Invisible racial discrimination in the UK hotel industry Essay

Invisible racial discrimination in the UK hotel industry - Essay Example Among many other calamities, this has resulted in increasingly strict immigration conditions. Although some initiatives have been taken to upgrade the relations with the minorities, the racial discrimination inherent in the social mindset and practices persists. â€Å"The U.K. has one of the highest levels of racially-motivated violence and harassment in Western Europe, and the  problem is getting worse.† (Human Rights, 1997 cited in Shah, 2010). This paper discusses the experience of ethnic minority workers in the hotel and catering industry. Research provides evidence of racism faced by the ethnic minority in Britain in various walks of life in general and the hotel and catering industry in particular. The hotel and restaurant industry is known for its harsh working environment, specifically for the employees who are from ethnic minorities or migrant community, in terms of oral contracts, minimal training, long working hours, late-night working, unpaid overtime, unpaid official leave, delayed salary payments, discriminated recruitment, biased promotions, job insecurity, bullying, insult and abuse. Racism, as practiced in the British society, can take both visible and invisible forms. â€Å"Indirect discrimination is where there is a requirement, condition, provision, criterion or practice which has an adverse impact on  one group disproportionately.   However, such discrimination is not unlawful if it can be justified by the employer.† (PJH Law, 2009). Indirect discrimination can be regarded as invisible racism. It occurs as a result of regulations or practices which have a detrimental effect on people from a certain race. One example of invisible racism is the condition by a hotel HR department to hire only those employees residing within a one-mile radius with the hotel in the center, knowing that the majority of ethnic minority resides outside the defined limits, indirectly avoiding applications from the ethnic

The Value Management Strategy Construction Essay

The Value Management Strategy Construction Essay According to Merna in (Smith, 2002) the term Value Management (VM) tend to be a blanket term that include many value techniques such as Value Planning (VP) , Value Engineering (VE) and Value Analysis (VA), therefore the definition of VM may vary from country to country and from industry to an other, the Institute of Value Management (IVM, 2010) takes Value Management as the tools and techniques concerned with improving and sustaining a desirable balance between the wants and needs of stakeholders and the resources needed to satisfy them. Its the process in which the functional benefits of the project are explicated and appraised consistent with the value system determined by the client (Kelly et al., 2004). British Standard define VM as the management style that can motivate people, develops skills and promote innovation (BSI., 2000) It is the relationship between the satisfaction of needs and the resources required in achieving that satisfaction (Venkataraman and Pinto, 2008). CIRIA defines VM as the structure approach that help defining the clients value requirements and ensure the delivery of that value through the design and construction process (Connaughton and Green, 1996), the institution of civil engineers (ICE) definition of VM take it as a set of techniques and tools to enhance the project (ICE., 1996) while (BRE, 2010) defines Value engineering (VE) as a pro-active, creative, team approach to problem-solving in construction projects to provide the best value for money. Australian based Department of Human Service (DHS) defines VM as the systematic review of the essential functions or performance of a capital project to ensure that best value for money is achieved. (Chen et al., 2009) considered Value Engineering (VE) as the organized application that uses both technical and non-technical knowledge and skills to eliminate unnecessary cost in the project. VM derives its power from being a team based, process-driven methodology and has been dominated by the north American thinking since its early days (Male et al., 2007) where Americans generally refer to the technique as Value Methodology (VM) which emerged in 1940s as a response to increasing pressure to gain more with fewer resources (Wilson, 2005). The origin of first Value Management application can be traced back to Miles a Purchasing engineer with General Electric who developed the first Value Analysis (VA) plan and the Society of American Value Engineers (SAVE), which was founded in Washington, DC, in 1959 is the premier international society devoted to the advancement and promotion of the value methodology (Alalshikh and Male, 2009).(SAVE, 2007) defined the value methodology as the systematic process used by a multidisciplinary team to improve the value of a project through the analysis of its functions. The application of value management as a formal technique will largely de pend on the value of a particular project and the level of risk involved Value management usually incorporates a series of workshops, interviews and reviews, through which the project requirements are evaluated against the means of achieving them. There are many reasons to use VM in projects one of them is the poor definition of projects at early stage as it is crucial to ensure the project success this poor definition normally comes from the shortage of time given out at that stage, therefore the stakeholders are required to define the project scope and need at early stage (Smith, 2002). In addition to that there are always elements in the project with poor value and using VM can help remove those elements. This paper will look to the VM strategy for Old Cross Community Fitness Centre (OCCFC) through evaluating and appraising the group work, the paper first define VM and traced back its origin, then moves into giving short brief about the project which is the subject of the study. Then the paper shows the steps taking in deciding the best VM study style, after that the paper moved into the generic processes of VM from the Orientation and Diagnosis phase, the Workshop phase and the implementation phase by detailing each one of the components and concentrated in workshop phase as that stage represents the team work. The environment or the context of study, the participants and why they are needed and the inputs and delivery of the study are covered and the paper concluded by the best way of implementing the study outcomes. The critical appraisal for the VM strategy adopted by the team will look at the different processes of VM study and how the team dealt with it and compare the group work with the best practise and published literature in the field, giving rationale and justify the group trends, highlights the group major disagreement with the VM best practise and define strength and weaknesses behind their choices. According to (Male et al., 1998) the VM study style represent method and approaches those need to be used during the VM workshop, it is the outcome of the stage in the project life cycle at which VM study is carried out and to do so the identification of the project current intervention point is needed. (Connaughton and Green, 1996) identified four VM/VE (Value Engineering) intervention stages as follows: concept, feasibility, scheme design and detail design while Male et al. (1998), stated that there is a generally held consensus that the following six opportunities help to achieve the highest effect on any project during a VM studys lifecycle: the pre-brief, briefing, concept design, Charette (Brief Review Workshop), detail design, and operational study (during the construction phase). In this phase of the study the Value Manager should be appointed and normally the Value Manager will held meeting with the clients in order to define objectives of Value Study, gain commitment from stakeholders and agree a bout how the value study programme should be implemented. Meeting with project sponsors and reviewing of documents is likely to happen at this stage along with conducting interviews with relevant stakeholders (Male and Kelly, 2004), selection of the participants in the value study and gathering of information is a crucial part in the this phase (Abidin and Pasquire, 2007). The structure of the value problems in details and the discussion of possible solution along with the agenda for the workshop phase are important parts in this phase and may also include how the workshop should be implemented (Male and Kelly, 2004). In this phase the team decided that more information is needed (documents, contracts, organisation, structure, client requirements, scope and more in terviews and reviews) the group also discovered the need to interrogate the project to align with strategic objectives and the understanding of the organization structure. In order to succeed it is important to know where is the project in relation to life cycle, other VM challenges/problems that are not stated need to be highlighted. All these requirements are essential in this part of the phase (the orientation).on the other hand the diagnosis also has its requirements, from the location of the site and whether it is suitable for such kind of projects, to the political factors surrounding the project without neglecting the effect of fund diversion and how the facility is going to be used. For this phase the group assumed that the investment and the brief have been sorted and duration of 15-20 days has been assigned to this phase to allow time for conducting more interviews with stakeholders and cost consultant in particular The team can be either external or existing team; the use of external team is not beneficial as conflict may arise between existing design team and external team, in addition to that the using of existing team can help in cost reduction, better development of ideas due to experience within the project, open communication and increased in implementation (Male et al., 1998). Building Research Establishment (BRE) stated that the team must represent relevant stakeholders, internal or external facilitator while. The group work choose a team that represent Newton council key members, cost consultant, architect, quantity surveyor, structural engineer, electro-mechanical engineer, relevant stakeholders and two team leaders (facilitators). That selection generally match with (Alalshikh and Male, 2009) as they composited the team in this stage with the Client representatives, end user , design team and project management team. (Male et al., 1998) mentioned five approach of VM study depends on the team composition and the team selected by the group tends to match his VM3 approach, where the personnel are the study facilitator and client representatives together with the project design team The benefits of VM have found to be most effective when an independent facilitator of the consultant/contractor team is appointed (DHS, 2010) . The group work did not mention whether those facilitators are independent or not. (ICE) suggest the team must include all relevant disciplines, have authorised decision maker and be led by value manager without mentioning the size of the team, that explain why Newton Council need to be represented as they are the decision makers. According to (Hoekstra, 2006) most owners lean towards a small 5 to 7 member VE team; one person per discipline, with no duplication, the group trend may be compatible with Hoekstra as the team represents 5 different disciplines if stakeholders , Newton council members and facilitators of the study excluded, Hoekstra also mentioned that the team may include operations, management, ITS, safety, public information, environmental and maintenance disciplines to ensure the coverage of all project aspects. Its clearly noticed that the group work tends to ignore those disciplines although in the size of the team they mentioned that it may reach 16 with variation during the study process without clear identification of the additional members and whether any considerations for other disciplines are taken into account or just that additional proportion of the size was completely assigned to the stakeholders and council members. CIRIA on the other hand recommend the use of value manager who may be either from external organization or in-house (Connaughton and Green, 1996). Again the group did not mention that and whether the two facilitators are part of the consultant/contractor team or not. One important part in the team dynamics is the facilitator and its role during study, according to (Kaufman, 2006) facilitation is the vehicle that guide the VM discipline into a viable process and there are many different type of facilitation, normally the VM facilitator involved before the project begins , being a part of deciding the discipline required in the VM team and determining the size of the team therefore the facilitator need to be well equipped with although the group has motioned the need for two facilitators in their study, they did not mention at which stage these facilitator have been brought into the project and that has a crucial impact in the kind of facilitation to be followed during the study, According to (SAVE, 2007) many factors govern the duration needed to execute the Job Plan in a value study: the size and complexity of the project, the stage of project development, the estimated cost of the project while the typical duration for the Workshop Stage is five-days, which does not include the Pre-Workshop ( orientation diagnosis) and Post-Workshop phase (implementation), (Hunter and Kelly, 2007) stated that there is a difference between study duration on the US and UK as only 1 day is given for the workshop duration in UK while its between 3-5 days in the US which is more compatible with the SAVE guidance in workshop. The group work assigned 2 days to complete the workshop phase which is between the UK the US practise in regard to the duration of the workshop

Classroom Management Plan :: essays research papers

Management Plan Attendance: You are expected to be at all rehearsals and all events. During band camp, attendance is extremely important because you will miss that day’s new material, and may have to be written out of the show. It is very difficult for new members to make up what they have missed. Any conflicts should be handled IMMEDIATELY! ALSO Since the band functions as a single unit and not a group of individuals, Band performances are diminished by even a single absence. Hence, you will be at ALL band rehearsals and performances. It is the responsibility of the student to notify one of the Directors IN ADVANCE with a note or a phone call from the parent or guardian. Each request will be evaluated individually. Forged Excuses will be referred to the Principal’s office for disciplinary action. Unexcused absences from rehearsals will result in dismissal or other punitive measures. This will be considered on a case by case basis by the Band Director. Travel: We travel to events together and we return together. If a parent wishes to make other arrangements, they must submit a written note to one of the Band Directors, IN ADVANCE. The only exception is at the conclusion of an event; the parent must make personal contact with one of the Directors to verify that they are in attendance and will take responsibility for their child. Otherwise, students will ride the bus. Driving yourself, traveling with a friend, non-immediate family member, boyfriend, girlfriend, or neighbor is unacceptable. When in doubt, ask a Director. Other Guidelines To Note: 1.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Bus conduct will be exemplary at all times. The bus driver’s instructions must be followed. 2.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Only personal radios, tape, or CD players with headphones will be allowed. You must be seated at all times. Do not kneel or stand on the seats. 3.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Wear the correct designated clothing under your uniform. 4.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The buses will be kept clean. All riders are responsible and no one may leave until it is clean. Uniform Care and Maintenance: Band uniforms typically cost $350 to replace. You are expected to return the uniform in the same condition it was issued. Replace all parts of the uniform neatly into the garment bag. In the Stands: 1.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  No one will play their instruments unless instructed to do so. 2.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Everyone will have their own music lyre with them. 3.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Recently graduated band members may not distract, socialize, or sit with the band or color guard unless permitted by the band staff.

Ongoing Stroke Rehabilitation Programs Health And Social Care Essay

A really of import factor in long-run recovery is go oning stroke rehabilitation at place. Surveies have shown that one time stroke patients return place there is a diminution in their rehabilitation and less attending is given to it. The Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System conducted research in 2005 and concluded merely 31 % of shot subsisters receive outpatient rehabilitation. This resulted in lower rates of functional position and reduced quality of life. In the longer term surveies besides show that less than 10 % of people after a shot receive occupational or physical therapy. However, lower degrees of disablement and on-going jobs were reported by those patients who did have therapy. Ongoing Stroke Rehabilitation Programs The benefits for patients who received uninterrupted, long-run rehab were legion. Patients were able to larn new schemes to counterbalance for abilities lost, created new nervous connexions to short-circuit damaged encephalon cells, decreased medical complications, reduced the hazard of another shot, and made the most of their new functional abilities. Fiscal factors are one obstruction in the manner of therapy, healers and professional health professionals. On traveling conformity of patients can besides interfere with follow-up intervention, particularly for those who may experience better or have become independent already. But the biggest challenge comes in the transportation of information and engineering to those who will really utilize it. In order to maximize recovery continiuing shot rehabilitation at place is really of import. It should be made a precedence because of how important it is for the shot subsister ‘s uninterrupted recovery.Life after a shotThere are ways to do life easier if your abilities are impacted due to stroke. Dressing can be made easier by choosing apparels with front fasteners and replacing buttons, slide fasteners, and lacings with Velcro closings. There are besides several dressing AIDSs available, such as pole-handled shoe horns on Internet sites and in wellness supply shops. Particular utensils such as flatware with built-up grips which are easier to hold on and rocker knives for cutting nutrient with one manus can assist people with physically-impaired weaponries and custodies. Helpful bathroom devices include, among others, grab bars in shower or bath, raised lavatory place, bath bench, electric razor and toothbrush and flip-top toothpaste tubing. A strokeA can beA life-changing and life-altering, nevertheless, one can stillA hold a great quality of life.A A A better name for shot may be â€Å" encephalon onslaught. â€Å" A The affects of a shot depend on the location of the encephalon attack.A An of import point to retrieve is that every shot is different and therefore, each shot subsister must be treatedA separately based on their shot outcome.A While every shot subsister has one thing in common — evidently, they have suffered a shot, they are still a alone individual — they have a name, a face, and a personality ( and some personalities are more alone than others. ) A A shot may non merely impact a individual physically and cognitively, but besides emotionally and financially as well.A A While the route to recovery depends on the person, health professionals play a particular and of import role.A There is so much information and cognition about shot now compared to the pastA Our infirmaries are better equipped to cover with the ague attention of shot and get down the person on their route to recovery.A Rehabilitation Centers continue that route and assist the shot subsister and convey them to the following level.A However, that period after a rehab centre, stroke subsisters and their households find themselves inquiring the inquiry: â€Å" What Now and What Next? â€Å" A Fortunately, in Kansas City there is the American Stroke Foundation where shot subsisters can go to and go on on their recovery road.A A ASF is non a medical installation, but instead a Wellness Center for shot subsisters and their families.A Stroke subsisters can go to categor ies and activities to re-build their life.A ASF is the lone non-profit organisation in the United States that is entirely dedicated to working hands-on with shot subsisters to authorise them to get the better of the challenges from their shot.Post-Stroke Rehabilitation Fact SheetAAIn the United States more than 700,000 people suffer a stroke* each twelvemonth, and about two-thirds of these persons survive and require rehabilitation. The ends of rehabilitation are to assist subsisters go every bit independent as possible and to achieve the best possible quality of life. Even though rehabilitation does non â€Å" remedy † shot in that it does non change by reversal encephalon harm, rehabilitation can well assist people achieve the best possible long-run result.What is post-stroke rehabilitation?Rehabilitation helps stroke subsisters relearn accomplishments that are lost when portion of the encephalon is damaged. For illustration, these accomplishments can include organizing leg motions in order to walk or transporting out the stairss involved in any complex activity. Rehabilitation besides teaches subsisters new ways of executing undertakings to besiege or counterbalance for any residuary disablements. Patients may necessitate to larn how to bathe and dress utilizing merely one manus, or how to pass on efficaciously when their ability to utilize linguistic communication has been compromised. There is a strong consensus among rehabilitation experts that the most of import component in any rehabilitation plan is carefully directed, well-focused, insistent pattern – the same sort of pattern used by all people when they learn a new accomplishment, such as playing the piano or fliping a baseball. Rehabilitative therapy begins in the acute-care infirmary after the patient ‘s medical status has been stabilized, frequently within 24 to 48 hours after the shot. The first stairss involve advancing independent motion because many patients are paralyzed or earnestly weakened. Patients are prompted to alter places often while lying in bed and to prosecute in passive or active range-of-motion exercisings to beef up their stroke-impaired limbs. ( â€Å" Passive † range-of-motion exercisings are those in which the healer actively helps the patient travel a limb repeatedly, whereas â€Å" active † exercisings are performed by the patient with no physical aid from the healer. ) Patients advancement from sitting up and reassigning between the bed and a chair to standing, bearing their ain weight, and walking, with or without aid. Rehabilitation nurses and healers help patients execute increasingly more complex and demanding undertakings, such as bathing, dressing, and u tilizing a lavatory, and they encourage patients to get down utilizing their stroke-impaired limbs while prosecuting in those undertakings. Get downing to reacquire the ability to transport out these basic activities of day-to-day life represents the first phase in a shot subsister ‘s return to functional independency. For some shot subsisters, rehabilitation will be an on-going procedure to keep and polish accomplishments and could affect working with specializers for months or old ages after the shot.Physical healersPhysical healers specialize in handling disablements related to motor and centripetal damages. They are trained in all facets of anatomy and physiology related to normal map, with an accent on motion. They assess the shot subsister ‘s strength, endurance, scope of gesture, pace abnormalcies, and centripetal shortages to plan individualised rehabilitation plans aimed at recovering control over motor maps. Physical healers help subsisters regain the usage of stroke-impaired limbs, teach compensatory schemes to cut down the consequence of staying shortages, and set up on-going exercising plans to assist people retain their freshly learned accomplishments. Disabled people tend to avoid utilizing impaired limbs, a behaviour called learned non-use. However, the insistent usage of impaired limbs encourages encephalon plasticity** and helps cut down disablements. Schemes used by physical healers to promote the usage of impaired limbs include selective centripetal stimulation such as tapping or stroking, active and inactive range-of-motion exercisings, and impermanent restraint of healthy limbs while practising motor undertakings. Some physical healers may utilize a new engineering, transdermal electrical nervus stimulation ( TENS ) , that encourages encephalon reorganisation and recovery of map. TENS involves utilizing a little investigation that generates an electrical current to excite nervus activity in stroke-impaired limbs. In general, physical therapy emphasizes practising stray motions, repeatedly altering from one sort of motion to another, and practising complex motions that require a great trade of coordination and balance, such as walking up or down stepss or traveling safely between obstructions. Peoples excessively weak to bear their ain weight can still pattern insistent motions during hydropathy ( in which H2O provides centripetal stimulation every bit good as weight support ) or while being partly supported by a harness. A recent tendency in physical therapy emphasizes the effectivity of prosecuting in purposive activities, such as playing games, to advance coordination. Physical healers often employ selective centripetal stimulation to promote usage of impaired limbs and to assist subsisters with neglect regain consciousness of stimulations on the ignored side of the organic structure.Occupational and recreational healersLike physical healers, occupational healers are concerned with betterin g motor and centripetal abilities. They help subsisters relearn accomplishments needed for executing autonomous activities-occupations-such as personal training, fixing repasts, and clean housing. Therapists can learn some subsisters how to accommodate to driving and supply on-road preparation. They frequently teach people to split a complex activity into its constituent parts, pattern each portion, and so execute the whole sequence of actions. This scheme can better coordination and may assist people with apraxia relearn how to transport out planned actions. Occupational healers besides teach people how to develop compensatory schemes and how to alter elements of their environment that bound activities of day-to-day life. For illustration, people with the usage of merely one manus can replace Velcro closings for buttons on vesture. Occupational healers besides help people make alterations in their places to increase safety, take barriers, and ease physical operation, such as put ining grab bars in bathrooms. Recreational healers help people with a assortment of disablements to develop and utilize their leisure clip to heighten their wellness, independency, and quality of life.Speech-language diagnosticiansSpeech-language diagnosticians help stroke subsisters with aphasia relearn how to utilize linguistic communication or develop alternate agencies of communicating. They besides help people better their ability to get down, and they work with patients to develop problem-solving and societal accomplishments needed to get by with the aftereffects of a shot. Many specialized curative techniques have been developed to help people with aphasia. Some signifiers of short-run therapy can better comprehension quickly. Intensive exercisings such as reiterating the healer ‘s words, practising following waies, and making reading or composing exercisings form the basis of linguistic communication rehabilitation. Colloquial coaching and dry run, every bit good asA the development of prompts or cues to assist people retrieve specific words, are sometimes good. Speech-language diagnosticians besides help stroke subsisters develop schemes for besieging linguistic communication disablements. These schemes can include the usage of symbol boards or mark linguistic communication. Recent progresss in computing machine engineering have spurred the development of new types of equipment to heighten communicating. Speech-language diagnosticians use noninvasive imagination techniques to analyze get downing forms of shot subsisters and place the exact beginning of their damage. Troubles with get downing have many possible causes, including a delayed swallowing physiological reaction, an inability to pull strings nutrient with the lingua, or an inability to observe nutrient staying lodged in the cheeks after get downing. When the cause has been pinpointed, speech-language diagnosticians work with the person to invent schemes to get the better of or minimise the shortage. Sometimes, merely altering organic structure place and up position during eating can convey approximately betterment. The texture of nutrients can be modified to do get downing easier ; for illustration, thin liquids, which frequently cause choking, can be thickened. Changing eating wonts by taking little bites and masticating easy can besides assist relieve dysphagia.Vocational healersApproximately one-quarter of all shots occur in people between the ages of 45 and 65. For most people in this age group, returning to work is a major concern. Vocational healers perform many of the same maps that ordinary calling counsellors do. They can assist people with residuary disablements identify vocational strengths and develop resumes that highlight those strengths. They besides can assist place possible employers, aid in specific occupation hunts, and supply referrals to stroke vocational rehabilitation bureaus. Most of import, vocational healers educate handicapped persons about their rights and protections as defined by the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. This jurisprudence requires employers to do â€Å" sensible adjustments † for handicapped employees. Vocational healers often act as go-betweens between employers and employees to negociate the proviso of sensible adjustments in the workplace.Where can a shot patient acquire rehabilitation?Rehabilitation should get down every bit shortly as a shot patient is stable, frequently within 24 to 48 hours after a shot. This first phase of rehabilitation normally occurs within an acute-care infirmary. At the clip of discharge from the infirmary, the shot patient and household co-ordinate with hospital societal workers to turn up a suited life agreement. Many stroke subsisters return place, but some move into some type of medical installation.

English Essay Essay

The writer, Moniza Alvi, has picked the perfect setting in the poem ‘An Unknown Girl’ for the narrator to explore her thoughts and feelings about her Indian birth culture- an Indian bazaar. Probably like Moniza who has dealt with getting to know her Pakistani birth culture after being raised in the UK, the Indian narrator has grown up away from her birth culture. Thrown in the middle of the Indian bazaar where everything is unfamiliar and strange to her much like her cultural identity. The writer has the narrator confront her culture head on forcing her through the process of emersion to come to terms with her culture and eventually embrace it as being an essential part of her identity. By finding connections between her western culture in which she was probably raised and this foreign eastern culture, the narrator develops strong feelings of longing to get to know her birth culture more. From the start of the poem, it is clear that the writer is effectively communicating the narrator’s feelings of disconnection with her eastern heritage. The repetition of the word ‘unknown’ effectively summarises her contact with her culture; it is something foreign to her. Her first thought of disconnection is the main feeling in her mind. The fact that through-out the poem she keeps repeating ‘evening’, which is usually a time when people are asleep and dreaming of important things in their lives, further highlights that her culture has been hibernating within her waiting for someone to wake it up. Presently her culture only exists in her dreams; it is not a reality in her daily life. The title ‘unknown girl’ suggests that her own identity is a stranger to her; she does not fully know herself as she has cut off an essential part of anyone’s identity; her birth culture. At the same time, the repetition of ‘unknown girl’ through-out the poem creates a chorus-like effect that effectively draws the reader’s attention to the fact that it is the ‘unknown girl’ who is hennaing her hand that will wake up the eastern culture within the narrator. The unknown girl represents what her culture is to her: foreign. Unlike the narrator, this ‘unknown girl’ has embraced her culture which is shown by the fact that she is ‘hennaing [her] hand’ which is a traditional eastern art and is wearing traditional ‘satin’ clothes. As the narrator gazes at this girl during the  long process of hennaing her hand, she probably has begun to wonder why she has not embraced the eastern heritage like this girl has. She is perhaps feeling a little timid about getting to know her culture though this unknown girl as the unknown girl ‘steadies’ her hand. In the first steps towards getting to know her culture, the narrator begins to see some beauty within this eastern culture. The writer effectively shows that the narrator now sees a clear link between her eastern and her western culture and realises there is beauty in both. Through the use of a metaphor, she compares the beautiful art of henna flowing elegantly on her hand to that of the traditional western art of ‘icing’ a cake. Icing a cake is naturally beautiful and artistic as well. This girl helps her to recognise that the Eastern traditional art of hennaing her hand since it is like ‘icing’ a cake is also a beautiful art-craft that obviously takes skills as the unknown girl is doing it ‘deftly’ and is, therefore, an art to be admired. Yes, she does recognise her culture and the beauty in it, but at this point she only associates it as belonging to the unknown girl only. The repetition of the third person pronoun ‘she’ and ‘her’ highlights that her culture is currently outside of her and only belongs to the girl hennaing her hand. It hasn’t yet seeped into her yet; the remains of her culture that the unknown girl has begun to give her at this point only exists on the outside- on her hand. Later on, she realises that the gift that has been given to her is priceless. ‘For a few rupees’ the unknown girl gave her something that she would value for life. It conveys that a rich gift like her culture was handed to her without any price. Through the process of hennaing her hand, the culture that was once a distant imagination has now become a reality. At this point in the poem, the writer effectively specifies colour into the poem. The mention of ‘balloons’ creates and image of bright colour in the reader’s mind. Since we are all familiar with balloons in our childhood and the carefree times associated with them at parties, the writer has also created an idea of joy and happiness one can experience through embracing their cultural identity. The colour along with the use of sustained use of traditional Indian dialect such as ‘kameez’ suggests that at this point, the narrator’s culture is becoming more of a reality; she can no longer ignore it. As the ‘unknown girl’ continues to henna, the narrator notes more beautiful aspects of her culture. As the henna is placed on her hands, she  is struck by the beauty of the ‘peacock lines’ and she reflects the beauty of the henna with the form of the poem itself. A peacock is a bird that only reveals its beauty by fanning out its colourful feathers, similar to how the radiance in her culture is gradually becoming aware to her. The colours like the ‘neon lights’ are vibrant suggesting her culture is alive and shining in the dark evening. At this point, we are made aware that the narrator’s culture is becoming more of a part of her reality as the ‘peacock spreads across [her] palm,’ suggesting that her culture will soon not be restricted to just her hand. So, while the peacock can be argued to represent the beauty that is unearthing in her birth culture, it could also be argued that since the peacock is a national bird of India, it can also represent the national pride that surrounds her eastern culture identity which foreshadows that she too will also find pride through embracing her eastern heritage. Furthermore, the fact that a peacock doesn’t reveal its beauty until it opens its feathers, suggests that one must be open and willing in order to notice the beauty in a foreign culture otherwise they might just be blinded by the negative images and blaring ‘neon’ lights. Despite recognising the beauty that surrounds her culture, the writer then shows us that the narrator is beginning to feel conflicted about her cultural identities. The dummies ‘tilt and stare’ at her as if they are judging and questioning her. The dummies are an external symbol of her internal struggle. They wear traditional clothing and yet have western perms. Through the personification of the dummies through their ’tilt[s] and stare[s]’ the writer suggests that the narrator feels as if they are mocking her, asking why she is embracing this eastern culture when the western one she comes from is far from superior. It makes her self-conscious, and yet again, she is left confused. She’s just like them; it’s like she can’t seem to decide whether to embrace the eastern or western culture. Can they both exist together? What’s more, the people in the bazaar itself only compound her conflicting feelings. It seems that people within this ‘neon bazaar’ are also being pulled into two directions as they have embraced many aspects of the western culture. The banners of â€Å"Miss India† make her wonder why she should embrace her eastern culture when people in her own culture have abandoned it. The Miss India contest is originated from the west; it requires females to be less modest than the eastern culture permits. The streets are ‘furious’ with sounds  which implies chaos and I imagine that is how she feels at the moment. Yet, it could also be argues that the banners for ‘Miss India’ also reinforce the idea that there is beauty in her culture. Probably due to her upbringing in the west, the narrator most like felt like she was different from the norm, but back in the eastern culture she sees that people that look like her are also considered beautiful. This is probably the first time that she realised that someone with dark skin, hair and eyes could be used as an icon as in the west the standard for beauty is fair skin, blonde hair and blue eyes. This knowledge that she is beautiful is comforting that she feeling knowing that there is beauty in her culture. Before, she associated culture with the unknown girl hennaing her hand, but now, she sees it as an essential part of her. She was metaphorically asleep, in a dreamlike state, in this ‘evening bazaar’. But now she is waking up. The writer at this point shows that the narrator has acknowledged that her culture is an essential part of her. Through the use of a metaphor, the writer effectively communicates that the narrator has ‘new brown veins’. These represent her eastern culture seeping into her skin and going all the way to her heart like veins do, replacing (metaphorically) her previously ‘western’ blood with ‘eastern’ blood. It is as if a new life force, flowing powerfully through her. As we know, veins travel through-out our body and provide a blood supply to vital organs indicating that her culture is now a vital part of her being. This change towards embracing her culture was only done through the sense of safety. Here the writer’s use of free verse is seen as important suggesting that one should be free to explore their feelings and culture at their own free will when you are ready as being forced to might cause someone to develop negative feelings towards those trying to force the culture on them. The free verse suits the poem as it reflects that the narrator is exploring her thoughts freely and at her own pace, as everyone comes to important understandings at their own speed and should not feel rushed or forced to confirm. Because the writer essentially allowed the narrator to freely explore her thoughts, she is able to embrace the beautiful aspects of her culture. In addition, the writer effectively shows the narrator’s desperation to ‘cling’ onto her culture. She expertly conveys this through her use of the simile ‘like people who cling to the side of a train’. Like the people ‘cling[ing]’ onto the train, the narrator feels she must ‘cling’  onto her culture, grab it and never let go, because you don’t know when another ‘train’ will come again. This could be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and if she doesn’t catch this ‘train’ she may never get another chance. This may well be her last chance to connect with her culture, and she must grab it, otherwise, it might fade away. This feeling of desperation to cling onto her culture matches with the fact that her cultural reawakening is very faint to begin with. Like the henna that initially is ‘soft as a snail trail’ her reconnection with her culture is fragile and weak. If she doesn’t hard like ‘scrap[ing] the henna ‘off’ she might never unearth all the beautiful aspects of her culture like the ‘amber bird beneath’. She knows that if she doesn’t put effort to fully grasp and embrace her culture, it will disappear just like the henna that will ‘fade in a week’. Her once conflicting feelings are now calm; she has fully embraced her culture. The juxtaposition of contrasting sounds of the streets, signals the end of her internal conflict. The ‘furious’ streets at first represented her confusion and how out-of-place she felt, but once she has unearthed the beauty beneath the brown lines of henna, the ‘furious’ streets are now ‘hushed’, and this contrast shows how great her feelings towards her culture have changed. To conclude, she is grateful to this unknown girl but realises that if she doesn’t work hard to reconnect with her culture after this evening bazaar that she will lose connection and her reawakening will fade just like the henna of her hand will fade in a week’s time. So a girl who once found the scene strange and foreign now reaches across the table in thanks and in desperation to get to know this unknown girl. She now has new ‘brown veins’ as if the henna has seeped inside and her culture courses through her blood. On this night, a bond has been made between the two cultures. Instead of distancing herself from her eastern heritage, the narrator will now ‘lean across’ reaching out, yearning for the ‘unknown girl’ symbolising that she will not let the bond she has developed with her birth culture die.