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Poem by Sara Hany Abed

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Sara Hany Abed is a museum and heritage content researcher based in Alexandria, Egypt. She studied her MA in museums and heritage development at Nottingham Trent University UK, with a focus on memorials and documentation in times of conflict. Sara worked on several major international museum projects including the Oman National Museum, and the development of the new Naguib Mahfouz Museum in Cairo. In addition, Sara joined the Egyptian Coffins project at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, as a translator and project manager for the ‘Pop-Up’ museum in Cairo.

Special Collection: Creativity in the Time of the Pandemic 2020>>

Will it change you?

Hugs and kisses you took for granted are no longer signs of love
Even spontaneously shaking hands is something you need to stop and think of
Will it change you?

People claim if they knew it was the last time, things wouldn’t have been the same
Yet, they often forget and act with ultimate indifference as if its all a game
Will it change you?

Elegant suits, shinny offices and posh cars matter no more
You would give them all up for a happy walk under the warm sun on the seashore
Will it change you?

Flights are cancelled and things long planned for are gone
There is no-one to blame and less to be done
Will it change you?

Suddenly the whole world seems to be on hold
Shadows of the past invade the present with what was told, and perhaps never been told
Will it change you?

Here and now, you are the person you decided to be
You can no longer hide from the truth, you see?
Will it change you?

Did you finally get what matters now?
When this is all over, will you go back to the same fake show?
Will it change you?

Today money won’t buy kindness, love, warmth and above all humanity
Plans are falling apart and your ultimate dream is simply peace and serenity
Will it change you?

Today chasing time, money and positions and calling this a life is in vain
These are times of isolation, confrontation and prayers for salvation to save you from this pain
Will it change you?

There is much more to remember, wonder about, and say
About the surreality of where we stand today
Yet, if more words flow endlessly out of my pen
And you take the time to read them time and again
Will it change you?

Published on August 1, 2020. © Author

 

Indian Art and European Science: Patnakalam and Colonial Botanical Drawings

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385 views

Saumya Garima Jaipuriar

Assistant Professor, Department of English, Kirorimal College, University of Delhi.

ORCID: 0000-0002-4336-6278Email: sgjaipuriar@gmail.com,

 Volume 12, Number 4, July-September, 2020 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n4.14

 Abstract

This paper seeks to explore how scientific documentation fuelled by Enlightenment and indigenous art intermingled to create Patnakalam in nineteenth century India. Patnakalam, a school of painting that flourished in Patna, Bihar in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, came into existence with the complex interactions between an indigenous artistic tradition and a western visual sensibility mediated by the requirements of science. Botanists of the East India Company employed native artists to make illustrations of local plant species in an attempt to scientifically catalogue all of the natural resources of the region. This inevitably contributed to the formation of a style of painting which went on to have an enduring legacy far beyond their taxonomical albums.

Keywords: Company Painting, Patnakalam, Modern Indian Art, Indian Art History, British Colonial History, Age of Enlightenment

Of fear and fantasy, fact and fiction: Interrogating canonical Indian literary historiography towards comprehending partition of Bengal in post-Independence Indian (English) fictional space

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307 views

Ashes Gupta

Professor, Dept. of English, Tripura University (A Central University), Suryamaninagar, Agartala, West Tripura. ORCID: 0000-0002-5881-8468. Email: ashesgupta@tripurauniv.in

 Volume 12, Number 4, July-September, 2020 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n4.13

 Abstract

A victim of the partition of Eastern India/undivided Bengal, a refugee is one who has ironically left behind the real but has carried on forever indelibly imprinted in memory that which is lost and remembered in superlatives, thus moving and simultaneously resisting to move. Remaining mentally anchored forever on ‘Bengal’s shore’ and having been denied the moment of adequate articulation of the loss in factual terms partly due to immediate trauma and partly due to the inherent politics of the language of standard literary expression vis-à-vis spoken language (Bangla vs Bangal respectively) with its hierarchic positionings, as well as the politics of state policy that attributed partition of Western India primordial signification, the Bengali Hindu refugee migrating from erstwhile East Pakistan (and now Bangladesh) to India, has never ‘really’ spoken and this is the hypothesis of this argument. Thus, what is heard, being far removed from the historical moment of rupture that was partition and with the loss of that fateful generation is bound to be ‘fiction’ and not ‘fact’. This paper proposes that since the refugee voice was denied adequate articulation of the ‘facts’ and the ‘fears’ resultant from partition in this part of Eastern India, that historical moment of perception and documentation has been irretrievably lost. Hence any attempt at documenting the same now shall obviously result in fictionalization of and fantasizing the loss as is evident in original and translational post-Independence Indian English Fiction -the moment of loss being the moment of fictional genesis. This paper also puts forward the necessity of identifying two specific periods beyond ‘independence’ whose axiomatic point would be the partition of Eastern India/ undivided Bengal viz. pre-partition and post-partition Indian Literature. The same shall apply to Indian English Literature both in original and translation.

Keywords: fear, fantasy, fact, fiction, partition, canonical historiography, refugee, independence, Indian English fictional space, inter-semiotic, translation.

‘Providential’ Campaigns: Intertwining Thuggee and the Sepoy Mutiny in Colonial Fictions

254 views

Ayusman Chakraborty

Assistant Professor of English (W.B.E.S), Taki Government College, New Town. Rajarhat, Kolkata. ORCID: 0000-0003-0641-0652. Email: hinduayusman@gmail.com

 Volume 12, Number 4, July-September, 2020 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n4.12

Abstract:

This article examines how some colonial fictions intertwine historically unconnected Thuggee and the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857 to make sense of Indian resistance to British rule. This was done by only a few writers. The article tries to find out what led these colonial writers to link the two unconnected events. To do this, representations of Thuggee and the Mutiny in the works of Captain Meadows Taylor, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and Emilio Salgari are scrutinized. The article also considers other relevant works, like those by Sir George MacMunn, Hermann Goedsche, Jules Verne and Francisco Luis Gomes. It tries to ascertain whether a writer’s nationality affected his conceptualization of the relationship between Thuggee and the Mutiny in any significant way. In doing so, it seeks to highlight how representations of Indian insurgency in colonial writings varied in accordance with the writer’s nationality and outlook vis-à-vis British colonialism in India.

Keywords: Thuggee, Sepoy Mutiny, Insurgency, Colonial Fiction, Meadows Taylor, Doyle, Salgari.


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Sanctification of Water among the Population of the Khorezm Oasis

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235 views

Abidova Zaynab Kadirberganovna

Head of the Department “Social sciences”, Urgench Branch of the Tashkent Medical Academy Urgench, Khorezm, Uzbekistan. ORCID:  0000-0001-5440-4041. Email: zaynab_74_2011@mail.ru

 Volume 12, Number 4, July-September, 2020 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n4.11

 Abstract

Water holds a specific place in life of the people of the Khorezm oasis located in the lower reaches of the deep Amu Darya River which are between the Kara-Kum and Kyzyl-Kum Deserts. This article is devoted to a study of natural places of a pilgrimage connected with the water cult elements of Khwarezm. The remnants of ancient religions are studied and analyzed and found that the rites that are connected with water are traced in the Khorezm oasis. Special attention is paid to the history of studying of genesis and evolution of a cult of water of the Khorezm hagiology and their roles in life of inhabitants of the Khorezm oasis. This can be an important step towards the of revival of spiritual and cultural life of the Uzbek people.

Keywords: water, cult, places of a pilgrimage, legend, ceremony, Hubbi, Amu Darya.

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Problematizing Dalit Chetna: Sadgati as the Battleground of Conflict between the ‘Progressive Casteless Consciousness’ and the Anti-Caste Dalit Consciousness

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442 views

Sumit Rajak

Assistant Professor of English, S.B.S. Government College, Hili, Dakshin Dinajpur, India, &  Ph.D. researcher, Department of English, Jadavpur University, Kolkata, India. Email: rajaksumit111@gmail.com

 Volume 12, Number 4, July-September, 2020 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n4.10

Abstract

The notion of Dalit chetna or Dalit consciousness is central to the development of the anti-caste discourse. Since the inception of a visible and radical Dalit discourse, a paramount importance has been accorded to the idea of Dalit consciousness. Whereas the prevalence of Dalit consciousness is of paramount importance to the Dalit writers, filmmakers and critics, and there is a vibrant presence of this consciousness in their works, there has also been an attempt on the part of the upper-caste writers and filmmakers to engage with the Dalit consciousness on their own terms, and thereby developing what I call ‘progressive casteless consciousness’, which is not synonymous with the anti-caste Dalit consciousness developed by the Dalit writers, filmmakers among others, in their works. This paper is an attempt to explore these distinct versions of Dalit consciousness through a reading of the representation of the caste questions in the celebrated Hindi writer Munshi Premchand’s widely read short story Sadgati (‘deliverance’ in the religious sense of the term), which he composed in 1931, and its film adaptation by the globally acclaimed filmmaker Satyajit Ray in the form of a TV film Sadgati (1981), and the critical writings on the writer and the director’s handling of the caste questions. In the process, the paper will show how Sadgati, both of Premchand and of Satyajit Ray, becomes the repository of conflict between the progressive casteless consciousness of the upper-caste intellectuals and the anti-caste Dalit consciousness developed by the Dalit intellectuals.
Keywords: Dalit consciousness, repository of conflict, adaptation, battleground of representation, progressive casteless consciousness, anti-caste Dalit consciousness


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A Study on the New Design Thinking for Industrial Revolution 4.0, Requirements and Graduate Readiness

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Swayamprabha Satpathy1, Kabita Kumari Dash2  & Malvika Mohapatra3

1 Associate Professor, Shiksha “O” Anusandhan University, Bhubaneswar. Email: dr.swayam.prava@gmail.com

2Assistant Professor, Srusti Academy of Management, Bhubaneswar

3 Assistant Professor, Shiksha “O” Anusandhan University, Bhubaneswar

 Volume 12, Number 4, July-September, 2020 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n4.09

Abstract

The Fourth Industrial Revolution can be regarded as Industry 4.0 connected with the developments, innovative approaches and technological advancements held in the year 2011 at Germany. It is the amalgamation of many digital technologies such artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, Internet of Things (IoT) cloud computing, big data, 3D printing etc. The present study is qualitative in nature and focuses on graduate readiness, the challenges faced by the engineering students of SOA university, Bhubaneswar to meet the industry 4.0 requirements because technical degree is not only the gateway to their success in industry rather they should equip themselves with various soft skills like English language development, communication, personality development, leadership, critical thinking, problem solving  and team building skills to meet the expectations of their employers. The objective of this study is to analyze the current education practices and the industry requirements and come out with best possible solutions for industry readiness of graduate engineers for a successful corporate career. The study has put some valuable insights on the problems faced by the 5th semester students related to language acquisition and their readiness for future industrial demands. Furthermore, universities should also come out with appropriate suggestions and recommendations to enable graduate engineers for future industry readiness.

Keywords: English language, Communication, Industrial revolution 4.0, Graduates’ readiness, Employers Demand, Digital technology,   Technical graduates

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The Rights of Nature: Taking an Ecocentric Approach for Mother Earth

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376 views

Somabha Bandopadhay1 & Shivam Pandey2

1Ph.D. Scholar and Research Assistant. The West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences, Kolkata, India. Email: somabha@nls.ac.in.

2Former Legal Researcher, High Court at Ranchi, Jharkhand, India. Email: shivampandey@nls.ac.in

 Volume 12, Number 4, July-September, 2020 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n4.08

Abstract

Amidst the developing and progressive world that ensures the balance of needs-rights- duties and politics for human rights i.e. to attain the highest form of self-actualization, the world has truly become anthropocentric. It is only about human beings as such. But, in this process, what we often forget is the reason human beings exist- mother earth or nature. The paper seeks to take a break from anthropocentrism and take a journey of and through ecocentrism that would finally enable human beings to take a step forwards in fulfilling the duties of humans in the truest sense. The paper hopes to contribute to the emerging earth jurisprudence and elaborates on the path that has been traversed and the work yet to be done, both from a philosophical and legal point of view. The paper is primarily a work of doctrinal research using the analytical mode of research to present the developing jurisprudence in the field of earth justice.

Keywords: Rights of nature, anthropocentric, ecocentric, bioregionalism, mother earth, earth jurisprudence, anthropogenic.

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The ‘Beshya’ and the ‘Bahu’: Re-Reading Fakir Mohan Senapati’s “Patent Medicine”

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P. Dalai1 & Dhriti Ray Dalai2

1Associate Professor, Dept. of English, Faculty of Arts, Banaras Hindu University, India. ORCID: 0000-0002-6497-6091. Email: p.dalai10@bhu.ac.in

2Assistant Professor, Dept. of English, Faculty of Arts, Banaras Hindu University, India. ORCID: 0000-0002-7066-7578. Email: dhriti.dalai10@bhu.ac.in

 Volume 12, Number 4, July-September, 2020 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n4.07

Abstract

Similar to the peasantry, the tribal, the working women, the housewives, and all of those of the 19th century who engaged the attention of subaltern historians and Marxists, the prostitutes too merit critical attention and space in literary discourse. A number of Bengali texts throughout the 19th century had contributed in disseminating the image of the prostitute as the other of the good woman. We, in the course of this paper, focus instead on the early twentieth century and on Fakir Mohan Senapati and his epochal story, “Patent Medicine” that typified this societal understanding in the Bengal province, of which, Orissa was a part. The paper undertakes a hermeneutical attempt to unravel the unexplored aspects of sexuality, feudalism, patriarchy, domesticity and toxic masculinity.

Keywords: Patent Medicine, Prostitutes, Patriarchy, Odia Literature, Bengal Province, Feminism, Gyno-space,Toxic Masculinity

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