Question

Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow:

1	As a novelist and storyteller, I have always drawn upon my memories of places that I have known and lived in over the years. More than most writers, perhaps, I find myself drawing inspiration from the past — my childhood, adolescence, youth, early manhood ... But to talk of my early inspiration I must go back to my very beginnings, to the then small, princely state of Jamnagar, tucked away in the Gulf of Kutch. Here my father started a small palace school for princesses. I was there till the age of six, and I still treasure vivid memories of Jamnagar's beautiful palaces and sandy beaches.
2	Some of these landmarks are preserved for me in photographs taken by my father, which I have to this day. An old palace with pretty windows of coloured glass remained fixed in my memory and many years later gave me the story, “The Room of Many Colours”, which also inspired an episode in a TV serial called Ek Tha Rusty. I spent a memorable year and a half with him in New Delhi, then still a very new city — just the capital area designed by Edwin Lutyens and Connaught Place, with its gleaming new shops and restaurants and cinemas. I saw Laurel and Hardy films and devoured milkshakes at the Milk Bar, even as the Quit India Movement gathered momentum.
3	When I was seventeen, I was shipped off to the UK to “better my prospects” as my mother put it. Out of longing for India and the friends I had made in Dehra came my first novel — The Room on the Roof — featuring the life and loves of Rusty, my alter ego. In the 1950s everyone travelled by sea, as air services were still in their infancy. A passenger liner took about three weeks from Southampton to Bombay (now Mumbai). After docking in Bombay, I took a train to Dehra, where I stepped onto the platform of the small railway station and embarked on the hazardous journey of a freelance writer. Railway stations! Trains! Platforms! I knew as long as these were there I would never run out of stories.
4	I also looked for inspiration in tombs and monuments and the ever-expanding city, but did not find it, and my productivity dropped. Escape from Delhi had become a priority for me. I felt drawn to the hills above Dehra. On the outskirts of Mussoorie I found a small cottage, surrounded by oak and maple trees where the rent, thankfully, was nominal. :
5	I'm of the opinion that every writer needs a window. Preferably two Is the house, the room, the situation ... important for a writer? A good wordsmith should be able to work anywhere. But to me, the room you live in day after day is all-important. The stories and the poems float in through my window, float in from the magic mountains, and the words appear on the page without much effort on my part. Planet Earth belongs to me. And at night, the stars are almost within reach.

1. On the basis of your understanding of the above passage, answer any four of the following questions in 30 - 40 words each:

1. What does the writer remember about Jamnagar?
2. How did he spend time in Delhi? 
3. What was the inspiration for the first novel and why?
4. What was the importance of trains and railway stations in his life? 
5. What was the importance of a window in the writer’s life?

2. On the basis of your understanding of the above passage, fill in any two of the following blanks with appropriate words/phrases:

1. He was shipped off to UK for ______. 
2. Everyone travelled by sea because ______.
3. The productivity dropped because ______.

3. Find out words/phrases from the passage that mean the same as the following. Attempt any two.

1. gulped down/swallowed (para 2)
2. early stage (para 3)
3. attracted to (para 4)

Answer 1

1.

1. The writer remembers and treasures all vivid memories of Jamnagar’s beautiful palaces and sandy beaches. Where his father had started a small palace school for the princesses. He also describes ‘Jamnanager’ as a priceless state tucked away in the Gulf of Kutch an old palace with pretty windows of coloured glass remains fixed in the memory of the writer till date.
2. The writer spent a memorable year and a half with his father in New Delhi. In Delhi the writer would spent time watching Laurel and Hardy films and devoured milk shakes at the milk bar, even as the Quit India Movement gathered momentum.
3. The writer was seventeen, when he was shipped off to UK to “better his prospects” there the writer’s longing for India and the friends he had made in Dehra lead to his inspiration for his first novel.
4. The importance of trains and railway stations in the writers life was as such that he know as long as these were there, he would never run out of stories.
5. The existence of windows in a room played a very important role as the stories and the poems float in through his window, float in from the magic mountains and the words appear on the page without much effort on his part. It made him feel that the planet earth belonged to him and at night the stars are almost within his reach.

2. 

1. He was shipped off to UK for better prospects.

2. Everyone travelled by sea because the air services were still in their infancy & a passenger liner took about three weeks from Southampton to Mumbai.

3. The productivity dropped because he was looking for inspiration in tombs and monuments and the ever expanding city.

3. 

1. Devoured
2. Infancy
3. Looked for