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Summaries
ENGLISH LESSON SUMMARIES (PLUS TWO)
The 3 Ls of Empowerment
Speech by Christine Lagarde the first woman Finance Minister of a G8 country and head of IMF.
Women contribute far less than 50% of per capita income in most countries. They dont contribute their true
potential.
Women can be liberated with 3 Ls of empowerment Learning, Labour and Leadership.
Learning is the foundation upon which any change is built. Learning helps women to liberate themselves and to help
each other. There is an African proverb which says: If you educate a boy, you train a man. If you educate a girl, you
train a village.
Labour helps women to develop and achieve their true potential. But in fact women get stuck in low-paying, low-
status, low-security jobs. Women should get equal pay for equal work. We must change property and inheritance
laws that discriminate against women. The governments should implement policies that improve education and
healthcare. Women should also get easy access to loans so that they can enjoy economic independence.
Leadership roles help women to rise and develop their abilities and talents. Women are capable of making good
decisions because they are compassionate and inclusive by nature, and focus on long-term goals. Women do not have
the confidence according to their abilities. They should come forward and be ready to take risks and dare the
difference.
We should create a world where all women can live according to their true potential.
Any Woman
Katharine Tynan
Any Woman, by Irish poet Katharine Tynan, is a celebration of the all-inclusive and selfless love of mothers. The
speaker of the poem is a mother who expresses her sentiments on her role in holding the family together.
She considers herself equivalent to the pillars of the house and the keystone of the arch which hold the roof and
walls of the house in place. The house is the central metaphor of the poem representing the family in every aspect.
She is the fire on the hearth which gives warmth to the family and the sun that gives warmth and light to the earth.
The earth would turn dark, cold and lifeless without the sun. Similarly, the family wouldnt survive without the love
and care of the mother. For the children of the house, the mother is their light of love alive, the sacred ring that
protects them and the knot of love that binds them together in safety. The mothers attention and care reaches
every corner of the house from the floor to roof. She decorates the walls, arranges food on the board, spins the
curtains and shakes the bed for the children to sleep in. She is the wall that protects them and the door that keeps
out wind and snow.
The poem ends with a touching prayer to God to prolong her life until her children grow up. The prayer is addressed
to Thou whom a woman laid in a manger, which is a reference to Jesus Christ. The poets message is clear. A
womans role becomes indispensable even to the Birth of Jesus Christ. She is confident that it is her love and care
which perpetuate life on earth.
The poem abounds in metaphors like pillars, the keystone of the arch and knot of love. All these metaphors are
pointers to the complex nature of maternal love. The metaphor of sacred ring is deliberately used to indicate the
holiness associated with marriage vows and subsequent bondage with which the children are fastened to the family.
The ring is in the form of a circle which symbolizes wholeness, unity, perfection, permanence and peace. The
expression wind and snow is another exquisite metaphor which stands for the crises affecting the family. The tone
of the poem is serious, sober and solemn.
In conclusion, the poem deals with a relevant theme and conveys a powerful message. It carries an optimistic mood
and a serious tone. The abundant use of poetic devices reinforces the theme and message of the poem.
Matchbox
Ashapurna Debi
Matchbox, written by Jnanpith award winning Bengali writer Ashapurna Debi, tells the story of a married couple. It
reveals the unhealthy marital relationships arising out of gender bias existing in most Indian families.
In the story, the writer compares women to matchboxes. Matchboxes have the potential to light up and burn
everything down. But we let them lie around as if they were harmless things. It is the same with women. They also
appear to be meek and harmless because the society expects women to suffer and sacrifice their pleasures to suit
men, just like matchsticks that burn themselves out. But they are also capable of setting everything on fire within no
time.
The central character of the story is Nomita. She was born in a poor family and after her fathers death, her mother
had worked hard to marry her off to a rich family. It is a three-storied house where many families lived together. Like
every married Indian woman, she has to sacrifice her freedom and pride to please her husband and his family. Her
married life really reveals the above truth in a simple and touching manner. Her husband Ajit has the habit of
opening her mail and reading it. He argues that it his right to screen her mail to check if she had any secret lover. He
doesnt pay any attention to Nomitas protest. Whenever she protests, Ajit just ignores her. Besides, her poor family
background makes her suffer everything in silence.
Her mothers letters embarrass her further because they are full of details of her miseries . The readers become very
much empathetic with Nomita as they understand the poverty and other miserable conditions of her mother. Her
mother has the habit of begging money from her daughter and son-in-law. The other members of the family too
pinch her with sharp words. Really the letters she received were from her loving mother. Mother used to write about
her misfortunes and the miserable conditions of their house. She asks for money to find a solution. She is afraid of
dying under the weight of a collapsed roof.
When we come to the climax of the story we see a woman who gets angry and goes out of control. She even threatens
him that she would teach him a lesson. But he is making humorous comments at her raging phrases. In the end she
frightens him by setting fire the anchol of her own sari. Seeing that things have gone out of control and fearing
humiliation in front of the rest of the family, Ajit tries to console and cool her down with sweet talk. Ajit, the
dominating husband now becomes meek and mellow just because his wife started to react fearlessly. All this
happens in their bedroom upstairs. She just walks downstairs and joins the other women in household chores. When
someone asks her about the burnt anchol she carelessly remarks that it caught fire from the stove. She resumes her
work thinking of a way to get some money and send it to her poor mother.
In the story, Ashapurna Debi presents the typical Indian woman caught in the web of married life. She is pulled apart
by multiple forces and caught between her family and her husbands family. But they are never willing to unmask
their husbands, they accept everything as their fate. Every woman lives with a fire of anger and humiliation burning
inside her and it could break out into raging fits of anger if not handled carefully.
Character Sketch of Nomitha
Nomitha in the story Matchbox written by Ashapurna Debi is a typical Indian housewife who is bound to sacrifice
many of her ambitions and hopes to be enslaved in the kitchen. Ashapurna Debi portrays her without the glittering
colors of a happy married life. Her widowed mother thinks that she is successful in marrying her daughter off to a
rich family not on the merit of finance but by looks alone. Nomitha expects a minimum freedom of reading the
letters addressed to her. Her husband seems to distrust her about the letters when he tries to read it without her
consent. It is true what Ashapurna Debi says about Nomitha and women in general that they are like matchboxes
pushed to the corners of the house with their hidden power to explode at any time. Nomitha follows the example of a
matchbox and she burns with anger when she is
helpless. To break the shackles of marital slavery she is ready to kill herself. Again she is depicted as a meek innocent
woman who smiles in front of others when a volcano is burning inside her. She can tear off the mask of
her husbands large heartedness, but she doesnt. Thus she proves to be a prototype of an Indian woman who is
meek as a lamb.
Horegallu
Sudha Murty
'HoreGallu' literally means 'a stone that can bear weight'. These horegallus are found in the cool shades under large
banyan trees in villages where travellers and villagers can rest during their journey or work. They usually have
besides them a pot of cool water to quench thirst and refresh the traveller along with the much needed rest.
In this story the author is tells the story of two people in her life who performed this duty selflessly. One was her
grandfather a retired school teacher who used to sit under a banyan tree and listen to the travellers or villagers who
came to rest there. He did not give suggestions or solutions to their problems, but just patiently listened to what they
had to say.
He used to tell her,
A Horegallu is important in any journey. People carry their burdens according to their situation or capacities. Once in
a while we need to stop, put down the burden and rest. Only then can we be refreshed to pick up the load once more.
The Horegallu does just that, it helps them regain their strength.
The second person was her colleague Ratna who was cheerful middle aged woman working in the company for 25
years. She did her boring work with a cheerfulness which was infectious. She also did one more thing. Every day
during lunch hour she would sit with a different person and have long chats with them. When asked what they
chatted she would say 'They share their troubles with me. I only listen'.
She also said
'No one can solve your problems. You have to do it yourself', 'When a person is in trouble or under a lot of strain
finds an outlet for his worries, it relieves half his burden.' This way she relieved them of their burden for a short
while, till they are ready to pick themselves up and carry on with their journey.
Everyone needs a Horegallu in their Life's journey. It can be a short break taken to reduce stress, a talk with a friend,
vacation, or even an argument which refreshes or refocuses you on your path. Some people are good listeners and
trustworthy not to publicize your secrets or problems. We need such people in our lives and should thank them
whenever we can.
Points for Womens Liberation:
- Women are treated like lesser human beings. They are marginalized, sidelined, humiliated, and kept away from all
sources of power and freedom.
- Most women do not have access to higher education. Even the parents believe that they are destined to end up in
the kitchen.
- Most women cannot claim equal rights to their ancestral property. Most women do not have any role in decision
making.
- Most women are not paid well though they are made to toil for hours like slaves. They are not given any top jobs
with managerial roles or decision making power.
- When women are not paid well, fifty percent of the population is not paid well. When women are disrespected,
humiliated or exploited, a major chunk of the world population is disrespected, humiliated or exploited. And the
entire human race will lag behind, unable to realise its true potential.
- Thats why we speak about empowering women for a better tomorrow, for a better humanity.
- Education is the key to women empowerment. If a girl is educated, she will have confidence. She will have
employable skills. Employment will lead her to financial independence. Entrepreneurship will make her stronger
and daring to take up new challenges.
- As Malala Yousafzai, the Nobel Peace Prize winner says, One child, one teacher, one book, and one pen can change
the world. And nowhere is it truer as in the case of women.
- The educated women will become leaders with the right mindset, making the right decisions at the right time.
When women are at the helm of affair conflicts resolve naturally. As mothers, they care. They care about the future
generations. They care about this earth. If a male leader takes you where you want to be, a female leader takes you
where you ought to be.
Mending Wall
Robert Frost
Robert Frost is the Pulitzer winning American poet who is well known for his love of simple country-life and the
great wisdom one can learn from nature. He believed that a poem begins with delight and ends in wisdom. Mending
Wall is a dramatic narrative poem composed in blank verse. It reflects on the man-made barriers prevalent in the
contemporary society. The poem presents a balanced view by showing us the role they play in sustaining peace and
harmony.
Every year, two neighbours meet to repair the stone wall that divides their property. The narrator does not believe
in this tradition, unable to understand the need for a wall when there are no animals to be contained on the
property, only apples and pine trees. He does not believe that a wall should exist simply for the sake of existing.
Moreover, the natural world seems to dislike the wall as much as he does: mysterious gaps appear, boulders fall for
no reason. Moreover hunters widen the gap in the walls to expose the rabbits hidden there. The poet feels it
mysterious how the gaps are seen in spring, the mending time, even when no one has seen or heard them made.
The narrator hates his neighbours eagerness to repair the wall; he views it as old-fashioned and even uncivilized.
After all, he comments, his apples are not going to invade the property of his neighbours pinecones.
The neighbour, on the other hand, asserts that the wall is crucial to maintaining their relationship, asserting, Good
fences make good neighbours. Over the course of the mending, the narrator attempts to convince his neighbour
otherwise and accuses him of being old-fashioned for maintaining the tradition so strictly. No matter what the
narrator says, though, the neighbour stands his ground, repeating: Good fences make good neighbours.
Every year, the two neighbours fill the gaps and replace the fallen boulders, only to have parts of the wall fall over
again in the coming months. It seems as if nature is attempting to destroy the barriers that man has created on the
land, even as man continues to repair the barriers, simply out of habit and tradition. Each one picks the boulders on
his side and sets it right. The whole ordeal of restoring the boulders back is difficult since the fallen rocks have
assumed a variety of shapes, some like bread pieces; others like balls etc. This wall-building act also seems ancient,
for it is described in ritual terms. It involves spells to counteract the elves, and the neighbour appears a Stone-
Age savage who gropes in darkness with the stone in his arms.
The poem, thus, seems to meditate on three grand universal themes: barrier-building (segregation, in the broadest
sense of the word), the absurdity of this enterprise, and our determination to continue this activity.
Ultimately, the presence of the wall between the properties does ensure a harmonious relationship between the two
neighbours. By maintaining the division between the properties, the narrator and his neighbour are able to maintain
their individuality and personal identity as farmers: one of apple trees, and one of pine trees.
In terms of form, Mending Wall is not structured with stanzas; it is a simple forty-five lines of first-person
narrative. Frost also does not use any obvious rhyme patterns and instead relies upon the occasional internal rhyme
and the use of assonance in certain ending terms (such as wall, hill, balls, well).
Shaheen Mistri is an Indian social activist and educator. She is a founder of the Akanksha Foundation, an Indian
educational initiative in Mumbai and Pune, and is also the CEO of Teach For India since 2008. Didi is an edited
version of the first chapter of a book written by Shaheen Mistri. In Didi, Shaheen speaks about her experiences in
the Mumbai slums and her motivation to educate the kids in those slums.
Shaheen Mistri was born in Mumbai. She had an international upbringing and grew up in various countries, as she
moved countries with her father, a senior banker. When she was a small child and living in Jakarta, someone took her
to an orphanage. Seeing the helplessness of the children there, she started visiting the place every week. Later, when
she came to Mumbai during vacations, she used to visit a blind school.
At Mumbai she learned about inequity and injustice existing in the world. At a friends party she would see piles of
food wasted. But in the streets and slums poor families had nothing to eat. One day, when three street children ran
up to her car window at a traffic stop, she had a flash of introspection which changed her life forever. She decided to
stay back in India and do something for the poor children.
She somehow persuaded her parents on the condition that she would return to the US for higher studies. She joined
St. Xaviers college but found the teaching style very boring. She walked around the city and visited a large slum
where 10,000 people lived without essential facilities.
Shaheen Mistri, as a young college student, walked into the Mumbai slums and expressed her desire to teach the less
privileged children who roamed the streets.[6] To fulfill this goal, she founded the Akanksha Foundation, a non-
profit organisation working primarily in education, at the age of 20 to impact the lives of such children.
Over a period of 20 years, her Akanksha Foundation, which started with just 15 children in one centre, now teaches
3,500 children in 58 centres and six schools. In the summer of 2008, she took on a leadership role at Teach For India
which enlists Indias most promising college graduates and young professionals to spend two years teaching in low-
income schools and attempt to bridge the educational gap in the country.
Stammer
K Sachidanandan
Stammer is a thought provoking poem written by K Sachidanandan, a well known poet and critic writing in
Malayalam and English. He is considered as a pioneer of Modern Malayalam Literature. The poem Stammer was
originally written in Malayalam with the title Vikku, and later it was translated into English by the poet
Stammer is a beautiful poem that amazes the readers with its delightful ease of expression. The poem is presented
as a series of half-humorous musings on stammering. The poet makes stammer the key to an exploration of the
imperfections that mark the mettle of the human kind.
The poem opens with a paradoxical assertion that challenges all our notions of stammer. The poet says that stammer
is not a handicap. It is only a mode of speech. Then he moves on to justify this statement.
There is a well-known story about the late Indian Communist leader EMS Namboodiripad, who was prone to
stuttering. A reporter once asked EMS if he always stammered. No, only when I speak, replied EMS, leaving the
reporter dumbstruck.
Well, those who knew EMS will always remember him as a man who never stammered in action. As the poem
progresses, the readers are reminded that stammering may not be confined to speech alone. It can also be in action.
Here the poet compares stammering in speech to lameness in walking. Lameness is a stammering in action and
stammering is a lameness in speech. Both involve a gap or a silence in between. It seems very clear which one is
more serious: if stammering is the silence that falls between the word and its meaning, lameness is the silence that
falls between the word and the deed. When there is a disparity between the word and the deed, it becomes
stammering in action.
Now that stammer has become a synonym for all the imperfections in speech and action, the poet moves on to the
nature and cause of stammer. He wonders whether stammer preceded language or succeeded it. Another question is
whether stammer is a language or a dialect only. These are paradoxical questions that may confuse even linguists.
But if stammer stands for imperfections, it is built into the fabric of human beings. Thus it becomes a language rather
than a dialect. And it should have preceded language.
Having given stammer a universal dimension, the poet now looks into the cause of human imperfections. Here
Satchidanandan rolls out his world view that we are living in an imperfect world created by an imperfect God. There
are two notions that are basic to almost every religion on this earth. One is that God is perfect; and the other is that
God created man in His likeness. These notions taken together lead to a pertinent question: Then why are human
beings imperfect? If we think the other way round, God too must be imperfect. We dont sacrifice any defective
things to God because He is the perfect one. If God Himself is imperfect, what can be a better sacrifice to God than our
imperfections? Each time we stammer, we prove that we are the children of God and offer sacrifice to him. It is
rather these imperfections that prove again and again that we are human beings.
Now, there is no doubt as to whether stammer is a language or a dialect. When a whole people stammer it becomes
more than a language. It becomes a mother tongue, just as it is with us now. The tongue-in-cheek satire here is
unmistakable. While he underlines the universal nature of imperfections, the poet also pokes fun at our reactions to
burning social issues. Why do we hesitate? Why do we stammer when it needs action on our part? Why this
dangerous silence and inaction? Still we consider mere stammering in speech a handicap!
When do we stammer? We stammer in speech when we do not know if we are going to say the right thing. We
stammer in action if we are not sure that we are going to do the right thing. So God too must have stammered when
He created man. What else could He do while creating an imperfect creature and entrusting this world with him? The
stammer of the Creator has got into his creation and that is why we all stammer today. That is why we do not have
convictions. That is why we speak one thing and mean another thing. That is why all our commands and prayers
suffer from a lack of conviction. That is why we stammer. Where stammer is the rule rather than the exception, and
where there are graver stammers than the stammering in speech, is stammer really a handicap?
The story of stammer doesnt end here. The story of stammer is the story of creation. God created man. Man too
became a creator when he created language. The poet too is a creator. Imperfection runs through life, language, and
poetry. If language were perfect there would be a definite meaning to words, just as there would be a definite
meaning to life if human beings were perfect. Poetry too suffers from this imperfection, and meanings differ with
each reader and each reading. That is why the poem ends, like poetry.
But these different meanings of a word, or the different meanings of a poem, cannot be treated as handicaps. They
add charm to language and poetry. And in life, can you imagine a world where everyone is perfect? A world with a
definite single meaning to life? Without these little imperfections, life would suffer from a great monotony. These
imperfections, these differences, are actually the spice of life.
Philosophy of the poem: The poem brings together life, language, and literature and shows the reader how
imperfections run through all three. As the reader begins to fill the silences in the poem that the poet has
deliberately left, he realizes how stammer has become his own mother tongue. At the same time these different
meanings that arise from these silences add variety and charm not only to poetry, but also to life.
The poet makes effective use of the word meaning at different places. The meanings of the word range from the
meaning of a word, to purpose and intention, and again to the ultimate meaning of life. Writing poetry also involves a
search for the ultimate meaning. But the poet doesnt hide his self-mockery and admits that what he can create is
only stammer. But it is a mode of speech where silence also becomes meaningful. One has to read between the lines
and fill in the gaps to comprehend the glamour of stammer.
Thus Stammer becomes a masterpiece where the form and the theme become one, as life, language, and poetry join
together in a search for the perfect meaning, which is absent.
Rice
Chemmanam Chacko
Chemmanam Chackos Rice (Nellu in Malayalam) deals with the plight of the farmers in Kerala who are forced
to move from food crops to cash crops. It mourns the loss of paddy fields which have been replaced by commercial
plantations.
The poet pictures the nostalgic feelings of the narrator who returns to his homeland after a long stay in North India.
He has earned a doctorate in the art and science of making toys with husk. While in train, the bustle and excitement
of farming in his homeland fills his mind. He is eager to have a meal of athikira rice cultivated by his father and
prepared by his mother.
But to his great shock he finds that the place has changed completely. Tall rubber trees have taken the place of rich
paddy fields. With the least sentiment and with great pride, his father says that they have stopped paddy cultivation
as it is not profitable any more. Only fools would turn to cultivating rice, he says. He takes pride in having changed
over to rubber farming, which is more profitable. Here the poet points an accusing finger at the farmers in Kerala
who gave up food crops to make easy money by cultivating cash crops.
The narrator sarcastically concludes the poem commenting on the Chief Minister who flies high above the cash crops
to the Centre to demand for allotment of more rice. He pathetically asks himself whether the state will get some husk
from the Centre too.
Rice is a brilliant satire on our greed for money and apathy to environment destruction. The poem can be seen as a
dramatic synthesis of dream and reality. The first part presents the imagined nostalgia of the people of Kerala a
prosperous time of innocence and harmony with nature. The latter part of the poem is the stark reality which exists
now. Kerala has slowly shifted away from being a self sufficient agrarian state to a consumer state depending of the
centre for food grains. The poem becomes a humorous and sarcastic satire on the hopelessness of the present
situation. The poem is written in free verse without any rhyme scheme or stress pattern.
POINTS
DRUGS
a. to prevent & cure physical disease
b. to reverse mental disturbance
CAUSES OF DRUG ABUSE
a. The popular belief that any illness can be relieved by taking a pill This led to Drug Abuse
b. People depend upon drugs not to solve their problems but to forget them.
PROBLEMS OF DRUG ABUSE
Over dependence on drugs to solve problems lead to lose of the capacity to deal with lifes situations
through perseverance, self-discipline and mental effort.
HIPPOCRATES: Father of medicine says
a. A remedy must take into account
i. Symptoms of disease,
ii. General health of the patient
b. Person in good health loses strength by taking purgative medicine
WHAT ARE SENSUAL DRUGS?
a. It gives strong sense of pleasure.
b. Stimulates the brains pleasure centres.
Brain governs sensations, moods, thoughts & actions. Sensual drugs upset this mechanisms that control
pleasure & satisfaction.
This weakens brains pleasure reflexes & in severe addiction pleasure mechanisms fail to respond. Later the
brain is unable to interpret it as pleasure.
DANGERS OF DRUGS
a. user feels physical discomfort & personality changes,
b. feels depressed & fails to respond,
c. psychotic disorder & distrust of others,
d. feels people are looking at him strangely
e. feels dead inside
f. harmful side effects
g. death from overdose,
h. decline of health & brain function,
i. mental mechanism responds abnormally,
j. A great deal of harm will be done before warning symptoms occur
k. Damage to Brain (Most subtle but least understood) upset chemical balance of brains communication
l. Damage to cell tissue
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Content taken, adapted and compiled from: hsslive.in, iluenglish.com and deltathrissur.wordpress.com