Creative Saplings (CS) (ISSN: 0974-536X) CODEN: CSABCJ is an international peer-reviewed (refereed), open access, monthly online journal of English language and literature from India. Creative Saplings has an expert editorial board and reviewers to analyze and select literary works from the English language, literature, and criticism. Creative Saplings publishes the unpublished, most original, and scholarly articles of students, scholars, and academicians from all over the world.
SAFE: (Society For Academic Facilitation and Extension, Regd.), Head office: 53, Karamchari Nagar, Bareilly 243112 (UP) India
The Penguin 1857 Reader, Editor: P.K. Nayar
The Penguin 1857 Reader, edited by P. K. Nayar is a topical anthology that revises the 1857 Uprising as one of the turning points in the colonial Indian history and literature. Instead of offering a coherent reading, the volume gathers a plurality of narrations and reactions that start in the British, Indian, and Euro-American perspectives and therefore challenges the reader to question the multidimensional ideological and nationalistic meanings of the event. Splitting into two major parts, Narratives and Responses, the anthology is a scrupulous account of not only the experiential aspects of the rebellion itself but also of its various afterlives in various territories. The editorial approach by Nayar that is based on the postcolonial historiography anticipates the complexity of the historical representation that is always complex and highlights the issues that are salient, including the role of the media, gendered violence, and the process of constructing a collective memory. Even though the inclusion of marginalized voices, such as sepoys and civilians, is enriching to the text, the collection is disproportionately based in Anglophone sources and provides a comparatively little critical commentary. Nevertheless, the anthology remains a necessary starting point in the search into this controversial history of 1857.
Copyright (c) 2026 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Social Conflict and Personal Suffering: Narrating a Mother’s Experience in Half Mother
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-style-textoutline-type: none; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-dpiwidth: .75pt; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-linecap: round; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-join: bevel; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-pctmiterlimit: 0%; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-dash: solid; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-align: center; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-compound: simple; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">This article examines Shahnaz Bashir’s The Half Mother as a literary articulation of social conflict and maternal suffering in conflict-ridden Kashmir. Focusing on the experiences of Haleema, the narrative foregrounds the trauma of enforced disappearance and its enduring psychological and emotional impact on women. The article situates personal grief within broader structures of militarisation, state violence, and socio-political repression, arguing that the novel transforms individual loss into a collective testimony of resistance and remembrance. Through close textual analysis, the study highlights how Bashir employs motherhood as a narrative strategy to humanise political conflict and expose silenced histories. The article underscores literature’s role in documenting lived experiences that remain marginalised in official and political discourses.
Shahnaz Bashir; The Half Mother; Enforced Disappearance; Kashmir Conflict; Maternal Trauma
Copyright (c) 2025 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
The Fractured Self: A Statistical Analysis of Child Psychology in Charles Dickens’ Hard Times
This research is conducted using content analysis, quantitative and qualitative in its approach, to address the images of child psychology in Hard Times by Charles Dickens (1854). Placed against this background of the novel of critique of Utilitarian education and industrial society, the research is that Dickens depicts systematically the deforming effect of the repression of the imagination, of emotional deprivation and of conditioning by machines, in the psychological deformity of the child characters. The approach includes operationalization of the main psychological variables of Imagination Quotient (IQ), Emotional Resilience (ER), and Moral Reasoning Index (MRI) and monitoring their development over the narrative trajectory of a sample of child characters (Louisa, Tom, Sissy, and Bitzer). The study hypothesizes that there is no significant negative relationship between exposure to the Utilitarian system of Gradgrind and healthy psychological development through systematic coding of textual evidence, and some kind of descriptive statistical analysis. The outcome is very much in support of the hypothesis where it is depicted that there were sharp statistically significant differences between the psychologically stunted Gradgrind children against the more integrated Sissy Jupe. The thesis of this paper is that the novel is a complex and information-filled developmental psychology case study that foresees the current appreciation of how environment influences the child’s mind. The results highlight the timelessness of the humanist challenge of the systems by Dickens that reject the needs of the developing self in a holistic manner.
Charles Dickens, Hard Times, Child Psychology, Utilitarianism, Content Analysis, Developmental Deformation, Imagination, Education, 19th-Century Novel, Statistical Correlation.
Copyright (c) 2022 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Unsex Me Here, Come You Spirits": The Psychological Symbiosis of Lady Macbeth and the Weird Sisters in William Shakespeare’s play Macbeth
This paper explores the psychological interaction between Lady Macbeth and the Weird Sisters or witches in the play Macbeth by William Shakespeare and examines them not as individuals but as a unified embodiment of an ambitious, transgressive and disordered psyche. Using a literary-psychological approach, the research has assumed that the witches serve as an externalization of the suppressed, repressed ambitions and moral struggles of Macbeth and, in a less apparent way, of Lady Macbeth. Whereas Macbeth acts in direct communication with the supernatural, the psychology of Lady Macbeth appropriates the symbolic role of the witches and thus she becomes the human source of demonic persuasion. As the paper will contend, the later mental breakdown of Lady Macbeth, her somnambulism and suicidal actions are a result of the unresolvable nature of the conflict between the agency that she is acting and believes is hardened and her suppressed feminine conscience, a conflict that is initially sparked and reflected by the ambiguous nature of the witches in their oracles. By this examination, the paper sheds light on the main focus of the play, that of the external supernatural powers involved in the interaction with the interior psychological process of corruption of ambition into tyranny and, eventually, destruction of the self.
Lady Macbeth, Weird Sisters, Psychology, Ambition, Guilt, Conscience, Externalization, Somnambulism, Shakespeare, Macbeth
The Scent of Becoming" by Lalitha Sridevi J. meditates on fragrance as a metaphor for identity and transience. Once raw and intimate—like crushed petals whispering to the self—it now lingers in commodified incense and atomizers, promising belonging amid branded shelves. Yet both natural whiffs of jasmine and misty rain dissolve like human choices, evaporating into traces not of past selves, but of ongoing transformation. Through sensory evaporation, the poem captures how we are remembered by our evolving essence.
These three poems by Pradip Mondal—"The Apocalypt," "Thanatos," and "Sick Flower"—delve into cataclysmic dread, mortality, and elusive deception. "The Apocalypt" unleashes an end-times vision of melting icebergs, fiery monsters, cosmic collisions, and prowling doom, echoing ancient prophecies amid surging sins and divine madness. "Thanatos" personalizes death as a parasitic worm sapping vitality, propelling the speaker toward Charon's boat in futile, aging denial. "Sick Flower" personifies a treacherous bloom that seduces at life's dawn only to entomb in the grave, embodying life's camouflaged betrayals. Together, they weave existential terror with mythic undertones.
<span style="color: oklch(0.3039 0.04 213.68); font-family: fkGroteskNeue, ui-sans-serif, system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, 'Noto Sans', sans-serif, 'Apple Color Emoji', 'Segoe UI Emoji', 'Segoe UI Symbol', 'Noto Color Emoji', 'Hiragino Sans', 'PingFang SC', 'Apple SD Gothic Neo', 'Yu Gothic', 'Microsoft YaHei', 'Microsoft JhengHei', Meiryo; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: 0.08px; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; background-color: oklch(0.9902 0.004 106.47); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; display: inline !important; float: none;">“Dada ka Ghar” is an intimate, nostalgic poem that celebrates the grandmother as a living embodiment of home, memory, and protection. Speaking in the first person, the narrator compares her to a vast banyan tree whose silent strength shelters generations, including the late Dada. The domestic details—his bed, her quiet dreams, and the ever-welcoming cup of tea—evoke a house steeped in love and remembered presence. Blending loss and warmth, the poem portrays how, even after Dada’s absence, the grandmother’s unwavering care and rootedness keep the emotional world of “dada ka ghar” alive for all its children.
The fragmented psyche of modern life is critically analyzed in these five poems of the collection Some Creepy Subterfuge and Other Poems and swings between the close realm of psychological insecurity and the bigger emotional and ontological anxiety. The works outline the intersection of thoughts, desires, and aspirations with disappointment and postponement through the evocative image that touches upon fog, winter moons, high-speed trains, caravans dissolving, and an overall impression of the apocalyptic dread. The themes of illusion, delusion, persistence of unaddressed questions, and indifference are revisited throughout the poems, thus yielding a landscape where the turmoil of the inner world clashes with the chaos of the outer world. However, in this ambivalence, the poems hold to a delicate desire of affection, meaning, and the unadulterated, natural growth of the self.
A Call to Save the Earth: A Study of the Phenomenon of Climate Change through the Anthology Dhara: A Paradise Worth Fighting For
This paper aims to study the phenomenon of climate change that’s occurring all over the world through the short stories and poems presented in the anthology called “Dhara: A Paradise Worth Fighting For”. It chooses to focus specifically on some of the works to illustrate how our planet is on the brink of destruction, and if man does not see the error of his ways soon, a terrible storm awaits on the horizon that will show no mercy when it arrives. The paper discusses the multifaceted ways in which climate change affects us. It not only affects people on a biological level but also on a societal and economic basis. The paper also sheds light on how vulnerable communities are disproportionately affected by climate change and are at a much higher risk of falling victim to injustice. Through a close examination of the book, placing special emphasis on certain pieces, it attempts to bring attention to the fact that the future of the planet, as well as humanity, is at stake.
Climate change, global warming, Earth, environment, eco-criticism, eco-feminism
Copyright (c) 2025 Saptaparna Dey https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Representation of prudence and Maturity at The Teenage: A Thematic Study of Anne Frank's Autobiography
This research explores the maturity of a teenage girl during the horrible circumstances of the Second World War. Anne Frank’s diary does not only present external conflicts but also figures out the inner psychological growth and resilience. At the age of thirteen, her writing reflects the everyday concerns about friendships, disputes, and existential challenges. She talks about the consequences of war, which confront the harsh realities of human identity, massacre, and the pathetic condition of women. Her relationships with the residents of the secret annex accelerate her maturity in complex surroundings, like the acceptance of flaws, adjustments, morality, and ethics. She dedicates herself to studying while hiding, which helps her to understand the surroundings, friendships, relationships and curiosity to know the world. She has nothing to prove, no hidden agendas to keep secret, and no propaganda to spread except for the revealing of truth with the help of writing, which poorly screams from the victims’ side. She believes that only a diary can provide a great source of comfort and support because she expresses her thoughts with the great innocence and sincerity that only a child can possess. The diary still makes it real for those who read and for those who come after her; it is only by keeping the memory of the wound alive, by remembering and sharing, that people can find true emotions. It is a kind of testament to the indestructible human will to preserve and survive in the face of the most adverse circumstances. Her diary as many times as it is read, and its inspirational dialogue brings the catharsis closer. She has space to express herself in the most honest and candid of terms, which bears her soul on every page of the diary. So, this research deals with the results and consequences of war, which include social anxiety, social disorder, trauma, psychological dysfunctions, and disfunctions, and the suffering of the survivors.
Copyright (c) 2025 Abhishesh Verma https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Understanding Power Dynamics Through Speech Act Theory from the Play Final Solutions Written by Mahesh Dattani
Mahesh Dattani’s play Final Solutions highlights the ever-growing problem of Hindu versus Muslim rivalry in this play. The action of the play revolves around communal rivalry, gender discrimination and a dilemma of past and present. Hence, the present study focuses on the language used by the major and minor characters of the play. The power dynamics shown by the characters in this play through their utterances is the topic of discussion in this study. The dialogues where the characters perform some functions have been explored and analyzed by applying the theory of speech act as discussed by J. L. Austin and John Searle in their books. After analyzing particular dialogues on locutionary, illocutionary and perlocutionary speech acts the real intention of the characters is understood. It is observed that the characters reveal their authority, nostalgia, subversiveness, anger, frustration, prejudices, through speech acts.
Keywords: Power dynamics, Speech act, Locutionary, Illocutionary, perlocutionary
Copyright (c) 2025 Madhavi Nikam, Patil Ram Bhaskar https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Representation of Loss and Dislocated Identity in Intizar Husain's An Unwritten Epic
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-style-textoutline-type: none; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-dpiwidth: .75pt; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-linecap: round; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-join: bevel; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-pctmiterlimit: 0%; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-dash: solid; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-align: center; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-compound: simple; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: HI;">Intizar Husain has gained recognized reputation as the chronicler of the after-effects of the Partition in Urdu literature in South Asia. Born in undivided India in 1925 and migrated to Pakistan in 1947, he has watched and undergone the complicated question of an unsettled homeland. Immersed in the memories of the pre-partition era, a deep sensation of loss and homesickness resonates in his fiction. His short fiction deals with the theme of Partition and its various issues directly or indirectly. One of the most hard-hitting stories, 'An Unwritten Epic, 'expresses the multiple problems of the Partition. Portraying the inter-village conflict, communal violence, and the associated euphoria for the creation of Pakistan as the story's backdrop, Intizar Husain presents the extraordinary life and the tragic fate of a village wrestler, Pichwa, in the fictional village named Qadirpur situated somewhere in a remote district of the United Province in pre-Partition India. Pichwa is a bully renowned for his fighting skills with the club (lathi). He never leaves an opportunity to show his dominating muscle power to his opponents. The story's narrator is so captivated by Pichwa's heroic charisma that he becomes obsessed with composing an epic in prose using the creation and freedom of Pakistan as its background. This obsession with Pichwa's heroism and the idea of an epic reflects the narrator's idealism and his desire to find meaning in the chaos of the Partition. 'An Unwritten Epic' captures the profound loss and identity crisis associated with dislocation. Uprooted from his stable and established surroundings, Pichwa is wholly lost once he reaches an unnamed town in Pakistan. His sense of identity and belongingness undergoes a tremendous change. Pichwa, who could become an epic hero, is rendered just as a symbol of victimhood and loss, with tragic ironies that follow. He is the powerful symbol of dislocation that embodies the loss of home, identity, and belongingness. He is destitute, where his old identity cannot fit in, and the new one remains elusive. The paper aims to analyze how 'An Unwritten Epic' explores the subjectivity of loss and dislocated identity as a profound consequence of the migration to Pakistan. It examines how the story covers the intricacies of social, cultural, and personal turmoil during the migration. It also scrutinizes how Intizar Husain highlights the political upheavals that uproot individuals from their native land and leave them adrift in a fragmented world.
Loss, Dislocated Identity, Migration, Uprootedness, Partition, Belongingness
Copyright (c) 2025 Sashi Bhushan, Shaleen Kumar Singh https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Nothing Scares Me More The poem is a ghostly reflection on the dead eye, which is a representation of complete inertia. In comparison to a blind eye that still feels and still reacts, the dead eye is represented as a soul sucking animated eye, its pupil emptied of the soul. Its careless eye, with its unpredictable movements, and its slow fading Association brings the sadistic decay. The speaker looks back at how the dead eye conveys a more profound truth that there is lack of vitality and accountability and brings a silent and obscure message to the dead souls around the dead eye. Finally, the poem touches on the issue of mortality, spiritual barrenness, and deep silence that characterizes the end of life. The Lamp This spiritual adventure is basically what the poem is leading me through where the narrator no longer has to freak out about death but it is more of an opportunity to experience a chilled entrance into some other worldly feeling such as this Shambhala scene. He is basking in beauty, harmony, and healing, and then the Supreme Soul lays a clue that it would like to see this lamp in his heart that that was present when everything was created. The lamp turns out to be off, which is a significant atmosphere of losing innocence, purpose, or moral light, and as such, the narrator has no choice but to strike back to the real world with this heavy sense of regret and the desire to have what was. It is all about spiritual responsibility, achieving the inner radiance, going beyond the mundane, and addressing the hurtling haste of returning to the state of being an ordinary person.
The poem is a criticism of the current humanity, which is obsessed with the idea of wealth, status, and material success and ignores the inner consciousness and demonstrates how we as a generation nearly blindly believe that cash and accolades are more important than silent development. It describes life as a short-lived daydream where humans pursue money, authority, and social acceptance and forget about spirituality, empathy, and the valuable relationships, just like we tend to refer to people in groups as squads and followers in class work. The speaker emphasizes that people are absorbed by ambition, pride, and competition and lose sight of their own nature, which is what I observe in college culture, in which the grades become the point. The poem reminds us with the repetition of the fact that he does not know him or herself, that it is a tragedy to forget that inner identity and purpose, which we can still identify with in the recent lecture on psychology that we have had on self-concept. It, ultimately, cautions that such ignorance is an expensive affair due to the brevity of our lives, and thus urges us to begin returning to self-reliance and spiritual foundation, which we all would like to fit into our hectic activities.
The poem is a reflection on how our world and our relationships, in fact, change silently, and as a college kid I find myself looking at the world changing into the world of deadlines and group projects, of the world of the warm and easy strolls on the campus to a cold and emotional world of winter semesters. The friends who once used to be close, friends who think they should go study together over a pizza, are becoming distant slowly, as their hearts are closing like the dorm basement door, it seems that we all are just making casual swings around the hub of the silent halls. That shift generates this feeling of separation and betrayal, in a way of demonstrating how quickly the gentleness of a lecture discussion can get into indifference, in a manner that a class discussion can become cold as soon as the mark is put in. Through all these changes, one thing remains constant to me, and that is myself. In this world where everything in the cafeteria menu, as well as the professor expectations, is subject to change, my very presence of consistency serves as a soothing anchor of its own, giving me the experience that resilience and self-knowledge truly hold in a world of emotional storms.
This satirical tragedy of one act stings us in Owlfahc Hall at Campus de Barbarians, when we get to imagine that we are being subjected to a book-reading when that, in fact, is not happening, but rather exposing the degree of the rifts in our own schools. The face cream and the evergreen and the on screen volunteers dig straight out on censorship, how our voices are muted and how the fear machine of the administration is hyped. They make jokes that seem like a strange amalgamation of humor and sadness, it is obvious that the university is showing a show of intellectual buzz but conceals blatant authoritarianism around every corner. In the background, meanwhile, there is a lot of back-and-forth talk which increases the criticism: Prof. Mangru and Prof. Khairu are playing the imitation of the sycophantic culture supposedly buzzing as OWLFAHC (“Organizer Who Loves Flattery And Hates Chivalry”). Then there is a younger couple of Batuk and Kautuki pushing through the straining relationship that is essentially a reflection of how the emotional bondages with the institution hold us together. Meanwhile, two scholarly figures Billy and Nilly sneak in and discuss beauty rituals as though they are the real performances, ridiculing how the university is so preoccupied with empty chatter rather than with actual education. All culminates in a head clash between a heroic Teacher and the Head of the Department. The Head becomes all complacent regarding his patronage connections and how he has undermined merit, and the Teacher defends himself-- screaming that the thing is knowledge and that you cannot put it out with decadence. When the Teacher eventually accuses the fear and flattery in the last act, the entire colonialism air of our academic space actually bursts open, and the scene is concluded with a call of integrity, resistance, and actual intellectual freedom.
Feminist Storytelling and Healing: Trauma, Voice, and Testimony in Postcolonial Literature
The paper is essentially an inquiry into historical literature which is not just about unearthing the untold histories but about digging at the silent histories which are submerged beneath people’s traumas and have got caught in our memory as a collective. I will also research such feminine narrative voices as Toni Morrison, Bama, and Githa Hariharan to understand how their voices strive to introduce such suppressed voices into the discourse. Their writings are not just a record of torment, but a survival strategy, an intergenerational recovery and strength. Based on the theory of trauma and feminist epistemology, the current argument is that narrative is a significant site of identity reconstruction, past historical reconciliation, and pain agency.
Trauma, Postcolonial Literature, Toni Morrison, Bama, Githa Hariharan
Copyright (c) 2018 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
The Decline of Formal Writing in the Age of Chat Applications
With the emergence of the instant digital communication systems, everything is different in the way people write, and so is the case with us, older children who have already experienced the smartphone era. Language evolves with society, however, what we are experiencing with chat apps such as WhatsApp, Messenger, Snapchat, and Instagram is not a mere shift to language. It rewrites the entire cultural framework of how we conduct our communication, in written form. The essay is discussing that speed, convenience, and that just-because-quick emotional shorthand is replacing the old rules of appropriate sentences, grammar, punctuations and reflective thought. Socio-linguistically, I am examining the ways in which this informal and chat-based writing alters the way we think, share emotions and even our literacy in general. Surely, this change is not entirely negative, but it does make us wonder whether our present communication behaviour can be called progressive or it is simply wearing something priceless.
Formal Writing, Digital Communication, Texting Culture, Language Change, Chat Applications
Copyright (c) 2020 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Laughter as Liberation: Humour as Resistance in Indian Feminist Literature
People think that Indian feminist literature is all about relaxing and laughing in the background of humour; it is an ingenious means that the writers are employing to question the forces of patriarchy, castes and social taboos. It is such a secret weapon in the disguise of comedy. The current paper is a close examination of the utilisation of humour by authors like Shashi Deshpande, Meena Kandasamy, and Bama, in attaining control, silencing challenge, and a breaking of oppressive rules. It is just a matter of reversing the script so that we can witness these authors do something quite daring. Our work will be guided by the feminist theory, Dalit feminism and intersectionality to contend that humour is not just a joke. It is corporeal possession of the agency, and it makes disparagement criticism and makes trauma personal testament. Ultimately, the paper concludes that humour provides the Indian feminism with the distinct method of survival, reclaiming power, and rebelling. Laughter becomes a strong language that keeps us alive and struggling to get a better place.
Humour, Feminist Writing, Satire, Indian Literature, Dalit Feminism, Resistance, Intersectionality
Copyright (c) 2019 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Rebel with a Cause: Realism and Resistance in Deepa Mehta’s Cinematic World
The filmography of Deepa Mehta stands out as a unique niche in the discourse of Indian and world cinema. Her work as a diasporic auteur cuts across the sidelines of nation, gender and identity and critiques the orthodox of patriarchy and culture at the same time. The paper questions the main movies of Mehta, Fire (1996), Earth (1998) and Water (2005) to shed some light on how she balances insurgency with realism. It suggests that Mehta realism is not only a formal aesthetic tool but rather a tool that is political in essence an act of resistance against the silence, censorship and ingrained hierarchies. The paper, therefore, arrives at a conclusion that the films of Mehta are a revision of the concept of realism as rebellion, which gives voice to the oppressed and discloses the gaps in the traditional understanding of Indian modernity.
Deepa Mehta, realism, rebellion, feminism, postcolonial cinema, gender, patriarchy.
Copyright (c) 2015 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Reimagining Learning: NEP 2020 and The Role of Assessment in Incorporating Ancient Indian Knowledge System
The article aims to seek a qualitative probe on the elements of pedagogy that focuses on the roots in the new course implemented in the Value Added Course section- Indian Knowledge System — tracing the transformational aspect alongside the contemporary educational structure. It highlights the benefits of collaborative learning process that fosters connection and knowledge sharing along with the crucial role of both formative and submitted assessment that tracks students progress thereby providing proper guidance and instructions. The discussion is closely aligned with the goal set by National Education Policy and National Credit Framework. with an aim to establish a dynamic and flexible educational environment that is capable of evolving as per the future needs. In addition to the above mentioned points, the article also considers the integration of digital technology as a vital tool in enhancing learning, promoting inclusivity and serving individual educational purposes which also helps to meet the diverse learners requirement. considers the integration of digital technology as a vital tool in enhancing learning, promoting inclusivity and serving individual educational purposes which also helps to make the diverse learners requirement.
Indian Knowledge System; National Education Policy 2020; Collaborative Learning; Holistic Assessment; Experiential Pedagogy.
Copyright (c) 2026 Anila Pillai https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
The Plight of Voiceless and Subjugated Widows in Indira Goswami’s The Moth Eaten Howdah of the Tusker
After the untimely demise of her husband merely eighteen months into their marriage, Indira Goswami experienced a period of profound psychological distress, for which she depended on medication to attain a semblance of stability. The personal suffering found creative articulation in her seminal novel The Moth Eaten Howdah of the Tusker. Better known by her pen name Mamoni Raisom Goswami, she emerged from Guwahati, Assam, as one of the most distinctive voices in modern Indian literature, noted for her deep humanitarian consciousness and her engagement with issues of social justice. Originally composed in Assamese in 1986 under the title Dontal Hatir Une Khowa Howdah , the novel makes extensive use of the Kamrupi dialect, thereby embedding the narrative within the linguistic and cultural landscpe of the Kamrup region. Goswami later rendered the text into English in 2004, broadening its reach beyond regional boundaries. The novel offers a poignant exploration of widowhood and female subjugation within the framework of a patriarchal Assamese society. It exposes the persistent injustuces endured by women in familial and social institutions
Widowhood, Psychological effect, Indian Society, Gender bias, Sati-pratha
Copyright (c) 2026 Rashmi Devi Sharma, Sunita Siroha https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
When the Subaltern Speaks in Pamuk’s The Red-Haired Woman
Popular myths of human civilisation are written as allegories of grave warning for all mankind, cautioning them, ultimately, of the probable consequences of particular actions that are socially forbidden. Surprisingly, in almost all these cautionary mythical narratives, female characters, exalted or lowly, are presented with relatively substantial roles to play compared to their male counterparts. However, their characters are often portrayed as inactive and submissive; they carry malevolent power that indirectly brings disaster and misfortune for the heroes in myths. The popular myths of Sohrab and Rostam, as well as Oedipus, equally portray women as significantly responsible for the tragedies of their respective male protagonists. The very presence of female characters in such myths indirectly hints at the possible hardship the protagonists are destined to face. Such narratives categorically create and normalise the negative images of women. Surprisingly, almost all the female characters in such popular myths are not allowed to speak for themselves or defend themselves. Orhan Pamuk's The Red-Haired Woman, in its spectacular amalgamation of popular Eastern and Western myths, gives an ironic twist to the technique and perception about women in popular mythical narratives when the diabolical female character, the red-haired woman, speaks for herself, defending herself as a lover, wife, and mother. She represents the modern Jocasta from the tragedy of Oedipus and the modern Tahmina from the story of Sohrab and Rostam, and she speaks for both. The novel thus criticises and ridicules the biased male attitude, in both Eastern and Western myths, toward women.
Myths, patriarchy, women in Turkey, Gülcihan, and fiery feminism
Copyright (c) 2026 Ashutosh Popate https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Exploring Indian English Literature: A Cultural and Literary Odyssey
English Literature is a linking agent. Looking at the splendid fabric of English Literature, we realize in it a ‘coat of many colors’, reflecting the world’s varied cultures, traditions, and modes of thought. Literature imparts values and creates an awareness of the culture of one’s individuality. Literature as an articulation of life has an intense value. This necessitates the view that literature which does not arouse poignant feelings in humans is not literature. It is unimaginable for true lovers of literature that life without literature would be like salt, the most essential ingredient in cooking which would be incomplete, and tasteless. So human beings will be depriving themselves of the ‘aesthetics of literature’ if they do not read and enjoy the works of literary art. All forms of art and media project life as it truly and really exists. Similarly, every era is a representation of the Zeitgeist spirit in which the literary writers and artists depict the social, historical, cultural, religious, economic, political and linguistic background of that epoch. Hence, every writer becomes one with the existing social group. Their writings are a mirror of society and certainly there is an enormous impact of the prevailing conditions of contemporary life on the writers of that age. Literature has captured the attention of human hearts through its passionate portrayal of themes and subjects applicable to human life. Today we have literature from almost all continents of the globe. Literary Writers from across the globe have proved their caliber by producing mind-blowing artistic pieces of enduring value. World literature is an example to display the lofty ideals and innate talents possessed by the writers. Through their works, the writers have painted life as experienced by people and lay bare to the readers various glimpses of life which cannot be evaded by human beings. Subsequently today these world literatures-American Literature, African Literature, Canadian Literature, New Zealand Literature and South Asian Literature-which encompasses Indian English Literature, have acquired immense value. The article attempts to make a comprehensive evolution of Indian English Literature from a a Cultural and Literary perspective.
Indian English Literature, poignant, reflection, social, historical, cultural, religious, economic, political, linguistic, background
Copyright (c) 2026 Sandra Carmel Sophia Mathews, Kudavalli Naga Venkata Sai Sri Durga https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Romanticism and Mid-Nineteenth Century Despair – An Invigorating Discussion in the Light of Poetic Utopias and Anti-Utopias
The word “utopia” denotes “a place which does not exist”. On the contrary anti -utopia depicts a social setting which is juxtaposed to utopian idealism. In this paper we would attempt to redefine the Romantic imagination of Wordsworth and Coleridge as poetic utopia and the Victorian despair in Mathew Arnold’s poem as anti-utopia. We would consider Wordsworth’s Tintern Abbey, Coleridge’s Kubla Khan and Mathew Arnold’s Dover Beach in our discussion. In Tintern Abbey, the poet is in search for the moments of insight, and understanding which, he believed; only nature could give. He believes in truth of his own senses and imagination and he describes moments in which he perceives mystical and transcendental truths. Coleridge in Kubla Khan presents an exotic landscape which has often been interpreted as symbolizing the movement of the creative imagination. On the contrary when we discuss the poem Dover Beach by Mathew Arnold, we observe how the poet discusses love, faith and desolation and concludes the poem with a vision of the world more completely negative than in the previous two centuries. The main contention of the paper is to make a discussion in the light of romantic aestheticism and Victorian disillusionment.The research aims to establish the discussion that critiques the idealism of early romanticism with the dichotomy and ambiguity of mid-nineteenth century through the relevant documentation of utopian and anti-utopian ideals in literary creations.
Romanticim, Utopia, Anti-utopia, Victorian disillusionment
Copyright (c) 2026 Leena https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Migrant Experiences in Madras Café and Piku
The cinematic narratives of modern migrants offer a profound lens through which to explore the complexities of displacement, identity, and belonging in a globalized world. The objective of this paper is to examine how contemporary films, such as Madras Café and Piku, depict the migrant experience, displacement, clashes, cultural hybridity, trauma, and resilience. By analysing a selection of influential films from diverse geographical and cultural contexts, the study highlights the role of cinema in shaping public perceptions of migration while giving voice to marginalized communities. The research employs a multi-modal approach, combining narrative analysis, visual aesthetics, and socio-political critique to unravel the layered representations of migrants in the selected films for the study. Furthermore, it investigates how these narratives challenge stereotypes, foster empathy, and contribute to discourses on trans-nationalism and diaspora. The paper also considers the ethical responsibilities of filmmakers in portraying migrant stories without exploitation. Ultimately, this study underscores cinema's power as both an artistic medium and a tool for social commentary, bridging the gap between personal migrant experiences and broader geopolitical realities.
Copyright (c) 2026 Jeevan Kumar Talanki https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Rewriting Gender Roles: Feminist Reinterpretation of Mythological Narratives
Mythological stories form the basis of many cultures as they are passed down through generations, serving as a means of conveying values, beliefs and traditions. Mythological tales generally idiolize and glorify male prowess. Gender inequality in mythology is a complex issue which is deeply ingrained in the socio-cultural fabric of the Indian society. This representation often mirrors the gender disparity in our lives as well. These narratives frequently portray women in subordinate roles which directly reflects the patriarchal norms prevalent in the society. Revisionist mythology takes these ancient tales and caters them to the modern readers by reinterpreting them. One of the prevalent themes of the revisionist mythology is the point of view of a female character which helps the reader in understanding the situation of females in the ancient times. Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni and Kavita Kane, through their revisionist mythological novels, provide a new outlook on traditional narratives that challenges the existing gender bias and creates a platform for female empowerment in mythological retellings. The paper discusses and argues that the modern retellings have created an alternative feminine discourse by breaking the ideological male canon and also aims to explore the gynocentric myth created by these women writers.
Copyright (c) 2025 Ragini Raghav https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Tehmina Durrani’s My Feudal Lord: An Advocate of Feminist Defiance
The novel My Feudal Lord explores the story of Tehmina Durrani, raised in one of the most influential families of Lahore. But her marriage to one of Pakistan’s most eminent political figures, soon turned into a nightmarish experience for her. Her violent and over-possessive husband forced her to endure in silence for fourteen long years till she broke silence through her autobiographical work ‘My feudal Lord’. Her story provides extraordinary insight into the deplorable position of Muslim women caught in the vicious circle of Muslim society.
Eminent, fearlessness, nightmarish experience, over –possessive, Feminist Defiance
Copyright (c) 2025 Nishi Singh https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Guardians of Nature: An Ecocritical Exploration of Tribal Spirituality and Wisdom through Documentaries
Due to increasing modernization on Earth, the basic needs of humans have increased. Considering themselves as centers, humans are excessively exploiting the valuable gifts received from nature without thinking. Due to which there has been an increase in comparison between modern materialistic development and sustainable development. Ways of sustainable development are being explored. Tribal people are a living example of this sustainable development. The spirituality and ecological wisdom of tribal people develops eco-consciousness within them due to which they consider it their duty to protect nature from those who harm it. The research paper explores ecological wisdom and spirituality in the lives of two tribes, Dongria Kondh Tribe and Yanomami Tribe, through the lens of two documentaries Niyamgiri: The Mountain of Law and The Last Forest. The research paper shows how these tribes respect nature not just as a resource but as a living spiritual entity. Through the documentaries, mythology, traditional ecological knowledge and beliefs of the tribal people that have been passed on from one generation to the next have been highlighted. After studying both these selected documentaries and through the research paper, an attempt has been made to know that the role of tribal spirituality is very important in maintaining the ecological balance. This study emphasizes on rethinking the relationship of man with nature.
Copyright (c) 2025 Sanjoly Paliwal https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
From Search for The Mother to Search for Two Indias- A Study of the Representation of New India in Three Indian English Novels
A major theme of recent Indian novels in English is the portrayal of the New India with all its glory and darkness in varied scale. This portrayal has often been criticized as part of the postcolonial exotic or celebrated as the progress of the postcolonial nation. There are many novels which have represented both these aspects of New India—the progress and the darkness— without overt castigation or celebration. This paper is concerned with such three Indian English novels-- Kunal Basu’s Sarojini’s Mother (2020), Shilpi Somaya Gowda’s Secret Daughter (2010) and Jaishree Misra’s A Scandalous Secret (2011)—all of which deal with the search for biological roots as major characters come to India in search of their parentage. The argument of this paper is that besides this thematic similarity all these novels expose the two faces of New India—both its light and darkness without any conscious attempt to moralize or castigate. This paper discusses how the search for real mothers turns into search for real India with all its success and failures but the conclusions of these novels put the emphasis on emotional enrichment and maturity rather than on mere fact-finding or exoticizing.
New India, postcolonial exotic, castigation, celebration
Copyright (c) 2025 Rakes Sarkar https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0