Research Innovator ISSN International Multidisciplinary Research Journal Research Innovator

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2 Research Innovator A Peer-Reviewed Refereed and Indexed Volume I Issue I: February 2014 CONTENTS Sr. No. Author Title of the Paper Page No. 1 Reihane Raeeisivan The Address Terms of Spouses in Different 01 Social Strata in Isfahan and Its Sociolinguistic Implications 2 Prashant Myth, Memory and History: Finding 12 Dharmadhikari Equilibrium in R.K. Narayan 3 Prof. Suresh Sutar & Words: Lungs of Literature 18 Dr. Shivaji Sargar 4 Vijay Lindayat Skills and Technologies to Teach Technical 24 English 5 Dr. Raju J. Patole Azadi - A Thematic Study 28 6 Jigneshkumar P. Feminism in Indian English Literature 32 Solanki 7 Ramesh Kumar & Dr. Rakesh Kumar Corporate Social Responsibility -A case study of Microsoft Corporation (India) Pvt. Ltd. 37 Volume I Issue I: February 2014 (1) Editor-In-Chief: Dr. S.D. Sargar

3 Azadi - A Thematic Study Dr. Raju Jayasing Patole IES Bhandup (East), Mumbai (M.S.), India Abstract After briefly discussing Chaman Nahal s Azadi, written on the epic scale offers a most comprehensive account of Partition, the actual event and its aftermath, the author creates in vivid detail the consequences of partitioning for a Hindu family and its close associates as they journey from Sialkot to Delhi. This chapter deals with the story, represents the story of a whole nation, of millions who were forced to leave their homes and to whom azadi brings only untold misery and uncertain future. Key Words: Chaman Nahal, Azadi, partition Introduction Chaman Nahal s Azadi (1975), The majormost novel on the theme of the Partition, offers the most comprehensive treatment of the colossal tragedy to date, Barring a few novelists like Khushwant Singh, Balchandra Rajan, Attia Hosain, Raj Gill, Manohar Malgaonkar and Sharf Mukaddam, so far there is no one who has seriously fictionalized partition-tragedy as a major theme. As a result of this the number of major novels is very small and of all the attempts made so far, Chaman Nahal s Azadi is the most ambitious one 51 the novel depicts photographic detail the catastrophic episode that was enacted on the Indian soil immediately before and after the declaration of the British decision in June 1947 to vacate India after partitioning it. The novelist recreates in vivid detail the consequences of the Partition with reference to a Hindu family as they journey from Sialkot in Pakistan to Delhi, the capital of India. The novel comprises three parts- The Lull, the storm and the aftermath - that represent respectively the beginning, the middle and the end of the great event called Partition. The focus of the novel is on the delineation of the psychological consequences of the Partition on the personal and general planes. In this enthralling novel, Chaman Nahal portrays how the truncated independence of India with atrocities and horrors accompanying it, was no doubt a traumatic experience for the people, particularly the Punjabis!! 22 Azadi a chronicle novel, considered as Chaman Nahal s magnum opus, presents a brilliant close up on the profile of communal violence in Punjab 52 The very beginning of the novel depicts a short of an unforeseen tension that prevails in the Punjab. It begins with that fateful date, third of June, 1947, when the Viceroy, Mountbatten, is to declare the division of the vast sub-continent. The Punjabis are still optimistic that the leaders and especially Gandhiji would never allow the division of the country. That day they assemble in the house of Bibi Amar Vati and are shocked to listen with dated breath to the announcement made by the Viceroy and agreed to by the Indian leaders without caring for the Hindus Volume I Issue I: February 2014 (28) Editor-In-Chief: Dr. S.D. Sargar

4 and Sikhs living in west Punjab that is to go to Pakistan. The Muslims, however, celebrate their anticipated freedom very jubilantly. Being frantic with joy, they run amuck and kill Hindus and Sikhs and loot their property, abduct and rape their women. Mutilate their children, burn their houses and what not. The up rooted inhabitants of the land of the five rivers begin their march towards India as they do not have any place now in the land of the pure. Millions of refugees migrate to India and vice versa. On the personal plane, Azadi is the story of Lala Kanshi Ram and his family living in Sialkot, and on the general plane, of the people affected by the Partition. Lala Kanshi Ram, the protagonist, a wholesale grain merchant in Sailkot, has earned name, fame and fortune by working very hard. His son Arun a college student and his beloved wife, Prabha Rani make his familial life quite happy. The first four chapters of the first part The Lull very closely acquaint us with Lala Kanshi Ram who is a typical Indian of the time and whose idol is Mahatma Gandhi. By creed he is a nationalist Hindu living in the Muslim majority Sialkot. He loves his land and it is here in Sialkot that his father and forefathers lived. The British, according to him must quit India and give Azadi to the Indians. Like any other Indian, he had a prejudice against the British. He hated them for what they had done to his country and wanted Azadi (p.18) To what extent the Arya Samaji Lala, Sikhs and Hindus are angry is exemplified by the young and strong sardar Niranjan Singh who wants to do...take out his sword and hack Nehru to pieces. (P.66) The people s reactions are, therefore, very vehement and wild as they feel betrayed by the leaders. This is in a way Chaman Nahal s own anger expressed through his characters. He holds the leaders of the congress, the league and the Akali Dal responsible for the Partition. From such scenes, one gets an impression that it is not the suffering people that are speaking but the writer himself is commenting. It is sort of the writers intrusion which is not so desirable in creative writing like fiction when once the Partition is announced, what remains to be seen is an account of how the Lala, protagonist, is brought safely to Dehli and reconciled with the Partition. However, the scenes of love making of Arun with Nur and Chandani provide emotional and lyrical Cathartic relief against the background of this inhuman world of massacre and molestation. Otherwise, the entire novel is sad tale of poignant human suffering. When the storm breaks out in the city, the Lala, Choudhari and even Bill Davidson get depressed. In the refugee camp, the Lala receives the news of the death of his daughter, Madhu who while coming from Wazirabad to Sialkot by a train is attached and killed by some frenzied Muslims in addition to the news of the murder of her husband, Madhu s death in the last blow to the Lala s shattered psyche. It becomes, very difficult for the Hindus and Sikhs even to walk on the open street. Everyone, who doesn t look like a Muslim is stripped to see whether he is circumcised or not as... the acid test of being a Muslim lay in one and only sign- in circumcision. Volume I Issue I: February 2014 (29) Editor-In-Chief: Dr. S.D. Sargar

5 (P.174) In spite of several difficulties. Arun and Suraj Prakash go to Barkat Ali and then to the railway station to retrieve Madhu s dead body. Chaman Nahal renders the horrifying details of the atrocities as below:... dismembered limbs. Dozens of themlegs and arms, and hands and thighs, and feet. The fire had consumed other parts of the bodies; it was the part which had not fully burned that stood out. And there were the skulls. Again dozens of them. Many lay face down, the other faced the sky, or looked sideways. Bare jaws, scooped out eye socket s gnashing teeth. Very often a skull cracked open with a poping noise, its bones disintegrating into the heap around. Since it was a quiet night, the sound came like crack of a rifle it was an unnerving sound (PP ) The stark reality in such scenes, however, sounds more fictitious than fiction, but it is real history presented in the garb of fiction. This exemplifies the sentiments of horror and obscenity - i.e. Bhayanaka and Bibhatsa Rasas in terms of ancient Indian poetics. References: A critical assessment of the Partition novels reveals that the Partition of the Indian subcontinent was an unprecedented political event in the history of India and that the Partition novels are faithful portrayals of the contemporary political realism. As literature unfailingly records human life. The historical event of the horrendous tragedy of the Partition in 1947 in the wake of freedom is naturally reflected in the novel, the most seismographic from of creative literature The novelist describes the aftermath of the Partition in Book III of the novel. As if the horrors of the Partition were not enough, the final tragedy of Gandhiji assassination takes place. The priest of non-violence is killed by violence. Except a few considerate refugees like Lala and Sunanda, almost all blame the Mahatma for the Partition tragedy. The historical evidence is however, different: It speaks of Nehru, Patel, Jinnah and others as persons responsible for the tragedy. The mood of transformation and anger with reference to Gandhi was a common experience in those days. 1. Ram Jha. Azadi (A Review) Indian Literature. Vol. XXI, No.5,(1978), p Ibid., p D. R. Sharma. The novels of Chaman Nahal, Journal of Indian Writing in English, Vol.7. (January, 1979), p Chaman Nahal, Azadi, (New Delhi: Arnold Heinemman Publishers, 1975), p Rama Jha. Op. Cit., p K.R. Srinivas Iyengar, Indian Writing in English, (Bombay: Asia Publishing House, 1973), XX, p Ibid., p Ibid., p. 41. Volume I Issue I: February 2014 (30) Editor-In-Chief: Dr. S.D. Sargar

6 9. Ibid., p Ibid., p Ibid., p Ibid., p. 66. Volume I Issue I: February 2014 (31) Editor-In-Chief: Dr. S.D. Sargar

LANGUAGE IN INDIA Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow Volume 12 : 6 June 2012 ISSN

LANGUAGE IN INDIA Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow Volume ISSN 1930-2940 Managing Editor: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D. Editors: B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D. Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D. B. A. Sharada, Ph.D.