Flipped Learning

Hello everyone,

This blog is a response to the task assigned by Yesha Bhatt Ma'am as part of flipped learning. In this blog I would like to share my understanding of the prose writers, new poets and Indian writing in English. 

What is Flipped Learning?

flipped learning is a “a pedagogical approach in which direct instruction moves from the group learning space to the individual learning space, and the resulting group space is transformed into a dynamic, interactive learning environment where the educator guides students as they apply concepts and engage creatively in the subject matter.” In a flipped learning model, students would prepare for class by watching a video where the instructor describes what adjective clauses are, why they are used, and the various ways to create them. In this way, the direct instruction which requires lower levels of cognitive work such as remembering and understanding has been moved out of the class and into the individual learning environment. During class, instead of spending time on a lecture, the instructor can move right into an activity that allows students to apply what they have learned in an interactive and creative way.

Task -1  

 1)Write a note on S. Radhakrishnan's perspective on Hinduism.

Who is S.Radhakrishnan:-

As an academic, philosopher, and statesman, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan was one of the most recognized and influential Indian thinkers in academic circles in the 20th century. Throughout his life and extensive writing career, Radhakrishnan sought to define, defend, and promulgate his religion, a religion he variously identified as Hinduism, Vedanta, and the religion of the Spirit. He sought to demonstrate that his Hinduism was both philosophically coherent and ethically viable. Radhakrishnan’s concern for experience and his extensive knowledge of the Western philosophical and literary traditions has earned him the reputation of being a bridge-builder between India and the West. He often appears to feel at home in the Indian as well as the Western philosophical contexts, and draws from both Western and Indian sources throughout his writing. Because of this, Radhakrishnan has been held up in academic circles as a representative of Hinduism to the West. His lengthy writing career and his many published works have been influential in shaping the West’s understanding of Hinduism, India, and the East. 

Radhakrishnan was a true follower of Advaita Vedanta. The influence of Advaita philosophy can be grasped easily from his works. He does not only reinterpret but reconstruct the philosophical doctrines of Sankara's Advaita Vedanta from the frames of developing modern science and technology and also from the point of view of western ideology. Ram Pratap Singh in his article 'Radhakrishnan's substantial reconstruction of the Vedanta of Sankara' says that "Radhakrishnan has been a major force in giving this new direction to the Vedanta." He also says, 

"The history of this process of reconstruction has been the history of the Neo-Vedantic movement in contemporary Indian philosophy which was inaugurated by Vivekananda and which has culminated in Radhakrishnan."

Radhakrishnan believes that religion is simply an insight into reality; it is not any certain kind of beliefs or practices. The insight which is integrally intuitive in nature as he thinks intellect and senses are not capable enough to lead us to the realisation of the reality as they both have their limitations so, they are imperfect. The only perfect way to achieve that realisation is intuition which is basically an integral experience. His religious ideas are based on the principle of integration not only within the self but also the integration of the self with the universal spirit (Atman) which finally gets integrated with the Brahman. For him, religious life is primarily a process of spiritualization of the soul. Such a process will lead us to the knowledge which tells us certainly that everything is non-dual in nature and form; an essential unity, it is only our ignorance of such knowledge due to which we perceive things in fragments and remain dead spiritually." The realisation provided by the notion of religion according to Radhakrishnan has double dimensions that reveal the identity between the absolute reality and the self which is the essence of man. These two dimensions are immanent and transcendent in nature where self is the immanent pole and absolute reality is the transcendental one. He believes that the difference between these two modes is based on the standpoints but essentially they are identical.

He pointed out various kinds of evils that prevailed in our society and in order to overcome these evils we must make some crucial changes in our social order. For Radhakrishnan, it is our necessary obligation to attain a social uprising and should eliminate all the social vices from our society. In order to fulfil these obligations of man in his life, one recognizes that apart from these evident evils there are some other vices concerned to our spiritual state and cannot be easily eliminated through the changes in social order. Thus, he observed that the crisis in contemporary society is grounded on the deficiency of spirituality in man. He firmly points out that spirituality is one of the most crucial and significant aspect of man's life and as long as the individuals just limit themselves in the realms of science, art, technical developments and various social programs their lives will not be complete and lacks several things in which mutual understanding between individuals in the society is one of the major component. He observed that the diverse ideas presented by various religions which isn't restricted by any territorial and national boundaries, the endless vagrancy of thought, and the contemporary jumble of inconsistent philosophies, are nothing but the signs of spiritual homelessness.

2) Write a note on Raghunathan's views of Indian Culture.

One of our great journalists, N. Raghunathan of the Hindu became, late in life, the columnist who wrote under 'Sotto Voce' and signed himself as 'Vighneswara'. After a life-time of training in the exacting discipline of expression in a difficult foreign language, Raghunathan now revealed himself as the perfect humanist and the flawless literary craftsman. As the months and years passed, the 'Sotto Voce' weekly essays, with their tone of quiet assurance and look of effortless ease, became the standard bearer of traditional values and robust sanity in a world of noisy slogans and deafening cries. Raghunathan's was usually the conservative, unpopular, 'diehard' view; his assent with tradition was apt to assume the tone of dissent from current notions of progress; and yet his views couldn't be dismissed as of no consequence, for the undertones of assent and dissent came with an accent of authority that compelled attention if not acquiescence. The elephant god 'Vighneswara' of the Hindu pantheon is both the massive in bulk and slow in gait, but he has an infallible skill in works, he has a steady and clear and whole view of what he deigns to see, and he has a sense of unruffled commitment to the tasks on hand. He is at once the perfect guide to the world of knowledge and the perfect dispeller of the obstacles to right knowledge. There was thus a certain challenge in Raghunathan's assumption of "Vighneswara' as his nom-de-plume, but we can now see that the name wasn't taken in vain.

His in-depth knowledge of both ancient Tamil literature and western classics, including his favourite writer Dostoevsky, finds expression in all the 18 stories he wrote under the pen name “Raskian ” in Bharatha Mani , a magazine run by his friend K.C. Venkatramani between 1938 and 1948.

He published his short story collection in 1962, and in 2006 Tamizhini released Rasikan Kathaikal which included his four plays and one of Sotto Voce articles in English by him under the name Vigneswara.

He believes that The culture of the people-the complex of swabhava, swadharma, swatantra, swarajya that is the true index of this culture has been the slow creation of the ages, and may not now be crudely tampered with except at the risk of our total discomfiture. Indian 'spirituality isn't something opposed to life and world affirmation. Spirituality is an awakening to the inner or true Reality of our being, and once we have our feet on the Ground of Reality, our everyday movements will be steady with an instinct for poise and a sense of direction. But how does one achieve contact with the Ground? Reason is a wonderful analytical instrument, but the Base eludes it. Hence the need to invoke the higher-than-mind faculty, which for want of a better term we call intuition. Once the contact with the Ground has been established, reason may be left to steer the surface movements with sureness and ease. This alliance between intuition and reason -this clue to enlightened and wise living-Raghunathan calls viveka. Without the continual exercise of viveka, man would be but a forked animal, a siege of contradictions and frustrations. The 'integrated' man is one who has achieved harmony between himself and the world, his inner and his outer life, his thoughts and his word. On the other hand, like the plane that zigzags when taxi-ing and somersaults when taking off, the man afflicted with pramada the man without viveka-has a clouded consciousness that knows neither right measure, matra, nor self restraint, dama, but is a prey to egoistic separativity and the misery arising out of it. 

The task of viveka is to maintain measure between the eternity that is Self and the manifoldness of the phenomenal play. In literature, the particular is so seized with sensibility that the particular itself becomes charged with universality. Literature makes such a feat of transcendence possible because of the alliance of creative imagination and deep sensibility, which correspond to the two terms of intuition and reason. Just as viveka in action and behaviour lies, not in running away from life's responsibilities, but in mastering and exceeding them, so too aesthetic experience is meant to be, not an escape from life, but rather a seeking after quintessential life, being absorbed in it, and distilling a joy from it akin to the Bliss of Brahman. 

Dr. F. R. Leavis says rightly that the University is be the,

"Society trying to preserve and develop a continuity of consciousness and a mature directing sense of value-a sense of value informed by a traditional wisdom. The Universities are recognized symbols of cultural tradition-of cultural tradition still conceived as a directing force, representing a wisdom older than modern civilization and having an authority that should check and control the blind drive onward of material and mechanical development...."

Task -2:-  

The New Poets- Poetry:-

Since the end of World War II - A global war spread over several years is apt to liquidate a whole generation-the "middle" generation. And a new generation comes up with a striking individuality of its own, a sharpness in its features, an angularity in its gestures, a tone of defiance or at least of nonconformity in its speech, a gleam of hope in its eyes,-a new ardour perhaps, and even new rhythms and nuances and acerbities of speech. There is a 'new' poetry in England, in France, in the States, and, not least, in India, and in 'Indo-Anglia'. Such new poetry could be it often is-the poetry of protest. It could be the poetry of escape. It might affect the nod of Guru Hood, it might don the lineaments of Hippiedom. And the 'new' poetry could also be really the 'future' poetry and transcend protest and escape alike and become rather a new affirmation, a bold nectarean answer to the poison of the present -a glimpse of Paradise beyond Hell's circles and Purgatory's slopes.

'New' poetry, of course, has always been 'modern' poetry, even 'modernist' or 'modn' poetry: no poet ever deliberately wrote' ancient' or 'antique' poetry and even when he seemed to write such poetry.

1)"An Indo-Anglian poet strives for self

expression in English." Explain.

As I wrote before, everywhere new generations were coming with sharpness of thoughts and striking individuality etc..but in India that's not happening, people are still writing in ancient and traditional ways. But they are not deliberately wrote in this way.No true poet can escape tradition, for all our yesterdays are involved in the poet's deeper consciousness; and no true poet can escape the pressure of the present, for he is in it and of it, and the best he can do is to relate the immediate present to the living past and also if possible, and if his vision is unfaltering and clear to a future that is already in a process of becoming.

The Indo-Anglian poet is, no doubt, knotted in his particular and peculiar perplexity. An Indian, he strives for self-expression in English. But he is, for this reason alone, no more a slave of oddity than a man trying to fly like the bird, in an aeroplane of his contriving or diving (like the fish) in a submarine. Or the fish) in a sub man driving a car or pushing a bicycle instead of walking-or walking at all instead of shambling on all fours; or a man talking (even in his 'mother tongue'), instead of merely making sounds like an animal. And Indo-Anglian poetry is not quite so much of a rarity as it is too readily taken for granted. Several of the poets in the various regional languages are efficiently bilingual. In the anthology, Modern Indian Poetry, edited by A. V. Rajeswara Rau, out of the 70 poets included, as many as 25 are either Indo-Anglian poets or poets with an adequate enough knowledge of English to translate into English verse their own original work in one of the regional languages. Again, in the anthology, Modern Assamese Poetry edited by Hem Barua, 9 out of the 26 poets included in the volume are responsible for the English renderings from their own work. The ratio would be substantially the same in the other languages as well. Thus the tensions between English and the modern Indian languages are quite close, and purposive bilingualism is much more widespread than partisans are generally prepared to admit.

 All modern Indian poetry is sustained by the living waters of our racial tradition the Vedas, the Upanishads, the two great epics, the stream of Vaishnava or Saiva devotional poetry, the adoration of Himavant and Kumari, of the Ganga and the Godavari the treasure-house of Indian myth and legend, the memories of our racial or local history and by the continuing breezes from the West-which now means Europe as well as America. Once it was the message of the Cross, the fiction and poetry of the Romantics, and the dynamism of science and technology.

In India, the political and economic uncertainties of the thirties led to some re-thinking on the part of the writers who came to be known as the "progressives" and the "proletarians", and a literature of protest was the result. Even otherwise, there were poets who were disillusioned enough about everything to make them turn away from romance to satire, from idealism to cynicism. Even some of those that had begun as 'traditionalists' were soon infected by the new movement, and started writing in a new style. We have several examples of the poet's who wrote modern poetry like, 'An old man's songs' , 'The Indian Tragedy ', 'The Ashoka tree' 'Moon in the Sky' etc...

2)Write a critical note on the poems by Nissim Ezekiel 

Nissim Ezekiel:-

Nissim Ezekiel was an Indian Jewish poet, actor, playwright, editor and art critic. He was a foundational figure in postcolonial India's literary history, specifically for Indian Poetry in English. He was awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1983 for his collection, "Latter-Day Psalms", by the Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters. 

Nissim Ezekiel was one of the renowned poets belonging to the post independence era of Indian Writings in English, who contributed immensely through his poetic endeavours. Ezekiel enriched Indian English poetry through his modernist innovations and techniques, bringing forth themes associated with a wider range of concerns and interest. Ezekiel's style is lucid and impressive. 

Thematic Consideration of his Poetry:-

Ezekiel's poetry has the quality of authenticity with regard to Indian life and settings. The hue of Ezekiel's poem is the legitimate voice of modern Indian poetry. He observed Indian life in a conventional tone, with different thought and style. His poetic themes include the experiences of ordinary man, and alienation. The striking feature of his poetry is irony. He is also self cognizant in a critical manner. Nissim Ezekiel had the capacity to organise his experience in words competently. He "is master of an enslaving irony in which scepticism punctures humbug..."

In his poem "In India", from The Exact Name, Indian people are ironic representations of the pathetic circumstances in which they live:

Always, in the sun's eye,

Hear among the beggars,

Hawkers, pavement sleepers

Hutment, dwellers, Slums.

Dead souls of men and Gods,

Burnt-out mothers, frightened

Virgins, wasted child

And tortured animals.

Adit Jussawalla remarks that "Nissim Ezekiel's poems are the records of the moral aches and pains of a modern Indian in one of his own cities" "Enterprise" written by Ezekiel depicts existential struggle in a cruel city:

When, finally, we reached the place.

We hardly knew why we were there.

The trip had darkened every face,

Our deeds were neither great nor rare. Home is where we have to gather grace. 

According to K. R. Nair: "Enterprise is an allegory of the pilgrimage theme with a suggestion of futility. Journey from the city to the hinterland is a metaphor for contrived change from frustration to fulfilment". Ezekiel's poetry represents an assortment of themes. One of the most recurring themes in his poetry is the portrayal of tyranny in a crowded civilization represented by the city of Bombay. It is the "Barbaric city" which is depicted in the poem, where the poet was born and brought up and where he lived. A recurring note in his poetry is the wound urban civilisation inflicts on unattached man. His poetry gives the impression of an oversensitive soul caught in the tentacles of a cruel city civilisation, unable to escape from its vagaries and consequently developing a love-hate relationship with its torment.

In his autobiographical poem, "Background Casually". Ezekiel brought forth his childhood memories. Communal issues were projected when the feeling of alienation was experienced by the poet among his classmates. The poet expressed lack of religious tolerance even in a modern Indian society belonging to a city like Bombay. In a multicultural society. Ethnic citizens who belong to minority communities come up against the difficulty of trying to belong to two cultures and challenges. Conflicts may occur when a minority doesn't identify with the majority. 

Conclusion:-

Ezekiel's poems are personal, modest, ironic, self deprecatory, urban and sceptical. He avoids emotional indulgence. Ezekiel's work "is clear of all historical and mythopoeic baggage". Ezekiel had discipline and restraint. His contribution to Indian poetry was in the modern distinctiveness invented by him in the form of irony, critical self consciousness, strong intellectual function, a diversity of tones, the creative distancing of sentiments through a persona. William Walsh has aptly commented thus,

 "Ezekiel's poetry more than that of any other of these writers seems to be generated from within and to have within it a natural capacity for development. It is intellectually complex, mobile in phrasing, fastidious in diction, and austere in acceptance"

Task -3

The Conclusion

1)Write a note on the changing trends in Post Independence Indian Writing in English.

The Independence on 15th August, 1947 heralded a new era of hope, growth and development. During the first twenty-five years of its Independence, the newly emerged Republic was confronted with unexpected and contradictory experiences. The thrill of joy at the end of a long and horrible struggle was lost into the tears and pains which emerged suddenly on the face of the nation owing to the sudden but tragic outburst of communal violence in the wake of the partition. Later the problem of the rehabilitation of the large number of refugees, and the merger of the princely states ending the unlicenced freedom and luxuries of Maharajas and Princes, created a big upheaval in the society. The slogan of abolition of untouchability and equal rights of all classes uttered and practised by Gandhiji brought a stormy change in the social status and life standards of the down-trodden and underprivileged class of society. The age-old caste system came under challenge. With the abolition of the zamindari system, traditional relations between landowners and landless peasants were overhauled and re-interpreted. The shift in attitude towards women in the wake of feminist movement generally proved a boon to the fair sex, hitherto treated as an inferior entity. The conflict between modern scientific growth and traditional rural values; religious malpractices and superstitions versus scientific progressive view-points, shook the modern man. The growing indiscipline and discontent among students due to the defective and mechanised educational policies have further changed the Indians' attitude towards life.

As a result of these developments, the Indian English novelists of the post-independence period have manifested different trends as compared to their predecessors. Though the novel retains the momentum it had gained during the Gandhian age and continues to reflect the pre-independence trends also; yet it further probes more deeply and comprehensively into the social, political, economic, religious, cultural and educational milieu of the Nehru period. Anand, Narayan and Raja Rao continued to write during and after the great upheavals of independence. For the time-being, some Indian English novelists turned away from political issues and focussed their attention on personal problems of the individuals or on social themes of a universal kind. The close of the Second World War brought a harvest of new talents in fiction which has altered the whole picture of Indian English literature as it existed before 1947. Some of the novelists have deliberately sought out the themes of violence, bloodshed and communal disturbances that followed the partition.

The post-independence Indian English novelist had to appeal to the heterogeneous community, people of diverse ethnic-religious and cultural backgrounds. For this purpose he chose themes and situations that had more or less the same validity all over the country. These themes emerged to form recurrent patterns and major trends which were more easily discernible in post-independence Indian society than in that of pre-independence India. That is why the range of the novel widened and the various features of Indian society, economic, political, religious and cultural were exhaustively covered by it. Contemporary novels are the mirrors of the age, but a very special kind of mirror, a mirror that reflects not merely the external features of the age but also its inner face, its nervous system, coursing of its blood and the unconscious promptings and conflicts which sway it."

2)"India is not a country", says Raja Rao, "India is an idea, a metaphysic." Explain with examples.

Raja Rao was one of the founding pillars of Indian writing in English who tried to incorporate Indian metaphysics and philosophy into his fictional work.

"India is not a country like France is, or like England; India is an idea.”

These lines from Raja Rao’s seminal novel The Serpent and The Rope exemplify, in a sense, his approach to writing.

Raja Rao is one of the three founding pillars of Indian writing in English, along with R.K. Laxman and Mulk Raj Anand. But Rao’s brilliance as an author is not limited to this genre. His writing was distinct from his contemporaries because he attempted not only to translate Indian sensibilities into English but also tried to incorporate Indian metaphysics and philosophy into his fictional work. Rao’s literary journey as an Indian author who wrote in English about Indian metaphysics can be traced by looking at three of his most popular works – Kanthapura, his first novel; The Serpent and the Rope, an exposition of Indian and European metaphysics, and The Chessmaster and His Moves, in which he attempted to arrive at some semblance of a metaphysical unity.

 Rao maintains that English is not really a foreign language, it is very much an Indian language so far as intellectual apprehension and communication are concerned, though it is not the language of the emotional make-up of an Indian. Rao himself models his style on the rhythms of Kannada, though he also has Sanskrit in his mind. He interprets Indian thought and culture rather than any other novelist. The revelation of the very essence of Indian life and character is his prime object as a novelist. From a nostalgic admiration or a sentimental outburst, his praise of India takes the form of self-understanding for himself and interpretation of its values for others, particularly the people of the West. In Kanthapura and The Cat and Shakespeare, are reflected the manifold aspects of the rural and the urban life of India of the early and mid-twentieth century, whereas In

"The Serpent and the Rope", it is pictured as: "India is not a country like

France is, or like England,

India is an idea, a metaphysic".

Hence for proper understanding of the totality of Raja Rao's vision of India, one has to take into account both the aspects of external realities and the inner meanings. It is also to be borne in mind that while his pictures of the social, political and cultural life of India owe to his keen interest in the present, his obsession with the metaphysical meanings emanates from his interest in the evocation and revitalization of the past. Though the interest in the past is a historian's quest for roots, it is in relation to the present a search for continuity of the Indian tradition. "The blend of metaphysical vision and the realistic view of life has enabled him to depict the rope and the serpent together and also to juxtapose the realm of the cat and the realm of Shakespeare for a greater understanding of the either at a level at which they interact"

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