Knowledgeable Research A Multidisciplinary Journal
Knowledgeable Research (KR), (ISSN: 2583-6633) CODEN: KRABAU an International open-access peer-reviewed refereed monthly journal publishes quality-oriented articles and research papers on Education, Humanities, Social Sciences, Science, Tourism, Hospitality and Management, Linguistics, Information, and Communication Technology, Business, and others. Knowledgeable Research (KR) provides immediate open access to its content on the principle of making research freely accessible to scholars and academicians for a greater global exchange of knowledge. Frequency: Monthly
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The New Education Policy 2020 outlines life skills and their importance.
The rapid explosion of knowledge and technology in modern times has been accompanied by an equally urgent need for various skills—skills that empower individuals to solve problems, make decisions, maintain balance amidst challenging circumstances, and lead successful lives. The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, a pivotal document in the contemporary educational landscape, acknowledges the significance of life skills in the holistic development of students. The policy accords a prominent place to life skills such as communication, collaboration, teamwork, and resilience. Recognizing life skills as an integral component of 21st-century competencies, the NEP 2020 emphasizes integrating life skill practices into education to foster the all-round development of the child. The mandatory inclusion of life skills in the NEP 2020 underscores their importance. This article attempts to shed light on the concept of life skills and their significance.
National Education Policy 2020, 21st-century skills, life skills.
Ranjana Yadav and Prof. (Dr.) Rakesh Kumar Azad
Copyright (c) 2026 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
The Form of Documentary Film and the Incomplete Selves in Neeraj Bhasin’s My Friend Su (2001)
My Friend Su is a poetic documentary that explores the fluidity and complexity of sexual identity through Su’s personal experiences and conversations with director Neeraj. The film challenges rigid categories such as gay, homosexual, or transgender and highlights the psychological conflict produced by social expectations, patriarchy, and heteronormativity. Through everyday spaces, artistic imagery, music, pauses, and documentary realism, Su’s struggle for acceptance and self-understanding is portrayed with dignity. His artwork symbolizes a “queer utopia” beyond restrictive social norms, while the film empowers the marginalized queer gaze. Ultimately, the documentary advocates fluid identities, individual subjectivity, visibility, acceptance, and alternative ways of understanding sexuality and personho
Sexual Identity, Queer Identity, Heteronormativity, Gender Fluidity, Social Acceptance
When One Meets the Perfect Guru”: The Guru–Disciple Relationship in the Indian Bhakti Tradition
“Once one meets the Perfect Guru, one receives the primordial mantra; One understands the utterances of all saints and strengthens one’s faith in the mind.” These lines by the saint Dharanidas are not merely a general glorification of the Guru; rather, they point towards the profound structure of the Guru–disciple relationship in the Indian Bhakti tradition, in which encountering the Guru becomes an event of transformation of vision in the life of the seeker. The “Perfect Guru” is not merely the attainment of an external religious authority; rather, the Guru is a presence through whom the disciple moves beyond pre-constructed notions of selfhood, social identity, and the limitations of knowledge towards self-realization. The central argument of this article is that the Guru–disciple relationship in the Indian Bhakti tradition cannot be understood merely as an institution of transmission of knowledge, religious discipline, or traditional lineage. It is fundamentally a process of relational self-formation. The Guru does not merely tell the disciple what to know; rather, the Guru provides the vision of how to see. Therefore, the presence of the Guru in Bhakti does not destroy the disciple’s spiritual agency; instead, it helps create and strengthen it. Through a comparative study of the poetic experiences of Kabir, Sahjobai, Mirabai, Janabai, Bulleh Shah, Rumi–Shams, and Sant Dharanidas, this article argues that the Guru, within the sensibility of Indian Bhakti, functions as a bridge between love, surrender, self-discipline, inner insight, and the transcendence of the ego. The meaning of the Guru is not confined to any particular dress, caste, gender, institution, or social position. The guru-principle refers to that consciousness which enables a human being to move beyond the limitations of the individual “I” towards a broader human and spiritual realization of the self.
Guru–disciple relationship, Indian Bhakti tradition, guru-principle, Bhakti, self-realization, subjectivity, self-formation, spiritual agency, grace, Sant literature, women’s Bhakti, Sufi tradition.
Copyright (c) 2024 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Philosophy of Devotion in the Vachanas of Akka Mahadevi: Experience, Love, Renunciation, and Self-Merger
Akka Mahadevi has often been studied within the Indian bhakti tradition in the context of female identity, social resistance, or the medieval tradition of women saints. However, the more fundamental questions raised by her poetic voice extend beyond these frameworks: What is God? How can the Divine be known? How is the relationship between the devotee and Ultimate Reality constituted? And how does an individual move from limited self-awareness toward liberation? Associated with the twelfth-century Kannada vachana tradition, Akka Mahadevi’s devotional vision is fundamentally experiential, inward-looking, and transformative. In her vachanas, Channamallikarjuna appears simultaneously as the beloved, husband, Ultimate Reality, and all-pervading Absolute. In this way, her devotion creates a dynamic bridge between personal love and universal spirituality.¹ This article examines Akka Mahadevi’s devotional vision through four interconnected conceptual dimensions: (1) experience, self-realization, and the immanent Ultimate Reality; (2) the devotee–God relationship through love and longing; (3) renunciation, transcendence of the body, and inner worship; and (4) self-merger, the vision of the Self in all, and liberation. The theoretical framework of the study is based on Karen Pechilis’s concept of devotional subjectivity, according to which women’s devotional poetry should be understood not merely through their biographies or external social circumstances, but through the spiritual voice they construct and the authenticity of their religious experience.² A. K. Ramanujan’s Speaking of Siva and Vinaya Chaitanya’s Songs for Śiva serve as the principal textual sources for this study. The central argument of the article is that, for Akka, devotion is not synonymous with external religious ritual. Rather, devotion is a process that moves from experience to knowledge, from knowledge to love, from love to longing, from longing to renunciation, from renunciation to self-realization, and from self-realization to the dissolution of the individual self in the Ultimate Reality. In this process, the body is not rejected; rather, its claim to ultimacy is rejected. The world is not simply negated; instead, its limitations are recognized. Likewise, surrender does not signify the annihilation of the self but the quest to discover one’s true identity in the Ultimate Reality. In this sense, Akka Mahadevi emerges as a significant thinker-poet who integrates the experiential epistemology of the Indian knowledge tradition, the philosophy of devotion, and a profound philosophy of life.
Akka Mahadevi, Vachana, Virashaiva Tradition, Philosophy of Devotion, Devotional Subjectivity, Experience, Channamallikarjuna, Love, Longing, Renunciation, Self-Realization, Self-Merger, Liberation, Indian Bhakti Tradition
Janabai: Devotion, Labour, and Self-Realization: A Woman’s Poetics A Theoretical Re-reading of the Devotee–God Relationship, Women’s Experience, and Spiritual Autonomy in the Varkari Tradition
Janabai’s poetry in Maharashtra’s Varkari devotional tradition represents a unique intersection of women’s experience, domestic labour, vernacular language, and spiritual realization. Associated with thirteenth–fourteenth-century Maharashtra, much of the historical account of Janabai’s life has been constructed through the saint tradition, oral memory, and later compilations; therefore, while examining her life narrative and poetic personality, it is essential to distinguish between history, hagiographical narratives, and devotional memory.[1] In tradition, she is remembered as a maidservant in the household of Namdev; however, this very social position is transformed in her abhangas into a remarkably independent spiritual voice. Pandharipande has studied Janabai within the broader tradition of Indian women saints, focusing on her religious and social consciousness.[2] Deshmukh has identified the oral tradition of grinding songs associated with Janabai as a neglected area of devotional studies and has highlighted the centrality of absence, displacement, and women’s experience within them.[3] The central argument of the present article is that limiting Janabai merely to the category of a “woman saint” or, in the modern sense, a “feminist poet” would diminish the historical and spiritual complexity of her poetry. Her originality lies in transforming women’s everyday labour and domestic life into legitimate grounds for spiritual experience. Grinding grain, pounding, sweeping, and managing the household are not separate from devotion in her poetry; rather, they become processes of remembrance of the divine name, service, and self-realization.[4] Her Vithoba is sometimes a mother, father, or companion; at other times, a co-worker; and sometimes an intimate deity whom the devotee metaphorically “locks” within her own heart. Thus, in Janabai’s poetry, rigid distinctions between Saguna and Nirguna, action and devotion, body and soul, and the worldly and the spiritual appear to dissolve
Janabai, Varkari Bhakti, Vithoba, Abhanga, Women’s Experience, Labour, Remembrance of the Divine Name, Self-Realization, Devotee–God Relationship
Copyright (c) 2025 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Gangasati: Folk Language, Women’s Voice, and Spiritual Autonomy Women’s Experience, Right to Knowledge, and Self-Realization in the Gujarati Saint Tradition
Reading Indian Bhakti literature merely as an expression of religious emotionalism or surrender to God limits its epistemological, social, and cultural dimensions. The Bhakti tradition, on the one hand, connected spiritual experience with vernacular languages and folk cultures, while, on the other, established lived experience as a legitimate basis of religious knowledge. In this process, the presence of women saint-poets assumes particular significance, as they transformed women’s experience from merely being the subject matter of devotion into an active expression of spiritual knowledge. Gangasati, the saint-poetess of Saurashtra, represents an important link in this tradition. The tradition of the fifty-two bhajans associated with Gangasati brings together questions of devotion, the principle of the Guru, satsang (spiritual fellowship), mental stability, renunciation of ego, vachan (the word/utterance), ethical discipline, and self-realization. The distinctive feature of her poetry lies in its folk orientation. Rather than presenting philosophical concepts as a systematic scholastic framework, she expresses them through images drawn from everyday life, nature, and popular experience. Her poetry therefore presents a form of folk philosophy articulated in the vernacular. The central argument of this article is that Gangasati’s devotion should be understood not as an expression of emotional surrender, but as a process of self-discipline, ethical self-purification, and spiritual autonomy. Her teachings addressed to Panbai create a structure of knowledge transmission from one woman to another, in which a woman herself becomes a guru, a speaker of knowledge, and an authentic interpreter of spiritual experience. The relationship between ‘Meru’ and the ‘mind’ in her thought represents the tension between external instability and inner steadfastness, while vachan, the Guru, and satsang illuminate the process through which spiritual consciousness is cultivated. From this perspective, Gangasati’s poetry opens up possibilities for rethinking questions of women’s spirituality, folk knowledge, and women’s right to knowledge.
Gangasati, Panbai, Women’s Voice, Women’s Spirituality, Spiritual Autonomy, Vernacular Language, Bhakti, Guru Principle, Self-Realization, Folk Philosophy.
Scripting the Modern: The Materiality of Fort William College Translations and the Rise of Vernacular Print Culture in the early 19th Century
This research explores the pivotal role of Fort William College (est. 1800) in shaping the linguistic and cultural modernity of South Asia through the lens of materiality and print culture. By focusing on the college’s translation projects in the early 19th century, this study argues that the transition from a traditional manuscript culture to a mechanized print paradigm was not merely a change in medium, but a fundamental "scripting" of the modern vernacular. The college served as a colonial laboratory where the collaborative efforts of British Orientalists and Indian scholars (munshis and pundits) led to the systematic standardization of prose in languages such as Urdu, Hindi, and Bengali. The core of this inquiry examines the materiality of the translated text—the shift toward movable type, the formalization of typography, and the mass distribution of printed books. These physical attributes of the text provided a new sense of fixity and authority to the vernacular, facilitating its ascension over the previously dominant classical languages like Persian and Sanskrit. By analysing representative translations, the paper demonstrates how the requirements of colonial pedagogy and administration necessitated a "plain" prose style, which subsequently laid the foundation for modern literary expression in India. Furthermore, the study situates these developments within the broader context of early 19th-century print culture, viewing Fort William College as a precursor to the "print capitalism" that later fuelled nationalistic and social reform movements. Ultimately, the research concludes that the college’s translation legacy represents a critical juncture where colonial technology and indigenous linguistic traditions intersected to produce a durable, printed modern identity for the Indian vernaculars.
Fort William College, Materiality of Print, Vernacular Modernity, Translation Studies, Colonial Pedagogy, South Asian Literature, Movable Type.
Machines of Tomorrow: Exploring AI-Human Relationships in Contemporary Literature
The rapid development of artificial intelligence has transformed how we perceive technology’s role in shaping human life. Beyond its technical applications, AI has emerged as a profound subject in literature, raising critical questions about identity, morality, and the future of humanity. Fictional narratives often serve as a lens through which societies reflect on the ethical dilemmas and emotional complexities surrounding AI integration into everyday life. This paper examines the complex dynamics between artificial intelligence (AI) and humanity as depicted in contemporary literature. By focusing on Ian McEwan’s Machines Like Me, the study interrogates how AI challenges traditional notions of identity, ethics, and agency. It explores questions such as: Can AI possess consciousness? How does AI disrupt human relationships? What does AI mean for humanity’s future? The novel offers a rich examination of ethical dilemmas, human emotions, and the boundaries between human and machine, set against an alternate history of technological advancement. By analyzing AI’s capacity for consciousness, morality, and emotional engagement, the paper interrogates the societal and philosophical implications of AI’s integration into human lives and tries to explore how literature critiques and reimagines humanity’s future in an AI-dominated world. The analysis combines posthumanism and ethical philosophy to critically assess these representations, offering insights into the socio-political implications of a world increasingly defined by AI.
Artificial Intelligence, Ethics, Posthumanism. *Corresponding
From Guru to GPT: Reimagining the Mentor–Protégé Relationship in the Age of AI-Driven Digital Learning
The emergence of artificial intelligence in education has fundamentally altered the dynamics of the mentor–protégé relationship, one of the oldest and most formative bonds in human learning. This paper examines how AI-driven platforms such as intelligent tutoring systems and large language models simulate, and in some respects challenge, the functions traditionally performed by human mentors. Drawing on three theoretical frameworks—Human–Machine Interaction Theory, Paul Ricoeur’s Narrative Identity Theory, and the Mentor–Protégé Relational Framework—the study investigates how learner identity is reconstructed in the absence of a human guide and what ethical implications arise when algorithmic systems assume the mentor’s role. Analysis of learner experiences reveals four key patterns: initial resistance to AI mentorship followed by measurable intellectual growth; the development of stronger self-directed learning identities; the irreplaceable deficit of empathy, lived experience, and moral imagination in AI systems; and the superior outcomes produced by hybrid models that combine human mentorship with AI precision. The paper further explores the ethical dimensions of AI mentorship, including the commodification of the learner’s vulnerability, algorithmic bias rooted in Western-centric datasets, and the risks to learner data privacy. While AI holds genuine promise as an equalizer in global education extending quality guidance to learners in underserved communities this potential is contingent on inclusive design, cultural sensitivity, and strong ethical governance. The paper concludes that the human core of mentorship remains irreplaceable and advocates for a thoughtfully designed hybrid model as the most educationally sound and ethically responsible path forward.
Artificial intelligence, Mentorship, Learner identity, Narrative Identity, Hybrid learning model.
Kanishka.K. J. (Research Scholar) and Dr. M.John Suganya
Drawn to the Deep: Reading Theodore Finch’s Death Drive Through Freudian Psychoanalysis in All the Bright Places
Jennifer Niven’s All the Bright Places (2015) introduces Theodore Finch as one of contemporary YA fiction’s most psychologically complex characters, an adolescent who simultaneously seeks to live but also approaches death with unfailing commitment. Whereas scholarship on Niven’s novel has so far been predominantly concerned with the narrative’s treatment of mental illness and promoting greater awareness of YA suicidal ideation, this paper offers the first Freudian psychoanalytic reading of Finch’s psychological disintegration, contending that his narrative journey can be most productively interpreted within the structure of Sigmund Freud’s theory of Thanatos - the death drive. Based on Freud, the basic premise of the human psyche is the agential struggle, between its two unlike but interconnected drives: the life instinct of Eros, which is pulsating with love attraction union, and life, and Thanatos, which urges the mind on the road to self-destruction and dissolution. In Finch this paradoxical dialectic is rendered with striking literary force. From the early bells that symbolise Finch’s largely anticipated spiralling death, to his scenic withdrawal from open Indiana fields into his bed, his wardrobe, and ultimately the river, the novel’s architecture depicts a history of thanatosic dominance to which family, school and society turn a blind eye. This paper considers the significance of Finch’s fragmented self-aspect-two selves, asleep and awake-as a signifier of the mind’s failure to battle thanatos, and interprets his compulsive fascination with high places and water as its unthinking self-revelation. Using Freud’s Beyond the Pleasure Principle and Mourning and Melancholia, this paper argues that All the Bright Places is not just a novel about mental illness: it is an epic dramatising of the death drive that society cannot see.
Theodore Finch, Death Drive, Thanatos, Freudian Psychoanalysis, Young Adult Fiction, Ego Fragmentation.
Technology and Digital Humanities in Contemporary English Literature
The 21st century have seen a tremendous change in the relationship between humanities and science. Literature, language, culture, and technology do not work individually instead they shape the world. The rapid growth of digital humanities, technology, artificial intelligence, biotechnology, and global communication networks has influenced human beings in understanding identity and social behaviour. Within this changing landscape, cultural practices such as consumerism, addiction, escapism, and altered lifestyles have emerged as important subjects of literary and cultural studies. The study of English literature has been transformed due to the invasion of technology and digital humanities. Digital Humanities use technology such as computers, online archives, data analysis, and artificial intelligence and various other creative platforms to analyse the literary texts including the themes, literary devices in various innovative ways. Research scholars have a wide digital platform to access various materials, references, books, online resources related to their research. Technology has various e – books, audio notes, and research papers which is accessible to all the scholars around the world. In contemporary literary studies, digital tools encourage interdisciplinary research by connecting literature with culture, media, history, and technology. This research reflects the connection between the humanities and sciences through technology. The paper argues that technology and digital humanities plays a major role in wide spreading the benefits of literature across the world. Thus, Technology and Digital Humanities have expanded the scope of English literature, making literary studies more interactive, research-oriented, and globally connected.
Humanities, Wide Accessibility, Digital humanities, Modern Culture, Technology, Artificial Intelligence.
Ms. R. Rich Rachel and Dr. M John Suganya
“Circulating Emotions: Gendered Representation in Banu Mushtaq’s Heart Lamp”
This paper, titled “Circulating Emotions: Gendered Representation in Banu Mushtaq’s Heart Lamp,” examines the role of affect in constructing gendered identities in Heart Lamp through Sara Ahmed’s Feminist Affect Theory. It explores how emotions such as fear, shame, pain, and care circulate within domestic and social spaces, shaping women’s lived experiences under intersecting structures of patriarchy, caste, religion, and class. Drawing on Ahmed’s concept of “affective economies,” the study argues that emotions are not private states but social forces that organize relations of power and belonging. In the selected stories, affective regimes regulate women’s bodies and choices, often producing silence, endurance, and emotional labour as normative conditions of existence. However, the narratives also reveal moments where affect becomes disruptive, enabling subtle forms of resistance and redefinition of selfhood. The paper contends that Heart Lamp foregrounds gender not only as a social identity but also as an emotional and embodied experience shaped by circulating affects.
Affective economies, Gender representation, Sara Ahmed, Emotion, Feminist theory.
Ms A. Anupriya and Dr A.A Jayashree Prabhakaran
Reconstructing Women’s Voices: Gender, Identity, and Representation in Contemporary Partition Narratives
In this paper the research focuses on the process of recovery and reconstruction of the voices of women in contemporary narratives about Partition. Because of feminist historiography, postcolonial discourse, and theories of memory, the study is geared toward understanding how modern literary texts and other forms of cultural narrative expose patriarchy and the nationalist framework that has traditionally dominated mainstream Partition history narratives. The study seeks to explore how the displacements, abductions, and migrations suffered by women during Partition have been constructed as integral, not peripheral, to Partition history through an analysis of selected literary texts, memoirs, and testimonials. The results indicate that the narratives analyzed recover silences of the past but also recreate feminine subjectivities by means of personal memories, emotional traumas, and resistance. Additionally, the research finds out that the act of narration becomes a counter-historical practice that subverts nationalist history and highlights gendered violence and identity formation. Attention will be paid to the processes through which women's identity has been constructed and regulated by society during times of political instability and upheaval, especially concerning notions of honor, community, and silence. Finally, the research will show how contemporary narratives about Partition construct a new archive of memories based on women's agency and resistant voices. Lastly, this study will reveal how the current narrative about the Partition creates a new memory archive through the actions of women. It therefore contributes significantly to the field of feminist and postcolonial literature through its demonstration of the participation of women in shaping collective memories and identity formation in South Asia. This paper proposed a gendered re-reading of partition narratives enables a more understanding of trauma, citizenship, and historical representation in postcolonial societies.
Partition Literature, Gender, Representation, Feminist Historiography, Cultural Memory, Trauma Studies, Identity, Postcolonial Memory.
The Political Imagination in British and American Literature before the Second World War
This research paper examines the concept of "political imagination" in British and American literature during the years leading up to the Second World War. The term political imagination refers to the human ability to transcend current political reality and visualize a more just and fairer world. The article attempts to show how creative writing serves as a catalyst for social reform by making readers feel empathy for the oppressed. Literature acts like a "gymnasium" where the mind learns to fight for the principles of justice and equality. The body of the paper focuses on the works of five influential authors: Charles Dickens, John Ruskin, George Orwell, Henry David Thoreau, and Walt Whitman. In the British context, Charles Dickens’ Hard Times provides a sharp critique of industrial society and demands social justice for the poor. John Ruskin, in Unto This Last, argues for "ethical socialism" by famously stating that human life is more valuable than money. George Orwell’s pre-war writings, such as The Road to Wigan Pier, explore how "democratic socialism" can protect individual liberty from dictators. In American literature, Henry David Thoreau’s Civil Disobedience emphasizes that an individual's conscience is higher than any government law. Finally, Walt Whitman’s Democratic Vistas presents a radical vision of democracy that includes grassroots politics and equality for all people. The political imagination of these authors has helped the world understand the benefits of democracy, socialism, and liberty. Their literary visions successfully paved the way for these important principles to be adopted in modern real-world governance.
Political Imagination, Literature and Politics, Social Reform, Democracy, Socialism, Liberty, Equality, Social Justice, Secularism, Individual Conscience, Industrial Revolution, Utilitarianism.
Dwarka Beneath the Sea: Literature, Culture, History and the Discovery of an Ancient Submerged city
Dwarka is an important place in the literary heritage of India. It is said that Dwarka was the capital city where Lord Krishna had his kingdom, but when he left the city, the entire kingdom submerged under the Sea. Many ancient Indian literary works such as Mahabharata, Bhagavata Purana and Harivamsha mention the name Dwarka. These texts refer to Dwarka as a flourishing coastal city that was eventually submerged into the sea. The stories about Dwarka have been traditionally perceived as mythological tales passed down orally and written within religious literature. However, underwater excavations carried out on the coastal areas of Gujarat in the latter half of the twentieth century led to the resurgence of academic interest in the possibility that these myths might be rooted in reality. The present research focuses on the connection between literature, culture, history and archeology in the study of the submerged city of Dwarka. The research also discusses how these literary myths formed the cultural memory of Dwarka and contributed to religious rituals related to pilgrimages. In addition, it reviews some of the major findings made in underwater excavations around Dwarka, such as stone structures, anchors, walls and Artifacts. Such discoveries have sparked significant discussion among scholars in the field of history and archeology about the age and authenticity of the underwater ruins. This research is based on an interdisciplinary perspective which emphasizes the relationship between mythological stories and physical evidences in the reconstruction of ancient Indian civilization. In particular, the research claims that Dwarka is not only a mythical city but a representation of Indian culture and civilization as well. The discovery of underwater ruins around Dwarka signifies the potential of archaeological excavations to reinterpret Indian literature and understand its coastal and urban civilization.
Dwarka, Literature, History, Culture, Submerged, Underwater.
Classroom without Walls: German and Indian Cinema as Multicultural Pedagogical Tool Sub-Theme: Globalization and Cultural Transformation
Cinema is never just about the entertainment or fun. It is an interesting and unique way of looking at the world and getting connected with the people across cultures. Cinema reflects stories, values, emotions, cultures, traditions and transfers important things such as messages about social awareness, historical knowledge, empathy, moral lessons, creativity, religious or spiritual ideas, language and communication styles, environmental awareness. This paper explores how cinema acts as one of the powerful tools of teaching. By studying the pedagogical use of the cinema, this paper focuses, how cinema is helpful to the students to learn about the foreign languages and cultures. Indian movies, especially Bollywood movies have become popular in Germany namely Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge, Sitaare Zameen Par. Indian Cinema has marked its special place in the classrooms of German universities to teach the students about the Indian traditions and multicultural patterns, while the German movies have a different perspective in India. Some examples of German movies are All Quiet on the Western Front, Run Lola Run. They are valued for their sanity, creative style, realism and philosophical intensity. Screening of Indian and German films at film festivals, academic programs, universities and cultural centres have introduced students and spectators of both the countries to European and Indian culture. This paper proposes that, when the cinemas of both the languages are thoughtfully analysed as a tool of education, then they can become more than just an entertainment and can become a classroom without walls. Together, they can build a communication bridge, which will make Indo-German relations stronger and opens new avenues for foreign language learning and cultural exchange in this modern era of digital globalization.
Pedagogy, Entertainment, Teaching tool, Classroom without walls, Communication bridge.
Performing the “Low-Maintenance” Woman: Desire, Self-Effacement, and Feminine Respectability in Harnidh Kaur’s The Girls Are Not Fine
The Girls Are Not Fine: The Cost of Ambition, Careers and Becoming by Harnidh Kaur offers a contemporary feminist critique of the emotional, social, and cultural negotiations through which Indian women are conditioned to be agreeable, undemanding, and endlessly accommodating. This paper examines Kaur’s concept of the “low-maintenance” woman through her ThePrint extract, where the “chill girl” is presented as a refined performance of femininity rather than a personality. The woman who asks for little, avoids conflict, suppresses pain, and appears effortless is celebrated as mature, desirable, and respectable, while this performance conceals emotional deprivation, denial of desire, and loss of selfhood. Drawing on Judith Butler’s theory of gender performativity, the study analyses how repeated acts of adjustment, silence, emotional restraint, and self-sacrifice construct the “chill girl” identity. It argues that feminine respectability functions as a subtle form of social control, demanding women remain independent but not threatening, ambitious but not disruptive. Kaur’s non-fiction challenges these cultural scripts, exposing self-denial as a manufactured virtue and affirming women’s right to desire, demand, and live without remorse.
Gender Performativity, Low-Maintenance Femininity, Chill Girl, Feminine Respectability and Self-Effacement.
Laughing Through Pain: Meme Humor and Emotional Coping in The Perks of Being a Wallflower
This paper explores the connection among humor, trauma, and emotional coping among younger generations in the context of Stephen Chbosky's The Perks of Being a Wallflower. The study explains that humor is not just for amusement; it is a psychological coping mechanism that provides humans with a means to socially interact with emotional discomfort. Meme humour, irony, sarcasm and self-deprecation are all common tools of the trade for Generation Z in contemporary digital culture when it comes to topics of anxiety, depression, loneliness and trauma. In the way that Gen Z communicates online, there are emotional strategies that can be seen in literary narratives on the themes of adolescent alienation and psychological struggle. The purpose of this paper is to illustrate how Charlie's narration, social interactions, emotional control and humorous observations in this novel serve as a means of coping, emotional management and identity formation. The article also delves into the relationship between emotional coping as it is represented in the literature and today's meme culture, claiming that humour is now a shared language for vulnerability in digital society.
Gen Z, humor, trauma, emotional coping, meme culture, adolescent alienation, digital culture, psychological struggle.
Gender, Identity, and Self-Representation in the Stories and Autobiography of Kamala Das
This paper examines the themes of gender, identity, and self-representation in the autobiography, short stories, and selected poems of Kamala Das. As one of the most influential voices in Indian English literature, Kamala Das presents the emotional, psychological, and social realities of women living within patriarchal structures. Her writings expose the loneliness, oppression, emotional neglect, and identity crises experienced by women who are denied individuality, freedom, and self-expression. Through her autobiography My Story and other literary works, Das transforms personal experiences into a powerful critique of gender inequality and restrictive cultural expectations. The study explores how Das’s confessional style challenges traditional literary conventions by openly discussing female desire, emotional dissatisfaction, marital inequality, and the search for selfhood. Her fearless treatment of these themes questioned social taboos and redefined women’s writing in India. The paper also examines how childhood loneliness, emotional neglect, racial discrimination, and the absence of maternal affection shaped her evolving identity and literary voice A close reading of My Story, “An Introduction,” “My Grandmother’s House,” “Summer Vacation,” and “Punishment” highlights the representation of women’s struggles against cultural restrictions and their quest for autonomy, dignity, and emotional fulfilment. These texts reveal the complex relationship between personal memory and social criticism while portraying women’s resistance to patriarchal norms. The study argues that Kamala Das successfully combines autobiographical truth with social criticism to expose the realities of women’s lives in Indian society. By foregrounding female subjectivity and lived experience, she created a powerful feminist voice that challenged conventional gender roles. The paper concludes that her literary legacy remains highly relevant for contemporary feminist scholarship, offering valuable insights into gender, identity, self-representation, women’s agency, and the continuing struggle for equality and personal freedom
Gender, Identity, Self-Representation, Patriarchy, Feminism, Kamala Das, Indian English Literature, Autobiography, Women’s Writing, Confessional Writing.
Dr. Sirisha Iruvuri (Associate Profesoor of English)
Prakriti VS Prastuti: How Indian Mythology Embraces Fluid Identities as Nature, Rejecting the Colonised Narratives of Viewing Queer as Derogatory
Ecofeminism is a way of thinking and acting that shows how the mistreatment of women and the destruction of nature come from the same root: patriarchal ideas that see both as things to control and use. French feminist Françoise d'Eaubonne first used the term "ecofeminism" in her 1974 book Le Féminisme ou la Mort. She argued that men's control over women's bodies and reproduction was causing environmental problems like overpopulation. The movement grew stronger in the 1970s and 1980s through the work of thinkers like Ynestra King, Susan Griffin (Women and Nature), Carolyn Merchant (The Death of Nature), and Vandana Shiva. These writers pointed out "dualisms" in society—such as man vs. woman, culture vs. nature, reason vs. emotion—that put men and human control above everything else. This same thinking supports sexism, colonialism, capitalism, and damage to the environment. Ecofeminism has two main early types: one spiritual and cultural that celebrates women's closer ties to nature through care and intuition, and another socialist or materialist, that focuses on economic systems and class. Critics sometimes call it essentialist (suggesting women are naturally closer to nature), but most Eco- feminists today stress that these links are shaped by society and history, not biology. They also highlight intersectionality & focus on how gender connects with race, class, and colonialism. Today, ecofeminism is very relevant because of climate change, biodiversity loss, and ongoing gender inequality. Women, especially in the Indigenous communities, suffer the most from environmental damage even though they contribute least to it. The authors of this paper have sought to explore newer ideas of queer ecofeminism within Indian mythology. Using the critical Lens of Ecofeminism for understanding the structural parallels between the subjugation of women and the degradation of the natural world, the authors aim to see it as a framework for future research and policy that embraces these holistic alternatives to navigate the complexities of the Anthropocene and foster a world where the flourishing of nature and all marginalised beings is recognised as a single, inseparable goal.
Words: Ecofeminism, women, environmentalism, nature, Anthropocene.
Hridya Shrivastava and Dr. Santosh Shrivastava
Gender, Authority, and Emotional Conflict in Ian McEwan’s The Children Act
This paper examines gender, authority, and emotional conflict in The Children Act by Ian McEwan through a Feminist and psychoanalytic lens. The novel presents the life of Fiona Maye, a successful High Court judge who struggles to balance her professional authority with personal and emotional challenges. As a woman occupying a powerful position within a patriarchal social structure, Fiona experiences psychological isolation, emotional vulnerability, and identity conflict. The study explores how McEwan portrays the complexities of female professionalism and the emotional pressures women face in contemporary society. The paper further analyses Fiona’s relationship with Adam Henry, a teenage patient whose legal case becomes emotionally significant in her life. Through this relationship, the novel reveals the tension between rational judgment and human emotion, highlighting the psychological struggles hidden beneath professional identity. The Feminist approach helps to examine the representation of women, gender expectations, and authority, while the Psychoanalytic approach focuses on Fiona’s inner conflicts, loneliness, and suppressed emotions. This study argues that the Children Act reflects the emotional and ethical challenges experienced by modern individuals, particularly women professionals, in contemporary society. McEwan’s narrative presents authority not as a symbol of strength alone, but also as a condition marked by emotional burden and psychological complexity. Ultimately, the paper emphasizes how literature becomes a powerful medium for understanding gendered experiences, identity, and emotional realities in the modern world.
Gender, Authority, Emotional Conflict, Feminism, Psychoanalysis, Professional Identity, Contemporary Society, Ian McEwan.
Posthumanism and Cultural Anxiety in Twenty-First Century Fiction
The twenty-first century has produced ruptures technological, ecological, epistemic that have fundamentally destabilised inherited notions of human identity. Digital proliferation, artificial intelligence, and ecological breakdown are not separate crises; they converge into a single, unsettling question: what exactly constitutes the human now? Against this backdrop, posthumanism has gained considerable theoretical traction as a framework that challenges anthropocentric assumptions and redefines the relationship between humans, technology, and the natural world. As Rosi Braidotti argues, the posthuman condition signals the collapse of the opposition between the human and the non-human. Contemporary fiction is among the most honest registers of this collapse. Novels that center around artificial intelligence, cybernetic embodiment, surveillance capitalism, ecological catastrophe, and fractured selfhood do not merely describe cultural anxiety; they generate it, work through it, give it shape. This paper examines the representation of posthumanism and cultural anxiety in twenty-first-century fiction. It focuses on how selected literary texts encode collective fears about technological dependency, the erosion of individuality, ethical incoherence, and environmental fragility. Drawing on the theoretical positions of Donna Haraway, N. Katherine Hayles, Rosi Braidotti, and Cary Wolfe, the study analyses three primary texts Never Let Me Go, Oryx and Crake, and The Circle. The paper argues that posthuman fiction constitutes a sustained critique of technological modernity. More than that, it maps the existential disorientation of living in a world that is becoming increasingly digital and ecologically precarious. The cross-disciplinary relevance of posthumanist frameworks to literary and cultural studies is also addressed, along with emerging directions for further inquiry.
Posthumanism, Cultural Anxiety, Twenty-First Century Fiction, Artificial Intelligence, Digital Culture, Identity Crisis, Technological Modernity, Anthropocene.
Ramya Kallur K V and Syeda Haniya (Student)
Shadows of the Bard: Shakespearean Echoes in Vetrimaaran’s Cinematic Universe
The Shakespearean undertones in the films of celebrated Tamil director Vetrimaaran are examined in this article. His films exhibit timeless literary motifs reminiscent of William Shakespeare's dramatic universe, even though they are firmly rooted in the sociopolitical realities of South India. Using an intertextual reading, this study contends that, despite their non-adaptive form, Vetrimaaran's stories reflect the Bard's thematic concerns, particularly in their depictions of tragic heroes, moral ambiguity, systemic injustice, and the human condition. The article compares the protagonists of Vetrimaaran to Shakespeare's tragic characters, including Othello, Macbeth, and Hamlet, with a focus on classic films like Aadukalam, Visaranai, Asuran, and Vada Chennai. Karuppu's demise in Aadukalam, for example, is reminiscent of Othello's path, which is characterized by deceit, internal strife, and tragic decisions. Similarly, Visaranai criticizes justice and state power in a way reminiscent of Measure for Measure, while Asuran depicts a descent into violence akin to Macbeth's. The inclusion of small but perceptive characters in Vetrimaaran's films also echoes Shakespeare's use of common people and idiots as social commentators. The analysis places Vetrimaaran not just as a local storyteller but also as a filmmaker whose work speaks to universal dramatic structures and moral quandaries.
Postcolonial Adaptation, Shakespeare in India, Vetrimaaran, Tamil Cinema, Shakespearean Influence.
Cultural Reconciliation through Self-Reinvention in Bharati Mukherjee’s Jasmine
The writings of Bharati Mukherjee mainly focus on the lives, experiences, and struggles faced by immigrants in the reconciliation between their dual identities in the new land. Her novel Jasmine not only features the cultural clashes that are prevalent in the cultural exchange, but also migration leads to alienation from its own roots. Jasmine is a novel that deals with immigration history and its impact. Assimilation of the people became prominent only with the advent of the twentieth century and with the development of a new mode of navigation and exploration, which made cultural exchange a more frequent phenomenon. The novel is set in the present, and the story deals with its protagonist, a young Indian woman in the United States of America. She tries to mould herself in the Western way of life and changes her identity in several ways and several times. Her transformation from a girl living in the village of Hasnapur as Jyoti to Jasmine, Jase and finally as Jane living in America shows the fluidity and evolving nature of an immigrant identity. Mukherjee’s autobiographical element is dominant in the novel, and we see several changes, displacement and dislocation that she underwent in her own life that are visible in the lives of the protagonist. The identity crisis that is prevalent in the immigrant is evident in the novel. The present paper scrutinises how Jasmine’s changing identities allow her to survive personal loss, displacement and cultural alienation during her reconciliation with conflicting cultural influences.
Assimilation, Culture, Displacement, Hybridity, Immigrant, Identity, Tradition.
The Role of AI-Based Listening Tools in Blended Language Learning Environments
Listening comprehension is one of the most challenging yet essential skills for English as a Second Language (ESL) and English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners. Natural speech complexity and high learner anxiety often hinder the development of effective listening skills. This study examines the effectiveness of AI-based listening support tools, including YouTube Auto-Caption, ELSA Speak, and AI chatbots, in blended learning environments to improve language learning and learner engagement. A descriptive qualitative research design was adopted, involving twelve university-level ESL students selected through purposive sampling based on their experience with AI-powered listening platforms. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to gain in-depth insights into the usefulness of these tools, and the collected data were systematically analyzed and interpreted. The findings indicate that familiarity and accessibility significantly influenced students’ preference for platforms such as YouTube, which was valued for its real-time text visualization. A major advantage identified was the creation of a supportive, low-stress learning environment that reduced listening anxiety while promoting learner autonomy. Participants appreciated the immediate feedback provided by AI tools, which enhanced motivation and independent learning. However, they also highlighted notable limitations, including inaccurate pronunciation, recurring technical issues, and insufficient educational value in automated feedback. The study suggests that AI functions as an “autonomy accelerator” and cognitive scaffold, supporting learners in achieving their Zone of Proximal Development. Rather than replacing conventional teaching methods, AI-based tools should serve as complementary resources within language instruction. Therefore, effective pedagogical design should carefully consider the technical limitations of AI applications and ensure that tool selection aligns with learners’ proficiency levels, instructional objectives, and course relevance to maximize language learning outcomes and sustained learner engagement.
Artificial Intelligence, Blended Learning, EFL Listening Comprehension, Learner Autonomy, Qualitative Research.
From Pages to Silver Screen: The Expedition of Half Girlfriend
Reading of a novel can go on and on and the reader can read it at his own pace. But if same novel is to be adapted into movie it needs a lot of adaptive measures. This research paper deals with the novel Half Girlfriend (2014) and the cinematic version with the same title Half Girlfriend (2017) directed by Mohit Suri. One of the famous English authors of short fiction, novels, comic books and screenplay Mr. Neil Gaiman quoted on adaptations "I've always believed that the best book-to-film adaptations are the ones that take the spirit of the book, rather than trying to adapt every single word". (Gaiman) The novel Half Girlfriend underlines the aspirations, dreams struggle and fear of Indian youth from rural background. Through the character of Madhav Jha, Chetan Bhagat illustrates the inner turmoil between territorial identity and cosmopolitanism. Both the movie and novel portray how his communication in English language is used as a catalyst to flaunt superiority in contemporary India. The novel has used simple diction and relatable themes because of which the audience feels connected. The same can be seen in the movie. The paper is an in-depth analysis of the adaptation of novel into movie investigating the difference between core narratives and character presentation.
Adaptation, Narratives, Character analysis, Cosmopolitanism.
Artificial Intelligence, Ethics, Posthumanism.
From Reel Journeys to Real Itineraries: Cinematic Mobility and Cultural Geographies in Tikdam
The role of cinema has expanded beyond narrative entertainment in the present time vis-a vis cultural studies. It an extension of the medium that cultivate travel, giving an opportunity to realize one own self and experiential learning by locating palces. The notion of “travel by cinema” illustrate the dialogic interplay between on-screen and off-screen journeys, whereby spectators traverse not only geographical terrains but also emotional, cultural and ideological landscapes. This paper examines how the film Tikdam enacts this “screen-to-scene” transition, inviting audiences into imaginative and affective mobility. This mobility is a sense of thoughts and vision. The story of Tikdam, set in the hill town of Sukhtaal, foregrounds the tensions of ecological precarity, rural–urban migration and the possessive attachment to local landscapes, which operate as metonymic spaces of discovery. Drawing on cinematic tourism theory (Gibson, 2006), spatial narrative and cultural geography (Bruno, 2002; Lukinbeal, 2023), this paper expounded that the narrative of the Tikdam eloquent forms of cinematic mobility that subside the remoteness between spectatorship and lived understanding. Such works exemplify how cinema generates affective itineraries (Nanjangud & Reijnders, 2022), permit spectators to chart cultural topographies and even create real itineraries from reel journeys.
Cultural Consciousness, Narrative Representation, Identity, Gender and Tradition, Collective Memory.
Dr Krati Sharma,Dr Kuldeep Sharma and Dr Sarveen Kaur Sachdeva
Cultural Consciousness and Narrative Representation in The Circle of Karma
Kunzang Choden’s novel The Circle of Karma presents a substantial portrayal of Bhutanese culture by addressing memory, tradition, and gendered circumstances. This research paper examines the novel through the lens of cultural consciousness and narrative representation, exploring how The Circle of Karma functions as a literary account and a cultural repository of Bhutanese existence. The protagonist Tsomo’s expedition demonstrates the collective experiences, beliefs, customs, and social order of Bhutanese culture. Choden’s narrative serve as a vehicle to safeguard oral traditions and expressing the collective experiences of women marginalized by prevailing historical and cultural discourses. Choden argues that memory and the act of retelling are strategies of securing a legacy. She can record the history of Bhutan and its cultural practices in a unique and intensely personal way by blending her beliefs with those of the community. The protagonist’s journey here is analogous to the experiences of women who negotiate between individual desires and cultural obligations. Going beyond the narrative representation, the novel interrogates the patriarchal values embedded in Bhutanese society. Through depictions of cultural practices, the novel spotlights the discrimination faced by lower-class woman across Bhutanese society as a whole. The customs, Tsomo’s defiance of them, and the gender discrimination are portrayed as conventional element. In the process, it becomes a form of reclamation and redefinition of Tsomo’s cultural identity. The Circle of Karma challenges the patrilineal structures ingrained in traditional culture and reconstructs Bhutanese cultural identity by fusing memories with shared experiences. Ultimately, this study contends that Choden’s narrative not only documents social facts and cultural practices but also establishes a forum for self-representation, resistance, and cultural preservation in the contemporary Bhutanese literature.
Indigenous Selfhood and Spiritual Identity: Rethinking Ātman in Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar's The Mysterious Ailment of Rupi Baskey
This paper investigates the conceptual and philosophical resonances between the Vedantic notion of Ātman the eternal, inviolable self and the construction of indigenous selfhood and spiritual identity in Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar's novel The Mysterious Ailment of Rupi Baskey (2014). Drawing on Advaita Vedanta, postcolonial theory, and indigenous studies, the paper argues that Shekhar's text performs a cultural and ontological negotiation, reinterpreting classical Hindu metaphysics through a distinctly Santali cosmological lens. The novel's protagonist, Rupi Baskey, embodies a form of selfhood that is simultaneously communal, ecological, and transcendent qualities that both align with and critically deviate from Brahmanical articulations of the Ātman. By situating the text within the broader discourse of Adivasi literature and decolonial epistemology, this study demonstrates how Shekhar recovers indigenous spiritual frameworks as sites of resistance and identity formation. The paper contributes to the growing field of Adivasi literary studies and to interdisciplinary conversations between Indian philosophy and postcolonial literary criticism.
Ātman, Adivasi literature, Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar, indigenous identity, Santali cosmology, postcolonial spirituality, decolonial epistemology, Advaita Vedanta.