Individual Identity and Quest for Survival: An Exploration of the Inner Psyche of the Existential Hero in Anita Desai’s Voices in the City

Literature is the finest manifestation of human experience, thinking patterns and social norms prevalent in the society. Literary fiction reflects the aspirations, passions and faith and so forth. Fiction which represents life in all its complexities is one of the most dominant forms of literary representation. In the Indian context, the paradigm shift that took place in literature focus on the profusely creative literary release on multifarious issues that directly linked with individual identity and consciousness. Voices in the City is a seminal work by Anita Desai. It stands unparalleled to other fictional works of her contemporaries as it manifests the existential quest and social conflict unraveling the psychosomatic miseries of the individual characters that permeates the entire novel. The novel echoes the mute voices of the characters who feel outlandish in the city of Calcutta. As a novelist of human concern, Desai exhibits a strong inclination towards the existentialist interpretation of the human predicament. Voices in the City documents the pitiable plight and failure of a typical Bengali youth, Nirode along with his sisters Monisha and Amla in the city of Calcutta. The novel mainly projects the spiritual cataclysm of a journalist Nirode, who is destined to reside in Calcutta in quest for finding truer meaning of life. The study attempts to explore the intense sufferings, disappointments and frustrations of the wrathful youth which arises out of the intense sensitivity of his intellectuality

Revisiting the Past: Nostalgic Experience in The Grandmother’s House by Kamala Das

English poetry written by Indian writers has gained a new momentum by manifesting a new quest of establishing national identity. Kamala Das who took the literary world by storm in the mid sixties emerged as one of the dominant voices in all the leading anthologies of Indo English poetry. My Grandmother’s House, a constituent poem of Kamala Das’ first publication, Summer in Calcutta presents an intriguing sense of nostalgia and uprootedness, It is a forcefully moving poem at war with nostalgia and anguish in sharp contrast with her childhood and her grown up stage. The poet desperately yearns for the return of those days at her ancestral house which was affectionately surprised by her grandmother. The image of the ancestral home stands as a symbol of strong support and pure love that the poet craves for in her loveless married life. Bereft of love in her later life at her husband’s house, Kamala Das yearns to visit the house which one’s was a place of symbolic retreat to a world of purity and happiness. The study attempts to present the nostalgia and the memories the poet ponder in the present about her childhood days

Foreign Linkage of Insurgent’s Groups in the North East India: A study on National Social Council of Nagaland and United Liberation Front of Assam

This study looks at the complex networks of foreign assistance, drug and weapon smuggling, and insurgency activity in Northeast India, especially in the states of Assam and Nagaland. It draws attention to the important role that outside parties, such as intelligence services and nearby nations, play in maintaining these illicit activities. Examined are China's ties to Pakistan and its role in backing rebel organizations in the area. Illustrative instances include the division within the Naga movement, smuggling routes, and the recent arm seizures in Bangladesh. To improve security and stability in Northeast India, addressing these issues calls for regional collaboration, intelligence sharing, and initiatives to stop the trafficking in illegal weapons and drugs

Usage Pattern of Institutional Repositories for Scholarly Communication by Academician in Maharashtra

This paper discuss the awareness and use of institutional repositories by the academicians of the selected institutions in Maharashtra based on the questionnaire response received from 584 academicians and it comprises a total response rate of 12.67% of the total population of 4611. Outcomes of the study show that majority of the users are from Arts and Humanities, Social Sciences and Pure Science discipline prefer to publish their research in open access journals and self-archive in institutional repositories. Also found that majority of the users prefer to use Journal articles,Research papers, Theses and Dissertation and conference proceedings and a considerable percentage of users with mean value 3.88 and standard deviation 1.953 were not self-archiving in IR due to lack of knowledge about the submission process . The study recommends promotion of self-archiving by conducting seminars, workshops, and tutorials for the academicians

A study of serum sodium and calcium status in both hemodialysed and conservatively treated chronic kidney disease patients attending a tertiary care hospital of Assam, India

Background: chronic kidney disease is a very commonly encountered health problem which if diagnosed and treated at a very early stage can increase the survivability and decrease the morbidity and mortality among these patients.Methods: The present study is a hospital based study in patients with CKD attending a tertiary care hospital in Assam, India. 71 CKD patients (31 conservatively treated and 40 hemodialysed) and 50 healthy controls were included in the study. Serum sodium and calcium was estimated in all 71 cases and 50 controls after taking written consent for being included in the study. The results were compared statistically with the controls and also between the conservatively treated and hemodialysed group.Results: Serum Na+ and calcium was significantly lower with p value 0.015 and <0.001 respectively in CKD groups as compared to the controls. Varied ranges of dyselectrolytemia were observed in the CKD group with occurrence of hyponatremia being more prevalent in CKD patients undergoing treatment with prevalence of 28.1%. Whereas prevalence of hypernatremia was found to be 12.6%. Between the conservatively treated and hemodialysed group, hyponatremia was found to be more prevalent in conservatively treated group with prevalence of 41.9%. Hypocalcemia was prominent invariably in both conservative and hemodialysed group. There was significant difference of Na+ values between CKD patients treated by hemodialysis and conservatively with p value 0.0103. Whereas no difference was observed for serum calcium between the two groups.Conclusions: In the present study, varied range of dysnatremia has been noticed in CKD patients that depend upon the mode of treatment. Early detection of dyselectrolytemia with frequent investigation and adjustment of composition of the dialysate and mode of treatment may decrease the morbidity and mortality in CKD patients

Antioxidant &antimicrobial efficacy of Ficus religiosa L. & Ficus benghalensis L. PLANT

Medicinal plants are used to cure variety of diseases for long years. The aim of the study was to identify such plants with antimicrobial and antioxidant efficiency for controlling some disease causing pathogens. The locally available plants like Ficus religiosa and Ficus bengalensis have the capability to cure diseases traditionally since long years, due to this reasons these two plants were selected for the study. Various methods are tried to standardize the extraction of antimicrobial activity. It was found that methanol extraction of two plants that is Ficus religiosa and Ficus benghalensis showed high antimicrobial activity than the aqueous extract against Klebsilla pneumonia species and Bacillus subtilis species. The plant extracts was used to study their photochemical compositions i.e. total phenols contents, flavonoids contents, terpenoids content and proteins contents. Most of the biologically active phytochemicals presents in the methanol extract. For invitro antioxidant activities including 1, 1 -Diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging and reducing power activity was performed. In DPPH activity ,when the decrease in absorbance at 517nm it increases the scavenging activity of the plants sample, then the plants sample colour is decolorized due to presence of antioxidant. For DPPH experiment ascorbic acid taken as the standard solution. The another antioxidant activity is reducing power, the result obtained that is all the sample have increased absorbance of reaction mixture and it was indicated the greater reducing power. The results obtained in this study clearly indicated that leaf and bark of Ficus religiosa and Ficus benghalensis have a significant role to use as a natural antioxidant. It experimentally reported by the various extract concentration from Ficus religiosa leaf have interesting antioxidative properties and symbolize a potential source of medicine for the treatment of inflammatory activity and wound healing properties. The results obtained that the antioxidant activity of these plant samples and could be utilized as potential source of natural antioxidant in the food or in pharmaceutical industries

Flow Analysis of Compound Channel with Non Homogenous Roughness

Generally the natural channel consists of a wider and rougher floodplain than the main channel. Therefore the flow velocity in floodplain subsection is slower than the velocity at its main section. Due to this difference in velocities between faster moving main channel flow and slower moving floodplain flow, a relative drag and pull is created which gives rise to momentum transfer mechanism, which is called “kinematics effect”. This effect is responsible for decreasing the overall rate of discharge for over bank flow in straight compound channel. Experiments are carried out to compute the velocity as well as boundary shear along the wetted perimeter of a straight compound channel to quantify the momentum transfer along the expected interfaces originating at the junction region between main channel and floodplain. The boundary shear stress distribution is not uniform over the wetted perimeter of uniformly or non-uniformly roughened channel section. Therefore, investigation which deals with the effect of differential roughness on the flow characteristics is essential. In the present work, experiments have been done in two differential roughness conditions of compound channel having width ratio of 2.923 to analyse the stream wise velocity at different points along the lateral direction, boundary shear stress on the wetted perimeter, prediction of flow parameters. The results have been found well validated with the results obtained from 3D numerical software ANSYS (Fluent)

Effect of Micron and Nano MgAL2O4 Spinel Addition on the Properties of Magnesia-Carbon Refractories

Magnesia- carbon (MgO-C) refractory bricks have been used in the slag line of ladles due to its superior slag penetration resistance and excellent thermal shock resistance at high temperatures. However, the life of this bricks has become limited on prolonged use due to its poor oxidation resistance as well as low strength at high temperatures. Thus, the physical and chemical properties of MgO-C refractories could be improved by the addition of suitable additives in micron or nano range. Magnesium aluminate (MgAl2O4) spinel has been recognized as one of the most effective refractory material due to its excellent wear and slag resistance. The particle size distribution of MgAl2O4 spinel is also important factor that influence both the physical and chemical properties of refractories. Hence, the present work deals with the improvement of the physical and chemical properties of MgO-C refractories with the addition of MgAl2O4 spinel in micron and nano range

Fabrication and Characterization of a Polymer Based Three Compartmental Scaffold for Fibrocartilage Regeneration

Tissue engineering applies the principles of biology and engineering to the development of viable substitutes that restore, maintain or improve the function of human tissues. It depends upon a temporary scaffold that is an architecture that functions to mechanically support the cells and regulate the functions of cells in a manner analogous to extracellular matrix of mammalian tissue. It also assist in 3D tissue formation or organogenesis. The scaffolds must have the capability to incorporate mammalian tissue and assist in their growth, migration and differentiation which will help in tissue regeneration. Due to its unique properties, it is used in implantation. The most common injuries include the damage of cartilages, tendons and ligaments. So globally musculoskeletal tissue engineering is given undue importance. During ligament injury the injured ligaments are not successfully replaced by ligament-alone grafts. Thus there is a need for the construction of a composite scaffold to allow stem cell to differentiate into fibrocartilage that bridges of Bone-Ligament interface. The current project has focused on the fabrication of a silk-based knitted scaffold for fibrocartilage regeneration. Bio-polymers such as silk solution and chitosan were used for surface modification of the knitted silk scaffold, to ensure differentiation of the MSCs into fibrocartilage lineages. Lyophilization process was used for coating of polymers over the knitted silk scaffold. Characterization of the polymer coated knitted silk scaffold was done using XRD, FE-SEM, EDX, FTIR. Water absorption capacity of the knitted silk scaffold was also studied. It was concluded that the multi-compartment silk based scaffold developed in house has the novelty for tissue engineering the bridge component between bone and ligament i.e. fibrocartilaginous enthesis

Intertemporal Substitution in Maternal Labor Supply: Evidence using State School Entrance Age Laws

Revise and Resubmit, Journal of Labor Economic