Identity Crisis in Desirable Daughters by Bharati Mukherjee

Identity Crisis in Desirable Daughters by Bharati Mukherjee ABSTRACT: Immigrants have envisioned tales that exhibit experiences of independent and emerging countries. Cultures have taken up new form in the contemporary times, where the issues of Diaspora, globalization, consumerism, transnationalism cultural hyberidity and identity crisis have become new motif in the postcolonial literatures. The new issues give rise to identity crisis that evokes feelings of an individual that portrays socio-cultural setup that shows the blend of tradition and modernity. The new identity creates problems for Tara in Desirable Daughters by Bharati Mukherjee, where she is alienated, languishing in the angst and ennui of the diasporic experience, yet to carve out a niche for herself. In the novel, Bharati Mukherjee has struck a balance between tradition and modernity by representing past and present which is achieved through the female protagonist -Tara, who severed her links with tradition but remains tied to her native country. Tara is influenced by ancient customs and traditions, but is rooted to modern customs. She is conscious of her existential predicament which is mirrored in the epigraph: No one behind, no one ahead the path the ancients cleared has closed. And the other path everyones pathà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ goes nowhere, I am alone and find my way. Tara is alienated from the society as she oscillated between the nostalgic fascinations of a traditional past and the romantic and adventurous allurements of the present. The diasporic qualities exhibited by Tara establish the merging of the East and West which shows the clash. The Identity of the protagonist is highly assimilative, can adopt and accommodate herself both to her traditional Indian way of life and to her newly adopted American ethos. She tries to move away from the constrained identity and vacillates between two lives: maybe I really was between two lives.(251) Taras reconstruction of identity is rooted in her nostalgic and romantic recollection of her past. It is based on the flux of her thoughts about the past coming to her mind in the present but in fragments, and not whole. She tried to reconstruct her identity through her diasporic experience. She was attempting to redefine the importance of her cultures through space and time. Loneliness had made Tara a little wanton and wantonness had made her very lonely. In these five years she had changed beyond recognition, but other character Bish had not changed at all.Bish is also an upholder of tradition. He prefers the values of an imagined past than those of contemporaneity. The concept of home and migration is very much embedded in the narratology that Bharati Mukherjee presents in Desirable Daughters. It is the sense of migration which brings about a change to the identity of Padma, who has finally made New York her home, her land of choice. But her inalienable attachment to her home makes her the sustainer and preserver of Bengali tradition in America. The alien culture thus fails to subvert her traditional identity. On the other hand it only remaps nad reconstructs her cultural identity. Hence migration plays a crucial role in restricting individual identifies and cultural attitudes and perceptions. The novel is woven brilliantly which depicts the thoughts and feelings of three Calcutta, India-born Brahmin upper-class sisters, renowned for their beauty, brains, wealth, and privileged position in society. Mukherjee narrates their lives as they leave their conservative, sheltered childhood home, where they are inundated with culture, tradition, and values and inculcated with education by the Catholic nuns in their convent structured school and college. Two of them emigrate to America and the other relocates to Bombay, India. The three sisters, Padma, Parvati, and Tara, are born exactly three years apart from each other and share the same birthday.They are named after the goddessess name,hoping that they will survive and prosper in whatever they do. We are sisters three/as alike as three blossoms on one flowering tree. (But we are not), says Tara, the protagonist, quoting a poem. Desirable Daughters is the novel that takes a long time to lift itself from the surface and once it releases its themes and characters, it seems to get liberated from the trapped situation. Engrossed in Indian culture old and new, it keeps strucking down in tight little circles of detail that create an atmosphere of cramped inwardness, even suffocation. Bharati Mukherjee, like in her previous four novels and short stories, tries to portray the repression that enables the women of her culture nailed down in subservience to male desires. The feelings and emotions are discovered after exploring traditional Indian society. The novel is based on three strikingly-beautiful sisters from a privileged Bengali Brahmin family in Calcutta feel the tug between tradition and freedom as they try to meet expectations that are often wildly contradictory. The youngest, Tara Chatterjee, seems to have flown farthest from the nest. Tara is divorced from Bishwapriya (a Silicon Valley multimillionaire hand-picked for her by her father), shes raising a sensitive teenaged son on her own. The depressing part is that, she works as a lowly teacher, a choice which would be unthinkable in the culture of her birth. The story is narrated by Tara from her adopted San Francisco home, where she lives with Andy Karolyi, a strange sort of Hungarian Zen carpenter who earthquake-proofs houses. The lifestyle of the protagonist implies, a sort of free and easy hippie lifestyle, but nothing could be farther from the truth. In the novel the rebellion-gestures are merely trappings, or reactions against the gagging restrictions of Taras girlhood. Tara initiates her tale of repression in a curious way, with a legend about her namesake Tara Lata, also known as the Tree Bride a remarkable figure who became prominent in the fight for Indian freedom. After going in for more than twenty pages, Tara then delves into telling story of her own, which seems to be dislocating in nature. She recalls the utter lack of romanticism in her marriage, in which her father told her, There is a boy and we have found him suitable. Here is his picture. The marriage will be in three weeks. Tara, not knowing any other way, submitted: I married a man I had never met, whose picture and biography and bloodlines I approved of, because my father told me it was time to get married and this was the best husband on the market. Mukherjee dwells on every detail of this highly traditional occurrence. The father of the child bride is a traditionalist even though he is a lawyer educated in English and English law. The groom dies of snakebite and his family blames the bride as unlucky. Greedily the father of the groom demands the dowry. But the brides father takes his daughter into the forest where he marries her to a tree. She becomes a woman noted for her courage and generosity. Her American granddaughter visits her home. She has the same name, Tara Lata, as the old woman and like her she has two sisters. The contemporary woman is a divorced woman. Her ex-husband was the traditionally pre-selected bridegroom like his former wife a resident in America and now she lives with her lover, an American, in San Francisco. Her son introduces a young man who claims kinship as the son of her oldest sister, Padma. This is a kind of impossibility. An impossibility since her sister never had a child and a possibility since the familial relationships are so convolutedly secretive as to make the existence of the young man as her nephew plausible. It seems likely that the young mans claim is true and that Padma, Taras sister, did bear an illegitimate child. This is a momentous event for Tara. As the pampered child of wealthy Calcutta parents, she was sheltered from the poverty of the city and from all but the most severe political crises. She suffers the stress now of an immigrant with a child that belongs wholly to her new country. The discovery of Padmas child brings into focus all her inner disqu iet and the need to find valid connections. In the novel, Taras relationship with her two elder sisters is complicated, the flow of affection blocked by a certain formality and adherence to preset roles. Middle sister Parvati married a rich man and stayed in India, but by some miracle was able to select the suitable match for her. Parvati in her own way had established her identity, because of which it was said:Parvati, the pliable middle daughter had done the unthinkable: shed made a love match. He was certainly not what brains-and-beauty Parvati Bhattacharjee could have commanded on the Calcutta marriage market. Even though Paravati was given right to select her right match but after that she is depicted as one who is a meek follower and gets diminished by losing her real.She writes to Tara: I hope you arent doing bad things to yourself like taking Prozac and having cosmetic surgery. Please, please dont become that Americanized. The third, and the eldest sister of Tara, Didi, is married to a Mehta (an illustrious family which includes the conductor Zubin) and moved to New Jersey to pursue a career in television. But again, all is not as it seems. Her lifestyle is a thin veneer laid over the dense, pressed-down bedrock of tradition. She is considered to be most glamorous of all the three sisters. The other character Chris Dey, is represented as crisis in the novel. He is a young man who represents himself to Tara as Didis illegitimate son, conceived through an affair with a prominent businessman named Ronald Dey. This exposes an ugly under layer of culture to Tara, not the India of doting grandparents, not the India of comfort and privilege, but the backyard of family, the compost heap. The characters in the novel are not portrayed in the liberated form, they are trapped into different set of emotions trying to carve out a new identity for themselves. Tara is projected as a character who more of a status conscious tries to uphold the values of traditional society despite falling for different allurements in the present. Her elder sister, Didi pretends hard to be a pure character but falters when gives birth to her son, which represents misalliance.Chris Dey isnt really who he says he is, and in fact he feels like a device, something dropped into the story to keep things moving forward. In the end, the novel, tries to come back from where it started, where and the legend of Tara Lata the Tree Bride, but this device doesnt quite work either. The denouement somehow goes slack and does not yield a satisfying end to the story. The novel seems to be a family saga which could not bring out the desirable characteristics in the characters of the novel, that portrays them as a dominant in any sphere. The end is quite suspenseful and complex where the description of homeland may be magical but symbolic intention was lost. Bharati Mukherjee depicts a liquid society in her novels, ie a society in flux. It is a society of constant flow, the flow of migrants, the flow of machines, flow of criminals, flow of power structures, flow of people and commodities.  Amidst all the confusions the message was brought out clearly and it is represented as a fascinating beautifully written work of art that exhibits vulnerability that cannot be missed out.

Develop positive relationships Essay

Learning Outcome 1 : Be able to develop positive relationships with children and young people. 1.1. . Explain why positive relationships with children and young people are important and how these are built and maintained. Developing a positive relationships with children and young people is extremely important as it could impact hugely on their learning, development confidence and skills learnt as they grow. Nurseries and schools have allocated key workers assigned to develop a bond, care for the childs welfare and liaise closely with parents of the child. Children and young people thrive in all stages of learning and development if a positive relationships are in place and maintained. Children and young people need to feel comfortable with the people around them and one another. This will build confidence and encourage them to try new areas of learning at every stage of their development. If relationships between parents, care providers are positive the child will feel secure and can easily separate from parents when needed. Children are more likely to want to participate and enjoy activities if the feel happy and safe in their environment. Positive relationships also alleviate to some degree negative/unwanted behavior, as caregivers are more likely to recognise the initial signs and meet the child’s needs prior to any adverse behavior. Verbal communication between child and adult will also help the child develop language skills and the confidence to express themselves. Practitioners/care providers should try to recognise a child’s needs by their emotions/facial expressions. Knowing the child well – their interests/likes and dislikes will enable the practitioner to responding to its needs and emotions, plan for the child’s future developmental needs and build strong positive relationships. 1.2. . Demonstrate how to listen to and build relationships with children and young people. When building relationships with children we first need to get to know them – how they like to communicate – this may be through facial expressions, body language and gestures especially in the very young. They need to feel  confident and secure within that relationship. When trying to build relationships practitioners need to be consistent and fair – listening to the child and understanding the message they are trying to portray. Children need to know their feelings are important and their needs will be taken into consideration. Practitioners should ensure that their own emotions/feelings (having a bad day/quite and withdrawn) are not transferred on to the child. Building good relationships with parents is important as they too need to feel that they and their children are being treated fairly within the setting and that everything that can be done is being done to assist their child. Being able to identify and sort out conflicts and disagreements fairly and calmly will develop trust between adult and child and will teach the child how to respond to future disagreements with other children. Respect and courtesy should be shown to children and young people at all times to that they may in turn learn how to develop these skills when interacting with others. Practitioners can being to teach children from a very young age how to respect other people (feelings and emotions)/their belongings/teach good manners and how to act in an appropriate way. If children are spoken to warmly, encouraged and shown respect they will in turn develop these skills for themselves. Valuing and respecting individuality will help children to develop their own strengths, talents and attitudes and be accepting of another childs individuality. Allowing children to explore their individuality will show that we respect and are comfortable with their differences and encourage them to try new activities/skills which they may also enjoy. Show that we all accept and encourage individuality in people. To feel secure children need to know that they can rely on their care providers. We should therefore honor all promises and commitments made. Forgetting a promise or changing our mind may cause a child to distrust or become wary of adults. They may feel let down or disappointed. Keeping a check on the way we interact with young people, monitoring their reactions to us will indicate if we need to change our approach or way of teaching. Some children are sensitive, some outspoken and confident etc. Once we know the child we should then adapt our approach accordingly. Maintaining confidentially is extremely important when working with children and young people. Children need to know that they are valued and respected and that if they have worries or concerns they can talk with an adult confidentially. However, circumstances where abuse/neglect have taken place or are suspected, care providers have a duty to report the situation to the appropriate person thereby protecting the child. Documents/reports should be kept locked away. Permission should be sought prior to photographs/information being shared. Personal information regarding a child or young person should not be discussed /given out unless requested by professionals or appropriate authorities. Parents also need to feel that their information or conversations will be treated with respect and confidentiality. Consideration should be given to how care providers speak and give direction to children and young people. Responses should be appropriately given so the child does not feel intimidated or ordered. Children should always feel protected and secure in their environment. 1.3. . Evaluate own effectiveness in building relationships with children or young people. I believe I am able to build positive relationships with children and young people. With younger children, having a calm and gentle manor, making eye contact (at the childs level), expressing concern when needed will begin to form a positive relationships. When possible new children arriving at my setting are offered one to one time so that a strong initial relationship can begin to develop. Spending time with them alone, showing an interest in their skills/activities, encouraging and playing with them whilst trying to form a special bond with the child will help them to see me as a person  they can trust and someone who cares about them. Babies need physical contact to build a relationship – cuddling and talking gently to will reassure and settle . Babies will often cry as they need to be comforted, others may need some kind of interaction for a while. Getting to know the baby, understanding its body language and responding to its needs will help form and build a trusting r elationship. With older children I believe taking an interest in their abilities and skills, talking about their hobbies, listening to them, praising and giving encouragement, showing approval enables me to build strong relationships. Learning Outcome 2 : Be able to build positive relationships with people involved in the care of children and young people. 2.1. . Explain why positive relationships with people involved in the care of children and young people are important. Positive relationships are important because personal information has to be shared regarding the childs education and well-being. Good communication is essential to allow various carers/agenices/schools etc to communicate and pass on accurate information. It allows a childs care to be consistent, identifies needs, monitors the childs progress and ideas and skills can be shared regarding the child. It also shows the parent that professionals and carers alike are all working towards the development and well being of their child. 2.2. . Demonstrate how to build positive relationships with people involved in the care of children and young people. To ensure that positive relationships are maintained all parties concerned regarding the development and needs of a child should be invited to comment, offer advice, make suggestions and pass on information to plan for the immediate and future needs of the child. There are various ways that all parties who have an interest in the child can be kept in the loop – on-line communication, meetings , telephone, written reports etc. Sharing and  recording information is fundamental to a childs progress and to ensure all needs are met. Parents hold valuable information regarding their child so should be kept informed of decisions made regarding their childs emotional and educational development. – their opinion sought and be allowed to contribute in the decision process. Parents should be invited along to meetings, regularly updated and be given the opportunity to talk with all parties involved in their childs welfare. Confidentiality should be remembered at all times.

Using dbExpress in Delphi Database Applications

One of the strengths of Delphi is the support for many databases using several data access technologies: the BDE, dbExpress, InterBase Express, ADO, Borland Data Providers for .NET, to name a few. What is dbExpress? One of the data connectivity options in Delphi is dbExpress. In short, dbExpress is a light-weight, extensible, cross-platform, high-performance mechanism for accessing data from SQL servers. dbExpress provides connectivity to databases for the Windows, .NET and Linux (using Kylix) platforms.Initially designed to replace the BDE, dbExpress (introduced in Delphi 6), allows you to access different servers - mySQL, Interbase, Oracle, MS SQL Server, Informix.dbExpress is extensible, in that it is possible for third-party developers to write their own dbExpress drivers for various databases. One of the most significant features of dbExpress lies in the fact that it accesses databases using unidirectional datasets. Unidirectional datasets do not buffer data in memory --Â  such a dataset cannot be displayed in a DBGrid. To build a user interface using dbExpress you will need to use two more components: TDataSetProvider and TClientDataSet. How to Use dbExpress Heres a collection of tutorials and articles on building database applications using dbExpress: dbExpress Draft SpecificationAn early dbExpress specifications draft. Worth a read. Introduction to ClientDataSets and dbExpressA TClientDataset is a part of any dbExpress applications. This paper introduces dbExpress and the power of ClientDataSets to people who have been using the BDE and are afraid to migrate. Additional dbExpress Driver OptionsA list of third-party drivers available for dbExpress Migrating BDE Applications to dbExpressThis PDF goes into extensive detail on issues you may face when migrating applications from BDE components to dbExpress components. It also provides information on performing the migration. Create a Reusable Component to Connect Delphi 7 to DB2 with dbExpressThis article shows you how to use IBM DB2 as the database for applications written with Borland Delphi 7 Studio and dbExpress. Specific topics include how to connect the seven dbExpress components to DB2 and use them to build visual forms on top of database tables.

College Sports Gambling - 2514 Words

With all of the controversy of gambling in college sports, why is the issue still an issue? The answer is money. There were actions taken towards this by Congress, but the problem is that it was never completely abolished. Congress had made the mistake of creating a way around it. It is now commonly referred to as the Las Vegas loophole. They outlawed the betting nationwide with the exception of one state, one state that is the capital of gambling, Nevada. This has caused few changes, with the exception of the ever-growing revenue that it generates. Another reason the legality still remains is one not frequently mentioned, but the question of the ban being constitutional. But no matter what the law, is there†¦show more content†¦People of all kinds are in agreeance that the impact of this law would hardly be worth the effort. John Shelk, vice president of the American Gaming Association, also stated It s not like Congress is going to pass a law that bans legal gambling, and students across the country will say, ‘Oh my God, I can t gamble anymore because it s illegal. Sen. McCain, co-author of last year s Senate bi ll, had countered his opinion to ESPN.com by saying, I don t think we have to choose between enforcing existing laws on illegal gambling and closing the loophole on legal gambling. McCain added, we can do both. McCain and others claim that eliminating legalized gambling in Nevada would be an essential first step on stopping the college sports gambling. Critics disagree. They believe that the attempt to chip away at illegal sports gambling isn t a logical first step, at all. The fact of the college sports gambling, is that there is too much publicity, popularity, and money surrounding this particular gambling sport. In the beginning there was a problem with popularity. From 1951-1974, there was a 10% excise tax levied by the Federal Government on the amount of sports wagers. The tax made the business unprofitable since the profit margin was generally 5%Show MoreRelatedGambling in Intercollegiate Athletics: The Perception, Reality, and Consequences1121 Words   |  5 PagesGambling can be found in places such as casinos, local stores, and online. Over the years, gambling has found more homes. College campuses and college sports are among the various places in which gambling is taking place. College students and more specifically student-athletes are engaging in gambling for various reasons. According to (Huang, Jacobs, Derevensky, Gupta, Paskus, 2007)â€Å"the top 3 reported reasons for student- athlete gambling were â€Å"for fun† (75.6%), â€Å"to win money† (53%), and â€Å"forRead MoreEffects Of Gambling On College Students861 Words   |  4 Pages Gambling is the activity or practice of playing a game of chance for money or other stakes. Activities that are considered gambling are betting on sports and races, lotteries, card games like blackjack and poker, and casino games like slots and roulette. Bingo and raffles are technically gambling, but there are no major concerns about them, so they are not included here. Though gambling is legal within many states, it is does not make it right for people to engage in such activitiesRead MoreEffects Of Gambling On College Students861 Words   |  4 PagesGambling is the activity or practice of playing a game of chance for money or other stakes. Activities that are considered gambling are betting on sports and races, lotteries, card games like blackjack and poker, and casino games like slots and roulette. Bingo and raffles are technically gambling, but there are no major concerns about them, so they are not included here. Though gambling is legal within many states, it is does not make it right for people to engage in such activities. This is especiallyRead MoreGambling and Sports1027 Words   |  5 PagesShould Sports Gambling Be Legalized? Gambling is a common practice throughout human history, one that appeals to the individual’s desire for gain and offers the thrill of risk or uncertainty. Sports gambling is the â€Å"wagering of money or other items of value on the outcome of a sporting event, dependent either wholly or in part on chance† (Thompson, 2008, p. 1). Sports gambling generates billions of dollars annually, with large events like the Super Bowl or World Series alone able toRead MoreImpact of Gambling on Athletes and Coaches905 Words   |  4 Pagesï » ¿Gambling has an adverse impact on the individual athletes or coachs integrity. Reputation diminishes, and the athlete becomes better known for participation in gambling activities than for athletic feats and career accomplishments. Gambling scandals can ruin careers, and permanently mar the individuals ability to participate in the sport again. As Finley, Finley Fountain (n.d.). point out, gambling also has the potential to ruin the integrity of the entire team, league, or whole sport. EnsuringRead MoreBenefits Of Gambling Among College Students1147 Words   |  5 PagesGambling Among College Students Gambling is risking money or something of value on uncertain events driven by chance. Most people see gambling as just another form of fun. Gambling often becomes a sensitive issue for the gambler and their family. This is especially important to consider, since the practice of gambling among college students is constantly growing with the rise of internet-based gambling.Though gambling is legal in many states, it does not make it right for people to engage in suchRead MoreThe American Gaming Association ( Aga )1465 Words   |  6 Pageslegal betting on sports can take place. Delaware and New Jersey have taken steps towards legalizing sport betting; however, many are against the legalization. Although some may argue that legalizing sport betting in all states will be beneficial to the economy, sport betting shouldn’t be legalized because it can lead to harmful addictions, criminal activity, and affects the integrity of sports in a negative way. Sport betting has been a part of many scandals in American sports. Athletes, coachesRead MoreEssay on Harmful Effects of Legalized Gambling1644 Words   |  7 PagesEffects of Legalized Gambling Gambling is prominent in todays society. This can be seen especially through politics. Everywhere voters are electing people to office who are pro gambling. William Thompson of the University of Nevada (1994) describes politicians by stating, Its part of the American landscape, theyll trade morality for dollars (1). In North and South Carolina, for example, the last governor election showed that the people were for legal gambling by voting in governorsRead More Gambling Essay1614 Words   |  7 Pages Gambling, while it lowers taxes and creates jobs, it also causes addicts to lose money and therefore creates a higher crime rate.A Quick History of Gambling.Gambling was a popular pastime in North America long before there was ever a United States. Playing cards and dice were brought over by both the British and the Dutch. By the end of the 17th century, just about every countryseat in colonial America had a lottery wheel. Cockfighting flourished thoughout the countries, espec ially in the SouthRead MoreEssay Cheating in Sports1397 Words   |  6 PagesCheating in Sports Sports are governed by sets of rules or customs and often, competition. Sports have always been a way to connect us to our past and to build optimism about the future. Sport’s a way to bond the people despite differences in race, age and gender. However, today the game that is supposed to teach character, discipline and team work is teaching cheating. And in today’s world, with fame, endorsement, drugs and so much to gain, it is not surprising that athletes are cheating in