Topic Of The Day:-“When Brecht Speaks As Ambedkar”

Citing Literary Sources, Turning To Parables, Prose, Plays, Poetry Is The Wherewithal Of Political Discourse

Policemen and policewomen are not mindless digits in khaki. They have all been to school. Many of them are MAs, some PhDs. And they have families, friends just like anyone else who has not been clad in hide-tough uniforms the whole day. When at end of duty hours they return home, get back to home-clothes, settle down to a tired day’s evening, like anyone else, they talk of all they went through during the day, good and bad, honest and wicked, how they had to respond to political orders, ‘high’ influence, low intrigue. They laugh then at the ways of the cunning world of which they have become part, and feel sometimes proud of what they did and sometimes not. And then turn on their television sets to watch not news — of which they have had enough and more — but, to lighten their minds, old and new cinema, hear Lata Mangeshkar singing through the lips of Meena Kumari, or Asha Bhosle through those of Madhubala. In States like West Bengal and Maharashtra, with their strong traditions of theatre and musical arts, they can well go to see a play, ‘with family’, based on old epics or written by bold new playwrights staged in theatre-houses invariably named after Tagore, in his grey-flowing beard or the great Chhatrapati Shivaji in his sharp-pointed black one.

MEANINGS AND WORDS

1) CLAD

Meaning : clothed.

Tamil Meaning : உடையில்

Synonyms : arrayed , attired

Antonyms : exposed

Example : “they were clad in T-shirts and shorts”

2) wicked

Meaning : evil or morally wrong.

Tamil Meaning : பொல்லாத

Synonyms : impish , nasty

Antonyms : behaved

Example : “a wicked and unscrupulous politician”

3) intrigue

Meaning : arouse the curiosity or interest of; fascinate.

Tamil Meaning : சூழ்ச்சி

Synonyms : conspiracy , fraud

Antonyms : honesty

Example : “I was intrigued by your question”

4) epics

Meaning : an exceptionally long and arduous task or activity.

Tamil Meaning : இதிகாசங்கள்

Synonyms : legend , tale

Antonyms : short story

Example : “the business of getting hospital treatment soon became an epic”

5) beard

Meaning : boldly confront or challenge (someone formidable).

Tamil Meaning : துணிச்சலான

Synonyms : imperial

Antonyms : fear

Example : “he was afraid to beard the sultan himself”