1. The Patriot-by nissim ezekiel
Presented By:-
Madhura Barapatre

2. Nissim Ezekiel :-
• He was an Indian Jewish poet, actor, playwright, editor and art critic.
• Born:- 16 December 1924 in Bombay
• Death:- 9 January 2004
• He was foundational figure in Postcolonial Indian’s Literacy history,
specifically for Indian Poetry in English.
• His parent background was:-
o Father was a professor of Botany & Zoology and serves as principle in several colleges.
o Mother was a principle of a school which she has started.
• He is good in Marathi language.
• He was awarded the Sahitya Akademi cultural award in the year 1983
and the Padma Shri award, by the president of India, in the year 1988.

3. The Patriot
• The one who love & support his or her country.
• This poem was written in 1977
• It is narrated in the present continuous tense.
• Patriotism is a much bigger concept, yet Nissim prefers to define it
with simple and ridiculous acts we all have adapted from foreign
cultures.

4. I am standing for peace and non-violence.
Why world is fighting fighting
Why all people of world
Are not following Mahatma Gandhi,
I am simply not understanding.
Ancient Indian Wisdom is 100% correct,
I should say even 200% correct,
But modern generation is neglecting –
Too much going for fashion and foreign thing.
Other day I’m reading newspaper
(Every day I’m reading Times of India
To improve my English Language)
How one goonda fellow
Threw stone at Indirabehn.
Must be student unrest fellow, I am thinking.
Friends, Romans, Countrymen, I am saying (to
myself)
Lend me the ears.
Everything is coming –
Regeneration, Remuneration, Contraception.
Be patiently, brothers and sisters.
You want one glass lassi?
Very good for digestion.
With little salt, lovely drink,
Better than wine;
Not that I am ever tasting the wine.
I’m the total teetotaller, completely total,
But I say
Wine is for the drunkards only.
What you think of prospects of world peace?
Pakistan behaving like this,
China behaving like that,
It is making me really sad, I am telling you.
Really, most harassing me.
All men are brothers, no?
In India also
Gujaratis, Maharashtrians, Hindiwallahs
All brothers –
Though some are having funny habits.
Still, you tolerate me,
I tolerate you,
One day Ram Rajya is surely coming.
You are going?
But you will visit again
Any time, any day,
I am not believing in ceremony
Always I am enjoying your company

5. Synopsis Of Poem :-
• The narrator is a patriot and claims that he stands for peace and non-
violence.
• He questions why the world is fighting and why we aren’t following
Mahatma Gandhi and his wisdom.
• The narrator reads the ‘Times of India’ to improve his English, in it, he
read about a student who threw a stone at Indira Gandhi.
• Modern people have adapted to foreign habits, such as drinking wine over
the Indian drink-lassi and claims that wine is only for drunkards.
• The world cannot be at peace when the bordering countries of India like
Pakistan and China want a war.
• Indians are brothers and sisters, and Gujaratis, Maharashtrians,
Hindiwallah’s are one.
• By this time, the opponent person seems to have lost interest, so the
narrator says he’ll be ready for the other’s company anytime.

6. Quality :-
• The poem ‘The patriot’ is an ironical poem that criticizes the
Indians of adapting foreign habits.
• The poem contains simple language(colloquial) and diction. The
language used is Indianized and relates to English-speaking
Indians. This poem has touches of the post-independence era and
how Indians picked up habits of foreigners even after
independence.
• The poem outlines different trends that Indians adapt from
foreigners defeating Indian culture and tradition.
• The narrator criticizes them though he himself is a hypocrite.

7. Thankyou