Category: writing

About that author- Charles Bukowski

“We are here to laugh at the odds and live our lives so well that Death will tremble to take us.”

This very famous quote by Charles Bukowski gives us an idea about the kind of individual he was. He was the kind of poet who wrote whatever was in his heart, whenever it was. He always spoke about a part of himself that exists inside us all but we choose to silence it. Bukowski, afraid of that part, still chooses to give it a voice through his poems.

Life 

Charles Bukowski was a German-American poet, writer known for the violent imagery he tries to depict with his writing. Bukowski left his home in Los Angeles to move to New York to pursue writing. In New York he took up a lot of odd jobs so that he could continue to write, but he did not see much success during that period of his life.

Career 

Charles Bukowski published his first story, titled  “Aftermath of a Lengthy Rejection Slip” in 1944, at the age of 24 in a magazine. He published another story titled “20 Tanks from Kasseldown” about 2 years later in 1946, but unfortunately he failed to make a breakthrough and was left disappointed. Bukowski wrote a lot, was published too little and received even less recognition. This led him to quit writing or rather take a break from writing in the year 1946.

Now, one could say that Bukowski did not do anything during his hiatus but I disagree. During these years Bukowski gathered material for his future work. He moved back to Los Angeles and lived the life of a hippie and wandered around the country staying in cheap places. He would travel. drink alcohol and observe. The observations are talked about in his later published books.

Bukowski talked about the harsh and crude reality of existence and is known for his raw and bare writing.

After a hiatus of almost a decade, Bukowski got back to writing. In the mid 1950s he was hospitalized for a fatal bleeding ulcer. After being released from the hospital he started to write poetry, at the age of 35. Charles Bukowski, in 1957 married Barbara Frye, who later died in India. This incident resulted in Bukowski going back to alcohol and writing poetry.

By this time, Bukowski’s poems were published in literary magazines. But still he was unable to see the success he very much deserved. In the 1960s, he published a lot of poems and short stories and only tasted success in his 50s.

Bukowski spent more than half of his life writing and not seeing any considerable amount of success. He did not give up, in fact there was no point in him giving up because he was not one of the writers who wrote to achieve success, he wrote because he was extraordinarily in love with his art. He did not try to be a writer, in fact he didn’t try to be anything but true to himself and his work. He did not force himself to write, evident by his decade long hiatus. He thought that there had been too many writers in the past who forced themselves to try, whereas in his opinion if you truly love an art form you wouldn’t have to try, it would come to the artist. In his opinion if you had to try to be or do something you shouldn’t try at all. Even his grave has the words “don’t try” engraved on it.

He died in 1994, due to leukemia after living an adventurous and fulfiled life. 

About that artist- Artemisia Gentileschi

Artemisia Gentileschi is regarded as one of the most illustrious artists of the 17th century. She made a name for herself during a time when women were not allowed to be a part of art and cultural activities. Her paintings were a symbol of women empowerment of the Baroque period and yet are not well known.

Early life

Artemisia was born in 1593 in Rome Italy, to Orazio Gentileschi, a renowned painter at the time. Her father recognized her talent from an early age and encouraged her to paint. Her father was a huge follower of the remarkable Baroque painter Caravaggio and her own paintings were highly inspired by Caravagio’s dramatic realism.  

Career

Gentileschi’s earliest known work is Sussana and the Elders, who at the time of painting this was only 17. The painting shows a young woman Sussane taking a bath in her garden and two men with ill intentions and a predatory look towering over the young women. Sussane who obviously seems very vulnerable at the moment and can not do much but just confute the two men with her actions which go to waste. This painting is inspired from a tale in the book of daniel. This tale portrays Sussana taking a bath in her garden as two elders start spying and harassing her sexually. 

In 1611, an Italian landscape painter Agostino Tassi who was working under Orazio, went into their house and raped Artemisia. Orazio was under the impression that Tassi would be marrying her daughter to save the Gentileschi name from embarrassment but when Tassi refused to do so Orazio took him to trial. This was really tragic for the 17 year old Gentilesci, according to her father and all the other men in power her virginity was stolen but for her it was a part of her that was stripped away. As if this wasn’t enough torture for her she was tortured with nails and screws at the trial to attest the authenticity of her testimony. Tassi was found guilty but did not serve any sentence owing to his relations with the pope.

A short while after the trial, her father married her off to a Florence based artist and moved to florence. This period of her life brought her tremendous success. She became the first woman to be accepted at the Academy of Design, Florence. This meant that she did not need permission from any man to buy art supplies, she could do it without any men controlling her.

In Florence, Gentileschi had developed her own style. She used tenebrism in her paintings which is a style of painting that uses light and dark contrasts and the dark becomes a dominating feature.

In 1620, she completed Judith Slaying Holofernes, which is inspired from a narrative in The Bible. Throughout the history of art many versions of this tale have been painted by multiple artists, even Caravaggio but Gentileschi’s  version is more real and violent. This work of hers can be compared with her own traumatic experience, where Holofernes can be compared to Tassi and Judith is Gentileschi.

Now it is not that she was the first female painter ever but all the female artists that came before her chose still lives or aesthetically pleasing subject matters. Gentileschi on the other hand, portrayed women that were a subject to male oppression like herself and were raw. Yet she is not very well known in the 21st century. Gentileschi’s work is empowering and a mark of early feminism and needs to be celebrated.

About that author- George Orwell

George Orwell, best known for his novels “Animal Farm” and his dystopian novel “1984”. He was known for a dystopian world he could create through his imagination. His writings, in a sense were also satirical, criticism towards institutions that held power

Childhood

Born on june 25, 1903 Eric Arthur Blair wrote some of the best dystopian novels under the pen name George Orwell. He was born in Motihari, India. His father worked for the Indian Civil Services. His mother Ida Blair grew up in Burma. A year after Eric was born his mother took him and his sister back to England. Eric had 2 sisters and he was the middle child. He was sent to a boarding school, excelled academically and even secured a scholarship in school.

He did not come from a financially sound household and therefore could not go to a university to study further. So instead he left for Burma (a British colony back then) in 1922 to serve in the Indian Imperial police. 5 years later he resigned from the Imperial Police to go back to England in order to chase his dream of becoming a writer. But Burma left him inspired, inspired enough to write a novel about it entitled “Burmese Days”. His experiences in Burma shaped his perception of writing to a certain extent.

Career 

After leaving Burma, he spent some time with his family and also lived in the slums of London and Paris, working odd jobs, he even washed dishes at hotels in Paris. He collected all of these experiences and wrote them down in his first well recognized  work “Down and Out in Paris and London” published in 1933 under the pen name George Orwell. This work of his provides insights about the life of the impoverished and the working class in that economy. 

Orwell’s second piece of work “Burmese Days” published in 1934 gives it’s readers a tour of Burma under British rule. This novel surrounds the grim facets of colonialism that he himself first handedly lived through.

His stories contain an alienated character, a character who feels a little detached from the environment. This alienation parallels his feelings during childhood and perhaps even his adult life.

Orwell published books in the next few subsequent years including “A Clergyman’s Daughter” in 1935, “Keep the Aspidistra Flying” in 1936, a rather political novel.

Orwell’s writings became political due to political movements involving imperialism and the uprising of the communist ideology.

Orwell left for Spain in 1936 to fight in the Spanish civil war where he suffered some serious injuries. At the time, his wife, Eileen was taking care of the publishing of his next book “The Road to Wigan Pier ” (1937). In mid 1937 Orwell came back to London and was later diagnosed with tuberculosis. His time in Spain was one that he expresses in his novel “Homage to Catalonia”. During WWII, he was working as a journalist at the BBC, a job that he left in 1943. Later working as an editor for a newspaper which led him to be known as a fine journalist.

In 1950, about a year after “1984” was published, he died due to Tuberculosis, granting the world some great work to read.

ALCOHOLISM IN INDIA

One of the most important products of global addiction demand is an alcoholic beverage. In developing countries like India, alcohol consumption tends to be a major problem because of the various socio-cultural practices across the nation, different alcohol policies and practices across the various states, lack of awareness of alcohol-related problems among the community, false mass media propaganda about alcohol use, various alcohol drinking patterns among the alcohol consumers and the emergence of social drinking as a habit because of the widespread urbanisation across the country. 

Social consequences of alcohol use

Alcohol consumption not only affects the individuals but also his family members get affected in one way or the other. The person in an intoxicated state may indulge in domestic violence with his family members; may exhaust the savings of the family, which can negatively affect the education of his children, and the children of alcoholic fathers will have strained relationship with their family members, which can affect their psychological wellbeing.

Road traffic accidents

One of the major problem of alcohol consumption are road traffic accidents which occur due to driving vehicles under the influence of alcoholic beverages. Both developing and developed countries report high rates of road traffic accidents because of alcohol consumption.

Primary care intervention for alcohol-related problems

In developing countries like India, primary care physicians are the first contact of patients with the healthcare system. primary care management of alcohol-related problems include three core steps, namely, counselling the patient on the ill-effects of alcohol and, if necessary, prescribing medications like disulfiram and connecting with the patients by organizing treatment programs and forming support groups. If necessary, they have to refer the patient to higher centres for further care and management.

BUT WHAT ABOUT PEOPLE WHO CAN’T AFFORD THESE TREATMENT AND SUFFERES FROM ITS CONSEQUENCES

In many countries AA Meetings are held for being a support emotionally and spiritually to an alcoholic person with no financial support and most of all countries it being held have not only they have accepted this but hole heartedly supported it some for their family members or some for their friends suffering from alcoholism.

What is AA?

Alcoholics Anonymous is a fellowship of men and women who share their experience, strength and hope with each other that they may solve their common problem and help others to recover from alcoholism.

The only requirement for membership is a desire to stop drinking. There are no dues or fees for AA membership; we are self-supporting through our own contributions. AA is not allied with any sect, denomination, politics, organization or institution; does not wish to engage in any controversy; neither endorses nor opposes any causes. Our primary purpose is to stay sober and help other alcoholics to achieve sobriety.

AA is nonprofessional – it doesn’t have clinics, doctors, counsellors or psychologists. All members are themselves recovering from alcoholism. There is no central authority controlling how AA groups operate. It is up to the members of each group to decide what they do. However, the AA program of recovery has proved to be so successful that almost every group follows it in very similar ways.

WHAT DOES A.A. DO?

  1. A.A. members share their experience with anyone seeking help with a drinking problem; they give person-to-person service or “sponsorship” to the alcoholic coming to A.A. from any source.
  2. The A.A. programme, set forth in our Twelve Steps, offers the alcoholic a way to develop a satisfying life without alcohol.

HISTORY OF AA IN INDIA

Here is an account of how AA came to India and it’s growth in the subsequent years. Though there are no accurate records from the early days, what is definitely clear is that Harold M., a school teacher by profession, was the first person in India, to stop drinking and gain lasting sobriety through the spiritual principles of Alcoholics Anonymous. He stopped drinking on 5th May 1957, and hence that date is nationally acknowledged as the “Founders Day” in India.

On 5th May 2021, AA completed 64 years of its service in India. Looking back, the results are heart-warming. The wide support and awareness generated by the groups in India and its members inspires immense hope for the future.

AWARENESS OF AA

In India, AA meeting is a program which mostly seen by people through foreign movies and shows not through advertisement or medical portals as its necessity seems nonsensical by people especially in India because of their traditional values about alcohol where some drinks it as a medicine and some as men for showing their authority and masculinity over others, stupid norms like that make bad habit like drinking into ADDICTION.

WHY MENSTRUATION A TABOO IN INDIA?

Menstruation is a phenomenon unique to girls. Menstruation is the natural part of the reproductive cycle in which blood from the uterus exits through the vagina. It is a natural process that first occurs in girls usually between the age of 11 and 14 years and is one of the indicators of the onset of puberty among them.

Taboos surrounding menstruation exclude women and girls from many aspects of social and cultural life. Some of these are helpful, but others have potentially harmful implications.

In India especially, I found it extremely ironic for it to be still a taboo in this time and era, even before I don’t understand why it was called a taboo and the reason for that I guess was, India where a girl child recognised as boon ( as GODDESS LAKSHMI when born) and giving birth is also considered boon given only to women despite that this unique process that make it possible for a women to have a child is considered a TABOO. Even with many scientific clarification of the process of this unique phenomenon, even though being this 21st century there still continuous myth regarding this adapted within the society.

SOME OF THEM ARE:

  • Women who menstruate have long been taught to keep silent about their periods. Young girls are taught from a young age that they have to manage it privately and discreetly.
  •  In Indian households including the literate ones, women are constantly reminded of the old-age traditions where “you are not allowed to touch anything holy, visit temples, cook or touch pickle.”
  • The taboo is so ingrained that women often have the “walk of shame” while carrying their sanitary pads wrapped in black plastic bags in their hands. 
  • Strangely enough, in some cultures, celebrations are held on the commencement of menstruation. And in the same cultures, the already menstruating women are looked down upon as impure and filthy.
  • It is not uncommon for boys to giggle and laugh during biology class when the topic of menstruation comes up.
  • BUT NOT IN EVERY CULTURE IT OCCURS- In Kashmiri Hindu culture, menstruating women are given special care considering the belief that they become weak due to blood loss. They do not consider them to be impure and rules like, a woman on her period can’t visit temples or can’t work don’t apply.

#BREAKTHEBLOODYTABOO

It’s high time that we normalize menstruation as just a healthy and positive part of the female life cycle. Menstrual periods are nothing to be ashamed of. Just like digestion, blood circulation and respiration are considered as natural and biological processes, both men and women should work towards making menstruation an important topic to talk about openly. This is the only way to combat its silence and break the stigma.

some changes I notice toward breaking this taboo for women in this society

  • The greatest changed I noticed was for the changed working environment toward women as the sanitary environment facilities given to them as employment care like washroom provided with sanitary pads and tampons etc.
  • knowledge about the first period to young girls now given at their school is compulsory not only to girls but to boys too given knowledge for it be known as normal topic and not as a taboo topic.
  • Advertisement about sanitary pads and tampons starts to make this topic to talk openly about.
  • Men buying the sanitary pads and tampons make it comfortable for women during their periods so that they can express their thoughts, sorrows, angers, happiness with them.

Child Marriage

The Beginning

God resides in the heart of a child. Child is as pure as water. When dirt enters in water it becomes impure. When a child is married the child loses the inner purity. To fulfill some “so called” rituals and respect their tradition people get ready to tie their children’s knot with someone even before the appropriate age. To prove our traditions, to respect them do we really need sin like child marriage? On one hand we talk about children and on the other hand we talk about marriage, how come we are living with this contradiction? We are living in a society where a separate section of society feels marrying their children after 18 is as dangerous as nuclear bomb. The actual nuclear bomb is child marriage. Because of this many children have died or let me say they have martyred. And here we are crying over GST; high price of tomatoes. This is the culture we are living with, this is the nation we are residing in.

The Middle

What actually child marriage is? Child marriage is a human rights violation. Despite laws against it, the practice remains widespread, in part because of persistent poverty and gender inequality. In developing countries, one in every three girls is married before reaching age 18. Child marriage is related to child espousal and court approved early marriages after teenage pregnancy. In many cases, only one marriage-partner is a child, usually the female. Child marriages were common throughout history for a variety of reasons, including poverty, insecurity, as well as for political and financial reasons. Today, child marriage is still fairly widespread in developing countries, such as parts of Africa, South Asia and Latin America. The incidence of child marriage has been falling in most parts of the world. Somewhere child marriage has given rise to teenage pregnancy. In poor countries, early pregnancy limits or can even eliminate their education options. This affects their economic independence. This makes girls more vulnerable to persistent poverty if their spouses die, abandon, or divorce them. Girls in child marriages are more likely to suffer from domestic violence, child sexual abuse, and marital rape.

Picture Credit: http://shorturl.at/afpCZ


The United Nations, through a series of conventions has declared child marriage a violation of human rights. Child marriages violates a range of women’s interconnected rights such as equality on grounds of sex and age, to receive the highest attainable standard of health, access to education and freedom from violence. The society is interlinked with each other. If one factor gets effected the whole system is disturbed. Then in which world we thought that child marriage would not create any change in our surroundings? Or the objects encircling us wouldn’t have any effect on child marriage? Factors that impact child marriage include poverty, gender inequality, protecting family honor; tradition and culture; and insecurity, particularly during war, famine or epidemics. Other factors include family ties in which marriage is a means of consolidating powerful relations between families. Why have we made marriage a form of business? Why always dowry has to be included in marriage? Why bride’s price is to be paid? Providing a girl with a dowry at her marriage is an ancient practice which continues in some parts of the world. These difficulties pressed families to betroth their girl, irrespective of her age, as soon as they had the resources to pay the dowry. A bride price is the amount paid by the groom to the parents of a bride for them to consent to him marrying their daughter. In some countries, the younger the bride, the higher the price she may fetch. Hence, the rise of the menace like child has become so popular all around the globe.

The End

Some of these marriages could have been stopped, in fact they should have been prevented only if people were well aware? No, only if we were all aware. We as a society need to come together to stop this gruesome crime. We need to stand against such traditional practices that endanger the lives of young kids, which lead to the creation of a dark cloud over these kids’ future. We just don’t need an end to this practice but we need an end to the thought process that lead people to think crimes like this to be okay in the name of traditions, we need an end to this totally aggravated legacy of ruining children’s life.

About that author James Baldwin

An American essayist and novelist, born in 1924 in Hampton, James Baldwin who addressed the issue of race in 20th century america. He grew up poor, in a black ghetto and in the 1930s, during a time when racism encompassed the whole of America and Baldwin too was subjected to it all his life.

His work revolves around the racial and social issues that existed in 20th century america.

Early life

James Baldwin never knew his biological father who was a drug addict, owing to this reason his mother left his father and moved to Harlem where she gave birth to James baldwin. Baldwin was the eldest to his 8 siblings. Baldwin figured out his affinity toward writing at an early age and was exceptional at it too. He wrote his first article when he was only 13, this article was published in his school magazine. Throughout his teenage years Baldwin published short stories and essays in local literary magazines. In his young teenage years Baldwin was a youth minister at the church. Bldwin was a devout christian, this could be because his father was a baptist minister. In later years of his life, he refused to being religious however his religious attitude shaped his perception to a great extent.

Throughout his life he faced incidents of racism, some of which he addresses in his work as well. 

Career

In 1943, he moved to Greenwich village to pursue literature and work with other writers and literaries. During his time at Greenwich he was also able to secure a writing fellowship. At this time Baldwin’s short stories were being published and not in local but well recognized and reputed magazines.

About 3 years later Baldwin emigrated to France under another fellowship where he would not be treated with the racist remarks of the American and would be able to make a name for himself beyond his african -american community. In France he was met with his sexual conflict and hoped to come to terms with it and understand it better.

Work

Baldwin wrote his first novel Go Tell It on the Mountain which was published in 1953. a near autobiographical novel which revolves around a young teenager growing up in Harlem, New York and his relationship with his father and the church. The book deals with several issues that prevailed in america. It talks about racism, poverty, Harlem, New York, basically all the things that Baldwin endured in his childhood are mentioned in this work through the eyes of another character.

Giovanni’s Room, was his second novel released in 1954, which deals with the sexul ambivalence of a man, and his relationship with other men  living in paris. Homosexuality was a tabboo during that time and who else could have talked about a topic so contreversial if not Baldwin.

Baldwin’s subsequent novels Another Country and Tell Me How Long The Train’s Been Gone, talk about race and homosexuality.

James Baldwin is known for his thought inducing essays. He had the ability to write about an issue giving the reader another highly intellectual way to look at it. In addition to being an important literary figure of the 20th century he was also an important figure in the Civil Rights Movement.

Baldwin in 1987 died in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France due to stomach cancer leaving his work enriched with revolution behind.

Beloved School

I was too young to understand how and why you were so important to the people who already had passed out from you. But the day I got my farewell and had tears in my eyes, I guess I knew then why you were so important to me, to them, to all of us. My education, my confidence, my surviving power, my friends and life long memories, I owe them all to you. I joined your forces as a three year old kid and left you as an adult. All those years I lived, learned, fell, rose, in your lap of wisdom and you let me. You taught me to be me. You made me, me. You have been the destination of my firsts, and you are just as special as those firsts. I wore your name on my badge for years and no day even after all those years did I feel any less of you as a family. You became my religion for the only praise I know was for you, to you, about you. I didn’t give fourteen precious years of my life to you instead you gave fourteen life changing years of yours to me. I stumbled and you held my hand and walked me to the ladder of success, you became my rainbow after days of rain, I prayed and will continue to pray for you are the divine power to me, my beloved school you gave me everything.

Though I cannot thank you enough for what you have done to me and what you are doing and will continue to do, to many more like me, but here is a thank you note as I try to be a little less emotional and a lot more of your student by reliving my days within you.  I thank you for making me believe that teachers are really next to god, that they are the candles that lighten up your way and that you can reach places with their support. I thank you for giving the stupid, idiotic, smart, beautiful friends whom I now bank upon for any and every life problem. I thank you for introducing me to the world of books, debates, speeches, writing, and many more. I thank you for bringing the PICASSO inside me out to the world for now I rock at creativity. I thank you for teaching me perseverance, courage, honor, respect, harmony, dignity, bravery, discipline, consistency, commitment, ambition, care, kindness, loyalty, service, forgiveness, integrity, hard work, gratitude, humility, trust, self respect and most important of them all LOVE. I thank you for not only building my character but also securing my future. I thank you for preparing for the cruel world with your soft feather like deeds. I thank you for crowning me with your presence. I thank you for residing within me. I thank you for building me, for encouraging me, for guiding me, for loving me. I THANK YOU for everything as I bow to you and will continue to do so till I breathe my last.

Signing off,                                                                                                                    Yours Truly….

Don’t misspend your teenage time

We are very well know how important teenage life is important and the most crucial part of life. It is the time you make the most important decisions in life and realize your goals and dreams. It is really a small age wherein, we are asked to make decisions on how our next 10yrs of life should be or wish to be. It is not acceptable and stressful to take such huge decisions in a confused state of mind. Do we never know what we really want to ask ourselves what do you really want? most of us don’t get the answers. We all are streamlined to travel in certain paths in life as others did or elders did and that is what we should be doing irrespective of interests, likes, or talents. It is ruthless to have pressure on teenagers to decide on their life. But, we definitely know that we have enough time to build a proper career and assemble the stones properly to see the view behind those huge rocks. This time you will never ever get it back never set back to relax keep running with mild breaks but do not lose the consistency and zeal to run to succeed in the race. We have enough time to gain experience in our interests, skills, and talents.

Most of us really don’t know what to do with so much idle time and misspend it on other unwanted things. But using it in the right way will lead to the best life. Use this time to hustle, learn, grow, ask, think, restructure, reframe, understand and be honest to your work. It is okay to make mistakes that’s when you learn how to face the next and prevent making another one. Mistakes teach you so much than one could ever. They shouldn’t be intentional but if it is accidental it should help you open your eyes and grow from the mistakes. Learn new skills, and improve on your interests they help a lot for your future.

These may sound boring and exhausting now but few years down the line you will be thankful to your past self for not misspending time and using it for career building. Even such small things help a lot in resume building. The users look for other qualities in your resume alongside your degree. They improve your chances of getting jobs and may experience an increase in stipend for the qualities you possess. This may sound so much now but taking slow-steady steps will add so much. Develop these qualities in this time and your experience has a lot of value in the future. You never know what really happens and people your age may waste their time partying and hang out with friends limitlessly. But, it is your option to choose whether to misspend or use it wisely. Because it is not their future or career, they are there today and not tomorrow but, your time never comes back to you. Your future your time is completely in your hands. Know what you need to spend time on at the end of the day it is you who is hustling hard and strongly wanting to have the best life. Find your stones and build them wisely.

Women Empowerment: It’s Meaning and Why is It Important?

“I rise up my voice- not so I can shout, but so that those without a voice can be heard…we cannot succeed when half of us are held back.”

Nobel Laureate Malala Yousafzai

And that sentiment precisely outlines the basis of new age women empowerment. Discrimination against women is rampant all over the world even in this 21st century. Even though about 50% of the world’s population consists of women, but unfortunately most of them are denied basic rights education, freedom of speech, voting power and even independent identity.

In India, in theory, women enjoy a status of equality with the men as per constitutional and legal provisions. Arguably, our country has taken enormous strides towards inclusion of women with the fairer gender excelling in diverse fields, from literature to astrophysics to finance. But with headlines about dowry killing, female foeticides and domestic violence still making the newspapers, put a silent question mark behind the two words.

Meaning of Women Empowerment

If it is to be elucidated beyond the two self-explanatory words, ‘Women Empowerment’ refers to complete emancipation of women from socioeconomic shackles of dependancy and deprivations. Often made synonymous to gender equality, the term women empowerment encompasses a much larger set of principles that needs whole-hearted attention.

Empowerment of women would mean encouraging women to be self-reliant, economically independent, have positive self-esteem, generate confidence to face any difficult situation and incite active participation in various socio-political development endeavours. The growing conscience is to accept women as individuals capable of making rational and educated decisions about them as well as the society, increasing and improving the economic, political and legal strength of the women, to ensure equal-right as men, achieve internationally agreed goals for development and sustainability, and improve the quality of life for their families and communities.

The various facets of women empowerment that needs to be addressed for a rounded out development are listed as:

Human Rights & Individual Rights:

A woman has the right to express her thoughts and opinions freely, without any restriction. Individual empowerment may be achieved by imparting self-confidence to articulate and assert the power of independent decision making. Women should be aware of their rights and social positions that they are entitled to constitutionally.

Social Empowerment of Women:

The most critical aspect of social empowerment of women is the promotion of gender equity. Gender equality implies that in society women and men enjoy the same opportunities, outcomes, rights and obligations in all spheres of life.

Educational Empowerment of Women:

It means enabling women to grab the knowledge, skills and self-confidence necessary to participate fully in the development process. Giving preference to the girl child for educational opportunities is a start.

Economic Empowerment of Women:

It means reducing the financial dependence of women on their mate counterparts by making them a significant part of the human resources. A better quality of material life, within the family as well as for the overall society, can be achieved through promotion of sustainable livelihoods like cottage industries, small entrepreneurial efforts owned and managed by women.

Empowerment Through Legal Knowledge:

Not only does it suggest the provision of an effective legal structure which is supportive of women empowerment, there also is the need to spread awareness among women about their legal rights and laws preventing their exploitation. It means addressing the gaps between what the law prescribed and what actually occurs.

Political Empowerment of Women:

The existence of a political system encouraging the participation of women in the political decision-making process and in governance. Indian constitution has provided the bulwarks for gender equality in the country in the following articles:

Article 14: Equality before law “The State shall not deny to any person equality before the law or the equal protection of the laws within the territory of India Prohibition of discrimination on groups of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth”.

Article 16 (2): Equal opportunities “No citizen shall, on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex, descent, place of birth, residence or any of them, be ineligible for, or discriminated against in respect or, any employment or office under the state”.

Article 23: Prohibition of traffic in human beings and forced labour.

Article 39(a): The citizen, men & women equally have the right to an adequate means of livelihood.

Article 40 (after the 73rd Amendment): 1/3rd of seats in panchayats shall be reserved for women.

Article 42: State shall make provisions for just and humane working conditions & maternity relief.

Article 51 A (e): One of the duties of every citizen is to renounce practices derogatory to the dignity of woman.

Government Laws and its subsequent amendments have seen larger inclusion of women with respect to their standing in the society and also there many acts which are preventing polygamy and bigamy, and their strict enforcements has to a large extent contributed towards lessening women exploitation. Various government schemes like Rastriya Mahila Kosh and STEP (Support to training cum Employment for women) have managed to bring financial development of rural women through self-sustainable employment. Also “Kanyashree” scheme which is in West Bengal, has been ranked 1st globally for women empowerment. The National Policy of Empowerment of Women (2001) is aimed at addressing all forms of violence against women including physical, mental and that arising from customs and traditions.

Why Woman Empowerment is Important?

A strong patriarchal society with deep-rooted socio-cultural values continues to affect the progress of women’s empowerment in the country. The need of the hour is an egalitarian society. Where there should be no place for gender superiority. Aim of government policies should be to identify and eliminate forces that are directed towards keeping the tradition of male dominance over its female counterpart alive.

Women empowerment in its actually is synonymous with complete development of the society. An educated woman, with knowledge about health, hygiene, cleanliness is capable of creating a better disease-free environment for her family. A self-employed woman is capable of contributing not only to her family’s finances, but also contributes towards increment of the country’s overall GDP. And many things which can be achieved.

All we need is an organized approach from the Government and law enforcement agencies of the country focussed in the right direction that would rest only with the liberation of women from all forms of evil.

About that author- Sylvia Plath

If the moon smiled, she would remember you. You leave the same impression of something beautiful but annihilating.

This quote is from one of my favorite Sylvia Plath poems “The Rival”. 

If you read Sylvia Plath you would find that her poetry wasn’t about the beauty that surrounded her, the fruity aroma of the garden flowers or blistering sun shining on her face or the wind sweeping her way. No, it was about none of that. Her poetry style was confessional.

LIFE

Sylvia Plath was born on october 27 of 1932 in Boston Massachusetts. She was a poet and a novelist who shaped American literature to a great extent. Plath published her first poem at the age of 8 in an American newspaper under the children’s section.From then on Plath went on to write  and publish multiple poems in different magazines and newspapers. At the age of 8 Plath also faced a great deal of personal loss, her father passed away due to untreated diabetes. Her father was also a subject for a lot of her poems that she wrote in her later years.

Plath was a good student, she excelled in academics and attended the Smith’s College in Massachusetts. Plath also suffered from depression, which she elaborates in her poems. She underwent electrocution therapy for her depression. We are talking about the year 1950, when mental illness was not a socially acceptable concept. No points for guessing that the electrocution therapy did not work in fact it made matters worse for plath. In 1953, at the age of 21, the feeling of which she describes in one of her works as “blissfully succumbed to the whirling blackness that I honestly believed was eternal oblivion.” plath made her first suicide attempt by taking her mother’s sleeping pills. After this incident she remained in psychiatric care for months. 

Career 

In 1960, Sylvia Plath released a collection of her poems, entitled the colossus and other poems.. In this collection she talks about death, suicide, her father, and her depressive periods and thoughts.

Sylvia Plath’s poetry wasn’t particularly happy and that is because it was confessional or even autobiographical in a sense and Plath herself was deeply depressed. Here is an excerpt from one of her poems called Lady Lazarus;

“Dying is an art,

like everything else. 

I do it exceptionally well. 

I do it so it feels like hell. 

I do it so it feels real. 

I guess you could say I’ve a call”.

If it wasn’t clear until now, then these lines give us an idea of the intensity of torment that her own mind was subjecting her to.

Marriage and the aftermath

Plath married Ted Hughes, a poet and writer in 1956. They had 2 children together. The two later separated in 1962. The couple did not have a great relationship, some controversy and rumors surrounded Hughes even after Plath’s death.

During the last few years of her life Plath published exceptional work, some of the best work ever written. This vey period of Plath’s life is the one that shaped literature and inspired the future confessional poets. Plath poured her heart out on the pages during these years. She published a novel “the bell jar” in 1963 which did exceptionally well. But her career was cut short when at the age of 30, in 1962 after what is described as “a burst of creativity” she took her own life. Her posthumously published collection of poems “Ariel” also attracted a lot of readers and to this day transcends her.

About that artist- francis bacon-2

Saying that Francis Bacon’s life was tragic would be an understatement. He went through a great deal of emotional and mental trauma. 

Tough love

In the 1950s Bacon was moving around a lot, living ephemerally he became romantically involved with and that was Peter Lacy who was an English pilot. His relationship with Lacy was toxic in every way, shae and form to say the least. Their love was fervent and extremely passionate that perfectly enveloped the vicious and destructive side it possessed. Bacon was somewhat of a masochist and Lacy, the opposite. Peter lacy would beat Bacon and abuse him throughout their relationship. Now, an ordinary person would have been appalled by the actions of peter lacy, but this was bacon he was no ordinary man. He loved Lacy with all his might, he was obsessed with him and was blinded by this very love that was, inch by inch devouring his very existence. In fact it was so destructive that once, Lacy threw him out of the window of his house over an argument they had. Bacon’s face was disfigured owing to the assault on him by Lacy. This also affected Bacon’s artisan.

Around this time Bacon’s paintings changed dramatically, his style was much more different than the one’s he made previously.

Evolution of his work

The paintings he made in the 50s were characterized by the use of a combination of blue, black and green colors which could be attributed to the changes occurring in his life.

Francis Bacon’s series of seven paintings Man in Blue I-VII, 1954 shows men in black suits present in a murky, grey almost alien landscape seemingly estranged and bewildered.

His paintings Two Figures, 1953 and Two Figures, 1953 see two men in a rather strange setting with one on top of the other. These paintings vividly point towards the relationship between him and lacy.

A few years later lacy moved back to morocco and bacon followed him there. Francis Bacon had achieved a lot more by this time. He held multiple exhibitions and his paintings were being displayed in reputed museums and art galleries. Just before one of his exhibits in London, he was told that Lacy had passed away. This deeply scarred him.

After a little while he met George Dyer, and became involved with him too, who was a subject for a lot of his subsequent paintings. His relationship with Dyer was not as eventful as his previous relationship except just a few incidents. Dyer was found dead in the bathroom of a hotel where Bacon and Dyer were staying. His painting figure at a washbasin, 1976 resembles a man lying in the bathroom which could be about Dyer.

Over the next years Bacon’s work kept on evolving and his paintings became more polished but his desires didn’t falter. He continued to act the way he used to. In 1992, Bacon succumbed to a heart attack. His art was esoteric and he still maintained that cryptism in his art even though there was a lot that he was going through beyond his colors and canvas.

ABOUT THAT ARTIST- Francis Bacon-1 

A lot of you might think of the philosopher, but that is not who we are going to talk about in this article. 

There was another Francis Bacon, who was named after the philosopher and British Chancellor who, as the artist’s father claimed, was their ancestor born in 1909 in Dublin, Ireland an artist known for his unorthodox, borderline disturbing paintings.

A lot of his paintings were portraits of faces disfigured from some form of emotional suffering which his life was certainly full of. He derived inspiration for his paintings from an array of landscapes. For example he derived inspiration for one of his paintings from a nurse screaming in the movie battleship potemkin molded with his own fascinating imagination.

Humble beginnings 

Bacon was asthamatic and from a young age was very much in touch with his feminine side, his homosexuality was beginning to transpire and his family, especially his father considered it an abomination and Bacon, at the age of 16, was dismissed from his house. He went to London afterwards, where he did a couple of odd jobs just trying to make ends meet. Francis Bacon later started living with an art connoisseur, in France whom he met at an exposition. It was in France where the idea of becoming a painter started to grow on him. The Spanish painter Pablo Picasso was a major influence for Bacon, he was extremely in awe of the way Picasso’s ability to imagine and the uncanny geometry he used, the fragments of which can be slightly seen in Bacon’s work.

Early career 

Francis Bacon completed his first painting called crucifixion in 1933 and this brought him some success. But things did not run so smoothly for him after his artistic debut, his career saw a decline from here. His subsequent paintings did not receive critical or commercial success, instead his paintings were being criticised at this time.

Bacon did not release any of his work to the public for a while after this. During this time he was extremely self critical of his work, and was dissatisfied with almost all of it until he released his painting Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion in 1944 at an exhibition which enticed a lot of attention back to him. From this point onwards Bacon saw substantial success.

Bacon went on to make paintings such as Painting, 1946, Head I, 1948, Head VI, 1949 and perhaps his most famous, a painting inspired from Velázquez’s Portrait of Pope Innocent X by the Spanish painter Diego Velázquez. 

All his paintings till now had very similar color scheming, he used quite dark, gloomy colors for a lot of his work and all of them possess an enigmatic whiff to them. His paintings seem like a hybrid of something so familiar yet something that can still manage to evade one’s imagination.

During all this while Bacon’s transformation could be seen through his paintings, his work was evolving as the years passed by and was being deeply affected by his personal experiences as one would expect.

Do we have to sacrifice good economy for healthy environment?

Be the change you wish to see in the world. Take a pledge to protect Mother Earth this World Environment day

Past decade has handed over much benefit to human kind and the one to suffer is environment exposing environmental degradation that costs…….. per year worldwide.

“While the overall policy focus should be on meeting basic needs and expanding opportunities for growth, they should not be on the expense of unsustainable environmental degradation.”-muthukmara mani(senior environmental economist).

Using natural resources as fuel to the economic development many have curbed themselves over the poverty, it providing employability and many new opportunities to individuals. With excess greed and overuse of all these resources there has been excruciating effects on environment overall degrading forests, scarring natural resources these are overall affecting the economy in return.

Tony Abbott said his govt. won't "put the environment ahead of the economy". RT if you think he's got his it wrong.

Poverty remains cause of either of both consequence and cause of environmental degradation. Needless mining and overuse of resources that are on first hand limited to us which is quiet evident over degrading agriculture yields per hectare as livestock is overgrazed grassland and forest deplete for human settlements.

            The question that arises is our economic benefit so crucial that it costs us worsened environmental quality, depleted resources, extinct habitats and other impacts?

Something that emerges out is environmental stability, low emission resource efficient greening of the economy should be possible at costs of terms less to that of GDP of each country, valuing the available natural resources and taking policy decision accordingly.

To avail this issue the natural environmental growth be necessary, affordable, desirable, and measurable.

  • If not now it’s going to be a challenge to turn the pages around to covert the damages done to nature with hefty economical costs in future and also proving deadly not only to the flora-fauna but eventually to humans too, hence it’s necessary to avail it at the very moment.
  • Policies such as environmental taxes can positively help minimize the cost and pressure over governments hence making it affordable to all.
  • With so many diversifies ecologies and habitat all over the globe the policies and laws needs to be designed such that it preserves and nourishes these natural gems.
We think cutting edge technology is essential in delivering environmental and economic gains.

What can be done?

Particulate emission reduction can effectively help decrease GDP modestly even reducing 10%.

Making more tractable efficient commitments and following them religiously, look through the environments vision and then make other end decision regarding the communities, societies, business and governments. Science can be at its most use when it’s accessible to every person who wishes to use it. Every person taking this as a personal responsibility the awareness would make it up to history pages. We need to turn around the current situation and consider it as a need of an hour if we wish out economy our trades our families to thrive in peace without draining our economies.

Bloom’s Taxonomy

A group of cognitive psychologists, curriculum theorists and instructional researchers, and testing and assessment specialists published in 2001 a revision of Bloom’s Taxonomy with the title A Taxonomy for Teaching, Learning, and Assessment. This title draws attention away from the somewhat static notion of “educational objectives” (in Bloom’s original title) and points to a more dynamic conception of classification.

The authors of the revised taxonomy underscore this dynamism, using verbs and gerunds to label their categories and subcategories (rather than the nouns of the original taxonomy). These “action words” describe the cognitive processes by which thinkers encounter and work with knowledge.

A statement of a learning objective contains a verb (an action) and an object (usually a noun).

Using Bloom's taxonomy to help write lesson plans is the best way to start to differentiate your lessons. It can be tricky for new teachers and trainee teachers to plan lessons and differentiate effectively but I found using Bloom's taxonomy is a great help. This infographic shows exactly the differentiation possible. #teacherofsci #adviceforteachers #teacheradvice #teachertips #teachingtips #teacher #teachers #teaching #education #writinglessonplans #lessonplan #bloomstaxonomy #blooms
  • The verb generally refers to [actions associated with] the intended cognitive process.
  • The object generally describes the knowledge students are expected to acquire or construct. (Anderson and Krathwohl, 2001, pp. 4–5)

The cognitive process dimension represents a continuum of increasing cognitive complexity—from remember to create. Anderson and Krathwohl identify 19 specific cognitive processes that further clarify the bounds of the six categories. 

The Cognitive Process Dimension – categories, cognitive processes (and alternative names)

..

Remember

recognizing(identifying)

recalling (retrieving)

Understand

interpreting(clarifying, paraphrasing, representing, translating)

exemplifying(illustrating, instantiating)

classifying(categorizing, subsuming)

summarizing(abstracting, generalizing)

inferring (concluding, extrapolating, interpolating, predicting)

comparing(contrasting, mapping, matching)

explaining(constructing models)

Apply

executing (carrying out)

implementing (using)

Analyze

differentiating(discriminating, distinguishing, focusing, selecting)

organizing (finding, coherence, integrating, outlining, parsing, structuring)

attributing(deconstructing)

Evaluate

checking (coordinating, detecting, monitoring, testing)

critiquing (judging)

Create

generating(hypothesizing)

planning (designing)

producing (construct)

The knowledge dimension represents a range from concrete (factual) to abstract (metacognitive) (Table 2). Representation of the knowledge dimension as a number of discrete steps can be a bit misleading. For example, all procedural knowledge may not be more abstract than all conceptual knowledge. And metacognitive knowledge is a special case. In this model, “metacognitive knowledge is knowledge of [one’s own] cognition and about oneself in relation to various subject matters . . . ” (Anderson and Krathwohl)

 The Knowledge Dimension

Factual

  • knowledge of terminology
  • knowledge of specific details and elements

Conceptual

  • knowledge of classifications and categories
  • knowledge of principles and generalizations
  • knowledge of theories, models, and structures

Procedural

  • knowledge of subject-specific skills and algorithms
  • knowledge of subject-specific techniques and methods
  • knowledge of criteria for determining when to use appropriate procedures

Metacognitive

  • strategic knowledge
  • knowledge about cognitive tasks, including appropriate contextual and conditional knowledge
  • self-knowledge

Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy Model

Note: These are learning objectives – not learning activities. It may be useful to think of preceding each objective with something like, “students will be able to…:

The Knowledge Dimension

Factual

The basic elements a student must know to be acquainted with a discipline or solve problems in it.

The Knowledge Dimension

Conceptual

The interrelationships among the basic elements within a larger structure that enable them to function together.

The Knowledge Dimension

Procedural

How to do something, methods of inquiry, and criteria for using skills, algorithms, techniques, and methods.

The Knowledge Dimension

Metacognitive

Knowledge of cognition in general as well as awareness and knowledge of one’s own cognition

The Cognitive Process Dimension

Remember

Retrieve relevant knowledge from long-term memory.

Remember + Factual

List primary and secondary colors.

Remember + Conceptual

Recognize symptoms of exhaustion.

Remember + Procedural

Recall how to perform CPR.

Remember + Metacognitive

Identify strategies for retaining information.

The Cognitive Process Dimension

Understand

Construct meaning from instructional messages, including oral, written and graphic communication.

Understand + Factual

Summarize features of a new product.

Understand + Conceptual

Classify adhesives by toxicity.

Understand + Procedural

Clarify assembly instructions.

Understand + Metacognitive

Predict one’s response to culture shock.

The Cognitive Process Dimension

Apply

Carry out or use a procedure in a given situation.

Apply + Factual

Respond to frequently asked questions.

Apply + Conceptual

Provide advice to novices.

Apply + Procedural

Carry out pH tests of water samples.

Apply + Metacognitive

Use techniques that match one’s strengths.

The Cognitive Process Dimension

Analyze

Carry out or use a procedure in a given situation.

Analyze + Factual

Select the most complete list of activities.

Analyze + Conceptual

Differentiate high and low culture.

Analyze + Procedural

Integrate compliance with regulations.

Analyze + Metacognitive

Deconstruct one’s biases.

The Cognitive Process Dimension

Evaluate

Make judgments based on criteria and standards.

Evaluate + Factual

Select the most complete list of activities.

Evaluate + Conceptual

Determine relevance of results.

Evaluate + Procedural

Judge efficiency of sampling techniques.

Evaluate + Metacognitive

Reflect on one’s progress.

The Cognitive Process Dimension

Create

Put elements together to form a coherent whole; reorganize into a new pattern or structure.

Create + Factual

Generate a log of daily activities.

Create + Conceptual

Assemble a team of experts.

Create + Procedural

Design efficient project workflow.

Create + Metacognitive

Create a learning portfolio.