Question

Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions that follow:

A little later, when he went to the pump to wash, he saw the school children pouring by with their satchels across their shoulders. They all wore the same clothes grey shorts or skirts and light blue shirts or blouses - faded and mended, and they all had their hair oiled and combed down very flat. Some went by in laughing, racing groups, others had to be led by their mothers or grandparents to the school building. This reminded him of his sisters in the village. The boys in the kitchen now looked at him with less hostility. Jagu seemed pleased with Hari too, and sometimes handed him a glass of tea in the middle of the day. When he had a few moments to spare, Jagu sat down at one of the long wooden tables, drummed loudly on it and sang a song in a dialect Hari did not know. When he caught Hari listening and smiling, he smiled back. Then Hari knew that he too had a village somewhere that he called home. It was just that he was a silent, hardworking, worried man and had no time and no gift for speech. It was the watch mender, Mr. Panwallah, who was truly a benefactor, the kindest and most helpful of all. One afternoon, during those hot, still hours when there were no customers for a change, Hari was standing in front of the eating house, idly watching the traffic because he was too tired to do anything else, and Mr. Panwallah called to him to come and sit beside him on the bench behind the counter in the shop. “Want to help?” he asked. “Want to learn how to make a clock tick? I’m just going to open this big grandfather clock sent to me for repair - you’ll be able to see the workings plain. Don’t often get a piece like this anymore - wall clocks, yes, and electronic gadgets but you don’t often come upon a grandfather clock like this. It’s a real piece of luck, being able to show you one of this size. Look,” he said, swinging open the door at the back and revealing the machinery to a fascinated Hari who felt as ifthe door had opened into a new and strange house. Mr. Panwallah showed Hari what was wrong with it, what had made it stop. “Interesting, isn’t it? How would you like to learn? Tell you what - I’ll take you on as an apprentice. You don’t have much to do between two and four, do you? Of course you will have to ask Jagu first. I can pay you a little, not much, and you can help me for two hours a day. Perhaps I can make a watch mender of you.” -Village by the Sea, Anita Desai

1. For each word given below choose the correct meaning (as used in the passage) from the options provided:     [2]
   1. satchels
      1. snatching
      2. scarves
      3. school bags
      4. sweaters
   2. spare
      1. share
      2. offer
      3. thin
      4. extra
2. Which word in the passage is the opposite of “closed”?     [1]
   1. behind
   2. fascinated
   3. opened
   4. revealing
3. Answer the following questions briefly in your own words:
   1. How were the school children dressed?     [2]
   2. In what way was Jagu kind to Hari?     [2]
   3. What did the song tell Hari about Jagu?     [2]
   4. Which sentence in the passage tells us that Jagu was not a talkative man?     [2]
   5. Whywere there no customers at that time of the day?     [1]
4. In not more than 50 words describe how Mr. Panwallah introduced Hari to watch mending.     [8]

Answer 1

i. 

1. (c) school bags
2. (d) extra

ii. (c) opened

iii. 

1. The schoolchildren wore grey shorts or skirts and light-blue shirts or blouses, faded and mended. They all had their hair oiled and combed down very flat. All of them were carrying their school bags across their shoulders.
2. Jagu seemed pleased with Hari as he would hand him a glass of tea sometimes in the middle of the day. Whenever he caught Hari listening and smiling to his singing, he would also smile back as a congenial gesture.
3. Jagu would sometimes sing a song while sitting on one of the long wooden tables and beating them with his drum. Even though Hari didn’t understand the language, it told him that Jagu also had a village.
4. Line number fourteen of the passage tells us that Jagu was a silent but hardworking man who did not engage in conversations much. He was a worried man with no gift for speech or time for words, but he sometimes expressed himself by singing.
5. That afternoon, there were no customers because it was one of those hot, still days that discouraged people from leaving their homes.

iv. Mr. Panwallah saw Hari idle one afternoon. He called him inside his shop to show him the rare grandfather clock that had come for repair. The Internal machinery fascinated Hari. Mr. Panwallah had successfully piqued Hari’s interest; he offered Hari an apprenticeship in his shop for two hours a day.