Question

Look for these expressions in the story and guess the meaning from the context

brusquely	attuned himself
queer rhythmic frenzy	wrenching
flush of prosperity	daze of bewilderment
wide-eyed wonder and eager homage
talking animatedly	tremulous deliberation
on terms of a perpetual feud

Answer 1

• Brusquely: It is an adverb which means blunt, rough, or in an abrupt manner.
• Queer rhythmic frenzy: Queer means a strange or odd from a conventional viewpoint; unusually different; singular.
• flush of prosperity: Flush means a sudden abundance or spate of something. Thus, flush of prosperity here refers to gaining a lot of wealth and riches, suddenly.
• wide- eyes wonder and eager homage: This phrase here exemplifies the expression of wonder, awe, reverence, and amazement which Srinath had on seeing Satyajit's wealth.
• talking animatedly: This denotes an enthusiastic and exciting way of talking. Everybody at Srinath's household referred to as 'devotees' here, talk with vigour and high spirit on seeing the arrival of Satyajit.
• on terms of a perpetual feud: This phrase means a matter of constant or long-lasting feud or quarrel.
• attuned himself: Attune means to become used to or get accustomed to. Thus, here, Satyajit is seen to have attuned himself to a list which enlisted things he thought to deny to. He wanted to quit a few habits like smoking. This he was attuned to.
• Wrenching: Wrenching is the sprain or the twisting pain within a person. The only reason Satyajit was on the train was to avoid the wrench within him, to get away from the unbearable pain.
• daze of bewilderment: Satyajit seemed perplexed and completely in a daze when a small girl came up to him to hang a garland around his neck. His bafflement is described here.
• tremulous deliberation: Satyajit's shaky afterthought or a trembling consideration at the end of the story is revealed when he says: 'What now.'