Prasanna

We have decided to create the most comprehensive English Summary that will help students with learning and understanding. in This article, we introduce The Adventure Summary

The Adventure Summary in English by Jayant Narlikar

The Adventure by Jayant Narlikar About the Author

Name	Jayant Narlikar
Born	19 July 1938 (age 81 years), Kolhapur
Spouse	Mangala Narlikar
Awards	Padma Vibhushan, Adams Prize, Padma Bhushan, Prix Jules Janssen
Known for	Steady-state model, Hoyle–Narlikar theory of gravity

The Adventure Summary in English

Professor Gangadharpant Gaitonde was travelling in the Jijamata Express on the Pune-Bombay route. This train was much faster than the Deccan Queen and he noticed that there were no industrial townships outside Pune. The train first stopped at Lonavala, 40 minutes after it started from Pune and then for a little while at Karjat. It went on even faster through Kalyan.

In the meantime, Professor Qaitonde, being a historian, was thinking of going to a big library in Bombay and looking through history books. He wanted to understand the present situation. He also decided to return to Pune and discuss with Rajendra Deshpande, who would surely help him understand what had happened. He hoped that a person called Rajendra Deshpande existed.

When the train stopped at a small station, Sarhad, an Anglo-Indian ticket-checker went around checking tickets. Khan Sahib informed Gangadharpant that that was where the British Raj began. He inquired if Gangadharpant was going to Bombay for the first time. Gangadharpant had not been to this Bombay before. He asked Khan Sahib how he would go to Peshawar. Khan Sahib replied that he would go to the Victoria Terminus and would take the Frontier Mail. It would go from Bombay to Delhi, then to Lahore and then Peshawar. He would reach the next day.

Then Khan Sahib discussed his business and Gangadharpant listened eagerly. As the train passed through the suburban rail traffic, Khan Sahib explained that the blue carriages carried the letters, GBMR, that meant Greater Bombay Metropolitan Railway. The Union Jack painted on each carriage was a reminder that they were in British territory.

When the train reached Victoria Terminus, the station looked remarkably neat and clean. Most of the staff was Anglo-Indian and Parsee along with a few British officers.

As Gangadharpant came out of the station he found himself facing an impressive building. It was the East India house headquarters of the East India Company. He was shocked, because as per the history books The East India Company had been shut down soon after 1857. But here it was prospering.

He walked ahead along Hornby Road but he found there was no Handloom House building. Instead, there were Boots and Woolworth departmental stores, grand offices of Lloyds, Barclays and other British banks, as in a typical high street of a town in England.

He entered the Forbes building and asked the English receptionist that he wished to meet Mr Vinay Gaitonde, his son. She searched through the telephone list and said that there was nobody with that name there. He was shocked. He had a quick lunch at a restaurant; he went to the Town Hall to the library of the Asiatic Society to solve the mystery of history.

In the library he started browsing through the five volumes of history books including his own. Volume one was about the history up to the period of Ashoka, volume two up to Samudragupta, volume three up to Mohammad Ghori and volume four up to the death of Aurangzeb. Reading volume five, Gangadharpant finally arrived on the precise moment where history had taken a different turn. That page in the book described the Battle of Panipat, and it mentioned that the Marathas won the battle. Abdali was defeated and he was chased back to Kabul by the triumphant Maratha army led by Sadashivrao Bhau and his nephew, the young Vishwasrao.

The book did not give a detailed explanation of the battle but explained in detail its impact for the power struggle in Ipdia. Gangadharpant read the account eagerly. The style of writing was definitely his, but much to his surprise he was reading the explanation for the first time.

Their victory in the battle had not only increased the confidence of the Marathas but it also established their domination in northern India. The East India Company, observing these developments for the time being postponed its policy of expanding in India’s territory.

For the Peshwas it resulted in an increased power of Bhausaheb and Vishwasrao who succeeded his father in 1780 A.D. The threat, Dadasaheb, was pushed to the background and he finally left state politics.

The East India Company was disappointed, as the new Maratha ruler, Vishwasrao and his brother, Madhavrao, combined political sharpness with bravery and extended their control all over India. The Company’s hold was then limited to places near Bombay, Calcutta and Madras. This was exactly like that of the Portuguese and the French.

The Peshwas kept the Mughal rule alive in Delhi to manipulate the situation. In the nineteenth century these rulers from Pune were shrewd enough to recognise the beginning of the technological age in Europe. They set up their own centres for science and technology. The East India Company saw another chance to enlarge its influence. It offered aid and experts. They were accepted only to make the local centres self-sufficient.

In the twentieth century more changes were brought about because of the Western influence.

Now, India moved towards a democracy. By then, the Peshwas had lost their zeal and democratically elected bodies slowly replaced them. The Sultanate at Delhi survived this change, mainly because it exercised no influence. The Shahenshah of Delhi was just a nominal head to rubberstamp the suggestions made by the parliament.

Gangadharpant began to understand India as a country that had learnt to be self-reliant and knew what self-respect was. It was in a position of strength but for only business reasons, it had allowed the British to be there. Bombay was the only colony on the subcontinent. That lease was to expire in the year 2001, according to a treaty of 1908.

Gangadharpant could not help comparing the country he knew with what he was viewing now. But he had to find how the Marathas had won the battle. For this he started looking for reports of the battle itself. Finally he found Bhausahebanchi Bakhar. Even though he rarely trusted the Bakhars for historical verification, he found them entertaining to read. He managed to find a brief mention of how Vishwasrao luckily survived his close brush with death.

At eight o’clock the library was to close. As Gangadharpant left the table he put some notes into his right pocket. Forgetfully, he also thrust the Bakhar into his left pocket.

After a measly meal at the guesthouse, he leisurely walked towards the Azad Maidan. There a lecture was to take place. Professor Gaitonde walked towards the pandal and was awestruck staring at the platform. The presidential chair was vacant. He was drawn to it. The speaker stopped his lecture, as he was too surprised to continue. But the audience shouted at him to leave the chair.

Professor Gaitonde went to the mike and expressed his views. He said that an unchaired lecture was like Shakespeare’s Hamlet without the Prince of Denmark. The audience was in no mood to listen but Gangadharpant was an experienced orator. He braved a shower of tomatoes, eggs and other objects. Finally, the audience came to the stage to throw him out but Gangadharpant had disappeared in the crowd.

This was all he had to tell Rajendra. All he knew was that he was found in the Azad Maidan in the morning. He was back in the world he was familiar with. But he did not know where he had spent the two days when he was absent from there.

The story astonished Rajendra. He asked him where he had been, just before his accident with the truck. Professor Gaitonde said that he was thinking of the disaster theory and its consequences for history. Professor Gaitonde produced the page tom out of a book as evidence that he had not been imagining things. Rajendra read the text and seemed equally surprised.

Gangadharpant said that he had intended to return the book to the library but in the episode of Azad Maidan, the book was lost and only this tom-off page remained. And that had the essential evidence.

Rajendra read the page; how Vishwasrao narrowly missed the bullet; and how that event, taken as a sign by the Maratha army, turned things to their advantage. Then Gangadharpant took out his own copy of Bhausahebanchi Bakhar, where the bullet hit Vishwasrao.

Rajendra and Professor Gaitonde were both very curious to know the facts.

Rajendra tried to explain Professor Gaitonde’s experience on the basis of two scientific theories. He explained that Professor Gaitonde had heard a lot about the upheaval theory at that seminar. He wanted to relate it to the Battle of Panipat. He said that wars fought face to face on open grounds offered excellent examples of this theory. The Maratha army was facing Abdali’s troops on the field of Panipat. There was no great disparity between them as their protection was similar. So, a lot depended on the leadership and the confidence of the troops.

When Vishwasrao was killed, it proved to be the important moment of change. His uncle, Bhausaheb, rushed into the fight and was never seen again. The troops were thoroughly demotivated as they had lost their important leaders. This led to their crushing defeat. The tom page was the path taken by the battle, when the bullet missed Vishwasrao, thus its effect on the troops was also just the opposite. Gangadharpant said that there was a likelihood of this as similar statements are made about the Battle of Waterloo, which Napoleon could have won. But since we live in a unique world, which has a unique history, this might just be guesswork but not reality.

Rajendra made his second point. He said ‘reality’ is what we experience directly with our senses or indirectly via instruments. But it is not limited to what we see.

Experiments on atoms and their constituent particles have proved that reality may not be exclusive. The Physicist discovered that the behaviour of these systems cannot be forecast conclusively even if all the physical laws governing those systems are known. For example if a bullet were fired from a gun in a given direction at a given speed, one would know where it would be at a later time. But one cannot make such an assertion for the electron. It may be here, there, anywhere. Professor Gaitonde felt that the quantum theory offered a lack of determinism.

Rajendra argued his case further. He asked Professor Gaitonde to imagine many world pictures. In each world the electron could be found in different location. Once the observer found where it was, he would know which world we were talking about. But all those alternative worlds could exist just the same.

Professor Gaitonde wanted to know if there was any contact between those many worlds.

Rajendra said that there was a possibility both ways. We know the exact route of the planet. The electron could be orbiting in any of a large number of specified states. These states may be used to identify the world. In state no. 1 the electron was in a state of higher energy. In state no. 2 it was in a state of lower energy. It could make a jump from high to low energy and send out a pulse of radiation. Or a pulse of radiation could knock it out of state no. 2 into state no. 1. Such transitions were common in microscopic systems. These transitions could happen on a macroscopic level as well.

He felt that Gangadharpant could have made a transition from one world to another and back again. He said that his theory was that disastrous situations offer completely different options for the world to proceed. It seemed that so far as reality was concerned all alternatives were viable but the observer could experience only one of them at a time.

By making a shift, Gangadharpant was able to experience two worlds although one at a time. The one he lived in and the one where he spent two days. One had the history we know, the other a different history. The separation or split took place in the Battle of Panipat. He had neither travelled to the past nor to the future but was in the present but experiencing a different world. There must be many more different worlds at different points of time.

Gangadharpant wanted to know why had he made the transition. Rajendra said that there were many unsolved questions in science and this was one of them. However, he made a guess. He felt that Gangadharpant needed some contact to cause a transition. Perhaps, at the time of the collision he was thinking about the catastrophe theory and its role in wars or perhaps he was wondering about the Battle of Panipat and the neurons in his brain activated the transition.

Professor Gaitonde said he found the explanation probable. He had been wondering what path history would have taken if the result of the battle had gone the other way. That was what he was going to speak about in the Azad Maidan.

Rajendra laughed and said that now he was in a better position, as he would talk of his real life experience rather than just an assumption. But Gangadharpant looked serious. He said that his thousandth address was made on the Azad Maidan where he was so rudely interrupted. The Professor Gaitonde who disappeared while defending his chair on the platform will now never be seen presiding at another meeting as he had expressed his regrets to the organisers of the Panipat seminar.

The Adventure Summary Questions and Answers

Question 1.
‘That is, assuming that in this world there existed someone called Rajendra Deshpande!’ Why does Professor Gaitonde feel so?
Answer:
Professor Gaitonde had gone through a strange and a harrowing experience. He had been literally transported into an alternative universe. In the alternative world the reality was very different. History had altered its course. Now back into the real world Professor Gaitonde, as a historian felt he would go to a big library and browse through history books and would return to Pune and have a long talk with Rajendra Deshpande, to help him understand what had happened. After the queer happening, he was unsure about the reality and wondered if Rajendra Deshpande existed.

Question 2.
What were the things that Professor Gaitonde noticed as the train entered the British Raj territory?
Answer:
As the train touched Sarhad, from where the British Raj began, an Anglo-Indian in uniform went through the train checking permits. The blue carriages of the train carried the letters GBMR on the side—an acronym for ‘Greater Bombay Metropolitan Railway’. There was the tiny Union Jack painted on each carriage as a . reminder that they were in British territory. As the train stopped at its destination, Victoria Terminus, the station looked remarkably neat and clean. The staff was mostly made up of Anglo-Indians and Parsees along with a handful of British officers.

Question 3.
Where was Khan Sahib going? How did he intend to reach there?
Answer:
Khan Sahib was going to Peshawar. After the train reached Victoria Terminus he would take the Frontier Mail out of Central,-the same night. From Bombay he would go to Delhi, then to Lahore and then Peshawar. It would be a long journey and he would reach Peshawar two days later.

Question 4.
What was the strange reality that Professor Gaitonde saw as he stepped out of the station?
Answer:
As Professor Gaitonde came out of the station, he saw an impressive building. The letters on it revealed that it was the East India headquarters of the East India Company. He was shocked as it was supposed to have had stopped operating soon after the events of 1857 but here it was flourishing.

Question 5.
What came as the biggest blow to Professor Gaitonde?
Answer:
Professor Gaitonde was shocked to see the East India Company flourishing, a different set of shops and office buildings at Hornby Road. But when he turned right along Home Street and entered Forbes building, a greater shock awaited him. He asked for his son Mr Vinay Gaitonde but the English receptionist, looked through the telephone list, the staff list and then through the directory of employees of all the branches of the firm but could not find anyone of that name.

Question 6.
What did Professor Gaitonde decide to do when the reality that he was living seemed very strange?
Answer:
When Professor Gaitoride saw unfamiliar sights and felt that he was reliving history he was very surprised but not finding his son as an employee in Forbes baffled him completely. He decided to go to the library of the Asiatic Society to solve the riddle of history. So he made his way to the Town Hall.

Question 7.
What books did he browse through in the library? What did he discover?
Answer:
In the Town Hall library, he asked for a list of history books including his own.

When he got the five volumes, he started looking through them from the beginning. Volume one dealt with the history up to the period of Ashoka, volume two up to Samudragupta, volume three up to Mohammad Ghori, and volume four up to the death of Aurangzeb. This was history as he had known. However in the last (fifth) volume, history had taken a different turn during the Battle of Panipat. The book mentioned that the Marathas won it handsomely and Abdali was chased back to Kabul by the triumphant Maratha army led by Sadashivrao Bhau and his nephew, the young Vishwasrao.

Question 8.
How did the victory of the Peshwas in the Battle of Panipat help them?
Answer:
The victory in the battle was not only successful in building their confidence tremendously but it also established the supremacy of the Marathas in northern India. The East India Company, watching these events temporarily deferred its plan to spread out further.

For the Peshwas the immediate result was that the influence of Bhausaheb and Vishwasrao increased and Vishwarao succeeded his father in 1780 A.D. The rabble-rouser, Dadasaheb, had to retire from state politics.

Question 9.
What was the effect of the victory of the Peshwas on the East India Company?
Answer:
The East India Company was alarmed when the new Maratha ruler, Vishwasrao, and his brother, Madhavrao, expanded their influence all over India. The Company was limited to pockets of influence near Bombay, Calcutta and Madras. However, in the nineteenth century the Marathas were aware of the importance of the technological age starting in Europe. Hence when they set up their own centres for science and technology, the East India Company saw another chance to extend its influence, it offered support and experts. But they were accepted only to make the local centres self-sufficient.

Question 10.
What was the final outcome of the Peshwas?
Answer:
During the twentieth century, inspired by the West, India moved towards a democracy. By then, the Peshwas had lost their enterprise and democratically elected bodies slowly but surely replaced them. The Sultanate at Delhi survived even this change because it exerted no real influence. The Shahenshah of Delhi was a nominal head to rubber-stamp the ‘recommendations’ made by the central parliament.

We have decided to create the most comprehensive English Summary that will help students with learning and understanding.

The Browning Version Summary in English by Terence Rattigan

The Browning Version by Terence Rattigan About the Author

Writer Name	Terence Rattigan
Born	10 June 1911, South Kensington, London, United Kingdom
Died	30 November 1977, Hamilton, Bermuda
Movies	The Browning Version, The Winslow Boy
Education	Trinity College, University of Oxford, Harrow School
Awards	Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Screenplay, New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award for Best Foreign Play

The Browning Version Summary in English

Terence Rattigan’s play, ‘The Browning Version’, was first performed on 8 September 1948 at the Phoenix Theatre, London. The play is about the last few days in the career of Andrew Crocker-Harris, an old Classics teacher at a British public school, where he’s been teaching for eighteen years. The man’s academic life is fading away and he deeply feels he has become obsolete. He is forced to retire prematurely owing to ill- health. Lack of success with his pupils has blighted his youthful ambition and promise, and he faces a future of poverty and disappointment. His talk at the end of the year prize giving is replaced by that of the popular sports master and the school will not give him his pension because of his early retirement, although he was depending on it.

This is an extract from the play. This part of the play underlines the bitter feelings of a student towards his teacher. These are brought out through a conversation between Frank Hunter, a young schoolmaster, and Taplow the student. Taplow has come for his tutoring session with Crocker-Harris, although it is the last day of school, but Crocker-Harris has not yet arrived. Frank, the science teacher, finds Taplow and starts talking to him.

Frank asks Taplow, if they had met earlier. Taplow introduces himself and informs him that he is a student in the lower fifth grade. He feels that he would specialise next term if he got his class. He also tells Frank that Mr Crocker-Harris doesn’t tell the students the results like the other teachers. As a rule, the class results should only be announced by the headmaster on the last day of term, but Taplow feels that none other than Mr Crocker-Harris seems to be so fastidious about the rule. Hence, Taplow would have to wait to know his result.

On Frank’s asking, Taplow tells him if the grades are good he would opt for science. Frank laments sadly that they get all the idlers. Taplow objects saying that he has opted for science because he is extremely interested in science. He feels science is more interesting than studying Classics such as The Agamemnon, which he calls “muck”. Thinking that he has gone too far, he corrects himself saying the plot is good. It is about a wife murdering her husband, he says. But what he did not like was the way it was taught to them. It had a lot of Greek words and Mr Crocker-Harris punished them for not getting them right.

Frank realised that Taplow sounded bitter, and got to know from him that Taplow had been given extra work to do as he had missed a day of school the previous week when he was ill. It was the last day of school and he wished to play golf instead. Taplow continues saying that one would think that Mr Harris had enough to do as he was leaving the next day, instead of calling Taplow for extra work.

Frank consoles him saying that for being a good boy in taking extra work he would get his class the next day. Taplow feels that would be true of other teachers and not of Mr Harris. It was just the previous day that he had told Taplow—he had got what he deserved. Taplow feels that Mr Harris might have given him less marks to make him do extra work. He adds that Mr Harris is “hardly human”. After saying so, he apologises to Frank for talking too much.

Frank pretends to be unhappy but asks Taplow to repeat what Mr Harris had said to him. Taplow imitates him. Frank pretends to look strict and asks him to read Aeschylus and be quiet. He then asks Taplow at what time he was supposed to meet Mr Crocker-Harris. Taplow informs him that he was called at six-thirty. Frank tells Taplow that Mr Crocker-Harris was already ten minutes late. He suggests that Taplow could go off and play golf.

Taplow is shocked and expresses his apprehension if Mr Crocker-Harris should know. He was certain that nobody had ever done that with Mr Crocker-Harris.

Frank envies the effect Mr Crocker-Harris seems to have on the boys in the class; they seem to be scared to death of him. Taplow says that a few teachers, including Mr Crocker-Harris, are sadists, who get pleasure out of giving pain.

Frank asks him about the others. Taplow says that he would not like to name them, as everyone knows who they are. Students understand everything. He compliments Frank saying that he is different and fairly young.

Frank pretends to be outraged. Taplow continues calling Mr Crocker-Harris, the Crock; Taplow says that he is worse than a sadist. If he were a sadist, he wouldn’t be so frightening because in that case, at least, it would show he had some feelings. His inner being, feels Taplow is emotionless and withered like a dried-up nut and he seems to hate people liking him.

Frank tries to instigate Taplow by saying that the boys would have exploited that for their own advantage. Taplow then admits that strangely, despite everything Mr Crocker-Harris does, he still likes him. Taplow says that he has also noticed Mr Crocker-Harris feels uncomfortable about people liking him. To elaborate on this, he recalls an episode when in class Mr Crocker-Harris made one of his classical jokes. Nobody laughed because nobody understood it. However Taplow knew that it was meant to be funny, so he laughed. Mr Crocker-Harris, at once remarked, that he was pleased at the advance in Taplow’s knowledge of Latin since he had without difficulty understood what the rest of them did not. Mr Crocker-Harris then wanted him to explain what he had said to the rest of the class.

Just then the door opens and Millie Crocker-Harris enters. She is a thin woman in her late thirties, and more smartly dressed than the other schoolmasters’ wives. She stands looking at Taplow and Frank a few seconds before they notice her.

Frank is trying to ridicule Mr Crocker-Harris when Millie Crocker-Harris enters. But he seems infinitely relieved at seeing her. Taplow is a little worried. He asks Frank if Millie could have heard their conversation. Frank feels that she had overheard as she has been standing there for quite some time. Taplow is all the more worried about his ‘remove’. But Frank feels his fears are unfounded. Millie asks Taplow if he is waiting for her husband Mr Crocker-Harris. She informs him that he is at the Bursar’s and might be there quite some time. She suggests that he leaves.

Taplow is hesitant at first as Mr Crocker-Harris had asked to meet him. Millie suggests that he goes away for a quarter of an hour and then returns. Taplow asks her what if Mr Crocker-Harris was to arrive before he is back; Millie assures him that she would take the blame. She then takes a prescription out of the basket and asks him to do a job for Mr Crocker-Harris, by going to the chemist. Taplow leaves happily.

The Browning Version Summary Questions and Answers

Question 1.
Where does Taplow meet Frank? What does Taplow feel about being there?
Answer:
Taplow meets Frank at Mr Crocker-Harris’s office, at school. Taplow had been given extra work to do as he had missed a day of school the previous week when he was ill. It was the last day of school and he wished to play golf instead.

Question 2.
What subjects does Taplow want to opt for and why?
Answer:
Taplow wishes to opt for science if he manages good grades. He claims to be really interested in science and feels it is more interesting than studying classics such as ‘The Agamemnon’, which he calls “muck”—it had a lot of Greek words, and Mr Crocker-Harris punished them for not getting them right.

Question 3.
Why does Taplow feel that Mr Harris is “hardly human”?
Answer:
Taplow feels that putting in extra work would make no difference to Mr Harris. He had told Taplow that he had got what he deserved. Taplow suspects he might be awarded with fewer marks to make him do extra work. He feels Mr Harris is unfeeling—worse than a sadist, and thus calls him “hardly human”.

Question 4.
What does Frank suggest to Taplow about waiting for Mr Harris?
Answer:
When Taplow tells Frank that he was supposed to meet Mr Crocker-Harris at six-thirty, Frank tells Taplow that Mr Crocker-Harris was already ten minutes late. He suggests that Taplow could go and play golf. But Taplow is shocked and expresses his apprehension if Mr Crocker-Harris should know. He was certain that nobody had ever done that with Mr Crocker-Harris.

Question 5.
Why does Taplow feel that Mr Harris has no feelings?
Answer:
Taplow calls Mr Harris worse than a sadist. One is required to admit to feelings if considered a sadist. Mr Harris’s inside, feels Taplow, is like a nut and he seems to hate people liking him. He did not appreciate Taplow appreciating his jokes and embarrassed him in return.

Question 6.
How did Taplow try to express his liking for Mr Harris? What was the outcome?
Answer:
Taplow admits to liking Mr Harris and realized he felt uncomfortable about people liking him. He recalls an episode, in class, where Mr Crocker-Harris made one of his jokes to which nobody laughed. Taplow knew that it was meant to be funny, and laughed. To which, Mr Crocker-Harris teased Taplow about his knowledge of Latin and asked him to explain the joke to the class.

Question 7.
Who was Millie Crocker-Harris? What was she like?
Answer:
Millie Crocker-Harris was the young wife of Mr Crocker-Harris. She was a thin woman in her late thirties, and was more smartly dressed than the other schoolmasters’ wives.

Question 8.
How does Millie Crocker-Harris send Taplow away?
Answer:
Millie learns from Taplow that he was waiting for her husband and suggests he leaves for quarter of an hour since Mr Harris might be a while. Taplow is hesitant; Millie assures him she would take on the blame if Mr Harris arrives before that. She finally sends Taplow off to the chemist.

We have decided to create the most comprehensive English Summary that will help students with learning and understanding.

Song of the Rain Summary in English by Kahlil Gibran

Song of the Rain Summary in English

In this poem, Kahlil Gibran celebrates rain as the life-giving force of this earth. The poem is written in the voice of the rain. The rain says that as it falls from the sky, it looks like silver threads dropped from heaven by the gods. Rain causes flowers to bloom and decorate nature’s fields and valleys. Raindrops are beautiful pearls that have been plucked from the crown of the goddess Ishtar by the daughter of Dawn. Ishtar is the goddess of fertility, love, war, and sex. In the Babylonian pantheon, she ‘was the divine personification of the planet Venus’.

In Babylonian mythology, Aya is the goddess of dawn. Her daughter takes the raindrops and uses them to decorate the gardens. The hills and flowers exhibit their joy when it rains by coming into bloom. When rain humbles itself by falling from the sky on to the earth, all living things are happy.

The field and the cloud are lovers and the rain is a messenger of mercy between them as it drenches the fields and makes the clouds lighter and brighter. It quenches the thirst of the parched earth and reduces the heaviness or swelling of the clouds. Rain is preceded by thunder and followed by the rainbow. Just as a life is created by the coming together of the five elements—air, earth, fire, water, and wind, rain too is created when the earth and water are heated and water rises as vapour to the sky. When it rains, the sky and the wind are stormy. At the time of death, the elements merge into elements and the soul ascends to heaven. Similarly, when rain falls, it merges with the water only to rise again as water vapour.

Whenever it sees a parched field, it falls to earth and embraces the flowers and the trees. Rain taps softly against the windows. People welcome the arrival of rain. Although everyone can hear the sound of rain as it falls, only people who are sensitive can feel the affection of the sea, the joy of the fields on receiving rain, and the sorrow of heaven as rain parts from it.

Song of the Rain Summary Questions and Answers

Question 1.
On the basis of your understanding of the poem, answer the following questions by ticking the correct choice.

a. The rain calls itself the ‘dotted silver threads ’ as:
(i) the shimmering drops fall one after the other
(ii) it ties heaven and earth
(iii) it dots the earth with shimmering water ”
(iv) it decorates the fields
Answer:
The shimmering drops fall one after the other.

b. The tone and mood of the rain in the poem reflect its:
(i) love for the earth
(ii) desire to take revenge
(iii) merriment as it destroys
(iv) desire to look beautiful
Answer:
Love for the earth.

Question 2.
Answer the following questions.

a. Why is the rain divine?
Answer:
The rain is divine as it comes from heaven. It is plucked from the crown of Ishtar. It gives new life to seeds.

b. In this universe, rain performs many functions. What are those?
Answer:
The rain adorns the fields and valleys of nature. It beautifies the garden of the daughter of dawn. It acts as the messenger between the lovers, clouds and the field and quenches the thirst of the earth. The rain is the sigh of the sea, a cause of happiness for the field and tears of the heavens.

c. ‘When I cry the hills laugh;
When I humble myself the flowers rejoice; When I bow, all things are elated. ’
Cry, humble and bow indicate different intensity with which the rain falls. Explain the three in context.
Answer:
Crying of the rain indicates a torrential downpour over the hills. When the rain humbles itself to fall gently over the earth, the flowers bloom in happiness. The rain bows in respect when it falls rhythmically on the earth, much to the elation of its inhabitants.

d. How do you think the rain quenches the thirst of the fields and cures clouds ’ ailment?
Answer:
The rain falls gently on the parched earth to give it the moisture it requires to become fertile again and, as it falls on the earth, it lightens the load of the clouds that have carried it thus far. Thus, the rain quenches the thirst of the fields and cures clouds’ ailments.

e. Think about million little ways in which the rain embraces the trees. Mention a few of them.
Answer:
The rain may embrace the trees as shining droplets of dew, it may embrace them as morning mist. The rain embraces the trees during torrential downpours as well as during gentle, rhythmic rainfall.

f. ‘….All can hear, but only
The sensitive can understand’
What does the poet want to convey?
Answer:
The poet wants to convey to us that many people hear the sound of the thunder but only a few sensitive people understand the power and great abilities that the rain possesses.

g. Notice the imagery built around ‘sigh of the sea ’, ‘laughter of the field’ and ‘tears of heaven ’. Explain the three expressions in context of rain.
Answer:
The rain rises as water vapour from the sea. This is the ‘sigh of the sea’. Rainfall gives the parched fields a new lease of life. This is why it is the ‘laughter of the fields’. The rain falls from the heaven as a torrent of tears. Hence, it is the ‘tears of heaven’.

h. How would you express rain as
an agent of floods?
Answer:
Too much rainfall causes the rivers to overflow, creating floods.
a source of water for dams?
Dams store water received during the rainfall to use later when there is scarcity of water.

i. ‘I am like earthly life … ‘
Why does the poet call rain as earthly life?
Answer:
The poet calls the rain as earthly life because when it starts it brings joy in the same manner a new-born child gives joy to its parents and when it stops it causes sadness in the same manner that death causes grief.

j. Explain the ending of the song.
Answer:
The song ends with rain being filled with emotion and crying with endless memories that it had experienced.

We have decided to create the most comprehensive English Summary that will help students with learning and understanding.

Oh, I Wish I’d Looked After Me Teeth Summary in English by Pam Ayres

Oh, I Wish I’d Looked After Me Teeth Summary in English

The poem is about the experiences of the narrator with her teeth. It is written on a humorous note. She looks back and regrets the fact that she has not taken care of her teeth the way she should have.

She recalls the various kinds of sweet, and sticky toffees she had consumed in the past, which has caused her teeth to decay now. She now wishes she had resisted the temptation to buy sweets with her money and paid more attention to the damage they could have caused to her teeth. She feels extremely guilty when she recalls all the sweet things she had relished, including lollipops, candy, and peanut brittle. She also recalls that though she had brushed her teeth, it had not been done thoroughly as she had felt it was all a waste of time.

However, now, as she sits in the dentist’s chair staring up at him, she feels remorseful about all the sweets that she had ever eaten. She complains that if she had known that she was going to suffer from cavities and tooth decay and would have to undergo fillings, injections, and drillings at the dentist’s office, she would have been more careful and thrown away all the sweets and sherbets that had tempted her.

In the end, she is reminded of the time when she had made fun of her mother’s false teeth and is sure that a similar fate awaits her now.

The poem is written in a humorous tone, making light of a painful visit to the dentist.

Oh, I Wish I’d Looked After Me Teeth Summary Questions and Answers

Question 1.
On the basis of your understanding of the poem, answer the following questions by ticking the correct choice.

a. The title ‘Oh, I wish I’d looked after me teeth ’ expresses:
(i) regret
(ii) humour
(iii) longing
(iv) pleasure
Answer:
Regret.

b. The conscience of the speaker pricks her as she has:
(i) been careless
(ii) been ignorant
(iii) been fun loving
(iv) been rude
Answer:
Been careless.

c. The speaker says that she has paved the way for cavities and decay by:
(i) eating the wrong food and not brushing.
(ii) not listening to his mother
(iii) laughing at his mother’s false teeth
(iv) not listening to the dentist
Answer:
Eating the wrong food and not brushing.

d. The tone of the narrator is one of:
(i) joy
(ii) nostalgia
(iii) regret
(iv) sorrow
Answer:
Regret.

Question 2.
Answer the following questions.
‘…But up-and-down brushin’ And pokin’ and fussin’
Didn’t seem worth the time-I could bite!’

a. What do these lines convey?
Answer:
These lines convey the poet’s sense of regret for not brushing properly when she had the chance.

b. Why did the poet go to the dentist? How could she have avoided it?
Answer:
The poet went to the dentist because her teeth had decayed as a result of consuming too many sweets and chocolates and not brushing properly. She could have avoided going to the dentist by taking care of her teeth while she still had a chance.

c. ‘Ifyou got a tooth, you got a friend’, what do you understand from the line?
Answer:
Teeth are very important for human beings. Teeth grow only twice in man’s lifetime and stay with them throughout. Teeth are, therefore, like true friends that are rare to come by but are for life.

d. With reference to the poem, how can you look after your teeth?
(Encourage the students to come up with their own answers.)
Answer:
We can look after our teeth by brushing twice daily, ensuring that we brush every crevice of our teeth in the correct manner. We can also look after our teeth by controlling our urge to eat chocolates, toffees and other sweets.

e. Give an appropriate proverb that conveys the message that this poem carries.
Answer:
‘A stitch in time, saves nine.’

We have decided to create the most comprehensive English Summary that will help students with learning and understanding.

The Seven Ages Summary in English by William Shakespeare

The Seven Ages Summary in English

In this poem, Shakespeare has divided human life into seven stages, with each stage having its own qualities and characteristics.

Shakespeare considers the world a stage and men and women actors on the stage of life. They play seven roles on the stage depending upon their age. At first, is the infant carried by his nurse. He cries and vomits most of the time. The infant grows into a bright-faced, complaining schoolboy, unwilling to go to school. The next stage is that of the lover, who is lost in thoughts of his beloved and writes poetry to her beauty. As he grows older, he joins the army. He is aggressive, short- tempered, and ambitious at this stage.

With age comes maturity and wisdom, and the family man has the vocation of a judge. He advises people and his look is serious and authoritative. The man grows older and becomes weak. His authority grows less and his voice trembles as he talks. Lastly, the senile old man loses his teeth, his vision, and his hearing. This is the last stage. After this, man makes his exit from the stage of life.

The Seven Ages Summary Questions and Answers

Question 1.
On the basis of your understanding of the poem, answer the following questions by ticking the correct choice.

a. All the world’s a stage is an extended metaphor for:
(i) the life shown in well known plays.
(ii) seeing the well known plays. .
(iii) life of well known actors.
(iv) life of man that comes to an end.
Answer:
life of man that comes to an end

b. All ‘have their exits and their entrances Exits and entrances refer to:
(i) birth and death
(ii) beginning and end of play
(iii) coming and going of actors
(iv) the end of the Shakespearean era
Answer:
birth and death

c. The seven roles that a man plays correspond to:
(i) chronological age in life
(ii) desires
(iii) mental age in life
(iv) idea of a perfect life
Answer:
mental age in life

Question 2.
Having read this extract, identify the stages of a person’s life as Shakespeare has done. Write down these stages in your note book, and sum up the characteristics of each stage in two or three words.
Answer:
Stage – Characteristic feature
infancy – crying
schoolboy – reluctant to go to school
lover – sighing for the mistress
soldier – active and quick tempered
judge – wise
Oldman – shrunken and child like
death – beyond all expressions

Question 3.
Explain the meaning of the following.

a. ‘… all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances… ’
Answer:
All human beings are acting out what destiny has in store for them. Thus, all human beings are actors on the stage of life.

b. ‘And then the lover,
Sighing like furnace… ’
Answer:
A lover’s heart is more sentimental than anybody else’s. Thus, his sigh is an expression of his sentiment.

c. ‘a soldier,
… Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon’s mouth. ’
Answer:
A soldier is quick and impulsive. His honour is more important to him than his life. Thus, he would rather give up his life, in the line of fire, than his honour.

We have decided to create the most comprehensive English Summary that will help students with learning and understanding.

The Ailing Planet: The Green Movements Role Summary in English by Nani Palkhivala

The Ailing Planet: The Green Movements Role by Nani Palkhivala About the Author

Author Name	Nani Palkhivala
Born	16 January 1920, Mumbai
Died	11 December 2002, Mumbai
Education	University of Mumbai, St. Xavier’s College (Autonomous), Government Law College, Mumbai
Awards	Padma Vibhushan
Siblings	Amy Ranina, Behram A Palkhivala

The Ailing Planet: The Green Movements Role Summary in English

The article, “The Ailing Planet: The Green Movement’s Role”, was written by Nani Palkhivala and published in The Indian Express on 24 November 1994. The issues that he raised regarding the declining health of the earth continue to have relevance.

The Green Movement, which started nearly twenty-five years ago, is one of the single most important movements that captivated the imagination of the entire human race. In 1972 the world’s first nationwide Green party was founded in New Zealand. Since then, the movement has moved ahead. Today, we have shifted from a superficial view to a view that takes into account all aspects including those related to the environment and ecology of the world.

This shift in human awareness was revolutionary since Copernicus, who stated in the sixteenth century that the earth and the other planets revolved round the sun. For the first time there is a growing worldwide realisation that ‘ the earth itself is a living organism. It has its own metabolic needs and fundamental processes, which need to be respected and preserved.

The earth, like a patient, had begun to show symptoms of failing health. It was then that we started realising our responsibilities to the planet. We are the caretakers of this inheritance, the earth which we need to preserve for our future generations.

The World Commission on Environment and Development popularised the concept of using natural resources while maintaining an ecological balance, without causing harm to the environment in 1987. The Commission defined the idea as growth that fulfils the needs of the present without harming the reserve of future generations to meet their needs. This implied that we ought to progress without depleting the natural resources that the future generations would need.

In the zoo at Lusaka, Zambia, there is a cage with a notice “The world’s most dangerous animal”. Inside the cage is a mirror where you see yourself. Various organisations in different countries helped in creating the awareness in human beings that they should not exploit the planet mindlessly. Human beings have realised the wisdom of shifting from a system based on domination to one based on partnership.

There are about 1.4 million living species that have been listed on the earth. Biologists think that there are about . three to a hundred million other living species that are still unknown.

Mr L.K. Jha in the Brandt Commission Report raised the question whether we wanted to leave behind a scorched, a sick environment for our coming generations. Mr Lester R. Brown in his book, The Global Economic Prospect, pointed out that the earth’smain biological systems are fisheries, forests, grasslands and croplands. These form the basis of the global economic system. They supply our food and provide almost all the raw materials for industry except minerals and petroleum-derived synthetics. In large areas of the world, these systems are reaching a level where their efficiency is being damaged.

Over-fishing is common, and forests are being destroyed for firewood for cooking. As a result, firewood has become so expensive in some places that it is more expensive than food. According to Dr Myres, the tropical forests which are powerhouses of evolution, as they house innumerable species, are facing extinction.

It has been well said that forests precede mankind; deserts follow. Human beings destroy forestland turning it into deserts. The world’s tropical forests are now being destroyed at the rate of forty to fifty million acres a year. As a result, people use dung for burning and this takes away from the soil an important natural fertiliser.
According to the World Bank we need to increase the rate of forest planting by five times to cope with the expected fuel wood demand.

James Speth, the President of the World Resources Institute, stated that we are losing an acre-and- a-half of forests every second. Article 48 A of the Constitution of India provides that the State shall try to protect and improve the environment and to safeguard the forests and wildlife of the country but unfortunately laws are never respected or enforced in India. Despite laws against “casteism, untouchabillity and bonded labour”, even after several years of the functioning of the Constitution, these social evils thrive. Recently, Parliament’s Estimates Committee highlighted the disastrous exhaustion of India’s forests over the last four decades. It stated that India is losing its forests at the rate of 3.7 million acres a year. The actual loss of forests is likely to be about eight times more than this.

A three-year study by the United Nations using satellites and aerial photography studied the environment in eighty-eight countries. It reported that that the environment was ‘critical’ in many of these countries.

Growing population is one of the strongest factors changing the future of human society. In 1800, the population was merely one billion. Another billion was added to it by 1900. By the twentieth century the population increased by another 3.7 billion. The present world population is estimated at 5.7 billion. Every four days the world population increases by one million.

As incomes rise and education spreads, the rate of population will decrease. This will improve health as well. Thus development is the best way to check population. But development may not be possible if the increase in numbers continues.

The rich get richer, and the poor produce children, which is the cause of their poverty. Having more children does not mean more people to work. On the contrary, it adds to unemployed persons.

People should be encouraged to go for voluntary family planning. At present, the population of India is estimated to be 920 million—more than the entire populations of Africa and South America put together. If this is not checked, the poor will die of starvation.

The situation now is alarming; it is not only about the survival of the people but of the planet. The environmental problem may not kill us, but it is our authorisation for a safe and healthy future. This is the “Era of Responsibility” that we need to fulfil for our coming generations. We need to understand the natural balance of the world rather than a separate collection of parts. Industry has a most important role to play in this age. Chairman of Du Pont, Mr Edgar S. Woolard, the company’s Chief Environmental Officer, said that as leading manufacturers, it’was required of them that they excel in environmental performance. The world would be a better place if all businessmen thought like him.

Margaret Thatcher, too, expressed her concern saying that no generation has a freehold on this earth. We live a life like tenants who have a full repairing rental contact. According to Mr Lester Brown, we have not inherited this earth from our predecessors but we are using the property of our future generations.

The Ailing Planet: The Green Movements Role Summary Questions and Answers

Question 1.
What awareness according to Nani Palkhivala is growing worldwide? Why?
Answer:
The movement, which has gripped the imagination of the entire human race, is the worldwide consciousness that the earth itself is a living organism of which we are parts. It has its own metabolic needs and vital processes that need attention because the earth’s vital signs reveal its declining health.

Question 2.
What is propagated by the concept of sustainable expansion?
Answer:
The World Commission on Environment and Development popularized the concept of sustainable development in 1987. It stressed the idea of development that meets the needs of the present, without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs, i.e., without stripping the natural world of resources future generations would need.

Question 3.
What is the global concern raised by Mr Lester R. Brown that threatens the very existence of man?
Answer:
Mr Lester R. Brown has noted the earth’s principal biological systems as fisheries, forests, grasslands, and croplands — the foundation of the global economic system. They provide us with our food and virtually all the raw materials for industries. However, human claims are exhausting these resources leading to the collapse and disappearance of fisheries and grasslands.

Question 4.
What are the reasons that are leading to depletion of our natural resources?
Answer:
In a protein-conscious and protein-hungry world, over-fishing is common. In poor countries, local forests are being destroyed in order to procure firewood for cooking. As a consequence, in some places, firewood has ‘ become so expensive that fuel costs more than the food.

Question 5.
What steps has the Indian government taken to ensure the protection of the environment? What is the impact?
Answer:
The Indian government through Article 48A of the Constitution of India provides that the State shall try to protect and improve the environment and safeguard the forests and wildlife of the country. But the law has not had the due impact as laws are neither valued nor enforced in India.

Question 6.
The population in the world is growing at an alarming rate. Comment.
Answer:
The growing world population is deforming the future of human society. Human population reached its first billion around the year 1800. By the year 1900, a second billion was added, and another 3.7 billion in the twentieth century. Presently, the world population is estimated at 5.7 billion. Every day the world population increases by one million.

Question 7.
Why is the growing population detrimental to the world’s progress?
Answer:
Development will not be possible if the present increase in numbers continues. The rich get richer and the poor produce more children, hampering their economic growth. More children do not mean more workers, merely more people without work. Excessive population perpetuates poverty. People would die of hunger unless population growth is controlled.

Question 8.
Why is our age the ‘Era of Responsibility’?
Answer:
A growing anxiety about the survival of our planet has surfaced for the first time in human history. The emerging new world vision—a holistic view of the source of our survival—has steered in the Era of Responsibility; an ecological view of the world as a complete whole and not a disconnected collection of parts.

We have decided to create the most comprehensive English Summary that will help students with learning and understanding.

Landscape of The Soul Summary in English by Nathalie Trouveroy

Landscape of The Soul Summary in English

Wu Daozi, was a painter in the eighth century. His last painting was a landscape that he made for Tang Emperor Xuanzong, to beautify a palace wall. Wu Daozi hid his work behind a screen, so only the Emperor would see it. He told the Emperor that in the cave in the painting, at the bottom of the mountain, lived a spirit. He then, clapped his hands, and the entrance to the cave opened. The painter entered the cave and the entrance closed behind him. Much to the surprise of the Emperor the painting vanished from the wall. After that neither was there any sign of Wu Daozi’s painting nor was he never seen again.

There are many such stories in China’s classical education. The books of great philosophers such as Confucius and Zhuangzi are full of such accounts. These stories helped the master to guide his student in the right direction. They also tell of the general feeling of the people towards art. There is another well-known story about a painter who did not draw the eye of a dragon that he had painted because he feared that it would fly out of the painting.

In fifteenth century there was a story about an accomplished blacksmith called Quinten Metsys. He fell in love with a painter’s daughter. The painter would not accept a son-in-law who was a blacksmith. So Quinten crept into the painter’s studio and painted a fly on his latest painting. It looked so real that the master tried to squash it away. He then realised what had happened. So he immediately took Quinten as his trainee. Quinten married his beloved and later become one of the most famous painters of his times. These two stories show that each form of art was trying to achieve: a perfect, impression of similarity in Europe and the spirit of inner life in Asia.

In the Chinese story, the Emperor appreciates the outer appearance in the painting but the artist shows him the true meaning of his work. The Emperor rules over the land but the artist knows the soul. The European painter would want people to look at a particular landscape just as he saw it while the Chinese painter does not choose a single viewpoint. One can enter a Chinese landscape from any point and travel in it. The artist makes a path for your eyes to travel up and down, and then back again, in a leisurely movement. This is even more true in the case of the horizontal scroll, in which the action of slowly opening the painting, then rolling it up to move on to the other, adds an element of time which is not found in any other form of painting. It also requires the active involvement of the onlooker, as his participation is physical as well as mental. The Chinese painter wants us to enter his mind. The landscape is a spiritual and abstract universe.

This idea is expressed as shanshui, which means ‘mountain water’. It is used together to symbolize the word ‘landscape’. More than two elements of an image represent two complementary poles, reflecting the Daoist view of the universe.

The mountain is Yang. It is depicted upright as if reaching towards Heaven. It is steady, warm, and dry in the sun. On the other hand the water is Yin that is horizontal and resting on the earth. It is fluid, moist and cool. The basic idea of Daoism is depicting the interaction of Yin and Yang. While Yin is the feminine part of universal energy, Yang is the masculine. The vital third element, the Middle Void, is often ignored. This is where the interaction of Yin and Yang takes place. This can be compared with the yogic practice of pranayama; breathe in, retain, breathe out, the suspension of breath is the Void where meditation occurs. The Middle Void is indispensable. Nothing can happen without it.

This is the reason why in the Chinese landscape there is white, unpainted space. This is also where man finds a basic role. In that space between Heaven and Earth, man becomes the medium of communication between both poles of the Universe. His being there is vital, even if there is only a suggestion of his presence. Francois Cheng underlines man’s importance saying that man is neither lost nor oppressed by the lofty peaks, he is in ‘the eye of the landscape’.

It was the French painter Jean Dubuffet who first doubted the theory of ‘art brut’ in the 1940s. Then only a few were interested in the art of the inexperienced creative thinker. However now the interest in ‘outsider art’ is growing internationally. This type of art is described as the art of those who have received no formal training, but are talented and have an artistic insight. Their works are inspiring unlike many of conventional ones.

About the same time that Dubuffet put forward his concept, in India an unqualified but brilliant artist was creating a masterpiece in the realm of art. It was Nek Chand, who changed a little patch of jungle into the Rock Garden, at Chandigarh. He sculpted with stone and used recycled material. This is India’s biggest contribution to outsider art. The Raw Vision, a UK-based magazine that paved the way in outsider art publications, wrote about Nek Chand, and his Rock Garden sculpture ‘Women by the Waterfall’. The view of ‘art brut’ or ‘raw art’ was of works that were in their unrefined state as regards cultural and artistic influences. Nek Chand used everything from a tin to a sink to a broken down car to create a magnificent work of art.

As an appreciation of his art, the Swiss Commission for UNESCO will be honouring him by putting up an exhibition of his works. The five-month interactive show, ‘Realm of Nek Chand’, beginning October will be held at leading museums in Switzerland, Belgium, France and Italy. According to Nek the greatest reward is seeing people enjoy his creation.

Landscape of The Soul Summary Questions and Answers

Question 1.
Briefly narrate the story of the Emperor and the Chinese artist.
Answer:
A painter Wu Daozi, who lived in the eighth century was asked to paint a landscape by the Tang Emperor Xuanzong, to decorate a palace wall. The artist concealed his work behind a screen, so that only the Emperor would see it. For a long time, the Emperor admired the wonderful scene.

One day the painter showed him a cave at the foot of the mountain, and said that a spirit dwelt there. The painter clapped his hands, and the entrance to the cave opened. He then entered the cave and the entrance closed behind him. Since then nothing is known of the artist or the painting as the painting vanished off the wall.

Question 2.
How did stories such as the one about Wu Daozi play an important role in China’s classical education?
Answer:
Such stories played a significant part in China’s classical education. They helped the master to guide his pupil in the right direction. They were not merely tales, but were deeply illuminating of the essence of art. The books of Confucius and Zhuangzi are full of such stories. They reveal that art was considered the essence of inner life and spirit in Asia.

Question 3.
Why did the artist agree to get his daughter married to the blacksmith?
Answer:
Initially the artist was against the blacksmith, Quinten Metsys, marrying his daughter. However, one day Quinten slyly sneaked into the painter’s studio and painted a fly on his latest panel, that was so realistic that the master tried to swat it away. The artist was so impressed that he admitted Quinten as an apprentice into his studio and let him marry his beloved.

Question 4.
What is the difference between the Chinese and European art?
Answer:
The Chinese and European art are different as the European art is trying to achieve a perfect, illusionistic likeness in Europe, and the Chinese the essence of inner life and spirit in Asia. While the European wants you to look at the landscape through his eyes, the Chinese painter wants you to enter it from any point, then travel in it. He creates a path for your eyes to travel up and down, then back again, in a leisurely movement.

Question 5.
How does shanshui express the Daoist view of the universe?
Answer:
Shanshui means ‘mountainwater.’ It expresses the Daoist view. The mountain is Yang and it stretches vertically towards Heaven. It is stable, warm, and dry in the sun, while the water is Yin. It is horizontal and resting on the earth, fluid, moist and cool. The interaction of Yin, the receiver, feminine aspect of universal energy, and Yang, active and masculine, is the fundamental belief of Daoism.

Question 6.
What is lacking in Shanshui?
Answer:
The third element, the Middle Void where their interaction takes place, is lacking in Shanshui. The Middle Void is indispensable. Hence nothing can happen without it. This is the reason why the white, unpainted space in Chinese landscape is important. This is also where Man finds a fundamental role, in that space between Heaven and Earth, he becomes the medium of communication between both poles of the universe.

Question 7.
How is the pranayama compared to the Middle void?
Answer:
The Middle Void is vital as nothing can happen without it. This is the reason why the white, unpainted space in Chinese landscape is imperative. This is also where Man finds a fundamental role, in the yogic practice of pranayama we breathe in, retain and breathe out. The suspension of breath is the Void where meditation occurs.

Question 8.
How did the theory of ‘brut art’ put forward by Jean Dubuffet get credence?
Answer:
French painter Jean Dubuffet challenged the concept of ‘art brut’ in the 1940s. Before that the art of the untrained visionary was of minor interest. At about the same time ‘an untutored genius was creating paradise’. This was none other than Nek Chand, who cleared a little patch of jungle to make himself a garden sculpted with stone and recycled material known to the world today as the Rock Garden, at Chandigarh.

We have decided to create the most comprehensive English Summary that will help students with learning and understanding.

Discovering Tut: The Saga Continues Summary in English by AR Williams

Discovering Tut: The Saga Continues Summary in English

Tut, the last heir of a powerful family that had ruled Egypt, died a teenager. He was buried and, with the passage of time, forgotten. But after the discovery of his tomb in 1922, the modem world wondered about the cause of his untimely death. He was brought out of his tomb and a CT scan was done to ascertain the reason of his death.

It was 6 pm, on 5 January 2005 when King Tut was taken out from his burial tomb after a span of 3,300 years. The weather—dusty, and cloudy—was eerie. The mummy was then put into a CT scanner to investigate the continuing uncertainty of the death of this young ruler who died an untimely death.

Multitudes of tourists from around the world came to visit the tomb to pay their respects. They stared at the murals on the walls of the burial chamber and looked at Tut’s gilded face on the lid of his mummy-shaped outer coffin. The visitors were curious and thoughtful. Some feared the pharaoh’s curse would befall those who disturbed him.

Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, said that the mummy was in very bad state because of the manner in which Howard Carter, the British archaeologist, who in 1922 had discovered Tut’s tomb, had gone about investigating the contents of the tomb. He had then found the richest royal collection ever. There were the dazzling works of art in gold that had caused a sensation then and continue to draw people’s attention even today. Everyday things such as board games, a bronze razor, linen undergarments, cases of food and wine had also been buried with the young pharoah.

Carter documented the pharaoh’s treasures that were buried with him. He then began looking into his three nested coffins. In the first, he found that the burial cloth was decorated with garlands of willow and olive leaves, wild celery, lotus petals, and cornflowers. This helped him conclude that the King was buried in March or April. When he reached the mummy, he realised that the ritual resins had solidified, cementing Tut to the bottom of his solid gold coffin.

Carter used the hot sun in Egypt to loosen the resins. For a number of hours he put the mummy outside in the sun that heated it to 149 degrees Fahrenheit. But it was futile. He stated that the mummy had to be cut from under the limbs and trunk before it was possible to lift the king’s remains. At that time, Carter had had no option. Had he not done this, thieves would have attacked the guards and robbed the place to remove the gold.

The royals believed that they could take their riches with them after death. Hence King Tut was given abundant jewellery and all of pure gold. To separate Tut from his ornamentation, Carter’s men removed the mummy’s head and cut off nearly every major joint. They then collected and put the remains of the body on a layer of sand in a wooden box with padding.

Lately, the archaeologists have started concentrating less on treasures and more on the details of life and mysteries of death. Moreover, they now have an access to more advanced technology. In 1968, an anatomy professor X-rayed the mummy and revealed that Tut’s breastbone and front ribs were missing.

King Tut’s demise was a big event as he was the last of his family’s lineage. With him, came to an end a dynasty. But the facts of his death and its consequences are unclear.

Amenhotep III, Tut’s father or grandfather, was a powerful pharaoh who ruled for almost four decades at the height of the eighteenth dynasty’s golden age. His son, Amenhotep IV succeeded him. He promoted the worship of the Aten, the sun disk, changed his name to Akhenaten, or “servant of the Aten”, and moved the religious capital from the old city of Thebes to the new city of Akhetaten, known now as Amama. He shocked the country by attacking Amun, a major god, smashing his images and closing his temples. It must have been a terrible time for the people because the family that had ruled for centuries was coming to an end, and then Akhenaten had presumably gone a little crazy.

After Akhenaten’s death, a mysterious ruler named Smenkhkare showed up for a brief period and departed with hardly any sign. It was then that young Tutankhaten (Tut) took the throne. The boy king soon changed his name to Tutankhamun, “living image of Amun”, and during his reign the country witnessed a return of the old ways. He reigned for about nine years and then died suddenly.

The Egyptian Mummy Project has recorded almost 600 mummies so far and is still counting. The next stage is scanning the mummies with a portable CT machine. King Tut is one of the first mummies to be scanned to ascertain the secret of his death.

The million-dollar scanner had stopped functioning because of sand in a cooler fan. The guard there looked anxious and said jokingly that it was because of the curse of the pharaoh. Finally the problem with the scan machine was rectified and the task finished. Tut was carried back to his tomb in less than three hours after he was removed from his coffin.

The scanned images of Tut revealed that nothing had gone seriously wrong. Zahi Hawass was evidently comforted. The wind had stopped, and the winter air was cold and still. Just above the entrance to Tut’s tomb stood Orion, the constellation that the ancient Egyptians knew as the soul of Osiris, the god of the afterlife, as if watching Tut.

Discovering Tut: The Saga Continues Summary Questions and Answers

Question 1.
What generated the interest of the world in King Tut?
Answer:
King Tut was just a teenager when he died. He was the last heir of a powerful family that had ruled Egypt and its empire for centuries. Since the discovery of his tomb in 1922, the modem world wondered about what happened to him and wondered if he could have been murdered.

Question 2.
How did nature seem to echo the unnatural happening?
Answer:
As King Tut was taken from his resting place in the ancient Egyptian cemetery, dark-bellied clouds that had scudded across the desert sky all day, veiled the stars in grey. It seemed that the wind was angry and had roused the dust devils.

Question 3.
Why did the tourists throng to see Tut’s tomb? What was their reaction?
Answer:
The tourists came to pay their respects to King Tut. They admired the murals and Tut’s gilded face on his mummy-shaped outer coffin. They read from the guidebooks in whisper, or stood silently, pondering over Tut’s untimely death, dreading, lest the pharaoh’s curse befall those who disturbed him.

Question 4.
Who was Howard Carter? What did he find?
Answer:
Howard Carter was the British archaeologist who in 1922 discovered Tut’s tomb after years of unsuccessful search. He discovered the richest royal collection ever found that included stunning artefacts in gold that caused a sensation.

Question 5.
Tut was buried in March-April. How did Carter conclude this?
Answer:
On opening a coffin, Carter found a shroud decorated with garlands of willow and olive leaves, wild celery, lotus petals and cornflowers. Since these flowers grow in March or April, Carter concluded that the burial was in these months.

Question 6.
“When he finally reached the mummy, though, he ran into trouble.” Why was it so?
Answer:
When Carter tried to raise the mummy out of the coffin, he could not. The ritual resins had hardened, cementing Tut’s body to the bottom of his solid gold coffin. No amount of force could pull it out.

Question 7.
How did he decide to detach the mummy? Why?
Answer:
First Carter tried to loosen the resins with the heat of the sun. For several hours, he put the mummy outside in blazing sunshine that heated it to 149 degrees Fahrenheit but it was in vain. Then he decided to carve it out from beneath the limbs and trunk as there was no other way of raising the king’s remains.

Question 8.
What were the treasures found in the coffin? Why were they put there?
Answer:
King Tut’s coffin contained precious collars, inlaid necklaces and bracelets, rings, amulets, a ceremonial apron, sandals, sheaths for his fingers and toes, and his inner coffin and mask, all of which were made of pure gold. The royals, in King Tut’s time, hoped to take their riches along with them for their next life.

Question 9.
How has the viewpoint of archaeologists changed with the passage of time?
Answer:
The archaeologists, earlier, focussed on the treasures that the tomb would yield. The centre of attention, now, is more on the fascinating details of life and intriguing mysteries of death. Moreover, now they use more sophisticated tools, including medical technology.

Question 10.
What was the interesting fact about Tut that was brought to light in the late sixties?
Answer:
In 1968, more than forty years after Carter’s discovery, an anatomy professor X-rayed the mummy and revealed a startling fact: beneath the resin that caked his chest, his breast-bone and front ribs were missing.

We have decided to create the most comprehensive English Summary that will help students with learning and understanding.

Lord Ullin’s Daughter Summary in English by Thomas Campbell

Lord Ullin’s Daughter Summary in English

The poem is a ballad, which tells the tragic tale of Lord Ullin’s daughter and her lover, a Scottish chieftain. The poem begins with the girl and the chieftain arriving at the banks of Lochgyle with the intention of going across it, to safety. They are being closely followed by Lord Ullin and his men and so the two lovers are desperate to go across before others arrive at the shore. The lover requests the boatman to ferry them across and promises to pay him a silver pound.

The boatman hesitates because the weather is stormy and it is dangerous to cross the Loch just then. But, when the girl pleads with him and says that she would rather face the stormy weather than an angry father who would surely kill her lover, the boatman is touched and agrees to take them across without money.

Thus, the boat leaves the shore just as Lord Ullin and his men reach the place. All his anger evaporates the moment he sees his daughter in the boat, battling against the fury of the raging tempest. The sight of his daughter crying out for help from the storm-ravaged boat melts his heart and he cries out to her to return with the assurance that he would forgive her. But it is too late and before his very eyes the little boat capsizes and the two lovers and the boatman are drowned in the turbulent waters.

The mood of the poem is very dark, serious, emotional and sad as it recounts the tragic tale of the two lovers. The setting of the poem is the Scottish Highlands.

Lord Ullin’s Daughter Summary Questions and Answers

Question 1.
On the basis of your understanding of the poem, answer the following questions by ticking the correct choice.

a. Lord Ullin’s daughter and her lover are trying to:
(i) escape the wrath of her father.
(ii) settle in a distant land.
(iii) challenge the storm in the lake.
(iv) trying to prove their love for each other
Answer:
Escape the wrath of her father.

b. The boatman agrees to ferry them across because:
(i) he has fallen in love with Lord Ullin’s daughter.
(ii) he wants to avenge Lord Ullin.
(iii) he has lost his love.
(iv) he is sorry for the childlike innocence of the lady.
Answer:
He is sorry for the childlike innocence of the lady.

c. The mood changes in the poem. It transforms from:
(i) happiness to fear.
(ii) anxiety to grief.
(iii) fear to happiness.
(iv) love to pain.
Answer:
Anxiety to grief.

d. The shore of Lochgyle has been referred to as fatal shore! ’ The poetic device used here is:
(i) metaphor
(ii) simile
(iii) transferred epithet
(iv) onomatopoeia
Answer:
Transferred epithet.

Question 2.
In pairs, copy and complete the summary of the poem with suitable words/expressions.
Answer:
A Scottish Chieftain and his beloved were (a) running awav from her wrathful father. As they reached the shores, the (b) chieftain told a boatman to (c) ferrv them across Lochgyle. He asked him to do it quickly because if (d) her father’s men found them, they would kill him. The boatman (e) agreed to take them not for the (f) silver pound that the chieftain offered but for his (g) voung. innocent bride. By this time, the storm had (h) begun and a wild wind had started blowing. The sound of (i) trampling could be heard close at hand. The lady urged the boatman (j) to hurry as she did not want to face an angry father.

Their boat left the (k) stormy land and as it got caught in the stormy sea, Lord Ullin reached the deadly (1) shore. His anger changed to wailing when he saw his daughter (m) caught in the storm. He asked her to return to the shore. But it was (n) futile as the stormy sea claimed his daughter and her lover.

Question 3.
Why does Lord Ullin’s daughter defy her father and elope with her lover?
Answer:
Lord Ullin’s daughter defies her father and runs away with her lover because her father refuses to let her marry the person she loves. Hence, if she wants to marry her lover, her only option is to elope with him.

Question 4.
Give two characteristics of the boatman who ferries the couple across the sea.
Answer:
The boatman is tender because he is able to sympathise with the innocent girl who has braved the elements and her father’s wrath for the person she loves.

He is also courageous because he agrees to ferry the lovers across the lake in the raging storm, endangering his own life in the process.

Question 5.
Imagery’ refers to something that can be perceived through more than one of the senses. It uses figurative language to help form mental pictures. Campbell used vivid, diverse and powerful imagery to personify the menacing face of nature. Pick out expressions that convey the images of anger in the following stanzas.
Answer:
Stanza 6 • ‘raging white’
Stanza 7 • ‘water-wraith was shrieking’
Stanza 9 • ‘raging of the skies’
Stanza 10 • ‘stormy seas’
Stanza 13 • ‘stormy water’
Stanza 14 • ‘loud waves lash’d the shore’,‘water wild’

Question 6.
Read the following lines and answer the questions that follow.

‘His horsemen hard behind us ride:
Should they our steps discover.
Then who will cheer my bonny bride
When they have slain her lover?’

a. Who is ‘his’ in line l? Who does ‘us’ refer to?
Answer:
Lord Ullin is referred to as ‘his’ in line l. The chieftain and his lover, Lord Ullin’s daughter, are referred to as ‘us’.

b. Explain – ‘cheer my bonny bride’.
Answer:
In this phrase ‘bonny’ implies attractive or beautiful. In this phrase, the young chieftain argues that if he is slain by Lord Ullin’s men, nobody will be able to keep his lover happy.

c. Why would the lover be slain?
Answer:
The lover would be slain for daring to run away with Lord Ullin’s daughter.

Question 7.
In Stanza 10, the poet says –
‘The boat has left a stormy land,
A stormy sea before her, ———– ’

a. In both these lines, the word ‘stormy ’ assumes different connotations. What are they?
Answer:
In the lines, the land is considered to be stormy because it is dangerous for the young couple as Lord Ullin’s ‘ men are pursuing them over land on horseback. The sea is stormy because there is, actually, a storm brewing over the sea. ’

b. The lady faces a dilemma here. What is it? What choice does she finally make?
Answer:
The Lady has to choose between the stormy land, representing the wrath of her father, and the sea, upon which a storm is raging. She chooses to risk her life in the stormy sea rather than face her angry father.

Question 8.
‘Lord Ullin reached that fatal shore’ just as his daughter left it. (Stanza 11).

a. Why is the shore called fatal?
Answer:
The shore is called fatal because Lord Ullin’s daughter and her lover escape to the sea from that shore, only to be killed in the open sea.

b. Why does Lord Ullin’s wrath change into wailing on seeing his daughter?
Answer:
Lord Ullin’s wrath changes to wailing on seeing his daughter because, in her haste to escape her father, she drowns in the stormy sea.

We have decided to create the most comprehensive English Summary that will help students with learning and understanding.

The Solitary Reaper Summary in English by William Wordsworth

The Solitary Reaper Summary in English

William Wordsworth, a Romantic poet, highlights the beauty of a ‘highland lass’ song in this poem. The poet is walking in the highlands of Scotland when he comes upon a girl singing in the field. He is so enamoured by her song that he stops in his travels and listens to her song. Her beautiful voice fills the whole valley. As he climbs over the hill, the song lingers in his ears and remains with him for a long time.

The poem begins with the poet walking in the highlands of Scotland when he comes across a girl who is cutting and binding grain into sheaves. She is singing as she works. Though the tune is melancholy, her voice is so captivating that the poet stops to listen to her.

He compares her song to the sweet notes of the nightingale and the cuckoo, both birds that sing in romantic surroundings. Since he is not familiar with the dialect, or he is too far to catch the words of the song, he is unable to understand the theme of the maiden’s song. He is, nevertheless, intrigued by the song and wonders what the theme of the song could be. This does not detract from his enjoyment of the song and he just stands there and listens to her song as she goes about her work. One thing is clear, her song is sad and her notes are plaintive. He wishes that her song would go on and on. Finally, the poet carries on, along his way, bearing in his heart the memory of the song.

The Solitary Reaper Summary Questions and Answers

Question 1.
On the basis of your understanding of the poem, answer the following questions by ticking the correct choice.

a. The central idea of the poem ‘The Solitary Reaper’ is:
(i) well sung songs give us happiness
(ii) melodious sounds appeal to all
(iii) beautiful experiences give us life-long pleasure
(iv) reapers can sing like birds
Answer:
That beautiful experiences give us life-long pleasure.

b. In the poem ‘The Solitary Reaper ’ to whom does the poet say ‘ Stop here or gently pass ’?
(i) to the people cutting com
(ii) to himself
(iii) to the people who make noise
(iv) to all the passers by
Answer:
To himself.

c. ‘The Solitary Reaper’ is a narrative poem set to music. This form of verse is called a:
(i) ballad
(ii) soliloquy
(iii) monologue
(iv) sonnet
Answer:
Ballad.

d. The poet’s lament in the poem ‘The Solitary Reaper’ is that:
(i) he cannot understand the song
(ii) he did not know the lass
(iii) she stopped singing at once
(iv) he had to move away
Answer:
He cannot understand the song.

e. The setting of the poem is:
(i) Arabia
(ii) Hebrides
(iii) Scotland
(iv) England
Answer:
Scotland.

Question 2.
Read the second stanza again, in which Wordsworth compares the solitary reaper’s song with the song of the nightingale and the cuckoo. On the basis of your reading (and your imagination), copy and complete the table below. (Work in groups of four, then have a brief class discussion.)
Answer:

	Place	Heard by	Impact on listener
Solitary Reaper	Scottish Highlands	the poet	holds him spellbound
Nightingale	Arabia	Arabian travellers	Welcomes weary travellers
Cuckoo	Seas along the farthest Hebrides	People in the farthest Hebrides	Breaks the silence of the seas

We have decided to create the most comprehensive English Summary that will help students with learning and understanding.

We Are Not Afraid To Die If We Can All Be Together Summary in English by Gordon Cook and Alan East

We Are Not Afraid To Die If We Can All Be Together Summary in English

‘We’re Not Afraid to Die… if We Can All Be Together’ is an exciting account of a family’s experience at sea. It not only underlines the difficulties that mariners often face at sea but also brings out, poignantly, the spirit of togetherness in a family, who are prepared to brave death together.

In July 1976, the author who is a thirty-seven-year-old businessman, along with his wife Mary, son Jonathan, six, daughter Suzanne, seven, set sail from Plymouth, England, for a trip around the world, taking the route that Captain Cook had taken 200 years earlier. They had longed to do this for the past sixteen years and had hence spent all their spare time improving their maritime skills in the British waters. Their boat, Wavewalker, was a 23-metre, 30-ton boat that had been efficiently built. It had various fixtures and was tested in the roughest weather they could find.

The first part of their three-year journey passed pleasurably as they sailed down the west coast of Africa to Cape Town. However, before moving to the east, they took two crewmen, American, Larry Vigil, and Swiss, Herb Seigler, to help them cross the southern Indian Ocean since this is known to be one of the world’s roughest seas.

It was just on the second day of their journey out of Cape Town that they began to face windstorms that continued for a few weeks. But worse than the ferocious winds were the waves that rose up as high as the main mast.

By 25 December they had travelled 3,500 kilometres east of Cape Town. The weather was terrible but they celebrated Christmas. By New Year’s Day, the weather became worse and on the morning of 2 January, the waves were extremely large.

They were sailing with only a small storm jib and were still making eight knots. The ship moved to the top of ‘ each wave but the gigantic waves and menacing winds continued to terrorise them. They dropped the storm jib to slow the boat and then lashed a heavy mooring rope in a loop across the stem. Then they fastened everything, went through their life-raft drill, attached lifelines and put on oilskins and life jackets.

At about 6 pm, there was a lull before the storm. The wind stopped and the sky became dark. Then a loud roaring sound was heard and a huge cloud seemed to tower over the ship. It was, in fact, the biggest wave that they had ever seen. It was perpendicular and almost twice as high as the other waves.

The roaring grew louder and the author attempted to ride the wave. But just then there was a great explosion that shook the floor of the ship. Water gushed into the ship. With the impact, the author’s head hit against the wheel and before he knew he was thrown into the sea. He accepted the fact that he was going to die but suddenly his head popped out of the water and he spotted Wavewalker a few metres away. It was on the verge of overturning. Its masts were almost horizontal. Then a strong wave tossed it to a straight position. The author took hold of the guardrails and reached the Wavewalker.

The waves were throwing him around and his left ribs cracked. His mouth filled with blood as he had broken his teeth. Somehow he found the wheel, lined up the stem for the next wave and hung on. The author felt the ship flooding with water. Just then, Mary came in a panic and informed him that the ship was sinking as water was filling in. Putting her at the wheel, the narrator clambered towards the hatch. He saw Larry and Herb pumping out water frantically. He also noticed that the whole starboard had caved inwards and clothes, crockery, charts, tins and toys were floating in deep water.

The author waded with difficulty into the children’s cabin. Sue had a big bump above her eyes but this was insignificant compared to the situation that they were in. He found a hammer, screws and canvas and struggled back on deck. Somehow he managed to stretch the canvas and secure waterproof hatch covers across the gaping holes. Some water continued to come in but most of it could be prevented from entering the ship.

This was not the end of their troubles. The hand pumps started clogging up with the trash floating around the cabins. Soon the electric pump short-circuited. The water level rose menacingly. He went to the deck and found two spare hand pumps and another electric pump under the chartroom floor.

The night was extremely cold. They struggled to pump out water, find direction and also work the radio. There was no response to their desperate calls for help because they were in a distant comer of the world.

Sue’s head had swollen a lot, she had two huge black eyes, and a deep cut on her arm but she did not worry him.

By morning, on 3 January, they had managed to pump out the water to a reasonable level and they could afford to take two hours’ rest, in turns. The author suspected a huge leak somewhere and found that nearly all the boat’s main rib frames were damaged down to the keel. There was nothing holding up a whole section of the starboard hull except a few cupboard partitions.

By now they knew that their ship, Wavewalker, was not sturdy enough to take them to Australia. The author checked the charts and assessed that there were two small islands a few hundred kilometres to the east; one of them was lie Amsterdam. They hoped to reach one of these safely and for better weather as their secondary engine was out of order.

On 4 January, they managed to throw out the water from the ship after thirty-six hours of non-stop pumping. Now, they had to only pump out the water that was still coming in. It was difficult to set any sail on the main mast as the pressure on the rigging would pull the broken section of the hull apart. So they hoisted the storm jib and moved towards the two islands.

They ate their meagre meal of some corned beef and cracker biscuits after almost two days. However, their relief was short-lived and came to an end at 4 pm. Dark clouds gathered again, the wind started blowing fiercely, and the sea rose afresh. The situation worsened and when the narrator tried comforting the children on 5 January, Jon said that they were not afraid of dying if the family could be together.

But the author was determined to fight the sea. To protect the weakened starboard he decided to heave-to—with the undamaged port hull facing the oncoming waves, using a makeshift sea anchor of heavy nylon rope and two 22 litre plastic barrels of paraffin.

Later in the evening, as more water came into the ship they felt defeated again.

But by the morning of 6 January, the speed of the wind decreased. The author tried to calculate their position. All they could find out was that they were somewhere in 150,000 kilometres of ocean looking for a 65 kilometre wide island. Sue, who was injured, moved up to him and gave him a card she had made. It was a message to hope for the best.

The author tried to calculate their position using a spare compass and by estimating the influence of the westerly currents. About 2 pm, he asked Larry to steer a course of 185 degrees. He said that they could expect to see the island at about 5 pm, although inwardly he was doubtful.

Dejected, he went down to his bunk and before he knew, he fell asleep. He woke up at 6 pm, and it was growing dark. Just then, the two children came up to him. Jon told him that he was the best father and the best captain. Sue announced that the island was just in front of them. The author rushed out to the deck and stared with relief at lie Amsterdam. It was a piece of volcanic rock, with little vegetation.

They stayed offshore for the night, and the next morning all twenty-eight inhabitants of the island helped them to the island. When at the island, he admired Larry and Herb’s happy and positive attitude, Mary for being at the wheel for all the critical hours but most of all, Sue who did not want them to worry about a head injury and Jon who was not afraid to die.

We Are Not Afraid To Die If We Can All Be Together Summary Questions and Answers

Question 1.
Who was the narrator? What adventurous task did he take on?
Answer:
The narrator was a thirty-seven-year-old businessman, who along with his family, set from Plymouth, England, on a round-the-world voyage like Captain James Cook had done 200 years earlier in a 30-ton wooden-hulled boat.

Question 2.
How did they prepare for this onerous task?
Answer:
For sixteen years, they spent all their leisure time improving their seafaring skills in British waters. They bought a boat, Wavewalker, a 23-metre, 30-ton wooden-hulled vessel that had been professionally built.

They spent months fitting it out and testing it in the roughest weather that they could find.

Question 3.
How many people were there in the boat?
Answer:
The four of them—the narrator, his wife Mary, son Jonathan, and daughter Suzanne—sailed for 105,000 kilometres to the west coast of Africa to Cape Town. They took on two crewmen with them—an American, Larry Vigil, and a Swiss, Herb Seigler, before settling sail on the southern Indian Ocean.

Question 4.
What was the first indicator of rough weather?
Answer:
On their second day out of Cape Town, they encountered strong winds. For the next few weeks, the gales blew continuously. The gales did not worry the narrator but the sizes of the waves were disturbing.

Question 5.
What ordeal awaited them on 2 January?
Answer:
After they celebrated Christmas, the weather changed for the worse. On the early morning of 2 January, the waves became huge. As the ship rose to the top of each wave, they could see the vast sea rolling towards them. The wind seemed to be howling.

Question 6.
What measures did they take to counter this ordeal?
Answer:
They dropped the storm jib and lashed a heavy mooring rope in a loop across the stem to slow the boat, and then double-lashed everything, went through their life-raft drill, attached lifelines, put on oilskins and life jackets.

Question 7.
What happened on the evening of 2 January?
Answer:
On the evening of 2 January there was a lull before the storm. As the sky grew dark, they heard a growing roar, and saw a massive cloud rising at the rear of the ship. To their dismay, it was a huge wave, almost twice the height of other waves, with a fearsome breaking top.

Question 8.
What happened when they tried to ride over the wave?
Answer:
When they tried to ride over the wave, there was a loud blast that shook the deck. Water gushed over the ship, the narrator’s head hit the wheel and he was thrown overboard into the water. He accepted his impending death, and while he was losing consciousness, he felt peaceful.

Question 9.
How did the narrator get back to the ship after having been thrown into the sea?
Answer:
After the narrator felt he was losing consciousness, his head suddenly popped out of the water. A few metres away, he saw Wavewalker, nearly overturned. Then, a wave threw it upright. He grabbed the guardrails and sailed through the air into Wavewalker’s main boom. The waves tossed him onto the deck like a rag doll.

Question 10.
How did they manage to throw out water from the ship?
Answer:
With the narrator’s wife, Mary, at the wheel, the narrator half-swam, half-crawled into the children’s cabin, where he found a hammer, screws and canvas, and struggled back on deck. He secured waterproof hatch covers across the wide-open holes. With Herb and Larry’s assistance, he managed to throw out the water.