Advertisements
Advertisements
Question
What do you infer from Gardiner’s essay ‘On the rule of the Road'?
Advertisements
Solution
A.G. Gardiner’s essay ‘On the rule of the Road’ is a treatise on “liberty”. He starts the essay with an anecdote. A liberty-drunk Russian lady starts walking down the middle of the Highway frustrating car drivers, bus drivers, and the traffic police. When questioned about her behavior, she just replied that she now has the liberty to walk anywhere she liked. The author observes that if a pedestrian gives up the pavement in preference to the road, cars will be forced to move on to the pavement. This would result in universal chaos. Everybody would be getting in everybody’s way. Nobody would get anywhere. Individual liberty would have become social anarchy.
Under such circumstances, the world is in danger of getting liberty drunk. The rule of the road reminds the readers that in order that liberties of all may be preserved, the liberty of everybody must be curtailed. Thus the traffic police at Piccadilly Circus is not a symbol of tyranny but of liberty. He doesn’t hinder but helps the smooth flow of traffic. One has to allow curtailment of one’s liberty to enjoy the fruits of social order.
APPEARS IN
RELATED QUESTIONS
How did the narrator help the boys on Sunday?
Write a character sketch of Nicola and Jacopo.
Which character do you like the most in the story and why?
What is the second golden rule in the preparation of tea?
Why does the author refer to himself as being in ‘a minority’?
Elucidate the author’s ideas about teapots.
What thoughts troubled Dr. Christiaan Barnard as he neared the end of his career as a heart surgeon?
What were Dr. Barnard’s feelings when he was hospitalized after an accident?
How did the hospitalization of Dr. Barnard and his wife affect their routine?
What was the profound lesson that Dr. Barnard learnt from the boys?
Why does Dr. Barnard find suffering of children heartbreaking?
“These two children had given me a profound lesson …” Elucidate.
Adventures, expeditions, and explorations are always exciting. Especially when they are real and if it is the first of its kind, it is even more thrilling. The only question that comes to one’s mind is what makes one to take up such tasks that involve high risks. It is the spirit of formidable adventure and certain qualities which make them achieve such feats.
What did Hillary do with his wet boots?
What did Hillary mean by saying “We had had enough to do the job, but by no means too much”?
What did the photograph portray?
The soft snow was difficult and dangerous. Why?
What happened to the visitor when he sat on the stool?
When did the children get over the fear of sitting on the chair?
Why did Maamanaar hand over the chair to the villagers to retain it?
Narrate the humorous incidents that happened in the author’s home before and after the arrival of the chair.
Write character sketches of Maamanaar and Pedanna.
From the pictures given below, identity the actions that may cause inconvenience and discomfort to others. Discuss.
Define ‘liberty’ as perceived by the author.
How can we sweeten our life’s journey?
Why is there a danger of the world getting ‘liberty drunk’?
‘There is no height, no depth that the spirit of man, guided by higher Spirit cannot attain’. Discuss the above statement in the context of the achievement of Edmund Hillary and Tenzing.
