COURSE

PLAN
Undergraduate/Graduate Course: Indian Short Stories (COM241)
Faculty Pratishtha Pandya Sections: 2
Name:
Contact: pratishtha.pandya@ahduni.edu.in Office Hours Friday 10.30 a.m. – 01.30
p.m.
School: AMSoM
Semester: Monsoon Credits: 3
Lecture time (Batch 1) Tuesday and Thursday Location: Batch 1: F6
& Weekdays: Time: 17:00:00 to 18:30:00 AMSoM UG Campus (new
(Batch 2) Wednesday and Friday building)
Time: 08:00:00 to 09:30:00 Batch 2: Room No. 32
AMSoM UG Campus (old
building)
Pre- Indian Short Stories course is open to 3rd year UG students with an inclination towards
requisites: understanding literature. The most important requirement for the course is a keen
interest in reading and a willingness to participate in a meaningful dialogue with peers
in the class.
Course This course is an introduction to Indian short stories. Students will read powerful
Description: stories written originally in English or translated into English from multiple regional
languages of India. They will learn through active participation in class discussions, as
well as through their own reflective writing on the assigned stories. Stories that drag us
into the most unfamiliar world of experiences bring us close to an understanding of
our own selves and surroundings. The course aims to sensitize students to the lived
realities surrounding them.
Course This course aims to introduce reading of short stories as an integrated learning
Objectives: experience, whereby students appreciate different literary and cultural expressions,
the cultural and historical rootedness of texts, as well as multiple perspectives offered
by a single text. The classes structured largely around group readings and discussions
will help improve students’ general articulation skills through reading, writing,
listening, and speaking while deepening their critical thinking and awareness of
cultural nuances.
Learning Students will learn:
Outcomes: • To read a text closely, and to interpret the nuances
• To develop critical thinking abilities
• To appreciate the craft of short story writing
• To write an essay using textual evidence from primary and secondary sources
• To expand the skills of expository writing
• To be sensitive to differences of many kinds they may encounter in their
immediate surrounding
Pedagogy: The course is structured around highly interactive lectures. Students will have to come
after reading the story to be discussed in the class for each session along with other
materials if specified. Classroom discussions form an important part of your learning.
To make a meaningful contribution in the class the student needs to think
independently and engage pro-actively rather than work in isolation.
Assessment / There are three types of assignments required in this class. Ongoing evaluation based
Evaluation: on participation, in-class presentation, and end-semester evaluation.

Written Submission: 20 Marks

Each student will write a short essay of 800 to 1000 words on any short story that
she/he really enjoyed reading during the course of this semester.

Participation in classroom discussions: 20 marks
Prior reading of stories and assigned articles will result in active participation in class
discussions, which is an essential component of this course. Students are supposed to
engage in a close reading and thoughtful reflection/responses in order to develop a
critical analysis of the issues addressed in a particular story. Students are also expected
to engage in prescheduled group discussions and a question answer session that will
follow each presentation. Needless to say, active participation depends on active
presence in the class. It is desirable for the students, therefore, to attend all the
sessions regularly.


Classroom presentation : 20 marks
• A team presentation analyzing a short story of their choice is mandatory for all
students.
• Presentations are judged on the originality of their analysis, understanding of the
concepts/story, and clarity in presentation, ability to synthesize ideas and
contexts, and language.
• All students in the class are supposed to abide by the norms of academic honesty
espoused by AU. Everything you present must be your own original work, written
specifically for the class. Students must not use someone else's language and/or
ideas without due acknowledgement. If students fail to acknowledge sources or
willfully misrepresent the work of others as their own they will suffer severe loss
in grade or expulsion from the course.
• The students will schedule their session online and will remain present in the class
on the day of their presentation without fail.
• Any student who fails to be present on the day of the presentation (without prior
written permission in exceptional circumstances) will not get a chance to
reschedule the presentation. This will result in loss of marks.
The oral presentations in this course are designed to stimulate conversation about the texts that
we will be reading this semester. As a result, they will be a bit less formal than presentations you
may have done in the past, but they will be equally, if not more, important. Presentations will be in
pairs or a group of 3 if necessary, and each presentation should consist of the following three
components:

Context: Choose a topic, related to the text, upon which you would like the discussion to focus.
This may be the most difficult part because there are often so many ideas to talk about in one
book or story. Your topic can be about the narrative itself (character development, narrative style,
point of view) or it can be about some of the social or political issues raised in the text (race,
gender, class, political strife). There are many more ways in which to go. Use your imagination.
Text: Choose passages from the text that you think are crucial for the class to discuss. It could be
one lengthy passage that can be discussed in several different ways, or several shorter passages
throughout the text that you believe link together to create an important point.


End semester examination : 40 marks
• The end semester evaluation is mandatory
• There is no make-up evaluation process for this particular component in case a
student misses the end semester examination.
• Under extremely rare and unavoidable circumstances the student will inform the
instructor via email/ written application, and the instructor will take a call an
alternative evaluation process after examining the reason, and the evidence
presented.
• The date and the time in this case will depend on the instructor’s discretion.

Grades will be given according to the following criteria:

Min Max Grade
0 39 F
40 42 D

43 45 D+

46 48 C-

49 51 C
52 54 C+
55 59 B-
60 69 B
70 74 B+

75 79 A-

80 89 A
90 100 A+

Attendance The participation of the student is linked to their attendance in the class. It is,
Policy: therefore, desirable for students to be present in all the classes to allow the instructor
the scope for fair evaluation. Low attendance will reflect in low grades in class
participation component as well. The overall attendance policies, as specified by each
school/programme of AU will remain binding.

Attendance is a determining factor for your classroom participation.
Desirable attendance is 100%.
All students have 80% criterion for attendance.
The grade drop policy will apply to those having less than 80% attendance as per the
university rules.
Below 50% attendance will result in an F grade.
Exceptions: The attendance required for Third Year B.Com, BBA, and iMBA students is
60%. If students fail to meet this requirement, they will be restricted from attending
end semester examination.
Project / • Students will present (in a team of two) a critical analysis of a short story of their
Assignment choice from any of the texts included in the course in each session.
Details: • Each presentation will be of 12 minutes followed by 10 minute discussion time.
 • Both the presenters will have to be equally involved in the presentation as well as
in the question answer session that follows.
• The presenters will have to take account of the questions raised and suggestions
offered after their presentation and work on a final written assignment to be
submitted within a week from the presentation.
• In case a team wants to present on a story from outside the prescribed text they
will need to seek the instructor’s prior permission.
• Online registration to help students schedule their presentations in the class will be
made available before the third session after the classes commence.
Course Texts:
Material • A Clutch of Indian Masterpieces: Extraordinary short stories from 19th century to
the present. Edited by David Davidar (2014) [ACIM]
Most of the stories selected for class discussions are from this book except in
cases where specified otherwise.
• Selected stories from Speech and Silence: Literary journeys by Gujarati Women
Edited and Translated by Rita Kothari. [S&S]
• Selected stories from Best Indian Short Stories (Vol. I & II) -- Ed. Khushwant Singh
[BISS]
Reference:
• Katha: Short stories by Indian Women. Edited by Urvashi Butalia
• The Art of the Short Story. Edited by Gioia, Dana, and R. S. Gwynn. Longman (2005)
• What if? Writing Exercises for Fiction writers.
Additional This course is also offered across AU and CEPT for final year UG students
Information:

Session Plan
Topic Title Session Topic & Subtopic **Readings, Cases, Activities Important Dates
No. Details etc.
Introduction 1 The form of the short Introduction from The Exercise: 24 July 2017: first
to Short story Art of the Short Story from a lecture (evening
Story (3-6) writer’s batch)
point of 27 July 2017: first
view: lecture (morning
creative batch)
2 Structure and History Elements of Short writing &
of Indian Story Fiction from The Art perspective
Writing of the Short Story building
(849-862)
‘The changing
configurations of
Indian Short Story’ –
Tania Mehta
http://www.jstor.org/
stable/pdf/23341275.
pdf
 3 How to read a Critical Approaches to 8 August 2017 in
shortstory Literature from The class presentations
Art of the Short Story start (evening batch)
(878-904) 10 August 2017 in
class presentations
start (morning batch)
4 Reflections
Class/Caste 5 The Shroud Story From ACIM Discussion
in India – MunshiPremchand ‘Shortstory in Gujarati of
Dalit Literature’ by meanings,
Rita Kothari. interactive
http://www.jstor.org/ textual
stable/pdf/4411356.p analysis,
df?_=1467004339908 examinatio
6 Wild Things Story From ACIM n of the
– AnjumHasan ‘Capitalism: A Ghost scope and
Story’ by Arundhati structure
Roy. of the
http://www.outlookin stories,
dia.com/magazine/st cultural
ory/capitalism-a- significanc
ghost-story/280234 e of the
7 Draupadi Story From ACIM stories
– Mahashweta Devi Introduction from
Poisoned Bread – Many of
Edited by Arjun the
Dangle (1995) sessions
‘“Draupadi” by may
Mahashweta Devi’ by involve
GayatriChakravartiSpi individual
vak or group
http://www.jstor.org/ activities
stable/pdf/1343169.p that
df?_=1467865747636 involve
reflection
8 Reflections and
The idea of 9 Holi – Amar Jaleel From Unbordered articulation
a Nation Momories: Sindhi
stories of Partition.
Translated by Rita
Kothari (A handout of
the story will be given
to students in the
previous session).
http://www.dawn.co
m/news/1250114
10 Toba Tekh Singh Story From ACIM
 – SaadatHasanManto
11 Crossing The Ravi Story From ACIM
- Gulzar
12 The Elephant and Story From ACIM
The Tragopan The Greater Common
– Vikram Seth Good – Arundhati Roy
http://www.outlookin
dia.com/magazine/st
ory/the-greater-
common-
good/207509
13 Reflections The Somersault --
GopinathMohanthy
From ACIM
Religion 14 The Gravestone – Story From ACIM
Shahnaz Basheer Kashmir: The Case for
Freedom – Tariq Ali,
HilalBhat, Angna
Chatterjee, and
others. (2011)
15 The Revolt of the Story From ACIM
Gods—Vilas Sarang
16 Feast— Story From ACIM
ManjulaPadmanabha
n
17 Group Discussion on Firaaq – a feature film
Culture, Politics, and https://www.youtube
Religion .com/watch?v=pc4AN
ivCCgs
18 Reflections
Gender 19 A Tale of the Hijara -- Story from Best
Identities Abdul Jabbar Indian Short Stories
(Vol. 1) Ed.
Khushwant Singh
20 In a Forest, a Deer Story From ACIM
– Ambai
21 Stench of Kerosene -- Story From ACIM
Amrita Preetam
22 Door -- Story From S&S
HimanshiShelat ‘An Apt Moment to
Seeds – Aim Higher’ : Gujarati
HimanshiShelat short stories today –
Both from Speech HimanshiShelat
and Silence http://www.jstor.org/
stable/pdf/23348492.
pdf

 23 A Cup of Chai –
MeenakshiVerma
24 Quilt – Story From ACIM
IsmatChughtai
25 Reflections Introduction from
Women Writing in
India: The Twentieth
Century. – Ed. Susie
Tharu and K. Lalita (1-
41)
Other 26 Elephant At Sea Story From ACIM
Stories – KanishkaThroor
27 Reflowering – Story From ACIM
SundaraRamaswamy http://www.digitaltre
nds.com/cool-
tech/robots-replace-
5-million-jobs-2020/
http://www.theatlant
ic.com/business/archi
ve/2015/09/jobs-
automation-
technological-
unemployment-
history/403576/
28 Games at Twilight -- Story From ACIM
Anita Desai
29 Reflections
Conclusion 30 Discussion/Reflection
on the entire course
End semester examination will take place according to the University Calendar.
** All the readings will be included in the course pack

*****