Essay About Krishnans Journey And Unforeseen-Event

The British School of Philosophy. http://journals.nytimes.com/2011/11/11/nyregion/the-british-school-of-philosophy/ The English Teacher has been described as a highly regarded, highly personal work of the literary scholar, which is widely regarded as one of the finest books of the Indian literature. According to A.P. Bhardwaj’s books, The English Teacher was authored to the end of life by Indian artist and composer (as well as his son from the India-Bangladesh border) Rajar Raja; Bhardwaj wrote several more books including The Life and Work of Raja Raja. According to A.P. Bhardwaj, The English Teacher was published by Penguin Classics in December 2001 [3].

An Indian author says it’s the most important book of the series of India’s first non-fiction books ever written in English and the book is called the ‘The English Teacher’. “It is a true testament of the strength of the Indian mind that English had such a large and influential literary influence…I think that the language of The English Teacher was developed in India by a group of Indian intellectuals from the late 19th and early 20th century that were influenced by it,” says A.P. Bhardwaj. The book is known by a large number of authors, including the author, Ananth K. Chhabra, a leading figure in Indian literature. Chhabra was the author behind some of the most popular English teaching books including The English Teacher, The History of Literacy, The History of the English Language, and A History of Literacy, which contains many of the key events described therein. Chhabra’s biography is also featured in the book. Chhabra’s book was the largest English-language school in India in 1948. At the start of the novel, Chhabra, in a typical ‘sincerity of tone’, is an English teacher in the same school where he is teaching English at a high school. The teacher, who is known as Krishnans, finds his life and career ending in a murder case. An emotional and intellectual journey ensues during this journey, culminating in a deep struggle between the very real values (the life of self) and the idealistic demands (a life of luxury or a career, life of education or marriage). Chhabra’s personal journey culminates in a tragic death which is followed by a series of heart-wrenching and deeply personal moments in his life. The story and themes are narrated in the following books: The English Teacher, the B.A., an art history master from Delhi, The Adventures of R.M. Singh and R.K. Narayans

Krishnans change comes about not as a result of any grand plan or ambition, but as a result of his response to a series of challenging circumstances which arise once he begins to take steps away from the cloistered and protective environment of his school.

This day-by-day, unforeseen-event by unforeseen-event progress is reflected in Narayans approach to the novel itself. Narayan gives the impression that he has no pre-planned plot in mind when the story opens, but instead focuses on a meticulously detailed depiction of Krishnans experiences, keeping to the observable surface reality of his perceptions, thoughts, and feelings, without digression or analysis or interpretation. This rigorous unadorned focus on observable phenomena results in some stunningly beautiful writing.

But although Krishnans journey takes place as a result of a series of unpredictable events, a number of recurring themes does seem to be being worked out in the course of the novel. These themes might be said to be Krishnans progress from predictability to unpredictability, from the academic world to the real world of life and death, from adulthood to childhood, and from a western mentality to an eastern mentality.

From predictability to unpredictabilityKrishnan repeatedly finds himself being drawn out of situations which ought to have been predictable and ordered by events which are spontaneous and unpredictable, and it is clear that he finds spontaneity and unpredictability to be stimulating and life-enhancing, while predictability and order, although providing a cushion of comfort and security, is ultimately stifling and deadening

Krishnan is roused from his predictable and ordered life at his school, where he had come to feel he lived like a cow, and had a continuous sense of something missing [Ch 1. p. 295], and where a pupil spelling honour without the u is seen as a catastrophe by his colleagues, by the unexpected news that his wife and child, both of whom are to be sources of spontaneity and unpredictability throughout the novel, are coming to join him, and that he will need to move out of his lodgings at the school and find a house for them. This marks the first step of what becomes a journey out of the cloistered world of the school and into the real world of ordinary people leading ordinary lives.

Susila, his wife, brings unpredictability into his life at every turn. For example when they go to look at a house she wants to make a long diversion to walk by the river and bathe her feet, where the rational orderly Krishnan would have naturally taken the most direct route, and it is clear that he finds her unpredictable behaviour a source of delight and inspiration.

Krishnan does not adjust to this new influence without a struggle, however, as is seen in the episode where she gets rid of the predictably-unpredictable alarm clock he had kept on his desk for years. This clock, which was liable to set off its alarm at arbitrary times of day and night, seems to symbolise his old attitude to predictability versus spontaneity. He held onto the clock for years, as if its unpredictable behaviour were precious to him, and yet he stifled it with a literary tome whenever it sounded its alarm. He seems to have cherished it for its unpredictability, even though that unpredictability was inappropriate and ineffective, without quite realising why, and when his wife gets rid of it behind his back it comes as a great shock to him and causes a row which drags on for several days before he can accept her act with equanimity.

This jarring episode seems to mark his transition from a world dominated by predictability to a world dominated by unpredictability, and from that point on he has to start actually living day