21ST CENTURY

1. INDIA

2. • SHORT STORY

3. This is the inspiring story of a blind boy who feels he is no good.
He lived in a small world of herding his father's goats. Then one day
in 1857, his father and elder brother leave to join the troops of Tantia
Tope ( one of the Indian leaders who is fighting the British rulers). As
the boy feels sad, forlorn and helpless, a quirk of fate brings him face
to face with Tantia Tope, the leader of the Indian army. As a
herdsman, he leads the troops of the latter up a hill. This changes the
course of the battle.
In reality this battle took place in 1857 near Jhansi, a small town
of Uttar Pradesh. I spent my childhood in Jhansi and there was a hill
opposite our house. A poor blind boy lived in our outhouse and was
my great friend. He played the flute beautifully. This story was
inspired by this childhood friendship.

7. The Hungry Tide is a very contemporary
story of adventure and unlikely love,
identity and history, set in one of the most
fascinating regions on the earth. Off the
easternmost coast of India, in the Bay of
Bengal, lies the immense labyrinth of tiny
islands known as the Sundarbans. For
settlers here, life is extremely precarious.
Attacks by deadly tigers are common.
Unrest and eviction are constant threats.
Without warning, at any time, tidal floods
rise and surge over the land, leaving
devastation in their wake.

8. In this place of vengeful beauty, the lives of
three people from different worlds collide.
Piya Roy is a young marine biologist, of Indian
descent but stubbornly American, in search of
a rare, endangered river dolphin. Her journey
begins with a disaster, when she is thrown
from a boat into crocodile-infested waters.
Rescue comes in the form of a young, illiterate
fisherman, Fokir. Although they have no
language between them, Piya and Fokir are
powerfully drawn to each other, sharing an
uncanny instinct for the ways of the sea.

9. Piya engages Fokir to help with her research and
finds a translator in Kanai Dutt, a businessman
from Delhi whose idealistic aunt and uncle are
longtime settlers in the Sundarbans. As the three
of them launch into the elaborate backwaters, they
are drawn unawares into the hidden
undercurrents of this isolated world, where
political turmoil exacts a personal toll that is every
bit as powerful as the ravaging tide.
Already an international success, The Hungry
Tide is a prophetic novel of remarkable insight,
beauty, and humanity.

10. •PERSONAL
NARRATIVE

13. The IGNCA feels happy to introduce a scholarly and fascinating work by
Prof. K. Ayyappa Paniker titled "Indian Narratology". This book is the first
attempt of this magnitude to study, the various forms of the art of narration, which
emerged in the literary circles of India as well as in the sphere of oral
literature. The book makes an interesting reading and highlights the awareness of
the Indian story tellers in demarcating the various forms and styles of the art of
narration.India is considered by many as the cradle of the art of narration which
developed into an important and independent genre of literature in ancient
times. It is a well known fact that the fables of Panchtantra which have now
become more or less a world heritage, were translated as far back as 5th or 6th
century A.D. in Pehlavi language and from that into Syrian, Arabic, Latin, and later
in the medieval Europeans languages. They have influenced the culture and moral
values of many countries and have enriched their literature. Similarly, some
stories from the Brhatkatha of Gunaadhya (now unfortunately lost but whose two
shorter Sanskrit versions are available) have whose two shorter Sanskrit versions
are available) have traveled to such distant countries as Arabia and have found an
honourable place among the stories of "Thousand and One Night" (Alif Laila). The
fascinating account of the travels of Sindbad is a nice example of the westwards
migration of these stories and the traveller Sindbad is none else but Sindhupati of
our ancient tales.

15. India, officially the Republic of India (Bhārat
Gaṇarājya),[e] is a country in South Asia. It is
the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most
populous country (with over 1.2 billion people), and
the most populous democracy in the world. It is
bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south,
the Arabian Sea on the southwest, and the Bay of
Bengal on the southeast. It shares land borders
with Pakistan to the west;[f] China, Nepal,
and Bhutan to the northeast; and Myanmar
(Burma) and Bangladesh to the east. In the Indian
Ocean, India is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and
the Maldives. India's Andaman and Nicobar
Islands share a maritime border
with Thailand and Indonesia.

17. Short Essay on Indian
Festivals
On April 28, 2015 By Aditi
ChopraCategory:
Blog
Indian Festivals

18. Introduction: India is a land of fasts and festivals. The
Indian men and women observe these festivals
throughout the year. These festivals are being observed
from time immemorial. People are observing them right
from the dawn of human civilization.
Major Indian Festivals: The major festivals are Dussehra,
Kali Puja, Ganesh Chaturthi, Basanta Panchami, Makar
Sankranti, Janmastami, Ram Navami, Akshya
Tritiya, Holi and others, to name only a few. These
festivals are observed by the Hindus but there are other
festivals also such as Eid-ul-Fitr, Eid-ul-Adha and
Muharram observed by the Muslims. The Christmas
Day and New Year’s Day are observed by the Christians
and the Guru Nanak Jayanati is observed by the Sikhs or
Punjabis.

19. People observe these festivals with great
devotion as they believe that fasts and
festivals purify their minds and inspire
them to lead a better and purer life. If is for
this reason that the old, young and children
all observe these fasts and festivals with
great gusto and enthusiasm.

20. Celebration: These festivals are observed
throughout the year with great pomp
and ceremony. Some festivals like
Dussehra, Diwali and Holi are observed
throughout the country and some others
are observed regionally. All the people,
irrespective of their social position,
observe these festivals with their families
and also socially with their friends with
great enthusias

21. Importance: Every festival has a social, religious
and mythological value. Accordingly, Dussehra
has a great significance. People believe that this
is the occasion when goddess Durga killed
Mahisasura and save the people from the
clutches of a great demon. This is also an
occasion to fight against all that is evil and
establish truth. Similarly the Janmastami festival
has also a great religious and social significance.
This is the occasion when Lord Krishna was
born to kill Kansa and other demons and save
the people from a great danger. This festival also
teaches us how to fight evil and falsehood and
establish truth.

22. Their social and cultural value: In this way Indian
festivals have a great religious and social
significance. They teach a moral lesson to the
people and unite them. People forget all their
differences and observe these festivals with a sense
of togetherness. The festivals teach them how to
forget their enmity, narrowness and bitterness and
join hand with each other for the sake of their
religion and their society and for the sake of
friendship and universal brotherhood.
Conclusion: It is our sacred duty to celebrate these
festivals with a sense of purity and sanctity. We
should keep it free from communalism,
narrowness and nasty politics.

25. • COMEDY

29. Indian poetry and Indian literature in
general, has a long history dating back
to Vedic times. They were written in
various Indian languages such as Vedic
Sanskrit, Classical
Sanskrit, Hindi, Oriya, Tamil, Kannada, Bengali an
d Urdu. Poetry in foreign languages such
as Persian and English also has a strong influence
on Indian poetry. The poetry reflects diverse
spiritual traditions within India. In particular,
many Indian poets have been inspired by mystical
experiences.Poetry is the oldest form of literature
and has a rich written and oral tradition.

30. •FAIRYTALE

31. The folklores and folktales have been an eternal part of
every culture since ages. When it comes to Indian folk
tales, the country of diverse religions, languages and
cultures has a complete range of tales and short stories.
Indian folklore has a wide range of stories and
mythological legends, which emerge from all walks of life.
The interesting stories range from the remarkable
‘Panchatantra’ to ‘Hitopadesha’, from ‘Jataka’ to ‘Akbar-
Birbal’.
Not only this, the great Indian epics like ‘Ramayana’,
‘Mahabharata’ and ‘Bhagvad Gita’ are full of didactic
stories inspired from the lives of great souls. Being full of
moralistic values, Indian folklore makes perfect stories for
children, who are required to be, instilled with right
values. All these ancient stories have been passed from
generation to generation, creating bondage of traditional
values with present-day generation.

34. These legends are not translations of native Hindu poems, but
embody a re-interpretation of tales told long ago in India,
chiefly by those who were ethical or religious teachers. They
seized upon various stories and adapted them to their needs.
In doing so they inserted moral instruction, as they modified
characters and scenes to serve the purpose of edification. Thus
in the charming story of Ganges, the goddess is made to
sacrifice herself primarily for the sake of reviving the bones of
saints and in her fall she is lost in Shiva's hair--priestly and
even sectarian perversions of an older and better version, as I
think. So the character of Battlestrong, as the perfect orthodox
king, has been palpably softened down and made to conform
to correct usage. In this and other cases I have endeavored to
tell the tale as I conceive it to have been before it was
tampered with, to remove the priestly interpretation and re-
interpret the story as it should have descended to us, with the
emotional implications (suppressed by the priests) intact.

35. The legends of the first group are found for the
most part in the Mahabhárata, the great Hindu
epic. The group following these represents
salient points of the epic story itself, which I
have tried to connect closely enough to show
how the different scenes follow one another in
the original, although in that original (as in the
Iliad) the bulk of description is found in battle-
scenes, here almost entirely ignored.

37. The Hitopadesha is a remarkable compilation of short
stories. Composed by Narayana Pandit, Hitopadesha
had its origin around a thousand years ago. In Indian
Literature, the Hitopadesha is regarded more or less
similar to the Panchatantra. In the vein of
Panchatantra, the Hitopadesa was also written in
Sanskrit and following the pattern of prose and verse.
Hitopadesh tales are written in reader-friendly way,
which also contributed to the success of this best seller
after ‘Bhagwad Gita’ in India. Since its origin,
Hitopadesa has been translated into numerous
languages to benefit the readers all over the world.

38. Old Tiger and Greedy Traveller
This is another interesting story / tale from the
Hitopadesha collection. Once upon a time, there
lived a Tiger in a forest. With the passing years,
he became too old to hunt. One day, the Tiger
was walking by the side of a lake and suddenly,
a gold bangle came across his sight. Quickly he
picked up the bangle and thought that he could
use it as an allure to catch someone. As he was
under the thought process, a traveler happened
to pass through the opposite side of the lake.

39. FICTION

43. Presented by: Dawna Rose
Devocion Cabrera