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प्रश्न
Certain words in the poem are in capital letters — why?
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उत्तर
Certain words in the poem which are in capital letters are: “HOW DARK?', 'ARE YOU LIGHT?', 'OR VERY DARK?', ' OR VERY LIGHT?'
These words exemplify the purpose of the poem which is to showcase the racist mentality of the fair-skinned. When a landlady talks to a tenant, the only matter of concern should be whether the person is suitable for staying with respect to his behaviour, financial position, etc. and not on his skin colour. These capital letters magnify the fact that it is more important for the landlady to know how dark-skinned the person on the other side of the phone is, rather than how erudite or intellectual or well-behaved he might be.
APPEARS IN
संबंधित प्रश्न
There were many reasons for Helen Keller's embittered childhood. What were they and how were they overcome?
Anne's father was close to her. What did she like about him? Why?
Answer any three of the following in 30-40 words each:
(a) Why has the poet’s mother been compared to the ‘late winter’s moon’?
(b) The poet says, ‘And yet, for these Children, these windows, not this map, their world.’ Which world do these children belong to? Which world is inaccessible to them?
(c) What was the plea of the folk who had put up the roadside stand?
(d) What will happen to Aunt Jennifer’s tigers when she is dead?
How does a black kite spread wildfire ?
How did Griffin meet his end ?
Read the following passage and do the activities:
B1 Match:
Match the areas given in Column ‘A’ with the description of Mehendi design given in Column ‘B’:
| 'A' | 'B" | ||
| (i) | North African | (a) | A mix of Indo-Pakistani and Arabic design |
| (ii) | Indian | (b) | Delicate loops and curves, paisleys, teardrops |
| (iii) | Arabic | (c) | Geometrical images |
| (iv) | South Asian | (d) | Local textiles, paintings, and architecture |
Henna comes from the leaves of the plant Lawsonia inertias. The plant grows in hot and dry climes and is native to North Africa, the Indian subcontinent and the Middle East. The leaves of the plant are dried and crushed to powder. Various additives such as coffee decoction, tea, lime juice, Mehendi and eucalyptus oil are mixed with the henna powder to increase the potency of the dry, this also helps to bind the powder to a paste-like consistency. The mixture is applied through cones in intricate patterns depending on the region of use.
Album of Patterns
Four major styles can be found in the vast dictionary of Mehendi designs. Earlier the application was restricted to hand and feet, but the adoption of Mehendi by different cultures throughout the world has seen experimentation on different body parts including the neck naval and back.
North African patterns rely on geometrical images to trace the shape of hands and feet, Arabic designs borrow heavily from local textiles, paintings, and architecture. These are more spaced out, to allow the design to stand out boldly from the skin parts left untouched by henna. The Indian style comprises of delicate loops and curves, paisleys, teardrops and flowers that give a dainty filigreed glow-like effect. Though intricate patterning is the name of the game today, this trend took off in India only during the 20th century. The patterns preferred by the South Asian countries are mixed with Indo-Pakistani and Arabic design schemes. Chinese and Celtic symbols now find a place in the vast repertoire of Mehendi designs as well.
B2 Complete:
Complete the following and write:
(i) The procedure before applying henna _______
(ii) The reasons for using additives _______
(iii) The suitable climatic conditions for the henna plant _______
(iv) Mehendi is used on _______
B3 Find words:
Look at the following description and find out proper words from the passage and write:
(i) Existing naturally in the place : - n _______
(ii) Consist of something: - c _______
(iii) Delicate decoration made from gold, silver and copper wire: - f _______
(iv) Substance that is added in small quantity : - a _______
B4 Language study:
Fill in the blanks with suitable subordinators given in the box:
| as well as, so that, however, which |
(i) The mixture is applied through cones in intricate patterns _______ depend on the region of use.
(ii) The intricate pattern is the name of the game of today _______, this trend took off in India, recently.
(iii) North African pattern relies on geometrical images ______ they can trace the shape of hands and feet.
(iv) The patterns preferred by the South Asian countries are mixed with Indo-Pakistani _______ Arabic design schemes.
B5 Personal Response:
Which Mehendi design do you like? Why?
Read the following passage carefully and do the given activities:
A.1) True or False:
Write the statements and state whether they are true or false:
(i) Those who choose to live well must help others.
(ii) If neighbors grow inferior corn, cross-pollination will steadily improve the quality.
(iii) The farmer grew award-winning corn.
(iv) The reporter discovered that the farmer didn’t share his seed corn with his neighbors.
There once was a farmer who grew award-winning corn. Each year he entered his corn in the state fair where it won a blue ribbon. One year a newspaper reporter interviewed him and learned something interesting about how he grew it. The reporter discovered that the farmer shared his sweet corn with his neighbors. “How can you afford to share your best seed corn with your neighbors when they are entering corn in competition with yours each year?” the reporter asked.
“Why sir”, said the farmer, “didn’t you know? The wind picks up pollen from the ripening corn and swirls it from field to field. If my neighbors grow inferior corn, cross-pollination will steadily degrade the quality of my corn. If I am to grow good corn, I must help my neighbors grow good corn.” He is very much aware of the connectedness of life. His corn cannot improve unless his neighbor's corn also improves. So it is with our lives. Those who choose to live in peace must help their neighbors to live in peace. Those who choose to live well must help others to live well, for the value of a life is measured by the lives it touches.
The lesson for each of us is this: if we are to grow good corn, we must help our neighbors grow good corn.
A.2) Consequences:
Write the consequences:
(i) The farmer shares the corn.
(ii) The farmer doesn’t share the corn.
A.3) Antonyms:
Find out the words opposite in meaning from the passage:
(i) superior x _______
(ii) lost x _______
(iii) improve x _______
(iv) inconstantly x _______
A.4) Language study:
(i) We must help our neighbors. (Replace the modal auxiliary showing advice).
(ii) The wind picks up pollen from ripening corn and swirls it field to field. (Use “not only…….. but also” and rewrite)
A.5) Personal Response:
What do you learn from the story? Suggest a suitable title.
Complete the call-outs:
A.1)
Our world is an institution
Of environmental pollution
We choose not to care
For our future generations
And I for one am guilty
For buying the hundreds of electronic gadgets
That attracts the industries to produce like maggots
environmental pollution is at the heart of our planet
The forests are dying
Wildlife is crying
Millions of fish are dying
Mother earth is sighing
Tell me is it right
That we sleep well at night
Replenishing ourselves
For tomorrow’s greedy fight
Overcrowded trains
Overloaded brains
Where is the light? What is our plight?
While the river break their banks
And greedy industries play their polluted pranks.
A.2) Find the examples that show that we do not care for our future generation
A.3) Match:
Match the lines in Column ‘A’ with the figures of speech in Column ‘B’:
| Column ‘A’ | Column ‘B’ | ||
| (i) | Our world is an institution | (a) | Personification |
| (ii) | Mother earth is sighing | (b) | Simile |
| (c) | Metaphor |
How would you say ‘a dilapidated drum’ in your language?
Describe the shifts in the narration of the events as indicated in the three sections of the text. Give a subtitle to each section.
Put down the images that come to your mind immediately when you see the words in the box.
| Cat cupboard wall pond bird |
Briefly explain the following statement from the text.
“You neither travelled to the past nor the future. You were in the present experiencing a different world.”
What kind of a person do you think the narrator is?
Explain the line:
Within a week it sickened to a raging fever and its pulse went up to a hundred and fifty in the shade.
The title, 'Refugee Blues' encapsulates the theme of the poem. Comment.
Make a list of the preparations made for an assault on Tiger Hill.
Throughout the last week of June 1999, 18 Grenadiers ____________.
Paraphrase the poem in your own simple language. Write it down in your notebook.
The mother was working, when the Swallow brought the yellow jewel.
Say where . . . . . . .
______ do squirrels store their food?
A past student of your school has cleared his UPSC examination and being an IAS officer has been appointed as a Collector of your district. Write a formal letter to invite him to your school to share the story of his success, at a special function.
Find at least two things from the poem that show the following:
It is the early morning.
Explain the use of the following property in the development of the play.
Stick
Draw word webs for the following. Begin with the given word and go on writing as many other words associated with it, as you can. Use these words to write other related words to form a word web.

Prepare similar word chains using the following ideas.
size - big _______________.
Talk about the good qualities of any one person you do not like. (You need not name the person.)
Identify one example of a main clause and one example of a dependent clause from the content below:
Troy was filled with the sight of leaping flames and the sound of shouting and the noise of weapons and the cries of weeping women. The sleeping Trojans sprang out of their beds, but they were taken by surprise. Their enemies were right inside their walls, and many of the Trojans were killed before they could put on their armour and seize their weapons.
A bright light lit up the night sky as palaces and houses, temples and towers, went up in flames. The Trojans fought as well as they could, but it was all in vain. Old King Priam was killed with all his brave sons. Hector’s wife and his old mother and sister were carried off as slaves by the conquerors. Their fate was in contrast to Helen’s when King Menelaus rushed through the city, looking for her, and found her in her palace. She hung her head in shame and sorrow as she faced her former husband. Her voice was choked with emotion and she could not speak. But Menelaus forgave her and she went back with him, for it was only Aphrodite who had turned her heart away from her home and her husband and her child.
When morning came, nothing was left of the proud, rich city that had resisted attack for ten years.
Pick out words from the poem that describe the following. List them in Column ‘A’. Substitute each of those describing words with another word/phrase of the same meaning.
| A (Poetic words) | B (Your own words) | |
| the ‘Autumn’ | a maiden fair | |
| stars | ||
| moonlight | ||
| cooing of birds |
Form groups of 4. Find all the references to the time given in the passage. Then make a chart to show the events described in the passage along with the time when they occur. Example:
| All night long: | The crew stayed on their feet. |
| Near midnight: | ________________________ |
| At 12.53: | ________________________ |
(Use as many lines as you need.)
Answer in your own words.
How many chores did the ancestor from 1800 have to do?
Observe the picture and the labels carefully. Then match the words and the meanings given in the following table.

| Words | Meaning |
| 1. yard | (a) a floor, flat area built on a ship |
| 2. mast | (b) the forward part of the main body of a ship |
| 3. bow | (c) the forward part of a deck |
| 4. deck | (d) tall, upright pole on a ship |
| 5. forecastle | (e) a pole slung across a ship’s mast. A sail hangs from a yard. |
| 6. starboard | (f) the rearmost (back) part of a ship |
| 7. stern | (g) the part which is always at the front while the ship is sailing. |
| 8. afterdeck | (h) the right-hand side of a ship as one faces forward |
| 9. fore | (i) an open deck near the back |
From the poem, find the old word used for each of the following :
- towards
- here
- does
Find out how the following game is played.
Kabaddi
How was Gulliver taken to the city?
List all the words and phrases in this story that indicate 'time'.
Show the major events in the story of Pheidippides on a ‘time-line’.
Guess the meaning of the following word.
coarse grained
How did the bird try to reach its parents without having to fly?
____________ raised a dreadful storm.
Read the following lines from the poem and answer the question given below.
There's a family nobody likes to meet;
They live, it is said, on Complaining Street
- Where does the family live?
- Why do you think the street is named as ‘Complaining Street’?
What did Usha see while walking to the bazaar?
What challenges does Alice face and how does she overcome them?
drenched – thoroughly wet
He is drenched to the skin. ______
Ridleys come to lay their eggs in the month of January.
The turtles use their flippers and make a hollow for their nests.
Women/Men can achieve anything, provided they put their heart and soul into it. Discuss in the class. Do you think being a man or a woman makes a difference?
Vicky pleaded his father to buy a robot.
A robot advised her to______.
______is a Do It Yourself kid.
Identify the character/speaker.
"Grow the fish at home, Anbu."
What was the lesson learnt by Uthaman?
Choose the champion of the year.
Why did the king want a leader who knows to grow a plant?
The merchants sold things made of______.
What did Bala want to learn?
What would you have done if your grandmother would have slipped?

From where did the naughty boy come?
What did the boy wonder about?
Write the compound words from the picture.
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| ______ | |


