KEEPING QUIET

By Pablo Neruda

SUMMARY

Pablo Neruda emphasizes on the need to keep still and doing nothing for a while in our life. He is of the opinion that all our fears, anxiety, disturbance, and problems in life are because of our overactivity. He advises us to stop doing whatever we are doing, be silent, calm, and relaxed, forgetting all the differences and worries of the world. It is at this moment when we will truly be with ourselves. During these moments we start understanding ourselves. We will be able to realize how much harm we have caused to ourselves, others, and the nature by over selfish acts.

Once we sit in silence and meditate that will create the feeling of understanding for others too. We will realize that others are not our enemies but brothers. We will feel safe and secured. Our urge to fight and wage war will diminish. We will stop harming nature also with our insatiable desire to benefit ourselves only. We will learn to be selfless in action.

He advises that doing nothing should not be confused with total inactivity. He warns total inactivity is death and he is not advocating death. He suggests learning the art of selfless action from nature. Nature is always at work of creation, but we never see it doing it in hurriedness and anxiety. Things in nature seem inactive when to look at it but by the passage of time we find it has grown. This is how trees, leaves, flowers etc. grow in nature.

POETIC DEVICES

Anaphora: Repetition of “lets” in two consecutive lines: (lets not speak in any language, / lets stop for one second)

Metonymy: The word ‘language’ has been used by the poet to show different races.

Pun: “arm” has two meanings: body part and weapon

Metaphor: clean clothes

Repetition: The word "war" has been repeated.

Euphemism: No truck with death

Personification: The poet has personified the Earth by saying - the Earth can teach us.

MEANING OF THE PHRASES

count to twelve: twelve signs on the clock to measure hours. Indication to start and always be in the state of introspection.

the face of the Earth: refers to the people of the nations, religion, race etc.

let’s not speak in any language: 1. Different language means different race, region, country etc. 2. Language is a symbol of the things creates difference. Nothing which creates difference should be used while the session of keeping quiet.

not move our arms so much: don’t use your body and weapons to harm people and nature.

exotic moment: that peaceful moment of without activity and hastiness will be unusual and interesting because people never sit quiet forgetting all their work therefore they have never experienced it in their life.

sudden strangeness: People will enjoy that peaceful moment because that will be joy giving and unusual.

Fishermen: symbol of the oppressor who harms others and the nature.

Whale: symbol of the oppressed

Green wars: the destruction that human activities cause to the environment.

Wars with gas: Alliteration, Chemical war

Wars with fires: Wars with fire weapons: missile, bombs, bullets etc.

victory with no survivors: victory should be the source of happiness but the victory with war will be at the cost of losing people and things. Therefore, it will bring dejection only.

Clean clothes: leaving the clothes that have become dirty because of being involved in wars and over activity. It also denotes forgetting the grudges against one another and keeping good thoughts for each other.

in the shade: clean hearts for one another will remove the feeling of insecurity from people of the world. They will develop a sense of brotherhood for one another.

Life is what it is about: Life means action and change. Total inactivity brings stagnation which means death.

no truck with death: the poet has no connection with total inactivity which means death. He is not advocating death.

everything seems dead and later proves to be alive: in nature nothing seems happening. We can see the trees, flowers etc. growing. They all look quiet and still but we can notice them only when they have sprouted up or have increased in size.

A. Answer the following in 30-40 words each.

1. Do you think the poet advocates total inactivity and death?

Ans: No, he doesn’t advocate either total inactivity or death. He makes it quite clear that ‘stillness’ should not be confused with “total inactivity or equated to it. Total inactivity brings death. But Neruda has ‘no truck with death’. His stillness means halting of harmful and hostile human activities.

2. What is the ‘sadness’ that the poet refers to in the poem?

Ans: Man’s sadness is formed out of his own actions and thoughts. It is quite ironical that man who understands so much fails to understand himself and his action. He does not how harmful his thoughts and actions are for the nature and for himself. His madness about benefiting himself causes him only pain and anguish.

3. What does the poet want us to learn from the Earth?

Ans: The Earth is the epitome of quiet, nonstop and selfless activity. The nature never sits idle and is always at work. However, we can never notice the big work of creation incessantly taking place in nature. We never see the action of production; we just see and benefit ourselves with the products. The nature bestows its gifts to everyone without any discrimination. The poet wants us to bring this calmness and selflessness in our activities.

Note: for long questions read the summary of the poem.

B. Extract Based Questions

Perhaps the Earth can teach us

As when everything seems dead

And later proves to be alive

Now I will count upto twelve

And you keep quiet and I will go

1. Name the poem and the poet.
2. What does the Earth teach us?
3. What is the significance of counting upto twelve?
4. Why does the poet urge to “keep quiet”?

 

MY MOTHER AT 66

By Kamala Das

INTRODUCTION

“My Mother as Sixty Six” is one of the most relatable poems ever written by Kamala Das. All of us know that death cannot be escaped. We know this theoretically, but we choose to ignore this fact on a day to day basis in order to be able to live our lives peacefully. However, this thought does suddenly occur to us from time to time. And at such times, we become filled with sadness and pain. However, we also know that others do not like to be reminded of the brevity of life either. That is why we hide our pain and try to assure others that nothing of the sort will happen. No matter how hard we try, we cannot suppress the fear entirely, but must choose again and again to smile through the pain.

SUMMARY

The poet’s visit to her old mother has come to an end and she has to go back; so she is going to Cochin in a car to take a flight home from there. Her sixty-six year old mother accompanies her to the airport.
On the way, the old woman dozes off and the poet looks at her intensely and sorrowfully. The mother’s pale and loosely open mouth looks as lifeless as a dead body. It has a clear expression of pain and suffering.

Unable to gaze at her mother’s deathly pale face for long, the poet unwarily looks out of the car window and finds young trees whizzing past her and young children rushing out in knots to the open to play. This sight makes her think about old age and the inescapable decay of human life, particularly her mother’s. The uncanny fear about her mother’s physical decay and imminent death upsets and grieves the poet.

When she reaches the airport and the security check is done, she once again glances at her mother’s pale and colourless face which resembles the winter’s moon for it is foggy and misty, ready to wither away any moment. The narrator’s childhood fears of leaving her mother alone and unattended haunts her once again. Her apprehension, that she may not be there for long, grips her mind, but still she cannot discontinue her journey. Even her words ‘see you soon’ seem ironical to her for she is not sure how soon she would be able to see her and also if the mother would be alive for that long.

However, she hides all her worries and anxieties behind a long and sweet, though hollow smile and bids her mother a cheerful send off, with a hopeless assurance of meeting her again soon.

THEME

The poem is a reflection on the complex subtleties of human relationship. It is also a poignant expression of the fear of losing our near and dear ones. The poem also brings out the poet’s views on inescapable ageing, decay and the ultimate end. She realizes how much her mother and she herself have aged when she looks at the “young trees sprinting” and “merry children spelling out of their homes”. Although, she is painfully aware that her old mother a very lonely and does not have long to live, she finds it hard to confront and accept the idea and wishes against all hope, to see her mother soon and bids her goodbye with a hollow smile. Her smile is reflection of her inner guilt for she cannot be by her mother’s side.

LITERARY DEVICES

Simile:

1. face ashen like that of a corpse: mother’s face greyish and pale, colours associated with sick and dead body.

2. as a late winter’s moon: mother’s face symbolises her very frail health and fast approaching death.

Metaphor:

1. Trees sprinting: trees compared with an athlete.

2. Children spilling: children described as if they were some liquid.

Personification: Trees sprinting

Anaphora: smile and smile and smile

Alliteration: my mother, / see you soon

Repetition:

1. smile and smile and smile: Repetition indicates the rather long, hollow and artificial smile the poet had to put on to cheer up her mother and to hid her own worry, anxiety and guilt.

Imagery and symbols:

1. Trees sprinting and merry children: symbolic of youth, vigour, vitality, life and growth

2. Winter’s moon: symbolic of death

A. Answer the following in 30-40 words each.

1. What childhood fears do you think the poet is referring to in the poem?

Ans: The poet refers to the fears of a child has of losing a parent or getting lost somewhere and thus getting separated from them. The poet felt this kind of fear while looking at her mother’s aged and pale face. She was afraid that she might never see her again.

2. What is the kind of pain and ache that the poet feels?

Ans: The emotional pain and ache that the poet feels is due to the realization that her mother has gone old and has become frail and pale like a corpse. She is dependent on her children. The ache also refers to the old familiar ache of the childhood that revisits the poet due to the mother’s old age and her approaching end.

3. Why are the young trees described as sprinting?

Ans: The young trees are personified in the poem. They seem to be running in the opposite direction when seen through the window of the moving car. The movement is juxtaposed with the expression on the mother’s face i.e. ashen like a corpse. The movement of the children and the trees is in stark contrast with the stillness associated with the mother.

4. Why has the poet bought in the image of the merry children ‘spilling out of their homes’?

Ans: The poet highlights the helplessness and frailty of old age with the help of contrasts. The mother dozes off mouth open, whereas the children spilling out of their homes signify movement and energy, enthusiasm and vivacity, which the old people are bereft off.

5. Why has the mother been compared to ‘late winter’s moon’?

The mother has been compared to the late winter’s moon which is dull and shrouded. It symbolizes the ebbing of life. The moon brings to the poets mind night or the approaching end of life. The mother like the late winter’s moon is dull, dim and dismal.

6. What does the poet mean by ‘all I did was smile and smile and smile…’?

Ans: The poet realizes the pain and ache she would get at separating from her mother. It was her childhood fear that she experienced again. She was trying to hide her true emotions by smiling and smiling. The smile here is the forced smile and not the natural one.

7. What do the parting words of the poet and her smile signify?

Ans: The parting words ‘see you soon Amma’ are used by the poet to reassure the mother and to infuse optimism in the poet herself. The poet accepts the reality yet keeps up the façade of smiling in order to put up a brave front. It requires a lot of effort and hence the poet has used the poetic device of repetition.

B. Answer the following in 150 words each.

1. The poem is an emotional account of the poet about her old mother. Discuss.

OR

The poem is concerned with the idea of decay and death. Discuss it.

OR

Discuss the mother-daughter relationship as described in the poem.

Ans: The poem fully justifies in expressing the sensitivity, love, care and emotions of the poet towards her mother. As it is an expression of a great poetess, the poem brings out her emotions with the help of an offbeat theme of decay and death to serve her purpose. It is the greatness of the poet who clearly delineates the tender feelings of this sensitive relationship in the background of the approaching death of her mother.

The poem is set in a car being driven by the poet towards Cochin airport with the mother sitting beside her. Her mother because of her old age has become too frail and has dozed off. Seeing her lifeless and decayed face the poet feels tortured by her old familiar ache of losing her mother. Without expressing in words directly, the poet beautifully conveys her strong desire to remain close to her mother and her helplessness and anxiety in being separated from her.

The poem ends with the best thing the poet could do to her mother in this circumstance. The parting words ‘see you soon Amma’ are used by the poet to reassure the mother and to infuse optimism in the poet herself. The poet accepts the reality yet keeps up the façade of smiling in order to put up a brave front. The poet keeps smiling to hide her true emotions. Three time repetition of ‘smile’ clearly shows that it was forced one; not natural.

Thus, the poem is an intense expression of the tender feelings of mother-daughter relationship.

 

 

GOING PLACES

By A.R. Barton

 

A. Answer the following in 30-40 words each.

1. What are the other dreams of Sophie in addition to having a boutique?

Ans: The greatest dream of Sophie is to have a boutique. She wants to be a bit sophisticated and rise above her lower-middle class status. Her other dream is of being an actress as “there’s real money in that”. Moreover, actresses don’t work full time. She can look after her first love i.e. boutique as a side business. She has another option. She can be a fashion designer, and do something sophisticated.

2. Why does -Jansie say: “Soaf, you really should be sensible”?

Ans: Jansie knows Sophie’s family background and financial position. She knows that both of them are earmarked for that biscuit factory. Sophie dreams of big and beautiful things like having a boutique or becoming an actress or a fashion designer. All these things need a lot of money and experience. Sophie has neither of them. So Jansie being down-to-earth advises her to be sensible and stop having wild dreams.

3. What socio-economic background did Sophie belong to? What are the indicators of her family’s financial status?

Ans: Sophie belongs to a lower middle class family. Geoffs is an apprentice mechanic. He travels to his work each day to the far side of the city. His jacket is shapeless. Her father lacks sophistication. He is a heavy breathing man. He sits in his vest at the table. He grunts and tosses one of little Derek’s shoes from his chair on to the sofa. There is stove in the same room where dirty washing is piled in a comer. Sophie’s father goes to pub on his bicycle. All these indicators confirm their lower middle-class family background.

4. Who was Danny Casey? How did the members of Sophie’s family react towards him?

Ans: Danny Casey was a young Irish football player. He played for the United. The Irish prodigy could easily dodge the defenders and score goals. Sophie’s father was a football fan. He admired old heroes like Tom Finney and young wonder boy Casey. Geoff had a large poster of United first team squad on his bed room wall. There were three coloured photographs of Casey in the row below it. Every Saturday they went to watch United play.

5. Why was the visit of Sophie’s father and his family to watch United is called ‘their weekly pilgrimage’?

Ans: Sophie’s father was a keen footfall fan. He took great interest in the career of Danny Casey, the Irish prodigy. Geoff, too was interested in football. Sophie considered Danny Casey her personal hero. She always dreamt of him. Casey was playing for United. The family visited the stadium regularly to watch him. So the family’s visit was like a religious or holy weekly ritual—a pilgrimage.

6. Why did Sophie long for her brother’s affection?

Ans: Geoff was almost grown up now. He spoke little. Sophie knew that when he was not speaking, he was lost in the memory of those places she had never been. She wanted to experience those places riding behind Geoff. Therefore, she always shared her secrets with him.

7. How does Sophie’s father react when Geoff tells him about her meeting with Danny Casey?

Ans: Geoff informs his father that Sophie had a meeting with Danny Casey. He turns his head on his thick neck to look at her in disbelief. His expression is one of disdain. He ignores the news and goes on to talk about Tom Finney. When Sophie says that Casey is going to buy a shop, he reacts sharply. “This is another of your wild stories.”

8. Why didn’t Sophie want Jansie to know about her story with Danny?

Ans: Jansie was very interested in things that did not concern her. She wanted to know other people’s affairs. She would spread the news in the whole neighborhood. So, Sophie didn’t want Jansie to know about her story with Danny. It may also be mutual rivalry and one-upmanship on her part. Sophie was startled to learn that Geoff had told Jansie about her story with Danny.

9. Did Geoff keep his promise? How do you know?

Ans: Before sharing her secret Sophie took a promise from Geoff not to share it with anyone, especially with Jansie. But when Jansie herself talked about it to Sophie she came to know that it was an open secret now. It means Geoff did not keep his promise. He told Jansie’s brother Frank about it. Sophie cursed Geoff for sharing her secret.

10. Did Sophie really meet Danny Casey?

Ans: No, Sophie did not really meet Danny Casey. She was very fascinated by the young Irish footballer. She imagined his coming. She sat in the park, waiting for Casey and knowing that he would not come. She felt sad. Sadness was a hard burden to carry. She was always lost in a dreamy world where she imagined Casey meeting her.

11. Which was the only occasion when she got to see Danny Casey in person?

Ans: The only occasion when Sophie got to see Danny Casey in person was when the family went to watch United on Saturday. United won two-nil. Her idol Casey drove in the second goal. She saw the Irish genius going round two big defenders on the edge of penalty area. He beat the hesitant goal keeper from a dozen yards. Sophie glowed with pride. She was very happy.

12. Why did Sophie choose to walk by the canal? What did she do there?

Ans: Sophie walked by the canal along a sheltered path. It was far away from the noise and crowd of the city. It was a place where she had often played when she was a child. There was a wooden bench beneath a solitary elm tree. Lovers sometimes came there. That was the most suitable place where she could dream of her hero Danny Casey.

13. How did Sophie react as she kept sitting for hours, waiting for Danny Casey and imagining his coming?

Ans: At first Sophie was optimistic. She imagined him coming out of the shadows. When time had elapsed, pangs of doubt stirred inside her. She became sad and despondent. Danny would not come there at all. She feared that people would laugh at the story of her meeting with Casey.

14. “Sophie’s dreams and disappointments are all in her mind.” Do you agree? Give reasons in support of your answer.

Ans: I fully agree with the observation. She has no real reason to be happy or disappointed. The Irish prodigy is her hero. She imagines her meeting with him and takes it to such an extent that she starts feeling it as something real. The worst part was that she even went to meet him at the place she had herself thought of and feels disappointed when he does not show up. Her day-dreaming makes her sad and despondent.

B. Answer the following in 150 words each.

1. Jansie is just as old as Sophie but she is very different from her. Bring out the contrast between the two friends citing relevant instances from the story, “Going Places”.

Ans: Sophie and Jansie are classmates as well as friends. Only after a few months they would pass out of their school and join a biscuit factory for which they have been earmarked. They both belonged to lower middle-class families. But that is where their similarity ends. There is a striking contrast between their characters.

Sophie is a day-dreamer who lives in a world of dreams and does not want to come out of this fairyland. Sophie wants to do something sophisticated. She is an incurable escapist and dreams of having a boutique, becoming an actress or a fashion designer.

Jansie, on the other hand, is practical and grounded. She knows big things require big money and experience which they lack desperately. She is aware of her socio-economic condition and knows that they are both ‘earmarked for the biscuit factory’. She advises Sophie to be sensible and not entertain wild dreams. While Sophie shares her dreams only with one person, her brother Geoff, Jansie on the other hand is nosey. Sophie believes Jansie can spread other’s secrets in the whole neighborhood.

2. Students are advised to dream big and are motivated to achieve big aim. On the contrary, Sophie is resented for doing the same. Why? What is wrong with her dreams?

There is nothing wrong with having big dreams. In fact, every teenager must aim high so that s/he can utilize his full potential. However, such dreams are meaningless and cause disappointment if they are not accompanied by an effective plan and are not grounded in reality.

Sophie’s dreams are faulty as they lack planning and are completely away from reality. She wants to be sophisticated and rise above her lower-middle class status. Her dream is of being an actress as “there’s real money in that”. Moreover, actresses don’t work full time. She can look after her first love i.e. boutique as a side business. She has another option. She can be a fashion designer, and do something sophisticated. All these things need a lot of money and experience. Sophie’s lower middle-class background does not give hope of either of them.

Her brother, Geoffs, is an apprentice mechanic. Her father goes to pub on his bicycle. They can’t afford a house with a kitchen. Her mother prepares their meals on a stove kept in a corner of the same room where they sit and rest. Her schooling also does not show any of such kind of promise as she has already been earmarked for a biscuit factory. Moreover, her irresistible desire to win attention of others for which she even lies and does not fear public shame also indicates that she doesn’t have that dignified personality even which is the biggest surety of getting someone a big success.

THE INTERVIEW

By Christopher Silvester

A. Answer the following in 30-40 words each.

1. What are some of the positive views on interviews?

Ans: The positive views on interviews are that it is a medium of communication and a source of truth and information. Some even look at it as an art. These days we know about the celebrities and others through their interviews.

2. Why do most celebrity writers despise being interviewed?

Ans: Most celebrity writers despise being interviewed because they look at interviews as an unwarranted intrusion into their lives. They feel that it diminishes them. They feel that they are wounded by interviews and lose a part of themselves. They consider interviews immoral and a crime, and an unwanted and unwelcome interruption in their personal life.

3. What do you understand by the expression ‘thumbprints on his windpipe’?

Ans: Saul Bellow once described interviews as being like ‘thumbprints on his windpipe’. It means he treated interviews as a painful experience, as something that caught him by his windpipe, squeezed him and left indelible thumbprints on that. It also means that when the interviewer forces personal details from his interviewee, it becomes undesirable and cruel.

4. Do you think Umberto Eco likes being interviewed? Give reasons for your opinion.

Ans: Umberto Eco does not think highly of interviewers who he thinks are a puzzled bunch of people. He has reasons for thinking so as they have often interpreted him as a novelist and clubbed him with Pen Clubs and writers, while he considers himself an academic scholar who attends academic conferences and writes novels on Sundays.

5. How does Eco find the time to write so much?

Ans: Eco humorously states that there are a lot of empty spaces in his life. He calls them ‘interstices’. There are moments when one is waiting for the other. In that empty space, Eco laughingly states that he writes an article. Then he states that he is a professor who writes novels on Sundays.

6. What was distinctive about Eco’s academic writing style?

Ans: Umberto’s writings have an ethical and philosophical element underlying them. His non-fictional writing work has a certain playful and personal quality about it. Even his writings for children deal with non-violence and peace. This style of writing makes reading his novels and essays interesting and being like the reading of most academic writings. His works are marked by an informal and narrative aspect.

7. What is the reason for the huge success of the novel, The Name of the Rose?

Ans: The success of The Name of the Rose, though a mystery to the author himself, could possibly be because it offered a difficult reading experience to the kind of readers who do not want easy reading experiences and those who look at novels as a machine for generating interpretations.

8. Why did Umberto take to writing novels?

Ans: Umberto took to writing novels to satisfy his taste for narration. He did not have even a single novel to his credit, till the age of 50. One day having nothing to do, he started writing a novel. Moreover, he thought that novels have more readership and he could reach a larger audience.

B. Answer the following in 150 words each.

1. What impression do you form about Umberto Eco as a scholar and writer on the basis of ‘The Interview’?

Ans: Umberto Eco, a professor of Semeiotics at the University of Bologna, in Italy. Semeiotics is the study of signs. He is also a well-known novelist. His scholarly works include academic texts, essays, children’s books and newspaper articles. He pursues his philosophical interests through his academic writings and novels. In spite of having reached the zeniths of intellectuality, Eco is a humble and modest scholar. He brushes aside compliments and never boasts about his achievements. He is keen to share his experiences with others and shares the secret of accomplishing so much work by revealing the facts that he makes use of time- gaps between different pieces of work. Eco follows an informal and playful style of writing with a narrative aspect. Even his research work has a quality of creative writing and makes informative as well as interesting reading.

Eco’s style is narrative, written in the manner of a story. This is in contrast to a regular academic style which is invariably depersonalized, dry and boring. His scholarly work has a certain playful and personal quality to it. He pursued his philosophical interests through his academic work and novels. He also wrote books for children on non-violence and peace.

 

POETS AND PANCAKES

By Asokamitran

Before You Read

Reading Task: Gemini Studio & other Film Cities in India

A. Answer the following in 30-40 words each.

1. How does the writer describe the make-up room of the Gemini Studios?

Ans: The make-up room of the Gemini Studios had incandescent lights. It also had lights at all angles around large mirrors. Those subjected to make-up had to face bright light and a lot of heat there. It was on the upper floor of the building that was believed to have been Robert Clive’s stables.

2. Bring out the humor in the job of the make-up men.

Ans: The make-up men came from all corners of the country and could transform any decent-looking person into a repulsive crimson coloured fiend and made people look uglier than they were in real life. They used truck loads of pancakes and locally manufactured potions and lotions to transform the looks of the actors.

3. How was the make-up room a fine example of national integration?

Ans: Transcending all the barriers of regions, religions and castes, people from all over India came to Gemini Studios for jobs. The make-up department was headed by a Bengali, succeeded by a Maharashtrian, assisted by a Dharwar Kannadiga, an Andhra, a Madrasi, Christian and an Anglo Burmese and the usual local Tamils. Hence, the writer finds in the make-up department a perfect example of national integration.

4. Why did the author appear to do nothing in the studio?

Ans : The author’s job in the studio was to cut newspaper dippings of all the relevant news items and articles that appeared in different newspapers and maintain a record of the same. This tearing of newspaper gave an impression that he was free and simply whiling away his time. People used to barge in his cubicle and lectured him.

5. Why was the office boy frustrated? Who did he show his anger on and how?

Ans: The office boy had joined the studio years back. He aspired to be a top film star, or top screen writer, lyricist or director. He felt frustrated on not being able to realise his dreams and had been given a job much below his calibre and dignity. He blamed Kothamangalam Subbu for all his woes, ignominy and neglect. He often gave vent to his frustrations in the narrator’s cubicle. The narrator yearned for relief from the never-ending babble of the office boy.

6. Subbu is described as a many-sided genius. Justify.

Ans: Kothamangalam Subbu may not have had much formal education but, by virtue of his being born as a Brahmin, he had had exposure to many affluent situations and people. He had the ability to look cheerful at all times, even after a setback. He was always full of creative ideas. Above all, he was a charitable and extravagant man and hospitable to his relations. His loyalty had put him close to his boss. But he seemed to others a sycophant and a flatterer and, probably, that was the reason he had enemies.

7. How did the lawyer unwittingly bring an end to a brief and brilliant career of a young actress?

Ans: A talented but very temperamental actress lost her cool on the sets. The lawyer recorded her outburst and played it back, much to her embarrassment. The actress from the countryside was so terror- struck that she retreated and never got back to films. In this way, his mischief making brought an abrupt end to the brilliant actress’ career.

8. Name one example to show that Gemini Studios was influenced by the plays staged by MRA?

Ans: MRA staged two plays ‘Jotham Valley’ and ‘The Forgotten Factor’. Their high quality costumes and well-made sets earned a lot of admiration. Their sunrise and sunset scene impressed them so much that all Tamil plays started reproducing the scene with a bare stage, a white background curtain and a tune playing on the flute.

9. Why was the Englishman’s visit referred to as unexplained mystery?

Ans: The Englishman was a poet whose name was not familiar. In his speech he talked about the thrills and travails of an English poet, which made no sense for the simple people at Gemini Studios who had had no exposure other than films and so they were not interested. These simple people had neither taste for English poetry nor political interests. Hence, his visit is referred to as an unexplained mystery.

10. Why did the magazine, ‘The Encounter’, ring a bell in the writer’s mind?

Ans: The writer wanted to participate in a short story writing contest organized by ‘The Encounter’, a British publication. Before sending his entry, he waited, confirm the authenticity of the periodical, so he visited the British Council Library. When the author read the editor’s name, a bell rang in his mind. It was Stephen Spender, the poet who had visited the Gemini Studios.

11. What was significant about the book which the author took from roadside?

Ans: ‘The God That failed’ was the name of the book which caught the attention of the author. It contained the essays of six eminent men, who described their journey into communism and their return from it after being disillusioned. It suddenly assumed great significance for the author as he discovered that one of the essays had been written by Stephen Spender, the poet, who had visited the studio. He now understood the reason for his having been invited.

12. Why was Gemini Studios a favourite haunt of poets?

Ans: Gemini Studios was a favourite haunt of poets as it had an excellent mess which supplied good coffee at all times of the day and for most part of the night. Meeting there was a satisfying entertainment. Moreover, Mr. Vasan was a great admirer of scholarly people.

B. Answer the following in 150 words each.

1. The author has used gentle humour to point out human foibles. Pick out instances of this to show how this serves to make the piece interesting?

Ans: ‘Poets and Pancakes’ has an underlying tone of humour which is satirical and has been deployed by the author to point out human foibles. It is mainly manifested in his description of the make-up room people.

The make-up room, he says, was in a building that had once been the stables of Robert Clive. He further makes fun of the make-up team that slapped make-up. Ironically, the make-up turned any normal man into a hideous monster, far from being presentable. He also refers to the fiery misery of the actors when their make-up was done under the bright bulbs, large mirrors reflecting blazing heat. His description of Subbu’s No. 2 position in Gemini Studios, the frustration of the office boy and the opposite role played by the legal adviser in the acting career of a countryside girl are humorously dealt with but effectively bring out the flaws in the set-up.

The showmanship of the boss and what influences his guest list point out human weaknesses in a light-hearted manner. The humour is at its peak in the description of the visit of Stephen Spender. S.S. Vasan’s reading a long speech in his honour but he too knew precious little about him. Spender’s accent is highly unintelligible. Then the author’s establishing long lost brother’s relationship with the English visitor is also funny and humorous. All these slight digs at human foibles tickle in us humour.

2. Write a character sketch of Subbu.

Ans: In his book 'My Years with Boss at Gemini Studios' the writer Asokamitran has described Subbu as number two. To reach this position he had worked hard. Gemini Studios had a large team of people working in various departments. Yet, Subbu proved himself a many - sided genius and an indispensable man for the studios.

He serves his Boss and the organization from the core of his heart. Although, he was the part of the Story Department yet, in case the director ran out of ideas he would give four, if not liked, he used to come up with fourteen more alternatives. In this context, he is a dynamic person. During its golden period, Subbu gave Gemini Studios a new direction and definition.

Subbu was a poet and wrote his poetry for the masses. His sprawling novel ‘Thillana Mohanambal’ had dozens of lovely characters on the mood and manner of the Devadasis of the early 20th century. Whatever roles Subbu played, he acted better than the main actor.

Subbu had a charitable and cheerful personality. He feeds and supports dozens of near and dear ones at his residence but had his own share of enemies. With the closure of the story department, Subbu also lost his job.