NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON ENERGY begins today: Day 1 Schedule

NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON ENERGY
18th - 19th OCTOBER, 2008

DA Y 1 Saturday, 18th October, 2008

Registration: 08:00-09:00 : Dr. Harshita Sachdeva, Dr. Harlal Singh, Ms. Manshi Roy

09:00 -10:30/ Inaugural Session
Welcome Address: Prof Shaktidev Mukherjee
Address bv Chief : Prof. H P. Garg
Address by Guest of Honour: Prof. Munish Garg
Chaitperson's Closing : Prof S. Sarkar
Vote of Thanks by Convener: Prof. K. Singh.
Key-note Address: Renewable Energy Scenario in Inida by Prof. HP Garg

11:00-11:30/Morning Plenary Session

Chairperson: Prof. B. L. Jhanwar
Rapporteur: Dr. Griraj Kiradoo
Invited Talk: Prof. V. R. Satsangi

11:30-13:15/Morning Technical Sessions
Technical Session 1 (Room 1)
Chairperson: Prof D. Mukherjee
Co-chairperson: Dr. K. Quanungo
Rapporteur: S. Surana

11:30-13:15/Teehnicaal Session 1 (Room 2)
Chair Person: Prof. VR Satsangi
Co-chairperson: Mr. SK Vashishtha
Rapporteur: Dr. Alpana Gupta

The Wonderful Karuna Girls

During the E-Day celebrations, among the colorful stalls, dance, music and fireworks I came across Karuna. An inititaive that is as old as I am on this campus. And yet, somehow, I had never heard about their inspiring work. And I am sure there are many like me. Here is what Karuna is all about. The following is a reconstruction of the text sent by Enginium's Smruti Ranjan.

Karuna was formed last year and initially it had 12 members. Two members have dropped out. They came together initially to help the children of all the labourers who were working on the various construction sites inside the campus. These were migrant workers and looked as if they did not know what to do with their kids. Most of these children ended up doing nothing except eating dirt and a lot of other un-eatables found around the construction site.

Giving them something worthwhile to do and also to eat became Karuna's first assignment. The Karuna volunteers provided the children something to eat- snacks, biscuits, fruits. But that was not enough. They then started searching for schools where they could enrol these children. They searched a lot of schools in the tehsil and after a lot of searching they came across Bal Seva Sadan, a school attended by kids from the villages around. The school has 60 children. It does not take any fees and is supported by three NGOs which give them an annual income of rs.30,000. What started as an attempt just to help the workers' kids turned into a full fledged engagement with the school. we distribute snacks, teach the kids and have also conducted a drawing competition in the school.

The Karuna team thought of printing the children's drawings as greeting cards but that went beyond their budget. But they plan to do it later. Their engagement with the school has increased.

And their efforts have been helped by the fact that nearly 100 people have registered for Karuna. Now they plan to arrange our entire workforce and start proper classes for the school. The principal has requested the Karuna team to prepare special lessons in English, Mathematics and Environmental Sciences. One of the very obvious handicaps for the school is a sad lack of teachers, they have four of them and they too are not equipped enough. there is also a language barrier that the Karuna volunteers face.

They are currently working on preparing the entire course for the school including screening of certain movies and if possible certain lessons on the laptop. And their Diwali gift for the kids is notebooks, pens and pencils and sweets for the entire school.

The website for Karuna is almost ready and the team has furthered the the procedure for registering Karuna as a cooperative. They are also working towards joining hands with Kasturba, an orphanage in Sikar.

The Karuna girls want to start an evening school for all the child labourers around the campus but for that they need support from all of us. I request all of you to help these wonderful girls in whatever way/capacity you can.

Drama Society Meets Today

The Drama Society will meet today (Sept 2, 2008) at 5.45 pm in the Central Quadrangle. We are happy to inform that its a 88 member strong society now and more are expected to join, on the spot, in today's meeting. See you there!

Drama Society Registration Opens Today!

Students inclined to join the FET DRAMA SOCIETY should register themselves. The registration will begin on August 11 and will end on August 14.

Dates: 11-14 August, 2008

Time: 3 p.m. to 4.30 p.m.

Venue: Computer Lab VI, Ground Floor, Old FET Building

You may also send your registration request at rajkirado0(at)gmail.com, mentioning your name, batch no and contact details (mobile no and email id).

Pratilip 3: Wagish Shukla's Novel in pdf and A Lot More

Literary bimonthly Pratilipi's third issue is out now and one of its major attractions is Vishesh: Ek Tilismi Upakhyan, a chapter (a droplet) from IIT Delhi's Mathematics Profeesor Wagish Shukla's proposed (ocean of) a novel (2500 pages!). Australian Filmmaker Michael Buckley's essay on Gesture as Cinema and paintings by Meena tribal women are among the Featured attractions.

Among others writes in the issue are Norwegian poet Olav Hauge, Japanese poet Shuntaro Tanikava, Sukrita Paul Kumar in Gulzar's translations, Nand Kishore Acharya, Asad Zaidi, Anjum Hasan and seven younger poets. In the fiction section it has a short story by this year's Man Asia Literary Prize long listed author Sumana Roy, Meena Arora Nayak, and three Hindi authors Kunvar Narain, Malchand Tiwari and Piyush Daiya. Famous painter Haku Shah's autobiographical piece heads the non fiction section.

I.I.T. Professor Writing a Novel in Hindi !

Not many Engineering students know that Prof. Wagish Shukla, who teaches Mathematics at IIT Delhi is also an Indologist, a Sanskrit and Persian scholar par excellence, a devoted Ghalib and Bedil researcher and a Hindi novelist! For years, he has been writing a novel called Atha Yagyavalkyopakhyan. I am happy to share with you that Prof. Wagish Shukla has provided excerpts from latest developments in this project for Pratilipi, a bilingual literary magazine that I edit. Find time to read this wonderful extract in which Indian narrative devices meet the crime thriller to create an exciting new genre.

Drama Society and Writing Competitions Approved!

Its official now, as they say.

Dean, FET has approved two proposals:
1. There be a Drama Society (Name yet undecided)on the campus.
2. There be writing competitions (twice a semester). They'll be called Freespeech Writing Competitions and first of them is coming very soon.

We'll keep you update on both of them. Those interested in drama and acting may start contacting me from today itself.

My Latest Date With Art: A New Feature

(Photo: Shilparamam, Hyderabad by GK)

Have you seen a movie recently, or read a book or gazed at a painting or a photograph? If yes, share it with all - your latest date/encounter with art. No word limits, photographs and pictures most welcome and no deadlines! No pressure - write as you wish and when you wish.

Hamlet Meets Macbeth: All Are Invited

On the Joyful Occasion of Founder’s Day Celebrations
F.E.T-M.I.T.S. Presents

Hamlet Meets Macbeth: All is Well If Only It Ends Well
Date: January 23, 2008 Time: 3-5 p.m.


On Stage

Hamlet: Prerna
Macbeth: Sonam Gupta/Vani Kashyap
William Shakespeare: Trishla Ananya
Christopher Marlowe: Poorvi Gupta
Anchor 1: Snigdha
Anchor 2: Priyanka Dasgupta
Duncan : Sonam Gupta
Claudius: Prerna

Off Stage

Writer: Giriraj Kiradoo
Directors : Sandhya, Giriraj Kiradoo
Assistant Director: Ritika
Costumes: Sandhya
Support: Irene Sarkar, Alpana Gupta, Ankit Gandhi, Rano Ringo

About the Play

Do you know that the greatest ever writer, as he is often called, William Shakespeare (1564-1616) never wrote an original script?! That he copied and lifted material for his great plays from all possible sources? That he had a rival in Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593) whose baffling talent, originality and popularity gave William sleepless nights as he struggled to find one smash-hit of a play? That our greatest ever author who came from the small countryside of Stratford-at-Avon didn’t hesitate in lifting from his smart, sophisticated and university-educated rival even! Marlowe was killed in a brawl at a tavern when he was only 29. By then he had already authored three great and immensely popular plays including Dr. Faustus, his best by far. This play deals with a scholar’s pact with the devil. Dr. Faustus, the scholar, gets all the powers in exchange of his soul that he sells to the devil. The famous line about Helen of Troy – is this the face that launched a thousand ships? - occurs in this play.

Back to Will, the source of his greatness is said to be in his tragedies, especially the four greatest ones- Hamlet, Macbeth, Othello and King Lear. Three of them, save King Lear, has murderers as heroes. Let’s meet them one by one.


Hamlet

The young prince of Denmark returns to his homeland to find his father’s ghost paying him a visit during one of his sensational midnight rounds of the palace. Father Hamlet (they have a common name!) demands revenge. Actually, son Hamlet’s uncle Claudius had killed Father Hamlet when Son Hamlet was abroad. To make matters worse, Claudius married Father Hamlet’s wife, Gertrude. Hamlet, unlike strong bloodthirsty princes of his times, is not able to resolve his mind for revenge. Again, to make matters worst, he falls in love, with Ophelia whose mind and heart are both unreachable to him. Burden of revenge, guilt of mother’s deeds and unrequited love convert Hammy into the lovable, confused, mysteriously mad phenomena that he has remained ever since.

Hammy is famous for his delirious ‘to be or not to be’ speech and is considered to be the most refined and complex of the tragic quartet.

Before the play ends Hamlet, Claudius, Gertrude, and Ophelia all find the same fate: death/murder.

Sources of Hamlet: Ur-Hamlet possibly by Thomas Kyd (1558-1594) and The Spanish Tragedy definitely by Thomas Kyd

Macbeth

This committed and trusted soldier in service of Duncan, the King of Scotland, finds his head turned when three witches predict his destiny. They tell him that he’d be a king. Macbeth takes their words on face value and starts working extremely hard to prove the witches right. He’s helped by the ‘fourth witch’- Lady Macbeth who takes the prophecy also belonging to her- Lady Macbeth: the Queen of Scotland!

And he does become the king of Scotland killing Duncan. But as tragedies must end the Macbeth couple also dies.

Macbeth is known for the dagger scene in which a hallucinating Macbeth finds a flying dagger playing tricks upon him.

Sources of Macbeth: Macbeth of Scotland by Raphael Holinshed (? – 1580)

Othello

Othello – the ferocious, gallant moor – wins the heart of a girl all his opposite, Desdemona and they marry against her father’s wishes and under his curse: Othello, if she betrayed her father, no chance she’d spare you. Othello’s deputy, the smart and jealous antagonist Iago conspires Othello into mistrusting his loyal wife. Iago and Chance, lead Othello to kill Desdemona and himself but not before punishing the conspirator.

In modern times, Othello’s identity as a moor has evoked much debate over Shakespeare’s political correctness regarding racism (something he neither heard nor cared of).

Sources of Othello: Hecatommithi by Giovanni Battista Giraldi aka Cinthio

Now, just imagine what will follow if lovelorn and indecisive Hamlet happened to meet the sturdy and ambitious Macbeth? What if Shakespeare and Marlowe also joined the scene? Two rival authors and two rival characters (if the loads of academic research on comparing Hamlet and Macbeth stand any value at all) on one stage! Two competing writers and two incompetent murderers on one stage! And what if one of them is murdered?

Who? Who? Who?
By whom? By whom? By whom?

HMM gets the four on one stage and takes you to a journey inside the writers and characters, murderers and victims and amid the inevitable catastrophe and violence allows the comic relief to the audience.

In a world whose creativity is constantly being sucked by the readymade solutions on the World Wide Web, HMM is refreshingly ‘original’ though as we must have seen ‘originality’ lies in something subtler than mere content. Tulsidas used Valmiki’s Ramayana story but he made it his own in Ramcaritamanas and nobody would dare call Tulsidas a copycat! HMM is derivative and makes use of many sources including picking up a character, Dr. Moth, from the 1998-hepta-Oscar winning movie Shakespeare in Love. In one of the early scenes of the movie an inspiration-dried Shakespeare goes to Dr.Moth and seeks cure.

Rehearsal Photos: Hamlet Meets Macbeth

Actors Get the Script Changed - Hamlet Meets Macbeth: All is Well If Only It Ends Well

Characters

Hamlet
Macbeth
William Shakespeare
Christopher Marlowe and his Ghost



Prologue

Good noon ladies, and few, castaway men passing their days idly in this sleepy town of dire desert. I bringeth you a story of two competing playwrights and two incompetent murderers.

Two murderers, all unlike in killing,

In fair London, we lay our scene,

Where ancient blood thirst comes to new chilling,

Where characters make their authors unclean.

Where stealing makes authors great
And astrologers decide their fate
A pair of star-cross'd murderers threat their life
And with their sword bury the authors’ strife

Well, I shall not test thy patience; it’s the story of Will Shakespeare who copied and borrowed his way to greatness, also of Christopher Marlowe who paid the grave cost of this greatness by often finding his ideas lifted, of Hamlet, the silly prince of Denmark who remembers none but an odd girl out and Macbeth the foolhardy general who asks the million penny question: Why Willy makes all of us murderers?

I promise one thing:

Never was told a story of more funny woe
Than of our Shakespeare and his Marlowe

Scene: A Theatre Festival
Time: Evening
(Hamlet is all lost and wandering around when Macbeth enters the scene)

Hamlet: Ophelia, Ophelia, Ophelia, my love, where art thou?

Macbeth: Art thou a man? Your father’s killed; your mother has become your auntie and you idiot…. Ophelia, Ophelia….

Hamlet: Who art thou? Thou hast no idea: greater the confusion greater the love. Ophelia, Oh Ophelia…….I am trapped by a great love, you dark moor.

Macbeth: Don’t insult my race, mind thy own. I am no moor….I am Macbeth……. the Great Soldier.

Hamlet: The Great Murderer!

Macbeth: Hold your tongue or lose it.

Hamlet: Ophelia, Ophelia, Ophelia……….

Macbeth: Who is this girl?

Hamlet: I don’t know.

Macbeth: Then why do you keep calling her. Ophelia, Ophelia…….?

Hamlet: Coz Will has asked me to.

Macbeth: Who is Will?

Hamlet: Will is nobody. He is a drunk. He is a poet. He is a copycat.

Macbeth: Got it, you mean William Shakespeare.

Hamlet: Yes, my lord.

Macbeth: I am also looking for that lunatic. I am a bit confused meself; just on the
highway I met 3 witches. They said I’ll be a king. Will wants me to be a king, why?

Hamlet: So that you can give him a noble prize; you know nobody gives him any prizes.

Macbeth: But, how do I become a king?

Hamlet: Ask thy wife. She is a kingmaker.

Macbeth: Idiot, I call her kingfisher not kingmaker.

Hamlet: Whatever, to murder or not to murder; that is the question.

Macbeth: That reminds me: Why Will makes all of us murderers?

Hamlet: We kill, to make him great. We sin, to make him great. We cry, to make him great. We suffer, to make him great.

Macbeth: Sadist! Damn sadist! If kill, we should, why not him? If suffer, we should, why shouldn’t he?

(Enters William Shakespeare, followed unknowingly by Christopher Marlowe)

Will: Freeze!

(Macbeth and Hamlet freeze)

Will: Well, told you, all the world is a stage. And thou art my characters. Characters never understand me. They don’t know how damn difficult a job it’s to create such weird people like Macky and Hammy.


Kit: Very difficult indeed, especially when they are not yours. By the way, from where have you lifted this time? I never wrote Hamlet or Macbeth. And Will, You have to stop it now; you have to. Dr. Moth, the great Psychiatrist and astrologer (Will: You also go to him?) has warned I’ll die soon, in a fight, in a tavern. I also need to be great. I also need to be immortal.

Will: You are, already. Great, and immortal, Kit. Go and drink like a killer. Death is tomorrow and drink is today. Murder is everyday. (Kit moving as if to exit). By the way, before you go and get drunk, did Dr. Moth tell you the name of the man who’d kill you? I see a plot coming up!

Kit: Jove! I wish I knew. I could write a tragedy on my own murder. The Strange and Unforgettably Lamentable Tragedy of Christopher Marlowe! (Aside- Will: Leave that to me!) By the way, ‘your’ characters are freezing, Will. (Will looks around at Macky and Hammy: Really?) Good bye and may Aphrodite give thee some pains and brains. Catchy line though: murder is everyday.

Will: Go and may Aphrodite let you die poetically. And you – children of imagination but not mine, come back to life, thy foster father calls you. (Changing the tone) We have shows tomorrow.

(Kit exits)

Hamlet: Ophelia, Ophelia……….

Macbeth (In a murderous frenzy): Oh ghostly dagger! Where art thou? I’ll murder the King and become a king myself. I know I’ll suffer, I know I’ll have to make Will great.

Will: Calm, my hero, calm. I’ll take the shame off you. I’m writing a murderer even greater than you…..he’ll kill his wife……Othello!

Macbeth: Will, before I forget again, first answer this million penny question: why do you make all of us murderers?

Hamlet: I also have some questions: She loves me or she loves me not. Why did my uncle Claudius kill my papa? Should I kill him or kill him not ? Should I kill myself or kill me not? To be mad or not to be?

Will: Friends, I make all of you murderers coz it clicks, tragedy clicks. I wrote comedies I earned money. I created you, it fetched me greatness.

M/H: What if we kill you? Will it not make us great? We also need to be great.
(A dagger appears in Macbeth’s hands)

Will: Save me, Kit and all those who conspired that I write such grave tragedies….Sophocles save me……..Euripides save me………Thomas Kyd save me…Kit save me…………save me……

(Enters the ghost of Kit Marlowe)

Kit: Leave him brothers, he was damn right. And more importantly Dr. Moth too. Death may be tomorrow but Murder is everyday. I got killed by somebody at a tavern.

Hamlet: Great light has gone out of our lives!

Macbeth: A great loss to theatre and playwriting.

Shakespeare: Even greater loss to me! (Sighs)

Kit: But, leave him brothers. He will make you great anyways. I shall live in him and he in both of you. Then, forget murders, let’s celebrate life. Hamlet and Macbeth, shall I call you Macky and Hammy, brothers, come, lets celebrate.

(The four make a semicircle and are engrossed in friendly celebration)

All Four: For life…..for drama that makes murderers lovable.

Kit: Coming back here, I saw the face of my Helen, the infamous Helen of Troy flashing in sky: Is this the face that launched a thousand ships?

Will: Wonderful, repeat the line…..is this the face…….thanks Kit.

Will (Steps forward): All thy world is a court, it punishes. Our theatre is a tavern, it punishes not. Kill or be killed. Write or be written. Inspire or get inspired (Kit: It means Copy or get Copied).

All Four: That is the question.

Hamlet: Ophelia, Ophelia…..

Macbeth: Where’s old Duncan, the king of Scotland? I am sorry. I won’t kill you.

(Exit Macbeth)

Hamlet: Uncle Claudius, give me my Ophelia and my senses back….I’ll kill you not…nor myself…..

(Exit Hamlet)

Kit: Keep them on track, Will. They have to kill.

Will: They’ll resume but for this fleeting while let their spirits roam free. You tell me…how it is to be a ghost? I am writing a ghost father for Hamlet.

Kit: You’ll never change. Well, a ghost is a dead playwright whose works are lifted by you.

Will: All is well that ends well.

(Both laugh. Arm-in –arm exit Kit and Will)

Epilogue

Remember ladies and few gentlemen: Life is Today, Death is Tomorrow. But Murder is Everyday.

(Shouts of Duncan and Claudius being killed from offstage. Duncan: Leave me Macbeth, I am your king. Claudius: Leave me, I am your uncle and father too)

Blocking for Hamlet Meets Macbeth: Are you a lady, Mr. Kent?

Well, we are into it.

The young lot from junior classes is shaping up really well, the actors have seen the 1998-hepta-Oscar-winner Shakespeare in Love and we have even done some graphics (have a look at http://docs.google.com/Presentation?id=dggt3x9q_8f4q343dj) to get our stage movements correct. In Shakespeare in Love, Ned Alleyn (Ben Afleck), the star actor of The Chamberlain's Men, irritated by the wrong steps of Viola De Lesseps (Gwyneth Paltrow) disguised as Kent (in the pic above), bursts, "Gentlemen upstage, Ladies downstage. Are you a lady, Mr. Kent?".

Here in our little play Macbeth, Hamlet, Shakespeare and Marlowe are all played by young women! (Reminder: Women were not allowed to be in theatre in Shakespeare's times and all the great Shakespearean females were played by men!)

Hamlet Meets Macbeth: A Happy Ending by Giriraj Kiradoo

This short play was written because I couldn't find a decent script anywhere- in my humble library, in libraries around and on the world wide web which seems to have everything only till the moment you need something really good. So I had to write. Its scheduled to be staged on 23rd of January during the Foundation Day celebrations. No permissions are required to stage it anywhere, anytime. Its copy-left material.

Characters

Hamlet
Macbeth
William Shakespeare
Christopher Marlowe


Scene: A Theatre Festival
Time: Evening

(Hamlet is all lost and wandering around when Macbeth enters the scene)



Hamlet: Ophelia, Ophelia, Ophelia, my love where art thou?

Macbeth: Art thou a man? Your father’s killed; your mom has become your auntie,
and you idiot.. Ophelia, Ophelia….

Hamlet: Who art thou? Thou hast no idea: greater the confusion greater the love. Ophelia, Oh Ophelia…….I am trapped by a great love, you moor.

Macbeth: Don’t be racist, and anyways, it could be Othello – the new bloke - he could be a Moor , not I….I am Macbeth the Great Soldier.

Hamlet: The Great Murderer!

Macbeth: Hold your tongue or lose it.

Hamlet: Ophelia, Ophelia, Ophelia……….

Macbeth: Who is this girl?

Hamlet: I don’t know.

Macbeth: Then why do you keep calling her. Ophelia, Ophelia…….?

Hamlet: Coz Will has asked me to.

Macbeth: Who is Will?

Hamlet: Will is nobody. He is a drunk. He is a poet. He is a copycat.

Macbeth: Got it, you mean Will Shakespeare.
Hamlet: Yes, my lord.

Macbeth: I am also looking for that lunatic. I am a bit confused myself; just on the
highway I met 3 witches. They said I’ll be a king. Will wants me to be a king, why?

Hamlet: So that you can give him a noble prize; you know he hasn’t got a single prize.

Macbeth: How do I become a king?

Hamlet: Ask thy wife. She is a kingmaker.

Macbeth: Idiot I call her kingfisher not kingmaker.

Hamlet: To murder or not to murder; that is the question.

Macbeth: Why Will makes all of us murderers?

Hamlet: We kill, to make him great. We sin, to make him great. We cry, to make him great. We suffer, to make him great.

Macbeth: Sadist! Damn sadist! If kill, we should, why not him? If suffer, we should, why shouldn’t he?

(Enters William Shakespeare)

Will: Freeze.

(Both Macbeth and Hamlet freeze)

Will: Well, told you, all the world is a stage. And thou art my characters, dears. Characters never understand me. They don’t know how damn difficult a job it’s to create such weird people like Macky and Hammy.

(Enters Kit Marlowe)

Kit: Very difficult indeed, specially when they are not yours. You have to stop it now; Will, you have to. Dr. Moth, our common Psychiatrist-cum-astrologer has warned I’ll die soon, in a brawl, in a tavern. I also need to be great. I also need to be immortal.

Will: You are, already. Great, and immortal, Kit. Go and drink to your fill. Death is tomorrow and drink is today. Murder is everyday. Kit, before you go and get drunk, did Dr. Moth tell you the name of the man who’d kill you? I see a plot coming up!

Kit: Jove! I wish I knew. I could write a tragedy on my own murder. The Strange and Unforgettably Lamentable Tragedy of Kit Marlowe! By the way, ‘your’ characters are freezing, Will. Good bye and may Aphrodite give thee some pains and brains. Catchy line though: murder is everyday.

Will: Go and die poetically. And you – off springs of someone else’s imagination, come back to life, thy foster father calleth you. We have shows tomorrow.

Hamlet: Ophelia, Ophelia……….

Macbeth: Oh ghostly dagger! Where art thou? I’ll murder the King and become a king myself. I know I’ll suffer, I know I’ll make Will great.

Will: Calm, my hero, calm. I’ll take the shame off you. I’m writing a murderer even bigger than you…..he’ll kill his wife……Othello!

Macbeth: Will, it’s a million penny question: why do you make all of us murderers?

Hamlet: I also have some questions: She loves me or she loves me not. Why did my uncle Claudius kill my papa? Should I kill him or kill him not ? Should I kill myself or kill me not? Have I got something to do with Oedipus? To be mad or not to be?

Will: Coz it clicks, tragedy clicks. I wrote comedies I earned money. I created you, it fetched me greatness.

M/H: What if we kill you? Will it make us great?
(A dagger appears in Macbeth’s hands)

Will: Save me, Kit and all those who inspired me to write such grave tragedies….Sophocles save me……..

(Enters Kit Marlowe)

Kit: You were damn right. Death is tomorrow. Murder is everyday. I killed somebody at a tavern. Let’s celebrate life. Hamlet and Macbeth, shall I call them Macky and Hammy, brethren, come here, lets celebrate. Coming back here, I saw face of Helen of Troy flashing in sky: Is this the face that launched a thousand ships?

Will: Wonderful, repeat the line…..Is this the face…….thanks Kit.

(All four sit down and celebrate)

All Four: For life…..for drama that makes murderers lovable.

Will: All thy world is a court, it punishes, our theatre is a tavern, it punishes not. Kill or be killed. Write or be written. Inspire or get inspired (Kit: It means Copy or get Copied).

All Four: That is the question.

(Curtain Falls)

Ian McEwan in Jaipur? : Its Jaipur Literature Festival Season

Since 2005, JLF is one of the most significant events in India's literary calendar. More about the festival and this year's programme is here

India's biggest and best ever festival of literature. This year starring: Ian McEwen, Gore Vidal, Manil Suri, John Berendt, UR Ananthamurthy, Anoushka Shankar, Aamir Khan, William Dalrymple, Aparna Sen, Siddarth Dhanvant Shanghvi, Christopher Hampton, Paban Das Baul, Paul Zacharia, Indra Sinha, Susheela Raman, Dev Anand, Kamila Shamsie, Mamhood Farooqi, Jeet Thayil, Uday Prakash, Donna Tartt, Himanshu Joshi, Anita Nair, Namita Devidayal, Nayantara Sahgal, Chitra Mudgal and Tishani Doshi.

Special for MITSIANS

Arjun Deo Charan and Giriraj Kiradoo

Arjun Deo Charan explores Rajasthani poetry with Giriraj Kiradoo

THURS, 24th Dec. 2007 14:00 p.m.

Venue: Diggi Palace, SMS Hospital Rd, Jaipur

Siyahi's Translating Bharat : Language, Globalisation and the Right to be Read (Its in Jaipur!)

Note: Yours truly is aboard Siyahi as a Translator/Consultant. For detailed programme and other things visit Siyahi's website or write to mitakapur@siyahi.in/mita.kapur@gmail.com.



With India rising as an economic power, our diverse literary and cultural traditions are receiving the world's attention. Translations, as an act of literary preservation, are becoming increasingly significant in a globalized world. Indian languages and literatures are rapidly adapting to the critical cultural changes across the nation. There is an urgent need to cross-fertilize ideas, exchanges and translations between language groups, national and international. The oral, pictorial and scripted traditions, which constitute the rich history of Indian literature, need to be conserved and perpetuated with passion and professionalism.



Bharatiya Anuvad Parishad is a voluntary society formed in 1964 by Dr. Gargi Gupta. The parishad endeavors to master the art of translations by bridging the gap between English, Hindi and Bhasa languages, using Hindi as a bridge, and also caters to the growing need for an Indian linguistic identity apart from English. It has been able to do so by providing a platform for translators from different regional streams from all the major languages by being associated with universities, institutions and private organizations.



The conference, Translating Bharat : Language, Globalization and the Right to be Read, is an effort by Siyahi to provide an interactive space for creating synergies to help writers, translators and publishers to understand core issues and work towards creating bonds which will help them benefit from each other's experiences and understanding. The Indian economy is reaching out to the world. Translating Bharat is a small step in presenting the diversity of Indian literature by bringing together authors, poets, translators and publishers, from Bharat that is India

itizn't a nyoo year post; and itizn't an editorial as well

Freespeech enters its second calendar year; 2008 has indeed arrived- classes have resumed, campus is getting busier every minute and top-up coupons are easily available again.


Will it be yet another year, like the previous one(s)? The world doesn't change as indifferently as a digit or two in a year's citation. It remains very much the same; cold is as chillier, Mody is as isolated and far-off, studies as imposing and chances of an escape as rare as they always have been. Even, a New Year eve replays the last New Year’s Eve! The same way of going about and through it!

And Freespeech still doesn't get more than 2 visitors a day; and Amrita Sharma is still the only regular student contributor. Before you conclude that this party-spoiler sameness episode should be shown the way, let me wish some genuine newness for you and an epic readership for Freespeech in 2008.

First Two Themes: Prof. D.Mukhopadhyay's Inaugural Address at E-Fiesta and The Farewell thats Around the Corner

We introduce the first two themes on this site:

(i) E-Fiesta seemed to have a huge audience but only on the 'cultural day'. When Prof. D. Mukhopadhyay from Jadavpur University, Kolkata made his 'inaugural', 'non-technical' speech on the Saturday morning there were not more than twenty students. And those who were not there missed something. In his witty, provocative manner, he 'gossiped' on the most existential of all questions: "Who is an Engineer?" and replied," An engineer is someone who makes money, and more money and even more money." He went on to talk about how engineers, best of them included i.e. IITians, are all consumed by this solitary target of making money and have somewhere lost their 'self-definition' which, he thought, included producing original knowledge and 'solving problems'. Our theme is : as engineers-in-making, how do you define yourself? What are your targets? How do you see yourself as a would-be engineer? How do you see/plan your future? Write the prototype of an engineer that you have in mind and write what is your future-self in your imaginations.

(ii) The IVth year MITSians are 'leaving' and one can already sense the feeling of valediction in the air. How do they look back on their life/lives in MITS? We make their farewell and looking back the second theme and invite write-ups, photo-essays, memoirs, messages from all of them - the IVth year travellers.