I. A Baker from Goa
ORAL
COMPREHENSION CHECK PAGE
2
1. What are the elders in Goa nostalgic
about?
Answer:
The
elders in Goa are nostalgic about the old Portuguese days that they considered
good. They also reminisce about the love they had for the famous bread and
loaves.
2. Is bread-making still popular in Goa?
How do you know?
Answer:
According
to the author, break-making and baking are still popular in Goa. .The narrator
mentions that even though many people do not have them, the presence of the
mixers, moulders and bakers continues to be there.
3. What is the baker called?
Answer:
A
baker is called Pader.
4. When would the baker come every day?
Why did the children run to meet him?
Answer:
The baker would come twice every day, and the children ran to meet him since
they loved the loaves and wanted to indulge themselves in the bread-bangles.
ORAL
COMPREHENSION CHECK PAGE
3
1. Match
the following. What is a must
(i) as marriage gifts?
– cakes and bolinhas
(ii) for a party or a
feast? – sweet bread called bol
(iii) for a daughter’s
engagement? – bread
(iv) for Christmas? – sandwiches
Answer:
(i) as marriage gifts? – sweet bread called bol
(ii) for a party or a feast? – bread
(iii) for a daughter’s engagement? –
sandwiches
(iv) for Christmas? –
cakes and bolinhas
2. What did the bakers wear: (i) in the
Portuguese days? (ii) when the author was young?
Answer:
(i) Bakers wore kabai in the Portuguese days. A
kabai was a single-piece long frock reaching just below the knees.
(ii) When the author was young, the bakers would
wear a shirt and trousers which were shorter than full-length ones but surely
longer than half pants.
3. Who invites the comment — “he is
dressed like a pader”? Why?
Answer:
Those
who tend to wear a half-pant reaching just below the knees invite this comment
because it was the pader (baker) who was dressed like that.
4. Where were the monthly accounts of the
baker recorded?
Answer:
The
monthly accounts of the baker were recorded on a wall in the house.
5. What does a ‘jackfruit-like
appearance’ mean?
Answer:
A
‘jackfruit-like appearance’ means a plump physique.
THINKING
ABOUT THE TEXT PAGE 4
1. Which
of these statements are correct?
(i) The pader
was an important person in the village in the old times.
(ii) Paders
still exist in Goan villages.
(iii) The paders
went away with the Portuguese.
(iv) The paders
continue to wear a single-piece long frock.
(v) Bread and cakes were an integral part of Goan life
in the old days.
(vi) Traditional bread-baking is still a very
profitable business.
(vii) Paders
and their families starve in the present times.
Answer:
(i), (ii), and (vi) are correct.
2. Is bread an important part of Goan
life? How do you know this?
Answer:
Bread
appears to be an important part of Goan life as it is often used while feasting
and during significant occasions like marriages. In fact, it is also used by
mothers for making sandwiches on the day of their daughter’s engagement. We
know this because the author makes it clear. He also says that Goans love the
smell of fresh loaves.
3. Tick the right answer. What is the
tone of the author when he says the following?
(i) The thud
and the jingle of the traditional baker’s bamboo can still be heard in some
places. (nostalgic, hopeful, sad)
(ii) Maybe the
father is not alive but the son still carries on the family profession.
(nostalgic, hopeful, sad)
(iii) I still
recall the typical fragrance of those loaves. (nostalgic, hopeful, naughty)
(iv) The tiger
never brushed his teeth. Hot tea could wash and clean up everything so nicely,
after all. (naughty, angry, funny)
(v) Cakes and bolinhas are a must for Christmas as
well as other festivals. (sad, hopeful, matter-of-fact)
(vi) The baker
and his family never starved. They always looked happy and prosperous.
(matter-of-fact, hopeful, sad)
Answer:
(i) nostalgic
(ii) hopeful
(iii) nostalgic
(iv) funny
(v) matter-of-fact
(vi) matter-of-fact
WRITING PAGE
4
I. In this extract, the author talks
about traditional bread-baking during his childhood days. Complete the
following table with the help of the clues on the left. Then write a paragraph
about the author’s childhood days.
|
Clues |
Author’s childhood days |
|
the
way bread was baked |
|
|
the
way the pader sold bread |
|
|
what
the pader wore |
|
|
when
the pader was paid |
|
|
how
the pader looked |
|
Clues |
Author’s childhood days |
|
the way bread was
baked |
The bakers used to
bake loaves in the mixers and moulders on age-old, time-tested furnaces that
were never extinguished. |
|
the way the pader
sold bread |
The baker made his
musical entry on the scene with the ‘jhang, jhang’ sound of his specially
made bamboo staff. One hand supported the basket on his head and the other
banged the bamboo on the ground. |
|
what the pader wore |
The baker or
bread-seller of those days had a peculiar dress known as the kabai. It
was a single-piece long frock reaching down to the knees. In his childhood,
he saw bakers wearing a shirt and trousers which were shorter than
full-length ones and longer than half pants. |
|
when the pader was
paid |
The baker usually
collected his bills at the end of the month. Monthly accounts used to be
recorded on some wall in pencil. |
|
how the pader looked |
The baker used to
have a plump physique with a jackfruit-like physical appearance. |
II.
1. Compare the piece from the text (on
the left below) with the other piece on Goan bakers (on the right). What makes
the two texts so different? Are the facts the same? Do both writers give you a
picture of the baker?
|
Our
elders are often heard reminiscing nostalgically about those good old
Portuguese days, the Portuguese and their famous loaves of bread. Those
eaters of loaves might have vanished but the makers are still there. We still
have amongst us the mixers, the moulders and those who bake the loaves. Those
age-old, time-tested furnaces still exist. The fire in the furnaces had not
yet been extinguished. The thud and the jingle of the traditional baker’s
bamboo, heralding his arrival in the morning, can still be heard in some
places. Maybe
the father is not alive but the son still carries on the family profession. |
After Goa’s
liberation, people used to say nostalgically that the Portuguese bread
vanished with the paders. But the paders have managed to survive
because they have perfected the art of door-to-door delivery service. The paders pick up the knowledge of
bread-making from traditions in the family. The leavened, oven-baked bread is
a gift of the Portuguese to India. [Adapted from Nandakumar Kamat’s ‘The
Unsung Lives of Goan Paders’] |
Answer:
There is not much difference between the texts. The
writers in both cases have given a brief overview of what a baker does. They
also stated how some children later take on their parents' profession.
2. Now find a travel brochure about a
place you have visited. Look at the description
in the brochure. Then write your own account, adding details from your own
experience, to give the reader a picture of the place, rather than an
impersonal, factual description.
Answer:
To
be done by the student.
GROUP
DISCUSSION PAGE
5
1. In groups, collect information on how
bakeries bake bread now and how the process has changed over time.
Answer:
To be done by yourself.
2. There are a number of craft-based
professions which are dying out. Pick one of the crafts below. Make a group
presentation to the class about the skills required, and the possible reasons
for the decline of the craft. Can you think of ways to revive these crafts?
(i) Pottery (v) Carpentry
(ii) Batik work (vi) Bamboo weaving
(iii) Dhurri (rug) weaving (vii) Making jute products
(iv) Embroidery (viii)
Handloom
Answer:
To
be done by the student.
II. Coorg
THINKING
ABOUT THE TEXT PAGE
8
1. Where is Coorg?
Answer:
Coorg
is in Karnataka. It lies between Mysore and Mangalore.
2. What is the story about the Kodavu
people’s descent?
Answer:
The people of Coorg, considered independent, are probably of Greek or Arabic
origin. The story says that one section of Alexander’s army had moved south.
And this was along the coast. They slowly made the place their home after
realising it was not possible for them to get back to their country. They ended
up marrying the locals.
3. What are some of the things you now
know about
(i) the people
of Coorg?
(ii) the main
crop of Coorg?
(iii) the
sports it offers to tourists?
(iv) the
animals you are likely to see in Coorg?
(v) its
distance from Bangalore, and how to get there?
Answer:
(i) The
people of Coorg are independent. They comprise martial men and beautiful women.
They are probably of Greek or Arabic origin, and they are extremely hospitable.
They also narrate several tales of bravery without hesitating. In fact, they
are even allowed to carry firearms without a licence.
(ii)
Coffee is the main crop of Coorg.
(iii) Coorg offers a variety of sports, most of them
energising, like canoeing, river rafting, rappelling, rock climbing, trekking,
and biking.
(iv)
Malabar squirrel, langurs, slender loris, Macaques, and wild elephants are some
animals that can be spotted, besides, of course, butterflies, birds, and bees.
(v) Coorg
is around 250 kilometres from Bangalore. There are two ways to reach this
beautiful place. One route is via Mysore and the other via Neelamangal,
Kunigal, and Chanrayanapatna.
4. Here are six sentences with some words
in italics. Find phrases from the text that have the same meaning. (Look in the
paragraphs indicated)
(i) During
monsoons it rains so heavily that tourists do not visit Coorg. (para 2)
(ii) Some
people say that Alexander’s army moved south along the coast and settled there.
(para 3)
(iii) The Coorg
people are always ready to tell stories of their sons’ and fathers’ valour.
(para 4)
(iv) Even
people who normally lead an easy and slow life get smitten by the high-energy
adventure sports of Coorg. (para 6)
(v) The theory
of the Arab origin is supported by the long coat with embroidered waist-belt
they wear. (para 3)
(vi) Macaques,
Malabar squirrels observe you carefully from the tree canopy. (para 7)
Answers:
(i) to keep many visitors away
(ii) As one story goes
(iii) are more than willing to recount
(iv) The most laidback individuals become converts
to
(v) draws support from
(vi) keep a watchful eye
THINKING
ABOUT LANGUAGE PAGE
9
Collocations
Certain words ‘go together’. Such ‘word
friends’ are called collocations. The collocation of a word is ‘the company it
keeps’.
For example,
look at the paired sentences and phrases below. Which is a common collocation,
and which one is odd? Strike out the odd sentence or phrase.
(a) •
‘How old are you?’
(b) • a pleasant
person
• ‘How young are you?’ • a pleasant pillow
1. Here
are some nouns from the text.
Culture monks surprise Experience weather tradition
Work with a partner and discuss which of
the nouns can collocate with which of the adjectives given below. The first one
has been done for you.
Unique terrible
unforgettable Serious ancient wide
sudden
(i) culture: unique
culture, ancient culture
(ii) monks: __________________________________________________
(iii) surprise:
__________________________________________________
(iv) experience:
__________________________________________________
(v) weather: __________________________________________________
(vi) tradition:
__________________________________________________
Answers:
(i) culture: unique
culture, ancient culture
(ii) monks: unique
monks, serious monks
(iii)
surprise: unforgettable surprise,
sudden surprise, terrible surprise, unique surprise
(iv)
experience: unique experience,
unforgettable experience, terrible experience
(v) weather: terrible
weather
(vi) tradition: unique
tradition, ancient tradition
2. Complete the following phrases from
the text. For each phrase, can you find at least one other word that would fit
into the blank?
(i) tales of
______________________ (ii)
coastal _____________________
(iii) a piece
of ____________________ (iv) evergreen
___________________
(v)
___________________ plantations (vi)
___________________bridge
(vii) wild ______________________
You may add your own examples to this
list.
Answer:
(i) tales of valour
(ii) coastal town
(iii) a piece of heaven
(iv) evergreen rainforests
(v) coffee plantations
(vi) rope bridge
(vii) wild creatures
Here
are the alternate words that could fit the blank:
(i) tales of courage
(ii) coastal town
(iii) a piece of news
(iv) evergreen jungle
(v) banana plantations
(vi) iron bridge
(vii) wild animals
III. Tea From Assam
THINKING ABOUT
LANGUAGE PAGE
12
I. 1. Look at these words: upkeep, downpour, undergo, dropout, walk-in. They are built up from
a verb (keep, pour, go, drop, walk)
and an adverb or a particle (up, down,
under, out, in).
Use these words appropriately in the
sentences below. You may consult a dictionary.
(i) A heavy
____________________ has been forecast due to low pressure in the Bay of
Bengal.
(ii) Rakesh
will __________________________________ major surgery tomorrow morning.
(iii) My
brother is responsible for the ____________________________of our family
property.
(iv) The
________________________________ rate for this accountancy course is very high.
(v) She went to
the Enterprise Company to attend a ________________________ interview.
Answer:
(i) A heavy downpour has been forecast due to low
pressure in the Bay of Bengal.
(ii) Rakesh will undergo major surgery tomorrow
morning.
(iii) My brother is responsible for the upkeep of
our family property.
(iv) The dropout rate for this accountancy course is
very high.
(v) She went to the Enterprise Company to attend a
walk-in-interview.
2. Now fill in the blanks in the
sentences given below by combining the verb given in brackets with one of the
words from the box as appropriate.
Over by through out up down
(i) The Army
attempted unsuccessfully to ______________________ the Government. (throw)
(ii) Scientists
are on the brink of a major _____________________ in cancer research. (break)
(iii) The State
Government plans to build a ________________ for Bhubaneswar to speed up
traffic on the main highway. (pass)
(iv) Gautama’s
________________ on life changed when he realised that the world is full of
sorrow. (look)
(v) Rakesh
seemed unusually _________________________ after the game. (cast)
Answer:
(i) The Army attempted unsuccessfully to overthrow
the Government.
(ii) Scientists are on the brink of a major
breakthrough in cancer research.
(iii) The State Government plans to build a bypass for
Bhubaneswar to speed up traffic on the main highway. (pass)
(iv) Gautama’s outlook on life changed when he
realised that the world is full of sorrow.
(v) Rakesh seemed unusually downcast after the game.
II. Notice how these -ing and -ed adjectives are used.
(a) Chess is an
interesting game. I am very interested in chess.
(b) Going
trekking in the Himalayas
this summer is an exciting idea. We are
very excited about the trek.
(c) Are all
your school books this boring?
He was bored
as he had no friends there.
The -ing
adjectives show the qualities that
chess, trekking, or these books have: they cause
interest, excitement, or boredom in you. The —ed/—en adjectives show
your mental state or your physical state: how you feel in response to ideas,
events or things.
1. Think of suitable -ing or -ed
adjectives to answer the following questions. You may also use words from those
given above.
How would you
describe
(i) a good
detective serial on television? _________________________
(ii) a debate
on your favourite topic ‘Homework Should Be Banned’? ______________________
(iii) how you
feel when you stay indoors due to incessant rain? ______________________
(iv) how you
feel when you open a present? ______________________
(v) how you
feel when you watch your favourite programme on television? ______________________
(vi) the look
on your mother’s face as you waited in a queue? ______________________
(vii) how you
feel when tracking a tiger in a tiger reserve forest? ______________________
(viii) the
story you have recently read, or a film you have seen? ______________________
Answer:
(i) a good detective serial on television? Intriguing
(ii) a debate on your favourite topic ‘Homework
Should Be Banned’? Amazing
(iii) how you feel when you stay indoors due to
incessant rain? Bored
(iv) how you feel when you open a present? Gladdened
(v) how you feel when you watch your favourite
programme on television? Intrigued
(vi) the look on your mother’s face as you waited in
a queue? Tired
(vii) how you feel when tracking a tiger in a tiger
reserve forest? Exhilarated
(viii) the story you have recently read, or a film
you have seen? Interesting
2. Now use the adjectives in the exercise
above, as appropriate, to write a paragraph about Coorg.
Answer:
To
be done by the student.
SPEAKING AND
WRITING PAGE
13
1. Read the following passage about tea.
India and tea
are so intertwined together that life without the brew is unimaginable. Tea
entered our life only in the mid-nineteenth century when the British started
plantations in Assam and Darjeeling! In the beginning, though, Indians shunned
the drink as they thought it was a poison that led to umpteen diseases.
Ironically, tea colonised Britain where it became a part of their social diary
and also led to the establishment of numerous tea houses.
Today,
scientific research across the world has attempted to establish the beneficial
qualities of tea — a fact the Japanese and the Chinese knew anyway from ancient
times, attributing to its numerous medicinal properties.
[Source: ‘History: Tea Anytime’ by
Ranjit Biswas from Literary Review, The Hindu, 1 October 2006]
Collect information about tea, e.g. its
evolution as a drink, its beneficial qualities. You can consult an encyclopedia
or visit Internet websites. Then form groups of five and play the following
roles: Imagine a meeting of a tea planter, a sales agent, a tea lover
(consumer), a physician and a tea-shop owner. Each person in the group has to
put forward his/her views about tea. You may use the following words and
phrases.
• I feel … •
It is important to know …
• I disagree
with you … • I think
that tea …
• I would like
you to know … • I agree with …
• It is my
feeling … • I
suggest …
• May I know
why you … • I am afraid …
Answer:
To
be done by the student.
2. You are the sales executive of a
famous tea company and you have been asked to draft an advertisement for the
product. Draft the advertisement using the information you collected for the
role play. You can draw pictures or add photographs and make your advertisement
colourful.
Answer:
Activity
to be done by yourself.
Poem: The Trees by
Adrienne Rich
THINKING
ABOUT THE POEM PAGE
16
1. (i) Find, in the first stanza, three
things that cannot happen in a treeless forest.
(ii) What picture do these words create
in your mind: “… sun bury its feet in shadow…”? What could the poet mean by the
sun’s ‘feet’?
Answer:
(i) The three things that cannot happen in a treeless forest are
birds’ sitting, the sun burying its feet in the trees’ shadows and insects’
hiding.
(ii) The sun’s ‘feet’ refers to the heat and rays of the sun that
fall on the ground. It creates a picture of sunrays being stopped by the
shadow.
2. (i) Where are the trees in the poem? What
do their roots, their leaves, and their twigs do?
(ii) To what does the poet compare their
branches?
Answer:
(i) In the poem, the trees are inside the poet’s house. Their roots
work all night to somehow move away from the veranda floor to which they are
attached. The leaves, on the other hand, try moving towards the glass so they
may put pressure and break. The small twigs, nonetheless, grow stiff and tight
with exertion.
(ii) The 'long-cramped' branches seen shuffling under the roof are
compared by the poet to newly discharged patients from a hospital. The patients
look half-disoriented and confused after suffering from long illnesses.
3. (i) How does the poet describe the moon:
(a) at the beginning of the third stanza, and (b) at its end? What causes this
change?
(ii) What happens to the house when the
trees move out of it?
(iii) Why do you think the poet does not
mention “the departure of the forest from the house” in her letters? (Could it
be that we are often silent about important happenings that are so unexpected
that they embarrass us? Think about this again when you answer the next set of
questions.)
Answer:
(i) At the beginning of the third stanza, the full moon is said to
be shining in the open sky at a night that is seemingly fresh. However, at the
end of the stanza, the poet says that the moon breaks into many pieces,
resembling a cracked mirror. It then shines on the heads of the tallest oak
trees. The moonlight can only be seen in small portions when the trees move
out.
(ii) The glasses break and the smell of leaves and lichen reach the
rooms of the house as if they were a voice when the trees move out of the
house.
(iii) The poet hardly talks about ‘the departure of the forest from
the house’ as she opines that humans don’t tend to care for nature. She
believes that people won’t be interested to know how much force the trees are
applying to free themselves. She does stress that trees would not be destroyed
in the first place if humans wanted to protect them.
4. Now that you have read the poem in detail, we can begin to ask what the poem might mean. Here are two suggestions. Can you think of others?
(i) Does the poem present a conflict
between man and nature? Compare it with A Tiger in the Zoo. Is the poet
suggesting that plants and trees, used for ‘interior decoration’ in cities
while forests are cut down, are ‘imprisoned’, and need to ‘break out’?
(ii) On the other hand, Adrienne Rich has
been known to use trees as a metaphor for human beings; this is a recurrent
image in her poetry. What new meanings emerge from the poem if you take its
trees to be symbolic of this particular meaning?
Answer:
(i)The
poem does show a conflict between man and nature. Humans often tend to destroy
nature for short-term gains and they repent later. They indulge in mass
deforestation, which ends up causing disturbances in the ecological balance.
Man, despite knowing well that it may create problems, wants to contain plants
within limited spaces. He fails to understand that they would be better in
forests. And it is only by reason of this that the boughs want to go out and
relish what the outside world has in store for them. In the poem, 'A Tiger in
the Zoo', animals kept in cages wanted to be set free.
(ii) If
trees have been used as a metaphor for human beings, then it could well mean
that humans would want to get rid of the limitations and experience everything
this world has to offer. Men almost always work hard to gain comforts but
ironically they become more and more distressed. Thus, they may just want to
enjoy nature and be like the trees that are in sync with it.
5. You may read the poem ‘On Killing a
Tree’ by Gieve Patel (Beehive – Textbook
in English for Class IX, NCERT). Compare and contrast it with the poem you
have just read.
Answer: Activity to be done by yourself.
|
Comments
Post a Comment
Need English Assistance, Have Doubts or Any Suggestions? Do let us know.