Bihar Board Class 9th English Book Solutions Prose Chapter 7 Kathmandu Text Book Questions and Answers.
Panorama English Book Class 9 Solutions Chapter 7 Kathmandu
Bihar Board Class 9 English Kathmandu Text Book Questions and Answers
A. Answer the following questions orally:
Question 1.
Have you ever visited a sacred place? Share your experiences with your friends.
Answer:
Yes, I have visited a sacred place. It is Deoghar or Baba Dham in Jharkhand. It is a very fine place. The whole place was charmed. One can get, people worshipping Lord Shiva there, I also entered the temple and worshipped the Lord. It is a worth visiting place. It was the month of Shrawan (July) in this month Lakhs of people come here bringing the Ganga water in Karwar. The whole city turns in Kawarias colour. That is ochrous (Gerua). The whole environment looks beautiful.
Question 2.
Name some of the holy places of your state.
Answer:
Some holy places of our state are Bodh Gaya, Rajgir, Pawapuri, many places in Darbhanga, Pumiya and Patna.
Question 3.
Describe the surroundings of a holy place you have visited.
Answer:
Once I got a chance to visit Gurudawara the temple of Patna Saheb. It is famous all over India and abroad. It is a place of pilgrimage for the Sikhs. It is the holy place of Guru Gobind Singhji. Thousands of devotees and worshippers visit it daily. Recitations from Holy Granth go on in the temple at all times. It is very ennobling and to sit in the temple for an hour. Surroundings of the holy place are full of shops. Only Sikhs are seen here as shopkeepers. A visit to this religious place is not without merit.
B.1.1. Write ‘T’ for true and ‘F’ for false statements:
- At Pashupatinath, there is an atmosphere of ‘febrile confusion’.
- By the main gate an Indian struggles for permission to enter.
- I consider what route should take back home.
- From a balcony a basket of flowers and leaves, old offerings now wilted, is dropped into the lake.
- I enter a Nepal Airport office and buy a ticket for the day after tomorrow flight.
Answer:
- — T
- — F
- — T
- — T
- — F
B.1.2. Answer the following questions very briefly:
Question 1.
With whom does Mr Vikram Seth visit the two temples in Kathmandu?
Answer:
Mr Vikram Seth visited the two temples in Kathmandu with his son and nephew.
Question 2.
Why does a party of saffron-clad Westerner struggle?
Answer:
A party of saffron-clad Westerner struggles for permission to enter the temple.
Question 3.
Briefly describe Baudhnath Stupa?
Answer:
At the Boudhanath Stupa there is a sense of stillness. It has a white dome small shops are there. That is a heaven of quietness in the busy streets around.
Question 4.
What does the author buy at Nepal Airlines?
Answer:
At Nepal Airlines, the author buys a ticket for the next day’s flight.
Question 5.
When will the Kaliyug end on earth?
Answer:
The Kaliyug will end on earth when the small shrine half protruding from the stone platform on the river bank at the Pashupatinath emerges fully. The goddess inside will escape, and the evil period of the Kaliyug will end on earth.
B.2. Answer the following questions very briefly:
Question 1.
Where does the anther look at the flute seller?
Answer:
The author looks at the flute seller standing in a comer of the square near the hotel.
Question 2.
Name three kinds of the flute.
Answer:
The three kinds of the flute are the reed neh, the recorders and the deep baosuri of Hindustani classical music.
Question 3.
What does the flute seller have in his hand?
Answer:
In the flute seller’s hand, there is a pole with an attachment at the top from which fifty or sixty bansuri protrude.
Question 4.
Why does the author find it difficult to go away from the square?
Answer:
Tire author attracted by the flute music so he finds it difficult to go away from the square.
C. 1. Long Answer Type Questions
Question 1.
Why is Kathmandu famous? Describe briefly.
Answer:
Kathmandu is the capital of Nepal. It is famous for its two temples that are most sacred to Hindu and Buddhists. The first is die Pashupatinath temple. The second is the Baudhnath stupa that is a heaven of the compass in the busy streets around. Besides these, Kathmandu is a very lovely wealthy and religious place.
Question 2.
Describe Baudhnath Stupa and its surroundings.
Answer:
At Baudhnath stupa there is calm and quiet just outside and in the shrine. There are no crowds. Outside the shrine there are small shops of Tibetan immigrants selling felt bags. Tibetan prints and silver jewellery. The Buddhist shrine is a haven of quietness. It is a complete contrast of the Pashupatinath shrine.
Question 3.
Describe daily happenings at Pashupatinath.
Answer:
At Pashupatinath, there is an atmosphere of utter confusion mixed with excitement in and outside the shrine. Priests, hawkers, devotees, tourists, cows, monkeys, dogs and pigeons – all roam through the grounds. The crowd of worshippers push each other to go to the front to get “darshan”. There is noise confusion and disorder. There is a fight of monkeys inside the temple and quarrel for permission to enter by the saffron-clad foreigners.
Question 4.
What, according to the author, has been the pattern of the flute seller’s life?
Answer:
According to the author die flute seller stands in a comer of the square near. In his hand is a pole with an attachment at the top from which fifty or sixty bansuris protrude in all directions like die quills of a porcupine. From time to time he stands the pole on the ground selects a flute and plays for a few minutes. The sound rises clearly above the noise of the traffic and the hawker’ cries. He plays slowly meditatively, without excessive display. He makes sale also. Sometimes he breaks off playing to talk to the fruit seller. This has been the pattern of his life for years.
Question 5.
The author was moved by the music of the flute. Describe a similar experience of your own.
Answer:
Once there was a cultural programme at Ravindra Kala Bhawan in Patna. I had been there. I was watching it. A man appeared at the stage, at first sight, he looked like an ordinary man. He played the guitar and it was so good that I listened patiently. I was so charmed that I felt to be in a world of pleasure.
C. 2. Group Discussion
Discuss the following in groups or pairs
Question 1.
Religious tolerance is inbuilt in Indian society.
Answer:
India is a secularism country. Here people of all religions, irrespective of caste or creed enjoy equal rights. There is no religion of the state. This thought is nothing new for us, as it is embedded in the cultural ethos that makes us tolerant, magnanimous and receptive to ail religions like Sikhism, Jainism and Buddhism and of course Hinduism. People over the centuries lived in peace, except for the last two centuries when foreign rules visited this harmony by their much-maligned policy of divide and rule. Yet we are tolerant Benjamin Franklin said, “We must indeed hang together or, most assuredly we shall all hang separately” The true success of this belief will be when we regard ourselves first as Indians and then as Hindu. Sikhs and Muslims.
Question 2.
Music has overwhelming power.
Answer:
It is true to say that music haš overwhelming power. Music is such an art that can soothe and relax our heart. It is an art of making pleasing. It is combinations of sounds in rhythm and harmony. It finds people with a còmmon bond. It is also a source of living to hear music it is to be drawn into the commonality of all mankind to be moved by music. Its motive force too is living breath, It clearly differs from noise.
Comprehension Based Questions with Answers
1. I get a cheap room in the centre of town and sleep for hours. The next morning, with Mr Shah’s son and nephew, I visit the two temples in Kathmandu that are most sacred to Hindus and Buddhists.
At Pashupatinath (outside which a sign proclaims ‘Entrance for the Hindus only’) there is an atmosphere of ‘febrile confusion’. Priests, hawkers, devotees, tourists, cows, monkeys, pigeons and dogs roam through the grounds. We offer a few flowers. There are so many worshippers that some people trying to get the priest’s attention are elbowed aside by others pushing their way to the front. A princess of
the Nepalese royal house appears; everyone bows and makes way. By the main gate, a party of saffron-clad Westerners J struggle for permission to enter. The policeman is not convinced that they are ‘The Hindus’ (only Hindus are allowed to enter the temple). A light breaks out between two monkeys. One chases the other, who jumps onto a shiva linga, then runs screaming around the temples and down, to the river, the holy Bagmati, which flows below. A corpse is being cremated on its banks; washerwomen are at their work and children bathe. From a balcony a basket of flowers and leaves, old offerings now wilted, is dropped into the river. A small shrine half protrudes from the stone platform on the river bank. When it emerges fully, the goddess inside will escape, and the evil period of the Kaliyug will end on earth.
Questions:
- Name the lesson and the author of the above passage.
- What does ‘febrile confusion’ apply here?
- What made the ‘febrile confusion’?
- Why can some people not get the priest’s attention?
- Which actions show that the members of the royal of Nepal are respected by common people?
- Which word/words in the passage mean the following:
(a) pushed to one side
(b) bends with respect.
Answers:
- The name of the lesson is ‘Kathmandu’. The author is Vikram Seth.
- ‘Febrile confusion’ here implies excited, disorderly nervous movements and noises.
- The febrile confusion was created by a crowd of devotees, hawkers, priests tourists, cows, monkeys, pigeons and dogs roaming through the ground.
- because they are pushed by others who want to come to the front.
- When a Nepalese princess came for worshipping in the temple every one bowed and made way for her.
- (a) elbowed
(b) bows
2. At the Boudhanath stupa, the Buddhist shrine of Kathmandu, there is, in contrast, a sense of stillness. Its immense white dome is ringed by a road. Small shops stand on its outer edge: many of these are owned by Tibetan immigrants; felt bags, Tibetan prints and silver jewellery can be bought here. There are no crowds: this is a haven of quietness in the busy streets around.
Kathmandu is vivid, mercenary, religious, with small shrines to flower-adorned deities along with the narrowest and busiest streets; with fruit sellers, flute sellers, hawkers of postcards; shops selling Western cosmetics, film rolls and chocolate; or copper utensils and Nepalese antiques. Film songs blare out from the radios, 6ar horns sound, bicycle bells ring, stray cows low questioningly at motorcycles, vendors shout out their wares. I indulge myself mindlessly: buy a bar of ’ marzipan, a com-on-the-cob roasted in a charcoal brazier on the pavement rubbed with salt, chilli powder and lemon); a couple of love story comics, and even a Reader’s Digest. All this I wash down with Coca Cola and a nauseating orange drink and feel much the better for it.
Questions:
- What does the author want to contrast the Buddhist shrine with?
- What does ring with a road imply?
- Whose shops are there outside the Buddhist Shrine? What do they sell?
- What contrast is there between the inside of the Buddhist shrine and its surroundings?
- What type of city is Kathmandu?
- What does the writer do to pass his time?
- What does ‘wash down’ imply here?
- Which words in the passage mean the following.
(a) to satisfy one’s desire
(b) safe place.
Answers:
- It is contrasted with the Pashupatinath temple in Kathmandu.
- It implies that there is a road all around the dome.
- There are shops of Tibetan immigrants. They sell felt bags, Tibetan prints and silver jewellery is located in the busy streets of Kathmandu.
- Inside the shrine, there is peace and quiet whereas the surroundings are noisy as the temple in located in the busy streets of Kathmandu.
- Kathmandu is a religious city with narrow streets. These have shrines dedicated to different gods. There is noise and disorder but Kathmandu is full of life.
- He buys some light reading and eating materials.
- It implies that he reads and eats while sipping a Coca Cola and orange drink.
- (a) Indulge
(b) haven
3. I consider what route I should take back home. If I were -propelled by enthusiasm for travel purse, I would go by bus and train to Patna, then sail up the Ganges past Benaras to Allahabad, then up the Yamuna, past Agra to Delhi. But I am too exhausted and homesick; today is the last day of August. Go home, I tell myself: move directly towards home. I enter a Nepal Airlines office and buy a ticket for tomorrow’s flight.
I look at the flute seller standing in a comer of the square near the hotel. In his hand is a pole with an attachment at the top from which fifty or sixty bansuris protrude in all directions, like the quills of a porcupine. They are of bamboo: there are cross-flutes and recorders. From time to time he stands the pole on the ground, selects a flute and plays for a few minutes. The sound rises clearly above the noise of the traffic and the hawkers’ cries. He plays slowly, meditatively without excessive display. He does not shout out his wares. Occasionally he makes a sale, but in a curiously offhanded way as if this were incidental to his enterprise. Sometimes he breaks off playing to talk to the fruit seller. I imagine that this has been the pattern of his life for years.
Questions:
- Why does the speaker not travel by bus or train?
- How does the author describe the flute seller in such a manner?
- Why does the flute seller play on the flute for just a few minutes?
- While other’s shout out their, wares how does the flute seller attracts the attention of the customers?
- How does he play the flute?
- Which words in the passage mean the following:
(a) without any preparation
(b) not much show off.
Answers:
- The speaker is feeling homesick. So to reach his home early he decides to go by air instead of by bus or train.
- The author is attracted by the flutes and also by the flute seller. The flute reminds him of the commonality of all mankind.
- The flute seller does not seem to bother much about the sale of his flutes.
- He attracts the attention of his customers by playing on different flutes.
- He plays the flute slowly, meditatively and without much show-off.
- (a) offhanded way
(b) excessive display.
4. I find it difficult to tear myself away from the square. Flute music always does this to me: it is at once the most universal and most particular of sounds. There is no culture that does not have its flute the reed neh, the recorder, the Japanese shakuhachi, the deep bansuri of Hindustani classical music, the clear or breathy flutes of South America, the high-pitched Chinese flutes. Each has its specific fingering and compass. It weaves its own associations. Yet to hear any flute is,, it seems to me, to be drawn into the commonality of all mankind, to be moved by music closest in its phrases and sentences to the human voice. Its motive force too is living breath: it too needs to pause and breathe before it can go on. That I can be so affected by a few familiar phrases on the bansuri, surprises me at first, for on the previous occasions that I have returned home after a long absence abroad, ! have hardly noticed such details, and certainly have not invested them with the significance I now do.
Questions:
- What does ‘tear me away’ imply?
- What fact shows that the writer is very fond of the flute?
- How is flute music universal?
- What does it mean to hear any flute?
- How can the author be affected by the flute?
- Which words in the passage mean the following
(a) used by all
(b) special.
Answers:
- It implies that the author could not leave the place.
- The fact that is difficult for him to move away from it shows that he likes it.
- There is no culture in the world which does not have its own flute. This shows that the flute is universal.
- To hear any flute means to be drawn into the commonality of all mankind.
- The author can be so affected by a few familiar phrases on the bansuri, surprises him that he had hardly noticed such details.
- (a) universal
(b) particular.