The Gandhian Outlook – Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (Summary)

The Gandhian Outlook – Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan

Mahatma Gandhiji, as Sarvepalli Radhakrishanan said in his essay “The Gandhian Outlook”, was truly a religious man. Gandhiji was great admirer of all religions – Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity, Islam and others. He realized them in practice the theoretical implications of each religion from its beginning. He understood that Hinduism talk about Abhaya, Ahimsa and Fearlessness and Love, Buddhism talk about Wisdom, Love and Compassion Prajana and Karuna, Christanity talk about Truth and Freedom and Muslims speak of One God and One family on the earth. Gandhiji strongly felt that people have knowledge of their religions but not the deed, which answers to their knowledge.

The greatest contribution of Gandhiji is to make us understand the very essence of those religions and incarnate the great ideals of Truth and Love, which are very foundations of every religion to evolve.  Whenever Gandhiji intended to teach people, he takes up some line of conduct, examines and re-examines it thoroughly, with all fasting and praying, ransacked his brains until at last he was able to say: “This is line of conduct on which to proceed.” Gandhiji never preached anything to anyone without practice. He attained that stage through constant efforts and commitment. He, therefore, expected the highest standards of conduct from everyone who come into contact with him.

Distinctions of race, nationality and sect have no room in Gandhian ethics. Patriotism is not enough. A truly religious man does not restrict his commitment to any country or nation. His loyalty is to the whole of humanity. He acknowledges all great religions as embodying the truth and, therefore, worthy of deep reverence.

He was a revolutionary who was committed to overthrow of all forms of tyranny and social injustice, but who never bore ill will towards anyone, who led a mighty movement against British imperialism, but never allowed the movement to be accompanied by hatred, rancour or resentment against Englishmen. He was not an intellectual in the conventional sense of the term. He was not an academic philosopher propounding his philosophy in a precise manner.

Education should not only help in acquiring knowl­edge and arousing intellectual curiosity, but should inculcate right ideals through knowledge of the nation's social and cultural heritage. The Mahatma rejected the caste system based on birth as immoral. He wanted the organisation of the economy based on hereditary occupations on the ground that they helped to transmit knowledge and skill to the succeeding generations.

His greatest contribution to modern thought lies in his insistence that man is fundamentally a spiritual and moral being and that society is an association of human spirits an association that is not limited in any way by considerations of nationality, race, creed or sex. This is a simple doctrine, yet how profoundly revolutionary.

He wants men and women who are noble, public-spirited, disciplined, who are always bound by the laws of Dharma, who are fully conscious of their social obligations, and who think not in terms of self-interest and self-aggrandizement, but of service to the community and its corporate life. He also wants a society in which every man would be able to live in freedom and achieve creative self-expression. Thus, S. Radhakrishanan advocated on The Gandhian Outlook.

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The Cabuliwallah – Rabindranath Tagore (Summary)

The Summary of The Cabuliwallah – Rabindranath Tagore

The father of a five-year-old Mini narrates the well-knitted short story ‘The Cabuliwallah’. The most innocent and prattling girl Mini and Abdur Rahman, a street peddler of dry fruits from Kabul are the central characters of the story.

On one sunny morning, Mini saw a street peddler through the window of her house and called him “A Cabuliwallah! A Cabuliwallah!” A tall and gigantic man with a turban on his head and huge sack slung over his shoulder has answered to her call. As soon as he drew closer to the house to answer Mini’s call, Mini ran away and hid herself in the folds of her mother’s sari. Mini’s father bought some dry fruits for her, chatted with him, and came to know that he was from Kabul and his family was at Kabul. Then he called Mini from her hiding and introduced her to Abdur Rahma.  In order to shed her fears of Mini, Rahman took some dry fruits from his bag and bundled them up on other free end of her sari like garment.  

Later, Mini’s father found that his daughter Mini and the Cabuliwallah had struck up in a happy friendly relationship and they met often almost every day. The Cabuliwallah was a patient listener to Mini’s prattle and gave her lavish amounts of nuts and raisins. The Cabuliwallah entertained her with the fascinating stories of his motherland.  However, the suspicious Mini’s mother was always worrying at their friendship and frightened that he would take away her daughter, Mini and sell her off as a slave to someone.

As it was going on, one day all of a sudden a disaster struck the Cabuliwallah. He was arrested and sentenced him to several years of imprisonment for stabbing one of his customers to death who owed him money.

After his release from the jail, the Cabuliwallah went to Mini’s house to see her. To his surprise, he found that Mini had grown up, and it was her wedding day. Mini’s father was not happy to see him on that day and considered it inauspicious to let him to see Mini. He persuaded him to go away. Before going away, the Cabuliwallah left a few grapes and raisins wrapped in a piece of paper for Mini. He then showed Mini’s father an old and shriveled piece of paper with a black impression of a small tiny hand of his daughter. Filled with pity for the Cabuliwallah, Mini’s father called his daughter. When the Cabuliwallah saw Mini in her wedding dress, he was surprised to find a young woman that he could not recognize. Mini embarrassed when she thought of their long-forgotten companionship. The Cabuliwallah found extremely difficult to reconcile with the reality.  Seeing the predicament of the Cabuliwallah, Mini’s father offered him one hundred rupees enough to return to his native place, Kabul to see his own daughter there. He gave him the money by cutting down some the expensive wedding celebrations to meet the expenses of a distressed father. Mini’s father is contended with his humanistic gesture to help someone who is in distress and helpless and he wanted see his own daughter after a long time.

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Of Travel – Francis Bacon (Text)

Of Travel – Francis Bacon

Travel, in the younger sort, is a part of education; in the elder, a part of experience. He that travelleth into a country before he hath some entrance into the language, goeth to school, and not to travel. That young man  travel under some tutor, or grave servant, I allow well; so that he be such a one that hath the language, and hath been in the country before; whereby he may be able to tell them what things are worthy to be seen in the country where they go; what acquaintances they are to seek; what exercises or discipline the place yieldeth. For else young men shall go hooded, and look abroad little. It is a strange thing, that in sea-voyages, where there is nothing to be seen but sky and sea, men should make diaries; but in land-travel, wherein so much is to be observed, for the most part they omit it; as if chance were fitter to be registered than observation. Let diaries therefore be brought in use. The things to be seen and observed are, the courts of princes, especially when they give audience to ambassadors; the courts of justice, while they sit and hear causes; and so o consistories ecclesiastic ; the churches and monasteries, with the monuments which are therein extant; that walls and fortifications of cities and towns, an so the havens and harbours; antiquities and ruins; libraries; colleges, disputations, and lectures, where any are; shipping and navies; houses and gardens of stat and pleasure, near great cities; armories; arsenals; magazines; exchanges; burses; warehouses; exercises of horsemanship, fencing, training of soldiers, and the like; comedies, such whereunto the better sort of persons do resort, treasuries of jewels and robes; cabinets and rarities; and, to conclude, whatsoever s memorable in the places where they go. After all which tutors or servants ought to make diligent inquiry. As for triumphs, masks, feasts, weddings, funerals, capital executions, and such shows, men need not be put in mind of them; yet are they not to be neglected. If you will have a young man to put his travel into a little room, and in short time to gather much, this you must do. First as was said, he must have some entrance into the language before he goeth. Then he must have such a servant or tutor as knoweth the country, as was likewise said. Let him carry with him also some card or book describing the country where he travelleth; which will be a good key to his inquiry. Let him keep also a diary. Let him not stay long in one city or town; more or less as the place deserveth, but not long; nay, when he stayeth in one city or town, let him change lodging from one end and part of the town to another; which is a great adamant of acquaintance. Let him sequester himself from the company of his countrymen, and diet in such places where there is good company of the nation where he travelleth. Let him upon his removes from one place to another, procure recommendation to some person of quality residing in the place whither re removeth; that he may use his favour in those things he desireth to see or know. Thus he may abridge his travel with much profit. As for the acquaintance which is to be sought in travel;  that which is most of all profitable, is acquaintance with secretaries and employed men of ambassadors; for so in travelling in one country, he shall suck the experience of many. Let him also see and visit eminent persons in all kinds, which are of great name abroad; that he may be able to tell how life agreeth with the fame. For quarrels, they are with care and discretion to be avoided.  They are commonly for mistresses, healths, place, and words. And let a man beware how he keepeth company with choleric and quarrelsome persons; for they will engage him into their own quarrels. When a traveler returneth home, let him not leave the countries where he hath travelled altogether behind him; but maintain a correspondence by letters with those of his acquaintances, which are of most worth. And let his travel appear rather in his discourse than in his apparel or gesture; and in his discourse let him be rather advised in his answers, than forward to tell stories; and let it appear that he doth not change his country manners for those of foreign parts; but only prick in some flowers of that he hath learned abroad into the customs of his own country.

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How Should One Read A Book? – Virginia Woolf (Summary)

How Should One Read A Book? – Virginia Woolf

Adeline Virginia Woolf was an English writer who considered one of the foremost modernists of the twentieth century, and a pioneer in the use of stream of consciousness as a narrative device.

In the essay, “How Should One Read a Book?”  from the pen of Virginia Woolf talks about how she views reading a book as personal experience for everyone. She views reading is a thing of liberty and freedom, where you can escape and not be bothered by what everyone else thinks. It is fact that Woolf’s feelings about reading influenced her writings. She wrote whatever she wanted and never censored her thoughts. She also wants to change the way we see certain literature. We see fiction as mere amusement, poetry as false and biographies are flattering. She describes poetry and biography extensively and uses examples from other writers.  This reading of a book is teaching us, what Woolf thinks, is the proper way to read a book. She believes that even if we read something a hundred times we will never be able to truly criticize or understand it, because literature is so deep and profound.

In the first paragraph Woolf says, “the only advice indeed, that one person can give another about reading is to take no advice, to follow your own instincts, to use your own reason, to come to your own conclusions.” Similarly, she is trying to say that no one views and imagines a book in the same way. The readers do not even imagine a book the way, how the writer intended to communicate them. Therefore, it may be in a way the readers are also the writers since they come up with their own conclusions. It is like when a book becomes a movie: the director shows the way that he viewed the book; he may even change certain events and characters for the movie. The writer may argue against this but they can do nothing about it, since the director had made it his own. Woolf also argues that one cannot truly say that one book is better than other is. “Romeo and Juliet” may be viewed as one of the greatest books of all times, but to whom? All we see it a certain way and Shakespeare certainly is not with us to discuss and decide which book is better than the other.

It is ironical that Woolf is trying to say that we should not be told how to read a book since it takes away our freedom, but later on she is telling us how we should read a book. She tells us not to dictate the author but to try to become him. She is convincing the reader that he/she should not ask, “Why would the character do that? I would have made them do so and so.” The reader should respect the author’s choice and try to understand why they wrote that. She also thinks that it takes away from us truly enjoying the book. She thinks that when we read, we are in a different world, and when we read, we should not let things from our present world influence the way we are seeking in the book. It also seems like Woolf is questioning the intelligence of the readers. She seems to believe that one must be an intellectual and college-educated person in order to appreciate a book.

At the conclusion of the essay, it shows how much Virginia Woolf loved and valued reading. She looks at it as a kind of holy thing that will get you into Heaven. She thinks that the people with books under their arms will get into Heaven before the lawyers and the statesmen. She thinks that we not only read for pleasure but also it is a good thing to do.   

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Model Millionaire – Oscar Wilde (Summary)

Model Millionaire – Oscar Wilde

The Protagonist of the short story “Model Millionaire” by Oscar Wilde is a young man called Hughie Erskine. Hughie is handsome, charming and popular but he has been very unlucky as far as financial matters are concerned. He was left nothing of any great value in his father’s will. He has tried his hand at several different businesses, all of which have failed. Having no job, Hughie has only source of income is two hundred pounds a year, which is given to him by an elderly aunt. Hughie has fallen in love with a woman named Laura Merton and she loves him in return. Laura’s father, Colonel Merton, is fond of Hughie but, due to his poor financial prospects, he does not want the young man to marry his daughter. He has often told Hughie that he will only allow him to be engaged to Laura after he has earned ten thousand pounds.

One day Hughie goes to see  his artist friend Alan Trevor in his studio. He finds that Alan is painting a portrait of an old man who appears to be a beggar. The old man is wearing a tattered brown cloak and boots, which have been mended several times. He has a rough walking staff in one hand and in the other hand, he is holding out an old hat as if to beg alms. His face is heavily wrinkled and he looks extremely sad. Both Alan Trevor and Hughie Erskine agree that the old man is an excellent subject for a painting. Hughie, however, cannot help feeling sorry for the measurable state of the man. He thinks it is unfair that, although paintings regularly sell for two thousand guineas, He only pays his models one shilling for an hour to pose for him and does not give them a percentage of the money, which he makes from sales of their portraits.

When Alan leaves the studio to meet frame designer for his paintings, Hughie fumbles his pockets, finds sovereign, and drops it into the withered hands of a beggar. Hughie gives the coin to the old man, who appears very happy to receive it although it means great value to him for the expense of the entire month. Soon Hughie leaves the studio.

Alan and Hughie meet again in a smoking room of a restaurant. The artist, Alan tells his friend that, after he left, and old man asked several questions about him. Alan goes on to say that he told the old man all about Hughie, Laura Merton and the condition, which Colonel Merton set that prevents their marriage. Hughie fells very unhappy that his friend told that old beggar all about his private life. Hughie amused that Alan tells Hughie that the old man he was painting was Baron Hausberg, one of the wealthiest men in Europe and someone who often buys Alan’s paintings. For reasons, which Alan does not really understand, the millionaire baron had asked to be painted as a beggar. Alan supplied the tattered clothes he was wearing. Hughie feels ashamed about having given a coin to a millionaire, although Alan tells him not to worry.

The following day, a representative of Baron Hausberg comes to Hughie’s house with an envelope. The writing on the envelope says that it contains a wedding present “from an old beggar”. Inside the envelope, Hughie finds a bank cheque for ten thousand pounds. Hughie and Laura get married. Baron Hausberg attends their wedding feast.

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A valuable advice from English Alphabet

A valuable advice from English Alphabet

Always Be Cool Don’t have Ego with Friends and Family.

Give up Hurting Individuals.

Just Keep Loving Mankind.

Never Omit Prayers.

Quietly Remember God.

Speak Truth. Use Valid Words.

Xpress Your Zeal.

*****

The Road Not Taken – Robert Frost (Text and summary)

The Road Not Taken – Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

The Road Not Taken – Robert Frost (Summary)

The Road Not Taken is one of the finest poems of Robert Frost, which always give us a mysterious reading experience. His poems appear to be very simple but they are not exactly straightforward. The poems of Robert Frost suggest us with inner meaning, which is more profound than they appear.

The poem The Road Not Taken looks like a personal poem about a decision of vast importance, but there is serious contemplation in taking right decision in case of choice. The Road Not Taken is the most popular of the lyrics published in 1916 in the volume of poems entitled Mountain Interval. It is one of those lyrics, which combine “inner vision and the outer contemplative narration”. The poet’s imagination is set at work by the difficulty of choosing one of the two roads, which diverge at a particular point, and he comments on the difficulty and significance of making a choice in general.

One day, while travelling alone, the poet reached a point where the road diverged into two. He could not decide which road is to be taken. Finally, he chose one because it seemed a little less frequented though actually there was no much difference for, “the passing there had worn them really about the same”. Yet, even at the moment of choice, the poet was the view that the choice was important, that he would someday tell himself he took the less travelled road.

“I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.”

The poet’s “difference” is in him from the beginning, long before he sets out on his career. The road that Robert Frost took was not the ‘different’ road, the right road for him, but it was also the only road he could have taken. As a famous critic points out “it was the ‘choice’ the poet made which determined his destiny, and made him a poet different from others. It is in this way that the future is determined. It is thus that even minor decisions have far-reaching and life-long consequences. A step once taken, a way once chosen, can never be retraced.” 

*****

Coromandel Fishers – Sarojini Naidu (Text and Summary)

Coromandel Fishers – Sarojini  Naidu

Rise, brothers, rise; the wakening skies pray to the morning light,
The wind lies asleep in the arms of the dawn like a child that has cried all night.
Come, let us gather our nets from the shore and set our catamarans free,
To capture the leaping wealth of the tide, for we are the kings of the sea! 

No longer delay, let us hasten away in the track of the sea gull's call,
The sea is our mother, the cloud is our brother, the waves are our comrades all.
What though we toss at the fall of the sun, where the hand of the sea-god drives?
He who holds the storm by the hair, will hide in his breast our lives. 

Sweet is the shade of the cocoanut glade, and the scent of the mango grove,
And sweet are the sands at the full o' the moon with the sound of the voices we love;
But sweeter, O brothers, the kiss of the spray and the dance of the wild foam's glee;
Row, brothers, row to the edge of the verge, where the low sky mates with the sea. 

*****

The Coromandel Fishers  (Summary):

Sarojini Naidu’s poetry is a veritable portrait-gallery of Indian folk characters, living their lives, and carrying on their different vocations against a rural background, which is faithful representation of the Indian rural landscape, with its vividly realized flora and fauna. The picture of India and the life of her masses thus evoked in a beautiful romantic way. The Coromandel Fishers not only expresses the fishermen’s identity with the sea and with the community, but also the folk sense of order and discipline. It evokes a folk-vocation, which is yet untouched by modern technology and sophistication. 

The poem sums up as thus: The early and daily morning song that is inculcated in the hearts and minds of the simple fishing community in the eastern coast of India. 

It calls them all at each and every early dawn to tell the menfolk to rise, brothers, rise; the wakening skies pray to the morning light for the great catch throughout the day. The wind lies asleep in the arms of the dawn like a child that has cried all night. They should leave immediately and let them gather their nets from the shore and set their catamarans; a yacht or other boat with twin hulls in parallel free. To capture the leaping wealth of the tide, the innumerable and immeasurable shoal of fish that moves with the warm ocean current; for these simple fishing folks are the kings of the sea! 

No longer had delay let them hasten away in the track of the sea gull's call. The sea is their mother, the cloud is their brother, and the waves are their comrades all. What though they toss at the fall of the sun where the hand of the sea-god drives? He, who holds the storm by the hair, will hide in his breast their lives. 

Sweet is the shade of the coconut glade; an open space in a wood or forest; and the scent of the mango grove; a small wood, orchard, or group of trees. And sweet are the sands at the full of the moon; the light of the full moon lightens the surface water of the sea; with the sound of the voices they love; while returning to the shore they sing in rejoice to close each triumphant day. As the endlessly moving waves washes the sores of the land, they create very thick foam at the boundary of the water and the land. But sweeter, are the brothers, the kiss of the spray and the dance of the wild foam's glee; great delight: a song for men’s voices in three or more parts, usually unaccompanied. Row, brothers, row to the edge of the verge; an edge or border; where the low sky mates with the sea; the point over the horizon where the sea appears to touch the sky. 

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Courtesy: Manglore University