CFP

Magnus Publishing The Context Journal ISSN 2349-4948

http://www.magnuspublishing.com           info@magnuspublishing.com

 

Dear colleague,

Greetings from Dr. Ankita Khanna!

I invite your attention to the Call for Manuscripts for The Context Volume 2 Issue 1.

The Context (ISSN 2349-4948) is a peer-reviewed international online journal of language, literary and cultural studies. It is published quarterly (January, April, July and October) in an open access domain by Magnus Publishing House. The main objective of the journal is to provide a publishing platform to budding and established scholars. Academic research manuscripts are invited for consideration, produced by scholars who are interested in the areas such as:

Indian Literature in English, Comparative literature, Postcolonial literatures, Life narratives (Autobiographical writings), New Literatures, Travel writings, Literature crossing cultural or national boundaries, new readings of canonical and historical literature.

Above areas are suggestive only, you may choose a topic of your own interest within the scope of the Journal. Unpublished manuscripts not currently under consideration by any other publisher are invited from scholars. Research students are encouraged to submit manuscripts for consideration through research supervisor.

We do NOT accept unsolicited book reviews and interviews for publication. Please write to us before submitting book reviews and interviews for consideration.

Manuscript guidelines: First page should contain the name and full address of the author(s), also author(s) bio note in about 100 words. one co-author is permissible. Text of the manuscript must precede a brief summary (abstract) of approximately 200 words and 3-5 keywords. Type manuscript on A4 paper (8.29”x11.69”) double spaced with one inch margin and Arial typeface with 12 point, and submit as an email attachment. Keep word processing as simple as possible, give your own name to the word file. Please follow MLA (7th edition) style of documentation. Visit our website for peer review policy.

Send your submissions at: Info@MagnusPublishing.com and a copy to ankita.khanna@ymail.com or use our online submission channel at website.

Journal Website: http://www.MagnusPublishing.com

Article Processing Charge: INR 700      USD 25    for details visit website

Article processing charge includes fee towards manuscript originality check, copy editing, formatting, server hosing, digital preservation and 24/7 availability of published content online. Article submission charge is to be paid after the acceptance of manuscript preferably within 5 days of intimation email, and you should sign licensing agreement, if you fail to do so in time it will be assumed that you disagree with our license terms and your manuscript shall not be considered for publication; we shall not be held responsible for it.

Last date for manuscript submission: 15 January 2015

Our specialty: We have trained staff to process manuscript submissions, all manuscripts are fully peer-reviewed, give useful feedback to authors. We do careful copy editing and help published research reach wider audience through multiple online academic platforms. The Context being online journal has global readership of researchers thereby increases your article citation score.

Looking forward to your scholarly manuscript submissions. Thank you.

Kind regards,

Scan QR code to access website

Dr. Ankita KhannA

Guest Editor – The Context Journal

Assistant Professor of English

Auro University, Surat.

Gujarat, India.

Editorial Office: 95, Dhanlaxmi Nagar, Jintur Road, Parbhani 431 401. MS India. Phone: +91-9423-683600

 

The A-B-C of Teaching Learning Process

An integral way of life is something that integrates natural human qualities in a human being. Away from the definitions by the thinkers and philosophers; for me, it is a way of living that makes a human being more humane. Taking this concept to higher education, it is important in today's world to create students who are more sincere, transparent, honest and logical. And the onus of it lies largely on the educators who can, by their efforts, sincerity, dedication, and meticulous planning make this happen.

In today's era when we are losing youth to vices, an approach to understand them, talk to them, and nurture them may help. The teaching nowadays has moved beyond the classroom and so is the teacher-student relationship. In order to develop the fullest potential of the students, it is required that we find some time to look into the hearts and souls of the students. A small 'hi', a pat on the back, listening to their issues, interacting with them beyond the classroom does not cost much to the educator but means a lot to the students. Also important here is to be empathetic and non-judgmental. There can be many ways in which one can do this but for me, as a higher education educator, is the mantra of A-B-C, that stands for Availability, Bonding & Communication.

Being available to students at the time of need is utmost important for any educator. One cannot just restrict students to classrooms; and it's not because of any rule, it's out of our love not only for our students but also for our profession. Learning takes place round the clock and more of it takes place outside the walls of classrooms. Students, at times, may discover something to learn and may want to discuss the same with you. At sometimes, it is possible that they may just want our opinion or may talk to us for something that is not related directly to the course but is related to human life; life outside institutes, universities and colleges. One must try to bond and keep the doors of communication open for our learners. The role of a teacher does not limit to the word 'teacher': for me it is a combination of a facilitator, a friend, a guide, and a philosopher!

Are you Listening?

I want to listen!!!

Certain skills, once mastered, enrich our lives forever. Listening, one such neglected skill is truly valuable in every aspect of life and business. Listening affects all communication and we spend more time engaging in listening than any other form of communication, yet we still practice unlistening. Listening is the deliberate process by which we receive, understand and retain aural stimuli. Almost everyone can hear, but few can really listen well. Effective listening is hearing and understanding the message being sent and using body language to confirm that you are listening.

People find it very hard to listen just because they don't want to; and more importantly they are not trained to. Listening; just like reading, speaking, and writing is a skill in itself that needs to be taken care of, especially by the educators at all the levels. Poor listening is also one of the major reasons to unacceptable (poor) English speaking. At least, half an hour of listening (not hearing), to the native speakers of the language is required in order to attain proficiency, especially if you are the second or the third learner.

Happy Listening!!!

What is the difference between an idiom and a saying?

An idiom is a phrase or group of words with a meaning that is not obvious from the individual words (for example, "rain cats and dogs", meaning "rain heavily"). Even if you know all the words (rain, cat, dog), you will probably not understand "rain cats and dogs" if you don't know the idiom. "Rain cats and dogs" is not a saying because it does not express a general truth.

A saying is a short expression that expresses a general truth and contains advice or wisdom (for example, "once bitten, twice shy", meaning that an unpleasant experience makes us more careful the next time). If you know the words (once, bite, twice, shy) you can probably understand what this saying means. "Once bitten, twice shy" is not an idiom because it is understandable from the individual words.

The Other Woman

Dethroned and discarded mercilessly

By this biased society

She holds no place in

 anyone’s range of clemency

All sympathies for her

And forgiveness for him

But she acquires nothing more

Than a label; a label

That haunts her every moment

A tag that is tagged on to her

Despite her sincerities and loyalties

To his first man to whom she is

The other woman

She is always blamed to have

Stolen one’s love, one’s mate

But didn’t he himself with

All his will and desire

Opted her in his life?

Ankita Khanna

FELINE

Tied to the shackles of humiliation

I am a free citizen of a free country

My head held high not with pride

But to attentively listen

To master's untimely commands

Lost is my respect in the whirlwinds

Of slavery and no one;

No one other than me can filch it back.

It's time to awaken; stimulate my dead spirits

And move freely stealing graceful movements

 From a feline.

NATCON 2012

Greetings.

I invite you all to Natcon 2012:  A Two Day National Level Conference on "English Language and Literature : Across Cultures" organised in collaboration with Tjells. We look forward to your scholarly essays in the Conference.

All details about the Conference can be had from our web site www.tjells.com. Kindly visit and know about it.

I also request you to communicate this to as many people as you can and encourage them also to contribute and participate. 

Co-Editor
Tjells Jounal
Ankita Khanna

The Soulmate

A touch, when outshines

thousands of words

leaving behind other forms

of communication

you are sure to have been

touched by your soul mate.

The eyes, when, lock

only to express fondness

and admiration leaving behind

complaints and demands

ignoring your follies,

appreciating your strength,

you are sure to have been

looked at by your soul mate.

The voice, when appears

unusually soft and melodious,

conveying words; spoken – unspoken

displaying honesty

in each syllable,

you are sure to have 

heard your soulmate.

Ankita

A Word of Caution

All is effortless and seems doable

When you walk on your feet with land beneath

Might underestimate the frantic storm

The hurricane waiting for you underneath

The flow of current might harm you

You walk into the sea unaware,

Nameless beings hidden in the darkness

Waiting unanimously to get their share

The water inside is frozen and iced

Never, can be anticipated from the coast

It appears you will get the hold of all

However, can get despair at the most

This poem was written with a special purpose and  does not present my usual writing style. However, it is close to me for some unknown reason.

Ankita 

Love is in the Air!!!

Falling in love is a beautiful feeling; and almost all of us must have fallen in love at least once in the life time. Love is not related only to the person of your dreams neither it is confined within the boundaries of physical love. It is about loving everything you admire, anything that makes you smile; any thought that makes you glow. Love is all pervasive; love is all around.

No one can mange to escape from its gentle clutches. It, like thin fragrant air surrounds you from all around, without making any effort and when you realize that you are in love; all you feel is pleasure.

 It can be pleasure of watching the sun rise and it can also be a pleasure of playing hop scotch with roadside children. Though we fall in love but the fact is it makes us rise, rise above the people who do not find love in nature’s minute things, the people who do not notice love in child’s innocence.

If we carefully observe this world we would realize that each and everything is a product of love. For instance books are product of writer’s love for words, grains are product of farmer’s love for his land and children are result of their parents’ love for each other.

 Ironically, even the machine guns and bombs used for destruction are the result of a scientist’s love for his experiments. Whether or not we accept the fact but we all are made up of love and believe me we all are in love!!

Book Review - I too had a Love Story

My last read "I too had a Love Story" composed by Ravinder Singh was awesome. When compared to his contemporary Chetan Bhagat, he scores over him in content but loses when it comes to style. At few places it seemed a bit more dramatic than required--a little more fictitious than real! But his art of narration, well constructed sentences and contemporary writing style makes it a massive hit amongst youth. 

 It can be a matter of confusion that how should mathematical numbers be used correctly while writing  an article or any other piece of composition. Following rules offer help in this regard.

• According to most copy editors and English teachers, the numbers zero to nine inclusive should be "written out" – meaning instead of "1" and "2", one would write "one" and "two".

                   Example: "I have two apples." (Preferred)

                   Example: "I have 2 apples."

•         After "nine", one can head straight back into the 10, 11, 12, etc., although some write out the numbers until "twelve".

                   Example: "I have 28 grapes." (Preferred)

                   Example: "I have twenty-eight grapes."

•         Another common usage is to write out any number that can be expressed as one or two words, and use figures otherwise.

                   Examples:

                   "There are six million dogs." (Preferred)

                   "There are 6,000,000 dogs." (The reader might end up counting                          zeroes!!!!)

                   "That is one hundred (and) twenty-five oranges."

                   "That is 125 oranges." (Preferred)

•         Numbers at the beginning of a sentence should also be written out.

          "Two of my friends are waiting for me." (Preferred)

          "2 of my friends are waiting for me."

The above rules are not always used.

•         In literature, larger numbers might be spelled out.
•         On the other hand, digits might be more commonly used in technical or financial articles, where many figures are discussed.
•         In particular, the two different forms should not be used for figures that serve the same purpose.

                   Example, it is inelegant to write, "Between day twelve and day                           15 of the study, the population doubled."

Love at First Talk - A Story in Verse

Love at First Talk! 

There are people who believe in love at first sight. For them, love is an exciting dating period followed by a long-term marital relationship. Then there are people who believe in so-called mature love. They first marry and then love, but they rely on others for the choice of their spouses. However, the assurance of success of the relationships, in both the cases, is doubtful.

Apart from these, there is a class of people, who does not bother about logics of life. Such people rely solely on their intuition and follow it blindly. From the minute choice of selecting a candy to the life affecting decision of desiring a life mate, is made irrationally by them. They are often criticized by others, for being excessively careless and are also warned for the possibility of collapsing later in their lives. However, the probability of success and failure of others have been discussed as well!

The persona, in this story, belongs to the third category. She is a young girl, guided purely by her intuition sans any logic. She believes in the supremacy of God and does not challenge or interfere with His plans. She, although appears to be happy outwardly; within her, carries pains, sufferings and torments. Due to her introvert nature, never she is able to reveal her real self to any one.

Social obligations force her to bear pain in silence so that her mental turmoil is not traced by anyone. But, above all there is He, the ultimate decision taker, who decides for all of us. One fine day, He, in the execution of His divine plans, makes an unknown stranger from a distant land; call her, only to completely transform her life.

( To know more about LAFT or to buy it log onto the publication site. )

Call for Research Papers

Biographies and Autobiographies occupy an important place in Literature for various reasons. Authors used this genre to communicate their worldviews to people. Gandhi’s The Story of My Experiments with Truth is an excellent example. My Truth by Indira Gandhi is yet another example of communicating the message of an individual to a larger world. Jivansmriti (Reminiscences) of Rabindranath Tagore narrates his early years of life, while in Toward Freedom: the Autobiography of Jawaharlal Nehru Nehru writes to his “own countrymen and women.” Nirad C. Chaudhuri’s The Autobiography of an Unknown Indian, published in 1951, stands apart as a great master-piece, combining personal life experiences with a strong motivated worldview (“the conditions in which an Indian grew to manhood in the early decades of this century” [20^th century].

Rationale and Justification for Writing Autobiography

These leaders have also debated on the need or otherwise for writing such works.

Jawaharlal Nehru writes in his Autobiography: “… this account is wholly one-sided and, inevitably, egotistical; many important happenings have been completely ignored and many important persons, who shaped events, have hardly been mentioned. In a real survey of past events this would have been inexcusable, but a personal account can claim this indulgence.”

Gandhi justified writing an autobiography with these words:

But a God-fearing friend had his doubts, which he shared with me on my day of silence. 'What has set you on this adventure? he asked. 'Writing an autobiography is a practice peculiar to the West. I know of nobody in the East having written one, except amongst those who have come under Western influence. And what will you write? Supposing you reject tomorrow the things you hold as principles today, or supposing you revise in the future your plans of today, is it not likely that the men who shape their conduct on the authority of your word, spoken or written, may be misled. Don't you think it would be better not to write anything like an autobiography, at any rate just yet?'

This argument had some effect on me. But it is not my purpose to attempt a real

autobiography. I simply want to tell the story of my numerous experiments with truth, and as my life consists of nothing but those experiments, it is true that the story will take the shape of an autobiography. But I shall not mind, if every page of it speaks only of my experiments. I believe, or at any rate flatter myself with the belief, that a connected account of all these experiments will not be without benefit to the reader.

Language Medium for Major Autobiographies and Biographies

Indira Gandhi’s work is a compilation of her writings in a manner that the book has an autobiographical format. Nehru wrote his Autobiography in English. Gandhi and Tagore wrote their autobiographies first in their mother tongues (Gujarati and Bengali respectively) and then they sort of translated or recreated their works in English. Nirad Chaudhuri wrote his celebrated work in English.

Biographies in Indian Writing in English

There are many biographies written by Indian authors. These biographies cover many personalities from every field: politics, science, sports, cinema, drama, religion, literature, etc. Indeed, biography writing is a very popular pursuit among Indian writers in English and other Indian languages. Sahitya Akademi has brought out a number of biographies of varied quality.

Controversial nature of Biographies and Autobiographies

Both biographies and autobiographies may raise controversies of various types: political, social, familial, regional, religious, etc.

A recent biography-like book on Muhammad Ali Jinnah by Jaswant Singh (Jinnah: India-Partition-Independence) raised a hue and cry among Jaswant Singh’s own party members.  Earlier in recent times, actor Om Puri’s biography Unusual Hero by his wife created strong and deep controversies. Such controversies arise out of revelations in public of private personal acts and thoughts that may involve others and thus hurt the feelings, careers and interests of people referred to. It looks like that the biographer or the autobiographer never asks the permission of others to narrate the incidents which involve these “friends”, etc.!

Autobiography and Biography versus Fiction Writing

Writing an autobiography or biography is quite different from writing a novel or short story or any type of material that aims at catering to the literary sensibility of its readers. Facts and related, relevant and appropriate interpretation of facts and events become the hall mark of autobiography and biography, in some sense.

Narration is usually straightforward following the course of events and implications presented in these works. Authors of fiction have greater freedom and employ many techniques of presentation in their narratives. Hidden and explicit metaphors, lack of any explicit didactic conversations, creating curiosity to look forward to the next event, conflict, confrontation, resolution, etc. play an important role here. Characterization and characters follow a different course in fiction than in autobiography or biography. Actually, most events narrated in biographies and even autobiographies are already public knowledge. On the other hand, fiction offers a progressive revelation of unknown events, etc.

However, autobiographies and biographies have their own aspects difficult to master. Even the authors of these works are burdened with the responsibility of ensuring that the readers are with them and are comfortable with the journey they choose to undertake with the authors.

The Goal of This Special Volume

The goal of this Special Volume is to make a survey of some of the major autobiographies and biographies written in English. It is assumed that work should try to bring put some hidden fact or incident of the life of the person.

How to go for it?

1. Choose an autobiography or biography.

2. Describe the content briefly.

3. Focus on the structure of the chosen autobiography or biography: introduction, chapterization, language and style, narrative techniques, idioms and metaphors, their justification for writing the autobiography or biography and how this justification is revealed in their works, clarity of language and thought, effect on readers, readability of the text, gaps in information, gaffes, etc. This is only suggestive of what you can do. You need to be creative and imaginative to work on your plan of research, description, analysis and interpretation, conclusion, etc.

4. You may also make a comparative or contrastive of two or more autobiographies or biographies available in English and in other languages.

Please write to the editors of this special volume for any clarification you need.

CALL FOR RESEARCH PAPERS ON

Revelation of Truths:

Critical Perspectives on Autobiographies and Biographies in English

Editors

Dr. Arvind Nawale,

(Head, Dept of English, Shivaji Mahavidhylaya, Udgir, Dist: Latur (M.S.)

Ankita Khanna,

(Lecturer in English, Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology, Surat (Gujarat)

No Contribution/Subscription fees. Papers will be accepted and published free of cost and only on basis of quality and each contributor will get a free complimentary copy from publisher

Dear All,

We are glad to inform you that we are going to edit jointly a book of research papers on Autobiographies and Biographies in English tentatively titled as Revelation of Truths: Critical Perspectives on Autobiographies and Biographies in English. Authentic, scholarly and unpublished research papers are invited from scholars/faculty/researchers/writers/professors from all over the world for this volume.

Proposed Publisher:

The volume will be published with an ISBN (International Standard Book Number) by a renowned publisher from India.

Thematic Focus of the Volume:

The articles should be on any theme of confession, revelation of truth on any work of English Autobiographies and Biographies.

Editing requirements:

●      Paper size: A4, Font & size: Times New Roman 12, Spacing: Single line, Margin of 1 inch on all four sides.

●      Title of the paper: bold, title case (Capitalize each word), centered.

●      Text of the paper: justified. Font & size: Times New Roman 12.

●      References: Please follow MLA style (Only Author-Date or Number System) strictly. Don’t use Foot Notes. Instead use End Notes.

●      Titles of books: Italics.

●      Titles of articles from journals and books: “quoted”.

●      Articles should be submitted as MS Word 2003-2007attachments only.

●      The paper should not usually exceed 14 pages maximum, 5 pages minimum in single spacing.

●      Each paper must be accompanied by i)  A declaration that it is an original work and has not been published anywhere else or send for publication  ii) Abstract of paper about 100-200 words and iii) A short bio-note of the contributor(s) indicating name, institutional affiliation, brief career history, postal address, mobile number and e-mail, in a single attachment. Please don’t send more attachments. Give these things below your paper and send all these things in a separate single MS-Word attachment.

●      The papers submitted should evince serious academic work contributing new knowledge or innovative critical perspectives on the subject explored.

Mode of Submission:

Each contributor is advised to send full paper with brief bio-note, declaration and abstract as a single MS-Word email attachments to email addresses: ankita.khanna@ymail.com up to 15^th April 2012. The contributors are also supposed to submit one hard copy of (i) Full paper (ii) A declaration and (iii) Abstract and (iv) Brief bio-note typed in above mentioned format to the postal address given bellow. One hard copy is required for our record. Without hard copy, no paper will be considered for publication.

Selection Procedure:

All submissions will be sent for blind peer reviewing. Final selection will be made only if the papers are recommended for publication by the reviewers. The details of the selection of your paper will be informed to you telephonically or on your email. The editor has the right to make necessary editing of selected papers for the sake of conceptual clarity and formatting. Non-selected papers will not be sent back to the contributor in any form. So, all contributors are advised to keep a copy of their submission with them. Each contributor will get a free complimentary copy from publisher but in case of joint paper, only first writer will get free copy. Overseas contributors will get a soft copy (pdf) of their papers with details of ISBN specification.

Plagiarism Alert:

Contributors are advised to adhere to strict academic ethics with respect to acknowledgment of original ideas from others. The editors will not be responsible for any such lapse of the contributor. All submissions should be original and must be accompanied by a declaration that it is an original work and has not been published anywhere else. It will be your sole responsibility for such lapses, if any. Neither editor, nor publisher will be responsible for it.

 For more details email the editor at ankita.khanna@ymail.com