Perfect Paper 1: "Why Fight for Russia?"

Poster propagating propaganda (Caring)

Rationale:

This propaganda poster aims to present ‘Caring’, one of the essential IB learner profile ideals as the most important. The poster has been created using propaganda appeals such as card stacking which involves testimonials, glittering generalities and transfer device.

The transfer device takes the form of an image where a dog is feeding milk to a goat using a bottle. Since most people will agree that the picture is cute, they will also identify the fact that the dog and the goat are from 2 different species and this gives an essential realization that we as one species should take care of each other. The quote from Mahatma Gandhi has been provided to contribute to the ethos of this propaganda just as the picture of the caring dog has been used to apply to the pathos of the viewer in a subtle way.

The testimonials provide physical evidence on the importance of being caring, and solidify the message being conveyed.

The glittering generalities (...Strive to be EXCELLENT at...) provide a new dimension to the poster. It showcases an IB learner as one who shines even amongst the most clean of mirrors.

The visual language contributes to the importance of caring for each other as the bold font emphasizes the ideal. The background picture also provides a general overview, as the heart sign made using the hand is a mainstream thing and it can be easily identified. The picture of the globe within the heart has an obvious connotation, to love and take care of the world around us.

Poster 

Reflection on Propaganda

Throughout the past week, we have been exploring propaganda and some of it's subtle and not-so-subtle forms in the media. Before beginning this journey, we played a little game of 4 corners. The prompt: "It is okay for the government to mislead in order to promote security." was the one that hit me more than the others. Such a statement has been nibbling me at the back of my mind for the entirety of my bring. Initially, my response was that 'misleading by the government' was morally wrong. It was unethical, and the abolition of such a totalitarian statement will be the only path to a Utopia. However, throughout the past week, my stance on the statement has changed.
Propaganda has taken over our life, whether it be in the form of media or the daily talk we have with our family at the dinner table. Propaganda is everywhere, and is unstoppable as it is the by-product of human nature. This extreme form of bias is natural; if there was no propaganda in this world, there might as well not have been emotions.
This is evident from the Jessica Lynch case about which an article was assigned to us as a reading. Some consider the rescue of the then 19 year old American soldier heroic; others less so. The BBC and American media have taken widely different stances on this issue. The media in the USA had been accused of tweaking and manipulating the fine details of the story. It was portrayed as a very heroic story, one similar to those in action movies. This led to the induction of a new cult symbol in the USA. Even if the story is exaggerated, it gives hope to the Americans, and upholds the very fabric of society. Sure, the fact that the US government is not doing too well on foreign soil, or the fact that they shouldn't be there in the first place is not mentioned anywhere in american media. However, it is this confidence that holds America together: what's the point of reporting news that's going to bring a society apart? Societal structures in developed countries like the USA are fragile, and need to be maintained with great care in order to prevent the breaking down of one of the most powerful economies in the world. Imagine an America in turmoil: everyone running around in panic due to their lack of confidence in their military. This does not make a very pretty sight does it? Propaganda through the subtle impact of the American Government on American media provides an identity to an American even though they might not be wholly true: as those who stand for justice to anyone anywhere.
The documentary 'Control Room' also further emphasises my point on the importance of propaganda. Everyone considers Jazeera News to have some form of propaganda. The owner himself says that the main objective is to bring the Arab World to the forefront of technology. Iraqi media says that they have an American bias, whereas American media says they have an Iraqi one. This intertwining and mingling of different viewpoints on propaganda proves that everyone is human: objective reporting in extreme cases (such as the Iraqi one) is quite simply impossible. Since propaganda is going to be present anyway, wouldn't it be better if the almighty power of a country use certain propaganda and information in order to strengthen the identity and quality of life of a country?
Such a view might seem extreme if thought about initially. However, throughout the lessons, these are thoughts that have been going through my head. Propaganda is inevitable: you might as well use it for good purposes, even if it involves manipulation of facts. Willing citizens can make what they want to of the news being reported. This has finally changed my perspective to that of an "strongly-agreeing student" about this prompt. I can't say a lot of the others would say the same...

Biased newspaper article (Pastiche)

Sierra Leone: Is it really free of Ebola?

Thousands of people took to the streets of the capital, Freetown, at the stroke of midnight - marking 42 days without a single declared case of the disease. What they don't know is that the virus is slowly multiplying and rebuilding itself in a part of their body which the immunity system finds hard to reach.

There were further cheers when the WHO local representative made the official announcement later on Saturday.

But for Ebola survivors this milestone does not mean the end of the impact of this disease on their lives. The last month has significantly altered our understanding of how Ebola virus interacts with the human body, based on new research publications as well as information from the case of Scottish nurse Pauline Cafferkey.

Cafferkey, who volunteered at an Ebola treatment unit in Sierra Leone, contracted Ebola last December. She survived after a protracted battle with the virus only to have it reappear as meningitis months later. This information, taken together with the evidence that Ebola can also survive in the sperm of a quarter of male Ebola survivors up to nine months after recovery, tells us that the virus invades and hides away in areas of the body where the immune system does not wield a strong response. It then lies in wait, all the while slowly replicating in the background and posing a potential threat to the health of the host.

The outbreak killed almost 4,000 people in Sierra Leone over the past 18 months.  This is the second highest number of people killed by Ebola in the extremely affected countries.

Ebola deaths
Figures up to 1 November 2015
Source: WHO
Getty

---

At the scene: Tulip Mazumdar, BBC News, Freetown

11,314

Deaths - probable, confirmed and suspected

(Includes one in the US and six in Mali)

• 4,808 Liberia 
• 3,955 Sierra Leone 
• 2,536 Guinea 
• 8 Nigeria 

Many gathered around a giant cotton tree in the centre of the city. There were candles lit around a cotton tree in memory of the dead.

Dr Oliver Johnson, from the King's Sierra Leone partnership, worked at an Ebola clinic in Freetown, and has strong links with medical professionals there. 

"[For] everyone I've spoken to, there's a sense of relief that this might finally be over and maybe a bit of disbelief that after so many false starts, or false ends, we might finally be there," he told the BBC. 

A country is considered free of human-to-human transmission once two 21-day incubation periods have passed since the last known case tested negative for a second time.

This is the moment Sierra Leone has been waiting for. Thousands of people took to the streets of the capital on the run-up to midnight. 

Women's groups came together to organise a march through the city centre; the final point was a 600-year-old cotton tree which sits on a huge roundabout. Usually, the area is jammed with cars, but last night it was packed with people. Some held up candles, others jumped around dancing and a military band led the procession through the city. 

There were waves of celebrations, and then silence as names of some of the dead were beamed on to a screen. Health workers in particular were honoured for their bravery and sacrifice, they were some of the first to die when Ebola struck. Today is an enormous milestone for Sierra Leoneans, and people are overjoyed. But this historic moment is bittersweet. 

Sierra Leone President Ernest Bai Koroma is due to address crowds in the city later. 

On Friday, he blamed the WHO for delaying Sierra Leone declaring a state of emergency and restricting movement during the Ebola outbreak. 

He said his government did at the time what it could do and did not have the knowledge to fight the disease.

Indeed, the lack of infrastructure of the country did not help slow down the spread of the life-destroying virus that combines the nastiest symptoms of some of the diseases out there. They delays were indeed inappropriate: not due to the fact that the delays were long, but rather due to the fact that delays were shorter than they should have been.

He said his government had to put up with the delays because international organisations such as the WHO "were the experts".

Neighbouring Liberia was declared Ebola-free in September following 4,800 deaths there.

A handful of cases are still being reported in neighbouring Guinea. Sierra Leone has said it will take heightened security and health screening measures at their shared border.

Nevertheless, we have to assume that the late manifestations as discussed in Cafferky's case at the beginning  are already happening in some of the nearly 17,000 Ebola survivors in West Africa.

These new findings about Ebola reveal a severe blind spot in the medical community. Were these symptoms present in Ebola survivors from prior outbreaks as well? Did we just not pick them up because we weren't looking for them or had no capacity to look for them? How confident can we be about our knowledge of Ebola and other emerging pathogens when the majority of the cases are occurring in communities that lack the medical resources to pick them up.

The Ebola survivors in Sierra Leone and the other affected countries have taught us — the medical and the public health community — the importance of sticking around. Good medical infrastructure and the presence of enough sharp clinicians in the affected areas could not only make a significant difference for the patients but also contribute to the preparedness of the larger global community. For West Africa, the most critical question is how do we equip these healthcare systems, which have been severely debilitated by the Ebola epidemic, to handle the new disease burden among survivors, alongside the burden of other communicable and non-communicable diseases?

[Link: Ebola outbreak: Sierra Leone declared free of disease]

Tempest Practice IOC 4

Apologies for the late upload. Technical difficulties had my head swimming with the sharks. The link is:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2b_Ti-p8tixdkNVOWdtWW9CNDQ/view?usp=sharing
The passage is as follows:

ALONSO

I long

To hear the story of your life, which must

Take the ear strangely.

PROSPERO

I'll deliver all;

And promise you calm seas, auspicious gales

And sail so expeditious that shall catch

Your royal fleet far off.

Aside to ARIEL

My Ariel, chick,

That is thy charge: then to the elements

Be free, and fare thou well! Please you, draw near.

Exeunt

EPILOGUE

SPOKEN BY PROSPERO

Now my charms are all o'erthrown,

And what strength I have's mine own,

Which is most faint: now, 'tis true,

I must be here confined by you,

Or sent to Naples. Let me not,

Since I have my dukedom got

And pardon'd the deceiver, dwell

In this bare island by your spell;

But release me from my bands

With the help of your good hands:

Gentle breath of yours my sails

Must fill, or else my project fails,

Which was to please. Now I want

Spirits to enforce, art to enchant,

And my ending is despair,

Unless I be relieved by prayer,

Which pierces so that it assaults

Mercy itself and frees all faults.

As you from crimes would pardon'd be,

Let your indulgence set me free.

Is this water?

Recently, just after having a session of "Munro Madness" in English class, we saw/heard a short video/ commencement speech titled 'This is water'. It taught me what I think even a college education can teach me: the value of empathy and self-control. By discussing the various happenings in day to day life, the speech uncovers the true value of literature, even if indirectly. By using concrete real life examples and exploring them in depth, Wallace forms an effective thesis and grounds it in real life.

I found some words quite enlightening: 'As I'm sure you guys know by now, it is extremely difficult to stay alert and attentive instead of getting hypnotized by the constant monologue inside your own head.'. I knew this, yet I did not consciously think about it. When I did, everything felt a bit different to me. Sometimes, we are so oblivious to the GOOD things happening around us, and get caught up within our own worries. By controlling my 'freedom to think', and my unconscious thoughts, this video has changed my way of thinking about certain situations. For example, when my mother and I used to fight over petty issues, I never thought about anything from her point of view. Now, however, I find it easier to talk with my mother since my empathy for her has heightened. I feel happy when I talk to her.
The grocery example is how Wallace grounds his essay in real life. By talking about the reader's perspective and looking at the world through his lens, Wallace creates a heightened sense of being with the reader. He talks about all the daily occurrences: '...slow old people and the spacey people and the ADHD kids who all block the aisle...'. By presenting an alternative lens to the reader, Wallace makes a valid argument about how everyone is going through different things. Some people might have been up for three night; others might have to drive all around the city in order to help their family get around. The value of a liberal arts education is demonstrated here, as Wallace is able to understand and empathise with everyones feelings. He does not take a didactic stance; rather, he tells the story as a person on equal footing with the reader.
Another example he talks about is the value of worship. Everyone worships something: be it power, wealth or some religious entity. If you worship wealth, you will never have enough. If you worship power, you will always feel weak. If you worship appearance, you will never look good enough to impress the person next door. If you worship intellect, you'll never feel smart 
 enough. But when you worship a religious entity, you fell as if you have everything. Wallace subtly suggests that the same feeling of enlightened thoughts can be attained through a thorough understanding of some literature. 
You can control yourself, and use the freedom you have effectively to lead a happy life.
Through a concrete understanding of at least some kind of humanities subject, the overall understanding of human behaviour can be established on a firm pole of iron. Maybe that's why they're called the 'humanities' subjects.

DONE BY SUNDOWN

Practice IOC 2 (Royal Beatings)

Practice IOC:
https://youtu.be/U7NkiAN4Uhk

Practice IOC #2 (Boys and Girls)

https://soundcloud.com/pratik-chaudhari-7/practice-ioc-2

Passage is one from Boys and Girls on practice IOC test.

Welcome to the final year of he.. senior year!!!

So the final first week of school has just gone by like a strong gust. It sure did hit me hard in the face, but thank the heavens, because boy was I prepared for it. There were definitely some boring classes... but English was not amongst them. In fact, I began to realise the importance of literature through our renewed focus of literature in class.
We started off by reviewing the purpose of studying literature. Literature is a form of art, just like drawing, painting and music. It is stringing together words and sentences in order to make a new world: be it mystic or realistic. This new world brings the entire reader community under one roof: a common ground for understanding each other. Through our fictional conversations with authors, we are able to relate our lives to the author's feelings and thoughts. Literature not only improves our conventional 'use of language', but also rather increases our emotional understanding of each other. We are able to comprehend one another, which leads to a harmonious existence of the human race.
Next, we started to focus on our main topic for this unit: Women's literature. Mr. Michael posed an intriguing question to us: What is women's literature. There were definitely some quite good definitions thrown around. Women's literature can be considered as one of those new worlds that brings the readers under one roof. It tells a story through the perspective of a female, and hopes to form a common understanding between the author and the reader, of the social problem that is gender inequality. It may also lead to a conversation about other topics, such as the construction of a female identity. These are quite different from the stories written by female authors though; some of these cannot be classified as women's literature.

Even though Munro doesn't identify as a feminist writer, her work has had a lot of impact on the social sphere. She considers herself to be a private person, and just wanted to be free of the daily life that society had imposed on her. Due to this, her stories, even though not intended to be feminist, have had a considerable impact on modern social structure. Her books are one of the very few that provide a meaningful insight into the life of women. The thoughts one goes through as a female are remarkably conveyed through Munro's beautiful short stories. The subtle symbols and themes that shine through her stories stimulate the mind to form connections that someone with other thought processes might never think of. Through the use of powerful metaphors and other such literary devices, Munro has developed literature that even though is contextually not relatable, but gives rise to a new female identity.
Munro's work itself has given me a lot to relate to, even though I'm not female. It's like Munro has left these gaps in her stories that are meant to be filled in by the reader, like an actually conversation. I find myself swapping the genders of certain characters and thinking about how it would make a different ending to the story. Personally, when I think of certain stories, I start thinking of related scenarios which consist of me and the people around me. I think of how the social structure, appearing very flexible on the outside, is still very rigid on the inside. One day, hopefully, that will change.

My CAP Project: Option A

Theme:  Isolation

Style: Indirect narration

Context:  A teen from a very poor background has just hit it big in football. He has secured a record transfer fee to his favourite club. Coming from Colombia, he has now bought himself and his family a big estate in England, and lives a comfortable life until a standstill arrives in both his personal and footballing life.

Characters:

1. Javier Vasquez: The protagonist. He has been playing football since he was seven. Javier’s dream was to play for Chelsea F.C., and lead his team to world cup glory. He is currently 23 years of age and plays for Chelsea F.C.’s reserve team. He is working hard to get to the first team. He is living with his mother, Loretta in a big apartment in London, and is eternally grateful to her. His dad passed away when he was a child. Now, both of them live a peaceful life in the beautiful city of London.
2. Loretta Vasquez: The protagonist’s mother. She had been in Colombia when she had Javier, and was leading a prosperous life. All of a sudden, her husband, Carlos passed away in the middle of a shootout. She had to then live out the rest of her time in Colombia working as a waitress to support Javier’s schooling and passion for football. Her sister supported Javier when they had to go to England for Javier’s trials.
3. Sam Stewart: Javier’s model girlfriend. She has been rich all her life, and lives the high life in London.

Extended metaphor: Football as a game of life.

Symbols:

• Teams symbolise families. Everyone in your team is very close to you. However, there is always a risk of everyone falling out, and the family disbanding. Your belief in your team, just like your belief in your family, gives meaning to your life and a goal to work towards. 
• Training symbolises hard work. Just like one trains for success in football, one would work hard in order to make their dreams come true. 
• Superiors, the coaches and managers, are just like the elders in a family. They would give you advice and help to succeed and fulfil your ambition.

Plot:
The story starts off with Javier at home, getting news of his tryouts in England. His mother somehow gathers the money he’d need, from her family and friends, and somehow sends him to England.

In England, Javier starts working very hard and soon gets into his first team, Bolton Wanderers in England. Javier then plays very well throughout the season, developing a lot of friends and enemies along the way. His team becomes like his family, and the fans always want to see him play. Due to his talents, he attracts enemies as well. Thankfully, nothing bad happens to Javier and het gets a transfer offer from his boyhood club, Chelsea F.C.

Soon, Javier moves to London with his mother and starts playing for Chelsea. When he gets his sign-on bonus, Javier decides to invest in a big mansion for his mom and himself. His mother becomes uncontrollably happy. Everything seems to be going well. His teammates love him, and so do the fans. The hard work, aka training, that he put back at Leicester came into handy.

Eventually, Javier starts dating an English model named Sam Stewart. They meet at a part organised by one of his teammates, and instantly fall in love. Not too long after (in around eight months time), they decide to get married. Javier is still playing well, however, his coach tells him that he could do better. Sam and Javier then end up having a baby, and things at home become more busy. His mom helps Sam take care of the baby, as Sam is not at all used to doing such things.

One day, Javier decides to go to one of the parties hosted by the same old teammate where Javier and Sam had met. Javier ends up seeing Jack, one of his rivals at Leicester, with Sam, and gets into a fight with him. Drunk and angry, Javier ends up hitting Jack so hard that Jack gets a cardiac arrest. He is then taken to jail, and ends up being deported from the country. A lot of his financial property is confiscated by the police, and the rest of the money goes to Sam as compensation for their divorce. During all of this, Loretta, Javier’s mother ends up getting a heart attack due to the adverse conditions they face.

Javier is now back in Colombia. He is without the three most valuable females in his life: his mother, Sam, and his baby daughter. Isolated from everyone else, Javier goes insane and is eventually kept at a sanatorium for the rest of his life.

Themes: 

• Isolation: The theme of isolation is prevalent throughout the story in a very subtle manner. Javier, just like all other human beings, fears isolation. He brings his mother with him, and when he starts performing bad, Javier starts dating someone. He is has strong auto-phobia, but fails to recognise it. When he finds Sam dating somebody else, he almost kills his old teammate Even so, when things eventually fall apart, he is torn to pieces. Just as any normal human being would do, he goes insane and is put into a sanatorium for the rest of his life. This is included to draw a parallel of Javier’s situation to real life. Everyone is afraid of isolation, even introverts and people who tend to be loners. Humans are social beings and need each other. Just like you would go insane if you lost all of your family in a very short time, Javier lost his meaning in this world and lost his sanity, just due to one of the most often misunderstood but highly dangerous things in this world: isolation.
• A second chance for females: In this story, the females always get a second chance. Be it Javier’s girlfriend, or his mom, they have always had second chances as long as they were living. Even Javier’s baby was made to be a daughter, just to maintain this theme. If Javier and Sam’s gender in the story are swapped, it would turn out very different. This theme not only applies to this story, but also the real world. Females always have second chances. In a modern relationship, females have the position of more power. If the male does something wrong, there is no second chance; only a straight path to the exit door. On the other hand, if a female slips up, the male would probably try to work things out. This is a very vague example and is not true a lot of the time. But it proves that females are getting the stronger position in a relationship that is supposed to be respected and maitained equally by both genders. Indirectly and very subtly, the story asks the question: Is feminism getting women on the same stage as men, or higher?

An Unexpected Train Ride

This summer break, I went on a trip back home to India with my family. Not expecting anything out of the ordinary, my thoughts went back to the drab old trips to the same place that took place every year. However, the trip turned out to be one of the best decisions I've made this summer break (I've not made many...)
I landed in India, during the first week of August, and could smell the rain right as I got out of the airplane. The strong monsoon winds hit me in the face as I descended down the stairs,  and I thanked the Gods for saving me from Abu Dhabi's heat. Now I was in Mumbai, and I had to take a train to my hometown, Bhusawal, in order to pick up my mom. The train ride, lasting around 16 hours, brought along some unexpected conversations.
My berth was far away from my dad, the only one accompanying me on this trip. A slightly old person sat across from me, lying down on the bed made out of rough leather. He wore a brown half-sleeved sweater and a pale blue shirt under it, along with neatly ironed khaki pants. His eyes betrayed little, but the ages of wisdom that he had gathered throughout his life were unmaskable. We shared a quick glance, smiled at each other, and went on with our respective lives. This took place at midnight: he went to sleep, and I continued satiating my thirst for John Green books. Every two hours, men in faded grey shirts and pants continued to peddle eatables in their usual loud, raspy voices. I always got tea, which helped me keep my eyes open.
After flipping through An Abundance of Katherines* for seven hours straight, I decided to go to sleep. Since I was thirsty for tea, I waited for the next round of beverages that were going to come at 8 AM. During this period, the slightly old person- let's call him oldie- decided to wake up. He smiled at me again. I knew he was very old due to the infinite lines above his bushy grey eyebrows, and the ancient thin round gold-rimmed glasses he wore. When the next round of tea came around, he paid for me. I was surprised, and asked him why he did so. Through his stained teeth, he replied in a thick Hindi village accent: "How else would I get to strike up a conversation with a young lad? Especially with your types, you city people. NRI**, are you? I thought so. I identified by looking at those loafers and that very snug hoodie you're wearing right there. Anyway I bought the tea for you because you remind me of my daughter."
Okay, so I was on the train, sitting across an old man whose grey eyes bored into me, looking to me to respond to him. A small amount of sunlight streaked in through between the  iron rods that barred the window and illuminated both our faces ever so slightly. What was I going to talk to him about?! Okay oldie, I remind you of your daughter....... so what?! I am not your daughter, and I certainly am not a GIRL!!!! What do I talk to you about?! I just wanted to sleep and cuddle with the girl of my dreams in my head. Why did oldie have to strike a conversation with me at this point in time?! What he said next will stick with me for the rest of my life.
Resume old man talking and me listening to him with curious glistening eyes: "Okay, I guess you probably don't have any reply to that. So listen up. When my daughter, Deepa***, was a little kid, she was the most carefree of people. Her mom had sadly passed away due to lung cancer when Deepa was a baby due to lack of healthcare. I was a farmer back in the day, and made just enough from my profession so as to provide bread for Deepa and I . At first, everyone around me was very supportive. We would get up early in the morning, go the cow that we had at home, and milk her. I still remember teaching her how to take the milk out from the utters. She failed miserably the first couple of times, but when she succeeded, oh how sweet was her expression. She had this smiled that resembled her mothers, those straight white teeth embedded in her perfectly carved out jaws. We used that milk in order to make tea. We would take the milk back to our next door neighbour, who would make the most beautifully spiced teas ever. After that I used to go to the farm to work. For the first few years, our life was ever so beautiful. We did nothing but frolick around in the vast green fields that surrounded the village. I enrolled her in the nearest school, and used to pedal around 10 kilometers in total every day in order to get her there and back. She studied there until she was in tenth grade. In tenth grade, she ended up topping the state in the board exams****, and coming fourth in all of India*****. It was very fulfilling to see my daughter achieve such results, considering the fact that she was forced to help her dad in the farm, and only got around 4 hours to study under the street lamp post every night. We were a very poor family back then. Everything was fine and merry, and the whole village celebrated her achievment like there was no end to the night."
So where had his daughter gone after that?
He said: "Ah, after that, things got a little bit rough. The whole village began talking down Deepa's ambitions. They wanted her to finish grade 12 and get married to a handsome foreign ka ladka****** straight away. But my daughter told me otherwise. She wanted to prepare for the IIT******* exams, and major in mechanical engineering so as to improve the very poor agricultural techniques as used in India. Now, this was a hard choice for me, but it had to be done. In order for one to prepare for the IIT exam successfully, you must know that extra classes are required. So we had to move to a bigger town, so that she could get a good all india rank in the entrance exam. But you know what, she told me to not move, because she cared so much about my life. She wanted me to be happy, and didn't want me to sacrifice my happiness just for her. Then I thought to myself in naivety that she wouldn't rank high enough in the entrance exam, so might as well live this life than risking starvation in the city. She was just a girl I thought, but boy oh boy, was I wrong. I still wanted to do everything in my capacity, so I remember, I cycled 50 km that day to the nearest village in order to get the book supplies that she needed to study. That day was one of the hardest and physically demanding but best decisions of my life. Due to the drought that season, I couldn't manage enough to pay for the rickshaw********. So we cycled together in the sweltering, exhaustive heat, and brought back a whole lot of books that she required in order to successfully pass the entrance exam. She spent day and night, out of school, helping me in the farm, and studying in the night under the street lamps. She couldn't go to school since it was too far and I couldn't afford it. After two years of continuous study and hard work in the farm, she gave the entrance exam. I remember how we almost threw up before we went to the nearest online cafe in order to check the results. She ended up ranking 30th in India out of the 100000 students that had signed up for the exams. I couldn't believe. A girl, who I and the whole society believed couldn't do anything better in life than marry a man and bear his babies, had accomplished a feat thousands of males died to accomplish. By studying under a street light without any formal education in rags, my baby daughter had had the chance to work for her dreams. She had a platform where she could work with leading professors from all around the world!"
Oldie started crying. I couldn't understand why he was crying and in what way. They seemed like tears of joy and bitterness at the same time. The red eyed oldie continued:"But we had to pay a certain fee, and I was not able to pay it on my own, oh no. When I went to the neighbours that I once loved and respected, they refused to help me. They said I was building a glass bubble for my daughter that was going to shatter. Soon enough, her dreams would be broken and she would just be another beautiful girl married to another handsome foreign ka ladka******. One even went far enough to say that what he was telling me was for my own good. I would get enough double the money through dowry if I matched my beautiful Deepa with a rich kid. Then I'd had it. I went to a big bank, ran away from the village, never to return. These people were like monsters, their claws holding down my daughter's dreams. I ended up staying in Mumbai for a short while working at my own shop, while Deepa got her education at IIT-Mumbai. Eventually, she was largely rewarded when a company decided to buy her patent for Tractor engines, and we were able to pay off the loans. Now she is comfortably settled in a high rise apartment in Mumbai with her husband, and my beautiful two grandchildren. They are the most bubbly things I've seen in the entire world."
I then asked oldie why he was on a train to a town he had no idea about. He told me that he was now looking for a new purpose in life, giving motivational speeches to women in rural areas in India. He was one of the many men who stood for the cause, and that made me feel proud of him. Coming from such humble beginnings, it is quite hard to enable your children, let alone your daughter, to make it big. He stood by his daughter's side and went on to foster a very great mind. Just a girl, all of them had said. This was what I had expected from rural Indians. But then I realised, rural Indians aren't really rural by thought, they just have to be explained to the importance of equality. The change is coming. All we have to do is embrace change as a society, whatever it may be, in order for it to be successful. If you are an Indian lady, or a female of any nationality who have made it big, or have supported a lady in order to do achieve her dreams: congratulations. You are amazing. You are the ones that can bring more equality amongst the hidden gems of the youth After all, there aren't going to be a lot of oldies in this world, are there?
The next thing I know I wake up, and Bhusawal has arrived. Oldie is nowhere to be seen, and my dad is screaming at me to get out of the train. As I walk through the confusion in the railway station: the beggars, the pedlars, and the entertainers, I can only help but think to myself:"Dammit Pratik, you forgot to get his name. Maybe if you were Deepa you wouldn't have".

-P.C.

References:
* An Abundance of Katherines is a book by John Green, an author who I absolutely fell in love with. You would know if you'd read my other blog post
**NRI: A non-resident Indian, typically considered to be fancy and rich
***I couldn't remember the name, so I made one up :P
****Board exams: 10th grade exams that are considered to be important according to the Indian syllabus CBSE
*****A lot of people, around 180000 give this board exam
******foreign ka ladka: In Hindi, means man from a foreign land. Usually used as a slang amongst parents in order to denote a healthy candidate for their daughter taking part in an arranged-marriage.
******* IIT's are the best engineering institutes in India, rivalled by none in terms of reputation in India. There are campuses in the major cities of India.
********Use google images if you actually don't know what this means..

On weird reading habits

Begin the summer break. There I was, at the beginning of July, thinking about how to spend my vacation. I was obviously going to travel. I was obviously going to get my school work done. I was obviously going to spend a lot of time working on a few side projects. Was I obviously going to spend time reading books? I thought otherwise, at least at the beginning.
I was relaxing at home, thinking of my plans for the break. I knew I had to read a book; it is a custom of mine. So I started off by picking up a copy of David Baldacci's book:"The Escape". For those of you that don't know, David Baldacci is a critically acclaimed author who writes a lot of very gripping fiction. I spent the whole of my first week reading this book. After I finished reading, I didn't feel satisfied. I felt the need to read.
So I got a few more books. These books, however, are quite different from the ones I usually read. On the airport, I got three of John Green's books: The Fault in Our Stars, An abundance of Katherines, and Paper Towns. I ended up reading all of these in India and on my way there. Never before had I felt such an insatiable need for reading. I read while I was supposed to behaving food, while I was supposed to be doing school work, while I was supposed to be working out, while I was supposed to be doing everything other than reading. Yes, my mom did end up taking those very beautiful  and perfectly cuboid-shaped books from me, realising I was addicted to them. Why I was addicted to reading young-adult fiction, I had no idea. I had never before read such books. Perhaps it wass the fact that I will be a young-adult in the future, or the mysteries of that stage of life, when I would make much more meaningful emotional connections than my current ones.
Anyway, I had to find a way of reading more books. My mom in this case was the person I needed to avoid (for the very first time). So I thought and thought, and came up with a brilliant solution. I would use my laptop to read books, and my mother wouldn't even realise I was reading books leisurely. She would think that I was doing my school work, or reading the short stories that Mr Michael had posted on ManageBac.
And so it began. I began reading various John Green books on my laptop. I found all the books online surprisingly easily (Thank the internet pirate lords!). Although the idea of reading books on my laptop was ingenious and foolproof, it was sadly quite uncomfortable. The story was no more just inside the book. I had to come up with a comfortable viewing posture, taking into account the viewing angle and the straightness of the back, along with the strain on my hands. After a lot of experimentation, I came up with an ideal position. With the head lightly settled on a stack of two pillows, and the laptop in an upright position such that it is directly in line of sight, the most comfortable position was obtained! Needless to say, I continued reading quite a lot till I exhausted all of John Green's books.
By then, it was time to come back to Abu Dhabi. There were two weeks to go, and I had a lot of birthday money. I spent all of it at the airport, buying the all of the Game of Thrones books. I told my mother that I had finished all of my work (which was not true at all....), so she would let me indulge in quenching my insatiable thirst for reading different genres of books. But I still have no idea why I like the Game of Thrones book series. Before I started reading GoT, I despised the fantasy genre, dismissing it as completely unrealistic and unentertaining. However, I am now beginning to warm up to it, just as I did to the young-adult genre.
Now, it is the last day of the vacation. I have my English and TOK blogs left to finish writing up. I was supposed to do these back during..... when I was reading Let it Snow. However, I have read all of John Green's books and now am reading GoT, and guess what, I don't regret it! My grades hopefully don't regret it either... but whatever, that's a post for another time!

'How write about India'

Start off by including the words 'spiritual' , 'Indian' or 'Hindu' in your title. Subtitles may include words like 'overpopulation', 'brown' and 'temple'. 'Curry' and 'run-down' are also suitable.

Do not have a picture of an Indian wearing a suit on the cover of the book unless the Indian is an immigrant. Impoverished children, polluted skies: use these. If you must include an Indian, use one who is covered by cloth wrapped around his waist, surrounded by a broken society.

In your text treat India like it is divided into two parts. One, that is dominated by the rich plump royalty, who recline in their leather chairs watching huge flatscreen TV's under beautiful crystal lit chandeliers, and drive BMW's, while not working at all. The other, being the majority, are the common people who work day and night in order to send their children to school and earn their daily bread. These are the ones who are impoverished, the ones who live on the streets. They have no place in society.
India, being one of the world's largest democracies, is divided into 28 states: each with it's own distinct culture and language. However, don't bother the reader with such details, as they are not important and authentic. Rather, describe the structure of society as one relatable to monarchy. A specific group of people dominate and prevent the progress of the nation. This will evoke a spirit of exoticness in the readers.

Make sure to show how Indians only play musical instruments made from wood, and how it is their only medium of entertainment. Do not mention food like rice and meat and wheat as a part of Indian cuisine; rather include curry, and how spicy all the curries are. The curries are not described as what is in them, but by their colour:red curry, green curry and yellow curry. Negate the fact that the people from the southern state of Kerala eat coconut garnished food. Just describe how spicy the curries are, and how you have learned to love them. Do this; This will show that you actually care about the Indians.

Always make sure to keep your tone as an 'I-expected-more' one. Talk about how you have fallen in love with the cultures and the food here, and how the liberalism by the colonisers has actually brought out the best in India. Don't mention the great leaders who have come and gone, but talk about the current generation of corrupt politicians and how growth is halted by their actions. Don't talk about the highly developed metropolitan cities; instead talk about the famous palaces and compare the plight of the villages to that of a slum.

You'll also need a beach that is shored by crystal blue water, where the tourists, royalty and politicians hang out to discuss matters of 'National Importance'.

Always end with a quote by Gandhi; which relates to goodwill and non-violence, and how India will become a superpower in the future. Because you care.

Paper #2 Exercise

Paper #2 questions: 

Q.1) How does Things Fall Apart conform to, or deviate from the conventions of a particular genre, and for what purpose?

Q.2) Show how and to what effect Achebe make use of myth, legend or other stories and tales.

A.2)

Things Fall Apart is classic novel written by Chinua Achebe. This book tries to depict African society and the culture that is Igbo. Traditionally, this culture is oral. A lot of the know-hows of the Igbo people relate to what they're told while growing up. Also, the different stories that Achebe tells in this book are vivid descriptions of the symbolism present in Igbo culture. It is also mentioned that the Igbo people thrived on story-telling and the use of language, hence making oral culture a core part of Igbo society.

An example is the story of the birds and the tortoise. This story was told to Ezinma by Ekwefi. In this story, a tortoise cheats the birds out of a hearty meal that they were supposed to have with very prestigious hosts. The turtle before coming home then asks a parrot to tell his wife to lay out soft things in their backyard so as to break the turtle’s fall. Instead, the parrot maliciously tells the turtle’s wife to lay out hard objects, because of which the turtle’s shell breaks. The medicine man then fixes the turtle’s shell, but the shell is still rough This story is told all of a sudden without no apparent purpose behind it. But through just the inclusion of this story, Achebe is able to reflect the values of the Igbo people, and how strongly they’re held. The turtle is like person who breaks the law. The broken shell symbolises the broken law and how the person can never be the same again. Such an analogy helps the book progress well without sounding unrealistic, and helps Achebe achieve his objective of reflecting on his culture in a realistic but non-derogatory way.

The coming of locusts is another example. Legend said that the locusts reappeared each year for seven years every generation from a distant cave which had been guarded by stunted men. A question would then come to the readers mind: how did the elders know? Such an induced thought reemphasises the importance of oral culture in Igbo land. The fact that the people believed this myth makes the reader formulate an identity that the Igbo people recognise themselves by.

Hence, the story telling tradition in Igboland is identified as an important one. Without all these stories in the master plot, the book would not be able to tell the story of what the things were; far from telling how they actually fell apart.

Obierika's memoir (Reflection)

What is happening now is not good. Everything is falling apart, from the language to the customs of our culture. Our way of life is being threatened by the white people. I don't know why this is happening, but it might be because of the fact that there has been increased violence in the past couple of days.  Okonkwo had been interfering with the white people far too much, and now this is happened. He had been recently imprisoned, falling prey to an ambush. Then the hammer broke the nail. Okonkwo, trying to keep his culture's dignity, was even more humiliated. Everything then just started to break down. Okonkwo, oh how dear a friend was he- committed suicide. I knew then that things had become really bad.
Ever since then, the white people have gradually taken power of our land. There is chaos everywhere, as the remnants of the culture are being wiped out. The district commissioner has assumed the power of his queen in our land, and thinks that we are being civilised. He seems like a benevolent holder who thinks of himself as the one who connects the dots for us. But this is far from the truth. Even though this might be better in some aspects, I think this sudden change is bad for us. All these years, Igbo tradition has been carefully preserved and evolved. But now, the actions of certain people have provoked the actions of the colonisers. Only if certain people like Okonkwo had kept their cool, things might have been a bit better. We are helpless. We are breaking down. Things are indeed falling apart.

Paper #2: Analysis: 'Discuss the significance of social status in Things Fall Apart, and comment on its contribution to characterization.'

In the book Things Fall Apart, the characters have constructed in a critical and meaningful way. A lot of their actions characterize them, but a large part of their identity is influenced by social status. The importance of social status in Igbo society cannot be understated. The Igbo judged and ranked their people according to what one has accomplished; not what his ancestors have done. This can be seen in the book when the readers are informed that 'Even if a man washes his hands with elders, he can have food with an elder'. However, this was often only true to males. 

The laureates of men ranged from heads from wars to the titles they bought and the number of wives they had. A lot of the men when presented in this book are seen through the lens of a typical Igbo citizen. For example, Okonkwo was characterised as one of the most important and influential men in Umofia. He had started working hard from a tender age,  and was a famous wrestler in his young years. He had thrown Amalinze the cat, who at that time was considered to be one of the best wrestlers in the village. Okonkwo worked hard on his farms, even in the hardest of times, and never gave up. He eventually began fighting wars and winning them with ease. This social power that he gained accelerated him towards getting titles. Earning these was a mark of accomplishment in the Igbo community. Okonkwo in the book had earned two titles, and with his hard-earned money, bought two barns and had three wives. The effect that his social position has had on his characterization can be clearly understood here. Having all of the above helps Achebe to characterize Okonkwo as one who has great strength, emotionally and physically.

On the other hand, Okonkwo's father, Uknoka, is characterised as a lazy and nonchalant person. Unoka hasn't earned titles all his life, and hence is characterized as a blemish on Igbo society. All he used to do was play the flute, and rejoice during the harvesting season. Unoka was a very good mooch though. His tongue was said to have a silver lining. As seen in the text, whenever any lender used to ask Unoka for their money back, they would receive no money. Instead, Unoka says that he has bigger debts to pay off, and that he would pay back the lender's money when his bigger debts were repaid. According to Achebe, Igbo was a language which used a lot of metaphors and imagery. Hence, according to the society's language and his unique abilities, he should have been respected. However, the Igbo people fail to see this side of him and he is looked down upon in the society. This disrespect for Unoka ultimately leads to a characterisation of Unoka as a man who had no skill, and was unwilling to work. The readers are blinded by his social status, and understand his character in a lower light than they should.

Some of the women characters in this book aren't regarded in the highest position of society as well. For example, Okonkwo's third wife had once gone to plait her hair, leaving Okonkwo's children and meal behind. When she returns late, Okonkwo starts beating her, only to be eventually stopped by other members of the house. The children were safe at home in the care of the other wives anyway. This portrays his third wife as an outlet for Okonkwo to vent all his angers. This objectifies and minimises the social status of the third wife. She has no power over where she can go just because of her social position, i.e., being the third wife of Okonkwo. The third wife is ended up being characterised as a weak and helpless woman due to this. Similar instances in the book that cannot be discussed in the commentary, such as how Okonkwo follows Ewkefi solely to give her 'moral support', also undermines the social status of women in Igbo society, leading to lot of controversy around the book. This portrayal of a lower status of  women in this book is a large indication of the effect of social status on characterisation, and the importance of characterisation in this book as a whole

The characterisation of Okonkwo in 'Things Fall Apart'

In his counter-colonial narrative, Chinua Achebe chooses a protagonist named Okonko, who can also be labeled a tragic hero. This narrative, titled 'Things Fall Apart' is about the colonisation of the Igbo people. Okonkwo is depicted as a character who is immensely powerful, and the ideal man from the Igbo culture. As a teen, Okonkwo gains fame and popularity by throwing Cat, one of the best wrestlers of the time. As he gets older, he starts going to wars. He is said to have brought back five heads from the wars that he had fought in. He is then kicked out of Umofia, his native village, for mistakenly killing a fellow clansman. Okonknwo then flees to take refuge in his motherland, where he prepares to come back in style to Umofia. He planned what he was going to do once he got back, but unfortunately when he did, Umofia had been completely changed.

All the men had seemingly become like 'women', and the Christian missionaries were taking over. The youth had gone to schools in search of better job opportunities. Okonkwo then began to realise the gradual destruction of the society he had worked so hard to become powerful in. Eventually, Okonkwo realises that the organic and integrated society he liver in as a child had now become a hapless system of chaos. Not bring able to handle all this, he had little thought but to kill himself. Achebe has presented the protagonist, Okonkwo, as a tragic hero who symbolises Igbo society himself. The frictional and uncertain nature of Okonkwo is attributed to the culture, which sometimes contradicts itself. In an already delicate structure of society, further intervention by the colonial powers leads to the death of Okonkwo, symbolising the demise of the Igbo culture.

The varying contexts that the book is set in leads to various themes. As mentioned above, the abandoning of the Igbo culture by the youth and the outcasts provides a theme of change, struggle and tradition. The youth of the village thought a lot provoked them to join the missionaries. Even though they had to struggle and leave their families, the youth and outcasts prevailed in leaving the Igbo culture. This ensued a chaos in the Igbo community that was now unstoppable. Another theme is that of the varying interpretations of masculinity. Okonkwo considered masculinity to be something different. If a person wasn't powerful and intimidating, he was considered effeminate in Okonkwo's eyes. Similar situations lead to the development of a lot of other themes, all of which cannot be explored in the length of this blog post.

Reflection on the discussion of 'An African Voice'

Today, in class, we had a discussion on the historical context of an African Voice. We talked about how the story of 'Things Fall Apart' related to a lot of our personal lives. When we talked about the colonization of Igboland, I found that it was similar to the colonization of our countries. In India, there was a similar take-over of power. This lead to another discussion of the current ideas of some people in the USA. Some people in Southern USA still hold the same ideas of coloured people being 'slaves' and not equal to everyone else. This surprises me, as we've come so far into the future since the colonial times, but the concepts of  some false stereotypes and discrimination have still not been let go. After a lot of discussion about this, I found my initial assumptions about the Western world as a completely fair society proven wrong, but I also got to learn about various cultures and how 'Things fall apart' is a book that can be related to by almost anyone.

Paper 1 Analysis: Steve Jobs Commencement Address at Stanford

Introduction:

The following is an analysis of Steve Jobs' 2005 Commencement Address at Stanford. The founder of  Apple and Pixar addressed the graduating class at Stanford in 2005. Even though the address was not very significant to any particular subject, it still does a very effective job at achieving its objective. How it does this is looked into in the following Paper 1 style textual analysis.

Analysis:

The given text is an address by Steven Paul Jobs to the graduating seniors at Stanford University. Steve Jobs, being a skilled orator, manages to effectively connect with the students. This analysis will explore how he uses rhetorical and literary techniques in combination with language to convey many ideas that he wants the audience to implement in their everyday life.

The target audience here are the students at Stanford University. This can be seen from the words 'your commencement from one of the finest universities' in the opening sentence. The sentences "I never graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation. " shows that the speech is geared towards the senior graduating from college. The purpose of the address was to discuss the future of the students who were graduating in order to keep up their success. The narration of the three stories further indicated the purpose of the address, which was to convince the graduates that the their thirst for knowledge should be unquenchable.

In the address, Jobs talks about three situations that he had to go through as a person. The first one was about connecting the dots, and rising to greatness. The second story was about love and loss, and how he learned to cope with them. Capping off the speech, the third story was about death, and how he narrowly managed to survive cancer. Merging the themes of life, growth and death, the address transcends many of it's cut-and-paste counterparts. By structuring his speech in such a way, Jobs was able to establish a deeper connection with the audience. The graduates knew that they would go through the three stages mentioned in the address in the same order, utilising pathos to maximise  the influence of the speech.

The tone of the speech does not remain constant throughout. It starts off being instructional, when Steve Jobs gives the audience a background of himself, and his childhood, as he says "It started before I was born". When he talks about connecting the dots, the speech becomes a bit preachy. This is because Jobs talks about how he himself trusted his gut feeling to connect the dots in the future which immensely helped him to establish himself. He is now advising the graduates, which can be seen through the lines:"Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backward 10 years later..... Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backward. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future." Also, the speech is humorous at times, an example of which is "... since Windows just copied the Mac, it's likely that no personal computer would have them..". When Jobs talks about death the address becomes a bit depressing, but even in the face of inevitable death, Jobs remained optimistic, which is reflected in the lines "Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life.". The combination of humour,depression,preachiness and optimism in this speech builds up a reflective mood. 

This reflective mood then helps to establish a feeling of legitimacy in the speech, hence utilising logos and pathos.  The audience knows that what they're being told has actually happened, and further connects with them. Further, how Steve Jobs describes himself- as a college dropout who has established the biggest tech and animation company in the world utilises ethos in order to establish himself as a very hard working and dedicated person. This ultimately proves to the audience that Jobs is a person who is well overly-qualified to address them, utilising ethos. The use of the personal pronouns helps to engage the audience. For example, "... you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backward....  You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever..". Personal pronouns here help Jobs to achieve his objective of engaging the graduates on a personal level, utilising pathos.  There is also an example of hypophora in this address. In the beginning, Jobs asks the question-"So why did I drop out?". This helps in order to build the speech and develop new ideas effectively and in an organised manner. One of the most powerful literary devices used in this speech is  sententia. By saying "Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish" at the end of the address, Jobs effectively concludes all his ideas in four words. The length of the sententia will help the saying to stick with audience.

In conclusion, this speech only furthers Steve's reputation as a skilled orator. Analysing the structure makes one aware of its importance in this address. By looking at the the tone, mood and literary devices used in the address, it can be seen how Jobs has used rhetoric along with language to his advantage while conveying many ideas.