WHO IS A PATRIOT ??

A patriot was someone who loves their country and supports it, but won't blindly follow whatever their
country's government does.

ABOUT NISSIM EZEKIEL!!

Nissim Ezekiel was an Indian Jewish poet, playwright, editor and art critic.

He was a foundational figure in postcolonial India's literary history, specifically for indian writing in
English.

He's most famous for his wry commentaries on contemporary India - often written in an exaggerated
'Indian English'

His father, Moses Ezekiel, was a professor of botany at Wilson College, and his mother was principal of
her own school.

The Ezekiels belonged to Mumbai's Jewish community, known as the 'Bene Israel'

1947, Ezekiel earned an BA in Literature from Wilson College, Mumbai, University of Mumbai

His 1ST poetry was published in 1952 called “the bad day”

IMAGE OF INDIA IN NISSIM EZEKIEL’S POETRIES !!

☺ In Hour of need to depict the Indianness or Indian sensibility Nissim Ezekiel is one of the
last notable poets of the last 50s and 60s, who reveals the genuine Indian temperament,
Indian sensibility that can be consider as the true Indianness .

☺ In an autobiographical poem ‘Background Casually’ he himself being Jew-a minority in

India depicts the trouble and traumas that he underwent throughout his life. He
ridicules the cast barriers that make the people confine in to the narrow domestic wall .

About his other poems.

In order to state his Indianness , he chooses to portray some familiar Indian scene. In the poem ‘In
India’, he portrays the squalor, heat and ugliness of an Indian Metropolis.” The barbaric city sick with
slums”-

“ Always in the sun’s eye,

here among the beggars,

Hawkers, pavement sleepers,

 Hutment dwellers, slums etc”

Contd…

Ezekiel’s Indianness can be seen from the way he has described a flood in Bihar.

“ the villagers ran to them

they slapped their bellies

and whined;

“ I have not eaten for three days”

“ my husband has been washed away”

“ my parents have abandoned me,”

“ my son is dying,”

“ I cannot find my daughter.””

Summary!!

The poem patriot talks about the Indian flavor that has been created by stressing the various mistakes
which Indians commit in their use of English, by bringing in the hopes and aspirations of free India.

Indians as Gandhi's heir, he would opt for peace and non - violence

He is puzzled why others are not following Gandhi's advice while in this estimate, the ancient indian
wisdom is correct, contrastively the modern generation takes it to whatever is western and fashionable

- like other Indians, he too has to improve his English language.

Contd..

It is a common India mistake to use the present continuous tense in the place of the simple present.

The India of yester years is no longer to be seen here, as modernization and industrialization have
speeded up the process of change.

The regrettable thing in the modern world is the act of violence and anti –social tendencies proving to
be a menace. Still the positive aspects like regeneration ,remuneration and contraception could be
thought of as a way out of the present muddle.

Contd…!!

The student interest and petty agitations make him feel sickening line Antony's appeal to the Roman
mob, he will call upon the fellow citizens to think of the past masters.
Thus in the third stanza, he pronounces that he is the total abstainer from drinks while it is taken by
addicts to gunch themselves, he for his part would turn to simple drinks like lassi. Thus, the poet tries to
receive the old Gandhi an days.

Contd…!!

In the fourth stanza, the poet is able to think aloud and offer his comments on the world situation today.
The present conditions all over the world speak of a bad trend that give an edge to the production of
dangerous weapons to be superior to others.

India is a land where the principle of 'unity in Diversity' is practiced.This ideal situation in which one Co-
exists with the other is described as Ram Rajya by the poet .

The poet is optimistic when he says that he enjoys every moment of good company. So, he ends the
poem by saying that he does not feel the necessity of celebrating ceremonies.

The –ing!!

Ezekiel has experimented with the use of typical Indian English. the poems reveals the common Indian
mistakes of using present progressive tense in place of the simple present. The suffix,’-ing’ is used in a
wrong manner unnecessarily; this is very typical for Indian users of English. It also brings out the random
pour of Indian speech.

The grammer !!

The usual compound form is 'Hinglish', a portmanteau of 'Hindi' and 'English’

Like most hybrid dialects, Indian English has its own curious set of structures

Indian languages use doubled verbs to indicate an ongoing action, hence phrases like "world is fighting
fighting" in today's poem.

"I am simply not understanding" - the misuse of the continuous tense is rife in India.

"modern generation is neglecting" - another common mistake, the omission of the object of a transitive
verb.

"Other day I'm reading newspaper" - Hindi doesn't have articles; hence eithertheir complete omission as
in this sentence, or their replacement by numbers, as

"You want one glass lassi?".

To improve my English Language" - This one's a classic

"One goonda fellow" - Nouns are often used as adjectives, as also in "studentunrest fellow".
"All men are brothers, no?" - The interrogative 'no?' at the end of the sentence

is common to many non-native speakers of English.