Category Personalities

WHAT IS AGATHA CHRISTIE FAMOUS FOR?

Dame agatha mary clarissa christie, lady mallowan, dbe (née miller; 15 september 1890 – 12 january 1976) was an english writer known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving around fictional detectives hercule poirot and miss marple.

A crime, a host of suspects, twists and turns, and an unexpected ending, all make this genre a delight for the reader. It’s a genre made popular by British author Agatha Christie

Let me explain how I got introduced to mystery novels, a popular genre.

Some of us in our neighbourhood usually visit each other’s homes whenever we are free. The other day when I went to one of my friends place, he was in his ‘home’ library, which he calls the mini library. There was a good collection of books, and I ran my eyes over them devouringly and pulled out a book at random. The cover page had an attractive design – a huge mansion surrounded by water and had the usual details such as the name of the author and the title – Agatha Christie, “And Then There Were None” – and what caught my attention was – The Queen of Mystery’.

I asked my friend, “Why is the author called The Queen of Mystery?” He thought for a while, but unable to respond, called out his sister. When she came in, I repeated the question.

She started off mentioning that anyone interested in mystery novels would have certainly read at least one of hers as Agatha Christie had written 66 of them. All her novels had the structure of a murder / crime being committed and a detective investigating and unravelling the truth at the end. Although the author was not the one who invented this genre, no one had written as much as she had and popularised it, and for that reason she was described as The Queen of Mystery’. It was a convincing answer to me.

An important fact about Agatha Christie, she added, was that she was the best-selling author as her books sold over a billion copies in English and another billion in translation; this was next only to the sale of The Bible, a rare feat, in fact.

She also told us that she liked the mystery novels very much, which, in a way, intrigued me. So, I asked her why she liked them and how they were different from other types of novels.

My friend’s sister gave an interesting response to my question. She elaborated that all mystery novels narrate a gripping story about a crime and as readers, we all get involved in the investigation, but till the end, we wouldn’t be able to identify the criminal, though we would be led to suspect many of the characters. It was these elements of mystery or the suspense that differentiated them from other kinds of novels, which mostly narrate straightforward stories. “The unexpected twists and turns in the mystery novels further add to our delight,” she added.

She went on to tell us that she had basically been a slow reader but after starting on the mystery novels she has gained speed. Even the textbooks, she could read faster and understand them better now. When she stopped, I pointed out to her that the title was rather unusual, and enquired why the novelist had given such a title.

The title was, in fact, an adaptation from the nursery rhyme “Ten Little Soldier Boys Went Out to Dine”; and it was printed at the beginning of the book. She explained, “You would realise as you read the novel that the writer had drawn heavily from the rhyme.”

She also listed other famous mystery novelists, namely, Stephen King, John Grisham, Dan Brown, and so on, who are widely read all over the world. Finally, she prodded us to read this novel as this has been one of the top-selling novels and made into a movie. She also suggested that we watch the movie along with her.

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A HARBINGER OF CHANGE

Dr BR Ambedkar is one of the most luminous figures of modern Indian history and the principal architect of our constitution. He endeavoured to build a new social order based on the democratic ideals of liberty, equality and fraternity. Let us look back at one of his most iconic speeches at the Constituent Assembly.

On November 24, 1949, B. R. Ambedkar presented his concluding remarks on the adoption of the Constitution in the Constituent Assembly. His address recalled the detailed discussions and deliberations on fundamental rights, union powers, and upliftment of minorities that laid the foundation of our Constitution’s legal framework. But what makes this speech significant in present-day’s political environment is its orators prophetic predictions of the factors that threaten India’s political identity as a socialist democracy.

The quest of the hour Even at the helm of liberty, what crippled Ambedkars mind with anxiety was the thought of the stronghold ideals of caste and creed had on the average citizen. Recalling past incidents like the invasion of Sind by Mahommed-Bin-Kasim, he elaborated on how India had once before lost its independence to the treachery of its people and the rise of new political parties that possess diverse and opposing political standing can cause history to repeat itself.

He declared that the day politicians choose creed over the country, the purpose of democracy will be defeated.

Therefore, the quest of the hour was to ensure that proper measures are taken to enforce and safeguard equality, liberty and fraternity as a nascent nation moved forward

Abandon the grammar of anarchy

In his address to the constituent assembly, Ambedkar implored to hold fast to constitutional methods of achieving social and economic objectives and abandon methods of rebellion like civil disobedience, non-cooperation and satyagraha. According to him, in a society that is built on good well and justice and is governed by leaders elected by the people there is no valid justification to employ unsanctioned methods of rebellion.

Dangers of hero-worship Calling Bhakti culture or Hero-worship a sure road to degradation and eventual dictatorship, he said “There is nothing wrong in being grateful to great men who have rendered lifelong services to the country. But there are limits to gratefulness… With independence, we have lost the excuse of blaming the British for anything going wrong. If hereafter things go wrong, we will have nobody to blame. Except ourselves…If we wish to preserve the Constitution…let us resolve not to be tardy in the recognition of the evils that lie across our path…nor to be weak in our initiative to remove them. That is the only way to serve the country. I know of no better.” (excerpt from the speech)

Key takeaways from the speech

1. Equality, liberty and fraternity are the foundations of our constitution.

2. Blind faith in any entity or individual is an enemy of the truth.

3. A good citizen understands the responsibility that comes with freedom.

DID YOU KNOW?

  1. Dr Ambedkar was the first law minister of Independent India
  2. Ambedkar’s 20-page autobiography titled “Waiting for a Visa” is part of Columbia University’s curriculum.
  3. Ambedkar was the first member of the backward classes to become a lawyer.
  4. Ambedkar was the first and only Satyagrahi to conduct “Satyagraha for drinking water”. Ambedkar had master’s degrees in around 64 subjects and was the first Indian to obtain a doctorate in Economics from a foreign university.

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WHAT IS DR. ABDUL KALAM’S VISION OF INDIA?

A person of exemplary calibre and fierce patriotism, former President Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam embodied the best of what an Indian can aspire to be. Let us look at one of his most memorable addresses titled, ‘My vision for India’.

On May 25, 2011, Dr APJ Abdul Kalam gave one of his greatest speeches at the IIT Hyderabad campus, titled ‘My vision for India.’ His simple and self-explanatory inaugural address for the IIT TechFest outlined his aspirations for his motherland and highlighted the need to increase meaningful public participation in nation-building activities.

A man of action

One of India’s most celebrated scientists Dr. Kalam was an aeronautical engineer by training. His 1998 project The Technology Vision 2020′ was an action plan that sought to achieve economic growth through technological development, with special emphasis on facilitating agriculture and increasing the accessibility and quality of healthcare and education. During his tenure as the 11th President of the country(from 2002 to 2007), India’s ‘missile man, as he was popularly called in the media, promoted the advancement of the national nuclear weapons program, and under his leadership. India developed strategic missiles like ‘Agni and Prithvi’ and tactical missiles like ‘Aakash’ and Thrissur’.

Even after the end of his official term Dr Kalam’s passion for education and societal transformation came to the forefront in his addresses across various cross-sections of society from school children to policymakers.

His visions for India

“In 3,000 years of our history, people from all over the world have come and invaded us, captured our lands and conquered our minds… Yet, we have not conquered anyone. Because, we respect the freedom of others, and this is why my first vision is that of freedom. I believe that India got its first vision of this in 1857, when we started the war of Independence. It is this freedom that we must protect and nurture and build on.” (an excerpt from My vision for India)

Dr Kalam sought the freedom that nurtured creativity and independent thinking. Freedom that instilled the courage to stand one’s ground against all odds. He wanted India to be confident in its identity, and progress towards becoming a developed nation, self-reliant and self-assured.

“We have been a developing nation for fifty years… my second vision for India is development. (an excerpt from My vision for India) In his public addresses, he often asked his audiences to repeat the dictum “Dreams transform into thoughts and thoughts result into action”. He really believed that the day we as citizens recognised our duties towards the development of our nation (dismissing all the personal biases) and joined forces to work towards identifying and meeting the needs of ‘all’ India will truly become developed.

“I have a third vision. India must stand up to the world. Because I believe… Only strength respects strength. We must be strong not only as a military power but also as an economic power. Both must go hand-in-hand.” (an excerpt from My vision for India) He ends his speech by echoing J.F.Kennedy’s words to his fellow Americans to relate to Indians… Ask what we can do for India and do what has to be done to make India what America and other western countries are today.” (an excerpt from My vision for India)

QUICK FACTS ON KALAM

  • Born in a humble household of Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu, Dr. Kalam distributed newspapers as a 10-year-old to supplement his family’s income.
  • Dr. Kalam was the project director of the SLVIII, the first satellite launch vehicle that was both designed and produced in India.
  • Dr. Kalam was fondly called People’s President because of his simplicity and love for his countrymen.
  • Dr. Kalam was the first Asian to be honoured with Hoover Medal. America’s top engineering prize for outstanding contribution to public service on April 29, 2009
  • In 2012, Dr Kalam launched a campaign called What Can I Give Movement, to develop a “giving” attitude among the youth and to encourage them to contribute towards nation building by taking small but positive steps.

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WHO TOLD “CRISIS OF CIVILIZATION”?

WHO TOLD “CRISIS OF CIVILIZATION”?

Rabindranath Tagore’s artistic genius endeared him to millions around the world. A man of prodigious literary and artistic accomplishments, Tagore is recognised as one of the architects of modern India. Let us look back at his iconic last public address, “Crisis in civilisation”.

Despite his failing health, Rabindranath Tagore attended his 80th birthday celebration in Visva -Bharati. Shantiniketan, West Bengal, on May 7, 1941. His public address for the occasion titled ‘Crisis in civilisation’ was not only his last speech in his beloved university, but also his last public pronouncement. His parting message to the world dealt with the state of modem civilisation and how it had been shaken to its foundations by war and oppression.

Tagore’s activism

Tagore’s involvement with various issues pertaining to social reform began quite early in his life. By the time the poet turned 20, he had already authored several essays commenting on the burning issues of the day. The writer’s engagement with the idea of nationalism changed throughout his life.

In the first decade of the 20th Century, Tagore emerged as one of the strongest proponents of the Swadeshi movement. The years leading up to the movement came under the writer’s pro-nationalism phase.

He withdrew from the movement in 1907. His work during this period showcased his disillusionment with the ideology of the nation and the Indian nationalist movement as a whole.

What is a nation?

The late 19th Century witnessed the idea of a nation emerge in the Indian consciousness. It was chosen and propagated by Indian intellectuals and political activists to invigorate a sense of unity among the citizens. At the time it was seen as a necessary tool to fight against the colonial forces.

But Tagore fiercely denounced this idea. He felt a nation-state was only a representation of organised power and had a mechanical function.

The nation as a machine

Tagore argued that a nation fundamentally prioritised commercial expansion and economic profit over humanity and moral values. The poet elaborated how this western idea was the reason our people and natural resources were exploited in the first place by the European invaders.

His thesis on the topic asserts that the mechanisms of a nation transform men into one-dimensional units of machinery whose purpose in life is limited to the creation of surplus wealth at the expense of the weak.

The nation as a machine, fine-tuned for profit-making, disturbs the spirit of harmony which is the quintessential feature of Indian history and culture.

Crisis in civilisation

Tagore began his address by commenting how old age is a time for reflection and recollection. Looking back at the vast stretch of years that lay behind him, he finds himself shocked by the change in his attitude and that of his countrymen.

Even at his weakest moment, Tagore was anguished by the state of the country as he said. “The wheels of fate will one day oblige Englishmen to give up their Indian empire. But what kind of a country will they leave behind them? What stark wretched misery?…. What wasteland of filth and hopelessness?” (an excerpt from Crisis in civilisation)

The writer recalls how educated Indians of his generation who studied English literature and liberalism once foolishly believed in the magnanimity of the English, and their idea of enlightenment. He utilises this opportunity to announce that the West has failed in establishing itself as the emissary of light and knowledge, and now all hope lies with the East.

“As I look around I see the crumbling ruins of a proud civilization strewn like a vast heap of futility. And yet I shall not commit the grievous sin of losing faith in Man…Perhaps that dawn will come from this horizon, from the East where the Sun rises. A day will come when unvanquished Man will retrace his path of conquest, despite all barriers, to win back his lost human heritage” (an excerpt from Crisis in civilisation) According to Tagore, the defining feature of Indian civilization which we are on the verge of losing is sympathy. Referring back to the ancient text of Manusmriti and the idea of ‘sadachar (proper conduct), he suggests that the Indian interpretation of the word civilization has always sought to establish a relationship with the world not through the cultivation of power but through fostering sympathy. To attain true liberation, Indians must first become aware of their heritage and the spirit of India, which has been suppressed by the wholesale acceptance of western education.

DID YOU KNOW?

1. Tagore was the first non-European to win the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913.

2. Tagore was the founder of Visva-Bharati, a public central University, located in Shantiniketan, West Bengal,

3. The preface of Tagore’s most acclaimed work, Gitanjali, was written by another great poet of the 20th Century. W.B. Yeats.

4. On 14 July 1930, Rabindranath Tagore visited Albert Einstein’s house in Caputh, near Berlin. Their conversation was recorded and published as “The Nature of Reality” in the Modern Review magazine’s 1931 January issue.

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WHO WAS THE SPEAKER OF TITLED SPEECH “I AM PREPARED TO DIE”?

“I Am Prepared to Die” is the name given to the three-hour speech given by Nelson Mandela on 20 April 1964 from the dock of the defendant at the Rivonia Trial. The speech is so titled because it ends with the words “it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die”.

April 20, 1964, saw Nelson Mandela, a 45-year-old member of the anti-apartheid movement, testify at the Pretoria courtroom as part of the Rivonia Trial. In his defence statement, the young lawyer declared that freedom and equality were the ideals for which he was prepared to die.

This speech became the rallying cry of the masses that shook the apartheid regime and set Mandela on the path to becoming the country’s first democratically elected president 30 years later.

Apartheid

Apartheid was the most extreme kind of racism that the world witnessed. It started from 1652 when the Dutch East India Company landed in the Cape of Good Hope and established a trading colony in what is now known as Cape Town. This was a rest stop for ships travelling between Europe and India.

The Dutch colonists went to war with the natives to establish their control. This ultimately led to the creation of a new set of laws to enslave the aboriginals. When the British took over the Cape colony, the descendants of the Dutch settlers trekked inland and developed their own language, culture, and customs eventually becoming the Afrikaners, the first white tribe of South Africa.

The fall of the British Empire saw the Afrikaners claim South Africa for themselves. But to sustain their supremacy over the country’s restless black majority, they needed new stringent laws. A formal commission was set up and an expedition was sent to different parts of the world including the Netherlands, Australia, and America with the purpose of studying institutionalised racism and its application. The government used this knowledge to build the most advanced version of racial oppression ever created.

Apartheid (means ‘apartness in African language) was a police state, a system of surveillance meant to keep the black people under control. This policy was in place for nearly 50 years.

The art of persuasion

Most leaders are known for their rhetoric. Philosopher Aristotle lays emphasis on the art of persuasion through speech in his treatise on the subject. According to the philosopher, the true means of introducing change in a society can only be accomplished by deliberative rhetoric. A deliberative speech focusses on the future rather than the past or the present. Here the speakers present their audience with a possible future and try to encourage them to lend their support to their vision.

What cements the appeal of this kind of persuasive speech is the use of ethos (credibility), logos (logic and reason), and pathos (emotional connect), and Mandela’s speech is an excellent example of this.

The appeal of Mandela

1 am the First Accused I hold a Bachelor’s Degree in Arts and practised as an attorney in Johannesburg for several years in partnership with Oliver Tambo. I am a convicted prisoner serving five years for leaving the country without a permit and for inciting people to go on strike at the end of May 1961. (An excerpt from the speech “I am prepared to die”) By beginning his defence statement with an announcement of his educational qualification and contribution to the anti-apartheid movement, Mandela established his credibility. He took full responsibility for his actions and the disruption they led to. His demeanour exuded confidence in himself and in the cause he was fighting for.

“…The complaint of Africans, however,  is not only that they are poor and whites are rich, but that the laws which are made by the whites are designed to preserve this situation” (An excerpt from the speech “I am prepared to die”)

This part of the oration justified the need for a movement against a government that used racial segregation as a weapon to divide society. His sincere dedication to the struggle of the African people and his willingness to sacrifice himself for the fundamental principles of freedom and equality made him a man of mythical proportions.

“I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die. (An excerpt from the speech 7 am prepared to die”)

DID YOU KNOW?

  • Mandela’s birth name was Rolihlahla Mandela. The name Nelson was given to him by his primary school teacher.
  • In August 1952, Mandela and Oliver Tambo established South Africa’s first black law firm, Mandela and Tambo.
  • July 18 is celebrated as Nelson Mandela International Day each year.
  • As the first black president of South Africa, Mandela took it upon himself to unite the country that had been divided along racial lines. According to him, sports like rugby promoted unity and fostered national pride.

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Who is Vladimir Putin?

Here’s the man who made the world shudder, with his attack on Ukraine. Russia’s current president, Vladimir Putin is one of the strongest leaders in the world.

He was born in Leningrad, the city now named as St. Petersburg. After graduating in law in 1975, he joined the KGB, the dreaded secret service of the Soviet Union. He was further trained at the Yuri Andropov Red Banner Institute in Moscow, and then worked in East Germany under the pretence of being a translator. He left the KGB following the coup against Mikhail Gorbachev, which he did not agree with.

Putin then sought a career in politics and was quite successful in it. He reached the highest position in Russia in 2000. Among all the current presidents in Europe, Putin is the second longest serving – behind only Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus. In fact, the Russian constitution allowed a person to serve as president only for two terms. To get around this problem, a shrewd Putin chose to be the prime minister in 2008, swapping places with the then prime minister Dimitri Medvedev. Putin was re-elected as president in 2018, for the fourth time. In April 2021, he changed the constitution so as to allow him to be elected as president for two more terms. This would enable him to remain as president until 2036.

Putin’s rule of Russia is characterized by a shift to authoritarianism. His government is also accused of gross human rights abuses. Most recently, the attack on Ukraine has added to his image as a ruthless ruler.

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