Sunday Scenario
Rijul Kochhar
Waking up on any other day finds me
in the bathroom and out of it in precisely 85 minutes. To my consternation,
the day begins with an empty stomach and ends the same way, with bits and
pieces of God’s gifts thrown in at odd and fixed hours, in form of the ever,
(in)famous ‘bullet-proofs’ et al.
The ‘other days’ are jam-packed with activities, some even nefarious, but
keeping me busy – body, mind and soul. The increasing payload – in terms of
hand-outs, worksheets (as if there wasn’t work enough) and the ‘notebook
filling syndrome’ whose bug has bitten quite a few beings on campus. A lazy
good-for-nothing like me has already used up three registers for Maths and I
am about to switch over to a second in Physics. I wonder where all those
‘fast-breeder reactors’, who have the appetite for two books a week minimum,
if not more, would be by now.
But as the week limps into those two forbidden days of bliss – Saturday and
Sunday, Chandbagh, and the entire world, dons a different aura. The vast
shibboleth of books, stationary and the like, are relegated to the dustiest
and darkest corners, both physically and mentally, as we look forward to a
different world altogether on the silver-screen.
The day of ‘the rising sun’ is welcomed by a late rise. Breakfast, quite
strangely, is not on everyone’s list of priorities today. For most, it is a
day to reckon with outside the gates of Chandbagh and near the peripheries
of Welham Girls, or at a table for two at Barista Café.
But for a man like me the only gaze allowed outside is from the Main Gate
and Chakrata Gate.
So you must be wondering – what the hell am I up to, when the others down a
now-prohibited chicken butter-masala or a vanilla smoothie? Quite
ludicrously, the answer is simple – I ‘tree-gaze.’ Yes, I look at almost
each variety of flora, from one end of school to another.
You may not have realised it yet, but for the trees and me, winter is
history. The king of fruits- mango- has already reached the stage of
flowering while his concubine, litchi, looks at his formation in silent awe.
Almost all yellow leaves have been shed, while green ones are all set to
arrive.
It is true that winter’s been short and sweet, and the rains have ‘jammed’
once again. But there’s a peculiar smell in the air these days. The smell of
change; that omnipotent five-letter word.
As the daylight fails and the lamps come on, trickle by trickle, life
returns to the desolate land.
Hopes have been made, and the steel has been tempered. Stomachs have been
filled while I have watched another day pass.
It was a challenge in the beginning, when I had no idea or expertise in the
art of managing a Sunday, but somehow I have started enjoying the ones that
Chandbagh has to offer. They are not the best available, but enough to
provide food for thought. If only ‘tree-gazing’ would supplement hyperbolae
and aldehydes…ah well, that’s for another time and at another place! Till
then, extract the most from a Sunday. There are only sixteen in a term! Too
much to look at, and too little time…
A Readerly Syllabus
Debasish Chakrabarty writes on the IB English course
“The goal of literary work is to
make the reader no longer a consumer, but a producer of the text.”
Roland Barthes (French Literary Critic and Semiologist), S/Z
This seems to be one of the thrust areas of the IB English syllabus.
Disclaimers first, let us at the outset agree not to compare the two syllabi
(the ISC and the IB). Each has its place under the sun and each serves its
own purpose. The IB, with its baggage of ‘internationalism’, promotes a
holistic system of education, where the student is offered much more choice
at the basic level. As of now, it seems to be a great system if one wants to
pursue higher academics but has not quite made up one’s mind on the area of
specialisation. In continuation to the articles by PBR and SMD, this article
is on the English literature component of the IB.
Let us get some terminologies out of the way. The IB has two language
components: Language A1, which is mandatory, and Language A2. One can choose
any language in this category (read mother-tongue or a language in which the
student has mother-tongue like competence). The school chose English for its
Language A1. English, like all the other categories, has Standard Level (SL)
and Higher Level (HL). Since there is no grammar component in A1, at the SL
one has to work with 11 texts and at the HL with 15 texts. While the
assignments are more or less similar, the grading, obviously, is more
stringent at the HL. The IB syllabus is chosen from a wide array of texts
from two lists: the Prescribed World Literature list (PWL), a list of about
500 books in translation and the Prescribed Book List (PBL) of about 450
authors from all over the world. The onus of choice lies with the school,
the guideline being the ‘aims’ of the IB, which are:
Not only to promote enjoyment and a lifelong interest in literature, but
also to encourage a personal appreciation of the texts and understanding of
the techniques involved in literary criticism.
Develop both oral and written communication skills of the students, writing
and speaking in a variety of styles and situations.
Introduce students to a range of literary works of different periods,
genres, styles and contexts and broaden their horizons about other cultures
and languages.
(Contd on page 4)
