Applied Health Prospective Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Applied Health Prospective - Essay Example 94). In effect, commoditization is about making money or profit off of body parts, organs, and tissues for organ transplantation or, in some instances, for research. It is about treating body parts as if they were commodities separate from the human body. The statistical figures which relate to the commoditization of human life, especially on organs trade are not complete because the trade is considered illegal and unethical in all territories. Nevertheless, in order to give a general picture of this issue, the World Health Organization estimates that about 50,000 kidney transplants are carried out each year and about 15,000 of these transplants are live donors (GTZ, 2004, p. 11). Some of these transplants would come from relatives, and the rest would be from unrelated donors. These unrelated donors are the cause for concern in the commoditization of human organs because some are illegal transactions. Thousands of illegal transplants seem to be occurring with each year in different c ountries like Japan, Italy, the US, India, Pakistan, Turkey, Peru, and South Africa (GTZ, 2004, p. 11). One of the concerns in the organs trade is that the sellers are often coerced by creditors or by their poor stations in life to sell their organs. However, studies have revealed that organ sellers actually receive less than what their body parts are actually worth. Surrogacy, when carried through proper channels, is not as controversial as commercial surrogacy especially when the act of carrying a child is not done as a gestational carrier, but done with one’s own egg. This practice seems to be growing especially with the access to developing nations now easily available. Once again, no actual statistics seem to be available for commercial surrogacy; however, estimates indicate that this practice has doubled in the last few years (Gathia, 2008). India is one of the nations highly involved in commercial surrogacy with clients mostly coming from western developed nations. Thi s is the current scenario in the commoditization of human life and body parts. The acts of donating organs or of surrogacy are normally viable medical options; however, when these acts are now done with price tags, the human body then becomes a product or a commodity. This paper shall now discuss in more specific details the different activities involved in the commoditization of human life. It shall also consider the impact of such activities, the ethical aspects of such activities, including the positive, the negative, and the alternate views on the commoditization of human life. Body Common practices in the commoditization of human life, tissues, and body parts The most common practices in the commoditization of human life involve the following: organ selling, commercial surrogacy, and human experimentation. In some circles, stem cell research is considered a part of the commoditization of human life; however, since this practice is not yet widespread, it shall not be included as yet in this discussion. Organ selling involves the act of acquiring organs for a price. Most common are kidney organ sales from developing nations with buyers coming from wealthy developed nations (Rohter, 2004, p. 2). This practice has been criticized for its ethical and physiological impact on sellers who are often taken advantage by rich clients and by middlemen, the latter transacting in the buyer’s behalf and in the process, profiting from such sale. This practice is illegal in

Unit 208 Accident Leaflet Essay Example for Free

Unit 208 Accident Leaflet Essay ACCIDENTSAll accidents and injuries must be reported to reception where an accident form can be filled in and depending on severity of injury reported to HSEWhen an accident occurs report to teacher whom can then get a first aider depending on the injury. A severe injury must be reported to the head after ringing 999. General cuts and abrasions can be cleaned with water. Bumps and knocks to the head can be monitored for concussion. Whatever the situation stay calm so distress is not caused to others. Inform parents or carers or next of kin. | ILLNESSReport illness to the tutor, so relevant people can be informed such as carers or parents. Monitor studentsDo they look pale, flushed, have a rash, are they lethargic, quiet or more irritable than normal. ILLNESS OUT OF COLLEGEStudents are asked to ring in and let college staff know they are ill and not attending lessons, so tutors are aware01924 303332| EMERGENCY RESPONSEWHAT TO DO IN AN EMERGENCY| FIRESKnow your fire drillLeave your classroom and head to nearest fire exit. (These are marked on the floor plan of the college, attached. )Make sure all learners leave quickly and orderly. Leave all personal belongings behind. Check toilets and classrooms for any remaining learners. Go to your designated assembly point and await the register. Make sure everyone is okIn the event of a fire raise the alarm do not attempt to extinguish fireRing the fire bell and ring 999| ABUSEIf abuse is suspected or a discloser reportedACTInform your tutor or designated officerAnne-Marie-Spencer01924 303332OUT OF OFFICE HOURSPlease contact Social Care Direct for advice08458503503(24hr)See attached sheet| MISSING LEARNERIf a student is feared missing, firstly inform the class tutor. Try phoning the studentThen do a search of the building and grounds. If they cannot be found then the police and college coordinators should be informed. Next the parents or carers of the student. SECURITYAll visitors must sign inAt the beginning of each class a register should be taken. If an unknown person is in the building report them immediately to reception staff. Any suspicious bags or packages to be reported to reception. |

A Look At Repression English Literature Essay

A Look At Repression English Literature Essay Ladies Coupe: A novel in parts narrates the tale of six women who meet purely by chance on a short train journey. It traces the lives of the six women as they travel in the ladies compartment. The stories they relate help the protagonists Akhilandeswari to find resolutions for the tormenting questions that taunt her and enable her to establish her true identity. The other five women belong to different age groups and classes of the society. Their individual struggle against the myriad repressive forces instills in Akhila a sense of courage and clarity in action. The repressive forces in their multiple manifestations as patriarchal attitudes, sexual politics and sexual stereotyping impose a restriction on womens individuality and leads to their marginalization which is effectuated by traditional and cultural institutions. Feminist perspective as a woman centered theory provides strategies for change. As such the feminist principle is an uncompromising pledge and an antidote to all types of exploitation and repression of women. The fundamental goal of feminist perspective, according to Maggie Humm, is à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦to understand womens oppression in terms of race, gender, class and sexual preference and how to change it. (Maggie, x) The personality of woman has been sought to be damaged and distorted and her very status as human being has brought down under the overwhelming male domination. Thus, a woman who protests against her depersonalization and annihilation and who walks out of home to live and to be human are made aware of the futility of her actions. Clearly, the forces of cultural and social inculcations are too strong to be completely overcome. We find the Indian women being torn between individual desires and societal expectations. In the tradition bound society like our Indian society, it is no wonder that writers like Anita Nair has reflected such types of repression in her novels. The problem of repression faced by women varies according to their social, cultural and economic status. The tradition bound Indian society considered the very birth of girls a curse and rearing a girl child is more expensive and risky than a male child, so people dreaded the very birth of girls. The girls have to undergo a lot of difficulties in this chauvinistic society, after their difficult entry into this world. Discrimination was shown even in education. People firmly believe that a girls place is only at home, so they were reluctant to give her education. Even when she was educated, she was trained only in domestic traits. This is because a girl is viewed only as wife and a mother. Therefore, the one and only idea instituted in her mind, right from her birth was to please the male. This becomes the soul purpose of her life. So, even right from her birth the repressive problems are faced by women. In Ladies Coupe, Anita Nair delineates various women characters and provides a macro picture of womens society. Janaki got married at the age of eighteen. As a girl of eighteen, she is not matured enough to know the meaning of marriage and what to expect of marriage. Janaki accommodates her body and mind to marriage and what it had to offer her in life. She did not live for her own self; she lived for her husband. Janaki didnt know what to expect of marriage. All through her girlhood, marriage was a destination she was being groomed for. She wasnt expected to know what it really meant to be married, and neither was she curious about it. It would come to her as it had to her mother. (LC 25) As a wife in the patriarchal society, Janaki finds her husband a loving and protecting one in the initial of her life. She is not matured enough to understand her suppressed condition in the patriarchal society. She remembers the words of her mother, He is your husband and you must accept whatever he does (LC 25). They have a son and daughter-in-law. They were branded as the golden couple and were exemplary perfect parents. As she got married at a very early age, she doesnt even know that she is suppressed in the bond of marriage. Only at the age of forty-five, she realized that all her desires are oppressed. But, Janaki resents her husbands overbearing nature over their son and revolts against it. She questions his right to control their son and slowly she begins to hate her husbands actions. Janaki could not unlearn what patriarchy had instituted in her. Even the initial revulsion of the physical act in the beginning of her married life, turns into an acceptance of the à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã ‚ ¦ pleasures hidden in rituals of togethernessà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ (26). She is confined in the bondage of a wife, mother and most importantly the woman that patriarchy has moulded into her. Marriage life is the next stage of repression. After marriage, a girl becomes a woman and she has various roles to perform. She has to play the roles of a daughter in law, wife, mother and mother in law. Of all the roles mentioned here, the most difficult roles are a woman as daughter-in- law and wife. They could never come out of tradition. The inborn feminine traits of the traditional never allowed them to mould away from tradition. They never opposed or questioned their men folk. Instead, they suppress all their emotions and desires and are being controlled by the repressive forces. Janaki, an elderly and wise woman, comes out with a meaning of life that all women are prone to: I am a woman who has always been looked after. First there was my father and my brothers; then my husband. When my husband is gone, there will be my son, waiting to take from where his father let off. Women like me end up being fragile. Our men treat us like princesses. And because of that we look down upon women who are strong and who can cope by themselves. I believe in that old clichà © that a home was a womans kingdom. I worked hard to preserve mineà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ and then suddenly one day it didnt matter anymore. My home ceased to interest me, none of the beliefs I had built my life around had any meaning. I thought if I were to lose it all, I would cope. If I ever became alone I would manage perfectly. I was confident about that. I think I was tired of being this fragile creatureà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Now I know that even if I can cope it wouldnt be the same if he wasnt there with me. (22-23) Evelyn Cunningham says that the women are the only oppressed group in our society that lives in intimate association with their oppressors. They even felt glorified in their sufferings, and if any women had rebellious attitude, the people around them curbed that in the beginning itself. Women were brainwashed right from their birth to be polite, submissive and obedient. She was expected to be chaste and faithful even when her husband was unfaithful. It is not only these illiterate home birds who were afraid to rebel against tyranny and exploitations but even the educated house wives stuck firmly to the traditional role. Such women inspite of their education considered suffering in their husbands place was far better than leading a lonely life. Margaret Shanthi, is one of the important characters in the novel Ladies Coupe novel. She is a chemistry teacher by profession is married to Ebenezer Paulraj, the principal of the school she worked in. He was a pompous self-opinionated individual who successfully destroyed Margarets self-confidence by bullying her always and then treating her as a house keeper and a cook. She goes through many physical, mental and spiritual crises. Their marriage had a fairy tale like charm initially which slowly disintegrates when Margaret begins to see the true nature of Ebe. He loved her but she dare have no individuality. Margaret initially is the little girl who says yes to whatever he says and is out to please him always. Margarets husband wanted her to become a docile wife. This is the life of the women to look after her home, her husband and her children and give them food she has cooked with her own hands (LC 40). She leads a life of obscurity in some corner of the house all the time pretend ing to be satisfied and happy. As Kamala Das says in her poem The Suicide, But I must pose I must pretend I must act the role of a happy woman Happy wife. (227) She is forced to pursue B.Ed though her real interest is to do Ph.D. Ebe insists and forces her to abort their first child which ultimately is the last straw for Margaret. She sees through his dual nature of pretentious politeness and inner cruelty. His ridiculous theories, derisive contempt of her way of house keeping and cooking and collection of defacing books with ugly drawings only intensifies Margarets hatred. She hates her husband whom she once adorned and worshipped because her dreams were broken and she comes crashing down to reality, when she is forced to abort her first pregnancy. Gnawed by indecision, guilt and pain, she allows herself to be coerced into it. She sees another side of her husband when after her abortion, a week later, he says: I love it when you call me Ebeà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ I like you like thisà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ unstained and cleanà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ I never want you to change. I want you to remain like this all your life (LC 111). Whenever she tried to share her fe elings with her mother she is advised in turn: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦and like I have said many times before, it is a womans responsibility to keep the marriage happy. Men have so many pre occupations that they might not have the time or inclination to keep the wheels of a marriage oiled (112). Ebe became more and more over bearing after he becomes the principle of a school. He begins to nag her and find fault in her house keeping and cooking. She begins to hate him. Margarets family cannot accept the idea of a divorce and though she feels stifled in her marriage she continues living with Ebe. Her only consolation is food and she puts on weight. His dual nature, artificial politeness and warmth and inner cruelty; his ego, his defacing books with ugly drawings, his various theories and his constant derisive contempt of her, make her suffer intensely. I, Margaret Shanthi did it with the sole desire for revenge. To erode his self-esteem and shake the very foundations of his being. To rid this world of a creature who if allowed to remain the way he was, slim, lithe and arrogant, would continue to harvest sorrow with a single-minded joy. (LC 96) Repeatedly discouraged by her mother and the fear of the stigma of divorce, she stops short of openly asking questions that torment her mind and soul: What about me? Dont I  have a  right to  have any  expectations  of him?  Dont I work as hard as he  does and more because I run the house as well (112). Liberation is meaningful, if we do not confine women within the bonds of family. The marriage makes women submissive. This is one of the main repressive forces that every woman in the society is facing. Margaret Shanti is a good example of how women are repressed upon by male power. The powerlessness is like the colonized who fail to see and appreciate their true worth. Societal expectations far outweigh personal needs and so Shanti negates herself again and again. From an ambitious and brilliant student who wants to chart out a career on her own, she becomes a dutiful wife to Ebenezer who rouses fear in everyone around him. She silences her aspirations in order to be what Ebenezer wants her to be. She decided to become a teacher instead of working on her decorate. She cut her hair short. She stopped going to church every Sunday, eating bhelpuri outside and finally agrees to abort her child though she knows that her religion forbids it. As usual, he takes the decisions and I (Shanti) let his voice smooth away my fears. He was Ebe. My Ebe. He was right. He was always right (LC 109). Shashi Deshpande, in her novel The Dark Holds No Terror, defines the lopsided gender equation within the context of urban marital relationships. A wife must always be a few feet behind her husband. If he is an M.A., you should be a B.Aà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Womens magazines will tell you that marriage should be an equal partnership. Thats nonsense. Rubbish. No partnership can ever be equal. It will always be unequal, but take care that its unequal in favor of your husband. (The Dark Holds No Terror 85) The belief that existed in the past and continued to be fresh in the minds of the people was that the man should be the bread winner and woman the home maker in the family. It was the husband who slogs way at job or business, to give the family a decent way of living, fully confident that the wife at home would efficiently manage the house, also look after his parents and children, awaiting his return for a conjugal round of dinner. In the present day, the situation becomes different. Women now demand more space, the rights and freedom because they want to come out of the repressive forces. They are not ready to be submissive and meek as their mothers. The problem of violence against women is not new. Women in the context of Indian society have been victims of repression, torture, humiliation and exploitation. All were merely trying to seek fulfillment by playing the role of a devoted wife and a caring mother. Friedan writes, For a woman, as for a man the need for self-fulfillment autonomy, self-realization, independence, individuality, self-actualization is as important as the sexual need, with as serious consequences when it is thwarted. Womens sexual problems are, in this sense, by-products of the suppression of her basic need to grow and fulfill her potentialities as human being, potentialities which the mystique of feminism fulfillment ignores. (282) Nairs women suffer from a system of sex role stereotyping and repression that exist under patriarchal social organizations. Of course, patriarchy, in its different forms, has tried in many ways to repress, debase and humiliate women especially through the images represented in cultural and traditional forms. She is supposed only to listen, not to speak; only to suffer, not to shriek (42). In Ladies Coupe, Marikolanthu is the last one to narrate her story. She is a young girl and uneducated who is poorly dressed and lives in a tamed and controlled environment. She lives in a noisy psycho-social group and she is stressed by it. Hans Seyle, an endocrinologist says that stress is the rate of wear and tear in the body. Her mother works as a cook at the Chettiar household. Her mother stopped her schoolings and allowed only her sons to go for school. Marikolanthu was repeatedly warned by her mother  because she was easily impressed by people: you give your heart too easily,  child.  They will break it  into thousand  pieces  and leave it on the ground for others to trample into dust (LC  216).  On such occasions  she had  always  teased  her  mother asking her if the heart was a glass bangle (LC  216). But her experience results in her realization of the value of her  mothers  words.  She  says, But you know what, the heart is a glass bangle. One careless moment and it is shattered. We know that, yet we continue to wear glass bangles. Each time they break, we buy new ones hoping that these will last longer than the others did. How silly we women are. We should wear bangles made of granite and turn hearts into the same. When the girls are trained in the domestic affairs, the boys are expected to keep away from the domestic traits. Much discrimination are shown in the upbringing of boys and girls. In a male chauvinistic society like India, boys are given a long rope, while the girls are confined at home. Even the girls themselves never minded such discriminations. On the contrary they are well contended with their role. Later Marikolanthu is employed as a domestic helper and also she has to look after Sujata akkas son. She adores that kid but hates her own son Muthu who is born after a rape encounter with Murugesan so she resents the birth of her unwanted son. Her life revolves around the Chettiar household. She looks after the households and in the afternoons, she willingly obeys whenever Sujatha akka needs her for her physical fulfillment and whenever the master needs her for the same. When Sujatha akka learns about her husbands affair, she rejects Marikolanthu and throws her out of the house. Marikolanthu leaves Kanchepuram and before that she mortgages her son Muthu for rupees five thousand at her rapist Murugesans looms. Later, there is a change in her heart when she sees her son lighting the pyre of the dead Murugesan. She decides to take care of her son Muthu. Marikolanthu has to face the strains of life herself. She is a victim of repression, a virtual slave, the victim of men, of casteism and of innumerable social injustices. It is that gender bias and oppression of women emerges as a powerful theme of the novel. She is being repressed by Murugesan. The device he uses to control her is rape. She feels defiled and corrupt. She evokes our sympathy when she says, In the distance, I heard the calls. Bogi! Bogi! The sparks would fly as the bonfire was set alight and the night would crackle with the sound of dried logs and twigs waking up. With my past, my future too had been torched alive. (LC 241) Marikolunthu suffers extreme repression social, familial and financial. It is ultimately love that brings her on the right track where she will find happiness and fulfillment. Her struggle has been one of hate for herself and accommodating with humiliating relationships thereafter. Her resolve to bring up her child shows her forming in to a new character. The words of  Marikolunthu could be quoted as an apt conclusion to the motif of the novel: Women are strong. Woman can do everything as well as men. Women can do much more. But a woman has to seek the vein of strength in herself. It does not show itself naturally. (LC 210) The female body becomes the site of violence in the case of the rape of Marikolanthu. Like the violence unleashed by the colonizer on the powerless colonized, she has to face physical repression and mental torture when left to fend for her. With his brute strength, Murugesan attacks her and she is left helpless. She is different from the other women in the coupe because her experiences are far more painful. The traditional image that a girl forms in her mind is to be submissive, committed, docile and tolerant so that she may prove herself an ideal woman not only for her husband but also for her father in law, mother in law and the other in laws. The Brahmin heroine, Akhila, whose life has been taken out of her control, is a spinster, daughter, sister, aunt and the only provider of her family after the death of her father. Getting fed up with these multiple roles, she decides to go on a train journey away from family and responsibilities, a journey that will ultimately make her a different woman. In the ladies coupe compartment, she meets five other women each of whom has a story to tell. The stories are all an attempt to answer Akhhilas problematic question. Can a woman stay single and be happy at the same time? Akhila asks such a question because she is being suppressed by all the members of her family. She has never been allowed to live her own life. She questions her family members, Why shouldnt I live alone? Im of able body and mind. I can look after myself. I earn reasonably well. Akhila paused when her voice chocked with tears, and asked me what my desires were or what my dreams are? Did anyone of you ever think of me as a woman? Someone who has needs and longings just like you do? (LC 206) The protagonist Akhila loses her father at a very young age and since then she has been shouldering the responsibility of the entire family. She served as a clerk in the income tax department. When Akhilas father died, the family responsibility falls on her fragile shoulders. The narrator elucidates: When Akhilas father died, two things happened: Sunday become just another day of the week and Akhila became the man of the family (LC 75). Manning the responsibility of the family begins to repress her desires. Even her mother does not care about her desires. They have never asked, What about you? Youve been the head of this family ever since Appa died. Dont you want a husband, children, a home of your own? (LC 77). Akhila wanted to lead her life with Hari who is younger than herself. But her desires have been repressed by the social norms. Akhila wished for once, someone would see her as a whole being. What Akhila most desired in the world was to be her own person; in a place that was her own. To do as she pleased. To live as she chose with neither restraint nor fear of censure (LC 201). Akhilas youthful days were spent bringing up her sister Padma and two brothers Narayan and Narsi. They are happily married and settled. She is seen as a bread winner and they continue to suppress her desires with their needs and demands. Akhila says Dont you think you should wait for your elder sister to get married before you think of a wife and a family? (LC 77). Her selfish siblings were concerned only about their own well-being. They married and moved on in life without even bothering to think about Akhilas future. Akhila has wasted away her precious youthful days and when she finally mustered the courage to make a difference in life; she was given a lot of advice by her siblings about the dangers of living alone as a spinster. Her sister Padma needed the financial support of Akhila to run the household. The brothers Narayan and Narsi were worried about society. Narsi its improper for a woman to live alone. What will society say? That your family has abandoned you. Besides, there will be a whole lot of questions that will pop up about your reputation. You know how people put two and two together and come up with six. Nalinis family will be scandalized if they hear about this. Have you thought of how embarrassing my position will be? (Ladies Coupe 205) Akhilas brother tried to smoothen her ruffled feathers. He said that he owed his life to his sister. But he too was worried about Akhilas decision to live alone. He said, How will you cope? This is not a reflection on who you are. How can any woman cope alone? (206). Thus a patriarchal society did not approve o a womans decision to live alone without the protection of the men of the house, even if they financially depended on the women. Akhila saw the irony of the situation and later developed the succor to overcome such tyrannical systems. Initially Akhila undertakes the journey to Kanyakumari as a form of escape. Akhila is placed in a situation of unfamiliarity and dislocation precisely because her struggle for identity should come out more clearly. What she hated most à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦was not having an identity of her own. She was always an extension of someone elses identity. Chandras daughter, Narayans Akka, Priyas auntà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ she wished for someone would see her as a whole being. Akhila undertakes this journey as a form of escape, a desire to go away alone, a sense of excitement of being able to do something all by herself, not having to take permission, of taking an independent decision. She moves on to see what has never been seen, go where she has never gone before. Akhilas journey begins with a sense of escape: the smell of a railway platform at night fills Akhila with a sense of escape (1). Always the daughter, the sister, the aunt or the provider, she had no time to actualize herself, until one day she bought for herself a one-day ticket to the seaside town of Kanyakumari. She is gloriously alone for the first time in her life and is determined to break free from all that her conservative Tamil Brahmin life had forced on her. Akhila had always dreamt of this à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦eyes looking ahead. Of leaving. Of running away. Of pulling out. Of escaping(1). Akhila has never done anything that she desired to, but only what she was expected to do. But now she has a strong desire to be free and want to experience the real happiness of freedom. She decides to go the lands end to make a new beginning of experiencing the real meaning of freedom. And we are introduced to Akhila as à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ that sort of a womanà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ (who) does what is expected of herà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦(1). In their minds Akhila has ceased to be a woman and had already metamorphosed into a spinster. Akhila is a woman who is throbbing with life, vitality and sexuality. All these are suppressed to cater to the needs of her family. Akhila understands that matrimony is a patriarchal practice which sanctions men power to overpower woman. All the women characters in Ladies Coupe have been affected in one way or other because of patriarchal system. It provides an insight into emotional challenges of each of the women overcame in their life. It is the emotional outburst of the deprived women that Akhila has tried to portray. Women hesitate to take decision on their own and they think marriage is the ultimate aim of their life and pleasing their husband is a main concern of women. In the due course, they failed to create identity of their own. The self abnegation of women goes unrecognized in a patriarchal society and this leads to the self abasement of womens importance in society. A woman in t he post independence era is aware of the discrimination she has to face, the sexual harassment and violence which she explores in the male dominated society. Nair discusses marital rape perpetrated by the modern Indian male in her novels. The restrictions prevalent in Indian family prevent the Indian girls from youthful love before marriage. Girls are generally not allowed to mix with boys during their adolescence. The girls feelings are not shown as they are rarely expressed in real life. It is common for all girls in the middle class to express their love or make decisions. As the girls are confined at home the most part of their pleasing others becomes their prime duty at home. Shashi Deshpande rightly judges that, everything in girls life, it seemed was shaped to that single purpose of pleasing a male (79). The novel Mistress discusses the sexual violence and the repressive power of Shyam in the marital relationship of Shyam and Radha. This novel revolves around the life of Radha, Shyam and their morbid marriage against the backdrop of the narratives of Radhas uncle Koman, who is a Kathakali exponent. Her unhappy situation in the ill matched marriage drives her into the arms of Chris, an American writer. The novel culminates in Radha finding her own voice and deciding to go against the repressive force of her husband. The most remarkable part of the novel is the characterization of Shyam, which is a perfect mould of a modern, educated, tech savvy Indian male who finds it hard to shed his traditional role as a man. Nair has given Shyam his own voice through his first person narrative and thereby taking the reader straight into his mind. Shyam is a twenty first century male through and through. He is extremely successful in his business, which is his undoing in a sense. He is never reluctant to turn any opportunity into a money making venture. His only failure perhaps is his inability to understand his wife and treat her as an individual who has a mind for her own. To him, Radha is another possession, which he is proud of, as he is of his business ventures. He often refers to her as My Radha (90) as if to affirm his ownership. Simone de Beauvoir speaks about this masculine trait in The Second Sex: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Subordinated economically and socially to her husband, the good wife is the mans most precious treasure. She belongs to him so profoundly that she partakes the same essence as he; she has his name, his gods, and he is responsible for her. He calls her his better half. He takes pride in his wife as he does in his house, his lands, his flocks, and his wealth and sometimes even more; through her he displays his power before the world; she is his measure and his earthly portion. (207) Shyams idea of marriage is to keep a pretty wife, indulge in her wishful fancies and make her dependent on him. He does not want an assertive woman as a wife. Radha and Shyam are incompatible in many ways and Radha feels suffocated by her marriage. She compares herself to the butterfly which can be taken as a good example of repression. His arms pins me to the bed. His bed. I think that for Shyam, I am a possession. A much cherished possession. That is my role in his life. He doesnt want an equal; what he wants is a mistress. Someone to indulge and someone to indulge him with feminine wilesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ I think of the butterfly I caught and pinned to a board when it was still alive, its wings spread so as to display the markings, oblivious that somewhere within, a little heart beat, yearning to fly. I am that butterfly now. (Mistress 87) Feminism voices the new womans demand to be treated as an equal human being, rather than a piece of furniture meant for the convenience of man. The repression of woman is expressed well in the novels of women writers in all its intensity. Shyam wanted to prove that he is the husband and he has complete right over his wifes body whether she welcomes the intrusion or not. Shyams perpetrate acts of sexual violence leaves a deep scar on Radha, where as, he is quite satisfied with what he has done without any remorse. He is blind in his pursuit and does not care for Radhas feelings. His only aim is to bring her under control by suppressing her desires and emotions. The key to happiness in marriage is the ability to endure and go on. But there are many marriages where women are dominated by their husbands and do not find freedom and space in their marital life. There is a new breed of women who is questioning the very institution of marriage and the double standards of judgment applied to women and men. Panduranga Rao rightly admires that, Given the limitations of tradition and its inhibitive influence one cannot but admire the guts of these women who have taken it upon themselves to question and question logically what comes to be accepted as a divine fiat in matters of man-woman relationship and related areas. (Ra0 75) For Shyam, Radha is his proud possession and the marriage between Shyam and Radha fails to be a marriage of minds or hearts. In place of an understanding and meaningful relationship that marriage can be, Shyam wants an unequal relationship that would make Radha his proud possession so the marriage between Shyam and Radha is not a marriage of minds or hearts. Radha has no expectations from the institutions of marriage. Shyam always does things to maintain his prestige. He says I am a survivor everyday and in every way. Im getting better and better (160). This attitude makes Radha uneasy. She is escorted everywhere and has little freedom to do anything on her own. All her desires and emotions were totally repressed. In her relationship with Shyam she feels, I think that for Shyam, I am a possession. A much cherished possession. That is my role in his life. He doesnt want an equal; what he wants is a mistress. Someone to indulge and someone to indulge him with feminine wiles. (Mistress 153) She is blamed always for being disorderly. She never arranged books in the shelf properly. There is a lack of meaningful communication between them which leads to a rift in their relationship. However, Shyam admires Radha in every way and loves her very much. Radha says Shyam likes to think of me prettying myself for him. He prefers a glossy, silly wife to a homely, practical one. Glossy, silly wives are malleable (Mistress 61). She is kept at home like a bird in the cage unable to exhibit her talents. When he prevents her from going to the match factory, a clash occurs again between them. Radha is also thwarted from taking tuitions in a primary school. Shyams domination over her prevents her from making a choice of her own. This kind of domination makes her feel suffocated and she asks him, Dont I have a right to a

The pathophysiology of a disease: COPD

The pathophysiology of a disease: COPD This assignment will discuss the pathophysiology of a disease process of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). It will also show how biological, psychological and the social aspects of the disease that can have an affect on an individuals day to day life. COPD stands for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. This is a term used for a number of conditions; including chronic bronchitis and emphysema. COPD leads to damaged airways in the lungs, causing them to become narrower and making it harder for air to get in and out of the lungs. The word chronic means that the problem is long-term. COPD is a condition which mainly affects people over the age of 40, and COPD has a higher prevalence occurring among women than men (NHS-Choices, 2008). COPD is also a condition that is long term and incurable that can have a serious affects on health and quality of life, its not fully understood why COPD develops. (Marieb, 2003). The student will also incorporate local and national health and social policies, including frameworks that are in place in relation to the patients illness. The student identified a patient named Mrs J. She was admitted to hospital due to exacerbation of COPD. Her primary diagnosis is Osteoarthritis of the Hip but also had symptoms of emphysema. Mrs J is a 55 year old women and is married, Mrs J also has an older child whom she has become quite dependant on and felt lik e she had impacted on her childs life and had become a hindrances. Mrs J has become more breathless as her condition develops over time and more so while she was lying in bed unable to carry out her daily activities such as doing the housework, leisure activities, also looking after her appearance as she normally would have done at home. COPD is becoming one of the fastest leading causes of disability (NHS choices, 2008). According to British Lung Foundation, (2010) a recent survey, 83% of COPD patients said their COPD slows them down, 79% said they had to cut down their activities and 56% said their condition has a great affect on their families. COPD is the most common respiratory conditions in adults in the developed world and poses an enormous burden to society both in terms of direct cost to the healthcare services and indirect costs to society through loss of productivity. Recent analysis estimated that National Health Service (NHS) spends  £818 million annually in the Unite d Kingdom (UK). (British Thoracic Society, 2006). However 50% of the cost is accounted for by poorly managed exacerbations resulting in frequent re-admissions to hospital (Coakley Ruston, 2001). Mrs J condition would of been triggered by her heavy smoking, the toxins from her cigarettes has made her bronchioles (airway and lungs) become inflamed and narrowing the airway, this will lead to irreversible damage to the respiratory system by obstructing the bronchial airflow and hindering gaseous exchange within the alveoli (Munden, J, 2007). Mrs J suffers from many symptoms due to her smoking these include shortness of breath, a persistent cough, yellowish green sputum, signs of cyanosis to her lips, also Mrs J has continued to smoke as she thinks the damage has already been done so her condition. The vast majority of COPD patients are smokers. By stopping smoking patients can slow the rate of decline in lung function and thus improve the patients prospects in terms of symptoms and survival. The National Institute of Clinical Excellence guidance on COPD states that All patients still smoking, regardless of age, should be encouraged to stop, and offered help to do so, at every opportunity. These deliver a small dose of medicine to the lungs, causing the airway muscles to open up. Bronchodilators are also effective in preventing over-expansion of the lungs. Short-acting beta2-agonists are the most commonly used short acting bronchodilaors for COPD. Their effects last for about 4 hours. Short-acting antichloinergics are also used as bronchodilators. Long-acting beta2-agonists are similar to the short-acting agonists described above but their effect lasts for 12 hours. Lomg-acting anti-cholinergics need only be taken once a day. The NICE guidance recommends that short-acting bronchodilators should be used for the initial treatment for breathlessness and exercise limitation and goes on to say that, if this isnt having an effect then the treatment should be intensified using eith er a long-acting bronchodilator or a combined therapy with a short acting beta2-agonist and a short-acting anticholinergic The respiratory system is the major part for gases exchange to take place, it allows takes the air that enters are bodies when we inhale and travels through the respiratory system, exchanging oxygen for carbon dioxide and expels carbon dioxide when we exhale (munden, J, 2007). In the NHS there is a tool to calculate the smoking load and the packs in a year this tool is called smoking pack tool, this was used to see the damage that Mrs J had caused by smoking for so many years. This is because the seriousness of the disease depends on how much and how long the individual has smoked for. Mrs J has been smoking now for 45 years and on a average day having up to 40 cigarettes a day and is not prepared to quit as she feels the damage is already done. Mrs J smokes for comfort and feels that its all for her pleasure, she has become very isolated, her chronic bronchitis makes her breathless when doing actives and is not able to do her daily activities therefore is becoming depressed. Do this having a huge impact on her mental and social parts of her life. Patients with COPD have traditionally been divided into pink puffers and blue bloaters based on their physiological response to abnormal blood gases. The former work hard to maintain a normal pO2 which is why they puff away. They tend to have a barrel-shaped, hyperinflated chest and breath through pursed lips. The latter are blue because of hypoxia and polycythaemia. They are often obese and have water retention. This is why they are bloated. The blue bloaters are dependent upon hypoxia for their respiratory drive and to give oxygen and deprive them of this will lead to signficant hypercapnia and acid base imbalance. Although this concept is widely taught and acknowledged academically, in clinical practice patients tend not to be clearly in one or the other of these two categories (NICE Clinical Guideline (2004) Patients like Mrs J with airflow limitation clinically they have become known as pink puffers and blue bloaters (Kleinschmidt, 2008). Mrs J falls under the term blue bloaters as she linked to chronic bronchitis due to cyanosis which is a blue tinge to the lips, which occurs from poor gas exchange. pink puffers has been linked to emphysema as the patients may be showing signs of weight loss, using their accessory muscles with pursed lips giving them a reddish complexion, they may also adopt the tripod sitting position (Kleinschmidt, 2008). Although these conditions separate the patient may present with slight variations of them both, however they do differentiate through their underlying process, signs and symptoms (Bellamy Booker, 2004). Airways and air sacs within the lungs are manly elastic, with the air we breath the lungs change shape with inhalation they expand and return to the normal shape after they have been stretched with air. Mucociliary clearance is an important primary innate defense mechanism that protects the lungs from deleterious effects of inhaled pollutants, allergens, and pathogens. Mucociliary dysfunction is a common feature of chronic airway diseases in humans. The mucociliary apparatus consists of three functional compartments, that is, the cilia, a protective mucus layer, and an airway surface liquid (ASL) layer, which work in concert to remove inhaled particles from the lung. The nose and nasal cavity are composed of ciliated columnar epithelium cells which contain goblet cells and cilia, the goblet cells are responsible for secreting mucus which is able to trap the finer particles from inspired air and the cilia which are fine hairs that can trap larger particles. The cilia carrys the particles by a sweeping motion this is swept to the mouth or nose where it can then be swallowed, coughed or sneezed out of the body in order to prevent these particles from entering the lungs (Munden, J, 2007). The two major sources of mucus secretion in the respiratory tract are the surface epithelial goblet cells and mucous cells. In lungs, goblet cells are present in the large bronchi, becoming increasingly thin toward the bronchioles. The submucosal glands are restricted to the large airways with their density decreasing with airway calibre. In chronic respiratory diseases, such as COPD and asthma, submucosal glands increase in size (hypertrophy), and the number of goblet cells is increased (hyperplasia), becoming more dense in the peripheral airways, via a phenotypic conversion of nongoblet epithelial cells (metaplasia) (Rogers, 1994;Jackson, 2001). The increased of goblet cells density to ciliated cells in the bronchioles, under the conditions of hypersecretion, this impairs clearance of mucus. Lung histology from patients affected by COPD and asthma also shows the presence of edema, which can further reduce airway caliber and compromise lung function. A marked airway infiltration of macrophages and granulocytes is also present, principally neutrophils in COPD and eosinophils in asthma (Postma and Kerstjens, 1998). In clinical studies, these inflammatory parameters have been shown to correlate with a reduction in lung function (FEV1) and an exaggerated bronchoconstriction [airway hyperreactivity (AHR)] to nonspecific stimuli (Postma and Kerstjens, 1998). Smoking has many effects on the airways. Inhaled smoke destroys the cilia that are important for moving mucus to the throat for swallowing. As a result, mucus accumulates in the bronchioles and irritates the sensitive tissues there, causing a cough. Coughing is vital as it is the only way smokers can remove mucus from their lungs and keep the airways clean (Rubin, 2002). This is characterised by the smokers cough. Constant coughing to clear the sputum has an effect on the smooth muscle of the bronchioles which becomes hypertrophied (enlarged or overgrown). This in turn causes more mucus glands to develop. The goblet cells are replaced within the small airways (bronchi) with Clara cells they are another form of secreting cell these are important they form ciliated cells and to help regenerate the bronchiolar epithelium, they produce hypophase component and a protease inhibitor these help protect the lungs by mopping up debris (Stokley et al, 2006).To accomplish gas exchange the lung has two components; airways and the alveoli. The airways are two branching tubular passages that allow air to move in and out of the lungs, the wider segments of the airways are called the trachea and the two bronchi going to the right and left lung. The smaller segments are called the bronchioles and at the end of the bronchioles are the alveoli which are thin walled sacs like a bunch of grapes; small blood vessels (capillaries) run in the walls of the alveoli this is where gas exchange between air and blood takes place. (Matterporth Matfin, 2009). Rogers, 1994;Jackson, 2001 Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, NICE Clinical Guideline (2004); Management of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in adults in primary and secondary care COPD. BMJ Clinical Evidence. www.clinicalevidence.com, accessed 10 June 2009 Textbook of Medical Physiology (10th edition) Guyton, A.C. and Hall, J.E. (2000) W.B. Saunders, Philadelphia; London. Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease; September 2005. Britton M; The burden of COPD in the U.K.: results from the Confronting COPD survey.; Respir Med.2003 Mar;97 Suppl C:S71-9. [abstract] Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, NICE Clinical Guideline (2004); Management of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in adults in primary and secondary care Lacasse Y, Goldstein R, Lasserson TJ, et al; Pulmonary rehabilitation for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2006 Oct 18;(4):CD003793. [abstract] Barr RG, Bourbeau J, Camargo CA, et al; Inhaled tiotropium for stable chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2005 Apr 18;(2):CD002876

Abolitionists: Their Ideology, and Their Relation with Lincoln and Poli

During the 19th century the religious revival led to a corresponding social reform that would transform the American Society. Reformers led various campaigns including a campaign to close all public places such as shops and taverns on Sundays. The religious revival also led to the Abolition movement, which aimed to eliminate slavery in America. During the time up until the Civil war abolitionists would try to influence both society and politics using ways some of which were similar to those of political parties. The relationship between abolitionists, their ideals and politics was key in reforming national policy related to slavery. Though President Lincoln was opposed to slavery he was not an abolitionist. However despite this Lincoln was strongly influenced by their ideas and they often made their way into his own writings. By agitating against slavery both in and out of politics they were able to change the opinion of a public that had previously rejected them. During the1830s abolitionism was anything but main stream, most abolitionists were either black or they were pious whites . Some of the first abolitionists (in both the United States and the Britian) were Quakers. They believed that God loved every human â€Å"regardless of colour, sex or station in life.† Due to this belief Quakers seemed likely to conclude that â€Å"Slavery,† as denounced by Benjamin Lay, â€Å"was the greatest sin against God’s will,† and that it should be abolished. Before the American Revolution, Quaker reformers such as John Woolman, Anthony Benezet and Benjamin Lay began to publish their views and bring up the issue of slavery at Quaker meetings. Even in the Southern states, where many Quakers owned slaves their actions led to an increased number of fr... ... being as inclusive as the abolitionist societies. Abolitionists had used all means they could access to send their antislavery message across the nation. They used traditional methods such as lectures and petitions, as well as the new technology of the steam press to print large numbers of pamphlets and newspapers, to inform the American public (Foner, 20). Works Cited Scott, Donald. â€Å"Evangelicalism as a Social Movement.† Divining America, TeacherServe ®. National Humanities Center, 1. Wyatt-Brown, Bertram. â€Å"American Abolitionism and Religion.† Divining America, TeacherServe ®. National Humanities Center. Foner, Eric. The Fiery Trial, Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc, 2011. Walters, Ronald G.. The Antislavery Appeal, American Abolitionism after 1830.Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press. 1976.

Anne Bradstreet and Her Feelings Toward Men Essays -- Bradstreet Poetr

Anne Bradstreet and Her Feelings Toward Men Growing up in the early 1600's was a tough time for many people, especially women. Women were very much discriminated against and made to fulfill the duties that were in the household and nothing else beyond that. Anne Bradstreet was a woman that grew up during this time as a Puritan. Puritans believed that humans could only achieve goodness if they worked hard, were self-disciplined, and constantly examining themselves to make sure that they were living their lives for God. Due to this way of looking at life, Anne Bradstreet had little time for writing her poetry. Being a mother of eight children and a devoted wife one would think that Bradstreet wasn't carrying out her duties to her family and God if she was busy writing poetry. Therefore if people knew that she was writing this poetry she would not want them to think less of her so she would write it in a happy and family oriented sense showing how devoted she was to her family through her poetry. That is why Bradstreet writes how she does in the poem To My Dear and Loving Husband. She writes as if to portray that she has a great relationship with her husband and God. Although from her other poem, Prologue, one can see that underneath she truly feels betrayed by the men in her life and by men in general. In the poem To My Dear and Loving Husband, Bradstreet is professing how wonderful her and her husband's marriage is. To My Dear and Loving Husband If ever two were one then surely we. If ever man were loved by wife, then thee; If ever wife was happy in a man, Compare with me, ye women, if you can. I prize thy love more than whole mines of gold Or all the riches that the East doth hold. My love is such that rivers can... ... in society. I don't think that she is necessarily fighting for equality here because that was unheard of back in the Puritan age, but she would appreciate a little respect and acknowledgment for her talents. Bradstreet is being viewed as a typical Puritan woman who would like to feel that she is useful for more then the average "household" woman status. Works Cited Bradstreet, Anne. "Prologue." The Tenth Muse Lately sprung up in America. Ed. I. Lancashire. London: Stephen Bowtell, 1650. 3-4. Bradstreet, Anne. "To My Dear and Loving Husband." The Columbia Anthology of American Poetry. Ed. Jay Parini. New York: Columbia UP, 1995. 28. Chapman, Wes. The Web of American Poetry Teaching Notes. Martin, Wendy. "An American Triptych." The Norton Poetry Workshop. Ed. James F. Knapp. Online. Accessed 9/25/01. www.wwnorton.com/introlit/poetry/abrad/critWM.htm.

Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal Chapter 22

Chapter 22 Tamil, as it turned out, was not a small town in southern India, but the whole southern peninsula, an area about five times the size of Israel, so looking for Melchior was akin to walking into Jerusalem on any given day and saying, â€Å"Hey, I'm looking for a Jewish guy, anyone seen him?† What we had going for us was that we knew Melchior's occupation, he was an ascetic holy man who lived a nearly solitary life somewhere along the coast and that he, like his brother Gaspar, had been the son of a prince. We found hundreds of different holy men, or yogis, most of them living in complete austerity in the forest or in caves, and usually they had twisted their bodies into some impossible posture. The first of these I saw was a yogi who lived in a lean-to on the side of a hill overlooking a small fishing village. He had his feet tucked behind his shoulders and his head seemed to be coming from the wrong end of his torso. â€Å"Josh, look! That guy is trying to lick his own balls! Just like Bartholomew, the village idiot. These are my people, Josh. These are my people. I have found home.† Well, I hadn't really found home. The guy was just performing some sort of spiritual discipline (that's what â€Å"yoga† means in Sanskrit: discipline) and he wouldn't teach me because my intentions weren't pure or some claptrap. And he wasn't Melchior. It took six months and the last of our money and we both saw our twenty-fifth birthdays before we found Melchior reclining in a shallow stone nook in a cliff over the ocean. Seagulls were nesting at his feet. He was a hairier version of his brother, which is to say he was slight, about sixty years old, and he wore a caste mark on his forehead. His hair and beard were long and white, shot with only a few stripes of black, and he had intense dark eyes that seemed to show no white at all. He wore only a loincloth and he was as thin as any of the Untouchables we had met in Kalighat. Joshua and I clung to the side of the cliff while the guru untied from the human knot he'd gotten himself into. It was a slow process and we pretended to look at the seagulls and enjoy the view so as not to embarrass the holy man by seeming impatient. When he finally achieved a posture that did not appear as if it had been caused by being run over by an ox cart, Joshua said, â€Å"We've come from Israel. We were six years with your brother Gaspar in the monastery. I am – â€Å" â€Å"I know who you are,† said Melchior. His voice was melodic, and every sentence he spoke seemed as if he were beginning to recite a poem. â€Å"I recognize you from when I first saw you in Bethlehem.† â€Å"You do?† â€Å"A man's self does not change, only his body. I see you grew out of the swaddling clothes.† â€Å"Yes, some time ago.† â€Å"Not sleeping in that manger anymore?† â€Å"No.† â€Å"Some days I could go for a nice manger, some straw, maybe a blanket. Not that I need any of those luxuries, nor does anyone who is on the spiritual path, but still.† â€Å"I've come to learn from you,† Joshua said. â€Å"I am to be a bodhisattva to my people and I'm not sure how to go about it.† â€Å"He's the Messiah,† I said helpfully. â€Å"You know, the Messiah. You know, Son of God.† â€Å"Yeah, Son of God,† Joshua said. â€Å"Yeah,† I said. â€Å"Yeah,† said Joshua. â€Å"So what do you have for us?† I asked. â€Å"And who are you?† â€Å"Biff,† I said. â€Å"My friend,† said Josh. â€Å"Yeah, his friend,† said I. â€Å"And what do you seek?† â€Å"Actually, I'd like to not have to hang on to this cliff a lot longer, my fingers are going numb.† â€Å"Yeah,† said Josh. â€Å"Yeah,† said I. â€Å"Find yourself a couple of nooks on the cliff. There are several empty. Yogis Ramata and Mahara recently moved on to their next rebirth.† â€Å"If you know where we can find some food we would be grateful,† Joshua said. â€Å"It's been a long time since we've eaten. And we have no money.† â€Å"Time then for your first lesson, young Messiah. I am hungry as well. Bring me a grain of rice.† Joshua and I climbed across the cliff until we found two nooks, tiny caves really, that were close to each other and not so far above the beach that falling out would kill us. Each of our nooks had been gouged out of the solid rock and was just wide enough to lie down in, tall enough to sit up in, and deep enough to keep the rain off if it was falling straight down. Once we were settled, I dug through my satchel until I found three old grains of rice that had worked their way into a seam. I put them in my bowl, then carried the bowl in my teeth as I made my way back to Melchior's nook. â€Å"I did not ask for a bowl,† said Melchior. Joshua had already skirted the cliff and was sitting next to the yogi with his feet dangling over the edge. There was a seagull in his lap. â€Å"Presentation is half the meal,† I said, quoting something Joy had once said. Melchior sniffed at the rice grains, then picked one up and held it between his bony fingertips. â€Å"It's raw.† â€Å"Yes, it is.† â€Å"We can't eat it raw.† â€Å"Well, I would have served it up steaming with a grain of salt and a molecule of green onion if I'd known you wanted it that way.† (Yeah, we had molecules in those days. Back off.) â€Å"Very well, this will have to do.† The holy man held the bowl with the rice grains in his lap, then closed his eyes. His breathing began to slow, and after a moment he appeared not to be breathing at all. Josh and I waited. And looked at each other. And Melchior didn't move. His skeletal chest did not rise with breath. I was hungry and tired, but I waited. And the holy man didn't move for almost an hour. Considering the recent nook vacancies on the cliff face, I was a little concerned that Melchior might have succumbed to some virulent yogi-killing epidemic. â€Å"He dead?† I asked. â€Å"Can't tell.† â€Å"Poke him.† â€Å"No, he's my teacher, a holy man. I'm not poking him.† â€Å"He's Untouchable.† Joshua couldn't resist the irony, he poked him. Instantly the yogi opened his eyes, pointed out to sea and screamed, â€Å"Look, a seagull!† We looked. When we looked back the yogi was holding a full bowl of rice. â€Å"Here, go cook this.† So began Joshua's training to find what Melchior called the Divine Spark. The holy man was stern with me, but his patience with Joshua was infinite, and it was soon evident that by trying to be part of Joshua's training I was actually holding him back. So on our third morning living in the cliff, I took a long satisfying whiz over the side (and is there anything so satisfying as whizzing from a high place?) then climbed to the beach and headed into the nearest town to look for a job. Even if Melchior could make a meal out of three grains of rice, I'd scraped all the stray grains out of both my and Joshua's satchels. The yogi might be able to teach a guy to twist up and lick his own balls, but I couldn't see that there was much nourishment in it. The name of the town was Nicobar, and it was about twice the size of Sepphoris in my homeland, perhaps twenty thousand people, most of whom seemed to make their living from the sea, either as fishermen, traders, or shipbuilders. After inquiring at only a few places, I realized that for once it wasn't my lack of skills that were keeping me from making a living, it was the caste system. It extended far deeper into the society than Rumi had told me. Subcastes of the larger four dictated that if you were born a stonecutter, your sons would be stonecutters, and their sons after them, and you were bound by your birth to never do any other job, regardless of how good or bad you were at it. If you were born a mourner, or a magician, you would die a mourner or a magician, and the only way you'd get out of death or magic was to die and be reincarnated as something else. The one skill that didn't seem to require belonging to a caste was village idiot, but the Hindus seemed to thrust the more ec centric holy men into this role, so I found no openings there. I did have my bowl, and my experience at collecting alms for the monastery, so I tried my hand at begging, but every time I would get a good corner staked out, along would hop some one-legged blind guy to steal my action. By the late afternoon I had one tiny copper coin and the steward of the beggars guild had come along to warn me that if he caught me begging in Nicobar again, he'd see that I was admitted to the guild by the immediate removal of my arms and legs. I bought a handful of rice at the market and was skulking out of town, my bowl before me and my head down, like a good monk, when I saw before me a most delicate set of toes, painted vermilion and followed by a dainty foot, an elegant ankle ajangle with copper bangles, an inviting calf decorated with hennaed designs as intricate as lace, and from there a bright skirt led me up the seam to a bejeweled navel, full breasts haltered in yellow silk, lips like plums, a nose as long and straight as a Roman statue's, and wide brown eyes, shaded in blue and lined to make them look the size of a tiger's. They drank me in. â€Å"You're a stranger,† she said. One long finger on my chest stopped me on the spot. I tried to hide my rice bowl in my shirt, and in a fabulous display of sleight of hand, ended up spilling the grains down my front. â€Å"I'm from Galilee. In Israel.† â€Å"Never heard of it. Is it far?† She reached into my shirt and began to pick out the rice grains that had caught against my sash, running her fingernail along my stomach muscles and dropping the grains, one by one, into my bowl. â€Å"Very far. I've come here with my friend to obtain sacred and ancient knowledge, that kind of thing.† â€Å"What is your name?† â€Å"Biff – or Levi who is called Biff. We do that ‘who is called' thing a lot in Israel.† â€Å"Follow me, Biff, I'll show you some ancient and sacred knowledge.† She hooked her finger into my sash and walked into a nearby doorway, for some reason completely confident that I would follow. Inside, amid piles of colorful pillows strewn about the floors and deep carpets the likes of which I hadn't seen since Balthasar's fortress, stood a carved camphorwood stand on which a large codex lay open. The book was bound in brass filigreed with copper and silver, and the pages were made of a parchment finer than I had ever seen. The woman pushed me toward the book and left her hand on my back as I looked at the open page. The handwritten script was gilded and so ornate that I could barely make out the words, which didn't matter anyway, because it was the illustration that caught my eye. A man and a woman, nude, each perfect. The man had the woman facedown on a rug, her feet hooked over his shoulders, her arms held behind her as he entered her. I tried to call on my Buddhist training and discipline to keep from embarrassing myself in front of the strange woman. â€Å"Ancient sacred wisdom,† she said. â€Å"The book was a gift from a patron. The Kama Sutra, it's called. Thread of Desire.† â€Å"The Buddha said that desire is the source of all suffering,† I said, feeling like the kung fu master that I knew I was. â€Å"Do they look like they are suffering?† â€Å"No.† I began to tremble. I had been too long out of the company of women. Far too long. â€Å"Would you like to try that? That suffering. With me?† â€Å"Yes,† I said. All the training, all the discipline, all the control, gone in a word. â€Å"Do you have twenty rupees?† â€Å"No.† â€Å"Then suffer,† she said, and she stepped away. â€Å"See, I told you.† Then she walked away, trailing the scent of sandalwood and roses behind her as she went to the door, her hips waving good-bye to me all the way across the room, the bangles on her arms and ankles ringing like tiny temple bells calling me to worship at her secret grotto. At the door she crooked a finger for me to follow her out, and I did. â€Å"My name is Kashmir,† she said. â€Å"Come back. I'll teach you ancient and sacred knowledge. One page at time. Twenty rupees each.† I took my stupid, pathetic, useless grains of rice and went back to my holy, stupid, useless, stupid male friends at the cliff. â€Å"I brought some rice,† I said to Joshua when I had climbed to my nook in the cliff. â€Å"Melchior can do his rice thing and we'll have enough for supper.† Josh was sitting on the shelf of his nook, his legs folded into the lotus position, hands in the mudra of the compassionate Buddha. â€Å"Melchior is teaching the path to the Divine Spark,† Joshua said. â€Å"First you have to quiet the mind. That's why there's so much physical discipline, attention to breath, you have to be so completely in control that you can see past the illusion of your body.† â€Å"And how is that different from what we did in the monastery?† â€Å"It's subtle, but it's different. There the mind would ride the wave of action, you could meditate while on the exercise posts, shooting arrows, fighting. There was no goal because there was no place to be but in the moment. Here, the goal is to see beyond the moment, to the soul. I think I'm getting a glimpse. I'm learning the postures. Melchior says that an accomplished yogi can pass his entire body through a hoop the size of his head.† â€Å"That's great, Josh. Useful. Now let me tell you about this woman I met.† So I jumped over to Josh's ledge and began to tell him about my day, the woman, the Kama Sutra, and my opinion that this just might be the sort of ancient spiritual information a young Messiah might need. â€Å"Her name is Kashmir, which means soft and expensive.† â€Å"But she's a prostitute, Biff.† â€Å"Prostitutes didn't bother you when you were making me help you learn about sex.† â€Å"They still don't bother me, it's just that you don't have any money.† â€Å"I got the feeling she likes me. I think maybe she'll do me pro bono, if you know what I mean?† I elbowed him in the ribs and winked. â€Å"You mean for the public good. You forget your Latin? ‘Pro bono' means ‘for the public good.'† â€Å"Oh. I thought it meant something else. She's not going to do me for that.† â€Å"No, probably not,† said Josh. So the next day, first thing, I made may way back to Nicobar, determined to find a job, but by noon I found myself sitting on the street next to one of the blind, no-legged beggar kids. The street was packed with traders, haggling, making deals, exchanging cash for goods and services, and the kid was making a killing on the spare change. I was astounded at the amount in the kid's bowl; there must have been enough for three Kama Sutra pages right there. Not that I would steal from a blind kid. â€Å"Look, Scooter, you look a little tired, you want me to watch the bowl while you take a break?† â€Å"Get your hand out of there!† The kid caught my wrist (me, the kung fu master). He was quick. â€Å"I can tell what you're doing.† â€Å"Okay, fine, how about I show you some magic tricks. A little sleight of hand?† â€Å"Oh, that'll be fun. I'm blind.† â€Å"Look, make up your mind.† â€Å"I'm going to call for the guild-master if you don't go away.† So I went away, despondent, defeated – not money enough to look at the edge of a page of the Kama Sutra. I skulked back to the cliffs, climbed up to my nook, and resolved to console myself with some cold rice left over from last night's supper. I opened my satchel and – â€Å"Ahhh!† I leapt back. â€Å"Josh, what are you doing in there?† And there he was, his beatific old Joshua face with the sole of a foot on either side like big ears, a few vertebrae showing, one hand, my ying-yang amulet vial, and a jar of myrrh. â€Å"Get out of there. How'd you get in there?† I've mentioned our satchels before. The Greeks called them wallets, I guess you would call them duffel bags. They were made of leather, had a long strap we could throw over our shoulder, and I suppose if you'd asked me before, I would have said you could get a whole person in one if you had to, but not in one piece. â€Å"Melchior taught me. It took me all morning to get in here. I thought I'd surprise you.† â€Å"Worked. Can you get out?† â€Å"I don't think so. I think my hips are dislocated.† â€Å"Okay, where's my black glass knife?† â€Å"It's at the bottom of the bag.† â€Å"Why did I know you were going to say that?† â€Å"If you get me out I'll show you what else I learned. Melchior taught me how to multiply the rice.† A few minutes later Joshua and I were sitting on the ledge of my nook being bombarded by seagulls. The seagulls were attracted by the huge pile of cooked rice that lay between us on the ledge. â€Å"That's the most amazing thing I've ever seen.† Except that you really couldn't see it done. One minute you had a handful of rice, the next a bushel. â€Å"Melchior says that it usually takes a lot longer for a yogi to learn to manipulate matter like this.† â€Å"How much longer?† â€Å"Thirty, forty years. Most of the time they pass on before they learn.† â€Å"So this is like the healing. Part of your, uh, legacy?† â€Å"This isn't like the healing, Biff. This can be taught, given the time.† I tossed a handful of rice into the air for some seagulls. â€Å"Tell you what. Melchior obviously doesn't like me, so he's not going to teach me anything. Let's trade knowledge.† I brought rice to Joshua, had him multiply it, then sold the surplus in the market, and eventually I started trading fish instead of rice because I could raise twenty rupees in fewer trips. But before that, I asked Joshua to come to town with me. We went to the market, which was thick with traders, haggling, making deals, exchanging cash for goods and services, and over on the side, a blind and legless beggar was making a killing on the change. â€Å"Scooter, I'd like you to meet my friend Joshua.† â€Å"My name's not Scooter,† said the waif. A half hour later Scooter could see again and miraculously his severed legs had been regenerated. â€Å"You bastards!† said Scooter as he ran off on clean new pink feet. â€Å"Go with God,† Joshua said. â€Å"Now I guess we'll see how easy it is to earn a living!† I shouted after the kid. â€Å"He didn't seem very pleased,† said Josh. â€Å"He's only learning to express himself. Forget him, others are suffering as well.† And so it came to pass, that Joshua of Nazareth moved among them, healing them and performing miracles, and all the little blind children of Nicobar did see again, and all the lame did stand up and walk. The little fuckers. And so the exchange of knowledge began: what I was learning from Kashmir and the Kama Sutra for what Joshua was learning from the holy man Melchior. Each morning, before I went to town and before Joshua went to learn from his guru, we met on the beach and shared ideas and breakfast. Usually some rice and a fresh fish roasted over the fire. We'd gone long enough without eating animal flesh, we had decided, despite what Melchior and Gaspar tried to teach us. â€Å"This ability to increase the bounty of food – imagine what we can do for the people of Israel, of the world.† â€Å"Yes, Josh, for it is written: ‘Give a man a fish and he eats for a day, but teach a man to be a fish and his friends eat for a week.'† â€Å"That is not written. Where is that written?† â€Å"Amphibians five-seven.† â€Å"There's no friggin' Amphibians in the Bible.† â€Å"Plague of frogs. Ha! Gotcha!† â€Å"How long's it been since you had a beating?† â€Å"Please. You can't hit anyone, you have to be at total peace with all creation so you can find Sparky the Wonder Spirit.† â€Å"The Divine Spark.† â€Å"Whatever, th – ouch. Oh great, and what am I supposed to do, hit the Messiah back?† â€Å"Turn the other cheek. Go ahead, turn it.† As I said, thus did the enlightened exchange of sacred and ancient teachings begin: The Kama Sutra sayeth: When a woman winds her small toes into the armpit hair of the man, and the man hops upon one foot, while supporting the woman on his lingam and a butter churn, then the achieved position is called â€Å"Rhinoceros Balancing a Jelly Donut.† â€Å"What's a jelly donut?† Joshua asked. â€Å"I don't know. It's a Vedic term lost to antiquity, but it is said to have had great significance to the keepers of the law.† â€Å"Oh.† The Katha Upanishad sayeth: Beyond the senses are the objects, and beyond the objects is the mind. Beyond the mind is pure reason, and beyond reason is the Spirit in man. â€Å"What's that supposed to mean?† â€Å"You have to think about it, but it means that there's something eternal in everyone.† â€Å"That's swell. What's with the guys on the bed of nails?† â€Å"A yogi must leave his body if he is going to experience the spiritual.† â€Å"So he leaves through the little holes in his back?† â€Å"Let's start again.† The Kama Sutra sayeth: When a man applies wax from the carnuba bean to a woman's yoni and buffs it with a lint-free cloth or a papyrus towel until a mirror shine is achieved, then it is called Readying the Mongoose for Trade-in.† â€Å"Look, she sells me pieces of sheepskin parchment, and each time, after we're finished, I'm allowed to copy the drawings. I'm going to tie them all together and make my own codex.† â€Å"You did that? That looks like it hurts.† â€Å"This from a guy I had to break out of a wine jar with a hammer yesterday.† â€Å"Yeah, well, it wouldn't have happened if I'd remembered to grease my shoulders like Melchior taught me.† Joshua turned the drawing to get a different angle on it. â€Å"You're sure this doesn't hurt?† â€Å"No, not if you keep your bottom away from the incense burners.† â€Å"No, I mean her.† â€Å"Oh, her. Well, who knows? I'll ask her.† The Bhagavad Gita sayeth: I am impartial to all creatures, and no one is hateful or dear to me, but men devoted to me are in me, and I am in them. â€Å"What's the Bhagavad Gita?† â€Å"It's like a long poem in which the god Krishna advises the warrior Arjuna as he drives his chariot into battle.† â€Å"Really, what's he advise him?† â€Å"He advises him not to feel bad about killing the enemy, because they are essentially already dead.† â€Å"You know what I'd advise him if I was a god? I'd advise him to get someone else to drive his friggin' chariot. The real God wouldn't be caught dead driving a chariot.† â€Å"Well, you have to look at it as a parable, otherwise it sort of reeks of false gods.† â€Å"Our people don't have good luck with false gods, Josh. They're – I don't know – frowned upon. We get killed and enslaved when we mess with them.† â€Å"I'll be careful.† The Kama Sutra sayeth: When a woman props herself up on the table and inhales the steam of the eucalyptus tea, while gargling a mixture of lemon, water, and honey, and the man takes the woman by the ears, and enters her from behind, while looking out the window at the girl across the street hanging out her laundry to dry, then the position is called â€Å"Distracted Tiger Hacking Up a Fur Ball.† â€Å"I couldn't find that one in the book, so she dictated it to me from memory.† â€Å"Kashmir's quite the scholar.† â€Å"She had the sniffles, but agreed to my lesson anyway. I think she's falling for me.† â€Å"How could she not, you're a very charming fellow.† â€Å"Why, thank you, Josh.† â€Å"You're welcome, Biff.† â€Å"Okay, tell me about your little yoga thing.† The Bhagavad Gita sayeth: Just as the wide-moving wind is constantly present in space, so all creatures exist in me. Understand it to be so! â€Å"Is that the kind of advice you'd give someone who's riding into battle? You'd think Krishna would be saying stuff like, ‘Look out, an arrow! Duck!'† â€Å"You'd think,† Joshua sighed. The Kama Sutra sayeth: The position of â€Å"Rampant Monkey Collecting Coconuts† is achieved when a woman hooks her fingers into the man's nostrils and performs a hokey-pokey motion with her hips and the man, while firmly stroking the woman's uvula with his thumbs, swings his lingam around her yoni in a direction counter to that in which water swirls down a drain. (Water has been observed swirling down the drain in different directions in different places. This is a mystery, but a good rule of thumb for achieving Rampant Monkey is to just go in the direction counter to which your own personal drain swirls.) â€Å"Your drawings are getting better,† Joshua said. â€Å"In the first one I thought she had a tail.† â€Å"I'm using the calligraphy techniques we learned in the monastery, only using them to draw figures. Josh, are you sure it doesn't bother you, talking about this stuff when you'll never be allowed to do it?† â€Å"No, it's interesting. It doesn't bother you when I talk about heaven, does it?† â€Å"Should it?† â€Å"Look, a seagull!† The Katha Upanishad sayeth: For a man who has known him, the light of truth shines. For one who has not known, there is darkness. The wise who have seen him in every being on leaving this life, attain life immortal. â€Å"That's what you're looking for, huh, the Divine Spark thing?† â€Å"It's not for me, Biff.† â€Å"Josh, I'm not a satchel of sand here. I didn't spend all of my time studying and meditating without getting some glimpse of the eternal.† â€Å"That's good to know.† â€Å"Of course it helps when angels show up and you do miracles and stuff too.† â€Å"Well, yes, I guess it would.† â€Å"But that's not a bad thing. We can use that when we get home.† â€Å"You have no idea what I'm talking about, do you?† â€Å"Not a clue.† Our training went on for two years before I saw the sign that called us home. Life was slow, but pleasant there by the sea. Joshua became more efficient at multiplying food, and while he insisted on living an austere lifestyle so he could remain unattached to the material world, I was able to get a little money ahead. In addition to paying for my lessons, I was able to decorate my nook (just some erotic drawings, curtains, some silk cushions) and buy a few personal items such as a new satchel, an ink stone and a set of brushes, and an elephant. I named the elephant Vana, which is Sanskrit for wind, and although she certainly earned her name, I regret it was not due to her blazing speed. Feeding Vana was not a difficulty with Joshua's ability to turn a handful of grass into a fodder farm, but no matter how hard Joshua tried to teach her yoga, she was not able to fit into my nook. (I consoled Joshua that it was probably the climb, and not his failure as a yoga guru that deterred Vana. â€Å"If she had fingers, Josh, she'd be snuggling up with me and seagulls right now.†) Vana didn't like being on the beach when the tide came and washed sand between her toes, so she lived in a pasture just above the cliff. She did, however, love to swim, and some days rather than ride her on the beach all the way to Nicobar, I would have her swim into the harbor just under water, with only her trunk showing and me standing on her forehead. â€Å"Look, Kashmir, I'm walking on water! I'm walking on water!† So eager was my erotic princess to share my embrace that rather than wonder at the spectacle as did the other townsfolk she could only reply: â€Å"Park the elephant in back.† (The first few times she said it I thought she was referring to a Kama Sutra position that we had missed, pages stuck together perhaps, but it turned out such was not the case.) Kashmir and I became quite close as my studies progressed. After we went through all the positions of the Kama Sutra twice, Kashmir was able to take things to the next level by introducing Tantric discipline into our lovemaking. So skillful did we become at the meditative art of coupling that even in the throes of passion, Kashmir was able to polish her jewelry, count her money, or even rinse out a few delicates. I myself had so mastered the discipline of controlled ejaculation that often I was halfway home before release was at last achieved. It was on my way home from Kashmir's – as Vana and I were cutting through the market so that I could show my friends the ex-beggar boys the possible rewards for the man of discipline and character (to wit: I had an elephant and they did not) – that I saw, outlined on the wall of a temple of Vishnu, a dirty water stain, caused by condensation, mold, and wind-blown dust, which described the face of my best friend's mother, Mary. â€Å"Yeah, she does that,† said Joshua, when I swung over the edge of his nook and announced the news. He and Melchior had been meditating and the old man, as usual, appeared to be dead. â€Å"She used to do it all the time when we were kids. She sent James and me running all over the place washing down walls before people saw. Sometimes her face would appear in a pattern of water drops in the dust, or the peelings from grapes would fall just so in a pattern after being taken out of the wine press. Usually it was walls.† â€Å"You never told me that.† â€Å"I couldn't tell you. The way you idolized her, you'd have been turning the pictures into shrines.† â€Å"So they were naked pictures?† Melchior cleared his throat and we both looked at him. â€Å"Joshua, either your mother or God has sent you a message. It doesn't matter who sent it, the message is the same. It is time for you to go home.† We would be leaving for the north in the morning, and Nicobar was south, so I left Joshua to pack our things on Vana while I walked into town to break the news to Kashmir. â€Å"Oh my,† she said, â€Å"all the way back to Galilee. Do you have money for the journey?† â€Å"A little.† â€Å"But not with you?† â€Å"No.† â€Å"Well, okay. Bye.† I could swear I saw a tear in her eye as she closed the door. The next morning, with Vana loaded with my drawings and art supplies; my cushions, curtains, and rugs; my brass coffeepot, my tea ball, and my incense burner; my pair of breeding mongooses (mongeese?), their bamboo cage, my drum set, and my umbrella; my silk robe, my sun hat, my rain hat, my collection of carved erotic figurines, and Joshua's bowl, we gathered on the beach to say good-bye. Melchior stood before us in his loincloth, the wind whipping the tails of his white beard and hair around his face like fierce clouds. There was no sadness in his face, but then, he had endeavored his entire life to detach from the material world, which we were part of. He'd already done this a long time ago. Joshua made as if to embrace the old man, then instead just poked him in the shoulder. Once and only once, I saw Melchior smile. â€Å"But you haven't taught me everything I need to know,† Josh said. â€Å"You're right, I have taught you nothing. I could teach you nothing. Everything that you needed to know was already there. You simply needed the word for it. Some need Kali and Shiva to destroy the world so they may see past the illusion to divinity in them, others need Krishna to drive them to the place where they may perceive what is eternal in them. Others may perceive the Divine Spark in themselves only by realizing through enlightenment that the spark resides in all things, and in that they find kinship. But because the Divine Spark resides in all, does not mean that all will discover it. Your dharma is not to learn, Joshua, but to teach.† â€Å"How will I teach my people about the Divine Spark? Before you answer, remember we're talking about Biff too.† â€Å"You must only find the right word. The Divine Spark is infinite, the path to find it is not. The beginning of the path is the word.† â€Å"Is that why you and Balthasar and Gaspar followed the star? To find the path to the Divine Spark in all men? The same reason that I came to find you?† â€Å"We were seekers. You are that which is sought, Joshua. You are the source. The end is divinity, in the beginning is the word. You are the word.†