Reflection w&r mag november 2013 by Reflection W&R Mag

Eid Diwali Christmas Durga Puja Dushera & More

MOPH

Editorial 3

Celebrating Festival Maqsood Qureshi

Festival Richa Dixit

The Savior Fahmid Hassan Prohor

I Am What I Am Prashanth Nair

Eid The Festival Of Sharing And Care Shahid Khan 12

The Epic Battles (Vijay Dashmi & Durga Puja) Diwakar Pokhriyal 17

Celestial Love Yamunai Thuraivan

A Tribute To Indian Cinema part II Dr. Sundaram Gopalakrishnan 21

A Writer Has Been Born Cosmic Writer

The Lonely Love Dr. Ruchida Barman

Survival Of Youth Angel Bella

Dr. Yu Xuhong, Teacher, A Young And Talented Artist John Xu 38

Little Deeds Of Kindness Vasanthi Papu

Second Life Praveen Gola

You Are Good Enough Lisa Ayers

Why Do I Write?

The End R. K. Chowdary Jasti

Under 15 Zone

Soul Mate Satwik Mishra 65

Melancholy R. K. Verma (Art Section)

Your Reflection

Associate Editor Note

Merry Christmas Diwakar Pokhriyal

Managing Editor: Iram Fatima 'Ashi' Associate Editor: Vasanthi Papu Magazine Artist: R. K. Verma Page Layout: Reflection Team Front Page Painting: R. K. Verma Back Page Painting: Iram Fatima 'Ashi' reflection18@ymail.com

Dear Readers, Greetings to you all! Festivals are meant to rejoice special moments and emotions in our lives with our loved ones. They play an important role to add structure to our social lives, and connect us with our families and backgrounds. This is an expressive way to celebrate glorious heritage, culture and traditions. National festivals connect us to a nation. Religious festivals are important for families. To keep this simple we can all agree that religious festivals help us to teach principles and ethics to our next generations. Seasonal festivals reflect attitude of people towards nature. In this issue the article ‘Celebrating Festival’ by Maqsood Qureshi (India) depicts the new sense of celebrating festival beyond any particular significance and reminds us about our responsibilities as a human too and another article ‘Eid the festival of sharing love and care’ by Shahid Khan (India) presents details of this festival. An interview of young artist by John Xu (China) will surely delight you. A poem ‘Merry Christmas’ by Diwakar Pokhriyal (India) reflects joy of this special festival. A lovely poem ‘You are good enough’ by Lisa Ayers (US) boosts up our self confidence. Angel Bella (Lebanon) depicts life through her poem, ‘Survival Of Youth’. Other creative works and Regular columns ‘Why do I write’ and ‘Under fifteen zone’ are sure to steal your hearts. My profound thanks to our associate editor Ms. Vasanthi Papu, layout maker Mr. Vikrant and his team and magazine artist Mr. R. K. Verma. Enjoy all festivals with harmony, peace and happiness. Love and blessing

Iram Fatima ‘Ashi’ (Managing Editor)

Celebrating Festival Maqsood Qureshi (Hydrabad, India) We're deeply religious people. Precepts of our religions govern our lives. We observe certain days. There’re our festivals. The purpose of any festival of any religion isn't merrymaking. It's a solemn reminder of struggles of our forefathers. That inadvertently shows slight gender bias so I'd use a genderneutral word: Ancestors. The effect of elapsing time on collective memory is that it gets rusted. The significance of our triumphs over evil has faded. Ordeals of our saviors have been forgotten. Crusades of our messiahs are in unread Holy Scriptures. Our gladiatorial urges have taken the form of reality shows. Our living room with a monstrous tally is our arena. We're still bloodthirsty. We still love bloody duels. We don't read: The Story of My Experiments with Truth But we love Page Threelike tabloids. Criticism hurts us. We can't tolerate it. That's a pointer to an underlying frailty: And, that's our insecurity. What's making us frail? Deviation from our idealistic figures like Ram, Gandhi, Nehru or Abdul Kalam Azad? What's put us on a moral collision course? Is it our collective destiny? Or is it our collective karma? Ravana lives on in a new avatar and, this time purely in the form of a human and, this time he isn't multiheaded (It is believed in Hindu mythology that Ravana had ten heads) yet evil incarnate. Festival is a day to renew our vows of uprightness. Festival is a day of reaffirmations: To reaffirm our commitment to family, community and country. Festival is a day to fulfill our promises. And, it's a day to promise ourselves to be steadfast. It's a day to revive our zealousness for secularity. Should we need to take an oath to protect our women? Why to connect festivals to different religion or region not by the responsibility towards out society? Think it over while celebrating any festival on any place you belong to.

Festival Richa Dixit (Gwalior, India) A blooming session, A glorified profession , A prescribed admiration, Time bound timeless desire, Endorsed with different colors , Magnified with the bloom of hope, Bound by togetherness, A cheering gleam of sharing, A promise in disguise, A wonderful theme of ‘Preparing’ , It’s The celebration in itself, A Festival Called ‘LIFE’……………….

The Savior Fahmid Hassan Prohor (Dhaka, Bangladesh) It was 2004 the weather was hot in Bangladesh. The city of Dhaka, as usual had full of traffic. There was a school girl named Shaina who was crossing the streets towards her home. She saw her parents grumpy towards her. She was surprised to look at them. “What happened dad?” asked Shaina. “Had I told you to use the internet for posting all these offensive video of yours? You left us no wherever.” Shouted

Shaina’s father with anger. He walked away and the mother showed no sympathy for her. She was so upset that she went to the rooftop. She was feeling to jump but saved by a mysterious man. “Shaina?” asked the man. “You are supposed to be dead Fardin Azma” said Shaina. “I escaped from death, Shaina. It’s a long story. Tell me what you are doing here?” said Fardin (the man). “I met someone online. I was

normal with him. We chatted for more than an hour or two. I was blindly in love with him. I took a webcam from the cybercafé. He requested me for my live and still pictures, I trusted him very much. But who knew that he would show it to everyone? My parents were not like before. My friends are gone but you are the only one to understand me. By the way, how did you know about my suicide?” said Shaina.

“What I have heard from people are vague information and thanks for the real information” said Fardin. Then Shaina went back home, she slept. Next day, people in school underestimated her so much but she was reminded of Fardin who saved her. Then she defended herself.

Then she met a girl Lily, who sat lonely at the corridor. She found out that the girl had the similar sufferings as Shaina had. The girl told her that she was abused and the hacker clicked her offensive pictures with camera as he posted the pictures towards some dirty people in school. Both the victims shared their feelings. Fardin understood that there was a serial

hacked who actually tried to make fun of girls. When Lily was at her room, Fardin came in and touched the webcam. Fardin asked “Nice webcam but familiar. Which cybercafé do you go to?” Lily replied “Raj’s Café”. Fardin said “sounds familiar. Who is the manager?”

Lily replied, “Raj”. Fardin excitedly said “O My God! I knew it!” Lily said “how?” Fardin said, “He tried to kill me. When I had friendship with Raj, I

never realized that he used me such that, he took my account. However I change my password, he gets it by unlocking it with a programming language which I used to prevent the hackers. I am

also an unofficial member of the AntiCybercrime Headquarters as my boss assigned me to prevent them. After I got him, he stabbed my leg which was no use to kill me. Then I was at the hospital

and your dad assigned me to help you out. His weakness is girls as he never respected woman” Lily was left shocked. Her dad came smiling into her room and patted her. He said, “We all are with you, Lily. There is nothing to worry about. We will get that scoundrel to jail”. Lily said, “Thank you dad”. Lily’s dad looked at Fardin. Lily’s dad said “Fardin, you did a good job to prove me about Raj. We shouldn’t have trusted him

blindly but thanks to you who proved her innocence”. Then, Fardin went to the cybercafé. He saw Raj in front of a computer who was watching offensive scenes of Shaina on YouTube. Fardin grabbed Raj’s throat and hit him in the table. Suddenly, the police grabbed Raj. “Fardin, I thought you were dead. You are no longer fun. I will kill you after I will flee from jail!” laughed Raj who lost his sanity. As Raj was sentenced to prison for 20 years, Lily was relieved.

Outside the court, Lily was waiting for Fardin. Suddenly, Fardin came as he said “I will be here later, Lily. I know you are happy but if you need me, please call me with this card”. Then Fardin waved his hands and bid her ‘goodbye’. 15 years later, Shaina joined the AntiCybercrime organization as Fardin was her husband and boss. She helped most victims that reminded of her past.

I am what I am! Prashanth Nair (India)

The things I do may not save the world fair; The things I do may not stop warfare. The things I do may not impress or raise a call, The things I do may not be a matter at all. But there will be the favourable times not so later; The moments when I could start or share laughter. The moments when I could be there for others to hold on; The moments when I could just say its okay move on. When life seems to be dull and nothing; I shall be there to fight for the right thing. I shall even be someoneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s punching bag; And help him raise the victory flag. All these things may seem silly for every one; But I am sure to win in the lifeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s long run. With such a lasting hope I stay so calm; For the things I do make me the one I am!

Eid The Festival Of Sharing Love And Care Shahid Khan (Gujrat, India) The followers of Islam across the world celebrate the two major festivals: EidulFitr and Eidul Adha. The word ‘Eid’ is an Arabic word with root connotation, ‘that which comes back, time after time, and

festivity.’ So these two days are meant to be the days of festivity. Being a Muslim, I have celebrated these two festivals with great fervor and happiness ever since I opened my eyes in this world. So I would like to share with my

readers what these two festivals are, how and why they are celebrated and their religious significance and true spirit behind the celebration of these two ‘Eids’.

Eid-ul-Fitr EidulFitr is also known as ‘Feast of Breaking the Fast’ or ‘Lesser Eid’. It marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan, in which Muslims fast from dawn to sunset for the entire month. The actual reason for celebrating Eid is to express gratitude and joy to Allah for giving us an opportunity to fast and completing it successfully so as to attain His pleasure, rewards and forgiveness for our sins.

each other ‘Chand Mubarak’ and the festive atmosphere begins. People visit bazaars, shopping malls to buy gifts, new clothes and women often apply Mehndi or Henna on their hands and feet. The mosques are decorated with dazzling lights of beautiful designs and forms. In Muslim locality, streets are adorned with beautiful lighting and hoardings wishing everyone Eid greeting.

The night before Eid is called ‘Chand Raat’. As soon as the moon is sighted Muslims wish

The day of Eid falls on the first day of the month of Shawwal according to Islamic calendar. On

this day, Muslims get up early in the morning, put new clothes, apply perfume and offer special Eid prayer. Before attending the 'Eid prayer, it is customary to eat something, preferably an odd number of dates. This is to emphasize that the fast of Ramadaan has finished and to illustrate that it is forbidden to fast on 'EidulFitr as it is a day of celebration for the Muslims to enjoy their food and festivities. Moreover, it is obligatory to distribute a charity known as ‘Fitra’ or ‘Sadaqatulfitr’ to the

when they visit their places. They usually have the freedom to spend the money the way they want or to save it. People give charity to After Eid prayer, people wish ‘Eid almost every poor and the needy that knock their doors and ask for Mubark’ with handshake and formal embrace. People meet and alms. They visit family members, neighbors or acquaintances and greet each other, forgiving and everybody is welcomed with food forgetting any differences with and a special dessert called ‘Sheer others or animosities that may The Eid prayer is performed in korma’ or ‘Dhood Seviyan’. It is a congregation at outdoor locations have occurred during the year. traditional sweet dish made of Kids like and enjoy Eid or at mosques. This prayer consists of a sermon followed by a thoroughly, as they receive money vermicelli, milk, butter, dry fruits in cash called "Eidi" as gift by every and flavoured with cardamom. short congregational prayer and then a supplication seeking Allah’s elder in the family and relatives poor and the needy before the special Eid prayer. This charity is usually paid before one or two days of Eid. It is obligatory upon each and every member of the family, and whilst not obligatory, it is desirable to pay it on behalf of the unborn child.

forgiveness, mercy, peace and blessings for all living beings across the world.

Spirit Of EidulFitr: While Eid is indeed a day of great happiness it must also be a day of introspection for us. Gratitude is one of the fundamental values that Islam teaches to every Muslim. Therefore those who are blessed with wealth should be grateful to Allah for that and should not forget those who are afflicted with poverty, disease and other misfortunes. Charity in form of SaddaqatulFitr is obligatory at the end of Ramadan and should be compulsorily paid to the poor and needy.

As it is mentioned in the Holy Quran (7:26): “The raiment of righteousness that is the best.” So the main purpose is to develop righteousness. Just wearing expensive clothes without developing righteousness is not the true spirit of Islam. The day of EidulFitr symbolizes piety, patience, fortitude and devotion towards Allah. The virtue of inclusiveness and that of sharing your wealth with the

underprivileged is emphasized through this festival. Merely celebrating, unmindful of knowing whether people around you are happy or not, is not in the true spirit of Eid. Prophet Mohammed always made sure that all the needy, the widows and the disadvantaged were able to share the joys of Eid. Through such noble acts and gestures the feeling of brotherhood and mutual respect develops in the society as a whole.

Eid-ul-Adha EidulAdha also called ‘Feast of Sacrifice’ is the second major festival of Muslims. In Indian sub continent it is commonly known as ‘BakraEid’. Eid ul Adha is celebrated in remembrance of sacrifice of Prophet Ibrahim (‘Abraham’ in Bible and Tawrah). When Prophet Ibrahim was 99 years old and his only son Ismail was about 13 years old, Allah decided to test their faith in Him. Prophet Ibrahim had a recurring dream, in which Allah was commanding him to offer his son as a sacrifice, which God had granted him after many years of intense prayer. Prophet Ibrahim knew that the dreams of the prophets were divinely inspired, and one of the ways in which God communicated with his prophets. When the intent of the dreams

became clear to him, he decided to fulfill Allah’s command and offer Ishmail for sacrifice. Although Prophet Ibrahim was ready to sacrifice his dearest for Allah's sake, he wanted to do so with his son’s consent. So he presented the matter to his son and asked for his opinion about the dreams of slaughtering him. Ishmail did not show any hesitation even for a moment and said, "Father, do what you have been commanded. You will find me, Insha'Allah (God willing), to be very patient." His mature response, his deep insight into the nature of his father’s dreams, his commitment to God, and ultimately his willingness to sacrifice his own life for the command of Allah were all unprecedented. When Ibrahim attempted to

sacrifice Ismail, he was astonished to see that Ishmail was unharmed and instead, he found a ram which was slaughtered. Ibrahim had passed the test by his willingness to carry out God's command. He had proved that his love for God superseded all others: that he would lay down his own life or the lives of those dearest to him in submission to God's command. This story is more or less same in the holy books like the Quran, the Bible and the Torah. This story tells all about the sacrifices and trails Prophet Ibrahim was put on and on how he fulfilled Allah’s commands and as a reward Allah praised it by making it compulsory for generations. Therefore, Muslims commemorate this ultimate act of sacrifice every year during EidulAdha. EidulAdha falls on the 10th day

of ZilHijjah (the last month of Islamic calendar) and lasts till sunset of 12th day of the month. It also marks the end of the annual Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca. Just like EidulFitr, EdulAdha begins with the special Eid prayer which must be offered in congregation at open place or a local mosque. Those who can afford sacrifice their best available quadruped domestic animal (like cow, buffalo, goat, ram, sheep or camel). The meat from the sacrifice of Eid alAdha is mostly given away to others. The meat is divided into three parts: onethird is kept with the family, another goes relatives and third part is given away to poor and unprivileged people so that they too can enjoy and participate on this festival. Even the skin of the

sacrificed animal is disposed off by donating in it in charity. This ritual of sacrificing animal on this festival is often misunderstood by the people of other faiths. One common misconception is that Muslims sacrifice animals to atone their sins. In the Holy Quran it is clearly mentioned, “It is not their meat nor their blood, that reaches God: it is your piety that reaches Him: He has thus made them subject to you, that ye may glorify God for His Guidance to you and proclaim the good news to all who do right.” The real sacrifice is the willingness and determination to make sacrifices of things which you like the most in your life for the sake fulfilling the commands of the God and to stay on the Straight Path. The second question often raised

about this festival is that sacrificing animal amounts to cruelty. But the reality is that except the few communities, people all over the world eat meat without any reservation. There are millions in India itself, members from all communities’ right from Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Jews and Sikhs who eat meat and slaughter animals for the sake of living. Eating meat is just their common food habit. Even the animal right activists all across the globe don’t opposing cutting of animals; they are against the inhuman treatment of animals. In fact, Islam has laid some very humane rules which are to be followed while sacrificing the animal. When an animal is bought for sacrifice, people are expected to take a very good care of it in terms of nutrition, hygiene,

love and care. Every effort should be made to ensure that animals are not slaughtered in the presence of other live animals. The knife used for slaughtering has to be so sharp that slaughter could be carried out quickly and effectively so as to minimize the suffering of the animal. While slaughtering, the knife should be concealed till the last moment. The skinning of the slaughtered animal and dismembering of body parts should not commence until

the animal's body has turned cold. Some even argue that the Islamic method of slaughtering is primitive and barbaric. In fact, the wisdom of the Islamic rules of slaughtering is to take the animal's life in the quickest and least painful way. This method is much better than the current methods of mechanical and electrical stunning of animals that are normally adopted by the modern abattoirs. In order to obtain large amount of

meat to satisfy the huge demand of the commercial establishment requiring meat, such abattoirs favor these modern methods because they are less labor intensive. But the truth is that the Islamic method of slaughter has stood the test of time as well as of scientific enquiry and remains by far the best, the most efficient and the safest compared to the latest method of electrical stunning of animals.

Spirit of EidulAdha: The true spirit of EidulAdha lies in the fact that one should be willing and determined to sacrifice everything, even the most beloved or favorite thing for the sake of the Almighty. The Almighty wants us to be on the straight/right path and in order to follow that path we should be determined to sacrifice everything whether that is some kind of bad habit or some kind of sin or it could be something which could hinder us from achieving success. We should sacrifice all such things without any hesitation

or having any second thought. Because Allah has commanded Muslims to sacrifice animals on this festival, people buy animals for sacrifice from their hard earned money. They don’t buy that animal just to enjoy the feast of their meat. They compulsorily share that meat and give it in charity to the poor and the needy so that they could be a part of the festival, get to eat meat and have a nutritious food. They share the meat with friends and relatives which straighten the ties of love

between them which ultimately help in development of unity and brotherhood. The best thing about ‘EidulFitr’ and ‘EidulAdha’ is that these festivals inculcate the habit of sharing of wealth with the poor and the needy. This is the best answer to the unequal distribution of wealth which is a curse for developing countries like India where poor are becoming poorer and rich are becoming richer.

The Epic Battles ( Vijay Dashmi & Durga puja) Diwakar Pokhriyal (Delhi, India) Thunderous wet roars, Carcass of humanity, The epic battles, The battle of good against bad, Enormous faith throttling life, Never足ending phantom strife, Laughing on faith being glad, The bleeding hope of souls, Evil accumulating greed, Castle of insanely hopeless deed, Proud over tiny goals, Those were the battles of truth and lie, Battles of ruthlessness and compassion, Battles of duty and aimless aggression Shook the world and burned the sky, Sky, Cried hope, Mother Earth Devastated, Proud killed brilliance, Greed created a misdeed, Sky shivered gutsy lightning, A warrior of ethics stepped, To enlighten sleeping Mother earth And righteousness killed inhumane Ego,

On the other side, An apparent display of energy, When a Goddess killed a demon, Reflecting the power of a women creating synergy, The equality of sexes at sacred moments, At different testing times, Epic battle won by both, Relieving earth from envious clouds of crimes, This is a day of sacredness, Hinged on righteousness, Enlightening human souls, Energy of synergy, Protecting faith and truth, Incarnation of Holy Spirit, Clearing every misdeed, Blessing to whole earth, Astutely and courageously showered, The day of astonishing magic when, Twilight turned dawn, Leaving every soul shocked, Enlightening belief in truth and righteousness, Showcasing power of right and purity

CELESTIAL LOVE YAMUNAI THURAIVAN 19

Celestial Love Yamunai Thuraivan (India)

There once was a man who fell in love with the moon. Looking at her pearl white face every night he would swoon. “The fiery sun is bound to set and we shall meet again soon” Every morning as she faded, the moon would lovingly croon.

They would meet every night and until morning would sing in tune. As the man, with a grin on his face, played slowly on his bassoon, Under the dark sky on a boat rocking slowly in the lagoon, “In this world where I seem alone, u came to me as a boon” In her clear voice into the night gaily sang the fair lady moon.

In the forest, snugly together they would sleep like in a cocoon. Then came the tragedy in their love much too soon. Along came a mad man, half man half beast, and a loon. In frenzy he charged on the pair, the man lain on the floor, hewn. Moon wept at her lover’s death at his bloodied heart strewn Across the forest floor and in a fierce glance she killed the goon The man, the beast, the savage who killed her love, her boon.

Everything changed on that night. Moon dimmed her radiant light. No one shall see her in all her might. Her glory will die with her gallant knight. “I shall die a little every day from today forever. I shall die a million times I shall shine fully never. I shall search everywhere for my handsome lover. He may have died today but our love shall live forever...” The sad fair lady, the moon, who would not love her?

A Tribute To Indian Cinema Part II Dr. Sundaram Gopalakrishnan (India)

1956 was a seminal year in the history of Indian Cinema because it saw the release of Satyajit Ray's Pather Panchali, arguably the most critiqued Indian film ever, based on a novel of the same name by Bibhuti Bhusan Bandopadhyay. Critics always seem to have a problem with Ray's selling of Indian poverty to the west. But there has never been a better depiction of human life than that of the master. Even after all these years, his greatness is untouched, his genius unparalleled. He remains the only Indian auteur to win the prestigious oscar award. The only down足point of Ray's greatness is that his success overshadowed the other great

filmmakers of Bengali cinema of the time, Ritwik Ghatak (Nagarik,Ajantrik) and Bimal Roy (Do Bigha Zameen, Madhumita). Vasanth Kumar Shivashankar Padukone, popularly known as Guru Dutt, will always remain the greatest enigma of Indian cinema. His is a story of great skill destroyed by the age old vices: drinking and women. Guru Dutt made some of the greatest classics足 Pyaasa, Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam and Kaagaz ke Phool. He was a master of technique. Who can forget Guru Dutt pining for his love in a dark room, as sunlight fell on him through a hole in the roof? He made some great movies

with his friend, Dev Anand like Baazi and CID. Disappointed with the commercial failure of some of his films, his drinking, smoking and relationship with co足 star Waheeda Rahman took over his film足making and he claimed his own life in 1965. 1960s saw the rise of two unique actors who made films for their own studios. Dev Anand with Navketan and Raj Kapoor with Rk films. Dev Anand was the most charming of all men. At the peak of his career, he used to drive women crazy. He was a damn good actor too with films like CID, Baazi, Hum Dono, Guide and Hare rama hare krishna. He

strict sense; he had a casual aura about him. What was conspicuous about his films was that they all had great songs. 'Main zindagi ka saath nibhata chala gaya'(I go wherever life takes me) is a personal favourite and an all time classic. Raj Kapoor was always true to his title 'the show man'. He acted, directed and produced his films and did all these with equal style and charisma.Though he made films like Aawara and Shree 420 in the 50s, the zenith of his career came in the 60s with films like Jisdesh Ganga behtihain,Sangam and MeraNaam Joker. He was India's first global star, because of the success of his films in as far as the Soviet Union. That Raj Kapoor was greatly influenced by Charlie Chaplin is quite evident from his films. Even though, many generations of Kapoors have graced the film industry, they have not been able to run RK films the way Raj Kapoor did. One can only hope that the present generation with Ranbir Kapoor give the once great studios, a second life. Muhammad Yusuf Khan, also known as Dilip Kumar is the greatest actor in the history of Indian cinema (this is what Amitabh Bachchan, Naseeruddin Shah and Kamal Haasan believe and who are we to argue against them). Unlike DevAnand, Dilip Kumar practised the art of method actingand mastered it. His films, Andaz, Devdas, Mughal足e足azam and Ganga Jamuna are references to anybody who dreams of becoming an actor.He was awarded the Nishaan足e足pakistan(pakistan's

highest civilian honour) because of his Pakistani roots which landed him in trouble back in India. He is the only living member of the Golden generation and remains the pinnacle of Indian screen acting. Shammi Kapoor, unlike his brother Raj, did not direct films. But he was the most flamboyant of all actors of the time. He was the first dancing star of India (Junglee, China Town, Teesrimanzil). He is the eldest surviving member of the Kapoor Khandhan. 1970s saw the emergence of two actors who could not have been more different in style. Rajesh Khanna and Amitabh Bachchan. This contrast of styles was shown in the cult Hrishikesh Mukherjee film, 'Anand'. Rajesh Khanna was the first Indian actor to achieve 'superstar' status.There was a time when his films would routinely run for a year. Aradhana, Kati patang, Anand, Dushman and Amar prem all broke box office records, one after the other. What the 1970s are remembered today are for a directors, Manmohan Desai, PrakashMehra and their angry young man, Amitabh Bachchan. ThatIndia has still not got over with the angry young man is a tribute to these so called pioneers of 'masala' films. Together they made Amar Akbar Anthony, Zanjeer, Coolie and Namak Halal. The true extent of Bachchan's popularity at the time can gauged by the fact that when he got injured on the sets of 'Coolie', people did special pujas for him in temples and even

offered to sacrifice their lives for his recovery. The title of the biggest hit of all time (adjusted for inflation)rests with the 1975 Ramesh Sippy movie, Sholay.

The simple story of two young men, Bachchan and Dharmendra rescuing a village from the evil Gabbar Singh (Amjad khan) captured the imagination of one and all, helped in no small measure by the charm of its leading ladies, Jaya Bhaduri and HemaMalini. The film came at the height of national turmoil, during the emergency and in its own way, helped ease the pains caused. 1980s were a terrible decade for Hindi cinema. That I'm writing it in a tribute to hindi cinema should give you an idea of how terrible they were. But it was not all doom and gloom all together. Largely due to a new wave of parallel cinema that emerged and at the forefront of it was Naseeruddin Shah, my favourite hindi actor. His understated style in Sparsh, Albert Pinto ko kyun gussa aata hai, Jaane bhi do yaaron,

Maasoom, Paar ushered in a new way of acting in Hindi cinema. The 1980s also saw Mira Nair's 'Salaam Bombay'(1988) reach the final list of nominations for the oscar for foreign language film.

The 90s were the decade of the Khans足 Shahrukh, Salman and Aamir. Each had a style of their own. Shahrukh was the guy running around trees,wooing girls, Salman was the one with rippling biceps and Aamir was the more accomplished actor of the three. These three in equal measure were responsible for the revival of Hindi cinema after the lull of the 80s. Shahrukh Khan had the biggest hits of the time足 Dilwale dulhaniya

le jayenge, Kuch kuch hota hai, kabhi kushi kabhi gham all coming out of his successful partnership with Aditya Chopra and Karan Johar. Aamir did better films like Jo jeeta wohi sikhander, Rangeela, Raja Hindustani and Sarfarosh.

The high point of Aamir khan's career came in 2001 with the AshutoshGowariker epic 'Lagaan'. The film had both India's greatest passion, cricket and its greatest enemy, the British and the film was a historic success. Aamir Khan took special care in promoting the film which resulted in it coming second in the

in the oscars (No shame losing to the bosnian war epic 'No man's land). The other great films of the 2000s were Rajkumar Hirani's Munnabhai movies 'Munnabhai MBBS' and 'lage raho Munna bhai', Gowariker's Swades, Sanjay Leela Bansai's Black, Rakeysh Ompraksh Mehra's 'Rang de basanti', Aamir's own 'Taare zameen par'.

No tribute to hindi cinema would be complete without a mention of the very thing that makes it stand out in world cinema足 its music. Right from Sri ramachandra, Naushad, O.P.Nayyar, S.D. Burman, Madan Mohan, R.D. Burman to the recent crop of A R Rahman, Shankar足Ehsaan足Loy, Vishal足Shekhar and latest

sensation, Amit Trivedi, Hindi cinema has been blessed with an array of musical geniuses. The voices of Kishore Kumar, Mohd. Rafi, Mukesh are still reverredby fans and music lovers alike.And not to forget the ladies, Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhonsle, who are infact the voices of India.

I'm a Tamilian and by no means, a film scholar. But my interest in studying cinema was brought about after watching two films which truly changed my life and approach to cinema. They are Anurag Kashyap's "Black Friday' and Vishal Bharadwaj's 'Omkara'. Not the most popular films, but

they were so radically different from what i had seen earlier. They made me take cinema and cinematic writing seriously and the fact that I'm writing this is due to these films. Anurag Kashyap also made the cult 'Dev D', Gulaal and Gangs of Wasseypur and is the torchbearer of Hindi cinema

today; one who is taking Indian cinema to the World. Special mention to his associates and friends and great film足makers in their own right, Dibakar Banerjee and Vikramaditya Motwane, who, believe me, will take the world by storm before long.

In 2013, the 100th year of Indian cinema, two films have been released as a fitting tribute to this journey足 Ship of Theseus and Lunchbox. Both films are of such high standard in acting, screenwriting and technique, that any director of cinema verite would be proud of them. Here's wishing more and more 'Ship of Theseus'es and 'Lunchbox'es happen in the future. (P.s.: What's glaringly visible in this article is my omission of regional Indian cinema. The article on regional Indian cinema is a work in progress and I hope, I will write before the next issue is published. No writing on cinema can be 100% objective; I might have not mentioned a lot of your favourites and I apologise for that) Have fun at the movies!!!

Dr. Sundaram Gopalakrishnan (India) 30

A Writer Has Been Born CosmicWriter (USA)

I’m not the one to play games so do not call me ‘Player One’ I’m really cold, ice cold but I’m still the hottest under the sun, If me and you are equal, I did something wrong and I want to be right, So, I write this poem with ideas, staying up all night. Daylight, night bright but no joke, this is a wonderful sight, A day where I will die a legend? Well, that day I just might, See, I will be your kid’s favourite poet, I will be your poet’s favourite poet, I will be your family’s favourite poet, And this is not just me talking, I will even give actions to show it, This excitement is what makes it exciting, This type of satisfaction is pleasurable and lip biting, This is a blue sky, G6 jet plane flying, And I am the truth so you will never catch me lying, I am a born fighter which means I will die fighting, There are three words you will never hear, “Cosmic stopped writing.”

THE LONELY LOVE Dr. Ruchida Barman (Jaipur, India) Supriya came across him in the second innings of her life, on a social networking site, when they both had crossed 40. He was like Prince Charming. Full of life, full of humor, full of sensitivity, the perfect incarnation of Mr. Ideal. The kind of Man every woman would want: Caring, Loving,

Concerned and Honest. His spirit to live life filled her with the same. She who, was living in a dead relationship realized she was not really living whenever she came in contact with him. His ability not only to smile himself in deeply troubled times but also to

bring a smile to all faces touched her core. It was Valentine’s Day when she first spoke to him; such a beautiful voice, such a true voice, such a calming voice; a voice she wanted to hear again and again and again and……; a voice that told her that

it had depth, it had pain and it had sincerity behind it. She knew she could just close her eyes and sit forever listening to him, close to him, next to him.

That very day she knew she had found her soulmate. She knew he was an angel of God sent by God to wipe off the tears and suffering of her life. He had come with a purpose to make her alive again

and not just survive as she had been doing before him. The amazing chemistry that they shared was a heavenly experience for her. He had the ability to read her silence; the ability to decipher

reached out to her….the biggest day of her life. To know that somebody would ever reach out to her, to her who was never loved in this way. Love was so beautiful. To care for someone, to be cared for by someone makes one complete and they both did not find it in their so called lifepartners. Sometimes he would guess the color or the dress that she would be wearing, from her voice could make out that she had been crying and would surprise her in the most unlikely and touching manner. She, who was so thirsty for LOVE realized what true Love and selfless Love is. The amazing part of it all was they were in touch only through Gadgets and they never met each other personally. Yet somehow

his support gave her the strength to fight the world and she took the most difficult decision of her life to break the shackles of an unsatisfactory and burdening relationship and she legally separated from her Husband. Supriya still vividly remembered how that fateful day when Supriya left her husband’s house and went to her Mom’s he called her up every half an hour to ask her how she was? What was happening? Was she Okay? Was her little angel Okay? And how he regretted that he could not be there because he lived far, far far away in the U.K. How he understood that Supriya needed him at that moment was a Wonder for her and that convinced her that he was the one for her.

She now started living with her little baby angel in the hope that someday she would be united to her Prince Charming, even if for a little while. But the path of this union was strenuous, entwined with roadblocks and hurdles and while on the way she realized that this was not right. There was this unknown fear intriguing her all the time that this happiness could not be in her destiny. She was the unlucky one so how could this beautiful thing be happening to her and finally the fear of her mind came true. She came to know that ever since he declared his love for her he was in trouble. He was diagnosed of Diabetes and Financial Issues cropped up leading to issues with his spouse. She ignored all this because of her selfishness as she

She continued loving him and his troubles also continued growing to the extent that his laughter got lost somewhere and the last straw came when he had a Heart Attack. Supriya was shattered and broken with the news. She was so close to losing her life. Why? Why? Why? Was all that she could ask herself. She could no longer be selfish, could no longer ignore the fact that it all happened

because of her, because of her unlucky presence in his life. Supriya found herself in a dilemma that devastated her. She could not stay away from her life but how could she also let him go through all the sufferings and be a silent observer. She could not, she JUST could not. She knew what she had to do. She had to stay clear of him. She took the heart piercing decision of staying away

from her love, from her happiness because that was the only way in which she could make sure that he would be Okay. And that was essential for her even if he was thousands of miles away his being well meant the world to her. And so she became quiet, QUIET forever to the whole world and moved into her shell forever never to come out again.

Survival Of Youth Angel Bella (Lebanon) Incredible sensations swept over me These past hours, To prove that life and power Will mend the lost minutes and save ours. Here in the dim light We live, We create We open our minds, To the creator's fate.

In these shadowed leave I feel tensed, For once I recalled the memory, Of old age when it ends.

Dr. Yu Xuhong, Teacher a young and talented artist John Xu (Hangzhou, China) Foreword: When I was first exposed to Hangzhou, the rich Chinese culture there mesmerized me with its breathtaking beauty. The tranquil West Lake that reflected the silhouette of the moon in the MidAutumn’s day and the Leifeng Pagoda under the crimson of the setting sun created picturesque scenery that resembles the traditional Chinese Landscape paintings. From then on, my love towards Chinese culture and art became irrepressible. But that moment of detachment ended when I left the bank and crisscrossed my way back home. There the atmosphere was different, skyscrapers dotted along the street where the cars were jammed in the late afternoon. Everybody was trying to get home. The sound of the horn, and the loud music from the barber shops permeated the air and left a feel of agitation. Standing on the sidewalk where the west lake was no longer visible, the life of city began. I deplore the loss of tradition, of the tranquility that used to be so widely acclaimed in Taoism. But the advance of city seems to obliterate every inch of our traditions. Why? Why’s there no remnant of our once honored culture. The question pond my head as I scrambled to find a reason, till I came to China Academy of Art, the home of masters of Art and Sociology. There I found Dr. Yu Xuhong, who was a renowned teacher in CAA and was graduated from the department of Oil Painting and has earned numerous awards as a young and talented artist. I hoped that my concern of the development of Chinese Art could be fully answered in our encounter. Indeed that the conversation with Dr. Yu proved to be truly enlightening. He possessed an unusual charisma and confidence. When he talked, his eyes locked firmly on mine as he tried to explain me every bit of the Art development that had occurred. His idea was bold but not radical, his manner charming and uncontrived. As a true lover of Chinese Art and culture, I feel strongly the obligation to spread the idea of Chinese value and Chinese art through my words, and thus I begot the idea that I will make a collection of my conversations with Mr. Yu and, if I can, more faculty member in China Academy of Art and transcribe their ideas and thoughts to paper forms. Though my humble knowledge does not qualify me to write an extensive evaluation, I still feel that by recording and transcribing my interview with Dr. Yu, I can allow the readers to access the idea of Chinese Art while letting them be free to discuss upon the merit of the content. I hereby also thank Mr. Guo Jinyong, the Integrated Designing teacher in China Academy of Art for his benevolent help to make this interview come true.

Yu Xuhong is born in Zhejiang in 1975, 2000; graduated from oil painting department of China Academy of fine arts, bachelor's degree; in 2003 graduated from the oil painting department of China Academy of fine arts, was a master's degree and stayed to teach; China Academy of fine arts teachers, China Academy of fine arts painting creation and theory research doctorate; exhibition: 1999 Sino German cultural exchange APPOLD and abstract art exhibition; 2000 Japanese man and nature oil painting exhibition; 2001 Beijing China Art Exposition; 80 anniversary party in Zhejiang province art exhibition; 2002 "visual direction" Invitational Exhibition; "temporal" Zhejiang youth oil painting exhibition; "whether we should build a pagoda?" Contemporary art exhibition; 2003 "足足 exploration prospective oil painting exhibition" in Zhejiang; Third China oil painting exhibition; "image" Invitational Exhibition of contemporary Chinese oil paintings; Liu Haisu Museum of Art Oil Painting Invitation Exhibition; 2004 "218" the first contemporary painting exhibition; "218" oil painting exhibition; "overlap" Zhejiang Shanghai contemporary painting art exhibition; 2005 the Jiangsu Zhejiang Shanghai cutting足edge artists invitation exhibition.

Q: What’s your opinion of the promotion of Chinese Culture nowadays? Yu Xuhong: We can’t now just simple mindedly promote what we called the old or ancient China, because we cannot accurately define the concept of “oldness”. Foreigners are now typically interested in discussing the Cultural Revolution, but this is a sensitive topic. Say if we declassify all the documents related to the Cultural Revolution, it will raise interests among foreign people, because they know that during that particular period something big had happened, just like we are now interested in watching the documentary about Bin Laden. Now most people feel excited in watching a Western blockbuster or going to the Disney Park instead of throwing themselves to understand some legislatures made by Abraham Lincoln, even in US most of Lincoln’s policies have become a history. What do I mean about this? I mean that foreigners are quite pragmatic. China is now in some aspect also adjusting itself toward this pragmatism, which, to put it another way, is achieved by promoting the contemporary culture. Q: What do you think the term “Contemporary Culture” mean? Yu Xuhong: Contemporary culture is a very broad concept. Firstly, “contemporary” is not a snapshot. It is rather a period of time, so it is interrelated with the past. The only difference is that it is more focused on events happened recently or events that are going to happen. People are more related to this. About contemporary culture I want to divide my viewpoint into two parts: My idea and understanding of contemporary art and the works I’ve been doing about it. Okay, like what we have mentioned above, contemporary art has a very distinctive feature. It obtains its vitality from the today’s social structure which is different from the Topdown structure in the past. The public now participates more. This bears some connection with the revival of Mass Culture after 1960s in US. The vitality of Mass

Culture depends on one important factor: The rise of public media. For example, the cell phone now serves as a terminal that spreads information, so every one is in some way in control of a system that disseminates information. This is a classic example of how the development of media shapes the Participation to social affairs among ordinary people. In the past, if the government blocks the information source, nobody can know anything. Now with the introduction of Weibo, even a small incident will trigger a ripple effect. One interesting fact about Mass Culture is that the information is being transmitted and shared in an unprecedented speed. This has a drawback, in which the discussion won’t go deep enough. If we talk academically, the Frankfurt School has doubt the Mass Culture. It said that one feature of Mass Culture is its shallowness, another is its timeliness. We have now entered the All Media Era, where everyone becomes a terminal. Another bad thing about Mass Culture is that it sets the grass roots against the elite. If we look at the comments on web pages, we can see that many people “tu cao” ridicule or mock the situation instead of offering constructive advice. Q: But contemporary culture should still be offering constructive ideas and interpretations, shouldn’t it? Yu Xuhong: If we want to discuss contemporary culture, we also have to take into consideration the role technology played in shaping the culture. But it is futile to talk about the definition of contemporary culture without discussing how to make contemporary culture constructive and beneficial. If you look at the official media, everything depicted there is

“Shadow” Oil painting on canvas (2007) but if you surf the internet, you can see virtually everything, however good or bad, mixed together. The society is like the internet, where good things and bad things coexist. You cannot expect to find an absolutely virtuous society just like you are not expected to find an absolutely evil society. What we should try to extract is the constructive elements among a cluster of intermingled information. How should we say that one thing is constructive? Let us sidestep this question for a second and take a look at the American Hollywood films. Hollywood films, however exotic, or cryptic if you talk about

suspense films, have a universal theme, among which there are heroism, liberty and pursuit of freedom. Even “Kung fu Panda” which talks about a Chinese story, embodies the heroism, in which the good defeats the evil. I think what china lack is a distinctive cultural theme that can reflect the true Chinese value among Chinese people. I think this is an obstacle that we have to overcome. The True Chinese Value is not simply the political propaganda, or the socalled communist principle. We are now promoting the “Chinese Dream” which is a step taken to build our Universal Value. Only this can piece together the whole cluster of intermingled information and idea and truly form a strong value system just like the “Freedom and Pursuit of happiness” emphasized in US.

Q: So what do you think the role of contemporary art is in this contemporary society? Yu Xuhong: Contemporary art has to express ideas that are constructive, or at least related to the contemporary society. In this way, even traditionally painted Chinese paintings can be served as contemporary art if they express opinions on contemporary world. The German philosopher Martin Heidegger once expressed his opinion on the concept of technique which, please allow me to paraphrase, means that Technique is a tool that allows us to achieve the ends. Technique, such as video technology, is merely a carrier of the true content of the art, which is the theme an art form represents. In my opinion, artists are all literati. They have the capability to introspect or reflect upon a situation and can have their own ideas and judgments. Artists cannot be passive conformists who mindlessly drift along. Recently, there was a film called “So Young”. “So Young” has received wide acclimation in China. Some critics even regard this as a monumental work. Zhao Wei has been in the film career for a pretty long time, but she was still an amateur in directing films, and “So Young” is her graduation work. It is said that Beijing Film Academy gave it the highest mark in the school’s history ever: 99 points. It’s great not only because it earned five hundred million Yuan, but also because the theme struck the responsive cords of viewers: the commemoration of youth. So the contemporary culture should very efficiently connect individuals who in other ways won’t be connected at all. This movie, for example, can raise the topic over youth for a considerable period of time, or even define the trend of culture as many subsequent movies, writings, or even paintings adopted similar themes: The commemoration of youth. I held an exhibition called “The Spring of Art” in 2008, and wrote an article named “Youth and Ambition”. I was working on my doctor degree at that time and I also managed to pinpoint the culture trend. So this idea of youth is so evocative that it becomes a focus among many

topics. So the movie today can serve as an effective way to spread cultural idea. Q: What do you see Art Education’s role in a society? Yu Xuhong: Since most of your interviewees are professors in CAA, we inevitably have to relate our topic to education of art, the practicality of it. Just like the contemporary culture I have mentioned, the art education too, is related to the past. By standing on the shoulder of the past, art education can extract valuable information to deal with the problems today. It has a practical meaning. CAA is now collaborating with Hong Kong University of Science & Technology and Peking University to work on creating a new idea of designing. Designing is not an isolated work. It is interconnected with the culture and value of the society. We call the project Design and Manufacturing of Collaborative Innovation. But this is a difficult project because we are creating a brand new idea. Alibaba and Taobao did it well. According to Jack Ma, he wanted to create an ecosystem out of Alibaba which can efficiently connect buyers and sellers. About Art Education now, there is still room for introspection. Whether art education is to open up people’s creativity? If it is so, then the current education system has a big problem. CAA is now trying to reform our education system by focusing less on Standardized Tests results and more on finding a common ground between the Ideal of effective education and the practicality of the implementation. We are trying to create a new evaluation system that can judge students in a new way. The conventional evaluation system is so rigid that

people are treated as machines. Luckily, the thing is starting to turn around. In the 18th National Party Congress, “To enhance the cultural creativity of the whole nation” is emphasized as one of the priorities. The congress is now promoting the growth of culture. Why culture? The Chinese word for culture is “wen hua” which also means “to educate people with knowledge” Art education, in some way, should make people effective individuals, individuals with good souls.

I have talked to the people in the Ministry of Culture and they were amazed by our project. The reason is that they used to only promote traditional Chinese heritages instead of promoting the vitality of contemporary culture. What we are doing is crafting a diverse, cultured mindset that fit modern people’s perspective. The process is easy to say but difficult to do, but we’ve gotten on it. One Hong Kong engineer called Zhao Guangchao filmed a 100episode documentary called “The Imperial Palace 100”. This documentary Q: So, can you tell us what you’ve been doing now received considerably more praise than as a faculty member of one of China’s most previous documentaries about the Imperial prestigious art school? Palace; because it broke the old mode of Yu Xuhong: What we are doing now is a project documentary in which the narrator simply called “Vision China”. This runs accordance reciting historical events, like what happen at with the culture aspect we have discussed. What this time and what happened at that time. our focus here is the contemporary visual art. Zhao’s documentary is more detailed. It tells Visual art is an art form that includes TVs and stories in a microscopic view, and dissects the movies. The movie is a combination of Sound building structure in the Imperial Palace to and Image. By incorporating sound and moving bring out the true Chinese concept that’s been pictures, we can diversify the expression of embodied in the buildings. For example, why culture by utilizing our vision and auditory are the pavilion roofs in the Imperial Palace sense. This I have devoted most of my time on. shapes like an umbrella with the tallest point in The project can solve two problems. The first is the center? Why does it not lean either to the the lack of visual culture in the openingup of left or to the right? This is actually a symbolism Chinese culture. Chinese used to lack the of Chinese value. Chinese people promote the vividness and diversity. The second is the lack doctrine of Mean (zhong yong) which is to be of vitality. In 1928, the founder of China neither rigid as to oppose any change nor Academy of Art, Cai Yuanpei, proclaimed that radical as to embrace anything new, just like the “The education of art, shall better the quality of roof top, which leans neither to the right nor to people’s lives.” If people only emphasize on the left. This is the essence of Chinese culture, material consumption, they cannot live happy or which is different from western culture. fulfilling lives. If, by using visual media, we can People used to think that “contemporary” connect the culture and value to people’s souls, means to overthrow the past. This is wrong. then we are really making a big contribution. I Education should also play a role in developing am confident that we have started off pretty well. the contemporary Chinese value. We are working on a concept called The Local Education, which is to nourish the traditional Chinese ideal of life in places like old villages. One Chinese saying goes like this: “Purity begets purity, like begets like.” By providing people with an atmosphere of purity, we can make them pure.

“Shadow” canvas printing with silver pen 2010 Q: Why is culture important in the development of a society? Yu Xuhong: When we talk about contemporary age, we tend to cut the history of the past. When we talk about innovation, we also tend to forget tradition. This is the idea of progressivism, which asserts that past is in any way inferior to the present, and human beings are always evolving towards perfection. I don’t personally agree with progressivism. I think it is in many ways flawed. Our president Xi Jinping has once emphasized three needed aspects of a successful cultural development: “To inherit, to integrate, and to innovate.” I am an admirer of Xi and I agree with his idea. Innovation doesn’t come from thin air. It links with tradition. Q: But, really, why can’t we simply shake the tradition off ? Yu Xuhong: The King Solomon once said:

“There is nothing new under the sun.” What does this mean? It means that feelings and emotions of those people, however old or young, alive or deceased, are similar. People today can read the “Three Character Scripture” and still perceive the idea of romance from the book even if it was written thousands of years ago. Same with “Matrix” which, though already involved with mindboggling concept of time traveling and reincarnation, still embraces the very idea of Loyalty and Liberty that people from all time yearn for. So there must be a value system that runs through the history without losing its significance.

Q: As a painter, do you see painting as an effective way of expressing your ideas? Yu Xuhong: Of course, I insist on doing paintings because paintings, comparing with films, are more efficient in sending their ideas. A person may take two hours in a cinema to finish a film and get its message, but that same person may take only half a second to receive the message from a painting. Now let’s go back to my paintings. The characters, people in my painting all emerge from the nocturnal light, which I did so to achieve an effect of reaching a tipping point, like taking a snapshot on the fine moment between daytime and night, the very second the light breaks the darkness. The people I depicted are also the people who changed the history of China like Lu Xun, whose lives and deeds are true demonstrations of reaching a tipping point. Q: Introduce to us your style of painting. What do they suggest? Yu Xuhong: The subjects of many of my paintings are objects that are not eyecatching. For example, I paint the weeds and grasses right outside my studio, which are some people said so ordinary that they are not even suitable to be drawn on canvas. But I choose those small things to create an element of trueness in my paintings. In my paintings I also want to create a quiet atmosphere, but also I am trying to capture the air on canvas. Rationally speaking, people cannot draw air really because it is invisible. But we can still perceive it, feel it. In one of my landscape paintings, I deliberately add the element of fog to make the imagery look blurred. I’ve also collected samples of air all around the world. Air is in some ways illusory,

and hard to express. So by choosing to paint air, I create under my brush objects from ordinary lives that are easily overlooked by our naked eyes. My works are centered upon the system of shadow. By utilizing shadow, I create under my brush the nature that is more intangibly elegant, like my current “Nocturnal Light” series, which is about the snow scene on Longjing Mountain, is typical in that it depicts an atmosphere that is quiet and still, but…okay if you want to explain this feeling. Usually artists don’t explain the feelings of their works because most of them follow their instincts, but one way to explain this feeling is to see the arrangement of my painting. See, my paintings usually don’t have objects, and I assemble multiple sceneries from different locations to a single setting so that it does not look like it comes from one fixed place. It’s pretty Chinese styled which doesn’t paint pictures from a fixed angle. Chinese painters like Huang Binhong, when trying to draw a mountain like Baochu Mountain, took sceneries from both the top and the bottom of the mountain and assemble them into a holistic painting. Under his brush, the Baochu Mountain didn’t resemble the real mountain at all and was more imaginatively structured. I think Chinese people see the world in motion, and western people see the world in stillness. To describe my concept more academically, I can tell you that I paint the nature of things. Q: What does it mean: the nature of things? Yu Xuhong: You may not understand this, but you surely know a little bit about Chinese value towards nature. The core idea of this value system is that people are not made to conquer the nature, Think about Tao Yuanming and his imagination of the peach garden in his poem “tao hua yuan ji”, in which human beings lives harmoniously in the nature. This is the wisdom of Oriental culture which is compatible in height with Liberty and Equality. Human beings now have already devastated the nature by deforestation, pollution and so on.

Q: From your workings, we can see clearly traces of both western and Chinese art. Tell me about your inspiration from Chinese and Western art. Yu Xuhong: What I am doing now is in some ways connected to my understanding of art. I have spent the last ten years conducting chiefly researches on paintings in a hope to extract the abstract elements which are related to the world we are living now. I divided my research into two topics. One is light, the other is shadow. This can sound strange, because traditional Chinese painters didn’t embrace the concept of applying lighting effect. Not until the late Qing Dynasty were Chinese people exposed to western paintings that utilized extensively the lighting and shadow effect. When the missionary Matteo Ricci presented the Empress Dowager Ci Xi his painting about a door, the Empress Dowager Ci Xi was so tricked that she believed that the door in Matteo’s painting was real. Chinese paintings were not meant to depict real life, real people, while western paintings are imitations of real life and real experience. The churches in Western world are filled with paintings on the walls, which put people into an authentically fake situation that make them believe they are experience the realtime events depicted on the walls. Churches and paintings are combined in a seamless way to promote this sense of being at a sacred moment. This is why all churches need to have their walls filled with paintings. Imagine being in this situation where before your eyes is this vivid representation of holy Jesus Christ and at the background is the music sung by members of church choir. You are actually experiencing a form of art compatible with movie, which also manipulates the visual and auditory senses. The only different is that the image is static. So this unique art form is so evocative that it proves an ideal for salvation, for it superposed the flesh and spirit. The application of light is to recreate a scene, a reality, just a saying goes “Seeing is believing.” The Renaissance artists moved the application of light and shadow to a higher place that help derived many art styles that utilize light and shadow in their distinctive ways. Okay, so to

recreate a reality, artist had to create a sense of space, which was achieved by combining the paintings with the interior structures of churches. For example, in “Last Supper” we can see the law of perspective playing a large role in creating a sense of space. The concept of perspective is very important in western art history. But how to construct three dimensional figures on a twodimension surface? Da Vinci did extensive researches from approximately 1470s to 1530s to devise a method that can create a threedimensional effect. Now even children know that an object needs to have an illuminated face and a shady face to look threedimensional. This method of painting is highly scientific, unlike making Chinese paintings, which is more intuitive. Chinese like to discuss cosmos which are fairly abstract. This may contribute to the fact that Chinese thinking is allembracing. Q: Does it mean that Chinese paintings lack realness? Yu Xuhong: It’s true, technically speaking. Most Chinese paintings are not three dimensional. Only two or three works depict figures with shadows. We can say that Chinese paintings look more directly into the essence of things, and western paintings derive of an understanding of essence from the surface. To put it another way, Chinese paintings draw thingsinthemselves. Chinese painters can even paint people when light is out, which is unimaginable to western painters, who utilize the light chiefly as their forms of expression. The requirement for lighting is so rigid that when a painter is drawing a figure, the light has to shine in from north, because in that way, a more stable source of light can be guaranteed

“Child” Oil Painting on canvas 2009-2010 letting people guess what the painting wants to and the painters won’t have to worry that their right hand will cast a shadow on the paper. This express. is how detailed the methodology of western Q: So, let’s back to Education System. What do paintings can be. you think is the flaws of Chinese education system? Q: Why do Chinese paintings develop such an Yu Xuhong: About Art Education, I agree with elusive form? the idea of Cai Yuanpei. He was a man of Yu Xuhong: Chinese paintings are in some wisdom whose judgment is still sound in today’s ways detached from reality. This is easy to world. The biggest crisis of China’s explain, because most Chinese paintings were development is that China has cut its history tie painted by literati, of whom many were also and is losing what we called nei han (cultural aristocrats. They paint not to educate people content). Art Education is meant to reclaim the like church paintings did but simply to record nei han that many people have lost in order to events and express emotions. How does a “…better the quality of people’s lives.” Another painting serve to educate people? The church important quality Art Education can provide is paintings, for example, completely recreates an that it can allow people to step aside from life event to let people see, rather than merely and scrutinize it and reflect upon it. Without this quality, people will be just like machines operating ceaselessly, a form of alienation demonstrated in Marx’s alienation theory and Kafka’s Metamorphosis, in which humanity gave away to animal instinct. By opening up

the creativity drawn from experience and understanding of life and society, Art Education can make people real contributors to society. I think the current education system should start changing its focus on merely the adeptness of skill using. College students nowadays in China, especially those who study science, know only how to do mathematics. They don’t understand people and obligation to society; neither can they socialize well with other people. China Academy of Art has been trying to reverse this trend towards specialization of skill and loss of social awareness by focusing more on students’ appreciation of art, the cultivation of social value instead of grades from Standardized Tests. In this way, students can have a bigger chance in successfully adapting to society and becoming productive citizens. So CAA is now doing two things. One is my project “Vision China”, another is the education reform to departments of Designing and Manufacturing that aims to provide an interdisciplinary approach towards majors like Manufacturing and Management. I hope that this can help them obtain the qualities I have mentioned instead of digging headlong to a narrow skill that just makes them machines. CAA is also adjusting its course lists to provide those majors that suit the most to the development of the society. Q: How’s US education different from ours’? Yu Xuhong: The US education is very different from Chinese education in that the Chinese schools ranks students based solely upon results of Standardized Tests. In US application, if a student is recommended by a famous professor. This recommendation can be served as a strong certificate that can even outweigh the test results, so Chinese students tend to have higher exam scores but poorer researching abilities and innovation .

Q: You majored in Oil Painting when you were in college. What do you think is the importance of studying oil painting? Yu Xuhong: China is not an isolated country. It

interacts with the rest of the world. We are Chinese but we don’t have to wear cheongsams to prove our identity. Oil painting’s significance is not its material. It’s important because it is the carrier of western culture and western thinking. The application of Oil painting was prevalent throughout western history. If you take a look at the interior structure of Pompeii houses, you can see on the walls paintings of various topics, some even related to licentious topics. By learning oil painting, we can understand better western thinking and western values. Oil painting concerns with the understanding of objects. Chinese painters travel around to paint one picture, while western painters do so by being in one place for a whole day. We cannot say which is better, but at least we can say that western methodology provides the truest version of the reality. So overall, we don’t treat oil paintings as mere techniques. We treat them as a reflection of a culture that we can glimpse at. Q: You are now over thirty. In your life, what contributes to your perspective and your understanding of the world? Yu Xuhong: Honestly, the experience from life and school in which I was exposed to multiple kinds of knowledge and information shaped my perspective. This is why I promote Interdisciplinary approach. Though I graduate from China Academy of Art, I try to make my paintings look less orthodox, because otherwise my paintings will lack the deepness of a good art work. Last time during an exhibition, one of my friend remarked on my works, saying they don’t look like the product from CAA at all. I shot back saying: “That’s exactly the effect I want to create.” Orthodox

way of judging painting is by seeing whether it looks alike the true object. Say, a sketching of a sculpture have to look exactly alike the sculpture itself. Now it is no longer significant. But from this we can see that Chinese people value art that that has retained a certain height, whereas western people treasure art that has changed the course of art history. So the west treasures innovation whereas China values the height of a work. In conclusion, China history is the history of heritage, whereas Western history is the history of conquer and change. From President Xi’s words “To inherit, to integrate, and to innovate” we can see that China is now slowly adopting the western thinking of innovation, but is also trying to dynamically retain China’s cultural identity. Q. How do you see your role in China Academy of Art? Is it fulfilling? Yu Xuhong: My work in CAA is tiring, but fulfilling. I feel fulfilling because from what I’ve been doing as a teacher and propagator of Chinese culture, I see myself as the one who is trying to change CAA’s history, though I’m now

a bit frustrated at the excessive intervention from administration to art because I think the progress of art is intangible and cannot be measured using the standard adopted by politics. So China Academy of Art has its advantages and disadvantages. The advantages are that it has a long history and tradition. CAA has been a forerunner of history through out the contemporary history. For example, it established the first architecture department and the first designing department in China. CAA assumes the obligation to inherit China’s cultural assets and to dynamically adopt them for innovation. Because it was established by Cai Yuanpei, the former Minister of Education in the Republican period, CAA has a privileged status among its counterparts, and thus a deeper sense of mission. The disadvantages of CAA are that, because CAA sees itself as an art institution, it cannot be judged using a rigid, mathematical standard which are now normally adopted by The Ministry of Education. We have to work out a new standard that is suitable to assess the performance of art institutions.

Little Deeds Of Kindness Vasanthi Papu (India) Found a young girl in the street, Selling fruits in the scorching heat. Having placed the basket on her hips She spread a smile on her rosy lips. She stole my heart with a face so cute Stating me the benefits of each fruit. Her subtle approach made me wonder Yet pointed out itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s wrong to wander. When this is the age meant to learn Why should she battle hard to earn? Right away came her wise remark, That she earns for those in the dark, Whose doors and eyes are always shut The blind infirm couple beside her hut. Bought all the fruits she had in stock Which she had to hawk round the clock. Patted the cutie for her benign deed Who planted in me a pretty seed That I should nurture kindness too Or bend my head in shameful rue.

Second Life Praveen Gola (India) Hmm…today our talks again took a long time to finish. Not a new thing although, as time passes soon when I feel him around me. Feel, it’s four letter words but has equally a deep meaning. It was not too long that I know him. It’s been around two years that I am in contact with a guy through some online educational site. I, being a housewife of middle age, haven’t assumed our initial conversation to be too long. Having a nice life with husband and kids, something was there in

the life which was missing, something in behavioral part or something in feeling part, perhaps. He was a college going guy who also used to take participation in the same website, the place where our conversation came into a new height. We started as a normal online friend, initially we used to share our professional life, our day to day professional work etc. And meanwhile, in those talk I found a friend, who not only shared his life but also cared for

me. This sharing and caring relationship that we both have in our life is something different. Since our knowledge domains are different and also we both belong to different age groups, sex was never felt in our friendship. In spite of all these, a kind of different bond was there in our friendship. It sounds something odd about the existence of such a fictional friend, to whom you haven’t seen or met, only shares your heart.

I used to be a shy lady since my college time, and there after marriage and kids didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t give time to think about myself that I am

also a human being of feelings. Life became kind of scheduled robot. I used to spend normal daily routine with little pleasure.

My personal life has been almost ruined in most of the cases. I was unaware about most of the things in life, like a novice pullet.

This world is full of persons having evil thoughts all the time in the mind. It was disguised to me. He took as a big change in my life. As our talks went on through internet, there was something that I got attracted towards him. His talks, tutorials, way of presentation everything I started liking. He told me the realities of the wicked world. I was like a frog in a well situation, which didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t move out

of the house and therefore never ever thought about those things. We started our friendship sharing some ideas about knowledge. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a very different kind of friendship, a friendship of happiness, knowledge, pleasure, talks. Spending night hours for him had become a necessity for me. There was not a space of lust in me and in our friendship but some hidden love existed between

us, that I see every time I logged in there. This media of communication became a messenger of my heart. Whenever I come here, I forget about the world and this has become a source of great energy for which I may spend my whole day in work continuously. I got positive side of change in personal life, especially with my husband. Every night comes with a new sun of endless

talks with him. Todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s generation spends most of the time on internet in some futile facebook chat and get nothing except time wastage, but this knowledgeable chat became love and necessity for me. This love is love of affection, caring, understanding, sympathy and much more than this. In this world, society has marked many limitations over a lady in which she lives. But this is something different world in which I have no limitations. My heart can go beyond that. It beat when it found him online, it responded when something was asked. My words were so genuine. I talk to him about his family, since he is an unmarried guy so he is under parental guidance. He

too talks to me about my family, my husband and my kid. Perhaps this chat is the first and the last thing that is not in view of my husband, because of the sickness of society which will not take this in a healthy way. I felt it was better to take this as my another life. As it happens in every relationship, things go beyond the thinking and some fun chatting is established between us. We both enjoy this change a lot and it has everything to talk about. My feelings concentrate on this fantasy world where I am a free bird to do anything. I have no limit to go and this fantasy world has become a pleasure for me. Initially I thought a lot about this and discussed about this with him. I thought that it is far better than those who

indulge themselves in extramarital affairs and then put question on their family life. I like my fantasy world where I am a person who has desires and feelings and it gets fulfilled by his love. Creating love scenes and living in fantasy has become common to me in this world. I enjoy this lot. And now, after having so much time spent with him on net, I didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t regard it as wrong. And many questions like what is the future of this relationship? How far will it last? What type of relationship is this actually? I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know these answers. It is something like a different life for me, another life, and my second life!!!

You Are Good Enough Lisa Ayers (US) For all who feel they don’t fit in Feel they are not good enough Who think, I can't compare to her, You’re right. We don’t compare to anyone else. We are all equal and special. So create your own style For them to fit into Lisa Ayers You are good enough

You Are Good Enough (US)

For all who feel they don’t fit in Feel they are not good enough Who think, I can't compare to her, You’re right. We don’t compare to anyone else. We are all equal and special. So create your own style For them to fit into You are good enough For all who think, I'm too fat Not pretty enough Too short, not skinny enough There are no mistakes. God created you perfect Just the way you are. If the guys aren’t choosing you over her They are the ones missing out, not you. For all who think, I can’t approach her She will never talk to me She's out of my league Create a league of your own You are good enough.

For all those who have been hurt, bullied and abused It’s not your fault They are the one with the problem, not you. Don’t allow people’s opinions And your past to define who you are Create yourself, if that doesn’t work out Recreate yourself again, every day if you have too. When it seems like the odds are stacked against you And no one likes you And you don’t like yourself It doesn't mean you’re not good enough So start believing in yourself Show them what you are made of If they don't hear you, talk a little louder If they don't see you, walk a little taller If they don’t pick you, scoot over a little And let them see your beauty radiate through.

Why Do I Write?

Davinder Ranu (Canada) I never thought about writing before but one day this desire came to me and I started writing. I believe in God who has put this desire in me since he saw me doing nothing in life. He thought he should have given me some work. He gave me a place to go which I call â&#x20AC;&#x153;escapeâ&#x20AC;?. From that escape place, poetry and short stories came out and I just simply write it down. Writing has helped me to deal with my depression and so many other things. I write when I feel like doing it. If I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t feel the urge to, I do not write at all. I write on my own pace not in race with anyone or anything.

Abhilasha Kaushik (Jaipur, India) It happened one day that someone asked me ‘why do you write?’ The answer was certainly not easy to be given in words only; but my heart and mind started feeling the gratitude inside. Really a good question it was; but the answer was still to be searched. When I dived into my heart’s ocean, I found the answer. My thoughts started jumping and my heart raised its head over and over. I felt that it is really a very important part of my life. I began writing when I was in school because I wanted to express myself. It does not mean that I lacked the people who could hear me but it gave me a chance of talking to myself through writing. I started realizing its value whenever I felt the pain inside and outside too. Writing became a true friend of mine who was a very good listener, a friend, who attended me with great patience and care. Whenever I felt happy; it made me happier by giving wings to my feelings and imagination. Whenever I felt hurt it treated me like the soothing sandalwood. It made me a promise that it will never disclose my secrets to anyone else; it made me feel proud to get such a trustworthy friend. This friend of mine represented me as a leader of many in the society, who can feel and give voice to those who cannot speak for themselves. It made me a poet, a narrator and ultimately a writer, as if in no time. I do remember the days when I used to dream of getting a magical stick; and I still remember how my Father promised me to get such a stick and he did! He did gift it to me in inheritance I suppose. This stick was handed over to me by the muse. This magical stick gave me the power not only to heal me but the others also. It made me convey my message to God and attend my wishes through writing countless letters. This ‘magical stick’, or ‘a true friend’ or ‘a medicine’ or ‘an audience to me’ or ‘the God of mine’- is someone whom I love more than myself; because my heart pines to go into the lap of its sweetheart

whenever it wants to say something, the eyes perhaps read the language of the heart and the mind forgets its logical sense by becoming one with it. They all rely on this honest and caring friend of mine who always gives shelter to all whenever they need her. And this is the answer I could shape into words to express my love for this wonderful friend of mine.

Basilia ( India) When I started writing I did it only for my satisfaction.I write to speak...speak out all my fears, shed all my tears in ink onto paper. Expecting something always hurts so I never expected any sort of appreciation for what I wrote. Every poem of mine is a voice that is unheard. My pen moves to calm my inner voice. I necessarily don't choose any theme when I think of writing because it happens when emotions speak, when thoughts come to life. I even gush out my anger through my poems. My first poem was on a teacher who inspired me. Writing is what I'm addicted to since I started I developed a lot of interest in poetry after reading to Robert Frost, Rabindranath Tagore , William Wordsworth. There were days when I got so involved in writing that I was always seen alone with a notepad scribbling all the time. So I was threatened to give up my only pleasure â&#x20AC;&#x153;Writingâ&#x20AC;?. I was scared to leave my only friend I ever had and have. Even though I never showed my works to anyone hardly not for fear of being criticized, only because my poems carried my emotions and I did not want people to notice it. I write only poems. Element of my poem can be anything or anyone around me. Things which fascinate me inspire me to write. Sometimes a happy one or a sad poem or a thought provoking one. I tried my hand at short stories but every time I started I ended up with a poem. I can see myself transform from a girl who's shy, scared to share her poems now shares them with the world. Though known as an extrovert, I'm not one. I'm happy to write and will never give up writing. Finally I write to speak, to strengthen myself. I would be much happier if any of my works could help anyone or bring some good change

The End R K Chowdary Jasti (India) In the circumference of life I feel your shadow And feel your contact And feel your obscurity Always bothering me Interrupting my progression of life. But why do you hasten to pull me down Into your dark valley? Though Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m already captive In my life with your chains. And how long I shall live To be alive in your plight. As my life is too short in your delight And are you afraid of that light That may release me from you. With my entreaty To that divinity And how long can you play the game Of your hilarity? Though youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re already overwhelmed In the sport of spirit As you were lost in the very past!

Paintings By Jayaram (India) 14 Years Old

Paintings By Jayaram (India) 14 Years Old 62

Paintings By Jayaram (India) 14 Years Old

Painting By Kavinraj (India) 14 Years Old

SOUL-MATE Satwik Mishra (India)

She will infinitely love me, And will never ever hate. Whatever is my destiny? She will eternally appreciate, Neither will she compare, Nor will she ever rate. Universe may mislead me, She will just motivate. She will endlessly support me, Even if not my fate. Yes, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s none but only one, My dream! My soul mate.

Melancholy Series By R. K. Verma (India)

Diwali Festival Of Light By R. K. Verma

Your Reflection It would be better if u try to make the lay out a bit more appealing..thanks Sreejith Kamalanayanan (India) Sure Sreejith Kamalanayanan , we learn from our mistakes and advice given by our readers... (Managing Editor) I commend the team, writers and artists for a job well done. Congratulations to all who appeared in the magazine! Each issue is getting more exceptional! The layout and design is fantastic. Nice touch on the photos of the writers and artists. The art work and writing is superb! Looks great! Kudos to all! Lisa Ayers (US) Thank you so very much!! This month's issue just rocks!!! I'm speechless because everything seems so neat and perfect. Great Work!! Congrats to the hardworking and dedicated team of Reflection.... just everybody associated with the Magazine...Keep rocking....God bless and Best Wishes as always. Shahid Khan (India)

Wow..I asked Editor Ashi for downloadable issue long back..Finally itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s here. Great!! Basilia Leva (India)

Ashi, you deserve a Grammy, a Nobel and an Oscar award. See how beautiful you have made us all. You gave us a voice, now we can sing; you gave us wings, now we can fly; you made us find our place in the sun, now we can walk in the sky with our heads held high. We are humbled and honored by you. We love you and we say may Allah reward you greatly. Amen. Jerry Eke (Nigeria) The consistency of excellence in your publication is a fine tribute to everyone involved. Simply beautiful in content and appearance, it makes me very happy to see the continued success this publication is having; Athis is a tribute to the staff and contributing writers. Kudos to all! Great news! Joe P. Attanasio (US)

Greetings to all! Reflection W&R magazine, rich and vibrant with newer visions has shown substantial progress in both content and format where the images have added reality and life to the amazing creations of the writers. This commendable publication draws its vim and vigour from the perennial spring – the inspiring works of our beloved contributors. It‛s indeed a proud privilege to work for such a fabulous magazine that has variety coupled with quality and grandeur. My earnest thanks to all those who have graciously proffered their time and energy to make this issue special and spectacular. Special thanks to Mr Kumar Vikrant who works with such a dedicated spirit to give us a voluminous issue so elegant and elite in all aspects each time. My sincere thanks to the Managing Editor Ms Iram Fatima ‘Ashi‛ for her persistent endeavour to sustain the quality of the magazine for which it is widely read. I would fail in my duty if I do not thank the loyal readers whose overwhelming support is the key to the success of this magazine. On behalf of the Reflection family, I wish everyone a blessed and peaceful life. Thank you! Regards, Vasanthi Papu (Associate Editor)

Merry Christmas Diwakar Pokhriyal

Merry Christmas Diwakar Pokhriyal (Delhi, India) Let’s enlighten the soul With merry blinks of XMas light, Enticing inception of righteousness, May Santa bring the insight, in you and me, in u and me.

Rosy clouds of intrinsic strength Budding sky scraper determination, Heinous defeat of selfish brain, Building the untouched creation, in you and me, in u and me.

May Santa bless us togetherness, Raining flowery pearls of heaven, Resting on twinkling eyes of angels, Rising from one to seven.

Merry Christmas to everyone, Wishing unbreakable ties with humanity, May the supreme bless our divine soul, “To be Santa with clarity”.

Guidelines For Submitting Your Manuscripts 1 You should have a proper pen name, pen name like girlie2000, lifeisadream, will not be accepted. If you use your real name, it will be highly appreciated. 2 You can send us stories, poems, essays, interviews, reportage, novel summaries etc. 3 Be original, plagiarism in any form is unbearable so it will be your responsibility to deal with, if someone claims or complains about your work the editor and the publisher will not be responsible for any of the published work. 4 It is necessary to provide your contact details with your manuscript. But if you like your contact details will be published under your work so that it will enable the readers to interact with you directly. 5 You can write in any genre but vulgarity, erotica, profanity is not allowed in any form. Besides propagating any religion, an ethnic group or terrorist group in your work is strictly prohibited. Our magazine is for general reading so the use of four letter words is not permitted. 6 It is advised that you must send your manuscript fully edited and grammatically checked. Our editors will not be able to edit or amend it so they have the right of rejecting your manuscript. 7 This is a free online magazine so we shall not pay any money for any of your published work. 8 Presently we are doing only six online and three printed issues in a year. 9 Our long term dream is to publish unpublished writers, please do your best to provide us with your best work. It may go to the printed version of our Magazine. 10 Our publishers MOPH are determined to publish the print versions of your novels too. If you have a novelist in you please send us the summary of your novel for publishing it in the online version of our magazine. If our editors and critics like your novel we will send it to our publishers for printing it free of cost. 11 By sending your manuscript to us you simply give us the right to publish it in our magazine. You continue to own the rights of your work in your name and Reflection does not make any claim or restriction on the ownership of your work.

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Please include the following information with every manuscript. If you are submitting as a word processor file, such as Microsoft Word, the best approach is to add points 1 & 2 to the top of the manuscript and the bio information to the end of the article. Please supply a separate file for the image captions or add them to the end of the article after your bio: 1) Your complete name, mailing address and telephone number, which will not be published without your approval. 2) Your eÂmail address, which will not be published or disclosed to anyone. 3) Supply captions for all images, illustrations or photographs you supply. 4) Supply a short biography of yourself in about 40 to 50 words, if you like weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll append it to the end of your work.

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