Advertisements
Advertisements
Question
Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions that follow:
Every Monday, on his way back from work, Bipin Chowdhury would drop in at New Market to buy books. He had to buy at least five at a time to last him through the week. He lived alone, was not a good mixer, had few friends, and didn't like spending time in idle chat. Those who called in· the evening got through their business quickly and left. Those who didn't show signs of leaving would be told around eight o'clock by Bipin Babu that he was under doctor's orders to have dinner at eight-thirty. After dinner, he would rest for half an hour and then tum in with a book. This was a routine that had persisted unbroken for years
Today, Bipin Babu had the feeling that someone was observing him from close quarters. He turned around and found himself looking at a round-faced, meek-looking man who now broke into a smile.
"I don't suppose you recognize me." Bipin Babu felt ill at ease. It didn't seem that he had ever encountered this man before. The face seemed quite unfamiliar.
"Have we met before ?" asked Bipin Babu.
The man looked greatly surprised. "We met every day for a whole week. I arranged for a car to take you to the Hudroo falls. My name is Parimal Chose."
"Ranchi?"
Now Bipin Babu realized this man was making a mistake. Bipin Babu had never been to Ranchi. He smiled and said, "Do you know who I am?"
The man raised his eyebrows, and said, "Who doesn't know Bipin Chowdhury ?"
Bipin Babu turned towards the bookshelves and said, "You've to make a mistake. I've never been to Ranchi."
The man now laughed aloud.
"What are you saying, Mr. Chowdhury? You had a fall in Hudroo and cut your right knee. I brought you iodine. I had fixed up a car for you to go to Netarhat the next day, but you couldn't because of the pain in the knee. Can't you recall anything? Someone else you know was also in Ranchi at that time. Mr. Dinesh Mukherjee. You stayed in a bungalow. You said you didn't like hotel food. I'll tell you more; you always carried a bag with your books in it on your sightseeing trips. Am I right or not ?"
Bipin Babu spoke quietly, his eyes still on the books. "Which month in Nineteen fifty-eight are you talking about?"
The man said, "October."
"No, sir," said Bipin Babu. "I spent October Nineteen fifty-eight with a friend in Kanpur. You're making a mistake. Good day."
But the man didn't go, nor did he stop talking.
"Very strange. One evening I had tea with you on the verandah of your bungalow.
You spoke about your family. You said you had no children, and that you had lost your wife a decade ago."
When Bipin Babu had paid for the books and was leaving the shop, the man was still looking at him in utter disbelief.
Bipin Babu's car was safely parked in Bertram Street. He told the driver as he got into the car, "Just drive by the Ganga, will you, Sitaram." Driving up the Strand Road, Bipin Babu regretted having paid so much attention to the intn1der. He had never been to Ranchi. He had an excellent memory.
Unless he was losing his mind!
(a) Give the meaning of the following words as used in the passage.
One word answers or short phrases will be accepted.
(i) persisted (line 7)
(ii) decade (line 38)
(iii) intruder (line 43)
(b) Answer the following questions briefly in your our words:
(i) How did Bipin Chowdhury find time to read five books a week?
(ii) How did he get rid of visitors who stayed late?
(iii) Which sentence tells you that Bipin Babu will uncomfortable?
(iv) What strong argument did Bipin Babu give to prove that he was not in Ranchi at that time?
(v)What does Bipin Babu regret?
(vi) What is Bipin Babu's feelings at the end of the passage?
(c) (i) What memories of the trip does Parimal Ghose evoke to prove that Bipin Babu was indeed in Ranchi? Answer in not more than 60 words.
(ii) Give a title to your summary in 3(c) (i), Give a reason to justify your choice.
Advertisements
Solution
(a)
(i) continued
(ii) A period of ten years
(iii) Encroacher
(b)
(i) Bipin was not very good at mixing with people. Every Monday from his way back from work, he would buy five books. After having dinner at 8:30, he would rest for half an hour and turn to a book. This was a routine he had been following for years.
(ii) If the visitors did not leave by eight, he would tell that his doctor had advised him to have dinner by 8:30. This would make visitors leave.
(iii) The sentence which tells us that Bipin Babu was uncomfortable is that.
"Bipin Babu fell ill at ease".
(iv) Bipin Babu said that in October of 1958, he was in Kanpur with his friend and this was the strongest argument that he gave.
(v) Bipin Babu regretted having given so much attention to the intruder and for having. answered all his questions diligently.
(vi) Bipin Babu felt that he should not have. , given so much of importance to the intruder. He knew that he had an excellent memory unless he was losing his mind.
(c)
(i) Parimal Chose, in the beginning, told Bipin that when the latter had cut his right knee, he was the one to get iodine. He reminded me that how allergic Bipin was to hotel food and that he carried a bag of books. He added that Bipin had stayed in a bungalow and had also spoken about his family. (58 words)
(ii) The Persuasive Man: This is because Parimal Chose, by all means, tries to pursue Bipin'Chowdhury to believe in the fact that he had been to Ranchi before.
APPEARS IN
RELATED QUESTIONS
Tick the right answer.
When we take to something, we find it (boring/interesting).
How does he narrate the story of the tusker? Does it appear to be plausible?
Why are his teeth and gums navy blue?
“You haven’t brought home that sick brat!” Anger and astonishment were in the tones of Mrs. Joe Thompson; her face was in a flame.
“I think women’s hearts are sometimes very hard,” said Joe. Usually Joe Thompson got out of his wife’s way, or kept rigidly silent and non-combative when she fired up on any subject; it was with some surprise, therefore, that she now encountered a firmly-set countenance and a resolute pair of eyes.
“Women’s hearts are not half so hard as men’s!”
Joe saw, by a quick intuition, that his resolute bearing h«d impressed his wife and he answered quickly, and with real indignation, “Be that as it may, every woman at the funeral turned her eyes steadily from the sick child’s face, and when the cart went off with her dead mother, hurried away, and left her alone in that old hut, with the sun not an hour in the sky.”
“Where were John and Kate?” asked Mrs. Thompson.
“Farmer Jones tossed John into his wagon, and drove off. Katie went home with Mrs. Ellis; but nobody wanted the poor sick one. ‘Send her to the poorhouse,’ was the cry.”
“Why didn’t you let her go, then. What did you bring her here for?”
“She can’t walk to the poorhouse,” said Joe; “somebody’s arms must carry her, and mine are strong enough for that task.”
Read the extract given below and answer the question that follow.
How did Joe counter his wife on her remark about Maggie?
Mrs. Thompson did not reply, but presently turned towards the little chamber where her husband had deposited Maggie; and, pushing open the door, went quietly in. Joe did not follow; he saw that, her state had changed, and felt that it would be best to leave her alone with the child. So he went to his shop, which stood near the house, and worked until dusky evening released him from labor. A light shining through the little chamber windows was the first object that attracted Joe’s attention on turning towards the house: it was a good omen. The path led him by this windows and, when opposite, he could not help pausing to look in. It was now dark enough outside to screen him from observation. Maggie lay, a little raised on the pillow with the lamp shining full upon her face. Mrs. Thompson was sitting by the bed, talking to the child; but her back was towards the window, so that her countenance was not seen. From Maggie’s face, therefore, Joe must read the character of their intercourse. He saw that her eyes were intently fixed upon his wife; that now and then a few words came, as if in answers from her lips; that her expression was sad and tender; but he saw nothing of bitterness or pain. A deep-drawn breath was followed by one of relief, as a weight lifted itself from his heart.
Read the extract given below and answer the question that follow.
What did Joe see from the window?
She again rubbed a match on the wall, and the light shone round her; in the brightness stood her old grandmother, clear and shining, yet mild and loving in her appearance. “Grandmother,” cried the little one, “O take me with you; I know you will go away when the match burns out; you will vanish like the warm stove, the roast goose, and the large, glorious Christmas-tree.” And she made haste to light the whole bundle of matches, for she wished to keep her grandmother there. And the matches glowed with a light that was brighter than the noon-day, and her grandmother had never appeared so large or so beautiful. She took the little girl in her arms, and they both flew upwards in brightness and joy far above the earth, where there was neither cold nor hunger nor pain, for they were with God.
In the dawn of morning there lay the poor little one, with pale cheeks and smiling mouth, leaning against the wall; she had been frozen to death on the last evening of the year; and the New-year’s sun rose and shone upon a little corpse! The child still sat, in the stiffness of death, holding the matches in her hand, one bundle of which was burnt. “She tried to warm herself,” said some. No one imagined what beautiful things she had seen, nor into what glory she had entered with her grandmother, on New-year’s day.
Read the extract given below and answer the question that follow.
What happened when she lighted another match?
Margot stood alone. She was a very frail girl who looked as if she had been lost in the rain for years and the rain had washed out the blue from her eyes and the red from her mouth and the yellow from her hair. She was an old photograph dusted from an album, whitened away, and if she spoke at all her voice would be a ghost. Now she stood, separate, staring at the rain and the loud wet world beyond the huge glass. “What’re you looking at ?” said William. Margot said nothing. “Speak when you’re spoken to.” He gave her a shove. But she did not move; rather she let herself be moved only by him and nothing else. They edged away from her, they would not look at her. She felt them go away. And this was because she would play no games with them in the echoing tunnels of the underground city. If they tagged her and ran, she stood blinking after them and did not follow. When the class sang songs about happiness and life and games her lips barely moved. Only when they sang about the sun and the summer did her lips move as she watched the drenched windows.
Read the extract given below and answer the question that follow.
What was the reaction of the children towards Margot?
What did the beggar feel about the ladies of the household?
Why are snakes dangerous, according to you?
What does the word ‘chasing in the extract mean?
