Advertisements
Advertisements
प्रश्न
Comment on the influence of English – the language and the way of life – on Indian life as reflected in the story. What is the narrator's attitude to English?
Advertisements
उत्तर
When the English came to our land, they did not bring the industrialisation alone. They carried with themselves their culture, their religion and their language to our home. We, who had been ruled by the Slaves and the Moguls for centuries were now about to face yet another foreign dominance, which was to leave an impact on us that was to live for ever in the future. The biggest of all influences was the language English. Even after so many years of independence, we Indians are not able to pull ourselves out of this inferiority complex. They ruled our nation once and now even after so many decades, they rule our minds. We consider those inferior who do not know the English language. It is nothing but a language after all, why feel so proud about it when it is not even ours. Yes it is a global language and it is good to know foreign languages, however we must treat a language as language only and not as a status symbol.
This falsehood has been reflected very well in the story. The narrator, Shyama, showed how when Ranga returns from Bangalore, after completing his studies, the way people anticipated his return and the excitement on knowing that Ranga now knew English, “a priceless commodity”. They all wanted to see if there has been any change in Ranga after studying English in Bangalore. However, there was no change or little in Ranga's personality. He even did the traditional namaskar to Shyama by bowing down and touching his feet.
APPEARS IN
संबंधित प्रश्न
Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:
That for themselves a cooling covert make
"Gainst the hot season; the mid forest brake,
Rich with the sprinkling of fair musk-rose blooms;
..................
(a) Identify the poem and the poet.
(b) What is the role of the clear rills?
(c) How has the mid forest brake become rich?
(d) Name the figure of speech in 'cooling covert'.
Read the follow ing extract and answer the questions given below:
Not gold but only men can make
A people great and strong;
Men who for truth and honor's sake
Stand fast and suffer long.
Brave men who work while others sleep,
Who dare while others fly...
They build a nation's pillars deep
And lift them to the sky.
(1) What makes a nation strong?
(2) According to you, what makes India a strong and powerful nation?.
(3) Write down the rhyme scheme used in the extract.
(4) What does the phrase 'others fly ... ' mean?
Read the extract and do the following activities :
B1 Likes and dislikes :
(i) The child likes eating _______
(ii) The child dislikes eating _______
They won’t eat peas, don’t like your bread -
For something in it crunches;
They gag on fat, the gravy’s gross,
They won’t eat grapes in bunches.
Tomatoes, onions, peppers, fish
Garlic nor cottage cheese;
Oh, it’s a dish uncommon rare
That truly seems to please.
No red sauce may the ice cream have,
“It’s bleeding,” they will say;
And gravely hand it to their mum
To take it to clean away
But let us speak of chocolate cake,
It must be frosted o’er;
They’ll devour three full slabs,
And calmly ask for more.
Oh, I do so always love to eat
With picky little pests,
Whose parents joy to make them
The most undesirable guests!
B2 What message does the poem convey for children?
B3 Pick out two pairs of rhyming words from the poem.
Mention three reasons why the author’s grandmother was disturbed when he started going to the city school.
Notice these expression in the text. Infer their meaning from the context.
ducking back
What impression of the character of Iona do you get from this story?
How do Shahid and the writer react to the knowledge that Shahid is going to die?
Why does Russell call the three passions 'simple'?
How do stories/biographies of such famous people help youngsters?
Read the story and complete the following.
Revathi’s grief knew no bounds because, ____________.
Discuss in groups, reasons/ consequences/ effects:
The life of the cherry tree was threatened.
Prepare an Acrostic from the word ‘Leisure’. The words should be related to what one likes to do in free time.
L______
E______
I______
S______
U______
Reading stories
E______
Form groups and discuss the following statements, in the context of the extract.
‘If he is indeed wise, he does not bid you to enter the house of his wisdom, but rather leads you to the threshold of your own mind’ Kahlil Gibran.
Write short note on the following:
The 1883 eruption
Have you seen non-commercial advertisements - those that are not ‘selling’ anything but are only giving people useful information?
If you saw someone abusing an animal, what would you do? Write about it in 5 lines.
Add ten more words to the list on your own. Each of the component words must be meaningful.
Complete the following sentence with reference to the passage:
He realised that making the body suffer was not ____________.
Imagine that there is a Mr Somebody who has to correct all the wrongs that are done by Mr Nobody. Write in the following table, what Mr Somebody will have to do.
| Mr Nobody’s Actions | Tasks for Mr Somebody |
| 1. The plate is broken / cracked | Mend the plate. / Throw it away carefully. |
| 2. The book is torn | ____________ |
| 3. The door is ajar. | ____________ |
| 4. The buttons are pulled from the shirt | ____________ |
| 5. The pins are scattered. | ____________ |
| 6. The door is still squeaking. | ____________ |
| 7. There are finger marks upon the door. | ____________ |
| 8. The ink has spilled over. | ____________ |
| 9. Boots are lying around. | ____________ |
| 10. ____________ | ____________ |
| 11. ____________ | ____________ |
Add a few more things to the list in the above table, using your own ideas and experience.
Write one or two sentences about something beautiful, using your own experience or imagination. Then rearrange the words in the sentences in a poetic form. You may write about a beautiful day, a beautiful night, a stream, a crop standing in a field, a graceful bird or animal, etc.
The table-tennis set was gifted by ______.
Now try to add a contradictory word to the following:
- What a ______ mess you’ve got us into!
- It’s a ______ imitation of a diamond necklace.
- My trip to Matheran was a ______ holiday.
- With such heavy makeup, she looks ______ ugly.
- A ______ crowd gathered to see the magic show.
Note: Contrasting words that go together are examples of the language device called Oxymoron.
What did Gopal Bhand say he was doing?
Guess the meaning of the following word.
fruitless
What did he try to take the milk from?
What did Ahmad tell Kasim when he dug a channel and began to draw water?
Write what the lark does.
How did the cops manage to enter the locked house?
Answer the following question in about 100-150 word.
Narrate the extensive search operation made by the policemen in the house.
What did Usha buy in the market? List them.
Why does the poet tell us to speak gently to young children?
ashen – pale
His face was ashen.
Read the poem aloud in groups.
Where did Raj’s mother send him?
What did she sell to support her family?
Geetha madam couldn’t stop the children running out of the train because they ______.
One of the Lilliputians gave a ten minutes talk in Gulliver’s language.
The second daughter ________ the milet to a flock of birds.
A country should have inner boundaries. Justify.
Jaswant was helped by __________ tribal girls.
Robot asked Vicky to sell him to an ______ master.
Choose the correct option from the given homophones.
I saw a ______ on the flower.
Identify the character or the speaker.
“I will camp here for the night.”
Try your own.
The message was to gather on ______.
Three waves hit the village.
All the animals called the sparrow ______.
If we didn’t have boundaries, we don’t need _______.
Who made the tree become a monster?
Divya loved solving _______.
What happened to Jayan?
Moles dig ______ to catch earth worms.
In real, the test is for______.
Read the passage carefully and answer the following question.
What is the main idea of the story?
Name the animal and sound it makes.
______ was helpful for his father to drive out the wild animals.
Write the word with same meaning.
Torch
Although Helen could not hear or see, what kind of girl was she?
When should we not water the plants?
