Postcard from Kashmir

Agha Shahid Ali

The poem is a lesson prescribed for the first-degree students of certain universities.  

The present plan is for the teachers for three hours of face-to-face teaching in the classroom and another two hours for students’ home tasks, within a week’s duration.

Learners of the poem may also find this teaching-plan as a self-instructional material.

Following is the text of the poem; 

Postcard from Kashmir

by Agha Shahid Ali

Kashmir shrinks into my mailbox,
my home a neat four by six inches.

I always loved neatness. Now I hold
the half-inch Himalayas in my hand.

This is home. And this the closest
I'll ever be to home. When I return,
the colours won't be so brilliant,
the Jhelum's waters so clean,
so ultramarine. My love
so overexposed.

And my memory will be a little
out of focus, in it
a giant negative, black
and white, still undeveloped.

Courtesy to: https://www.poetrynook.com/poem/postcard-kashmir

The poem is to be taught with the following objectives;

a)  The students read to comprehend the events and environment described in the poem.

b)    The students make an attempt to analyze the poem to find out the moral/message.

c)      They discuss the social and political issues related to the theme of the poem.

d)     They make an attempt to find out the symbols used and the relevance of the poem in the modern time

Materials required:  Computer, the landscape of hills and valley, LCD projector, screen and map of India-Pakistan.

Day 1 (one hour)

Though Kashmir is thousands of kilometres away, the picture of Kashmir is live in your mind.

You have seen the photos of hills, valleys, lakes and gardens in Kashmir.

How beautiful they are.

Jawaharlal Nehru has told about Kashmir, ‘if there is a heaven on earth, it is this, it is this, it is this.’

Can you draw the beauty of Kashmir on a sheet of paper?

            They try to draw the scenery.

            Let them describe the beauty of Kashmir in a paragraph.

After writing the paragraph they exchange the notebook with others in the class and read the paragraph.

Two or three present the paragraph in the whole class.  (25 mts)

Suppose, Kashmir is your birthplace.

But for a longer time, you are away from Kashmir.

Due to some problems, you are not in a position to go back to Kashmir.

As a person living in a land of exile, you feel nostalgic about Kashmir.

You are disappointed about your homeland.

Can you describe those thoughts of hopelessness, dissatisfaction and conflict about Kashmir?

Write two or three stanzas to formulate a poem.

            They try to write some stanzas.

            They exchange the notebook to read the creations of others.

If they read the creations, they write two or three comments about the stanzas.                                                                      (25 mts)

(Showing the poem on the screen) Look, here is a poem with the same feeling.

Kashmir shrinks into my mailbox, my home a neat four by six inches. I always loved neatness. Now I hold the half-inch Himalayas in my hand. This is home. And this the closest I'll ever be to home. When I return, the colours won't be so brilliant, the Jhelum's waters so clean, so ultramarine. My love so overexposed. And my memory will be a little out of focus, in it a giant negative, black and white, still undeveloped.

Read the poem.

Please note/underline the new words, if any.

You may get the definition of the words from the glossary or dictionary.

Try to write the summary of the poem, as you understand.  (10 mts)

If you want more time to write the summary, do it as a homework.

Day 2 (one hour)

All of you get ready with the homework of writing the summary.

Two or three present the summary of the poem in the whole class.

            Teacher comments on the presentation of the summary.

Read the poem once again, is there anything that you require definition.

Sometimes, a word may be familiar to you.

But it may be used to show a different meaning in the poem.

For example, the word ‘overexposed’

What is the meaning of the word ‘overexposed’?

Yes, that is a word generally heard about photography.

Means, too much light with the photograph.

Here, in the poem, it means the overwhelming love for Kashmir.

            (If there is a need for any other explanation, the teacher gives it)   (10 mts)

The poem uses a number of terms related to photography.

Read the poem from the beginning to the end.

Write a list of such terms, terms related to photography.

            Let them write a list of terms.

            They present the list.

            Teacher presents her list.

These are the terms I could find;

closest colour overexposed out of focus negative black and white undeveloped

Are the terms appropriate to the context?

Why does the poet use these terms selectively?   

Yes, these are expressions of the poet to reveal the details about the picture in his mind about Kashmir.                                               (20 mts)

Likewise, what are the expressions used here to share the nostalgic feeling?

Let them find out certain expressions and present them in the whole class.

Which lines show the beauty of Kashmir?

            After their attempt to present the lines, the teacher presents her answer.

1.  The sentence ‘When I return the colours…’

2.  The line ‘the Jhelum waters…’

Above are the lines that denote the beauty of Kashmir.

Yet another assessment about the poem is that it belongs to the diaspora literature.

Diaspora, what does it mean.

Diaspora means, anything related to the people who are scattered and exiled from the homeland.

This poem is a piece of literature of someone who is in exile, means the author himself.

Agha Shahit Ali is the author.

Read the paragraph about the author in your textbook.

            They read the paragraph about the author’s life and contributions. (15 mts)

I repeat the question ‘How does this poem become a piece of diaspora literature?’

Agha Shahid Ali was born in Kashmir, but left to the US.

From 1976 he was in the US till his death in 2001 in Massachusetts.

Shahid Ali had his roots in Kashmir.

Though he became an American writer, how far he can forget his birthplace and the social and political issues in his homeland?

The social and political issues in his homeland might have haunted him.

This is how the poem belongs to the genre of diaspora literature.

Michael Collier, an American poet told once;

            (Teacher shows the words of Michael Collier on the screen)

''As a Kashmiri, Ali is aware of the historical vicissitudes that breed violence and hatred in people who once lived together peacefully. His poems speak to the enduring qualities of love and friendship. With elegance and wit, they also speak to the difficulty of maintaining such relationships.''

Courtesy to: https://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/26/arts/agha-shahid-ali-52-a-poet-who-had-roots-in-kashmir.html

Yes, these words are about Ali’s love and friendship towards his homeland.

Ali is proud of being one, though he faces many difficulties in maintaining the relationship with his homeland.                

Yesterday you made an attempt to write the summary of the poem.

Please revise the summary on the light of today’s discussions.

            Teacher gives instructions to complete the homework.  (15 mts)

Day 3 (one hour)

         Two or three students present their homework.

(Pointing out the text of the poem) Look, the poem is very short.

It has certain messages to be conveyed to the readers.

Can you find out any message or moral of the poem?

            If they make an attempt to say the message, the teacher encourages them.

            Teacher asks them to explain the messages.                        (15 mts)

I also could find certain messages.

Teacher writes the following sentences on the board.

a)    One cannot forget her/his roots.

b)    Love towards one’s homeland haunts even in a happy life in exile.

c)     Political disputes among nations are alarming the citizens, wherever they are.                                                                                                        (10 mts)

There are some other issues related to the theme of the poem.

Have you ever thought of the mood of the writer, when he was writing this poem?

            Let the students try to answer the question.

He had a turbulent mind while he was writing the poem.

The poet had a push and pull in his mind.

What was the push and pull in his mind?

Yes, the push was to go back to see Kashmir or to re-join the beauty of the homeland.

The pull was the negative feeling about the social and political environment in Kashmir.

There is a scope for writing an essay on the conflict in the poet.

Teacher writes the topic of the essay on the board.

“Postcard from Kashmir brings before us the natural beauty of Kashmir on one hand and its grim reality on the other.”

We are planning to write a full-fledged essay on this topic.

Think about how we can write an essay in 300 words about the topic.

Suppose we are writing six paragraphs, each paragraph with a distinct sub-theme.

(Pointing out the blank table) We are planning the essay with the help of this table.

Paragraph No.	Central idea of the paragraph	Questions for self-thought to elicit the content of each paragraph
1.	Introduction of the essay	‘Homeland is something one becomes aware of only through its loss.’ What is the meaning of this quote of Gunter Grass? How is it applicable when we think about Shahid Ali’s poem?
2.	…………………………..	…………………………..
3.	…………………………..	…………………………..
4.	…………………………..	…………………………..
5.	…………………………..	…………………………..
6.	The conclusion of the essay	‘I say there is not more happiness for me than the freedom of my Homeland’ Islom Karimov If we end the essay with another quote like this, what is the meaning of the quote?

The students work individually and then sit in pairs to plan and write in the columns.

            After their presentation of the plan, the teacher can show her plan as follows;

Paragraph No.	Central idea of the paragraph	Questions for self-thought to elicit the content of each paragraph
1.	Introduction of the essay	‘Homeland is something one becomes aware of only through its loss.’ What is the meaning of the quote of Gunter Grass? How is it applicable when we think about Shahid Ali’s poem?
2.	The beauty of Kashmir	What beautiful scenes are generally seen in Kashmir? Can you compare the beauty of Kashmir with that of any other place? Why is it known as the paradise on earth? What are the things that enchant the poet?
3.	Social and political turbulence in Kashmir	What is the origin of political turbulence in Kashmir? Why does Kashmir continue to be an issue? What is the aftermath of the disputes for Kashmir?
4.	The push and pull in the mind of the poet	What is the reason for the pull? What is the reason for the push? What decision may the poet take?
5.	Dissatisfied and disappointed poet	How does the poet share his dissatisfaction in the poem? How does the poet share his disappointment? What are his expressions in the poem?
6.	The conclusion of the essay	‘I say there is not more happiness for me than the freedom of my Homeland’ Islom Karimov If we end the essay with another quote like this, what is the meaning of the quote?

(The questions are triggers to channelize the thoughts of the students to frame the content of each paragraph)

Sequence your explanation to formulate the essay.

Do it as an assignment.

The Dog of Tithwal

(Written by Sadaat Hassan Manto in Urdu, and translated into English by Khushwant Singh)

Photo courtesy: https://www.google.co.in/search?q=Sadaat+Hassan+Manto

This short story has been prescribed as a lesson for the degree students of certain universities.  

This plan is for three hours of face-to-face teaching in the classroom and another two hours for home tasks, within the one-week duration.

Following is the text of the story; 

Courtesy to: http://www.sikh-history.com/literature/stories/dog.html

The soldiers had been entrenched in their positions for several weeks, but there was little, if any, fighting, except for the dozen rounds they ritually exchanged every day. The weather was extremely pleasant. The air was heavy with the scent of wild flowers and nature seemed to be following its course, quite unmindful of the soldiers hiding behind rocks and camouflaged by mountain shrubbery. The birds sang as they always had and the flowers were in bloom. Bees buzzed about lazily. Only when a shot rang out, the birds got startled and took Right, as if a musician had struck a jarring note on his instrument. It was almost the end of September, neither hot nor cold. It seemed as if summer and winter had made their peace. In the blue skies, cotton clouds floated all day like barges on a lake. The soldiers seemed to be getting tired of this indecisive war where nothing much ever happened. Their positions were quite impregnable. The two hills on which they were placed faced each other and were about the same height, so no one side had an advantage. Down below in the valley, a stream zigzagged furiously on its stony bed like a snake. The air force was not involved in the combat and neither of the adversaries had heavy guns or mortars. At night, they would light huge fires and hear each other’s' voices echoing through the hills. The last round of tea had just been taken. The fire had gone cold. The sky was clear and there was a chill in the air and a sharp, though not unpleasant, smell of pine cones. Most of the soldiers were already asleep, except Jamadar Harnam Singh, who was on night watch. At two o'clock, he woke up Ganda Singh to take over. Then he lay down, but sleep was as far away from his eyes as the stars in the sky. He began to hum a Punjabi folk song: Buy me a pair of shoes, my lover A pair of shoes with stars on them Sell your buffalo, if you have to But buy me a pair of shoes With stars on them It made him feel good and a bit sentimental. He woke up the others one by one. Banta Singh, the youngest of the soldiers, who had a sweet voice, began to sing a lovelorn verse from Heer Ranjha, that timeless Punjabi epic of love and tragedy. A deep sadness fell over them. Even the grey hills seemed to have been affected by the melancholy of the song. This mood was shattered by the barking of a dog. Jamadar Harnam Singh said, 'Where has this son of a bitch materialized from?' The dog barked again. He sounded closer. There was a rustle in the bushes. Banta Singh got up to investigate and came back with an ordinary mongrel in tow. He was wagging his tail. 'I found him behind the bushes and he told me his name was Jhun Jhun,' Banta Singh announced. Everybody burst out laughing. The dog went to Harnam Singh who produced a cracker from his kitbag and threw it on the ground. The dog sniffed at it and was about to eat it, when Harnam Singh snatched it away. '. . . Wait, you could be a Pakistani dog.' They laughed. Banta Singh patted the animal and said to Harnam Singh, 'Jamadar sahib,JhunJhun is an Indian dog.' 'Prove your identity,' Harnam Singh ordered the dog, who began to wag his tail. 'This is no proof of identity. All dogs can wag their tails,' Harnam Singh said. 'He is only a poor refugee,' Banta Singh said, playing with his tail. Harnam Singh threw the dog a cracker which he caught in midair. 'Even dogs will now have to decide if they are Indian or Pakistani,' one of the soldiers observed. Harnam Singh produced another cracker from his kitbag. 'And all Pakistanis, including dogs, will be shot.' A soldier shouted, 'India Zindabad ! ' The dog, who was about to munch his cracker, stopped dead in his tracks, put his tail between his legs and looked scared. Harnam Singh laughed. 'Why are you afraid of your own country? Here, Jhun Jhun, have another cracker.' The morning broke very suddenly, as if someone had switched on a light in a dark room. It spread across the hills and valleys of Titwal, which is what the area was called. The war had been going on for months, but nobody could be quite sure who was winning it. Jamadar Harnam Singh surveyed the area with his binoculars. He could see smoke rising from the opposite hill, which meant that, like them, the enemy was busy preparing breakfast. Subedar Himmat Khan of the Pakistan army gave his huge moustache a twirl and began to study the map of the Titwal sector. Next to him sat his wireless operator who was trying to establish contact with the platoon commander to obtain instructions. A few feet away, the soldier Bashir sat on the ground, his back against a rock and his rifle in front of him. He was humming: Where did you spend the night, my love, my moon? Where did you spend the night? Enjoying himself, he began to sing more loudly, savouring the words. Suddenly, he heard Subedar Himmat Khan scream, 'Where did you spend the night?' But this was not addressed to Bashir. It was a dog he was shouting at. He had come to them from nowhere a few days ago, stayed in the camp quite happily and then suddenly disappeared last night. However, he had now returned like a bad coin. Bashir smiled and began to sing to the dog. 'Where did you spend the night, where did you spend the night?' But he only wagged his tail. Subedar Himmat Khan threw a pebble at him. 'All he can do is wag his tail, the idiot.' 'What has he got around his neck?' Bashir asked. One of the soldiers grabbed the dog and undid his makeshift rope collar. There was a small piece of cardboard tied to it. 'What does it say?' the soldier, who could not read, asked. Bashir stepped forward and with some difficulty was able to decipher the writing. 'It says JhunJhun.' Subedar Himmat Khan gave his famous moustache another mighty twirl and said, 'Perhaps it is a code. Does it say anything else, Bashirey?' 'Yes sir, it says it is an Indian dog.' 'What does that mean?' Subedar Himmat Khan asked. 'Perhaps it is a secret,' Bashir answered seriously. 'If there is a secret, it is in that word Jhun Jhun,' another soldier ventured in a wise guess. 'You may have something there,' Subedar Himmat Khan observed. Dutifully, Bashir read the whole thing again. 'JhunJhun. This is an Indian dog.' Subedar Himmat Khan picked up the wireless set and spoke to his platoon commander, providing him with a detailed account of the dog's sudden appearance in their position, his equally sudden disappearance the night before and his return that rnorning. 'What are you talking about?' the platoon commander asked. Subedar Himmat Khan studied the map again. Then he tore up a packet of cigarettes, cut a small piece from it and gave it to Bashir. 'Now write on it in Gurmukhi, the language of those Sikhs . . .' 'What should I write?' 'Well . . .' Bashir had an inspiration. 'Shun Shun, yes, that's right. We counter JhunJhun with Shun Shun.' 'Good,' Subedar Himmat Khan said approvingly. 'And add: This is a Pakistani dog.' Subedar Himmat Khan personally threaded the piece of paper through the dog's collar and said, 'Now go join your family.' He gave him something to eat and then said, 'Look here, my friend, no treachery. The punishment for treachery is death.' The dog kept eating his food and wagging his tail. Then Subedar Himmat Khan turned him round to face the Indian position and said, 'Go and take this message to the enemy, but come back. These are the orders of your commander.' The dog wagged his tail and moved down the winding hilly track that led into the valley dividing the two hills. Subedar Himmat Khan picked up his rifle and fired in the air. The Indians were a bit puzzled, as it was somewhat early in the day for that sort of thing. Jamadar Harnam Singh, who in any case was feeling bored, shouted, 'Let's give it to them.' The two sides exchanged fire for half an hour, which, of course, was a complete waste of time. Finally, Jamadar Harnam Singh ordered that enough was enough. He combed his long hair, looked at himself in the mirror and asked Banta Singh, 'Where has that dog Jhun Jhun gone?' 'Dogs can never digest butter, goes the famous saying,' Banta Singh observed philosophically. Suddenly, the soldier on lookout duty shouted, 'There he comes.' 'Who?' Jamadar Harnam Singh asked. 'What was his name?JhunJhun,' the soldier answered. 'What is he doing?' Harnam Singh asked. 'Just coming our way,' the soldier replied, peering through his binoculars. Subedar Harnam Singh snatched them from him. 'That's him all right and there's something round his neck. But, wait, that's the Pakistani hill he's coming from, the motherfucker.' He picked up his rifle, aimed and fired. The bullet hit some rocks close to where the dog was. He stopped. Subedar Himmat Khan heard the report and looked through his binoculars. The dog had turned round and was running back. 'The brave never run away from battle. Go forward and complete your mission,' he shouted at the dog. To scare him, he fired in his general direction. Harnam Singh fired at the same time. The bullet passed within inches of the dog, who leapt in the air, flapping his ears. Subedar Himmat Khan fired again, hitting some stones. It soon became a game between the two soldiers, with the dog running round in circles in a state of great terror. Both Himmat Khan and Harnam Singh were laughing boisterously. The dog began to run towards Harnam Singh, who abused him loudly and fired. The bullet caught him in the leg. He yelped, turned around and began to run towards Himmat Khan, only to meet more fire, which was only meant to scare him. 'Be a brave boy. If you are injured, don't let that stand between you and your duty. Go, go, go,' the Pakistani shouted. The dog turned. One of his legs was now quite useless. He began to drag himself towards Harnam Singh, who picked up his rifle, aimed carefully and shot him dead. Subedar Himmat Khan sighed, 'The poor bugger has been martyred.' Jamadar Himmat Singh ran his hand over the still-hot barrel of his rifle and muttered, 'He died a dog's death.'

Following are the objectives of teaching the lesson;

a)    The students read to comprehend the events, environment and characters of the story.

b)    The students make an attempt to analyze the story to find out the moral/message of the story.

c)     They try to answer the issues related to the craft of the story; conflicts and settings.

d)    They make an attempt to find out the symbols used and relevance of the story in modern times

Materials required:  Computer, LCD projector, screen and map of India-Pakistan.

Day 1 (one hour)

Shall we read a new story?

Before you read the story, I must say the setting of the story?

The setting of the story means the context and environment against which the story had been written.

There are three components for the setting of the present story;

a)    Time setting

b)    Location setting

c)     Environment setting                                                                          (10 mts)

This story happens at the backdrop of three inter-related events; Indian independence, Partition and   India-Pakistan war in 1948.

Partition of 1947 made incurable wounds among the hearts of the people in these two nations.      

The dispute between these two nations was developing day-by-day after the Independence.

The story happens in Tithwal, a place on India-Pakistan border in Kashmir.

As Tithwal is a place shared by both countries, there shall not be many populations there.

Most of the land would be vacant or barren except military posts on both sides.

Can you draw the outline map of India and Pakistan and locate Tithwal.

They make an attempt to draw India, Pakistan and mark Tithwal on the border.

Map courtesy: https://www.mapsofindia.com/states/

This is Tithwal (pointing out the outline map)                                                (20 mts)

Now, shall I describe the environment?

Imagine, on one side, a line of mountains on Pakistan side.

And, another line of mountains on the Indian side.

In between, there is a valley, plain land.

A road runs through the valley.

The mountains and the valley have natural vegetation.

On Indian side and Pakistan side, there are military outposts.

Draw the hills, plants, trees, road, military outposts…

            They take another sheet of paper to draw the environment.

This is Tithwal, with its all natural beauty (pointing out the picture drawn by any student)                                                                                                 (15 mts)

This is the place where the story happened.

Open your textbook to read the story.

There are certain events, first in Indian camp and after that in Pakistan camp.

If they have no print of the story, let them read the soft copy on the screen.

They try to read the story by themselves.

As you know the setting, you can read the story without many barriers.

Read it now.

When you complete reading, write the events of the story in a sequence.

Look, here is a model to write the events.

Indian camp ·       Harnam Singh is on night watch ·       At 2 o’clock Ganda Singh takes over charge ·       Banda Singh sings a lovelorn song ·       ……………………….. ·       ………………………… ·       ……………………….. Pakistan camp ·       ………………………..

Reading of the story is time-consuming, take your time.

Read and write the events of the story as a homework.         (15 mts)

Day 2 (one hour)

I have given you a homework.

That is, writing the events of the story in a sequence.

Two or three students present their sequence of events;

Others listen and compare with their own sequence of events.

If there is any difference in the sequence of events, they point out that.

I have also made an attempt to do the same thing.

            Teacher shows the list of events on the screen.

·       Harnam Singh is on night watch ·       At 2 o’clock Ganda Singh takes over charge ·       Banda Singh sings a lovelorn song ·  Hearing the song, the melancholic feeling comes to the mind of the soldiers ·       Barking of a dog is heard outside ·       Banta Singh goes out to search out ·       Banta Singh brings-in a dog ·       Banta Singh says the name of the dog is Jhun Jhun ·       Harnam Singh throws a cracker towards the dog ·       When the dog sniffs, Harnam snatches the cracker ·       The dog leaves out without making any harm ·  In Pak camp, Subedar Himmat examines others’ works ·       Bashir, hums two lines ‘where do you spend the night…’ ·       Himmat Khan sees the dog coming into the camp ·       Seeing the cardboard around the neck of the dog, they suspect the dog ·  Himmat takes wireless to talk with the superiors ·       Himmat says it is a Pakistani dog ·      Himmat orders Bashir to write the name of the dog as Shun Shun ·       The dog walks to India ·       The emotional Himmat shoots his rifle into the air ·       Seeing the shooting, India army fires back ·       Harnam notices the dog comes to Indian camp ·       Harnam shoots at the leg of the dog to make it useless ·       It was a warlike situation, bullets coming from both sides ·      Himmat comments ‘The poor bugger has been martyred’

Look, these are the events that I could find in the story.            (20 mts)

Shall we do one thing?

We are writing the character-sketch of certain characters in the story.

Write a list of the characters in the story.

a)    The dog

b)    ………..

c)     ……….

d)    ……….

e)    ………

Shall we write the sketch of the major two characters?

We make a plan for writing the character sketch.

1.    Characteristics	2.    Harnam Singh	3.    Himmat Khan
a)    Approximate age	……………	…………….
b)    Physical appearance	……………	……………..
c)     Position in the army	……………	……………..
d)    What are the actions described?	…………..	……………..
e)    Attitude towards the job	……………	……………..
f)      …………………..	……………	……………
g)    …………………..	……………	……………

Explaining the characteristics one by one, the teacher asks them to write some more characteristics.                                                          (25 mts)

By reading the story again, they fill-in the second and third columns.

This is a time-consuming activity.

Take your time, do it as a homework.

Do one more thing, write an essay comparing the above two characters.

While you compare, you may see similarities and differences.

Write the essay as a homework.                                                         (15 mts)

Day 3 (one hour)

Yesterday we made a plan to write the comparison of characters.

Take out the homework.

Exchange your notebook with any friend in class.

Read the essay of the friend, below that write your comments on the effectiveness of the comparison of the characters.

            They assess the homework, write comments and give back.      (10 mts)

You understand the events of the story and the characters.

Now we are analyzing certain issues in the story.

There is an opinion that the present story is a socio-political satire.

That is, there is witty language in the story to criticise the situation or people.

Through satire, the writer is laughing at the political or social system.

Can you find out any witty language used by the writer?

            They make an attempt to find out the witty language.

            They underline the sentences in the story that seems witty.

Can you explain what the satire with the sentence is?

Also, say the objective of the writer to use that witty language.

            They point out the witty language used in the story.               (10 mts)

I have noticed three places where there is witty language.

a)    While the soldiers in Pakistan camp try to read, the narrator expresses his doubt that a particular soldier is literate to read the name of the dog.

b)    At the end part of the story the narrator comments;

      ‘The poor bugger has been martyred’

c)     Yet another at the end is ‘He died a dog’s death’

Names given to the dog are witty; Jhun Jhun,  Shun Shun.

There is another assessment of the story.

That is, the story has several symbols from beginning to the end.

Have you noticed any symbol used by the writer at any point of the story?

            The students point out any symbol that they have noticed.

            If their attempt is a success or not, the teacher points one as a sample;

A dog is shuttling between Indian and Pakistani camps.

Is it really a dog or something else?

Yes, the dog is like the refugees or the people who are directly the victims of the war between two nations.

The dog is helpless, likewise the refugees.

This is a symbol.

Do you see any other symbol used in the story?                (15 mts)

Yet another analysis of the story is about its message or moral.

Do you find any message by the writer implicit in the story?

            Let them write a list of messages of the story.

            Two or three students present their views;

I have also noted certain messages of the writer.

a)    The misery of the refugees. They are like dogs chased by one side and rejected by another side. The writer is compassionate towards the life of refugees.

b)    In the political disputes and aggression, the ordinary, poor people are the victims. Their days are always with tears.

c)     Political rivalry or war between the nations do not solve any problems.

There may be other messages too.

Anyhow, the theme of the story is relevant even in 2018, across the continents.  

From that point of view, I feel we must congratulate the writer for writing a timely issue in his story.                                                                       

Don’t you like to know more about the writer?

Read about his contributions and objectives in his life.                  (25 mts)