Mukta Dhara - Rabindranath Tagore

Mukta-Dhara is one of the masterpieces of Rabindranath Tagore. The play is the most
popular and symbolical of all the plays of Tagore. The play has been translated from Gujarati
version into English by Major Sykes. The play takes its name from mountain stream name
Mukta-Dhara, which literally means a free-rivulet, it is a mountains spring, its waters rushes
down the slopes of Uttarakut and irrigates the plains of Shiva-tarai.
Mukta-Dhara, from which the play takes its name, is a mountain spring whose waters,
rushing down the slopes of Uttarakut, irrigate the plains of Shiva-tarai, whose people are held
in subjection to the king of Uttarakut. In order to enforce this subjection more effectively, the
King of Uttarakut desires to control the source of their economic well being. In order to
cherish this end he wanted  a great dam to be erected to prevent the waters of Mukata-dhara
from reaching the plains below. It was a difficult and hazardous operation, but the skill of the
royal engineer Bibhuti, utilizing the resources of modern science and technology with the
help of conscripted labour, has at last successfully achieved the feat, though with
considerable loss of life. A mighty engine-tower, out- soaring the trident of the Temple of
Shiva on a mountain peak, has been erected. The play opens with the King and the citizens of
Uttarakut preparing to participate in a religious festival in honour of the Machine. The King
as well as the bulk of the people of Uttarakut, are very proud of the Machine and quite
confident that the poor defenseless people of Shiva-tarai will now forever be at their mercy.
Neither the recurring wail of the poor, demented mother, Amba, looking for her son, one of
the conscripted victims sacrificed in the building of the dam, nor the warnings of the simple,
god-fearing folk who presage ill for such colossal pride and greed, touch their hearts.
The crown Prince Abhijit, however, professes open sympathy for the people of Shiva-
tarai and protests against Bibhuti’s soulless achievement. The character of the Prince
provides the main psychological interest in the play. In him, love of freedom and sympathy
for the oppressed discover their appropriate symbolism, or as the author so aptly puts it, their
objective counterpart, in the fate of Mukta-dhara, whose free current has been imprisoned by
the dam.  The emotional significance of this symbolism gains intensity till it becomes a
passion, when the Price learns that he is not the son of the king but a foundling picked up
near the source of Mukta-dhara. ‘This unexpected revelation profoundly affects his mind,
making him believe that his life has a spiritual relationship with this waterfall; that its voice
was the first voice which greeted him with a message when he came to the world. From that
movement the fulfillment of that message becomes the sole aim of his life, which is to open
out paths for the adventurous spirit of Man’. He determines to sacrifice his life in an attempt
to liberate the imprisoned current by forcing the dam at a point, which he happens know was
weakly built. He succeeds. The leaping torrent breaks free, carrying away the body of its
foster-child in its turbulent rush. The social motive of the play, if it had any, is sense of
mystic self-fulfillment, as in some of Ibsen’s later dramas. 
The author has also re-introduced into the play the remarkable character, the Ascetic
Dhananjaya, who first appeared in Prayaschitta (Atonement), published in 1909. In that play
as in the present one, Dhananjaya teaches the people to resist their ruler’s unjust claims non-
violently but fearlessly.  He exhorts the subject people, ‘as soon as one can hold up your head
and say that nothing has power to hurt you, the roots of violence will be cut … nothing can
hurt your real man hood, for that is a flame of fire. The animal, that is flesh, feels the blow
and whines. But you stand there gaping – don’t you understand?’  A disciple answers, ‘we
understand you, but your words we don’t understand.’ Dhananjaya replies, ‘Then you are
done for.’ Both the personality and the words of Dhananjaya are a remarkable anticipation of
the shape that the struggle for Indian Independence was to assume later under the leadership
of Mahatma Gandhi. In the earlier play Dhananjaya even leads the people in a sort of no-rent
campaign.   Perhaps no other play of Rabindranath expresses his political convictions with
such directness and force. Technically too the drama is not overburdened with any sub-plot or
extraneous incidents, which might break the continuity of the main theme. Incidentally the
Greek classical unites of time and place are fully observed.
The drama is packed with meaning and rich in suggestions, which may tempt critics
into a variety of interpretations. But he has gently warned his readers against missing the
main significance of the play, which is psychological and lies in the growing identity that is
achieved in the Prince’s mind between his own spirit and the current of Mukta-dhara. The last
desperate act of self-sacrifice, the awful nature of the consummation sought and achieved by
the Prince, which brings the play to its close, leaves one with a sense of the tragic splendour
of man's spirit, silencing all contentions for the moment. What happens to the people of
Shiva-tarai, we have forgotten to inquire. There is no doubt the Mukta-dhara is one of the
most moving and well-knit of the author’s dramas. Mr Edward Thompson has called it ‘the
best of his prose dramas’. Without endorsing so categorical a judgement, it is well quoting
the English critic’s excellent appreciation of the play.
It is a reasoned though highly allegorical presentation of his convictions, as expressed
during many previous years, on modern politics. It has many strands of significance woven
into it, so that it is like shot silk suggesting many colours; the play’s achievement is that in it
he has attained a synthesis of his different convictions and message. His deep distrust of all
government machinery and of all prostitution of science to serve violence and oppression. His
hatred of a slavish system of education, his scorn of race-hatred and of all politics, which
seek to make one tribe dependent on another instead of risking the gift of the fullest freedom.
His certitude that it is in freedom that God is found – all these are so prominent that each may
with justice be claimed as the play’s message.  Through all, as a tender undertone, runs the
murmur of the Free Current, a haunting sound in the soul of the boy whose foster-mother she
was, and whose lifeless body, after he has broken her fetters, her waves are to carry
majestically away. There are impressive passages, as where the Machine is seen, sinister
against the sunset, crouching over the land and its life, over topping even God’s temple; or
where the noise of the breaking dam and the raging waters is first heard. All through the play
sounds the menace of God’s gathering anger at the hardness of men’s hearts and the
sordidness of their hopes. Finest of all is the constant quiet drift of folk along the roads, the
procession of life. It is the greatest of his symbolical plays.  
The Lion and the Jewel - Wole Soyinka
  The play is set in the village of Ilunjinle, Nigeria. Sidi, a beautiful young woman also
known as “The Jewel," carries her pail of water past the school where Lakunle, the
schoolteacher and a village outsider with modern ideas, works. He approaches her and
chastises her for carrying her water on her head and stunting her shoulders; she is unfazed.
Lakunle loves Sidi and wants to marry her, but he refuses to pay her bride-price because he
considers it an archaic tradition. Sidi does not love Lakunle; she finds him and his ideas about
making her a modern, Western bride obnoxious. However, she plans to marry him if he can
pay the price as the village traditions necessitate.
While Sidi and Lakunle are talking, several young women run up to Sidi and tell her
that the stranger—a photographer who visited the village some time ago—is back, and that he
brought with him the magazine that contained within it pictures of the village and villagers.
Sidi occupies a central space and is stunningly beautiful. Lakunle is dismayed to hear this,
but Sidi glows with pride.
Sidi suggests the villagers act out and dance to the story of the stranger. She pushes
Lakunle to participate and act as the stranger, and the performance commences. The
drummers and singers and actors play out the arrival of the stranger and his camera. Lakunle
gets into the spirit of the performance. As it goes on, the Bale (i.e. head) of the village,
Baroka—a.k.a. “the Lion"—arrives. He plays the role of the chief. Later that day he stares at
the pictures of Sidi and muses that he has not taken a wife for some time.
 Sadiku, Baroka’s senior wife and head of the harem, finds Sidi and tells her that
Baroka wants to take her for a wife. She paints this as an incredible honor, but Sidi laughs
that Baroka is old. She glories in her photographs and says Baroka only wants her because
she is so famous and has brought so much honor to the village. Lakunle, who is jealously
listening, excoriates Baroka as being against progress and modernity. Sadiku returns to
Baroka and gives him Sidi’s reply. He is calm at first but becomes distressed when she tells
him Sidi said he is old. He bemoans the fact that he is no longer virile, and tries to take
comfort in the elderly Sadiku’s gentle touch.
Sidi is standing and admiring her photos near the schoolhouse when Sadiku, cackling
to herself and carrying a bundle, arrives. Inside the bundle is a carved figure of the Bale.
Sadiku looks at it and bursts into laughter, exulting in how she and the women have undone
him. Sidi is confused, and Sadiku whispers to her about the Bale’s impotence.
Lakunle sees them talking and tries to learn what they are saying, but both women tell
him to leave them alone. Sidi announces she has a plan, and tells Sadiku that it would be
wonderful if she could go to dinner with the Bale and see him thwarted. Sadiku gleefully
agrees, and Sidi bounds off. After she leaves, Sadiku and Lakunle argue, with Lakunle telling
Sadiku that his plans of modernity are what is best for the village.
The scene shifts to the Bale’s bedroom, where he is engaged in wrestling with a man
hired for the purpose of making him stronger. Sidi enters confidently, but the Bale’s
dismissive attitude confuses her. She pretends to ask his counsel on a man who wanted to
marry her, describing the Bale instead.
As the Bale continues to wrestle, he criticizes Sidi for listening to Sadiku and being
one of the vexing young women of the village. He asks her if Sadiku invented any stories,
and she says no. He pretends to complain about Sadiku’s constant matchmaking. He does
admire Sidi, though, for seeming much deeper and more mature than how he once saw her.
Baroka confides in her his plan for a stamp machine that will have images of Ilunjinle on it,
as well as of Sidi herself. He ruminates more to himself that he does not hate progress but
only bland similarity. He admits he and the schoolteacher are not so different, and that they
must work together.
The drums begin, and female dancers pursue a male. Sadiku and Lakunle wait for Sidi
to return. Lakunle is very nervous, and claims he will go rescue Sidi. The mummers play in
the distance, and Sadiku joyfully assumes the Bale has been brought down. She also tells
Lakunle he must pay the mummers for a performance or it would be rude. She grabs money
from his pocket and pays them; they dance out the story of Baroka and his downfall. Sadiku
herself is invited to help “kill” the Bale.
Suddenly Sidi runs in, sobbing. She throws herself to the ground. Lakunle is horrified
and asks if she was beaten. Sidi sobs that Sadiku was fooled: the Lion tricked her and was not
impotent at all, so he raped Sidi and took her virginity. Lakunle announces he will still marry
Sidi. She is perplexed and asks if this is true. He assents. However, almost immediately when
marriage preparations start, Lakunle becomes visibly distressed. He claims to need more
time.
Sidi laughs and says she is actually getting ready to marry Baroka, because it is the
only thing she can do. Sadiku blesses her and asks the gods for fertility.
The festivities begin, and even Lakunle seems to be getting into the spirit of things when he
chases a young woman who shakes her butt at him.
The Year of the Flood - Margaret Atwood
The Year of the Flood (2009) is a speculative fiction novel by Margaret Atwood, an
award-winning novelist, poet, literary critic, and environmental activist from Canada.
Published after Oryx and Crake (2003), The Year of the Flood is the second book of
the MaddAddam trilogy, followed by MaddAddam (2013). Exploring themes like human
influence on the environment and the physical abuse and sexual objectification of
women, The Year of the Flood brought Atwood great acclaim, particularly for her
examination of the relationship between humans and the environment.
The novel tells the story of Toby and Ren, two survivors of a devastating human-
made plague, the long-feared Waterless Flood that obliterated most human life. As the
novel’s main third-person narrators, they recount their present circumstances as well as their
pasts. This fractured narrative foregrounds the reasons for the pandemic alongside the trials
of those who survive the deadly virus. Ren, a young trapeze dancer, survives the pandemic by
being locked in the Sticky Zone, a quarantine room in a high-end sex club called Scales and
Tails. Toby isolates herself from the virus inside a luxurious spa called AnooYoo.
The novel begins just after the massive pandemic and then retrospectively describes
the corrupt world that laid the foundation for it. Yet while the events of the first novel take
place in the Compounds and its narrative centers on the elite scientific community, The Year
of the Flood is set in poor neighborhoods called pleeblands, where violence and abuse are
omnipresent. This is where Toby and Ren live, as they are both members of a religious group
called the God’s Gardeners. The founder of the group, Adam One, is a charismatic leader
who strongly supports the practice of nonviolent, ecologically oriented resistance to the cruel
corporations causing environmental destruction. Each part opens with a sermon from Adam
One that sheds light on the Gardeners’ religious doctrine and is followed by alternating
stories from Toby and Ren’s lives.
When the novel opens, Toby is struggling to survive in the wake of the pandemic that
destroyed almost all humanity. Isolated in the AnooYoo Spa, she tries to sustain herself by
keeping a garden, but her efforts are jeopardized by pigoons, a breed of genetically modified
pigs that have human brain tissue. At the same time, Ren is waiting for someone to open the
Sticky Zone room she is in from the outside, and she passes time by reminiscing about her
former life.
Heat - Mike Lupica 
Heat is a young adult novel written by Mike Lupica and published in 2006. Focusing
on the Little League baseball culture of New York City, the novel follows Michael Arroyo, a
pitching phenom and Cuban immigrant, as he pursues a trip to the Little League World
Series.
Michael and his brother, Carlos, recently lost their Papi from a heart attack. They
keep his death a secret out of fear that government officials will separate them. An elderly
woman in their apartment building, Mrs. Cora, acts as their adopted grandmother, watching
over them as Carlos works multiple jobs to provide for the family. Still, the boys fear that
authorities will discover them before Carlos turns 18 and can serve as Michael’s guardian.
Everyone in Michael’s neighborhood in the Bronx loves the Yankees. Everyone seems to live
for baseball. And Michael, star pitcher of the Little League Clippers, is no different. But
when an opponent, Justin, on the Westchester South team conspires with his father to bring
Michael down, he begins to worry that his secrets will haunt him.
Justin and his father gather other Little League coaches to insist that Michael show his
birth certificate and prove that he, a pitcher who can throw 80 miles per hour, is really 12
years old. Michael’s coach, Mr. Minaya, protects Michael and reminds him that these adult
men are “grown-ups who act like children” (98). But this doesn’t change the anxiety Michael
feels as Mr. Gibbs, an official, and others begin to demand his father’s presence. Although
Michael tells everyone that his father is tending to his sick brother in Florida, he knows that
this secret will not last.
On top of Mr. Gibbs’ pressure, other officials begin to pressure Michael about his
father’s whereabouts. Mr. Amorosa, from the Bronx city hall, wants to award Michael for his
role in stopping a robbery in the city. But Michael is afraid that attending the ceremony
without his father will only draw more suspicion.
 Together with his best friend, Manny, Michael creates a plan: Manny’s uncle poses as
his father, to bring Mr. Gibbs off his tail, and Mrs. Cora accompanies him to Mr. Amorosa’s
office as his replacement grandmother. Even with these problems solved, Michael is still
upset. First, he still cannot play baseball, barred for lack of birth certificate. And second, the
first girl to whom he’s been attracted, Ellie, is mad at him, after he immaturely confronts her
for keeping the secret that she is the daughter of his hero, El Grande, star pitcher of the New
York Yankees.
As the Clippers approach the finals, Michael maturely takes on the position of third
base coach. One day, when they play Justin’s team again, a crowd interrupts the game, led by
Ellie and El Grande. They come bearing Michael’s birth certificate. Michael and Ellie are
able to make amends, and Michael takes the field again. The Clippers come from behind to
win, earning a spot in the New York City playoffs, played at Yankee Stadium.
All of the figures who support Michael are present at Yankee Stadium when he starts the
championship game. Not only that, but Michael also recognizes his absent father’s “ghost”
(220) with him, guiding him to throw some heat on the field of his dreams.
While both women are isolated and unaware of whether anyone else except them
survived, readers learn more about their prepandemic lives. After her mother dies from a
mysterious disease and her father commits suicide, Toby becomes orphaned and homeless.
Desperate for a job, she begins to work at a mob-run restaurant chain called SecretBurger.
There, she is repeatedly sexually and physically abused by her boss, Blanco. With nowhere to
go, Toby suffers his abuses until a group of God’s Gardeners come to the restaurant
and persuade Toby to leave with them. Although Toby is skeptical about the group and their
teaching, she agrees to join their ranks to escape from her abuser. With time, she learns many
survival skills from the Gardeners and not only becomes a respected member of the group but
also earns the rank of Eve Six.
Two years after Toby joins the group, Ren becomes one of the Gardeners as well.
Ren’s mother is dating Zeb, one of the group leaders. Since Ren is only a child when she is
first brought to the Edencliff Rooftop Garden, the group’s main gathering place, she is
indifferent to their beliefs and instead envies the children from the streets. She soon befriends
Amanda, a girl she meets at a mall, and brings her to live with the Gardeners. They form a
deep friendship but are soon separated, as after a fight with Zeb, Ren’s mother leaves the
Gardeners and takes Ren with her to one of the corporate Compounds, hoping to reunite with
her husband. There, Ren meets Jimmy, the main character of Oryx and Crake. She falls in
love with him, but their relationship ends abruptly, and she is left broken-hearted. Ren’s
mother manages to secure a spot for her at Martha Graham Academy, where Ren studies
choreography. But after some time, her mother informs Ren that she won’t pay for Ren’s
studies anymore, and Ren is forced to drop out of college to look for a job.
In the meantime, Toby’s peaceful life among the Gardeners is interrupted by Blanco, who
seeks revenge on her for escaping from him. To protect her, the Gardeners decide to give her
a new identity and send her to a clinic, where specialists change her skin tone, hair, eye shape
and color, and voice. The Gardeners help Toby get a job as a manager at AnooYoo Spa.
When Toby goes to a job fair at Martha Graham Academy, she runs into Ren, and although
Ren doesn’t recognize Toby because of all the alterations made to her, she accepts Toby’s
offer of work at the spa. After working with Toby for almost a year, Ren yearns to be more
independent and starts working as a trapeze dancer at a strip club called Scales and Tails,
while Toby remains at the spa and begins stashing away food in preparation for the Waterless
Flood.
After some time, Zeb visits Toby and tells her that he has become a leader of a new
group called MaddAddam, and many of the Gardeners have joined it. Among them is Crake
—a man Toby once knew as Glenn—the man who created the deadly virus and kickstarted
the plague.
Some Gardeners survive the pandemic, and Amanda rescues Ren, but the two women
are abducted by three former prisoners, one of whom is Blanco. When they try to get to the
AnooYoo Spa, Toby shoots one of the prisoners, and Ren runs away, but the other two take
Amanda and flee. After Ren and Toby are reunited, in their search for food they run into the
surviving members of MaddAddam, but they soon leave the group to look for Amanda.
After some time, they find not only Amanda and her two abductors but also Jimmy. After
Ren, Toby, and Jimmy incapacitate the two men and free Amanda, they ponder their next
move, but their considerations are interrupted by an approaching group of people. They are
the Crakers, a new, genetically engineered species of humans developed by Crake. This
ending echoes the ending of Oryx and Crake and lays the foundation for the third and final
novel of the series, MaddAddam.