Made of movies, books and literature. Occasionally there's a penchant for social commentary.
Following the ‘Ram- Scion of Ikshvaku’ book in the Ramchandra series by Amish (review at bottom of the post) is ‘Sita- The Warrior of Mithila’. Now this one offers a fully novel image of Sita. Amish attempts a retelling of the Ramayana in a manner that perhaps no one has imagined before – that the… Continue Reading →
Jain temples (basadis) of Karnataka are opening doors for devotees from all communities and that’s a good thing, if the people visiting are willing to learn more about Jain deities and perhaps connect to them. However, I believe that there must be a difference between spaces designated for tourism and ones for devotion. If you... Continue Reading →
Christopher Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus, a seminal work of Renaissance drama, follows a German scholar who sells his soul for knowledge and power. The play critiques human ambition and the illusion of control, revealing that the pursuit of knowledge devoid of moral grounding leads to despair and triviality. Ultimately, it illustrates the psychological nature of damnation and the tragedy of unrepentant pride.
Published in 1936, Margaret Mitchell’s Pulitzer Prize-winning epic Gone with the Wind remains one of the most commercially successful, culturally influential, and deeply polarizing novels in American literary history. Set against the chaotic backdrop of the American Civil War and the Reconstruction era, the novel charts the tumultuous life of Scarlett O’Hara as her aristocratic... Continue Reading →
For someone very vocal about social issues, I barely said anything about the CJP protest against NEET discrepancy. Now that its over, as a teacher, here’s a perspective I’m sure you didn’t have. The biggest reason I barely posted anything is that I was both for and against the protest. For, because the demand for... Continue Reading →
Published in 1916, James Joyce’s seminal modernist novel A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man stands as one of the most profound explorations of artistic awakening, intellectual independence, and the struggle for personal autonomy in modern literature. Tracing the early life of Stephen Dedalus - Joyce’s fictional alter ego, the novel records a... Continue Reading →
Published in 1961, Muriel Spark’s masterpiece The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie stands as one of the most chillingly sophisticated explorations of charisma, totalitarian control, and moral corruption in modern British literature. Set in the rigid, conservative atmosphere of 1930s Edinburgh at the Marcia Blaine School for Girls, the novel follows the eccentric teacher Miss... Continue Reading →
The Money Heist spinoff ‘Berlin’ is apparently a success on Netflix and revolves around the well loved character Berlin, aka Simon aka Andres de Fonollosa. I didn’t really agree with the love for Berlin in Money Heist; I felt like the parent series had a lot of other characters that had greater appeal in terms... Continue Reading →
Langston Hughes’s 1951 poem, "Theme for English B," remains one of the most poignant and accessible explorations of racial identity, belonging, and American reality in twentieth-century literature. Set against the backdrop of a segregated society, the poem takes the form of a student’s response to a deceptively simple college assignment: write a page that comes... Continue Reading →
Philip Larkin's poem "This Be The Verse" critiques the cyclical nature of familial dysfunction, illustrating how emotional pain is inherited across generations. Through direct language and dark humor, Larkin dismantles the idealized family structure, asserting that misery is humanity's legacy. Ultimately, he advocates for abstaining from parenthood to prevent further suffering.