Project work (Class-XI) - Dramatization of a Story

Dramatization of a Story

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MEMARI V.M. INSTITUTION (UNIT -2)

HATPUKUR, MEMARI, EAST BURDWAN

Project Work

Submitted by

Name of the Student……………………………………

Roll No. …………………Section…………………………

Registration No ................................. (201.....20....)

In partial fulfillment to the class -XI English Course

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Project Work

On

Dramatization of a Story

entitled

Leela’s Friend

--R.K. Narayan

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Acknowledgement

This project has given me golden opportunity for learning and self-development through collaborative activities. I want to thank respected Mr. /Mrs.__________________________ to whom I owe specially for preparing this project based on the beautiful story, entitled ‘Leela’s Friend’ written by R.K. Narayan.

I do want to extend my heartfelt thanks to my friends, parents and others who helped me in various ways to make a final draft of this work and submit the same to our school.

                                                                        Signature of the student

                                                                  …………………………………

 

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CERTIFICATE

 This is to certify that this Project Report entitled dramatization of R.K. Narayan’s short story ‘Leela’s Friend’ prepared by ___________________ Class XI Roll No._______ Registration No. ______________ Year 201…-2…. submitted in partial fulfillment to class XI English Course during the academic year 201…-2… is a bonafide record of project work carried out under my guidance and supervision.

                                    ……………………………………………..

                                            (Signature of the Project Guide)

                            Name: ………………………………………………

                            Designation: Assistant teacher

                            Department: English

                            School: MEMARI V.M. INSTITUTION (UNIT -2)

 

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Starting!

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Introduction

1.1 Project in our syllabus:

As per the new syllabus, Project work has been included as a part of the curriculum.

We have created the selection consistent with the provision of works.

1.2 Objectives: The main objectives of our project work are -

(i) Finding out the structural divisions of a story.

(ii) Visualizing the story in Indian context.

(iii) Adding Indian flavor to the strong.

(iv)Taking more of the characters in Indian context

1.3 Guiding Principle

(i) We should try to locate its difference from Indian cultures.

(ii) Then we must try to fit in the writing into Indian context.

(iii) We should use our daily life experience of Indian culture and society by adding enough Indian words.

1.4 Limitations

(i) The length for the whole project was solely 10 periods.

(ii) It took a long time to select the exact piece of writing which could be transformed.

(iii) For this particular project, group work doesn’t help much as it demands individual imagination and not a number of opinions.

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Procedures and Input

For the dramatization of R.K. Narayan’s story ‘Leela’s Friend’ we worked in groups and sometimes in pairs through a systematic process. Our teacher fixed 10 interventions for completing the project. The details of our activities are enumerated below:

First intervention: On the first day, we discussed some of the stories. Then we minutely listened to all the stories and selected R.K. Narayan’s ‘Leela’s Friend’.

Second intervention: On the second day, our teacher taught us different aspects of Indian society and culture. We asked the teacher a number of questions related to what he taught.

Third invention: On the third day, we tried to locate the differences of the story from an Indian story. Then we were divided into groups.

Fourth intervention: On the fourth day, we started to change the story so that it looks Indian. Then we encountered some difficulties with the language that were needed to be changed.

Fifth intervention: On the fifth day, we prepared the draft of our Indian version of the story. Then we read out our manuscripts. The teacher asked each group to make changes to the script where it was found necessary.

Sixth intervention: On the sixth day, we selected the best manuscript. Then we worked together for its further betterment. Another draft was prepared.

Seventh intervention: On the seventh day, we prepared the final manuscript .Then we read out the manuscript in the presence of our teacher.

Eighth intervention: On the eighth day, the photocopies of the final manuscript were distributed among the students for review.

Ninth intervention: On the ninth day, each group read out their reviews before of the class.

Tenth intervention: Students shared their experience with the teacher. The project report was submitted for evaluation and assessment.

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OUTPUT OF THE PROJECT

LEELA’S FRIEND

Characters:

Leela (Sivasankar’s five-year-old daughter)

Mr. Sivasanker(Leela’s father),

Mrs. Sivasanker(Leela’s mother)

Sidda (servant)

Police inspector

Constable

Place: House of Mr. Sivasanker

[Narrator: Mr. Sivasanker is a middle-aged man. His family comprises his wife and his five year old daughter, Leela. He works in an office. The only problem he now faces is the problem of appointing a good servant for household work and looking after his daughter.]

(Mr. Sivasanker stands in the front veranda of his house. He is brooding over the servant problem. A young man named Sidda enters.)

Scene –(I)

Sidda : Sir, do you want a servant?

Mr. Sivasanker : Come in.

(Sidda opened the gate and came in.)

Mr. Sivasanker : (subjected him to a scrutiny and said to himself) Doesn’t seem to be a bad sort at any rate, the fellow looks tidy.

Mr. Sivasanker : Where were you before? What’s your name.

Sidda : In a bungalow there.(indicating a vague somewhere) in the doctor’s house.

Mr. Sivasanker : What is his name:

Sidda : I don’t know master. He lives near the market

Mr. Sivasanker : Why did they send you away?

Sidda : (Giving the stock reply) They left the town, master.

(Mr Sivasanker was unable to make up his mind. He called his wife. She looked at Sidda.)

His wife : He doesn’t seem to me worse than the others we have had.

(Leela, their five-year-old daughter, came out, looked at Sidda)

Leela : (Giving a cry of joy) Oh Father!

Leela : I like him. Don’t send him away. Let us keep him in our house."

(Then they decided to keep Sidda as their servant. Sidda was given two meals a day and four rupees a month, in return for which he washed clothes, tended the garden, ran errands, chopped wood and looked after Leela.)

Leela : (Crying) Sidda, come and play!"

(Sidda had to drop any work he might be doing and run to her, as she stood in the front garden with a red ball in her hand. His company made her supremely happy. She flung the ball at him and he flung it back.)

Leela : Now throw the ball into the sky.

(Sidda clutched the ball, closed his eyes for a second and threw the ball up. When the ball came down again)

Sidda : Now this has touched the moon and come. You see here a little bit of the moon sticking.

(Leela keenly examined the ball for traces of the moon.)

Leela : I don’t see it."

 

Sidda : You must be very quick about it because it will all evaporate and go back to the moon. Now hurry up....

(He covered the ball tightly with his fingers and allowed her to peep through a little gap.)

Leela : Ah yes, I see the moon, but is the moon very wet?"

Sidda : Certainly it is.

Leela : What is in the sky, Sidda?"

Sidda : God.

Leela : If we stand on the roof and stretch our arms, can we touch the sky?

Sidda : Not if we stand on the roof here," he said. "But if you stand on a coconut tree you can touch the sky.

Leela : Have you done it?

Sidda : Yes, many times. Whenever there is a big moon, climb a coconut tree and touch it.

Leela : Does the moon know you?

Sidda : Yes, very well. Now come with me. I will show you something nice.

(They were standing near the rose plant)

Sidda : (Pointing) You see the moon there, don’t you?

Leela : Yes.

Sidda : Now come with me.

(He took her to the backyard. He stopped near the well and pointed up. The moon was there, too. Leela clapped her hands and screamed in wonder.)

Leela : The moon here! It was there! How is it?

Leela : I have asked it to follow us about.

( Leela ran in and told her mother)

Leela : Sidda knows the moon.

(At dusk he carried her in and she held a class for him. She had a box filled with catalogues, illustrated books and stumps of pencils. It gave her great joy to play the teacher to Sidda. She made him squat on the floor with a pencil between his fingers and a catalogue in front of him. She had another pencil and a catalogue.

Leela : (Commanding) Now write.

(Sidda had to try and copy whatever she wrote in the pages of her catalogue. She knew two or three letters of the alphabet and could draw a kind of cat and crow. But none of those might Sidda even remotely copy.)

Leela : (Examining his effort.) Is this how I have drawn the crow? Is this how I have drawn the B?"

(She pitied him, and redoubled her efforts to teach him. But that good fellow, though an adept at controlling the moon, was utterly incapable of playing the pencil. Consequently, it looked as though Leela would keep him thee, pinned to his seat till his stiff, inflexible wrist cracked. He sought relief.

Sidda : I think your mother is calling you in to dinner.

(Leela would drop the pencil and run out of the room, and the school hour would end. After dinner Leela ran to her bed. Sidda had to be ready with a story. He sat down on the floor near the bed and told incomparable stories: of animals in the jungle, of gods in heaven, of magicians who could conjure up golden castles and fill them with little princesses and their pets. Day by day she clung closer to him. She insisted upon having his company all her waking hours. She was at his side when he was working in the garden or chopping wood, and accompanied him when he was sent on errands.)

Scene –(II)

(One evening he went out to buy sugar and Leela went with him. When they came home, Leela’s mother noticed that a gold chain Leela had been wearing was missing.)

Leela’s mother : Where is your chain?

(Leela looked into her shirt, searched but did not find her chain)

Leela : I don’t know.

(Her mother gave her a slap.)

Leela’s mother : (Giving her a slap) How many times have I told you to take it off and put it in the box? (Shouts) Sidda, Sidda! (Sidda comes in) Where is the chain? Where have you kept it?

Sidda : I don’t know (With a dry throat)

Mrs.Sivasanker : Bring the chain or I'll call the police,

(She turns to go back to the kitchen for a moment because she has left something the oven)

Leela : Give me some sugar, Mother, I am hungry (Sidda exits)

Mrs. Sivasnker : Sidda, Sidda ! (Sidda has already vanished into the air)

Scene –(III)

[Narrator: Mr. Sivasanker comes home an hour later. He learns everything from his wife, He grows very excited over all this. So he goes to the police station and lodges a complaint. Once again it is bed time. After meal Leela refuses to go to bed.]

Leela : I won't sleep unless Sidda comes and tells me stories...I don't like you, Mother. You are always abusing and worrying Sidda. Why are you so rough?

Mother : But he has taken away your chain...

Leela : Let him.It doesn't matter.Tell me a story.

Mother : Sleep, sleep.

Leela : Tell me a story, Mother.

Mother : It is God's mercy that the villain has not killed the child for the chain.....

(Turning to Leela). Sleep, Leela, Sleep,

Leela : Can't you tell the story of the elephant?

Mother : No

(Leela makes a noise of deprecation)

Leela : Why should not Sidda sit in our chair, Mother?

(Mother does not answer the question. Silence for a moment)

Leela : Sidda is gone because he wasn't allowed to sleep inside the house like us. Why should he always be made to sleep outside the house, Mother? I think he is angry with us, Mother

(She turns on her side, falling asleep)

Mr. Sivasanker : (Mr. Sivasanker enters) What a risk we took in engaging that fellow. It seems he is an old criminal. He has been in jail half a dozen times for stealing jewelry from children. From the description I gave, the inspector was able to identify him in a moment.

Mrs. Sivasanker : Where is he now?

Mr. Sivasanker : The police know his haunts. They will pick him up very soon, don't worry. The inspector was furious that I didn’t consult him before employing him...

Scene –(IV)

[Narrator: Four days later. Sidda is now in the grip of the police. Sivasanker is at home from office hours. A police inspector and a constable bring in Sidda. Sidda stands with bowed head. Seeing Sidda, Leela is overjoyed]

Leela : (running towards Sidda)Sidda! Sidda!

Inspector : (stooping her) Don't go near him.

Leela : Why not?

Inspector : He is a thief. He has taken away your gold chain.

Leela : Let him. I will have a new chain.

( All of them laugh)

Mr.Sivasanker : Why have you taken the chain? Where is the chain? Tell me what you have done with the chain.

MrsSivasanker : Sidda, so ungrateful you are! You are a devil.

(Tears roll down Sidda's cheek)

Sidda : I have not taken it.

(Very feebly, looking at the ground)

Mrs.Sivasanker: Why did you run away without telling us?

(There is no answer. Laela's face becomes red.)

Leela : Oh, policeman, leave him alone. I want to play with him.

Inspector : My dear child, he is a thief.

Leela : (Haughtily) Let him be...

Inspector (to Sidda): What a devil you must be steal a thing from such an innocent child! Even now it is not too late. Return it. I will let you off, provided you promise not to do such a thing again.

Mr. & Mrs Sivasanker: (agreeably) Return it now. No harm will be done to you.

Leela : (feeling disgusted with the whole business) Leave him alone, he hasn't taken the chain.

Inspector : (Humorously) You are not at all a reliable prosecution witness, my child!

Leela : (screams) He hasn't taken it!

Mr. Sivasanker: Baby, if you don't behave, I will be very angry with you.

Inspector : (to the constable)Take him to the station. I think I will have to sit with him tonight.

(The constable takes Sidda by the hand and returns to go. Leela runs behind them.)

Leela : (crying) Don't take him. Leave him here.

(She clings to Sidda's hand. He looks at her mutely, like an animal. Mr. Sivasanker carries Leela back into the house. Leela is in tears.)

Scene –(V)

[Narrator: Everyday when Mr. Sivasanker comes home he is asked by his wife about the jewel. Leela enquires of Sidda.]

Sivasanker : Any news of the chain?

Leela : Where is Sidda?

Mr.Sivasanker : They still have him in the lockup, though he is very stubborn and won't say anything about it.

Mother : (with a shiver) What a rough fellow he must be!

Mr. Sivasanker: Oh, these fellows who have been in jail once or twice lose all fear. Nothing can make them confess.

(Narrator: A few days later, putting her hand into the tamarind pot in the kitchen, Leela's Mother picks up the chain. She takes it to the tap and washes off the coating of tamarind on it. It is unmistakably Leela's chain. She goes to Leela to show the chain to her.)

Mother : Look at the chain.

Leela : It's mine, Give it here, I want to wear the chain.

Mother : How did it get into the tamarind pot?

Leela : Somehow,

Mother : Did you put it in?

Leela : Yes, mother,

Mother : When?

Leela : Long ago, the other day.

Mother : Why didn't you say so before?

Leela : I don't know. Leela

SCENE 6

[Narrator: At night when Mr. Sivasanker comes back, his wife tells him how the chain was discovered.

Mr. Sivasanker: The child must not have any chain hereafter. Didn’t tell you that I saw her carrying it in her hand once or twice? She must have dropped it into the pot sometime And all this bother on account of her.

Mrs. Sivasanker: What about Sidda?

Mr. Sivasanker: I will tell the inspector tomorrow… in any case, we couldn't have kept a criminal like him in the house.

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Conclusion

4.1 Present Value

The project we undertook was completed within scheduled time limit. After completing the project we have learnt the following:

 (i) How to transform a story rich in dramatic elements into a successful play.

(ii) How to make the play lively by adding suitable dialogues.

(iii) The utility of stage performance in learning the target language.

(iv) How to enjoy group work.

(v) How to develop essential skills such as collaboration, communication, and critical thinking.

(vi) How to use language in context

(vii) The importance of tone and modulation in speech.

(viii) The importance of body language or gesture in communication.

(ix) Importance of the setting, dialogue, music, and props in a drama

(x) How to develop our skills in a happy, non-threatening environment.

4.2 Future

The product of this particular project will help others in the following way:

(i) They will get a ready script to be enacted.

(ii) They will be able to modify the script to make it more lively.

(iii) They can form an idea about dramatization of a story

(iv) They will be encouraged to take up other stories for dramatization

(v) They will be able to use the script in learning language effectively.

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References/Bibliography

1. Boulton, Marjorie: The Anatomy of Drama.Indian Reprint, Kalyani Publishers, 1985.

2. A.S. Hornby, Advanced Learner's Dictionary.Eighth Edition, OUP, 2010.

3. National Curriculum Framework.NCERT, 2005.

4. O'Shea, Catherine and Egan, Margaret: A Primer of Drama Techniques for Teaching Literature.National Council of Teachers of English, 1978.

5. Naganathan, Ramanujam: Project Work to promote English Language Learning.British Council, 2011.

6. Mindscapes WBCHSE, A Text Book of English (B), WBCHSE.

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