There is no greater joy in life than seeing your code running, giving the correct output, executing under strict time constraints and finally accepted by the seemingly selective judge...ahh... it takes a couple of seconds to really believe the image formed on the retina, transferred through the complex network of optic nerves(i would prefer System bus...), reaching the already perplexed brain..you tend to rub your eyes, doubting every damn organ of your body helping you perceive the reality..(when you've focused wholeheartedly in the idealism vs realism philosophy lecture and finally at the end of an hour, you feel like stabbing the bloody 3 feet tall prof who speaks crap,thinks shit,nd again speaks crap... you know that crap guy did a Phd in his crap subject..CRAP!)..anyways its 2 AM and maybe i am too high...i was expecting that piece of code(more of a guessCode) to enter the blocked state(:P) right after the ready one..but sometimes the running state ain't that far way ;) :D
Saturday, 10 September 2011
Thursday, 8 September 2011
The Lost Child
I read this story for my presentation in the HS course - Appreciating Indian English Literature. Here goes the review :
The Lost Child is a short story written by Mulk Raj Anand in 1928. Well, there are mainly two reasons for choosing this text. First of all, the author - mulk raj anand is considered one of pioneers and founding fathers of indian english novel and literature. Secondly, the lost child was the first story by this great writer. Mulk Raj Anand ,while studying in U.K was highly disturbed to see the conditions of brown and black people being oppressed and discriminated by the British. So unable to sleep one night, he recalled a verse of sage Nanak which said : "We are all children lost in this world fair." and so he got up and wrote his first ever story - 'The Lost Child'. After a few years, this story was published in a book called - 'The world's Great Short Stories' and it was the success of this story only, that encouraged him to become a writer.
This story is about how a small child is separated from his parents in a May fair. The story begins with the small child walking with his parents to the spring fair. On the way, child keeps getting mesmerised by the beauty of the nature and the things around. The child is full of excitement, enthusiasm and curiosity. He is very sensitive about the outside world and gets attracted towards everything that comes in his way. He has desires for toys, sweets, etc but he is aware of his parents' usual reply of refusal. They walk down a footpath passing through a mustard field. The child gets saturated with the shrill joy and wonder of the vast glory of nature around him. He leaves the footpath and plunges into the field, frivolously chasing the butterflies and insects. But soon his parent call him back. Moving ahead, the child is attracted by the majestic beauty of the grove where an old banyan tree stands sheltering many blossoming trees. Then, a shower of petals falls upon the child and forgetting everything he tries to gather the raining petals. The melodious cooing of dove fills his heart with immense pleasure. And the child gets totally lost in the beauty and runs towards the grove. But again his parent call him back, saying 'Come child, come.' Then finally ,they reach the fair.
At the corner of the entrance, there is a sweetmeat seller. The child stares open-eyed and seeing the sweets he gets mouth-watered. But he is well aware that his plea for a sweet would be not be heeded as his parents would call him greedy.
Then seeing a flower-seller, he gets drawn by the sweetness of the scent floating in the air. But he well knows that his parents would refuse to buy him flowers as they were cheap. So he doesn't ask them either. Soon, he gets carried away by the rainbow colored balloons, held by a man selling them. He has an overwhelming desire to possess them all, but he well knows that his parents would never buy him balloons because they would say he was too old to play with such toys. In this way, he keeps burying his desires, well aware of his parents reply of refusal. After making so many sacrifices he reaches a spot where people are enjoying the ride of a roundabout. Mesmerized he watches the motion of the roundabout intently unaware of the fact that he is separated from his parents. This time the child could not resist his desire to go on the ride. Suppressing all his fears and anticipations he makes a bold request to get on the ride but when he looks back he does not find his parents there to answer him. The child immediately starts crying, gets confused and panic-stricken. He starts running to and fro, knowing no where to go, but is not able to find his parents anywhere. The child is finally defeated after losing all his hopes and keeps weeping bitterly. Then a kind man seeing the poor child, holds and tries to comfort and console him. He takes him near the roundabout, offers him balloons, sweet, flowers and all his favourite things ,which previously he had desired most to have. But all of sudden, those things are of no significance to the child. He goes on crying - 'I want my father, i want my mother' and the story ends.
The most peculiar thing about story is that throughout the narration, the child and the parents are not given any names. The child is the representative of universal childhood and the parents are the true advocates of universal paternity keeping the child under discipline and restrictions. But inspite of all this, nothing is more important to a child than his parents. According to me, the author has tried to describe a child's pschology and how a child is always full of joy and excitement unlike his parents who are seemingly tired of their mundane lives. I believe the author wants to put forward his view that with age, an individual should not lose one's energy and enthusiasm towards life.
Another interpretation that i have drawn(that created some buzz..many people couldn't really digest it) is that in some way the lost child symbolizes a person who has lost his freedom, his country. Just like the greatest fear for a child is to lose his parents and nothing is of greater importance to him, in the same way, for an individual freedom is of utmost importance. No matter what the stranger offers the child, all he wants is his parents.
This story is about how a small child is separated from his parents in a May fair. The story begins with the small child walking with his parents to the spring fair. On the way, child keeps getting mesmerised by the beauty of the nature and the things around. The child is full of excitement, enthusiasm and curiosity. He is very sensitive about the outside world and gets attracted towards everything that comes in his way. He has desires for toys, sweets, etc but he is aware of his parents' usual reply of refusal. They walk down a footpath passing through a mustard field. The child gets saturated with the shrill joy and wonder of the vast glory of nature around him. He leaves the footpath and plunges into the field, frivolously chasing the butterflies and insects. But soon his parent call him back. Moving ahead, the child is attracted by the majestic beauty of the grove where an old banyan tree stands sheltering many blossoming trees. Then, a shower of petals falls upon the child and forgetting everything he tries to gather the raining petals. The melodious cooing of dove fills his heart with immense pleasure. And the child gets totally lost in the beauty and runs towards the grove. But again his parent call him back, saying 'Come child, come.' Then finally ,they reach the fair.
At the corner of the entrance, there is a sweetmeat seller. The child stares open-eyed and seeing the sweets he gets mouth-watered. But he is well aware that his plea for a sweet would be not be heeded as his parents would call him greedy.
Then seeing a flower-seller, he gets drawn by the sweetness of the scent floating in the air. But he well knows that his parents would refuse to buy him flowers as they were cheap. So he doesn't ask them either. Soon, he gets carried away by the rainbow colored balloons, held by a man selling them. He has an overwhelming desire to possess them all, but he well knows that his parents would never buy him balloons because they would say he was too old to play with such toys. In this way, he keeps burying his desires, well aware of his parents reply of refusal. After making so many sacrifices he reaches a spot where people are enjoying the ride of a roundabout. Mesmerized he watches the motion of the roundabout intently unaware of the fact that he is separated from his parents. This time the child could not resist his desire to go on the ride. Suppressing all his fears and anticipations he makes a bold request to get on the ride but when he looks back he does not find his parents there to answer him. The child immediately starts crying, gets confused and panic-stricken. He starts running to and fro, knowing no where to go, but is not able to find his parents anywhere. The child is finally defeated after losing all his hopes and keeps weeping bitterly. Then a kind man seeing the poor child, holds and tries to comfort and console him. He takes him near the roundabout, offers him balloons, sweet, flowers and all his favourite things ,which previously he had desired most to have. But all of sudden, those things are of no significance to the child. He goes on crying - 'I want my father, i want my mother' and the story ends.
The most peculiar thing about story is that throughout the narration, the child and the parents are not given any names. The child is the representative of universal childhood and the parents are the true advocates of universal paternity keeping the child under discipline and restrictions. But inspite of all this, nothing is more important to a child than his parents. According to me, the author has tried to describe a child's pschology and how a child is always full of joy and excitement unlike his parents who are seemingly tired of their mundane lives. I believe the author wants to put forward his view that with age, an individual should not lose one's energy and enthusiasm towards life.
Another interpretation that i have drawn(that created some buzz..many people couldn't really digest it) is that in some way the lost child symbolizes a person who has lost his freedom, his country. Just like the greatest fear for a child is to lose his parents and nothing is of greater importance to him, in the same way, for an individual freedom is of utmost importance. No matter what the stranger offers the child, all he wants is his parents.
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