DLA, Agra, 1 January, 2014
varjkZ"Vªh; vaxzsth 'kks/k if=dk
fj&ekfdZaXl us tuojh 2014 ds fo’ks"k vad ds :Ik esa yxkrkj iphlosa vad
ds izdk'ku dk xkSjo izkIr fd;kA O;olkf;drk ds bl ;qx esa brus o"kksZa rd
fcuk fdlh O;o/kku ds fu;r le; ij lkfgfR;d 'kks/k if=dk dk izdk'ku fdlh vtwcs ls
de ughaA if=dk ds iphlosa vad ds izdk'ku ij fo'o ds lqizfl) lkfgR;dkjksa]
i=dkjksa] leh{kdksa rFkk cqf)thfo;ksa us if=dk ds iz/kku laiknd rFkk izdk'kd vkxjk
dkWyst] vkxjk ds vaxzsth foHkkxk/;{k MkW- fuchj ds ?kks"k dks if=dk ds
izLrqr vad esa izdkf'kr ys[kksa ds ek/;e ls lk/kqokn rFkk 'kqHkdkeuk,a
izsf"kr dhaA lksuksek LVsV ;wuhoflZVh] dsyhQksfuZ;k ds izksQslj rFkk
iz[;kr jpukdkj tksUgk jfLdu us fy[kk gS fd eSa fj&ekfdZaXl ds fy, fujarj
fy[krk gw¡ D;ksafd ;g eq>s ,d ,sls lkfgfR;d leqnk; ls tksM+rh gS tks
dsyhQksfuZ;k ls yxHkx vk/kh nqfu;k dh nwjh ij gSA eSa blds }kjk lkfgfR;d oSf’od
leqnk; ds lkFk&lkFk Hkkjr ls Hkh lkaLÑfrd laca/k tksM+uk pkgrk gw¡A
fj&ekfdZaXl esjh izeq[k lkfgfR;d thoujs[kk gSA eSa MkW- ,u ds ?kks"k
dks yxkrkj iphlosa vad rd ekSfyd ,oa mRÑ"V jpuk,a izdkf’kr djus gsrq
lk/kqokn nsrk gw¡A brus o"kksZa rd fdlh ’kks/k if=dk dk fu;fer izdk’ku
cgqr dfBu dk;Z gSA xkafc;k ds izeq[k dfo ,oa oYMZ cSad ds vf/kdkjh rhtku ,e
lkykg dk dguk gS fd fj&ekfdZaXl tSlh varjkZ"Vªh; 'kks/k if=dk ds dkj.k
fo'o cgqr NksVk izrhr gksrk gSA eq>s fj&ekfdZaXl ’kkafr ,oa lkekftd U;k;
ls tqM+s eqn~nksa dks vius i`"Bksa ij mdsjus gsrq ladYic) fn[kkbZ nsrh gSA
eSa dkeuk djrk gw¡ fd fj&ekfdZaXl vxys iPphl o"kksZa rd blh [kwclwjrh
ds lkFk izdkf’kr gksrh jgsA us’kuy ;wuhoflZVh flaxkiqj ds okWYVj fye us fy[kk
gS fd eSa MkW- ?kks"k dh usr`Ro {kerk ,oa nwjn`f"V dh iz’kalk djrk
gw¡] ftUgksaus nf{k.k ,f’k;kbZ lkfgR; rd lhfer u jgdj oS’ohÑr lalkj esa varjkZ"Vªh;
laca/kksa dks izkFkfedrk nh gSA ,Ýhdu vesfjdu fjlkslZ lsaVj] okWf’kaxVu ds
ps;jeSu bZFkycVZ feyj us vius CykWx ij fVIi.kh dh gS fd bl if=dk ds }kjk ,d ckj
fQj iwoZ if’Pke ls feyk gS vkSj ifj.kke dsoy lkfgfR;d&lkaLÑfrd fofue; gh
ugha cfYd thus ds fy, csgrj ekufld O;k;ke miyC/k djkuk gSA jSou ’kkW
fo’ofon~;ky;] dVd ds izksQslj ts-,u-iVuk;d dk ekuuk gS fd brus o"kksZa rd
bl if=dk dk fujarj ekpZ rFkk flracj esa le; ij izdkf’kr gksuk vn~Hkqr gSA tc rd
MkW- ?kks"k laikndh; fy[krs jgsaxs rc rd eSa fj&ekfdZaXl dh lnL;rk dk
eksg ugha NksM+ ldw¡xkA orZeku nkSj esa tgk¡ ’kks/kdk;Z ,d O;olk; cu pqdk gS]
ogk¡ xq.koRrk ls dksbZ le>kSrk u djus okyh fj&ekfdZaXl tSlh if=dkvksa dh
furkar vko’;drk gSA  
Jonah Raskin
I do not remember how long I have known Nibir Ghosh or how  long I have written for Re-Markings, though I do remember meeting the  editor in California  on a lovely summer day.
 We spent a pleasant afternoon together. I met his wife.  We had 
something to drink. We enjoyed the view. I had no expectation that our  
brief rendezvous would lead to what I consider a productive literary  
relationship. I know that it has been good for me. I hope that it has 
been good  for Re-Markings. It must be because Nibir invites me
 to write for the  journal and publishes what I write, too. My 
connection to the journal is  personal. I don’t think that I would go on
 writing for it year after year
 if I did  not know Nibir and respect his work. I probably wouldn’t 
write for it if it  were published in, say, Seattle, Washington, or 
Orlando,   Florida. I write for it because  it’s published in India and 
 printed in India,  and because most of its contributors are Indians. 
Writing for Re-Markings gives me the feeling that I am part of a literary community that is halfway  around the world from where I live in California.
  This is important to me. To fully explain why I would probably have to
 tell the  story of my life and times. Suffice it to say that I want to 
be part of a  global community and to have cultural connections to 
India. 
Re-Markings
 is one of  my major literary lifelines. Writing for the journal keeps 
me connected to  Nibir and it gives me the sense that I’m connected to 
readers, teachers, and  writers in India.  I understand how difficult it
 is to be an editor. It has enabled me to  appreciate Nibir Ghosh’s role
 as editor of Re-Markings which is now  celebrating its twenty-fifth anniversary -- a long time for a journal to go on  publishing creative, brilliant and original articles. Bravo Re-Markings.  Kudos to Nibir Ghosh and everyone else who contributes. I extend my hand in  greetings and celebration. 
- Jonah Raskin serves on the advisory board of Re-Markings and is a regular contributor. Chair of the Communication Studies Department at Sonoma State University, California, U.S.A., he is the author and editor of books about Jack London, Allen Ginsberg, and the literature of the British Empire.
 
v
Celebrating  Cross-cultural Conversations
Tijan M. Sallah
I am a latecomer in my association with the journal, Re-Markings,
  but I see much to admire in its intellectually vibrant pages and much 
to be  hopeful about in valuable efforts to foster global scholarly and 
intellectual  conversations on culture, politics and the new literatures
 in English. With its twenty-fifth issue, Re-Markings   can claim to be a confident establishment, comfortable in its roots and its  ambitions. I see great promise in Re-Markings – in the ideas of peace  and social justice
 through literary discourses that are flowing through its  pages—and in 
the wonderful platform it is providing for the world's literati  and 
thinkers to converse with one another about their literatures and 
cultures,  and the underlying connections. The world is one – this is 
even more obvious  when one considers the earth from a cosmic 
perspective. It has become closer  with cross-border technology and 
information flows. Distances are being  compressed by technology. 
Cultures, long separated by the hindrances of  geography, are now 
meeting and speaking with other, and in that conversation  are finding a
 common denominator – the amazing similarity and humanity between  them.
 The world has become closer because journals such as Re-Markings are  helping that happen. I wish Re-Markings  another 25 years of  success. May it continue to be more vibrant as we age.  
- Dr. Tijan M. Sallah is Gambian poet, writer and biographer. An economist by training, he has taught economics at several American universities before joining the World Bank, where he manages the agriculture, irrigation and rural development program for East African countries.
 
v
Creating A One-world Atmosphere
James R. Giles
I
 have had the privilege of publishing criticism and fiction  Re-Markings
 over the years.  The experience has been pleasant and  rewarding in 
each case. The submission process has been thoroughly  professional, and
 the appearance of my materials in the journal has been clean  and 
attractive. I am grateful for my association with such a diverse and  
important international journal.  I have profited from looking over  the
 other materials in the issues of the journal in which I have been 
fortunate  enough to appear.  The critical essays have been consistently
  provocative and informative and the creative pieces fascinating. Mr. 
Ghosh is a  talented and energetic editor devoted to 
making               Re-Markings a wide-ranging and challenging journal. I  congratulate    Re-Markings
 on its anniversary issue and look forward to its future  contributions 
to the scholarly and creative communities. It is  the kind of 
publication that truly creates a one-world atmosphere. 
- Dr. James R. Giles is Presidential Teaching Professor of English at Northern Illinois University, U.S.A.
 
v
Beyond Canonical Boundaries
Walter S.H. Lim
With the launch of Re-Markings'
 25th celebratory  issue, I wish to congratulate Dr. Nibir Ghosh for his
 leadership and  vision in anchoring an important journal in South Asia 
that deals not only with  local and Asian literary and sociocultural 
matters but also with  international cultural relations in a globalized 
world.  While Re-Markings identifies New Literatures in English
 as its special area of emphasis,  indicating the journal's instinct to 
move beyond the boundaries of the  canonical, its ecumenical spirit is 
evident in its coverage of subject  matter as diverse as American 
literature, comparative diasporic  literature, and the topicality of the
 Nobel prize for literature.  I  recall well my involvement with Re-Markings
 through Dr. Ghosh's  invitation for me to contribute articles on 
Shirley Geok-lin Lim and Li-Young  Lee, two first-generation Chinese 
American authors from Southeast   Asia, and on the award of the Nobel 
literature prize to Mo  Yan.  As we enter the second decade of the 
twenty-first century and become  part of an inescapably interconnected 
world, we find ourselves also at a  historical moment in which 
valorizations of nation-centered literatures are  questioned by writings
 that embrace hybridity, internationalism, and the  breakdown of 
compartmentalization. It strikes me that Re-Markings'  openness
 to the implications of transnational literary production and cultural  
interactions positions it as a journal of deep relevance for those of us
 who  embrace the idea of the importance of world 
literatures.             Re-Markings will continue  to resonate in the twenty-first century.  
- Dr. Walter S.H. Lim is an Associate Professor of English Literature at the National University of Singapore.
 
v
Voice  of  Vibrant Democratic Participation
Jane  Schukoske 
Congratulations
  to Chief Editor Dr. Nibir K. Ghosh, Editor A. Karunaker, Executive 
Editor  Sundeep Arora, and the editorial staff, advisors, contributors, 
readers and  other supporters on the publication of the 25th issue of 
the journal Re-Markings, a forum for cross-cultural  literary analysis, creative writing, review and other features. As a refereed  journal, Re-Markings
 sets a high  standard for its authors and provides consistently high 
quality to its readers.  In India  and abroad, this journal promotes 
reflection and intellectual engagement with  others. 
Facing
  rapid changes in how and with whom we communicate, we can appreciate 
and model  the contribution of writing to the making of meaning and to 
the understanding  of others. Literary analysis provides a vehicle for 
examining the meaning of  stories in their social and political context.
 Such analysis is of growing  importance in our plural societies in 
which we encounter so many stories and  contexts. 
Re-Markings
 engenders  cross-cultural dialogue that promotes mutual understanding. 
This value of the  Fulbright exchange program remains relevant since its
 inception in India in 1950.  Inviting colleagues to seriously engage 
with academic policy debate, Dr. Ghosh  often writes Re-Markings’
 editorials  that situate the volume within the context of timely 
institutional issues.  These include the interpretation of academic 
freedom and the need for inclusion  in curriculum of the many voices of 
vibrant democratic participation. The  journal thus celebrates not only 
literary analysis and creative writing, but  also the challenges of 
teaching about literature and the values it conveys. 
There is  something delightfully fresh about Re-Markings.
  After I read my issue, I always have the urge to write. I send my 
sincere hope  and best wishes for a long life of the journal! 
- Jane Schukoske, former faculty, University of Baltimore School of Law, served as Executive Director of U.S. Educational Foundation in India, New Delhi. She currently is CEO of S.M. Sehgal Foundation, Gurgaon, Haryana.
 
Nibir K. Ghosh at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, America's National Cultural Center, at Washington, DC, with participants from all over the world at the International Fulbrighters conference
Cultural Blueprints and Better Architecture for Living
Many
 years ago I wrote about the importance of a common  language holding 
people together. The heart does not need to pursue translation  - it 
only needs to love. There are no borders or boundaries when a poem is  
read. I think what Nibir Ghosh has done with the journal Re-Markings over
 the  years is the equivalent of providing us with cultural blueprints. 
Any  discussion of literature should remind us that we are human and 
have the  capacity to do good in the world. I was happy to contribute a 
few words about  the novelist Chinua Achebe in a recent issue of Re-Markings. It was  Achebe who taught us that "all the stories are true." The work Nibir  has been doing with Re-Markings
 over the years explores this idea.  Literary criticism serves as an 
overcoat protecting one from the rain of  ignorance. Magazines build 
community. India has always been at the center  of world culture. In Re-Markings east
 once again meets west. The result  is not just intellectual cultural 
exchange but the establishment of a better  architecture for living.  
- E. Ethelbert Miller is Board Chair of the Institute for Policy Studies (a progressive think tank in Washington, D.C.) and the director of the African American Resource Center, Howard University, Washington, D.C.
 
v
Creating  Literary Camaraderie
Anisur Rehman
The act of bringing out a journal is not a random act if  one knows what one wishes to do and how. When Dr. Nibir K. Ghosh  initiated his project he knew as much. His editorial in the first issue of Re-Markings
 (Vol. 1, No. 1, March 2002) spelt out his aim in unambiguous terms: 
“The avowed  purpose of the present endeavour is to create a climate of 
opinion congenial to  critical inquiry and intellectual debate.” I 
understand Dr. Ghosh made his  choice with good discretion and with 
better reason in order to achieve the best  that he could. 
In
 India,  academic journals have had their short and long lives and have 
served  short-term and long-term purposes, but none has stood the test 
of years like Re-Markings,  and none has survived the trials of
 editorship like Dr. Ghosh. Over a decade,  this journal has emerged as a
 forum for socio-literary exchanges. 
Re-Markings is now a  formidable mehfil of
 writers, critics, commentators, reviewers, and  readers—all brought 
together in the true spirit of companionship. During all  these years, I
 have seen the scholars growing with the growth of this journal  and I 
have seen them making way for the new ones to join. As I have watched  
this, I have also wondered if there was something special that kept them
  together. I did not have to strive hard for an answer; it lay in their
 striving  to grow with each other to create what I should like to call a
 literary  camaraderie deserving certain respect. While Re-Markings
 gave them a  platform, they found their mooring and all of them, 
together, made a cumulative  impact in the domains of literature, 
society, art, and culture that every  generation, and every age, strives
 to build in its own inimitable way. 
My  association with Re-Markings
 has two  facets: academic and personal. I made my tiny contributions 
now and then but  when I look back while writing these lines I realise 
how little have I really  delivered between then and now. I wish I could
 do more. 
- Dr. Anisur Rahman is Professor of English at Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi.
 
v
Hope of Redemption
Jitendra Narayan Patnaik
Unlike
 scores of Indian literary journals which are  regularly irregular in 
terms of the periodicity of publication or which die  down after a few 
issues or turn into business houses that facilitate smooth  passage 
through the corridors of Ph.D industry, Re-Markings comes out 
without fail in March and September every  year, is marching gloriously 
into its silver jubilee number and is ruthlessly  scrupulous about the 
quality of articles selected for publication. Kudos to  Nibir and his 
team for making all this possible. Journals like Re-Markings do
 offer some hope of  redemption from the depressingly poor quality of 
research and teaching in most  of the institutions of higher education 
in India.
- Dr. Jitendra Narayan Patnaik is UGC Emeritus Fellow, Ravenshaw University, Cuttack (Orissa).
 

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