Class 12 English Vistas Chapter- The Enemy Questions and Answers

                                                                      The Enemy 

Question 1.

How did Hana help Dr Sadao?

Answer:

Hana helped her husband in the operation. She her-self washed the man. While Sadao performed the operation, Hana helped him in giving the anaesthetic. She acted as a nurse while her husband was performing the operation.

 

Question 2.

Why did the servants leave Dr Sadao’s house?

Answer:

Dr Sadao had given shelter to an enemy soldier. According to the servants, it was an act of treason. They looked upon the Americans as their enemies since Japan and America were at war. When they found that instead of handing over the enemy soldier to the police, Dr Sadao had decided to treat him, they decided to leave his house.

 

Question 3.

Why was Dr Sadao not sent to the battlefield?

Answer:

Dr Sadao was a famous surgeon and scientist of Japan. He was perfecting a discovery to make the wounds completely clean. Besides, he was treating the old General. The General might need an opertation any time. Therefore, Dr Sadao was not sent to the battlefield.

 

Question 4.

How did Dr Sadao get rid of the enemy soldier?

Answer:

Dr Sadao had saved the man with great efforts. He didn’t want him to hand over to the police and get him killed. Therefore he decided to help the man get away in his boat’ He loaded his boat with sufficient provisions. He asked the man to row the boat to a nearby island.

 

Question 5.

How did Dr Sadao take bullet out of the body of the American soldier?

Answer:

Dr Sadao had to perfom an opertation to take bullet out of the body of the American soldier. The soldier was given anaesthetic. Dr Sadao felt the tip of his instrument with some hard object. It was a bullet. Then Dr Sadao probed with his fingers and took out the bullet with cleanest possible manner.

 Question6 .

Who was Dr Sadao? Where was his house?

Ana.

Dr Sadao was a famous Japanese surgeon and scientist. He was working on  a discovery to make wounds completely clean. His house was set upon rocks well above a narrow beach that was outlined with bent pines.

Question 7.

What did Dr Sadao and his wife do with the man?

Answer:

After Dr Sadao’s treatment the man was now out of danger. But still he was very weak. If they handed him over to the police, he was sure to be killed. Therefore, they decided to keep the man with them in their house.

 

Question 8.

What did Dr Sadao do to get rid of the man?

Answer:

Dr Sadao had saved the man with great efforts. He didn’t want him to hand over to the police and get him killed. Therefore he decided to help the man get away in his boat and he loaded his boat with sufficient provisions. He asked the man to row the boat to a nearby island.

 Question 9.

Explain the reaction of the servants in Dr Sadao’s house when he decided to give shelter to an enemy in the house.

Answer: The servants in Dr Sadao’s house did not like the idea of giving shelter to an enemy soldier. Yumi, the nurse of the doctor’s child bluntly refused to wash the white man. She said that she had never and would never wash a white man. The old gardener was a superstitious man. He said that there was no business in saving the man.

 He told Hana bluntly that the white man ought not to be saved. First he had been shot. Then the sea had caught him. But when they found that Dr Sadao was not going to hand over the man to the authorities they thought that he had turned traitor. They decided to leave his house.

 Question 10.

Write in brief the character-sketch of General Takima.

Answer:

General Takima was an old Japanese General. He was a very cruel person. He used to beat his wife mercilessly. He also tortured the prisoners of war very ruthlessly. He even had private assassins to have anyone killed. He offered Dr Sadao to send two of them to kill the American soldier. He said that they were quite capable and could also remove the dead body of the soldier.

 But later he did not do that. In fact there was a selfish motive behind it. He needed Dr Sadao’s services as a doctor. He didn’t want any problem should come to him. Therefore, he left the entire matter on Dr Sadao to solve. He pretended to be a patriot, but in fact he was a very selfish person. Perhaps, he wanted Dr Sadao to kill the man himself. The General was indeed a very self-absorbed person.

 Question 11.

Dr Sadao faced a dilemma(confusion). Should he use his surgical skills to save the life of a wounded American  or should he hand him over to the Japanese police? How did he resolve the clash of values?

Answer:

As a doctor, Sadao is taught that he should never let a person die if he could help. One evening he finds a badly injured enemy soldier on the sea beach near his house. The man could die if not given proper medical aid. Now, Dr Sadao uses his surgical skills and perform him an opertation on the man though he is an enemy soldier. He tends him well and took great care of him. In this way, Dr Sadao maintains his professional loyalty and he is able to save the life of the POW with his surgical skills.

 But Dr Sadao is a patriotic person also. Therefore he informs everything to the old General. The Gen-eral ensures him to send his private assassins to kill the man. However Dr Sadao has saved that man with great effort. Naturally he does not want any harm should come to that man. Therefore he helps escape the man in a boat in the end of the story.

 Question 12.

How did Dr Sadao help then American  to escape? What humanitarian values do you find in his act?

Answer:

Dr Sadao saved the life of American  with great effort. Naturally he did not want that any harm should come to him and thus all his efforts be wasted. Therefore he decided to arrange for the escape of that man. Dr Sadao decided to leave his boat on the seashore. He also decided to load the boat with sufficient provisions. The American was dressed in Japanese clothes which Sadao had given him, and at the last moment Sadao wrapped a black cloth about his blond head.He was told to row the boat to a nearby island, where nobody lived because it remained submerged in the sea most of the year. The doctor displays finer human values in this story. Though his country is in a state of war with America, he does not forget his duty and obligations . as a doctor. He saves the life of the enemy even-at the sake of his life and reputation.

 

Question 13.

Dr Sadao was compelled by his duty as a doctor to help the enemy soldier. What made Hana, his wife, sympathetic to him in the face of open defiance from the domestic staff?

Answer:

Dr Sadao has been trained not to let a person die if he could help. The enemy soldier is badly wounded. He is sure to die if he is not given proper medical care. On the other hand, Dr Sadao feels that it is his national duty to hand the enemy over to the authorities. Dr Sadao’s wife, Hana, understands her husband well. She has spent great deal of time with him.The house staff of Dr Sadao do not like the idea of harbouring the enemy soldier. They bluntly refuse to help their master in tending the enemy soldier. At this juncture, Hana herself washes the enemy soldier and also helps Dr Sadao in giving anaesthetic to the soldier. She feeds the soldier with her own hands. However, she likes her husband wants to get rid of the soldier but she doesn’t know how.

 

Question 14.

How would you explain the reluctance of the soldier to leave the shelter of doctor’s home even when he knew he couldn’t stay there wit out risk to the doctor and himself?

Answer:

The soldier belonged to the American navy. He was prisoner of the war and somehow he had escaped from the prison. He had a gunshot in his back. It was Dr Sadao who operated on him and saved his life with great effort. He gave the American soldier shelter in his house. It was a big crime and Dr Sadao could be arrested for it. But for Dr Sadao his profession was the first. He was taught that he should not let the person die if he could help it. Dr Sadao did his job with complete honesty.He saved the prisoner’s life. The American kept on living there. He knew that he would be killed if he left Dr Sadao’s house. He had full confidence in Dr Sadao. He knew that after saving his life Dr Sadao would not let him die. He left it to the doctor to escape from the problem anyway he liked. And indeed, Dr Sadao found a way to save the life of the prisoner.

Question 15  : Describe the difficulties faced by Dr Sadao when he decided to help the enemy soldier. 

Answer : A wounded American soldier who was bleeding was washed away to Dr Sadao’s doorstep. Japan was at war with America and giving shelter to a US soldier was an anti-national activity for which Dr Sadao could be arrested. He could be severely punished on charges of harbouring an enemy. Dr Sadao also had to face open defiance from his servants who refused to cooperate with him and his wife. They thought that the white man ought to die. Dr Sadao was in a fix. He could not hand over a dying man, even if he was an enemy, to the police and protecting him could lead to Dr Sadao’s arrest. But the ethics of his profession had taught him to save a dying man irrrespective of all things. So putting aside his dilemma he did what he ought to do as a doctor. He not only operated upon and saved the enemy soldier but also arranged for his escape.

Question 16 : Why did Sadao Hoki go to America? Narrate his experiences there.

Answer : Sadao Hoki went to American to study surgery and medicine as it was the wish of his father. His experience of living in America was not very good but he was grateful to have some good professors who taught him well. Also, he was grateful to the professor at whose home he had met Hana and immediately liked her. But he did not like the smell of their food, their small room and the wife of the professor, who was very talkative, although she tried hard to be kind.

Initially, he had faced great difficulty in finding a place to live in America because he was a Japanese. He perceived that Americans were full of prejudice and for him it was a bitter experience to live with them.

Question 17 : Why did Sadao help the American soldier to escape? How did he do it?

Answer : Sadao’s expertise in his profession and compassion as a human being were his most dominant personality traits. As a dutiful doctor, he could not have let the prisoner die of his injuries and so he saved his life. At the same time, he acted like a responsible citizen and informed the General of the presence of the enemy in his house. However, when the General’s men did not come to kill the American, Sadao decided to save his life.

Dr Sadao didn’t want to throw him into the jaws of death again. He asked the young soldier to take his private boat at night. He should row in the cover of darkness to a little deserted island nearby. The young American could live there until he saw a Korean fishing boat pass by. Food, bottled water and two quilts were put inside the boat. If the food ran out, he could signal two flashes.

He was not to signal in darkness because he could be seen. Thus, the young American came down into the darkness of the garden and escaped.

 

 

 

Class -7 Chapter - EKALAVYA

TOPIC-PROSE/CHAPTER-EKALAVYA

    1)      Why was Arjuna Drona’s  favourite pupil?

Ans: Arjuna was Drona’s best pupil because he was the best Archer.

    2)      What happened when Drona took the Pandavas to the forest?

Ans: When Dona took the Pandavas into the forest they could observe the presence of someone. Arrows were stuck fast on the trees. Drona was convinced that someone was practising  archery.

    3)      Why was Drona surprised by what had happened? What did he do next?

Ans: Drona was surprised at the forest to see that seven arrows had approached targeting the barking sound of the dog.

Drona and his pupils set off in search of the person who could have shot the arrows. 

   4)      Why had Drona refused to accept Ekalavya as a pupil? How did the boy still succeed in making Drona his teacher?

Ans:Drona  refused to accept Ekalavya as a student because he was not a Kshatriya.Ekalavya succeeded in making Dronacharya his teacher by practicing single-mindedly with great determination in front of his clay image made by himself.

    5)      “And who is your teacher”? How did Drona react on hearing Ekalavya’s answer to his question?

Ans: Dronacharya felt envy and fear in his heart  after he heard Ekalavyas reply.Cleverly Drona showed no sign on his face.

    6)      Why did Ekalavya readily agree to Drona’s suggestion of a contest with his pupils?

Ans: Ekalvya readily agreed to Dron’s suggestion to have a contest with his pupils because Ekalavya told that he had accepted him as his pupil and wanted to visit him personally.

   7)      How did Drona ensure that Arjuna remained the best archer in the world?

Ans: Drona ensured that Arjuna remains the best archer by forcing Ekalvya to sacrifice his right  thumb finger by maiming him into a trap.

   8)      Who was Dronacharya?

Ans: Dronacharya was an expert in warfare. He was appointed as teacher to teach train all the Pandavas  to become excellent in warfare.

   9)      Who was Ekalavya ?

Ans: Ekalavya was the son of Hiranyadhanu . He was not a Kshatriya. Ekalavya was determined to learn archery on his own. He idolized Dronacharya as his teacher. He proved to be best in archery. He sacrificed his right thumb finger as a token of gratitude for his teacher.

   10)   How didi Ekalavya learn archery?

Ans: Ekalvya was determined to learn archery from Dronacharya. Ekalavya was not a Kshatriya. Droancharya refused to teach him archery. Ekalvya made a clay image of Dronacharya and idolized his image as a teacher. Single-mindedly with great determination Ekalavya learnt archery on his own.

  11)   How did Dronacharya convince Ekalvya to sacrifice his thumb finger?

Ans: Dronacharya convinced Ekalavya to sacrifice his right thumb finger by telling a lie that it is customary for a pupil to pay his teacher anything he wants in return.

   12)   Why did Ekalvya sacrifice his right thumb finger?

Ans: Ekalvya sacrificed his right thumb finger because Dronacharya had demanded to cut off his finger and offer it as a customary gift in return.

CLASS 7 CHAPTER- The Felling of the Banyan Tree

    1)      What were the Tenants told?

Ans: The tenants were told to leave the house . The tenants who lived in the houses surrounding the poet’s house were ordered to leave.

    2)      What did the grandmother say?

Ans: The grandmother told that trees are sacred and felling them is crime.

    3)      Describe the Banyan tree.

Ans: The Banyan tree described by the poet in the poem  was three times tall as their house. Its trunk was Fifty feet in circumference. Its aeriel roots were thirty feet. It took seven days to cut down the branches. The age of the tree was two hundred. Fifty men with axes had chopped the tree.   

     4)      Who lost their homes because of the felling of the banyan trees?

Ans: The insects and birds lost their homes   because of the felling of the Banyan tree.

     5)      Did the children love the father for what he did?

Ans: No , I am sure the children did not love their father for what he had done. The father’s order had created a massacre . It’s a crime according to the grandmother. 

    6) What was demolished one by one?

Ans: The trees were demolished one by one.   

7   7) Why was the Banyan tree a problem?

Ans: The Banyan tree was a problem because it was huge ,  two hundred years in age, fifty feet in circumference and its roots lay thirty feet long.

    8) Why did the father ordered to cut the trees ?

Ans:The father orderd to cut the trees because they wanted to evacuate the area and leave for Baroda.

Class 12 Extra questions on Lesson - The Lost Spring by Anees Jung

1. What does the title ‘Lost Spring’ convey(means)?

Answer:
Spring is associated with childhood. Like spring, a child blooms in childhood. However, abject poverty and thoughtless traditions result in the loss of child-like innocence and much needed education. Millions of children like Saheb and Mukesh lose the spring in their lives because they are compelled to do hazardous work to provide a living for their family and themselves. Thus, the title brings out the dejected life of the child labourers and their deprivation of the blessings of childhood.

2. The bangle makers of Firozabad make beautiful bangles and make everyone happy but they themselves live and die in squalor(dirty place). Explain.

Answer:
In Firozabad, almost every family is involved in the business of bangle making. Firozabad is the centre of India’s glass-blowing industry. The families  have spent generations working around furnaces, welding glass, making bangles for all the women in the land. But these bangle makers are very poor. They can’t earn enough to afford even two two times of meals.

Even the children are forced to live in dingy cells without air and light. About 20,000 children work in the glass-blowing industry. They are forced to work for very long hours and also in very inhuman conditions. They often lose the brightness of their eyes. The bangle makers live a very miserable life. Though they make everyone happy by making beautiful bangles, they themselves live and die in very deplorable condition.

3. “Garbage to them is gold” How do the rag pickers of Seemapuri survive?
Answer:
About 10,000 Bangladeshi immigrants live in the Seemapuri area of Delhi. Seemapuri is located at the periphery of Delhi. It is a wilderness. The rag pickers live in the structures of mud, with roofs of tin and tarpaulin, devoid of sewage, drainage or running water. They have been living here without any identity. They have their names in the voter lists and they have got their ration cards.

It enables to buy them grain. Survival in Seemapuri is ragpicking. They do not know no other profession but rag picking. They left their beautiful land of green fields because there were frequent storms and as a result their houses and fields would swept away due to them. As a result they had to starve. They pitched their tents wherever they find food. They could earn their food only by ragpicking.

4. Give a brief account of the life and activities of the people like Saheb-e-Alam settled in Seemapuri.
Answer:
Seemapuri is located on the periphery of Delhi. It is a slum area. About 10,000 people live there. They all are ragpickers and have come from Bangladesh in 1971. They are living in structures of mud, with roofs of tin and tarpaulin, devoid of sewage, drainage or running water. They have lived there for many years without permits but with ration cards that get their names placed on voter lists and enable them to buy grain. Food is more important for survival than an identity.

Wherever they find food they pitch their tents that become their transit homes. They are involved in ragpicking. It has acquired the proportions of a fine art. Garbage to them is gold. It is their daily bread, a roof over their heads, even if it is a leaking roof. For children, garbage is a thing wrapped in wonder. They often scrounge it to find some coins. On the whole we can say that the people living there are living a very hard life.

5. What do you know about the city of Firozabad?
Answer:
Firozabad is the centre of,bangle making industry in India. All over in India the bangles are supplied from this city. But there is a dark side of this city also. Firozabad is a very dirty city. Every other family in Firozabad is engaged in making bangles. They have been engaged in this profession for many generations. Even then these people always remain poor. The children are also involved in making bangles. They are forced to work for long hours in very hot temperatures. They have to work in dingy cells without air and light. They often lose the brightness of their eyes.

The bangle makers are caught in the vicious circle of sahukars, the middlemen, the policemen, the keepers of law, the bureaucrats and the politicians. They are beaten and put to jails if they try to organise themselves. Also the bangle makers are very poor. The young men are forced to adopt their elders’ profession. Years of mind-numbing toil have killed all initiative and the ability to dream.In this extract the writer has depicted that picture of Firozabad which perhaps is not known to many other parts of India.

 

 

 

Class 12 Flamingo Chapter- LOST SPRING by Anees Jung

 

        Chapter- LOST SPRING by Anees Jung                       

Q.1.Who is Saheb? What is he looking for in the garbage dumps and where has he come from?

Ans: Saheb is a rag-picker of Seemapuri. The writer encounters him every morning scrounging (searching)for gold in the garbage dumps in her neighbourhood. He hails(belongs) from Dhaka and he was migrated from Bangladesh in 1971. His house and fields were destroyed by storm.

 

Q2 What explanations does the author offer for the children not wearing foot wear?

When the author asked the children why they were always barefoot , one said it was because his mother had not pulled his shoes from the shelf while the other explanation was that it was a tradition in their community to walk barefoot. The author did not quite believe it and realized that it was their perpetual state of poverty which was responsible for their moving around in that manner.

 

(Q3.) Mention the hazards of working in the glass bangles industry?

 (Ans) The glass bangle industry of Firozabad employs children and they work in very unhealthy and hazardous conditions. They are made to work in the glass furnaces with high temperatures, in dingy cells without air and light. Almost twenty thousand children work in the hot furnaces, often losing the brightness of their eyes. Many workers become blind while polishing the glass bangles. Many children lose their eyesight before they become adults.

(Q4.) Explain ‘For children, garbage has a meaning different from what it means to their parents’. (Ans) The small rag pickers scrounge heaps of garbage for some coin, note or valuable things. Sometimes they do find a rupee or even a ten rupee note. Then they hope to find more. They search excitedly. For children, garbage is wrapped in wonder. For the grown-ups it is a means of survival. Hence garbage has two different meanings.

5)Mention any two hazards of working in the glass bangle industry?

Ans-Working of children in the glass bangle industry is against the rules of health and hygiene. They have to work before the furnace amidst high temperature. They have the chances of skin burn and loosing the brightness of the eyes. Sitting in close proximity to furnace and staying in dingy and dark cells trouble all.

(Q6.) How is Mukesh’s attitude to his situation different from that of his family?

(Ans) Mukesh insists on being his own master. He has seen the poverty, the dangers and the subhuman living conditions of the glass bangle industry. He wants to be a motor mechanic. His hope, resourcefulness and determination to break free are admirable ‘his dream looms like a mirage’, amidst the dust of streets. His thinking with a positive attitude is so different from his family which is struggling to survive the burden of the lineage. He wants to rebuild his destiny and do not want to become a glass bangle maker.

Q7. ‘Garbage to them is gold.’ Why does the author say so about the rag-pickers?

Ans: More than 10,000 rag-pickers of Seemapuri live in squatters. For them is garbage is gold and it is wrapped in wonder. For a child, it is their bread. Sometimes a child can find a silver coin or more in a heap of garbage. For the elders it is a means of survival.

Q8. Through the years rag picking has acquired the ‘proportion of a fine art’ in Seemapuri. Justify the statement.

Ans.. The means of survival of migrants of Bangladesh in Seemapuri israg picking. Garbage to them is gold. Like a fine art that has no end in appealing the sense of beauty the rag picker’s scrounging the garbage is a never ending process which provides them their daily bread day after day.

Q9. How did garbage hold different meanings for adults and children?

Ans.  Rag picking for adults was only a means of survival but for children a lot of excitement was associated with the same for they often found unexpected things as a ten rupee note in the same. There was always a hope of coming across unexpected surprises and so garbage was wrapped in wonder for them.

Q10. Why did not the bangle makers organize themselves into a co-operative?

Ans. They had no leader who could show them the way. They would be beaten up by the police and dragged to jail for doing something illegal in the form of organization.

Q11. How is Mukesh different from Saheb?

Ans. Saheb sacrificed his freedom when he took job at the tea stall but Mukesh insisted on being his own master. Though Saheb wanted to study but he was not ready to make effort to get educated, rather he accepted his fate. On the other hand Mukesh was determined to become motor mechanic and was ready to make every possible effort to accomplish his dreams.