Question

Answer any four of the following in 30−40 words each:

(a) What did garbage mean to the children of Seemapuri and to their parents?

(b) How did Rajkumar Shukla establish that he was resolute?

(c) 'Life is what it is all about;...' How is keeping quiet related to life?

(d) Mention any four things of beauty that add joy to our life.

(e) The manner of his (the Tiger King's) death is a matter of extraordinary interest. Comment.

(f) In what condition did Dr. Sadao find the American soldier at the seashore?

Answer 1

(a) Garbage was a means of survival to the people of Seemapuri. However, it had a different meaning to the children, for whom it was a mysterious package that held unknown valuables.
 
(b) Rajkumar Shukla was determined to take Gandhiji to Champaran to bring his attention to the cause of the sharecroppers. Though Gandhiji said that he had a prior arrangement to go to Kanpur, Shukla followed him. He even stayed in Ahmedabad for three days and left when Gandhi promised to be there on a particular date. Moreover, he waited at the appointed spot in Calcutta to take Gandhiji to Champaran.
 
(c) Keeping quiet does not mean absolute sluggishness. It simply means to quit doing all those activities that are destructive and harmful to nature. Mother Earth is also very quiet, but at the same time it nurtures life on it. Similarly, we should also be quiet and do something worthwhile.
 
(d) The poet says that a beautiful thing is a source of everlasting happiness. The four things that add joy to our life are the sun, the moon, a bower of trees and a clear stream of water.
 
(e) The Maharaja’s life revolved around killing tigers, but, ironically, he was killed by a wooden tiger. While playing with his son, the king was wounded and the infection led to his death. Destiny had taken its revenge on the king through the wooden tiger.
 
(f) Dr. Sadao saw the man thrown out of the ocean by a wave. He saw him stagger a few steps then fall on all fours. The man crawled before he fell on his face and lay there. Dr. Sadao found that he was wounded and unconscious. He had a gunshot wound on the right side of his lower back that had been reopened when it had struck against the rocks and was bleeding.