St. Joseph’s College of Commerce (AUTONOMOUS)

End Semester Examination – April 2013

B.Com – IV Semester

 GENERAL ENGLISH

Time: 1 ½  Hours                                                                                           Max. Marks: 50

Note: Answer this question paper in a separate answer script.

SECTION -A

1. Answer any TWO of the following in about 200 words each.    (2×10=20)

1. How many of the ten flatteners have affected your life? Do you think Friedman left any flatteners out? Is the importance of any of the flatteners he lists overstated?

 

2. What are the benefits/ detriments of the “world is flat” metaphor? What is Friedman trying to convey with this image? Is the world he describes really flat? Think of another metaphor that would better explain (or explain just as well, if you buy the idea that the world is flat) what Friedman details in these chapters.
3. Do you work for a company that is implementing any of Friedman’s coping strategies? Which of them would be the most controversial in your industry?

 

4. In Chapter Nine’s third section, “I Can Only Get It for You Retail,” Friedman offers a vivid portrait of the “neighborhoods” comprising various parts of the globe today. How will those neighborhoods look one hundred years from now? Will America still be a gated community, and Asia “the other side of the tracks”?

 

SECTION -B

1. Answer any ONE of the following in about 200 words each        (1×10=10)

 

5. Prospero presents himself as the civilized discoverer of a desert island, with Caliban and Ariel as its not-quite-human inhabitants. How does Caliban’s history of the island differ from Prospero’s? Whom do you think Shakespeare agrees with, Prospero or Caliban? Whom do you agree with, Prospero or Caliban? Give textual evidence in working out your answers.
6. What do Antonio and Sebastian want to do to Alonso and Gonzalo? Why? What does Antonio mean when he says, “What’s past is prologue” .
7. What are the goals of the conspiracy staged by Trinculo, Stephano, and Caliban (II.ii, III.ii)? What does each party want to get out of it? Do you ever feel that they are likely to succeed? How (if at all) does the playwright let us know whose side he’s on?

SECTION -C

III) Annotate any TWO of the following                                                               (2×5=10)

8. “ A living drollery. Now I believe
   That there are unicorn; that in Arabia
   There is one tree, the phoenix’ throne; one phoenix
   At this hour reigning there” [ Act 3, Scene 3, 21-24]
9. “ We are such stuff
   As dreams are made on, and our little life
   Is rounded with a sleep [ Act 4, Scene 1, 156-158]
10. Ay, that I will; and I’ ll be wise hereafter,
    And seek for grace. What a thrice-double ass
    Was I, to take this drunkard for a god,
    And worship this dull fool!”[ Act 5, Scene 1, 294-297]

SECTION –D

 

1. Answer any FIVE of the following in about 200 words each.           (5×2=10)

 

11. What task does Prospero impose upon Ferdinand?
12. Give as good a description as you can of Caliban.
13. What does Ariel do for Gonzalo?
14. Where is the scene of this drama placed?
15. What does Miranda mean by the phrase, “Brave new world” .
16. Who is Caliban? What is his attitude towards Prospero’s control of the island?

 

St. Joseph’s College of Commerce (Autonomous)

End Semester Examination – April 2013

B.Com – II Semester

 General English

Time: 3 Hrs                                                                                         Max Marks: 100

SECTION – A

1. Answer any six in less than 100 words each.      (6 x 6 = 36)

 

1. Comment on the upper middle class lifestyle that V. Gangadhar describes in the essay ‘Money and Changing Lifestyle’.
2. What is the nature of the character Pahom in the story ‘How Much Land Does a Man Need?’ By Tolstoy?
3. What according to you is the poem ‘The Brook’ about?
4. What is Chief Seattle’s understanding of nature?
5. Describe the nature of the character Wasserkopf in the play ‘Refund’.
6. Comment on the importance of imagination for the present world that Friedman talks about in the essay ‘9/11 versus 11/9’.
7. Explain any two paradoxes that His Holiness the Dalai Llama writes about in the poem ‘The Paradoxes of Our Times’.
8. Describe the term ‘tolerance’ according to E M Forster.

SECTION – B

1. Read the following passage and answer all the three questions below in about 200 to 250 words each.    (3 x 9 = 27)

Why is there conflict between Tutsis and Hutus?

The bloody history of Hutu and Tutsi conflict stained the 20th century, from the slaughter of 80,000 to 200,000 Hutus by the Tutsi army in Burundi in 1972 to the 1994 Rwanda genocide in which Hutu militias targeted Tutsis, resulting in a 100-day death toll between 800,000 and 1 million.

But many observers would be surprised to learn that the longstanding conflict between the Hutu and Tutsi has nothing to do with language or religion — they speak the same Bantu tongues as well as French, and generally practice Christianity — and many geneticists have been hard-pressed to find marked ethnic differences between the two, though the Tutsi have generally been noted to be taller. Many believe that German and Belgian colonizers tried to find differences between the Hutu and Tutsi in order to better categorize native peoples in their censuses.

Generally, the Hutu-Tutsi strife stems from class warfare, with the Tutsis perceived to have greater wealth and social status (as well as favouring cattle ranching over what is seen as the lower-class farming of the Hutus). The Tutsis are thought to have originally come from Ethiopia, and arrived after the Hutu came from Chad. The Tutsis had a monarchy dating back to the 15th century; this was overthrown at the urging of Belgian colonizers in the early 1960s and the Hutu took power by force in Rwanda. In Burundi, however, a Hutu uprising failed and the Tutsis controlled the country.

On April 6, 1994, the Hutu president of Rwanda, Juvénal Habyarimana, was assassinated when his plane was shot down near Kigali International Airport. The current Hutu president of Burundi, Cyprien Ntaryamira, was also killed in the attack. This sparked the chillingly well-organized extermination of Tutsis by Hutu militias, even though blame for the plane attack has never been established. Sexual violence against Tutsi women was also widespread, and the United Nations only conceded that “acts of genocide” had likely happened after an estimated half-million Rwandans had already been killed.

After the genocide and the Tutsis regaining control, about two million Hutus fled to Burundi, Tanzania (from where 500,000 were later expelled by the government), Uganda, and the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where the great focus of Tutsi-Hutu conflict is today. Tutsi rebels in the DRC accuse the government of providing cover for the Hutu militias.

Note: Hutus and Tutsis are two tribes living in Central Africa.

9. What is the exact nature of conflict between Hutus and Tutsis? Narrate in your own words.
10. How can a tolerant society be built under circumstances described in the above passage? Use the essay Tolerance by E M Forster that you have read in the class to respond to the question.
11. Narrate an incident from real life or fiction in which tolerance can be seen in practice.

OR

How did the reading of the essay Tolerance help you in your personal and social life?

SECTION – C

• Read the following excerpt from the play The Boor by Anton Chekov and answer all the questions     (3 x 9 = 27)

LUKA: What do you wish?

SMIRNOV: Something to drink! [LUKA goes out. SMIRNOV sits down and looks at his clothes.] Ugh, a fine figure! No use denying that. Dust, dirty boots, unwashed, uncombed, straw on my vest–the lady probably took me for a highwayman. [He yawns.] It was a little impolite to come into a reception-room with such clothes. Oh, well, no harm done. I’m not here as a guest. I’m a creditor. And there is no special costume for creditors.

LUKA: [Entering with glass.] You take great liberty, sir.

SMIRNOV: [Angrily.] What?

LUKA: I…I…I just…

SMIRNOV: Whom are you talking to? Keep quiet.

LUKA: [Angrily.] Nice mess! This fellow won’t leave!

[He goes out.]

SMIRNOV: Lord, how angry I am! Angry enough to throw mud at the whole world! I even feel ill! Servant!

[MRS. POPOV comes in with downcast eyes.]

MRS. POPOV: Sir, in my solitude I have become unaccustomed to the human voice and I cannot stand the sound of loud talking. I beg you, please to cease disturbing my rest.

SMIRNOV: Pay me my money and I’ll leave.

MRS. POPOV: I told you once, plainly, in your native tongue, that I haven’t the money at hand; wait until day after to-morrow.

SMIRNOV: And I also had the honour of informing you in your native tongue that I need the money, not day after tomorrow, but today. If you don’t pay me today I shall have to hang myself tomorrow.

MRS. POPOV: But what can I do if I haven’t the money?

SMIRNOV: So you are not going to pay immediately? You’re not?

MRS. POPOV: I cannot.

SMIRNOV: Then I’ll sit here until I get the money. [He sits down.] You will pay day after tomorrow? Excellent! Here I stay until day after tomorrow. [Jumps up.] I ask you, do I have to pay that interest tomorrow or not? Or do you think I’m joking?

MRS. POPOV: Sir, I beg of you, don’t scream! This is not a stable.

SMIRNOV: I’m not talking about stables; I’m asking you whether I have to pay that interest tomorrow or not?

MRS. POPOV: You have no idea how to treat a lady.

SMIRNOV: Oh, yes, I have.

MRS. POPOV: No, you have not. You are an ill bred, vulgar person! Respectable people don’t speak so to ladies.

SMIRNOV: How remarkable! How do you want one to speak to you? In French, perhaps! Madame, je vous prie! Pardon me for having disturbed you. What beautiful weather we are having today! And how this mourning becomes you!

[He makes a low bow with mock ceremony.]

MRS. POPOV: Not at all funny! I think it is vulgar!

12. Briefly summarize the above conversation in your own words in not more than two paragraphs.
13. The word boor means “a rude, unpleasant person”. Which character do you think is a boor in the above excerpt and why?
14. Imagine a beginning and an end to the above conversation. Write it in about two or three paragraphs.

SECTION – D

IV)Answer any one in less than 250 words.                        (1 x 10 = 10)

15. Write about a book/news item/documentary/movie that you have read/watched recently. Comment on any one interesting aspect of it.

 

OR

 

Write about an incident or an experience which has impacted you very much, recently.

 

 

 

 

1
ST. JOSEPH’S COLLEGE OF COMMERCE(AUTONOMOUS)
END SEMESTER EXAMINATION – OCTOBER 2013
B.COM – III SEMESTER(TRAVEL& TOURISM)
GENERAL ENGLISH
Note: Answer this question paper in a separate answer script.
Time:1 ½ Hours Max. Marks:50
SECTION – A
I) Write short notes on ANY FOUR of the following in about 150 words. (4×5= 20)
1. Sketch the character of Mary Maloney.
2. Difference between a blog article and a journal article.
3. Mysterious Mr. Angel in Sherlock Holmes story.
4. Preparations required before an interview
5. Ending of the story ‘Lamb to the Slaughter’.
SECTION – B
II) Answer ANY TWO of the following questions in about 150-200 words. (2×10=20)
6. Comment on Sherlock Holmes’s style of solving the strange case of Mr. Angel. Was
Holmes right to allow the guilty person to go without punishment?
7. Discuss the element of irony behind the title of Dahl’s ‘Lamb to the Slaughter’.
8. What are the different types of interviews and briefly explain any two types? List any
two tips required to make an interview successful.
SECTION – C
III) Answer the following question. (10 marks)
9. Imagine yourself to be an active blogger. You write blogs of your travelling
expeditions to the lesser known destinations. Write any one of your experiences of
travelling to such a place in about 150 -200 words.

1
St. Joseph’s College of Commerce (Autonomous)
End Semester Examination – October 2013
B.Com (Travel & Tourism) – I Semester
General English
Time: 3 Hrs Max Marks: 100
Note: 1.Exceeding the paragraph limit will result in loss of marks.
2. Each paragraph should contain about six sentences.
Section – A
I) Answer any three of the following questions in about three paragraphs.
(3×10 = 30)
1. Give an account of Naipaul’s visit to Bombay in your own words.
2. Write about Pankaj Mishra’s analysis of those writers who have written about India.
3. Comment on Paul Theroux’s desire to travel long and slow. Is such long and slow
travel worth the time according to you?
4. Narrate a travel experience of your own which has shocked, surprised or
disappointed you.
Section – B
II) Read the following passage and answer the questions below in about
four paragraphs.
India has always been a spiritual rainforest, teeming with religions and their mutations.
Fittingly, its greatest rulers have been as notable for their spiritual experiments as for their
political ones. Ashoka, who ruled the Mauryan Empire, India’s first, at its apogee in the
third century before Christ, was a convert to Buddhism. Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s political
leader to independence from British rule in 1947, and its first prime minister, was born into a
high-caste Hindu family and became a resolute secularist. Mahatma Gandhi, his saintly
fellow-worker for independence, was a devout Hindu, but challenged the orthodox with his
campaign against untouchability. When political genius encounters India’s sectarian
profusion, it seems to breed a wayward spirituality.
No ruler took more liberties with his religion than Akbar, the greatest of the Mughals, the
Muslim dynasty that dominated India between the early 16th and 18th centuries. Like
Ashoka and Gandhi, Akbar constructed a religious ideology that served to hold together a
diffuse polity as it fed his own soul.
It began with pragmatic policies of tolerance. Akbar had inherited the throne, at the age of
13, in 1556. In 1579 he abolished the jiziya, a tax imposed on all but the poorest non-Muslims.
This was the most notable in a series of measures to recruit the Hindu majority and others to
the cause of unifying and expanding his empire. He could be ruthless: his troops massacred
20,000-25,000 non-combatants after a four-month siege of Chitor, a nearly impregnable
Hindu fortress in Rajasthan. But he preferred incentives to coercion. He defeated the warlike
Rajputs, but gave them rank and married their princesses, who were permitted to
conduct Hindu rites in the harem. The Mughal-Rajput alliance was a bulwark of his empire.
2
Akbar’s liberalism in religion buttressed his other achievements. His generalship widened
and enriched the Mughal empire. His administrative and fiscal innovations underpinned it
for a century after his death. Not least, he fashioned a multicultural nobility into a kind of
meritocracy, through a system of ranks dependent not on inheritance but on imperial
favour.
Yet it is Akbar’s religious tolerance that marks him—a fierce autocrat in politics—for his
special place in history. It sprang as much from his character as from calculation. He was
curious. Wondering whether speech was learned or innate, he had several infants reared in
silence to find out. He is credited with innovations in textiles and artillery alike. Unable to
read, perhaps because of dyslexia, he loved learning and disputation. He was subject to
bouts of melancholy and what were probably epileptic fits early in life. He saw these as
spiritual experiences; maybe they gave his curiosity a religious twist.
As his reign progressed Akbar moved ever further from Islamic orthodoxy. He built a
capital, Fatehpur Sikri, around the tomb of a Sufi (Islamic mystic) saint who had prophesied
the birth of his heir. Later he took to inviting clerics from various religions, including
Portuguese Jesuits from Goa, to debate their faiths.
He collected the opinions of everyone, especially non-Muslims, retaining whatever he
approved of, lamented a Muslim historian at his court.
The king cared little that in allowing everyone to follow his own religion he was violating
all, one of them wrote. They saw in him the common fault of the atheist, who refuses to
make reason subservient to faith, accepting nothing as true which his feeble mind cannot
fathom.“If this is the definition of an atheist, the more we have of them the better,” Nehru
commented acidly 350 years later.
Eventually, Akbar came up with his own “religion of God”, more a fraternal order, headed
by himself, than a religion, based on a creed of harmony among peoples and a practice that
involved making disciples of his leading nobles. Unsurprisingly, Muslim clerics saw this as
blasphemy.
Eventually, it became official policy to discourage, if not to prohibit, Islamic forms of prayer.
Akbar paid the price in an abortive rebellion by his son, claiming to be a defender of the
faith. Akbar softened towards Islam thereafter, and is thought to have died, in 1605, a
Muslim, not an apostate.
His descendants had learned the lesson—the wrong one. Successively, they became ever less
tolerant. A century later, in 48 years of rule, his irreproachably pious and deeply bigoted
great-grandson Aurangzeb tore down Hindu temples and revived the jiziya—and a Hindu
consciousness that after his death was to help pull the Mughal empire apart and let in the
British.
They, like Akbar, tried to deal equally with their diverse subjects. But the tensions remained;
the Indian cliché that these were largely due to a British policy of “divide and rule” is a selfexcusing
fantasy. As British rule faded, Muslim leaders demanded and in 1947 got a
country, Pakistan, of their own. India’s new rulers stuck to their belief that the state must
remain above religion. Even so, Hindu hegemonists have recently come to the fore there.
Yet Akbar’s fusion of religions is not quite dead: there is a Hindu village in the Kulu valley
of the Himalayas whose local god is a reincarnation of him.
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5

ST. JOSEPH’S COLLEGE OF COMMERCE (AUTONOMOUS)
END SEMESTER EXAMINATION – OCTOBER 2013
B.COM – III SEMESTER
GENERAL ENGLISH
Note: Answer this question paper in a separate answer script.
Time:1 ½ Hours Max. Marks: 50
SECTION – A
I) Write a short note on any FOUR: (4×5=20)
1. Lady Lal
2. Sufia Begum
3. Surreal Images in the Poem Sale
4. Ramdas Korwa
5. Poem Small Scale Reflections on a Great House – House as metaphor
Section-B
II) Answer any THREE from the following: (3×10=30)
6. Is modernization destroying human value!!!!!Justify your answer with
reference to T. S Eliot’s Hollow Men.
7. “Karma” is the sum total of the ethical consequence of a person’s good and
bad actions discuss.
8. “Dams are temples of modern India” – Nehru, what have you to say about
the development projects in India? Do you agree with Roy’s views?
9. Reflect on the message of Tagore’s poem ‘Where the Mind is Without Fear’.
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ST. JOSEPH’S COLLEGE OF COMMERCE (AUTONOMOUS)
END SEMESTER EXAMINATION – OCTOBER 2013
B.COM – III SEMESTER
BUSINESS COMMUNICATION – I
Note: Answer this question paper in a separate answer script.
Time:1 ½ Hours Max. Marks: 50
Section-A
I) Draft letters (Any FOUR) (4×5=20)
1. A fancy goods dealer has asked his bank for an overdraft facility up to Rs. 50,000
for two months, without security. He has pointed out that he has excellent
business prospects during the approaching festival reason. Draft the bank’s reply.
2. Write a letter to a retail store reminding them that they have neither settled their
account, nor replied to your earlier reminders. Offer to take instalment payments
to help them to settle the account.
3. As a retailer, write a letter to the manufacturer, informing him that a large number
of customers have complained about defects in the electric kettles supplied two
weeks ago. Ask for suitable redress.
4. Your class has decided to go for an Industrial visit. Write a letter to the owner of a
bus service, making enquiries giving him the details about your travel ask for a
quotation.
5. You have started a computer centre. Write a sales letter to business houses in your
city, offering to train their staff in using computers.
Section-B
II) Answer any THREE questions from the following in about 150 words.(3×10=30)
6. What is downward communication? What causes loss of information as
communication moves downward discuss?
7. Discuss the principles of communication.
8. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of computer based
communication
9. Explain semantic and language barriers in communication with suitable
examples.

1
ST. JOSEPH’S COLLEGE OF COMMERCE (AUTONOMOUS)
END SEMESTER EXAMINATION – OCTOBER 2013
B.COM – I SEMESTER
GENERAL ENGLISH
Time: 3 Hrs Max Marks: 100
Note: 1.Exceeding the paragraph limit will result in loss of marks.
2. Each paragraph should contain about six sentences.
SECTION – A
Below is an article from the magazine Tehelka written by Aradhana Wal. Read the article
and answer the questions that follow.
Fund Me, May be.
When Kannada filmmaker Pawan Kumar decided to make a no-star, no-masala feature film,
finding investors proved to be a herculean task. He had a brainwave. Why not turn to the
audience? The 30-year-old protégé of Kannada cinema stalwart Yograj Bhat reached out on
his blog, which, thanks to his debut Lifeu Ishtene, had a formidable following.
Project Lucia, as the campaign came to be called, raked in its target of Rs 50 lakh in 27 days.
“But people still wanted to give money,” recalls Kumar. The amount pledged crossed a
crore, but Kumar refused the excess. On 20 July, Lucia will be the first Kannada film to have
a world premiere at the London Indian film Festival — Europe’s venue for Indian
indie cinema.
Kumar’s is one of the best examples of a successful crowdfunding campaign in India.
Though by no means a novel idea — Shyam Benegal’s Manthan was funded with Rs 2 each
contributions from the 5,00,000 farmers of the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Federation in the
wake of the White Revolution — getting money from anonymous cyber buddies is no mean
feat. “We don’t have much venture capitalist backing in India. Campaigners — filmmakers,
musicians, photographers — have to start with friends and family and constantly engage the
audiences online,” explains Priyanka Agarwal, CEO of Wishberry, India’s premier
crowdfunding website. Kumar reached out to a substantial audience that was disconnected
from regular Kannada cinema. Nearly 110 people backed him even though he revealed no
details of the script. Even now, the only thing known is that the film deals with an
insomniac’s drug-fueled adventures.
Publicity, like money, is crowd sourced. Kumar attests to the utility of word-of-mouth:
“Strangers worldwide circulated the trailer online, and the festival picked it up.”
However, cracking crowd funding is no cakewalk. A depressing number of promising
campaigns fall by the wayside. Filmmaker Abhay Kumar’s campaign for his undercover,
experimental documentary Placebo, backed by Anurag Kashyap, “failed spectacularly” on
Wishberry. This failure could be symptomatic of the strained relationship some campaigners
share with such platforms. Though Wishberry, launched in 2009, provides much logistic
support, it also charges 10 percent of the money earned from the campaign. “If your
campaign fails, they take 20 percent,” says Abhay.
Pawan Srivastava, whose offbeat film on migrant identity in Bihar, Naya Pata, was made on
a crowdfunded budget of Rs 8 lakh, says Wishberry would have made him work as much,
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used his own network and then taken a cut. “So, I reached out to my contacts online on my
own.”
Another way to crowdfund is more conventional: equity-based capital. But, filmmaker
Onir’s campaign for his film I Am ran into trouble because of the notorious tax component
slapped on equity funding. Most campaigns, such as Naya Pata, go for reward-based crowd
funding with no monetary returns, but tokens such as DVDs and invites to special
screenings. “In India, you cannot legally reach out to more than 50 people at once to sell
your product. There is tax on money received, on interest, on dividends,” says Agarwal.
Onir ended up paying nearly 47 percent of the Rs 1 crore he raised through crowdfunding
and equity funding in taxes.
Crowdfunding in India is complicated. Unpredictable crowd sentiment, taxes, a noninternet-
literate market, pose problems aplenty. But, there is one uncontested advantage —
creative freedom. Lucia and I Am would not be possible had their makers relied on industry
investors. Audiences connect emotionally with uncompromised content, explains Sridhar
Rangayan, director of Kashish, India’s largest LGBT film festival, which took to partial
crowdfunding last year, gaining overwhelming audience response. Kumar repeatedly told
his audience that “Lucia is your film”. That they are the co-producers. And producing is not
where audience involvement ends. They have to watch the movie too. The very farmers who
helped Benegal churn out his Manthanwent in droves to theatres, making it a hit and setting
a precedent.
I) Answer ALL the questions in three paragraphs. (3×10 = 30)
1. What do you understand by the term ‘crowdfunding’? Explain the whole process in
your own words.
2. What are the benefits and problems associated with crowdfunding?
3. The writer contends that with crowdfunding creative freedom is possible. What does
the writer mean by it? Give your opinion on the subject.
SECTION – B
II) Answer the following questions in about four paragraphs. ( 2×15 = 30)
4. Narrate the conversation between the Astrologer and the stranger in your own
words. What aspects of the story An Astrologer’s Day appealed to you very much?
Write about it briefly.
5. In the story The Last Leaf Behrman dies and Johnsy survives. How and why does this
happen? What does the story have to tell about the world of artists: their lives,
dreams and sorrows?
III) Read the following extract from the story The Bet by Anton Chekov and answer
ANY TWO questions. ( 2×10 = 20)
It was a dark autumn night. The old banker was walking up and down his study and
remembering how, fifteen years before, he had given a party one autumn evening. There
had been many clever men there, and there had been interesting conversations. Among
other things they had talked of capital punishment. The majority of the guests, among
whom were many journalists and intellectual men, disapproved of the death penalty. They
considered that form of punishment out of date, immoral, and unsuitable for Christian
States. In the opinion of some of them the death penalty ought to be replaced everywhere by
3
imprisonment for life. “I don’t agree with you,” said their host the banker. “I have not tried
either the death penalty or imprisonment for life, but if one may judge a priori, the death
penalty is more moral and more humane than imprisonment for life. Capital punishment
kills a man at once, but lifelong imprisonment kills him slowly. Which executioner is the
more humane, he who kills you in a few minutes or he who drags the life out of you in the
course of many years?”
“Both are equally immoral,” observed one of the guests, “for they both have the same
object – to take away life. The State is not God. It has not the right to take away what it
cannot restore when it wants to.”
Among the guests was a young lawyer, a young man of five-and-twenty. When he was
asked his opinion, he said:
“The death sentence and the life sentence are equally immoral, but if I had to choose
between the death penalty and imprisonment for life, I would certainly choose the second.
To live anyhow is better than not at all.”
A lively discussion arose. The banker, who was younger and more nervous in those days,
was suddenly carried away by excitement; he struck the table with his fist and shouted at
the young man:
“It’s not true! I’ll bet you two million you wouldn’t stay in solitary confinement for five
years.”
“If you mean that in earnest,” said the young man, “I’ll take the bet, but I would stay not
five but fifteen years.”
“Fifteen? Done!” cried the banker. “Gentlemen, I stake two million!”
“Agreed! You stake your millions and I stake my freedom!” said the young man.
And this wild, senseless bet was carried out! The banker, spoilt and frivolous, with
millions beyond his reckoning, was delighted at the bet. At supper he made fun of the
young man, and said:
“Think better of it, young man, while there is still time. To me two million is a trifle, but
you are losing three or four of the best years of your life. I say three or four, because you
won’t stay longer. Don’t forget either, you unhappy man, that voluntary confinement is a
great deal harder to bear than compulsory. The thought that you have the right to step out in
liberty at any moment will poison your whole existence in prison. I am sorry for you.”
And now the banker, walking to and fro, remembered all this, and asked himself: “What
was the object of that bet? What is the good of that man’s losing fifteen years of his life and
my throwing away two million? Can it prove that the death penalty is better or worse than
imprisonment for life? No, no. It was all nonsensical and meaningless. On my part it was the
caprice of a pampered man, and on his part simple greed for money …”
Then he remembered what followed that evening. It was decided that the young man
should spend the years of his captivity under the strictest supervision in one of the lodges in
the banker’s garden. It was agreed that for fifteen years he should not be free to cross the
threshold of the lodge, to see human beings, to hear the human voice, or to receive letters
and newspapers. He was allowed to have a musical instrument and books, and was allowed
to write letters, to drink wine, and to smoke. By the terms of the agreement, the only
4
relations he could have with the outer world were by a little window made purposely for
that object. He might have anything he wanted – books, music, wine, and so on – in any
quantity he desired by writing an order, but could only receive them through the window.
The agreement provided for every detail and every trifle that would make his imprisonment
strictly solitary, and bound the young man to stay there exactly fifteen years, beginning from
twelve o’clock of November 14, 1870, and ending at twelve o’clock of November 14, 1885.
The slightest attempt on his part to break the conditions, if only two minutes before the end,
released the banker from the obligation to pay him the two million.
6. What is the debate that is happening in the beginning of the story? What does the
debate then lead to?
7. Compare the beginning of the above story with the beginnings of An Astrologer’s Day
and The Last Leaf. How are they different or similar to each other?
8. Why do you think the young lawyer decided to take the challenge? What do you
think would have happened in the next half of the story?
SECTION – C
IV) Answer the following TWO questions in about three paragraphs. ( 2×10 = 20)
9. What does David Crystal have to say about English language? Comment on his
opinions.
10. In Kannada English Combat what is D R Nagaraj’s stand on teaching the English
language in India?

St. Joseph’s College of Commerce (AUTONOMOUS)

END SEMESTER  Examination – April 2014

B.Com – IV Semester

 GENERAL ENGLISH

Time: 1 ½  Hours                                                                                                       Max. Marks: 50

 

Note: Answer this question paper in a separate answer script.

 

SECTION – A

1. Read the following and answer the questions below                   (1×10 =10)

I’ve seen Prospero played as a benign schoolmaster, colonial overlord and Faustian necromancer. But Roger Allam brings something new to the party by suggesting that Prospero is first and foremost a father: what we see, in this riveting performance of Shakespeare’s usurped protagonist, is a man torn between possessive concern for his adored Miranda and recognition that she is an agent of reconciliation with his enemies.                                                                                                                             –  Michael Billington

1. Comment on the intensity of relationship between Prospero and his daughter.

OR

2. Sketch the character of Miranda in the play ‘The Tempest’.

 

SECTION – B

1. II) Answer any TWO of the following in not more than 200 words each. (2×10=20)

 

3. “The Tempest has title action or progressive movement and the culmination is, in some degree, anticipated in the exposition”. Discuss
4. “Forgiveness and freedom: these are the key-notes of the play” – discuss and illustrate from ‘The Tempest’.
5. If Shakespeare does not approve slavery, he does not expressly condemn it in ‘The Tempest’. Critically analyze the above statement.
6. Compare the characters of Caliban and Ariel.

 

SECTION – C

III). Answer any TWO questions in not more than 200 words each                 (2×10=20)

7. “I was in Bangalore, India, the Silicon Valley of India, when I realized that the world was flat” ———- Thomas Friedman

Q: What is your comment on the above statement? Do you think Bangalore can be an iconic symbol for the flat world?

 

8. Friedman argues in his book that the global playing field has been flattened by new technologies. List any FIVE flatteners and explain.

 

9. Critically comment on the title of the book ‘World is Flat’ by Thomas Friedman.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

 

St. Joseph’s College of Commerce (AUTONOMOUS)

END SEMESTER  Examination – April 2014

B.Com – IV Semester

BUSINESS COMMUNICATION -ii

Time: 1 ½  Hours                                                                                                       Max. Marks: 50

 

Note: Answer this question paper in a separate answer script.

 

SECTION – A

 

1. I) Answer ANY FOUR of the following questions. Each carries 5 marks. (4×5=20) 
2. Write a note on show cause notice and charge sheets.
3. List the categories of secretarial correspondence and the duties of the secretary.
4. Write a note on:
   A. Office Memorandums
   B. Office Orders
5. How does E-mail benefit business correspondence?
6. Write a note on advantages and disadvantages of
7. Mobile Phones
   B. Computers
   C. CCTV
8. Explain Teleconferencing and its use in business.

 

SECTION – B

1. Draft ANY FOUR Each carries 5 marks.                                     (4×5=20)                                      
2. As a company secretary, write a letter to the shareholders announcing the payment of dividend in the form of bonus shares.
3. Write a circular asking employee’s to keep their workstations clean.
4. Draft an appointment letter to Mr. Shiva Kumar as System Manger of your company with the details of terms and conditions of the company.
5. Write a letter to your local authority asking for more bins to be put in your area to improve the litter problem.
6. Draft an office order from the Head Office to the Branch Office regarding employee’s training.

 

SECTION – C

• Compulsory Question            (10 marks)

 

12. Draft a CV with a covering letter applying for the post of senior accountant, with the minimum qualification of your masters and added qualification for the same.

 

St. Joseph’s College of Commerce (Autonomous)

End Semester Examination –MARCH /APRIL 2014

B.COM – II SEMESTER

GENERAL ENGLISH

Time: 3 hours                                                                                                                          Max Marks: 100

 

Note: Do not exceed the paragraph limit. Doing so may result in loss of marks.

Each paragraph should contain a minimum of five sentences.

                                              Section – A

Read the passage and answer the questions.

Can Advertising Change India’s Obsession With Fair Skin?

ELIZABETH SEGRANAUG 5 2013, The Atlantic

In India, a country where the majority of the population is dark-skinned, there is a widely held belief that dark complexions are inferior to fair ones. This prejudice manifests itself in everything from hiring practices that favor light-skinned employees to matrimonial ads that list fairness as a non-negotiable characteristic of the future bride or groom. In the media, light-skinned actors and models are in high demand, while dark-skinned performers are rarely seen on screen. The message is clear: fair skin represents beauty and success, and as a result Indians are keen consumers of products that promise to lighten skin.

This uncomfortable fact has spawned dueling ad campaigns on the skin-bleaching front. In March of this year, an organization called Women of Worth launched a “Dark is Beautiful” campaign to draw attention to the effects of racial prejudice in India. The print ad features the actress Nandita Das urging women to throw out their fairness creams and abandon the belief that dark skin is ugly. Meanwhile, in early July, the cosmetics company Emami released a competing television ad starring Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan. In the ad, Khan tosses a tube of fairness cream to a young fan, telling him that fairness is the secret to success in life. In response, the “Dark is Beautiful” campaign filed a petition on Change.org asking Emami to suspend the ad on the grounds that it is discriminatory.

The advertising war over discrimination highlights the distinctly modern way that racism is unfolding in India. While racism runs deep in India’s history, its roots intertwined with caste and colonialism, in today’s India, it finds expression in consumer behavior and corporate advertising. When I spoke to Nandita Das last week, she argued that India’s history of racism is not central to the discussion, because the prejudice against dark skin has taken on new forms in the modern world. “I don’t believe we have to keep going back into history,” says Das. “We’re not just a product of our traditions: we’re also part of the globalized world. Today, the fact that such discrimination continues to exist is a function of consumerism. The market is waiting to cash in on people’s hidden aspirations.”

As India’s economy continues to boom, the market appears to be a driving force behind the discrimination against dark skin. The fairness industry first evolved as a response to consumer demand. For centuries Indians used natural ingredients, such as lemon or turmeric, to lighten their skin. In 1975, Unilever launched a commercial skin lightening cream called “Fair and Lovely,” and other companies quickly followed suit with their own products. The creams were originally targeted at women, but over time products emerged for men as well. In 2005, Emami launched the “Fair and Handsome” cream with Shah Rukh Khan as its brand ambassador and it is now a market leader. Fairness products are sold at every price point, from inexpensive packets of lotion to high-end luxury creams, making them accessible to every socioeconomic class. Today, their sale generates over $400 million in revenue a year in India, which is more than all other skincare products combined. In fact, the sale of fairness products surpasses the sale of Coca-Cola and tea in India.

While fairness creams were developed to fill a specific demand in the Indian market, the survival of the industry now depends on ensuring that consumers continue to want fair skin. This means perpetuating the belief that fair skin is desirable and that dark skin is a problem to be corrected, a message the advertising industry has effectively been able to broadcast. Cosmetic companies also amplify this sentiment by enlisting India’s most popular actors as spokespeople for their fairness products.

On television and film sets, there is already an explicit preference for light-skinned actors, so the partnership between the cosmetics and entertainment industries comes naturally. Nandita Das, who has starred in over 30 movies, has been repeatedly asked to alter her dark skin. “When I am on a film set playing an educated upper-middle-class character, the crew will tell me, ‘I know you don’t like to wear makeup to lighten your skin, but this is an educated girl you are playing, so it would be appropriate for you to look fair,’ But what does that say about me?” Das asks. “I’m educated and I’m dark.” It is as if filmmakers cannot wrap their heads around the possibility that dark skin can be associated with success, even when it is embodied for them in the very person with whom they are speaking.

Yet, Das does not think that directors and producers have a racist agenda. “I cannot believe that they are not aware of the repercussions of what they are doing,” says Das, “but I don’t think it is personal. They are not horrible to me because I am dark. It just has to do with what works. People prefer fair skin. It is an unspoken understanding.” In other words, filmmakers simply feature the kind of actors that audiences want to see, again reflecting consumer demand.

What will it take to change India’s aesthetic sensibilities? There needs to be an alternative stream of messaging in the Indian media that associates dark skin with notions of beauty, strength and success. Activists have tried to do this with campaigns like “Dark is Beautiful,” but they face a herculean task because their efforts are not backed by the advertising budgets of the cosmetics and film industries. The ad featuring Nandita Das has appeared in print and has been shared widely on Facebook and Twitter, but it will never be as visible as the ads for fairness creams that literally surround the Indian population in magazines, billboards, web banners, and on television.

Ultimately, significant change will only occur when these powerful industries feel pressure to present more inclusive notions of beauty in their advertising, thereby helping to recalibrate consumer preferences from the top down. The current “Dark is Beautiful” petition against Emami is a small step in this direction. However, while the petition has garnered thousands of signatures in a matter of days, it is unlikely to convince Emami to withdraw its ad or change its approach.

Nonetheless, Das’ campaign has made progress in other ways. It has given people a platform to vent their frustrations. On the “Dark is Beautiful” blog, women have started to openly discuss how they feel when their fathers put pressure on them to lighten their skin or when colleagues think it is acceptable to call them names like “blacky.” Men have started to contribute to the discussion as well, expressing the need for dark-skinned role models who represent success and masculinity. Several actors and directors have even come forward to show Das their support.

Das acknowledges her uphill battle, and she worries that the effects of the campaign will be short-lived. “I don’t want to be cynical but I know that the media just wants new things to talk about,” she says. “I have doubts about whether this interest will be sustained or whether the campaign will have a significant impact. But at the same time, I want to believe that every little drop fills the ocean. At the very least, this campaign is triggering some thought.”

1. Answer ALL the questions in about one paragraph              (4 x 5 = 20)
2. What do you understand by “racial prejudice”? Use the above article to comment on it.
3. What is “Dark is Beautiful” campaign all about?
4. What does “aesthetic sensibilities” mean in the above context?
5. Comment on the title of the article? Why do you think the title is in the form of a question?

 

1. Answer any two questions in about three paragraphs               (2 x 15 = 30)
2. What according to the writer are the reasons for India’s obsession with fair skin? How has it impacted the world of advertising and consumer products?
3. Do you think the methods used by “Dark is Beautiful” campaign to “associate dark skin with notions of beauty, strength and success” is an effective method? What might be other innovative methods or ideas that will help the campaign? Give your opinions.
4. Nandita Das says “We’re not just a product of our traditions: we’re also part of the globalized world. Today, the fact that such discrimination continues to exist is a function of consumerism. The market is waiting to cash in on people’s hidden aspirations.” What are these ‘hidden aspirations’ that she is referring to? Can you think of other similar ‘hidden aspirations’ among Indians on which the market is waiting to cash in?

 

Section B

III)      Answer any four questions in about two or three paragraphs each.          (4 x 10 = 40)

8. What were the challenges and difficulties that you faced when you first began to read poetry? Give a personal response.
9. Why do you think the poems are titled “Hawk Roosting”, “Departmental” and “Mushrooms” respectively? Give a new title to all these poems and defend your new title by giving appropriate reasons for choosing them.
10. How was the poem “The Hollow Men” different from the other poems you read in the class? Comment on any one section of the poem.
11. Write a detailed response to any one of these poems: “Hawk Roosting”, “Departmental” or “Mushrooms”.
12. The poem below is titled “Four Walls”. Write about the various thoughts and ideas that immediately come to your mind upon reading the poem.

You could call where we live
a house.
A room, very high up
with a very low ceiling,
one window, quite large,
and one very small door
that you could pass through
with your hands folded over your breast,
never lifting your feet from the floor.
You can look out this window, too,
out the window in the very high room
with the very low ceiling
if you like;
you can sleep without stretching your legs;
you can live never lifting your head.

 

Section – C

1. IV) Answer the question in about three paragraphs. (1 x 10 = 10)

 

“Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else’s opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation.” ― Oscar Wilde

 

13. Use the idea expressed in the above quote and the essay Making Sense if Identity by Amartya Sen to write a note on human identities.