Question

Summarise the story with the help of the points given below.

1. Meena’s initial attitude
2. Meena’s meeting with Sudha Murthy in Mumbai
3. Beggar’s incident
4. Change in attitude

Summary Maker

Dos	Don’ts
Use important/relevant points/incidents/events short forms of the text.	Select irrelevant/less important points/ incidents/events
Make a paragraph containing the message, theme etc.	exceed the word limit
Use your own language taking help of the sentences in a topic and key words.	reproduce/copy the text

Answer 1

Meena was an LIC officer in Bangalore and a friend of the writer. She was a pessimistic person who always saw the negative side of things and never said anything positive about anyone or anything. She was such a pessimist that even the writer felt depressed when she was around her. Meena was later transferred to Bombay, and the writer didn’t see her for a few years. One rainy day, the writer was in Bombay on official business and ran into Meena. Meena cheerfully greeted the writer and insisted she stay the night with her so that they could catch up. When the writer politely refused, Meena invited the writer to have tea with her at the Grand Hotel. The writer was surprised to see Meena’s changed attitude towards life. Meena told the writer that a beggar changed her life. She told her about the incident where she saw the beggar and his granddaughter playing on the road on a rainy day. She saw how happy and satisfied they were. The incident made Meena reflect on her life and the comforts she had been blessed with. That day, Meena decided to adopt a more positive attitude towards life, keeping the beggar as her role model. It took Meena two years to completely change her attitude, but she did become a positive person. She wanted to give ‘gurudakshina’ to her guru - the beggar- but he was dead by the time she had turned her life around. So, she sponsored the beggar’s granddaughter to a boarding school.