K.L.E. Society’s Prerana P.U. College
BVB Campus, Vidyanagar, Hubballi
1. Romeo and Juliet __ Shakespeare
1. Who teaches the torch to burn bright ?
2. What does the opening line of Romeo’s soliloquy mean ?
3. What figure of speech is used in the phrase ‘the cheek of night’ ?
4. Comment upon the line ‘she hangs upon the cheek of night’ ?
5. Bringout the significance of the line ‘as a rich jewel in an Ethiope’s ear’?
6. Why is Juliet compared to ‘a rich jewel in an Ethiopes ear’ ?
7. What does the phrase ‘Beauty too dear for earth’ imply ?
8. Why does Shakespeare consider Juliet’s beauty ‘too rich for use’?
9. What is Juliet among her companions likened to ?
10. Comment on the line ‘So shows a snowy dove…..shows’ .
11. What does Romeo intend to do ?
12. How does Romeo hope to turn his hand ‘blessed’ ?
13. Why does Romeo ask himself ‘Did my heart till now’ ?
14. What does Romeo mean when he states ‘I never saw true beauty
till this night’ ?
15. Who is referred to as ‘day in night’?
16. Quote the metaphor Juliet uses to describe the charm of Romeo.
17. Why is night called ‘black-browed’ ?
18. How will Romeo make the sky fine ?
19. How will Romeo and his love be immortalised ?
20. Normally whom does the world pay worship to ?
21. Why / When will world be in love with night ?
∑ How does Romeo narrate and extol the beauty of Juliet ?
∑ Comment upon the figurative language used by Shakespeare in the soliloquy of
Romeo.
∑ ‘Juliet is completely smitten by love and charm of Shakespeare’.
Justyfy the statement.
∑ Bring out the beauty of language employed by Shakespeare through examples.
∑ The images of ‘night-day, black-white’ are used throughout the verses. Comment
on the significance of the imagery.
2. Too Dear !
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____ Leo Tolstoy
With which two nations did the kingdom of Monaco share its borders?
Where did Monaco lie ?
How many inhabitants could Monaco boast of ?
In the tiny kingdom of Monaco there was a real_________.
Name any one thing which kinglet of Monaco had.
Monaco’s army comprised__ (a) sixty thousand men. (b) seven thousand men.(c) sixty
men.
7. Name any one tax that the Prince of Monaco levied.
8. What was the special source of revenue ?
9. Which country had earlier forbidden gambling ?
10. Prince of Monaco had remained with a ______ of gaming houses’ business.
11. ‘He has his coronation, his levees’. What does ‘Levees’ mean here ?
12. ‘He rewards, sentences and pardons’__ which power of the king does this
sentence imply ?
13. What was special about the murder commited in Monaco ?
14. What was the initial verdict given against the murderer ?
15. What was the hitch in the execution of the sentence ?
16. What inquiry did the Ministers decide to address to French Government ?
17. How did the French Government intend to charge ?
18. Why did the king of Monaco reject the proposal ?
19. Name the second country which the council of ministers approach ?
20. Why were they hopeful that the king of Italy might be induced to do the thing cheaper ?
21. How much did the Italian Government propose to charge ?
22. What idea did the council come with after rejecting the proposal of Italy ?
23. Why was the General called for ?
24. What did commission, committee and a sub- committee finally decide ?
25. What two benefits, the latest decision would yield ?
26. Even after altering the sentence, there was a hitch. What was it ?
27. What solution did they find to keep the criminal ?
28. How much did the expenditure for the keep of the criminal finaly come to?
29. Why did the prince consider this new expenditure a serious matter?
30. Why did the prince summon his Ministers ?
31. What was the new suggestion given by the Ministers ?
32. What did the king and ministers expect after the dismissal of the guard ?
33. What surprised them ?
34. Why was the Minister of Justice called ?
35. Name any one among the three reasons which the criminal gave for not going away.
36. What solution did they finaly find out to get rid of the criminal ?
37. What was the sum fixed as pension ?
38. What two conditions did the criminal putforth before accepting the pension proposal ?
39. How many minutes did it take from Monaco to reach the place where the criminal got
settled.
40. What is the latest routine of the criminal after his getting settled at the end?
41. What is the main source of income of the criminal in addition to the pension that he
gets?
42. Italy had ______ (a) monarchy (b) monopoly (c) monogamy
∑ How do you prove that the king of Monaco lacked moral values?
∑ ‘Through his satire – ‘ Too Dear ‘ Leo Tolstoy awakens the sensibility of the readers
towards many social, political, moral and above all judicial issues’. Justify the
statement.
∑ Do you agree that the criminal proves to be wiser than the king in this
story ? Support your stand.
∑ The story ‘ Too Dear ‘ draws many parallelisms to the contemporary society,
particularly to the Indian society. Elucidate with examples.
∑ What according to you is the main lapse of the king of Monaco ? What as an
administrator he failed to understand ? Explain.
∑ How does Leo Tolstoy succeed in bringing false prestige and vanity of the king ?
3. ON CHILDREN _ Khalil Gibran
1. In what sense does Gibran state that ‘your children are not your children’ ?
2. According to the prophet, whose sons and daughters are children ?
3. Bring out the significance of the line ‘They come through you but not from you’.
4. What can parents give to children and what they can’t ?
5. Why can’t parents give their thoughts to children ?
6. Parents can house their ______ but not their ________ .
7. Why can’t parents have access to the souls of their children ?
8. What according to Gibran , parents may strive for ?
9. What does the prophet forbid parents to seek ?
10. Comment upon the line ‘ Life goes not backward nor tarries with Yesterday’ ?
11. Why does the prophet give reference of Bows – arrows – Archer ?
12. Why does the Archer bend the bow with His might ?
13. Let your bending in the archer’s hand be for ______
(a) Wilderness (b) gladness (c) swiftness
14. What does the Archer love equally ?
15. Who is the speaker in the poem ‘On children’ ?
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‘On children’ throws light on the role of parents in upbringing their children.
Elucidate.
Why does the prophet draw prallellism to Archer – Bow – Arrow in the poem
‘On children’? How relevant are these Metaphors? Explain.
The prophet wishes ‘ Let your bending in the archer’s hand be for
gladness’. Bring out the different interpretations of the poem ‘On children’?
What should be the role of children to convert painful bending of parents into a
pleasant one? Do you agree there is latent message for ‘children ‘too in this poem?
Discuss.
4. Everything
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I Need to know I Learned in the Forest
_ VANDANA SHIVA
Where did Vandana Shiva’s encounter with forests begin?
What was Vandana Shiva’s father?
Name the movement which started in 1970s in defence of the forests?
Mention any one adverse effect of Logging.
What were the real values of forests accoding to local women?
How did ‘Chipko’ movement get its name?
Why was Vandana Shiva leaving for Canada in 1973?
Name the woman who led resistance against her own husband in 1977?
Which village did Bachni Devi hail from?
10. Define Bio-diversity.
One of Vandana Shiva’s books is ‘______________ of the Mind’.
Where was Navdanya Farm set up?
Navadanya is the movement for _______ conservation and _______farming.
What kind of transition among farmers, the Navdanya movement aims at?
Name the country that has recognized ‘rights of nature’ in its constitution.
Which country initiated Rights of Mother Earth?
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Who was inspired by Ecuador and Bolivia?
What did the United Nations General Assembly organized in 2011?
Mention any one kind of dominations which the conference aimed to transform?
Mention the title of U.N. Secretary General’s report.
Name the South African environmentalist mentioned in the lesson.
What is meant by eco-apartheid? 23. What do you mean by ‘Terra-Nullius’?
What is ‘Terra-Madre’?
25. Who is called ‘the father of modern science’?
Name the lady philosopher and historian mentioned in the lesson.
What does Carolyn Merchant compare exploitation of Nature to?
Earth Democracy is a shift from __________ to _____________.
What does Nature basically teach us?
Name any one of the most popular courses at the Earth University.
The Earth University is inspired by__________.
In which essay has Tagore highlighted the importance of forest?
Tagore writes-the unifying principle of life in_________, of democratic_______, thus
became the principle of India Civilization.
What is the basis of both ecological sustainability and democracy?
Diversity without unity becomes the source of ______ and ______.
What does unity without diversity become ground for?
According to Tagore what does forest symbolize?
What according to Tagore does the forest teach us?
In Tagore’s writings, the forest wasn’t just a source of knowledge and freedom.
Mention any two other aspects of which the forest is a source.
What is ‘enoughness’?
What is the beginning of the joy of living?
We can find real enjoyment through—a) renunciation b) possession c) incarnation
Which is the eternal conflict that Tagore wrote about, which continues even today?
What is meant by consumerism?
Which Magazine does Vandana Shiva edit?
Give a brief description of Vandana Shiva’s childhood and earlier achievements.
Narrate briefly about ‘ Chipko Movement’.
Why was Navadanya Farm and Movement started? What are its achievements?
What is meant by eco-apartheid?
Why are Ecuador, Bolvia and U.N. General Assembly of 2011 mentioned in Vandana
Shiva’s Essay?
Briefly explain ‘The Dead-Earth World view’.
What is Earth Democracy?
How does Rabindranath Tagore bring out the significance of forests in forming Indian
civilization through his essay “Tapovan”?
In the modern days of accelerating consumerism and accumulation, what does the
forest teach us, according to Tagore and Vandana Shiva?
How does Tagore’s vision and the ancient India’s wisdom prove that ‘conservation of
diversity is crucial for the sustenance of both nature and human society’? Discuss.
5. A Sunny Morning
__ Serafin and Joagum Alvarez Quinter
1. Name the two main characters of ‘A Sunny Morning’.
2. Name the servant of Dona Laura.
3. What is the name of Don Gonzalo’s servant ?
4. Whare does the scene take place ?
5. Dona Laura carries a ______ which serves also as a cane.
6. Why does Dona Laura refer to the guard of the park as Petra’s ?
7. What did Petra forget to handover to Laura ?
8. According to Dona Laura where Petra’s head is ?
9. How are the pigeons classified into ?
10. How old was Don Gonzalo ?
11. Who does Gonzalo find idling away ?
12. Why does Dona Laura get angry with Gonzalo ?
13. Laura says ‘Why must people get so fussy and ____ when they reach a certain age’ ?
14. According to Dona Laura , a carriage would not raise more dust
than____. (a) the park (b) KSRTC Bus (c) Gonzalo’s feet.
15. How does Don Gonzalo exhibit his gentlemanship when he sits on Dona
Laura’s bench ?
16. How does Laura respond to Gonzalo’s greeting ?
17. Why does Gonzalo retort saying ‘The benches here are public property’?
18. When does Laura ask, ‘Do you use a shoe brush as a handkerchief’ ?
19. According to Laura, what right does she have to criticize Gonzalo’s actions?
20. When does Laura comment “I thought you were taking out a telescope” ?
21. What point does Gonzalo tries to put across when he advises Laura ‘to ask hares and
partridges’ ?
22. “Yes kill time. That is all you kill”_ says Laura , what does this line actually mean ?
23. Laura opines that ‘ a wild boar’s head or a tiger’s skin doesn’t prove that a person is a
hunter’. Why ?
24. What clears off the misunderstanding between Laura and Gonzalo?
25. What common practice draws the strangers closer?
26. Whom does Gonzalo read?
27. Quote the line of Campoamor which Laura and Gonzalo take in a humorous vein.
28. Which line from Campoamor is closer to the theme of ‘A Sunny Morning’?
28. How could Dona Laura read, without glasses?
29. Name any Two Spanish writers whom Gonzalo had befriended.
30. Why does Laura comment that ‘Gonzalo must have gone with Columbus in one of his
caravels?
31. What does Gonzalo mean when he says ‘I did not know Ferdinand and Isabella’?
32. Which city was Gonzalo a native of?
33. Name the villa in which Dona Laura lived in her young days.
34. Whom does Dona Laura recall as her friend?
35. What was Laura called in her youth by the people of her locality?
36. Where did Laura use to spend many hours?
37. Mention any one expression which Gonzalo uses to describe the beauty of Laura.
38. What does Laura actually mean when she utters ‘ If you but knew that dream was now
by your side, you would realize what dreams come to.’?
39. ‘The ways of Providence are strange’ says Laura. What does ‘Providence’ mean here?
40. Who is referred to as Gonzalo’s cousin?
41. What was the routine of the gallant lover?
42. How did ‘the silver maiden’ use to reciprocate the gesture of the gallant lover?
43. What did the family of Laura want?
44. What happened one night, while Gonzalo’s cousin was waiting for the silver maiden?
45. Who was Ganzalo’s cousin?
46. Who actually was Dona Laura’s friend?
47. It was arranged to hold a_______ between the two suitors
a) quarrel b) duet c) duel
48. What were two results of the ‘Duel’ held?
49. How does Laura defend herself for having known the story so well?
50. What explanation does Gonzalo give for being familiar with the story?
51. “Why tell him? He does not suspect ” says Laura. What does it imply?
52. How could the letters written by Gonzalo never reach Laura?
53. Gonzalo joined the army and went to ________ 1. Madrid 2. Africa 3. Seville.
54. At the time of death, What was in the hand of Gonzalo and what was there on his lips?
55. Don Gonzalo comments ‘Laura in a short time was chasing butterflies in garden’.
What does it imply?
56. According to Ganzalo what is a woman’s way?
57. What do the fishermen affirm?
58. What did Laura actually do two years after the split?
59. What exactly did Gonzalo do within three months after the break-up?
60. Why does Laura observe that ‘Fate’ is curious’ ?
61. Why was Laura upset at the beginning with Gonzalo?
62. What does Gonzalo promise to do on the following morning?
63. Dona Laura says, ‘Birds are grateful and repay ________ .
64. How does Don Gonzalo prefer to be recalled?
65. How would Dona Laura wish to be remembered by Gonzalo?
66. What did the guard give Petra?
67. What has been a great honour and pleasure for Gonzalo?
68. What according to Laura is at Gonzalo’s disposal?
69. Comment on the line. ‘Can it be that this is he?’
70. How do you interpret Don Gonzalo’s remark ‘Heavens, is it she’?
71. What action of Gonzalo, at the end, confirms Laura that it was none other than
Gonzalo?
72. Bring out any one possible meaning of the title ‘A Sunny Morning’.
∑ Briefly narrate the ill-natured prelude to the conversation that ensues between Dona
Laura and Gonzalo.
∑ Sketch the Character of Dona Laura.
∑ Illustrate the character of Don Gonzalo.
∑ Bring out the sense of humour displayed by Dona Laura with relevant examples.
∑ Give an account of glorious death of Don Gonzalo as described by him.
∑ How does Dona Laura succeed in decorating her own funeral? Elaborate.
∑ Briefly narrate the ‘love-story’ of Laura and Gonzalo.
∑ How does Gonzalo describe the beauty of Dona Laura?
∑ What does he mean when he says, ‘What forms of sovereign beauty god models in
human clay’?
∑ ‘A Sunny Morning’ is refreshingly different from stereo-typed love-stories’. Do you
agree with the statement? Justify your answer.
∑ What makes ‘A sunny Morning’ a romantic comedy? Elucidate.
6. WHEN
YOU ARE OLD
__ W.B.YEATS.
1. What does the phrase ‘gray’ in first line suggest?
2. What does the expression ‘full of sleep’ indicate?
3. Comment upon the line ‘nodding by the fire’.
4. ‘Take down this book’ the poet says. Which book does he refer to?
5. Why does the poet use the phrase ‘slow read’?
6. What did the lady’s eyes have once?
7. What is left now?
8. What does the word ‘glad grace’ imply?
9. Why does the poet doubt about others’ feeling towards the lady?
10. Quote the line from poem wherein the poet questions genuinity of love shown by
others.
11. What makes the poet different from the rest as he claims?
12. What does the word ‘pilgrim soul’ mean?
13. What does the expression ‘your changing face’ suggest?
14. Bring out any one possible meaning of the phrase ‘glowing bars’.
15. Comment upon the imagery ‘bending down beside the glowing bars’.
16. What would the lady murmur?
17. Comment upon ‘Love fled’.
18. ‘And hid his face amid a crown of stars’ – In this line, what does ‘his face’ connote?
19. What quality (attribute) of ‘love’ is highlighted in last two lines of the poem ‘When you
are old’?
20. How does the poet W.B. Yeats immortalize his love?
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Comment upon the time frame of the poem ‘When you are old’.
Permanence, constancy, eternity of ‘True love’ is effectively brought out by Yeats
through his poem ‘When you are old’. Justify the statement with relevant examples.
Bring out the essence of love-poem ‘When you are old’ written by W.B. Yeats.
7. The Gardener
- P. Lankesh.
1. ‘I conceived this story in a flash’. Here ‘I’ stand for ____.
2. What does the story have its genesis in ?
3. Where was the coconut grove situated ?
4. The old man had a ___ like nose and strong ____ arms.
5. The old man was all rolled into one except the following –
a) overseer b) philosopher c) owner d) labourer.
6. The petty ___ came to an end after the arrival of the old man.
7. There was a ______ change in the life-style of the owner.
8. What could the owner’s wife not decide about old man’s arrival?
9. What did the owner’s wife become apprehensive about her husband ?
10. The owner cultivated ___ vices thanks to his newly acquired ____.
11. What was the total area of the farm prior to the arrival of old man ?
12. Comment upon the line ‘their life also was gradually getting out of hand’.
13. Where did the owner’s wife and the old man sit on ?
14. Name the types of trees that were there in the grove of Chennarayapatna.
15. Name the two main characters of the old man’s story.
16. What name originally did the old man mention in the place of Basavaiah ?
17. Tammanna had ____ acres of land. a) 10 b) 800 c) 1000 d) 100.
18. What did Basavaiah do when Tammanna rejected his plea of parting away with two
hundred acres ?
19. Mention any one advice given by Tammanna’s supporters to get back his land.
20. Tammanna was in search of a method that could ____ Basavaiah completely.
21. Which idea did Tammanna hit upon to avenge Basavaiah?
22. Rivalry between Tammana and Basavaiah started moving away from things that
were visible towards an ___________domain. a) inevitable b) abstract c) invasion
23. Art had become the ____________ of Tammanna’s life.
24. What did the ballads mention about Basavaiah?
25. Mention any one of the ways through which Basavaih tried to come out of his
humiliation.
26. What reason did the visitors give for Basavaiah’s political mansion looking dull and
empty?
27. At what point did Basavaiah find the means of surpassing Tammanna?
28. Why did Basavaiah regard Tammanna’s disease was his health?
29. What thoughts did Tammanna entertain when he fell ill?
30. Mention any one of the reasons that man needs for his existence.
31. Give one of the reasons which the old man enlists for having conceived the story.
32. What was the same state of mind which America and Basavaiah experienced?
33. What according to the old man, was the reason for Basavaiah’s untimely death?
34. How did Tammanna avenge himself at the end?
35. Quote the line which bears evidence that Tammanna was a transformed man.
36. Who actually was the narrator old man?
37. What reality of life does the old man hint at to the wife of the owner of the garden at the
end of the story?
38. Name the young child’s father whom the old man mentions, who paints well.
39. What two pieces of advice did the old man give at the fag end of the story to the wife of
the owner?
40. What does the narrator Lankesh admit at the end?
41. Give one reason as to why P- Lankesh, the writer adds that ‘he had seen all that in a
dream’?
∑ Give a brief description of the old man.
∑ Narrate briefly the changes that occurred in the owner’s life after the arrival of the old
man.
∑ Bring out the various means and ways by which Tammanna and Basavaiah carried
out their enmity and rivalry.
∑ How could Tammanna take his rivalry to abstract domain ?
∑ After Tammanna fell sick, their rivalry went to another level altogether. How?
∑ What similarity do you find between Basavaiah and Russia?
∑ Comment upon the varied guises that facts take on when they are narrated as fiction.
∑ ‘The Gardner’ brings out the futility of enmity and competition. Justify.
∑ Reference to Russia and America provide another dimension to the story ‘The
Gardner’. Elucidate.
8. To the Foot from its child
- PABLO NERUDA.
1. Why does the poet Pablo Nerudas say that ‘the child’s foot’ is not yet aware it’s a
foot’?
2. What does the foot would like to be?
3. What do the phrases ‘stones…. ladders…’ imply?
4. Who goes on teaching the foot that it can not fly?
5. What immediate impact does this awareness have on the child?
6. What does the phrase ‘condemned to live in a shoe’ imply?
7. What does the metaphor ‘shoe’ stand for?
8. Why does the poet say that foot is out of touch with its fellow?
9. What does the line ‘feeling out life like a blind man’ suggest?
10. Name any one phrase Pablo Neruda uses to describe the childs’ foot?
11. Give any one of the images Pablo Neruda uses to describe an adult’s foot.
12. What does this transition from ‘soft nails of quartz’ to ‘triangular headed worms’
imply?
13. What does ‘faint volcanoes of death’ stand for?
14. Through which line does the poet bring out busy, tiresome life of an adult?
15. Comment upon the line ‘through fields, mines, markets and ministries’.
16. Why does the poet say that ‘foot scarcely takes time to bare itself in love or sleep’?
17. When does ‘the ever walking foot’ stop?
18. Why is everything dark when the foot gets descended underground?
19. Why does the poet say that ‘Foot never knew it had ceased to be a foot’?
20. How can a foot ‘after burrying’ fly?
21. Bring out the hidden meaning of last two lines.
22. Which natural process is almost similar to the description that is given in last stanza?
23. What are the metaphorical connotations of the ‘foot’?
24. The mood of the poem is __ (a) melancholy (b) optimist (c) sad but optimist (d)
melancholy and pessimist.
25. In what way are the death and birth same according to the poet?
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Bring out the possible themes of the poem ‘To the foot from its child’.
How does the poet succeed in bringing out the contrast between monotonous life
and vibrant dreams.
“Neruda has traced the journey of life and of soul by using ‘foot’ as a keyword”.
Justify the statement.
9.
I Believe That Books Will Never Disappear
- Jorge Luis Borges
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Name the interviewer who interviews Jorge Luis Borges.
What was the first literary reading of Borges?
Who does Borges give more credit for his education?
Name the mother of Borges.
Why does Borges feel guilty about his mother?
What mistake, according to Borges, do most of the children do?
Mention any one of the attributes of Dona Leonor, as mentioned by her illustrious son.
Borges opines that all must think whatever happens to them is a _______.
An artist must feel that all things have been given to us for___ (a) art
(b) humiliation (c) kindness (d) a purpose.
10. Why, according to Borges, are humiliation and misfortunes given to us?
11. Who wrote The odyssey?
12. Which line of Homer suit the idea of Borges that ‘we must use our misfortunes as raw
material to shape our art’?
13. Quote the famous verse of Goethe.
14. Why does the writer say that he pretends as if he was not blind?
15. Which Library Borges dreamed of?
16. According to Alifano, what might the dream of Borges suggest?
17. Which writer does Borges mention with reference to writing a history of book?
18. Which book of Spengler does Borges mention? Why?
19. Quote the words of Bernard Shaw referred to in the text.
20. Borges concurs with the notion that book goes beyond its author’s ________.
21. What does he regard the author’s intention as?
22. Name any one of the adjectives Borges uses to describe the content of the book
which brings happiness?
23. How does Borges define poetry?
24. Why does Borges feel that poetry cannot be defined without over-simplifying it?
25. When does the poetic act actually takes place?
26. Poetry is not ____ event. (a) mysterious (b) unexplainable (c) incomprehensible
(d) magical.
27. Mention any one adjective which Borges uses to describe Poetry.
28. What is important in the art of poetry?
29. Which line of Emily Dickinson can exemplify the role of precise words?
30. The idea of dust of death is ______, says Borges.
31. Which phrase in Emily Dickinson’s quoted line gives the magic and poetic quality?
How?
32. List out the essential metaphors that are found in all literatures, as Borges observes.
33. What, according to Borges is the poet’s task?
34. Why do people speak of disappearance of books?
35. What is the firm conviction / belief of Borges about Books?
36. Only the book is an extension of our ______ and _______.
37. Telephone is the extension of our ______.
38. What are the telescope and the microscope extensions of?
39. What are the extensions of our arms?
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Borges in a memorable passage calls literature a _____.
Why does Borges consider ‘Books’ as the great memory of all centuries?
Borges says our past is nothing but a ______ of ______.
Borges opines there is no difference between ____ and ____.
Why does Borges say that books will never disappear?
What would happen if books disappear?
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Estimate the role of mother in shaping Borges’ life.
How could Borges transmute his blindness?
Briefly summarize his views regarding books.
Why does Borges argue that books will never disappear? Discuss.
Sum up Borges’ views on poetry.
10. HEAVEN, IF YOU ARE NOT ON EARTH
-KUVEMPU
1. According to Kuvempu, Who can be gods?
2. If we ourselves aren’t heavenly nymphs, the nymphs are not ______________.
3. What does rush fast?
4. Where is ‘rolling surf’ found?
5. The tender sunshine leans on ______________ gardens.
6. Comment upon the phrase ‘gentle Sun’.
7. Name any two aspects of Natural beauty that transform the earth into heaven.
8. What does the line ‘heaven lies over’ imply?
9. How does the poet create heaven on earth?
10. Who can create heaven on earth?
∑ How can people transform this world into heaven?
∑ Why does Kuvempu claim that we ourselves are gods?
∑ How does Kuvempu depict heavenly beauty of the Nature?
∑ Do you support his view? Justify your answer.
∑ Explain how the poet creates heaven on earth.
∑ Kuvempu’s concept of ‘Heaven’ is totally different.
11. JAPAN AND BRAZIL THROUGH A TRAVELER’S EYE
-GEORGE MIKES
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What will a visitor be convinced about within 15 minutes in Japan?
According to the writer, What the Japanese did not have? Why?
What are the double functions that courtesy has in Japan ?
What does Mikes call, ‘A man’s castle’, in Japan?
Japanese have mania for ___________ .
Mention any one of the adjectives Mikes uses to describe ‘bowing.
Everybody keeps bowing with the _________ _________ of a courtier.
How can you come to know about subtle difference in social status or age while
watching bowing?
9. The duty of bowing girls is bow deeply and _______________ to ___________.
10. The baby from the saddle bows somewhat_______________. (i) majestically (ii)
condescendingly (iii) deferentially (iv) amicably.
11. Which two towns does Tokaido line connect ?
12. Where did the writer watch a deer that bowed to him?
13. Mention any one of the logics that the writer analyses and holds responsible for the
deer’s unusual behavior.
14. How, according to the writer, do the bowing gentlemen turn into savages?
15. What, according to Japanese custom, one must make while eating soup?
16. What was special about pavements of Capacabana?
17. What fundamental trait does the writer attribute to the Brazilians?
18. What becomes the prime objective of a Brazilian, the moment he gets a steering
wheel?
19. Why are motor cars extremely expensive in Brazil?
20. Which complaint is universally made in Brazil?
21. What makes the writer to comment that it seems ‘as if cars were distributed free of
charge’?
22. Whom does the driver consider as fair game?
23. What are driver and pedestrians compared to?
24. Name the worst place which writer mentions from traffic’s view-point.
25. The speed of traffic at Avenida is – (i) terrific (ii) fast (iii) crawling (iv) naïve.
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List out the anecdotes the writer recalls about Japan.
Why does the writer say ‘A telephone receiver is a man’s castle’ in Japan?
Sum up the writer’s observations about Brazil.
Give evidences for the sense of humour which George Mikes exhibit through his
travelogue.
12. The Voter – Cihinua Achebe
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What was the full name of the protagonist of the story ‘The Voter’?
Why was Roof popular in whole village?
Where did Roof work as a bicycle repairer?
How long was Roof in town?
What made him to return to Umuoafia?
The village Umuafia already belonged enmasse to __________.
Who was the illustrious son of People Alliance Party?
Why was Marcus Ibe called son of party ?
What was Marcus Ibe?
What did people expect for Marcus Ibe?
Opposition to Marcus was like proverbial _____________.
Name the opponent who was contesting against Marcus?
Which party did this nonentity belong to?
What had Roof warned the Minister about?
What had the villagers seen politics would bring?
What had Marcus Ibe earlier been?
What did some say about his joining up politics?
What changes had come in the life of Marcus Ibe materially?
Mention any one factor which made the villagers believe that success had’nt gone
to Marcus’ head.
20. Mention any one factor which writer chinua Achebe mentions to satirically
comment upon the goodness of Marcus Ibe and innocence of the public.
21. What had Marcus Ibe named his house as?
22. Marcus had slaughtered_______________
i) Five bulls and countless goats
ii) countless bulls and five gats
iii) Archbishop
iv) private plant
23. When did the villagers realize that they had underrated the power of the ballot
paper?
24. In what way Honourable Marcus Ibe prepared to face the changed attitude of the
people?
25. What was mainly being done in whispering campaign?
26. Who was the most trusted among whispering campaigners?
27. Name the elderly man of high title, in whose house, one night Roof was
convincing a group of elders.
28. In what way, according to Roof, were the villagers singled out for honour by PAP?
29. What have the PAP promised the people of Umuofia, if Marcus got re- elected?
30. An old hurricane lamp with a ____________ and _________ glass chimney gave
out yellowish light.
31. Infront of ___________ elders in that room lay ________ pieces each.
i) 2, 5 shilling
ii) 5, 5 shillings
iii) 5, 2 shilling
iv) 5, 2 pounds
32. Nobody would leave an _______and go to a poor _______.
33. What did the villages find shameful about Roofs’ proposal ?
34. We have climbed _______tree today and must take down all the _______ we need.
35. What does the word ‘firewood’ stand for?
36. Mention any one of the evidences that prove how much close Roof was to Marcus
Ibe.
37. Finally how many shillings were offered for each vote?
38. The elders knew how far to go without losing ________.
39. What was the final caution given by Roof to elders?
40. Who was the enemy that Roof had referred to ?
41. Why was POP formed, as the founders proclaim?
42. What measures POP had taken to promote its candidate?
43. How were the things moving till the previous night of election as Roof would have
put it?
44. What strange event happened on the previous night of election?
45. How was the visit on previous night of election?
46. How many pounds did the opposition campaign leader offer to Roof?
47. Which brief exercise gave Roof enough time to weigh the proposition?
48. What did Roof go on staring at?
49. By which picture was Roof mesmirized?
50. The leader of the POP campain team said, ‘we are after votes, not ____ .”
51. What was Roof very particular about the indecent proposal?
52. What had the Opposition brought to ensure Roof would not break his promise?
53. What is Iyi?
54. Where does Iyi come from?
55. What did the opposition campain leader threaten?
56. What logical reasoning made Roof to take a quick decision about the night’s deal?
57. What does Roof say at the door at the end expressing his bewilderment?
58. In what words, does Chinua Achebe bring out the poor image which people have in
politicians’ eyes?
59. _________ called out their message to those who could read.
60. What had Marcus Ibe hired? From which place?
61. The colour of enormous car in which Marcus sat on the Election Day was i) green
ii) white
iii) black
iv) blue
62. What did the admirers say while shaking hands with Marcus and what actually they
meant ?
63. What was the sign of Marcus?
64. What was the symbol of POP ?
65. What joke did Roof cut about the sign of the Opposition Party?
66. What satirical element do you notice, When a woman comments, “if we don’t ride
in a car, our children will” ?
67. The band struck a number which ran ‘Why________ when you can ________’.
68. How was Marcus apparently?
69. What actually Marcus was?
70. Despite the anticipated ‘landslide victory’, What did Marcus not wish?
71. Why did Marcus ask his campaign boys to go and put in their ballot papers
immediately after the first rush of voters was over?
72. How had Roof masked his deep worry?
73. Roof dashed off in his _______ fashion towards the booth.
74. How did Roof walk inside the booth?
75. What was he confronted by?
76. At first instance, what did Roof resolve?
77. Why did he realize that his initial resolution was impossible?
78. Whose voice did Roof hear, while he was in mental dilemma?
79. How did Roof react in that crucial moment?
80. What precaution did Roof take?
81. Whom did Roof vote?
82. They marked his thumb with indelible _____ ink. i) green (ii) black
(iii) purple (iv) pink
83. Roof went out of the booth as ______ as he had gone in.
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“The Voter presents how corrupt the electoral system is” – Justify and elucidate
the statement.
‘The Voter’ presents the conflict between tradition and modernity and between
idealism and practicality. Explain.
Bring out the mental conflict Roof has to undergo in the story ‘The Voter’.
“The story ‘The Voter’ mirrors loopholes of Democracy and comments upon
degradation of social and moral values.” - Justify the statement.
13.
Where there is a wheel
- P. Sainath
1. In Which district did the radical ‘Cycling movement’ take place?
2. What do you mean by ‘neo-literate women’ ?
3. People find out curious ways of expressing ____, of hammering at the ____ that hold
them.
4. What has bicycling become a symbol for?
5. Who said that ‘Cycling’ is her right?
6. Name the ‘Secondary School Teacher’ who got addicted to cycling.
7. Name any three young women who have been trained in the art of cycling.
8. Mention any one of the professionals, who became fans of cycling.
9. Who led the district’s literacy drive?
10. Name the Arivoli Central Co-ordinator.
11. Arivoli gave cycling _____ Sanction
12. Where did the writer witness cycling training camp?
13. How were the ‘women who came back to help new learners’ called?
14. Whose brainchild was the phenomenal cycling movement?
15. Why did she introduce it?
16. Cycling included_______ as a part of the literacy drive.
17. Why did some women prefer “Gents’ Cycles” ?
18. When was Cycle ralley conducted?
19. Who was the owner of Ram Cycles?
20. Give any one reason as to why the writer feels that figures given by Kanakarajan might
not be accurate.
21. Name the activist who wrote the famous cycle song.
22. In the blazing heat of ________ stone quarries, you run into ________, a twenty-two
year old woman training others.
23. How many women displayed cycling skills within a single week in 1992 ?
24. Who was impressed and sanctioned fifty mopeds to Arivoli activists ?
25. Mention any one economic implication of cycling.
26. A woman could be seen carrying two, perhaps even three ____________ hung across
the back and cycling. - ( i) products (ii) children (iii) bags (iv) pots of water.
27. What feel / sense is more vital that cycling brings ?
28. Fatima says, she hires a cycle just to feel that ______________, that _____________.
29. It is amazing to see how a __________ vehicle like cycle has become a metaphor for
___________.
30. What cycling by rural women is compared to ?
31. Why does Pudukottai remain unique among Indian districts ?
32. When did the writer P Sainath go back again to Pudukottai ?
33. Why earlier, women of Pudukottai had to rush back early after selling their produce in
neighbouring villages ?
34. What did Kanakaraj mistake Sainath to be ?
35. Whose grandson is Palagummi Sainath, the Indian journalist ?
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How did cycling movement evolve in Pudukottai district ?
What radical changes did it bring in women’s lives ?
How could cycle become a metaphor for freedom, a means for social movement ?
How literacy drive got connected with cycling movement ?
Bring out all the benefits and changes which cycling brought for rural women of
Pudukottai.
∑ How could cycle become an instrument of social change and progress ?
∑ Why does P. Sainath describe the Arivoli cycling Training camp as an unusual
experience ?
14. Water – Challapalli Swaroopa Rani
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What is natural for the water to know?
In addition to know to flow towards ‘grounds’ incline’, what else the water knows
equally well?
What is ‘untouchability that never disappear’ compared to ?
Water knows the difference of race right from the days of the _______ woman and
______, the Jew.
Which Biblical reference the poetess give to prove that racial discrimination
existed from time immemorial?
What is sub- caste difference likened to ?
Who is ‘the panchama’?
What agony a panchama has to undergo?
When does the ‘wada girl’ feel the humiliation all the while more ?
Whose ‘righteous rage’ the Kamma landlords had to face?
How did Karamchedu Suvarthamma oppose Kamma landlords?
To prove that water is a witness to centuries of ________, the poetess quote
Karamchedu incidence.
What is the first thing that poetess remember when she sees the water?
The poetess says ‘for us water is not simply ______ , but a _______.
Which mighty movement is referred to ?
What does a single drop of water embody?
What did the Dalits fight for in many a battle?
What did they not manage to win?
What did they shed?
What does the poetess remember when she sees water as mentioned for the
second time?
What contrasting images the poetess provide between the ‘wada’ and ‘village’
using ‘bath’ as a key word?
What is the third aspect which the poetess recall when she sees the water ?
What does the phrase ‘muscles and veins on necks straining and bursting’
depict?
Which ‘massacre’ comes to the poet’s mind, when she sees water - as mentioned
lastly?
25. Malapalle burnt to ashes for want of ________
(i) a warrior (ii) money (iii) a pot of water (iv) racism.
26. The poetess accused that water is not a simple thing. What are the two contrasting
things that water can do with our lives according to Swaroopa Rani.
27. What does the water refuse to quench?
28. How can the same water swallow whole village after village?
29. The poor are but ___________ in its ________hands.
30. What havoc can water play with village?
31. What can water ignite?
32. Between whom can water generate strife?
33. What can make blood run in streams?
34. Who can reduce water into a silent puppet? How?
35. What is meant by ‘doing many a circus feat’?
36. How does the water dance its way into the Pepsi man’s battle ?
37. What is the new name of mighty water?
38. Why is water no more a mean matter?
39. Swaroopa Rani says water is ________ and it contains _________.
40. What does the poem demonstrate using water as a symbol?
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How does poetess bring out the disparity and discrimination prevalent in our
society, using water as a symbol?
List out the incidents that Swaroopa Rani enlists to unveil the ugly side of the
civilized society.
The pains and pangs of the Dalits is effectively brought out in the poem ‘Water’.
Justify the statement.
Trace the journey of water from a symbol of purity to that of a commercial
commodity.
Prepared by
Prof Hemant Krishna
Principal, KLES Prerana PU College, Hubballi