The Paradox about Palm Sunday - Celebrating the Day at the Church of The Epiphany

Today, in his sermon on the occasion of Palm Sunday, the Presbyter in Charge, Revd. Prateek Pillai, very clearly brought out the Paradox in the celebration of Palm Sunday, whether it was the first one or the latest one. He spoke about the contradiction between the expectations of the people who were looking forward towards welcoming a Regal King in the Royal sense as opposed to the entry of a humble King, a Serving King. We are so accustomed to celebrating greatness and grandeur that we are not able to comprehend the sublimity of modest greatness. The cultural contradiction lies in our inability to comprehend true greatness as opposed to what is profane in nature. The contradiction lies in our celebrating the profane and ephemeral as opposed to what is profound, and true greatness.

In his sermon on the occasion of Palm Sunday, Revd. Prateek went on to describe how love flows from sacrifice while power flows from servitude. The festival of Palm Sunday is a celebration of the entry of a Serving King into the town of Jerusalem, riding, not a regal horse, but a humble Foal, a testament to the power of modesty and humbleness rather than the frailty of pride. The message for the day was that one should discard one's pride and instead take on the mantle  of modesty, humility and service. The service today, on the occasion of Palm Sunday included a procession by the congregation and a special number by the Sunday School children.

There is so much to learn about the need to inculcate humbleness, service, and modesty from the lessons of Palm Sunday. The need to celebrate and appreciate those two qualities and values stems from our misconceptions about celebrating greatness that is filled with ego and pride. The very act of riding on a humble foal, as opposed to a regal and royal horse, is a message about humbleness. One needs to appreciate the power of service and acknowledge a Serving King rather than a demanding and egotistic King. The message of Palm Sunday is pertinent, especially in today's context, where wars are driven and fueled by ego and pride!

Photographing Flying Geese with a 600 mm lens

Photographing flying birds with a 600 mm lens can be challenging due to the narrow field of view, but it can be done! I used a Canon RF 600 mm F/11 lens on a Canon R7 body to do exactly this, and I am glad to state that the results were impressive!

Although a much underrated lens, the Canon RF F/11 STM lens is a capable lens when used in tandem with the Canon RF7 body. I wouldn't be wrong to state that the prime lens is no laggard in doing its job! Even though I have a Canon 70-300 mm USM STM II lens, I had deliberately decided to use the 600 mm prime lens to photograph birds in flight. I wanted to test the lens and take it through its paces. I selected focus tracking, set the ISO to auto, and selected a minimum shutter speed of 1250/second for the shoot. Needless to say, the results came out to be pretty impressive! Of course, the lighting was favourable, although there was a trace of light mist.

Patience can be a virtue, and predicting bird movement can play an important role in flying bird photography. To help speed up focusing, I disabled the full autofocus switch and instead selected the other options, which limit the lens from focusing on close objects. All of the photographs shared in this post were taken handheld for ease of movement, which speaks loudly about the capability of the lens.

Of course, the lens-and-camera combo used for the photographs can be a bit tiring to hold for long periods compared to the 70-300 mm lens, but it can be done! I have not yet used a lens hood with the lens, which might make the combo a bit unwieldy for handheld shots.

The Last Lesson-Important Questions

 

Prose Extract-Based Questions for The Last Lesson

Page 5, 3rd Paragraph

1. “I heard M. Hamel say to me, “I won’t scold you, little Franz; you must feel bad enough. See how it is! Every day we have said to ourselves, ‘Bah! I’ve plenty of time. I’ll learn it tomorrow.’ And now you can see where we’ve come out. Ah, that’s the great trouble with Alsace; she puts off learning till tomorrow. Now those fellows out there will have the right to say to you, ‘How is it; you pretend to be Frenchmen, and yet you can neither speak nor write your own language?’ But you are not the worst, poor little Franz. We’ve all a great deal to reproach ourselves with.”

1. Why do you think Little Franz might be feeling ‘bad’?

2. Where do you think the people of Alsace have ‘come out’?

3. What, according to M. Hamel, is the ‘trouble’ with Alsace?

4. Who are ‘those fellows out there’? What will they say to you?

Page 5&6 5th paragraph

2....it was the most beautiful language in the world - the clearest, the most logical; that we must guard it among us and never forget it, because when a people are enslaved, as long as they hold fast to their language it is as if they had the key to their prison.

1. Who said these words and what was the occasion?

2. Who are 'we' in the above extract?

3. Why according to the speaker, should we 'guard it'?

4. Who is the narrator and how does he feel about the whole situation?

Page 7, 3rd Paragraph

3.On the roof, the pigeons cooed very low, and I thought to myself, "Will they make them sing in German, even the pigeons?"

1. Whom does 'they' refer to?

2. Who is 'I' in the above extract?

3. Why does he wonder if 'they' would make the pigeons sing in German?

He was aware about what the Prussians were trying to do, impose their language on the people of Alsace. He was aware about the concept of Linguistic Chauvinism.

4. Is the narrator aware of linguistic chauvinism? Yes

Page 7 Last Paragraph

4. Whenever I looked up from my writing I saw M. Hamel sitting motionless in his chair and  gazing first at one thing, then at another, as if he wanted to fix in his mind just how everything looked in that little school-room. Fancy! For forty years he had been there in the same place, with his garden outside the window and his class in front of him just like that. Only the desks and benches had been worn smooth; the walnut trees in the garden were taller, and the hopvine that he had planted himself twined about the windows to the roof. How it must have broken his hear to leave it all, poor man; to hear his sister moving about in the room above, packing their trunks! For they must leave the country the next day.

1. Who is I the above extract?

2. M. Hamel was sitting motionless in his chair because:

a) He was embittered by the events.

b) He was saddened by the events.

c) He was angered by the students who had not studied French well.

d) Both a) and b) are correct.

2. With reference to the extract, choose the correct option with reference to 1) and 2) given below:

     1) M.Hamel was sitting motionless in his chair gazing at the worn benches, the hopvine and the walnut trees.

     2) M.Hamel wanted to preserve the memories of forty years of service.

a) 1) is correct, but 2) is incorrect

b) 1) is incorrect, but 2) correct

c) Both 1) and 2) are incorrect

d) Both 1) and 2) are correct.

3. Describe the tone in the above extract in one sentence.

4. What would have broken his heart according to the extract?

Short answer questions

1. Why according to M. Hamel were the people of Alsace not very fluent in French?

2. How would you differentiate between the Prussian’s Linguistic Chauvinism and M. Hamel’s pride in the French language? Are they the same?

3. How did M.Hamel attempt to infuse pride, respect, and a sense of patriotic fervour in his students during the last French lesson?

Long Answer Type Questions

1. It takes a catastrophic moment to change the course of history. Support this statement with evidence from the lesson.

2. Write a letter to your sister in Paris describing your last French lesson. You are Little Franz.

3. Draft a diary entry in 120 to 150 words. You are M. Hamel. Describe your last day as a French teacher at the school in Alsace.

4.  M. Hamel in 'The Last Lesson' and Edla in 'The Rattrap' are the guiding lights of self-realization to Franz and the peddler, respectively. Comment

The Tale of Melon City - Analysing Satire in the Poem

In this post, I am going to attach photographs of slides I created on a PPT to analyse Satire with reference to Vikram Seth's poem, The Tale of Melon City.