Department of English, Faculty of Media Studies and Humanities organized a guest lecture on “How to Study Drama in the Class”. The lecture was delivered by Dr. Rajesh Verma, former faculty, Banaras Hindu University. Dr. Verma is presently working as CPL, Department of English, Yonphula Centenary College, Royal University of Bhutan.

Dr. Verma began the session with a very interesting quotation, “Stage is the symbol and Drama is a Metaphor.”  He, in this way, by relating stage with life and drama with various episodes, explained the various stages, phases and processes of life.

Dr. Verma in his lecture evoked the image of death again and again. Bringing in the image of the ‘Manikarnika Ghat’ of Banaras, the famous cremation ground of the Hindus, he made clear to the students the symbolic implications of death. He said, “Death is unavoidable. It is a reality. Thus we should accept it, we should celebrate it”. He cited the example of Bhutan where Death is celebrated to make people acquainted with it. He tried to make it a point that it is because the people of Bhutan are acquainted with death, cases like rape, murder, crimes, etc. are rare in Bhutan.

Dr. Verma pleaded that if we acknowledge death, we can identify ourselves. ”Knowing ourselves is synonymous with spirituality. Spirituality is the essence of life”, he said. Citing from the modern poets like T.S. Eliot and others, Dr. Verma presented his point emphatically to the students.

The lecture was a part of the Department’s endeavor of sharing teaching-learning expertise among reputed universities and to expose our students to the best intellectual minds of the area.