Question

Read the following passage and complete the activities given below :

A1 Find out :
Find from the passage the related words to the sea and write them.

ON FIERCE monsoon nights, about one and a quarter-mile off the Mumbai harbor, there have been occasions when 52-year-old Bikaji Ramchandra Dhuri is the only man on the sea. From the watchtower of the Prongs Reef Lighthouse, which is surrounded on all sides by the Arabian Sea, he has heard the sea rage like a possessed spirit – the darkness dispelled only by the beam of light flung across the waters from the tower he mans.

Dhuri is one of the last breeds of lighthouse keepers on the Indian coast, as a majority of the 182 lighthouses in the country are now unmanned. Built-in 1871, the Prongs Reef lighthouse was modeled on Scotland’s  Skerryvore Rocks Lighthouse and is located at a strategic spot on the western coast, marking the entrance to the busy Mumbai Harbour. It was meant to stem the number of shipwrecks off the harbor, which the lone Colaba lighthouse could not illumine on its own. “Even now, during nights, for fishing vessels without any gadgets, it’s the soft light from this tower which directs us to Mumbai,” says Vinayak Koli, a boatsman who helps ferry people and also goes on fishing expeditions.

Throughout the year, Dhuri lives in the lighthouse for 15 days at a stretch, when he is relieved by another keeper. In the monsoon, it becomes his home for three months. “We call it the Kalapana as we are alone in the middle of the sea for days, with basic supplies – and the revolving light that keeps the sea awake,” he says.

A2 Fill in the following information using words from the passage :
(i) The Prongs Reef lighthouse was modeled on _______.
(ii) Dhuri lives in the lighthouse for _______ at a stretch.
(iii) _______ is one of the last breeds of lighthouse keepers on the Indian coast.
(iv) The majority of the _______ lighthouses in the country are now unmanned.

A3 Read the words and find out the similar meaning words from the passage :

Violent

Scattered

Place of shelter for ships

Shine light

A4

(i) “We call it Kalapani as we are alone in the middle of the sea for days”, he says. (Use ‘that’ and rewrite the sentence)

(ii) It was meant to stem the number of shipwrecks of the harbor.

(a) was it? (b) wasn’t it? (c) is it?

(Select the proper tag and rewrite the sentence)

A5 Personal Response
Imagine you have to spend a night in a lighthouse. Narrate your experience.

Answer 1

A1 

A2 
(i) The Prongs Reef lighthouse was modeled on Scotland’s Skerryvore Rocks Lighthouse.
(ii) Dhuri lives in the lighthouse for 15 days at a stretch.
(iii) Dhuri is one of the last breeds of lighthouse keepers on the Indian coast.
(iv) The majority of the 182 lighthouses in the country are now unmanned.

A3 

A4 
(i) He says that they call it Kalapani as they are alone in the middle of the sea for days.
(ii) It was meant to stem the number of shipwrecks of the harbor, wasn’t it?

A5 I was so excited by the experience in a lighthouse. I went up to the lighthouse with my four friends. It was very dark inside the lighthouse. Everywhere it seems to be many ghosts standing here and there. We all were so scared.

Answer 2

A1 

A2 
(i) The Prongs Reef lighthouse was modeled on Scotland’s Skerryvore Rocks Lighthouse.
(ii) Dhuri lives in the lighthouse for 15 days at a stretch.
(iii) Dhuri is one of the last breeds of lighthouse keepers on the Indian coast.
(iv) The majority of the 182 lighthouses in the country are now unmanned.

A3 

Fierce

dispelled

harbour

illumine

A4 
(i) He says that they call it Kalapani as they are alone in the middle of the sea for days.
(ii) It was meant to stem the number of shipwrecks of the harbor, wasn’t it?

A5 I was so excited by the experience in a lighthouse. I went up to the lighthouse with my four friends. It was very dark inside the lighthouse. Everywhere it seems to be many ghosts standing here and there. We all were so scared.