The recent entry of Priyanka Gandhi and her sartorial flourish into the UP electoral fray has given TV newscasters and commentators a whole new lexicon to expound on. Here’s a sampling:

Barkha Dutt:  As I was saying to Oprah the other day: with Priyanka striding into the UP arena, it’s pretty obvious who wears the pants in the Gandhi family.

Nidhi Razdan: Obviously for Mulayam the shoe is on the other foot.

Sonia Singh: At the rate at which the electorate is fast losing its patience, the BSP better pull its socks up.

Vikram Chandra: Just the other day, the Congress headquarters gave Khurshid a big dressing down.

Pranoy Roy: Things seem to be spinning out of control for the BSP if they don’t take a stitch in time.

Mani Shankar Aiyar: Why does the BJP spokesperson get so shirty when the Congress chief is mentioned?

Arnab Goswami: The emperor is wearing no clothes!

Sagarika Ghose: Who’s Sari now?

Rajdeep Sardesai: The Samajwadi Party appears to have tightened its belt considerably.

Karan Thapar: It’s all very well that the Congress committee feels that it needs fresh faces to bolster its campaign-but there is no doubt that it is skirting the real issues.

Madhu Trehan:  Of course, Newslaundry is only concerned with the dirty linen that’s going to be washed once the results are out.

LMAO 

Intro: Found at last! Justice Katju’s Class 10 – Literature Answer Papers.

Question 1: Please comment on the following text and explain what the author meant.
From Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare:
ROMEO
He jests at scars that never felt a wound.
(JULIET appears above at a window)
But, soft! What light through yonder window breaks?
It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.
Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon,
Who is already sick and pale with grief,
That thou her maid art far more fair than she:
Be not her maid, since she is envious;
Her vestal livery is but sick and green
And none but fools do wear it; cast it off.
It is my lady, O, it is my love!
O, that she knew she were!
She speaks yet she says nothing: what of that?
Her eye discourses; I will answer it.
I am too bold, ’tis not to me she speaks:
Two of the fairest stars in all the heaven,
Having some business, do entreat her eyes
To twinkle in their spheres till they return.
What if her eyes were there, they in her head?
The brightness of her cheek would shame those stars,
As daylight doth a lamp; her eyes in heaven
Would through the airy region stream so bright
That birds would sing and think it were not night.
See, how she leans her cheek upon her hand!
O, that I were a glove upon that hand,
That I might touch that cheek!

Answer 1: Clearly this is a monologue to prepare for a war. The first lines which mention the words, ‘scar’ and ‘wound’ indicate this.  But the rest of the verse does not live up to this premise. The author tries vainly to create the mood of impending war with the lines “Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon/Who is already sick and pale with grief,” but is not successful.

In my opinion, this text has been written by a mediocre writer as it does not convey the action of the scene to the reader. Lines like: ‘See, how she leans her cheek upon her hand! O, that I were a glove upon that hand/ That I might touch that cheek!” are superfluous and will be soon forgotten.

Question 2: Read the following paragraph and explain what is going on in the mind of the protagonist. From Moby Dick by Herman Melville

“Call me Ishmael. Some years ago – never mind how long precisely – having little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me on shore, I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world. It is a way I have of driving off the spleen, and regulating the circulation. Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every funeral I meet; and especially whenever my hypos get such an upper hand of me, that it requires a strong moral principle to prevent me from deliberately stepping into the street, and methodically knocking people’s hats off – then, I account it high time to get to sea as soon as I can.”

Answer 2: In this paragraph the protagonist is preparing to take a long cross country railway journey as he wants to see a lot of the country side and mingle with the people of his country.

He is packing his bags carefully so that he can enjoy the travel. In my opinion this is written by a mediocre writer as it hardly conveys the excitement of rail travel.

Lines like “Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every funeral I meet” are superfluous and will soon be forgotten.

Question 3: Read the following lines and explain what is being said in the poem – The Waste Land by T. S. Eliot

‘APRIL is the cruelest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain.
Winter kept us warm, covering
Earth in forgetful snow, feeding
A little life with dried tubers.
Summer surprised us, coming over the Starnbergersee
With a shower of rain; we stopped in the colonnade,
And went on in sunlight, into the Hofgarten,
And drank coffee, and talked for an hour.’
Answer 3: The poem is about the joys and beauty of April as a time of rebirth and celebration. It is an ode to joy and happiness and the poet is trying to convey a feeling of exuberance and exultation.

It is a poem about the changing of the seasons. However lines like “Winter kept us warm, covering/ Earth in forgetful snow, feeding/ A little life with dried tubers,” in my opinion are quite superfluous and will soon be forgotten.

– Markandey Katju. Class Ten. Allahabad School.
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Overheard in the newsroom: the history of the Indian newsmagazine (with apologies to the Bible). “TIME begat India Today; and India Today begat Outlook; and Outlook begat Tehelka; and Tehelka begat Open; and Open begat Caravan and its brethren.”