Priyal sarvaiya ( major - 14 )
# College Name : Maharani Shree Nandkunvarba Mahila Arts And Commerce College.
# NAME :- SARVAIYA PRIYAL
#Course Name :- TYBA
#Sem :- 6
# Subject :- major 14
# Subject Name :- A Study of Indian English Novel And Short Stories.
❇️ CLASS ASSIGNMENT ❇️
Explaine the characters :-
✴️(I)Toba Tek Singh
by Saadat Hasan Manto✴️
*Primary Characters
➡️(1) Bishen Singh (Toba Tek Singh):-
A Sikh inmate who has been in the asylum for 15 years. He is known for standing constantly, rarely sleeping, and speaking in strange, meaningless words. He represents the pain of Partition, eventually dying in "no-man's-land" because he belongs to neither country.
➡️(2)Fazal Din:-
A kind-hearted Muslim friend of Bishen Singh who visits him after 15 years to deliver news that his family is safe in India. However, his vague answers about the location of Toba Tek Singh only add to Bishen’s confusion.
➡️(3)The "God" Inmate:-
A patient who claims to be God. When asked about the location of Toba Tek Singh, his joking responses anger Bishen, symbolizing how even a divine figure cannot resolve the confusion of Partition.
Political and Social Archetypes
The Muslim League Worker: A patient who believes he is Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah.
➡️(4)The Sikh Patient:-
An inmate claiming to be the Sikh leader Master Tara Singh. He acts as a mirror to the Jinnah patient; both are locked in separate cells to prevent communal fighting.
➡️(5)The Hindu Lawyer:-
A man who lost his mind over a failed love story. He initially refuses to go to India—where his beloved lives—because he fears his law practice will fail there, illustrating how Partition destroyed lives and logic.
The Two Anglo-Indian Patients: Located in the European ward, they worry about the loss of British privileges and European food, representing the fears of minorities during the transition.
➡️(6)The Newspaper-Reader:-
A Muslim inmate who reads the newspaper Zamindar. When asked about Pakistan, he defines it as "a place in India where razors are made," showing the general public’s lack of understanding regarding the new country.
➡️(7)The "Pakistan Zindabad" Patient:-
A Muslim inmate who shouts nationalist slogans so loudly that he faints, symbolizing extreme confusion and misplaced nationalism.
Secondary Characters Mentioned
These characters are primarily mentioned through Fazal Din’s message to Bishen Singh:
➡️(8)Roop Kaur:-
Bishen Singh’s daughter.
➡️(9)Bhai Balbir Singh & Bhai Vadhawa Singh:-
Friends of Fazal Din mentioned in his message.
➡️(10)Bahain Amrit Kaur:-
A woman to whom Fazal Din sends his greetings.
✴️(II)Lihaaf (The Quilt)
by Ismat Chughtai✴️
This story is narrated by a woman recalling a confusing and frightening experience from her childhood involving her aunt.
➡️(1)Narrator (Unnamed young girl):-
She remembers staying with her aunt, Begum Jaan, and witnessing strange things, such as the quilt shaking and making unusual sounds. Too young to understand sex, she felt confused and frightened, especially when Begum Jaan behaved inappropriately toward her.
➡️(2)Begum Jaan:-
The narrator’s aunt, described as a beautiful but troubled and neglected woman. Married to a Nawab who ignores her, she finds emotional and physical comfort in her masseuse, Rabbu. She is depicted as the main negative force when she turns her desperate attention toward the child narrator.
➡️(3)Nawab Sahib:-
Begum Jaan’s husband and head of the household. Publicly respected, he secretly has sexual relationships with young male students and completely ignores his wife.
➡️(4)Rabbu:-
The masseuse and constant companion to Begum Jaan. She is from a lower class and shares an intimate relationship with Begum Jaan, who becomes restless and irritable whenever Rabbu is away.
➡️(5)Amma:-
The narrator’s mother, who sends her daughter to stay with Begum Jaan for a week because the girl frequently fights with her brothers.
➡️(6)Rabbu’s Son:-
A young man who refuses to visit the house after a mysterious incident involving the Nawab. It is hinted that he was mistreated by the Nawab.
✴️(III) "The Night of the Full Moon" by Kartar Singh Duggal✴️
The story centers on a misunderstanding in a village caused by a secret meeting on a full-moon night.
➡️(1) Malan:-
Minnie’s mother who, despite being middle-aged, remains very beautiful. Neglected by her husband, she eventually gives in to her feelings for a secret admirer and meets him on a full-moon night while wearing Minnie’s dupatta and bangles.
➡️(2)Minnie:-
Malan’s young, innocent, and shy daughter who is about to be married. She becomes a victim of false accusations and public humiliation because villagers mistake her mother for her.
➡️(3)The Lover (Malan’s Secret Admirer):-
A man who has loved Malan for over twenty years. He meets her near a bo tree on a full-moon night, which inadvertently leads to the scandal in the village.
➡️(4)Malan’s Husband:-
A strict, hardworking moneylender who is emotionally distant and neglects his wife. His absence on the night of the full moon allows the misunderstanding to occur.
➡️(5)Lajo (Neighbor Woman):-
A curious and judgmental neighbor who enjoys gossiping. She starts the false rumor about Minnie after seeing a woman she assumes is Minnie with a man in the fields.
➡️(6)Jumma (Village Watchman):-
He claims to have seen "Minnie" with a man at night. Because Malan was wearing Minnie's clothes, he fails to recognize the truth, adding strength to the false scandal.
➡️(7)Ratna (Zamindar / Landlord):-
A powerful landlord who finds a broken red bangle in his field. He publicly accuses and humiliates Minnie without investigating, making the situation much worse.
✴️(IV)The Night Train at Deoli - Ruskin Bond✴️
➡️(1)The Narrator:-
An 18-year-old college student who travels by the night train every summer to visit his grandmother in Deoli. He is a romantic and reflective young man who becomes captivated by a girl selling baskets at a small, lonely station.
➡️(2)The Basket-Selling Girl:-
A poor, young girl with pale skin and dark, searching eyes who sells handmade cane baskets at the Deoli station. She possesses a quiet dignity and an air of mystery that deeply attracts the narrator.
➡️(3)The Grandmother:-
Though she does not appear at the station, she is the reason for the narrator's journey. She represents the "destination" and the traditional life the narrator leaves behind during his brief, magical encounters at the station.
➡️(4)The Station Master:-
A minor character who represents the mundane reality of the station. He is often busy with his duties and is unaware of the silent, emotional connection growing between the narrator and the girl.
✴️(V)How I Taught My Grandmother to Read by Sudha Murthy✴️
*Main Characters
➡️(1)The Narrator (Sudha):-
A twelve-year-old girl who loves her grandmother dearly. She acts as the "teacher" in the story, showing great patience and empathy as she helps her grandmother achieve her lifelong dream of literacy.
➡️(2)Krishtakka (The Grandmother):-
A sixty-two-year-old woman who never went to school because she grew up in a time when education for girls was not considered essential. She is determined, hardworking, and humble, eventually bowing to her granddaughter (her teacher) as a mark of respect for the knowledge she received.
➡️(3)Triveni (The Author):-
Though not physically present as a character in the "now" of the story, she is the popular Kannada writer whose serialized novel, Kashi Yatre, inspires the grandmother. Her storytelling creates the emotional bridge that motivates Krishtakka to learn to read.
*Secondary Characters:
➡️(1)The Grandfather (Avva's Husband):-
A supportive but background figure who provides a contrast to the grandmother's lack of schooling, as he was educated.
➡️(2)The Neighbors/Villagers:-
They represent the social context of the time, where many women of the grandmother's generation remained illiterate and relied on others to read stories or letters to them.
✴️(VI)Karma by khushwant singh ✴️
*Main Characters:
➡️(1)Sir Mohan Lal:-
A middle-aged man who is a "vizier" and a high-ranking official. He is an extreme Anglophile who looks down on his own Indian culture and people, including his wife. He prides himself on his Oxford education, his English manners, and his ability to speak "flawless" English.
➡️(2)Lady Lal (Lachmi):-
Sir Mohan Lal’s wife, who is a simple, traditional Indian woman. She is short, fat, and uneducated, wearing a dirty white sari and a diamond nose-ring. She represents the native Indian identity that her husband despises. While her husband travels in first-class, she sits in the inter-class compartment eating chapattis with mango pickle.
*Secondary Characters:
➡️(1)The Two English Soldiers (Bill and Jim):-
Two British soldiers who enter the first-class compartment where Sir Mohan Lal is sitting. Despite Sir Mohan's attempts to befriend them using his English manners, they treat him with racial prejudice, call him a "nigger," and eventually throw him out of the moving train.
➡️(2)The Bearer:-
An Indian servant in a white livery who serves Sir Mohan Lal Scotch and soda in the waiting room and the train.
➡️(3)The Coolie:-
A railway porter who helps Lady Lal with her luggage and chats with her, highlighting her ease and comfort with common Indian people compared to her husband's isolation.
❇️ HOME ASSIGNMENT ❇️
✴️How I Taught My Grandmother to Read by Sudha Murthy✴️
➡️Introduction of Author :-
Sudha Murty (née Kulkarni) was born on 19 August 1950. She is a well-known Indian educator, author, and philanthropist. She is the Founder and Chairperson of the Infosys Foundation, a non-profit charitable organisation that works in the areas of education, health care, rural development, and social welfare. She is married to N. R. Narayana Murthy, the co-founder of Infosys.
Sudha Murty is widely respected for her simple writing style and meaningful stories written in Kannada and English. Some of her notable literary works are:
#Mahashweta (2000)
#Dollar Bahu (2003)
#How I Taught My Grandmother to Read (2004)
Her works focus on moral values, human relationships, social issues, and everyday life.She has received several prestigious awards for her contributions to society and literature. She was awarded the Padma Shri in 2006, India’s fourth-highest civilian honour, for her social work. She also received the Daana Chintamani Attimabbe Award for her contribution to Kannada literature. In 2023, she was honoured with the Bal Sahitya Puraskar for her contribution to children’s literature. In the same year, she received the Padma Bhushan (2023), India’s third-highest civilian award, in recognition of her lifelong service to education, literature, and social welfare.In recognition of her outstanding contribution to social work and education, Sudha Murty was nominated as a Member of Parliament to the Rajya Sabha on 8 March ,2024.
➡️About the story :-
How I Taught My Grandmother to Read is a short story written by the famous Indian author Sudha Murty. It was first published in 2004 in the book How I Taught My Grandmother to Read and Other Stories by Penguin Books, India.The story is included in the Class 9 English Communicative CBSE syllabus.
➡️Summary:-
The story How I Taught My Grandmother to Read is a touching real-life account of the author’s childhood and her special relationship with her grandmother. When the author was about twelve years old, she lived in a village in north Karnataka with her grandparents. Life in the village wassimple, and transport facilities were poor. Newspapers arrived only in the afternoon and weekly magazines came a day late. Everyone in the household waited eagerly for the bus that brought letters, newspapers, and magazines.
At that time, Triveni was a very famous writer in the Kannada language. One of her novels, Kashi Yatre, was being published as a serial in the weekly magazine Karmaveera. The novel was about an old woman who strongly wished to go to Kashi (Varanasi), which is believed to be the
holiest place for Hindus. However, in the end, the old woman gives all her savings to help a poor orphan girl’s marriage, believing that helping someone is more important than a religious pilgrimage.
The author’s grandmother was named Krishtakka, and the author affectionately called her “Avva,” meaning mother in the local Kannada dialect. Avva was sixty-two years old and had never been to school, so she was illiterate. Even though she could not read, she had a sharp memory and a deep interest in stories. Every Wednesday, when the magazine arrived, the author
would read the new episode aloud to Avva. Avva listened with full concentration, forgetting all her household work, and later could repeat the story word for word. She identified strongly with the old woman in Kashi Yatre because she herself had never gone to Kashi.
Once, the author went to a neighbouring village for a wedding and stayed away for about a week. During that time, the magazine arrived, but Avva could not read it. This made her feel helpless, dependent, and embarrassed. Although she was financially well-off, she realized that money
without education cannot give independence. She waited eagerly for her granddaughter to return and felt deeply hurt by her inability to read.
One night, under the full moon, Avva shared her life story with her granddaughter. She spoke about losing her mother early, never getting an education, marrying young, and spending her life caring for her family. She explained that she always ensured her children and grandchildren were educated, even though she herself remained illiterate. That night, she firmly decided to learn the
Kannada alphabet, despite being sixty-two years old. She set a goal to read a novel
independently by Saraswati Pooja during the Dassara festival.
Though the granddaughter laughed at her age at first, Avva remained determined. From the next day, the granddaughter began teaching her. Avva proved to be a disciplined and hardworking student, practising reading, writing, and reciting daily. The granddaughter became her first
teacher, and Avva became her first student.
On Dassara day, Avva performed the pooja and then surprised her granddaughter. She gifted her a frock material and then touched her feet as a mark of respect. This was unusual because elders do not touch the feet of youngsters. Avva explained that she was touching the feet of a teacher,
not her granddaughter, because a teacher deserves respect regardless of age or gender.
In return, the granddaughter gifted Avva a copy of Kashi Yatre in book form. Avva immediately read the title, author’s name, and publisher on her own, proving that she had successfully learned to read.
The story beautifully conveys that education brings independence, learning has no age limit, and teachers deserve the highest respect. It also highlights the strong emotional bond between a
grandmother and her granddaughter.
❇️ ESSAY ❇️
✴️Lihaaf (The Quilt) by Ismat Chughtai ✴️
➡️About the Author :-
Ismat Chughtai (21 August 1911 – 24 October 1991) was a famous Indian writer who wrote in the Urdu language. She was known for her bold and honest writing style. She wrote novels, short stories, plays, and even worked as a filmmaker.
Starting in the 1930s, she wrote about topics that were not commonly discussed at that time—such as the lives of women, their feelings, their struggles, and the problems in middle-class families. She often wrote about social issues like class differences, inequality, and the restrictions placed on women. Her writing had a realistic style, which means she showed life as it truly was.
Because of her strong and unique voice in Urdu literature, she became an important writer of the 20th century. In 1976, the Government of India honoured her with the Padma Shri, one of the country’s highest civilian awards.
➡️Basic Information :-
Born: 21 August 1911, in Budaun, United Provinces (now Uttar Pradesh), British India
Died: 24 October 1991, in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Occupation: Writer, filmmaker, essayist
Language: Urdu
Education: Aligarh Muslim University
Genres: Short stories, novels, plays
Famous for: Her powerful and realistic writings about society and women’s lives
➡️ About The Story:-
“Lihaaf”, which means “The Quilt”, is a famous Urdu short story written by Ismat Chughtai. It was first published in the Urdu magazine Adab-i-Latif in 1942. After its publication, the story became very well known and was included in many important Urdu literature collections in the following years. Because the story talked about topics that were considered bold at that time, it also faced a court case about obscenity. However, Ismat Chughtai defended her work and won the case.
➡️ Story Explained:-
The story “The Quilt” is told by a woman who remembers a confusing and frightening incident from her childhood. She begins by describing how, when she was small, she used to feel scared at night because the shadows on the wall made the quilt look like a giant moving creature. This
memory connects to something she experienced long ago when she stayed for a week at the house of her mother’s adopted sister, Begum Jaan.
Begum Jaan was extremely beautiful and married to Nawab Sahib, a rich and respected nobleman. Outsiders believed he was very dignified because no entertainers or guests came to his home. But the truth was different. The Nawab preferred spending his time with young male
students who lived in his house. Because of this, he gave very little attention or affection to his wife. He lived separately, and Begum Jaan was left alone for most of her life.
With no emotional support from her husband, Begum Jaan became sad, weak, and lonely.
At this difficult time, Begum Jaan found comfort in her maid Rabbu. Rabbu looked after her daily needs, especially by giving her long oil massages that seemed to calm her and bring life back into her tired body. The two women were rarely apart—Rabbu cooked for her, stayed with her, slept near her, and cared for her with complete devotion.
People in the house often gossiped about how dependent Begum Jaan was on Rabbu, but Begum Jaan didn’t care. Rabbu’s presence had become essential for her well-being.
When the narrator (as a young girl) came to stay at Begum Jaan’s house, she was immediately charmed by Begum Jaan’s beauty and loving nature. She slept in the same room as Begum Jaan and Rabbu. But at night, the girl noticed strange things: the quilt over Begum Jaan moved, as if something large was shifting underneath it. Being a child, she did not understand what it meant, so she felt frightened. Whenever she called out to Begum Jaan, the movement stopped instantly.
One day, Rabbu left the house to visit her son. Without Rabbu’s company and care, Begum Jaan became restless and miserable. She stopped eating properly, looked disturbed, and could not relax.
Out of innocence, the little girl offered to massage her the way Rabbu did. Begum Jaan agreed. At first, the girl felt proud to help her. But soon she felt uncomfortable. Something about the situation frightened her, although she did not understand why. She sensed that something was not normal. When Rabbu finally returned, the girl felt relieved and safe again.
Even after things went back to normal, the girl felt uneasy around Begum Jaan. She avoided being alone with her and spent more time with the servants downstairs. Begum Jaan tried to win her affection again by giving her sweets and even a gold necklace, but the girl refused and said
she wanted to go home.
Rabbu quietly scolded Begum Jaan for forcing the child to stay close. Begum Jaan felt hurt and cried emotionally because she could not handle the rejection and loneliness.
That night, everything seemed quiet. But when the lights went off, the quilt began shaking again, just like before. The girl, filled with fear and curiosity, suddenly switched on the light.
For a moment, the quilt opened, and she saw Begum Jaan and Rabbu very close together in a way that shocked her. She was too young to understand what she saw, but it frightened and confused her deeply. She gasped and hid under her own covers. This moment stayed in her memory forever, and whenever she thought about quilts and shadows, this incident returned to her mind.