Chapter 26 The Second Task

â€Å"You said you'd already worked out that egg clue!† said Hermione indignantly. â€Å"Keep your voice down!† said Harry crossly. â€Å"I just need to – sort of fine-tune it, all right?† He, Ron, and Hermione were sitting at the very back of the Charms class with a table to themselves. They were supposed to be practicing the opposite of the Summoning Charm today – the Banishing Charm. Owing to the potential for nasty accidents when objects kept flying across the room. Professor Flitwick had given each student a stack of cushions on which to practice, the theory being that these wouldn't hurt anyone if they went off target. It was a good theory, but it wasn't working very well. Neville's aim was so poor that he kept accidentally sending much heavier things flying across the room – Professor Flitwick, for instance. â€Å"Just forget the egg for a minute, all right?† Harry hissed as Professor Flitwick went whizzing resignedly past them, landing on top of a large cabinet. â€Å"I'm trying to tell you about Snape and Moody†¦.† This class was an ideal cover for a private conversation, as everyone was having far too much fun to pay them any attention. Harry had been recounting his adventures of the previous night in whispered installments for the last half hour. â€Å"Snape said Moody's searched his office as well?† Ron whispered, his eyes alight with interest as he Banished a cushion with a sweep of his wand (it soared into the air and knocked Parvati's hat off). â€Å"What†¦d'you reckon Moody's here to keep an eye on Snape as well as Karkaroff?† â€Å"Well, I dunno if that's what Dumbledore asked him to do, but he's definitely doing it,† said Harry, waving his wand without paying much attention, so that his cushion did an odd sort of belly flop off the desk. â€Å"Moody said Dumbledore only lets Snape stay here because he's giving him a second chance or something†¦.† â€Å"What?† said Ron, his eyes widening, his next cushion spinning high into the air, ricocheting off the chandelier, and dropping heavily onto Flitwick's desk. â€Å"Harry†¦maybe Moody thinks Snape put your name in the Goblet of Fire!† â€Å"Oh Ron,† said Hermione, shaking her head sceptically, â€Å"we thought Snape was trying to kill Harry before, and it turned out he was saving Harry's life, remember?† She Banished a cushion and it flew across the room and landed in the box they were all supposed to be aiming at. Harry looked at Hermione, thinking†¦it was true that Snape had saved his life once, but the odd thing was, Snape definitely loathed him, just as he'd loathed Harry's father when they had been at school together. Snape loved taking points from Harry, and had certainly never missed an opportunity to give him punishments, or even to suggest that he should be suspended from the school. â€Å"I don't care what Moody says,† Hermione went on. â€Å"Dumbledore's not stupid. He was right to trust Hagrid and Professor Lupin, even though loads of people wouldn't have given them jobs, so why shouldn't he be right about Snape, even if Snape is a bit -â€Å" â€Å"- evil,† said Ron promptly. â€Å"Come on, Hermione, why are all these Dark wizard catchers searching his office, then?† â€Å"Why has Mr. Crouch been pretending to be ill?† said Hermione, ignoring Ron. â€Å"Its a bit funny, isn't it, that he cant manage to come to the Yule Ball, but he can get up here in the middle of the night when he wants to?† â€Å"You just don't like Crouch because of that elf, Winky,† said Ron, sending a cushion soaring into the window. â€Å"You just want to think Snape's up to something,† said Hermione, sending her cushion zooming neatly into the box. â€Å"I just want to know what Snape did with his first chance, if he's on his second one,† said Harry grimly, and his cushion, to his very great surprise, flew straight across the room and landed neatly on top of Hermione's. Obedient to Sirius's wish of hearing about anything odd at Hogwarts, Harry sent him a letter by brown owl that night, explaining all about Mr. Crouch breaking into Snape's office, and Moody and Snape's conversation. Then Harry turned his attention in earnest to the most urgent problem facing him: how to survive underwater for an hour on the twenty-fourth of February. Ron quite liked the idea of using the Summoning Charm again – Harry had explained about Aqua-Lungs, and Ron couldn't see why Harry shouldn't Summon one from the nearest Muggle town. Hermione squashed this plan by pointing out that, in the unlikely event that Harry managed to learn how to operate an Aqua-Lung within the set limit of an hour, he was sure to be disqualified for breaking the International Code of Wizarding Secrecy – it was too much to hope that no Muggles would spot an Aqua-Lung zooming across the countryside to Hogwarts. â€Å"Of course, the ideal solution would be for you to Transfigure yourself into a submarine or something,† Hermione said. â€Å"If only we'd done human Transfiguration already! But I don't think we start that until sixth year, and it can go badly wrong if you don't know what you're doing†¦.† â€Å"Yeah, I don't fancy walking around with a periscope sticking out of my head,† said Harry. â€Å"I s'pose I could always attack someone in front of Moody; he might do it for me†¦.† â€Å"I don't think he'd let you choose what you wanted to be turned into, though,† said Hermione seriously. â€Å"No, I think your best chance is some sort of charm.† So Harry, thinking that he would soon have had enough of the library to last him a lifetime, buried himself once more among the dusty volumes, looking for any spell that might enable a human to survive without oxygen. However, though he, Ron, and Hermione searched through their lunchtimes, evenings, and whole weekends – though Harry asked Professor McGonagall for a note of permission to use the Restricted Section, and even asked the irritable, vulture-like librarian. Madam Pince, for help – they found nothing whatsoever that would enable Harry to spend an hour underwater and live to tell the tale. Familiar flutterings of panic were starting to disturb Harry now, and he was finding it difficult to concentrate in class again. The lake, which Harry had always taken for granted as just another feature of the grounds, drew his eyes whenever he was near a classroom window, a great, iron-gray mass of chilly water, whose dark and icy depths were starting to seem as distant as the moon. Just as it had before he faced the Horntail, time was slipping away as though somebody had bewitched the clocks to go extra-fast. There was a week to go before February the twenty-fourth (there was still time)†¦there were five days to go (he was bound to find something soon)†¦three days to go (please let me find something†¦please)†¦ With two days left. Harry started to go off food again. The only good thing about breakfast on Monday was the return of the brown owl he had sent to Sirius. He pulled off the parchment, unrolled it, and saw the shortest letter Sirius had ever written to him. Send date of next Hogsmeade weekend by return owl. Harry turned the parchment over and looked at the back, hoping to see something else, but it was blank. â€Å"Weekend after next,† whispered Hermione, who had read the note over Harry's shoulder. â€Å"Here – take my quill and send this owl back straight away.† Harry scribbled the dates down on the back of Sirius's letter, tied it onto the brown owl's leg, and watched it take flight again. What had he expected? Advice on how to survive underwater? He had been so intent on telling Sirius all about Snape and Moody he had completely forgotten to mention the egg's clue. â€Å"What's he want to know about the next Hogsmeade weekend for?† said Ron. â€Å"Dunno,† said Harry dully. The momentary happiness that had flared inside him at the sight of the owl had died. â€Å"Come on†¦Care of Magical Creatures.† Whether Hagrid was trying to make up for the Blast-Ended Skrewts, or because there were now only two skrewts left, or because he was trying to prove he could do anything that Professor Grubbly-Plank could. Harry didnt know, but Hagrid had been continuing her lessons on unicorns ever since he'd returned to work. It turned out that Hagrid knew quite as much about unicorns as he did about monsters, though it was clear that he found their lack of poisonous fangs disappointing. Today he had managed to capture two unicorn foals. Unlike full-grown unicorns, they were pure gold. Parvati and Lavender went into transports of delight at the sight of them, and even Pansy Parkinson had to work hard to conceal how much she liked them. â€Å"Easier ter spot than the adults,† Hagrid told the class. â€Å"They turn silver when they're abou' two years old, an' they grow horns at aroun four. Don' go pure white till they're full grown, 'round about seven. They're a bit more trustin' when they're babies†¦don' mind boys so much†¦.C'mon, move in a bit, yeh can pat 'em if yeh want†¦give 'em a few o' these sugar lumps†¦. â€Å"You okay. Harry?† Hagrid muttered, moving aside slightly, while most of the others swarmed around the baby unicorns. â€Å"Yeah,† said Harry. â€Å"Jus' nervous, eh?† said Hagrid. â€Å"Bit,† said Harry. â€Å"Harry,† said Hagrid, clapping a massive hand on his shoulder, so that Harry's knees buckled under its weight, â€Å"I'd've bin worried before I saw yeh take on tha Horntail, but I know now yeh can do anythin' yeh set yer mind ter. I'm not worried at all. Yeh're goin ter be fine. Got yer clue worked out, haven' yeh?† Harry nodded, but even as he did so, an insane urge to confess that he didn't have any idea how to survive at the bottom of the lake for an hour came over him. He looked up at Hagrid – perhaps he had to go into the lake sometimes, to deal with the creatures in it? He looked after everything else on the grounds, after all – â€Å"Yeh're goin' ter win,† Hagrid growled, patting Harry's shoulder again, so that Harry actually felt himself sink a couple of inches into the soft ground. â€Å"I know it. I can feel it. Yeh're goin' ter win, Harry.† Harry just couldn't bring himself to wipe the happy, confident smile off Hagrid's face. Pretending he was interested in the young unicorns, he forced a smile in return, and moved forward to pat them with the others. By the evening before the second task. Harry felt as though he were trapped in a nightmare. He was fully aware that even if, by some miracle, he managed to find a suitable spell, he'd have a real job mastering it overnight. How could he have let this happen? Why hadn't he got to work on the egg's clue sooner? Why had he ever let his mind wander in class – what if a teacher had once mentioned how to breathe underwater? He sat with Hermione and Ron in the library as the sun set outside, tearing feverishly through page after page of spells, hidden from one another by the massive piles of books on the desk in front of each of them. Harry's heart gave a huge leap every time he saw the word â€Å"water† on a page, but more often than not it was merely â€Å"Take two pints of water, half a pound of shredded mandrake leaves, and a newt†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"I don't reckon it can be done,† said Ron's voice flatly from the other side of the table. â€Å"There's nothing. Nothing. Closest was that thing to dry up puddles and ponds, that Drought Charm, but that was nowhere near powerful enough to drain the lake.† â€Å"There must be something,† Hermione muttered, moving a candle closer to her. Her eyes were so tired she was poring over the tiny print of Olde and Forgotten Bewitchments and Charmes with her nose about an inch from the page. â€Å"They'd never have set a task that was undoable.† â€Å"They have,† said Ron. â€Å"Harry, just go down to the lake tomorrow, right, stick your head in, yell at the merpeople to give back whatever they've nicked, and see if they chuck it out. Best you can do, mate.† â€Å"There's a way of doing it!† Hermione said crossly. â€Å"There just has to be!† She seemed to be taking the library's lack of useful information on the subject as a personal insult; it had never failed her before. â€Å"I know what I should have done,† said Harry, resting, face-down, on Saucy Tricks for Tricky Sorts. â€Å"I should've learned to be an Animagus like Sirius.† An Animagus was a wizard who could transform into an animal. â€Å"Yeah, you could've turned into a goldfish any time you wanted!† said Ron. â€Å"Or a frog,† yawned Harry. He was exhausted. â€Å"It takes years to become an Animagus, and then you have to register yourself and everything,† said Hermione vaguely, now squinting down the index of Weird Wizarding Dilemmas and Their Solutions. â€Å"Professor McGonagall told us, remember†¦you've got to register yourself with the Improper Use of Magic Office†¦what animal you become, and your markings, so you can't abuse it†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"†¦Hermione, I was joking,† said Harry wearily. â€Å"I know I haven't got a chance of turning into a frog by tomorrow morning†¦.† â€Å"Oh this is no use,† Hermione said, snapping shut Weird Wizarding Dilemmas. â€Å"Who on earth wants to make their nose hair grow into ringlets?† â€Å"I wouldn't mind,† said Fred Weasley's voice. â€Å"Be a talking point, wouldn't it?† Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked up. Fred and George had just emerged from behind some bookshelves. â€Å"What're you two doing here?† Ron asked. â€Å"Looking for you,† said George. â€Å"McGonagall wants you, Ron. And you, Hermione.† â€Å"Why?† said Hermione, looking surprised. â€Å"Dunno†¦she was looking a bit grim, though,† said Fred. â€Å"We're supposed to take you down to her office,† said George. Ron and Hermione stared at Harry, who felt his stomach drop. Was Professor McGonagall about to tell Ron and Hermione off? Perhaps she'd noticed how much they were helping him, when he ought to be working out how to do the task alone? â€Å"We'll meet you back in the common room,† Hermione told Harry as she got up to go with Ron – both of them looked very anxious. â€Å"Bring as many of these books as you can, okay?† â€Å"Right,† said Harry uneasily. By eight o'clock. Madam Pince had extinguished all the lamps and came to chivvy Harry out of the library. Staggering under the weight of as many books as he could carry, Harry returned to the Gryffindor common room, pulled a table into a corner, and continued to search. There was nothing in Madcap Magic for Wacky Warlocks†¦nothing in A Guide to Medieval Sorcery†¦not one mention of underwater exploits in An Anthology of Eighteenth-Century Charms, or in Dreadful Denizens of the Deep, or Powers You Never Knew You Had and What to Do with Them Now You've Wised Up. Crookshanks crawled into Harry's lap and curled up, purring deeply. The common room emptied slowly around Harry. People kept wishing him luck for the next morning in cheery, confident voices like Hagrid's, all of them apparently convinced that he was about to pull off another stunning performance like the one he had managed in the first task. Harry couldn't answer them, he just nodded, feeling as though there were a golfball stuck in his throat. By ten to midnight, he was alone in the room with Crookshanks. He had searched all the remaining books, and Ron and Hermione had not come back. It's over, he told himself. You can't do it. You'll just have to go down to the lake in the morning and tell the judges†¦. He imagined himself explaining that he couldn't do the task. He pictured Bagman's look of round-eyed surprise, Karkaroffs satisfied, yellow-toothed smile. He could almost hear Fleur Delacour saying â€Å"I knew it†¦'e is too young, ‘e is only a little boy.† He saw Malfoy flashing his POTTER STINKS badge at the front of the crowd, saw Hagrid's crestfallen, disbelieving face†¦. Forgetting that Crookshanks was on his lap. Harry stood up very suddenly; Crookshanks hissed angrily as he landed on the floor, gave Harry a disgusted look, and stalked away with his bottlebrush tail in the air, but Harry was already hurrying up the spiral staircase to his dormitory†¦.He would grab the Invisibility Cloak and go back to the library, he'd stay there all night if he had to†¦. â€Å"Lumos,† Harry whispered fifteen minutes later as he opened the library door. Wand tip alight, he crept along the bookshelves, pulling down more books – books of hexes and charms, books on merpeople and water monsters, books on famous witches and wizards, on magical inventions, on anything at all that might include one passing reference to underwater survival. He carried them over to a table, then set to work, searching them by the narrow beam of his wand, occasionally checking his watch†¦. One in the morning†¦two in the morning†¦the only way he could keep going was to tell himself, over and over again, next book†¦in the next one†¦the next one†¦ The mermaid in the painting in the prefects' bathroom was laughing. Harry was bobbing like a cork in bubbly water next to her rock, while she held his Firebolt over his head. â€Å"Come and get it!† she giggled maliciously. â€Å"Come on, jump!† â€Å"I can't,† Harry panted, snatching at the Firebolt, and struggling not to sink. â€Å"Give it to me!† But she just poked him painfully in the side with the end of the broomstick, laughing at him. â€Å"That hurts – get off – ouch -â€Å" â€Å"Harry Potter must wake up, sir!† â€Å"Stop poking me -â€Å" â€Å"Dobby must poke Harry Potter, sir, he must wake up!† Harry opened his eyes. He was still in the library; the Invisibility Cloak had slipped off his head as he'd slept, and the side of his face was stuck to the pages of Where There's a Wand, There's a Way. He sat up, straightening his glasses, blinking in the bright daylight. â€Å"Harry Potter needs to hurry!† squeaked Dobby. â€Å"The second task starts in ten minutes, and Harry Potter -â€Å" â€Å"Ten minutes?† Harry croaked. â€Å"Ten – ten minutes?† He looked down at his watch. Dobby was right. It was twenty past nine. A large, dead weight seemed to fall through Harry's chest into his stomach. â€Å"Hurry, Harry Potter!† squeaked Dobby, plucking at Harry's sleeve. â€Å"You is supposed to be down by the lake with the other champions, sir!† â€Å"It's too late, Dobby,† Harry said hopelessly. â€Å"I'm not doing the task, I don't know how -â€Å" â€Å"Harry Potter will do the task!† squeaked the elf. â€Å"Dobby knew Harry had not found the right book, so Dobby did it for him!† â€Å"What?† said Harry. â€Å"But you don't know what the second task is -â€Å" â€Å"Dobby knows, sir! Harry Potter has to go into the lake and find his Wheezy -â€Å" â€Å"Find my what?† â€Å"- and take his Wheezy back from the merpeople!† â€Å"What's a Wheezy?† â€Å"Your Wheezy, sir, your Wheezy-Wheezy who is giving Dobby his sweater!† Dobby plucked at the shrunken maroon sweater he was now wearing over his shorts. â€Å"What?† Harry gasped. â€Å"They've got†¦they've got Ron?† â€Å"The thing Harry Potter will miss most, sir!† squeaked Dobby. â€Å"‘But past an hour-‘† â€Å"- ‘the prospect's black,'† Harry recited, staring, horror-struck, at the elf. â€Å"‘Too late, it's gone, it won't come back.' Dobby – what've I got to do?† â€Å"You has to eat this, sir!† squeaked the elf, and he put his hand in the pocket of his shorts and drew out a ball of what looked like slimy, grayish-green rat tails. â€Å"Right before you go into the lake, sir – gillyweed!† â€Å"What's it do?† said Harry, staring at the gillyweed. â€Å"It will make Harry Potter breathe underwater, sir!† â€Å"Dobby,† said Harry frantically, â€Å"listen – are you sure about this?† He couldn't quite forget that the last time Dobby had tried to â€Å"help† him, he had ended up with no bones in his right arm. â€Å"Dobby is quite sure, sir!† said the elf earnestly. â€Å"Dobby hears things, sir, he is a house-elf, he goes all over the castle as he lights the fires and mops the floors. Dobby heard Professor McGonagall and Professor Moody in the staffroom, talking about the next task†¦.Dobby cannot let Harry Potter lose his Wheezy!† Harry's doubts vanished. Jumping to his feet he pulled off the Invisibility Cloak, stuffed it into his bag, grabbed the gillyweed, and put it into his pocket, then tore out of the library with Dobby at his heels. â€Å"Dobby is supposed to be in the kitchens, sir!† Dobby squealed as they burst into the corridor. â€Å"Dobby will be missed – good luck, Harry Potter, sir, good luck!† â€Å"See you later, Dobby!† Harry shouted, and he sprinted along the corridor and down the stairs, three at a time. The entrance hall contained a few last-minute stragglers, all leaving the Great Hall after breakfast and heading through the double oak doors to watch the second task. They stared as Harry flashed past, sending Colin and Dennis Creevey flying as he leapt down the stone steps and out onto the bright, chilly grounds. As he pounded down the lawn he saw that the seats that had encircled the dragons' enclosure in November were now ranged along the opposite bank, rising in stands that were packed to the bursting point and reflected in the lake below. The excited babble of the crowd echoed strangely across the water as Harry ran flat-out around the other side of the lake toward the judges, who were sitting at another gold-draped table at the water's edge. Cedric, Fleur, and Krum were beside the judges' table, watching Harry sprint toward them. â€Å"I'm†¦here†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Harry panted, skidding to a halt in the mud and accidentally splattering Fleur's robes. â€Å"Where have you been?† said a bossy, disapproving voice. â€Å"The task's about to start!† Harry looked around. Percy Weasley was sitting at the judges' table – Mr. Crouch had failed to turn up again. â€Å"Now, now, Percy!† said Ludo Bagman, who was looking intensely relieved to see Harry. â€Å"Let him catch his breath!† Dumbledore smiled at Harry, but Karkaroff and Madame Maxime didn't look at all pleased to see him†¦.It was obvious from the looks on their faces that they had thought he wasn't going to turn up. Harry bent over, hands on his knees, gasping for breath; he had a stitch in his side that felt as though he had a knife between his ribs, but there was no time to get rid of it; Ludo Bagman was now moving among the champions, spacing them along the bank at intervals of ten feet. Harry was on the very end of the line, next to Krum, who was wearing swimming trunks and was holding his wand ready. â€Å"All right. Harry?† Bagman whispered as he moved Harry a few feet farther away from Krum. â€Å"Know what you're going to do?† â€Å"Yeah,† Harry panted, massaging his ribs. Bagman gave Harry's shoulder a quick squeeze and returned to the judges' table; he pointed his wand at his throat as he had done at the World Cup, said, â€Å"Sonorus!† and his voice boomed out across the dark water toward the stands. â€Å"Well, all our champions are ready for the second task, which will start on my whistle. They have precisely an hour to recover what has been taken from them. On the count of three, then. One†¦two†¦three!† The whistle echoed shrilly in the cold, still air; the stands erupted with cheers and applause; without looking to see what the other champions were doing, Harry pulled off his shoes and socks, pulled the handful of gillyweed out of his pocket, stuffed it into his mouth, and waded out into the lake. It was so cold he felt the skin on his legs searing as though this were fire, not icy water. His sodden robes weighed him down as he walked in deeper; now the water was over his knees, and his rapidly numbing feet were slipping over silt and flat, slimy stones. He was chewing the gillyweed as hard and fast as he could; it felt unpleasantly slimy and rubbery, like octopus tentacles. Waist-deep in the freezing water he stopped, swallowed, and waited for something to happen. He could hear laughter in the crowd and knew he must look stupid, walking into the lake without showing any sign of magical power. The part of him that was still dry was covered in goose pimples; half immersed in the icy water, a cruel breeze lifting his hair, Harry started to shiver violently. He avoided looking at the stands; the laughter was becoming louder, and there were catcalls and jeering from the Slytherins†¦. Then, quite suddenly, Harry felt as though an invisible pillow had been pressed over his mouth and nose. He tried to draw breath, but it made his head spin; his lungs were empty, and he suddenly felt a piercing pain on either side of his neck – Harry clapped his hands around his throat and felt two large slits just below his ears, flapping in the cold air†¦.He had gills. Without pausing to think, he did the only thing that made sense – he flung himself forward into the water. The first gulp of icy lake water felt like the breath of life. His head had stopped spinning; he took another great gulp of water and felt it pass smoothly through his gills, sending oxygen back to his brain. He stretched out his hands in front of him and stared at them. They looked green and ghostly under the water, and they had become webbed. He twisted around and looked at his bare feet – they had become elongated and the toes were webbed too: It looked as though he had sprouted flippers. The water didn't feel icy anymore either†¦on the contrary, he felt pleasantly cool and very light†¦.Harry struck out once more, marveling at how far and fast his flipper-like feet propelled him through the vater, and noticing how clearly he could see, and how he no longer seemed to need to blink. He had soon swum so far into the lake that he could no longer see the bottom. He flipped over and dived into its depths. Silence pressed upon his ears as he soared over a strange, dark, foggy landscape. He could only see ten feet around him, so that as he sped throuugh the water new scenes seemed to loom suddenly out of the incoming darkness: forests of rippling, tangled black weed, wide plains of mud littered with dull, glimmering stones. He swam deeper and deeper, out toward the middle of the lake, his eyes wide, staring through the eerily gray-lit water around him to the shadow beyond, where the water became opaque. Small fish flickered past him like silver darts. Once or twice he thought he saw something larger moving ahead of him, but when he got nearer, he discovered it to be nothing but a large, blackened log, or a dense clump of weed. There was no sign of any of the other champions, merpeople, Ron – nor, thankfully, the giant squid. Light green weed stretched ahead of him as far as he could see, two feet deep, like a meadow of very overgrown grass. Harry was staring unblinkingly ahead of him, trying to discern shapes through the gloom†¦and then, without warning, something grabbed hold of his ankle. Harry twisted his body around and saw a grindylow, a small, horned water demon, poking out of the weed, its long fingers clutched tightly around Harry's leg, its pointed fangs bared – Harry stuck his webbed hand quickly inside his robes and fumbled for his wand. By the time he had grasped it, two more grindylows had risen out of the weed, had seized handfuls of Harry's robes, and were attempting to drag him down. â€Å"Relashio!† Harry shouted, except that no sound came out†¦.A large bubble issued from his mouth, and his wand, instead of sending sparks at the grindylows, pelted them with what seemed to be a jet of boiling water, for where it struck them, angry red patches appeared on their green skin. Harry pulled his ankle out of the grindylows grip and swam, as fast as he could, occasionally sending more jets of hot water over his shoulder at random; every now and then he felt one of the grindylows snatch at his foot again, and he kicked out, hard; finally, he felt his foot connect with a horned skull, and looking back, saw the dazed grindylow floating away, cross-eyed, while its fellows shook their fists at Harry and sank back into the weed. Harry slowed down a little, slipped his wand back inside his robes, and looked around, listening again. He turned full circle in the water, the silence pressing harder than ever against his eardrums. He knew he must be even deeper in the lake now, but nothing was moving but the rippling weed. â€Å"How are you getting on?† Harry thought he was having a heart attack. He whipped around and saw Moaning Myrtle floating hazily in front of him, gazing at him through her thick, pearly glasses. â€Å"Myrtle!† Harry tried to shout – but once again, nothing came out of his mouth but a very large bubble. Moaning Myrtle actually giggled. â€Å"You want to try over there!† she said, pointing. â€Å"I won't come with you†¦.I don't like them much, they always chase me when I get too close†¦.† Harry gave her the thumbs-up to show his thanks and set off once more, careful to swim a bit higher over the weed to avoid any more grindylows that might be lurking there. He swam on for what felt like at least twenty minutes. He was passing over vast expanses of black mud now, which swirled murkily as he disturbed the water. Then, at long last, he heard a snatch of haunting mersong. â€Å"An hour long you'll have to look, And to recover what we took†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Harry swam faster and soon saw a large rock emerge out of the muddy water ahead. It had paintings of merpeople on it; they were carrying spears and chasing what looked like the giant squid. Harry swam on past the rock, following the mersong. â€Å"†¦your time's half gone, so tarry not Lest what you seek stays here to rot†¦.† A cluster of crude stone dwellings stained with algae loomed suddenly out of the gloom on all sides. Here and there at the dark windows, Harry saw faces†¦faces that bore no resemblance at all to the painting of the mermaid in the prefects' bathroom†¦. The merpeople had grayish skin and long, wild, dark green hair. Their eyes were yellow, as were their broken teeth, and they wore thick ropes of pebbles around their necks. They leered at Harry as he swam past; one or two of them emerged from their caves to watch him better, their powerful, silver fish tails beating the water, spears clutched in their hands. Harry sped on, staring around, and soon the dwellings became more numerous; there were gardens of weed around some of them, and he even saw a pet grindylow tied to a stake outside one door. Merpeople were emerging on all sides now, watching him eagerly, pointing at his webbed hands and gills, talking behind their hands to one another. Harry sped around a corner and a very strange sight met his eyes. A whole crowd of merpeople was floating in front of the houses that lined what looked like a mer-version of a village square. A choir of merpeople was singing in the middle, calling the champions toward them, and behind them rose a crude sort of statue; a gigantic merperson hewn from a boulder. Four people were bound tightly to the tail of the stone merperson. Ron was tied between Hermione and Cho Chang. There was also a girl who looked no older than eight, whose clouds of silvery hair made Harry feel sure that she was Fleur Delacour's sister. All four of them appeared to be in a very deep sleep. Their heads were lolling onto their shoulders, and fine streams of bubbles kept issuing from their mouths. Harry sped toward the hostages, half expecting the merpeople to lower their spears and charge at him, but they did nothing. The ropes of weed tying the hostages to the statue were thick, slimy, and very strong. For a fleeting second he thought of the knife Sirius had bought him for Christmas – locked in his trunk in the castle a quarter of a mile away, no use to him whatsoever. He looked around. Many of the merpeople surrounding them were carrying spears. He swam swiftly toward a seven-foot-tall merman with a long green beard and a choker of shark fangs and tried to mime a request to borrow the spear. The merman laughed and shook his head. â€Å"We do not help,† he said in a harsh, croaky voice. â€Å"Come ON!† Harry said fiercely (but only bubbles issued from his mouth), and he tried to pull the spear away from the merman, but the merman yanked it back, still shaking his head and laughing. Harry swirled around, staring about. Something sharp†¦anything†¦ There were rocks littering the lake bottom. He dived and snatched up a particularly jagged one and returned to the statue. He began to hack at the ropes binding Ron, and after several minutes' hard work, they broke apart. Ron floated, unconscious, a few inches above the lake bottom, drifting a little in the ebb of the water. Harry looked around. There was no sign of any of the other champions. What were they playing at? Why didn't they hurry up? He turned back to Hermione, raised the jagged rock, and began to hack at her bindings too – At once, several pairs of strong gray hands seized him. Half a dozen mermen were pulling him away from Hermione, shaking their green-haired heads, and laughing. â€Å"You take your own hostage,† one of them said to him. â€Å"Leave the others†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"No way!† said Harry furiously – but only two large bubbles came out. Your task is to retrieve your own friend†¦leave the others†¦Ã¢â‚¬  She's my friend too!† Harry yelled, gesturing toward Hermione, an enormous silver bubble emerging soundlessly from his lips. â€Å"And I don't want them to die either!† Cho's head was on Hermione's shoulder; the small silver-haired girl was ghostly green and pale. Harry struggled to fight off the mermen, but they laughed harder than ever, holding him back. Harry looked wildly around. Where were the other champions? Would he have time to take Ron to the surface and come back down for Hermione and the others? Would he be able to find them again? He looked down at his watch to see how much time was left – it had stopped working. But then the merpeople around him pointed excitedly over his head. Harry looked up and saw Cedric swimming toward them. There was an enormous bubble around his head, which made his features look oddly wide and stretched. â€Å"Got lost!† he mouthed, looking panic-stricken. â€Å"Fleur and Krum're coming now!† Feeling enormously relieved, Harry watched Cedric pull a knife out of his pocket and cut Cho free. He pulled her upward and out of sight. Harry looked around, waiting. Where were Fleur and Krum? Time was getting short, and according to the song, the hostages would be lost after an hour†¦. The merpeople started screeching animatedly. Those holding Harry loosened their grip, staring behind them. Harry turned and saw something monstrous cutting through the water toward them: a human body in swimming trunks with the head of a shark†¦.It was Krum. He appeared to have transfigured himself – but badly. The shark-man swam straight to Hermione and began snapping and biting at her ropes; the trouble was that Krum's new teeth were positioned very awkwardly for biting anything smaller than a dolphin, and Harry was quite sure that if Krum wasn't careful, he was going to rip Hermione in half. Darting forward. Harry hit Krum hard on the shoulder and held up the jagged stone. Krum seized it and began to cut Hermione free. Within seconds, he had done it; he grabbed Hermione around the waist, and without a backward glance, began to rise rapidly with her toward the surface. Now what? Harry thought desperately. If he could be sure that Fleur was coming†¦.But still no sign. There was nothing to be done except†¦ He snatched up the stone, which Krum had dropped, but the mermen now closed in around Ron and the little girl, shaking their heads at him. Harry pulled out his wand. â€Å"Get out of the way!† Only bubbles flew out of his mouth, but he had the distinct impression that the mermen had understood him, because they suddenly stopped laughing. Their yellowish eyes were fixed upon Harry's wand, and they looked scared. There might be a lot more of them than there were of him, but Harry could tell, by the looks on their faces, that they knew no more magic than the giant squid did. â€Å"You've got until three!† Harry shouted; a great stream of bubbles burst from him, but he held up three fingers to make sure they got the message. â€Å"One†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (he put down a finger) â€Å"two†¦Ã¢â‚¬ (he put down a second one) – They scattered. Harry darted forward and began to hack at the ropes binding the small girl to the statue, and at last she was free. He seized the little girl around the waist, grabbed the neck of Ron's robes, and kicked off from the bottom. It was very slow work. He could no longer use his webbed hands to propel himself forward; he worked his flippers furiously, but Ron and Fleur's sister were like potato-filled sacks dragging him back down†¦.He fixed his eyes skyward, though he knew he must still be very deep, the water above him was so dark†¦. Merpeople were rising with him. He could see them swirling around him with ease, watching him struggle through the water†¦.Would they pull him back down to the depths when the time was up? Did they perhaps eat humans? Harry's legs were seizing up with the effort to keep swimming; his shoulders were aching horribly with the effort of dragging Ron and the girl†¦ He was drawing breath with extreme difficulty. He could feel pain on the sides of his neck again†¦he was becoming very aware of how wet the water was in his mouth†¦yet the darkness was definitely thinning now†¦he could see daylight above him†¦. He kicked hard with his flippers and discovered that they were nothing more than feet†¦water was flooding through his mouth into his lungs†¦he was starting to feel dizzy, but he knew light and air were only ten feet above him†¦he had to get there†¦he had to†¦ Harry kicked his legs so hard and fast it felt as though his muscles were screaming in protest; his very brain felt waterlogged, he couldn't breathe, he needed oxygen, he had to keep going, he could not stop – And then he felt his head break the surface of the lake; wonderful, cold, clear air was making his wet face sting; he gulped it down, feeling as though he had never breathed properly before, and, panting, pulled Ron and the little girl up with him. All around him, wild, green-haired heads were emerging out of the water with him, but they were smiling at him. The crowd in the stands was making a great deal of noise; shouting and screaming, they all seemed to be on their feet; Harry had the impression they thought that Ron and the little girl might be dead, but they were wrong†¦both of them had opened their eyes; the girl looked scared and confused, but Ron merely expelled a great spout of water, blinked in the bright light, turned to Harry, and said, â€Å"Wet, this, isn't it?† Then he spotted Fleur's sister. â€Å"What did you bring her for?† â€Å"Fleur didn't turn up, I couldn't leave her,† Harry panted. â€Å"Harry, you prat,† said Ron, â€Å"you didn't take that song thing seriously, did you? Dumbledore wouldn't have let any of us drown!† â€Å"The song said -â€Å" â€Å"It was only to make sure you got back inside the time limit!† said Ron. â€Å"I hope you didn't waste time down there acting the hero!† Harry felt both stupid and annoyed. It was all very well for Ron; he'd been asleep, he hadn't felt how eerie it was down in the lake, surrounded by spear-carrying merpeople who'd looked more than capable of murder. â€Å"C'mon,† Harry said shortly, â€Å"help me with her, I don't think she can swim very well.† They pulled Fleur's sister through the water, back toward the bank where the judges stood watching, twenty merpeople accompanying them like a guard of honor, singing their horrible screechy songs. Harry could see Madam Pomfrey fussing over Hermione, Krum, Cedric, and Cho, all of whom were wrapped in thick blankets. Dumbledore and Ludo Bagman stood beaming at Harry and Ron from the bank as they swam nearer, but Percy, who looked very white and somehow much younger than usual, came splashing out to meet them. Meanwhile Madame Maxime was trying to restrain Fleur Delacour, who was quite hysterical, fighting tooth and nail to return to the water. â€Å"Gabrielle! Gabrielle! Is she alive? Is she ‘urt?† â€Å"She's fine!† Harry tried to tell her, but he was so exhausted he could hardly talk, let alone shout. Percy seized Ron and was dragging him back to the bank (â€Å"Gerroff, Percy, I'm all right!†); Dumbledore and Bagman were pulling Harry upright; Fleur had broken free of Madame Maxime and was hugging her sister. â€Å"It was ze grindylows†¦zey attacked me†¦oh Gabrielle, I thought†¦I thought†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Come here, you,† said Madam Pomfrey. She seized Harry and pulled him over to Hermione and the others, wrapped him so tightly in a blanket that he felt as though he were in a straitjacket, and forced a measure of very hot potion down his throat. Steam gushed out of his ears. â€Å"Harry, well done!† Hermione cried. â€Å"You did it, you found out how all by yourself!† â€Å"Well -† said Harry. He would have told her about Dobby, but he had just noticed Karkaroff watching him. He was the only judge who had not left the table; the only judge not showing signs of pleasure and relief that Harry, Ron, and Fleur's sister had got back safely. â€Å"Yeah, that's right,† said Harry, raising his voice slightly so that Karkaroff could hear him. â€Å"You haff a water beetle in your hair, Herm-own-ninny,† said Krum. Harry had the impression that Krum was drawing her attention back onto himself; perhaps to remind her that he had just rescued her from the lake, but Hermione brushed away the beetle impatiently and said, â€Å"You're well outside the time limit, though, Harry†¦.Did it take you ages to find us?† â€Å"No†¦I found you okay†¦.† Harry's feeling of stupidity was growing. Now he was out of the water, it seemed perfectly clear that Dumbledores safety precautions wouldn't have permitted the death of a hostage just because their champion hadn't turned up. Why hadn't he just grabbed Ron and gone? He would have been first back†¦.Cedric and Krum hadn't wasted time worrying about anyone else; they hadn't taken the mersong seriously†¦. Dumbledore was crouching at the water's edge, deep in conversation with what seemed to be the chief merperson, a particularly wild and ferocious-looking female. He was making the same sort of screechy noises that the merpeople made when they were above water; clearly, Dumbledore could speak Mermish. Finally he straightened up, turned to his fellow judges, and said, â€Å"A conference before we give the marks, I think.† The judges went into a huddle. Madam Pomfrey had gone to rescue Ron from Percy's clutches; she led him over to Harry and the others, gave him a blanket and some Pepperup Potion, then went to fetch Fleur and her sister. Fleur had many cuts on her face and arms and her robes were torn, but she didn't seem to care, nor would she allow Madam Pomfrey to clean them. â€Å"Look after Gabrielle,† she told her, and then she turned to Harry. â€Å"You saved ‘er,† she said breathlessly. â€Å"Even though she was not your ‘ostage.† â€Å"Yeah,† said Harry, who was now heartily wishing he'd left all three girls tied to the statue. Fleur bent down, kissed Harry twice on each cheek (he felt his face burn and wouldn't have been surprised if steam was coming out of his ears again), then said to Ron, â€Å"And you too-you ‘elped -â€Å" â€Å"Yeah,† said Ron, looking extremely hopeful, â€Å"yeah, a bit -â€Å" Fleur swooped down on him too and kissed him. Hermione looked simply furious, but just then, Ludo Bagman's magically magnified voice boomed out beside them, making them all jump, and causing the crowd in the stands to go very quiet. â€Å"Ladies and gentlemen, we have reached our decision. Merchieftainess Murcus has told us exactly what happened at the bottom of the lake, and we have therefore decided to award marks out of fifty for each of the champions, as follows†¦. â€Å"Fleur Delacour, though she demonstrated excellent use of the Bubble-Head Charm, was attacked by grindylows as she approached her goal, and failed to retrieve her hostage. We award her twenty-five points.† Applause from the stands. â€Å"I deserved zero,† said Fleur throatily, shaking her magnificent head. â€Å"Cedric Diggory, who also used the Bubble-Head Charm, was first to return with his hostage, though he returned one minute outside the time limit of an hour.† Enormous cheers from the Hufflepuffs in the crowd; Harry saw Cho give Cedric a glowing look. â€Å"We therefore award him forty-seven points.† Harry's heart sank. If Cedric had been outside the time limit, he most certainly had been. â€Å"Viktor Krum used an incomplete form of Transfiguration, which was nevertheless effective, and was second to return with his hostage. We award him forty points.† Karkaroff clapped particularly hard, looking very superior. â€Å"Harry Potter used gillyweed to great effect,† Bagman continued. â€Å"He returned last, and well outside the time limit of an hour. However, the Merchieftainess informs us that Mr. Potter was first to reach the hostages, and that the delay in his return was due to his determination to return all hostages to safety, not merely his own.† Ron and Hermione both gave Harry half-exasperated, half-commiserating looks. â€Å"Most of the judges,† and here, Bagman gave Karkaroff a very nasty look, â€Å"feel that this shows moral fiber and merits full marks. However†¦Mr. Potter's score is forty-five points.† Harry's stomach leapt – he was now tying for first place with Cedric. Ron and Hermione, caught by surprise, stared at Harry, then laughed and started applauding hard with the rest of the crowd. â€Å"There you go. Harry!† Ron shouted over the noise. â€Å"You weren't being thick after all – you were showing moral fiber!† Fleur was clapping very hard too, but Krum didn't look happy at all. He attempted to engage Hermione in conversation again, but she was too busy cheering Harry to listen. â€Å"The third and final task will take place at dusk on the twenty-fourth of June,† continued Bagman. â€Å"The champions will be notified of what is coming precisely one month beforehand. Thank you all for your support of the champions.† It was over. Harry thought dazedly, as Madam Pomfrey began herding the champions and hostages back to the castle to get into dry clothes†¦it was over, he had got through†¦he didn't have to worry about anything now until June the twenty-fourth†¦. Next time he was in Hogsmeade, Harry decided as he walked back up the stone steps into the castle, he was going to buy Dobby a pair of socks for every day of the year.

Christine de Pizan

Christine de Pizan: c. 1365-c. 1430 1. Christine’s life shows a glimpse into the changing worldview in numerous ways. For one, she became educated as a child and continued her education throughout her life, she also was able to support her family as a single mother on her own by working independently, and he writings were symbolically revolved around women in such a way that they rebuked the negative teachings by most scholars. 2.As a girl, Christine had an unusual life because her father, who was the Astrologer for Charles V, ensured that she would receive the best education possible. Later when she became older and was married, her husband also encouraged her to continue her studies. Unlike most women during the middle Ages, she was able to receive an education, as well as the support to do so. After the death of her husband she had to support her family on her own, she did so by writing short stories and poems, which people paid for. She was able to get herself out of debt this way. . Basically Christine is saying, that’s she never doubted God and his perfection, creation of all things good, wisdom. But what she doesn’t understand is how it is that women have been so heavily scrutinized and labeled with flaws if people of the faith truly believe that God created all things good. This is why she’s so angry and frustrated, she then goes on to say why wasn’t she made a man, since men are all said to be so perfect. She apologizes &and asks forgiveness for her negligence of his service, due to the fact that she is not a man. . Christine says it is not about gender, that does not make one lower than the other. It lies within that individual’s conduct and virtue. 5. She says that not all men’s opinions are based on reason, it can’t be assumed that becoming educating and learning the natural sciences can be bad for mores. Men also don’t like it when women know more than they do. 6. They say that educatin g women has become beneficial and still is beneficial, being taught a good doctrine can in no way have a negative effect on anything.It is simply irrational. 7. Christine’s mother wanted her to do girly things, things that women should do such as spinning and weaving. On the other hand, her father wanted her to be educated and watch her learn and grow to become an intelligent young woman. This illustrates the clash between the Medieval and Renaissance worldviews because her mother wanted her to do things women â€Å"should† do and her father wanted her to do the opposite, by gaining an education. 8. The auses of misogyny are from men who are ignorant, these men blame women because they either hate women because they are simply far more intelligent than they are and naturally good hearted, others who hate women are crippled and the only way for them to impose their misery on others is by blaming women who make others happy, and finally men who have spent much of their y oung years sleeping around can’t anymore and they like to sabotage women’s lives by disgusting others because they can’t enjoy sexual pleasures.I do think that all of these still exist in our society, as well as in others. For example, I had a discrepancy with a guy friend of mine, who is a boxer like I am and he had the idea that he could beat me; his reasoning for it was solely because I was a girl. He did not have any other valid reason as to why he could beat me, he didn’t bring in my statistics either, which made even more pathetic that he would think such a thing. Another example in our society is of a young man who was in college that contracted aids.This man went around the entire college campus sleeping with other women so that they would also have the disease without telling them prior to their relations. He was miserable, so he wanted to make other women feel his pain. I think these attitudes are rooted deep in our society and I’m not su re that they will ever go away. 9. They contribute much of civilizations advancements to Minerva, Isis, and Ceres. Isis was an Egyptian goddess, who has been mostly named as the goddess of rebirth. She was known for spending time amongst her people and taming men.She also taught women how to weave, grind corn, spin flax, and make bread. Minerva was a Roman goddess, who was associated with poetry, medicine, wisdom, weaving, crafts, war, artillery, and trading. It is said she developed numbers and musical instruments. Ceres was a Roman goddess also, she was known for being the goddess of agriculture and fertility of the land. 10. No I think Christine suggests that it shouldn’t be excluded from men. She implies in the first paragraph that if men read the truth they’d shut up, hold their tongues, and lower their heads in shame for such stupid ignorance.

Cold Drinks Essay

Soft drinks are non-alcoholic water-based flavoured drinks that are optionally sweetened, acidulated and carbonated. Some carbonated soft drinks also contain caffeine; mainly the brown-coloured cola drinks. PROBLEM STATEMENT To find out consumers buying behaviour and to identify gaps in the industry if any. RESEARCH OBJECTIVE To find out the factors affecting soft drinks buying pattern. To find out the consumers buying habits. Seasonal changes in the buying habits. To find out the consumer’s future requirements and conceptualize an innovative product. To study the overall Beverages industry. SOFT DRINKS MARKET – AN OVERVIEW. Global Scenario The global soft drink industry is highly concentrated, being largely controlled by the two multinational companies; Coca Cola and PepsiCo. Coca Cola leads the carbonated soft drink market in most countries in the world with 60% of the global cola market with its flagship Coca-Cola brand. Other notable players include Cadbury Schweppes. Indian Scenario In the booming soft drinks industry, multinationals seem to be the biggest winners in terms of market share. The Coca-Cola Company led the highly consolidated market with a 42. 8% volume share, followed by PepsiCo at 28. 6% in 2004. Danone is a minor player in India with a 0. 5% share, chiefly due to its late market entry and limited offerings. According to government estimates soft drinks marketed in India were 6540 million bottles in March 2001. The market growth rate, which was around 2-3% in ‘80s, increased to 5-6% in the early ‘90s and is presently 7-8% per annum. Most of the sales of soft drinks take place during summers while just 5-6% of total sales take place in winters. In summers the high season lasts for 70-75 days, which contributes more than 50% of the total yearly sales. In terms of regional distribution cola drinks have main markets in metro cities and northern states of UP, Punjab, Haryana etc. Orange flavoured drinks and sodas are popular in southern states. Western markets have preference towards mango-flavoured drinks. Non-alcoholic beverage market can be divided into fruit drinks and soft drinks. Soft drinks available in glass bottles, aluminium cans, PET bottles or disposable containers can be divided into carbonated and non-carbonated drinks. Cola, lemon and oranges are carbonated drinks and non-carbonated drinks include mango drinks. Soft drinks can also be divided into cola products and non-cola products. Cola products in Indian include brands like Pepsi Cola, Diet Pepsi, Coca- Cola, Diet Coke, Thumps Up etc. Cola drinks account for nearly 61-62% of the total soft drinks market in India. Non-Cola products account for 36% the total soft drink market. Until 1990s, domestic players like Parle Group (Thumps Up, Limca, Goldspot) dominated the softdrink market in India. However, with the advent of the MNC players like Pepsi (1991) and Coke (re-entered in 1993 after it was banned in 1977) in the early 1990s, the market control shifted towards them by the late 1990s. The per capita consumption of soft drinks in India is among the lowest in the world – 5 bottles per annum compared to the 800 bottles per annum in the USA. Delhi reports the highest per capita consumption in the country – 50 bottles per annum. The consumption of PET bottles is more in the urban areas (75% of total PET bottle [plastic bottles] consumption) whereas the sales of 200ml bottles were higher in the rural areas. According to a survey, 91% of the soft drink consumption in India is in the lower, lower middle and upper middle class section. After a somewhat subdued performance in 2006 due to a recurrence of the pesticides controversy, soft drinks sales bounced back strongly to record double-digit volume growth in 2007. With carbonates growth back on a positive upward curve alongside burgeoning sales of fruit/vegetable juice and bottles water, soft drinks showed impressive growth in 2007. Off-trade volumes grew slightly faster than on-trade volumes, driven by higher consumption of packaged and branded soft drinks at home and on the go. The emergence of supermarkets/hypermarkets, heavy consumer promotions and various new product launches played a key role in driving off-trade volume growth. Soft drinks sales in 2007 were propelled by bottled water and fruit/vegetable juice with their healthier positioning helping to drive sales of soft drinks. While carbonates posted single-digit growth in 2007, rebounding from the pesticides controversy of 2006, it was bottled water and fruit/vegetable juice that stormed ahead with high double-digit growth rates. Poor municipal infrastructure for tap water has pushed sales of bulk packaged water to households. Fruit/vegetable juice is growing as a result of increased consumer expenditure on naturally healthy (NH) beverages. While functional drinks and RTD tea also posted impressive growth in 2007, they were growing from a very small base and are yet to achieve a critical mass in terms of establishing a loyal consumer base. With consumers showing a growing preference for healthier soft drinks such as bottled water and fruit/vegetable juice rather than carbonates in 2007, the two carbonates giants suffered a marginal decline in share. Although both players embarked on a change in strategy to focus more on non-carbonated soft drinks in their portfolios, they were unable to maintain share and lost out slightly to home-grown players Parle Bisleri and Dabur India. Coca-Cola India launched Minute Maid and pushed the sales of its juices while PepsiCo India heavily promoted Tropicana, Aquafina and Gatorade during 2007. In addition, Coca-Cola India and PepsiCo India embarked on re-branding themselves as total beverage players and not just carbonates players. With the retail scene in India undergoing a rapid metamorphosis with the establishment of supermarkets/ hypermarkets and convenience stores, soft drinks sales have benefited positively. People in urban areas are increasingly flocking to supermarkets to pick up speciality items that are not available in the kirana stores that are found all over India. Modern retail outlets have provided soft drinks players with many opportunities to push their brands. Consumer promotions for fruit/vegetable juice and emerging sectors such as RTD tea and functional drinks are driving product sampling. Attractive point-of-sale (PoS) displays and gift packs of concentrates are also drawing consumer attention in supermarkets/hypermarkets. Heath drinks Soft drinks is expected to post a strong performance on the back of increasing affluence amongst consumers and evolving lifestyles which lead to consumers devoting less time to preparing fresh food and drink at home. Competition from the unorganised sector will diminish gradually as consumers show greater aversion to buying unpackaged and unbranded soft drinks from street vendors due to health and hygiene concerns. Rising health consciousness is also expected to drive sales of naturally healthy (NH) soft drinks such as 100% juice and mineral water. In addition, soft drinks such as sports drinks and juice-based carbonates are also expected to fare well over the forecast period as consumers perceive them to be healthy. Softdrinks can be segmented on the basis of carbonation, flavor type or place of consumption. Based on carbonation, soft drinks are principally classified into carbonated and non-carbonated drinks. While the carbonated drinks mainly include Cola, orange and lemon, the non-carbonated drinks include mango flavors. Cola products account for over 60% of the total soft drink market and include popular brands such as Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Thumps Up etc. Non-cola segment constitutes for over 35% of the market and can be divided into four sub groups based on types of available flavours that include – *Orange: Popular brands include Fanta, Mirinda Orange etc. *Clear lime: 7Up, Sprite *Cloudy lime: Limca, Mirinda Lemon. *Mango: Maaza, Slice Carbonates account for over 54% of total soft drinks sales in volume terms in India, with sales amounting to 2. 3 billion litres in 2004. CONSUMER’S PROFILE Soft drinks are impulse purchase products, and there is an element of indulgence associated with them. It does not figure very high on the shopping list. The consumer buys it just to while away time or as a substitute to water. Since, the older generation is of the opinion that nothing can substitute water, the companies generally target the youngsters, teenagers, children, employee of corporate offices. As these products are general fun drink, brand loyalties are not strong for a particular brand and consumers look for novelty and new flavors. Soft drinks consumption heavily relies on seasons. Though consumers are becoming health conscious, fans of classic carbonated soft drinks (CSDs) still are on the large. SAMPLING DESIGN TARGET POPULATION Consumers are surveyed to know their preference. The respondents are between the age group of 15 to 40. All the respondents are residents of Mumbai city. SELECTING A SAMPLING TECHNIQUE The sampling was done on a random basis whereby the respondents visited and primary data is collected. The Respondents were selected as per convenience sampling. RESEARCH DESIGN The research design was Exploratory in nature. Secondary Data and the Data from the Questionnaire were used to do the Analysis. This Exploratory research was done to give the insights about Consumers buying behaviour. The factors affecting their purchase of Soft- Drinks. DATA COLLECTION: The Primary data was collected through questionnaire administered to Consumers. The Secondary Data was collected through Internet, Business journals. The questionnaire was designed keeping the overall objectives and the information required. The questionnaire administered to the Consumers was aimed at finding out their preference & factors affecting their purchase decision for Soft drinks and also to identify how these existing products can be improved according to the consumers. DATA ANALYSIS: Data Analysis is being done arranging the data in tabular forms and using graphical representations. The survey conducted and the related findings. How many bottles (consider 350 ml) of cold drinks do you consume? CONSUMPTION IN BOTTLES (350 ml) 1 in a week1 in 4 days1 in 2 days>1 in a day 25 %42%27%6% Analysis. Consumers proffered having cold drinks once in a week or 4 days. Regular consumers were few. Consumption increased during the summers. Consumption is more amongst teenagers and youngsters. Young professionals also consumed cold drinks regularly mostly since it came complimentary with other food items such as pizzas or burgers. It is also used by working professionals as lunch-time substitute for water. Do you generally stick to brands ? YES89% NO11% Analysis: It is seen that, consumers are highly brand conscious. The big brands have been successful in creating loyalty towards their products in the long run. But, it is seen that, the consumers are not particular about one specific brand. As long as the brand is known to him/her, the product would be consumed. Also, the safety issues concerning beverages are high. Hence, unbranded beverages are not popular. Do you stick to a particular brand? YES27% NO73% Analysis: It is seen that consumers look for branded beverages, but not for a particular product as such. As long as the product is from a well- known brand, it will be consumed. It is also seen that, whenever a particular soft-drink isn’t available, any other substitute works. Hence, switching brands is relatively easy. Do you prefer ‘no fizz’ drinks (e. g. Slice, Maaza) or ‘strong fizz’ drinks e. g. (Thumbs up or Pepsi) ? Fizz LevelPercentage Strong Fizz16. 7% Light Fizz25% No Fizz58. 3% Analysis A very significant trend-shift towards no-carbonated drinks is seen. Previously, CSD (carbonated Soft drinks) have been very popular. Recently this trend has been changing. People now prefer ‘no fizz’ drinks. ‘Strong fizz’ i. e. cold drinks with high carbon concentration are running low on popularity. How Important are the following Factors ? Analysis. Most important factors as considered by consumers as per the survey results, are Brand, flavour and nutritional value. Shape of the bottle or packaging is the least important criteria. Flavour is also an important factor. Data table is given below : FactorsLeast ImportantSomewhat ImportantAverageImportantCriticalN/ARating Average Color22. 2% 44. 4% 11. 1% 0. 0% 11. 1% 11. 1% 2. 25 Flavour0. 0% 22. 2% 22. 2% 33. 3% 22. 2% 0. 0% 3. 56 Quantity0. 0% 16. 7% 50. 0% 33. 3% 0. 0% 0. 0% 3. 17 Nutrition value0. 0% 20. 0% 10. 0% 50. 0%20. 0% 0. 0% 3. 70 Shape of bottle42. 9%0. 0% 28. 6% 0. 0% 14. 3% 14. 3% 2. 33 Packaging50. 0% 16. 7% 0. 0% 0. 0% 0. 0% 33. 3% 1. 25 Brand11. 1% 0. 0% 11. 1% 22. 2% 44. 4% 11. 1% 4. 00 Exclusivity0. 0% 16. 7% 16. 7% 16. 7% 0. 0% 50. 0% 3. 00 Would you prefer nutritious drinks over others? YES72% NO22% Analysis : People are growing more health conscious due to the changing trends, growing awareness levels, better education and standard of living. This leads them towards more nutritional drinks. Consumers are now looking for cold-drinks that also satisfy other needs or provide added benefits along with being just a cold drink, Do you like energy drinks more? YES68% NO32% Analysis: Energy drinks are quite popular in the Indian markets with Red Bull being the prime player and a few other brands. The prices are still high considering the Indian markets. Would you like a glucose induced packaged drinking water ? YES79. 3% NO20. 7% Analysis: Packaged drinking water sales have grown manifolds in the last decade due to improper hygiene and improper municipal care. Consumers seem keen on having a product that can provide them added benefits with the packaged drinking water, such as, glucose induced water. Do you prefer the classic CSD (carbonated soft drinks) over anything else ? YES41% NO59% Analysis There are a significant percentage of consumers who have strong preferences towards carbonated soft drinks. Most of these respondents are male. Would you buy a drink that comes in 3 variations depending on its level of ‘fizz’? YES79. 3% MAYBE23. 1% NO20. 7% Analysis : In this question, a conceptual product with 3 levels of fizz was put up to the respondents. The audience responded quite favourably towards the idea. Since there is a divide amongst consumers who prefer strong fizz and the others who prefer no fizz drinks, such a product is given a thumbs up by the consumers. Would you like to have an additional product (e. g. chips) as a packaged product along with your cold drinks? YES53. 8% MAYBE30. 8% NO15. 4% Analysis: Generally, consumers have cold drinks along with wafers, chips or some kind of snack. In this question, the reaction of consumers is noted for how would they like it if the companies could come up with some offer where in the snacks come up bundled with the soft drink. These snacks can be suited best for the taste of the particular product along with which it could be supplied. CONCLUSION AND RECCOMMENDATIONS: The soft drinks market is an attractive industry with lot of scope for new entrants. Even if there are branded players since decades, trends are shifting now towards unconventional products. New innovations regarding flavour and nutritional value are most welcomed by the consumers. Lifestyles are changing and stress levels are high. This drives consumers to look for added benefits with the conventional ‘colas’. Hence, now consumers prefer cold drinks with natural fruit extracts, flavoured milk or energy drinks. A certain dislike towards carbonated drinks is seen especially amongst female consumers. As compared to other soft drinks these nutritional drinks are bit pricier. Ways should be thought of to reduce these rates and make them more affordable. Also, there are only mango flavoured, lemon flavoured or orange flavoured drinks available in the no-fizz category. More flavours can be tried. Brands should stress more on the nutritional value of the cold-drink and specify exactly how much of the daily nutrition will it provide them. A new product especially for females could be come up with. APPENDIX Cold drinks 1. Default Section 1. How many bottles (consider 350 ml) of cold drinks do you consume? How many bottles (consider 350 ml) of cold drinks do you consume? one in a week one in 4 days one in 2 days one in a day more than 1 bottle in a day Other (please specify) 2. Do you generally stick to one brand or easily switch brands? Do you generally stick to one brand or easily switch brands? Yes No Maybe 3. Do you prefer ‘no fizz’ drinks (e. g. Slice, Maaza) or ‘strong fizz’ drinks like Thumbs up or Pepsi? Do you prefer ‘no fizz’ drinks (e. g. Slice, Maaza) or ‘strong fizz’ drinks like Thumbs up or Pepsi?no fizz light fizz strong fizz Other (please specify) 4. Please select according to your preference (5 being the highest) Least ImportantSomewhat ImportantAverageImportantCriticalN/A Color Please select according to your preference (5 being the highest) Color Least Important Somewhat Important Average Important Critical N/A Flavour Flavour Least Important Somewhat Important Average Important Critical N/A Quantity Quantity Least Important Somewhat Important Average Important Critical N/A Nutrition value Nutrition value Least Important Somewhat Important Average Important Critical N/A. Shape of bottle Shape of bottle Least Important Somewhat Important Average Important Critical N/A Packaging Packaging Least Important Somewhat Important Average Important Critical N/A Brand Brand Least Important Somewhat Important Average Important Critical N/A Exclusivity Exclusivity Least Important Somewhat Important Average Important Critical N/A 5. Would you like your cold drink bottle to come in varied sizes so that it can be accomodated anywhere? Would you like your cold drink bottle to come in varied sizes so that it can be accomodated anywhere? Yes No Maybe. Other (please specify) 6. Would you buy a drink that comes in 3 variations depending on its level of ‘fizz’? Would you buy a drink that comes in 3 variations depending on its level of ‘fizz’? Yes No Maybe 7. Would you prefer your cold drink bottles to preserve the fizz for several days after opening the bottle? Would you prefer your cold drink bottles to preserve the fizz for several days after opening the bottle? Yes No Maybe 8. Would you like to have an additional product (e. g chips) as a packaged product along with your cold drinks? Would you like to have an additional product (e.g chips) as a packaged product along with your cold drinks? Yes No Maybe 9. Would you like to buy cold drinks, if you will get some promotional offer along with your cold drinks? Would you like to buy cold drinks, if you will get some promotional offer along with your cold drinks? Yes No Maybe 10. Gender? Gender? Male Female. BIBLIOGRAPHY http://resources. bnet. com/index. php? http://www. agriculture-industry-india. com/agricultural-commodities/soft-drinks. html http://www. foodindustryindia. com http://www. euromonitor. com http://www. icmrindia. org.

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Overview Of The Enola Gay Controversy History Essay

Overview Of The Enola Gay Controversy History Essay The term History Wars was coined in the United States in 1994  [1]  . It was based on the controversy over how history should be represented for the decision of dropping an atomic bomb on Japan when the Smithsonians National Air and Space Museum drafted an exhibit entitled The Crossroads: The End of World War II, the Atomic Bomb and the Cold War around the refurbished Enola Gay to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the end of the war in 1995. This controversy centred around the failed 1995 Smithsonian National Air and Space Museums exhibit of the Enola Gay, which intended to examine intersection the end of World War II beginning with the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Along that process, various stakeholders in the representation of this historical event were embroiled including Smithsonian curators, veterans such as the Air Force Association and the American Legion, members of the United States Congress, academic historians, media, American public and even the Japanese. As early as in 1988, Smithsonians National Air and Space Museum (NASM) announced that they would display the Enola Gay as part of an interpretive exhibit on the end of World War II and the origins of the Cold War  [2]  . This announcement brought the museum into contact with a variety of interested groups. As the scripts developed, the exhibit had set off a heated controversy concerning national ideologies, the collective memory of self-victimization, and contestation over historical knowledge. The story of the Smithsonian and the Enola Gay reflected a larger battle in America over academic goals, cultural superiority, sacrifices, heroic effort and how should American remember their past.  [3]   This essay explores the ways in which the Enola Gay debate was fought out primarily in the American public media and in congressional hearings about history and memory. It will focuses on various predicaments in an attempts to produce a nations single and definitive public history and memory shared commonly and objectively by a nation. The Enola Gay controversy or some might called it the Smithsonian atomic bomb exhibit debates sparks a History Wars in American public. In fact, any attempts to produce or exhibit narratives about the past will always spark a controversy and incites various arguments and struggles over historical truth. This essay furthermore attempts to situate The Enola Gay debates within the larger context of the condition of the knowledge that describes those who were involved in this polemic. The Enola Gay controversy was not really about facts, nor was it about which side represented the facts more accurately. Rather, it centred on questions about for whom, for what objectives, and for whose community the event need to be remembered. The difference between the two different factions did not actually portray whether one side distorted the facts more than the other, although there were a number of events that which conservative politicians and veterans deliberately refused to acknowledge the existence of certain information, records and archives materials. Although those who involved in this debate be it veterans, Air Force Association, American Legion, news editors, conservative politicians, academic historians, Smithsonian curators and American public agreed that the main objective of the exhibit is to commemorate the important mission that led America to victory, there will always be different approaches on how to portray American as a saviour of the world and to acknow ledged the United States as the nation that ends the war. The conflation of the history wars with rhetoric of educational over the exhibit escalates during the development of the script. The exhibition main objectives were to showcase the plane that had dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima to end the war.  [4]  The script would have taken visitors through five sections moving from victory in Europe through the nuclear proliferation of the Cold War.  [5]  Along with the script preparation, gradually there are contradiction and different perspectives among the groups involved. The heated discussion of the initial script became public when the Air Force Association accused Smithsonian curators of politicizing the script.  [6]  These debates between veterans and curators foreshadowed a two-year struggle over plans for the exhibition. Veterans insist that the bomb had ended the war and thus prevented further loss of American soldiers lives, while academic historians and curators believed the other way round. The contradiction of the story which is one of a weapon that brought peace and victory and the other side weapon that brought destruction and terrify the world had created different views to American public  [7]  . Martin Harwit, the Smithsonians director, along with his curators, had held numerous discussions with veterans, academic historians and other interested groups in preparing the script of the exhibit.  [8]  During the preparation of the script and long before the official opening exhibition which is planned in August 1995, criticism on this exhibition increased largely due to the alleged political correctness and historical accurate polemic. There was an intense pressure against the Smithsonian from the veterans especially from the American Legion and the Air Force Association in developing the script. The Smithsonian wanted to tell a narrative purely based on the factual historical event while veterans insist on the portrayal of the struggling American troops, their heroic action that eventually fought to end the war and how the bomb could save approximately hundred thousand lives of American soldiers  [9]  . Tom Crouch, Chairman of the Institute of the Aeronautic Department at the Smithsonian Institute, already getting fed up with the continuous unresolved debates over the objectives of the exhibit, had asked this very important question in his memo to Harwit: whether the museum was producing an exhibit that was intended to make veterans feel goods or an exhibition that will lead our visitors to think about the consequences of the atomic bombing of Japan? Frankly, I dont think we can do both  [10]  . Veterans boasted that they had a number of powerful lobbying groups in Congress and they have the strength in number. They claimed that they have public backing and the American is always behind them. Their claim is true; on 27 August 1994, twenty four Congressmen sent a letter to the Smithsonian calling the exhibition as anti-American and a historically narrow, revisionist view of the Enola Gays mission  [11]  . When the veterans felt that they were going to be portrayed unfairly in the exhibition, they began to react and gather the support from those who felt the same way they did and started to interfere in the Smithsonian script. Veterans organization had a very high expectation that the exhibition would provide enough balanced historical context so that the reason to drop the bomb were justified enough or at least reasonable, legitimate and might be a necessary to avoid unbalance inference that will equal the bombing with more tragic incident such as holocaust. The politicians were also jumped into the bandwagon in support of the veterans resistance. Newt Gingrich, a Republican leader in House of Representative said that American had been tired and sick of being told by some so called historians that they ought to be ashamed of their country in the way they end the war  [12]  . In the following month, the Senate adopted Senate Resolution 257 which stated: . . . any exhibit by the National Air and Space Museum with respect to the Enola Gay should reflect appropriate sensitivity toward the men and women who faithfully and selflessly served, and should avoid impugning the memory of those who gave their lives for  [13]  . The Smithsonian is being criticized from all corners, from those who consider the exhibition as revisionist which is critical of the American History Wars to those who accuse the curators and the historians of staging and exaggerating which glorifies the decision of dropping the bomb. The curators and historians wanted the exhibition to be devoted solely to the justifications in using such a weapon and the task of the curators is to educate people, not to spread some kind of propaganda. Curators have not always been comfortable creating exhibits to celebrate technological prowess, devastating impact, losses of lives and wartime sacrifices. The curators saw the chance to display the Enola Gay as an opportunity to bring to a wider audience the issue of the consequences of the devastating impact for using such a terrible weapon and helping visitors to have better understanding the meaning and implication of the decisions and events that have shaped the subsequent history of the twentiet h century. The veterans accused the Smithsonian in denying the justification to drop the bomb at that time by questioning the morality and motives of President Trumans decision to end the war soonest possible  [14]  . On the veterans point of view, the decision is just a noble thing to be made which is to save as many American lives possible and to end the war immediately. As the script developed, both parties seem to be at loggerheads. The Smithsonian refusal to change the script infuriates the veterans. The American Legion insists that the script inferred that America was somehow in the wrong and her loyal airmen somehow criminal  [15]  . The congressmen step into the debate sided with the veterans and accusing the Smithsonian as a blatant betrayal of American history, biased and anti-American  [16]  . According to veterans, the script was a politically rigged program that made the Japanese in World War II look like victims instead of aggressors, and showed Americans as ruthless i nvaders, driven by racism and revenge.  [17]   Veterans reacted strongly to any Smithsonian attempt to remember the bombing that questioned the good war. They heavily criticized the progress of the script and particularly disturbed by the scripts suggestion that there were element of US aggression and imperialism even in what had been described as the most just and sacred of American wars ever fought.  [18]  While the curators wanted the public to interpret the consequences of the terrifying weapon and the horror of the war, veterans wanted the exhibit to commemorate the sacrifices they made to end the war. Their complaints reflected a perception that the curators and historians refusal to restructured the script as what the veterans wanted was seen as slap in the face of all Americans, including our courageous fallen, who fought from Pearl Harbor to Tokyo Bay.50 Bob Dole, a war veteran and a Republican Presidential candidate, told the American Legionnaires during the speech in Labor Day added that a generation of historians were in fact tend to be intellectual elites who seem embarrassed by America51. Charles B. Sweeney, the pilot who dropped the atomic bomb on Nagasaki, heavily criticized the curators and described it as an assault on our language and history by the elimination of accurate and descriptive words.52 The media also inflames the controversy by bringing the exhibition into disrepute. A day after the exhibition were cancelled, the editorial of the Washington Post wrote : It is important to be clear about what happened at the Smithsonian. It is not, as some have it, that benighted advocates of a special interest or right-wing point of view brought historical power to bear to crush and distort the historical truth. Quite to the contrary, narrow-minded representatives of a special-interest and revisionist point of view attempted to use their inside track to appropriate and hollow out a historical event that large numbers of Americans alive at that time and engaged in the war had witnessed and understood in a very different and authentic way  [19]  . The main problem is to decide who the decision maker in this exhibition is. Curators is just doing their job and they have the right to interpret the past based solely on their scholarly credentials and other primary resources such as archives, historical records, photographs, interviews, bibliographies and also advised from academic historians. In contrast, the veterans claimed that they too have the rights to portrayed the exhibition based on their personal and wartime experience. As far as the veterans concerned, their criticism is not solely against the suffering of the Japanese people due to the dropping of the bomb, but they call for more balance and the completeness of the story rather than for accuracy or fidelity to what happened in fact. Apart from contrary belief that veterans were at all time against the historical accuracy, veterans greatly appreciated the curators effort to portray the exhibition as much attractive as ever but they wanted them to be displayed more on the Americans favour rather than Japanese one. As a whole, all parties came into agreement that they wanted to make this exhibition a success. Everybody involves in the controversy over the exhibition seems to agree that the decision to drop the bomb will resulted various interpretation but it is clear that the decision made in 1945 will be viewed differently as in present day. The veterans came into agreement that the exhibition should tell another side of the story about Enola Gay so that the balanced display would allow visitors to make their own judgement about what happened, how and why. The Enola Gay controversy clearly demonstrates that one cannot effectively seek proper representation in a national public sphere solely by claiming to possess knowledge that is solidly based on factual authenticity. To differentiate between factual history and imaginary commemoration is problematic precisely because it can prove debilitating when trying to prevail over those who adhere to opposed understanding of history. Moreover, as observed in the Smithsonian dispute, to rationalize the demand for the representation in the public sphere by opposing ones legitimacy on factual authenticity alone may unwittingly help perpetuate the myth that the subaltern history is more accurate than mainstream history. As The American Legions national commander, William M. Detweiller declared in November 1994: More than anything else, our disagreements centre on the estimate numbers of lived saved by the use of atomic weapons in 1945. Does it matter? To the museum and the historians, it seems to be of great importance in determining the morality of President Trumans decision. To the American Legion, it matters less, if at all.  [20]   In truth, to all concerned, it mattered a great deal. In the end, everyone believed that memory and history had been abused, and the controversy over the Enola Gay exhibit became a useful symbol for all sides in the history wars going in America. Controversies over museum exhibition clearly demonstrate that political correctness has displaced historical accuracy over issues of humanities, race and history itself.  [21]   If this is true, then the controversy accompanying this fiftieth anniversary marked a dark spot in Americas collective memory, when latent struggles came to the surface about which histories needed to be remembered or forgotten. These are not just academic questions, because public memories are also forms of cultural practice. Scholars should therefore attend to the ways historians, curators, the media, and ordinary citizens participated in the creation of the symbolic repertoires that made up the Enola Gay dispute. For the veterans, the exhibition will display not only the historical memories of the American veterans but also at their sense of personal and national identity. They wanted the exhibition to reflect their past glory and to portray themselves as the saviour of America who risks their lives in order to bring peace to America and the entire world. The exhibit floundered when pressure from conservative politicians and veterans groups denounced it and Congress threatened to cut the museums funding  [22]  . In the end, after the exhibit had finally been cancelled, Harwit admitted that his curators were defeated by veterans organizations whose summed membership stands six million strong.  [23]   The history wars have a negative influence not because they encourage public debate about historical matters, thereby removing control of them from the authority who really in the know about the subject matters. History is unceasingly controversial because it provides so much of the substance for the ways a society defines itself and considers what it wants to be. The history wars, though unnerving and nasty, offer the public an opportunity to talk with historians and about how history is written, how research has changed in recent decades, and how arguments about the past illustrates the future. History does matter, and it is important for American at the end of the twentieth century to understand how the recent history wars have unfolded, how these struggles are connected to earlier arguments over interpreting the past and what does it tell us of current state of present society. This controversy became a new battle in a war over American culture life and the exhibition is a new ex perience for American public especially in the way the debates were fought between various sides. History Wars are not only occurred or debated in America alone, but in other countries as well. Around the world, various History Wars have sparked over museum exhibits, national commemoration, public anniversaries, history textbooks, usage of jargon and parades.5 Where ever there are past event, there will be History Wars sparked by that particular event. In the past twenty years, there are debates about events that happened in the past. These debates all exhibit the same characteristics: the same obsessive collective pronouns and terminology, as well as the same parochialism and national preoccupations. Such example was a tragic event of infamous holocaust that still been debated until today by different party. There will always be a group of history revisionist, left wing or far-right denial that will keep on debating the truth about events that happened in the past. The debates on History Wars are not restricted in the western society but it also being debated everywhere. In the Far East during the Sino-Japanese War in 1937, the Japanese Army committed atrocities against the inhabitant of Nanking which will be remembered in history as The Rape of Nanking. The Japanese aggression caused the massacre of more than 260,000 Nanking civilian  [24]  and the Japanese government refusal to confess their past aggression and apologizing their atrocities infuriates the Chinese Government and its people. In the Japanese textbook, there were nothing being mention about their atrocities in the past and refusal had been condemned by China and other nations  [25]  . In Australia, History Wars represent an ongoing conflict between conservative, leftist groups, politicians and academic historians over the early white settlements and the behaviour of Australias settlers in regard to the indigenous peoples. The History Wars have also been an integral feature of the cultural war conflicts in Australia of recent years and of the consequent attacks on the academic historian publicly. The politician, journalists and revisionist and academic historians try to interpret issues about treatment of Australias indigenous people, the stolen generations, Black Armband view and others  [26]  . Such questions dominate the History Wars; in this case a Smithsonian lengthy politicised and polarised debate that have raged over years. Such dispute show how issue on nations past has become in US, as academic historians, curators, veterans, politicians and media find themselves increasingly entangled in a heated public debate. It was a paradox where while school children in US found that the subject of American history is being too boring  [27]  , the perspective wasnt shared by the people of the older age, in fact it seems more fraught than ever, in this case at least in this Smithsonian debate. As Richard H. Kohn, professor of history at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said that the cancellation of the original Enola Gay exhibition may constitute the worst tragedy to befall the public presentation of history in the United States in a generation .  [28]  In my opinion, this exhibit is a major opportunity to inform not only the American people but to all m ankind about war and its consequences and the tragedy of the cancellation was a great loss.