ROMEO AND JULIET
Romeo and Juliet are lovers.
They belonged to rival families.
The rival families are Montagues and Capulets.
Though Romeo belonged to Montagues family,
he attended a grand supper hosted by Capulets.
There he saw Juliet.
According to Romeo, (Romeo says that)
Juliet teaches the torches to burn bright.
Juliet hangs as a rich jewel in an Ethiope’s ear.
She looks like a snowy dove trooping with crows.
She appears as true beauty on earth.
According to Juliet, (Juliet says that)
Romeo comes as day in night.
Romeo lies upon the wings of night.
Romeo appears like new snow on a raven’s back.
Romeo makes the face of heaven sublime by becoming little stars after the
death.
Then the world will be in love with night and hate sun.
‘ON CHILDREN’
‘On Children’ is a poem.
Here the poet talks about parents and children relationship.
The poet says that parents are like bows
and children are like living arrows.
God (the archer) bends the bows and sends children as living
arrows.
Parents can give their love.
Parents can house their children’s bodies
and parents can try to be like their children.
But parents cant give their thoughts
because children have their own thoughts and dreams about their
life.
Parents cant control their children
because children are living arrows sent forth by God.
Parents cant dream children’s future
because children’s future life dwelve in the house of tomorrow.
Here the poet makes it clear that God uses parents like instruments.
‘WHEN YOU ARE OLD’
‘When You Are Old’ is a poem.
Here poet is a disappointed lover.
He expresses his love feelings in this poem
and suggests his lover to read it
when she becomes old and gray.
Here he shows difference between poet’s love and worldly affairs.
The poet says that he loves sorrows of her changing face.
He loves the pilgrim soul in her.
He loves her inner beauty.
He writes this poem to remind her
that she did not notice true love
which she will realize in old age.
He says that people loved her movement of glad grace with false
feelings.
They loved the soft look of her eyes and her physical beauty.
He says that time will teach her the difference between true love
and worldly affairs.
‘TO THE FOOT FROM ITS CHILD’
‘To The Foot From Its Child’ is a poem.
Here the poet says that the child’s foot would like to be a
butterfly or an apple.
But in time, stones, bits of glasses, streets, ladders and the
paths in the rough earth go on teaching the foot that it
cannot be a butterfly or an apple.
Then it is defeated and condemned to live in a shoe.
Here it grows and leads life within the shoe like a blind man
and becomes eyeless reptile.
Then this blind thing walks without respite
hardly taking time to bare itself in love or sleep.
It walks until the whole man chooses to stop
and dies with the hope that it will become a butterfly or an
apple.
The poem satirizes social system which neither supports nor
fulfils an individual’s dreams.
‘HEAVEN IF YOU ARE NOT ON EARTH’
‘Heaven If You Are Not On Earth’ is a poem.
Here the poet finds heaven on earth during harvest-
time.
The poet says that
he creates heaven on earth by singing the song of
nectar.
The poet assures that
nature shows heaven on earth.
Human beings who are like gods and heavenly
nymphs can create heaven on earth.
The sunshine, gentle sun, moonlight, splendour of
harvest, roaring stream and rolling surf create
heaven on earth.
Here the poet confirms that heaven is on earth.
‘WATER’
‘Water’ is a poem.
It is about caste discrimination.
Here the poet says that water knows the way of
human civilization.
She says that Dalits were not allowed to touch
water.
She says that Daliits suffer from untouchability in
the society.
She says that water knows the difference between
village and wada.
Water knows the humiliation of the wada girl.
Water is witness to centuries of injustice.
Water is a mighty movement.
Water has become multinational market
commodity.
‘TOO DEAR’
‘Too Dear’ is a short story.
Here is a kinglet.
He rules Monaco.
It is on the shore of Mediterranean sea,
near the borders of France and Italy.
It is known as a tiny kingdom.
It is known for gaming house.
People come here to play Roulette.
The kinglet gets special revenue from this gaming house.
Once, a murder was committed in this kingdom.
The criminal was punished death sentence
but it was not successful,
because they were unable to provide a machine and an expert.
Hence, the death sentence was changed into life imprisonment
but it was also not successful,
because it was too expensive.
Finally, pension was given to the criminal.
‘THE GARDENER’
‘The Gardener’ is a short story.
It is about rivalry between Tammanna and Basavaiah.
Tammanna had 1000 acres of land
and basavaiah had 800 acres of land.
Basavaiah asked tammanna to sell his 200 acres of land
but Tammanna disagreed.
Hence, Basavaiah encroached upon Tammanna’s land.
Tammanna was advised to get back his land through law, police or by physically assaulting Basavaiah
but Tammanna took revenge in a different way.
He started to write ballads and became famous.
Basavaiah did not tolerate this;
hence he built a palace but failed to impress people.
Finally, Tammanna left the village.
Then Basavaiah had no purpose to live.
He died.
Then Tammanna forgot all his ballads
because he had lost the very purpose of his life and writing.
That is rivalry which ended in Basavaiah’s death.
Thereafter Tammanna had no way.
He had to work as a gardener.
There he narrated his own story to his owner’s wife.
Through his life story, he made a statement
that man leads life either to love or to hate.
And at the end his name vanishes into a thin air and thereafter he will be remembered as an old man.
‘THE VOTER’
‘The Voter’ is a short story.
It is about voting system in Umofia.
Here political parties tried to impress people during election-time.
The political parties are POP(Progressive Organization Party) and
PAP(People’s Alliance Party).
Marcus Ibe was candidate from PAP.
Earlier he was a teacher and
now he has been elected as the minister of culture.
He was supported by Roof, a social worker and Ibe’s follower
but Roof took five pounds from Maduka, Marcus Ibe’s opponent in
the upcoming election.
Roof, the honest follower of Ibe was split in two.
Finally he tore his ballot paper into two parts
and put them into two voting boxes.
Like this the story shows the mindset and condition of voters during
election-time.
‘A SUNNY MORNING’
‘A Sunny Morning’ is a play.
Here Dona Laura and Don Gonzalo are central characters.
They are old lovers who met accidentally in a park
and discussed their own love story as strangers.
They identified each other
but did not express it,
because they wanted to be remembered as true lovers.
Here they told cock and bull story in order to justify
themselves as true lovers.
Hence Dona Laura told that
she died after the breakup
but in reality, she married another person after two years.
Don Gonzalo told that
he joined army after the breakup and died there in a war
but in reality, he ran off to Paris with a ballet dancer.
BOOKS WILL NEVER DISAPPEAR
Borges is a writer.
He says that
all things have been given to us for a purpose.
He refers human experience as resource.
It contains humiliations, misfortunes and embarrassment.
A good writer transforms experience into literature.
He says
poetry is a magical, mysterious and unexplainable event.
Here he marks
time and river, life and dreams, death and sleep, stars and
eyes, flowers and women as essential metaphors.
Borges assures that literature explores human civilization
and creates history.
Hence he makes it clear that books will never disappear.
‘WHERE THERE IS A WHEEL’
‘Where There Is A Wheel’ is an article.
It is about women empowerment.
Here the writer appreciates rural women from
Pudukkottai district
who chose cycling as a social movement.
It was supported by DC, Sheela Rani Chunkath
and Arivoli Cycling Training Camp.
Here the rural women say that
cycling is their right.
Cycling has given them freedom and courage.
Cycling has made them independent.