 Although I have emphasized the significance of compositional skills, I think even at the cost of repetition, I would like to ensure that we are very clear about the critical questions that writing in English poses. So, I would say that on the one hand the reason we emphasize the use of standard English within the academic framework is related of course to the expectations of this framework, but at the same time for the purpose of writing that is a starting point. What you have to understand is the historical and literary dimension of this question because literature is a very different sphere and while writing we actually have a sense of totality because literature itself actually I suppose represents a sense of totality of human life. And languages do proliferate in our lives in both functional and expressive dimensions. It is sometimes really not even possible to separate these two dimensions very sharply. And therefore, when you begin to write although you must have good compositional skills and at the same time when you will realize that writing requires different kinds of judgments and also a new blend of these layers of the instrumental functional aspect of language and the expressive dimension will inevitably emerge when you begin to explore your own sensibility or the sensibility of the characters that you wish to create. So, I would say quite clearly that each aspiring writer will have to discern the dimensions of linguistic diversity and literary explorations. I would also like you to look at Reenal's response to the crisscross pattern of multi-linguality and the manner in which she has you know taken care of it in her own growth as a writer. The question and I would say the moot question then still revolves around the use of English language. How do we come to grips with the question of English language in India? And I would very clearly point out to you once again if that is not been clear to you so far that we need to start with the history of English language in India. With reference to literatures in English that have emerged from previously colonized countries, Durant and Fab have pointed out and I think this is a useful insight which we can start off with. They pointed out that many current varieties of English began their existence as learned second language varieties only later becoming a native language for anyone and for this reason these varieties are often called nativized varieties. In their early forms such varieties are generally restricted in prestige by their apparent derivation from and competition with some notion of a standard English. One part of the process through which such varieties gain acceptance as new regional standards is that of extension to their functional range from being used initially merely in survival and administrative registers through to a fuller range of varieties, humorous, intimate, poetic, etc. So, in other words the English language has had many ups and downs in terms of its life in our context as well and therefore the use of English for creative purpose demands on the one hand the command of standard English but equally great deal of alertness about the non-standard varieties in order to represent Indian use of English. As I would emphasize again it is never a neutral situation. The process of creation reveals many strands of the writer's relationship with the language or languages and the realities they wish to evoke. So, even if the writer is not fully conscious of these intentions the fact is that the reader inevitably would read the writer through his or her location in the country and also therefore the use of English is charged with whole lot of implications, complications. In order to help you understand this idea very briefly we would present some illustrative examples so that you have again a some sense of what you are in for. The first example comes from Nisim Ezekiel's poem The Patriot where he seems to use broken English in order to depict a particular character. And let me read these lines from his poem. I am standing for peace and non-violence. Why world is fighting fighting. Why all people of world are not following Mahatma Gandhi. I am simply not understanding ancient Indian wisdom is 100% correct. I should say even 200% correct. But modern generation is neglecting too much going for fashion and foreign thing. Now a poem such as this makes one wonder if the poet is mocking the speaker because he himself as a poet and a teacher of English an eminent professor. He had greater facility with English language whereas his subject speaks a sort of Indian non-standardized variant. I would like you to read this full poem and examine your own response and also check out if you feel that there is a kind of class divide between the poet and his subject. So again you know we are trying to suggest that use of English even if you have a certain way of creating your characters through various languages that you intermix. But the fact is that the reader has the autonomy and the freedom to interpret it in his or her own way and it also becomes part of the general cultural debates about the use of English language. It becomes a very very politically charged debate actually. The second example that I have chosen for you is from Arvind Adigas the white tiger in which according to many critics he uses what is described as English and other translation devices in order to you know create this character called Balram Halwai. Before I sort of go into that text or talk about Adigas white tiger I do have to point out that Mulkra Janand had already broken the class and literacy divide by portraying the life and worldview of the oppressed sections quite consciously in the 1930s. In that sense this is really not a new thematic realm at all and of course in regional writing you know that there is just such an abundance of this issue. However, when we come to Adigas character Balram Halwai we do notice a difference. He is very much a part of sort of globalizing India and also he traverses a whole range of language and class oriented questions. The protagonist is captured you know that is the book is written in English though the character himself very very clearly announces while writing to Wen Jia Bo neither you nor I speak English. Yet of course the writer has gone on to create this character who actually does not speak English but on the other hand you would also notice that Balram Halwai is aware of the power of English in the Indian context and that has been captured rather well in certain parts of this novel. And I am just extrapolating a small part where Balram Halwai has become the driver and you know he gets about 15-20 minutes of free time and he is attracted to a pile of books and magazines and this is how this goes. The books drew me towards them like a big magnet but as soon as he saw me the man sitting on the magazine snapped. All the books are in English so do you read English he barred do you read English I retorted. Now this goes on to sort of show a kind of momentary relationship between what Adigas describes as servant to servant dialogue but actually it is a fairly rich dialogue in terms of different areas of discussion. And at the same time it disappears as soon as the masters are back. So it is this attraction towards English that is captured in Adiga and also despite Adiga's empathy for Balram Halwai and specially for his class conflicts many critics have perceived the protagonist as a kind of a caricature. Although as I have said earlier he narrates Balram Halwai narrates the story in his own voice. Adiga's writing has been described as an act of authorial ventriloquism and once again what it brings out is the gap between English language, Indian reality and the multilinguality of the characters because it is really not easy to bring all of this on board and create something which really resonates with every reader. So you know this is a very very important question about the English language that I think you should consider very carefully and I would also like to draw your attention to composition related issues. So I started off by really emphasizing the need for compositional skills in terms of college level compositional skills and the ability to write English correctly. But I am not suggesting that all your characters need to reflect the same tendency because many of them may not be educated in the way you are educated or there may be a class divide. And then you know the way the characters use English when they are not exposed to education over a period of time then there is a difference in that situation from those of the educated characters. However I think you really have to also see what is it that you are bringing on board when you are writing in English. And one way of adding perspective is to look at translations, to look at the English language archives and the problems of translations. Now I feel that it is really important to understand that we are in a historical phase where it is increasingly important to understand the voices of the marginalized. But through their own writing also, I mean like it is one thing to interpret their situation the other thing is to hear them directly. And from that point of view you also need to judge whether the translated texts in the English archives do sufficient justice to what the oppressed characters or their representatives or the members of their community are trying to evoke because there is a sense of collective power in that writing. And I think we should look at at least two examples to start that process. This particular poem by Arun Kambhle is a very important Dalit poet. I think gives you a sense of the kind of struggle for linguistic expression that the oppressed go through. It is often been described as a transition from cultures of silence to cultures of articulation. I just read these few lines. Picking through the Vedas is stop not well oiled with ghee. My Brahmin teacher tells me you idiot use the language correctly. Now I ask you which language should I speak? I think once you read this poem and if you can read it in the original you would again find the same acute struggle. Same sense of suffering and pain because certain values and certain standards have been imposed. And that's why I mean when I talk about imposing the academic standards I'm really not trying to sort of suggest that it's the same kind of cultural oppression that you should not fight against. So you have to see where you stand in relationship with all these issues and all these languages. The other example is from Utsallya which is an autobiographical excerpt. This is how the editor of Painted Words has described Utsallya. This is written by Lakshman Gaikwad an eminent writer from the Bhamta denotified community. And this excerpt describes his childhood and you will be able to understand the intensity of this write up yourself. But I'm not sure if that suffering, the intensity and suffering and the desire to change the situation comes through in the translation or not. Let me read this for you. Dogs barked as we wailed. Dogs also crowded it with us to lick the leftover food from the thrown out patravali. When the diners had eaten their food and left the hall someone from among them would say oh there throw these patruths some food. Then we would get half a roti and some vegetable in a bowl. Sometimes they would throw us leftovers from their patravalis. We collected these and ate them right on the street. But sometimes the guests attacked us, brandishing sticks and abused us and drove us away. Thus hankering after food made me miss school quite often. Balacharya Guruji beat me severely. Things went on in this way and then it was time for the fourth standard board examination. I used to think then that whether I studied further or not I had to get through the fourth standard board examination. So I might secure a job either as a police constable or as a peon. So I studied very hard. I wished I could get into government service. So then when we talk about composition standard English we are talking about standard English versus varieties of English. We are also talking about varieties of other Indian languages because as I said there is a kind of totality with which literary imagination approaches life and represents the interpretations of various facets of life. Writing in English and translation from our Indian languages continue to pose great creative challenges and I think the quality of these literary acts reflect what we value most. So do think about the composition issues. We have a few guidelines for you which we want you to be aware of. So on the one hand one is reading canonical work. The notion of the canon has expanded. It has become more inclusive. The voices from the margins are also part of the nationalist discourse, the canonization process. And at the same time when you come back to yourself let's remind ourselves that if you want to write for expressive purpose it is extremely crucial that your compositional skills are in order. Let's move on to the importance of reading now. Reading is something we support very strongly and as James Freel has said reading is writing's mongrel muse. Think about it see if you can actually relate to this idea. So there are some general reading guidelines. So we have talked about work which is very complex, complicated, demanding. You can selectively read these in terms of whatever you like most and work your way around. But we have a few ideas that we wish to place before you in terms of reading. We feel that reading is important to all fields of study, industry and recreation. Whether you are an engineer, a scientist, a writer, an artist. The habit to concentrate on, analyze words and through them ideas increases the scope of your creative faculties. And I must add that it is Neha who was very emphatic about this and I want to thank her for these ideas. Because sometimes as an educationist I sort of begin to wonder if I am overstating the case or will they get you know feel oppressed if I make too many suggestions. But I think these are non-negotiable elements of the success that we want. That is you know your compositional skills must be right and you must develop reading habit in case you don't have reading habits. One more idea regarding this, reading we feel is important for personal and professional growth. We would like you to read widely and consistently. Spread your reading interest into various fields of study, you don't have to be restricted to only literary readings. Although we think that they give a kind of richness that one should not deny oneself. So, you should you know dip into any kind of reading and start small and expand gradually. Don't feel daunted that is what we are trying to suggest. But also one has to realize that there are certain basic skills, there are certain basic requirements without which it is really not possible to get very good results. We also would like to endorse this idea that you can pick up ideas from different domains and analyze them in relation to each other. This is an idea we will develop further in the next lecture or two and we are really interested in breaking boundaries. So, on the one hand the discourse may seem like it is a heavily literary oriented literary compo formative discourse which is what I owned up right in the beginning. But it is really not the domain of the specialist so to say. It sort of allows and foregrounds the discussion in a manner which is accessible to all of you who are serious about your ideas. Hello, I am Manju Singh and this is my take on reading as a writer. Author Nathaniel Benchley once said that he found bookstores too depressing to enter. All these books each aiming at immortality, sitting there on the shelves untouched, unloved. Who else would keep the art of reading alive if not for writers? Reading is one of the best sources of inspiration at a writer's disposal. He can witness the skills of others as well as learn from their mistakes. A writer's worldview is a galaxy of bright colors encompassing all that he has seen and experienced throughout his lifetime. Joy, sorrow, anguish, despair, triumph to name a few. This through his writing that he offers readers a chance to peek into this kaleidoscope, witness the panorama that is the writer's world. A writer draws from everything he sees and feels, then why not from what he reads? Reading teaches you the flow of a narrative, the sense of plot, the social metaphor, the art of subtly placing hidden subtext. Reading is like a fishing net that you lower into the mighty river flowing at big next speed. From this river of your thoughts, it captures the emotions that are truly and deeply moving you, the life in the ecosystem of your mind. It helps you learn more about yourself and about human nature as a whole. We see the world through colored lenses. Reading gives us an opportunity to gain a wider understanding. Let's take the example of Indian literature. Perhaps due to the kind of societal and family structure that is prevalent, pre-19th century Indian literature has largely been didactic. There is a right and a wrong. Western literature can be accredited to the objectivity that has been a feature of modern Indian literature. If not for the western influence, wouldn't India have had its Mulkraj, Anand and Kushwaran things? There are no easy answers. But what about originality? Every writer, including the greatest, has always been influenced by one thing or another. It could be directly, as in the case of Shivaji Savant's Mithyunjay. It is a retelling of the epic Mahabharata, but from Karna's point of view. Or it could be indirect, as James Joyce's Ulysses heavily borrows from the Odyssey. The sanctity of one's work does not depend on what it was influenced by. Neither of the works I have mentioned above are anything short of brilliant. You must make sure that your influence is not drowning your own voice, although. You will only be influenced negatively if you read, but you don't understand. This is not an argument against reading, but in fact an argument for reading even more. To sum up, a writer must try to absorb everything and use it to convey what he has to say. After all, would you write anything which you wouldn't like to read yourself? Let me comment on reading and writing. We have been talking about the choices that you ought to consider carefully while writing in any particular language. We have found during this course, while teaching this course, that some students are really very, very clear about the choice of the language. In which they wish to write. For example, in this particular case, we would like to present the poetry that the student wrote. He has been committed to writing in Hindi. At the same time, he and others like him value the exposure to writings that are available through English language. And in that sense, I think that quest to continuously energize yourself as a writer continues. There is a deep depth in it. There is a deep connection. If you can find it, then search for it. A sleep is somewhere in it. A poem is a poem itself. It is a song from the world. It is a song from the world. A person writes to the feelings of the past on paper. A poem is a poem itself. The words are also a part of it. The words are also a part of it. There are small hints in the poetry. Even in the waves of waves, whatever it says, it is a poem itself. We cannot give those words. We cannot give those words. We cannot get to know the solution. We cannot know what those meanings are trying to say. What are they trying to say? We cannot know the meanings. They are called through words like, restless, impatient, and impatient. The poem itself is a poem. The poem is a medium. Finally, you have to read the poem. You have to climb to the heart of it with the steps of the pen. If you reach there, you will be able to write a song. The poem itself is a poem. One more small note. The poem was written by looking at the clothes outside my room. And I am keeping this with me. These two poems have been written in a small book in the Pandan by the Indian people. The poem is a hidden story. Every single story has a story without washing clothes. It was empty. Sometimes it was empty. Sometimes it was hidden in the pocket. Sometimes it was hidden in the pocket. Sometimes it was hidden in the pocket. Sometimes it was hidden in the pocket. Sometimes it was hidden in the pocket. And I am keeping this with me. The poem is a story of the journey that will be forgotten with the washing of clothes. Every single story has a story without washing clothes. The old beggar's coat is not washed with the coins. It is hidden in unrecognised truths and long-term lies. But no one has the time to look at the fat beggars. In the old temple of the mountain, where no one goes now, there is a tale. It is said that the story of those days when man was not so naïve, there is a story of every single cloth without washing clothes. Often these stories are washed time after time. To write a new poem. But some stories are enjoyed to listen to. For example, the one that was kept in the cupboard with a lot of iron, it was stolen by the phirangi maim. It is said that it is expensive for the country. And like that muffler, who was given by his brother's friend, does not even touch anyone. Every single story has a story without washing clothes. But behind the cupboard, there is a soldier's coat of arms of the uncle. But behind the cupboard, there is a soldier's coat of arms of the uncle. The elders of the house sometimes look at him alone and cry. There are some wounds on that coat of arms. Now no new story is filled in his silvats. Because the one that is written on those green silvats has gone on long holidays. Every single story of every single cloth. Thank you. We want to point out that the purpose of suggested reading is to provide reference material to be read in the context of the discussions we have had and to delve into these resources at your own pace. And now we have listed these in terms of how we group the material together and not in terms of, you know, any other system, the traditional system of grouping it in terms of the names of the authors, etc. in alphabetic order. So, we have placed Richie's Midnight's Children, his vintage book of Indian writing, 1947 to 1997, and Vikram Seth's A Suitable Boy, together. All these you can read or, you know, at your own pace, selectively if you want to begin with. Then we have for Mahasweta Devi, Samik Bandopadhyay's Mahasweta Devi Five Plays, which also contains the interview that I referred to and many ideas related to how she wanted to explore folk theatre, folk tradition, and also place it in contemporary context. Devi's Painted Words takes her work forward because she was able to inspire the tribals to present their own work in public spaces in a somewhat modernized public space and not within their own community. So, Painted Words has many myths, legends, etc. from tribal sources, but it also, these are translations and one particular play is definitely included here, which is presented in more secular spaces, more, as I said, cosmopolitan modern spaces. The next book is really a delightful take on Indian English and how we sort of many times make some funny errors with the use of English. We want you to read it because while you are experimenting your own and while you are also exploring your own consciousness in multiple multilingual framework, we would not like you to lose sight of the significance of standard English because unless you have enough grasp of standard English, I think that experiment can fall flat on the face. So, by way of a sobering reminder of the pitfalls of this approach, we would like you to have a look at John Beano's Enti from Backside Only, Hazar Fundas of Indian English. The next book is a book on composition, Reading and Writing from Literature and in addition to a lot of other Indian material, we also have been using this for, as I said, the core course and the minor program in IIT Bombay. The particular course that I am sharing with you, I place it within the framework of elective, which is meant for third fourth year students of IIT Bombay and I suppose it does require certain amount of maturity and also certain amount of clarity about one's own initial interest in creativity and creative processes. And the last book is again a sort of a book which is useful. It is called the writer's workbook and for people who have started writing and they are in the early stages of this process, the book is useful and in fact, the James Freel quotation is from this book where there is a whole chapter devoted to the reading process. There are many other exercises they have collected in order to develop the writing and compositional skills and so from time to time we will dip into it. You can also dip into it if you so desire. So, this is our reading list and the last one, oh yes, I should not forget this. These are set of interviews. So, Meenakshi Sharma's book The Wordsmiths contains interviews of various writers including Mahasweta Devi, Krishna, the many others and the Paris Review interviews we recommend very strongly for number of, for almost all the interviews and the probing depth of these interviews. There is one more reference here which is to Neelam Srivastava's essay, Language of the Nation in Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children and Vikram Seth's A Suitable Boy, which was published in Ariel, a review of International English in Literature, volume 36 in 2005. We really would like you to read this essay because it will clarify many of these ideas of code mixing specially by way of these two texts and Indian writing in English. Finally, a quotation for your consideration. Imagination is the beginning of creation. You imagine what you desire. You will what you imagine and at last you create what you will. Thank you.