Friday 21 December 2012

T.G.Narayanan Memorial Lecture - A Report

Professor Gauri Viswanathan releasing the fourth issue of Eclectic Representations
The first of the TG Narayanan Memorial Lecture Series, organised by the PG & Department of English, Madras Christian College, was indeed a trendsetter of sorts! It's quite rare in the annals of memorial lectures to have such a committed audience of academics and research scholars throng in so enthusiastic a fashion to ardently listen to the lecture of Professor Gauri today, [Friday, 21 December, 2012] at the grand Media Studies Auditorium. As our Principal rightly pointed out, the occasion was indeed a fitting finale to the 175th anniversary year-long celebrations which began in right earnest in the first week of January 2012. 

Gauri Viswanathan, Professor of English and Comparative Literature, Columbia University, focussed on English Studies in the era of globalisation, and assessed the impact of postcolonialism in literature. Eminent personalities from all over India were present in large numbers, and the Media Studies Auditorium was packed to capacity even before the lecture had started. Staff and students from many city colleges made a bee-line to listen to the eminent academic, Gauri Viswanathan, on her maiden lecture in Chennai in a long time. Dr.C.T.Indra, Dr.Hoshang Merchant, Mr.N.Ravi (brother of Mr.N.Ram, The Hindu), were among the host of luminaries present. Dr.Stephen, the Head of the Department, welcomed the gathering, and Dr.Ganesh, President, The English Association, introduced the Chief Guest of the day. After the Principal's inaugural address, Mr.N.Ranga Narayanan elaborated on the lecture series, paying rich encomiums to his father, in whose name this endowment has been instituted. 

Monday 17 December 2012

Prakriti Poetry Fest'12

Noted poet Arundhati Subramaniam, at the Prakriti Poetry Festival 2012 @ MCC
The Prakriti Poetry Fest'12 organised by The English Association, MCC, took off to a flying start today [17 Dec] with noted poet Arundhati Subramaniam reciting her poems to an eager audience of poetry-enthusiasts, at the Indoor theatre, Selaiyur Hall. Renowned Sri Lankan poet Cheran also read out his poems, followed by the poet Rahul Soni.

Sunday 25 November 2012

Business English Certificate - Training - Reg.


BUSINESS ENGLISH CERTICIATE (BEC)
          [Batch VIII]
from Monday, 03 December 2012
Companies/Organisations/Institutions today are seeking employees with English language skills to help them compete internationally.
Give yourself a vital advantage by making sure you have the language skills
that employers are looking for.
Cambridge English: Business English Certificate (BEC) is an internationally recognised language system for describing/assessing language ability.

Tuesday 20 November 2012

“Use what talents you possess; the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best.” – Henry Van Dyke
Dear Students (past and present),

This is the FIRST call for sending in your creative writings/paintings for the fourth issue of Cornucopia. The fourth issue is being designed on a still grander scale, and we thank all of you who have sent in your articles thus far. We shall be acknowledging all of you shortly via email. The last date for receipt of your creative writings/paintings is Saturday, 08 December 2012. You may send in your entries to cornucopiamcc@gmail.com

Who can contribute: All students of MCC (past and present)

Guidelines: Cornucopia welcomes any original unpublished work that can spark human consciousness – appropriate, elegant, innovative and original. Kindly avoid sending in overtly/harshly critical articles/cartoons that violate the ethos and decorum of the Department/College.

Do not forget to key-in both your full name (and/or your pen name(s) if any), and mention specifically how you’d wish to be acknowledged in the name-line.

Viewing the Pre-final Copy: A pre-final copy of the fourth issue will be made available in the Department of English on Monday, 10 December 2012 from 10 am to 3 pm. All contributors are welcome to browse through the same and notify the Editorial team of changes/corrections, if any, straightaway.

Sunday 18 November 2012

Remembering a legend who lives on eternally...

Let us affectionately and reverentially remember the inimitable and incomparable guru
late Dr.Vishnu Bhat on his birthday today
Dr. Vishnu Bhat came to Madras Christian College in 1964 to pursue his Masters in English Language and Literature. This statement by itself means nothing. But when one qualifies it with the knowledge that Dr. Vishnu Bhat, hardly out of his teens before he took his B.A. in English from Kerala University (he hailed from Kasaragod), had had education in the patasala and, therefore, was steeped in Sanskrit/vedic tradition – then the first statement becomes quite meaningful. Learning in the patasala is tough, rigorous and is usually divided into two categories – dvē vidyē… parā caiva aparāca. The two categories are parāvidyā and aparāvidyā. The former (also known as Brahma vidyā) was considered greater learning and the latter encompasses all other learning which includes Vēdas, Vēdānga, Śilpa, Tarka, Nyāya, and Āyurvēda. In other words, education at the patasala was holistic combining the secular with the spiritual. So, when Dr. Bhat came to MCC to study M.A. English he was a complete man.

Saturday 10 November 2012

Eclectic Representations says a big 'Thank You'

Dear Professors/Research Scholars/Contributors, 

Thank you for your overwhelming support and patronage extended towards the phenomenal burgeoning of Eclectic Representations, the peer-reviewed biannual Journal from the PG & Research Department of English, Madras Christian College. Indeed, by the immense grace of God, and through the sincere initiatives put in by our former Head of the Department Dr.Felix Moses, the Journal is marching from strength to strength. Now, the subscriber base has grown by leaps and bounds, and the Journal awaits the release of her fourth issue on 21 December 2012.

Eclectic Representations
If your article was not included for publication in any of the past issues, it means that it did not pass the strict parameters laid down by the Editorial Board of the Journal. The Journal has and always been supportive of highly original research articles that contribute significantly to the existing body of knowledge. 

Our advanced plagiarism detecting software makes our work easier by the day. The last date for receipt of articles drew to a grand close yesterday. We look forward to your continued support and patronage. Very soon, Eclectic Representations will find a website of her own, and all articles can be accessed online through the website and also through the ever-burgeoning Journal

Friday 9 November 2012


PG & RESEARCH DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH
INVITES YOU
FOR
THE T.G. NARAYANAN ENDOWMENT LECTURE
ON
ENGLISH STUDIES IN POSTCOLONIALISM AND GLOBAL HISTORY
BY
DR.GAURI VISWANATHAN
Professor of English and Comparative Literature, Columbia University
ON
21 DECEMBER 2012
Between 10:00 am and 12:00 pm
AT
THE MEDIA CENTRE
MADRAS CHRISTIAN COLLEGE

Thursday 8 November 2012

UGC Sponsored
TWO-DAY INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR
31 January, 01 February 2013
on
ELT in the Context of a Globalised World
MADRAS CHRISTIAN COLLEGE (Autonomous)
CHENNAI – 600059
TAMILNADU
Organised by
PG & Research Dept of English

MADRAS CHRISTIAN COLLEGE

(Autonomous)

CHENNAI – 600 059

E-mail: ugcseminarmcc@gmail.com

CALL FOR PAPERS

Papers are invited from teacher delegates, PhD and MPhil Scholars, related to, but need not be limited to, the following themes/sub-themes.

The Rise of English
v  Linking Cultures and Nations
v  Teaching English in Diverse Contexts
v  Evolving, Critiquing, Evaluating Teaching Methodology

Thursday 1 November 2012

Internal Mark Statements - Reg.

Dear Students of BA/MA English, 

In a first of its kind, the Department of English has come up with a novel initiative by which, all Internal Mark Statements for all the Major papers for all classes, will be displayed in the Department Notice Boards on 02 November 2012, by 10 am, when you come to collect your Hall tickets. All of you are advised to look up the Notice Boards to verify the accuracy of your marks on that day. 

Clarifications/corrections, if any, should be brought to the notice of the concerned Course Teacher by Friday, 9 November 2012. No corrections, whatsoever, will be entertained, by any Course Teacher, after the deadline. Students are further asked to sign against their respective mark statements, by the deadline.

With all best wishes, 

for The Head, Department of English

Image Source: ehow.com

Wednesday 31 October 2012

On Writing Assignments: Thoughts from a teacher to his students

Very soon your assignment marks will be out, and before having a look at your assignment marks, I would request that you spare a couple of minutes and have a look at what I’ve got to say as regards my students’ assignments with me. [You may also want to look up my other article on the same subject HERE]

Madras Christian College has never compromised on quality. Yes, I underline the word NEVER. Be it the legendary Professor Benet Albert or the revered Dr.Vishnu Bhat, or the great Dr. Robert Burns, or the vibrant Prof. Rajani, or the scholarly Dr. Nirmal Selvamony,  (literary giants who have always stood for high academic integrity that they possessed and practised) - teachers of the glorious past who have laid a  lovely paradigm for the future as regards the quality of assignments – it is our sincere wish and ardent desire that, this rich legacy is sustained through all the students (trend setters) who pass through this sylvan conclave of excellence. That was the commitment that motivated them, and that continues to motivate us even today.

Indeed, we are and always will be votaries of this excellence, and NO SECOND THOUGHTS ON THAT!!

A good assignment is basically a sustained inquiry into a particular subject of study. Your guide would want you to systematically augment your thesis statement with effective props to authenticate them. Your opinion of course matters a lot. But, what is more important is the support statement that gives the required credentials to your opinions. And, support statements offer a good deal of weightage when they are propped up by the views of critics/scholars/giants in the respective field of enquiry. In order to do this effectively, make sure your thesis statement is convincing (not confusing!). Cathy Keller Brown, an expert on the subject says, “Before you do anything else, make sure you have a clear understanding of what your instructor expects from you”.

Other expert Professors like Lynn F. Jacobs and Jeremy S. Hyman, who are with the University of Arkansas observe in their enlightening article “The 5 Biggest Mistakes College Students Make”:

“Problem No. 5: Going it alone. Many students shy away from going to see their professor or teaching assistant, either because they're too scared, they think the prof won't want to see them, or they think you should only go when you're in trouble. As a result, they end up blowing a test or paper when a few minutes with the instructor could have easily cleared up the problem.”
`
Always remember that,you are expected to discuss with your guide (professor) as regards your chosen topic, and your guide will in turn give you an issue of a standard Journal [like our own Eclectic Representations], to help you get suggestions in your adventure/tryst/journey with your research article. The guide normally spends at least 30 minutes with you, giving you suggestions/ideas on writing better, and helping you tackle your thesis statement as befits a students of MCC.

Your guide is usually available over email or personally in the Staff Room, during College Working Hours.

You can fix an appointment with your guide a day in advance (by phone/email/in person) and make sure you meet him/her at the specified time. Your guide, apart from giving you guidance on getting good research material in the city’s libraries, may also give you his/her own reference books to finetune your article better.

Check if you have included an abstract in about 150 words.

Check if key words have also been included along with your abstract. (words, and not sentences!)

Check if you have given a minimum of at least TEN print sources.

Check if you have cited the page numbers for all the citations/quotations included in the article.

Check if you have followed the MLA Style Sheet format for quoting page numbers in your article.

Check if you have abided by the MLA format for Research Papers in your ‘Works Cited’ section.

Check if you have included a minimum of at least 18 paragraphs in your research article. (the minimum is 18)

Check if you have a word length of at least 3000 words. Your MS Word will help you identify the approaching word length better.

Check for any spelling mistakes/grammatical errors that might have inadvertently crept into your article.

See to it that you submit your assignments before the deadline. (e-assignments are just an option given to students for publishing them later).

If you have done all of the above, kindly question your guide if your grade is below 90!

Otherwise, stop the lament and get back to the basics!

There’s no compromise on quality AT ANY COST!

And to bring out the best in you!

With all best wishes, 

- Rufus
Course Teacher

Assignments - Reg

Dear Students,
Thank you for the overwhelming response in submitting your e-assignments. This is also to inform you that the provision for submission of assignments ended at 12 am last night. You may look up your assignment marks on 01 November 2012 at 10 am. in the Department Notice Board.

You will be graded based on your written performance (in accordance with the parameters laid down by the Head of the Department).

Discrepancies, if any, should be brought to my notice on or before 2 pm on Monday, 05 November 2012.

With warm regards,
Rufus

Friday 26 October 2012

MCC Physicists and the Making of Modern India

Dr.N.Lakshminarayan, Associate Professor of Physics, MCC, gave an enlightening lecture on ‘The Physicists from MCC & Making of Modern India’ today (26 October 2012) at 9:30 am, to a packed audience at the Anderson Hall, with a host of distinguished luminaries, achievers, historians and scientists [all MCC-ians] among the audience, enlivening the session.
Excerpts from his Lecture:


Dr.K.S.Krishnan [BA 1916-18]
It is indeed a great honour to talk about the Physicists from MCC and their contributions to the making of India. The impact of Physicists from MCC on the Indian State is of course part of Indian History – Mr.T.N.Seshan, Mr. M.M.Rajendran, Mr.S.Narayanan are some of the names that immediately come to mind. If I start talking about them that would require another few sessions and also be quite out of my league.

Physics has driven civilisations and transformed societies. Physics and Physicists have been at the root of everything. Today’s strategic thinking is based on nuclear power. Japan, after its recent natural disasters has charted a road map towards ‘zero’ nuclear energy by the year 2040. However, the Japanese Cabinet abstained from fully endorsing the zero-nuclear option, and a small number of new nuclear reactors remain under construction. The German government decided to abandon nuclear power after the Fukushima nuclear disaster last year, closing eight plants immediately and shutting down the remaining nine by 2022.


Saturday 20 October 2012

MCC Physicists and India

All ye MCC-ians interested in knowing about our contribution to India and the world - it's time for you to keep time on the 26th of October at 9 am sharp in the majestic Anderson Hall, for an inspiring and enlightening lecture by the renowned physicist Dr.N.Lakshminarayan on "MCC Physicists and the Making of Modern India".

Be there...!

Monday 15 October 2012

The Aura of Assam - III

the rickshaw puller with his customers
Thus far, one is bound to fathom for oneself, how life is lived the hard way out here, what with rains playing hide and seek every now and then, adding to the desperation of the village-folk. Unpredictable as the weather is, the menfolk take it upon themselves to have multi-tasking skills – they have lots of side businesses to keep their cash registers ringing. In some cases, it was a sad sight to see even teachers (from the noblest of professions) were forced to act ‘business-like’ to earn their bread and butter by the day, which was, so to say, the order of the day, here in this clime and weather.


When it comes to religious fervour, one can vouchsafe with all integrity that the Assamese would score much much higher on their RQ than their counterparts in most other parts of India. Every place of worship has people flocking by the dozens and chartered trips (often called line trips) are a craze here, when it comes to having darshans of their favourite deities. Sunday evenings were marked by bhajans and other related rituals which testify to their zeal and religious intensity.

Sunday 14 October 2012

The Aura of Assam - II

captured from our car - a common sight in this part of Assam
The second leg of our sojourn was through the meandering exotic locales that crisscrossed the sylvan landscape of Dibrugarh. Unjustly called the NH-37 (National Highway), as it doesn’t even match up to the claims of a village road at many places, our journey ended in rude jolts and bumpy rides all through the 78 km long journey which again took us an unusual 3 hrs and 20 minutes of travel time.! This ‘NH’ traverses the entire length and width of the state, and at many places, to our horror, we saw rail lines laid parallel to NH roads with just around two metres separating road and rail lines, and no walls in sight, to protect the unwary layman from the approaching trains.

The NH bustles with bus transport provided by Assam State Transport Corporation, and one interesting line that caught our eyes all along our travel was the tag, ‘Under ASTC’ – words that found a place in almost all buses, omni buses, vans etc. When our inquisitive group members quizzed a bus driver on this tag, he had a remarkable explanation to offer. It seems ASTC had embarked on an ambitious plan of handing out govt buses on lease to private operators. This, he added, was due to the frequent bandhs and strikes that crippled

Saturday 13 October 2012

The Aura of Assam - Part I


at a tourist locale in Sibsagar
(This piece of writing is a kinda travelogue of this blogger, edited at quite a few places, to cater to my blog-audience). Our sincere thanks are due to Dr.Thongam (Manipur), Dr.Nath (Assam), and Prof.Ramjoshi Chandra (Gujarat) for their insightful and incisive thoughts on the subject.

Well, the flight-trip from Chennai to Delhi was indeed comfortable but not as breath-taking as the one from Delhi to Assam (something akin to, but that which can never out-rival our Shimla sojourn of September!)

Be it the eastern section of the great Himalayas or the great southward bend of the beautiful Brahmaputra, or the pointed peaks or the snow smothered mountain passes, or the tantalizing tea estates that criss cross the length and breath of the hill state, or the alluring charm of the endless lakes that lay a claim to the heart, spread over the entire state, it was indeed a trip of a lifetime..!

Friday 12 October 2012

Excerpts from Professor Spivak's Plenary


Professor Gayatri Spivak giving the plenary
Questioning Identity
[Speech transcripted by this blogger]

Let me say two things which are really about me but not really good for academics. I was the first and only woman of colour to have been offered the University Professorship in its 258 years of history. I would like to emphasise here on the depravitude of a world-class university that it could find only one of us in so many years, and I am also the first Indian to be offered the Kyoto Prize. I want to make a case to the prize-giving organizations in the United States that, among the many who have received from the US, only Gayatri Spivak in India could be able to receive this prize. Now, that is incorrect. 

I begin with the understanding that the ethical is the unconditional call of all 'others’ and the democratic is a politics based on training in judgment. Education and democratic habits of mind, relate most importantly to primary education of the children of the largest sector of the electorate, which in the case of our country is the millions of children of the landless electorate.

The call of ‘the others’ asks the ethical subject to resist identity. Identity is not going to go away. We can be very sure about it. We can’t resist it because it is very strong. I love my identity because I am very firmly placed in Bengali. 

In 2000, When the University of Toronto was about to shut down its Comparative Literature program, I went to talk to the President and it got a lot of publicity on the internet also. I told him that it was “health care for a culture”. You can never think of doing moral metrics by indulging in knowledge management tecniques! The true aim of the Humanities is to train the soul! And yes! you've got to do it slow! Not fast!

What then constitutes a healthy culture?  The condition and... [couldnt follow Ms. Spivak here - sorry about it]… It’s a culture, not a philanthropy. It means, to suspend the interest of the self in the interest of the other. This morning, my old friend tells me, “they have to be told”. 

This is the exercise given to the imagination, where literary reading is taught in a robust way. And this cuts across schools of criticism and so, you need not be a structuralist to do it this way. As some of you might know, the great divide in literary criticism came to the United States in the critic Rene Wellek at the start of the II World War. This was the big divide in literary criticism in the United States. In college, we were given a good foregrounding in texts and in criticism. We were taught the historical approach, and when we did that, we were able to construct the original vision of the author. Later on, our imaginations were being trained to suspend our imaginations in the interest of the other. 

A healthy culture then is produced by the training of the imagination by the humanities. We should thus be taught to get into a text by suspending our interests. Here, we are talking about the institution. I have actively looked for a distracted theory of the double bind. In literary criticism, when you set out to look for something, you find it. Following this rule, I now feel that a double bind is rather more than the suggestion that having found it, you can play with it. The humanities should somehow learn to serve the double binds. 

Servants and women have been taught to fit into these coercive gender structures. This morning I chided a girl for bringing me a chair to sit on. That, I feel is coercive gender behavior. Gender is the last word. Figure out the double binds there. 

Looking homeward, I reminisce on my first professional presentation at an institution of tertiary education in India. The double bind here is between caste and class, necessarily also understood as race and class. There are certain contradictions here between the preserved performatives of indegeity and civilisationism which cannot even enter into the security of a double bind. 

Comparative literature perceived from a field of desires, that thinks of globalization, that thinks of the experiences shared by the first language learners among the overwhelming majority of infants, …

Thursday 11 October 2012

Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, University Professor at Columbia University, lighting the lamp at the International Conference on Ethnicity, Identity and Literature at Sibsagar College, Joysagar, Assam (at 5:30 pm, 11 October 2012) in the MCB Auditorium.

Thursday 4 October 2012

Lecture on Structuralism - Reg

Dear Students, 
Kindly make it convenient to attend a guest lecture on "Structuralism - the Basics" by an illustrious scholar Prof.Daniel David, between 8:30 am and 10 am on 05 October 2012 at the A/C Seminar Room (MPhil Room).
With warm regards, 
The TEA Team

Tuesday 11 September 2012

click on pic to enlarge
An Invitation from the Department of English, Stella Maris College.
This is a pioneering attempt by Stella Maris in a long time, and quite obviously, expectations run high!
Students of the Department of English, MCC, who wish to watch the performance, may please contact Prof.Latha (SMC) or Mr. Samuel Rufus.
We shall arrange a mini-bus to and from SMC, if there are around twenty of us. The timings are: 3 pm & 7 pm on 14, 15 September, 7 pm on 13 September 2012.

Thursday 30 August 2012

Cornucopia - Vol.III - Cover Design

Dee cee's creativity unplugged

Training for BEC - Reg.

Training for the Business English Certificate (BEC)  starts today, Thursday, 30 August 2012 at 2 pm in the Selaiyur Hall Room No. 2 (III BA English Classroom). Classes will be held on all working days between 2 and 3:30 pm.
With warm regards, 
The Co-ordinators, 
BEC Training@MCC,
Dept of English

Wednesday 29 August 2012

Release of Third Issues of Eclectic Representations/Cornucopia: A Report

It was a red letter day in the annals of the Department of English, by all means. The third issue of Eclectic Representations was released with much fanfare by Mr.T.Radhakrishnan, Addl. Director General of Police, Chennai. In the same vein, Dr.S.Armstrong, Head, Department of English, University of Madras, released Cornucopia, a student publication, in the Anderson Hall today, at 11:30 am. 

Mr.T.Radhakrishnan, who did his MA in English Literature, was a student of Dr.Francis Sounderraj. He has authored six books on literature to his credit. Speaking on the occasion, he said that his passion of literature is something that keeps him going even today. He was all praise for the research initiatives of the Department. The Principal was greatly appreciative of the

Saturday 25 August 2012

Release of Eclectic Representations & Cornucopia:

The English Association (TEA)
Department of English
Madras Christian College (Autonomous)
invites you for the release of
Eclectic Representations Vol. 2, Issue 1
[Peer-reviewed Biannual Journal]
and
Cornucopia Vol. 3
[Satura Lanx:  Fruition of Artistic Dreams]
on
Wednesday, 29 August 2012 at 11 am
in the Anderson Hall.
MR. T. RADHAKRISHNAN, IPS.,
[Addl. Director General of Police, Chennai]
Govt. of Tamil Nadu
will deliver the key-note address,
and release the Journal.

Friday 24 August 2012

Shortlisted Entries for Cornucopia

Based on the unanimous choice of the adjudicators, The English Association [TEA@MCC] has shortlisted the following eleven entries (given in alphabetical order, and not in order of prizes) for publication in Cornucopia - [Satura Lanx], Volume III, from among the entries in the Creative Writing Competition held on Tuesday 31 July 2012, at Selaiyur Hall. 
This 200- page issue is scheduled for a grand release on Wednesday, 29 August 2012 at the Anderson Hall.
Abisha Selva Sharon
Aditya
Daya Subramanian
Fiona Kezia Winston
Janakaseeni
Kaveri Murthy
Radha, K. S
Roseline Victoria
S. Venkateswaran
S. Nikhila
Saurabh Kaushik
Congratulations to all of you who've been shortlisted. And, special kudos to all the participants who gave their best. It was indeed a close finish, as the adjudicators tell me, and it was indeed very difficult to make up their mind on shortlisting the entries (leave alone selecting the winning entries!), they add.

Five among them get prizes on D-day. (29 Aug 2012) Keep your fingers crossed till then!
[The First place and the third place are shared by two students each.]

Wednesday 22 August 2012

View the Pre-final Copy of Cornucopia

Dear students, 

A pre-final copy of the third issue of Cornucopia will be made available in the Department of English on Thursday, 23 August, 2012 from 9 am to 3 pm. 
All contributors are welcome to browse through the same and notify the Editorial team of changes/corrections, if any, straightaway. 
Contributors from outside Chennai will be given a pdf version of Cornucopia, to check for changes/corrections, if any.  
In the meantime, please find below the indexing of your articles in Cornucopia (Vol III)
Index (with page no's)
Aanusha Ghosh – 103, 108, 114
Aarthi Christeen – 117, 119
Abisha Selva Sharon – 191
Aditya – 11, 12, 61, 62
Ajin Mathew Varghese – 96, 116
Andrew Veda – 63, 64, 66
Angeline Prem Kumar – 194
Anila Maria Mathew – 170
Arul Jothi – 81
Ben Geoffrey – 83
Catherine – (Photos)
Cesili Jenifer (Painting)
Christina Mary George – (Pencil Sketching)
Christopher Poshin David – 133, 134, 137
Daya Subramanian – 188
Debashree Mishra – 163
Divya – 40, 70
Evangeline - Painting
Fiona Kezia Winston – 172, 173, 179
Janakaseeni – 25, 27, 68
Jeba Malar (Pencil Sketching)
Joanna Shalom John – 175
Joan – (Pencil Sketching)

Friday 17 August 2012

Dr. Sivaraman, our illustrious alumnus, and currently, Asst Professor of English, Presidency College, gave the third guest lecture of this academic year, on Post-independence Indian Theatre in Selaiyur Hall Indoor Theatre, at 10:45 am.  Dr. S. Stephen Jebanesan welcomed the I & II yr PG students of English Litt for the lecture. Dr. K. Ganesh introduced the guest of the day. Dr. Sivaraman then proceeded to give incisive and scholarly insights into Post-independence Indian Theatre. 

Excerpts from his lecture:

“there’s not even a single language in India that all Indians can understand. That describes the essential plurality of our country. Indeed, India, unlike other countries, is known for its plurality – a plurality that is a peculiarity. If we don’t understand this plurality, then, that’s necessarily a weakness. 

So, there’s no theatrical concept that can be applied to all theatrical groups in India. Hence the label ‘Indian Theatre’ in singular form is irrelevant in our pluralistic set up. 

Monday 13 August 2012

PhD Viva voce of Prof. Sivaraman

Prof. Sivaraman defending his thesis
It was a day of enlightenment for the audience who had gathered to listen to Prof. Sivaraman defend his thesis "Metadrama in Girish Karnad's Hayavadana, Nagamandala and The Fire and the Rain" at Nortan Hall, Pachaiyappa’s College, today, 13 August 2012 at 11 am.

The Supervisor and Convenor of the Viva-Voce Dr. U. Sundararajan praising his ward and doctor-designate V. Sivaraman, said, “Sivaraman submitted his thesis one day in advance of the scheduled date of submission, and he was very particular about that. His Guru Dr. Vishnu Bhatt, (a great role-model for English professors), introduced Mr. Sivaraman to me. Even though I was skeptical about the topic of the thesis, Mr. Sivaraman convinced me about the scope of the thesis, and from then on, it was no turning back for him”, he added. 

The External Examiner Dr. Felix Moses was equally enthusiastic in showering praise on his proud student. Excerpts from his observations:

“It is indeed a privilege to be the external examiner for one of my best students. It is a very well-written thesis. In short, it is a model thesis. There are many candidates who might be doing your MPhil or PhD. I request that you go through this thesis to get ideas. Everything has been clearly outlined by Sivaraman. The reasons why it is a model thesis are:

Sunday 12 August 2012

Release of the third issue of Ecletic Representations - Reg.

The eagerly awaited third issue of Eclectic Representations, the peer-reviewed biannual journal published by the Department of English, Madras Christian College (Autonomous), is ready for release. The exact date of release will be announced shortly, as we are finalising on the dates and the dignitaries for the occasion. 

The next issue is scheduled for a January 2013 release, and original, unpublished research articles are invited. The Journal follows certain guidelines on which there remains no compromise. For details of the guidelines, please follow the link below: http://mcc.edu.in/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=566&Itemid=864

Back issues of Eclectic Representations are available with the Department of English.