Thinking Activity

            Worksheet: Screening Movie Waiting for Godot

Q.     Who according to you is Godot? God? An object of desire? Death? Goal? Success? Or  . . .

Ans-> According to me Godot is an object of desire, it is so because as the play is based on waiting and we can see the two tramps- Vladimir and Estragon are waiting for a person named Mr. Godot whom they haven’t seen ever in their lifetime. They still keep on waiting because the wait itself gets generated to desire with the passing time. It’s for their desire only that their wait becomes so enthusiastic. It’s natural when we desire something we want to achieve in one way or the other.

Q.   The director feels the setting with some debris. Can you read any meaning in the contours of debris in the setting of the play?

Ans-> Here, director uses the settings of debris and wastage and collapsed buildings which shows failure of materialistic world. That’s why he shows that debris in the background that gives reminder to both of them that nothing is permanent in the end. But what gives them pessimistic way to live is the hope and meaning that they find out of that debris. And that’s why they go on waiting for Godot.

Q.  The play begins with the dialogue “Nothing to be done”. How does the theme of ‘nothingness’ recurs in the play?

Ans-> The play begins with the dialogue, “nothing to be done” is appropriate here because in every aspect of the play- in structure, setting, characters, dialogues and many as such we can find that the play has no meaning at all, though it suggests the nothingness of life. We can also find this in one of the dialogue which has got some connection with it, “nobody comes…. nobody goes…. It’s awful…” in the play we can see that both are waiting for Godot but they are not sure whether he would come or not but they still go on waiting. We know that our life is unpredictable and full of uncertainties are in it but then also we go on living our life with the hope that one day or the other we would achieve salvation but that day never comes. And at last we feel like worthless, though we had achieved so many things in our life and we all have one restless question which is what else can be done by us to achieve salvation.

Q.  Do you agree: “The play (Waiting for Godot), we agreed, was a positive play, not negative, not pessimistic. As I saw it, with my blood and skin and eyes, the philosophy is: 'No matter what— atom bombs, hydrogen bombs, anything—life goes on. You can kill yourself, but you can't kill life." (E.G. Marshal who played Vladimir in original Broadway production 1950s)?

Ans-> We can say waiting for Godot as a puzzling play. Because it is not quite clear that the play is positive or negative or pessimistic play we can interpretate it in various ways. That’s why Beckett himself did not throw much light on the meaning of the play. It depends on individual because there is something in the play for almost everybody. According to E.G.Marshal’s philosophy that we can end our physical suffering by killing ourselves but the question is that can we kill the life or its cycle? No, we can’t because it is not static that’s why life goes on and it doesn’t make any difference whether we are living or dead.

Q. How are the props like hat and boots used in the play? What is the symbolical significance of these props?

Ans-> Significance of props like ‘Hat’ and ‘Boot’ are described in this play. Throughout the play Vladimir looks into hat so many times instead of looking into boot and through Vladimir hat is symbolised as a rational thought process. Estragon who focuses on boots more than hats is more earthly and grounded than Vladimir and through Estragon boot is symbolised as the struggle of life which all faces, and taking off boots shows the try to come out from that struggles. So it’s all about the struggle between mind and body for which we at times are unable to make out what is right or wrong because unlike Vladimir and Estragon our hats and boots also symbolises the same in one way or the other that is- hat thinks for the meaning of life and boots struggles for the meaning of life. 

Q. Do you think that the obedience of Lucky is extremely irritating and nauseatic? Even when the master Pozzo is blind, he obediently hands the whip in his hand. Do you think that such a capacity of slavishness is unbelievable?

Ans-> Yes, I think obedience of Lucky is extremely irritating and nauseatic. When Lucky knows that his master has gone blind than also he gives the whip in his hand. When someone knows the reality and follows it blindly it’s called as addiction and he can’t come out from that easily. But it happens in the world that the disciples of the saints follow them blindly even when the reality gets revealed but instead of that they go on proving that there is no truth behind it. And we can’t make them realize until and unless they themselves not feel that what they are going into the wrong path and it becomes meaningless to show them the right path. We can find this type of slavishness around us too. So, one shall accept it as a part of life.

Q. “The subject of the play is not Godot but ‘Waiting’” (Esslin, A Search for the Self). Do you agree? How can you justify your answer?

Ans-> In Martin Esslin’s essay ‘A Search for the self’ he said that the subject of the play is not Godot but waiting. I do agree with his statement because throughout our life we are waiting for something. We know that future is unpredictable. So what? Can we give living life? Can we stop desiring something? Can we leave hope? No, we can’t. Our life itself is unpredictable but we go on living to meet with its end, i.e. death. So we can say that internally we are waiting for liberation of our soul. And externally we are waiting for the death. But the common thing in the both is “waiting” and we can’t free ourselves from it.

Q. Do you think that plays like this can better be ‘read’ than ‘viewed’ as it requires a lot of thinking on the part of readers, while viewing, the torrent of dialogues does not give ample time and space to ‘think’? Or is it that the audio-visuals help in better understanding of the play?

Ans-> Yes, I think that audio-visual gives us better understanding of the play. It is also true that it doesn’t give us ample time to think. We have to move fast with changing scene on the screen. But if we try to look at the reading of the text it too has got some limitations for which in some parts we can’t imagine the actual scene or action or pause which is written in the text. But in screening of this play we came across few things as such that why they take pause or what does the meaning of silence in both the acts signify.

Thinking Activity

Interpretation of the smallest Play- "Breath" by Samuel Beckett

Since down the ages no one ever thought of writing such small of just 30 to 32 seconds but Samuel Beckett was the first one to do it. And till today no one else could challenge him in this sphere. The name of his shortest play is “Breath”.

      When we watch the play, most would feel like what ‘rubbish’ is this and what to interpretate from this? But there is much to interpretate from this rubbish also. In the play we cannot find any settings or any character but only we can hear is the inhalation and expiration of breath. Everyday we inhale and exhale while breathing but we don’t try to see the possible interpretation of it as Samuel Beckett does. Though the video shows garbage along with the sound of breathing, it shows that there are both happy and bad times. Inhalation of fresh air signifies happy times and exhalation of air signifies bad times. We should try to find happy times for us in the midst of garbage also because happiness doesn’t always comes with a bed full of roses, it also comes with the most dejected things and times of our life. It is only us whether we want to see beyond the spectacle of the society rather than finding happiness in utter depravity also. Not only in life but in our surroundings also there is garbage like- in Politics there is lot of garbage, we the literate people keep on saying that- what a rubbish the Politics is becoming day by day and if we are asked to register our name for the next election than we would step aback saying that who would step in the pit hole knowingly? This is just exhalation trying to find a way of inhalation from the garbage. Society is twirling in the garbage everyday, it’s our own wish whether to twirl with it or not.

Digdarshak the Play

      

Digdarshak

The play ‘Digdarshak’ is written by Priyam Jani and directed by Rishit Jhaveri. The film is an autobiography of the Director, of his dedication towards theatre. Here the Director trains a boy in acting and he becomes the ‘Digdarshak’ for the boy. After the boy excels in acting he thinks of going to the cinemas which the Digdarshak dislikes. The Digdarshak thinks that after his disapproval also the boy went for cinemas and when the boy comes to meet him, they both started an argument for both cinema and theatre. The Digdarshak was unable to except the fact that cinemas could be better than theatre because he was an orthodox man for whom ‘Old is Gold’.

   At the end when their conversation was going on in between the Digdarshak came to know the truth why the boy left him. It was so because that the Digdarsak’s son gave two lakhs rupees to the boy so that he leaves his father because his father was so dedicated towards his work that it became his life and he slowly got detached from his son and his family which was disheartening the whole family.  When the Digdarshak confronts the truth he feels guilty and thinks that an artist should always try to balance his both personal and professional life.

     When the Digdarshak gives a script to the boy to read and the boy mistakens then Digdarshak says that cinema is more democratic than theatre because theatre is dictatorial.  And in theatre the Director is always a dictator.

Women are the architect of the society

Women are the architect of the society

      On hearing the very topic we take a little bit pause thinking that how can a woman be an architect of a society? The question is very right. The answer is also transparent to it but we try to skip it. It is that not from the new dawn of India but from the ancient India women had served a primary role in building a society. It is not only in the case of India but also it is same around the whole world. As in during Independence era of India freedom fighters like Rani Lakshmibai, Sarojini Naidu, Kasturba Gandhi, Indira Gandhi, Kamla Nehru etc. They fought with the Britishers for the freedom of India. It is from the womb of a woman we have got many famous personalities both in male and female. In worldwide as well as global peacemaking associations we have got many female peacemakers over there. Women build bridges instead of walls as they serve as a peace educator both in their own house as well as in their own society. For women peace is the main priority over settling old scores. Women don’t seek revenge. Taking care of people’s needs is more important than being right about what happened in the past. Women are strong community activists, supporters of the peace marches, show up at rallies, stuff envelopes, keep their eyes and ears open and are attuned at the grass roots level. They often know of new developments in the works long before others as a result of their natural talents for networking. 

     Women are viewed as less threatening, often gaining access where men cannot go. Be it in academic field women have much excelled than men, Kalpana Chawla was the first Indian woman astronaut to go to space with her team. Not only in academics women has also excelled in the field of sports also, this year the first three finalists from India were women- P.V.Sindhu, Dipa Karmakar, Sakshi Malik. A girl before marriage not only takes care of her parental home but after her marriage she maintains the same bond with her in laws, husband and as a mother after her child is born. If it is a working woman she then has to take care of her household duties along with her official works. In short we can say that she is a Multi Tasker. Malala Yousafzai is a first teen age girl who not only fought for the education of the girls of her country but she also roused her voice for the education of the girls worldwide. The acid attack survivors also have the wish to get married and raise a family of her own. When the Government has the passed the Act of Women Empowerment, the women is not back in empowering themselves in every sphere they can and also they help the other women to get empowered. At the end of the day a men turns up to a women to help him from coming out of a serious problem keeping aside his ego. Last but not the least it can be said that had there been no women no society would have existed, and had a society been created without a woman it would had been a clear mess because women is the Soul of a society, how much we try to ignore her.

Thinking Activity on To The Lighthouse

Thinking Activity on 'To The Lighthouse'-

1) Virginia Woolf’s representation of stream of consciousness in the novel “To the lighthouse” is such that the narrator speaks as the third person and portrays the characters and actions, or we can say that story develops through the flow of thoughts in the minds of the characters. Virginia Woolf has often used this technique in the novel to keep its special characters to be always within the consciousness of the chief characters. She tries to deconstruct the idea of patriarchal power structure. She tried to satirize power structure and it can also be said as stream of consciousness technique. For example Mrs.Ramsay wanted to make her daughter like her, so we can also compare Virginia and her daughters in the novel. The second thing is stream of consciousness. Stream of consciousness is a style of writing. In narrative technique there are two basic types of inferior monologue. Direct Inferior Monologue and Indirect Inferior Monologue. In this novel she also used technique of Brackets and Parenthesis.

5) The German term ‘kunstlerroman’ means struggle or development of an artist. Here in this novel same thing we can find in the character of Lily Briscoe that she has to struggle a lot as an artist. Throughout the novel we feel that she is in the process to complete the picture and at last she got her vision. We can say that the novel itself is struggle for Virginia Woolf for establishing her work among the male writers. And it reflects well in the character’s life. If we also look another character that is Mrs. Ramsay she also struggles a lot to make her life immortal by serving guests or pampering children or by doing match-making. 

8) Lily Briscoe said, “It was done, it was finished, I have had my vision.” According to me these line suggest the fulfillment of unknown desire that everyone seeks throughout the novel. Every character has some desire that gets fulfilled at last. As time passes everyone lost their desire and in the end they all got their vision. If we take an example of James life that the carving to go to the lighthouse is not there when he reached there. But suddenly when Mr Ramsay says that, “good job James.” It worked like a magical word for him. Lily was unable to complete the picture but at last she got her vision to complete it by drawing one single line. This helped to understand the reality that sometime we fail to connect the single line that fills the gap between some broken relations. Once Lily thought of her painting and her spirit soared above the superficialities of human relations and she thinks that, “such vast spaces between people came when certain solidity vanished.” It wasn’t so while Mrs Ramsay was alive. The blunder is happening in between characters because of Mrs Ramsay’s desire for selfhood. When Lily completes the picture by giving it final stroke and goes into her room and speaks, “Close Doors, Open Windows” symbolically suggests that Open Window stands for looking outside through it but we cannot get in through it and on the other side Close Door meant it doesn’t allow anyone to come and create disturbance in your personal life. But at last she addressed herself as- you are a fool, which meant she also accepted the way that she disliked.

9) In Literature symbol is something which signifies. The symbol of Refrigerator is a thing which preserves and it is the symbol of change also. Refrigerator signifies change in technology and presumably improving human culture. Refrigerator is the symbol for central character of the novel that is- Mrs.Ramsay who always tries to preserve the refine form of culture as it is her responsibility. It’s like a suggestion to James from Mrs.Ramsay to cut refrigerator from the catalog of Army and Navy. The refrigerator is an instrument of science, and it occupies the same sphere as the lighthouse.

10) In this novel we can find the representation of fairy tale told by Mrs. Ramsay to her children which shows barrenness and unreasonable demand from the husband which also depicts that how Mrs.Ramsay had to bent infront the bad mood of her husband because a woman should not speak or quarrel with anybody especially with her husband otherwise she would be known as an uncultured woman. So it shows suppressed desires of woman like Mrs. Ramsay. Mrs. Ramsay always used to pamper the ego of her husband, which we can also see find the story of fisherman’s wife. So cutting of the fish also highlights the male dominant and the danger of male willfulness. So we can say that fisherman’s fairy tale is related with Mrs. Ramsay and Lily also as she too had suppressed desires of womanhood. This is a great narrative quality found in the novel by Virginia Woolf.

Study of Existentialism

Studying Existentialism in the mode of Flipped Learning activity- 

Video 1-  Many a great thinker and writers such as- Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Dostoyevsky, Kafka, Heideggar and many more differ in their views but for all of them philosophical thinking and existentialism begin with the subject namely the individual. It could be seen as a triangle with- Individuality, freedom and passion as its three sides. Believing or not believing in God can only be possible when one thinks as an individual.

Video 2-  Our thinking is the base of every situation from where Absurdity started in life. It talks on lack of profound or prolific reason of living & it turns to an individual act may be Suicide. Reference from movie Stay also has such same ideas (An elegant suicide is the ultimate work of art.)

Video 3-   Absurdity is not in man or in the world but it's in both. If there is no human being then there would be no desire and then there would be no satisfaction & ultimately then there would be no philosophical suicide. Before facing problems one should know possible challenge as well as solution instead of facing it without a second thought. Religion believes that there is some reason beyond all but in actual sense there are no such reasons.

Video 4-    Existentialism is a not Nihilism. Dadaism is associated to Nihilism. Dadaism is a quest a change and values. In nihilism there is no meaning or purpose to life. One should create their values rather than following other’s values.

Video 5-    Existentialism is a philosophy which itself is dark or depressed. As we want some pillar to stand stable that’s why people chooses god as the pillar or finding a truth that is truth for us or embracing the absurd we feel relief by choosing any pillar. But what existentialism says here is that you have to be creator or developer or destroyer of your life. You have to live stable without any supporting pillars from outside. The only supporting pillar you can use it is you and yourself because everything which we seek outside comes from our inner self. 

Video 6-   Existentialism is opposed to Nihilism because Nietzsche believes that Nihilism comes after existentialist thinking. As per my understanding Nihilism shows us that everything is meaningless in the world and we are tempted by an objective scheme of things. And on the other hand existentialist thinker believes that there is no single meaning but we create our personal meaning for life. So in that point Nietzsche disagree with Nihilism because it ties our thinking ability and existentialism gives us more to look insight and judge critically. 

Video 7-   Existentialism shared a common concern that we can say it as human condition. Throughout our life we are in dilemma between life and purpose of life. We all are roaming throughout the life in search of the series of questions but we never meet with an appropriate answer.

Video 8-   Nietzsche’s gives us an idea of ‘ubermensch’ i.e superman because he believed that there is no God present anywhere. Or ‘God is dead’. So, we are free from the idea of God and we are free to establish our new values. And then the creator will be responsible for whatever he selects for his life so there is no chance to escape from suffering that comes from the values that he chooses for himself.

Video 9-   I like existentialism because it gives way to life as it gives space to the intellectual thinking and the existentialist thinkers are much more straight forward than others. Existentialism accepts one as he or she is.

My favourite video is- Video 2

I liked this video because a person commits suicide when he or she starts thinking and then gets undermined by his own thoughts and when he or she takes a pause while thinking than they discover the absurdity starts dying because they have recognised even instinctively the ridiculous character of that habit.

Flipped learning is a very helpful process to understand. It is so because while doing flipped learning we don’t have to sit in one place and give our ears to the teachers, it is a self-learning easy process. It makes our concept more clear.

Thinking Activity on The Waste Land

      Thinking activity on 'The Waste Land'

1> Friedrich Nietzsche mentions the concept of ‘The Ubermensch’, which means- the superior man; who justifies the existence of the human race and also it means as a goal which is set for humanity. Nietzsche’s idea is different from that of Eliot that is in the way- Nietzsche thought that a bit of morality can lead towards different world whereas Eliot dealt with ‘past, present and Modern world’ in the poem ‘The Waste Land’. Eliot pointed out that spiritual salvation can be achieved by following the Buddha philosophy.

2> For you the salvation of the man lies in the preservation of the cultural tradition, which, in our more mature years, lives with great vigour within us than does primitiveness, and which we must preserve if chaos is to avoided. This was said to Eliot because Freud importance to free outlet of basic instinct. As it was considered to be the basic desire and so there’s nothing wrong in it. This thing brought Western society to face chaotic life and this thing brought to spiritual degradation, people burning with lust and many more profanity in society.

          So, Eliot had to write- salvation of man lies in the preservation of the cultural tradition to revive faith in God, and in this way gave solution to the preservation of cultural tradition. Eliot and Freud gave their own views in this regard. It is true that the free vent to the repressed primitive lead to a happy life but it had to be in a limited way. The problem is that Freud what people are upto. So, both the views are important but in a limits.

3> The Indian allusions are of “Ganga”, “Himavat”, “Data”, “Dayadhvam”, “Damyata” and “Shantih, Shantih, Shantih”. He makes use of Indian allusions in the last part- which symbolically means that he looks to Indian Spirituality for the solutions to his questions. Data means be a giver, what have you given? Dayadhvam means sympathy for others. Damyata means Self- control. He ends his poem with the lines Shantih, Shantih, Shantih which had been taken from Upanishad.

                                                                                         

Pehredaar Piya Ki the most controversial serial

Pehredaar Piya Ki- the serial

   

           The serial “Pehredaar Piya Ki” does portrays a 10years old boy married to a girl of 19 years, here I question the people why do you find the serial hurting your moral sentiments? Why do you suggest your children not to watch this serial and on which ground do you find it obnoxious or aghast? Why don’t we remember those days when we were in support of these types of acts which were performed by the people of India with great pomp and show? And while you read these questions then you would think that at that time we were not so educated or not so capable to raise our voice against those acts, at that time also we did have our sentiments. Or now we can say that in today’s world we are not educated rather our sentiments are getting educated everyday.

       We are unable to accept this particular serial because it shows the relation between 10 years old boy and 19 years old girl, if it’s so then why are we supporting the daily soaps of Ekta Kapoor to get name and fame with every passing days? Why parents don’t stop their children from watching those serials, it’s so because parents are also blind followers of Ekta Kapoor’s daily soaps. Had it been today Ekta Kapoor’s one of the daily soaps then starting from the small screen television actors or actresses to parents everyone would had readily accepted it because Ekta Kapoor always portrays facts and realities rather than other Directors or Producers and she gives platform to every newcomers in the industry. Everyone is comparing this serial with Balika Vadhu serial which was aired on Colors channel saying that Balika Vadhu portrayed reality and this serial is just ashaming  the Indian society and culture in the grounds of portraying reality but are we all well-accustomed with each and every small history of India? The answer is a big ‘NO’ because we only see what we want to see and portray those things which would bring a bit of fame and attention to India from other country people.

    We say patriarchy has been eradicated from the Indian society, if it’s so then why we are unable to digest a serial portraying a girl protecting a boy? It’s so because till today from our mind patriarchy has not been eradicated totally that’s why we are able to find many loop holes in this serial. Women are still not empowered in India in its true sense. If we can have patience for Ekta Kapoor’s daily soaps years after years so why are we unable to have patience for this serial and why can’t we wait for the story to unfold in the upcoming days? Last but not the least when parents want to curtail this serial than they should start from the very root that is from Ekta Kapoor to all the Hollywood and Bollywood movies which children watch with great enthusiasm with their support. It’s not always necessary that if one finds a loop hole we all should come to an abrupt conclusion without giving a second thought. Indian media always jumps to a conclusion for the purpose of name and fame without thinking for the Country and its people. People educate yourself not your sentiments than only India would progress in its true sense.