Bachelors Note (BSW)

 Serena Nanda is a professor of Anthropology. She visited different parts of India during her fieldwork and observed that almost all marriages are arranged in India. As an American woman, she found the custom of arranged marriage oppressive. She couldn’t believe how intelligent young woman would be ready for marriage with a man whom she doesn’t know. Gradually her opinion changed when she interacted with a number of Indian young girls. She asked several questions to a college graduate named Sita and from her response she learned that arranged marriage is too important. In India, parents choose a partner for their son or daughter because they are more experienced. They put many things into consideration, such as the same caste, economic status, appearance, education, and their family’s reputation. Usually, the bride and groom do not meet before the marriage although in some cases it is possible for them to meet briefly if the parents believe the marriage is suitable. If the pa...

Literal Comprehension Gaia is the Greek Goddess for the earth. Therefore it is a symbol for earth or the biosphere. The climate of the earth has been badly changed because of bad human activities. The withered palm shows that there is rapid deforestation. Because of deforestation, hot wind blows and there is unusual rainfall. Because of the hot wind, there is an increase in the temperature. Mountain peaks are melting and now they have an irregular shape. The sea is not calm. As the mountains melt, the water level rises and hits on the rocks on the shore. Time is like a hunting bird which pounces upon the world as a prey. The wind, the rain, the sea, the mountain and the time are against the Earth. We are living in the house, that is the Earth, Gaia. But it is not in good condition. There is pollution and people are suffering from hunger, unrest, and disorder. In spite of such condition, the gentle, feminine and nurturing Earth tolerates everything and excuses the human beings as a m...

                                                                                                                                                   Oursler Literal Comprehension The event took place during the Second World War. The German police were following the Nazi armies. The refugees were staying in boarding houses and they were thinking to go to America crossing the Spanish border. Among them, there were a young lady and her 4 years old daughter. A man from the underground came and told the lady to come to the appointed place because he was going to lead the refugees over the mountain, down to safety and freedom. ...

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Pedro Antonio de Alarcon Literal Comprehension  The story has been written by 19th-century Spanish writer Pedro Antonio de Alarcon. Uncle Buscabeatas was a farmer of Rota, a small town of Spain famous for the production of fruits and vegetables. He was already sixty years old and had spent forty of them working in his garden. He had grown some enormous pumpkins that were already beginning to turn yellow. He knew them perfectly by color, shape, and even by name. In one afternoon, he decided to sell forty of the pumpkins. But when he went to his garden the next morning, he found his pumpkins had stolen. He guessed that the thief must have taken them to the market of Cadiz. So he went to the Cadiz. He stopped before a vendor. After recognizing his pumpkins, he asked the policeman to arrest the vendor. After a brief argument between the farmer and the vendor, the latter said that he bought them from Uncle Fulano of Rota. When the inspector of the market asked the farmer fo...

Hampl Hempl, in this essay, considers Semmelweis’ work on childbed fever to illustrate some important aspects of scientific inquiry. Ignaz Semmelweis was a physician who did this work at the Vienna General Hospital from 1844 to 1848. As a member of the medical staff of the First Maternity Division in the hospital, he was worried to find that a large number of the women who were delivered of their babies in that division caught a serious illness known as childbed fever. The death rate of the mothers of the division was also very high. But in the Second Maternity Division of the same hospital, the death rate from the fever was much lower.  Semmelweis wanted to solve the problem. He began by considering various explanations that were current at that time. One widely accepted view attributed the childbed fever to epidemic influences. But he questioned how such influences could affect the first division only. Finally, he noted that some of the women admitted to the fi...

Literal comprehension              Early Friday morning, at the penitential prayers, the Rabbi of Nemirov would vanish. He was not seen anywhere. Jews believed that he would go to heaven during this period but  Litvak doubted. So, he went into the Rabbi’s room and stayed under his bed to find out where the Rabbi goes and what he does during this period. In the early morning, he saw the Rabbi distinguished as a peasant. He had a rope and ax. He followed the Rabbi secretly to the jungle. There he cut a bundle of firewood and bought it into a hut where sick Jewish woman lived. He forced her to buy the wood on credit and helped her by making fire. During the fire, he recited three portions of the penitential prayers. So the Litvak was impressed by the Rabbi and became his disciple. Interpretation                                          ...

    Literal Comprehension                 Once, the Buddha was born as a little parrot. He lived in a forest. One day a fire broke out in the forest. The forest was surrounded by smoke and flames. So the parrot ran to the river for safety. While he was flying to the river, he saw that many animals were trapped in the forest. So he had an idea to save the animal by carrying few drops of water in his feathers from the river and releasing them in the centre of the forest. Time and again, while flying from the river to the forest and from the forest to the river, his feathers were charred, his feet were scorched, his lungs ached and his eyes became red. On the other hand, Gods were watching his activity and laughing. One of the Gods, being worried, changed himself in the form of a golden eagle and advised the parrot to save his life. But the parrot said that he needed help. Then the God ...

                                                                                   Anuradha Chaudhary Summary In this ecological essay "How sane are we?" Bagladeshi writer, Anuradha Chaudhary deals on the environmental issues. She comments mankind’s irresponsibility towards nature. She also blames politicians for most of the evils of environment and survival of mankind. She tells us the causes of environmental damage. She warns us about the effects of ecological destruction. Modern people, especially politicians are stupid who are not aware of bad effects of ecological d...

Somerset Maugham Literal Comprehension After World War I, the narrator was going to Japan from America. He had to share his cabin with a talkative man, Max Kelada. The narrator didn’t like him by his name. So, he sought to be far from him. But he couldn’t stay far from Mr. Kelada even in the lunch hour. By talking too much Max Kelada bored everyone in the ship. He believed himself to know everything. Whether he was right or wrong he insisted on winning the argument. So, he was called Mr. Know all. He was hated in the ship. But he didn’t understand it and considered every criticism as a compliment. Once at dinnertime, he happened to argue about pearl with Mr. Ramsay. Mr. Ramsay was also as obstinate as Kaleda. So, they had a bet of hundred dollars on the originality of the string of pearls worn by Mrs. Ramsay. Max Kaleda claimed the pearl to be original, whereas Mr. Ramsay claimed it to be duplicate. Mr. Ramsay also said that it cost only 18 dollars. Max Kaleda took it from Mrs...

Piano                                                    by D.H.Lawrence. Write four levels of interaction of the poem Piano Literal Comprehension                   In the poem, written by D.H. Lawrence, a women is softly playing a piano, the sound of which takes the narrator back to his childhood days, spent by the side of his mother. He sees himself as a child, sitting by the feet of his mother, fondly listening to her sing and plays the piano. The memory makes him weep like a child for the past. Interpretation           ...

                                                                                                                           Moti Nissani  Condense the main point of “Why Go To University?” into a single sentence.                  One should go to the University not only for getting a degree but also for social, practical, intellectual, personal and political reasons.  Summarize this essay in a single paragraph.                     There are various reasons as to why one should go to University. The foremost reason is that Higher Education has many social benefits. It n...

Rabindranath Tagore Summary: Mini, a five years old daughter of the writer, could not stay without doing something. She hadn’t washed out a minute in silence. Such activities made her mother angry but father took it as the nature of child. Mini used to ask different questions to her father and sometimes it became hard to give an answer to the writer. Once Mini cried “A Cabuliwallah”. Then, the Cabuliwallah, who wore baggy and dirty clothing and carried a bag on his back and boxes of grapes in his hand. He turned his head and came to the writer’s house.  Mini went to her mother due to the fear. She had blind belief that inside the bag there were perhaps two or three children like her. Writer purchased some things from him. The seller offered nuts and raisins and also returned the amounts. Her fear was not existed more and Mini and the seller became great friend despite their age difference. They passed their time by laughing and saying many strange jokes. They sustained thei...

Chinua Achebe Apply the four levels of reading to “Marriage is a Private Affair” Literal Comprehension             While living in Lagos Nnaemeka is engaged to marry Nene, a cosmopolitan girl of another tribe. She is a teacher. But on the other hand, his father has already chosen a girl called Ugoye Nweke from the same tribe. So the boy goes home one day and tells his father about his aim. But his father doesn’t accept his son’s choice because it is not arranged by himself and she is not from the same tribe. Moreover she is a teacher. His father tries to convince him not to marry her, but Nnaemeka is determined to marry Nene. So his father becomes unhappy and decides to forget his son forever. Even the villagers don’t like this marriage. After marriage, their life becomes pleasant. gradually the society accepts them. At the end, when Okeke recei...

Ariel Gore   As a single working mother, Gore defends television and thinks that it can be a good parent. She is surrounded by a host of problems and she cannot be a stay-at-home mother. She shows how TV can be useful for working mothers like herself who cannot spend sufficient time for her children. When she needed time for herself, she found the TV programs like “Big Bird” and “Barney the Dinosaur” a better parent than herself. The TV has been a helpful co-parent. She cites American Academy of Pediatrics(AAP) report that states she is doing her daughter an injustice every time she lets her watch TV, babies and toddlers need direct interaction with parents for healthy brain growth and for cognitive skills, exposing young children to television should be discouraged. Gore analyses the report critically and defends herself. She admits that babies and toddlers have a critical need for direct interaction with actual people. However, she disagrees with the view that children shoul...

Christakis This article shows the positive effects of television. Christakis believes that television is a new reality whether we like it or not. The infants and teenagers are equally fascinated by it. The average modern American child not only spends three to five hours a day watching television but s/he also begins to watch it right from his/her birth. According to Christakis, many parents have misconceptions about their children watching television. There are some myths that are attached to the television and the writer tries to clear those myths:  1) TV-viewing is bad for our eyes: Christakis does not believe in this as it has been proved that watching television does not cause vision problems.  2) TV makes kids dumb: Christakis believes just the opposite. According to him, TV shows like ‘Sesame Street’ and ‘Blues Clues’ improve children’s cognitive (connected with mental processes of understanding) abilities.  3) TV makes kids violent: watching violence on te...

Fiona Jenkins This essay is written by a female writer. All TV stations are controlled by very wealthy American people. The programmers on TV are not according to our interests and needs but they are guided by the interest of tycoons. People are being cheated through their advertisements. They promise but they do not deliver. Advantages of Television: TV provides entertainment. TV helps us forgetting trouble. It gives knowledge and information. We can watch scientific discoveries. We get news and views of current events. We can fallow mainstream of culture and mannerism. Disadvantages of Television: We lose opportunities for other activities. Life is meant to be lived with experience and not by watching the experience of other people. It provides an advertisement for junk food. No informative and truth but only partial truth. TV presents false ideas and tries to manipulate our mind. Democracy suffers due to propaganda.  Americ...