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Question
Why does the author say that Iswaran seemed to more than make up for the absence of a TV in Mahendra’s living quarters?
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Solution
Iswaran used to narrate different dramatic stories to Mahendra. Not a day passed when he did not recount some story packed with adventure, horror or suspense. Mahendra enjoyed listening to these stories, whether it was credible or not, because of the manner in which they were narrated. It is for this reason that the narrator says that Iswaran seemed to more than make up the absence of a TV in Mahendra’s living quarters.
RELATED QUESTIONS
Answer the question in a short paragraph.
What is the belief at Pashupatinath about the end of Kaliyug?
Thinking about the Poem
What do the last four lines of the poem mean to you?
Listen to this extract from Shakespeare's play As You Like It. As you listen, read
the poem aloud; you can do this more than once.
All the world's a stage
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages. At first the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms.
Then the whining schoolboy, with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,
Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad
Made to his mistress' eyebrow. Then a soldier.
Full of strange oaths, and bearded like the pard,
Jealous in honour, sudden and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation.
Even in the cannon's mouth. And then the justice,
In fair round belly with good capon lined,
With eyes severe and beard of formal cut,
Full of wise saws and modern instances;
And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slippered pantaloon,
With spectacles on nose and pouch on side,
His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide
For his shrunk shank; and his big manly voice,
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion,
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.
About the Poet
William Shakespeare (1564-1616) was born in Stratford-upon-Avon. He is
considered by many to be the greatest dramatist of all time. He wrote 154 sonnets, two
long narrative poems and about three dozen plays. Shakespeare used poetic and
dramatic means to create unified aesthetic effects. In verse, he perfected the dramatic
blank verse.
What does he plant who plants a tree? a
He plants a friend of sun and sky;b
He plants the flag of breezes free;
The shaft of beauty, towering high;
He plants a home to heaven anigh;
For song and mother-croon of bird
In hushed and happy twilight heard____
The treble of heaven's harmony_____
These things he plants who plants a tree.
Read the lines given above and answer the question that follow:
Explain with reference to context.
Six humans trapped by happenstance
In black and bitter cold.
Each one possessed a stick of wood,
Or so the story's told.
Their dying fire in need of logs;
The first man held his back.
For on the faces around the fire,
He noticed one was black.
Read the lines given above and answer the question that follow:
What is suggested by the use of the word trapped?
For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.
Read the lines given above and answer the question that follow.
What happens to the poet when he is sometime in a pensive mood?
Abou Ben Adhem (may his tribe increase!)
Awoke one night from a deep dream of peace,
And saw, within the moonlight in his room,
Making it rich, and like a lily in bloom,
An angel writing in a book of gold:-
Read the lines given above and answer the following question.
Name the poet of the given lines.
And is mine one?' said Abou.
'Nay, or not so,'Replied the angel,
Abou spoke more low,
But cheery still; and said ,'I pray thee, then,
Write me as one that loves His fellow men.'
Read the lines given above and answer the following question.
What did the angel tell Adhem?
Lights were shining from every window, and there was a savoury smell of roast goose, for it was New-year’s eve—yes, she remembered that. In a corner, between two houses, one of which projected beyond the other, she sank down and huddled herself together. She had drawn her little feet under her, but she could not keep off the cold; and
she dared not go home, for she had sold no matches, and could not take home even a penny of money. Her father would certainly beat her; besides, it was almost as cold at home as here, for they had only the roof to cover them, through which the wind howled, although the largest holes had been stopped up with straw and rags. Her little hands were almost frozen with the cold. Ah! perhaps a burning match might be some good, if she could draw it from the bundle and strike it against the wall, just to warm her fingers. She drew one out—“scratch!” how it sputtered as it burnt! It gave a warm, bright light, like a little candle, as she held her hand over it. It was really a wonderful light. It seemed to the little girl that she was sitting by a large iron stove, with polished brass feet and a brass ornament. How the fire burned! and seemed so beautifully warm that the child stretched out her feet as if to warm them, when, lo! the flame of the match went out, the stove vanished, and she had only the remains of the half-burnt match in her hand.
Read the extract given below and answer the question that follow.
Where did the girl seek some shelter from the cold?
“Do the scientists really know? Will it happen today, will it ?”
“Look, look; see for yourself !”The children pressed to each other like so many roses, so many weeds, intermixed, peering out for a look at the hidden sun. It rained. It had been raining for seven years; thousands upon thousands of days compounded and filled from one end to the other with rain, with the drum and gush of water, with the sweet crystal fall of showers and the concussion of storms so heavy they were tidal waves come over the islands. A thousand forests had been crushed under the rain and grown up a thousand times to be crushed again. And this was the way life was forever on the planet Venus, and this was the schoolroom of the children of the rocket men and women who had come to a raining world to set up civilization and live out their lives.
Read the extract given below and answer the question that follow.
What is the weather like on Venus? How long has it been like this?
Read the extract given below and answer tire questions that follow:
Trotter: (Leaning on the refectory table) Those simple actions took you rather a long time, didn’t they, Mr Ralston?
Giles: I don’t think so. (He moves away to the stairs)
Trotter: I should say you definitely - took your time over them.
Giles: I was thinking about something.
Trotter: Very well. Now then, Mr Wren, I’ll have your account of where you were.
(i) What 'simple actions' of Giles was Trotter referring to? Where had Giles been? Who had sent him there?
(ii) How did Christopher Wren account for his whereabouts at the time of tire murder?
(iii} Where was Paravicini at that time? What was he doing?
(iv) Whom did Giles accuse of having committed the murder? On what did he base this accusation?
(v) Mollie shared her suspicions regarding the identity of the murderer with Trotter, later in this scene. Whom did she suspect of being the murderer? What reasons did she give for the suspicion?
Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:
There’s nobody on the house-tops now …..
Just a palsied few at the windows set;
For the best of the sight is, all allow,
At the Shambles’ Gate …… or, better yet,
By the very scaffold’s foot, I trow.
– The Patriot, Robert Browning
(i) Who is the speaker? Where is he being taken? Why?
(ii) Describe the scene when he had walked down the same street a year ago.
(iii) Where does the speaker think all the people had gathered that day? Why does he think so?
(iv) Describe the speaker's physical condition.
(v) What is the central message of the poem? Does the poem and on a note of hope or despair? Give one reason for your answer.
Complete the sentence below by appropriately using anyone of the following:
if you want to/if you don’t want to/if you want him to
My neighbour, Ramesh, will take you to the doctor____________________.
Where did Mr Wonka carry on his experiments?
Where did father bring the ladder from?
Why did the dog prefer a strong master to live in the jungle?
How did the villagers come to know of the magic waterfall?
How did the villagers react after tasting the water of the magic waterfall?
Magic is used to manipulate, intimidate and amaze the various characters in the play. Give your views on this statement by referring to any two examples from the Acts studied.
What strategy does Cassius suggest that the conspirators follow?
