The Little Girl (Beehive)

Question 1: Why was Kezia afraid of her father?

Answer: Kezia’s father was a strict person, who always used to give commands to everybody else in the house. He never seemed to smile. He was had an overpowering personality.  So  Kezia was always in awe of him.

Question 2: Who were the people in Kezia’s family?

Answer: Apart from Kezia and her father, there was Kezia’s mother, grandmother and a cook in the family.

Question 3: What was Kezia’s father’s routine?

(i) before going to his office?

(ii) after coming back from his office?

(iii) on Sundays?

Answer: (i) Before going to office the father used to give a casual kiss and ask her to say goodbye.

(ii) After  coming   back from office he would ask for newspaper and a cup of tea.

(iii) On   Sundays  he would sleep on the sofa with his face covered with his favourite cushion.

Question 4: In what ways did Kezia’s grandmother encourage her to get to know her father better?

Answer: Kezia’s   grandmother encouraged Kezia to get to know her father better by asking her to take off her father’s boots and she also sent her to the drawing room to talk to her parents on Sundays. She  also  suggested that  Kezia  should make a birthday gift for her father.  

 Write down the answers in two or three paragraphs each

Question 1: Kezia’s efforts to please her father resulted in displeasing him very much. How did this happen?

Answer:  Kezia’s  grandmother asked her to make a surprise gift for her father’s birthday. She decided to make a nice pin cushion for him. She wanted to stuff the cushion with some scraps. While searching for scrap she found some sheet of papers on the bed table . She used them to stuff the pin cushion .

But it was her sheer bad luck that those were not useless papers, but  was  a speech written by her father. He had to deliver that speech at some important function. This made her father very angry and he beat her up with a ruler. 

Question 2: Kezia decides that there are “different kinds of fathers”. What kind of father was Mr Macdonald, and how was he different from Kezia’s father?

Answer: Mr. Macdonald was of a friendly and loving  nature. He played around with his kids. On the other hand   Kezia’s father was never seen in a playful mood and was always serious. He always scolded Kezia  for minor mistakes. 

Question 3: How does Kezia begin to see her father as a human being who needs her sympathy?

Answer: When Kezia’s mother falls sick she was feeling lonely. When she had a nightmare her  father  takes her to sleep with him. While consoling her, he seems to be an affectionate person. Kezia also feels the warmth of her father’s hug. Now she feels quite safe and secure with her father. She realizes that because of his busy schedule, her father is unable to give enough time to the family. When her father falls asleep before her, she realizes that her father is also a human being and he too needs  sympathy.

L-2     MOMENTS

The Adventures Of Toto

 How does Toto come to grandfather’s private zoo?
Ans: Toto was in the captivity of a  tonga   owner. The grandfather gets sympathetic

to the monkey and thinks that his private zoo would be a better place for Toto. So he purchased Toto from the tongawallah  for five rupees.

2. “Toto was a pretty monkey.” In what sense is Toto pretty?

Ans: Toto was a pretty monkey. His bright eyes sparkled with mischief beneath the deep-set eyebrows, and his teeth, which were a pearly white, were very often displayed in a smile that frightened the life out of elderly Anglo-Indian ladies. But his hands looked dried-up as though they had been pickled in the sun for many years. Yet his fingers were quick and wicked and his tail, while adding to his good looks served as a third hand. He could use it to hang from a branch and it was capable of scooping up any delicacy that might be out of reach of his hands.

3. Why does grandfather take Toto to Saharanpur and how? Why does the ticket collector insist on calling Toto a dog?

Ans: Toto was a real menace for every living soul in the household. Other animals in grandfather’s zoo were at Toto’s mercy even during night. So, grandfather decided to provide some relief to other animals in the zoo and thought of taking Toto to Shaharanpur. The ticket collector was following his rulebooks. As there seems to be no rule for fixing a monkey’s fare so he equated Toto with dog. Ticket collector’s ingenuity tried to categorize all pets of a certain size as dogs.

4. How does Toto take a bath? Where has he learnt to do this? How does Toto almost boil himself alive?

Ans: Toto takes bath in a tub of warm water. He puts his legs in the water one by one and applies soap as well. As monkeys are good at aping others, so Toto has learnt proper steps of bathing while watching the narrator doing the same. Toto is fond of bathing with warm water. So once having tested the warmth of water in the kettle Toto sits in the kettle. Probably he is not intelligent enough to understand the risk of boiling water so he pops his head up and down in the kettle.

5 Why does the author say, “Toto was not the sort of pet we could keep for long”?

Ans: Though Toto was pretty and clever, he was very mischievous. He brought a lot of damage to the house by breaking dishes, tearing clothes and curtains. He also scared the visiotrs by tearing holes in their dresses. Furthermore, he didn’t get along well with other animals in the house too. One day Toto crossed the limits by picking up a dish of pullao and running on a branch to eat it. When scolded he threw off the plate and broke it. That’s when grandfather decided he had had enough of Toto because he couldn’t bear the losses that he incurred because of Toto’s mischief.

RAIN ON THE ROOF

 1. What do the following phrases mean to you? Discuss in class.
(i) humid shadows       (ii) starry spheres          (iii) what a bliss
(iv) a thousand dreamy fancies into busy being start
(v) a thousand recollections weave their air-threads into woof

Ans: 1. (i) “Humid shadows” refer to the dark clouds that produce rain.

(ii) “Starry spheres” refer to the night sky abounding in stars.

(iii) “What a bliss” refers to the happiness of the poet. When it rains poet gets into his cottage and enjoy the patter of rain upon the roof.

(iv)  This refers to the various imaginary thoughts and fantasies that are aroused in the poet’s mind.

(v) This phrase means that numerous memories intermingle to form a beautiful picture that the poet  recollects.

2. What does the poet like to do when it rains?

Ans: When it rains, the poet feels delighted to lie with his head pressed against the pillow of his cottage chamber bed and listen to the patter of the soft rain.

3. What is the single major memory that comes to the poet? Who are the “darling dreamers” here refer to?

Ans: The single major memory that comes to the poet is that of his mother and her fond look.
The “darling dreamers” are the poet and his siblings in their childhood  when  they were lovingly put to sleep by their mother

.4. Is the poet now a child? Is his mother still alive?

Ans: No, the poet is not a child now  .He is a grown up man. He remembers her when he is inside his cosy cottage and enjoy the pattern of rain on the roof. She might be alive but staying away from him.

II. 1. When you were a young child, did your mother tuck you in, as the poet’s did?

Ans: Yes, my mother used to tuck me in when I was a young child, just like the poet’s mother did. (Self-experience question)

2. Do you like rain? What do you do when it rains steadily or heavily as described in the poem?

Ans: Yes, I like the rain. When it rains steadily I get into my house and enjoy the weather with family. We enjoy tea. It is wonderful experience (self-experience question)

3. Does everybody have a cosy bed to lie in when it rains? Look around you and describe how different kinds of people or animals spend time, seek shelter etc. during rain.

Ans: No, everybody is not fortunate enough to have a cosy bed to lie in when it rains. Not everybody gets to enjoy the comfort of cosy homes during rain. I have seen animals seeking shelter under trees and under the tin roofs of the small roadside tea stalls. The people passing by shoo away these animals and try to shrink themselves under the limited space of these shops. The poor animals are left shivering and drenching on the roads. The shopkeepers of such stalls are delighted as the people waiting for the rain to subside often end up buying tea and snacks.