Text-II       Epitome of Wisdom                   Unit-4: THE LAST LEAF

                    -William Sidney Porter (1862 – 1910) O. Henry

Sudie, familiarly called Sue, was Johnsy’s friend. They stay in Greenwich Village and practice art. They have the same tastes in art, chicory and bishop sleeves. While Sue belongs to Maine, Johnsy belongs to California. They set up a joint studio. Soon Johnsy is stricken by pneumonia. She lies on her bed scarcely moving.

The doctor informs Sue that Johnsy has only one chance in ten and that one chance is for her to want to live. Medicine can cure only half the disease and the other half depends on the will power of the patient. Being very loving to Johnsy, Sue cries. However, Sue arranges her drawing board and starts a pen and ink drawing for a magazine story, Johnsy makes low sounds repeatedly. Sue goes near her and finds that Johnsy is looking out the window and counting numbers backward. She is counting the leaves falling from the ivy vine on the next brick house. Three days ago, there were almost a hundred leaves but now there are only five leaves. Johnsy feels that when the last leaf falls, she will die. But Sue is brave and rational. She brushes away Johnsy’s fear as nonsense. She argues that everybody in New York riding on the street cars or walking besides a new building has only one chance in ten. So, Sue asks Johnsy to take some broth. She is also making arrangements to buy port wine and pork chops for Johnsy.

Johnsy does not need anything to drink or eat since the remaining leaves have started falling and she will go after the last leaf falls. Sue appeals to Johnsy to close her eyes and not look out the window. She must finish the drawings by the next day. Then she draws the window shade down and asks Johnsy to try to sleep and not to move till she comes back from a visit to Behrman’s studio.

Sue tells Behrman about Johnsy’s fears. She has all sympathy for Johnsy. She tells him that Johnsy is very ill and weak. She prepares Behrman to help Johnsy out of her illness. Braving the rain and snow, Behrman paints an ivy leaf on the brick wall sitting outside the window. Next morning Johnsy looks at the painted leaf and thinks the last leaf has not fallen from the ivy plant. This paves the way to Johnsy’s recovery from pneumonia. She realizes that it is a sin to want to die. She asks Sue for a little broth and some milk with a little port wine in it. She hopes to paint the Bay of Naples someday. It is Sue who has masterminded her recovery from the point of death. Certainly a friend in need is a friend indeed. The doctor says Jphnsy has even chances now. With good nursing by Sue, she will recover completely. The next day the doctor declares that Johnsy is out of danger. She needs nutrition and care. Sue will take care of them.

Thus, Sue saves the life of Johnsy. Certainly she is true, sincere and helpful friend.

Unit-5: THE CONVOCATION SPEECH

-Nagavara Ramarao Narayana Murthy (20 Aug.1946)

India has made considerable strides of development in the recent times. But it is docked by deep poverty, illiteracy, ill-health, malnutrition and corruption. Bright, idealistic and confident youngsters are becoming hopeless, diffident, self-seeking and unhappy by the time they reach forty years of age. The Indian political system and environment must be blamed for this situation. This is not how India can be built into a great nation. N.R.Narayana Murthy emphasizes that the dreams of the founders of the nation can be realized only by maintaining the idealism, confidence, hope, energy and enthusiasm of every Indian.

There seems to be hope for us to solve our endemic problems. For the first time in 300 years our economy is progressing. So our poverty can be overcome. We can wipe off the tears of the poorest child as Mahatma Gandhi desired. By driving away the darkness around us, we can make India a better country for all people.

N.R.Narayana Murthy hopes that thirty years from now the situation will be different. The people will have confidence, hope and faith in the country. They will create a developed India and solve the problems of poverty, illiteracy, malnutrition and ill-health. They will be respected for their achievements. Every nation will want to trade with India. Foreign students will come to study in India.

In order to achieve this transformation and make India a better and happy place, a few inputs are necessary. They look simple but they are hard to follow. First of all, the people must identify themselves as Indians and rise above their narrow attachments to their states, regions and castes. These are narrow domestic walls. Only the merit must be taken into consideration. Whatever role the people get, they must play it with enthusiasm. The people must inculcate strict discipline. Then only they will get success. They must get rid of their self-interests and biases. They must realize that the interests of the nation are foremost importance. There is no substitute for hard work. For the sake of long term glory, the people must be prepared to make short term sacrifices. They must lead others by their personal example.

N.R.Narayana Murthy prays to god to give the people the required strength, determination and character to transform India into a successful nation. He exhorts the people to seize the opportunity and achieve great things with a happy mind.

Text-I     Skills Annexe

Unit-4: Human Values and Professional Ethics

-          Arnold J. Toynbee.

Arnold Toynbee gives an account of the unique achievements of the Indian people under the leadership of Gandhiji. These achievements are of very great value to the whole world in the present atomic age.

One Indian virtue that greatly impressed Toynbee and touched him greatly was the Indian people’s freedom from rancour. Indians never hate their adversaries. After a successful struggle, they do not brood over the past and nurse grievances. They do not hate the British and the Muslims who ruled India. Indians were inspired by Gandhiji to keep the freedom struggle on a spiritual plane above the level of mere politics. Non-violent revolution is a characteristic Indian accomplishment. The spirit of non-violence is a state of feeling inspired by a moral ideal. The people must live in harmony. A broad-minded approach to reality is characteristic of India. Indians do not maintain that their own way is the only way that has truth or virtue in it.

Indians tolerate the ways of others. Appreciation of variety is an object lesson of great value for the rest of the world in this atomic age. Technology has removed distances. Physically all are neighbors now but psychologically strangers. All must live together like a single family. We must love our neighbors. Variety in unity is a great India’s conspicuous achievement and of worldwide importance. There must be amity among all sections of people.

Another great Indian achievement is the combination of hard practical work and contemplation. This is characteristic of Indian tradition. Gandhiji proved that spiritual activity and practical activity can go together. The spiritual gift of contemplation makes Man human. This gift is still in Indian souls. It saves mankind from self-destruction.

These are the achievements of Indian people according to Arnold J.Toynbee.

Unit-5:                 SPORTS AND HEALTH

Sachin Tendulkar is considered to be one of the greatest batsmen of all time. In fact, he is a cricket legend. Born on 24 April 1973 in Mumbai, he showed himself as an outstanding athlete. He was not a particularly gifted student. His father was a professor and his mother worked for a life insurance company.

At the age of eleven, Tendulkar was given his first cricket bat. His talent was immediately proved. At the age of fourteen, he scored 329 runs out of a world record stand of 664 runs in a school match in Mumbai. Soon he became a cult figure among Mumbai schoolboys.

Sachin Tendulkar was the most complete batsman of his time. He was also the most prolific run-maker of all time. He was the biggest cricket icon the game has ever known. Tendulkar’s batting was based on the purest principles, namely, perfect balance, economy of movement, exactness in stroke-making and anticipation. Anticipation is the great quality of a genius. He was equally skillful at each of the full range of conventional shots.

Tendulkar’s game had no weakness in it. He could score all round the wicket. He had the technique to mould his game to all conditions and situations. Ha made runs in all parts of the world in all conditions. Some of his finest performances came against Australia which was the most dominant team of his time. The century he made at the age of nineteen against Australia. Australia was one of the best innings ever played in Australia. No wonder, Don Bradman, the greatest batsman of the world told his wife that Tendulkar reminded him of himself. With the keenest of cricket minds and with loathing for losing, Tendulkar became one of the best batsmen in the world.

Tendulkar’s greatness was established when he made his test debut at the age of sixteen. The very next year he scored a century at Old Trafford. It was a match-saving innings. Even before he was twenty-five, Tendulkar scored 16test hundreds. In 2000, he became the first batsman to score 50 international hundreds. In 2008, he passed Brian Lara’s total. He later went past 13,000 test runs and 30,000 international runs with 50 test hundreds.

Tendulkar holds the record of 100 hundreds in both tests and ODIs. He was the first batsman to score a double-century in one-day cricket. No wonder, Tendulkar is the most worshipped cricketer in the world. 

Unit-2 Text-2 Three Days to See-Helen Adams Keller

Unit-2

THREE DAYS TO SEE

                                 -Helen Keller

Helen Keller became totally blind and deaf at the age of nineteen months following an illness. Mrs. Anne Sullivan Macy, her teacher in her childhood, opened the outer world to her and made her life worth living.

Though deprived of the light of the world and the gift and blessings of sight, Helen Keller had the awareness of the pleasures and beauty of the world. Her heart longed to see all things. After all, if one had determination and a sense of purpose, closed doors would open. She knew how to see her sight. She would urge people blessed with sight to awaken their inactive and lazy faculties. If she were given three days to sight, she would illustrate how she would make use of her eyes.

On the first day of sight, Helen Keller would see all the people and her teacher who made her life worth living with kindness, gentleness and companionship. Thus, she expressed her gratitude to all those who helped her. After all, ingratitude is the greatest sin.

Helen Keller was a voracious reader and had a number of books read to her by others. She treated these books as a great shining lighthouse that revealed to her human life and human spirit. In fact, Helen Keller was an intense human being with concern and compassion for the poor and the underdog. She would like to see the patient horses ploughing in the field and living close to the soil and toiling in the city. Helen Keller would like to visit slims, factories, parks where children played and foreign quarters to see sights of happiness and misery and understand how people worked and lived. She knew that happiness and misery were part of life. To close her eyes on them was like closing the eyes on the heart and the mind. So, she always kept her eyes open wide. She was also conscious of comedy in the human spirit. That was the reason why she wanted to see funny plays in the theater.

Helen Keller would urge all those who had eyes to see things with a sense of urgency so that whatever they saw would become dear to them. Then a new world of beauty would open itself before them.

Since a thing of beauty is joy forever, Helen Keller, with an aesthetic sense, would like to go to the New York Museum of Natural History and the Metropolitan Museum of Art to witness the progress of man in the material aspects of the world and the various aspects of human spirit respectively. She was a lover of art which had a meaning for her. She would probe into the soul of man through his art.

Blindness and deafness were by no means matters of disadvantage to Helen Keller. She was courageous, dynamic, imaginative and intelligent. She exploited her short comings and turned them into her best gifts through which she mastered life and the world. She proved that she was greater than those that had sight and hearing. In short, she conquered the world. She stood like a rock and weathered the storm. She was by no means a pessimist and a fatalist, but an optimist. Though outwardly blind, Helen Keller developed an inner vision of life. What is more, she used her talents for the good of others. When she saw smiles, she was happy. When she saw serious determination, she was proud. When she saw suffering, she was compassionate. A lone and blind woman, she set an example to others and gave hope to the hopeless. She was a humanist.

Unit-2, Text - 1 Risk Management

Unit-2 Text-1

Risk Management

India is a major resource center for big corporations around the world. India has a huge labour market. So many business houses rely on this country for their manufacturing operations. However, taking the services of Indian labourers is fraught with many risks at various levels. Particularly there are social issues that have an adverse effect on the status of India as a resource center for big foreign corporations.

One of the social issues involved is the use of child labour and sweatshops. Another adverse issue is safety. If safety of workers is not taken care of, there will be problems in three core business areas, namely, brand reputation, operational efficiency and revenue generation.

The fact that manufacturing operations are risky and unsafe was proved when there was major fire accident in a cracker unit at Sivakasi in September 2012. The fire took the lives of 38 workers and destroyed the factory. The fire quickly spread to a number of adjoining factories and burned the recent stock of fireworks manufactured. The heat was so intense that many local villagers were hurt. The fire and flames lasted five hours. The firefighters struggled hard to put out the fire.

In South Asia, te working conditions in factories are horrible. They are all death traps for workers. The exit points are closed in many factories. Since the workers enter the factories, they can not go out because the exit points are locked. Basements of the factories are used as storerooms for highly inflammable raw materials. Fire escapes are not installed and smoke alarms and sprinkler systems are totally absent. Safety measures are strictly implemented in America and other developed countries. They will be horrified by the conditions in South Asia. In fact, fire services in South Asia are among the least developed in the world. Therefore, they are prone to accidents and disasters. Specially, industrial zones in India encroach into residential slum areas. Disasters are possible in such areas.  In Bangladesh, there were more than six hundred deaths caused by factory fire accidents in five years. In spite of all these disasters and deaths, foreign corporations employ manufacturers of other countries since labour charges are low here. It is very important that the developed countries must extend their risk management efforts to the suppliers and partners in South Asian countries and other regions. If this is not done, the foreign corporations have to incur heavy revenue losses.

Criminal negligence seems to be the cause of factory disasters in India and other countries. As a result, India’s reputation is damaged. India must create a safe work environment in the fabric and textile factories before fire accidents occur.

It is clear that outsourcing and the third party companies extend much benefit to the businesses in developed countries, but financial and social risks must be tackled first. The relationship must be mutually beneficial. The foreign corporations must assess and monitor the risks from time to time and develop good and helpful risk management strategies.

Online Resources for Leaning English

Text-II - Epitome of Wisdom

UNIT-I                                            Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya

Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya, a notable engineer, scholar, statesman, was born on 15^th September 1861 in Muddenahalli in the Chikkaballapur Taluk of Kolar District of (then) Mysore state, to Srinivasa Shastry and Venkatalakshmamma, who were good and pious couple and led a very simple and spiritual life. Though his parents were not well off, both of them decided to educate Visvesvaraya.

Visvesvaraya’s early education was at their tiny taluk “Chikkaballapur”, where he learnt deep respect for the culture and traditions of the land. Visvesvaraya was a good and deligent student and was keenly interested in studies. With his parents consent and blessings this spiritual boy has joined the Central College at Bangalore for higher education when he was fifteen years old. But unfortunately his pocket was empty and he had no roof over his head. But, this disciplined boy  did not bog down for his helpless state and became a tutor and happily earned for his higher education. Visvesvaraya was not satisfied though he stood high in B.A. Examination and joined the Science College at Poona to study Engineering and ranked the first in his course.

As soon as the results were out, Visvesvaraya was appointed as an Assistant Engineer at Nasik, by the government of Bombay, where he worked with utmost commitment and excelled in his post. A very difficult task was assigned to Visvesvaraya when he was 32 years old i.e., “to find a way to supplying water from the river Sindhu to a town called Sukkur” for which Visvesvaraya prepared an ingenious plan which amazed the other famous Engineers where he developed a new system called the “Block System” where he devised steel doors, that could stop the wasteful water in dams, seeing that even the British officers of those days were surprised for his skill in performing tasks and praised him a lot for his invention.

The government has recognised and appreciated Visvesvaraya’s genius and sincerity and he was promoted to higher positions. Visvesvaraya was promoted as a Chief Engineer at Hyderabad where he showed an extraordinary performance that was simply impossible at that time.

When the river Musi was in floods, Visvesvaraya surveyed the entire area and went through the official records of the previous floods and studied the figures of heavy rainfall in different parts of the world including the River Musi. With this study, he proposed the construction of dams across the River Musi and its tributary River Esi along with this, he suggested that, ”lovely parks should be laid out on the banks of the river. He also constructed Himayathsagar and Osmansagar dams which provide water for the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad, besides these, he was also instrumental for all the privilages which Hyderabad has got such as improved drained system, plenty of water sources and electricity even today.

Visvesvaraya was knighted as a commander of the British Indian Empire by King George V for his countless contributions to the public and he became the Dewan of Mysore in 1913 and his tenure was upto 1918. The resourcefulness of Visvesvaraya earned him the position of the Chief Engineer in the Mysore state. Besides all these Visvesvaraya was not just interested in buildings, roads and bridges but recognised the Indians’ miserable condition, most of them are just farmers, who just purely depended on rains for their food. He wanted to bring some remarkable change in them noticing poverty, ignorance and sickness.

Visvesvaraya constructed Krishnarajasagara Dam which is nearby the renowned Brindavan Gardens has not only been constructed for the purpose of irrigation but also to provide electricity to the Kolar Gold fields, that was completed by July 1915.

Visvesvaraya once said that “the curse of our nation is laziness.“ and he realized that the industry is the backbone of accounts and he started agricultural and horticultural shows to motivate the people towards them and took up the rehabilitation of handloom industry. With the initiation of   Visvesvaraya, State Bank of Mysore came forward in 1913  for financing various projects such as the Mysore Soap Factory, the Parasitoid laboratory, the Mysore Iron and Steel Works in Bhadravathi , besides these many rice mills, oil mills, sugarcane crushing mills and power looms sprang up everywhere and the Industrialization  picked up momentum. It was Visvesvaraya who gave the Clarion call -Industrialize or Perish.

Visvesvaraya was not only a neatly dressed and ready to work man but also known for his discipline and tidiness, besides all these he was a straight forward man. Visvesvaraya believed in the value of education and increased 6500 schools in Mysore state during his tenure   and also he is responsible for the establishment of Visvesvaraya College of Engineering and the Bangalore Agricultural University. He achieved so much in his six years of  tenure as Dewan where others could not have accomplished even in sixty years, for which people have praised him as a “Magician” for the fast progress being done by him and also compared him with “Bhishmacharya” for which  Visvesvaraya replied “what a small man I am before  Bhishmacharya”?

Visvesvaraya is a fearless patriot, the arrangements at Durbar pained him when he went there for the first time in 1910 during Dussera festivities and revolted against the Europeans for their behaviour. Visvesvaraya is a selfless man. In 1918, at the age of 57, he took voluntary retirement and later he worked as a chairman giving advice for the restoration of Bhadravathi iron and steel factory when it was in trouble. For his advice, he earned more than hundred thousand rupees, but the whole amount he donated for the establishment of “Sri Jayachamarajendra Polytechnic Institute of Bangalore. He also established the Maharani’s College in Mysore where the first hostel for girls was opened. He also made arrangements for the government to give scholarships to the intelligent students, to go to foreign countries for studies.

Visvesvaraya is a man of commitment, he did not care the person even if one is powerful who hindered the growth. Visvesvaraya argued that when they must discuss a resolution upon that India should have a national government, for which Englishmen objected. Visvesvaraya is a simple man, when the government had arranged to have him carried in a chair where he could not go by car when he went to Fatna, where he was called to study a plan for a bridge across the River Ganga.

In 1955, when he was 94 years of age Visvesvaraya was honored with “Bharath Ratna” or the “Gem of India”   by the government of India. Visvesvaraya’s   memory remained “pristine” even when he was almost a hundred years old. He could easily pick up the files related to the River Musi about 50 years after it was tamed. Visvesvaraya passed away on 14 April 1962, when his age was 101 years old. 

 “Success in life depends on action, that is on what you do, and not what you feel or think and the price of success is hardwork. This was in fact exemplified by Visvesvaraya  during his lifetime.”

He was by birth poor, by tradition a gentleman, by occupation an engineer, by circumstances he is a Dewan, by ideology a scientist and by efforts an industrialist. He had the conviction and strength of mind to act accordingly. He had been a combination of endeavor, adventure, courage intellect, capacity and strength. He led the country to the path of progress and his each and every creation was considered mighty and magnificent. But, far mightier and far more magnificent was the matchless Dreamer, Achiever and Leader who paved the way to modern India.     

 

Skills Annexe- Functional English for Success

UNIT-I

                                                        HUMOUR

A TEA PARTY

--Ruth Prawer Jhabvala

 

A Tea Party is an excerpt from the novel “The Householder”, written by a Parsi Indian Writer, Ruth Prawer Jhabvala.

            A Tea Party is a simple and humorous story, images the life of a middle class couple during 1940s. Indu and Prem are newly wedded couple. Prem is a lecturer in Khanna’s Private College at New Delhi. Once a tea party was organized by Mr.Khanna, the Principal of Prem’s College for which Indu and Prem felt glad to attend, so that she can escape from the house for an afternoon, for which Indu spends a long time in dressing herself. She wore a lilac coloured georgette sari with big flowers & leaves stitched on it in imitation pearls & wore a red shoes with high platform soles and cut out toes though she was unaccustomed to walk with. She also put on a heavy gold necklace, long earrings, twelve gold bangles and a fresh chain of jasmines along with a little lipstick on her lips which gave her an opulent look.

Prem wore his best shirt and trousers. He gazes at Indu in admiration instructing her to speak very politely in such a way that people get a feel that she is educated, for which she was worried to think about.

By the time, this couple reached Mr.Khanna’s place, members of the staff and their wives all dressed up in their best, were already seated in a pre-arranged circle of chairs, who have held themselves stiff and looked very much aware both of the clothes they were wearing, which were all shining and new also of the opulent surroundings in which they found themselves, where the couple were invited in a hearty and cheery voice by Mr.Khanna, where everyone’s attention was drawn on the new arrivals. Mr.Khanna expresses his happiness saying that “It is very pleasant to have ladies with us” very agreeable “where all the ladies sat expressionless”.

Mr.Chaddha who wore a cream coloured silk shirt which seemed to have been washed quite a number of times, started entertaining the gathering to make them feel comfortable at the party saying, ”The society of ladies is said to have a very softening effect” and continues saying “As our heroes of old” withdrew for respite from their battles to have their wounds dressed and their brows soothed by the hands of their consorts.

The ambiance was very appealing with the provision of armchairs, the flowered cushions and curtains, the bright paper flowers in silver vases, the colored parchment lampshades with long tassels. Among all the attendants of the party, Mr.Khanna was only at ease in clothes more gorgeous than anyone else, with wide silk pyjama trousers with a sky blue shimmering shirt, over them patterned all over with wast sprays of liliac on red stems and Mrs.Khanna is the only woman among all who gave a proprietary pat to a cushion or straightened a silver framed photograph of Mr.Khanna at an academic function.

Mr. Khanna, the Principal opined that “it is good sometimes to break off in the midst of toil” and “Relaxation is necessary to the human mind as well as to the human body”. It is like a  cool shower bath we take on a hot day”. “Refreshed and revived” with such a kind of parties we then resume our everyday duties with new vigour.

Mr. Khanna motivates all the ladies at the party, who were reluctant to eat due to shyness saying that “Now our ladies must show a better appetite”, where these ladies have passed the dishes hastily and furtively as they wished neither to see nor to be seen.

Mr. Prem was astonished to see Indu still had her plate rather with more sweetmeats on it than correct, which she was eating with the same concentration and relish she had shown on that

day when she was eating them for the first time when he brought in an earthen pot, when everyone had eaten the correct amount sanctioned by good breeding.

Prem’s eyes stole round to Indu again. She had thrust her hand forward to take bites out of a sweetmeat which held between forefinger and thumb in a rather predatory manner. Indu busily licks her fingers and quickly takes two more sweetmeats when the servant comes to collect the plates, which made Prem feel very uneasy and looks around feeling shy to notice whether anyone has seen her.

            Indu had lost her surroundings and was continuously biting, chewing and licking her fingers in a trance of enjoyment, because pregnant women had strange and uncontrollable desires. When the servant had reached the place, where Indu was sitting, he noticed many more crumbs than anywhere else. Mrs. Khanna frowned noticing Indu when she was just pushing the remnant of a crumbly ladoo into her mouth.

The gathering has started appreciating the host in chorus with Mr. Chaddha not only for the delicious food they have generously provided but also for this pleasant social gathering, which are quite conducive to goodwill and good fellowship among the members of staff of Khanna’s Private College.

Concluding the party Mr. Chaddha modulates his voice to one of softness and affection “What more beautiful feeling can there be than that of a friendship”? for which the other lecturers appreciate but Prem has lost all his feelings with Indu and could not respond on time and felt to explain the situation to Mrs. Khanna that Indu had never been to a tea party before and did not know how to behave in society and her odd behaviour is not due to lack of breeding but to natural causes.

Though the party was over at seven o’clock, Prem did not want it to be over and felt that there still remained so much to do and wished desperately to make some contributions to the conversation, to distinguish himself and show everyone that he was an intelligent and deep thinking young man and wanted to call everyone back when they were already leaving. to say that the odd behaviour of Indu is not because she was not fed properly but she was suffering from hunger pangs. But he did not have the courage to call and felt that there is nothing important to convey.

I agree that the story of “A Tea Party” is totally humorous one, because of the incidents which were so sarcastic, that we could notice starting from Mr. Chaddha encouraging the ladies motivating them to show their appetite that parades through Indu’s continuous eating concluding with Prem’s thought of giving explanation about Indu to the attendants of the party, all the scenes have lead to the remarkable humour which is unforgettable.