Unit 8 Writing a story

d) The outline of a film that you have seen, or a book that you have read.

3 Idiots

'3 Idiots' is a 2009 Indian coming of age comedy-drama film co-written, edited and directed by Rajkumar Hirani, produced by Vidhu Vinod Chopra, and screenplay by Abhijat Joshi. It was loosely adapted from the novel Five Point Someone by Chetan Bhagat. The film stars Aamir Khan, Kareena Kapoor, R. Madhavan, Sharman Joshi, Omi Vaidya, Parikshit Sahni and Boman Irani.

Plot

Farhan Qureshi (R. Madhavan) narrates the misadventures he had with his friends, Raju Rastogi (Sharman Joshi), and Ranchoddas "Rancho" Shamaldas Chanchad (Aamir Khan), who were all students at the Imperial College of Engineering, one of the best colleges in India. Farhan wants to become a wildlife photographer, but is pursuing an engineering degree to appease his father. Raju works towards the degree because he needs to improve his family's financial situation, and Rancho is unique in actually taking joy in building machines. Rancho incurs the wrath of college's dean, Professor Viru Sahastrabuddhe a.k.a. 'Virus' (Boman Irani), by giving creative and unorthodox answers in class and living by the philosophy that one should pursue excellence, not success, as success will happen if excellence is achieved. Rancho later blames the rote-learning mentality promoted by the institution for the suicide of fellow student Joy Lobo.

Virus is described as a strict academic, in fact, that he caused his son's suicide by his pressure, and cares nothing about it. He has trained himself to write simultaneously with both hands, and has a 7.5-minute power nap every day at the same time, during which his servant shaves him.

Virus's model student is Chatur Ramalingam (Omi Vaidya), not-so-affectionately known as "Silencer" for his silent but malodorous farts. Chatur impresses his professors by excelling at rote recitation. When given a chance to present a speech praising Professor Sahastrabuddhe (Virus) before the college faculty and donors, he chooses to present the speech in formal Hindi, despite his limited fluency in the language; he overcomes this by having a librarian write the speech, which he memorizes without comprehension. Rancho modifies the written speech by replacing praise with obscenity; Chatur obliviously memorizes and delivers the modified speech. Rancho is thus able to humiliate Chatur while simultaneously demonstrating to Raju and Farhan the limitations of learning by rote.

Meanwhile, Rancho falls in love with Virus' daughter Pia (Kareena Kapoor), a doctor, whom the trio meet when they gatecrash a wedding, unaware that the bride is Virus's other daughter, Mona (Mona Singh).

The trio get up to all kinds of boyish japes, usually in tit-for-tat reactive revenge for some action of the disciplinarian Virus. Finally, Farhan and Raju pee on the door of his house. He is furious when he discovers this and in revenge Virus writes the questions for Raju's final exam so that Raju will fail, and cannot graduate and get the job he needs so that his sister can marry and his crippled father be supported. Rancho and Farhan steal the questions; they are discovered and Virus sentences them to expulsion.

His daughter Pia then angrily tells him he was responsible for the death of her brother. Her brother had wanted to pursue literature and become a writer; however, under Virus' insistence he failed the ICE exam three times and committed suicide, unable to bear the pressure placed on him by his father – who has always thought his death an accident.

The three earn a reprieve when Virus' pregnant elder daughter Mona goes into emergency labour; as Virus tries to rush her to hospital heavy storm cuts electricity. Pia, the only person with medical expertise, has left the house and is unable to return owing to the thunderstorm. Rancho and his friends rush Mona into the college common room where they deliver the baby via Voice over IP to Pia, during which Rancho restores power using car batteries and a power inverter he has devised himself to convert a vacuum cleaner as a suction device.

After the baby is apparently stillborn, Rancho resuscitates it by using his signature quote "All is well" and the apparently moribund baby responds and wakes. In gratitude Virus allows the trio to take their final exams. Rancho attains the top ranking in the institution and is awarded Virus's prize pen, retained for an especially-capable student.

But the trio have discovered a mystery - Rancho is not Rancho: another man with the same name now has credit for his study and exams.

Ten years later, Rancho has vanished without trace. In their search for him, Raju and Farhan take Pia from the middle of her wedding to Suhas, and drive her to Ladakh, where they see inventions resembling those of Rancho at a creative village school. Accompanying them is Chatur, who has managed to freeload onto Raju and Farhan over the course of their journey. The four find the man behind the distinctive inventions, who turns out to be Rancho. When they ask him to reveal his real name, he identifies himself as Phunsukh Wangdu, Chatur's prospective business partner and a world-famous, reclusive scientist. Upon learning this, Chatur is horrified and begs Phunsukh/Rancho to establish the business relationship – just after he had forced him to sign a declaration of defeat and attempted to humiliate him, apparently to no effect.

Cast

Aamir Khan as Ranchoddas Shamaldas Chanchad/Chhote/Rancho/Phunsukh Wangdu:

Kareena Kapoor as Pia Sahastrabuddhe

R. Madhavan as Farhan Qureshi

Sharman Joshi as Raju Rastogi:

Boman Irani as Dr Viru Sahastrabuddhe:

Omi Vaidya as Chatur Ramalingam:

Rahul Kumar as Manmohan:

Dushyant Wagh as Centimeter/Elder Manmohan

Mona Singh as Mona Sahastrabuddhe

Parikshit Sahni as Mr Qureshi

Amardeep Jha as Mrs Rastogi

Javed Jaffrey as the real Ranchhodas Shyamaldas Chanchad

Arun Bali as Shamaldas Chhanchad

Ali Fazal as Joy Lobo

Akhil Mishra as Librarian Dubey

+#-

d) The outline of a film that you have seen, or a book that you have read.

Muna Madan

Muna Madan (Nepali: मुनामदन) is a short narrative by the Nepalese poet Laxmi Prasad Devkota and one of the most popular works in Nepali literature. Just before his death in 1959 he made his famous statement, "It would be all right if all my works were burned, except for Muna Madan." It is the most commercially successful Nepali book ever published.

Muna Madan is based on an 18th-century ballad in Nepal Bhasa entitled Ji Waya La Lachhi Maduni (It hasn't been a month since I came). The song, which is popular in Newar society, tells the story of a merchant from Kathmandu who leaves for Tibet on business leaving behind his newlywed bride. The wife is concerned for his safety as the journey to Tibet is filled with hardships, and she pleads with him not to go. But he leaves despite her protests. When he returns home after many years, he finds that she has died.

Plot

Muna Madan describes the life of a man (Madan) who leaves his wife (Muna) and goes to Lhasa to make money, and while returning he becomes sick on the way. His friends leave him on the road and come back home saying he has died. The story also shows the life of a poor woman who suffered much without her husband and later dies because of grief. Finally he is rescued by a man who is considered to be of lower caste in Nepal. That is why it is said that a man is said to be great not by caste or race but by a heart full of love and humanity.

When Madan returns to Kathmandu after regaining his health, he discovers that his wife is dead and becomes grief-stricken. Madan comes to realize that money is of no value at that point. In this poem, Laxmi Prasad has written that greatness is not measured by one's race, but by one's deed.

dc

# Write a story about a mysterious house or building.

The Winchester Mystery House

The Winchester Mystery House is one of the most famous haunted houses in America with enough of a following to-date for daily public tours. The house, now a historical landmark, is located in San Jose California and building started in 1883 and didn't end until Sarah Winchester's death, 38 years later in 1922. So why so long and to the tune of 5.5 million dollars? Because ghosts told her to do so!

Sarah was the heiress to the Winchester Rifle fortune. She originally lived in New Haven and prior to moving to California lost both her only child Annie and then her husband John. Deeply grieving, she turned to a medium for comfort and information. The medium told her that her husband was present and that there was a curse on the family which took his life and their daughter's because of the many people who died from the Winchester gun. He then told her that the only way to prevent her own death was to move west and build a house for the spirits. But there was a catch to this plan. Ịf she stopped working on the house, the curse would take her life. So Sarah did exactly that. She left her home in New Haven and headed to California (under ghost guidance) where she bought a large parcel of land and started construction on her Victorian home. While she lived in the ever growing behemoth, she continued her séances to her husband and other spirits. She had a bell tower added and would ring it to summon the spirits at night, and ring it again to dismiss them. It was said that she built a séance room in the middle of the house and would enter it alone to conduct her communications.

The mental stability of Sarah was in question because of the very odd design of the house. Doors were joined to windows, numerous staircases with 13 steps each that often led no where but the ceiling, doors opened to brick walls, double-layered skylights, double-back hallways, doors that dropped off to the landscaping below, upside-down stair posts and so on. Sarah claimed that these oddities were to confuse the bad spirits that had used the Winchester gun to kill. No one ever figured out her fascination with 13; the steps totaling 13, the 13th bathroom having 13 windows, 13 drain holes in the kitchen sink, most windows had 13 panes of glass, there were 13 cupolas(roofs/ceiling) in the greenhouse, the walls had 13 panes and the list goes on.

Some of the current haunting evidence include pages turning on their own, organs playing by themselves, banging doors, voices, dancing spots of light, cold spots and actual sightings of "fog like" people.