C. Reading, Speaking and Writing.
Work with your partner, sitting next to you, and do this exercise. If your answer is “Not true”, say what is true. Substantiate all the answers by reading to him/ her the relevant sentences in the passage. Write down your answers.
- The director woke up with the feeling that the building a. would be flooded, b. would be burnt down, c. would collapse. (Underline the phrase that completes the sentence)
Answer: c. would collapse
- The director cut off his wife’s call because he wanted to save himself first. (True/ Not True)
Answer: True
- The director lost the chance of hearing his wife’s last words. (True/Not True)
Answer: True
- Car Nicobar Islands stand the highest among Nicobar Islands. (True/Not True)
Answer: True
- Port Blair was hit by the rising sea before Car Nicobar Islands. (True/ Not True)
Answer: True
- The director heard from Malacca that his family had survived. (True/ Not True)
Answer: Not true – Malacca had been badly hit and there were some survivors, but as for his family there was no news.
- The director’s heart broke when he felt his son’s misery. (True/ Not True)
Answer: True
- The poor thirteen-year-old’s misery was that he had not been able to save his mother and sister. (True/ Not True)
Answer: True
- When did the director become really anxious?
Answer: The water in the harbour had begun to rise very rapidly and the anchored ships seemed to be swirling. Director ran to the higher ground with others. Then it occurred to the director that Nicobar Islands are low – lying islands and some like Car Nicobar islands stand no more than a few meters above the sea level at their highest point. This made him anxious. Because, his wife and children were staying in low level Island.
- What did the director’s son tell him?
Answer: Director spoke to his son directly later that night and learnt that the family had been in the bedroom when the earthquake started. A terrifying sound from the direction of the sea had driven them into the drawing room, but the boy had kept running. When the wave hit, the house dissolved into splinters and the boy was carried away as if on a wind. Flailing his arms, he managed to take hold of something that seemed to be fixed to the earth. Through wave after wave he managed to keep his grip. When the water receded, he saw that he was holding on to the only upright structure. Then the director asked about his mother and sister, the son of the director started crying and him that his mother and sister are just disappeared.
- The mother and the sister had died. The boy feels he is to be blamed. This shows his sense of responsibility. Explain this point.
Answer: “And your mother and sister?” the director had asked. “Baba, they just disappeared” – And now for the first time the boy began to cry. The director’s heart broke because he knew his son was crying because he thought he would be scolded and blamed for what had happened. This cry shows his responsibility. The boy thought that he failed to his responsibility. He wanted to save his mother and sister.
- The director wanted to mourn alone quietly. (True/ Not True)
Answer: True
- Why did the director choose his slides and not anything else?
Answer: The Director did not pick it up. He said, “What good will it do? What will it give back?” The director chooses his slides and not anything else because, it may cause more pain in his future life. This things brings the memory of past and could be more painful to him. It is an expression of the innermost sovereignty of the self because nothing now remains to cloud its vision. In the manner of his choosing there was not a particle of hesitation or the faintest glimmer of doubt. Perhaps he must have found some comfort in the knowledge of an impersonal effort.
- “Words seem futile,” says the author. Explain what he means.
Answer: The author says that the words seem futile because the director did not want sympathy from others. He wanted to be alone at the time of the tragedy was happened. Sometimes, words seem futile, and at these moments, it seems nothing is of value other than to act and intervene in the course of events.
- How did the author himself intervene and act in the course of the events?
Answer: The author realized that the director did not want sympathy from others. He wanted to be alone at the time of the tragedy was happened. Author thought the words of sympathy does not work in sometimes. And at these moments, it seems nothing is of value other than to act and intervene in the course of events. Even thinking, reflecting and writing about it seem trivial and wasteful.
D. Word Formation
Write the names of five countries and then make words from them using the suffix “-an”.
Example : America – American (person/language).
Add a noun to each word you have made to make a noun phrase.
Example : American scientist.
E. Grammar: The Suffix
Suffixes help words to do different functions of grammar.
Example:
surprise (n); surprise (v);
surprised, surprising (adj)
surprisedly, surprisingly (adv)
Exercise:
Fill in the blanks to supply the correct forms of the word “surprise” :
1. Surprised at finding the lone, hungry cub grandfather brought it home.
2. A tiger on the leash surprised people on the street.
3. It was a surprise for them to see a man with a tiger.
4. “Don’t be surprised if he eats up Mahamoud,” said Grandmother.
5. Surprisingly, the tiger didn’t harm the man.
6. Surprisedly, they all watched the man petting the tiger.
(Note: Sentences 5 and 6 begin with adverbs)
(Note: You have learnt earlier that an adverb modifies the meaning of a verb, or an adjective, or another adverb. But here is something more to learn. An adverb can also modify the meaning of a whole sentence. The sentences 5 and 6 you have written are examples of this function of the adverb.)
Exercise: Write two more sentences beginning with
- fortunately…. 2. unfortunately….
- Fortunately: Fortunately, I got the award from the university.
- Unfortunately: Unfortunately I just missed the rank by just one mark.
About the author:
Amitav Ghosh is a famous journalist, sociologist and novelist. He was born on July 11, 1956, at Calcutta, to Lieutenant Colonel Shailendra Chandra Ghosh, Retired Officer of the Pre-Independence Indian Army. He studied in Doon School, Dehradoon and St. Stephen’s College, Delhi. He earned the degree of Doctor of Philosophy from St. Edmund’s Hall, Oxford. He has been a Visiting Professor at Harvard University since 2005. He teaches Comparative Literature.
