Risana S, Dr. S. Mohamed Haneef (Author)

Exploring Climate Awareness and Childhood Innocence in Bijal Vacchrajanai’s Saavi: The Memory Keeper (2021)

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Cli-fi bestirs as an emanating genre on the grounds of disparate and coercive environmental repercussions. An idiosyncratic perspective on the sweeping ecological and climate crisis was emulated by the writers with an amalgamation of our country’s rich cultural heritage and coeval eco-friendly problems. Traditional narratives are intertwined with futuristic scenarios in order to emphasize the lurking danger behind deforestation. Water scarcity, the rising of sea levels, the melting of polar ice caps and glaciers were the ancillary eventualities of the hasty obliteration of trees and forests. By cultivating ecological concern and understanding, the narrative promotes an early emotional attachment between the child and the fragile natural world.

          The article aims to explore how Bijal Vacchrajanai in her novel Saavi: The Memory Keeper makes use of imaginative storytelling to pinnacle the increasingly erratic weather patterns of the warming planet. It also highlights the unprecedented climate upheaval the mother Earth is going to face in the distant future, and the ways in which complacency hastens that future. By examining the novel through the intersecting perspectives of climate consciousness and childhood innocence, this paper highlights the affective, pedagogical, and ethical dimensions of environmental knowledge. It argues that climate awareness among younger generations is not a peripheral concern but a central theme in contemporary children's ecological literature. The study further explores the novel's narrative technique, particularly its use of magical realism, which transforms a vast and complex global environmental crisis into an intimate and accessible story from a child's perspective. Situating the text within the broader tradition of climate fiction in both Indian and international contexts, the paper demonstrates how children's climate narratives simultaneously preserve the wonder of childhood while gradually cultivating a sense of environmental responsibility and stewardship toward the planet.

 

Sharon Veronica Poornam K (Author)

Narrating Depression: Emotional Suppression and Mental Decline in Shaheen Bhatt’s I’ve Never Been (Un) Happier (2018)

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Society frequently trivializes mental illness, perceiving it as indicative of emotional weakness and fragility. For numerous individuals, psychological distress is perceived as an intrinsic deficiency rather than a valid medical illness warranting earnest consideration and empathetic intervention. Conceptualization of mental diseases have evolved significantly during human history, reflecting the understanding and perspectives of various periods. Ancient civilizations devised intricate ideas to explain the causes of psychological discomfort through supernatural rationale for such ailments was demonic possession or divine retribution, suggesting that those who are experiencing mental distress were dominated by malevolent entities like Satan and other forms of evil things. For millennia, these influenced societal treatment and perceptions of the infirm. Silence frequently makes things worse, according to research on trauma and mental health. Psychological harm tends to worsen over time when people keep their suffering to themselves, even from those closest to them. This paper examines Shaheen Bhatt’s memoir I’ve Never Been (Un) Happier’ through the lens of psychoanalytic and clinical psychology to understand how mental illness develops, goes unrecognized and is eventually treated. Mental health disorders affect millions of people worldwide, per contra, social stigma and lack of awareness deny the state of seeking help. Bhatt’s comes from a wealthy and well-connected family in the Indian film business/ industry, which breaks the common assumptions that mental illness is linked to poverty and hardship. The study analyses the role of denial, emotional avoidance and silence in worsening her condition overtime, as well as the turning point that led her toward therapy and recovery. The paper highlights on Freud’s theories of repressions, trauma, psychology and cognitive- behavioral framework to explain her psychological experience. The prolonged silence and avoidance worsen mental illness, that a personal crisis can often become the starting point for seeking help and that recovery doesn’t require the complete absence of symptoms but rather the ability to manage them. The study also highlights that the value of personal narratives in reducing mental health stigma and encouraging others to seek support. The research argues that mental illness must be understood as a medical condition that affects people across all social and economic backgrounds and the early intervention, professional treatment and self-acceptance are essential to recovery.

Hannah R (Author)

The Spectre of Anticipation: The Village Gaze and Psychological Fear in Imayam’s Pethavan (2015)

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Caste-based oppression in rural society often functions through emotional intimidation, collective judgement, and the constant fear of social exclusion rather than through visible violence alone. These realities are strongly portrayed in Pethavan: The Begetter by Imayam, translated into English by Gita Subramanian. This article examines the novella through Michel Foucault’s concept of panopticism with specific attention to anticipatory fear and communal surveillance. The study explores how caste authority sustains itself through rumours, public scrutiny, threatening memories, and honour-centred social regulation that gradually enter individual consciousness. The village emerges as a disciplinary space where people continuously monitor their behaviour under the pressure of social observation and possible humiliation. Fear, in such a setting, is not an occasional reaction to a particular threat but a constant climate in which the characters are forced to live. Through the experiences of Pazhani, Bhakkiyam, and other characters, the novella portrays the psychological burden created by honour codes and public shame. Incidents of remembered violence further intensify anxiety by functioning as collective warnings against social transgression. The article argues that fear in the novella operates not merely as a response to punishment but as a permanent emotional condition produced by surveillance and anticipation. By exposing these invisible mechanisms of control, Imayam presents a powerful critique of caste society and its ability to discipline individuals psychologically as well as socially. The study suggests that the most effective form of caste power in the novella is the one that is never seen, only imagined.

P. Antony Maria Jenobhar (Author)

From Ambition to Anxiety: The Psychology of Productivity Guilt and Neoliberal Achievement Culture in Aravind Adiga’s The White Tiger (2008)

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Aravind Adiga’s The White Tiger (2008) is often interpreted as a story about class inequality, corruption, and social mobility in modern India. This article offers a different reading, rather than focusing on caste or postcolonial politics, it argues that the novel is a powerful study of how neoliberal ideology shapes a person from the inside changing not just what they do but who they feel they are. The central character, Balram Halwai, can be as a literary example of the entrepreneurial self: a person who treats his own life as a business, constantly working to improve his performance and compete with others. Drawing on Byung-Chul Han’s idea of the achievement society, Michel Foucaul’s theory of self-governance, Pierre Bourdieu’s thinking on social capital, and Richard Sennett’s analysis of flexible capitalism, this article shows that Balram’s rise from poverty to success is not simply about money or freedom. It is also about the psychological cost of living in a world where a person’s worth is measured only by what they produce. The article introduces the concept of productivity guilt a persistent inner feeling of not doing enough, not working hard enough, never being good enough and traces this feeling across Balram’s entire journey. The novel emerges as a critique of neoliberal achievement culture, showing that ambition, when pushed to the extreme, does not bring peace but produces a deeper and more permanent form of anxiety.