Advertisements
Advertisements
Question
How does 'A Munda song' show that the perspective of the tribal mind towards the girl child is different from that of [other ] mainstream communities?
Advertisements
Solution
In 'A Munda Song' the perspective of the tribal mind towards the girl child is different from that of (other) mainstream communities. This song welcomes the birth of a girl child. It celebrates the birth of a girl child. Contrary to the attitude of the mainstream communities, this Munda song regards the birth of a girl child as auspicious. This is beautifully expressed in the lines – A daughter was born, the cowshed filled up. Ironically, in mainstream communities the birth of a boy child is celebrated. The boy child is regarded as the carrier of the baton of the family line. The girl child usually becomes an object of neglect and is looked down upon as a burden.
APPEARS IN
RELATED QUESTIONS
How important was the presence of Miss Anne Sullivan in Helen’s life?
Orangutans use big leaves during a downpour because
Combine related points.
Explain the phrase.
Time's fool
What were the lessons of life learnt in her younger days that Kumudini carried into her adult life?
'Trees are sacred my grandmother used to say'– what does the poet imply by this line?
Pick out words from the poem to fill in the web diagram. They should be related to the theme in the web.
Answer in your own words.
What are the provisions in the Declaration of the United Nations, to ensure the equality of men and women?
Correct the following statement.
Sue and Johnsy were good neighbours.
Play the roles of an interviewer and a Great Indian Bustard and present the interview in the classroom.
Fill in the gap, choosing a word from the bracket to make an appropriate comparison.
(tall / quiet / humble / merry / busy / slippery / fast / sly / slow / big)
as ______ as an elephant
Read the passage and answer the following question:
What is 'Param Vir Chakra'?
Write a useful ‘ad’ for the importance of games, drinking enough water, your own school.
Write a short note on the following:
Care of animals in the regime of Emperor Ashoka
Write a short note on the following:
Utilization of animal by-products in the ancient world.
Write the conditions that Portia put down to warn Shylock.
Who is the speaker in the poem?
An activity:
Speak fast, think faster! Form groups of 4-6. Discuss each of the following topics. Then each person in the group should choose a topic and speak about it for one minute. Try to say as many sentences as you can in that time.
Imagine you are watching a scene. For example, someone learning to ride a bicycle; or a cricket match. Give a running commentary on what you see.
‘Monu is sitting on the bicycle. It has side wheels. Monu tries to push the pedal down - No - he stops. His uncle holds the seat in one hand and the handle in the other hand. He says, ‘Come on, Monu’... etc.
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.
We all follow a class time table made by the school. Imagine for a minute what will happen if there was no time table for your class.
Write about the sights you may see from a bus or an airplane. You may write it in the form of a short poem.
Answer in your own words.
What excuses did Neel give to avoid cleaning his room?
Answer in your own words.
What did Neel realise from his encounter with his ancestors?
Choose the appropriate phrase to insert in the gap, to make the sentence meaningful. Use the appropriate form of the verb.
Before we do the experiment in the Laboratory, let me ______ you all about it.
Write the symbol that is used in the poem to represent the following idea.
It was tempting and needed to be tried.
Write in your own words.
How does the poet glorify his home in the first stanza?
What plans did the wife make?
Find the meaning of the following word.
rated
Guess the meaning of the following word in the poem.
lined
What is a password?
What are the common Rangoli designs or motifs?
Describe the struggles underwent by the young seagull to overcome its fear of flying.
Why did Chulong catch the bird?
Does Chulong want to earn money honestly?
Read the following line from the poem and answer the question given below.
| And so it were wisest to keep our feet From wandering into Complaining Street; |
- What is the wisest thing that the poet suggests?
- What does the phrase ‘to keep our feet from wandering’ refer to?
What did Suresh ask Usha? Why?
Read the lines and answer the questions.
There are many legends based on their heroic exploits
a legacy of tales which have been told with much adroit
- What does ‘heroic exploits’ mean?
- What are legends?
Read the following lines and answer the questions.
It’s part of his hours, his days and his years,
Back of his smiles and behind his tears.
What does ‘tears’ mean?
Who first brought these vegetables to India?
Mithali is one of the women players to score seven consecutive 50s.
Identify the speaker/character.
"Don't let us down now, Gulliver; we need your help."
The little bird found a shallow hollow in the ground.
Who was challenged for a race?
The aliens gave a new shuttle to them.
When did the battle of Nauranang start? How long did it continue?
Name the character or speaker.
"Play me a pleasant song."
Look at the picture and Choose the correct word.
The bird catcher’s clothes were dry.
What will you do if someone ensnares birds?
Master trained Akilan on a ______.
Write the rhyming word.
gale
Fill in the blank
Hundial is a______ pot.
Name the animal and sound it makes.
Keep moving though your progress is ______.
What sort of a boy is described in the poem?
Who said – “Oh, my ears and whiskers? How late it’s getting!”
What was the most important thing that Helen finally understood?
Now, read the following biographical extract on Sujatha Rangarajan, a Sciencefiction writer, and answer the questions that follow.
- Sujatha is the allonym of the Tamil author S. Rangarajan and it is this name that is recognised at once by the Tamil SciFi reading community. You might have seen the Tamil movie ‘Endiran’ where the robot Chitti exhibits extraordinary talents in an incredible manner. The robot could excel a human being in any act, beyond one’s imagination. Jeeno, a robotic dog which appeared in Sujatha’s science fiction novel “En Iniya Iyandhira” (My Dear Robot) formed the basis of Chitti’s character. Like Chitti, Jeeno was an allrounder who could cook, clean and fight. High-tech computer technology terms are used in the story. Jeeno, a pet robot, plays an important role throughout the story. As the story proceeds, it behaves and starts to think on its own like a human and instructs Nila, a human being, on how to proceed further in her crises.
- In the preface of ‘En Iniya Iyandhira’, the writer states the reason for his attraction to the genre: “Science gives us the wonderful freedom to analyse thousands and thousands of alternative possibilities. While using it, and while playing with its new games, a writer needs to be cautious only about one thing. The story should draw some parallels or association from the emotions and desires of the present humankind. Only then it becomes interesting. Jeeno, the robot dog, was intelligent. But the character became popular only because of the robot’s frequently displayed human tendencies.” It is no wonder that all his works echo these words and will remain etched in the minds of the readers who enjoy reading his novels to have a wonderful lifetime experience.
- It was Sujatha, who set the trend for sci-fi stories. He had tracked the origin from Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein to his short stories. He has written 50 sci-fi short stories and these were published in various Tamil magazines. His stories have inspired many readers to extend their reading to English sci-fi writers like Isaac Asimov. The themes were bold, even if there was a dependence on a very well-established characterization of English fiction. Sujatha opened up a new world to us with his writings on holograms, computers and works like ‘En Iniya Iyanthira’ inspire many to study computer science.
- He has been one of the greatest writers for more than four decades. He combined reasoning and science in his writings. Being a multifaceted hi-fi and sci-fi humanistic author, he expressed his views distinctively. He was the one who took Tamil novels to the next level. As an MIT alumnus and an engineer at BHEL, he was very good at technology. He could narrate sci-fi stories impressively. His readers always enjoyed reading all his detective and sci-fi novels which featured the most famous duo ‘Ganesh’ and ‘Vasanth’.
- Sujatha has played a crucial role as a playwright for various Tamil movies which have fascinated movie lovers. Hence, it is fathomable that the writer’s perspective of future India enthuses every reader and paves a new way to reading sci-fi stories in English.
A. Answer the following questions in a sentence or two.
- How was Jeeno different from other robots?
- What precaution should one take while writing Science fiction stories?
- What inspired Sujatha’s themes?
- Why were Sujatha’s sci-fi stories impressive?
B. Find words from the passage which mean the same as the following.
- difficult to believe (para 1)
- a style or category of art, music or literature (para 2)
- having many sides (para 4)
- capable of being understood (para 5)
Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow
Humans have long been fascinated by fiction. We experience excitement in assigning supernatural power to imaginary characters in fictional stories – and so we have Spider man, Batman, He–man, Titans and many more. The ‘Cyborg’ was an offshoot of such wild imagination of humans to invest our species with superhuman powers. Today, the Cyborg is no more an imaginary organism. We are living in a world where a sizeable population of humans have merged their bodies with technological implants. The term ‘Cyborg’, short for ‘cybernetic organism’, was coined to describe a man, whose body is implanted with technological devices to supplement and substitute body functions.
Cyborgs include people with cardiac pacemakers, contact lenses, bionic ears and eyes, prosthetics and so on. In other words, a cyborg is partly human and partly machine. The technological innovations in the field of medicine and healthcare augment humans with machines, producing a beta version of the human body. The advent of brain machine interfaces is certain to blur the boundary between humans and machines. Scientists are working hard to find a technique for age reversal too. People do not want to die, so mankind is striving to get to the final frontier, which is development of machines and devices that would accord man immortality.
The needs of humans are not limited. As time passes, food habits change, thinking patterns change, and even appearances change. We are about to travel by driverless, fully automated vehicles. Computers and smart phones have become our masters. The more we depend and merge with technological advancements, the more the humanness in us slowly erodes. Intelligence is sought to be infused into machines and robotics are designed in such a way to give man a virtual human companion. The field of artificial intelligence is overtaking the human brain and many fear that it could even harm the human race. Despite certain limitations and potential threats, many believe that cyborgs will be the next step in the evolution of mankind. The amalgamation of man and machine is sure to add a new dimension to the life of mankind and this will prove to be the ‘biggest evolution in Biology’ since the emergence of life, four billion years ago.
Questions:
a) Account for the popularity of characters with supernatural powers.
b) Who is referred to as a ‘Cyborg’?
c) What is expected to happen with the advent of the brain machine interface?
d) The needs of humans are not limited. How is this statement elaborated in the passage?
e) How can a machine turn into a virtual companion for humans?
f) Explain the flipside of the rapid technological advancement.
g) Identify the word in para 1 which means ‘everlasting life’.
h) Which of the following words is synonymous with ‘amalgamation’?
- recreation
- integration
- exploration
- proposition
i) Which of the following options is the antonym of the word ‘advent’?
- drawback
- dispute
- departure
- danger
j) Find out the word which is the antonym of ‘natural’ in para 3.
