Explore topic-wise InterviewSolutions in Current Affairs.

S. Kannakarajan.

Cycling is the chosen medium for the rural women of Pudukkottai.

‘Anticlimax’ with reference to stories means a disappointing or tame end to an exciting story or an impressive, thrilling series of events.

This proverb means that if one really wants to do something, one can. If we read the biographies of great men and women like Albert Einstein, Marie Curie, Mother Teresa and Abraham Lincoln, we will find that it is their strong will which has helped them overcome great difficulties and setbacks, and helped them find a way to achieve their goals. 

All of us wish to achieve many things in life, but we may not succeed. When this happens, we tend to blame our luck, our circumstances and our fate. We do not realize that the fault lies within us. Every student thinks that getting a high score in examinations is beyond his or her capacity.

But if a student resolves firmly to achieve his or her goal and works towards it sincerely and wholeheartedly, he or she is certain to achieve success. If one comes across any obstacle and can’t climb over it, one must walk around it. There is always a way, if there is the will

Some women preferred to buy gents’ cycles because there was not only a shortage of ladies’ cycles, but they could also seat a child on the additional bar.

When we talk of courage and resourcefulness, the first person that comes to my mind is the dancer i and actress Sudha Chandran. Sudha Chandran, a Bharatnatyam dancer, did not let an accident come in the way of achieving her dreams. At the age of seventeen, she met with an accident which resulted in the amputation of one , leg, below the knee. To any ordinary person, this would have meant the end of a dancing career.

But Sudha took it as a challenge with an artificial leg, she began to dance again. Today her story is the story of inspiration for many. We have only to look around us at the cancer survivors to realize how courage can help us overcome i all odds and achieve our goals in life. We must never give up hope; if one way seems too difficult, we must ! think of the other ways available. All we need is renewed determination and effort and we will finally succeed.

According to P. Sainath, shortage of ‘ladies’ cycles was one of the reasons for women buying ‘Gents’ cycles.

When the tree house was being built the mother looked after the vegetable garden and grew healthy plants. Corn, melons, pumpkins and cucumbers were already growing.

Mother wished to shift the family to a tree-house because their current camp was not only exposed but also very dry and hot. She wanted a house that would be safe from jackals and other animals.

Elizabeth’s decision to move to a safer place shows her foresight and knowledge of the environment It also shows her intelligence.

The family constructed a boat out of tubs. They filled the boat with food and ammunition and all the other articles of value they could safely carry. Then they rowed towards the island.

a. 1. cross-currents – currents of air-flow across a room. 

2. fireplace – an open recess for holding a fire at the base of a chimney.

b. 1. complete × incomplete 

2. healthy × unhealthy.

According to P. Sainath, lack of mobility among women played a big role in undermining their confidence.

1. spyglass – binoculars or a small telescope. 

2. savages – wild men. 

3. crew – the people who work on a ship. 

4. survivors – the people who have survived or

a. 1. armloads – the amount that can be carried in one arm or both the arms. 

2. driftwood – pieces of wood that are floating on the water.

b. 1. measure – measurement 

2. describe – description.

The all-women’s cycle rally in which 1500 female cyclists participated, had stunned the inhabitants of Pudukkottai on International Women’s Day.

Arivoli Iyakkam, which means, Light of Knowledge movement, is the literacy movement of Pudukkottai.

Light of Knowledge movement.

The writer calls the bicycle a humble vehicle.

It is not an exaggeration to say that cycling has swept across the district of Pudukkottai. It is not surprising to see even rural agricultural workers riding a bicycle carrying water, their produce and also their children on the bicycle. In fact, cycle-riding women have become ubiquitous in Pudukkottai district.

Apart from women agricultural workers, quarry labourers and village health nurses have also taken to cycling. Joining the rush are balwadi and Anganwadi workers, gem cutters and school teachers, and also grama services and mid-day meal workers as well.

In the article titled ‘Where There is a Wheel’, Sainath, the writer, reports an important social movement that took place during 1992-94 that stunned the people of Pudukkottai district in Tamil Nadu.

There was an organization named ‘Arivoli lyakkam’ which led the female literacy movement in Pudukkottai. These Arivoli activists learned ‘cycling’ so as to enable themselves to spread the message of literacy among rural women in the interior. Once the activists learned cycling, they, in turn, taught their neo-literates cycling. These neo-literates, neo-cyclists trained women in cycling, all over the district. During this period Muthu Bhaskaran, an Arivoli activist, wrote a famous song to encourage the rural women to learn cycling. The song is intended to call upon the womenfolk to learn cycling.

The song conveys a simple message and when it is sung in Tamil, the mother tongue of these rural women, its meaning is easily understood. It only calls upon the woman to set in motion her own wheel of life. Until then, the woman could not move out of the house, because her ‘mobility’ depended on her being able to find money to go by bus. Going by bus also depended on the permission of the menfolk. The woman needed the help of her menfolk even to sell the agricultural produce which grew on her land. This way the woman could not break the male-imposed barriers. Once she learned cycling she got the freedom to move to any place she wanted and the freedom to do any work she wished to.

This song invites the woman to learn cycling and set in motion the wheel of her life. Here, the ‘wheel’ refers to ‘progress’. So, it tells the woman to learn cycling and be responsible for her own progress.

Cycling brought many benefits to rural women in Pudukkottai. Besides instilling a lot of confidence in rural women, it also helped them economically. A large section of the rural womenfolk were small producers who used to wait for buses to carry their produce to sell in other villages.

Even to carry their produce to the bus stop they had to depend on fathers, brothers, husbands or sons. Once these women learned cycling, they became mobile and independent. Learning cycling enabled them to visit a number of villages and sell their produce. Secondly, after learning cycling they were able to combine different tasks with nonchalance. Consequently, one can see many a young mother riding a cycle with a child on the bar and the produce on the carrier. She could also be seen carrying two or three pots of water hung across the back and cycling towards work or home.

The word ‘humble’ means ‘poor’, the lowest in rank. The writer calls the cycle a humble vehicle because it is the most common and ubiquitous vehicle seen even in the most remote of places, a common man’s vehicle.

The word ‘Everyone’ includes the passengers and crew of the British vessel which had rescued the family.

In Pudukkottai district there is an organisation called Arivoli Iyakkam (Light of Knowledge Movement) which spearheaded the district’s vigorous literacy drive. N. Kannammal is the central coordinator of Arivoli. This literacy organisation conducted literacy campaigns among rural women and created a good number of neo-literates. Later, the Arivoli literacy activists, led by N. Kannammal, pioneered the cycling learning movement and thus gave cycling a social sanction. Later, at Kilakuruchi village, the Arivoli activists conducted a cycling training camp for their neoliterates as well as other women enthusiasts. A large number of those who learnt cycling come to train new learners, as master trainers and this way they helped nearly 70000 rural women to learn cycling. Thus, by teaching them to read and write along with ‘cycling’, the Arivoli organisation liberated a vast majority of the rural women in Pudukkottai District.

1. Where did father mark dimensions? 

2. Who travelled to the woods?

First; Furthermore; On top of that; Thus.

The adventure comes to a happy end after the family and Jenny are rescued by a British vessel. The survivors were in good health and decisions were unanimously made about who wanted to stay on the island and who wanted to leave. Fritz told his parents about his love for Jenny and his wish to marry her. So everyone was finally happy.

The UNICEF sanctioned fifty mopeds to Arivoli women activists in appreciation of their work of initiating more than 70000 women to display their cycling skills at the public ‘exhibition-cum-contests’ in a single week in 1992.

I think that the father is very resourceful and knowledgeable. He found plants from the forest which would provide them with wax for candles and rubbery sap for boots. He realized that winter would be difficult in the tree as they would be exposed to the elements. So he worked hard and intelligently to build a cave. If he found that anything was lacking, he tried to provide it, like fitting a lamp in the cave. He cared for and looked sifter his family well.

(c) status of women in a patriarchal society.

as; Moreover; But; Even then.

The phrases ‘flags on the handlebar’ and ‘bells ringing’ refer to the women’s cycle rally organized on the International Women’s Day in 1992 in which 1500 female cyclists took Pudukkottai by storm.

1. The person who had inspired the search : Jenny’s father. 

2. The place where the British vessel was headed towards : New Switzerland. 

3. The person who wanted to marry Jenny : Fritz. 

4. The person who wanted a chance to receive an academic education : Franz.

1. A ship was seen by them one day.

2. (a) The little boy pulled at the rope with all his might.

(b) It might rain tonight.

3. They had created a ladder.

4. His father said, ‘Smoking rock’ sounds like a reference to a volcano”.

perfect, pinnace, platform, produce

1. evacuated – left the ship to save themselves. 

2. livestock – farm animals and birds (like cows, pigs, chickens, etc.) that are kept and used by people. 

3. synopsis – a brief summary or outline.

4. reef – rocks, sand, etc. close to the surface of the sea

Initially, women had to put up with vicious attacks on their character. Some of the men made filthy remarks. But later, once it got social sanction from the Arivoli organisation, some menfolk became less hostile and some of them even encouraged the women to learn cycling.

1. had been travelling – past perfect continuous tense.

2. decided – simple past tense.

Once ‘cycling’ as a symbol of women’s liberation caught the imagination of the womenfolk in the Pudukkottai district, every woman in the district volunteered to learn cycling. Not surprisingly, this led to a shortage of ‘ladies’ cycles. These women enthusiasts did not hesitate. They volunteered to buy even ‘gents’ cycles and learned cycling. Later on, many women started preferring ‘gents’ cycle because it has an additional bar from the seat to the handle and that way it enabled them to go out along with a child also. Even to this day thousands of women in Pudukkottai district ride ‘gents’ cycles. ‘

In 1991, Sheela Rani Chunkath was the district collector of Pudukkottai. As a part of the female literacy drive, she wanted to train female literacy activists so that literacy would reach women in the interior. She had realized that the lack of mobility among women played a big role in undermining their confidence. Therefore, she included ‘mobility’ as a part of the literacy drive. Naturally, literacy activists learned cycling first. This inspired the neo-literates also to learn cycling. This, in turn, inspired every woman in the village to learn cycling. The literates, having become neo-cyclists, encouraged every woman in the district to learn cycling, by organizing ‘cycle training camps’. Thus, Sheela Rani Chunkath became instrumental in ‘cycling’ becoming a social movement in Pudukkottai district. This way Sheela Rani Chunkath should be commended for promoting ‘freedom’ of women by including ‘cycling’ in her literacy project.

Romantics share a reverence for nature's beauty and find solace in her embrace. In his poem, Ode to a Nightingale, Keats realises the ultimate truth, which is death. To fight this inevitability, he celebrates the beauty of nature, in which he finds beauty through the bird's song. However, we all must die. The poet travels a journey from mortality to immortality. Keats relishes the song of the immortal nightingale and feels ecstatic. The realization dawns upon the poet that the beauty is not what we see but it lies within. And the beauty that he dwells on is of the nature and it helps him to delay the ultimate, the death! However, he must die. 

This beauty of the bird's song, the nature shall always be there, though the speaker will grow old and die one day. It is to be realized that the true beauty and happiness lies in the spiritual awakening and not in this materialistic world. Nothing is permanent in this world full of momentary pleasures, neither beauty nor love.

Correct Answer is: (d) Bihar

According to the 2011 census, Uttar Pradesh is the largest state in terms of population.

To attain complete freedom.

To bring about reforms in British administration and to provide Indians maximum participation in the administration.

From 1906, the second phase of national movement is known as the extremist phase of national movement of freedom.

The European contemporary movements greatly influenced the Indian national movement. The French revolution awakened the feeling of nationalism among the Indians. The independence gained by Italy and Greece excited and inspired the Indians to struggle for their own independence, and the national movement in Germany, Romania and Serbia inspired India for a national resurgence. The passing of reformation bill in England, the freedom struggle of the United States of America also urged the Indians to fight for their right of freedom.

Patwari was a Village official.

It is known as the joint phase of the revolutionary and the Gandhian movement.