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Sunday, November 25, 2007

Indian Institute

Institute
On the 6th October, 1964 the Indian Institute of Advanced Study came into being as a Society created by the Government of India's Ministry of Education. The following year, on the 20th of October, the Institute was formally inaugurated at Shimla by the-then President of India, Professor S. Radhakrishnan. In accordance with his wishes the Institute aims at a free and creative inquiry into the themes and problems of life and thought. As a residential centre for research, it encourages creative thinking in areas of deep human significance. In this sense the Institute serves as a tribute to the memory of that great seer and profound scholar. The environment of the Institute is eminently suitable for academic pursuits - especially in select areas of the Humanities, Indian Culture Religion and the Social and Natural Sciences. From time to time, other fields of research are added. As the nation's premier institution deliberating on these issues, today, the Institute provides facilities for advanced consultations and collaboration. It also has comprehensive library and documentation facilities.
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library
The Institute has a well-developed Library. It has grown into a most prestigious one in the country through tremendous efforts put into its making by a number of dedicated individuals like Shri B.S.Kesavan, then Director of the Indian National Scientific Documentation Centre, New Delhi. As Library Advisor to the Institute, he was able to place ten thousand volumes on shelves on the day of the Institute's inauguration on 20th October, 1965. The library's collection was soon enriched by acquiring the private collections of eminent scholars and organisations like the British Council, the Asia Foundation, and League of Arab Nations generous gifts of hundreds of rare phamplets and books. Later, the library obtained rare Sanskrit, Arabic and Persian texts and manuscripts containing miniatureaintings.
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Collection
Over the past about four decades of its existence, the Library has built up a collection of a little over 1.50 lakh volumes of books including around 40,000 back volumes of journals, microfilms and other documents. The present subscription list includes around 500 journals. The collection of the back volumes of the journals includes many reputed titles like Analysis, Journal of the Asiaitic Society of Bengal, Journal of the Bihar and Orrisa Research Society, Journal of the American Oreintal Soceity, Journal of Ganganath Jha Research Instittue, Mind and numerous other titles. While building up its collection, there has always been a conscious endeavour to maintain a balanced growth of collections. The collection consists of both the primary as well as secondary resources covering both the broad subject areas of research in Social Sciences and Humanities as well as highly advanced areas of interdisciplinary research like Science and Consciousness, Working of Mind, various facets of Ancient Indian History, Culture and Civilization, Postmodernism, Theoretical and Cultural Studies pertaining to Philosophy, Religion, Political Science and Sociology, Gender and Environmental Studies, Socio Economic Planning and Development, Gandhian Studies, Islamic Studies, Applied Mathematics and the like.
Currently, the main focus of the Library has been on filling up major gaps in the collection in the areas of research relating to Central Asia, South Asia and Southeast Asia. During the past two years, the Library has acquired almost all the publications of more than 20 Institutions specializing in Indological Studies. Ever since its inception, the selection of books for the library has been careful, judicious and adequate as all the scholars in position have been actively engaged in the Book Selection process. In fact, majority of books and periodicals are acquired on the recommendation/selection of the scholars in position.
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Special Wings
Besides the main wing of the Library which consits of English language publications, the Library has developed the following separate wings :
(i) Wing consisting of Hindi language publications
(ii) Wing consisting of Sanskrit texts
(iii) A separate wing consisting of publications in modern Indian Languages other than Hindi
(iv) Professor R.C. Majumdar collection
(v) Professor H.C. Ray Chaudhuri collection
(vi) Special collection of classics consisting of publications like Tibetan Tripitaka (168 Vols.) and the publications brought out under Loeb Classical Library series of Harvard University Press, Sacred Books of the East, Great Books of the Western World etc
(vii) Wings consisting of Arabic, Persian and Urdu manuscripts as well as printed publications.
Computerization/Library Automation
The Library had commenced the work pertaining to computerisation of its housekeeping operations way back in 1989. The routine house-keeping operations like acquisition, cataloguing, circulation and maintenance stand computerized. It has since built up its database pertaining to books which can now be retrieved from shelves by consulting the OPAC (Online Public Access Catalogue).
The Library has a LCD Video Projector, Scanner and VCD/DVD Player for its Audio Video Wing in which it is proposed to organize regular demonstrations of library databases to acquaint its scholars with the various computer operations for getting access to OPAC, INTERNET and DELNET databases. It has also acquired a substantial number of DVD/VCDs of classic films, many depicting the various facets of Indian Culture and plans to screen them on a regular basis. Presently, two Plain Paper Copiers are installed in the Library; one at the disposal of the Fellows and the other for attending to the work of the IUC Associates and official work.
Library Services
The Library has been rendering its services as per the Library Rules framed and approved by the authorities from time to time. A copy of the Library Rules can be obtained on request from the Librarian. Admission to the Library is generally restricted to its bona fide members. However, consultation with restricted access are also extended to non-members also mainly teachers of universities and colleges against the payment of nominal membership fee fixed by the authorities. The Library has arrangement for obtaining materials in different forms for Fellows and IUC Associates from other libraries of the country. The Library extends photocopying facility to the members, subject to the provisions of the Copyright Act.

Monday, November 5, 2007

Universe



The wizarding world in which Harry finds himself is both utterly separate from and yet intimately connected to our own world. While the fantasy world of Narnia is an alternative universe and the Lord of the Rings’ Middle-earth a mythic past, the wizarding world of Harry Potter exists alongside ours and contains magical elements analogous to things in the non-magical world. Many of its institutions and locations are in towns and cities, including London for example, that are recognisable in the primary world. It possesses a fragmented collection of hidden streets, overlooked and ancient pubs, lonely country manors and secluded castles that remain invisible to the non-magical population (known as "Muggles" e.g.: The Dursleys). Wizard ability is inborn, rather than learned, although one must attend schools such as Hogwarts in order to master and control it. However it is possible for wizard parents to have children who are born with little or no magical ability at all (known as "Squibs" e.g.: Mrs. Figg, Argus Filch). Since one is either born a wizard or not, most wizards are unfamiliar with the Muggle world, which appears stranger to them than their world does to us. The magical world and its many fantastic elements are depicted in a matter-of-fact way. This juxtaposition of the magical and the mundane is one of the principal themes in the novels; the characters in the stories live normal lives with normal problems, for all their magical surroundings.

Structure and genre

The novels are very much in the fantasy genre; however, in many respects they are also a Bildungsroman, a novel of education, set in Hogwarts, a British boarding school for wizards, where the curriculum includes the use of magic. In this sense they are "in a direct line of descent from Thomas Hughes's Tom Brown's School Days and other Victorian and Edwardian novels of British public school life".[14] They are also, in the words of Stephen King, a "shrewd mystery tale".[15], and each book is constructed in the manner of a Sherlock Holmes-style mystery adventure; the books leave a number of clues hidden in the narrative, while the characters pursue a number of suspects through various exotic locations, leading to a twist ending that often reverses what the characters had been led to believe. The stories are told from a third person limited point of view; with very few exceptions (such as the opening chapters of Goblet of Fire and Philosopher's Stone and the first two chapters of Half-Blood Prince), the reader learns the secrets of the story when Harry does. The thoughts and plans of other characters, even central ones such as Hermione and Ron, are kept hidden until revealed to Harry.

The books tend to follow a very strict formula. Set over the course of consecutive years, they each begin with Harry at home with the Dursleys in the Muggle world, enduring their ill-treatment. Subsequently, Harry goes to a specific magical location (Diagon Alley, the Weasleys' residence or Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place) for a period before beginning school, which he commences by boarding the school train at Platform 9¾. Once at school, new or redefined characters take shape, and Harry overcomes new everyday school issues, such as difficult essays, awkward crushes, and unsympathetic teachers. The stories reach their climax near or just after final exams, when Harry confronts either Voldemort or one of his Death Eaters. In the aftermath, he learns important lessons through exposition and discussions with Albus Dumbledore.

Recurrent elements

Blood purity
Wizards in general tend to view Muggles with a combination of condescension and suspicion; however, for a few, this attitude has evolved into bigotry. These characters tend to class those around them based on the number of magical ancestors they had, with "pure-blood" wizards (those with an entirely-magical bloodline) at the top of the hierarchy, "half-blood" wizards in the middle (those with both wizard and Muggle ancestry), and "Muggle-borns" (those with no magical ancestors) at the very bottom. Supporters of blood purity believe pure-bloods should control the wizarding world, and don't consider Muggle-borns real wizards. Some have even gone so far as to murder them or demand that they should not be taught magic. Most blood-purity-believers are pure-blood themselves, though it should be noted that Voldemort, one of the most radical supporters of blood purity ever known, is himself half-blood. Also, very few, if any, true "pure-blood" families actually exist as many have intermarried into the Muggle-born population to stop the families from dying out. Many of these families have covered this up, however. One example of this is the removal of certain members on the Black family tree.[HP5]

Owls
Owls are perhaps the most visible aspect of the Wizarding world. They appear at the start of the first novel, presaging what is to come, and play a very visible role in every novel following, except for the last. They act as the principal form of communication among wizards (somewhat like carrier pigeons) and also as pets. Harry has a snowy owl named Hedwig.

Houses
Like most boarding schools, Hogwarts is divided into four separate houses, named after the four Hogwarts founders, and students are sorted into their respective houses at the start of their first year. They are Gryffindor, named after Godric Gryffindor, which favours courage; Ravenclaw, named after Rowena Ravenclaw, which favours cleverness; Hufflepuff, named after Helga Hufflepuff, which favours fairness and loyalty; and Slytherin, named after Salazar Slytherin, which favours ambition and Blood Purity (See above). Upon arrival, Harry, along with his friend Ron, and Hermione, who would later be their friend, are sorted into Gryffindor.[HP1]

Quidditch
A spectator sport in the Wizard world, played up in the air on brooms, Quidditch is similar in style to polo and association football. Harry is a great player at Hogwarts and has helped Gryffindor win a number of games. Harry is the Seeker for his team whose role is to try to find and catch the Golden Snitch.[HP1] The quidditch matches at Hogwarts were usually commentated by Lee Jordan until he graduated from school. Unlike in all previous books, Quidditch does not appear in the final book.[HP7]

Story

Plot summary

The story opens in 1981 with the unrestrained celebration of a normally secretive wizarding world which for many years had been terrorised by Lord Voldemort. The previous night (31 October 1981), Voldemort had discovered the refuge of the hidden Potter family, and killed Lily and James Potter. However, when he attempted to kill Harry, the Avada Kedavra killing curse rebounded upon him, and Voldemort was destroyed, becoming nothing more than a spirit: neither dead nor alive. Harry, meanwhile, was left with a distinctive lightning bolt-shaped scar on his forehead, the only physical sign of Voldemort's curse. Harry is the only known survivor of the killing curse, and his mysterious defeat of Voldemort results in him being dubbed "The Boy Who Lived" by the wizarding community.

The following night, a wizard (Hagrid) delivers Harry to what will be his residence for many years afterward. The orphaned Harry is subsequently raised by his cruel, non-magical relatives, the Dursleys, who consist of Uncle Vernon, a mad tempered uncle with hardly any neck, Aunt Petunia, a long-necked woman who appears to absolutely loathe Harry, and Dudley, their spoiled, fat son. They attempt in vain to rid him of his magical powers, hide his magical heritage and give him severe punishments after any strange occurrences.

However, as his eleventh birthday approaches, Harry has his first contact with the magical world when he receives letters from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, which are delivered by owls. The letters are taken from him by his Uncle before he has a chance to read them. On his eleventh birthday he is informed by Hagrid, the gamekeeper of Hogwarts, that he is in fact a wizard and has been invited to attend the school. Each book chronicles one year in Harry's life, which is mostly spent at Hogwarts, where he learns to use magic and brew potions. Harry also learns to overcome many magical, social, and emotional obstacles as he struggles through his adolescence, Voldemort's rise to power, and the Ministry of Magic's constant denials of Voldemort's return.

train from Manchester



In 1990, J. K. Rowling was on a crowded train from Manchester to London when the idea for Harry simply popped into her head. Rowling gives an account of the experience on her website saying:[8]










“ I had been writing almost continuously since the age of six but I had never been so excited about an idea before. I simply sat and thought, for four (delayed train) hours, and all the details bubbled up in my brain, and this scrawny, black-haired, bespectacled boy who didn't know he was a wizard became more and more real to me. ”


In 1995, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was completed and the manuscript was sent off to prospective agents. The second agent she tried, Christopher Little, offered to represent her and sent the manuscript to Bloomsbury. After eight other publishers had rejected Philosopher's Stone, Bloomsbury offered Rowling a £3,000 advance for its publication.[9]

Despite Rowling's statement that she did not have any particular age group in mind when she began to write the Harry Potter books, the publishers initially targeted them at children age nine to eleven.[10] On the eve of publishing, Joanne Rowling was asked by her publishers to adopt a more gender-neutral pen name, in order to appeal to the male members of this age group, fearing that they would not be interested in reading a novel they knew to be written by a woman. She elected to use J. K. Rowling (Joanne Kathleen Rowling), using her grandmother's name as her second name, because she has no middle name.[11]

The first Harry Potter book was published in the United Kingdom by Bloomsbury in July 1997 and in the United States by Scholastic in September of 1998, but not before Rowling had received $105,000 for the American rights – an unprecedented amount for a children's book by an unknown author.[12] Fearing that American readers would either not understand the word "philosopher" or not associate it with a magical theme (as a Philosopher's Stone is alchemy-related), Scholastic insisted that the book be given the title, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone for the American market.

Word-of-mouth buzz, especially amongst young males, has been even more important than positive media reviews and Rowling's publishers' marketing strategies in the tremendous success of the series.[citation needed] This is notable because for years, interest in literature among this group had lagged behind other pursuits such as video games and the Internet.[citation needed] Rowling's publishers were able to capitalise on this buzz by the rapid, successive releases of the first four books that allowed neither Rowling's audience's excitement nor interest to wane while she took a break from writing between the release of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and also quickly solidified a loyal readership.[13] The series has also gathered adult fans, leading to two editions of each Harry Potter book being released (in markets other than the United States), identical in text but with one edition's cover artwork aimed at children and the other aimed at adults.

Know About Harry Potter



Harry Potter is a series of seven children's books by English author J. K. Rowling about an adolescent boy named Harry Potter. The story is mostly set at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, a school for young wizards and witches, and focuses on Harry Potter's fight against the evil wizard Lord Voldemort, who killed Harry's parents as part of his plan to take over the wizarding world.

Since the release of the first novel, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (retitled Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in the United States) in 1997, the books have gained immense popularity, critical acclaim and commercial success worldwide, spawning films, video games and assorted merchandise. The six books published to date have collectively sold more than 325 million copies[2] and have been translated into more than 63 languages.[3] The seventh and last book in the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, was released on 21 July 2007.[4] Publishers announced a record-breaking 12 million copies for the first print run in the U.S. alone.[5

The success of the novels has made Rowling the highest-earning novelist in literary history.[6] English language versions of the books are published by Bloomsbury in the United Kingdom, Scholastic Press in the United States, Allen & Unwin in Australia and Raincoast Books in Canada.

The first five books have been made into highly successful motion pictures by Warner Bros. The sixth, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, is set to begin filming in September 2007, and has a scheduled release of 21 November 2008.[7]