Classics Retold

The girl who refused to disclose her name to Gabriel Oak soon made appreciable inroads upon the emotional constitution of young farmer. His dog waited for his meal. He waited for the presence of the unknown girl. The resemblance struck him immediately, and he felt it lowering, and hesitated to look at the dog. However he continued to watch through the hedge for her regular coming, and thus his sentiments towards her were deepened without any corresponding effect upon her. By making enquiries he found that the girl's name was Bathsheba Everdene, and that the cow would go dry in seven days. He dreaded the eighth day. The eighth day came. The cow had ceased to give milk, and Bathsheba Everdene no more came up the hill. Gabriel had reached a pitch of existence he never could have anticipated before. He liked saying Bathsheba as a private enjoyment instead of whistling, turned over his taste to black hair, though he liked brown ever since he was a boy, isolated himself from public space...

Zoskales was a petty king mentioned in Periplus Maris Eritraea. And paragraph Five does not mention any ports, but the availablity of Obsedian, a volcanic glass used as sharp cutting tool. It is also used in jewellery. In paragraph Six a market is described where clothes for Barbaroi and articles from Arsinoe and Diospolis, and Roman money for resident foreigners were available. It was a local market for local people but there were foreign merchants from Arsinoe and Diospolis, Egyptian cities under Greek influence. Monache means cotton clothes worn by ascetic women; single threaded fine woven cloth. Sagmatogene  is a compound word of two Greek elements: Sagma meaning packsaddle, covering or stuffing. "gene" is a suffix indicating the origin. So, sagmatogene means packsaddle made of heavier or more durable stuff. Kaunakai refers to thick shaggy cloth or tufted woolen garments characterised by fringe or petal-like structure. Men often wear it as girdle around waist. Women ofte...

Madras Education Code of 1868 was a revised set of rules and a new scheme of payments adopted by the government of Madras Presidency to administer educational grants in aid and encourage the spread of modern education especially among non-Brahmin and lower castes.  Key Aspects of 1868 Code • Revised Grant-in-aid System: The government revised its system for providing financial assistance (grants) to private schools. This was a follow up to the principles established by the Wood's Speech of 1854, which encouraged the creation of private schools with grants- in -aid. • Promotion of education for lower castes. It was a catalyst for the wider spread of education among the non-Brahmin castes and the depressed castes. • Incentive for publication in Indian languages. Rules were formulated for the award of prizes for the encouragement of the publication of works on modern subjects in Indian languages. • Administrative Framework: The code served as a comprehensive set of regulations for the...

The sluggish day began to break. The incident of the night attracted Gabriel Oak again to the plantation. Lingering and musing here and there, he heard the steps of a horse at the foot of the hill, and soon there appeared in view a pony of reddish brown colour with a girl on its back, ascending by the path leading past the cattle-shed. She was the young woman of the night before. Gabriel instantly thought of her hat. Possibly she had come to look for it. He hastily scanned the ditch, and after walking about ten yards along it found the hat among the leaves. Gabriel took it and returned to his hut. Here he settled comfortably and peeped through the slit in the wall of the hut, in the direction of the rider's approach. She came up and looked around, and then on the other side of the hedge. Gabriel was about to advance and restore the hat, but the unexpected occurrence of a particular incident induced him to suspend the action. The path after passing the cowshed, bisected the plantati...

Chapter Two: NIGHT - THE FLOCK - AN INTERIOR - AN EXTERIOR  St Thomas's Eve. [1] The shortest day in the year. A desolating wind wandered from the north over the hill whereon Oak watched the yellow coloured waggon and its occupant in the sunshine  a few days ago. Norcombe Hill - not far from lonely Toller Down was one of the spots which suggest to a passerby that he is in the presence of a shape approaching the indestructible as nearly as any to be found on the earth. It was a featureless convexity of chalk and soil. The area is known for chalk mining. The chalk hills are covered on the northern side by decaying plantation of beeches. The dry leaves fallen in the ditch simmered and boiled in the same weather, a tongue of air occasionally ferreting out a few, and sending them spinning across the grass. Two or three leaves, though dead, remained on the twigs, now falling, rattled against the trunks with smart taps. Between this half wooded and half naked hill and vague horizon, ...

On November 17, 2025 our Prime Minister addressing an audience, accused them of displaying "a mentality that seeks to enslave people because of their exposure to Western education." The villain was Lord Macaulay or Thomas Babington Macaulay and his infamous 1835 Minute of Education. Lord Macaulay aimed at building "a class of persons, Indian in blood and colour, but English in taste, in opinions, in morals and intellect." The audience of Modi were fully westernised in dress and language. And Lord Macaulay never intended to enslave the people of India. And the parents of modern day India are running after English medium schools to enroll their kids. Native Indians from the time of Rajaram Mohan Roy insisted that education policy of East India Company be radically changed to give Indians the fruits of western learning through education in English.  Our knowledge of avionics was limited to Pushpak Viman in the epics. And our knowledge of organ transplantation was limit...

              Wessex Novels Wessex is a literary landscape conceived by Thomas Hardy. The concept is connected with historical Anglo Saxon Kingdom of Wessex. It covered much of the southern and southwestern England including Hampshire, Hiltshire, Dorset, Somerset, and parts of Devon and Berkshire. Anglo Saxon Kingdom played a major role in the unification of England under King Alfred and his descendants. In the beginning, Hardy's Wessex was Dorset, a small area in which he grew up. By the time he wrote Jude the obscure it was extended to whole of Dorset, Wiltshire, Somerset, Devon, Hampshire, much of Berkshire, and some of Oxfordshire, with its most northeasterly point being Oxford. Far From The Madding Crowd was first published in 1874.   Chapter One When farmer Oak smiled, the corners of his mouth spread upto his ears. His eyes were reduced to slits, and diverging wrinkles appeared round them, spreading upon his countenance like rays in a ...