Explore topic-wise InterviewSolutions in .

He had come all the way from Champaran district in the foothills of Himalayas to Lucknow to speak to Gandhi. Shukla accompanied Gandhi everywhere. Shukla followed him to the ashram near Ahmedabad. For weeks he never left Gandhi’s side till Gandhi asked him to meet at Calcutta.

Some other terms are peasant, power, cultivator, krishak, kisan etc.

(a) (ii) a politician 

(b) (ii) physically strong

(i) a sharecropper. 

No, Geoff does not believe what Sophie says about her meeting. He calls it "the unlikeliest thing [he] ever heard".

Directions: Think of a person whom you admire and consider as your role model. He or she may be one of your teachers, or any famous personality who inspire you. Think of the questions you would like to ask that person, if given an opportunity to interview him or her. The questions should be prepared keeping in mind the profession of the person concerned.

Some of the questions that could be put to him or her during the interview are: 

• Why and when did you decide to choose your present field as your prospective career?

• What is your idea of stress relief?  

• What do you like doing apart from your work?  

• What is your favorite holiday destination?

• What does success mean to you?  

• Where do you wish to see yourself five years down the line?  

• What are your future plans?  

• If you wish to change one thing on the planet, what would it be?

The movie Chain Kulli Ki Main Kulli revolves around the life of a thirteen year-old orphan boy, Karan. He has been brought up in an impoverished orphanage, hearing from his caretaker stories about India's victory in the 1983 Cricket World Cup under the captain ship of Kapil Dev.  

One day, he finds an old bat with the year '1983' engraved on it. Karan fantasizes that the bat found by him is the same bat which Kapil Dev had used during the 1983 Cricket World Cup matches. He believes it to be his lucky bat. On one fortunate occasion, the coach of the Indian cricket team spots Karan playing. He is highly impressed with Karan's batting skills and selects him as a member of the Indian cricket team.  

Karan's bond and belief with his lucky bat grows stronger and it becomes his magic bat for him. Everyone congratulates Karan for his good performance in the cricket match except his orphanage mate, Raghu. He feels jealous of Karan's newly achieved success. To hinder his success, he breaks Karan's lucky bat during the India-Pakistan innings. Consequently, the incident becomes a huge setback for Karan and he refuses to play without his magic bat. This is the time when he is made to realize that the magic was not in his bat, but inside him. Thereafter, Karan plays well and his team wins the match. At last, Karan develops confidence in his own capabilities rather than depending on his magic bat.

Sophie belongs to a lower middle class socio-economic background. She lives in a small house with her parents and two brothers, Derek and Geoff. When she returns home after school, she feels choked with the steam of the stove and is disgusted with the dirty dishes piled in a corner. Her mother's back has become stooped and bent by handling all the household chores and responsibilities on her own. Her father is a hard laborer and her elder brother, Geoff, works as an apprentice mechanic in a garage situated far away from his house. Her family wants Sophie to join work immediately after her school. These are some of the indicators of Sophie's family's financial status.

Sophie's father does not believe her story and he warns her that her "wild stories" might land her into trouble.

Sophie was jealous of the fact that her brother had access to the world outside. She fantasizes about going to these places with him some day in the future wearing a yellow dress. She fantasizes that the world would rise to greet them.

Sophie's father is an archetype of the lower middle class father who has worked hard in uncompromising conditions in order to earn livelihood for his family. After his day's work, he watched the television instead of spending time with his family or sharing family responsibilities with his wife. He expects Sophie to buy them a new house instead of engaging in her expensive dream ambitions, if she gets a chance to earn money. His impoverished financial condition does not, however, stop him from watching the football match, or later, going to the pub for celebration. He is shown as a practical, but a self- centered and short-tempered person.

Sophie liked her brother, Geoff, more than anybody else because he was not in the habit of talking much and remained lost in his own thoughts. She envied his silence and thought that he had access to an unknown world. She wanted to be a part of that world and she fancied herself wearing glamorous clothes and being welcomed by everyone. For Sophie, Geoff symbolized liberty from the monotonous life they had been living.

Danny Casey played football for Ireland.

Sophie did not meet Danny Casey in reality. She made up the story of her encounter with Danny Casey only to seek the attention her brother, Geoff.

Sophie went to see the football match of the United team with her father and her two brothers. This was the only instance where she got a chance to see Danny Casey.

Sophie didn't want Jansie to know about her encounter with Danny because she feared that Jansie would spread her story to the whole neighborhood.

Sophie and Jansie were different from each other. Sophie was a dreamer who enjoyed creating her own fantasy world using her imagination. She showed an urge to transcend her working-class status and attain sophistication by pursuing the ambition of a fashion designer or an actress. Jansie, on the other hand, was more practical and realistic than Sophie. She tried to pull Sophie back to reality, but all in vain. Jansie's sensibility and maturity are evident in her attempt to remind her friend that they were earmarked for the biscuit factory, and expensive dreams were inappropriate to their financial status.

The two girls, Sophie and Jansie, were already destined for a job in the biscuit factory and it was likely that they would work there after school.

She wriggled when Geoff told her father that she had met Danny Casey because she was well aware of her father's short-tempered nature. She knew that he would scold her for spreading wild stories. Moreover, she was aware that no one would believe her. It is also possible that she did not expect Geoff to share her secrets with others, even family members.

Sophie dreamt of opening a boutique or becoming an actress or a fashion designer. She thought that she would be offered the position of a manager and that she would work there till the time she saves enough money for her boutique.  

Keeping in mind their lower middle class family background, Jansie discourages Sophie to have such dreams. Jansie is more realistic and practical in life, and hence, knows that big ambitions cost heavy investments, something their working-class status could not afford.

Poverty: A Vicious Circle

It is a well known saying that poverty is the root cause of all evils. Corruption, loot, begging and incidents of theft are the offspring of abject poverty. The destitute lead a pitiable and miserable life. They do not get sufficient food. Lack of funds constrain them to take recourse to illegal activities. Slum dwellers always feel themselves dejected. They recognise only those beings who help them and feed them. Political leaders take undue advantages of their poverty. They are misused to win elections. Humanity, mankind, honesty, trust and love become significant when an individual succeeds in satisfying his hunger. Hungry people need only food. There is a dearth of people who are capable of converting obstacles into opportunities. These poor people are exploited ruthlessly by industrialists, politicians and other middlemen. They scrounge for gold in the garbage dumps to earn their livelihood. The hiatus between the rich and the poor seems difficult to be bridged. It is increasing day by day. The poor are becoming poorer and the rich richer. There is no human being who would like to work for their welfare. Their plight is pitiable and horrible. The residential areas of these people are packed with filth. They become habitual of foul smell. Poverty is a vicious circle. It never comes to an end. The unemployed youth are heading towards destruction. They do not remember anything except the help they receive from the opportunistic people who feed them to materialise their vested interests.

The average Indians in smaller localities were afraid to show sympathy for the adv ocates of home-rule. Gandhi stayed at Muzaffarpur for two days at the home of Professor Malkani, a teacher in a government school. It was an extraordinary thing in those days for a government professor to give shelter to one who opposed the gov ernment.

They started conducting a detailed enquiry into the grievances of the peasants. Depositions by about ten thousand peasants were written down. Notes were made on other evidence. Documents were collected. The whole area came alive with the activities of the investigators. The landlords raised loud protests.

Professor J.B. Kriplani received Gandhi at Muzaffarpur railway station at midnight. He had a large body of students with him. Sharecroppers from Champaran came on foot and by conveyance to see Gandhi. Muzaffarpur lawyers too called on him. A vast multitude greeted Gandhi when he reached Motihari railway station. Thousands of people demonstrated around the court room. This shows that ordinary people too contributed to the freedom movement in India. 

In the chapter 'Indigo' Louis Fischer writes of how a small farmer Rajkumar Shukla from a small district, Champaran, helps bring about a very prominent change. Likewise, many other peasants from the villages fought courageously and contributed in their own way to the movement. Their cumulative effort eventually resulted in their winning the battle of Champaran and to finally free themselves of the sharecropping arrangement.

Gandhi was ready to go to jail fighting against the injustice to the sharecroppers. Many prominent lawyers had come from all over Bihar to advise and help him. At first, they said they would go back if Gandhi went to prison. Later, they had consultations. They told Gandhi they were ready to follow him into jail. This support made Gandhi extremely happy and confident. This confidence led him to exclaim that the battle of Champaran was won.

He began by trying to get the facts. First, he visited the secretary of the British landlord’s association. He told Gandhi that they could give no information to an outsider. Then Gandhi called on the British official comm issioner of the Tirhut Division. The commissioner tried to bully Gandhi and advised him to leave Tirhut.

In the story, Gandhi makes it possible for the sharecroppers of Champaran to shed their fear of the British landlords. According to Gandhi, freedom from fear is the first step towards self-reliance. However, it is unfortunate that the poor of the country are not free from fear, even decades after the independence. Their actions, work, etc. are still under pressure; they are under the mercy of the bureaucratic system. Furthermore, the poor live in a continual fear of the police, who instead of taking care, often end up maltreating them. The already poor farmers are becoming poorer, because of globalization and the craze for the foreign products. This leaves them in the fear of further destitution.

For the poor of India means of survival are far more important than freedom or legal justice. I don’t think the poor of India are free from fear after Independence.The foreign rulers have been replaced by corrupt politicians and self-serving bureaucracy. Power- brokers and moneylenders have a field day. The situation has improved in cities and towns for the poor but the poor in the remote villages still fear the big farmers and moneylenders. The police and revenue officials are still objects of terror for them.

The poor, landless workers have to still work hard to make both ends meet. Peasants and tenant farmers have to borrow money from rich moneylenders on exorbitant rates of interest, which usually they fail to repay due to failure of monsoon or bad crops. Cases of small farmers committing suicide are quite comm on. If this is not due to fear, what is the reason behind it?

After his first meeting with Shukla, Gandhi visited Cawnpore, his ashram near Ahmedabad, Calcutta, Patna and Muzaffarpur before he reached Champaran.

(i) When the subordinate clause comes before the main clause, a comma is used to separate it from the main clause. 

(ii) No comma is used when the main clause comes before the subordinate clause.

There are many instances in the narrative that can be linked to Gandhi's idea of non- cooperation and satyagraha. One such instance is Gandhi's refusal to obey the court order asking him to leave Champaran immediately. Besides that, Gandhi's protest against the delay of the court proceedings is also an instance of his belief in civil disobedience.  

Furthermore, Gandhi does not falter to plead guilty in front of the court. He accepts his guilt but presents a rational case as to what made him disobey the law. For him, truth is above everything and, thus, he decides to follow the voice of conscience and obey the "higher law of our being".

The following sentences in the text are in ‘direct speech’. 

(а) He said, “I will tell you how it happened that I decided to urge the departure of the British. It was in 1917.” 

(b) Gandhi recounted. “A peasant came up to me looking like any other peasant in India, poor and emaciated, and said, ‘I am Rajkumar Shukla. I am from Champaran, and I want you to come to my district!” 

(c) Gandhi said, “I have to be in Calcutta on such-and-such a date. Come and meet me and take me from there”. 

(d) “It was an extraordinary thing ‘in those day s,” Gandhi commented, Tor a government professor to harbour a man like me.’ 

(e)He said, “I have come to the conclusion that we should stop going to law courts. Taking such cases to the courts does little good. Where the peasants are so crushed and fear-stricken, law courts are useless. The real relief for them is to be free from fear.” 

(f) “The commissioner,” Gandhi reports, “proceeded to bully me and advised me forthwith to leave Tirhut”. 

(g) ‘But how much must we pay?’ they asked Gandhi. 

(h) One woman took Kasturbabai into her hut and said, “Look, there is no box or cupboard here for clothes. The sari I am wearing is the only one I have”. 

(i) “What I did”, he explained, “was a very ordinary thing. I declared that the British could not order me about in my own country”. 

(j) He said, “You think that in this unequal fight it would be helpful if we have an Englishman on our side. This shows the weakness of y our heart. The cause is just and you mu st rely upon y ourselves to win the battle. You should not seek a prop in Mr ‘ Andrews because he happens to be an Englishman”. 

(k) “He had read our minds correctly,” Rajendra Prasad comments, “and we had no reply … Gandhi in this way taught us a lesson in self-reliance”.

The choice of the direct form strengthens the effectiveness of narration. The author uses quotations to highlight certain points which may not appear so effective in reporting indirectly.

The next morning the town of Motihari was black with peasants. They had heard that a Mahatma who wanted to help them was in trouble with the authorities. They spontaneously demonstrated, in thousands, arround the courthouse. Gandhiji called their action of protest as their liberation from fear of the British.

Gandhi’s first meeting with Shukla was at Lucknow. Then he went to Cawnpore and other parts of India. He returned to his ashram near Ahmedabad. Later he went to Calcutta, Patna and Muzaffarpur before arriving at Champaran.

Gandhi’s politics was intermingled with the day -to-day problems of the millions of Indians. He opposed unjust laws. He was ready to court arrest for breaking such laws and going to jail. The famous Dandi March to break the ‘salt law’ is another instance. The resistance and disobedience was peaceful and a fight for truth and justice…This was linked directly to his ideas of Satyagraha and nonviolence.

The peasants paid the British landlords indigo as rent. Now Germany had developed synthetic indigo. So, the British landlords wanted money as compensation for being released from the 15 per cent arrangement. The prices of natural indigo would go down due to the synthetic Indigo.

Mukesh’s house is a half built shack with a wobbly door. One part of it is thatched with dead grass. There is a firewood stove. Spinach leaves are sizzling in a large vessel. More chopped vegetables lie on aluminium platters. The eyes of the frail young woman are filled with smoke, but she smiles. The scene depicts their grinding poverty but contentment with their lot.

The young woman is the wife of Mukesh’s elder brother. Her eyes are filled with the smoke of firewood. Though not much older in years, she commands respect as the daughter- in-law of the house. She adheres to customs and traditions. She veils her face before male elders. She gently withdraws behind the broken wall to do so.

The daughter had drawn plans to make things homelike and typical of Christmas, for the poor hungry wretch. She could not get away from this idea at once. She felt embarrassed when her father asked the man to get out. She interceded for the vagabond to persuade her father to let him stay for Christmas.

Savita is a young girl. She has put on drab pink dress. She is soldering pieces of glass. Her hands move mechanically like the tongs of a machine. She is innocent as she is ignorant about the sanctity of the bangles she helps to make.

'The Name of the Rose' is different sort of novel It is quite serious novel It is a detective story at one level But it also probes into metaphysics theology and medieval history. The reasons for the success of the book, however, remain a mystery.

Umberto Eco considered himself an academic scholar first and a novelist later. He makes his preference clear by saying, "I consider myself a university professor who writes novels on Sundays". On week days he attends academic conferences and does other scholarly, non-fictional work.

Edla showed great trust in him by letting him stay at their manor on the Christmas Eve. But the news about the robbery had left her dejected. So she was overjoyed when she reached home to find the package and the letter left by the peddler. This gesture of appreciation from the peddler made her happy.

Throughout his life, the peddler had never known respect. He was always treated coldly by the world. For the first time in his life, he was honored and respected as if he were a captain. Even after the truth was exposed, the daughter continued to treat him in a similar way. The way he was treated encouraged him to behave in a like manner. He signed the letter as Captain von Stahle so as to underline the impact of Edla's goodness on him.

Rajkumar Shukla is described as being 'resolute' because even after being told about the prior engagements of Gandhi at Cawnpore and other parts across the county, he does not quit. He continues to accompany Gandhi everywhere. Furthermore, he persistently asks Gandhi to fix a date for his visit to his native district of Champaran. His resolution and determination finally impresses Gandhi and the latter complies with his request.  

(i) poor. 

(iii) illiterate.

Some indoor games are chess, ludo, table tennis, playing cards, billiards, etc.