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An introduction to Wuthering heights by Emily Brontë

“If all else perished, and he remained, I should still continue to be; and if all else remained, and he were annihilated, the universe would turn to a mighty stranger.”

Wuthering heights , Emily Brontë

Wuthering Heights written by Emily Brontë and published first in 1847,is considered to be a classic of English Literature. When we see themes as wide and far-ranging as Morality, Religion (namely Christianity), Horror, love, social class and money, and even race, one simply cannot agree more as to the book’s position as one of the classics. It has inspired countless readers and even various writers, poets, and musicians.

 Brontë in turn was influenced by poets like William Shakespeare and John Milton. She was also influenced by the Romanticism of Byron and the Gothic novels of Walter Scott. Being a woman well versed in Latin and classical Greek texts, especially tragedies, we can understand how the novel probably was conceived. Such deep knowledge was almost unheard of and makes Bronte an exception rather than the norm.

Although praised and celebrated now, contemporary reviews of Wuthering Heights were quite mixed, to put it mildly. The savagery and existential dread were highly objectionable to a significant amount of people, be as it may the power and imagination of the novel were recognized by critics and readers alike. Although a lot of publications were baffled by the novel calling it a “strange, inartistic story” [The Atlas review], Dante Gabriel Rossetti admired it.  He wrote in a letter in 1854 that it was

“ The first novel I’ve read for an age, and the best (as regards power and sound style) for two ages, except Sidonia ”

Dante Gabriel Rosetti

Strangely he also referred to it as

“A fiend of a book – an incredible monster […] The action is laid in hell, – only it seems places and people have English names there”

Dante Gabriel Rosetti

in the same letter.

To conclude, I highly reccomend the book. Few stories stand the test of time, fewer still remain relevant. This is one that does both, honestly you could expect a cheap retelling of the story from some B-class bollywood movie. It’s a story about unfulfilled love after all, a tale as old as humans have existed.

Basics One Should Know Before Investing In Cryptocurrency

Trying to get into cryptocurrency but don’t know where to start? Let me show you the ropes and help you make heads and tails of all the technical buzzwords you will hear whenever you open a millennial’s podcast on cryptocurrency.

Motion graphic of Blue digital money logo and futuristic circle HUD with big data processed on grid line background and technology ai icon screen abstract background crypto currency concepts

1. Digital Currency:

Unlike traditional currencies, Cryptocurrency exists purely in digital form, meaning it’s not physical like traditional money. Instead, it’s stored and transacted electronically using computer networks and the internet.

2. Decentralization:

Traditional currencies like the Indian Rupee are controlled by central banks and governments. Cryptocurrencies, on the other hand, operate on decentralized networks spread across many computers worldwide. This decentralization means no single entity, government or organization has control over the currency, making it almost impossible to manipulate it..

3. Cryptography:

Cryptocurrencies have advanced cryptographic techniques to make sure the transactions are safe and to control the creation of new units. This involves encrypting information to protect it from unauthorized access and ensuring that transactions are legitimate and tamper-proof.

4. Bitcoin:

Bitcoin was the first cryptocurrency, introduced in 2009 by an anonymous person or group known as Satoshi Nakamoto. It remains the most well-known and widely used cryptocurrency, serving as a digital alternative to traditional currencies like the US dollar or euro.

5. Blockchain Technology:

Blockchain is the technology that provides power to most cryptocurrencies. It’s a decentralized ledger that records all transactions across a network of computers securely and transparently. By adding each transaction to a block, then linking to the previous block, creating a chain of blocks. That’s why it is called Blockchain.

6. Altcoins:

Just like Bitcoin, there are thousands of alternative cryptocurrencies, known as altcoins. These include Ethereum, Ripple, Litecoin, and many others. Each altcoin has its own unique features, use cases, and blockchain protocols, offering different functionalities beyond simple digital currency.

7. Mining:

Mining is a process of validating and recording transactions on a blockchain. Miners use powerful computers to solve complex mathematical puzzles, which verify transactions and add them to the blockchain. In return for their efforts, miners are rewarded with newly created cryptocurrency units, incentivizing them to maintain the network’s security and integrity.

8. Volatility:

Cryptocurrency markets are highly volatile, meaning prices can fluctuate dramatically over short periods. This volatility presents both opportunities and risks for you to invest. While some people have made significant profits from trading cryptocurrencies, others have suffered losses due to market downturns. So you should think twice before you invest in it.

9. Use Cases:

Cryptocurrencies can be used for various purposes beyond just buying and selling goods and services. They can also serve as investment vehicles, allowing people to invest in the future potential of blockchain technology. Additionally, cryptocurrencies are used for remittances, cross-border payments, and as a store of value in countries with unstable or hyperinflated fiat currencies.

10. Regulatory Challenges:

The regulatory landscape for cryptocurrencies is still evolving and varies greatly from one country to another. Some countries have embraced cryptocurrencies like India, Canada, USA and enacted supportive regulations to encourage innovation and growth in the industry. Others like China, Bangladesh, and Russia have taken a more cautious approach, implementing strict regulations or outright bans due to concerns over money laundering, tax evasion, and consumer protection. As a result, navigating the regulatory environment can be challenging for businesses and individuals involved in the cryptocurrency space.

With that, you are ready to start doing your own research into cryptocurrency without having to consult Wikipedia all the time. Now that you know where to begin, would you like me to tell you more about wallets and other payment providers? Let me know in the comments below.

5 Books To Change Your Life

Atomic Habbits

As the saying goes,“ We are the animals of habits”.This book precisely shows how much we can achieve in our personal lives as well as in professional lives just by making some changes in our daily life habits.

This book is a gem if you wanna change your habits and get 1% better every day. This comprehensive guidebook teaches you to follow some simple rules for creating good habits in achieving long-term success. 
 
In the professional circle, this book is highly regarded for its insightful thoughts on the power of small habits. This book pushes you along with guidance to change your bad habits into good ones.


Man’s Search for Meaning  
  Man’s Search for Meaning” is an exquisite psychology by Victor E. Frankl. This book deals with love, hope, responsibility, freedom and the beauty that can be found both in nature and oneself. He wrote this book based on his experience in the Auschwitz Concentration camp during WWII.

This book is written in two parts. The first part deals with his experiences in concentration camps, while the second part brings u logotherapy, his therapeutic approach.

Frankl’s exploration of finding purpose, even in the face of extreme suffering, can be a wellspring of inspiration for those who want to bounce back in their life. In this book, you will find many answers to your own problems.


The Alchemist

If you are a big fan of adventure stories then this is a must-read for you.

“The Alchemist” by Paulo Coelho is a captivating and philosophical novel that follows a Shepherd boy, Santiago, on his journey to discover his legend.

Throughout his journey, he learns valuable lessons about the world and eventually finds his true self. “The Alchemist” is a perfect example of how a man should pursue his or her dreams with the notion that no matter what happens you can’t stop following your dreams.

The narrative not only gives you the elements of adventure, and mysticism but also the element of self-discovery. This book can teach you to nurture your dreams more seriously and to follow them regardless of the situation.

Rich Dad Poor Dad
In the domain of financial literature, few works have left as indelible a mark as Robert Kiyosaki’s “Rich Dad Poor Dad”.By reading this book one can understand how the economic structure works in our society. Kiyosaki introduces the concept of assets and liabilities both as fundamental pillars of financial success.

In this book, Kiyosaki points out how just a different mindset can set you apart from the rest of the world and how someone can unlock their true potential by taking risks. Kiyosaki shows just how important financial education is.

This book advocates working not solely for monetary gain but for the opportunity to learn and grow. This book is a real gem for understanding the function of money management. It can help you to grow as well as motivate you to take risks for the advancement of your career.
  

The Art of Happiness
“The Art of Happiness” is not just an imaginary book written by a writer, it is a real-life conversation between one of the greatest Buddhist monks 14th Dalai Lama and a well-known American writer and psychiatrist as well, Howard Cutler. Here you will see the collaboration of profound insights from Tibetan Buddhism with the precepts of Western psychology, as a result, this masterpiece emerges as a ‘beacon of wisdom’.

In this book, you will find that the very purpose of our life is to seek happiness. And this happiness depends more on the state of one’s mind rather than one’s external conditions. It will give you the notion that most of your life’s direction does not depend on your actions but on the reactions that you deliver when facing problems.

“The Art of Happiness” is not just a spiritual book that imposes its individualistic opinions on you. While rooted in ancient wisdom, this book incorporates scientific findings thus developing a balanced and evidence-based approach to Happiness.

This book will inspire you to initiate a positive approach to your life, you will find a philosophical compass that will guide you toward a life enriched with purpose and fulfilment.

Why are there so many tech support scammers in India ?

We often see scammers in India being caught by the police running multi-million dollar schemes , yet the problem doesn’t seem to go away . As one is cut down , more take it’s place and continue the process . According to independent research , around 50-60% of all techsupport scammers are Indians , so what gives ? To solve this problem , we must understand it first . Below are a few factors that make scamming easy :

  • Competition – The Indian population crisis has created many problems , one of the greatest being unemployment and ruthless competition in the workforce . Every year 10 million people join the workforce while the economy and government fail to create new jobs or give companies more incentives to create more jobs and expand in India . Thus , we are beginning to see why it is lucrative for people to become scammers . Their ethics and morals go right down the window and they become jaded overtime .
  • Language barrier , or lack thereof – Around 125 million people speak English in India , making it the world’s second largest English-speaking country . Furthermore , as most if not all of these scammers are young high school or college graduates , it is a skill they develop overtime . These scammers take advantage of the timezones and work in the day to scam people in the US , UK and other English speaking countries .
  • Cost – Setting up a ” Tech support business ” isn’t very costly , a few computers and a decent internet connection is all you need in most cases . The employees get paid minimally ( around $1600 – $3200 anually in Kolkata ) and they are worked to death as is tradition in all Indian companies . Therefore , as we can see it is quite easy to set up a ” business ” like this and the potential rewards to be gained are huge .

Looking at all this we must wonder , the police must be doing something right ? Nope , I can say the police in India are as corrupted as they come . They harass and mistreat people all the time so relying on them to uphold law and order is foolish . No , as always we must take it upon ourselves to fix the things that the government is there to sort out .

We must take initiative , here are some sources that can give you an insight into how these scammers behave so that you can identify them easily :

Here are a few places where you can report these scams and ask the authorities to ban them from operating in your country :

USA – https://www.usa.gov/stop-scams-frauds

UK – https://www.actionfraud.police.uk/

Australia – https://www.scamwatch.gov.au/report-a-scam

EU – http://www.europol.europa.eu/report-a-crime/report-cybercrime-online

India – https://sfio.nic.in/

It is crucial that we make people aware and give them resources to combat these scammers . Sharing the information provided can also help your loved ones .

Indian culture and society is also to blame where people are not rewarded for honesty . People here tend to justify scams by saying it’s what the Europeans did to us back in the day . Whether or not two wrongs make it right , I leave up to you . I personally believe it doesn’t and these people trying to legitimise their clearly heinous actions should take a long hard look at the mirror , because they have been conning peple long enough to forget what their priciples are .

The Pre-Raphaelite movement and it’s art

The pre Raphaelite movement began in 1848 as an organisation of painters who called themselves Pre-Raphaelites . The occasion of the founding of the Pre-Raphaelite brotherhood was a book of engravings which Holman Hunt and D.G. Rosetti saw at the house of Edward Millais , of certain Italian frescoes . As the name suggests , this brotherhood identified themselves artistically with the painters before Raphael , the early Florentines

Examples of art from the Pre-Raphaelite brotherhood

They found in the work of these artists an individuality and sincerity alien to the art of Raphael’s successors . About this time Ruskin and his modern painters had spoken out against the academic traditions which kept young artists making copies of Raphael’s paintings .

Pre-Raphaelites put this protest into a practical form . It was a protest against the classical tradition and conventional art of the old masters , barring young students from expressing their own unique art styles .

However although the group focussed on art. It wasn’t the only thing they worked on , they also invited in writers and poets into their group . These writers and painters insisted that s painter should paint whatever they observed , regardless of the established formal rules of painting . In their insistence on the freedom from rules and requirements laid down by Raphael for painting ideal figures , the Pre-Raphaelites were essentially romantics .

Roman society depicted in Plautus’ Pot of gold

Pot of Gold is a scathing social documentary on the growing disparity between the rich and the poor within Roman society in the time of Titus Maccius Plautus . The playwright was well aware of the disparity in the social classes and characters like Euclio and Megadorus sum it up incredibly well .

Titus Maccius Plautus

However , Plautus’ aim in his comedies is not a didactic one . Therefore , he makes masterful use of the socio-economic gap between various characters in the play by treating it as a source of comedy . This issue is also addressed in a witty by play involving the preparations for the nuptials , where Plautus introduces certain minor characters such as stewards , flute players and cooks . Several misunderstandings , mistaken identities , word plays , implausible situations and ribaldry add to the comic element in the play .

Rome during this time was tightening it’s hold over the Mediterranean and thanks to it’s legions and it’s allies , it had emerged as the beacon of civilization in the western world . However , this success came with great corruption in its roots . And thus the rich started getting richer and the poor kept becoming poorer . A quote from the play perfectly sums it up

” The first thing that occurs to me , Megadorus , is that you are a rich man , a man of influence , and I’m a poor man , poorest of the poor ”

Pot of Gold by Plautus

Beowulf – the context and history behind the poem .

Beowulf is the earliest extant heroic poem in any modern European language . The full story survives in the manuscript known as the Nowell Codex . Although the manuscript dates from the tenth century , the poem was probably composed in the eighth century and deals with sixth century events , before the migration of the Germanic tribes to Britain .

Beowulf in old English

The poem was composed and performed orally . Old English bards , or scops , most likely began by piecing together traditional short songs , called heroic lays ; then they gradually added to that base until the poem grew to its present size . Although little Old English poetry survives , Beowulf’s polished verse and reflective , allusive development suggest that it is part of a rich poetic tradition .

Besides having unusual literary merit , Beowulf also provides information and some insight into the social , political and ethical system of the Anglo Saxon culture . There is a strong emphasis on courage in battle , fidelity to one’s word and loyalty to kinsmen . Their society was a violent but highly principled one , where struggle was everywhere and honour was everything . No wonder it gets romanticised as much as it does . Frequently , the poem seems like a reflection of the traditional pagan values by the moral point of view of the new , incompletely assimilated Christianity .

Therefore as we see , the poem is a highly motivated one . The hero , bound by family ties , by his word and a strict code of revenge is surrounded by his band of devoted comrades in arms. Judeo-Christian elements do enter into the poem but they bear resemblance to the old testament , stressing justice rather than love . There is a controversy about whether these elements are intrinsic or are interpolations by a tenth century monastic scribe .

Anglo Saxons and the birth of English literature

The story of English literature begins with the Germanic tradition of the Anglo Saxon settlers . The Romans withdrew from Britain early in the fifth century because they were needed back home to defend the crumbling centre of the Roman Empire . Britain was considered a far flung outpost of little value or significance to the Romans .

Anglo Saxons

The term Anglo Saxon refers to settlers from the German regions who made their way over to Britain after the fall of the Roman Empire around AD 410 . The three tribes , Angles , Saxons and Jutes left their homelands in northern Germany , Denmark and the Netherlands and rowed across the North Sea in wooden boats to Britain . The early settlers kept to small tribal groups , forming kingdoms and sub kingdoms .

By the ninth century , the country was divided into four Kingdoms , Northumbria , Merica , East Anglia and Wessex . The Anglo Saxon settlers were effectively their own masters in a new land and they did little to keep the legacy of the glorious Roman Empire alive . They replaced the Roman stone buildings with their own wooden ones , and spoke their own distinctive dialects , which evolved over time and together became known as Old English , which gave rise to the English spoken today .

England during the Anglo Saxon age

Although most of their culture remained , sadly their unique religions didn’t . With the arrival of Saint Augustine in 597 , most of the country converted to Christianity .

The Anglo Saxon period lasted for over 600 years from 410 to 1066 , when the Battle of Hastings saw the Norman ruler William the conqueror win the English throne . This was the starting point of years of rapid changes in the political , cultural and religious landscape of Britain .

Poetic justice and it’s part in a tragedy .

Poetic justice implies the even distribution of prosperity and adversity in proportion to the merits of different agents or doers . The idea is that evil is to be duly punished and the good and just is to be rewarded appropriately . There is also the typical belief that the function of literature is to uphold that as it’s core moral .

This is however , in flagrant contradiction to the facts of life , as it is absent in any great tragedy . There is no poetic justice in tragedies . In the case of Hamlet , Othello or King lear poetic justice is absent as good natured Cordelia is hanged , soft Ophelia is drowned and innocent Desdemona murdered . All these incidents happen because of the kinship between human action and circumstances , resulting in disaster for the characters . Errors , missteps , flaws and frailties all lead to their downfall .

After all , drama is the nemesis of the story of human life and effort . In human life poetic justice is seldom present . Hence it’s absence from drama is justified .

Chorus – a brief summary

One of the fundamental aspects of the classical Greek tragedy is perceived in the presence of a chorus. The chorus is a part of the traditional origin of the Greek drama , and it is essentially an incidental feature .

In a classical Greek play it usually implies a single singer or a band of singers or dancers . In fact , the chorus appears to be the first element in tragedy .

The chorus , however , is found to perform a very sacred and important function in the classical tragedy . Aristotle characterizes the chorus to be ” a sharer in the action of a play ” . Furthermore in the Poetics he says :

” The chorus , too , should be regarded as one of the actor , it should be an integral part of the whole ( play ) , and take a share in the action ”

The poetics , chapter 18

Hence , we can see the chorus was a vital and integral part of a classical Greek play , sometimes speaking for the audience and sometimes blending in to be mere spectators . Their versatility cannot be understated .

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