CONFLATIONS-I CONFLATIONS: General English Course Book &

Comprehension for I Semester B.Sc/BCA and other courses

General English Course Book & Comprehension
under faculty of Science, Degree Course, prepared by the
Members of the Text Book Committee, Bangalore
University, Bengaluru; Published by Prasaranga, Bangalore
University, Bengaluru.. Pp: x +
I Semester B.Sc/BCA
(Other Courses under
nder the Faculty of Science)
© Bangalore University
First Edition 2018

Published by :
Dr. B. Gangadhar
Director
Prasaranga and Printing Press
Bangalore University
Bengaluru - 560 056

Price : Rs.
Prasaranga
BANGALORE UNIVERSITY
Jnanabharathi, Bengaluru – 560 056

Printed at : University Printing Press, Bangalore University, B’lore -56

-BUP
BUP-- June 2018

1
 Members of the BOS
Dr. Geetha Bhasker
FOREWORD Chairperson
Board of Studies in English-UG, Bangalore University, Bengaluru
The General English text book for I semester B.Sc.,/BCA
1. Muralikrishna L. Associate Professor
(other courses coming under the Faculty of Science) has Department of English, Govt. First Grade College, Vijayanagar,
been designed with the dual-objective of inducing literary Bengaluru
sensibility and developing linguistic skills in students. Both
2. Dr. L.N. Seshagiri Associate Professor
of these have been combined in a single text instead of two Department of English,
separate texts. This may prove a little economical to Govt. First Grade College, Yediyur, Jayanagar, Bengaluru
students. 3. Dr. Umarani M.C. Associate Professor
Department of English, B N M Degree College, BSK 2nd Stage, Bengaluru
I congratulate the textbook committee on its efforts in the 4. Dr. Thammaiah R.B. Associate Professor & Head
selection of the literary pieces and preparation of the Dept. of English, Padmashree Institute of Management and Sciences,
material for grammar and usage. I thank the Director of Kengeri, Bengaluru
Prasaranga and Printing Press, the Assistant. Director of 5. Prof. Chetana P. Associate Professor & Head
Prasaranga and their personnel for bringing out the textbook Dept. ofEnglish Maharani Women's Arts, Commerce & Management
neatly and on time. College Sheshadri Road, Bengaluru
6. Prof. Anila Kishore Assistant Professor
I hope the text will motivate the teachers and the students to BNES College, Mahalakshmi Layout, Bengaluru
make the best use of it and develop literary sensibility as 7. Dr. Rekha Kowshik P. R. Assistant Professor
well as linguistic skills. B E S Evening College of Arts & Commerce, Jayanagar, Bengaluru
Prof. Venugopal K. R.
8. Dr. N.S. Gundur, Professor
Vice-Chancellor Department of English, Tumkur University, Tumkur
9. Prof. Kannan, Professor & Chairperson
Dept. of English Akkamahadevi Women's University Vijayapura

Co-opted Member
Prof D. Yogananda Rao, Associate Professor
Post Graduate Dept. of English, Jain University, Bengaluru
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MEMBERS OF THE TEXT BOOK COMMITTEE PREFACE
Prof. L.Muralikrishna
Chairperson The course book of General English for I semester B.Sc.,/BCA
GFGC Vijayanagar, Bengaluru ushers the learners into a pleasant literary world that presents an
array of stories, poems and prose pieces written by masters of
1. Prof. Amala. C literature from various parts of the world. The texts envelope
BMS College for Women relevant issues haunting the present world. As the text caters to
Basavanagudi, Bengaluru the first semester students, it involves pieces on inspiring
personalities who are legends of this century. Hope the texts
2. Dr. Sartaj Khan
motivate the students and propel them to pinnacle of success.
Al- Ameen Arts, Science and Commerce College
Well-chosen texts also play a vital in role in exposing the
Bengaluru
students to various nuances of the English language. Moreover, a
3. Prof. Ramakrishna. K committed learning of these may help enrich culture and literary
GFGC, Srinivasapura sensibility in students. So is the case with grammar and usage
and the entailing exercises which are intended to strengthen the
4. Prof. Sudarshan Kumar linguistic skills of students and make them confident to use
APS Evening College, Bengaluru English, the significance of which in a student's career can hardly
5. Prof. Jayashree C. Kambar be over emphasized.
KLE S Nijalingappa College, Rajajinagar, Bengaluru The Textbook Committee has spared no efforts in selecting the
6. Dr. L.N. Sheshagiri suitable literary pieces, giving a brief introduction as a
GFGC, Jayanagar, Bengaluru brainstorm, preparing the required glossary, suggesting further
reading and setting exhaustive questions on the selected pieces.
7. Prof. Narasimhan N.G The Committee has left no stone unturned to introduce useful
Vijaya Evening College, Bengaluru topics of grammar and comprehension which will, when properly
used, enhance the student's linguistic skills.
8. Dr. Harish M.G
GFGC, Channapatna I hope that students will make use of this text through the able
9. Dr. Deepthi. S guidance of their teachers and equip themselves better for their
GFGCW, Ramanagar career challenges.

10. Prof. Santhosi B.R Dr. Geetha Bhasker

MLA Academy of Higher Learning Editor & Chairperson, Department of English,
Malleshwaram, Bengaluru Bangalore University

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NOTE TO THE TEACHER The note given here, the brainstorming section, the glossary
'Conflations', the text on hand, is, evidently for I semester or suggested reading are all merely indicative by nature and
B.Sc., / BCA. The text comprises – their use depends on the teacher's potential and preparation.

a. 8 literary pieces of different genres This has been an outcome of the collective effort of all the
Members of the Committee who have toiled day and night,
b. English grammar and usage have spared even their weekends and holidays to bring it
c. Extended Reading out. They deserve our acknowledgement. While thanking
all the authorities of the University, BOS and the officials
Askeleton structure of the question paper has also been concerned.
provided at the end as a pointer to paper setters and teachers
while focusing on the examination. We wish to thank Dr. GeethaBhaskar, Chair, English
Department, Bangalore University for her support and co-
The literary pieces are from an assortment of poetry, prose operation. We are equally grateful to Prof. Gangadhar of
and fiction. Every lesson begins with a pre-reading section Prasaranga for printing the texts.
called brainstorming, followed by a brief introduction to the
author of the piece. Glossary has been provided for the
difficult words and this is not exhaustive. The teacher
concerned may have to prepare it according to the needs of
the class. The questions given at the end have been
classified as 'Short answer', 'Paragraph' and 'Essay Type'
based on the scope of the question and the length of the
expected answer and the pattern of the question paper. The
suggested reading is on broad similarity between the themes
and may not be very close. However, they do add to the
perception and may be handy in explaining the dimensions.

Instead of a separate text for grammar, the topics have been

integrated into the text itself. The topics have been graded
on their complexity and the nature of dealing with them.

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 CONTENTS I Shall Go Back in The New Year
- Nilim Kumar
1. I shall go Back in the New Year - Nilim Kumar Brainstorming

2. Sonnet (My Father) - Yehuda Amichai  Why are resolutions made and what were your New
Year resolutions? Do you follow them?
3. The Wolf - Farooq Sarwar  What does coming of a new year signify in various
cultures? Do we anticipate a bright future or do we
4. Leaving - M. G.Vassanji
look back on the days gone by? Discuss.
5. Real Food- ChimamandaNgoziAdichie
About the poet
6. Wings of Fire- Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Nilim Kumar, a physician, lives in
Guwahati. He has written 17
7. Relations between Men and Women- collections of poems, 3 novels and
- Raja Ram Mohan Roy a collection of essays. His works
are translated to French, Bangla, Nepali including
8. Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish - Steve Jobs
many regional languages of India. He has participated
9. Literature and Science - John Middleton Murry in many literary festivals of National and International
repute like SAARC, IORA, BLF. His poems are
included in the anthology of “Signatures – One
Hundred Indian Poets” edited by K.Satchidanandan .
He is a recipient of UdayBharati National Award,
Raza Foundation Award, Sabda Award ,
EkaEbongKayekjon Award, etc.

This New Year

I shall go back
Everyone thinks about stepping forward
5
In the New Year In the New Year
This New Year I shall go backward. At least an Android mobile handset
And, what’d I do?
In the New Year Just change the cracked screen
Many people think of buying new vehicle Of my old handset
And I have decided That I bought at rupees eight hundred only
This time I shall sell my two cars No, wouldn’t get my eyes tested
And to buy a bicycle. Would arrange to get a Chinese reading glasses
At just hundred and fifty rupees
In the New Year From the footpath of Fancy Bazaar
Many would perhaps think That’s to say
To build a new house I’d rush backward from civilization this time on.
Someone may think of buying a flat
But to go back from all these Would not take food in porcelain utensils
I’d demolish the concrete walls of my compound Would not drink from glass tumbler
And build a bamboo fence Would get plantain leaves from the backyard
So that air may pass through the squares of bamboo mesh Would throw away the steel spoons
To my home Would eat everything by hand- mixing with fingers
Like in the past. That’s to say, I’d go back
Would take off shoes and sandals
Everyone thinks of going forward And stay bare-footed.
I shall only think of going back in the New Year
Everyone would think of buying a lot of new things
6
In the New Year Comprehension
Everyone thinks of going forward I. Answer the following questions in one or two
This time I shall go back sentences each:
1. Who thinks about going backwards?
Taste going back from civilization.
2. Why does the poet want to sell his two cars?
The number of lies would increase in the New Year 3. Why does the poet prefer bamboo fence?
In every work lies would be essential 4. Mention any two resolutions the poet makes for
New Year
Else the flag of civilization would be closed
5. What old things does the poet prefer?
To march ahead one has to tell 6. Why does the poet promise that he would not lie?
Lies, lies and lies. 7. What makes the poet go back from civilization?
8. Where does the writer wish to go?
9. What does the poet demolish?
I swear 10. Where does the air pass through?
Shall not tell a single lie 11. How much money does the writer spend on old
handset?
Because this time I shall not go forward
12. Where did the writer pick the plantain leaves?
In this New Year
I would rush back from civilization II. Answer the following questions in a short
paragraph each:
Turn back turn back
1. Why does the poet want to go back?
There is fun in going back. 2. People always have to look forward, but in the
poem why do you think the poet wants to look
Glossary back?
3. What are the decisive resolutions taken by the poet
Android: operating system used for smartphones
in this New Year?
Porcelain: a hard, white substance that is very delicate and 4. Why does the poet think he is different from
that is made by baking clay. others?

7
 5. Why does the poet say “There is a fun in going 4. Can be useful in extracting the general idea and tone
back”? of the text.
6. Do you believe “There is fun in going back”? 5. It is useful in assessing the similarities and
Substantiate your answer. differences between texts.

III. Answer the following questions in about a page Caution:

each: Skimming is always faster than your normal reading speed.
1. What does the concept of “going back in this new One should be cautious of the factors given below:
year” elucidate in the poem?
a. The introductory and concluding paragraphs
2. Explain all the activities that the poet wants to do
b. The main idea of a paragraph
in the process of going back from civilization.
c. Unfamiliar words and jargons
3. According to the poet, why do people make
d. Dense and complicated material
resolutions every year? Elaborate.
4. Comment on the title of the poem “I shall go back Example
in the New Year.”
Books are a great treasure house of knowledge. They are
Language Activity: the living example of man’s march on the path to higher
and higher civilization. The great men who died long ago,
Skimming live in their books. We feel their very personality and
Skimming is reading rapidly in order to get a general existence when we read their books. We feel as if they were
overview of the text/paragraph/passage. Skimming tells you conversing with us.
what general information is within the section. It is the
 Books are treasures of knowledge
process of determining the main idea from a given passage.
 Leads to higher civilization
Advantages of skimming  Great men live in books
1. Saves lot of time in reading  Reading their books is conversing with them
2. Can be used as a preview before a detailed study or
while reading dense content texts.
3. Skimming can be used to determine whether one
should read the text at all.

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Exercises SONNET
Skim the following passages: (My Father)
Passage 2:
– Yehuda Amichai
Men, animals, birds, plants and insects of this planet are
each of them a link in the great chain of life. They are Brainstorming
interdependent for their survival. If they are at peace with
Listen up- there’s no war that will end all wars- Haruki
one another and their surroundings, they may be said to
Murakami
sustain a state of equilibrium. This, the ecologists say, is
conducive to the growth of all species. Population  Every generation that goes to war hopes that the
explosion and rapid advances in technology have disrupted next generation will not have to do likewise. Is their
this ecological balance. Most vulnerable to these influences hope misplaced? Discuss in groups
are plants whose extinction sets off chain reaction  Many wars are fought for freedom and peace.
exterminating other species. A knowledge of the relations Do wars achieve such noble objectives? Discuss
of living organisms to each other and to their surrounding is  What is collateral damage? Discuss in groups.
essential to save the earth from turning it into a lifeless  What is a sonnet? Discuss
desert.
About the Poet
Passage 3:
Yehuda Amichai (1924-2000) is one
Just because there is no atmosphere on the moon there can of the most celebrated modern poets
be no seas, rivers or waters of any kind. We are accustomed of Israel. His poem written in
to think of water as a liquid which doesn’t boil away until it Hebrew, have been translated into
reaches a temperature of 212 c, but if ever we picnic high forty languages. Yehuda Amichai is
up on a mountain, we find out our mistakes. We soon so widely read and translated that he
discover water boils more easily and at a lower temperature has been remarked as the most translated Hebrew poet
there than on the plain below. The reason is that there is since King David. Born in Germany in 1924, Amichai
left that country at age twelve with his family and
less weight of air to keep the molecules of the liquid
journeyed to Palestine. During the 1948 Arab-Israeli
pressed down and so prevent them flying off by
war, he fought with the Israeli defense forces. In 1956,
evaporation. If there were no air pressure at all, the water Amichai served in the Sinai War, and in 1973 he served
would evaporate no matter how low its temperature and this in the Yom Kippur War. The rigors and horrors of his
is precisely what would happen on the moon. service in this conflict inform his poetry, although he is
never ideological. Amichai believed that all poetry was
9
 political as real poems deal with a human response to Glossary
reality, and politics is part of reality, history in the
Tranquility: quiet and peaceful, free from agitation of the
making. He remarked, “Even if a poet writes about
mind
sitting in a glass house drinking tea, it reflects politics.”
It was during the war that Amichai began to be Glean: to gather, collect, search carefully
interested in poetry. He was influenced by the poems of
Dylan Thomas, W.H. Auden, and T.S. Eliot. Ragged: in bad condition especially because of being torn
Knapsack: A bag of canvas strapped on the back and used
My father fought their war four years or so, for carrying supplies or personal belongings
And did not hate or love his enemies. Unforsaken: Reclaim
Already he was forming me, I Know,
Theme: The poem is understatedly tragic, as many of
Daily, out of his tranquilities; Amichai’s poems are. All wars are fought with a noble
intent of heralding an era of infinite peace and wisdom.
Contrary to the expectations, wars are seldom replaced by a
Tranquilities, so few, which he had gleaned
lethal and much tragic sequel. Hopes are dashed and
Between the bombs and smoke, for his son’s sake, desperation, dejections and disappointments do make a
And put into his ragged knapsack with triumphant comeback. Yehuda Amichai’s father fought
World War I on the side of Germans; the poet himself had
The leftovers of my mother’s hardening cake. to fight many wars for his people – the Jews. There is a
very obvious difference between fighting their war and his
He gathered with his eyes the nameless dead, war. The father had hoped to pass on to his son the wisdom,
the understanding that all human beings are in some sense
The many dead for my sake unforsaken, to be loved – a love which his son was to experience by
So that I shouted not die like them in dread, seeing through his father’s gaze. Yet the son cannot afford
to accept that wisdom and vision. Like the leftovers of
But love them, seeing them as once he saw.
mother’s cake in father’s knapsack, such understanding can
He filled his eyes with them; he was mistaken. no longer give sustenance. There is no place for universal
Like them, I must go out to meet my war. love now, as he goes off to fight for his people. The son can
never develop an understanding like that of his father in the
war he goes to. Father had fought “their” war thus he could
see the enemy combatants in a detached way. On the
contrary, the son fighting for his own people is forced to
have a different perspective. The son can never have the
10
wisdom of forbearance which his forefathers had nor can he
impart the same to the next generation. III. Answer the following questions in about a page
Comprehension questions each:

I. Answer the following questions in one or two 1. Comment on the different perspectives on wars
sentences each: shared by the father and the son.

1. Who fought the war for four years? 2. The son can never have the wisdom of forbearance
2. What does “their” in first line refer to? which his forefathers had nor can he impart the
a. Israeli same to the next generation. Substantiate.
b. Palestinian 3. Dreadful wars and its horrors can never work as a
c. German deterrent for the next generation. Comment.
d. French
3. When did the father find moments of tranquility? Suggested Reading:
4. What was the condition of the knapsack carried by 1. The Poem “The Son” by Clifford Dyment
the father to the war field? 2. The Poem “Dulce et Decorum Est” by Wilfred
5. What had become of the cake sent by the mother? Owen
6. The father’s eyes were filled with 3. Watch the documentary Waltz with Basheer and
a. Hatred b. Love c. Envy d. Anger The Wall
7. Did the son share the same wisdom as of his
father’s?
Language Activity
II. Answer the following questions in a short Prepositions
paragraph each:
Prepositions are grammatical words that generally occur
1. What is the difference between the wars fought by before a noun/noun phrase/ noun clause. Prepositions have
the father and the son? a connecting or relating function and generally indicate the
2. What is the wisdom the father intends to pass on to relationship between two entities. The types of relation that
his son? prepositions indicate are varied. The following examples
3. Why is the wisdom imparted by the father illustrate few of the many relations indicated by
unsustainable as the cake in the knapsack? prepositions.
4. What is the son’s perspective about war?

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1. My friends live in a hostel. (Place) 2. The ceiling is directly ………… our heads while the
2. I met the Principal on Monday. (Time) floor is………….
3. Thousands of people have died of plague. (Cause) 3. The man who stood………….the bridge, watched
4. The students have gone on a study tour. (Activity) the river flowing…………
5. The results of this contest will be announced next 4. The aircraft flew………… the mighty Himalayas.
month. (Association)
6. We were shocked at the changes made in examination c) Fill in the blanks with suitable prepositions:
schedule. (State/condition) There lived a saint……a hermitage. The saint would
Some of the frequently used prepositions are – to, at, of, by, sit…..the shade…….a banyan tree and meditate. One
on, up, off, near, over, through, under, outside, around, day, a man jumped…..the wall and got ….. the garden.
between, among, above, across, after, against, along, below, He went and stood……two trees wondering which one
since, till, with, about, behind, during, inside, into, over. to cut. Actually, he just wanted one branch….a tree. He
climbed a tree and was about to cut a branch when the
Exercise 1
saint saw him.
a) Use appropriate prepositions and fill in the blanks:
1. Ramesh is………. the habit of rising late. “Can’t you let the tree sleep….. peace? Just because a
2. What is the name ……… your cute daughter? tree cannot speak, doesn’t mean that you can do
3. Meet me ….. the café. We will have some cold anything ….it!”
coffee.
4. Go….the garden and pluck some leaves. The man realized his mistake. He fell…. the saint’s feet
5. We adore him…..his honesty and humility. and begged ….his mercy.Don’t cut trees. They are our
6. I will go…. the court and plead …. you. friends too.
7. Ravi returned home….. noon and had his lunch.
8. Have faith ….. the constitution. Adjectives
An adjective is a describing word. It describes a noun or a
b) Use the prepositions (in. into, on, over, under, above
pronoun. It makes our language interesting and colourful.
and below) suitably in the blanks given below:
Consider these sentences:
1. There was great rejoicing…………. the assembly
 The children are building sand castles on a beach.
when the Prime Minister walked ……..the
 Four cute children are building sand castles on a bright
parliament hall.
and pristine beach.

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The second sentence sounds more interesting and evokes The Wolf
vivid imageries because of the adjectives – four, cute,
- Farooq Sarwar
bright and pristine.
Brainstorming
Few more adjectives
“I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but
Greedy, kingly, courageous, dangerous, expensive, skillful,
the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does
tasty, rainy, foolish, hasty, dusty, gutsy, beautiful, idle,
not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.”
positive, negative, healthy, old, modern, torn, tattered,
wobbly, handsome, white, dark, ugly, short, fat, dwarf, -- Nelson Mandela
windy.
Many a time we create our comfort zone and prefer to stay
in it, never venturing out with courage and constantly
Exercise fearing the non-existent threat, thus never realizing one’s
Choose the right adjective and fill in the blanks: potential or tasting the delicious fruits of freedom and
(long, brave, vast, blonde, happy, huge, nutritious, success. He who is not courageous enough to take risks will
valuable, ancient, tiring, polite, blue) accomplish nothing in life.
1. We wish you a ………..Ugadi.
2. Paris is a ……..city.  What do you fear the most in life?
3. The ………..soldier fought with enemies.  Is the fear imaginary or a real? Discuss in groups.
4. He had a ………. and ……day at work. About the author
5. “What a ……….child she is!” exclaimed the smiling
granny. Farooq Sarwar is one of the Pakistani
6. An ocean is a ……. expanse of water writers, who writes in English, Urdu and
7. Alice has ………….hair and ………...eyes. Pashto languages. He belongs to Quetta.
8. On the ground lay an….. coin. He is a noted columnist, lawyer, novelist
9. A wise man gave us ………… advice. and short story writer. He has authored twelve books.
10. Mother gives us ………… food. He has won literary awards from Academy of Letters,
Pakistan, Government of Balochistan and Pakistan
television.

13
I have taken shelter on a tree for quite sometimes. I am Often I wonder how long I’ll have to undergo this agony.
tired now and want to come down but the vicious wolf is How shall I wait for the wolf to die from hunger? Instead of
standing below, looking at me threateningly. He is waiting dying he now looks stronger than before.
for me to get down when he can tear me to shreds.
One morning when I open my eyes I sense somebody else
The tree that harbours me is a strange one. I could even call hiding in the foliage. I scream in fright, thinking that the
it a magical tree. Here, all my wishes are immediately wolf has eventually succeeded in his motive. However, I
fulfilled. If I think about a soft, warm bed I find it lying am amazed to see that he is a man like me, worried and
beside me the next moment. When I feel bored, I find a afraid. He has taken refuge in the tree to escape from
magnificent TV set before me with stereo speakers and another wolf that is standing below the tree, growling and
worldwide channels. Any food that I wish for appears there clawing its trunk. The wolf, however much it tried, is not
in no time. I have everything here – all sorts of comforts. able to climb up the tree.
But what I lack, and for which I’m pining away, is freedom.
We two are afraid of the wolves pursuing us. We have all
This freedom demands its price. In the present case it
means of comfort here but we are not happy. The feeling of
demands that I get down and kill the wolf. But I don’t have
boredom and oppression is eating into us every passing day.
the courage. I’m afraid of the wolf as he is stronger than
We cannot sleep at night. The moment we close our eyes;
me.
the frightful image of the wolf haunts us. It has even
Sometimes when I remember the time when the wolf was entered our dream, so that there is no peace for us there
chasing me, I get into a cold sweat. I feel a peculiar also.
sensation coursing through my body and my heart begins to
The wolves usually keep sitting at their places quietly.
sink. I thank God for finding the tree that gave me shelter.
However, often a kind of madness overtakes them and they
Otherwise the wolf would have killed me long ago. In the
attack the tree, cutting their teeth in its huge trunk and
enveloping gloom of despair, I often take solace from the
clawing it with their paws as they growl furiously. This
thought that the tree is a tall one, that I am totally safe here
sudden fit of insanity in the wolves frightens us more.
and the wolf cannot harm me in any way.
However, there’s one thing that’s rather strange. The wolf
During the day I manage rather well, doing one thing or the in my pursuit relates to me only; similarly, the other wolf
other. But as the night comes my sufferings begin. If I fall relates only to the other fellow. My companion’s wolf
asleep, nightmares trouble me and I go through hell. Every doesn’t bother me, and my wolf doesn’t bother him.
limb of my body ache badly, as though someone has Something that amazes us even more is the fact that the
thrashed me with a whip. I feel totally exhausted. wolves themselves do not relate to each other in any way.

14
After long deliberations one day we decide that we would tree is shrinking smaller and smaller. Frightened, I begin to
get down and face our wolves, come what may. We are not jump on the big branches of the tree in an effort to restrain
ready to put up with our oppressive lives anymore. We its movement, but in vain. Another spectacle frightens me. I
decide to close our eyes and jump. My companion jumps see the wolf getting bigger and in seconds he grows as big
down, but coward that I am, I keep sitting where I am. as a bull. I yell and scream, running up and down the tree.
But there is no relief. I prepare myself for the imminent
His wolf leaps at him as it finds him on the ground. My
death, bidding goodbye to everything around me. The wolf
wolf is also alerted by this and pricks up his ears. But when
and I are getting closer to each other with every passing
I don’t get down it goes wild with rage and attacks the trunk
moment.
of the tree with all ferocity. Before his wolf can get him
down on the ground, my companion hits it with the small My mind has gone numb. My eyes are closed, and like a
branch that he has broken from the tree. The wolf falls criminal about to be hanged I’m greeting death even before
down and dies in a few moments. the hangman’s noose is being put around my neck. I’m
waiting for the time when the executioner will pull the
My friend is free now. He has achieved his freedom by the
lever. The only sound I can hear now is that of my
dint of his courage. But I’m still undergoing the pangs of
companion who is desperately urging me to come down,
my life and cursing myself. My wolf has grown more
saying that I am stronger than the wolf. ‘The wolf is just an
desperate now, striking at the trunk of the tree all the time.
embodiment of imaginary fear. It’s like a windbag that you
Probably he thinks that if he keeps at it, either I will fall
can remove from your path with a single kick.’
down from the tree or the tree itself will fall. I clutch the
branch of the tree firmly as my whole body is bathed in Eventually I gather courage and jump down. My wolf leaps
sweat because of fear. I curse the wolf day and night but he at me immediately. But before he could kill me I strike him
does not let up. with the small and delicate twig that I have ripped from the
tree. The wolf which had reached elephantine proportions
My companion keeps on calling out to me encouragingly:
tumbles down on the ground and dies right before my eyes.
‘Come down. The wolf can’t do anything. He’s really very
weak, you can kill him easily.’ Now I am free. What a beautiful word is freedom! And how
pleasurable is the feeling of being free! I cry out in joy and
But I can’t trust his words, and keep shivering in fear. Then
begin to dance. And I dance like one gone mad. After
several incidents begin to occur that definitely signal to me
sometime when my enthusiasm cools a bit I look for my
that I am going to die. Suddenly the tree begins to shake. I
companion so that I can thank him, but he is not to be found
look down to see if the wolf is shaking it, but I see him
in his place. I’m amazed as I look around. I find
lying down in his place. Then I am startled to see that the
innumerable trees all around me. One human being has
15
taken shelter in each tree and a wolf is growling beneath Oppressive : cruel and unfair
each tree. Ferocity : very fierce or violent quality
I break into a peal of laughter. I go on laughing and Pangs : a sudden strong feeling of physical or
advancing towards those simple, innocent people who are emotional pain
afraid of their wolves for no reason! Spectacle : an impressive show, unusual or very
shocking
Imminent : happen very soon
Translated into English from the Urdu Version by
M.Asaduddin -- Short stories from Pakistan edited by Embodiment : something that is a perfect
Intizar Hussain, Asif Farrukhi published by Sahitya representative or example of a quality,
academy. idea
Twig : a small shoot or branch usually without
Glossary
its leaves
Vicious : very violent and cruel Elephantine : very large like an elephant
Enveloping : to completely enclose or surround
Solace : to give comfort during grief or
Comprehension
misfortune
Nightmare : bad dream, a dream that frightens a I. Answer the following questions in one or two
sleeping person sentences each:
Agony : extreme mental or physical pain 1. ________was standing below the tree?
Foliage : the leaves of a plant or of many plants 2. What would the wolf do if the author got down from
Growl : to make a low sound in an angry way the tree?
3. Why is the tree magical?
Claw : a sharp curved part on the toe of an
4. The author lacks
animal used to scratch, grip, or dig
a. Happiness
with
b. Freedom
Furious : angry
c. Vision
Deliberation : careful thought or discussion done in d. ambition
order to make a decision 5. What does freedom demand?
16
 6. The assumption of the poet about the wolf is III. Answer the following questions in a page each:
a. Wolf is weaker than the poet
1. Being comfortable is not being happy. The author
b. Wolf can be engaged in a combat and defeated and the man on the tree though comfortably placed
c. Wolf is strong, so it cannot be defeated are not happy. Explain.
d. Wolf and the poet are in equal terms 2. The story can be read as an allegory of everyman
7. How does the author take solace? staying in his comfort zone, leading a life of
8. Why is the night a suffering for the author? boredom, frightened, haunted and constantly
9. What amazed the sight of the author one day? oppressed, never tasting the fruits of freedom.
10. What do the wolves do standing below the tree? Discuss.
11. What is peculiar about the wolves? 3. We all have to fight our demons and wolves
12. How does the author’s companion kill the wolf? individually. Wolves are as strong as one imagines
13. How does the friend gain his freedom? them to be. Substantiate.
14. Why does the author sweat while sitting on the tree? Suggested Reading
15. How does the companion urge the author to get
down from the tree? 1. Long walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela
2. Watch the movies King’s Speech, Shawshank
16. The wolf is just an embodiment of _____________
Redemption, Escape from Alcatraz, Black Swan.
17. Why is the author amazed at the end of the story?
Language Activity
II. Answer the following questions in a short
paragraph each: Paragraph Writing
1. What were the facilities offered by the magical tree?
Paragraphs comprise of sentences, but not random
2. Why is the author grateful to God?
sentences. A paragraph is a group of sentences organized
3. How does the author and the man suffer on the tree?
around a central topic. In fact, the cardinal rule of paragraph
4. What is the primary difference between the two men
writing is to focus on one idea. A solidly written paragraph
on the tree?
takes its readers on a clear path, without detours. Master the
5. What are the signals that prompt the author to think
paragraph, and you’ll be on your way to writing “gold-star”
about his death? Is he right in thinking so?
essays, term papers, and stories.
Elaborate.
6. What does the author eventually do and how does
he kill the wolf?
7. How does the author react on gaining freedom?
17
A paragraph has: Conclusion : In conclusion, living in the country is
much better than living in the city.
The Topic Sentence
Topic Sentence : Forests are important for life on earth.
The topic sentence is usually the first sentence of a Conclusion : To sum up, if there were no forests, there
paragraph. It contains the main idea which is developed in would be no life on this planet.
the rest of the paragraph. A topic sentence must be a
complete sentence, a statement of intent, opinion or a Steps to Write a Good Paragraph
mixture of both. It should be neither too broad (Football is Step 1: Decide the Topic of Your Paragraph. ...
very popular in the world) nor too narrow (Gold is very Step 2: Develop a Topic Sentence. ...
valuable). The topic tells us the subject (what the paragraph Step 3: Demonstrate Your Point. ...
is about) and the controlling idea makes a specific comment
Step 4: Make the Paragraph Coherent and Lucid. ...
about the topic (what the paragraph is going to say about
the topic / the writer’s attitude or idea about the topic). In Step 5: Conclude. ...
other words, the controlling idea shows the reader what the Step 6: Look Over and Proof read
rest of the paragraph will say about the topic; it limits the
topic to a specific area to be discussed in a single
paragraph. A basic paragraph structure usually consists of the
following five elements:
The Concluding Sentence
The conclusion of a paragraph signals the end of the 1. Element #1: Unity. Unity in a paragraph begins with
paragraph; summarizes the main points of the paragraph the topic sentence. Every paragraph has one single,
and relates them to the topic sentence; gives a final controlling idea that is expressed in its topic sentence,
comment on the topic and leaves the reader with the most which is typically the first sentence of the paragraph.
important ideas to think about; can make a suggestion or a A paragraph is developed around this main idea, with
prediction. The concluding sentence is not absolutely the supporting sentences providing detail and
necessary, but it is very helpful to the reader since it signals discussion. In order to write a good topic sentence,
the end of the paragraph and reminds the reader of the think about your theme and all the points you want to
important points. The concluding sentence often closes the make. Decide which point drives the rest, and then
paragraph by returning the main idea. They do this by write it as your topic sentence.
repeating a keyword or phrase from the topic sentence. 2. Element #2: Order. Order refers to the way you
e.g.: Topic sentence: There are many good reasons to why organize your supporting sentences. Whether you
people live in the country but not in cities. choose chronological order, order of importance, or
18
 another logical presentation of detail, a solid Types of Paragraphs
paragraph always has a definite organization. In a
 Expository paragraphs have three important
well-ordered paragraph, the reader follows along
elements common to most paragraphs: flow, or
easily, aided by the pattern you’ve established. Order
unity and development (detailed, specific support or
helps the reader grasp your meaning and avoid
elaboration of the main idea); and coherence (each
confusion.
sentence clearly relates to the previous and next
3. Element #3: Coherence. Coherence is the quality that
sentence in an understandable and sensible
makes your writing understandable. Sentences within
manner).
a paragraph need to connect to each other and work
 Persuasive paragraphs focus on developing a
together as a whole. One of the best ways to achieve
strong argument that would convince someone who
coherence is to use transition words. These words
disagrees with the writer's position.
create bridges from one sentence to the next. You can
 Narrative paragraphs have similar features of
use transition words that show order (first, second,
flow (or unity) and coherence. However, the
third); spatial relationships (above, below) or logic
development might be more related to the action or
(furthermore, in addition, in fact). Also, in writing a
events narrated in the paragraph than to supporting
paragraph, using a consistent verb tense and point of
an argument. Coherence in a narrative paragraph
view are important ingredients for coherence.
usually comes from the chronological order of the
4. Element #4: Completeness. Completeness means a
"story" or narrative.
paragraph is well-developed. If all sentences clearly
 Descriptive paragraphs might find their
and sufficiently support the main idea, then your
development through giving a series of sensory
paragraph is complete. If there are not enough
details or of abstract ideas that describe an object
sentences or enough information to prove your thesis,
(or concept or theory), rather than through support.
then the paragraph is incomplete. Usually three
supporting sentences, in addition to the topic sentence
and the concluding sentence, are needed for a Where do you get ideas for paragraphs?
paragraph to be complete. The concluding sentence or  From brainstorming
last sentence of the paragraph should summarize your  From questions
main idea by reinforcing your topic sentence.  From reading/note taking
 Key words/phrases can become main ideas

19
Sample Paragraphs Write a topic sentence:
Problems in Big Cities
__________________________________________
All around the world living in big cities creates _____________. First of all, you must consider the
serious problems for people. The first problem is air quality of the university’s academic program. The
pollution. For example, in Istanbul, many people university’s size and location should also be given a
have cars and cars are one reason why the air is careful thought. Finally, you must always be sure to
polluted. Secondly, traffic is a major problem for the consider the tuition before you decide which
people living in big cities. Nowadays there are more university to attend. In short, a good education is
and more cars on roads, and this causes traffic jams important, so before choosing a university, the
in many parts of the cities. For this reason, many quality of the education given, the size, the location
inhabitants waste their time in traffic, and they are and the tuition of a university should be taken into
negatively affected by this situation. To sum up, air consideration.
pollution and traffic jams are two major problems
that people living in big cities have. Exercise:
Using the topic sentence given below & write a
Bicycles paragraph each:
1. India is a developing country.
Bicycles are popular today in many countries for 2. Coorg is one of the famous tourist
three reasons. First, most of the people use bicycles destinations.
to exercise. To illustrate, in Holland, people think 3. Education is one of the important factors for
riding a bicycle is a better way of keeping fit and the emancipation of the poor.
staying healthy than other sports. The second reason 4. Patriarchal mindset plays a vital role in the
is money. Generally bikes are not expensive to buy, subjugation of women.
and they are quite cheap to fix. Finally, they are
suitable for city life. In cities, many people prefer
bikes to cars because unlike cars, with a bicycle,
they never have to wait in traffic. In brief, having a
bicycle is beneficial for people for different reasons.

20
 Leaving the coastal town north of Dar. Firoz dropped out in his last
year at school, and everyone said that it was a wonder he
- M. G. Vassanji
had reached that far. He was assistant book-keeper
book at
Brainstorming
Oriental Emporium,
porium, and brought home stationery
 Why do people migrate? Discuss in groups the sometimes.
effects of migration.
Mother had placed her hopes on the youngest two of us,
 Why is parting from the loved ones a heart
Aloo and me, and she didn’t’ want us distracted by the
wrenching experience?
chores that always needed doing around the store. One
 What is a diaspora? Can you think of few diaspora
evening she secured for the last time the half hal a dozen
and their origin? Discuss.
assorted padlocks on the sturdy paneled doors and sold the
About the author
store. This was exactly one week after the wedding party
M.G. Vassanji (b.1950) is a Toronto had driven off with a tearful Razia, leaving behind a
based novelist of Indian origin. He was distraught mother in the stirred-up
stirred dust of Uhuru Street.
born in Nairobi, Kenya. He left Africa to
We moved to the residential
sidential area of Upanga. After the
study at the Massachusetts Institute of
bustle of Uhuru Street, our new neighborhood seemed
Technology and the University of
quiet. Instead of the racket of buses, bicycles and cars on
Pennsylvania in the US where he
the road, we now heard the croaking of frogs and the
received his doctorate in Nuclear Physics, in 1978 he
chirping of insects. Nights were haunting, lonely and
moved to Toronto and was a Research Associate at the
desolate
esolate and took some getting used to. Upanga Road
University of Toronto.
to. During this period, he developed
emptied after seven in the evening and the side streets
a keen interest in medieval Indian literature and history.
became pitch dark, with no illumination. Much of the area
A gifted writer his works represent the convergence of
was as yet uninhabited and behind the housing
cultures that characterized both East Africa and North
developments there were overgrown bushes, large,lar scary
America. His writings focus on issues of diaspora,
baobab trees, and mango and coconut groves.
migration, citizenship, gender and ethnicity.
Sometimes in the evenings, when Mother felt sad, Aloo and
ichwele Street was now Uhuru Street. My two sisters had
Kichwele I would play two-three-five
five with her, a variation of whist
completed school and got married and Mother missed them for three people. I had entered the university by then and
sometimes. Mehroon, after a succession of wooers, had came back at weekends. Aloo
Alo was in his last year at school.
settled for a former opening batsman of our
ur school team He had turned out to be exceptionally bright in his
and was in town. Razia was a wealthy housewife in Tanga, studies—more
more so than we realized.
21
That year MrDatoo, a former teacher from our school who sure if he could, if he was good enough. He suffered
was also a former student, returned from America for a periods of intense hope and hopeless despair.
visit. MrDatoo had been a favorite with the boys. When he
Of course, Aloo was entitled to a place at the local
came he received a tumultuous welcome. For the next few
university. At the end of the year, when the selections were
days he toured the town like the Pied Piper followed by a
announced in the papers, his name was on the list. But some
horde of adulating students, one of whom was Aloo.
bureaucratic hand, probably also corrupt, dealt out a future
The exciting event inspired in Aloo the hope that not only prospect for him that came as a shock. He had applied to
might he be admitted to an American university, but he study medicine; he was given a place in agriculture. An
could also win a scholarship to go there. Throughout the agricultural officer in a rural district somewhere was not
rest of the year, therefore, he wrote to numerous what he wanted to become however patriotic he felt. He had
universities, culling their names from books at the USIS, never left the city except to go to the national parks once on
often simply at random or even only by the sounds of their a school trip.
names.
When Aloo received a letter from the California Institute of
Mother’s response to all these efforts was to humor him. Technology offering him a place with a scholarship, he was
She would smile. ‘Your uncles in America will pay stupefied at first. He read and reread the letter, not believing
thousands of shillings just to send you to college,’ she what it seemed to be saying, afraid that he might be reading
would say. Evidently she felt he was wasting his time, but something into it. He asked me to read it for him. When he
he would never be able to say that he did not have all the was convinced there was no possibility of a mistake he
support she could give him. became elated.
Responses to his enquiries started coming within weeks and ‘The hell I’ll do agriculture!’ he grinned.
a handful of them were guardedly encouraging. Gradually
But first he had to contend with Mother.
Aloo found out which were the better places, and which
among them the truly famous. Soon a few catalogues Mother was incredulous. ‘Go, go,’ she said, ‘don’t you eat
arrived, all looking impressive. It seemed that the more my head, don’t tease me!’.
involved he became with the application process; the more
‘But it’s true!’ he protested. ‘They’re giving me a
tantalizing was the prospect of going to an American
scholarship!’
University. Even the famous places did not discourage him.
He learnt of subjects he had never heard of before: genetics, We were at the table – the three of us – and had just poured
cosmology, artificial intelligence: a whole universe was out tea from the thermos. Mother sitting across from me stared
there waiting for him if only he could reach it. He was not at her saucer for a while then she looked up.
22
‘Is it true?’; she asked me. to them… Why did you mislead me, then? Why did you let
me apply if you didn’t want me to go… why did you raise
‘Yes, it’s true,’ I said. ‘All he needs is to take 400 dollars’
my hopes if only to dash them?’ He had raised his voice to
pocket money with him.’
her, the first time I saw him do it, and he was shaking.
“How many shillings would that make?” She asked.
He did not bring up the question again and he prepared
‘About three thousand.’ himself for the agricultural college, waiting for the term to
begin. At home he would slump on the sofa putting away a
‘And how are we going to raise this three thousand novel a day.
shillings? Have you bought a lottery? And what about the
ticket? Are they going to send you a ticket too? If the unknown bureaucrat at the Ministry of Education had
been less arbitrary, Aloo would not have been so broken
As she said this Aloo’s prospects seemed to get dimmer. and Mother would not have felt compelled to try and do
She was right, it was not a little money that he needed. something for him.
‘Can’t we raise a loan?’ he asked. ‘I’ll work there. Yes, I’ll A few days later, on a Sunday morning, she looked up from
work as a waiter. A waiter!’ I know you can do it; I’ll send her sewing machine and said to the two of us: ‘Let’s go and
the money back!’
show this letter to Mr. Velji. He is experienced in these
‘You may have uncles in America who would help you,’ matters. Let’s take his advice.’
Mother told him, ‘but no one here will.’
Mr. Velji was a former administrator of our school. He had
Aloo’s shoulders sagged and he sat there toying with his a large egg-shaped head and a small compact body. With
cup, close to tears. Mother sat drinking from her saucer and his large forehead and big black spectacles, he looked the
frowning. The evening light came in from the window caricature of the archetypal wise man. He also had the
behind me and gave a glint to her spectacles. Finally, she bearing of one. The three of us were settled in his sitting
set her saucer down. She was angry. room chairs staring about us and waiting expectantly when
he walked in stiffly, like a toy solider, to welcome us.
‘And why do you want to go away, so far from us? Is this
what I raised you for – so you could leave me to go away to ‘How are you, sister?’ he said. ‘What can I do for you?’
a foreign place? Won’t you miss us, where you want to go? Aloo and I stood up respectfully as he sat down.
Do we mean so little to you? If something happens…’
‘We have come to you for advice…’ Mother began.
Aloo was crying. A tear fell into his cup; his nose was
running. ‘So many kids go and return, and nothing happens
23
‘Speak, then,’ he said jovially and sat back, joining his ‘Well,’ said Mr. Velji, ‘it would be good for his education.’
hands behind his head. He raised his hand to clear his throat. Then he said a little
slowly: ‘But if you send him, you will lose your son.’
She began by giving him her history. She told him which
family she was born in, when our father died. Common ‘It’s a far place, America,’ he concluded, wiping his hands
relations were discovered between our families, ‘Now this briskly at the finished business. ‘Now what will you have—
one here,’ she pointed at me, ‘goes to university here, and tea? Orange squash?’
that one wants to go to America. Show him the documents,’
His wife appeared magically to take orders.
she commanded Aloo.
‘All the rich kids go every year and they are not lost,’
As if with an effort, Aloo pushed himself out of the sofa
muttered Aloo bitterly as we walked back home. Mother
and slowly made his way to place the documents in
was silent.
MrVelji’s hands. Before he looked at them MrVelji asked
Aloo his result in the final exam. That night she was at the sewing machine and Aloo was on
the couch, reading. The radio was turned low and through
At Aloo’s answer, his eyes widened. ‘Henh?’ he said. ‘All
the open front door a gentle breeze blew in to cool the
A’s?’
sitting room. I was standing at the door. The banana tree
‘Yes,’ replied Aloo, a little too meekly. and its offspring rustled outside, a car zoomed on the road,
throwing shadows on neighboring houses. A couple out for
MrVelji flipped the papers one by one, cursorily at first.
a stroll, murmuring, came into sight over the uneven hedge;
Then he went over them more carefully. He looked at the
groups of boys or girls chattered before dispersing for the
long visa form with the carbon copies neatly bound behind
night. The intermittent buzz of an electric motor escaped
the original; he read over the friendly letter from the
from Mother’s sewing machine. It was a little darker where
Foreign Student Adviser; he was charmed by the letters of
she sat at the other end of the room from us.
invitation from the fraternities. Finally, he looked up, a little
humbled. Presently she looked up and said a little nonchalantly, ‘At
least show me what this university looks like—bring that
‘The boy is right,’ he said. ‘The university is good, and they
book, will you?’
are giving him a bursary. I congratulate you.’
Mother had never seen the catalogue. She had always
‘But what should I do?’ asked Mother anxiously. ‘What is
dismissed it, had never shown the least bit of curiosity
your advice? Tell us what we should do.’
about the place Aloo wanted so badly to visit. Now the
three of us crowded around the glossy pages, pausing at
24
pictures of the neoclassic facades and domes, columns I had never seen her like that. All I had seen of her was the
towering over humans, students rushing about in a dither of stern face getting sterner with time as the lines set
activity, classes held on lush lawns in ample shade. It all permanently and the hair thinned, the body turned squat, the
looked so awesome and yet inviting. voice thickened.
‘It’s something, isn’t it?’ whispered Aloo, hardly able to I recalled how Aloo and I would take turns sleeping with
hold back his excitement. ‘They teach hundreds of courses her at night on her big bed; how she would squeeze me in
there,’ he said. ‘They send rockets into space… to other her chubby arms, drawing me up closer to her breast until I
worlds… to the moon.’ could hardly breathe – and I would control myself and hope
she would soon release me and let me breathe.
‘If you go away to the moon, my son, what will become of
me?’ she said humorously, her eyes gleaming as she looked She looked at me looking at her and said, not to me,
up at us. ‘Promise me… promise me that if I let you go, you will not
marry a white woman.’
Aloo went back to his book and Mother to her sewing.
‘Oh Mother, you know I won’t!’ said Aloo.
A little later I looked up and saw Mother deep in thought,
brooding, and as she often did at such times she was ‘And promise me that you will not smoke or drink.’
picking her chin absent-mindedly. It was, I think, the first
‘You know, I promise!’ He was close to tears.
time I saw her as a person and not only as our mother. I
thought of what she must be going through in her mind, Aloo’s first letter came a week after he left, from London
what she had gone through in bringing us up. She had been where he’d stopped over to see a former classmate. It
thirty-three when Father died, and she had refused several flowed over with excitement. ‘How can I describe it,’ he
offers of marriage because they would all have entailed one wrote, ‘the sight from the plane… mile upon mile of
thing: sending us all to the ‘boarding’ – the orphanage. carefully tilled fields, the earth divided into neat green
Pictures of her before his death showed her smiling and in squares… even the mountains are clean and civilized. And
full bloom: plump but not excessively fat, hair puffed London…Oh London! It seemed that it would never
fashionably, wearing high heels and make-up. There was end…blocks and blocks of houses, squares, parks,
one picture, posed at a studio, which Father had had monuments…could any city be large?... How many of our
touched up and enhanced, which now hung beside his. In it Dar-es-Salaams would fit here, in this one gorgeous
she stood against a black background, holding a book city…?’
stylishly, the nylon pachedi painted a light green, the folds
A bird flapping its wings: MrVelji nodding wisely in his
falling gracefully down, the borders decorated with sequins.
chair, Mother staring into the distance.
25
Glossary II. Answer the following questions in a short
paragraph each.
Uhuru : independence
1. Describe the narrator’s family.
Distraught : upset, agitated 2. Why is Aloo not keen to pursue his studies at the
Baobab : a short African tree with thick trunk local university like his peers?
3. Despite the obstacles he faced, how did Aloo
Whist : card game played by four
succeed in his dream of studying abroad?
Tumultuous : excited 4. How does the Mother ensure that Aloo leaves for
Culling : to select from a wide range further studies with a happy frame of mind?
5. Aloo promised to work his way through college to
Tantalizing : teasingly out of reach repay the loan & to not let his mother down.
Stupefied : astonish Comment on the mixed emotions of the mother.
6. It is a story of generations new and old. Have you
Bursary : scholarship
experienced a similar situation regarding your
Pachedi : a veil worn over a dress, or used to cover career options?
head and face.
III. Answer the following questions in a page each.
Comprehension 1. “A whole universe was out there waiting for him if
I Answer the following questions in one or two only he could reach it. He was not sure if he could,
sentences each: if he was good enough.” How is hope and
1. Who is the narrator of the story? hopelessness juxtaposed?
2. Why did the family shift from Uhuru street? 2. The story dwells on family relations and kinship.
3. Why was MrDatoo given a tumultuous welcome? Elaborate.
4. What motivated Aloo to seek admission to an 3. “A bird flapping its wings Mr. Velji nodding
American University? wisely in his chair, Mother staring into the
5. What advice did MrVelji give to the Mother? distance”.
a. What does ‘bird ‘signify? Elaborate
6. What promise does the Mother take from Aloo?
b. The sense of loss can be realized through the
7. What are Aloo’s first impressions of London?
Mother’s eyes. Discuss.
26
Suggested reading  If there is a consonant in front of – y, the ending
becomes –ies
Bharti Mukherjee’s. The Middleman and Other Stories.
Try – tries, worry - worries
Uma Parameswaran. The Door I Shut Behind Me.  We add –es to verbs ending in –o, -ss,-ch, -sh and -x

Go – goes, miss – misses, watch – watches, fix - fixes

Language Activity
 Some plurals nouns are always used with a singular
Concord: Subject – Verb agreement
verb
The agreement of certain grammatical items with each other a) Games : Billiards, Olympics, Aerobics, Athletics
in number and person is called concord. b) Sciences: Phonetics, Physics, Economics
c) Nouns denoting amounts
Concord follows a set of rules. - Six months is a long time to be off school
Concord of number is the most important. Singular subject - This thousand-rupee note is a counterfeit
goes with singular Verb phrases. Plural subject goes with
plural verb phrases.  In set expressions
 More than one… is used with a singular verb.
The door is shut.  More than one person was appointed.
The doors are shut.  Organizations and countries.

 When we are talking about the present, we add – s to a The Association of farmers has pleaded for subsidy.
verb if one person or thing (he/she/it) is performing the Eg: Club, team, public, government, crew, firm
action or being described by the verb.
 We use a singular verb with neither…nor/either…
 If there is a vowel in front of – y, the –y does not change or if there are just two people or things involved. If
when we add-s one of the nouns is plural, then the verb agrees with
Say – he says the nearer noun.
Eg: Neither my mother nor my father was invited to
Play – he plays the party.
Neither the captain nor his officers were
awarded

27
 Neither the players nor the captain was Eg: I still remember the joys of my childhood.
felicitated
People living in glass houses should not throw stones at
 We use a plural verb with scissors, trousers, people, others.
police.
I was glad to know of his success
 We use a plural verb with “a number of” (=some)
and a singular verb with” the number of….

Compound Sentence: It has at least two independent

EXERCISES: clauses joined by a comma, semicolon or conjunction.
Select the correct alternative in brackets Eg: Attend your classes regularly, or you will fall short of
attendance.
1. The crew (was/were) tired after the contest.
2. Each of my students (has/have) his own computer. You must take rich diet, or you will not gain weight.
3. There (are/is) many avenues. You should not worry. He gave me not only useful advice but financial help
4. My family (were/was) travelling by that train. also.
5. One of the children (have/has) caught fever. Complex Sentence: It is made up of an independent clause
6. War and peace (is/are) a great novel by Tolstoy. and one or more dependent clause connected to it.
7. What he means to do with his money (is, are) what I’d Eg: Although my father was poor, he gave me the best
like to know. possible education.
I am responsible for what I do.
Language Activity – II When I have finished the book, I shall return it.
SENTENCES Exercise
There are three types of sentences: I. Identify the type of the sentence:
Simple sentence: It contains only one (main) independent 1. Ann is cleverer of the two sisters
clause and has no dependent clause. 2. He stayed at home on account of his illness
3. He is working day and night so that he may
improve his prospects in life

28
4. As soon as I got the letter, I left for Delhi Real Food
5. He was inexperienced, so he suffered loss in
Brainstorming
business
6. She is very ill but she goes to work  Have you noticed that during festivals, specific food
7. I cannot afford to buy many books, therefore items are prepared? Can you list out the food items
I study in the library prepared during specific festivals? Do you find any
8. He is more a poet than a statesman specific reason as to why only those items are prepared?
9. I shall buy it at any cost Which ones do you like/dislike and Why?
10. The boy in the blue shirt is the captain  Food is a cultural marker. Can you identify other
cultural markers?

About the author

ChimamandaNgoziAdichie (2003-
Present) is a Nigerian writer of
short fiction, novels and non fiction.
She was born on 15 September in
1977 in the Enugu State of Nigeria.
She was awarded the Mac Arthur Genius Grant in 2008
and was described by the Times Literary Supplement as
the “most prominent” among a list of critically
acclaimed young Anglophone authors successful in
attracting a new generation of readers to African
literature. Her other works include her first novel,
Purple Hibiscus, Half of a Yellow Sun and The Thing
Around Your Neck. Her novel Americanah (2013) was
selected by the New York Times as one of “The 10
Best Books of 2013”.
In Real Food, the author writes about her childhood
dislike of garri, a Nigerian staple. Through the story she
reveals how food is an important aspect of one’s culture
and how food indicates one’s belonging to a culture.
29
I was nine years old, sitting stiffly at the dining table in my That afternoon, it was egusi soup. My mother’s eyes were
blue-and-white school uniform, and across from me sat my steady behind her glasses. “Are you playing with that food
mother, who had come home from work at the university or eating it?” she asked. I said I was eating. Finally, I
registry, elegant in her swishy skirt, smelling of Poison finished and said, “Mummy, thank you,” as all well-
perfume and saying she wanted to watch me eat. I still do brought-up Igbo children were supposed to after a meal. I
not know who told her that I was skipping lunch before had just stepped outside the carpeted dining area and onto
school. Perhaps it was the houseboy, Fide. Perhaps it was the polished concrete floor of the passage when my
my little brother Kenechukwu, who went to school in the stomach churned and recoiled and the garri and soup
morning and came home just before I left. The firm set of rushed up my throat.
her mouth told me that I had no choice but to eat the
“Go upstairs and rinse your mouth,” my mother said.
garriand soup placed on the table. I made the sign of the
cross. I plucked a morsel from the soft lump of garri. I When I came down, Fide was cleaning up the watery
swallowed. My throat itched. I disliked all the variants of yellowish mess, and I was sorry he had to and I was too
this quintessential Nigerian food, whether made from corn, disgusted to look. After I told my mother that I never ate
cassava, or yams, whether cooked or stirred or pounded in a garri before school, that on Saturdays I waited until nobody
mortar until they became a soft mash. It was jokingly called was looking to wrap my garri in a piece of paper and slip it
“swallow”, because one swallowed the morsels without into the dustbin, I expected her to scold me. But she
chewing; it was easy to tell that a person chewing garriwas muttered in Igbo, “You want hunger to kill you,” and then
a foreigner. told me to get a Fanta from the fridge.
“Hurry up’” my mother said. “You will be late for school.” Years later, she asked me, “What does garri really do to
We had garrifor lunch every day except Sunday, when we you?” “It scratches my throat,” I told her, and she laughed.
had rice and stew and sometim4s a lush salad that contained It became a standing line of family teasing. “Does this
everything from baked beans to boiled eggs and was served scratch your throat?” my brothers would ask. Following
with dollops of creamy dressing. The soups gave some that afternoon, my mother had boiled yams, soft and white
variety to lunch: the yellowish egusi, made of ground melon and crumbly, made for my lunch; I ate them dipped in palm
seeds and vegetables; onugbu,rich with dark-green oil. Sometimes she would come home with a few wraps of
bitterleaf; okro, with its sticky sauce; nsala, with beef warm okpa, which remains my favorite food: a simple,
chunks floating in a thick herb-filled broth. I disliked them orange-colored, steamed pie of white beans and palm oil
all. that tastes best cooked in banana leaves. We didn’t make it
at home, perhaps because it was not native to our part of
Igboland. Or perhaps because those we bought on the
30
roadside from the women who carried them in large basins Glossary
on their heads were too good to surpass.
Staple : a food/product/activity that is
I wish I ate garri. It is important to the people I love: My important in people’s everyday lives
late grandmother used to want to have garri three times a Registry : administrative unit maintaining registers
day. My brother’s idea of perfect meal is pounded yam. My and records
father once came home from a conference in Paris, and Quintessential : perfect, typical
when I asked how it had gone he said that he had missed Mortar : a cup shaped vessel in which
real food. In Igbo, another word for “swallow” is simply ingredients are crushed or ground
“food”, so that one might overhear a sentence like “The
food was well pounded, but the soup was not tasty.” My
Comprehension questions
brothers, with affectionate mockery, sometimes ask whether
it is possible for a person who does not eat swallow to be I. Answer the following questions in one or two
authentically Igbo, Nigerian, African. sentences each.
1. What is garri?
On New Year’s Day of the year I turned thirteen, we went
2. What is the other name of garri? Why is it called
to my Aunt Dede’s house for lunch. “Did you remember?”
so?
my mother asked my aunt while gesturing towards me. My
3. Why did the young girl always skip lunch before
aunt nodded. There was a small bowl of jollof rice, soft-
school?
cooked in an oily tomato sauce, for me. My brothers praised
4. The narrator’s family had _________for lunch
the onugbu soup - “Auntie, this is soup that you washed
every Sunday.
your hands well before cooking” - and I wished that I, too,
i.garri ii. soup iii. boiled eggs iv. rice and
could say something. Then my boisterous Auntie Rosa
stew
arrived, her wrapper always seeming to be just about to slip
5. What according to the narrator, happened to her
off her waist. After she had exchanged hugs with everyone,
when she ate garri?
she settled down with her pounded yam and noticed that I
6. Looking at the text, match the following:
was eating rice. “Why are you not eating food?” she asked
garri—bitter leaf soup
in Igbo. I said I did not eat swallow. She smiled and said to
egusi---soup with beef
my mother, “Oh, you know she is not like us local people.
onugbo---steamed pie
She is foreign.”
okro---soup of ground melon seeds
nsala---soup of sticky sauce
okpa--- powedered cereal/foodstuff
31
 7. In the end, why does the narrator wish that she ate Suggested Reading/Activity
garri?
 Do a small project on the food items from local cultures
8. How could one tell from one’s way of eating garri
that have disappeared or are disappearing.
that one was a foreigner?
 Watch the Ted Talks video by Adichie titled, “The
Danger of a Single Story”.
II. Answer the following questions in a short
paragraph each
1. Describe the circumstances which led the mother Language Activity:
to make food for her daughter separately?
In the text that you read above, you have come across
2. Why does the narrator say that garri is important
groups of words which form a meaningful unit. They are
for her people?
called phrases. They are the parts of sentences.
3. Why does the narrator’s family call her a
foreigner? e.g. the dining table, the university, the houseboy, my
4. Do you find any similarities between the food mother, my little brother, this food, that afternoon
culture of the narrator’s family and yours? Note
the similarities and differences. These groups of words are called noun phrases.
5. Why does the author title the piece as “Real Noun phrase
Food”?
A Noun phrase is a group of words consisting of a noun or
III. Answer the following questions in about a page each a pronoun. The chief word in such a phrase is a noun or
1. The author seems to suggest that food habits pronoun. It can have a determiner, preposition, adjective
signify one’s sense of belonging and identity. Do etc.
you agree? Discuss in detail with reference to the In this unit let’s look at the noun phrase with a determiner
story and your own experiences.
2. Cosmopolitan food habits are taking the present i. Noun Phrase =Determiner +Noun
generation away from their own food culture. an accident
Elaborate with examples. that person
our parents
my friend

32
Determiners Exercise 1
What are determiners?
Directions: Fill in the blank with the appropriate
Words which come at the beginning of a noun phrase are article, a, an, or the, or leave the space blank if no article is
determiners. The following are the chief determiners in a needed.
noun phrase.
1. I want ____ apple from that basket.
I. Articles
2. ____ temple is right across the corner.
II. Possessives
III. Demonstratives 3. Sujatha can speak ____ Arabic.
IV. Interrogatives 4. I borrowed ____ pencil from your pile of pencils and
pens.
I. Articles 5. One of the students said, "____ professor is late today."
A, an and the are the main determiners in a phrase. They 6. Pavan likes to play ____ volleyball.
could be definite or indefinite. A and an, the indefinite 7. I bought ____ umbrella to go out in the rain.
articles, are used to refer to a single and unspecified
8. My daughter is learning to play ____ violin at her
entity. A is used with nouns that start with a consonant
school.
sound, as in a car, while an is used with words that start
with a vowel sound, as in an engine.The, the definite article 9. Please give me ____ cake that is on the counter.
refers to a specific entity or entities. The single entity may 10. I lived on ____ Main Street when I first came to town.
also be made up of multiple individual entities, as in, for 11. Wellington is the capital of ____ New Zealand.
example, the class of 1999, the Beatles or the Mains. When
12. My husband's family speaks ____ Telugu.
determiners are used with nouns, they become noun
phrases. E.g. a car, an engine, the class of 1999 are all noun 13. ____ apple a day keeps the doctor away.
phrases. 14. ____ ink in my pen is red.
15. Our neighbours have ____ cat and ____ dog.

33
II. Possessives In the first sentence, it’s is a contraction of it is while the in
the second sentence its indicates possession.
Possessives, as the name itself says suggests ownership.
Similarly examine the following errors.
Nouns and pronouns become possessive when they refer to
something that belongs to someone or something. E.g.  Incorrect: Is this towel mine, or is it your’s?
Kavya’s, his, hers etc. When you use a possessive with a Correct: Is this towel mine, or is it yours?
noun, it becomes a noun phrase. E.g. his bicycle, her salary
etc.  Incorrect: Kiran said that this is her sweater, so it must
be her’s.
The following guidelines will help you with spellings where Correct: Kiran said that this is her sweater, so it must
possessives are involved. Look at the following examples. be hers.

The cat’s fur looked shiny after the bath. Exercise 2

To show possession in case of a singular noun or a plural Punctuate the following sentences with apostrophes
noun that does not end in s, add an apostrophe and an s. according to the rules for using the apostrophe.
My family’s ancestral house is in Punjab. 1. Whose the partys candidate for vice president this year?
If the plural noun ends in s, add an apostrophe after the s 2. The fox had its right foreleg caught securely in the traps
jaws.
I can’t find the boys’ pajamas
3. Our neighbors car is an old Chrysler, and its just about to
All the different companies’ parking lots are on the south
fall apart.
side of the building
4. In three weeks time well have to begin school again.
One error that most learners make is when they use the
possessive pronouns. They confuse them with the 5. Its important that the kitten learns to find its way home.
contractions. Look at the following example.
6. She did not hear her childrens cries.
INCORRECT: My mom told me she wants her car back
7. My address has three 7s, and Deepak’s phone number
in it’s normal spot in the garage by midnight.
has four 2s.
CORRECT: My mom told me she wants her car back
in its normal spot in the garage by midnight. 8. Its such a beautiful day that I’ve decided to take a sun
bath.
34
9. She said the watch Adi found was hers, but she could not WINGS OF FIRE
identify the manufacturers name on it.
Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam
10.Little girls clothing is on the first floor, and the mens
Brainstorming
department is on the second.
1. Do you know the various facets of Dr. A P J Abdul
Kalam? Share your views with one another in the class.
Exercise 3 2. In this age of animosity, the harmonious rapport
between Hindus and Muslims in this text gives us a
From exercises 1 and 2, write down 20 noun phrases.
sense of wonder and a hope for future. Discuss.
Exercise 4 3. This excerpt from Dr. Kalam’s autobiography gives an
insight into the life and thoughts of a great icon our
Now coming back to noun phrases, try to make at least 10 country has found. Read the best seller ‘Wings of Fire’.
noun phrases on your own
About the author

Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam (15 October

1931-27 July 2015) better known as A P J Abdul
Kalam was the 11th President of India from 2002 to
2007. He was a scientist turned statesman. Born and
brought up in Rameshwaram, Tamilnadu, he studied physics and
aerospace engineering. He left his footprints as science
administrator at DRDO and ISRO. He worked in India’s space
programme. He came to be called ‘Missile Man of India’. He
played a pivotal role in Pokhran—II nuclear tests in 1998.
This extract is taken from ‘Wings of Fire’, an autobiography of APJ
Abdul Kalam with Arun Tiwari. He worked under Kalam for over a
decade in the Defence Research and Development Laboratory
(DRDL), Hyderabad.
This extract gives us an introductory insight into Kalam’s life, his
childhood, and the people who influenced him, his family, his
upbringing and early days of struggle. Also could be noticed the
cultural and religious milieu Rameshwaram offered young Kalam.
35
I was born into a middle-class Tamil family in the island The famous Shiva temple, which made Rameswaram so
town of Rameswaram in the erstwhile Madras State. My sacred to pilgrims, was about a ten-minute walk from our
father, Jainulabdeen, had neither much formal education house. Our locality was predominantly Muslim, but there
nor much wealth; despite these disadvantages, he possessed were quite a few Hindu families too, living amicably with
great innate wisdom and a true generosity of spirit. He had their Muslim neighbors. There was a very old mosque in
an ideal helpmate in my mother, Ashiamma. I do not recall our locality where my father would take me for evening
the eact number of people she fed every day, but I am quite prayers. I had not the faintest idea of the meaning of the
certain that far more outsiders ate with us than all the Arabic prayers chanted, but I was totally convinced that
members of our own family put together. they reached God. When my father came out of the mosque
after the prayers, people of different religions would be
My parents were widely regarded as an ideal couple. My
sitting outside, waiting for him. Many of them offered
mother’s lineage was the more distinguished, one of her
bowls of water to my father who would dip his fingertips in
forebears having been bestowed the title of ‘Bahadur’ by
them and say a prayer. This water was then carried home
the British.
for invalids. I also remember people visiting our home to
I was one of many children—a short boy with rather offer thanks after being cured. My father always smiled and
undistinguished looks, born to tall and handsome parents. asked them to thank Allah, the benevolent and merciful.
We lived in our ancestral house, which was built in the
The high priest of Rameswaram temple, Pakshi Lakshmana
middle of the nineteenth century. It was a fairly pucca
Sastry, was a very close friend of my father’s. One of the
house, made of limestone and brick, on the Mosque Street
most vivid memories of my childhood is of the two men,
in Rameswaram. My austere father used to avoid all
each in his traditional attire, discussing spiritual matters.
inessential comforts and luxuries. However, all necessities
When I was old enough to ask questions, I asked my father
were provided for, in terms of food, medicine or clothes. In
about the relevance of prayer. My father told me there was
fact, I would say mine was a very secure childhood, both
nothing mysterious about prayer. Rather, prayer made
materially and emotionally.
possible a communion of the spirit between people. ‘Why
I normally ate with my mother, sitting on the floor of the you pray,’ he said, ‘you transcend your body and become a
kitchen. She would place a banana leaf before me, on which part of the cosmos, which knows no division of wealth, age,
she then ladled rice and aromatic sambhar, a variety of caste, or creed.’
sharp, home-made pickles and a dollop of fresh coconut
My father could convey complex spiritual concepts in very
chutney.
simple, down-to-earth Tamil. He once told me, ‘In his own
time, in his own place, in what he really is, and in the stage
36
he has reached—good or bad—every human being is a only then would he have his breakfast. This remained his
specific element within the whole of the manifest divine routine even when he was in his late sixties.
Being. So why be afraid of difficulties, sufferings and
I have throughout my life tried to emulate my father in my
problems? When troubles come, try to understand the
own world of science and technology. I have endeavored to
relevance of your sufferings. Adversity always presents
understand the fundamental truths revealed to me by my
opportunities for introspection.’
father, and feel convinced that there exists a divine power
‘Why don’t you say this to the people who come to you for that can lift one up from confusion, misery, melancholy and
help and advice?’ I asked my father. He put his hands on failure, and guide one to one’s true place. And once an
my shoulders and looked straight into my eyes. For quite individual severs his emotional and physical bondage, he is
some time he said nothing, as if he was judging my capacity on the road to freedom, happiness and peace of mind.
to comprehend his words. Then he answered in a low, deep
I was about six years old when my father embarked on the
voice. His answer filled me with a strange energy and
project of building a wooden sailboat to take pilgrims from
enthusiasm: ‘Whenever human beings find themselves
Rameswaram to Dhanuskodi—also called Sethukkarai—
alone, as a natural reaction, they start looking for company.
and back. He worked at building the boat on the seashore,
Whenever they are in trouble, they look for someone to
with the help of a relative, Ahmed Jallaluddin, who later
help them. Whenever they reach an impasse, they look to
married my sister, Zohara. I watched the boat take shape.
someone to show them the way out. Every recurrent
The wooden hull and bulkheads were seasoned with the
anguish, longing, and desire finds its own special helper.
heat from wood fires. My father was doing good business
For the people who come to me in distress, I am but a go-
with the boat when, one day, a cyclone bringing winds of
between in their effort to propitiate demonic forces with
over 160 kilometers per hour carried away our boat, along
prayers and offerings. This is not a correct approach at all
with some of the landmass of Sethukkarai. The Pamban
and should never be followed. One must understand the
Bridge collapsed with a train full of passengers on it. Until
difference between a fear-ridden vision of destiny and the
then, I had only seen the beauty of the sea, now its
vision that enables us to seek the enemy of fulfilment
uncontrollable energy came as a revelation to me.
within ourselves.’
By the time the boat met its untimely end, Ahmed
I remember my father starting his day at 4 a.m. by reading
Jallaluddin had become a close friend of mine, despite the
the namaz before dawn. After the namaz, he used to walk
difference in our ages. He was about fifteen years older
down to a small coconut grove we owned, about 6
than I and used to call me Azad. We used to go for long
kilometers from our home. He would return, with about a
walks together every evening. As we started from Mosque
dozen coconuts tied together thrown over his shoulder, and
Stret and made our way towards the sandy shores of the
37
island, Jallaluddin and I talked mainly of spiritual matters. with the outside world. Jallaluddin always spoke to me
The atmosphere of Rameswaram, with its flocking pilgrims, about educated people, of scientific discoveries, of
was conducive to such discussion. Our first halt would be at contemporary literature, and of the achievements of medical
the imposing temple of Lord Shiva. Circling around the science. It was he who made me aware of a ‘brave, new
temple with the reverence as any pilgrim from a distant part world’ beyond our narrow confines.
of the country, we felt a flow of energy pass through us.
In the humble environs of my boyhood, books were a
Jallaluddin would talk about God as if he had a working scarce commodity. By local standards, however, the
partnership with him. He would present all his doubts to personal library of STR Manickam, a former
God as if He were standing nearby to dispose of them. I ‘revolutionary’ or militant nationalist, was sizeable. He
would stare at Jallaluddin and then look towards the large encouraged me to read all I could and I often visited his
groups of pilgrims around the temple, taking holy dips in home to borrow books.
the sea, performing rituals and reciting prayers with a sense
Another person who greatly influenced my boyhood was
of respect towards the same Unknown, whom we treat as
my first cousin, Samsuddin. He was the sole distributor for
the formless Almighty. I never doubted that the prayers in
newspapers in Rameswaram. The newspapers would arrive
the temple reached the same destination as the ones offered
at Rameswaram station by the morning train from Pamban.
in our mosque. I only wondered whether Jallaluddin had
Samsuddin’s newspaper agency was a one-man
any other special connection to God. Jallaluddin’s
organization catering to the reading demands of the 1000—
schooling had been limited, principally because of his
strong literate population of Rameswaram town. These
family’s straitened circumstances. This may have been the
newspapers were mainly bought to keep abreast of current
reason why he always encouraged me to excel in my studies
developments in the National Independence Movement, for
and enjoyed my success vicariously. Never did I find the
astrological reference or to check the bullion rates
slightest trace of resentment in Jallaluddin for his
prevailing in Madras. A few readers with a more
deprivation. Rather, he was always full of gratitude for
cosmopolitan outlook would discuss Hitler, Mahatma
whatever life had chosen to give him.
Gandhi and Jinnah; almost all would finally flow into the
Incidentally, at the time I speak of, he was the only person mighty political current of Periyar E V Ramaswamy’s
on the entire island who could write English. He wrote movement against high-caste Hindus. Dinamani was the
letters for almost anybody in need, be they letters of most sought after newspaper. Since reading the printed
application or otherwise. Nobody of my acquaintance, matter was beyond my capability, I had to satisfy myself
either in my family or in the neighborhood even had with glancing at the pictures in the newspaper before
Jallaluddin’s level of education or any links of consequence Samsuddin delivered them to his customers.
38
The Second World War broke out in 1939, when I was attribute my subsequently manifested creativity to their
eight years old. For reasons I have never been able to company in my childhood.
understand, a sudden demand for tamarind seeds erupted in
On the whole, the small society of Rameswaram was highly
the market. I used to collect the seeds and sell them to a
stratified and very rigid in terms of the segregation of
provision shop on Mosque Street. A day’s collection would
different social groups. However, my science teacher
fetch me the princely sum of one anna. Jallaluddin would
SivasubramaniaIyer, though an orthodox Brahmin with a
tell me stories about the war which I would later attempt to
very conservative wife, was something of a rebel. He did
trace in the haeadlines in Dinamani. Our area, being
his best to break social barriers so that people from varying
isolated, was completely unaffected by the war. But soon
backgrounds could mingle easily. He used to spend hours
India was forced to join the Allied Forces and something
with me and would say, “Kalam, I want you to develop so
like a state of emergency was declared. The first casualty
that you are on par with the highly educated people of the
came in the form of the suspension of the train halt at the
big cities.”
Rameswaram Station. The newspapers now had to be
bundled and thrown out from the moving train on the One day, he invited me to his home for a meal. His wife
Rameswaram Road between Rameswaram and Dhanuskodi. was horrified at the idea of a Muslim boy being invited to
That forced Samsuddin to look for helping hand to catch the dine in her ritually pure kitchen. She refused to serve me in
bundles and, as if naturally, I filled the slot. Samsuddin her kitchen. SivasubramaniaIyer was not perturbed, nor did
helped me earn my first wages. Half a century later, I can he get angry with his wife, but instead served with his own
still feel the surge of pride in earning my own money for hands and sat down beside me to eat his meal. His wife
the first time. watched us from behind the kitchen door. I wondered
whether she had observed any difference in the way I ate
Every child is born, with some inherited characteristics,
rice, drank water or cleaned the floor after the meal. When I
into a specific socio-economic and emotional environment,
was leaving his house, SivasubramaniaIyer I vited me to
and trained in certain ways by figures of authority. I
join him for dinner again the next weekend. Observing my
inherited honesty and self-discipline from my father; from
hesitation, he told me not to get upset, saying, ‘Once you
my mother, I inherited faith in goodness and deep kindness
decide to change the system, such problems have to be
and so did my three brothers and sister. But it was the time I
confronted.’ When I visited his house the next week,
spent with Jallaluddin and Samsuddin that perhaps
SivasubramaniaIyer’s wife took me inside her kitchen and
contributed most to the uniqueness of my childhood and
served me food with her own hands.
made all the difference in my later life. The unschooled
wisdom of Jallaluddin and Samsuddin was so intuitive and Then the Second World War was over and India’s freedom
responsive to non-verbal messages that I can unhesitatingly was imminent. ‘Indians will build their own India.’
39
Declared Gandhiji. The whole country was filled with an Ramanathapuram was not strong enough to nullify the
unprecedented optimism. I asked my father’s permission to attraction of bozhi, a South Indian sweet my mother made.
leave Rameswaram and study at the district headquarters in In fact, she used to prepare twelve distinctly different
Ramanathapuram. varieties of it, bringing out the flavor of every single
ingredient used in the best possible combinations.
He told me as if thinking aloud, ‘Abul! I know you have to
go away to grow. Does the seagull not fly across the Sun, Despite my homesickness, I was determined to come to
alone and without a nest? You must forgo your longing for terms with the new environment because I knew my father
the land of your memories to move into the dwelling place had invested great hopes in my success. My father
of your greater desires; our love will not bind you nor will visualized me as a Collector in the making and I thought it
our needs hold you.’ He quoted Khalil Gibran to my my duty to realize my father’s dream, although I
hesitant mother, ‘Your children are not your children. They desperately missed the familiarity, security and comforts of
are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself. They Rameswaram.
come through you but not from you. You may give them
Jallaluddin used to speak to me about the power of positive
your love but your thoughts. For they have their own
thinking and I often recalled his words when I felt homesick
thoughts.’
or dejected. I tried hard to do as he said, which was to strive
He took me and my three brothers to the mosque and to control my thoughts and my mind and, through these, to
recited the prayer ‘Al Fatiha’ from the Holy Koran. As he influence my destiny. Ironically, that destiny did not lead
put me on the train at Rameswaram Station he said,’ This me back to Rameswaram but, rather, swept me farther away
Island may be housing your body but not your soul. Your from the home of my childhood.
soul dwells in the house of tomorrow which none of us at
Glossary
Rameswaram can visit, not even in our dreams. May God
bless you, my child!’ Innate : existing or having existed since birth
Samsuddin and Ahmed Jallaluddin travelled with me to Lineage : descent in a line of parentage
Ramanathapuram to enroll me in Schwartz High School, Forebears : ancestors
and to arrange for my boarding there. Somehow, I did not Pucca : superior or of high quality
take to the new setting. The town of Ramanathapuram was
Austere : strict, stern, severe in manner or
a thriving, factious town of some fifty thousand people, but
appearance
the coherence and harmony of Rameswaram was absent. I
missed my home and grabbed every opportunity to visit Ladled : served
Rameswaram. The pull of educational opportunities at
40
Dollop : considerable lump or quantity of 3. What did Kalam observe in his parents, as a
something growing boy?
Attire : one’s dress 4. “My austere father used to avoid all inessential
comforts and luxuries.” The word ‘austere’
Anguish : extreme pain
suggests he was
Namaz : Islamic prayer a) Strict
Embarked : to start, begin b) Handsome
Emulate : to attempt to copy or imitate or equal a c) Angry
person 5. What made Rameshwaram so sacred to pilgrims?
6. Why did people wait for Jainulabdeen outside the
Vicariously : indirectly mosque?
Periyar EV Ramaswamy: a noted social activist and 7. Mention any two routine deeds Jainulabdeen did
politician who started self- as he started his day.
respect movement and Dravidar 8. What was Sethukkarai?
Kazhagam 9. When did Kalam confront the uncontrollable
energy of nature?
Stratified : having a class structure or arrangement
10. Who was Ahmed Jallaluddin? How did he help
in society
Jainulabdeen?
Khalil Gibran : a Lebanese writer, poet and visual artist 11. Kalam had a great companion and guide in
who lived between 1883 and 1931 Jallaluddin. Give an instance to support this
Al Fatiha : first chapter of the Holy Quran statement.
Factious : of factions and discordance 12. What were the topics of discussion between
Kalam and Jallaluddin?
13. Who was Samsuddin? How did he influence
Comprehension young Kalam?
14. What did newspapers of those days carry with
I- Answer the following questions in one or two
them?
sentences each:
15. How did Kalam make his first earnings?
1. Where was Kalam born? 16. What was the impact of Second World War on
2. Who were Kalam’s parents? the quiet life of Rameshwaram?

41
 17. Which was the most widely read newspaper in d. Samsuddin
Rameshwaram? e. ShivasubramaniaIyer
18. What was so unique about Kalam’s Science 2. The amicable coexistence of Hindus and Muslims is
teacher, ShivasubramanyaIyer? observed by Kalam. Substantiate.
19. Why did Kalam’s father quote Khali Gibran? 3. The World War showed Kalam a different world
20. What was Jainulabdeen’s dream for his son, altogether. Explain with reference to the context.
Kalam? 4. Kalam was a teacher, a scientist, a scientific advisor
and the President of India. Do you think his
II. Answer the following questions in a short childhood and early days at school moulded his
paragraph each: career?
1. How did Kalam’s parents influence his 5. After reading this excerpt, do you feel motivated to
childhood? read more about Kalam? Give reasons.
2. Jainulabdeen conveyed complex spiritual
concepts in very simple Tamil to Kalam. How
Suggested reading
did he do that with reference to prayer ritual?
3. Why did Kalam consider Jainulabdeen and 1. Madam Curieby Eve Curie
Jallaluddin as his childhood icons? 2. Turning Pointsby APJ Abdul Kalam
4. Samsuddin introduced the world to Kalam. 3. Autobiographies of eminent people
Explain.
Language Activity:
5. How did ShivasubramaniaIyer show his
rebellious side being an orthodox Brahmin? Letter Writing
6. Write a note on Kalam’s stint at Schwartz High
School. 1. Letter of Complaint
A letter of complaint is a formal letter written on couple
III. Answer the following questions in about a page of occasions regarding specific issues. The issue could
each: be personal or of public interest. The nature of complaint
varies as the need arises. The letter should be clear,
1. Write a brief note on the following people and their
giving the specific complaint, suggesting remedies,
influence on young Kalam
making a formal request for immediate action and
a. Jainulabdeen
expressing gratitude with courteous ending.
b. Ashiamma
c. Ahmed Jallaluddin
42
Format ------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------

--------------------
-------------------- Leave taking or Complimentary close
-------------------- Sender’s address
--------------------
-------------------- Signature
-------------------- Date
-------------------- Name
--------------------
-------------------- Enclosure/s, if any
-------------------- Inside address
--------------------
-------------------- Salutation
Note that each line in the letter is vertically aligned with
(Subject could be optional)
the one above. In other words, the letter is in ‘blocked’
format. The paragraphs are not indented. A line space
between paragraphs is desirable.
Body of the letter
Sample Letter
------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------- # 201 Feathertouch Villa
Prince Road
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bengaluru
-----------------------------------------
20 July 2018

------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Commissioner

----------------------------------------- BBMP
------------------------------------------------------------------------ Bengaluru
-----------------------------------------
43
Dear Sir, 2. Leave Letter
A Leave Letter is also a formal letter requesting for leave
I am the Secretary of Feathertouch Villa Residents of absence. Give reasons for leave and in a polite tone.
Association. I wish to tell you that in the vacant site Make the reader understand that you regret for the
adjacent to our villa, there are heaps of dirt and garbage that inconvenience. The body should be brief and simple yet
have been accumulating for one week now. clear. Politeness and courteousness could go a long way
in shaping your career image.
The heaps are creating tough time for the residents who are
struggling to cope with the stench and mosquito menace. It Format
is hazardous for health, particularly senior citizens who a. Sender’s address
walk along. b. Date
c. Inside address
Kindly take some measures to clear the garbage d. Salutation
immediately. A regular service of garbage collection carts (Subject could be optional)
could be a quick solution. e. Body of the letter/ organization of the letter
f. Leave taking or complimentary close
In anticipation of quick action. g. Signature
h. Name
Thank you.

Yours faithfully

Raju

(Raju)

Encl: Photos of heaps of dirt and garbage at the site.

Signatures of residents

44
Sample Letter Task I
1. As the Student Coordinator of your college, write a
Raju
letter of complaint to The Superintendent of Police,
Junior Assistant
Bangalore South, about increasing number of drag race
Sun Technologies
and wheeling episodes in front of the college. Use the
Bengaluru
hints given below
 Name and address of your college
20 July 2018
 Particular incident of indiscipline and its impact
 Your suggestions and request for immediate action
The Director
Sun Technologies
2. You are the owner of the house and the electric work in
Bengaluru
the building is unsatisfactory. Write a letter of
complaint to The Manager of Shockfree Electric
Dear Sir,
Company for supplying faulty material. Use the
following hints
I am working as Junior Assistant in ‘C’ division of Sun
 Details of the consignment sent by the company
Technologies. SinceI am going to attend family wedding in
 Problems faced by you due to faulty material
Mumbai, I will not be able to come to office on three days
 Your request for immediate action and replacement
from 22 July 2018 to 24 July 2018.
of goods
I request you to grant leave for three days and oblige. As I
Task II
have already completed the project given, I will be ready to
1. Write a letter of leave application to The HR of your
give presentation once I come back.
company citing suitable reasons.
I regret the inconvenience caused.
You are The Junior Research Assistant at Solar Institute,
Belagavi. You need two days leave to take bed rest as
Thank you.
advised by the doctor. Write a leave letter to The Director
of the Institute.
Yours faithfully

Raju
(Raju)
45
 Relations between Men and Women schools. An extract from his writing taken from
Ramachandra Guha’sMakers of Modern India throws
- Raja Ram Mohan Roy light on the abominable practices like sati, caste
Brainstorming System and gender discrimination.

● Can you name some social reformers of the early 19th Women are in general inferior to men in bodily strength
century? and energy; consequently, the male part of the community,
● What is patriarchy? Discuss. taking advantage of their corporeal weakness, have denied
● There are a lot of age old traditions which have existed to them those excellent merits that they are entitled to by
over the centuries. Do you think that these traditions nature, and afterwards they are apt to say that women are
should have any significance in Modern India? naturally incapable of acquiring those merits. But if we give
the subject consideration, we may easily ascertain whether
About the author or not your accusation against them is consistent with
justice. As to their inferiority in point of understanding,
Raja Ram Mohan Roy (May 22, 1772- when did you ever afford them a fair opportunity of
September 27 1833) was an Indian exhibiting their natural capacity? How then can you accuse
socio-educational reformer who was them of want of understanding? If after instruction in
also known as ‘Maker of Modern India’ knowledge and wisdom, a person cannot comprehend or
and ‘Father of Modern India’ and retain what has been taught him, we may consider him as
‘Father of the Bengal Renaissance.’ He deficient; but as you keep women generally void of
lived during one of India’s darkest education and acquirements, you cannot therefore, in justice
social phases but strived his best to make his pronounce on their inferiority…Secondly. You charge them
motherland a better place for the future generations to with want of resolution, at which I feel exceedingly
come. Born into a prosperous Brahmin family of surprised: for we constantly perceive, in a country where
Bengal, he challenged the traditional Hindu culture the name of death makes the male shudder, that the female,
and unorthodox religious ideas at a very young age. A from her firmness of mind, offers to burn with the corpse of
multilingual and a visionary, he wanted to combine her deceased husband; and yet you accuse those women of
the righteousness of Western and Indian culture. He deficiency in point of resolution.
was against traditional Hindu practices and echoed his
voice against sati system, polygamy, caste rigidity and Thirdly. With regard to their trustworthiness, let us look
child marriage. He also wanted to modernize the minutely into the conduct of both sexes, and we may be
education system and set up a lot of English medium enabled to ascertain which of them is the most frequently
46
guilty of betraying friends. If we enumerate such women in dependent on their fathers or brothers, and suffering much
each village or town as have been deceived by men, and distress, continue to preserve their virtue; and when
such men as have been betrayed by women, I presume that Brahmans, or those of other tribes, bring their wives to live
the number of the deceived women would he found ten with them, what misery do the women not suffer? At
times greater than that of the betrayed men. Men are, in marriage the wife is recognized as half of her husband, but
general, able to read and write, and manage public affairs, in after-conduct they are treated worse than inferior
by which means they easily promulgate such faults as animals. For the woman is employed to do the work of a
women occasionally commit, but never consider as criminal slave in the house, such as, in her turn, to clean the place
the misconduct of men towards women. One fault they very early in the morning, whether cold or wet, to scour the
have, it must be acknowledged; which is, by considering dishes, to wash the floor, to cook night and day, to prepare
others equally void of duplicity as themselves, to give their and serve food for her husband, father, mother-in-law,
confidence too readily, from which they suffer much sisters-in-law, brothers-in-law, and friends and connections!
misery, even so far that some of them are misled to suffer (for amongst Hindus more than in other tribe relations long
themselves to be burnt to death. reside together, and on this account quarrels are more
common amongst brothers respecting their worldly affairs.)
In the fourth place, with respect to their subjection to the If in the preparation or serving up of the victuals they
passions, this may be judged of by the custom of marriage commit the smallest fault, what insult do they not receive
as to the respective sexes; or one man may marry two or from their husband, their mother-in-law, and the younger
three, sometimes even ten wives and upwards; while a brothers of their husband? After all the male part of the
woman, who marries but one husband; desires at his death family have satisfied themselves, the women content
to follow him, forsaking all worldly enjoyments, or to themselves with what may be left, whether sufficient in
remain leading the austere life of an ascetic. quantity or not. Where Brahmans or Kayasthas are not
Fifthly. The accusation of their want of virtuous knowledge wealthy, their women are obliged to attend to their cows,
is an injustice. Observe what pain, what slighting, what and to prepare the cow-dung for firing. In the afternoon
contempt, and what afflictions their virtue enables them to they fetch water from the river or tank, and at night perform
support! How many Kulin Brahmans are there who marry the office of menial servants in making the beds. In case of
ten or fifteen wives for the sake of money, that never see any fault or omission in the performance of those labors
the greater number of them after the day of marriage, and they receive injurious treatment. Should the husband
visit others only three or four times in the course of their acquire wealth, he indulges in criminal amours to her
life. Still amongst those women, most, even without seeing perfect knowledge and almost under her eyes, and does not
or receiving any support from their husbands, living see her perhaps once a month. As long as the husband is

47
poor, she suffers every kind of trouble, and when he Corporeal : relating to a person's body, especially as
becomes rich, she is altogether heart-broken. All this pain opposed to their spirit; human; mortal
and affliction their virtue alone enables them to support.
Where a husband takes two or three wives to live with him, Deficient : not having enough of a specified quality or
they are subjected to mental miseries and constant quarrels. ingredient
Even this distressed situation they virtuously endure. Promulgate : publicize; broadcast; announce
Sometimes it happens that the husband, from a preference Resolution : firm decision
for one of his wives, behaves cruelly to another. Amongst
Betray : be disloyal to, be unfaithful to, break faith
the lower classes, and those even of the better class who
with; fail, let down
have not associated with good company, the wife, on the
slightest fault, or even on bare suspicion of her misconduct, Forsake : abandon, desert, leave, quit
is chastised as a thief. Respect to virtue and their reputation Void : empty
generally makes them forgive even this treatment. If unable Duplicity : deceitfulness
to bear such cruel usage, a wife leaves her husband’s house
Subjection : prone, liable, inclination
to live separately from him, then the influence of the
husband with the magisterial authority is generally Austere : morally strict
sufficient to place her again in his hands; when, in revenge Ascetic : having a strict and simple way of living that
for her quitting him, he seizes every pretext to torment her avoids physical pleasure.
in various ways, and sometimes even puts her privately to Victuals(ṿịṭ (ǝ)ɩ): food or provisions
death. These are facts occurring every day, and not to be
Scour : scrub; clean, wash
denied. What I lament is, that, seeing the women thus
dependent and exposed to every misery, you feel for them Kulin Brahmins : Kulin Brahmins are the Bengali
no compassion, that might exempt them from being tied Brahmins belonging to Hindu
down and burnt to death. religion, who can trace themselves to
the five families of Kannauj who
Glossary: migrated to Bengal. The five families
were of the five gotras (Shandilya,
Advocate : a person who publicly supports or
Bharadwaj, Kashyap, Vatsya and
recommends a particular cause or policy;
Saavarna).
champion; proponent

Patriarch : the male head of a family or tribe

48
Comprehension III. Answer the following questions in about a page
each:
I. Answer the following questions in one or two 1. Comment on the five assumptions about women
sentences each: which Roy successfully demolishes through his
1. Who is the “you” in the text? scholarly arguments.
2. Women are inferior to men in_____ and 2. How does Roy establish women to be
_________ embodiment of all virtues? Discuss
3. What has been denied to women from exhibiting
their natural capacity? Suggested Reading:
4. Who is deceived more often?
5. What are the duties performed by women early in  Read the Kannada novel Phaniyamma by M.K.
the morning? Indira, Malayali novel Agnisakshi by
6. Why are quarrels more common amongst LalithambikaAntharjanam and short story Inside
Hindus? Every Woman Writer by Sarah Joseph
7. When is a women insulted by the husband and  Hindu Widow Remarriage:
the mother in law? IshwarChandraVidyasagar
 Annihilation of Caste: BR Ambedkar
 Sati: The Blessing and the Curse: Edited by John
II. Answer the following questions in a short Stratton Hawley
paragraph each:  Watch the movies The Color Purple, The Help.
1. Why can’t women be considered inferior to men?
2. Comment on the female firmness of mind? Language Activity:
3. How is the misconception of women being
unworthy of trust promulgated by men? Note of comprehension
4. Are women subject to passion more than men? Comprehension is the ability to understand and elicit the
How does Roy dispel this misconception? meaning from a written text or speech. To be able to
5. Women are treated worse than inferior animals. understand the given material one must-
Elaborate  decode what they read
6. What are the distressing situation that women  make connections between what they read and what
endure? they already know
 dwell into what they have read

49
Comprehension requires a sufficient vocabulary, ability to and selfless, strong with the strength that comes of touching
draw conclusions of what one has read/heard. It involves the feet of God.” …
three processes-
“Are you then entirely satisfied with the position of women
 reading amongst us, Swamiji?”
 thinking
 reasoning “By no means,” said Swamiji, “but our right of interference
is limited entirely to giving education. Women must be put
in a position to solve their own problems in their own way.
Exercises No one can or ought to do this for them. And our Indian
women are as capable of doing it as any in the world.”
Read the following comprehension passages and answer
the questions: The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, Volume V.
Advaita Ashram, Calcutta, pp.231,229.
Passage 1
Questions:
On Indian Women- Their Past, Present and Future.
1) What is the magic word suggested by Swami
“Then, have our women any problems at all, Swamiji?” Vivekananda that can solve women’s problems?
“Of course, they have many and grave problems, but none 2) Does he say that “true education” has been defined in
that are not be solved by that magic word “education.” The our society?
true education, however, is not yet conceived of amongst 3) How does Swami Vivekananda describe “education”?
us.” 4) Who are the great fearless women mentioned by
Swami Vivekananda in his interview?
“And how would you define that?” 5) “Women fit be mothers of heroes…” would you like to
comment on this?
“I never define anything,” said Swamiji, smiling. “still, it
may be described as a development of faculty, not an Passage 2:
accumulation of words, or as a training of individuals to
will rightly and efficiently. So shall we bring to the need of During the Second World War, the coming and going of
India great fearless women- women worthy to continue the ships was vital for Britain’s survival. The Germans wanted
traditions of Sanghamitta, Lila, Ahalya Bai, and Mira Bai- to destroy ships coming to Britain with food and
Women fit to be mothers of heroes, because they are pure ammunition. So all around the coasts they dropped mines,

50
which were bombs made so that they would go off when a masses and the PM wanted positive action from his
ship came near them. Some of these were magnetic mines countrymen.
which exploded when a steel ship came near. Later the
Germans invented a version called acoustic mines which On internal security, defense and space, what could the
went off at the sound of a ship’s engine. Sometimes, the people of India contribute if the PM had mentioned his
mines were dropped on land by mistake- often in places plans? There is not much the Indian people can contribute
where, if they exploded, they would kill many people and directly in space and defense sectors. However, on internal
do an enormous amount of damage. There they had to be security, he did indirectly touch upon it by exhorting all
disarmed or taken to pieces quickly before they could sections of society to shun all forms of violence, including
explode. This was very dangerous work for the experts. communal. A lot of internal security issues would get sorted
out if the communities live in peace and harmony among
Questions themselves. On defense and space, the PM would definitely
1. Why did the Germans lay mines around Britain? talk to the people involved in those activities, which he has
2. What is a mine? done admirably so far. Also, there is no merit in outlining
3. Why do mines on the land need urgent attention? your strategies in critical sectors such as defense.
4. What are acoustic mines? 1. Who was the PM of India addressing?
5. What dangerous work did the experts have to do?  The whole of India including the masses.
 The thinkers of India.
Passage 3:  The parents of India.
Mr. Rajeev Sharma must realize that the PM was talking to  The space scientists.
the whole of India and not just the thinkers. In a speech that
lasted about an hour, he touched upon subjects that he felt 2. What did the PM want the parents to do?
the people of India would like to listen to and probably act
on his exhortations. On this he scored one hundred percent. 3. The length of the speech delivered by the PM was….
4. In what areas could Indian masses not contribute
Sharma tore into the Indian psyche of being soft on male directly?
children as compared to female children. I am sure this will  Shun all forms of violence.
touch a chord in every set of parents and hopefully they will  Positive action from countrymen.
advise their male offspring to behave responsibly. All the  Parents advising their male children to behave
other issues he touched upon would also directly affect the responsibly.
 In the defence and space sectors.
51
 Stay Hungry, Stay foolish
5. What was one of the PM's solutions to solve internal (Commencement address delivered by
security issues? CEO of Apple computers at Stanford University)
-Steve Jobs
6. Who felt 'there is no merit in outlining your strategies
Brainstorming
in critical sectors such as defence'?
Mr Rajeev Sharma.  Can you think of the personalities hailing from the
The PM. humble background, fighting against all the adversities
The writer. of life reached the pinnacle of success?
The people of India.  The hardships of life shall not deter a person from
pursuing his/her dreams. Discuss in groups.

About the Author

Steven Paul Jobs was an American
inventor, designer and entrepreneur
who was the co-founder, chief
executive and chairman of
Apple Computer. Apple's revolutionary
products, which include the iPod,
iPhone, iPad and famous Macintosh are now seen as
dictating the evolution of modern technology. Steve
Jobs, undoubtedly was the greatest uncompromising
innovator of our times. He was born on February 24,
1955, in San Francisco, California. Joanne Schieble and
Abdul fattah "John" Jandali, two University of
Wisconsin graduate students, gave up their unnamed
son, Steve Jobs, for adoption. It was not until Jobs was
27 that he was able to uncover information on his
biological parents. As an infant, Jobs was adopted by
Clara and Paul Jobs and named Steven Paul Jobs. As a
boy, Jobs and his father worked on electronics in the
52
 family garage. Paul showed his son how to take apart asking: “We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want
and reconstruct electronics, a hobby that instilled him?” They said: “Of course.” My biological mother later
confidence, tenacity and mechanical prowess in young found out that my mother had never graduated from college
Jobs. All through his life he fought against all odds in and that my father had never graduated from high school.
his relentless pursuit of mind boggling innovations and She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only
succeeded in making his company a trillion-dollar relented a few months later when my parents promised that
company. He died at the age of 56 in 2011. The speech I would someday go to college.
prescribed here is one of the most inspirational, only
next to Martin Luther King’s “I have a Dream.” And 17 years later I did go to college. But I naively chose a
college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of
my working-class parents’ savings were being spent on my
I am honored to be with you today at your commencement college tuition. After six months, I couldn’t see the value in
from one of the finest universities in the world. I never it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no
graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the closest idea how college was going to help me figure it out. And
I’ve ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to tell here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved
you three stories from my life. That’s it. No big deal. Just their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust that it
three stories. would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but
looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made.
The first story is about connecting the dots. The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required
classes that didn’t interest me, and begin dropping in on the
I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but ones that looked interesting.
then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so
before I really quit. So why did I drop out? It wasn’t all romantic. I didn’t have a dorm room, so I slept
on the floor in friends’ rooms, I returned Coke bottles for
It started before I was born. My biological mother was a the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7
young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal
put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it. And much of
be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and
for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife. intuition turned out to be priceless later on. Let me give you
Except that when I popped out they decided at the last one example:
minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who
were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night
53
Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has
calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the made all the difference in my life.
campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was My second story is about love and loss.
beautifully hand calligraphed. Because I had dropped out
and didn’t have to take the normal classes, I decided to take I was lucky — I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz
a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about and I started Apple in my parents’ garage when I was 20.
serif and sans serif typefaces, about varying the amount of We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from
space between different letter combinations, about what just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with
makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, over 4,000 employees. We had just released our finest
artistically subtle in a way that science can’t capture, and I creation — the Macintosh — a year earlier, and I had just
found it fascinating. turned 30. And then I got fired. How can you get fired from
a company you started? Well, as Apple grew we hired
None of this had even a hope of any practical application in someone who I thought was very talented to run the
my life. But 10 years later, when we were designing the company with me, and for the first year or so things went
first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge and
designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our Board of
beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that Directors sided with him. So at 30 I was out. And very
single course in college, the Mac would have never had publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult
multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And life was gone, and it was devastating.
since Windows just copied the Mac, it’s likely that no
personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped I really didn’t know what to do for a few months. I felt that
out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down —
class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me. I
typography that they do. Of course it was impossible to met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to
connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public
But it was very, very clear looking backward 10 years later. failure, and I even thought about running away from the
valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me — I still
Again, you can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not
only connect them looking backward. So you have to trust changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in
that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You love. And so I decided to start over.
have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma,

54
I didn’t see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until
Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to you find it. Don’t settle.
me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the
lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about My third story is about death.
everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative
periods of my life. When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: “If
you live each day as if it was your last, someday you’ll
During the next five years, I started a company named most certainly be right.” It made an impression on me, and
NeXT, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror
an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar every morning and asked myself: “If today were the last
went on to create the world’s first computer animated day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do
feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful today?” And whenever the answer has been “No” for too
animation studio in the world. In a remarkable turn of many days in a row, I know I need to change something.
events, Apple bought NeXT, I returned to Apple, and the
technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple’s Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important
current renaissance. And Laurene and I have a wonderful tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices
family together. in life. Because almost everything — all external
expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or
I’m pretty sure none of this would have happened if I failure — these things just fall away in the face of death,
hadn’t been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you
medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of
hits you in the head with a brick. Don’t lose faith. I’m thinking you have something to lose. You are already
convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.
loved what I did. You’ve got to find what you love. And
that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan
work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my
way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great pancreas. I didn’t even know what a pancreas was. The
work. And the only way to do great work is to love what doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer
you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer
settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home
you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets and get my affairs in order, which is doctor’s code for

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prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids everything Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s
you thought you’d have the next 10 years to tell them in just life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the
a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of
up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most
means to say your goodbyes. important, have the courage to follow your heart and
intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want
I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a to become. Everything else is secondary.
biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat,
through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle When I was young, there was an amazing publication
into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the
sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named
they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he
crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late
pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the 1960s, before personal computers and desktop publishing,
surgery and I’m fine now. so it was all made with typewriters, scissors and Polaroid
cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35
This was the closest I’ve been to facing death, and I hope years before Google came along: It was idealistic, and
it’s the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived overflowing with neat tools and great notions.
through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more
certainty than when death was a useful but purely Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole
intellectual concept: Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put
out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age.
No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of
don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the an early morning country road, the kind you might find
destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous.
that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the Beneath it were the words: “Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.” It
single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry.
clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself.
new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for
gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be you.
so dramatic, but it is quite true. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.
Thank you all very much.
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Glossary Comprehension
Commencement: a ceremony in which degrees or I. Answer the following questions in one or two
diplomas are conferred to University sentences each:
students. 1. What was the occasion Steve jobs delivered the
Figure out: to understand or solve something address on?
Popped up: a prominent burst of something, born. 2. Jobs had to struggle without food many times.
Relented: give up a very strong/harsh attitude by yielding What was his attitude to such devastating
to a request. situations?
Naively: Innocently a. Pessimistic
Intuition: the power of attaining direct knowledge without b. optimistic
evident rational thought c. Resigned.
Typography: the process of printing with type 3. Who was his mother? What did she want to do
Calligraphy: the art of making beautiful handwriting. with her son?
Stumble: to hit your foot on something when you are 4. What was her specification about the child’s
walking or running so that you fall or adoption?
almost fall. 5. Who adopted the child finally? Were they
Screwed up: confused or messed up graduates?
Dawned on me: occurred to me 6. Why did Steve Job’s mother finally relent to sign
Button up: conclude satisfactorily the adoption papers?
Endoscope: an illuminated usually fiber-optic flexible or 7. He was really happy to drop out of the college he
rigid tubular instrument for visualizing naively chose. True/false
the interior of a hallow organ for 8. What would he do to get one good meal a weak?
diagnosis. 9. After Jobs was fired, he was:
Dogma: a belief that is accepted by the members of a group a. disheartened
without being questioned or doubted b. pessimistic
c. determined to re-begin
d. none
10. where did Jobs apply his knowledge of
calligraphy?

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 11. ‘Heaviness of being successful’ means ----------- III. Answer the following questions in about a page
a. Success makes one arrogant each:
b. Success makes one complacent
1. Mention the quote Jobs read when he was 17?
c. Success stamps the motivation of being creative
How did it help him in making big choices?
d. All the above.
Explain.
12. What was Jobs diagnosed with?
13. What the doctors do when they viewed Jobs cells 2. “…so don’t waste it (time) living someone else’s
under a microscope? Why? life”. How does this statement make us pursue our
14. Who according to Jobs is a fool? ideas independently?
15. Remembering death makes a person ------------ of
loss. 3. How does Jobs connect the two stories as
a. scared benchmarks of Apple’s success?
b. fearful 4. Explain how hunger and concept of death made
c. none Jobs a role model to entrepreneurs.
16. What is the importance of listening to one’s inner
voice according to Jobs?
Language Activity
II. Answer the following questions in a short
paragraph each: Phrases

1. Why did Jobs leave the college? A phrase is a grammatical term referring to a group of
2. Why did Jobs evince interest in calligraphy? words that does not include a subject and verb. A phrase is
3. How did calligraphy help in designing Mac? any group of words that does not contain a subject
4. Why does Jobs call the first story narrated as completing an action. When a group of words contains a
‘connecting the dots’? how does he do it? subject doing an action (subject-verb), it becomes a clause.
5. Describe the story of love and loss in the second Phrases can be added to sentences to make them more
story. complex.
6. Why was Jobs fired from the company?
7. “Passion for work is the key to success”. Consider this:
Substantiate. Concepts can begin with a single word and develop into a
8. Explain Job’s concept of death? compound sentence.

58
Example: Exercise:
 match (word) I. Use the phrases given in the brackets to complete these
 after the match (phrase) sentences.
 that Indian team played (clause) (a lovely scent, on the table, last night, in a minute, for
 After the match that Indian team played I felt ecstatic. a picnic, Chinese food, full of fur, in a hurry.)
(sentence) 1. Mother was late for office so she left……….
 After the match that Indian team played, I felt ecstatic 2. Most of the flowers have………
because the team performed wonderfully. (complex 3. I left my keys………..
sentence) 4. My family loves to have…………
5. My little golden retriever is……….
Note: 6. I’ll get back to you……..
A phrase is different from a sentence because it: 7. Last month, we had all gone…………
 does not make complete sense. 8. We returned home after dinner……………
 does not have any signs of punctuation.
 is only part of a sentence II. Add suitable words to these phrases to make complete
 does not have a verb. sentences.
1. ……………………………. with a sword.
Few examples of Phrases 2. …………………………. in the east
Under the table 3. …………………………… by the college
During the day compound.
So nice 4. …………………………. in the evening
In a minute 5. ……………………. near the bus stand.
Everything to me
Near the bus stand Clauses:
Clause is a group of words that act as a sentence which
gives some meaning. A clause contains a subject (doer of
action) and a predicate (verb), which tells about the action
of the subject. Some clauses, as complete sentences, can
stand alone with absolute meaning; while other clauses
cannot convey full meaning.

59
Depending on the sentence and the meaning it conveys, a If you analyse these sentences, you understand that the
clause can be divided into two: second part of each sentence depends on the first part to
express full meaning.
1. independent clause or main clause
2. dependent clause or subordinate clause Dependent or subordinate clause: a subordinate clause
begins with a conjunction like because, with, when, as if,
Example: etc and it depends on the main clause for complete thought.
Hrithika left home. Exercise:
Eric cracked civil services examination in one attempt. Identify the clauses—whether independent or
In the above two examples, the subject and verb dependent, in the given examples:
combination convey full meaning. Students participated actively in the exhibitions.
Independent clause or main clause: When the subject and As they were talented
verb make complete sense it is called an independent
clause. Yet he was denied entry
He bought the ticket to watch the match
Example:
As if he was innocent
When she got a call from her mother He acted smart
Because he made up his mind strongly You cannot reach in time

The above two examples are different, in the sense, they He was let off
cannot communicate full meaning. After reading them one Unless you start early
would be forced to ask ‘what happened after she got a call Since he was innocent
from her mother’, similarly, what next after ‘because he
made up his mind strongly’.
Exercise:
Now look at the following sentences:
Make use of the following conjunctions to make the
Hrithika left home when she got a call from her mother dependent clauses:
After, because, who, whose, whom, what, whatever, before,
Eric cracked civil services examination in one attempt since, until, when, that, if, while, whether...or not, unless, as
because he made up his mind strongly.
although, even though, as if, which, so that.
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 Literature and Science would have done better with two scepters instead of one.
- John Middleton Murry Probably, he meant that literature and science each had a
scepter, but the scepter of science had of late become
(Extended Reading)
heavier and more imposing than the scepter of literature.
A friend of mine wrote to me the other day that ‘the scepter
Literature now rules a little kingdom, while science rules a
has passed from literature to science.’ He is, of course, a
big one. But the kingdom of literature has certainly not
man of science himself. And it seemed rather strange that
been incorporated into the kingdom of science, nor is it
he should use such a very literary phrase to express his
likely to be. You might as well try to marry Boyle’s Law to
triumph. It would have been more appropriate if he had sent
a bookcase.
me an equation. I should not have known what the equation
meant. Perhaps that was the reason why he sent me a But even if we take my friend to mean that science is now
metaphor instead. become a more important activity of the human mind than
literature, is he saying more than that Boyle’s Law is more
While I pondered his phrase it began to look to me like a
valuable than a bookcase? And is not that a judgment
barefaced contradiction in terms, and I wondered what kind
without import, as the logicians say? Is he not like a man
of an equation would adequately express his satisfaction
who insists on comparing the values of logarithms and
that literature had at last to play second fiddle to science.
love? And if we suppose he means only that at the present
Even if an equation could be discovered with the proper
time abler minds are engaged in scientific discovery than in
nuance of ‘I told you so,’ what would be the pleasure for
literary creation—a question exceedingly difficult to
him if I did not appreciate it? No enemy is stronger than
judge—the issue is not affected. Quite possibly our bridges
one who does not know he is beaten. And, to compare large
are better built than our poems nowadays. As Socrates
things with small, would not the effect upon literature of the
would have said, our bridges have more of the goodness of
victory of science be precisely the same as the effect upon
bridges than our poems have of the goodness of poems. But
me of my defeat by an equation I could not understand?
that does not mean that a bridge is more important than a
Literature may be shorn of its scepter and its purple, but if
poem, or a poem than a bridge.
there is no little boy to call out the emperor is naked, who
will be the wiser? If nobody knows, who will care? I suspect that what my friend has in his head is that the
Einstein Theory is a discovery of supreme philosophical
Nevertheless, since my friend is a brilliant man, I have done
importance; that for the first time the metaphysical doctrine
my best to extract a meaning from his phrase. I am sure that
of subjective idealism has been backed by a scientific
he means something more than to make my flesh creep. My
proof; and that this will have a determining influence upon
flesh refuses to creep, but I want to know what he means. I
the future evolution of literature. The last of these
suspect that his metaphor was badly chosen, and that he
propositions is the most doubtful. It is quite true that
61
scientific theory does have an influence upon literary duration of human life, they will determine a change of tone
creation. But it has to be translated into emotional terms. in literature. Possibly the pessimism which still hangs about
In order to affect literature it has to affect our attitude to us like a cloud will be dissipated for a season. But it will
life. The theory of Natural Selection, emotionally return, simply because it is an external mode of the human
interpreted as handing man over to the play of blind and spirit. And it may be dispelled without the cleansing wind
uncontrollable forces, certainly gave a pessimistic tinge to of science, because optimism also is a natural mode of the
the literature of the nineteenth century. The Copernican human spirit.
Revolution no doubt contributed to that emphatic isolation Literature changes tone in obedience to these modes. But its
of the individual which is the beginning of modern substance is unchanged, for that is based on a delightful
romanticism. But we cannot say that the literature of the interest in human life and destinies. Science has no power
nineteenth century is either more or less important than over that interest, which is a gift of the gods like the genius
Darwinism or the Copernican Revolution. There is no of communicating it. When the man of science has power to
means of comparing them. What we can say is that the determine or to change the structure of our minds, then
literature may wear better. When those two scientific literature may begin to fear him. By that time ordinary men
theories have been exploded, as we are told they are being will fear him also, and there will be a massacre of
exploded now, the great books created by minds coloured biologists. But till that day science can do no more to
by them will remain as fresh and valuable as ever. literature than to help to decide whether its vision of life
For the truth of the matter surely is that there are very few shall be tinged with pity or happiness, resignation or
emotional attitudes towards life which a man can truly and confidence.
instinctively hold. He may believe life is painful and pitiful; This may equally be decided by the indifference of the
he may believe it is glorious and splendid; he may writer’s mistress or his happiness in love. Science is only
confidently hope, he may continually despair, he may one of the things which colour the glass through which the
alternate between hope and despair. What his attitude will writer looks at life; at present it can neither give nor take
be is determined by many things: his heredity, his personal away the gift of seeing clearly through the glass; neither can
destiny, and to some degree by the scientific theories that it increase or diminish the pleasure of those who take
obtain in his lifetime. A scientific theory which directly delight in what the writer can show them. The scepter of
affects his hope of long life or immortality or better things science may be the more majestic. Beside its massy steel
to come, colours his mind and gives a twist to his the rod of literature may appear slight and slender. We do
sensibility. He becomes, if he is a writer, differently not expect a magician’s wand to look otherwise.
interested in life. In so far as either the Einstein theory or
modern biology opens up new vistas of the significance or
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 Question Paper Pattern
B.Sc.,/BCA I and II Semester
Time: 3Hrs Marks :70
SECTION-A
(Course Book - 40 marks)
(Questions to be set on both prose and poetry)

I. Answer in two or three sentences (5 questions out of 8) 5X2=10

II. Answer in about 80 to 100 words /a page each (4 questions out of 7)
4X5=20
III. Answer in about 200 to 250 words / 2 pages (1 out of 3) 1X10=10
SECTION- B
(Grammar and Communication Component - 30 marks)
I Semester B.Sc., /B,C.A and other courses
coming under the Faculty of Science
IV. Close test -5
A short passage given with blanks at regular intervals to test
nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives etc.
V.1. Combine two sentences using who, what, that, which
etc to test clauses -1
2. Fill in the blanks for SV agreement -1
3. Word formation through a sentence- er,ion,ian, etc- 1
4. Error correction- article/preposition -1
5. Multiple choice to test spelling or word formation like
they're, their, there etc -1
VI. Unseen passage -5
3 factual, 1 inferential, 1 interpretative
VII. Paragraph writing with hints -5
VIII. Leave letter/ letter of complaint - 10

63