Devika Panikar
δάσκαλος (dáskalos) means the teacher in Greek. Devika Panikar has been teaching English Language and Literature since 2006. She is an Assistant Professor with the Directorate of Collegiate Education under the Government of Kerala. She teaches at the Government Colleges under this directorate and is now posted at the Government Law College, Thiruvananthapuram. This website is a collection of lecture notes she prepared by referencing various sources for her students’ perusal. It has been compiled here for the sake of future generations.
Direct to Indirect
Direct speech is exactly what it sounds like -text that reports the exact thoughts expressed by a person in their original form. It is often enclosed in quotation marks so that the reader understands ...
Mystery Plays
Mystery plays are religious performances based on Biblical stories, such as the Fall of Adam and Eve and the Last Judgement. They were originally performed in churches and then moved out into public s...
Conjunction
A conjunction is a part of speech that is used to connect words, phrases, clauses, or sentences. They can be one word or a few words. They glue words, phrases and clauses together and are made to conv...
Hayavadana
Hayavadana, the play by Girish Karnad, tells the story of two friends who are in love with the same woman and who accidentally swap heads. A comedy ending in tragedy, the narrative also tells the stor...
Types of Phrases
A phrase is one or more words that form a meaningful grammatical unit within a clause. A clause contains a subject and a predicate and in many cases, can be a sentence on its own. In contrast, a phras...
The Kitemaker
Ruskin Bond’s story The Kitemaker presents the differences between the past and present in rural India primarily through the nostalgic recollections of an elderly man. The past differs considerably fr...
Father’s Help
Father's Help is one of R K Narayan's most popular short stories from his famous collection Malgudi Days. In this story, he presents a young boy, Swaminathan who is unwilling to go to school but is fo...
Pather Panchali -Romantic and Realistic
In a folk narrative of any culture, there are always both romantic and realistic elements. Generally, the description is romantic with realism lurking within it. Thus, Pather Panchali by Bibhutibhusha...