Maharaja Ganga Singh UniversityJaisalmer Road, Bikaner

Department of English

Academic Session 2014-15

About the Department

The Department of English was established in 2011 and became operational in June 2011 with the recruitment of One Professor and Three Assistant Professors. The Department conducts academic, research and extension programmes in the field of language, literature and translation. The Department constantly strives to integrate teaching/learning with research and training. Realizing the changed post independence perspective that English be an agency to project our culture, the Department has organized workshops and executed projects to bring to the forefront the rich literary and cultural heritage of the State. The Department adopts learner centre approach in its programmes. The Department offers M.A., M.Phil., and Ph.D. programmes.

Vision

Work towards creating a scholarship and through it a society based on humanistic models projecting Indian values and cultural heritage to the outside world.

Mission

Train students in the study of literature by acquainting them with established classics as well as significant new works in the English language, and familiarize them with various critical tools and precepts from early times to the present age.

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At a glance…….

The Curricular

Socrates used to say "Practice death daily not in a morbid way, but in order to put the problems of life in perspective." The story of Ariadne, the mythological princess who helped Theseus escape the maze only to then be abandoned by him; but then she marries Dionysus. The Greek philosopher Diogenes, who, when asked why he kept begging from statues, replied " I am practising disappointment. The year not unlike the previous years, is a story of ups and downs. We, however, remembered these statements and myths and they kept us inspired throughout. Definitely, there were doubters; which is another indicator of how we shouldn't let the apex doubters stop us from following our vision. Especially, the stake holders who tend to internalize criticism. This is how we learnt from criticism, but never allowed naysayers and negative voices derail us.

We, at the department, resolved to face the grim problems. Rejecting the naysayers' kismet we decided to go ahead with our mission. The failed war on the formation of new syllabi won plaudits from the critics. Both the Undergraduate and the Master's Courses were revised, updated and upgraded so as to ensure a connect between the class room and the real world.

The task envisioned the empowerment of learners; the whole process passed through three stages – Identifying the learners' needs, choosing the appropriate text/linguistic items and presentation before the Academic Council. Thus Maharaja Ganga Singh University Department of English became the leading Department to boast of introducing and executing the Consumer oriented (or what David Nunan calls Client-Centred courses) Courses.

Semesterization was introduced amidst all doubts and apprehensions. To cater to a 'noble goal', the 'avatar' (incarnation) of Semester was descended. Although not fully equipped, the Department decided to implement the system. It goes without saying that the University should frame regulations for the proper execution of the Scheme.

The initiatives of organizing a Workshop on Translation and another one on Research Methodology could not be approved. As a consequence, the major activities aiming at the skills development and contributing towards Make-in India Programme could not take place. Late approval for a National Seminar dissuaded the Department for its conduction which otherwise would have certainly enhanced the academic excellence.

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Co-CurricularLiterary Forum

The Literary Forum organizes literary, dramatic, creative and other cultural events in the department at regular intervals. The forum conducts Classroom Seminars at weekends under the supervision and guidance of the Head of the department and the convener. Every year Literary Forum organizes Literary Quiz, Poetry Recital Sessions and a number of other activities. Under the aegis of Forum, the following activities/programmes were conducted:-

*National Youth Day Celebrated

National Youth day was celebrated with gaiety and enthusiasm on the occasion of 152 birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda. Paying obeisance before the picture of Swami Vivekananda, Prof. S.K. Agrawal Head, Department of English said, youth should integrate and work for the welfare of the country. India has a global demographic edge as youth constitutes a large proportion of the country’s human resource: He called upon the students’ to make the best of the chance.

*Learning by Doing –An Educational Trip

A visit to several places of historical and cultural importance located in the vicinity was organized on 15 Dec, 2014. The Students and the Faculty Members visited Veshnao Mata Temple and Deshnok Temple, where they learnt about the rituals performed in the villages. They also realized their significance. During the trip, students collected the material for Report Writing and submitted excellent reports on Environment, Ecology & History of Governance of the region, and Issues for a better tomorrow.

* Abhinandan- 20153

Students and Faculty Members ready for Educational Trip

‘Abhinandan’ (Freshers’ party) was hosted by the students of M.A. (Final) to accord a warm welcome to the student of M.A. Semester-I. The seniors welcomed the juniors by applying ‘Tilaks’ on their foreheads. The party started with lightening of the lamp by the Head, Prof. S.K. Agrawal and thereafter, a number of colourful events such as, Group dance, Solo Song, and Skit were performed. The programme ended with a huge ‘Thank You’ presented by the convener Dr. Seema Sharma.

* Teachers Day Celebrated

Teachers’ Day was celebrated on 5 September with great enthusiasm and vigour. It was a surprise for the whole faculty. Many games were organized for the teachers. Students paid gratitude and respect to their teachers. They welcomed their teachers with flowers and offered them mementos as a token of love and admiration. It was a memorable and beloved ones.

*Classroom Seminars

Seminars are one way of explicitly promoting dispositions associated with civil discourse and thoughtful interaction around the topics of shared interest. They support Common Core standards related to the close reading of texts, as well as the skills of Speaking and Listening. The Department regularly organizes Classroom

Seminars which provides an in-depth training in the skills. They also provide an interface between the textbook culture and the outside world. Through these Seminars, the students learn to appreciate, and develop a sense of literary criticism.

* Chaitra Pratipada Celebrated

The New Year was celebrated in a distinct and distinguished way by applying ‘Tilaks’ on the foreheads of guests and offering them ‘Gud Dhani’ in traditional way. The Vice Chancellor, Prof. Chandrakala Padia in her Presidential address stressed the need to celebrate the Indian New Year by imparting a message to imbibe the traditional values such as harmony, peace, strong family ties, deference to elders, and respect for the environment,

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Teachers and Students during the Presentation Session

Students felicitating the Faculty Members

The M.A Semester-I Students ready to welcome their seniors

artistic expression and peaceful co-existence. The Chief-Guest Bikaners’ Mayor Shri Narayan Chopra appreciated the initiative taken by the Department. Speaking on the occasion the Head & Dean, Faculty of Arts Prof. S.K. Agrawal pointed out that every country has suffered from moral crisis and the crisis of the Ideology of Progress. Celebration of such festivals provide a cultural base to our programmes of progress country wide and help develop our won Ideology of Development in the long run. The programme was convened by Dr. Seema Sharma. Besides the teaching and non-teaching faculty, several scholars, historian and cultural activists of Bikaner were also present.

* Clean Campus Campaign

‘Swachh Bharat Abhiyan’ (Clean India Campaign) was observed in Maharaja Ganga Singh University of Bikaner. The Dean (Arts) Prof. S.K Agrawal, the faculty members and the students of the University actively participated in this campaign. The ‘Abhiyaan’ started with a thorough cleaning of various University laboratories and the University premises. Several trolleys of garbage and waste material were disposed-off.

* ‘Green Campaign’ -Breathing New Life Into The Campus

Started as a Mission to turn the arid campus into a lush-green area, the students and the Faculty Members launched ‘Green Campaign’. Speaking

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on the occasion, the Dean Prof. S.K. Agrawal emphasized the need not only to plant the trees but also to grow them. On the occasion, all the Facutly Members and every student planted a sapling and took a pledge for their rearing.

* Hanging Parindas for BirdsBikaner is an arid city, more so in the summer months, when water becomes synonymous with survival of living beings. To develop empathy for birds and nature among the students, Parindas were hung on various trees and corners of the University Campus. These Parindas are filled with water everyday by the students. Such a move shall exercise a check on the most unfortunate death of birds due to the non-availabilityof water for birds.

* Adieu 2014

The farewell party for M.A. (Final) students was organized on 23 March, 2015. There were the moments of mixed feelings grief at the separation but a sense of exhilaration to start a new journey. Feelings were expressed in the form of an array of cultural events that the juniors had organized as a mark of love, gratitude and admiration for their seniors. On this occasion every senior was accorded a title. Mr. and Miss Farewell were also selected through a contest.

Liberation Linguistics: A Need to Reassess our ParadigmsA case of Tribal Protest Poetics

The Maharaja Ganga Singh University Department of English has accorded quite a considerable space to Minority voices in its curricula. It is perhaps the first University in the State to introduce a separate course on Tribal Studies as a part of its Master's Programme. Recently, the researches undertaken have brought to the light the tribal

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Students and Faculty Members taking oath for safeguarding the flora and fauna

Students applying Tilaks on the forehead of their seniors

divergence to normative English and their efforts to make their English Protest Poetics a part of their cultural anatomy.

Linguistic crossovers have been an integral part of multilingual cultures. There has always been yet another language and yet another style for discourses on philosophic, epistemological and religious domains, eg Sanskrit for three thousand or more years. The newness is in the extension of this tradition of creativity to English language – a language that has recent colonial associations and presumed external centers of power and control. Tribal crossover to English is a recent phenomenon. Language shift among the tribals is on the increase with an alarming statistics on their language abandonment and language endangerment. Tribal's refusal to be the custodians of their cultural legacy and linguistics and their strong desire to perform an effective interventionist’ role through the adoption of hegemonic languages, especially English is an interesting sociolinguistic perspective. Tribals' "wilful indifference" to use normative English and their deliberate consistent adoption of word forms and structures easy to memorize are exhibits of tribal's conscious and concerted efforts to develop their "language shift variety" which would enable them communicate their distinctiveness and protest voices globally. The tribal assertion that flexibility rather than fixity, hybridity and not necessarily purity infuse energy into the linguistic corpus as it carries the reflection and projection of cultural anatomy of its user is indicative of the determinants to evolve a paradigmatic, uneconomical distinctive English (distinct both from the West and the Centre) which is in consonance with their cultural repertoire and global economic discourse. This acculturation of English is a bid to move away both from the putative centre holding the western canons of power and control and from the hegemonic discourse of the bourgeois middle class. The diverse ways in which Tribal adolescents exploit English, foreground a number of sub-themes connected to power, ideology and language. Also the complex and multivalent relationship between linguistic imperialism and the tribal textual productions in English provide interesting insights into the way in which power and ideology work. The tribals have repositioned their resistance against the traditional discursive structure of power comprising the vast enthrographic present and state, language, literature, personnel, etc. In linguistic paradigms, Tribal English is on the periphery due to its inaccessibility to media, want of intellectual leadership, research institutes, and for the fact that homogeneity and uniformity continue to be the norms for the divergent varieties. When vast proliferation of world English is increasingly recognized, don't we need to reformulate, revisit and reassess our favourite paradigms!

Dr. S. K. Agrawal

Prof. Dev Kothari Speaks (An Interview)

Drawing room Literature is Soporific and Soppy. Dr. Dev Kothari, the former Director of Sahitya Santhan, Udaipur and Ex-Chairman, Rajasthani Language, Literature and Culture Academy, walks into the Department and is awarded

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a hearty welcome by all the Faculty Members. As he enters the Department, he switches off his constantly beeping phone. Drinking hot coffee to cool down, he tells Prof. S.K Agrawal that “Drawing room literature has come to hold a stake today, it is soporific and soppy and is not a reflection of the real world.”

Rajasthani Literature beautifully depicts the undivided one nature or essence like other literatures. The distinctive style of Rajasthani literature, however, represents both the positive and negative aspects of “I” and on the other hand the entirety as imbued with “We”.

Rajasthani Literature, unlike other literatures of comparatively recent origin, is the literature of spirituality too. It is for this reason that it reflects the positive and spiritual aspect of ‘I’ – that ‘I’ am the son of Param Pitta Paremeshwar (the supreme God) and denigrates “I” in the sense of egoism, pride and arrogance. Rajasthani Language is basically spiritual in its epistemology because it is ingrained in Prakrit.

A society has a distinctiveness which gives an identity to it, this identity in due course of time gets conceptualized and then it is reflected in the action of the people of that community. In the case of India, these three stages can be named as Bharatiya Darshan, Bhartiyata and Bharatiya Sanskrit. The Medieval Rajasthani writings depict a linear developments form Bharatiya Darshan to Bhartiyata leading to Bhartiya Sanskriti. English literature, on the other hand, seems to be a caricature of Bharatiya Sanskriti as is the case with V.S Naipaul, Salman Rushdie etc.

English literature like the other literatures of Modern world is swayed by marketability. The English writers sell India to earn money- they become Nobel Laureate because they find India booming with poverty, dirt, sluggishness, etc. Rajasthani Literature on the other hand, has never played a truant with its culture. In the most difficult circumstance also, the C’arans (The community that wrote most of the Rajasthani Literature) sang of the virtuosity of the land so that the kings may be encouraged to discharge their duty. No temptation of any sort could divert them from their mission. As a result, Rajasthani literature is deeply rooted in its soul.

We need to build a bridge between English and the languages of our own land. “ Rajasthani” need to be projected amongst the people of the world through English. What role do you perceive for English to promote Rajasthani Language.

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Today, English has become the world language. Rajasthani Language is the repository of the cultural traits of its people. Oral testimony in the form of sayings, folktales, songs, rituals, proverbs and many other practices provides us with a unique view of our world and a unique canon of literature. If works of Rajasthani Literature are translated into English/ the socio-cultural, historical and linguistic aspect of language will be acknowledged by the people of the world.

Students’ SpeakWhat I Can Say

The rational approach towards the concept adopted by our teachers eases off the learning for us. They have always been a guiding light who have directed us and inculcated the knowledge of the subject and human life as well.

Shahin Quadri M.A.English Semester II

The classroom teaching at the Department helped me to broaden my horizons and to have more comprehensive outlook towards literature in particular and life in general. Nirma Bishnoi M.A. Final

Learning at the University Department gave me ample opportunities to transform myself as an individual fit for the industry. It gave me a platform where I enhanced my communication and presentation skills. It also helped me boost my confidence level by inculcating the right attitude in me which is most required in today's world.

Amit Kumar,M.A. Semester II

I liked all the classroom activities such as group discussions, memory games, vocabulary exercises, quiz competitions, paper presentations which were conducted every weekend.

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Ramnarayan Maru M.A. Final English Literature

The academic as well as co-curricular activities carried out in the Department have added a lot in the development of my personality and communication skills. Renu Janagal,M.A Semester II

Students’ PageForever

Forever we remain oblivious to the future, lost to the past and enduring our torture. Forever we take chances to settle our scores, losing some battles and winning some wars. Forever praying out loud hoping someone will hear, forever crying softly but never shedding a tear. Forever exists behind a disguise, but the belief in forever keeps our hearts alive Rajesh Kumar, M.A. Semester - II

Love ApartEven though we are miles apart You are never far from my heart

I loved you thenI love you now

It's always when andNever how

Take me back to yesterdayAll the wonderful things you had to say

I loved you thenI love you now

It's always whenAnd never howI see your eyesI feel you near

Although you're notReally here

Rajkumar, M.A. Semester - II

Students of M.A. Final

My One, My Only, My EverythingFor so long, I wished for the day.The day that our love would find its way.From my heart and into your soul,The feeling so strong, I had no controlAmit Kumar, M.A. Semester - II

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Students of M.A. Previous

Whither Thou ArtThe University Department of English pays homage to the prominent figures who left for their heavenly abode after having left a district literary mark on he through their writings such as R.K. Laxman, Nand Chaturvedi, Rajender Bhai Puri and Nelson Mandela.

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