster? This happens only because Marry Shelley has given voice to Monster, but imagine what will happen if we'll know the story only from Victor's point of view??? (We are always Tigers in our own stories, like Pi, from Life of Pi)The hideousness of Victor's act will never come out. By changing the perspective everything changes. in real life also we should check, observe & evaluate single incident from various perspectives before deriving any conclusion.

While writing how literature shaped me, suddenly I feel nostalgic & remember an incident which Dilip Barad sir told us while discussing that what is usefulness or importance of Literature?
We had discussed an example of terrorists and 9/11 attack in America. Who was the terrorist?? They were not common people like you and me. It is not everybody's cup of tea to do that. THEY ALL WERE HIGHLY INTELLECTUAL PEOPLE. It requires a high level of intelligence and ability of multi-tasking to do that. 
Even if they were people with very high IQ, Then even WHY did they do such HIDEOUS ACT. The research made on them had proved that they never had studied HUMANITIES. They never study literature, which is very much important to make them human.
If not all, then most of Engineers, doctors, businessman or scientists etc considers literature as time pass activity. & perhaps that's why humanity is suffering.

• Back then ( Ha, ha, ha!!!!!, Tony's style of writing from Sense of an Ending to return from flashback -"Back then"!!!!!), let's talk about a few more texts...

Even though people criticize a lot, Chetan Bhagat, we give a little bit more respect to his book in classroom discussion. One Night @ the Call Center is love to read kind of book, touching upon social issues and bringing NEW MORALITY. it says it is difficult to please and make everybody happy at the same time. YOU FIND YOUR OWN HAPPINESS, OTHERS WILL FIND THEIRS ON THEIR OWN.
"Sense of an Ending" by Julian Barnes gave me the vision to doubt "Memory" & "History". Wonderful lines, which I had chosen as my presentation topic:- "History is that certainty produced at a point where the imperfection of memory meets the inadequacies of documentation"-Explain with reference of Tony Webster". "There was unrest, there was Great unrest"!!!!!!!!

• The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown, though controversial is a thought-provoking book. This gave me insight that everybody is examining their culture, religion critically. It is a false belief that all are attacking Hinduism. Those who believe so are the people who have read nothing. If they come to me, I will suggest them to read The Da Vinci Code. They just come out in street protesting, vandalizing by holding banners in their hand.(SHEOPLE) If they burn books today, they will burn people tomorrow -remember that & be careful. Now I believe that if any artist /writer portraying a negative side of culture then ITS A GREATER PROCESS OF SELF EXAMINATION. Dickens, Balzac, Flaubert also did the same with their respective Nations & that's why England and France are better societies compare to us. so, always remain open for self-criticism is gift to me by literature.

• If you don't like the book, then write another book opposing it. But to burn books or kill an artist is not a good idea. Let's take the example of Britain... Salman Rushdie has to left his country due to religious Fatwa against him because of writing a book like 'Satanic Verses'. Now he is living in Britain. When I read Rushdie's book "Imaginary Homeland"- which is a collection of various essays, I found that living in Britain, he is criticizing British policy & white people. Imagine if this would happen in India then???

England is the country which gave him shelter when his life was under threat. Then even Rushdie is writing about downsides of country & If white people don't like Rushdie's views then they publish books, article deconstructing his views. They had neither beaten Rushdie nor told that you leave our country. This is how they are better, well-grown society than us. Development progress doesn't mean material progress with big buildings and cars. It should be a growth of each & everyone as a society.

How without our first-hand experience, we imagine people(Through images that come in media, literature, movies etc) is wonderful to observe in Orientalism by Edward Said.(How Arab misrepresented by West & everybody believed as the reality). I learnt that First-hand experience is necessary & be careful from Media Monster.

• Oh my god!!!!, I almost forgot my dear Godot. How can I???!!!!!! My journey or say anybody's journey of literature will remain incomplete if we don't talk about Waiting For Godot, by Samuel Beckett. It is said that there are three plays discussed and debated time and again by critics and scholars, -Oedipus, Hamlet, and Waiting for Godot.

While studying I don't get it that what is this all about. whats going on??!!!.
It's about nothing. Yes, it's about "NOTHING"!!!!. Even though the play is nothing about, it is about something. Nothing is something in the play. (Confused?????, Me too!!! Ha, ha, ha).
I must say Waiting For Godot is my favourite play, leading us towards Existentialism, Nothingness, meaninglessness, Absurdity of our life.
I also like Vladimir & Estragon, go on waiting that Godot will come tomorrow, but Godot never comes!!!!. WAITING IS ENDLESS. 
What is life except waiting? We all go on waiting for things one after another every day. Now I don't see any difference between me & Sisyphus repeating the same thing every day. (We have to imagine that Sisyphus is happy !!! what else)

Though The Birthday Party by Harold Pinter looks dull, boring it is menacing. Petey's last line of the play is wonderful that -"Stan!, Don't let others tell you what to do".
I appreciate Pinter's Anti American views, Brave!!! with powerful evidence & arguments. Society is by and large like Meg & Petey- Impotent & forgets everything. & Individual artists, free thinkers like Stanley are always under danger from power.

Derozio's The Fakeer of Jungheera make me realize that don't be proud of your rotten Tradition & rituals ( Sati Pratha). Be human first. Life is more important than anything.
In the beginning, I mentioned that now I try to read incident by Decentering the centre or say by bringing the margin of meta-narrative centre. That's because of texts like The Purpose by T.P. Kailasm and A Tempest by Aime Cesaire. 

"Hamlet" by genius Shakespeare warns us that "Thinking and thinking and never putting into action is dangerous", at the same time quite opposite to it is "Othello" by the same master - who acts too hastily without thinking and then suffers. So, these teach that excessiveness of anything is fatal, dangerous.

• Christopher Marlowe's heroes are always "HUNGRY FOR MORE...". The same is the case with Dr. Faustus also, who had acquired all the available knowledge of the time & still he wanted more. But his fall is tragic. I personally don't like his tragic end, but it was inevitable because he misuses the power (plays silly magic tricks) he had got at great cost. (cost was his own soul)For gaining knowledge he's ready to give away his own soul to Lucifer is something amazing spirit to learn. Because knowledge is power. He knew that God is just. his soul will suffer perpetual damnation. What knowledge Dr Faustus had in the 16th century, that much knowledge you & I don't have even today (Knowledge of almost all subject- History, law, medicine, metaphysics etc).

Learn thirst for knowledge from Faustus, but be careful of misuse of it.

• in "Paradise Lost" by Milton Adam's choosing of Eve in spite of knowing that God's wrath will fall upon him, they will lose paradise is a shining example of Individual's CHOICE. For him, Eve is more important than God. We also have a need to learn from Adam and be like him.

Till how long time, we will go on killing people on the name of religion & god ????? Who killed more people?? History will undoubtedly prove Religion. 
God gave us free will, so one is free to do whatever they like. Individual's happiness & Humanism is more important. learn this from Adam.
T.S. Eliot highly self-critical, calls his own land The Waste Land- a barren land where nothing grows. Eliot was disturbed by spiritual degradation and sexual perversion. (Well, how can I underestimate The Waste Land, because this is the text on which I had tried to write my first research paper, comparing The Waste Land with Manvini Bhavai- a Gujrati novel by Pannalal Patel. 

Reading Virginia Woolf's To The Lighthouse & Room of One's own, leads us towards stronger feminist discourse. For the progress of women, total freedom is essential. (Including economical, social, cultural etc). I must not agree with Charles Tansley-: That women can't paint or write".
Rober Frost's Nature is quite opposite to Wordsworthian Nature. This is the beauty of literature that how same Nature seen differently by two different poets.
I also enjoy travelling into darker streets of 'Mind', with Edgar Allan Poe.

'Gulliver's Travels' by Jonathan Swift, 'Tom Jones' by Henry Fielding, 'Middlemarch' by George Eliot is a wonderful to study of contemporary English society. Its covers a wide range of issues like love, sex, morality, corruption, heritage, New morality, Individualism, money and many more. Gulliver's Travels is the darkest criticism of a human being ever written. Through Oliver Twist, Dickens takes us on the tour of corrupted London, where there was a school of teaching pickpocketing & innocent children were suffering in workhouses.

African Literature, books like "A Grain of Wheat", "Things Fall Apart", "Waiting for Barbarians" or "The Swamp Dwellers" never gave me aesthetic delight, pleasure or a moment of relief. Because it is the literature of anger, angst, frustration, rebel, dissatisfaction, slavery, violence, cultural clash, struggle, fight, killing, torturing. These books were not written out of compassion but out of compulsion. Its writer's catharsis by pouring inner turmoil into books.

I remember Chinua Achebe's wonderful lines from Things Fall Apart that : - “…Until the lions produce their own historian, the story of the hunt will glorify only the hunter”. It is enough to falsify & doubt history written by winners. (we can apply to white man's written history also).
This is what I had posted on Facebook while reading literature
#Radical thinkers always suppress by the authority. Shocked to read that Ngugi wa Thiongo was detained and after release Govt. dismissed from his academic job & harassed him out of the country in 1982. The reason was that his writing and 'peasant' workshop were bringing tremendous social changes, and this panicked the Govt.( Really people are by and large 'Lucky'- a character of #Waiting for Godot- who will kick you if you try to make him free)
-Interesting parallel we find happening around us also......
# Until we won't protect our intellectual people, humanity will never progress.#POWER is not always right.
So, this is how I think & believe after reading literature.

Generally, students don't like a paper of Literary theories & criticism. But I like the most. Begin with Aristotle & Plato, Dryden, Matthew Arnold- Touchstone method (Compare & analyse), Roland Barthes- From work to text,  Raymond Williams, Northrop Frye- Archetypal criticism, Structuralism, Poststructuralism, Practical criticism, Reader response theory and so many other theories & critics change my world view.

• Dilip Barad sir taught us how to write your answers, that - You begin with one idea and then slowly and steadily change your trajectory of answer over another. what you want to prove as a conclusion should come second. But here it isn't the case. I don't want to provI anything, I am just telling the thing as it is !!!!! (Advantages / Disadvantages)

One of the disadvantages of reading too many books- Literature Is that now I find difficulties in matching up with group/ community. I consider myself different than them. I think that they won't understand me & my ideas. I remain in the minority because now I don't agree with all- mass- group over most of topics (about politics, Nation, state, corruption, morality, jobs, education, technology, privatization, Globalization, so-called 'development' and many more)
Another thing I doubt about literature is its "PRACTICAL USABILITY". How literature is useful when you'll have to work hard on your farm at noon ??? All knowledge & theories will collapse there. Neither Shakespeare nor Coleridge is going to help you there !!!! Reading literature will not satisfy your appetite. After studying medicine, one can use his skill in curing people & earn a livelihood, what LITERATUREWALA will do???? that is a big question. No one is going to listen to your bookish ideas. If we look back in history then most of writers & poets had suffered, lived very poor, isolated, tragic life. 

• Reading everything is also time-consuming. & To understand properly one has to read intensively. Sometimes it looks like, WE ARE LIVING IN THE WORLD (of literature)WHICH HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH REAL WORLD. the outside world is totally different than what the book says.

• IT IS EASY TO READ, BUT DIFFICULT TO ACT. 
• Literature also makes us escapist from the real world.

• I remember Dilip sir's words while discussing Cultural Studies that "We know that fire burns, but our knowledge will not stop the fire from burning. Knowledge of Cultural Studies is also like this. We know how power operates, but our knowing won't stop power operating".

I will add that Literature is also like this. You read it on your chair, knew it & then remain just spectator & then forget it. As such nothing changes.
Reading literature is individualistic - benefits to only those who have read it, unlike scientific invention which brings tremendous changes in the life of everyone.

• But why am I comparing literature with science?? Any well-read person will question me. Its Literature, not science.

Well, my this controversial statement will lead us towards F.Y.B.A. debate of Nature & Function of literature. Let me tell you that I am well aware of this debate- that what is literature & what is the function of literature?? & so on....so let's leave it aside.

I agree with it. I shouldn't expect this from literature.

Because it is something that you observe and absorb how to live a life with a better understanding of other people as well as society as a whole. It will bring change WITHIN yourself, which may not be visible, but reflects in your behaviour as well as in your way of approaching the world.

 But my intention was just to convey what I truly feel after reading this much literature.