Keeping in mind the policy of enrichment programme, the Department of English, Guru Nanak College, Dhanbad designed an online guest lecture series named “Rainbow Series of Online Guest Lectures” during the period of Summer Vacation. To provide the students with a variety of learning experience, the series has been designed with a proposal of having seven (7) lectures with seven (7) different speakers on seven (7) different topics related to their subject areas. Since there would be seven lectures - all of different shades, it is appropriate to name it “Rainbow Series”. The series is organised by Dr. Varsha Singh from the Department of English, Guru Nanak College.
On 31st May, 2020 (death anniversary of Kamala Das), the first lecture was organised in the Rainbow Series of Online Guest Lectures by the Department of English, Guru Nanak College, Dhanbad, on "Remembering Kamala Das". Dr. Richa (Assistant Professor, Department of English) from Patna Women's College was invited as the Guest Speaker. Dr. Richa delivered her lecture for 1.5 hours focussing on the life, philosophy and experiences of Das and provided few critiques to her poems as well. Half an hour was spent on question answers and interaction sessions. Participants were actively engaged during the session, which made it unique. Around 100 participants including students, research scholars and teachers from different parts of the country joined the lecture through the Google Meet platform.
On 10th June, 2020, the Department of English had its second online guest lecture based on celebrated play wright Girish Karnad (being his first death anniversary) titled “Remembering Girish Karnad”. The focus of this lecture was on Karnad’s famous play “Nagamandala”. The invited speaker was Dr. Jindagi Kumari from MSIT, New Delhi. The lecture went on for 1.5 hours in which around 100 participants (students, teachers, research scholars) joined from different parts of the country. The session began with playing of an introductory video clip based on Karnad and moved on to the PPT presentation and Dr. Jindagi’s lecture. Dr. Jindagi structured her presentation keeping in mind her target audience (UG Students). After her lecture students/guests asked questions which were responded in detail by Dr. Jindagi. Participants also shared their opinions during the session.
On 14th June, 2020, the third session in the series of online guest lectures was organised, titled "Decoding Poetry". The invited speaker for this session was Dr. Ram Kulesh Thakur from SRM University, Guntur, Andhra Pradesh. It was one of the most enriching sessions for the students, as they got equipped with tools and techniques of critiquing and understanding poems. The lecture and presentation of Dr. Ram was followed by a question answer session in which students came up with their practical issues while decoding poems. The questions were taken up by Dr. Ram with his detailed interpretations and answers. The lecture went on for two hours. Around 80 participants joined the meeting and almost 55 people viewed the live-streaming.
Youtube Link: https://youtu.be/vPoVZxTD9WQ
On 21st June, the fourth session in the Series of Online Guest Lectures was organised by the Department of English, Guru Nanak College, Dhanbad. The lecture was titled "Introduction to Marxist Criticism: Reading Charles Dickens’s “Hard Times”” and the invited speaker was Dr. Prabhat Jha from Patna. It was a rich, layered and organic session in which Prabhat provided the students with a layered understanding of “Hard Times” along with familiarizing them with the techniques of Marxist Literary Theory. The students responded well. The lecture went on for more than 1.5 hours and around 100 participants joined the session.
Youtube Link: https://youtu.be/qfJzemOoFy8
The fifth lecture in the series was organised on 23rd June, 2020 on the topic "Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice": 21st Century Impressions". The invited speaker was Dr. Basudhara RoyChatterjee, Assistant Professor at the Department of English, Karim City College, Jamshedpur. The session went on for around 2 hours which was rich, captivating, layered and very engrossing. The questions which came up were also substantial, so were the answers of Dr. Basudhara. Around 150 participants joined this session.
Youtube Link: https://youtu.be/wFFtNWU0QTI
The sixth lecture in the chain of “Rainbow Series of Online Guest Lectures” was organised on 27th June, 2020, in which Mihir Vatsa (Poet, Historian, Landscape Writer, Photographer) was the invited speaker who delivered a talk on the topic “How to Critically Read Fiction” with reference to Emily Bronte’s novel “Wuthering Heights”. Along with reading and discussing (in detail) certain sections of the text, he also talked about the growth of a reader/as a reader.
The session went on for around 2 hours which was attended by students, researchers, scholars and teachers from several parts of the country. It was a valuable session.
Youtube Link: https://youtu.be/tGa4etKa1KI
The 7th and last lecture in the "Rainbow Series of Online Guest Lectures" was organised on 30th June, 2020 by the Department of English, Guru Nanak College, Dhanbad on the topic "Locating Texts in the Postcolonial Frame: Perspectives and Challenges". As the guest speaker we had with us an academician of par excellence, Dr. Shreya Bhattacharji who made the session fascinating and rich by her experienced understanding of the theory and texts. Nothing would have been a better conclusion to the series than this. It was a valuable and much cherished session as around 100 participants attended the lecture.
Youtube Link: https://youtu.be/T-id5kd4Gmg
