Chapter 3.6
1. Pair up with your partner and ask and answer the following questions.
(a) Do you like music?
Answer: Yes, I do.
(b) What does a concert mean?
Answer: A concert is a musical programme where musicians and classical singers come together to play different pieces of music.
(c) Have you ever attended any live concert?
Answer: Yes, I have.
(d) Have you seen a concert on Television?
Answer: Yes, I have.
(e) Whose concert would you love to attend?
Answer: I would love to attend the concert of A. R. Rahman.
2. Read the following sentences and write which emotions are revealed from these sentences.
(a) Pandit Ravi Shankar is playing tomorrow at the Shanmukhananda auditorium.
Answer: excitement
(b) It’s the chance of a lifetime.
Answer: anticipation, joy, excitement
(c) Will you come to Aunt Sushila’s house and play for him?
Answer: This sentence expresses the emotion of a sincere plea or entreaty. Smita is practically begging Pandit Ravi Shankar to consider her request.
(d) Did you…did you hear him?
Answer: This sentence expresses the boy’s innermost curiosity, and his desire to confirm if his sister had indeed heard the performances of the musicians whom he so longed to hear.
(e) Is it…It’s not possible?
Answer: This sentence expresses the emotion of complete surprise and disbelief. Something the neighbours had thought absolutely impossible was indeed a reality.
3.The whole story revolves around Anant. Write a short paragraph on Anant. Take help of the following points to develop the paragraph.
1. Health
2. Disease
3. Early interests
4. Intense desire/wish
5. Fulfillment of desire/wish.
Answer: Anant was a fifteen-year-old boy, living in a village named Gaganpur with his sister and parents. Very active in his school days, he was a good athlete, the best table-tennis player, could play the sitar very well and had even been composing his own tunes. Suddenly, he was struck with cancer and came to Mumbai for treatment. Then one day, his sister read in the newspaper that Pandit Ravi Shankar would be performing at the Shanmukhananda auditorium.It was his earnest desire to watch the performance, but due to his sickness, his mother forbade him. Finally, his sister, in a very daring move, went to the concert and after the concert had ended, went backstage and requested Pandit Ravi Shankar to come to their home and play for her brother. The great generous maestro along with Ustad Allah Rakha agreed and did exactly that. As the beautiful soulful music wafted around the room where Anant lay, Anant breathed his last.
4. The two contradictory pictures are depicted in the story. Discuss in pairs and describe them in your words in front of the class.
Answer: The brother and sister seem excited about Pandit Ravi Shankar’s upcoming performance. The girl expresses excitement and the boy’s eyes are shining. The mother, however, is more worried about the physical condition of her son, who is on oxygen and apparently out of breath. The mother’s voice breaks when she speaks and her lips utter unbidden prayers. These are the contradictory images presented in this passage.
5. (A) Choose the appropriate Adverb or Adjective form to fill in the gaps.
(1) She spoke in an …………………….. tone. (excited / excitedly)
Answer: excited
(2) Smita accepted the suggestion …………………….. (grateful / gratefully)
Answer: gratefully
(3) They gave him whatever made him …………………….. (happy/ happily)
Answer: happy
(4) He ran very …………………….. (fast / fastly)
Answer: fast
(5) He would become a …………………….. sitarist some day. (great / greatly)
Answer: great
(6) Life went out of him …………………….. (gentle / gently)
Answer: gently
6. a) “Please”, she begged him, “Please come”.
……………………………………………………………………
Answer: She begged him repeatedly to come.
b) He said, “What shall we do, Ustad Sahib?”
……………………………………………………………………
Answer: He asked the Ustad Sahib what they should do.
c) Her brother said, “Enjoy yourself”. He added, “Lucky you!”
……………………………………………………………………
Answer: Her brother told her to enjoy herself and then added that she was indeed lucky.
d) ‘Yes’ Panditji replied. “It’s settled then. Tomorrow morning we shall perform, for the boy.”
……………………………………………………………………
Answer: The Panditji replied in the affirmative and added that the matter was then settled. He further added that they would perform for the boy the following morning.
7. Why was Smita excited?
Answer: Smita was excited because she read in the newspaper that Pandit Ravi Shankar was to play the next day at the Shanmukhananda auditorium.
8. What was the chance of a lifetime for Anant?
Answer: To be able to hear and see Pandit Ravi Shankar perform was the chance of a lifetime for Anant.
9. Give reasons: Smita became nervous.
Answer: Smita became nervous because she remembered that her brother was very ill and that the doctors had given up hope. The truth that Anant was going to die frightened her.
10. Write from the passage antonyms for the following words:
(a) bored
(b) forget
(c) worse
(d) worst
Answer: (a) bored x excited
(b) forgot x remembered
(c) worse X better
(d) worst X best
11. Choose the appropriate Adverb or Adjective form to fill in the gaps:
(b) I wished the noise would stop. It seemed to go on ……………, (endless, endlessly)
Answer: (b) endlessly
12. Add question tags:
(a) You know he needs all the sleep and rest he can get.
(b) You’ll wake him up.
(c) His eyes were shining.
(d) We mustn’t miss the chance.
Answer: (a) You know he needs all the sleep and rest he can get, don’t you?
(b) You’ll wake him up, won’t you?
(c) His eyes were shining, weren’t they?
(d) We mustn’t miss the chance, must we?
13.The boy on the bed was not asleep: (Rewrite without ‘not’.)
Answer: The boy on the bed was awake.
14. How would you feel and react if you came to know that someone closely known to you was suffering from cancer?
Answer: If I came to know that someone closely known to me was suffering from cancer, I would feel very bad. I would visit the person, spend time, make the person happy in every way possible and most of all pray to God, to relieve the person from suffering.
15. Say whether the following are True or False: (The answers are given directly and underlined.)
Answer: (a) In Bombay, the family stayed with their aunt.
(b) The doctors told the family directly that Anant did not have many days to live.
(c) The family voiced their fears to Anant.
(d) Anant was well enough to take part in the forthcoming table tennis tournament.
Answer: True
False
False
False
16. Why was everyone from the family trying to keep Anant happy?
Answer: Everyone from the family was trying to keep Anant happy because they knew he did not have many days to live. They did not wish to voice their fears but rather wanted him to be surrounded by whatever made him happy.
17. Why was Smita not ready to go for the concert?
Answer: Smita was not ready to go for the concert because she and her brother, Anant, had always done things together.
18. Write from the passage phrases that mean:
(a) participate
(b) feeling that something good will happen
(c) express their worries
(d) a rare opportunity
Answer: (a) take part In
(b) high hopes
(c) voice their fears
(d) a chance of a
(e) lifetime.
Answer by Dimpee Bora
