Ghashiram Kotwal by Vijay Tendulkar

Ghashiram Kotwal by Vijay Tendulkar  

 

     Ghashiram Kotwal is a Marathi play written by playwright Vijay Tendulkar in 1972 as a response to the rise of a local political party, Shiv Sena, in Maharashtra.The play is a political satire, written as historical drama. It is based on the life of Nana Phadnavis one of the prominent ministers in the court of the Peshwa of Pune. Its theme is how men in power give rise to ideologies to serve their purposes, and later destroy them when they become useless.

    The play “ghashiram kotwal” simply brings out decadent morality in blind pursuit of power.it’s a powerful comment on the 'society' irrelevant of the time or an era. tendulkar’s courage lies in the fact that he had the grit to show this mirror to the charlatan society knowing fully well that they would cringe. the play also demonstrates that if‘nana’ was bad ‘ghashiram’ was no different if not worse when given the opportunity. the play, if read carefully, makes subtle comments on criminal jurisprudence as a whole too.

  This is not a historical play .It is a story, in prose,verse,music,and dance set in a historicalra.Ghashirams are creations of socio-political forces which know no barriers of time and place.Although based on a historical legend, I have no intention of commenting on the morals or lack of them, of the Peshwa, Nana Phadnavis or Ghashiram. The moral of this story, if there is any,may be looked for elsewhere.

The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri

     The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri

 The Namesake is the first novel by Jhumpa Lahiri. It was originally a novella published in The New Yorker and was later expanded to a full-length novel. It explores many of the same emotional and cultural themes as her Pulitzer Prize-winning short story collection Interpreter of Maladies. Jhumpa Lahiri's Interpreter of Maladies established this young writer as one the most brilliant of her generation. Her stories are one of the very few debut works -- and only a handful of collections -- to have won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction. Among the many other awards and honors it received were the New Yorker Debut of the Year award, the PEN/Hemingway Award, and the highest critical praise for its grace, acuity, and compassion in detailing lives transported from India to America.

    The novel's finely wrought descriptions of Bengali food, language, family customs, and Hindu rituals draw us deep inside the culture that Gogol's parents treasure while highlighting his alienation from it. Gogol finishes school, becomes an architect, falls in love more than once, and eventually marries, without ever fully embracing his heritage. His decades-long unease with his name is a perfect distillation of the multiple dislocations—cultural, historic, and familial—experienced by first-generation Americans. At the novel's climax, when loss compounds loss and Gogol's family structure is forever changed, he begins to understand, at least in part, his parents' longing for the past, and the sacrifices they made to help him be what he is—truly American.

The Nightingale and The Rose

  The Nightingale and The Rose

  The Nightingale and The Rose is a heartbreaking story about the nature of love and sacrifice. At the beginning of the story, we are given the impression that the love between the student and the girl is a true love. Later, we are struck with the truth. Their love turns out to be a shallow one based on materialistic happiness. At the end the student gives up on his love because it was not true in the first place.

    An allegorical fable of love, sacrifice and selfishness. As with all of Wilde's short stories it embodies strong moral values and is told with an effervescence akin to that of the 1001 nights.

It is the tale of a lovestruck student who must provide his lover with a red rose in order to win her heart. A nightingale overhearing his lament from a solitary oak tree is filled with sorrow and admiration all at once, and decides to help the poor young man.

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

Heart of Darkness 

    

Heart of Darkness is a novella by Polish-British novelist Joseph Conrad, about a voyage up the Congo River into the Congo Free State, in the heart of Africa, by the story's narrator Marlow.Dark allegory describes Marlow’s journey up the Congo River and his meeting with, and fascination by, Mr. Kurtz, a mysterious personage who dominates the unruly inhabitants of the region. Masterly blend of adventure, character development, psychological penetration. Considered by many Conrad’s finest, most enigmatic story.

     The impending gloom of night and foul weather is common to find in Heart of Darkness, especially when Marlow takes a moment to collect his thoughts or to assess his surroundings. This natural shadow is seen extensively in the African jungles, a wilderness impenetrable even by sunlight, as you can see in the modern-day image on screen. 

     The unrestrained advances of European nations into the heart of Africa represent these same human urges, but on an exponentially larger scale. This map represents the extent European imperialism had reached in Africa, with most of the territory being claimed by one country or another by 1898, the approximate time frame for the story.

Othello by William Shakespeare

   Othello (The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice) is a tragedy by William Shakespeare

 Othello (The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice) is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1603. It is based on the story Un Capitano Moro ("A Moorish Captain") by Cinthio, a disciple of Boccaccio, first published in 1565. 

 

  The play opens in Venice, Italy with Iago, the play's villain, and Roderigo, a man who is paying Iago to help him in his romantic pursuit of Desdemona, arguing about Desdemona's recent marriage to Othello. Iago assures Roderigo that Desdemona will soon become bored with Othello and then Roderigo will have his chance with her.

   Othello is unusual among Shakespeare's tragedies because much of it is set up like a typical Shakespearean comedy. A tragedy is a play that focuses on unfortunate events and that ends unhappily, while a Shakespearian comedy almost always deals with love and marriage, has a plot that hinges on deception and disguises, and has a setting that is outside of civilization where supernatural events can take place and the characters are not held to the normal rules of society. Othello contains all of the elements of a comedy, but instead of ending in marriage, the play ends in multiple deaths including that of the tragic hero, Othello. 

Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy

 Far from the Madding Crowd  is Thomas Hardy

   Far from the Madding Crowd is Thomas Hardy's fourth novel and his first major literary success. It originally appeared anonymously as a monthly serial in Cornhill Magazine, where it gained a wide readership.

  This book is set in the 1870s, following a women called Bathsheba Everdene. The book follows her life as she takes a position as a farmer with a big estate. Due to Bathsheba being as bold as she is, three suitors are drawn to her and ask for her hand in marriage. Thomas Hardy really goes into detail about the setting of the book, because as a reader it means that you can create a visual image and it definitely improves the reading experience.

   The novel was listed at number 48 on the BBC's survey The Big Read in 2003. The book finished 10th on the Guardian's list of greatest love stories of all time in 2007.The novel has been dramatized several times, notably in an Oscar-nominated 1967 film directed by John Schlesinger. From  Wikipedia

    His novel thematizes the importance of man's connection to, and understanding of, the natural world. Gabriel Oak embodies Hardy's ideal of a life in harmony with the forces of the natural world. His novel thematizes the importance of man's connection to, and understanding of, the natural world. Gabriel Oak embodies Hardy's ideal of a life in harmony with the forces of the natural world. The novel also contemplates the relationship between luck, or chance, and moral responsibility: Why should we live a morally upright life if tragedy strikes us all equally anyway?

Kim by Rudyard Kipling

   

Kim by Rudyard Kipling

  Rudyard Kipling was one of the most popular writers of his era, and his novel Kim, first published in 1901, has become one of his most well-known non-juvenile works.

    The novel takes place at a time contemporary to the book's publication; its setting is India under the British Empire. The title character is a boy of Irish descent who is orphaned and grows up independently in the streets of India, taken care of by a "half-caste" woman. 

    The story unfolds against the backdrop of The Great Game, the political conflict between Russia and Britain in Central Asia. The novel made the term "Great Game" popular and introduced the theme of great power rivalry and intrigue.

    The ideal of the equality and unity of men echoes across several motifs in Kim, most notably through the Buddhist teachings of Teshoo Lama. John A. McClure writes in his essay “Kipling’s Richest Dream,” “In Kim . . . brotherhood and despotism keep uneasy company.” In other words, the finely crafted portrayal of unity and equality Kipling develops between “native” and “Sahib” conflicts with the unavoidable fact that the British are the governing class, and the Indians are the governed.

Tughlaq by Girish Karnad

Tughlaq by Girish Karnad

     Tughlaq by Girish Karnad Originally written in Kannada in 1964 while Girish Karnad was studying at Oxford and translated into English by the author himself, Tughlaq is one of the most critically acclaimed plays ever staged in India. Tughlaqis based on the historical character of Muhammad Tughlaq who ruled India in the 14th century and he was called mad Tughlaq. Girish Karnad in his play has shown him as a man of opposites, the ideal and the real; the divine aspiration and the deft intrigue.

    The play Tughlaq explores the series of events that led to the downfall of one of the most fascinating kings to occupy the throne in Delhi, namely, Mohammed-bin-Tughlaq. The protagonist, Mohammad bin tughlaq, known for his reformist, ‘ahead of his times’ ideas had a grand vision, but his reign was an abject failure. He started his rule with great ideals of a unified India. Yet in 20 years his reign had degenerated into an anarchy and his kingdom had become a “kitchen of death”.