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Question
The Shehnai of Bismillah Khan Thinking about the text :
Tick the right answer.
Bismillah Khan’s first trip abroad was to (Afghanistan, U.S.A., Canada).
Solution
Bismillah Khan’s first trip abroad was to Afghanistan.
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RELATED QUESTIONS
Answer the following with reference to the story.
“I wouldn’t throw it away.”
- Who says these words?
- What does ‘it’ refer to?
- What is it being compared with by the speaker?
Answer these question in 30–40 words.
Where did Bismillah Khan play the shehnai on 15 August 1947? Why was the event
historic?
Explain what the reason for the following is .
Einstein wanting to study in Switzerland rather than in Munich.
This story about a frightening incident is narrated in a humorous way. What makes it
humorous? (Think of the contrasts it presents between dreams and reality. Some of them
are listed below.)
1. (i) The kind of person the doctor is (money, possessions)
(ii) The kind of person he wants to be (appearance, ambition)
2.(i) The person he wants to marry
(ii) The person he actually marries
3.(i) His thoughts when he looks into the mirror
(ii) His thoughts when the snake is coiled around his arm
Write short paragraphs on each of these to get your answer.
Activity:
Find Dhanuskodi and Rameswaram on the map. What language(s) do you think are spoken there? What languages do you think the author, his family, his friends and his teachers spoke with one another?
We notice lots of details about people and their appearance, but in order to
vividly describe them , we need to be specific.
Working in pairs, look carefully at the people around you and complete the
table with appropriate words from the box given on the next page. You may
add words of your own to describe people.
| angular | close-cropped | well-tailored | well-tailored casual | stocky |
| elegant | unshaven | ill-fitting | formal | lanky |
| bearded | sloppy | medium | petite | hefty |
| balding | slim | plaited | thick | round |
| open | friendly | wavy | long | receding |
| over weight | sharp-featured |
| A | B | C | D | |
| Face | ||||
| Hair | ||||
| Dress | ||||
| Build |
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:
It was my business to cross the bridge, explore the bridge head 3 beyond and find out to what point the enemy had advanced. I did this and returned over the bridge. There were not so many carts now and very few people on foot, but the old man was still there.’’Where do you come from?” I asked him.
“From San Carlos,” he said, and smiled.
That was his native town and so it gave him pleasure to mention it and he smiled.
“I was taking care of animals,” he explained.
“Oh,” I said, not quite understanding.
“Yes,” he said, “I stayed, you see, taking care of animals. I was the last one to leave the town of San Carlos.”
He did not look like a shepherd nor a herdsman and I looked at his black dusty clothes and his gray dusty face and his steel rimmed spectacles and said, “What animals were they?”
“Various animals,” he said, and shook his head. “I had to leave them.”
Read the extract given below and answer the question that follow.
Why did the old man leave his hometown? Why did he leave it reluctantly?
“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.
What was Mrs. Thompson’s reaction on seeing 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.
Why did Joe not follow Mr s Thompson? What had changed her?
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 did the girl say to her grandmother? Why?
When Mabel Dancy later requests De Levis to withdraw the charge, how does he respond? What declaration does Dancy wish De Levis to sign?
Mark the right item.
The old farmer and his wife loved the dog
Compare how the music teacher played the violin with that of Lalli’s.
Why did author preferred boots made by Mr Gessler than that of big firms?
Why was it necessary to train Kari to he good?
What is the story’s underlying message or advice to the readers? Do you also support the author’s view?
Why did Vijay Singh ask the ghost disguised as Natwar to come closer?
What is the mystery about the child’s school teacher? How does it plan to discover the truth?
The words given against the sentences below can be used both as nouns and verbs. Use them appropriately to fill in the blanks.
(i) The two teams have ____________ three matches already. (play)
(ii) The last day’s ____________ was excellent.
