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Lencho had all his doubts on people working in the post office. The irony of the situation is that Lencho blames those who had tried to help him out . In real life also we come across such situations. Many a time you would have tried helping someone and he may get a wrong message.Lencho thinks that the post office people have taken the money. But the fact is that they only tried to help him by sending money . But, on the other hand, Lencho thinks they have stolen his money. He even calls them crooks. Thus ,there is an element of irony in this situation.

The postmaster read the letter.

The conflict between humans and nature is shown when a hailstorm struck the field and destroyed his farm. As the crops get damaged, Lencho started feeling sad and gloomy and could foresee his dark future.This appropriately projects the conflict between nature and man. The story also shows another conflict, between humans themselves. The postmaster, along with the help of his colleagues , could manage to collect some money and then sent it to Lencho . They were not related to Lencho in any manner. It was an act of kindness and selflessness on their part. Even though they did a good deed, Lencho blamed them for taking away some amount of money. This shows that man does not have faith in his fellow humans, thereby giving rise to this conflict.

My adventurous journey is to Darjeeling when the sun plays truant most of the time and you are at the mercy of nature. Many a times, the tour plan turned topsy-turvy and we had to pitch tent in the thick forest and pray to stay safe.

Those days it was considered as an adventurous and dangerous thing to travel because there wasn’t any means of instantaneous communication while travelling

One of my memorable trip is to Matheran near Navi Mumbai. It is a pollution-free hillstation and you travel up the mountain top either by walk or on horses and ponies. No vehicles are allowed and even your daily needs are brought by wheelbarrows.

It is this part that really pains your heart to see men pulling and pushing wheelbarrows. It is a rare sight to see the sunset and the sunrise at different points. The mountain train is also a treat to our eyes apart from the scenic beauty we experience every moment.

Yes, Journeys can be life changing since you gain a lot of experience while travelling and meeting different people who follow different traditions, religious practices, food habits and culture.

(i)Nostalgic

(ii) Nostalgic

(iii) Nostalgic

(iv) Funny

(v)Matter-of-fact

(vi)Matter-of-fact

90-year-old A.K. Hangal, one of Hindi cinema’s most famous character actors, laughingly asked why we wanted to know his age. If people knew he was that old, he would not get work. For his age, he is rather energetic. We asked him what the secret was. He replied that his intake of everything was in small quantities and he walked a lot. He said that he had joined the industry when people retired. He had been in his 40s. So he did not miss being called a star. He was still respected and given work, when actors of his age were living in poverty and without work. He said he did not have any complaints, adding that he had always been underpaid. Recipient of the Padma Bhushan, Hangal never hankered after money or materialistic gains. He said that no doubt he was content at present, but money was important. He said regretfully that he was a fool not to understand the value of money before.

1. To report a question, we use the reporting verb asked.

2. To report a declaration, we use the reporting verb declared.

3. The adverb of place here changes to there.

4. When the verb in direct speech is in the present tense, the verb in reported speech is in the past tense.

5. If the verb in direct speech is in the present continuous tense, the verb in reported speech changes to past continuous tense. For example,am getting changes to was getting.

6. When the sentence in direct speech contains a word denoting respect, we add the adverb respectfully in the reporting clause.

7. The pronouns I, me, our and mine, which are used in the first person in direct speech, change to second person pronouns such as he/she,him/her,their or his/hers in reported speech.

(i) In the Portuguese days, the bakers had a peculiar dress known as the kabai. It was a single-piece long frock reaching down to the knees. 

(ii) When the author was young, he saw the bakers wearing a shirt and trousers, which were shorter than full-length ones and longer than half pants.

For Mandela courage does not mean the absence of fear but a victory over fear. According to him brave men need not only be fearless but should be able to conquer fear.

The ceremonies took place in the amphitheater of the Union Building of Pretoria. The Parliament House, The Rashtrapati Bhavan and the Supreme Court of India in New Delhi and Madras High Court in Chennai are some examples of Indian public buildings that are made of sandstone.

10 May is known as an ‘autumn day’ in South Africa because on this day, there was the largest gathering of international leaders on South African soil for the installation of South Africa’s first democratic, non-racial government.

A source of unending joy for Valli was the sight of the bus that travelled between her village and the nearest town, filled with a new set of passengers each time it passed through her street. Her strongest desire was to ride on a bus at least once.

Valli is trying to behave more mature than her age. She is trying to look overconfident and smart. When the conductor tries to help her get on the bus,she replies that she will manage and doesn't need his help.The conductor is amused at her behavior and in an effort to tease her calls her ‘madam’.

When the conductor stretched out his hand to help her get on the bus, Valli said commandingly that she could get on by herself, and that she did not require his help. She did not act like a child, but as a grown-up girl .So, the conductor called her ‘madam’. She kept stressing on the fact that she had paid her fare like everybody else and therefore, she should not be treated differently.

The whole family had flown away. Only the young seagull sat alone on the ledge. He had not eaten anything since the previous nightfall. He stepped slowly out to the brink of the ledge. He stood on one leg. He closed his eyes pretending to be falling asleep. But all his tactics failed. Only his mother took notice of him. All others ignored him.

After the hail stopped, Lencho's heart was filled with sadness.He was completely shattered .He could see a bleak future for him and his family. He was worried about lack of food for the coming year.

The postmaster was deeply moved by Lencho's faith in God. He did not want to disillusion this faith. So he decided to collect the money and also asked his colleagues to contribute so that he can send it to Lencho.

When he finished counting money, he found only seventy pesos in it. But he had demanded hundred pesos. He was confident that God could neither make a mistake nor deny him what he had requested. So,he was pretty sure that the post office employees must have taken the remaining thirty pesos.

I don't think there can be any such people in the real world. Lencho is literate and yet he writes a letter to God and even posts it without writing an address on it.So,he can rightly be called naive and unquestioning.

Postmaster was moved by Lencho’s strong faith in the God. So he decided to send money to Lencho. Moreover, the postmaster did not want to disillusion him or shake his trust in God. So, he signed the letter ‘God’. It was a good ploy to convey a message that God had himself written the letter.

Lencho wrote to God asking for financial help because their crops were destroyed by hail. They need the money for replanting. 

The postmaster read Lencho's letter which was addressed to God and even though he laughed because it is impossible for the letter to reach God, he admired Lencho for his faith in God. That is why he sent money to Lencho and signed it God so that Lencho will believe that God has answered his prayers.

(i) Several words and expressions have been used by the characters to describe each other. Some of them are as follows:

Chubukov : grabber; intriguer; old rat; Jesuit

Natalya : a lovesick cat; an excellent housekeeper; not bad-looking, well-educated

Lomov : a good neighbor; a friend; impudent; pettifogger; a malicious, double-faced intriguer; rascal; blind hen; turnip-ghost; a villain; a scarecrow; monster; the stuffed sausage; the wizen-faced frump; boy; pup; milksop; fool

Wanda is seen as different by the other girls.She is poor and a lonely girl. They treated her as inferior to them and always made fun of her.The girls teased her by commenting on her dress and dirty feet.

Maddie always stood by and never did anything as she was afraid that if she did, she would loose Peggy's friendship. She was a poor girl and therefore, felt that if she spoke against the others, they would target her next. Unlike her, Peggy was a rich girl. This was also the reason why Maddie could think from Wanda’s point of view, but Peggy could not. Maddie was Peggy’s best friend. It seemed as if she was in awe of Peggy. She admired her quite a lot as she said that Peggy was the most liked girl in the room and that she drew better than anyone else. She did not have the courage to go against her. Some of the lines from the text which show that Peggy’s friendship was important to Maddie are as follows. 

(i) Peggy, who had thought up this game, and Maddie, her inseparable friend, were always the last to leave. 

(ii) She was Peggy’s best friend, and Peggy was the best-liked girl in the whole room.

(iii) Peggy could not possibly do anything that was really wrong, she thought

(iv) Oh, Maddie was sure Peggy would win.

Wanda did not show any feelings regarding the dresses game. It is most likely that she was deeply hurt.But she maintained a stoic face and showed that she was made of tough nerves. .She was a girl who was very poor and came form a long distance which made her feet dirty. She wanted to draw attention of her friends. So, she felt very happy whenever she told her friend that she had hundred dresses without realizing that they were making fun of her.

Wanda used to sit in penultimate row of benches, in room thirteen. She is from a poor family and looks untidy ,her feet were normally caked with dry mud and very dirty. So in order to avoid being laughed at by her classmates, she sat there to hide herself from the class.

Wanda lives at Boggins Heights. It seems that it is a place far away from the school and the fact that her shoes are covered in mud gives an idea that Boggins Heights is not a developed area, more likely, it could be like some unplanned colony or a slum area.

Peggy and Maddie notice Wanda’s absence after three days, i.e., on Wednesday because they wanted to be with her for a lot of fun. They waited for her for a long time but she didn't turn up.

Wanda was different from other children. She did not have any friends. She came to school alone and went home alone. She always wore a faded blue dress that did not fit her properly. Unlike other children, she did not talk to anybody or had different dresses to wear.

Maddie thought that Peggy would win the drawing contest because Peggy drew better than anyone else. She was a confident girl who had build a strong reputation among her classmates.She could copy a picture in a magazine, or some film star’s face so well that one could easily guess who it was.

Miss mason appreciated the paintings of Wanda. She was impressed at the creativity of the girl because she had painted hundred paintings which were in wide range of variety and worthy of winning a medal.The children also admired the drawings. Everybody stopped and whistled or murmured admiringly. After Miss Mason had announced that Wanda was the winner, they burst into applause, and even the boys were glad to have a chance to stamp on the floor and whistle. Also, just as Peggy and Maddie entered the room, they stopped short and gasped. Later they recognized the designs as those which Wanda had described to them. And in the end, Peggy exclaimed, “…and I thought I could draw.” This shows that she also realized how good Wanda’s drawings were.

1. This is the bus which goes to Agra.

2. I would like to buy the shirt that is in the shop window.

3. You must break your fast when you see the moon in the sky.

4. Find a word which begins with the letter Z.

5. Now find a person whose name begins with the letter Z.

6. Then go to a place where there are no people whose name begins with Z.

(i) Diary

(ii) Log

(iii) Journal

(iv) Memoir

Our entire class is quaking in its boots means shaking with fear and nervousness

It is a strange experience for her because of two reasons. First ,she had never written anything like this before and secondly she thought that apparently nobody would be interested in musings of a thirteen year old girl.

A good introduction gives a brief explanation about what a reader is going to read.So,Anne provides a brief sketch of her life since no one would understand a word of her musings if she were to jump right in.

Mr. Keesing may or may not be a strict teacher. But he expected discipline and silence in his class while he was teaching, which is acceptable.He punished Anne by asking her to write an essay on ‘A Chatterbox’. When Anne wrote a convincing essay on it, he received it with a good laugh. However, when Anne continued with her talking, he punished her again by asking her to write another essay; this time the topic was ‘An Incorrigible Chatterbox’. Even after this when she kept talking, he asked her to write on the topic ‘Quack Quack Quack, said Mistress Chatterbox”. He was trying to control a supposedly bad habit of Anne. However, she came up with a brilliant poem, and he read this poem in the class, acknowledging its content. Therefore, in regard of these events, Mr. Keesing cannot be entirely labeled as a strict teacher. He was fun-loving too.

She gave two arguments to justify her being a 'Chatterbox' in the essay, one that chatting is student's hobby and other reason that nothing can be done about the inherited traits .She carried these genes from her mother as she was also very talkative.

Anne had fond memories of all the people in her life. Anne felt that her father was the most adorable father she had ever seen. 

Anne remembered her grandmother even after her death. She wrote in her diary that no one knew how often she thought of her grandmother and still loved her. 

In the sixth form at the Montessori nursery school, her teacher was Mrs Kuperus, who was also the headmistress. At the end of the year, they were both in tears as they had a heartbreaking farewell. 

Mr Keesing was her Math teacher. He was always annoyed with her because she talked too much. However, Anne was able to justify her talkative nature every time she was punished by Mr. Keesing. On each occasion, he was impressed by the manner in which she presented her arguments. 

All these incidents show how lovable and smart Anne was. Everybody was attached to her, and even Mr Keesing could not help but laugh at her essays and acknowledge her smart mind.

Anne was able to justify her talkative nature every time she was punished by Mr. Keesing. On three occasions, as punishment, he gave her topics to write essays on. However, on each occasion he was impressed by the manner in which she presented her arguments. This helped Mr. Keesing to see the lighter side of a natural bubbly behavior of a teenager. Finally, Mr. Keesing accepted the fact that Anne would always be that way. Hence, she was allowed to talk in class.This also helped bridge the gap between the teacher and the student.

Mr. Keesing was annoyed with Anne because she was very talkative and this distracted everybody in the class. He assigned her extra homework, asking her to write an essay on the subject, ‘A Chatterbox’.

Mr. Keesing was annoyed with me for ages because I talked so much means for a long period of time.

The highest military generals of the South African defense force and police saluted Mandela and pledged their loyalty. 

Their attitude towards blacks has suddenly changed. Instead of arresting a black, they saluted him. If it was during apartheid era ,they would have arrested Mandela. The change in their attitude was because of struggle and sacrifice put in by many heroes of South Africa. This struggle not only ensured the freedom of South Africa but also brought a change of mindsets for many.

Mandela mentions that every man has twin obligations. The first is towards his family, parents, wife and children; the second obligation is his contribution towards fellow people, his community and his country.

According to Mandela, every man has twin obligations. Firstly, he has an obligation towards his family, parents, wife and children. Secondly, he has an obligation towards his people, his community and his country.