ECOLOGY- A K Ramanujan

A K Ramanujan (1929-23) was a poet, translator, critic, and cultural historian. His poems are marked
by gentle irony and a deep reflection on human relations. Ramanujan was awarded the Padma Shri
in 1976 and Sahitya Akademi award, posthumously in 1999.

The poem Ecology is a characteristic Ramanujan poem. It straddles both tradition and modernity and
speaker’s attitude reflect an innate empathy with tradition and an ironic self-distancing. The poet
skillfully uses connectors and punctuation marks to conclude the poem in one single line.

When the poet returned home after a long gap instead of feeling happy or excited, he was angry the
reason for his rage was something very unusual. It was due to three red champak trees that had
burst but into flowers giving rise to migrant to his mother. The street was filled with heavy yellow
pollen of champak flowers. The fragrance of pollen was so strong that no wind could remove, and no
door could shut out. The old, pillared house was personified saying it had ears and eyes symbolizing
the ramshackle condition of a lower middle-class house.

The poet's mother who was suffering from migraine was ready to tolerate the pain and carry the wet
cold pack on her head but not ready to cut the champak trees. She was emotionally attached to the
trees as they were seeded luckily by a passing bird’s droppings. The trees gave baskets of flowers to
her daughters and granddaughters and to offer to gods.

Due to all these reasons, she was ready to tolerate her migraine and she also knew that one line of
cousins at least will get this problem for sure as a gift the poem highlights the inextricable
relationship between human beings and nature and need to protect our environment.

What’s the language of future?

English has been spreading widely and the desire to learn it is insatiable. Adoption of English is a
symptom of that world is becoming more urban and more middle class as English serves as lingua
franca. It is dominant in areas such as shipping, diplomacy, computing, medicine, and education. In
the United Arab Emirates though Arabic is associated with tradition home, religion, arts etc. English
is symbolic of modernity, work, higher education, commerce, science, and technology. In Arabic
speaking countries, science subjects are often taught in English because books are readily available
in English in the past English has spread because of British colonialism technological advances of the
industrial revolution, American economic and political domination, and exportation of English as a
second language are the causes for its growth. Today, English is world auxiliary tongue. Number of
people who use English as second language are more than the native speakers of English. According
to the Mark Abley, few rich Koreans pay for their children to have an operation that lengthens the
tongue as it helps them speak English convincingly. The above is a powerful example of the lengths
people will go to learn English. English as a universal language also it is facing few challenges in the
process of becoming world’s dominant language. The main challenges come from Spanish and
Mandarin dialect of Chinese. Both have more first language users than English. Another main
challenge to English may come from within that is from English itself. For example, many non-native
English writers have infused their English writing with their own native flavors by which it loses its
Englishness. In India though the roots of English are colonial, we connect the language more to the
future than to the past. Here English is used by more people than in any other country including the
United States. Even in China the number of people learning the language is increasing rapidly. Li
Yang, an entrepreneur has developed English as a new teaching method which involves a lot of
shouting to activate their interaction muscles. Li’s slogan is “conquer English to make China strong” .
The above is a symptom of China’s English fever and its ardent conviction that learning English is the
essential skill for surviving in the modern world English losing its Englishness is a concerning factor as
English’s center of gravity is moving. Native English speakers find themselves in a disadvantageous
position. non-native speakers of English always find conversing with one another easier than talking
with native speakers. They also learn English with little or no intention of conversing with its native
users. The native speakers feel that it is unimportant to learn other languages as they know the
potent language English. Due to which British companies often miss out an export opportunity. Very
soon being able to speak English will be considered as a basic skill and native speakers of the
language will no longer enjoy the competitive advantage large companies such as British petroleum
have worked with the British Council funding educated schemes to encourage non-native speakers
to learn English. People yell that it is done in British corporate interest, Robert Philipson says English
for business is business for English. It is equally true that English is being pulled or accepted by many
people as it is pushed by the native speakers. It is now observed that though vast amounts are spent
on space spreading British English, the reality is that English is taking on more and more local flavors
and colors. Due to which the number of English learners is increasing. Which English is going to be
the future language, no one knows though.

Gender equality

Emma Watson gave the speech on September 20, 2014, at the launch of the He for She campaign of
the United Nations. Using her celebrity status, she brings the issue of women’s rights to public
attention in her speech. She appeals men and boys to join the female movements fight for gender
equality. She clarifies that feminism is not about man hating, it is about their freedom. If gender
equality is to be achieved, harmful and destructive stereotypes of masculinity and behavioral
expectations for boys and men must change. She was appointed as UN women goodwill ambassador
in July 2014, and she gave this speech in that capacity at the headquarters of United Nations in New
York. Gender equality is not just a woman’s issue comma but a human rights issue full stops the
campaign aims to motivate and mobilize one billion men and boys to act as advocates for ending the
inequalities. The logo of the movement combines the traditional symbols of female and male to
create a new symbol representing gender equality. It consists of two strong colors (magenta and
black against a white background) signifying individual identities and their convergence suggests
solidarity. UN women, the United Nations entity for gender equality and the empowerment of
women was created by the United Nations General Assembly in July 2010. Many influential
personalities from fields like art, music, film etc. use their talent and popularity to address the issue
of gender equality and women empowerment. This speech is described as memorable game
changing speech on feminism and has garnered nearly 4,000,000 views on YouTube. She urges and
emphasizes that it is an urgent call for action and just talking about it would not suffice. She draws
her own experiences on how she faced and resisted stereotypical gender assumptions. Many
women are not identifying themselves as feminists as it has become an unpopular word. She asserts
that feminism is demanding social and economic equality, represent in policymaking not man hating.
She feels world cannot be changed when half of it remains uninvolved and excluded. Extends formal
invitation to men to join the movement and reminds of men too enjoying the benefit of equality.
Feminism has become an unpopular word as they are projected as overly aggressive, exclusivist and
anti-men. She considers herself privileged that she wasn’t a victim of this gender equality and credits
her parents, teachers and mentors for it and calls them gender equality ambassadors and
inadvertent feminists. She remarks that when men free themselves from gender constraints and
stereotypes it will naturally lead to change in the status of women. If men do not have to be
aggressive in order to be accepted, women won’t feel compelled to be submissive. She recalls
Edmund Burke’s remark that all that is needed for evil to triumph is the inaction of good men and
women everyone needs to feel personally responsible, otherwise she says, equality remains an
unattainable goal for several decades she concludes her speech by stressing on the unity movement
he for she. She also yells that her stardom comes with the risk of not being taken seriously. She
received both bookcase and brickbats for her speech her assumption that men remained uninvolved
in the effort to realize gender equality as they were not invited, and that man’s freedom
automatically results in freedom of women were lasered simplistic.

Prose poem girl by Jamaica Kincaid

The prose poem is written by Jamaica Kincaid born in 1949, and award-winning Caribbean- American
writer. Many of her stories and novels describe the struggles of a young girl’s growing up and the
mother daughter relationship. ‘Giri’ is taken from her first short story collection titled at the bottom
of the river. The book consists of 10 interconnected stories based on her own experiences of
growing up in poverty with her domineering mother. The prescribed prose poem consists of a series
of instructions advisories and warnings given by a mother to her teenage daughter. The instructions
are intended to prepare the girl to be a woman, to mold her character and to control her behavior as
she was a girl. The entire text is a single sentence punctuated by semicolons. The mother trains the
girl on when and how to wash white clothes and color clothes she advises her not to walk bare head
in the hot sun as it may spoil her hair and to cook pumpkin fritters only in extremely hot and sweet
oil. She then instructs the daughter on how to buy cotton and how to soak salt fish before cooking.
The daughter here tries to defend herself, she interrupts her mother, but the mother's voice
dominates. She also advises her daughter on how to sue a button, how to make a buttonhole, how
to hem a dress and how to decently get dressed. She also teaches her how to iron her father’s shirt
and trousers, how to grow okra away from the house as it harbors red ants and how to grow are we
or dasheen or Colocasia, how to make a bread pudding, etc. The other instructions include, how to
sweep, how to smile at different kinds of people, how to set a table for tea, lunch, dinner and when
there is an important guest. She also advises the daughter not to speak to wharf-rat boys and not to
eat fruits on the streets as flies would follow her. She wants her not to pick flowers, not to throw
stones at blackbirds, not to squat down to play marbles and not to throw stones at blackbirds as
they might be evil spirits. She also is preparing her daughter for her future on how to live in a
particular society. She explains how to make several medicines for diseases and cautions her on how
to bully a man, love a man and not feeling bad if she cannot. She also teaches her how to make ends
meet. Finally, she shows how to squeeze bread to make sure it is fresh, for which the daughter
second time interrupts her mom. The daughter has a genuine doubt as to what if the Baker does not
allow her to touch the bread, but the mother replies if she really wants to become that kind of
woman, who the Baker won’t let near the bread. The above instructions, advises, warnings, cautions,
and fears expressed by mom only suggests her concern towards her daughter and to prepare her to
accomplish all tasks that a woman is expected to know in a society that is dominated by men. Thank
you