Rani Lakshmi Bai

Read and Answer

1.    1.   Little chabili was different from other girls of her age as she wanted to do things that girls at that time normally did not. She wanted to sit on an elephant as well as a horse. Her eyes sparkled with a confidence that was not seen in girls of her age.

2.   2.    Nana doted on his daughter and wished to provide her the love of both a mother and a father. He affectionately called her Manu. He was surprised as well as proud to see a rare confidence in her eyes. He married her off at the age of thirteen , as it was the tradition in that age.

3.  3.    Manu became Rani Lakshmi Bai when she was married to Raja Gangadhar Rao at the age of thirteen. After losing their son at a very young age, the couple adopted a son. Soon after her husband died of an illness. The responsibility of protecting Jhansi from the British fell on her shoulders after death.

4.       4.Lord Dalhousie wanted to annex states of kings who had died without a natural heir. He wanted to expand the British Empire and targeted Jhansi too.

Think and Answer

1.   1.    Chabili accepted her naturalness and was fortunate to have a father who led her do things that girls in that time normally did not. She encouraged naturalness against norms and traditions. She led the largest women’s army till date and is an inspiration to all of us. I have learnt from her character that I must not ashamed of who I am, but master my unique talents to stand out from the crowd.

2.   2.    Rani Laxmi Bai was playful and lively as a young girl. Her antics and escapades were attractive. Her laugh was full of mirth. As a queen , she proved to be mardani as she stood bravely against the British army to defend her Jhansi. She led the largest army of women till date. With her son tugged on her back, she led the soldiers of Jhansi.

3. 3.      Rani Lakshmi Bai was truly a unique leader. Many women leaders have personalities that make them stand out from the crowd. Like these leaders, Rani Lakshmi Bai proved her mettle in an age when women were not really at the forefront of an army. She not only accepted the challenge of protecting her state against British rule but also did it with a flair and panache on her own. Be it Indira Gandhi or Angela Merkel :they have all been strong and effective leaders. I wish to imbibe their diligence,focus and determination to do well in life.

4.    4.   Rani Lakshmi Bai is the epitome of women empowerment as she exhibited exceptional qualities of courage and physical prowess in an age when girls were limited to house work. She encouraged naturalness against norms and traditions. She led the largest women army till date and proved that the independence struggle was not just a men’s affair.

                               Reference To Context

(a)Manu said these words to Nana.

(b) She said these words on being told that girls did not ride elephants.

(c)She felt she would inspire other girls also to do things which they were not allowed to do traditionally.

(d) Nana felt proud of his little lovely daughter but also worried about her.

The Shoemaker

Read and answer

1.   1    Lucie discovered that her father, whom she believed to be dead, was alive and had been held captive for a long time in the North Tower.

2.    2   Mr. Lory was perhaps someone known to Mr.Manette. He could have been his banker or his servant, as suggested in the chapter.

3.   3    The reason behind Mr. Lory accompanying Lucie to the prison was to reunite Lucy and his father.

4.      4 Monsieur Manette is actually the old shoemaker’s name. May be due to some conspiracy or lack of evidence, he was imprisoned.

5.    5.   He had a white beard, raggedly cut but not very long, a hollow face and exceedingly bright eyes. The hollowness and thinness of his face would have caused them to look large under his jet dark eyebrows and his confused white hair, though they had been really otherwise, but , they were naturally large, and thus looked unnaturally so. His yellow rags of shirt lay open at the throat and showed his body to be withered and worn.

Think and Answer

1.     1.  The girl was the shoemaker’s  daughter  . she had seen signs of faint recognition in the shoemaker’s face as he spoke to Mr. Lorry and Mr. Defarge and also some signs of an active intelligence. All she felt was strong filial love and wished to nurse him back to life and hope.   She was not at all scared of him and knew he would not hurt her.

2.      2. Mr. Lorry did know Mr. Manette  as he mentioned ‘ old times’ to him. He was perhaps his banker or an old associate. He had accompanied his daughter Lucie with the purpose of recognizing the captive as Mr.Manette , which he could have done only if he knew him !

3.       3. Mr. Lorry wanted Lucie to have an uninterrupted , private moment with her father. Perhaps, the deep bond of filial love would be able to evoke some response from Mr.Manette. Lucie too could embrace him and give him hope.

Reference to the Context

1.       (a) Monsieur Defarge said these words to the shoe maker, who was actually Mr.Manette.

(b) The visitor is Mr.Lorry.

(c)  Mr. Manette could not recognize the visitor initially and showed him a lady shoe that he was making.

(d) Mr. Lorry  try to jog Mr. Manette’s memory by mentioning past times, but there was only a fleeting recognition in Mr. Manette’s eyes.

                                                                                HOTS

The shoe maker had been held captive for so long that he may have lost his mental balance. He had not seen the light of day for years, nor met his family or friends. The conditions in the North Tower would not have been favourable.  He did repetitive actions like clenching his fists, looking about him gazing vacantly. These are signs of mental disturbance. That is why; he was not able to recognize the visitors who had come to meet him.

Christopher Columbus

1.      1.  Columbus was a navigator, colonizer  and an explorer from the Republic of Geneva.

5. Columbus had to face  the rough nature of the sea and the rebellious attitude of his crew members while accomplishing his mission.

6. It is celebrated to mark his discovery of and landing on the American Soil.

Crowded Home

Read and Answer

1.       Nasrudin’s neighbour was complaining about the lack of space in his cramped house as he shared it with his wife, three kids and mother-in-law.

2.       The man raised a fuss when Mulla Nasrudin asked him to put the goat with the rest of the animals. But, he was eager to follow Nasrudin’s advice and was convinced to put the goat in the house.

3.       Nasrudin’s neighbor put ten hens , two cows, a donkey and a goat in this house. The house would have become more cramped with his family and the animals inside it. People would have found it very difficult to go about their dairy chores and get things done. Everybody would have complained about the lack of space and would have been chaos and confusion inside the cramped space.

4.       Nasrudin’s neighbor was upset after following his advice as his family was annoyed with him. They argued angrily and compained about the lack of space. They were all miserable.

Think and Answer

1.       Nasrudin’s neighbor used the words ‘ as it is’ to express that his house was ‘already’ cramped ‘in the existing circumstances’ with too many people. It would be tough to accommodate the animals in it.

2.       The neighbour was desperate to find a solution to the problem of living in a cramped house and had full faith in Nasrudin’s wisdom. That is why ; he kept following Nasrudin’s suggestion despite not agreeing with them.

3.       Mulla’s plan worked like a charm as the neighbour’s family heaved a sigh of relief after the animals were moved out of the house. Finally, they felt content with the spacious house. Mulla nasrudin was wise enough to realize that the family members would appreciate the available space only after they had to share it with the animals.

Reference to the context

(a)     The neighbor said these words to Mulla Nasrudin.

(b)     ‘Everyone’ refers to the neighbour’s family members: his wife, three children, and his mother in law.

(c)     ‘Everyone’ is complaining about the cramped space becoming worse after the animals were put into the house.

(d)     Mulla Nasrudin advised his neighbor to move the animals out of his house. Finally, the family felt relieved and happy with the available space that they found insufficient earlier.

READ AND ANSWER   (Chapter- My unknown friend)

1.    1.   The narrator confessed that he found it hard to remember names and recall faces. He frequently failed to recall faces. He frequently failed to recall a person’s appearance or dressing style. Then he claimed that apart from these details , he never  forget anybody. The humor is that in reality it is impossible for him remember anybody if  he cannot  recall their name ,face or and appearance.          

2.     2.  The narrator flatly refused when asked about an old place because he had no idea which place was being referred to.

3.    3.   The narrator talked Billy and Pete as these  were very common names and any gang of friends had to have a Billy and a Pete.

4.      4. The narrator thought that the stranger meant a loss of the narrator’s fortune when he sympathized with him. He presumed that the stranger must have heard he had been completely ruined financially.

5.      5. The stranger mentioned how tough it would have been for the narrator to get over a sad death and showed surprise when the narrator mentioned the dead person had continued to smoke till his last days. The stranger made a clear mention of his grandmother for the narrator to finally realize that the loss was the death of his grandmother.

THINK AND ANSWER

1.       The truth about the fifty –dollar suitcase was that it had been stolen by the imposter to pretend he was a well-to-do person. He needed this to be able to dupe the narrator about his identity , make him believe what  he said and cheat him of some money.

2.       The narrator has absolutely no clue about the well-dressed man who has boarded the train compartment. Instead of showing surprise or confusion, he pretends to recognize him as an old friend .Which follows a hilarious scene where the narrator tries to recall his past that the narrator seems to know about. He tries to put two and two together by taking clues from the stranger’s mention of an old place, the old friends, and a loss he has suffered.

3.       The stranger outwitted the narrator in the story. The narrator thought he was being very smart in pretending to recognise him as an old man and deducing many facts by taking hints from stranger’s  talk. In his presumption, he failed to realize that stranger was an impostor who had donned this person to dupe him and get away with some money. The narrator was under the false impression of possessing coolness and intellect and the stranger had great presence of mind to see through the narrator’s pretend. He was able to outwit him and coolly walk off after having cheated him.

4.       The first of the two instances where the narrator’s  friend put him into spin of thoughts were first when he greeted him warmly. The narrator had a hard time placing him and just could not recognize him. The second was when he mentioned a loss that narrator had suffered. He wondered what grievous loss he had suffered that might have ruined him completely!

5.       Yes, the stranger feigned agitated expression and fumbled with the keys to finally rob the narrator of his money. After he was convinced that the narrator believed him to be an old friend who was well –off pretended to have missed his stop. Then, he behaved as if the lock of  the suitcase was giving him problems to make the narrator part off his money.

6.       The narrator  felt  he had scored the first point by curtly refusing ever revisiting the ‘old place’ . Now , he had something he could be the conversation upon: an old familiar place. Using his intellect might help him recognize the stranger after all.

REFERENCE TO CONTEXT

1.       ‘I’ is the narrator.

2.       The stranger is being referred to as an ‘Idiot’.

3.       He had missed his stop.

4.       Another well-dressed man entered the compartment with a porter. He recognized the fifty-dollar suitcase as his wife’s and said he had been looking for it all over the train car. 

                                                An Old Grudge

Ans 1- Ramesh’s mule was in the habit of kicking and did so very hard. That is why he has been described as the ‘ Kicking Mule’.

Ans 2- Ramesh told naresh that the mule could kick a fly off a man without hurting and he was taking him down to he market for betting purpose.

Ans3- ramesh bet naresh five thousand rupees that the mule could kick a fly off his shoulder without hurting. Naresh was fooled easily and readily stood behind the mule for him to kick a fly off his shoulder. As a result , he was kicked violently and rose high up in the air to land on all fours against a rail fence.

Ans 4- naresh exclaimed as he rose in a towering passiohn from his fall that he knew ramesh would lose the bet as his mule could not kick somebody without hurting them. He had told naresh a pack of lies and would have to pay him the sum of the bet which was five thousand rupees.

Ans5- ramesh was sharp and cunning. He had a grudge against his neighbour and fooled him with a clever play of words. He used language skillfully to suit his own purpose and hurt naresh physically and even extorted five thousand rupees from him. Naresh liked to brag and bet. He was a foolish man who could be duped easily by ramesh. Even after being hurt violently by the mule, he does not realize that ramesh has made a fool of him.

                                                Think and Answer

1.     1.  Ramesh encouraged naresh to bet in such a silly manner because he knew that naresh would not be able to resist an opportunity to bet if he could win easilys. He wanted to take revenge as he hekld an old grudge against naresh.

2.    2.   Ramesh chose to be at the mule’s head to instruct him to be completely clear of the  danger of being kicked by the mule.

3.   3.     The bet was misinterpreted with the play of words. Naresh thought the bet meant the mule could kick a fly off a person’s shouldwer without hurting that person. Ramesh claimed it meant  the mule would not be hurt in the whole process.

4.   4.    Naresh described ‘my fault’ as his fault that he had not understood the fact.

5.   5.    Bragging and betting are described as naresh’s weakness as he could not resist a chance to bet on the kicking mule to earn a quick buck. He bragged that it was usual for him to take on such bet very often.

Reference

1 (a) naresh is the speaker.

(b) Ramesh is referred to as “you”

© naresh asked ramesh to try getting a fly kicked off his shoulder by the mule without hurting.

(d) Ramesh said he had to stand at the head of the mule to instruct him. He asked naresh to stand behind the mule. The mule kicked naresh violently into the air.