R. K. Narayan was born on 10 October 1906 and passed away in 2001. In his long career he published fourteen novels, over two hundred short stories, a memoir, two travel books, innumerable essays, and two plays. His first novel was Swami and Friends (1935). His last published work was Grandmother's Tale (1992), which in many ways reinforced the concerns and motifs of his writing in his long career—themes like exile and return, education (in the widest sense of the term), woman and her status in the society, myths and the ancient Indian past, tradition and modernity, Malgudi and its culture, appearance and reality, the family and so on. These have been Narayan's consistent concerns in a career spanning over nearly seventy years. In this deep ploughing of a small plot of literary land, Narayan almost resembles Jane Austen who too, in a somewhat shorter career, painted in varying colours a small canvas of quintessential English life and manners. While the range of Austen or Narayan may be small, their depth places them in the ranks of the truly great novelists of their times. Perhaps no special case needs to be made for Austen because of the enormous scholarship on her. One might however need to highlight Narayan's excellences. In our postmodernist times a writer like him, who is not obscure, difficult or dense in his writings, is likely to be less in favour, though recent scholarship has begun to evaluate him in post-colonial-post-modern [‘pocomo’] terms.

In this chapter there is a brief consideration of Narayan's longer fiction. Broadly speaking, Narayan's themes are the recurring ones of childhood and its corollary, youth and falling in love, marriage and its contentment as well as discontents, filial relations, the urge to withdraw from society (this may be called the Sanyasi theme) and the inevitable return to society. The chapter also focuses on caste, class and gender questions and of course, there is the generally muted Gandhian theme and its obvious connection to the larger questions of Dharma, righteousness and Brahminical values. In all this we see Narayan broadly adhering to realism, though it does not prevent him from suggesting transcendence, or employing the fantastic or emblematic. His fiction finally performs a citizenly function because Naryan is deeply social and involved with the business of living.

Narayan was composing Swami and Friends even while he was trying to get some of his early short stories into print. His own early writings were usually essays for the Justice, The Hindu and G. A. Natesan's Indian Review. He wrote an essay on “How to write an Indian Novel” which was published by no less a forum than Punch (Ram 1996: 118). While he was writing to make ends meet (he had married Rajam in 1930), he was able to interest Graham Greene and with his help his first novel, Swami and Friends, got published on October 24, 1935.

Abstract: In her article “Comparison and Postcoloniality” Natalie Melas discusses comparative literature's forgotten relation to the positivist comparative method. Comparison was Eurocentric by exclusion when it applied only to European literature and Eurocentric by discrimination when it adapted evolutionary models to place European literature at the forefront of human development. Melas argues that inclusiveness is not a sufficient response to postcolonial and multiculturalist challenges because it leaves the basis of equivalence unquestioned. The point is not simply to bring more objects under comparison, but, rather, to examine the process of comparison. Melas offers a new approach to the either/or of relativism and universalism, in which comparison is either impossible or assimilatory, by focusing instead on various forms of “incommensurability”—comparisons in which there is a ground for comparison but no basis for equivalence.

Introduction

The qualifier “comparative” has its origin in what was considered one of the great innovations of scholarship in the nineteenth century, the comparative method. Applied across disciplines, it provided a comprehensive and systematic approach to the totality of objects in a given field and replaced the directionlessness of a merely taxonomic comparison with a positivist evolutionary teleology. When, in the course of the twentieth century, comparative literature turned away from studying all the literature in the world, its adjectival appendage lost the positivity of its reference to the comparative method.

As per the stated objective, the study required conducting a primary survey among the households in Hyderabad, New Delhi, and Pune. The consumers were provided with a sample kit (containing five jowar-based products like multigrain atta, jowar vermicelli, jowar flakes, jowar suji/rawa/semolina, and jowar biscuits) and were advised to evaluate the product on the parameters like packaging, physical appearance, and other cooking and consumption parameters like the product attributes before and after cooking, and experience encountered while preparation and consumption. The feedback of the consumers on various factors was captured through a structured questionnaire. The consumers provided their acceptability rating on the product attributes, including packaging, appearance, colour, smell, texture, preparation process, taste, etc., during both raw as well as cooked forms using 5-point hedonic scale (5 = Liked very much, 4 = Liked moderately, 3 = Neither liked nor disliked, 2 = Disliked moderately, and 1 = Disliked very much). Consumers rated prior awareness on jowar and its benefits and their decision to purchase or not on binary (yes/no) scale.

Sampling Plan

Sampling method

A combination of random sampling and partial judgement sampling method was adopted for the selection of the respondents because of following two criteria.

1. a. The targeted respondents belonged to households/families. Other segments of population such as bachelors/caterers were also covered, though at a minor level.

2. b. Certain segments were deliberately left out like slums, BPL population, and highly affluent class so as to avoid skewedness in the sample.

Respondents were classified into four groups/segments, based mainly on socio-economic status comprising income level, education, food habits, etc. The criteria for the sample selection included higher-income group, higher middle-income group, middle-income group, minority groups, and food habits (vegetarian/non-vegetarian).

Interestingly, the UN's presence was actually the most important factor for pushing forward the elections in June 2007. The Chief realised this truth during a meeting with Indian diplomats, when the value of the UN was questioned. “What's the use of these expensive UN staff? They just take huge salaries in the name of conflict. Is there any conflict in Kathmandu where they work? We are capable of giving you any support you want. It's best to send white elephants back as soon as possible,” a diplomat said to the Chief.

A few days earlier, the Indian Ambassador, Shiv Shankar Mukherjee had said Nepal could shorten the election process in order to conduct the June elections. This comment came because India was feeling increasingly uncomfortable about the UN presence in Nepal, and wanted to push hard for a June election, so the UN would leave the country without any delay. The Chief later explained:

Sorghum Cultivation Areas

Sorghum is a tropical grain grown primarily in semi-arid parts of the world. In Africa, a major growing area runs across West Africa south of the Sahara, through Sudan, Ethiopia, and Somalia. It is grown in upper Egypt, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Burundi, and Zambia. It is an important crop in India, Pakistan, Thailand, central and northern China, Australia, the drier areas of Argentina and Brazil, Venezuela, USA, France, and Italy. The crop is spread over the drier areas of the world; it grows better when the weather is dry and cool. Sorghum is a staple food for about 300 million people worldwide.

Production of Sorghum Worldwide

Globally, sorghum is cultivated in an area of 42−43 million hectares leading to a production of 59−60 million tonnes of crop. In the last 18 years (1994−2011), average production of sorghum in the world is pegged at 59−60 million tonnes. The compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) in global production of sorghum has slightly declined by −0.5 per cent. The global production trend of sorghum is given in Fig. 2.1.

Country wise production of sorghum

United States is the largest producer of sorghum in the world. Annual average production of sorghum in the country during the year 1994−2011 was about 11.9−12.0 million tonnes. The compounded growth during these periods was −4.3 per cent annually. India is the second largest producer of sorghum in the world; on an average, the country produces around 7.5−7.8 million tonnes of sorghum annually. Nigeria ranks third and Mexico fourth in terms of the production of sorghum globally as the average production of sorghum during the year 1994−2011 in these countries was 7.68 and 5.94 million tonnes, respectively. Table 2.1 gives the production of sorghum in various countries globally.

There were varying reactions to the postponement of the June elections. The people of Nepal were sceptical, and wondered if the Constituent Assembly election would ever be held—mainly because of their past experience of the perpetual postponement of elections. There were reports that a joyous celebration had taken place in the Narayanhiti Palace. The last time the Constituent Assembly election was postponed, it was never rearranged.

The international community reacted variously. India was disappointed that Nepal's transition had stalled indefinitely, while others in the West, including UNMIN, were relieved that the election preparations would not be rushed.

The Maoists appeared the most agitated by the delay. Maoist cadres and combatants from the UN-monitored cantonments protested against the postponement—alleging that a conspiracy was brewing, which would completely derail the Constituent Assembly polls. Chairman Dahal said, “The delay in the election announced by the Commission heralded a great misfortune for the nation.”

One effect of the delay was an increase in the activities of the royalists. King Gyanendra met with pro-monarchy political leaders, intellectuals, journalists and civil society members, and clandestine royal audiences were given to the emerging ethnic community leaders from the Madhesi and Janjati groups. Former and present army generals were also seen in the Palace precincts.

Abstract: In her article “The Motif of Fleeing in Gao's Work” Mabel Lee explores the aesthetic dimensions of fleeing in Xingjian Gao's 1990 play Escape, and how they are manifested in his novels Soul Mountain and One Man's Bible. Lee argues that the intensely emotional times during which Gao wrote Escape were comparable to those seventy years earlier confronting writers of the May Fourth era (1915–1921). Urging his compatriots not to be “bystanders,” Xun Lu, the most influential of May Fourth writers, had chosen to allow his creative self to suicide, as shown in his 1927 prose-poem collection Wild Grass. For Gao, however, such heroic gestures are anathema and his work is a declaration for literature unburdened by politics.

Xingjian Gao (born in China 1940) was proclaimed 2000 Nobel Laureate on the basis of his short stories, eighteen plays, and two novels, a substantial part of which had also been published in French, Swedish, and English. However, following the announcement, self-professed authorities from various parts of the world condemned the award, but curiously, they only mention one or two plays he had written in the early 1980s, so it was obvious that the condemnations were based on political or personal motives not related to Gao's literary achievements. Here, I focus on the aesthetic dimensions of the play Escape and hed light on that controversy, but do not seek to explore it further. Nonetheless my study is prefaced with the statement that such a controversy took place (see Tam, “Gao”).

Abstract: In her article “Comparative Literature in Latin American Studies” Sophia A. McClennen argues for the comparative study of Latin American literature in order to accord the field more canonical status both in Latin American Studies in Anglophone North America and in Latin American humanities scholarship. Believing in the efficacy of the comparative method and in its implicitly egalitarian approach to the world's languages and literatures, McClennen's intention is not to weaken or diminish comparative literature as a politically and intellectually important form of literary study but to strengthen it in order to open it up to the authors, texts, and traditions of one of the world's most complex and challenging cultural conglomerates, Latin America.

Introduction

Because of the sheer breadth of fields in Latin American studies and because of their complex histories, any investigation into the critical intersection between Latin American Studies, comparative literature, and (comparative) cultural studies must by necessity be partial, provisional, and heuristic. My interest lies in the tracing of the historic disarticulation between humanistic studies of Latin America in the U.S. and the traditional practice of comparative literature while paying attention to the ways that cultural studies has influenced contemporary practice in both areas. I also discuss comparative literature and its situation in Latin America proper.

Latin America has historically been marginalized in North American Anglophone comparative literary studies and dialogue between the fields has been minimal.

Abstract: In their article “Comparative Literature in Russian and in Central and East Europe” Alexandra Berlina and Steven Tötösy de Zepetnek present aspects of the history and current situation of comparative literature in the languages of the region. They describe briefly the evolution of comparativism in the study of literature from the nineteenth century to present from the perspectives of intellectual direction and institutional presence. The situation of comparativism in the study of literature and culture in the region suggests that comparative literature—to various degrees according to location—has been experiencing a development in particular since the end of the Soviet empire and communism.

Comparative literature in Russian

Galin Tihanov argues that modern literary theory originated in Central and East Europe (see “Why Did”). This is an interesting proposition because his discussion is about Russian thought and Central and East Europe does not include Russia—that is, from a “Western” perspective, although for West-oriented Russians Russia is part of Europe—and the designation is useful when one considers intellectual history based on “regions” of thought instead of geographical, political, historical, and sociological parameters (see also Dobrenko and Tihanov; on the definition of Central and East Europe, see Tötösy de Zepetnek, e.g., “Post-colonialities,” “Comparative”).

In Russian the first professorship of “world literature” was established in 1860 at the University of St. Petersburg. Fedor Buslaev (1818–1898) was the first to lecture in the field and his student Alexander Veselovsky (Veselovskii; 1859–1906) became its first official department head in 1870 (see Shaitanov, Komparativistika).

Mechanics is a branch of science and technology where we deal with various kinds of motions of bodies. Based on the observations for the motions of bodies, Newton put forth three laws, often called the Newton's laws of motion. In the present chapter, we shall discuss about them. While discussing the Newton's laws of motion, we shall assume that the atmosphere around us is not imposing any force on the moving bodies. That is, we shall assume that the atmosphere is not present. For expressing the motion, we require some reference frame and a coordinate system.

Inertial reference frame

For describing motion of a body, we require a reference frame. Newton considered an absolute reference frame and a universal time. For an absolute reference frame, its origin as well as its axes are absolutely fixed. Distances (displacements) of bodies are measured with reference to this reference frame.

The reference frame in which Newton's laws of motion are valid is known as an inertial reference frame. In fact such a reference frame does not exist, as no material body is at absolute rest and therefore we cannot have an absolute reference frame. Even a reference frame attached to the earth is not an absolute one, as the earth revolves around the sun, as well as it spins about its own axis. Further, sun also moves in our galaxy, the Milky Way. In fact, no body in the universe is at the absolute rest.