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 and now works at the Government College Kasaragod. This website is a collection of lecture notes she prepared by referring to various sources for her students’ perusal.
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...
Passive Voice in Action
Active sentences are about what people (or things) do, while passive sentences are about what happens to people (or things). In academic writing, it is generally preferred to choose an active verb and...