when a woman is assaulted she may not stoop to think in terms of himsa or ahimsa. Her primary duty is self-protection. She is at liberty to employ every method or means that come to her mind in order to defend her honour. God has given her nails and teeth. She must use them with all her strength and, if need be, die in the effort… ” -Mahatma Gandhi

Every woman should understand the value of such an advice. Not just the message, but the ways and means of defending themselves too. Remember, when you are on self defence you have every right to defend yourself.

Prevention of danger is also a form of self defence:

1.Do not take the risk of walking alone after dark.

2.Let somebody walk you to your car after dark, whether it is at work or after a party etc.

3.Your car should always be parked in light or in well lit areas.

4.Have a look at your surroundings and be alert both mentally and physically.

5.Always be in touch with your family, inform them of your whereabouts, when your office timings are over, when you start your car, when you will visit someone’s place, when you are at shopping etc.

6.Do not venture out into the bad neighbourhood areas alone.

7.Do not use devices with headphones (walkman, iPod, etc..) When you are in remote areas.

Here are some of the best self defense tips for women:

TIPS

Just Shout: The first thing you should do when someone attacks you is to shout with all your strength or shout “Police” to attract the attention of the others.

Change anything into a weapon: Like Mahatma Gandhi said use your teeth and nail to save yourself from the attacker; rather anything you carry with you should become your weapon, like your handbag, your lunch box, your shoes, your hair pin, your bangles, your umbrella, your books, just anything!

Pepper Spray: Always keep a pepper spray in your bag or even deodorants. You can spray this directly into the aggressor’s eyes, temporarily blinding them. This will give you enough time to get away and hide somewhere. The use of pepper spray is also legal in a lot of countries.

The moment of attack: The first few minutes of the attack are the most important time to save yourself. The attacker will never expect you to be brave enough to fight him. He would expect you to get paralyzed with fear and would obey him frightened. Just do the opposite. Fight with all your might and hurt him however you may.

Self defence tactics: Learn the self defence tactics and learn martial arts if you may. Use all the tactics you know against the attacker.

Knowledge of Location: Understand the general map of your city, locality or of any place you may visit. It would always be helpful when in need.

Note the registration Number: If you shall have to take a taxi or an auto after dark, jot down the registration number of the vehicle and sms to your family.

At Home:If a stranger tries to attack you when you are alone in your house, run into the kitchen.You alone know where the chili power and turmeric are kept. And where the knives and plates are. All these can be turned into deadly weapons.

In Lift: If you need to reach the 13th floor, press all or alternate buttons up to your destination. No one will dare attack you in a lift that stops on every floor.

When Dating: If you are dating someone for the first time, trust your instincts about him. Observe your date and be alert on his negative body language. If you feel uneasy or uncomfortable with him, get out from there giving some excuses. Even a visit to the restroom would be an adequate statement

FAQS Q. My work involves a lot of travelling within the city and meeting new people on business and reaching home at quite late hours. How to safeguard myself?

1.Enrol yourself in a self defence course, if not already done so. Martial art course, if your time permits. 2.Buy a couple of safety gadgets like cell phone stun gun, pepper spray, personal alarm etc and always keep them handy in your bag. 3.Be a professional and once the meet is over, take leave of your prospective clients immediately, especially after dark. 4.Take the help of your trustworthy colleague to drop you at your car, after dark. 5.Keep in touch with your family from time to time and if not, with a trusted friend. 6.Above all, exercise your common sense on the troubled spot and ESCAPE.

Q. What if the taxi or Auto driver takes a turns into a street he is not supposed to – and you feel you are entering a danger zone?

Use the handle of your purse or your stole to wrap around his neck and pull him back. Within seconds, he will feel choked and helpless. Don’t have a purse or a stole? Just pull him back by his collar. The top button of his shirt would then do the same trick.

SMITA’S ADVICE “Defend yourself under the trying circumstances when your honour and self esteem is in danger”. This the most important message every parent should give to one’s daughter(s).

Self-defence is not about fighting but about protecting yourself.

Source :- Self Defence”>

Negotiatingwomanhood in the Novels of Manju Kapur BY DR. RAM SHARMA, SENIOR LECTURER, DEPT OF ENGLISH, J.V.P.G COLLEGE,BARAUT,BAGHPAT,U.P. – AND -Neelam jain, Principal-M.R.International School Jagadhry Road, Bilaspur Yamuna Nagar, Haryana, Pin-135102

Though the concept of woman as a prime negotiator is as old as mankind itself, for it becomes a sine qua non for her social existence and discharge of responsibilities, yet it gained currency during the Victorian era, which was significant for the spirit of conflict and compromise in political, social, economic and cultural sphere. In politics a woman was raised to the status of heading a state that was to be an empire, in which -the sun did never set’; in social sphere woman came to a compromising position, when Tennyson, the representative poet, went to the extent of saying, -he to command, she to obey’. Since ages woman is in negotiation with her male counterpart as well as our androcentric society. Women are an integral part of human civilization. No society or country can ever progress without an active participation of women in its overall development. Unfortunately, men have always looked down upon women as the weaker sex, as their property and object of pleasure. Down the ages women have been denied existence as a complete and independent human being; they have been given secondary place both in society and family. A large number of women are reconciled to a life of humiliation in the form of gender biased ness while performing the roles of daughters, wives and mothers in a rigidly custom-bound environment they live in. The quandary of women is that they have to endure from birth to death. In the male-dominated structure they have to face prejudice, oppression, slur and abuse, regardless of their physical and mental capability to perform at par with men. . Even in Anushashan Parva it is being said. (All her glorification, all her fulfillment lies in sacrificing her life and happiness for the sake of man in different forms father, husband and the son). The women characters of Manju Kapur do not merely confirm to male expectations or conflict with male world.. Manju Kapur’s heroines negotiate for their independence and a respectable place in society. Manju Kapur’s heroine is mentally advanced in the real sense of the world, whether she is Ida, Rupa, Nisha, Astha or Nina. Manju Kapur understands the importance of adjustments and compromises in a family. Almost all of her female characters: Virmati after marriage, Sona, Nisha, and Astha are negotiating here and there in life to make their own and their family members’ life happy. The harmony in family relationships and their stability also depend on the behaviour and pent-agonic attitude of a woman as a wife, a mother, a sister, and a daughter. Difficult Daughters is a strange story of mother-daughter bonds. Kasturi does not appreciate the freedom that her daughter Virmati demands and craves for. In this way unknowingly, the mother becomes the voice of patriarchy. Later on the same attitude is followed by Virmati also for her daughter; Ida also suffers alone in silence as she is not able to share her complexes with her mother, same had happened with Virmati also twenty years back. The absence of a positive support and sympathy shoulder of her mother leads Virmati to look for sympathy outside the home. Virmati’s daughter Ida says in the beginning line of the novel, -The one thing I had wanted was not to be like my mother.-(Kapur 1) Two pairs of mother-daughter bonds are described in the novel and both are deeply invaded with conflicts and compromises. Virmati wanted that after her death, her body organs should be donated to help the other people who are in need of those organs; actually she thought that in this way she would be valued by someone at least. A few days before her death Virmati said: -I want my body donated. My eyes, my heart, my kidneys, any organ that can be of use. That way someone will value me after I have gone.-(Kapur 1 ) Above said lines of Virmati are enough to reflect her negotiation with this world. Till the end time of her life, she was fighting for her rights to be respected and valued as an independent human being. Virmati’s negotiation doesn’t end even with her death; her negotiation to get some importance is made continued by her daughter, Ida, who has tried to rediscover her mother’s life to give her deserved respect and value. In Difficult Daughters novel we observe the negotiation of women with society as well as with other women also. Sometimes it happens that woman who herself is not able to protest for her rights transfer this failure to her daughter also. Daughters have to carry the impact of their mother’s personality and vision unconsciously. There is no escape for a girl from her mother’s shadow, Usha Kurjekar writes in an article, But the daughter Ida can also have no escape from her mother, just as Virmati the daughter could not have from her mother, Kasturi. Ida, nevertheless, confirms the centrality of her mother which brings about the positive stature of Virmati in the novel. (Kurjekar 233) A lot of adjustments were required from the side of Virmati as the second wife of Harish moreover she suffered a total breakup from her parental family also. Virmati was given a pariah status and faced exclusion from hearth etc which was the sole domain of the Professor’s first wife Ganga. Virmati had strained relations with her mother, daughter, husband’s family and even with her siblings also, whole of her life was a bundle of conflicts and compromises. Virmati’s strict attitude towards Ida and the pressure of high expectations never allowed them to be close enough to understand each other properly: I grew up struggling to be the model daughter. Pressure, pressure to perform day and night. My father liked me looking pretty, neat and well-dressed, with kaajal and a little touch of oil in my sleeked-black hair. But the right appearance was not enough. I had to do well in school, learn classical music, take dance lessons so that I could convert my clumsiness into grace, read all the classics of literature, discuss them intelligently with him, and then exhibit my accomplishments graciously before his assembled guests at parties. (Kapur 279) For Ida, Virmati herself selected a boy, well educated and well settled, but she lost her battle there also as the marriage was proved to be a disastrous. Ida’s husband was a selfish man; Ida always posed to be happy with the boy had chosen by her mother, but at last the real picture came in front; he divorced Ida. A continuous negotiation is an integral part of all these relationships. Our purpose is to explore the negotiation of women in various relationships. . Manju Kapur’s novel Home is a story of three women’s negotiation: Sona, Sona’s daughter Nisha, and Sona’s sister Rupa. A ll women in the story are unhappy for one or the other reason. Sona is beautiful and married to a rich businessman also but unhappy because she is child less even after the ten years of her marriage and forced to take care of Vicky; after ten years she is blessed with a daughter first and then a son also. Rupa is unhappy because of not being beautiful and rich as her sister moreover she is also childless. Rupa has started a small business to improve her economic condition. The third generation is more assertive and wants to negotiates for her rights; Nisha fights for her happiness; As Nisha is an educated girl she has a modern approach towards life and relationships, she falls in love with a boy from low caste and economically also poor; she finds him attractive and good marriage material. Her dreams are badly tattered by her family. Nisha feels very humiliating to sit at home and wait for a proper marriage proposal. She makes her father agreed to support her for an independent business. Nisha’s hard work proves her successful daughter of a successful businessman. Nisha’s business is going on very nicely then why she has accepted a proposal from a middle aged widower? Why marriage is so important for her when she knows she might have to lose her business also; it is her conditioning that goaded her to do so; it is the grip of the spirit of Indian women who needs men to stand beside them like a sheltering tree. She feels incomplete without the company of man. Her thirst for family life compels her to come to terms with man.- (Das 30) Nisha leaves her business contentedly for the shake of her children; it is her own decision only because of the pressure of situation, now she knows she can build it again whenever she wants. It’s not Nisha’s loss, it is only her way of settlement which many women do when they have to bear the liability of their children along with their job, and some times they willingly choose their children and family. This is Nisha’s negotiation, the story of a brave girl who leaves her economic stability but it is not loosing the battle; the battle is being continued for Nisha and for every girl who has the stamina to negotiate for her rights: Manju Kapur in her novel A Married Woman explores few facts which are enough to demystify the married life of a middle class Indian working woman through the character Astha she brings forth the hard realities, anxieties, the depression and the dangers associated with half truths and old myths. Through the personal private lives of these characters writer exposes the tension spread in the two states of a mind. In the novel the protagonist Astha dares to cross the threshold of society by making lesbian relations and its reason is also explored very nicely. Marriage is actually totally different from what it appears in parties and films or described in mythology. Search of fantasy sometimes leads a person for some viable alternative: extra martial affairs and lesbian relations. Whatever woman is snatching from this society for her is only the result of her continuous negotiation with this word and all this brings some deformities in her personality as split personality. The novel A Married Woman is a story of a middle class girl Astha, her parents’ efforts in bringing her up according to the social standards, and her quest of love and freedom as an individual. Ashtha’s father is having modern views and wants to adorn her daughter with good education; he wants to make her fit for future as an independent individual of society where as her mother is more traditional and believes in the vision of shastras, -if parent die without getting their daughter married, they will be condemned to perpetual rebirth?-(Kapur 1) Manju Kapur describes many rituals of the marriage in a very symbolic way: -father waiting to do the kanyadaan, the feel of her hand in the hand- (Kapur 37) as if girl is a thing and now the girl is given to a man to use as he wants her in his house. How nicely Manju Kapur has used our traditions to highlight downtrodden condition of a woman. At the time of havan in marriage -hot air- and smoke- are the words indicating that marriage is a beginning of a harsh journey. Within a few months of marriage Astha’s life is taking shades of dullness as she has to wait for long hour to be a part of Hemant’s company. Astha has joined a school as a teacher; with this Astha’s periphery stretches a little and she has got a chance of interaction with other people also outside the house. Astha is now absorbed in her job of teaching and jobs of family; though an emancipated , educated and modern woman Astha is still grabbed in age old thoughts; as a wife she takes pleasure in serving her husband; she enjoys sitting close to his feet and pulling out his socks when he comes back from office in the evening. Kapur has pointed these details to give us a blow to think that when will we women leave this attitude? Woman is suppressed by man it is true but when will she herself break this old age shackle and makes her free from such mental slaving and conditioning? When will she negotiates with herself? When will she be able to differentiate between love and slavery? . Hemant ruins her dreams as well as all happiness of her life; their life becomes dull and drier, -Hemant wasn’t really listening Astha stopped talking about creative writing as he got up to lock the door.- (Kapur 51) Astha gives birth to a girl Astha’s child provides and emotional support to her; Astha’s life has been enriched by her; Astha feels a self realization through her child. Astha observes changes in Hemant’s attitude towards herself; occasionally she tries conveying this to Hemant who finds nothing wrong in their relationship. On Astha’s demand to give some time to their relationship he replies that he has no time for such games and courting will not be continued forever she knows, -she had lost argument before she had been able to define its parameters. . . But I am not happy, so how can you. . . -You think too much that is the trouble.’-(Kapur 66) In school Astha’s work gets appreciation; school is the only place where her work gets recognition; at home her work is taken for granted; nobody cares for her needs and every body at home has many expectations from her that she feels trapped in all one way relationships. Astha starts painting and writing to give outlet to her suppressed emotions although writing -alleviated the heaviness within her, a heaviness she found hard to deal with.- (Kapur 79) Astha’s relations are not very warm with her mother also; as she wants Astha’s early marriage but Astha didn’t; as she was responsible for the break-up of Astha’s first love relationship also. There relations are still not healthy for her mother is very orthodox and always preferred to discuss all her money matters with Hemant instead of Astha. Astha’s second painting is sold by the Manch in twenty thousand, Astha feels rich and powerful; while shopping in Goa Astha likes an antique silver box which costs five thousand rupees, Hemant refuses to purchase that, -You must be out of your mind; said Hemant. The tone, the refusal both hurts her.-(Kapur 165) Astha meets Peepilika, her lover’s wife; they come closer to fulfill each other’s loneliness. They have developed an emotional as well as physical relationship; a lesbian relationship. Perhaps it is a rebellious act; through such relations Astha consoles herself that she is important for someone at least; this relationship may be considered as revenge from family and society for ignoring her individuality; this is a reply to an unfaithful husband. Through the character Astha Manju Kapur wants to show the urge of a modern woman to break the dependency syndrome of women. She is able to present beautifully her character Astha’s negotiation with this male dominated society . The Immigrant ,Manju Kapur’s this novel is about woman and her changes in her vision and various relationships in this speedily changing world. Nina the protagonist is unmarried till her thirtieth birthday, her relations with her widow mother, her late marriage, her turning from a meek wife to a daring woman, and her valiant absconding of the mechanical relationship with her dentist husband are the main concerns of our study. In short we can say that story takes it force from the various sufferings of a girl who grows into a woman while negotiating with this male dominated world at every step, and unchained her from the age old dependency syndrome of womanhood. Nina also wants to marry and enjoy the life; she feared to think about many spinsters of her college. Nina describes them as -signposts to depressing, lonely futures- (3) Nina’s father was died when she was a small girl studying in school. Mother tolerated a lot of torture from her in-laws in order to educate her daughter as she has no ways of earning to survive she has to bear all negative comments. Nina’s mother belong to the generation of woman who never thinks to be independent living, they always look for support towards husband or his family for that they accepted to slave them. Nina after doing gradation joins a job and called her mother to stay with her. Since the day of Nina`s marriage with Ananda everything is going wrong, we are getting direct hints of some small problems which may compile up in a big problem: Their first meeting after marriage is not successful, problems in getting visa, harassment at airport and now surprising discloser of Ananda’s non-vegetarian habit Nina is waiting what else is waiting for her. Ananda never gives importance to Nina’s feelings he always consider her as a beautiful present or trophy he has brought from India. Nina tries whatever possible from her side to convince her husband to take infertility tests but all her negotiation gives no fruit; she feels lonelier in this unknown country. Nina joins a co-councilor group where she begins to think like an individual not only as Ananda’s wife. Rightly says Ursula K LeGuin, -Nina’s liberation from frustration and solitude begins with a consciousness-raising group of women-bra burners. . .- (LeGuin 1) Nina reads a lot about women and her continuous negotiation with this society, women’s courage, her freedom and integrity etc. According to Nina a woman’s happiness neither is related with materialistic pleasures nor does it depend on fertility or husband’s sexuality. Her future is as vague as on the day of her wedding. Nina joins a course of librarian and falls in love with Anton her one of married colleague. And they have crossed all social boundaries of their married life; as soon as the excitement over Nina feels a little guilty about what she has done but she overcome on her guilt and accepts that this is a normal thing in this country: Two years back when Nina was new in Halifax, her habit of being vegetarian is the way to preserve the tradition of her Indianness. But after having physical relationship with Anton it seems hypocritical to keep vegetarianism for the sake of tradition, and tries non-veg to become an international person. Life is easier now; Nina is no more an outsider or different mentally as well as in habits and ways of living. Nina’s relationship with Anton ends up abruptly when she has realized that she has no importance in Anton’s life.. Nina has a fighter spirit she never gives up in hard times; she is struggler by heart. She decides to continue her negotiation with this society; it is her right to be happy. After the death of her mother, when Nina comes back to Halifax with a heavy heart, she has observed a blonde hair on the pillow, this one hair is enough to explain everything: -the distance, the silence, the ticket for two months- (Kapur 327) Nina has not asked anything about hair and pretends to be normal with Ananda. She accepts the bitter truth of her jarred relationship; if she asks question she has to confess her own crime also. Nina never finds an answer why they betrayed each other. Nina craves for love and a feeling of to be important for someone. She does not want to be a piece of furniture at home to serve a purpose of decoration or used when is required by the owner of house. She no more feels this house as her own house where she has freedom to live a life of her choice. . This is not the first time that she is leaving a loveless relationship: first time she breaks up with Rahul for this reason, second time it was Anton and now Ananda her husband. As a famous saying of Frederick Speakman, -Decision determine destiny- Nina also want to write her destiny herself, in her own handwriting. Nina always comes up as a confrontationist. It has been observed that Manju Kapur’s heroine wants to assert for her rights, she struggles for the respect and importance she deserves but at the same time she is not a heartless feminist, she returns to her roots whenever it is required by her family. These protagonists neither adopt extreme aggressive, revolutionary way, nor they are adhering to the stereotype role; they are balanced personalities who realize their potential and rise as good negotiators. Although all the heroines of Manju Kapur have paid big prices in this negotiation for their individuality: Veermati suffers total break-up from her parental family and she suffers a lot neglect at her husband’s house also, Astha drops her relations with a her very close friend, Nisha have to marry a widower, and Nina has gone through the pain of being raped by her lover as well as she has to chose a life of separation and loneliness but this price is nothing because they prove that they are no more dependent on men. In this negotiation though woman is able to gain some thing but still the horizon is very far and she has to walk miles and miles to reach there. We can say these heroines are providing ray of hope to the coming generation. A day will come when woman’s continuous negotiation would provide a respectable place to her in heart and head of man..

References: Banerji, Mithu C. -Lesbian Passion Forged in a Land of Turmoil- http//www.guardian.co.uk/600ks/2003/feb/23/fiction.features4 Chotai, Nutan. -Changing Faces of Women in Manju Kapur’s Home-, Contemporary Fiction: An Anthology of Female Writers. Ed. Vandana Pathak, Urmila Dabir, Shubha . New Dehli: Sarup & Sons, 2008. Print. Das, Sangeeta, -The Predicament of Women as Reflected in the Works of Contemporary Indian Women Writers-, Indian Women Writers, Ed. R. K. Dhawan. New Delhi: Prestige Books, 2001. P.30. Kapur, Manju. Difficult Daughters. London: Faber and Faber, 1998. —. A Married Woman. New Delhi: India ink, 2007. —. Home. New Delhi: Random House India, 2007. —. The Immigrant. New Delhi: random House India, 2008. Kurjekar, Usha. -Mother-Daughter Relationships in Fasting Feasting and Difficult Daughters-. ed. Vandana Pathak, Urmila Dabir, Shubha Mishra. Contemporary Fiction Anthology of Female Writters. New Delhi: Sarup & Sons, 2008. P.233. LeGuin, Ursula K. -The Guardian-, Saturday 18 April 2009. https://www.guardian.co.uk/bookshop 1.Anushashan Parva, Chapter 21, Verse 19.

SOCIAL ISSUES IN THE PLAYS OF MAHESH DATTANI The plays of Mahesh Dattani emerged as -fresh arrival’ in the domain of Indian English drama in the last decade of the twentieth century. His plays deal with contemporary issues. They are plays of today sometimes as actual as to cause controversy, but at the same time they are plays which embody many of the classic concerns of world drama. I have selected -Tara’, Seven Steps Around the Fire, on a Muggy Night in Mumbai -Bravely Fought the Queen’ and -Final solutions,’ to study the contemporary values in these plays. 1.2 : JUSTIFICATION Dattani’s plays have a universal appeal. They can be staged anywhere in the world, they would draw full attention of the audience. Dattani moulds his subject in such a way that it is both topical as well as appealing. His plays speak across linguistic and cultural barriers. Dattani makes an abundant use of Indian mythology, rituals and traditions and contemporary problems, India is beset with but he elevates these themes to a higher level, touching the human chords that emanate love, happiness, sexual fulfilment and problem of identity. Though he lives in Karnataka, he writes about the whole nation of India, about the whole world he lives in. It is in the fitness of things that we must make an attempt at evaluating the play wright’s thematic concerns as well as his exploration of, and experimentation with stage. 1.3 : MAHESH DATTANI : HIS LITERARY ACHIEVEMENTS Mahesh Dattani was born in Bangalore on August, 7, 1958. He is the famous Indian English dramatist. He took admission in Baldwin’s High School and St. Joseph’s college of Arts and Science, Bangalore. He is a graduate in History, Economics and Political Science. He is a Postgraduate in Marketing and Advertising Management. He worked as a copy writer in an advertising firm and later on with his father in the family business. Dattani’s theater group-Play pen was formed in 1984. He made his directional debut with Mango Souffle. He has directed many plays for them ranging from classical Greek to contemporary works. Over a carrier spanning twenty five years he has written radio plays for the BBC and the film script of Ek Alag Mousam. Plays- (i) Tara (ii) On a Muggy Night in Mumbai (iii) Where There’s a Will (iv) Dance like a Man (v) Bravely Fought the Queen (vi) Final solutions. Mahesh Dattani received the prestigious Sahitya Akademi Award for his contribution to Indian Drama in 1998. The International Herald Tribune while praising Mahesh Dattani praised him as –One of Indian’s best and most serious contemporary play wrights writing in English.” Mahesh Dattani is India’s first play-wright to be awarded the -Sahitya Akadami Award’ for his contribution to the world of drama. Alyque Padamsee calls him one of the most serious contemporary play wrights. There are two published texts of Dattani’s plays-one a collection of plays while the other one is in parts. Recently his plays have been collected in a single volume called -Collected Plays’ published by Penguin. Alyque Padamee says, –At last we have a play wright who gives sixty million English speaking Indians an identity.” Mahesh Dattani is one of the famous Indian-English dramatists. He has successfully launched the Indian theater in English. In many of his plays, he deals with various issues like homosexuality, gender discrimination, communalism and child sexual abuse. In an interview -Personal Agenda’ Published in Branch on March 21, 2004 Dattani said, –The love of my life is drama and I want to write more plays.” His most distinguishing quality is wide range of themes that he deals with in his writings. Dattani’s plays are written for the stage. It is the visual quality and dramatic effect which are of paramount importance. Dattani shapes his subject in such a way that is both-topical as well as appealing. Alyque Padamsee assisted Mahesh Dattani in building his self-esteem and helped him in securing regular audience for his plays. As Mahesh Dattani points out in his preface –Alyaque believed in my work even before I believed in it myself. He gave me courage to call myself a professional playwright and director. In 1998, Dattani won the Sahitya Akademi Award for his book of plays. Final solutions and other plays were published by East-West Books, Chennai. According to the Sahitya Akademi Award, –(Dattani’s work) probes tangled attitudes in contemporary India towards communal differences, consumerism and genera brilliant contribution to Indian drama in English.” His plays deal with religious tension, sexuality and gender issue. Alyque Padamsee calls him one of the –most serious contemporary playwrights” Dattani takes issues that afflict societies the world over. He has chronicled the social victim and the follies, foibles and prejudices of Indian society. Some of Dattani’s plays are eloquent defences of society’s out casts and would be rebels. These plays include -On a Muggy Night in Mumbai,’ a compassionate look at the life and tensions of a homosexual community tricked away in Mumbai. -Both On a Muggy Night in Mumbai’ and -Do the Needful’ are probably the first Indian plays to boldly deal with the subject of homosexuality. The play -Final Solutions’ is about partition. It reveals how the engendered suspicion only deepens from generation to generation. The plays of Mahesh Dattani emerged as -fresh arrival’ in the domain of Indian English drama in the last decade of the 20th century. The plays have a great -contemporary value.’ According to John Mc Rae. –They are plays of today, sometimes as actual as to cause controversy, but at the same time, they are plays which embody many of the classic cancens of world drama.” Mahesh Dattani’s plays are revelatory in nature. If, in -Where There’s a will,’ it is the ghost not of Hasmukh Mehta but of his father that has to be recognised in -Dance like a Man’. In -Bravely Fought the Queen,’ it is a host of issues that have to be revealed and faced from the homosexuality of certain characters. Dattani shows us the hollowness of middle class lives. His plays explore what lies below the facades characters and families front up to fool the world. The family in Dattani stands for society at large. Dattani’s characters search for security and acceptance, to be true to themselves. In Dattani’s world the socialisation process initiated in the family unit has its aim the stunted growth of a bousaitres. The prominent theme of Mahesh Dattani’s later plays is homosexuality. Homosexuality is dealt with in -Bravely Fought the Queen’, -Where There’s a will,’ and – Dance Like a Man.’ Another important theme of Mahesh Dattanis’s plays in Gender Identity. -Bravely Fought the Queen’ foregrounds this whole issue with its very title. Dattai raises these and a number of other questions regarding gender and social stratification and hierarchy and sexuality. The most significant feature of Dattani is, perhaps his use of langauge. The note to his very first play, -Where There’s Will’ reads as follows. -Should the play be need in classrooms, I sincerely wish that English language teachers will not dismiss my syntax as bad English’ or worse still as incorrect, while knowledge of the rules of grammar is important, the richness and variety of the spoken word is a study in itself.” The past and the present both co-exist, and while the past has fashioned the present, the present helps the characters to re-read the past. Dattani’s stage techniques are aimed at making the audience intimate with the life of a family, its trials and trilantations and debilitating secrets. Dattani exercises great care in ensuring through his detailed stage direction that reader and potential directors understand all this. This division of the stage allows clearly demarcated space for certain characters, or time periods, as well as for different locales. C.K. Meena says, in an article on Dattani, –Unmasking the Middle class : The Drama of Mahesh Dattani” (Indian Review of Books, Vol., N. 6 1999), that this distribution of –the action among different levels on stage not only makes his plays visually exciting landmark but more at a snappy pace.” Mahesh Dattani defends his use of English as spoken by people in India and also goes on to make another serious statement. He says that his characters –would love to speak in Gujarati” and his challenge as a writer is to convey their Gujaratiness without distortion in English. Dattani’s characters speak the kind of English that most middle class Indians do. He also uses Indian English with great confidence and captures the rhythms of the spoken English. 1.4 : RESEARCH METHODOLOGY I have resolved to do research on the dramas of Mahesh Dattani : -Tara’, -Bravely fought the Queen’, -Final solutions’, -on a Muggy Night in Mumbai’ and -Seven steps Around The Fire.’ I shall take recourse to the following methods. 1. The study of various literary journals published in India and abroad incorporated in the corpus of the bibliography. 2. The study of various News-Papers in English in India and Abroad. 3. The analysis of each drama after close scrutiny.?

CHAPTER DIVISION

1.CHAPTER-1 INTRODUCTION

2.CHAPTER-2ISSUE OF GENDER DISCRIMENATION

2.CHAPTER-3ISSUE OF EUNUCH [SEVEN STEPS AROUND THE FIRE]

3.CHAPTER-4ISSUE OF HOMO SEXUALITY [ON A MUGGY NIGHT IN MUMBAI]

4.CHAPTER-5ISSUE OF COMMUNALISM[FINAL SOLUTIONS]

5.CHAPTER-6SUMMING UP

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DETAILED ANALYSIS CHAPTER-1 :INTRODUCTION Mahesh Dattani is a contemporary writer who writes sepcifically in English. Dattani’s plays question some of the norms and conventions of society. In the process, interesting questions arise regarding gender and other issues like homo-sexuality, lesbianism, child sexual abuse. Dattani tackles issues that afflict societies the world over. Dealing with issues like male-famale ascendance divide, the patriarchal tradition, consumerism, communalism, Dattani holds back nothing. Alygue Padamsee calls him one of the –most serious contemporary playwrights.” CHAPTER-2. :ISSUES OF GENDER DISCRIMINATION -Tara’ is a riveting play that questions the role of a society that treats the children of the same womb in two different ways. Dattani’s -Tara’ is a poignant play about a boy and a girl who are joined together at the hip and have to be separated surgically, which will mean the death of either of the two. The fact that the injustice perpetuated by the victim’s own mother whose preference is to the male child, makes the play more powerful suggesting that it is woman who continues the chain of injustice. Tara is not just the story of the protagonist of the play -Tara,’ but it is the story of every girl child born in Indian family whether urban or rural. The situation is aggravated if the girl is physically challenged or there is any other physical or mental deformity in her. It is a bitter example of child abuse present in the Indian societies. Every girl child born in an Indian family does suffer some kind of exploitation and if there is a boy child in the family, the exploitation is very much visible as the privileges are consciously or unconsciously propounded to the son. The scene opens in London with Chandan, now a play wright, reminiscing about his childhood days spent with his sister Tara. Tara and Chandan are two sides of the same self rather than two separate entities and that Dan, in trying to write the story of his own childhood, has to write Tara’s story. The play revolves around the Siamese twins, chandan and Tara Patel, an operation to separate the twins at birth, leaves Tara crippled for life. Chandan, the privileged brother wants to turn his anguish into drama on his sister’s childhood. Throughout the play we can feel that she bears some kind of grudge against the society. She seems to have some kind of aversion with the outside world and her world consists of only her parents and her brother whom she was ever close to. The play explores besides exposing the typical Indian mind set which has from time immemorial preferred a boy child to a girl child. It looks at the triumphs and the failures of an Indian family. comprising of father (Patel). mother (Bharati) and two children (Chandan and Tara) coping with the trauma of disability. Tara, a feisty girl, who isn’t given enough opportunities as were given to her brother eventually wastes away and dies. Chandan escapes to London, changes his name to Dan and attempts to repress the guilt he feels over his sister’s death. His sense of trauma and anguish is so intense that at the end of the play, we see Chandan apologizing to Tara in the most moving of all the lines –Forgive me, Tara. forgive me, for making it my tragedy.” CHAPTER-3 :ISSUE OF EUNUCH -Seven Steps around the Fire’, the most popular play, dwells on the theme of eunuchs, their identity, their constitution and their connotation. Uma Rao, the sociology scholar, emerges as the most powerful character of the play, the mouth piece of the playwright, who fights to establish the identity of an eunuch. Mammal, during her research on the class and gender – related violence and crime, meets justice in the nemesis of the play. An eunuch, a beautiful one, invited for marriage, and the final tragic death-all seem to be a mis construct. This is all about marriage of a beautiful hizra Kamla to a son of a wealthy government minister named subbu. This shocking revelation culminated into the murder of Kamla. The society accepts a hizra for gracing the ceremonies of marriage and births but would not allow them to portrayed of such ceremonies. The author has ironically portrayed this aspect which would not have been given any head, for any matter related to them is of no importance to anyone. The heart rendering story about a hizra that she is murdered simply because she had fallen in love with subbu a young man having a status of importance in society, fills us with horror and sense of injustice. Again in the play we observe how the Police officer refuses to subject him self to any medical examination to rule out the barrenness of his wife due to his impotency. This bias of squarely blaming the woman for her barren state is another societal phenomenon that Dattani exposes.

CHAPTER – 4 :ISSUE OF HOMO SEXUALITY -Bravely Fought the Queen’ charters through the emotional, financial and sexual intricacies of a modern day Indian family. -Bravely fought the Queen’ was written by Dattani in the year 1991 and it was performed at the Sophia Bhabha Hall, Mumbai on August 2, 1991. The narration is centred around an Indian family in which two brothers Jiten and Nitin, the co-owners of an advertising agency, have married two sisters, Dolly and Alka. The women remain at home much of the time, where they look after the men’s ageing mother Baa. Jiten and Nitin’s father was a cruel and a dark man who usually harassed their mother. The kind of cruelty perpetrated on Baa by her husband is brought to light every now and then in the play. Baa sees the picture of her husband in her elder son, Jiten and thus automatically develops an inclination towards her younger son, Nitin who resembles her a lot. So here we have two generations sharing the same experiences at the hand of their chauvinistic husbands and yet to come third generation, Daksha who also experiences the mal-treatment of her father even before her birth and is born as a disabled child. In the same way Dolly and Alka in -Bravely Fought the Queen’ arm themselves at the end of the play to fight back. Alka very boldly questions the authority of her husband and asks for an explanation for his disloyalty. She also exposes the betrayal of her brohther for not revealing the existence of homosexual relations between her husband and her brother. There was Kanhaiya, who represents the world of sexuality whether heterosexuality or homosexuality. He might be the alluring cook who might or might not be Krishna of Dolly and Alka, or the dark auto driver who embodies Nitin’s sexual guilt. Nitin at the end of the play exposes his homosexual relations to Alka who is fast asleep after getting drunk. Thus we see that women have not been presented as sinners but they suffer because of the men who are part of their lives. This play presents the concept of gay culture prevalent in big cities. -On a Muggy Night in Mumbai’ is a tragicomedy which deals with homosexuals In the play, Sharad and Deepali, though comfortable with each other, have different ways of being gay. More stress is laid on the characters of Kamlesh and Prakash who is also Ed and romances with Kamlesh’s’s sister Kiran. Initially Kamlesh and Prakash were ardent lovers when Prakash suddenly turns coats and changes into Ed, weaning the garb of a hand some guy, head over heels in love with Kiran, who unfortunately happens to be Kamlesh’s sister. Kamlesh playing the role of humble lover resides to the changed situation without complaining. Nevertheless, his sexual needs are fulfilled by sharad, his friend. He shocks us a bit by stooping down to mating with a guard for which he is ashamed of himself. Prakash who had now changed to Ed suddenly emerges into the room and the scene to meet Kamlesh’s sister and bumping into Kamlesh is revived of his earlier crush on Kamlesh, Nonetheless Prakash/Ed is ashamed of being a homosexual and tries to leave the place with Kiran as soon as possible to escape the cynical eyes of the others who knew about his relationship with Kamlesh. Karan is shown to having all compassion for the gay people and wishes they could many for happiness of her brother who she knew was homosexual. The irony of the whole story is that the poor girl did not know that the man to whom she was going to get married was homosexual and ex-lover of her brother. The revelation in the end comes as a shock to her. The whole story throws light on the growing homosexuality and its non-acceptance by the Indian Society. CHAPTER – 5 :ISSUE OF COMMUNALISM -Final solutions’ was first performed in 1993. This play foregrounds the Hindu-Muslim problems. It also tackles the theme of transferred resentments in the context of family relations. The characters in the play motivate us to think that angry out-bursts lead to chain reactions. The play opens with Daksha reading from her diary. An oil lamp converted to an electric one suggests that the period is the late 1940. Daksha is the grand mother of Gandhis. Daksha closes her diary and then Hardika appears on the stage. She feels the things have not changed that much. In the living room of the Gandhis, Aruna, Ramnik Gandhi’s wife, enters while Aruna’s daughter Sunita and her husband are retiring for the night. Ramnik doesn’t like Hardika’s telling his daughter that –those people are all demons.” Aruna is a God fearing woman who thinks that everything will be smooth and peaceful one day. Ramnik saves the two boys- Bobby and Javed. Ramnik thinks that Javed has done an unforgivable act. Ramnik, a liberal minded person, offers a job to Javed only to give him a chance. Ramnik transfers his anger at his own father’s black deed (burning the ship) to his mother. In the name of communal hatred, this shameful act is done by Ramnik’s father. The play is a fine example of transferred resentments. Smita, who is unable to express her love for Babban, criticizes her mother bitterly. The play mocks at the politicians who use people as their puppets. These puppeteers are the culprits. The play-wright at the end of the play, wishes to stop this game of hatred and communal tension through the character of Ramnik. Ramnik accepts that his father has done the black deed. We should forgive the offenders and forget the past. This can be the final solution. CHAPTER -6 :DATTANI’S ACHIEVEMENT AS A PLAY WRIGHT Dattani’s plays have contemporary values and his plays can be said to have been impaired by Ibsen the Father of Realism. Dattani handles every problem from gender issues to sexuality very successfully. Dattani’s achievement as a play wright depends on the fact that his plays are a slice of life. They present reality as it exists. Dattani’s theatre group, playpen, was formed in 1984 and he has directed several of their plays ranging from classical Greek to contemporary work. He has an array of themes to offer in his plays and the issues he chooses to project are the most topical but also the most controversial one. Dattani’s plays, have purely performance – oriented scripts that elicit from the audience and emotional as well as strongly intellectual response. His plays address the middle class and only the middle class. The reason is not far to seek-it is this class that constitutes his audience. Dattani has created a vibrant, new theatrical form which is a marked development on the hither to stagnant Indian drama in English. ? BIBLIOGRAPHY A.Primary Sources 1. Tara : In Collected Plays (New Delhi Penguin 2000) 2. Bravely Fought the Queen In Collected Plays (New Delhi : Penguin 2000) 3. Final Solutions : In collected Plays (New Delhi : Penguin 2000) 4. Seven Steps Around the Fire (New Delhi : Penguin 2000) 5. On a Muggy Night in Mumbai (New Delhi : Penguin 2000) B.Secondary Sources 1. Karnad, Girish : Author’s Introduction, Three Plays (New Delhi, Oxford university Press, 1994) 2. Ramanujam, A. K. –Introduction” Follktales from India (New Delhi, Viking 1993. 3. Naik, M.K. Dimension of Indian English Literature (New Delhi, Sterling, 1984) 4. Styam. J.L. The Elements of Drama (London : Cambridge University Press, 1960) 5. Iyenger, K.R.S.- Indian writing in English (Bombay, Asia, 1977) 6. Iyenger, K.R.S.-Drama in Modern India (Bombary : The P.E.N. All India centre, 1961) C.Articles 1. Padamasee, Alygue –A note on the Play” in Mehesh Dattani, Final Solutions, collected Plays (New Delhi : Penguin India, 2000) 2. M.K. Naik –Cinderella Still : Recent Indian English Drama” Littcrit, Vol. 27, Number and 2, June – December 2001. 3. The New Indian Express, Friday October 15, 1999. 4. The Hindu, Sunday March, 9, 2003. 5. Devy, G.N—Indian English Literature and common Wealth Literature” In Another Tongue 1993, Madras, Macmillan, 1995). 6. Reddy K. Venkata and Dhawan R.K. (ed) Rtd. -Flowering of Indian Drama (New Delhi Prestige 2004). 7. Asnani Shyam –Indian English Drama’ spectrum History of Indian Literature in English ed. Ram Sewak Singh and Charu Sheel Singh (New Delhi, Atlantic, 1997) 8. Naik, M.K.—The Achievement of Indian Drama in English’ Dimension of Indian English Lieterature (New Delhi : Sterling, 1984) 9. Dattani, Mahesh : –Contemporary Indian Theatre and Its Relevance,” Journal of Indian Writing in English, Vol 30, No 1, Jan 2002.

Establishing “House”

The birth of the words “house music” is a hotly argued question amidst artists and DJ’s. Some people assert it originated from a night club called “The Warehouse” where longtime resident Producer/DJ Frankie Knuckles played a distinctive brand of dance music until 1982 when the establishment closed down. Knuckles himself suggested he initially witnessed the term when driving by a bar on the south side of Chicago that hung a sign in its window reading “We play house music”. DJ Leonard “Remix” Rroy suggests the sign was likely a reference to the style of soulful songs one would listen to at your own house.

A second sentiment is that the phrase referenced the production of music in the residences of groundbreaking DJ’s and dance producers. These early creations would be recorded with synthesizers, drum machines and sequencers. Many others assert that “house” references the relationship of particular tracks with their respective DJ’s, as in the house DJ’s played their very own house records.

The Fathers of House Music

The Chicago night club scene of the early 80’s was spurred by DJ’s spinning a number of styles of music like disco, hip hop, funk, pop, and R&B. The beginning of somewhat economical electronic instruments led to some DJ’s crafting their own combination of existing tunes by mixing in drum machines and effects.

Seen by many to be the very first original house music record, “On & On” by Jesse Saunders was published in 1984. The album’s prosperity ignited a wave of tracks from the earlier DJ’s attempting their hand at putting out house music. The music soon branched off into subgenres of house such as deep house and acid house.

Through the support of club DJ’s such as Lil Louis, Frankie Knuckles, Ron Hardy, and radio stations like WBMX, house music quickly gained popularity in Chicago. Concurrently, house began to spread to nearby DJ’s and producers of Detroit, Michigan. Artists like Marshall Jefferson helped push house outside of Chicago with his hugely well known track “Move Your Body”. From the middle to late 1980’s artists such as Larry Heard, Derrick May, Kevin Saunderson, Farley Keith, and Steve Hurley, persisted to popularize the style.

Now, house music is more prevalent than ever and can be heard in a variety of forms in night clubs spanning the earth. The genre has continued to fork off into subgenres including progressive house, electro house, techno house, breakbeat, and the list goes on. House isn’t just a style of music, but is a religion protected by loyal followers the world over.

Based on a look at her fantastic body and her well-formed chest in particular, you”d think that Chalene Johnson had a boob job. Girls, you”d be well justified in wondering this. At 41 (at the time of this writing), Chalene might easily pass for 20. Therefore it”s straightforward to question if Chalene had some extra help from medicine in obtaining that shapely, awe-inspiring body she has.

To help answer the question, no, there doesn’t seem to be any kind of public proof that Chalene had a boob job, though I can imagine that a lot of folks would certainly hesitate to talk about this information regarding themselves” At the very least, it seems that Chalene acquired that excellent rack from her genes, her diet, and naturally with the help of her popular exercise system, Turbo Jam, one among Johnson”s numerous Beachbody at-home video exercise solutions.

If you”re in the dark about it, Turbo Jam is a video program that includes dance, kickboxing, music, and fighting techinques that slims and also sculpts your body. Turbo Jam does this through the utilization of Chalene”s signature “Elite 11” movements that concentrate on your core, ab muscles, and specific body areas to produce a toning outcome and enhance stability and core strength.

This system has proven very effective, as was found in a recent analysis, in which people burnt off more than SEVEN HUNDRED calories during a 45-minute period with Turbo Jam. And the evidence of it’s effectiveness doesn’t end here. Over on the diet and weight loss message boards, Turbo Jam is extensively lauded by people. 1 poster shares her results, and the final results are impressive. She gained to of an inch on her chest and also dropped of an inch from her hips soon after training with Turbo Jam for 20 days. This poster is testament to the toning ability of a Turbo Jam work-out, as she says that she’s “small on top and big on bottom” and so she’s growing to be more proportionate because of her efforts. An additional poster shares similarly motivating effects, having dropped an inch from her stomach, about inch on both thighs, as well as 8.5 pounds after training for 12 days.

The scientific explanation for the chest gain looks like it’s the muscle tissue that build up as you exercise with dumbbells for strength training. Now you understand how Chalene obtained those wonderful busts. So if ever you should consider getting a boob job, try thinking about a good workout. It may make your ta-tas prettier, also it makes you healthier, also.