6. • Vikram Seth was born in Calcutta in 1952. He
left India to study at Oxford where he earned
degrees in philosophy, economics, and
politics, and went on to study creative
writing at Stanford and classical Chinese
poetry in China at Nanjing University. His
first novel, The Golden Gate, is written
entirely in tetrameter sonnets, something that
had never been done in the English language
before.
7. • The Suitable Boy, his prose fiction debut,
examined multigenerational Hindu or Muslim
conflict in 1950s India and holds the
distinction of being the longest single volume
ever published in English. But Seth is much
more than a literary statistic in
the Guinness Book of World Records
8. Once upon a time in Bingle Bog, a frog sang the night long , (under a
sumac tree), every night, in a horrendous voice. The forest animals were
distraught and at their wits end. They tried stopping his crass
‘Minstrelling’ with sticks and stones, insults and bricks but to no avail. But
frog remained impassive and resolute, intent on airing his heart’s glad
‘elation
9. One day a nightingale perched on the sumac tree and sang
entrancingly. The creatures of the bog were held in thrall by its
exquisite melody. The frog listened, dumbstruck; and all stared at the
tree in delight. At the end came clamorous applause..
Then came calls for more singing:
“Bravo!” “Too divine!” “Encore!”
10. • To such a standing ovation, the nightingale
sang on, never pausing till dawn. Needless to
say, the frog was appalled and threatened by
the Nightingale’s sudden appearance. He was
jealous too, of how the animals’ exalted in her
sweet voice. But he was very cunning .He
decided that he would make use of her voice
for his own benefit.
11. The following day, the Nightingale spread her wing a little, and closed an eye with the
twitch of her tail and a shake of her head. Gently, she cleared her throat to sing. No
sooner did she begin than she was stopped in mid- song by the bullying frog. He told
her boastfully that he owned the sumac tree and had been performing for years. He
informed her that he was a famous critic as well as a singer who could sing in a
booming baritone.
12. • The diffident bird was impressed by the self-important
frog. She asked him timidly whether he liked her singing.
To this the frog condescendingly replied that her voice was
not all that bad, but it wanted more force. In fact her
13. The Nightingale, gratified by the summation of her talent by a famous critic, defended her song saying that it might be not
be heavenly but it was certainly her ‘own’ and therefore unique. The hardhearted frog threw cold water on the ‘originality’
of her song. He argued that originality didn’t stand a chance without technique, so the Nightingale had nothing to be proud
of. Craftily, He remarked that she should be trained first or lag behind, as a mere beginner. The nervous Nightingale was
downcast.The frog, hinting that under his training she would be a big hit, offered his guidance for a small fee that would
not hurt her.
14. • The native bird was shyly flattered, by
this attention and advice from whom,
she thought was a talented singer and
music critic. Lacking in confidence and
true discernment, she gushed that the
frog with his croaking voice, was a
Mozart who came to teach her.
15. Under the patronizing frog, the Nightingale sang her heart out and became famous
throughout the forest. The frog charged for tickets and earned from her
performances. He felt both sweet and bitter as he pocketed his cash—sweet because
of the money coming in and bitter because the Nightingale’s lovely voice was so
applauded by one and all. Even the aristocratic members of the bog were present at
the Nightingale’s concerts.
16. The frog now started her training in earnest. He had made her sing in the pouring
rain for hours. Her voice now hurt, and she was shivering in the cold. Still he made
her sing through the night. He insisted that she should sing faster and louder like him
and follow the fashion of the times if she wanted to be famous. Under such harsh non-
stop training and criticism, the Nightingale lost her beautiful voice and her singing
became uninspired and mechanical
17. The animals stopped coming to listen and she grew sorrowful and pale. She had got used to the
fame and cheering and was no longer delighted to sing alone in the forest. The stony hearted
frog scolded her for not singing well enough. The dwindling audiences made him lose money.
He reminded the poor bird that she still owed him .So she should look sharp and pull up her
socks.
18. • The scared Nightingale, sick, tortured and
anguished tried to puff up and sang once more but
she burst a vein and died.
19. The shrewd frog was
dismissive of the
Nightingale and said
“I tried to teach her,
but she was a stupid
creature-far too
nervous, far too tense”.
20. • Once again he
assumed his
unrivaled position in
the bog, in his ‘fog
horn’ voice.
21. • The frog comes out clearly stating its intentions in a
sarcastic and evil manner. By stating that
• I tried to teach her,
But she was a stupid creature -
Far too nervous, far too tense.
Far too prone to influence.
22. • The frog is being sarcastic stating that the
nightingale had it coming because she came and took
over the frog’s territory with regard to singing. The
frog used the nightingale’s stupidity against her
which as stated came with the bird being too prone to
influence. If the nightingale believed that what she
delivered was good (as confirmed by the other animals)
then she should have rejected the unnecessary
influence from the frog.
23. The nightingale had never heard the frog put on a
performance or even heard any of the animals
praising the frog, so why would the nightingale
believe in the frog’s prowess?
The nightingale failed to own its success and
agreed to be influenced by a “fake” expert who
was ruthless enough to lead it to its demise .
24. • It is important for someone to own their
success; not all advice is valid, and
sometimes it could be intended for
destruction.
