llama_rag.ipynb

{
  "cells": [
    {
      "cell_type": "code",
      "execution_count": 84,
      "metadata": {
        "id": "8P1G8egmyoPZ"
      },
      "outputs": [],
      "source": [
        "OLLAMA_API_URL = \"http://localhost:11434/api/generate\""
      ]
    },
    {
      "cell_type": "code",
      "execution_count": 85,
      "metadata": {
        "colab": {
          "base_uri": "https://localhost:8080/"
        },
        "id": "Gi_elDCzuA-V",
        "outputId": "a709d260-2d28-4be8-c637-713f7a8cafaf"
      },
      "outputs": [
        {
          "name": "stderr",
          "output_type": "stream",
          "text": [
            "huggingface/tokenizers: The current process just got forked, after parallelism has already been used. Disabling parallelism to avoid deadlocks...\n",
            "To disable this warning, you can either:\n",
            "\t- Avoid using `tokenizers` before the fork if possible\n",
            "\t- Explicitly set the environment variable TOKENIZERS_PARALLELISM=(true | false)\n"
          ]
        },
        {
          "name": "stdout",
          "output_type": "stream",
          "text": [
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            "Requirement already satisfied: mpmath<1.4.0,>=1.1.0 in ./.venv/lib/python3.10/site-packages (from sympy->torch>=1.11.0->sentence_transformers->-r requirements.txt (line 2)) (1.3.0)\n"
          ]
        }
      ],
      "source": [
        "!pip install -r requirements.txt"
      ]
    },
    {
      "cell_type": "code",
      "execution_count": 86,
      "metadata": {
        "id": "8-E45bRJuE51"
      },
      "outputs": [],
      "source": [
        "import PyPDF2\n",
        "\n",
        "def extract_text_from_pdf_in_chunks(pdf_path, char_limit=300):\n",
        "    with open(pdf_path, 'rb') as file:\n",
        "        pdf_reader = PyPDF2.PdfReader(file)\n",
        "\n",
        "        chunks = []\n",
        "        current_chunk_text = \"\"\n",
        "        current_chunk_metadata = []\n",
        "        for page_num, page in enumerate(pdf_reader.pages):\n",
        "            page_text = page.extract_text()\n",
        "            if len(current_chunk_text) + len(page_text) <= char_limit:\n",
        "                current_chunk_text += page_text\n",
        "                current_chunk_metadata.append({'page_number': page_num + 1, 'text': page_text})\n",
        "            else:\n",
        "                chunks.append((current_chunk_text, current_chunk_metadata))\n",
        "                current_chunk_text = page_text\n",
        "                current_chunk_metadata = [{'page_number': page_num + 1, 'text': page_text}]\n",
        "\n",
        "        if current_chunk_text:\n",
        "            chunks.append((current_chunk_text, current_chunk_metadata))\n",
        "    return chunks\n",
        "\n",
        "chunks = []\n",
        "for i in range(1, 9):\n",
        "  chunks.extend(extract_text_from_pdf_in_chunks(f\"flamingo-class-12/ch{i}.pdf\"))\n",
        "\n"
      ]
    },
    {
      "cell_type": "code",
      "execution_count": 87,
      "metadata": {
        "colab": {
          "base_uri": "https://localhost:8080/"
        },
        "id": "aYS5HkDU7CYa",
        "outputId": "e4c7e5cb-f281-437f-c533-bf919a5b6cce"
      },
      "outputs": [
        {
          "name": "stdout",
          "output_type": "stream",
          "text": [
            "('The Last Lesson\\nAlphonse Daudet\\nLost Spring\\nAnees Jung\\nDeep Water\\nWilliam  Douglas\\nThe Rattrap\\nSelma Lagerlof\\nIndigo\\nLouis Fischer\\nPoets and Pancakes\\nAsokamitran\\nThe Interview\\nChristopher Silvester\\nUmberto Eco\\nGoing Places\\nA. R. Barton\\nProse..\\nReprint 2024-25\\n', [{'page_number': 1, 'text': 'The Last Lesson\\nAlphonse Daudet\\nLost Spring\\nAnees Jung\\nDeep Water\\nWilliam  Douglas\\nThe Rattrap\\nSelma Lagerlof\\nIndigo\\nLouis Fischer\\nPoets and Pancakes\\nAsokamitran\\nThe Interview\\nChristopher Silvester\\nUmberto Eco\\nGoing Places\\nA. R. Barton\\nProse..\\nReprint 2024-25\\n'}])\n"
          ]
        }
      ],
      "source": [
        "print(chunks[0])"
      ]
    },
    {
      "cell_type": "code",
      "execution_count": 92,
      "metadata": {
        "id": "Mp-4RJPb2YIU"
      },
      "outputs": [
        {
          "name": "stderr",
          "output_type": "stream",
          "text": [
            "/home/mankirat/Desktop/python/llama-rag/.venv/lib/python3.10/site-packages/huggingface_hub/file_download.py:1132: FutureWarning: `resume_download` is deprecated and will be removed in version 1.0.0. Downloads always resume when possible. If you want to force a new download, use `force_download=True`.\n",
            "  warnings.warn(\n"
          ]
        },
        {
          "name": "stdout",
          "output_type": "stream",
          "text": [
            "['The Last Lesson\\nAlphonse Daudet\\nLost Spring\\nAnees Jung\\nDeep Water\\nWilliam  Douglas\\nThe Rattrap\\nSelma Lagerlof\\nIndigo\\nLouis Fischer\\nPoets and Pancakes\\nAsokamitran\\nThe Interview\\nChristopher Silvester\\nUmberto Eco\\nGoing Places\\nA. R. Barton\\nProse..\\nReprint 2024-25\\n', '2/Flamingo\\nThe Last Lesson\\nAbout the author\\nAlphonse Daudet  (1840-1897) was a French novelist\\nand short-story writer . The Last Lesson is set in the\\ndays of the Franco-Prussian W ar (1870-1871) in which\\nFrance was defeated by Prussia led by Bismarck.\\nPrussia then consisted of what now are the nations of\\nGermany, Poland and parts of Austria. In this story the\\nFrench districts of Alsace and Lorraine have passed\\ninto Prussian hands. Read the story to find out what\\neffect this had on life at school.\\nNotice these expressions in the text.\\nInfer their meaning from the context\\n/circle5in great dread of /circle5in unison\\n/circle5counted on /circle5a great bustle\\n/circle5thumbed at the edges /circle5reproach ourselves with\\nI started for school very late that morning and was in great\\ndread of a scolding, especially because M. Hamel had said\\nthat he would question us on participles, and I did not\\nknow the first word about them. For a moment I thought of\\nrunning away and spending the day out of doors. It was so\\nwarm, so bright! The birds were chirping at the edge of the\\nwoods; and in the open field back of the sawmill the\\nPrussian soldiers were drilling. It was all much more\\ntempting than the rule for participles, but I had the\\nstrength to resist, and hurried off to school.\\nWhen I passed the town hall there was a crowd in\\nfront of the bulletin-board. For the last two years all our\\nbad news had come from there — the lost battles, the draft,\\nthe orders of the commanding officer — and I thought to\\nmyself, without stopping, “What can be the matter now?”1\\nReprint 2024-25\\n', 'The Last Lesson /3\\nThen, as I hurried by as fast as I could go, the\\nblacksmith, W achter , who was ther e, with his appr entice,\\nreading the bulletin, called after me, “Don’t go so fast,\\nbub; you’ll get to your school in plenty of time!”\\nI thought he was making fun of me, and reached\\nM. Hamel’s little garden all out of breath.\\nUsually, when school began, there was a great bustle,\\nwhich could be heard out in the street, the opening and\\nclosing of desks, lessons repeated in unison, very loud, with\\nour hands over our ears to understand better , and the\\nteacher’s great ruler rapping on the table. But now it was\\nall so still! I had counted on the commotion to get to my\\ndesk without being seen; but, of course, that day everything\\nhad to be as quiet as Sunday morning. Through the window\\nI saw my classmates, already in their places, and M. Hamel\\nwalking up and down with his terrible iron ruler under his\\narm. I had to open the door and go in befor e everybody. Y ou\\ncan imagine how I blushed and how frightened I was.\\nBut nothing happened. M. Hamel saw me and said\\nvery kindly, “Go to your place quickly, little Franz. W e wer e\\nbeginning without you.”\\nI jumped over the bench and sat down at my desk. Not\\ntill then, when I had got a little over my fright, did I see\\nthat our teacher had on his beautiful green coat, his frilled\\nReprint 2024-25\\n', '4/Flamingo\\nshirt, and the little black silk\\ncap, all embroidered, that he\\nnever wore except on\\ninspection and prize days.\\nBesides, the whole school\\nseemed so strange and\\nsolemn. But the thing that\\nsurprised me most was to\\nsee, on the back benches that\\nwere always empty, the village\\npeople sitting quietly like\\nourselves; old Hauser , with\\nhis three-cornered hat, the\\nformer mayor , the for mer\\npostmaster , and several others besides. Everybody looked\\nsad; and Hauser had br ought an old primer , thumbed at\\nthe edges, and he held it open on his knees with his great\\nspectacles lying across the pages.\\nWhile I was wondering about it all, M. Hamel mounted\\nhis chair , and, in the same grave and gentle tone which he\\nhad used to me, said, “My children, this is the last lesson\\nI shall give you. The order has come from Berlin to teach\\nonly German in the schools of Alsace and Lorraine. The\\nnew master comes tomorrow. This is your last French\\nlesson. I want you to be very attentive.”\\nWhat a thunderclap these words were to me!\\nOh, the wretches; that was what they had put up at\\nthe town-hall!\\nMy last French lesson! Why, I hardly knew how to\\nwrite! I should never learn any more! I must stop there, then!\\nOh, how sorry I was for not learning my lessons, for seeking\\nbirds’ eggs, or going sliding on the Saar! My books, that had\\nseemed such a nuisance a while ago, so heavy to carry, my\\ngrammar , and my history of the saints, wer e old friends now\\nthat I couldn’t give up. And M. Hamel, too; the idea that he\\nwas going away, that I should never see him again, made me\\nforget all about his ruler and how cranky he was.\\nPoor man! It was in honour of this last lesson that he\\nhad put on his fine Sunday clothes, and now I understood\\nReprint 2024-25\\n', 'The Last Lesson /5\\nwhy the old men of the village were sitting there in the\\nback of the room. It was because they were sorry, too, that\\nthey had not gone to school more. It was their way of\\nthanking our master for his forty years of faithful service\\nand of showing their respect for the country that was theirs\\nno more.\\nWhile I was thinking of all this, I heard my name called.\\nIt was my turn to recite. What would I not have given to be\\nable to say that dreadful rule for the participle all through,\\nvery loud and clear , and without one mistake? But I got\\nmixed up on the first words and stood there, holding on to\\nmy desk, my heart beating, and not daring to look up.\\nI heard M. Hamel say to me, “I won’t scold you, little\\nFranz; you must feel bad enough. See how it is! Every day\\nwe have said to ourselves, ‘Bah! I’ve plenty of time. I’ll\\nlearn it tomorrow.’ And now you see where we’ve come out.\\nAh, that’s the great trouble with Alsace; she puts off\\nlearning till tomorrow. Now those fellows out there will\\nhave the right to say to you, ‘How is it; you pretend to be\\nFrenchmen, and yet you can neither speak nor write your\\nown language?’ But you are not the worst, poor little Franz.\\nWe’ve all a gr eat deal to r eproach ourselves with.”\\n“Your par ents wer e not anxious enough to have you\\nlearn. They preferred to put you to work on a farm or at\\nthe mills, so as to have a little more money. And I? I’ve\\nbeen to blame also. Have I not often\\nsent you to water my flowers\\ninstead of learning your\\nlessons? And when I\\nwanted to go fishing,\\ndid I not just give\\nyou a holiday?”\\nThen, from one\\nthing to another,\\nM. Hamel went on\\nto talk of the\\nFrench language,\\nsaying that it was\\nthe most beautiful\\nReprint 2024-25\\n', '6/Flamingo\\nSketch map not to scaleFrance\\n1870-71\\nReprint 2024-25\\n', 'The Last Lesson /7\\nlanguage in the world — the\\nclearest, the most logical; that\\nwe must guard it among us and\\nnever forget it, because when a\\npeople are enslaved, as long as\\nthey hold fast to their language\\nit is as if they had the key to their\\nprison. Then he opened a\\ngrammar and read us our lesson.\\nI was amazed to see how well I\\nunderstood it. All he said seemed\\nso easy, so easy! I think, too, that\\nI had never listened so carefully,\\nand that he had never explained\\neverything with so much patience.\\nIt seemed almost as if the poor\\nman wanted to give us all he knew\\nbefore going away, and to put it\\nall into our heads at one stroke.\\nAfter the grammar , we had a\\nlesson in writing. That day M.\\nHamel had new copies for us,\\nwritten in a beautiful round hand\\n— France, Alsace, France, Alsace. They looked like little\\nflags floating everywhere in the school-room, hung from\\nthe rod at the top of our desks. Y ou ought to have seen how\\nevery one set to work, and how quiet it was! The only sound\\nwas the scratching of the pens over the paper . Once some\\nbeetles flew in; but nobody paid any attention to them, not\\neven the littlest ones, who worked right on tracing their\\nfish-hooks, as if that was French, too. On the roof the\\npigeons cooed very low, and I thought to myself, “Will they\\nmake them sing in German, even the pigeons?”\\nWhenever I looked up from my writing I saw M. Hamel\\nsitting motionless in his chair and gazing first at one thing,\\nthen at another , as if he wanted to fix in his mind just how\\neverything looked in that little school-room. Fancy! For\\nforty years he had been there in the same place, with his\\ngarden outside the window and his class in front of him,\\n1.What was Franz expected to\\nbe prepared with for school\\nthat day?\\n2.What did Franz notice that was\\nunusual about the school that\\nday?\\n3.What had been put up on the\\nbulletin-board?\\nReprint 2024-25\\n', '8/Flamingo\\njust like that. Only the desks and benches had been worn\\nsmooth; the walnut-tr ees in the gar den wer e taller , and\\nthe hopvine that he had planted himself twined about the\\nwindows to the roof. How it must have broken his heart to\\nleave it all, poor man; to hear his sister moving about in\\nthe room above, packing their trunks! For they must leave\\nthe country next day.\\nBut he had the courage to hear every lesson to the\\nvery last. After the writing, we had a lesson in history,\\nand then the babies chanted their ba, be bi, bo, bu.  Down\\nthere at the back of the room old Hauser had put on his\\nspectacles and, holding his primer in both hands, spelled\\nthe letters with them. Y ou could see that he, too, was crying;\\nhis voice trembled with emotion, and it was so funny to\\nhear him that we all wanted to laugh and cry. Ah, how\\nwell I remember it, that last lesson!\\nAll at once the church-clock struck twelve. Then the\\nAngelus. At the same moment the trumpets of the\\nPrussians, returning from drill, sounded under our\\nwindows. M. Hamel stood up, very pale, in his chair .\\nI never saw him look so tall.\\n“My friends,” said he, “I—I—” But something choked\\nhim. He could not go on.\\nThen he turned to the blackboard, took a piece of chalk,\\nand, bearing on with all his\\nmight, he wrote as large as he\\ncould —\\n“Vive La France!”\\nThen he stopped and leaned\\nhis head against the wall, and,\\nwithout a word, he made a\\ngesture to us with his hand —\\n“School is dismissed — you\\nmay go.”\\n1.What changes did the order\\nfrom Berlin cause in school\\nthat day?\\n2.How did Franz’s feelings about\\nM. Hamel and school change?\\nReprint 2024-25\\n', 'The Last Lesson /9\\nUnderstanding  the text\\n1.The people in this story suddenly realise how precious their\\nlanguage is to them. What shows you this? Why does this\\nhappen?\\n2.Franz thinks, “Will they make them sing in German, even the\\npigeons?” What could this mean?\\n(Ther e could be mor e than one answer .)\\nTalking  about the text\\n1.“When a people are enslaved, as long as they hold fast to their\\nlanguage it is as if they had the key to their prison.”\\nCan you think of examples in history where a conquered people\\nhad their language taken away from them or had a language\\nimposed on them?\\n2.What happens to a linguistic minority in a state? How do you\\nthink they can keep their language alive? For example:\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\nPunjabis in Bangalore\\n\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0 Tamilians in Mumbai\\n\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0Kannadigas in Delhi\\nGujaratis in Kolkata\\n3.Is it possible to carry pride in one’s language too far?\\nDo you know what ‘linguistic chauvinism’ means?\\nWorking  with words\\n1.English is a language that contains words from many other\\nlanguages. This inclusiveness is one of the reasons it is now a\\nworld language, For example:\\npetite\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0 –French\\n\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0 kindergarten –German\\ncapital\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0 –Latin\\ndemocracy\\xa0 –Greek\\nbazaar\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0 –Hindi\\nReprint 2024-25\\n', '10/Flamingo\\nFind out the origins of the following words.\\ntycoon barbecue zero\\ntulip veranda ski\\nlogo robot trek\\nbandicoot\\n2.Notice the underlined words in these sentences and tick the\\noption that best explains their meaning.\\n(a) “What a thunderclap  these words were to me!”\\nThe words were\\n(i)loud and clear .\\n(ii)startling and unexpected.\\n(iii) pleasant and welcome.\\n(b)“When a people are enslaved, as long as they hold fast to\\ntheir language it is as if they had the key to their prison”\\nIt is as if they have the key to the prison as long as they\\n(i)do not lose their language.\\n(ii)are attached to their language.\\n(iii) quickly learn the conqueror’s language.\\n(c)Don’t go so fast, you will get to your school in plenty of time.\\nYou will get to your school\\n(i)very late.\\n(ii)too early.\\n(iii) early enough.\\n(d)I never saw him look so tall.\\nM. Hamel (a)had grown physically taller\\n(b)seemed very confident\\n(c)stood on the chair\\nNoticing  form\\nRead this sentence\\nM. Hamel had said that he would question us on participles.\\nIn the sentence above, the verb form “had said” in the first\\npart is used to indicate an “earlier past”. The whole story is\\nnarrated in the past. M. Hamel’s “saying” happened earlier\\nReprint 2024-25\\n', 'The Last Lesson /11\\nthan the events in this story. This form of the verb is called the\\npast perfect.\\nPick out five sentences from the story with this form of the verb\\nand say why this form has been used.\\nWriting\\n1.Write a notice for your school bulletin boar d. Your notice could\\nbe an announcement of a forthcoming event, or a requirement\\nto be fulfilled, or a rule to be followed.\\n2.Write a paragraph of about 100 wor ds ar guing for or against\\nhaving to study three languages at school.\\n3.Have  you ever changed your opinion about someone or\\nsomething that you had earlier liked or disliked? Narrate what\\nled you to change your mind.\\nThings  to do\\n1.Find out about the following (Y ou may go to the inter net, interview\\npeople, consult reference books or visit a library.)\\n(a) Linguistic human rights\\n(b) Constitutional guarantees for linguistic minorities in India.\\n2.Given below is a survey form. Talk to at least five of your\\nclassmates and fill in the information you get in the form.\\nS.No. Languages Home Neighbourhood City/Town School\\nyou know language   language  language language\\n1.\\n2.\\n3.\\n4.\\n5.\\nABOUT  THE UNIT\\nTHEME\\nThe pain that is inflicted on the people of a territory by its\\nconquerors by taking away the right to study or speak their\\nown language.\\nReprint 2024-25\\n', '12/Flamingo\\nSUB-THEME\\nStudent and teacher attitudes to learning and teaching.\\nREADING  COMPREHENSION\\nThe comprehension check at the end of each section in the\\nunit helps pupils make sure that they have understood the\\nfacts before they move on to the next section. One session of\\nforty minutes is likely to be enough for one section of the unit.\\nPupils can read each section silently and discuss the answers\\nin pairs.\\nThe questions at the end of the unit are inferential. These help\\npupils make sense of the writer’s intention in focussing on a\\nlocal episode and to comment on an issue of universal\\nsignificance. There could be a follow-up discussion on parts\\nfor which students need explanation.\\nTALKING  ABOUT  THE TEXT\\nTopics to be discussed in small groups or pairs. This shall help\\npupils think of issues that relate to the realities of the society\\nthey live in. Gives scope for developing speaking skills in the\\nEnglish language on varied issues. Fluency development.\\nWORKING  WITH WORDS\\nTo make pupils aware of\\n•the enrichment of the English language through borrowings\\nfrom the other languages.\\n•idiomatic expressions and figurative use of language.\\nNOTICING  FORM\\nTo make pupils notice tense form and understand the context\\nof its use.\\nWRITING\\n•Practice in a functional genre, e.g., bulletin.\\n•Argumentative writing on a topic related to their life at school.\\n•Narrating subjective experience discussing personal likes and\\ndislikes.\\nTHINGS TO DO\\nExtension activity that will help pupils understand language\\nrights of citizens and the problems of linguistic minorities. Social\\nand political awareness.\\nReprint 2024-25\\n', '', 'Lost Spring /13\\nLost Spring\\nStories of Stolen ChildhoodStories of Stolen ChildhoodStories of Stolen ChildhoodStories of Stolen ChildhoodStories of Stolen Childhood\\nAbout the author\\nAnees Jung (1944) was born in Rourkela and spent\\nher childhood and adolescence in Hyderabad. She\\nreceived her education in Hyderabad and in the\\nUnited States of America. Her parents were both writers.\\nAnees Jung began her career as a writer in India. She\\nhas been an editor and columnist for major newspapers\\nin India and abroad, and has authored several books.\\nThe following is an excerpt from her book titled Lost\\nSpring, Stories of Stolen Childhood . Here she analyses\\nthe grinding poverty and traditions which condemn\\nthese children to a life of exploitation.\\nNotice these expressions in the text.\\nInfer their meaning from the context.\\n\\x97looking for \\x97perpetual state of poverty\\n\\x97slog their daylight hours \\x97dark hutments\\n\\x97roof over his head \\x97imposed the baggage on the child\\n‘Sometimes I find a Rupee in the garbage’\\n“Why do you do this?” I ask Saheb whom I encounter every\\nmorning scrounging for gold in the garbage dumps of my\\nneighbourhood. Saheb left his home long ago. Set amidst\\nthe green fields of Dhaka, his home is not even a distant\\nmemory. There were many storms that swept away their\\nfields and homes, his mother tells him. That’s why they\\nleft, looking for gold in the big city where he now lives.\\n“I have nothing else to do,” he mutters, looking away.\\n“Go to school,” I say glibly, realising immediately how\\nhollow the advice must sound.\\n“There is no school in my neighbourhood. When they\\nbuild one, I will go.”2 22 22\\nReprint 2024-25\\n', '14/Flamingo\\n“If I start a school, will you come?” I ask, half-joking.\\n“Yes,” he says, smiling br oadly.\\nA few days later I see him running up to me. “Is your\\nschool ready?”\\n“It takes longer to build a school,” I say, embarrassed\\nat having made a promise that was not meant. But promises\\nlike mine abound in every corner of his bleak world.\\nAfter months of knowing him, I ask him his name.\\n“Saheb-e-Alam,” he announces. He does not know what it\\nmeans. If he knew its meaning — lord of the universe —\\nhe would have a hard time believing it. Unaware of what\\nhis name represents, he roams the streets with his friends,\\nan army of barefoot boys who appear like the morning birds\\nand disappear at noon. Over the months, I have come to\\nrecognise each of them.\\n“Why aren’t you wearing chappals ?” I ask one.\\n“My mother did not bring them down from the shelf,”\\nhe answers simply.\\n“Even if she did he will throw them off,” adds another\\nwho is wearing shoes that do not match. When I comment on\\nit, he shuffles his feet and says nothing. “I want shoes,” says\\na thir d boy who has never owned a pair all his life. T ravelling\\nacross the country I have seen children walking barefoot, in\\ncities, on village roads. It is not lack of money but a tradition\\nto stay barefoot, is one explanation. I wonder if this is only\\nan excuse to explain away a perpetual state of poverty.\\nI remember a story a man from Udipi once told me. As a\\nyoung boy he would go to school past an old temple, where\\nhis father was a priest. He would stop briefly at the temple\\nand pray for a pair of shoes. Thirty years later I visited his\\ntown and the temple, which was now drowned in an air of\\nReprint 2024-25\\n', 'Lost Spring /15\\ndesolation. In the backyard, where lived the new priest, there\\nwere red and white plastic chairs. A young boy dressed in a\\ngrey uniform, wearing socks and shoes, arrived panting and\\nthrew his school bag on a folding bed. Looking at the boy, I\\nremembered the prayer another boy had made to the goddess\\nwhen he had finally got a pair of shoes , “Let me never lose\\nthem.” The goddess had granted his prayer . Young boys like\\nthe son of the priest now wore shoes. But many others like\\nthe ragpickers in my neighbourhood remain shoeless.\\nMy acquaintance with the barefoot ragpickers leads\\nme to Seemapuri, a place on the periphery of Delhi yet miles\\naway from it, metaphorically. Those who live here are\\nsquatters who came from Bangladesh back in 1971. Saheb’s\\nfamily is among them. Seemapuri was then a wilderness. It\\nstill is, but it is no longer empty. In structures of mud, with\\nroofs of tin and tarpaulin, devoid of sewage, drainage or\\nrunning water , live 10,000 ragpickers. They have lived her e\\nfor more than thirty years without an identity, without\\npermits but with ration cards that get their names on voters’\\nlists and enable them to buy grain. Food is more important\\nfor survival than an identity. “If at the end of the day we\\ncan feed our families and go to bed without an aching\\nstomach, we would rather live here than in the fields that\\ngave us no grain,” say a group of women in tattered saris\\nwhen I ask them why they left their beautiful land of green\\nfields and rivers. Wherever they find food, they pitch their\\ntents that become transit homes. Children grow up in them,\\nbecoming partners in survival. And survival in Seemapuri\\nmeans rag-picking. Through the years, it has acquired the\\nproportions of a fine art. Garbage to them is gold. It is their\\ndaily bread, a roof over their heads, even if it is a leaking\\nroof. But for a child it is even more.\\n“I sometimes find a rupee, even a ten-rupee note,”\\nSaheb says, his eyes lighting up. When you can find a\\nsilver coin in a heap of garbage, you don’t stop scrounging,\\nfor there is hope of finding more. It seems that for children,\\ngarbage has a meaning different from what it means to\\ntheir par ents. For the childr en it is wrapped in wonder , for\\nthe elders it is a means of survival.\\nOne winter morning I see Saheb standing by the fenced\\ngate of the neighbourhood club, watching two young men\\ndressed in white, playing tennis. “I like the game,” he\\nhums, content to watch it standing behind the fence. “I go\\nReprint 2024-25\\n', '16/Flamingo\\ninside when no one is around,” he admits.\\n“The gatekeeper lets me use the swing.”\\nSaheb too is wearing tennis shoes\\nthat look strange over his discoloured\\nshirt and shorts. “Someone gave them\\nto me,” he says in the manner of an\\nexplanation. The fact that they are\\ndiscarded shoes of some rich boy,\\nwho perhaps refused to wear\\nthem because of a hole in one\\nof them, does not bother him.\\nFor one who has walked\\nbarefoot, even shoes with a\\nhole is a dream come true. But\\nthe game he is watching so\\nintently is out of his reach.\\nThis morning, Saheb is on\\nhis way to the milk booth. In\\nhis hand is a steel canister .\\n“I now work in a tea stall down\\nthe road,” he says, pointing in\\nthe distance. “I am paid 800 rupees and all my meals.”\\nDoes he like the job? I ask. His face, I see, has lost the\\ncarefree look. The steel canister seems heavier than the\\nplastic bag he would carry so lightly over his shoulder .\\nThe bag was his. The canister belongs to the man who\\nowns the tea shop. Saheb is no longer his own master!\\n“I want to drive a car”\\nMukesh insists on being his own master . “I will be a motor\\nmechanic,” he announces.\\n“Do you know anything about cars?” I ask.\\n“I will lear n to drive a car ,”\\nhe answers, looking straight into\\nmy eyes. His dream looms like a\\nmirage amidst the dust of streets\\nthat fill his town Firozabad,\\nfamous for its bangles. Every\\nother family in Firozabad is\\nengaged in making bangles. It is\\nthe centre of India’s glass-blowing\\nindustry where families have\\n1.What is Saheb looking for in the\\ngarbage dumps? Where is he\\nand where has he come from?\\n2.What explanations does the\\nauthor offer for the children not\\nwearing footwear?\\n3.Is Saheb happy working at the\\ntea-stall? Explain.\\nReprint 2024-25\\n', 'Lost Spring /17\\nspent generations working around furnaces, welding glass,\\nmaking bangles for all the women in the land it seems.\\nMukesh’s family is among them. None of them know\\nthat it is illegal for children like him to work in the glass\\nfurnaces with high temperatures, in dingy cells without air\\nand light; that the law, if enforced, could get him and all\\nthose 20,000 children out of the hot furnaces where they\\nslog their daylight hours, often losing the brightness of their\\neyes. Mukesh’s eyes beam as he volunteers to take me home,\\nwhich he pr oudly says is being r ebuilt. W e walk down\\nstinking lanes choked with garbage, past homes that remain\\nhovels with crumbling walls, wobbly doors, no windows,\\ncrowded with families of humans and animals coexisting in\\na primeval state. He stops at the door of one such house,\\nbangs a wobbly iron door with his foot, and pushes it open.\\nWe enter a half-built shack. In one part of it, thatched with\\ndead grass, is a firewood stove over which sits a large vessel\\nof sizzling spinach leaves. On the ground, in large aluminium\\nplatters, are more chopped vegetables. A frail young woman\\nis cooking the evening meal for the whole family. Through\\neyes filled with smoke she smiles. She is the wife of Mukesh’s\\nelder br other . Not much older in years, she has begun to\\ncommand r espect as the bahu , the daughter -in-law of the\\nhouse, already in charge of three men — her husband,\\nMukesh and their father . When the older man enters, she\\ngently withdraws behind the broken wall and brings her\\nveil closer  to her face. As custom demands, daughters-in-\\nlaw must veil their faces before male elders. In this case\\nthe elder is an impoverished bangle maker . Despite long\\nyears of har d labour , first as a tailor , then a bangle maker ,\\nhe has failed to renovate a house, send his two sons to\\nschool. All he has managed to do is teach them what he\\nknows — the art of making bangles.\\n“It is his karam , his destiny,” says Mukesh’s\\ngrandmother , who has watched her own husband go blind\\nwith the dust from polishing the glass of bangles. “Can a\\ngod-given lineage ever be broken?” she implies. Born in\\nthe caste of bangle makers, they have seen nothing but\\nbangles  —  in the house, in the yard, in every other house,\\nevery other yard, every street in Firozabad. Spirals of\\nReprint 2024-25\\n', '18/Flamingo\\nbangles — sunny gold, paddy green, royal blue, pink, purple,\\nevery colour born out of the seven colours of the\\nrainbow — lie in mounds in unkempt yards, are piled on\\nfour-wheeled handcarts, pushed by young men along the\\nnarrow lanes of the shanty town. And in dark hutments,\\nnext to lines of flames of flickering oil lamps, sit boys and\\ngirls with their fathers and mothers, welding pieces of\\ncoloured glass into circles of bangles. Their eyes are more\\nadjusted to the dark than to the light outside. That is why\\nthey often end up losing their eyesight before they become\\nadults.\\nSavita, a young girl in a drab pink dress, sits alongside\\nan elderly woman, soldering pieces of glass. As her hands\\nmove mechanically like the tongs of a machine, I wonder if\\nshe knows the sanctity of the bangles she helps make. It\\nsymbolises an Indian woman’s suhaag , auspiciousness in\\nmarriage. It will dawn on her suddenly one day when her\\nhead is draped with a red veil, her hands dyed red with\\nhenna, and red bangles rolled onto her wrists. She will\\nthen become a bride. Like the old woman beside her who\\nbecame one many years ago. She still has bangles on her\\nwrist, but no light in her eyes. “Ek waqt ser bhar khana bhi\\nnahin khaya,” she says, in a voice drained of joy. She has\\nnot enjoyed even one full meal in her entire lifetime  —\\nthat’s what she has reaped! Her husband, an old man\\nwith a flowing beard, says, “I know nothing except bangles.\\nAll I have done is make a house for the family to live in.”\\nHearing him, one wonders if he has achieved what many\\nhave failed in their lifetime. He has a roof over his head!\\nThe cry of not having money to do anything except\\ncarry on the business of making bangles, not even enough\\nto eat, rings in every home. The young men echo the lament\\nof their elders. Little has moved with time, it seems, in\\nFirozabad. Y ears of mind-numbing toil have killed all\\ninitiative and the ability to dream.\\n“Why not organise yourselves into a cooperative?” I\\nask a group of young men who have fallen into the vicious\\ncircle of middlemen who trapped their fathers and\\nforefathers. “Even if we get organised, we are the ones\\nReprint 2024-25\\n', 'Lost Spring /19\\nwho will be hauled up by the police, beaten and\\ndragged to jail for doing something illegal,”\\nthey say. There is no leader among them,\\nno one who could help them see things\\ndifferently. Their fathers are as\\ntired as they are. They talk\\nendlessly in a spiral that\\nmoves from poverty to\\napathy to greed and to\\ninjustice.\\nListening to them, I\\nsee two distinct worlds—\\none of the family, caught\\nin a web of poverty,\\nburdened by the\\nstigma of caste in\\nwhich they are\\nborn; the other\\na vicious circle\\nof the sahukars,\\nthe middlemen,\\nthe policemen, the keepers of law, the bureaucrats and\\nthe politicians. Together they have imposed the baggage\\non the child that he cannot put down. Before he is aware,\\nhe accepts it as naturally as his father . To do anything\\nelse would mean to dare. And daring is not part of his\\ngrowing up. When I sense a flash of it in Mukesh I am\\ncheered. “I want to be a motor mechanic,’ he repeats. He\\nwill go to a garage and learn. But the garage is a long way\\nfrom his home. “I will walk,” he\\ninsists. “Do you also dream of\\nflying a plane?” He is suddenly\\nsilent. “No,” he says, staring at\\nthe ground. In his small murmur\\nthere is an embarrassment that\\nhas not yet turned into regret.\\nHe is content to dream of cars\\nthat he sees hurtling down the\\nstreets of his town. Few airplanes\\nfly over Firozabad.\\n1.What makes the city of\\nFirozabad famous?\\n2.Mention the hazards of working\\nin the glass bangles industry .\\n3.How is Mukesh’s attitude to his\\nsituation different from that of\\nhis family?\\nReprint 2024-25\\n', '20/Flamingo\\nUnderstanding  the text\\n1.What could be some of the reasons for the migration of people\\nfrom villages to cities?\\n2.Would you agr ee that pr omises made to poor childr en ar e rar ely\\nkept? Why do you think this happens in the incidents narrated\\nin the text?\\n3.What forces conspire to keep the workers in the bangle industry\\nof Firozabad in poverty?\\nTalking  about the text\\n1.How, in your opinion, can Mukesh realise his dream?\\n2.Mention the hazards of working in the glass bangles industry.\\n3.Why should child labour be eliminated and how?\\nThinking  about language\\nAlthough this text speaks of factual events and situations of\\nmisery it transforms these situations with an almost poetical\\nprose into a literary experience. How does it do so? Here are\\nsome literary devices:\\n•Hyperbole  is a way of speaking or writing that makes\\nsomething sound better or more exciting than it really is.\\nFor example: Garbage to them is gold.\\n•A Metaphor , as you may know, compar es two things or ideas\\nthat ar e not very similar . A metaphor describes a thing in\\nterms of a single quality or feature of some other thing; we\\ncan say that a metaphor “transfers” a quality of one thing to\\nanother . For example: The r oad was a ribbon of light.\\n•Simile  is a word or phrase that compares one thing with\\nanother using the words  “like” or “as”. For example: As white\\nas snow.\\nCarefully read the following phrases and sentences taken from the\\ntext. Can you identify the literary device in each example?\\n1.Saheb-e-Alam which means the lord of the universe is directly\\nin contrast to what Saheb is in reality.\\n2.Drowned in an air of desolation.\\n3.Seemapuri, a place on the periphery of Delhi yet miles away\\nfrom it, metaphorically.\\nReprint 2024-25\\n', 'Lost Spring /21\\n4.For the children it is wrapped in wonder; for the elders it is a\\nmeans of survival.\\n5.As her hands move mechanically like the tongs of a machine,\\nI wonder if she knows the sanctity of the bangles she helps make.\\n6.She still has bangles on her wrist, but not light in her eyes.\\n7.Few airplanes fly over Firozabad.\\n8.Web of poverty.\\n9.Scrounging for gold.\\n10. And survival in Seemapuri means rag-picking. Through the\\nyears, it has acquired the proportions of a fine art.\\n11. The steel canister seems heavier than the plastic bag he would\\ncarry so lightly over his shoulders.\\nThings  to do\\nThe beauty of the glass bangles of Firozabad contrasts with\\nthe misery of people who produce them.\\nThis paradox is also found in some other situations, for\\nexample, those who work in gold and diamond mines, or carpet\\nweaving factories, and the pr oducts of their labour , the lives of\\nconstruction workers, and the buildings they build.\\n/circle6Look around and find examples of such paradoxes.\\n/circle6Write a paragraph of about 200 to 250 wor ds on any one of\\nthem. Y ou can start by making notes.\\nHere is an example of how one such paragraph may begin:\\nYou never see the poor in this town. By day they toil, working\\ncranes and earthmovers, squirreling deep into the hot sand to\\nlay the foundations of chrome. By night they are banished to\\nbleak labour camps at the outskirts of the city...\\nABOUT  THE UNIT\\nTHEME\\nThe plight of street children forced into labour early in life and\\ndenied the opportunity of schooling.\\nSUB-THEME\\nThe callousness of society and the political class to the\\nsufferings of the poor .\\nReprint 2024-25\\n', '22/Flamingo\\nCOMPREHENSION\\nFactual understanding and responding with sensitivity.\\nThinking on socio-economic issues as a take-off from the text.\\nTALKING  ABOUT  THE TEXT\\n•Fluency development\\n•Social awareness\\nDiscussion on\\n/rhombus6the dreams of the poor and the reality.\\n/rhombus6problems of child labour .\\nTHINKING  ABOUT  LANGUAGE\\nFocus on the use of figures of speech in writing.\\nTHINGS TO DO\\nObservation of the paradoxes in the society we live in.\\nWRITING\\nNote-making and reporting.\\nOver 20 months from 2013 to 2015 more than 100 garbage collectors\\nand scrap buyers in Delhi were interviewed. Their families lived in\\npoverty in homes constructed with bamboo and plastic sheets. These\\ntemporary structures were their shelters as well as place for sorting\\nscrap into about ten different categories. Once the garbage is sorted\\ninto sacks it is gold to the buyers on the basis of its weight. Sadly,\\nthe collectors usually are not paid the total amount after buying the\\nscrap. Instead, small payments are made for daily expenses, and\\nthe rest is noted down as a deposit.\\n(As reported in THE CONVERSATION, June 27, 2017. Researcher\\nDana Kornberg, PhD candidate in sociology University of Michigan.\\nAs you have read, a large population works in unorganized\\nsectors like garbage pickers, bangle makers, vegetable sellers, etc.\\nHow do you think workers in unorganized sectors can take advantage\\nof digital infrastructure promoted through Digital India Programme?\\nInterview some people working in unorganized sector to collect their\\nviews and prepare a report.\\nReprint 2024-25\\n', '', 'Deep Water /23\\nDeep Water\\nAbout the author\\nWilliam Douglas  (1898-1980) was born in Maine,\\nMinnesota. After graduating with a Bachelors of Arts\\nin English and Economics, he spent two years teaching\\nhigh school in Y akima. However , he got tir ed of this and\\ndecided to pursue a legal car eer. He met Franklin D.\\nRoosevelt at Y ale and became an adviser and friend to\\nthe President. Douglas was a leading advocate of\\nindividual rights. He retired in 1975 with a term lasting\\nthirty-six years and remains the longest-serving Justice\\nin the history of the court. The following excerpt is taken\\nfrom Of Men and Mountains  by William O. Douglas. It\\nreveals how as a young boy William Douglas nearly\\ndrowned in a swimming pool. In this essay he talks\\nabout his fear of water and ther eafter , how he finally\\novercame it. Notice how the autobiographical part of\\nthe selection is used to support his discussion of fear .\\nNotice these words and expressions in the text.\\nInfer their meaning from the context.\\n/circle5treacherous /circle5misadventure\\n/circle5subdued my pride /circle5bob to the surface like a cork\\n/circle5flailed at the surface /circle5curtain of life fell\\n/circle5fishing for landlocked salmon /circle5back and forth across the pool\\nIt had happened when I was ten or eleven years old. I had\\ndecided to lear n to swim. Ther e was a pool at the Y .M.C.A.\\nin Yakima that of fered exactly the opportunity. The Y akima\\nRiver was treacherous. Mother continually warned against\\nit, and kept fresh in my mind the details of each drowning\\nin the river . But the Y .M.C.A. pool was safe. It was only\\ntwo or three feet deep at the shallow end; and while it was\\nnine feet deep at the other , the dr op was gradual. I got a\\npair of water wings and went to the pool. I hated to walk3\\nReprint 2024-25\\n', '24/Flamingo\\nSketch map not to scaleThe Y akima River is a tributary\\nof the Columbia River in eastern\\nWashington, U.S.A. The state is\\nnamed after the indigenous\\nYakama people.THE Y AKIMA RIVER\\nReprint 2024-25\\n', 'Deep Water /25\\nnaked into it and show my skinny legs. But I subdued my\\npride and did it.\\nFrom the beginning, however , I had an aversion to the\\nwater when I was in it. This started when I was three or\\nfour years old and father took me to the beach in California.\\nHe and I stood together in the surf. I hung on to him, yet\\nthe waves knocked me down and swept over me. I was\\nburied in water . My br eath was gone. I was frightened.\\nFather laughed, but there was terror in my heart at the\\noverpowering force of the waves.\\nMy intr oduction to the Y .M.CA. swimming pool r evived\\nunpleasant memories and stirred childish fears. But in a\\nlittle while I gathered confidence. I paddled with my new\\nwater wings, watching the other boys and trying to learn\\nby aping them. I did this two or three times on different\\ndays and was just beginning to feel at ease in the water\\nwhen the misadventure happened.\\nI went to the pool when no one else was there. The place\\nwas quiet. The water was still, and the tiled bottom was as\\nwhite and clean as a bathtub. I was timid about going in\\nalone, so I sat on the side of the pool to wait for others.\\nI had not been there long when in came a big bruiser\\nof a boy, probably eighteen years old. He had thick hair on\\nhis chest. He was a beautiful physical specimen, with legs\\nand arms that showed rippling muscles. He yelled, “Hi,\\nSkinny! How’d you like to be ducked?”\\nWith that he picked me up and tossed me into the deep\\nend. I landed in a sitting position, swallowed water , and\\nwent at once to the bottom. I was frightened, but not yet\\nfrightened out of my wits. On the way down I planned:\\nWhen my feet hit the bottom, I would make a big jump,\\ncome to the surface, lie flat on it, and paddle to the edge of\\nthe pool.\\nIt seemed a long way down. Those nine feet were more\\nlike ninety, and before I touched bottom my lungs were\\nready to burst. But when my feet hit bottom I summoned\\nall my strength and made what I thought was a great spring\\nupwards. I imagined I would bob to the surface like a cork.\\nInstead, I came up slowly. I opened my eyes and saw nothing\\nReprint 2024-25\\n', '26/Flamingo\\nbut water — water that had a dirty yellow tinge to it. I\\ngrew panicky. I reached up as if to grab a rope and my\\nhands clutched only at water . I was suf focating. I tried to\\nyell but no sound came out. Then my eyes and nose came\\nout of the water — but not my mouth.\\nI flailed at the sur face of the water , swallowed and\\nchoked. I tried to bring my legs up, but they hung as dead\\nweights, paralysed and rigid. A great force was pulling me\\nunder . I scr eamed, but only the water hear d me. I had\\nstarted on the long journey back to the bottom of the pool.\\nI struck at the water as I went down, expending my\\nstrength as one in a nightmare fights an irresistible force. I\\nhad lost all my breath. My lungs ached, my head throbbed.\\nI was getting dizzy. But I remembered the strategy — I\\nwould spring from the bottom of the pool and come like a\\ncork to the sur face. I would lie flat on the water , strike out\\nwith my arms, and thrash with my legs. Then I would get\\nto the edge of the pool and be safe.\\nI went down, down, endlessly. I opened my eyes. Nothing\\nbut water with a yellow glow — dark water that one could\\nnot see through.\\nAnd then sheer , stark terr or seized me, terr or that\\nknows no understanding, terror that knows no control,\\nterror that no one can understand who has not experienced\\nit. I was shrieking under water . I was paralysed under water\\n— stif f, rigid with fear . Even the scr eams in my thr oat wer e\\nfrozen. Only my heart, and the pounding in my head, said\\nthat I was still alive.\\nAnd then in the midst of the terror came a touch of\\nreason. I must remember to jump when I hit the bottom. At\\nlast I felt the tiles under me. My toes reached out as if to\\ngrab them. I jumped with everything I had.\\nBut the jump made no difference. The water was still\\naround me. I looked for ropes, ladders, water wings. Nothing\\nbut water . A mass of yellow water held me. Stark terr or\\ntook an even deeper hold on me, like a great charge of\\nelectricity. I shook and trembled with fright. My arms\\nwouldn’t move. My legs wouldn’t move. I tried to call for\\nhelp, to call for mother . Nothing happened.\\nReprint 2024-25\\n', 'Deep Water /27\\nAnd then, strangely, there was light. I was coming out\\nof the awful yellow water . At least my eyes wer e. My nose\\nwas almost out too.\\nThen I started down a third time. I sucked for air and\\ngot water . The yellowish light was going out.\\nThen all effort ceased. I relaxed. Even my legs felt limp;\\nand a blackness swept over my brain. It wiped out fear; it\\nwiped out terr or. Ther e was no mor e panic. It was quiet\\nand peaceful. Nothing to be afraid of. This is nice... to be\\ndrowsy... to go to sleep... no need to jump... too tired to\\njump... it’s nice to be carried gently... to float along in space...\\ntender arms around me... tender arms like Mother’s... now\\nI must go to sleep...\\nI crossed to oblivion, and the\\ncurtain of life fell.\\nThe next I remember I was\\nlying on my stomach beside the\\npool, vomiting. The chap that threw\\nme in was saying, “But I was only\\nfooling.” Someone said, “The kid\\nnearly died. Be all right now. Let’s\\ncarry him to the locker room.”\\nSeveral hours later , I walked\\nhome. I was weak and trembling.\\nI shook and cried when I lay on\\nmy bed. I couldn’t eat that night. For days a haunting fear\\nwas in my heart. The slightest exertion upset me, making\\nme wobbly in the knees and sick to my stomach.\\nI never went back to the pool. I fear ed water . I avoided\\nit whenever I could.\\nA few years later when I came to know the waters of\\nthe Cascades, I wanted to get into them. And whenever I\\ndid — whether I was wading the T ieton or Bumping River\\nor bathing in W arm Lake of the Goat Rocks — the terr or\\nthat had seized me in the pool would come back. It would\\ntake possession of me completely. My legs would become\\nparalysed. Icy horror would grab my heart.\\nThis handicap stayed with me as the years rolled by.\\nIn canoes on Maine lakes fishing for landlocked salmon,\\n1.What is the “misadventure” that\\nWilliam Douglas speaks about?\\n2.What were the series of emotions\\nand fears that Douglas\\nexperienced when he was thrown\\ninto the pool? What plans did he\\nmake to come to the surface?\\n3.How did this experience affect\\nhim?\\nReprint 2024-25\\n', '28/Flamingo\\nbass fishing in New Hampshire, trout fishing on the\\nDeschutes and Metolius in Oregon, fishing for salmon on\\nthe Columbia, at Bumping Lake in the Cascades —\\nwherever I went, the haunting fear of the water followed\\nme. It ruined my fishing trips; deprived me of the joy of\\ncanoeing, boating, and swimming.\\nI used every way I knew to over come this fear , but it\\nheld me fir mly in its grip. Finally, one October , I decided to\\nget an instructor and learn to swim. I went to a pool and\\npracticed five days a week, an hour each day. The instructor\\nput a belt around me. A rope attached to the belt went\\nthrough a pulley that ran on an overhead cable. He held on\\nto the end of the rope, and we went back and forth, back\\nand forth acr oss the pool, hour after hour , day after day,\\nweek after week. On each trip across the pool a bit of the\\npanic seized me. Each time the instructor relaxed his hold\\non the r ope and I went under , some of the old terr or returned\\nand my legs froze. It was three months before the tension\\nbegan to slack. Then he taught me to put my face under\\nwater and exhale, and to raise my nose and inhale. I repeated\\nthe exercise hundreds of times. Bit by bit I shed part of the\\npanic that seized me when my head went under water .\\nNext he held me at the side of the pool and had me\\nkick with my legs.  For weeks I did just that. At first my\\nlegs refused to work. But they gradually relaxed; and finally\\nI could command them.\\nThus, piece by piece, he built a swimmer . And when he\\nhad perfected each piece, he put them together into an\\nintegrated whole. In April he said, “Now you can swim. Dive\\noff and swim the length of the pool, crawl stroke.”\\nI did. The instructor was finished.\\nBut I was not finished. I still wondered if I would be\\nterror-stricken when I was alone in the pool. I tried it. I\\nswam the length up and down. T iny vestiges of the old\\nterror would return. But now I could frown and say to that\\nterror, “Trying to scar e me, eh? W ell, her e’s to you! Look!”\\nAnd off I’d go for another length of the pool.\\nThis went on until July. But I was still not satisfied. I\\nwas not sure that all the terror had left. So I went to Lake\\nReprint 2024-25\\n', 'Deep Water /29\\nWentworth in New Hampshir e, dived of f a dock at T riggs\\nIsland, and swam two miles across the lake to Stamp Act\\nIsland. I swam the crawl, breast stroke, side stroke, and\\nback stroke. Only once did the terror return. When I was\\nin the middle of the lake, I put my face under and saw\\nnothing but bottomless water . The old sensation r eturned\\nin miniatur e. I laughed and said, “W ell, Mr T error, what do\\nyou think you can do to me?” It fled and I swam on.\\nYet I had r esidual doubts. At my first opportunity I\\nhurried west, went up the T ieton to Conrad Meadows, up\\nthe Conrad Cr eek T rail to Meade Glacier , and camped in\\nthe high meadow by the side of W arm Lake. The next\\nmorning I stripped, dived into the lake, and swam across\\nto the other shore and back — just as Doug Corpron used\\nto do. I shouted with joy, and Gilbert Peak returned the\\necho. I had conquer ed my fear of water .\\nThe experience had a deep meaning for me, as only\\nthose who have known stark terror and conquered it can\\nappreciate. In death there is peace. There is terror only in\\nthe fear of death, as Roosevelt knew when he said, “All we\\nhave to fear is fear itself.” Because\\nI had experienced both the\\nsensation of dying and the terror\\nthat fear of it can produce, the\\nwill to live somehow grew in\\nintensity.\\nAt last I felt released — free\\nto walk the trails and climb the\\npeaks and to brush aside fear .\\nUnderstanding  the text\\n1.How does Douglas make clear to the reader the sense of panic\\nthat gripped him as he almost drowned? Describe the details\\nthat have made the description vivid.\\n2.How did Douglas overcome his fear of water?\\n3.Why does Douglas as an adult recount a childhood experience\\nof terror and his conquering of it? What larger meaning does he\\ndraw from this experience?\\n1.Why was Douglas determined to\\nget over his fear of water?\\n2.How did the instructor “build a\\nswimmer” out of Douglas?\\n3.How did Douglas make sure that\\nhe conquered the old terror?\\nReprint 2024-25\\n', '30/Flamingo\\nTalking  about the text\\n1.“All we have to fear is fear itself”. Have you ever had a fear that\\nyou have now overcome? Share your experience with your\\npartner .\\n2.Find and narrate other stories about conquest of fear and what\\npeople have said about courage. For example, you can recall Nelson\\nMandela’s struggle for freedom, his perseverance to achieve his\\nmission, to liberate the oppressed and the oppressor as depicted\\nin his autobiography. The story We’re Not Afraid T o Die , which you\\nhave read in Class XI, is an apt example of how courage and\\noptimism helped a family survive under the direst stress.\\nThinking  about language\\nIf someone else had narrated Douglas’s experience, how would\\nit have dif fered fr om this account? W rite out a sample\\nparagraph or paragraphs from this text from the point of view\\nof a thir d person or observer , to find out which style of narration\\nwould you consider to be more effective? Why?\\nWriting\\n1.Doing well in any activity, for example a sport, music, dance or\\npainting, riding a motor cycle or a car , involves a gr eat deal of\\nstruggle. Most of us are very nervous to begin with until\\ngradually we overcome our fears and perform well.\\nWrite an essay of about five paragraphs r ecounting such an\\nexperience. Try to recollect minute details of what caused the\\nfear, your feelings, the encouragement you got fr om others or\\nthe criticism.\\nYou could begin with the last sentence of the essay you have\\njust read — “At last I felt released — free to walk the trails and\\nclimb the peaks and to brush aside fear .”\\n2.Write a short letter to someone you know about your having\\nlearnt to do something new.\\nThings  to do\\nAre there any water sports in India? Find out about the areas\\nor places which are known for water sports.\\nReprint 2024-25\\n', 'Deep Water /31\\nABOUT  THE UNIT\\nTHEME\\nA real-life personal account of experiencing fear and the steps\\ntaken to overcome it.\\nSUB-THEME\\nPsychological analysis of fear .\\nCOMPREHENSION\\n•Understanding another person’s experience.\\n•Relating subjectively to the discussion on fear .\\nTALKING  ABOUT  THE TEXT\\n•Sharing personal experiences.\\n•Sharing accounts of acts of courage.\\nTHINKING  ABOUT  LANGUAGE\\nFocus on first person narrative style.\\nWRITING\\n•First person narration of personal experience.\\n•Letter -writing on personal lear ning achievement.\\nTHINGS TO DO\\nGathering information on water sports.\\nReprint 2024-25\\n', '', '32/Flamingo\\nThe Rattrap\\nAbout the author\\nSelma Lagerlof  (1858-1940) was a Swedish writer whose\\nstories have been translated into many languages. A\\nuniversal theme runs through all of them — a belief\\nthat the essential goodness in a human being can be\\nawakened through understanding and love. This story\\nis set amidst the mines of Sweden, rich in iron ore,\\nwhich figure large in the history and legends of that\\ncountry. The story is told somewhat in the manner of a\\nfairy tale.\\nNotice these expressions in the text.\\nInfer their meaning from the context.\\n/circle5 keep body and soul together /circle5 hunger gleamed in his eyes\\n/circle5 plods along the road /circle5 unwonted joy\\n/circle5 impenetrable prison /circle5 nodded a haughty consent\\n/circle5 eased his way /circle5 fallen into a line of thought\\n/circle5 things have gone downhill\\nOnce upon a time there was a man who went around selling\\nsmall rattraps of wire. He made them himself at odd\\nmoments, from the material he got by begging in the stores\\nor at the big farms. But even so, the business was not\\nespecially profitable, so he had to resort to both begging\\nand petty thievery to keep body and soul together . Even so,\\nhis clothes were in rags, his cheeks were sunken, and\\nhunger gleamed in his eyes.\\nNo one can imagine how sad and monotonous life can\\nappear to such a vagabond, who plods along the road, left\\nto his own meditations. But one day this man had fallen\\ninto a line of thought, which really seemed to him\\nentertaining. He had naturally been thinking of his rattraps\\nwhen suddenly he was struck by the idea that the whole4\\n..\\nReprint 2024-25\\n', 'The Rattrap /33\\nworld about him — the whole world with its lands and\\nseas, its cities and villages — was nothing but a big rattrap.\\nIt had never existed for any other purpose than to set baits\\nfor people. It offered riches and joys, shelter and food, heat\\nand clothing, exactly as the rattrap offered cheese and\\npork, and as soon as anyone let himself be tempted to\\ntouch the bait, it closed in on him, and then everything\\ncame to an end.\\nThe world had, of course, never been very kind to him,\\nso it gave him unwonted joy to think ill of it in this way. It\\nbecame a cherished pastime of his, during many dreary\\nploddings, to think of people he knew who had let\\nthemselves be caught in the dangerous snare, and of others\\nwho were still circling around the bait.\\nOne dark evening as he was trudging along the road\\nhe caught sight of a little gray cottage by the roadside, and\\nhe knocked on the door to ask shelter for the night. Nor\\nwas he refused. Instead of the sour faces which ordinarily\\nmet him, the owner , who was an old man without wife or\\nchild, was happy to get someone to talk to in his loneliness.\\nImmediately he put the porridge pot on the fire and gave\\nhim supper; then he carved off such a big slice from his\\ntobacco roll that it was enough both for the stranger’s pipe\\nand his own. Finally he got out an old pack of cards and\\nplayed ‘mjolis’ with his guest until bedtime.\\nThe old man was just as generous with his confidences\\nas with his porridge and tobacco. The guest was informed\\nat once that in his days of prosperity his host had been a\\ncrofter at Ramsjo Ironworks and had worked on the land.\\nNow that he was no longer able to do day labour , it was his\\ncow which supported him. Y es, that bossy was\\nextraordinary. She could give milk for the creamery every\\nday, and last month he had received all of thirty kronor in\\npayment.\\nThe stranger must have seemed incredulous, for the\\nold man got up and went to the window, took down a leather\\npouch which hung on a nail in the very window frame, and\\npicked out three wrinkled ten-kronor bills. These he held\\nup before the eyes of his guest, nodding knowingly, and..\\n..\\nReprint 2024-25\\n', '34/Flamingo\\nthen stuffed them back into the\\npouch.\\nThe next day both men got up\\nin good season. The crofter was in\\na hurry to milk his cow, and the\\nother man probably thought he\\nshould not stay in bed when the\\nhead of the house had gotten up.\\nThey left the cottage at the same\\ntime. The crofter locked the door\\nand put the key in his pocket. The\\nman with the rattraps said good\\nbye and thank you, and thereupon\\neach went his own way.\\nBut half an hour later the\\nrattrap peddler stood again before\\nthe door . He did not try to get in,\\nhowever . He only went up to the window, smashed a pane,\\nstuck in his hand, and got hold of the pouch with the\\nthirty kr onor. He took the money and thrust it into his\\nown pocket. Then he hung the leather pouch very carefully\\nback in its place and went away.\\n As he walked along with the money in his pocket he\\nfelt quite pleased with his smartness. He realised, of course,\\nthat at first he dared not continue on the public highway,\\nbut must turn off the road, into the woods. During the\\nfirst hours this caused him no difficulty. Later in the day\\nit became worse, for it was a big and confusing forest which\\nhe had gotten into. He tried, to be sure, to walk in a definite\\ndirection, but the paths twisted back and forth so strangely!\\nHe walked and walked without coming to the end of the\\nwood, and finally he realised that he had only been walking\\naround in the same part of the forest. All at once he recalled\\nhis thoughts about the world and the rattrap. Now his\\nown turn had come. He had let himself be fooled by a bait\\nand had been caught. The whole forest, with its trunks\\nand branches, its thickets and fallen logs, closed in upon\\nhim like an impenetrable prison from which he could\\nnever escape.\\n1.From where did the peddler get\\nthe idea of the world being a\\nrattrap?\\n2.Why was he amused by this\\nidea?\\n3.Did the peddler expect the kind\\nof hospitality that he received\\nfrom the crofter?\\n4.Why was the crofter so talkative\\nand friendly with the peddler?\\n5.Why did he show the thirty\\nkroner to the peddler?\\n6.Did the peddler respect the\\nconfidence reposed in him by\\nthe crofter?\\nReprint 2024-25\\n', 'The Rattrap /35\\nIt was late in December . Darkness was alr eady\\ndescending over the for est. This incr eased the danger , and\\nincreased also his gloom and despair . Finally he saw no\\nway out, and he sank down on the ground, tired to death,\\nthinking that his last moment had come. But just as he\\nlaid his head on the ground, he heard a sound—a hard\\nregular thumping. There was no doubt as to what that\\nwas. He raised himself. ‘‘Those are the hammer strokes\\nfrom an iron mill’’, he thought. ‘‘There must be people near\\nby’’. He summoned all his strength, got up, and staggered\\nin the direction of the sound.\\nThe Ramsjo Ironworks, which are now closed down,\\nwere, not so long ago, a lar ge plant, with smelter , rolling\\nmill, and forge. In the summertime long lines of heavily\\nloaded barges and scows slid down the canal, which led to\\na large inland lake, and in the wintertime the roads near\\nthe mill were black from all the coal dust which sifted\\ndown from the big charcoal crates.\\nDuring one of the long dark evenings just before\\nChristmas, the master smith and his helper sat in the\\ndark forge near the furnace waiting for the pig iron, which\\nhad been put in the fire, to be ready to put on the anvil.\\nEvery now and then one of them got up to stir the glowing\\nmass with a long ir on bar , returning in a few moments,\\ndripping with perspiration, though, as was the custom, he\\nwore nothing but a long shirt and a pair of wooden shoes.\\nAll the time there were many sounds to be heard in\\nthe forge. The big bellows groaned and the burning coal\\ncracked. The fire boy shovelled charcoal into the maw of\\nthe fur nace with a gr eat deal of clatter . Outside r oared the\\nwaterfall, and a sharp north wind whipped the rain against\\nthe brick-tiled roof.\\nIt was probably on account of all this noise that the\\nblacksmith did not notice that a man had opened the gate\\nand entered the forge, until he stood close up to the furnace.\\nSurely it was nothing unusual for poor vagabonds\\nwithout any better shelter for the night to be attracted to\\nthe forge by the glow of light which escaped through the\\nsooty panes, and to come in to warm themselves in front of..\\nReprint 2024-25\\n', '36/Flamingo\\nthe fire. The blacksmiths glanced only casually and\\nindifferently at the intruder . He looked the way people of\\nhis type usually did, with a long beard, dirty, ragged, and\\nwith a bunch of rattraps dangling on his chest.\\nHe asked permission to stay, and the master blacksmith\\nnodded a haughty consent without honouring him with a\\nsingle word.\\nThe tramp did not say anything, either . He had not\\ncome there to talk but only to warm himself and sleep.\\nIn those days the Ramsjo iron mill was owned by a\\nvery pr ominent ir onmaster , whose gr eatest ambition was\\nto ship out good iron to the market. He watched both night\\nand day to see that the work was done as well as possible,\\nand at this very moment he came into the forge on one of\\nhis nightly rounds of inspection.\\nNaturally the first thing he saw was the tall ragamuffin\\nwho had eased his way so close to the furnace that steam\\nrose from his wet rags. The ironmaster did not follow the\\nexample of the blacksmiths, who had hardly deigned to\\nlook at the stranger . He walked close up to him, looked\\nhim over very carefully, then tore off his slouch hat to get\\na better view of his face.\\n‘‘But of course it is you, Nils Olof!’’ he said. “How you\\ndo look!”\\nThe man with the rattraps had never before seen the\\nironmaster at Ramsjo and did not even know what his\\nname was. But it occurred to him that if the fine gentleman\\nthought he was an old acquaintance, he might perhaps\\nthrow him a couple of kr onor. Ther efore he did not want to\\nundeceive him all at once.\\n‘‘Yes, God knows things have gone downhill with me’’,\\nhe said.\\n‘‘You should not have r esigned fr om the r egiment’ ’, said\\nthe ir onmaster . ‘‘That was the mistake. If only I had still\\nbeen in the service at the time, it never would have happened.\\nWell, now of course you will come home with me .’’\\nTo go along up to the manor house and be received by\\nthe owner like an old r egimental comrade — that, however ,\\ndid not please the tramp...\\n..\\nReprint 2024-25\\n', 'The Rattrap /37\\n‘‘No, I couldn’t think of it!’’ he said, looking quite\\nalarmed.\\nHe thought of the thirty kr onor. To go up to the manor\\nhouse would be like throwing himself voluntarily into the\\nlion’s den. He only wanted a chance to sleep here in the\\nforge and then sneak away as inconspicuously as possible.\\nThe ironmaster assumed that he felt embarrassed\\nbecause of his miserable clothing.\\n‘‘Please don’t think that I have such a fine home that\\nyou cannot show yourself there’’, He said... ‘‘Elizabeth is\\ndead, as you may already have heard. My boys are abroad,\\nand there is no one at home except my oldest daughter\\nand myself. W e wer e just saying that it was too bad we\\ndidn’t have any company for Christmas. Now come along\\nwith me and help us make the Christmas food disappear a\\nlittle faster .”\\nBut the stranger said no, and\\nno, and again no, and the ironmaster\\nsaw that he must give in.\\n‘‘It looks as though Captain\\nvon Stahle preferred to stay with\\nyou tonight, Stjernstrom’’, he said\\nto the master blacksmith, and\\nturned on his heel.\\nBut he laughed to himself\\nas he went away, and the blacksmith,\\nwho knew him, understood very well\\nthat he had not said his last word.\\nIt was not more than half an hour before they heard\\nthe sound of carriage wheels outside the forge, and a new\\nguest came in, but this time it was not the ir onmaster . He\\nhad sent his daughter , appar ently hoping that she would\\nhave better powers of persuasion than he himself.\\nShe entered, followed by a valet, carrying on his arm a\\nbig fur coat. She was not at all pretty, but seemed modest\\nand quite shy. In the forge everything was just as it had\\nbeen earlier in the evening. The master blacksmith and\\nhis apprentice still sat on their bench, and iron and\\ncharcoal still glowed in the furnace. The stranger had..\\n1.What made the peddler think\\nthat he had indeed fallen into a\\nrattrap?\\n2.Why did the ironmaster speak\\nkindly to the peddler and invite\\nhim home?\\n3.Why did the peddler decline the\\ninvitation?\\nReprint 2024-25\\n', '38/Flamingo\\nstretched himself out on the floor and lay with a piece of\\npig iron under his head and his hat pulled down over his\\neyes. As soon as the young girl caught sight of him, she\\nwent up and lifted his hat. The man was evidently used to\\nsleeping with one eye open. He jumped up abruptly and\\nseemed to be quite frightened.\\n‘‘My name is Edla Willmansson,’’ said the young girl.\\n‘‘My father came home and said that you wanted to sleep\\nhere in the forge tonight, and then I asked permission to\\ncome and bring you home to us. I am so sorry, Captain,\\nthat you are having such a hard time.’’\\nShe looked at him compassionately, with her heavy\\neyes, and then she noticed that the man was afraid. ‘‘Either\\nhe has stolen something or else he has escaped from, jail’’,\\nshe thought, and added quickly, “Y ou may be sur e, Captain,\\nthat you will be allowed to leave us just as freely as you\\ncame. Only please stay with us over Christmas Eve.’’\\nShe said this in such a friendly manner that the\\nrattrap peddler must have felt confidence in her .\\n‘‘It would never have occurred to me that you would\\nbother with me yourself, miss,’’ he said. ‘’I will come at\\nonce.’’\\nHe accepted the fur coat, which the valet handed him\\nwith a deep bow, threw it over his rags, and followed the\\nyoung lady out to the carriage, without granting the\\nastonished blacksmiths so much as a glance.\\nBut while he was riding up to the manor house he had\\nevil forebodings.\\n‘‘Why the devil did I take that fellow’s money?’’ he\\nthought. ‘‘Now I am sitting in the trap and will never get\\nout of it.’’\\nThe next day was Christmas Eve, and when the\\nironmaster came into the dining room for breakfast he\\nprobably thought with satisfaction of his old regimental\\ncomrade whom he had run across so unexpectedly.\\n“First of all we must see to it that he gets a little flesh\\non his bones,” he said to his daughter , who was busy at\\nthe table. “And then we must see that he gets something\\nelse to do than to run around the country selling rattraps.”\\nReprint 2024-25\\n', 'The Rattrap /39\\n“It is queer that things have gone downhill with him\\nas badly as that,” said the daughter . “Last night I did not\\nthink there was anything about him to show that he had\\nonce been an educated man.”\\n“You must have patience, my little girl,” said the father .\\n“As soon as he gets clean and dressed up, you will see\\nsomething different. Last night he was naturally\\nembarrassed. The tramp manners will fall away from him\\nwith the tramp clothes.”\\nJust as he said this the door opened and the stranger\\nenter ed. Y es, now he was truly clean and well dr essed.\\nThe valet had bathed him, cut his hair , and shaved him.\\nMoreover he was dressed in a good-looking suit of clothes\\nwhich belonged to the ir onmaster . He wor e a white shirt\\nand a starched collar and whole shoes.\\nBut although his guest was now so well groomed, the\\nironmaster did not seem pleased. He looked at him with\\npuckered brow, and it was easy to understand that when\\nhe had seen the strange fellow in the uncertain reflection\\nfrom the furnace he might have made a mistake, but that\\nnow, when he stood there in broad daylight, it was\\nimpossible to mistake him for an old acquaintance.\\n“What does this mean?” he thundered.\\nThe stranger made no attempt to dissimulate. He saw\\nat once that the splendour had come to an end.\\n“It is not my fault, sir ,” he said. “I never pr etended to\\nbe anything but a poor trader , and I pleaded and begged to\\nbe allowed to stay in the forge. But no harm has been\\ndone. At worst I can put on my rags again and go away”.\\n“Well,” said the ir onmaster , hesitating a little, “it was\\nnot quite honest, either . You must admit that, and I should\\nnot be surprised if the sheriff would like to have something\\nto say in the matter .”\\nThe tramp took a step forward and struck the table\\nwith his fist.\\n“Now I am going to tell you, Mr Ir onmaster , how things\\nare,” he said. “This whole world is nothing but a big rattrap.\\nAll the good things that are offered to you are nothing but\\ncheese rinds and bits of pork, set out to drag a poor fellow\\nReprint 2024-25\\n', '40/Flamingo\\ninto trouble. And if the sheriff comes now and locks me up\\nfor this, then you, Mr Ir onmaster , must r emember that a\\nday may come when you yourself may want to get a big\\npiece of pork, and then you will get caught in the trap.”\\nThe ironmaster began to laugh.\\n“That was not so badly said, my good fellow. Perhaps\\nwe should let the sheriff alone on Christmas Eve. But now\\nget out of here as fast as you can.”\\nBut just as the man was opening the door , the daughter\\nsaid, “I think he ought to stay with us today. I don’t want\\nhim to go.” And with that she went and closed the door .\\n“What in the world ar e you doing?” said the father .\\nThe daughter stood there quite embarrassed and hardly\\nknew what to answer . That mor ning she had felt so happy\\nwhen she thought how homelike and Christmassy she was\\ngoing to make things for the poor hungry wretch. She could\\nnot get away from the idea all at once, and that was why\\nshe had interceded for the vagabond.\\n“I am thinking of this stranger here,” said the young\\ngirl. “He walks and walks the whole year long, and there is\\nprobably not a single place in the whole country where he\\nis welcome and can feel at home. Wherever he turns he is\\nchased away. Always he is afraid of being arrested and\\ncross-examined. I should like to have him enjoy a day of\\npeace with us her e — just one in the whole year .”\\nThe ironmaster mumbled something in his beard. He\\ncould not bring himself to oppose her .\\n“It was all a mistake, of course,” she continued. “But\\nanyway I don’t think we ought to chase away a human\\nbeing whom we have asked to come here, and to whom we\\nhave pr omised Christmas cheer .”\\n“You do pr each worse than a parson,” said the\\nironmaster . “I only hope you won’t have to r egret this.”\\nThe young girl took the stranger by the hand and led\\nhim up to the table.\\n“Now sit down and eat,” she said, for she could see\\nthat her father had given in.\\nThe man with the rattraps said not a word; he only\\nsat down and helped himself to the food. T ime after time\\nReprint 2024-25\\n', 'The Rattrap /41\\n1.What made the peddler\\naccept Edla Willmansson’s\\ninvitation?\\n2.What doubts did Edla have\\nabout the peddler?\\n3.When did the ironmaster\\nrealise his mistake?\\n4.What did the peddler say in\\nhis defence when it was clear\\nthat he was not the person the\\nironmaster had thought he\\nwas?\\n5.Why did Edla still entertain\\nthe peddler even after she\\nknew the truth about him?he looked at the young girl who had interceded for him.\\nWhy had she done it? What could the crazy idea be?\\nAfter that, Christmas Eve at Ramsjo passed just as it\\nalways had. The stranger did not cause any trouble because\\nhe did nothing but sleep. The whole forenoon he lay on the\\nsofa in one of the guest rooms and slept at one stretch. At\\nnoon they woke him up so that he could have his share of\\nthe good Christmas fare, but after that he slept again. It\\nseemed as though for many years he had not been able to\\nsleep as quietly and safely as here at Ramsjo.\\nIn the evening, when the Christmas tree was lighted,\\nthey woke him up again, and he stood for a while in the\\ndrawing room, blinking as though the candlelight hurt him,\\nbut after that he disappeared again. Two hours later he\\nwas aroused once more. He then had to go down into the\\ndining room and eat the Christmas fish and porridge.\\nAs soon as they got up from the table he went around\\nto each one present and said thank you and good night,\\nbut when he came to the young\\ngirl she gave him to understand\\nthat it was her father’s intention\\nthat the suit which he wore was\\nto be a Christmas present — he\\ndid not have to return it; and if\\nhe wanted to spend next\\nChristmas Eve in a place where\\nhe could rest in peace, and be\\nsure that no evil would befall him,\\nhe would be welcomed back again.\\nThe man with the rattraps\\ndid not answer anything to this.\\nHe only stared at the young girl\\nin boundless amazement.\\nThe next morning the\\nironmaster and his daughter got\\nup in good season to go to the early Christmas service.\\nTheir guest was still asleep, and they did not disturb him.\\nWhen, at about ten o’clock, they drove back from the\\nchurch, the young girl sat and hung her head even more..\\n..\\nReprint 2024-25\\n', '42/Flamingo\\ndejectedly than usual. At church she had learned that one\\nof the old crofters of the ironworks had been robbed by a\\nman who went around selling rattraps.\\n“Yes, that was a fine fellow you let into the house,”\\nsaid her father . “I only wonder how many silver spoons ar e\\nleft in the cupboard by this time.”\\nThe wagon had hardly stopped at the front steps when\\nthe ironmaster asked the valet whether the stranger was\\nstill there. He added that he had heard at church that the\\nman was a thief. The valet answered that the fellow had\\ngone and that he had not taken anything with him at all.\\nOn the contrary, he had left behind a little package which\\nMiss Willmansson was to be kind enough to accept as a\\nChristmas present.\\nThe young girl opened the package, which was so badly\\ndone up that the contents came into view at once. She\\ngave a little cry of joy. She found a small rattrap, and in it\\nlay three wrinkled ten kronor notes. But that was not all.\\nIn the rattrap lay also a letter written in large, jagged\\ncharacters —\\n“Honoured and noble Miss,\\n“Since you have been so nice to\\nme all day long, as if I was a\\ncaptain, I want to be nice to you,\\nin return, as if I was a real\\ncaptain — for I do not want you\\nto be embarrassed at this\\nChristmas season by a thief; but\\nyou can give back the money to\\nthe old man on the roadside, who has the money pouch\\nhanging on the window frame as a bait for poor wanderers.\\n“The rattrap is a Christmas present from a rat who\\nwould have been caught in this world’s rattrap if he had\\nnot been raised to captain, because in that way he got\\npower to clear himself.\\n“Written with friendship\\n   and high regard,\\n“Captain von Stahle.”\\n1.   Why was Edla happy to see\\nthe gift left by the  peddler?\\n2.   Why did the peddler sign\\nhimself as Captain von Stahle?\\nReprint 2024-25\\n', 'The Rattrap /43\\nUnderstanding  the text\\n1.How does the peddler interpret the acts of kindness and\\nhospitality shown by the cr ofter , the ir onmaster and his\\ndaughter?\\n2.What are the instances in the story that show that the character\\nof the ironmaster is different from that of his daughter in many\\nways?\\n3.The story has many instances of unexpected reactions from the\\ncharacters to others’ behaviour . Pick out instances of these\\nsurprises.\\n4.What made the peddler finally change his ways?\\n5.How does the metaphor of the rattrap serve to highlight the\\nhuman predicament?\\n6.The peddler comes out as a person with a subtle sense of humour .\\nHow does this serve in lightening the seriousness of the theme\\nof the story and also endear him to us?\\nTalking  about the text\\nDiscuss the following in gr oups of four . Each gr oup can deal\\nwith one topic. Present the views of your group to the whole\\nclass.\\n1.The reader’s sympathy is with the peddler right from the\\nbeginning of the story. Why is this so? Is the sympathy justified?\\n2.The story also focuses on human loneliness and the need to\\nbond with others.\\n3.Have you known/heard of an episode where a good deed or an\\nact of kindness has changed a person’s view of the world?\\n4.The story is both entertaining and philosophical.\\nWorking  with words\\n1.The man selling rattraps is referred to by many terms such as\\n“peddler , stranger” etc. Pick out all such r eferences to him. What\\ndoes each of these labels indicate of the context or the attitude\\nof the people around him.\\n2.You came acr oss the wor ds, plod, trudge,  stagger  in the story.\\nThese words indicate movement accompanied by weariness. Find\\nfive other such words with a similar meaning.\\nReprint 2024-25\\n', '44/Flamingo\\nNoticing  form\\n1.He made them himself at odd moments.\\xa0\\n2.He raised himself.\\n3.He had let himself  be fooled by a bait and had been caught.\\n4.… a day may come when you yourself  may want to get a big\\npiece of pork.\\nNotice the way in which these reflexive pronouns have been used\\n(pronou n+self)\\n•In 1 and 4 the reflexive pronouns “himself” and “yourself”\\xa0\\nare used to convey emphasis.\\n•In 2 and 3\\xa0\\xa0the reflexive pronoun\\xa0is used in place of personal\\npronoun to signal that it refers to the same subject in the\\nsentence.\\n•Pick out other examples of the use of reflexive pronouns from\\nthe story and notice how they are used.\\nThinking  about language\\n1. Notice the words in bold in the following sentence.\\n“The fire boy shovelled charcoal into the maw of the furnace\\nwith a great  deal of clatter”. This is a phrase that is used in the\\nspecific context of an iron plant.\\nPick out other such phrases and words from the story that are\\npeculiar to the terminology of ironworks.\\n2.Mjolis  is a card game of Sweden.\\nName a few indoor games played in your region. ‘Chopar’ could be\\nan example.\\n3.A crofter is a person who rents or owns a small farm especially\\nin Scotland. Think of other uncommon terms for ‘a small farmer’\\nincluding those in your language.\\nABOUT  THE UNIT\\nTHEME\\nThe trap of material benefit that most human beings are prone\\nto fall into.\\nSUB-THEME\\nThe human tendency to redeem oneself from dishonest ways...\\nReprint 2024-25\\n', 'The Rattrap /45\\nCOMPREHENSION\\n•Factual understanding of events.\\n•Inferring motives for human actions.\\nTALKING  ABOUT  THE TEXT\\nSmall group discussion on\\n•the portrayal of characters in fiction.\\n•human emotional needs and human behaviour .\\n•real-life recounting of similar incidents.\\n•narrative style.\\nWORKING  WITH WORDS\\n•Choice of synonyms to reflect personal attitudes ‘Noticing form’.\\n•Focus on the uses of the reflexive pronoun.\\nTHINKING  ABOUT  LANGUAGE\\n•Vocabulary specific to a particular field.\\n•Culture-specific games (especially indoor).\\n•Region-specific synonyms .\\nReprint 2024-25\\n', '', '46/Flamingo\\nIndigo\\nAbout the author\\nLouis Fischer  (1896-1970) was born in Philadelphia.\\nHe served as a volunteer in the British Army between\\n1918 and 1920. Fischer made a career as a journalist\\nand wr ote for The New Y ork T imes, The Satur day Review\\nand for European and Asian publications. He was also\\na member of the faculty at Princeton University. The\\nfollowing is an excerpt from his book- The Life of Mahatma\\nGandhi . The book has been reviewed as one of the best\\nbooks ever written on Gandhi by Times Educational\\nSupplement.\\nNotice these expressions in the text.\\nInfer their meaning from the context.\\n/circle5 urge the departure /circle5 harbour a man like me\\n/circle5 conflict of duties /circle5 seek a prop\\nWhen I first visited Gandhi in 1942 at his ashram in\\nSevagram, in central India, he said, “I will tell you how it\\nhappened that I decided to urge the departure of the British.\\nIt was in 1917.”\\nHe had gone to the December 1916 annual convention\\nof the Indian National Congress party in Lucknow. There\\nwere 2,301 delegates and many visitors. During the\\nproceedings, Gandhi recounted, “a peasant came up to me\\nlooking like any other peasant in India, poor and emaciated,\\nand said, ‘I am Rajkumar Shukla. I am from Champaran,\\nand I want you to come to my district’!’’ Gandhi had never\\nheard of the place. It was in the foothills of the towering\\nHimalayas, near the kingdom of Nepal.\\nUnder an ancient arrangement, the Champaran\\npeasants were sharecroppers. Rajkumar Shukla was one\\nof them. He was illiterate but resolute. He had come to the5\\nReprint 2024-25\\n', 'Indigo /47\\nCongress session to complain about the injustice of the\\nlandlor d system in Bihar , and somebody had pr obably said,\\n“Speak to Gandhi.”\\nGandhi told Shukla he had an appointment in\\nCawnpore and was also committed to go to other parts of\\nIndia. Shukla accompanied him everywhere. Then Gandhi\\nreturned to his ashram near Ahmedabad. Shukla followed\\nhim to the ashram. For weeks he never left Gandhi’s side.\\n“Fix a date,” he begged.\\nImpressed by the sharecropper’s tenacity and story\\nGandhi said, ‘‘I have to be in Calcutta on such-and-such a\\ndate. Come and meet me and take me from there.”\\nMonths passed. Shukla was\\nsitting on his haunches at the\\nappointed spot in Calcutta when\\nGandhi arrived; he waited till Gandhi\\nwas free. Then the two of them\\nboarded a train for the city of Patna\\nin Bihar . Ther e Shukla led him to\\nthe house of a lawyer named\\nRajendra Prasad who later became\\nPresident of the Congress party and\\nof India. Rajendra Prasad was out\\nof town, but the servants knew\\nShukla as a poor yeoman who\\npestered their master to help the\\nindigo sharecroppers. So they let\\nhim stay on the grounds with his\\ncompanion, Gandhi, whom they took\\nto be another peasant. But Gandhi\\nwas not permitted to draw water\\nfrom the well lest some drops from his bucket pollute the entire\\nsource; how did they know that he was not an untouchable?\\nGandhi decided to go first to Muzzafarpur , which was\\nen route to Champaran, to obtain more complete\\ninformation about conditions than Shukla was capable of\\nimparting. He accordingly sent a telegram to Professor\\nJ.B. Kripalani, of the Arts College in Muzzafarpur , whom\\nhe had seen at Tagore’s Shantiniketan school. The train\\n1.Strike out what is not true in\\nthe following.\\na. Rajkumar Shukla was\\n(i)a sharecropper .\\n(ii)a politician.\\n(iii)delegate .\\n(iv)a landlord.\\nb.Rajkumar Shukla  was\\n(i)poor.\\n(ii)physically  strong.\\n(iii)illiterate.\\n2.Why is Rajkumar Shukla\\ndescribed as  being ‘resolute’?\\n3.Why do you think the\\nservants thought Gandhi to be\\nanother peasant?\\nReprint 2024-25\\n', '48/Flamingo\\narrived at midnight, 15 April 1917. Kripalani was waiting\\nat the station with a large body of students. Gandhi stayed\\nthere for two days in the home of Professor Malkani, a\\nteacher in a government school.\\n‘‘It was an extraordinary\\nthing ‘in those days,’’ Gandhi\\ncommented, “for a government\\nprofessor to harbour a man\\nlike me”. In smaller localities,\\nthe Indians were afraid\\nto show sympathy for\\nadvocates of home-rule.\\nThe news of Gandhi’s\\nadvent and of the nature of\\nhis mission spread quickly\\nthrough Muzzafarpur and to\\nChamparan. Sharecroppers\\nfrom Champaran began\\narriving on foot and by\\nconveyance to see their\\nchampion. Muzzafarpur lawyers\\ncalled on Gandhi to brief him;\\nthey frequently represented\\npeasant groups in court; they\\ntold him about their cases and\\nreported the size of their fee.\\nGandhi chided the lawyers for\\ncollecting big fee from the\\nsharecroppers. He said, ‘‘I have\\ncome to the conclusion that we\\nshould stop going to law courts.\\nTaking such cases to the courts\\ndoes litte good. Where the peasants\\nare so crushed and fear -stricken,\\nlaw courts are useless. The real relief\\nfor them is to be fr ee from fear .’’\\nMost of the arable land\\nin the Champaran district\\nwas divided into large\\nReprint 2024-25\\n', 'Indigo /49\\nestates owned by Englishmen and worked by Indian tenants.\\nThe chief commercial crop was indigo. The landlords\\ncompelled all tenants to plant three twentieths or 15 per\\ncent of their holdings with indigo and surrender the entire\\nindigo harvest as rent. This was done by long-term contract.\\nPresently, the landlords learned\\nthat Germany had developed\\nsynthetic indigo. They , thereupon ,\\nobtained agreements from the\\nsharecroppers to pay them\\ncompensation for being released\\nfrom the 15 per cent arrangement.\\nThe sharecropping arrangement\\nwas irksome to the peasants, and\\nmany signed willingly. Those who\\nresisted, engaged lawyers; the\\nlandlords hired thugs. Meanwhile,\\nthe information about synthetic\\nindigo reached the illiterate peasants\\nwho had signed, and they wanted\\ntheir money back.\\nAt this point Gandhi arrived in Champaran.\\nHe began by trying to get the facts. First he visited the\\nsecretary of the British landlord’s association. The secretary\\ntold him that they could give no infor mation to an outsider .\\nGandhi answer ed that he was no outsider .\\nNext, Gandhi called on the British official commissioner\\nof the T irhut division in which the Champaran district\\nlay. ‘‘The commissioner ,’’ Gandhi r eports, ‘‘pr oceeded to bully\\nme and advised me forthwith to leave T irhut.’’\\nGandhi did not leave. Instead he proceeded to Motihari,\\nthe capital of Champaran. Several lawyers accompanied him.\\nAt the railway station, a vast multitude greeted Gandhi. He\\nwent to a house and, using it as headquarters, continued his\\ninvestigations. A report came in that a peasant had been\\nmaltreated in a nearby village. Gandhi decided to go and see;\\nthe next morning he started out on the back of an elephant.\\nHe had not proceeded far when the police superintendent’s\\nmessenger overtook him and ordered him to return to town\\n1.List the places that Gandhi\\nvisited between his first\\nmeeting with Shukla and his\\narrival at Champaran.\\n2.What did the peasants pay the\\nBritish landlords as rent? What\\ndid the British now want\\ninstead and why? What would\\nbe the impact of synthetic\\nindigo on the prices of natural\\nindigo?\\nReprint 2024-25\\n', '50/Flamingo\\nin his carriage. Gandhi complied. The messenger drove\\nGandhi home where he served him with an official notice to\\nquit Champaran immediately. Gandhi signed a receipt for\\nthe notice and wr ote on it that he would disobey the or der.\\nIn consequence, Gandhi received a summons to appear\\nin court the next day.\\nAll night Gandhi remained awake. He telegraphed\\nRajendra Prasad to come from Bihar with influential\\nfriends. He sent instructions to the ashram. He wired a\\nfull report to the Viceroy.\\nMorning found the town of Motihari black with peasants.\\nThey did not know Gandhi’s record in South Africa. They\\nhad merely heard that a Mahatma who wanted to help them\\nwas in trouble with the authorities. Their spontaneous\\ndemonstration, in thousands, around the courthouse was\\nthe beginning of their liberation from fear of the British.\\nThe officials felt powerless without Gandhi’s\\ncooperation. He helped them regulate the crowd. He was\\npolite and friendly. He was giving them concrete proof that\\ntheir might, hitherto dreaded and unquestioned, could be\\nchallenged by Indians.\\nThe government was baffled. The prosecutor requested\\nthe judge to postpone the trial. Apparently, the authorities\\nwished to consult their superiors.\\nGandhi protested against the delay. He read a statement\\npleading guilty. He was involved, he told the court, in a\\n“conflict of duties ”— on the one hand, not to set a bad example\\nas a lawbreaker; on the other hand, to render the\\n“humanitarian and national service” for which he had come.\\nHe disregarded the order to leave, “not for want of respect for\\nlawful authority, but in obedience to the higher law of our\\nbeing, the voice of conscience”. He asked the penalty due.\\nThe magistrate announced that he would pronounce\\nsentence after a two-hour recess and asked Gandhi to\\nfurnish bail for those 120 minutes. Gandhi refused. The\\njudge released him without bail.\\nWhen the court reconvened, the judge said he would\\nnot deliver the judgment for several days. Meanwhile he\\nallowed Gandhi to remain at liberty.\\nReprint 2024-25\\n', 'Indigo /51\\nRajendra Prasad, Brij Kishor Babu, Maulana Mazharul\\nHuq and several other prominent lawyers had arrived from\\nBihar . They conferr ed with Gandhi. What would they do if\\nhe was sentenced to prison, Gandhi asked. Why, the senior\\nlawyer replied, they had come to advise and help him; if\\nhe went to jail there would be nobody to advise and they\\nwould go home.\\nWhat about the injustice to the sharecroppers, Gandhi\\ndemanded. The lawyers withdrew to consult. Rajendra\\nPrasad has recorded the upshot of their consultations —\\n“They thought, amongst themselves, that Gandhi was totally\\na stranger , and yet he was pr epared to go to prison for the\\nsake of the peasants; if they, on the other hand, being not\\nonly residents of the adjoining districts but also those who\\nclaimed to have served these peasants, should go home, it\\nwould be shameful desertion.”\\nThey accordingly went back\\nto Gandhi and told him they were\\nready to follow him into jail. ‘‘The\\nbattle of Champaran is won,’’ he\\nexclaimed. Then he took a piece\\nof paper and divided the group\\ninto pairs and put down the order\\nin which each pair was to court\\narrest.\\nSeveral days later , Gandhi\\nreceived a written communication\\nfrom the magistrate informing\\nhim that the Lieutenant-Governor of the province had\\nordered the case to be dropped. Civil disobedience had\\ntriumphed, the first time in modern India.\\nGandhi and the lawyers now proceeded to conduct a\\nfar-flung inquiry into the grievances of the far mers.\\nDepositions by about ten thousand peasants were written\\ndown, and notes made on other evidence. Documents were\\ncollected. The whole area throbbed with the activity of the\\ninvestigators and the vehement protests of the landlords.\\nIn June, Gandhi was summoned to Sir Edward\\nGait, the Lieutenant-Gover nor. Befor e he went he met\\n1.The events in this part of the\\ntext illustrate Gandhi’s method\\nof working. Can you identify\\nsome instances of this\\nmethod and link them to his\\nideas of satyagraha  and\\nnon-violence?\\nReprint 2024-25\\n', '52/Flamingo\\nleading associates and again\\nlaid detailed plans for civil\\ndisobedience if he should not\\nreturn.\\nGandhi had four protracted\\ninterviews with the Lieutenant-\\nGovernor who, as a result,\\nappointed an official commission\\nof inquiry into the indigo\\nsharecroppers’ situation.\\nThe commission consisted of\\nlandlords, government officials,\\nand Gandhi as the sole\\nrepresentative of the peasants.\\nGandhi remained in Champaran for an initial\\nuninterrupted period of seven months and then again for\\nseveral shorter visits. The visit, undertaken casually on\\nthe entreaty of an unlettered peasant in the expectation\\nthat it would last a few days, occupied almost a year of\\nGandhi’s life.\\nThe official inquiry assembled a crushing mountain of\\nevidence against the big planters, and when they saw this\\nthey agreed, in principle, to make refunds to the peasants.\\n“But how much must we pay?” they asked Gandhi.\\nThey thought he would demand repayment in full of\\nthe money which they had illegally and deceitfully extorted\\nfrom the sharecroppers. He asked only 50 per cent. “There\\nhe seemed adamant,” writes Reverend J. Z. Hodge, a British\\nmissionary in Champaran who observed the entire episode\\nat close range. “Thinking probably that he would not give\\nway, the representative of the planters offered to refund to\\nthe extent of 25 per cent, and to his amazement Mr . Gandhi\\ntook him at his word, thus breaking the deadlock.”\\nThis settlement was adopted unanimously by the\\ncommission. Gandhi explained that the amount of the\\nrefund was less important than the fact that the landlords\\nhad been obliged to surrender part of the money and, with\\nit, part of their prestige. Therefore, as far as the peasants\\nwere concerned, the planters had behaved as lords above\\nReprint 2024-25\\n', 'Indigo /53\\nthe law. Now the peasant saw that he had rights and\\ndefenders. He learned courage.\\nEvents justified Gandhi’s position. Within a few years\\nthe British planters abandoned their estates, which\\nreverted to the peasants. Indigo sharecropping disappeared.\\nGandhi never contented himself with large political or\\neconomic solutions. He saw the cultural and social\\nbackwardness in the Champaran villages and wanted to\\ndo something about it immediately. He appealed for\\nteachers. Mahadev Desai and Narhari Parikh, two young\\nmen who had just joined Gandhi as disciples, and their\\nwives, volunteered for the work. Several more came from\\nBombay, Poona and other distant\\nparts of the land. Devadas,\\nGandhi’s youngest son, arrived\\nfrom the ashram and so did Mrs.\\nGandhi. Primary schools were\\nopened in six villages. Kasturbai\\ntaught the ashram rules on\\npersonal cleanliness and\\ncommunity sanitation.\\nHealth conditions were miserable. Gandhi got a doctor\\nto volunteer his services for six months. Three medicines\\nwere available — castor oil, quinine and sulphur ointment.\\nAnybody who showed a coated tongue was given a dose of\\ncastor oil; anybody with malaria fever received quinine\\nplus castor oil; anybody with skin eruptions received\\nointment plus castor oil.\\nGandhi noticed the filthy state of women’s clothes. He\\nasked Kasturbai to talk to them about it. One woman took\\nKasturbai into her hut and said, ‘‘Look, there is no box or\\ncupboard here for clothes. The sari I am wearing is the\\nonly one I have.”\\nDuring his long stay in Champaran, Gandhi kept a\\nlong distance watch on the ashram. He sent regular\\ninstructions by mail and asked for financial accounts. Once\\nhe wrote to the residents that it was time to fill in the old\\nlatrine trenches and dig new ones otherwise the old ones\\nwould begin to smell bad.\\n1.Why did Gandhi agree to a\\nsettlement of 25 per cent\\nrefund to the farmers?\\n2.How did the episode change\\nthe plight of the peasants?\\nReprint 2024-25\\n', '54/Flamingo\\nThe Champaran episode was a turning-point in\\nGandhi’s life. ‘‘What I did,” he explained, “was a very\\nordinary thing. I declared that the British could not order\\nme about in my own country.”\\nBut Champaran did not begin as an act of defiance. It\\ngrew out of an attempt to alleviate the distress of large\\nnumbers of poor peasants. This was the typical Gandhi\\npattern — his politics were intertwined with the practical,\\nday-to-day problems of the millions. His was not a loyalty\\nto abstractions; it was a loyalty to living, human beings.\\nIn everything Gandhi did, mor eover , he tried to mould\\na new free Indian who could stand on his own feet and\\nthus make India free.\\nEarly in the Champaran action, Charles Freer Andrews,\\nthe English pacifist who had become a devoted follower of\\nthe Mahatma, came to bid Gandhi farewell before going on\\na tour of duty to the Fiji Islands. Gandhi’s lawyer friends\\nthought it would be a good idea for Andrews to stay in\\nChamparan and help them. Andrews was willing if Gandhi\\nagreed. But Gandhi was vehemently opposed. He said, ‘‘Y ou\\nthink that in this unequal fight it would be helpful if we\\nhave an Englishman on our side. This shows the weakness\\nof your heart. The cause is just and you must rely upon\\nyourselves to win the battle. Y ou should not seek a pr op in\\nMr. Andr ews because he happens to be an Englishman’’.\\n‘‘He had read our minds correctly,’’ Rajendra Prasad\\ncomments, “and we had no reply… Gandhi in this way taught\\nus a lesson in self-reliance’’.\\nSelf-reliance, Indian independence and help to\\nsharecroppers wer e all bound together .\\nUnderstanding  the text\\n1.Why do you think Gandhi considered the Champaran episode\\nto be a turning-point in his life?\\n2.How was Gandhi able to influence lawyers? Give instances.\\n3.What was the attitude of the average Indian in smaller localities\\ntowards advocates of ‘home rule’?\\n4.How do we know that ordinary people too contributed to the\\nfreedom movement?\\nReprint 2024-25\\n', 'Indigo /55\\nTalking  about the text\\nDiscuss the following.\\n1.“Freedom from fear is more important than legal justice for\\nthe poor .”\\nDo you think that the poor of India are free from fear after\\nIndependence?\\n2.The qualities of a good leader .\\nWorking  with words\\n•List the words used in the text that are related to legal\\nprocedures.\\nFor example: deposition\\n•List other words that you know that fall into this category.\\nThinking  about language\\n1.Notice the sentences in the text  which are in ‘direct speech’.\\nWhy does the author use quotations in his narration?\\n2.Notice the use or non-use of the comma in the following sentences.\\n(a)When I first visited Gandhi in 1942 at his ashram in\\nSevagram, he told me what happened in Champaran.\\n(b)He had not proceeded far when the police superintendent’s\\nmessenger overtook him.\\n(c)When the court reconvened, the judge said he would not\\ndeliver the judgment for several days.\\nThings  to do\\n1.Choose an issue that has provoked a controversy like the Bhopal\\nGas Tragedy or the Narmada Dam Project in which the lives of\\nthe poor have been affected.\\n2.Find out the facts of the case.\\n3.Present your arguments.\\n4.Suggest a possible settlement.\\nABOUT  THE UNIT\\nTHEME\\nThe leadership shown by Mahatma Gandhi to secure justice\\nfor oppressed people through convincing argumentation and\\nnegotiation.\\nReprint 2024-25\\n', '56/Flamingo\\nSUB-THEME\\nContributions made by anonymous Indians to the freedom\\nmovement.\\nREADING  COMPREHENSION\\n•Intensive reading of factual writing to understand events and\\nfacts. The think as you read questions at the end of each section\\nhelp in understanding descriptions of people, consolidating\\nfacts and focusing on what is important to understand further\\nsections.\\n•Scanning for specific instances in the text to support given\\nstatements.\\n•Inferential questions to reason out certain statements in the text.\\nTALKING  ABOUT  THE TEXT\\nDiscussion as a take-off from the text and making pupils think\\nabout issues such as freedom from fear as a prerequisite for\\njustice. Understanding leadership qualities – direct relevance\\nto pupils’ prospects. Fluency development.\\nWORKING  WITH WORDS\\nMaking  pupils notice the specialist vocabulary used in legal\\nparlance.\\nNOTICING  FORM\\n•Use of direct speech in narration. Pupils are already aware of\\nthe form changes when  spoken words are reported. They should\\nnow be able to notice the choice of form in contexts of use to\\nstrengthen the effectiveness of narration.\\n•Use of the comma to separate subordinate clause from main\\nclause if it precedes it, and its omission if it comes after the\\nmain clause.\\nTHINGS TO DO\\nExtension activity to help pupils understand the method of Gandhian\\nactivism and relate it to current problems of national importance .\\n•Investigation of facts\\n•Presentation of arguments\\n•Settlement\\nReprint 2024-25\\n', '', 'Poets and Pancakes /57\\nPoets and Pancakes\\nAbout the author\\nAsokamitran  (1931–2017), a T amil writer , recounts\\nhis years at Gemini Studios in his book My Y ears with\\nBoss  which talks of the influence of movies on every\\naspect of life in India. The Gemini Studios, located in\\nChennai, was set up in 1940. It was one of the most\\ninfluential film-producing organisations of India in the\\nearly days of Indian film-making. Its founder was S.S.\\nVasan. The duty of Asokamitran in Gemini Studios was\\nto cut out newspaper clippings on a wide variety of\\nsubjects and store them in files. Many of these had to\\nbe written out by hand. Although he performed an\\ninsignificant function he was the most well-informed of\\nall the members of the Gemini family. The following is\\nan excerpt fr om his book My Y ears with Boss.\\nNotice these words and expressions in the text.\\nInfer their meaning from the context.\\n/circle5 blew over /circle5 was struck dumb\\n/circle5 catapulted into /circle5 a coat of mail\\n/circle5 played into their hands /circle5 the favourite haunt\\n/circle5 heard a bell ringing\\nPancake was the brand name of the make-up material that\\nGemini Studios bought in truck-loads. Greta Garbo1 must\\nhave used it, Miss Gohar must have used it, Vyjayantimala2\\nmust also have used it but Rati Agnihotri may not have\\neven heard of it. The make-up department of the Gemini\\nStudios was in the upstairs of a building that was believed\\nto have been Robert Clive’s stables. A dozen other buildings6\\n1.A Swedish actress, in 1954 she received an Honorary Oscar for her unforgettable screen\\nperformances. The Guinness Book of W orld Recor ds named her the most beautiful woman\\nwho ever lived. She was also voted Best Silent Actress of the country.\\n2.An Indian actress whose performance was widely appreciated in Bimal Roy’s Devdas . She\\nwon three Best Actress awards for her acting. She is now an active politician.\\nReprint 2024-25\\n', '58/FLAMINGO\\nin the city are said to have been his residence. For his\\nbrief life and an even briefer stay in Madras, Robert Clive\\nseems to have done a lot of moving, besides fighting some\\nimpossible battles in remote corners of India and marrying\\na maiden in St. Mary’s Church in Fort St. George in\\nMadras.\\nThe mak e-up r oom had the look of a hair -cutting salon\\nwith lights at all angles around half a dozen large mirrors.\\nThey were all incandescent lights, so you can imagine the\\nfiery misery of those subjected to make-up. The make-up\\ndepartment was first headed by a Bengali who became too\\nbig for a studio and left. He was succeeded by a\\nMaharashtrian who was assisted by a Dharwar Kannadiga,\\nan Andhra, a Madras Indian Christian, an Anglo-Burmese\\nand the usual local Tamils. All this shows that there was a\\ngreat deal of national integration long before A.I.R. and\\nDoordarshan began broadcasting programmes on national\\nintegration. This gang of nationally integrated make-up men\\ncould turn any decent-looking person into a hideous crimson\\nhued monster with the help of truck-loads of pancake and a\\nnumber of other locally made potions and lotions. Those\\nwere the days of mainly indoor shooting, and only five\\nper cent of the film was shot outdoors. I suppose the sets\\nand studio lights needed the girls and boys to be made to\\nlook ugly in order to look presentable in the movie. A strict\\nhierarchy was maintained in the\\nmake-up department. The chief\\nmake-up man made the chief actors\\nand actresses ugly, his senior\\nassistant the ‘second’ hero and\\nheroine, the junior assistant the main\\ncomedian, and so forth. The players\\nwho played the crowd were the\\nresponsibility of the office boy. (Even\\nthe make-up department of the\\nGemini Studio had an ‘office boy’!) On\\nthe days when there was a crowd-\\nshooting, you could see him mixing\\nhis paint in a giant vessel and\\nReprint 2024-25\\n', 'Poets and Pancakes /59\\nslapping it on the crowd players. The idea was to close every\\npore on the surface of the face in the process of applying\\nmake-up. He wasn’t exactly a ‘boy’; he was in his early forties,\\nhaving entered the studios years ago in the hope of becoming\\na star actor or a top scr een writer ,\\ndirector or lyrics writer . He was a\\nbit of a poet.\\nIn those days I worked in a\\ncubicle, two whole sides of which\\nwere French windows. (I didn’t\\nknow at that time they were called\\nFrench windows.) Seeing me\\nsitting at my desk tearing up\\nnewspapers day in and day out,\\nmost people thought I was doing\\nnext to nothing. It is likely that\\nthe Boss thought likewise too. So\\nanyone who felt I should be given\\nsome occupation would barge into\\nmy cubicle and deliver an extended lecture. The ‘boy’ in the\\nmake-up department had decided I should be enlightened\\non how great literary talent was being allowed to go waste in\\na department fit only for barbers and perverts. Soon I was\\npraying for crowd -shooting all the time. Nothing short of it\\ncould save me from his epics.\\nIn all instances of frustration, you will always find\\nthe anger directed towards a single person openly or covertly\\nand this man of the make-up department was convinced\\nthat all his woes, ignominy and neglect were due to\\nKothamangalam Subbu. Subbu was the No. 2 at Gemini\\nStudios. He couldn’t have had a more encouraging opening\\nin films than our grown-up make-up boy had. On the\\ncontrary he must have had to face more uncertain and\\ndifficult times, for when he began his car eer, ther e wer e\\nno firmly established film producing companies or studios.\\nEven in the matter of education, specially formal education,\\nSubbu couldn’t have had an appreciable lead over our boy.\\nBut by virtue of being born a Brahmin — a virtue, indeed!\\n— he must have had exposure to more affluent situations\\n1.What does the writer mean by\\n‘the fiery misery’ of those\\nsubjected to make-up’?\\n2.What is the example of\\nnational integration that the\\nauthor refers to?\\n3.What work did the ‘office boy’\\ndo in the Gemini Studios? Why\\ndid he join the studios? Why\\nwas he disappointed?\\n4.Why did the author appear to\\nbe doing nothing  at the\\nstudios?\\nReprint 2024-25\\n', '60/FLAMINGO\\nand people. He had the ability to look cheerful at all times\\neven after having had a hand in a flop film. He always had\\nwork for somebody — he could never do things on his own\\n— but his sense of loyalty made him identify himself with\\nhis principal completely and turn his entire creativity to\\nhis principal’s advantage. He was tailor -made for films.\\nHere was a man who could be inspired when commanded.\\n“The rat fights the tigress underwater and kills her but\\ntakes pity on the cubs and tends them lovingly — I don’t\\nknow how to do the scene,” the producer would say and\\nSubbu would come out with four ways of the rat pouring\\naffection on its victim’s offspring. “Good, but I am not sure\\nit is effective enough,” the producer would say and in a\\nminute Subbu would come out with fourteen more\\nalternatives. Film-making must have been and was so easy\\nwith a man like Subbu around and if ever there was a man\\nwho gave direction and definition to Gemini Studios during\\nits golden years, it was Subbu. Subbu had a separate\\nidentity as a poet and though he was certainly capable of\\nmore complex and higher forms, he deliberately chose to\\naddress his poetry to the masses. His success in films\\novershadowed and dwarfed his literary achievements — or\\nso his critics felt. He composed several truly original ‘story\\npoems’ in folk refrain and diction and also wrote a sprawling\\nnovel Thillana Mohanambal with dozens of very deftly etched\\ncharacters. He quite successfully recreated the mood and\\nmanner of the Devadasis of the early 20th century. He\\nwas an amazing actor — he never aspired to the lead roles\\n— but whatever subsidiary role he played in any of the\\nfilms, he performed better than the supposed main players.\\nHe had a genuine love for anyone he came across and his\\nhouse was a permanent residence for dozens of near and\\nfar relations and acquaintances. It seemed against Subbu’s\\nnature to be even conscious that he was feeding and\\nsupporting so many of them. Such a charitable and\\nimprovident man, and yet he had enemies! W as it because\\nhe seemed so close and intimate with The Boss? Or was it\\nhis general demeanour that resembled a sycophant’s? Or\\nhis readiness to say nice things about everything? In any\\nReprint 2024-25\\n', 'Poets and Pancakes /61\\ncase, there was this man in the make-up department who\\nwould wish the direst things for Subbu.\\nYou saw Subbu always with The Boss but in the\\nattendance rolls, he was grouped under a department called\\nthe Story Department comprising a lawyer and an assembly\\nof writers and poets. The lawyer was also officially known\\nas the legal adviser , but everybody r eferred to him as the\\nopposite. An extremely talented actress, who was also\\nextremely temperamental, once blew over on the sets. While\\neveryone stood stunned, the lawyer quietly switched on\\nthe recording equipment. When the actress paused for\\nbreath, the lawyer said to her , “One minute, please,” and\\nplayed back the recording. There was nothing incriminating\\nor unmentionably foul about the actress’s tirade against\\nthe pr oducer . But when she hear d her voice again thr ough\\nthe sound equipment, she was struck dumb. A girl from\\nthe countryside, she hadn’t gone through all the stages of\\nworldly experience that generally precede a position of\\nimportance and sophistication that she had found herself\\ncatapulted into. She never quite recovered from the terror\\nshe felt that day. That was the end of a brief and brilliant\\nacting car eer — the legal adviser ,\\nwho was also a member of the\\nStory Department, had\\nunwittingly brought about that\\nsad end. While every other\\nmember of the Department wore\\na kind of uniform — khadi dhoti\\nwith a slightly oversized and\\nclumsily tailored white khadi shirt\\n— the legal adviser wore pants\\nand a tie and sometimes a coat\\nthat looked like a coat of mail.\\nOften he looked alone and\\nhelpless — a man of cold logic in\\na crowd of dreamers — a neutral\\nman in an assembly of Gandhiites\\nand khadiites. Like so many of those who were close to\\nThe Boss, he was allowed to produce a film and though a\\n1.Why was the office boy\\nfrustrated? Who did he show\\nhis anger on?\\n2.Who was Subbu’s principal?\\n3.Subbu is described as a\\nmany-sided genius. List four of\\nhis special abilities.\\n4.Why was the legal adviser\\nreferred to as the opposite by\\nothers?\\n5.What made the lawyer stand\\nout from the others at Gemini\\nStudios?\\nReprint 2024-25\\n', '62/FLAMINGO\\nlot of raw stock and pancake were used on it, not much\\ncame of the film. Then one day The Boss closed down the\\nStory Department and this was perhaps the only instance\\nin all human history where a lawyer lost his job because\\nthe poets were asked to go home.\\nGemini Studios was the favourite haunt of poets like\\nS.D.S.Y ogiar3, Sangu Subramanyam, Krishna Sastry and\\nHarindranath Chattopadhyaya4. It had an excellent mess\\nwhich supplied good coffee at all times of the day and for\\nmost part of the night. Those were the days when Congress\\nrule meant Prohibition and meeting over a cup of coffee\\nwas rather satisfying entertainment. Barring the office boys\\nand a couple of clerks, everybody else at the Studios\\nradiated leisure, a pre-requisite for poetry. Most of them\\nwore khadi and worshipped Gandhiji but beyond that they\\nhad not the faintest appreciation for political thought of\\nany kind. Naturally, they were all averse to the term\\n‘Communism’. A Communist was a godless man — he had\\nno filial or conjugal love; he had no compunction about\\nkilling his own parents or his children; he was always out\\nto cause and spread unrest and violence among innocent\\nand ignorant people. Such notions which prevailed\\neverywhere else in South India at that time also, naturally,\\nfloated about vaguely among the khadi-clad poets of Gemini\\nStudios. Evidence of it was soon forthcoming.\\nWhen Frank Buchman’s Moral Re-Armament army,\\nsome two hundred strong, visited Madras sometime in 1952,\\nthey could not have found a warmer host in India than the\\nGemini Studios. Someone called the group an international\\ncircus. They weren’t very good on the trapeze and their\\nacquaintance with animals was only at the dinner table,\\nbut they pr esented two plays in a most pr ofessional manner .\\nTheir ‘Jotham V alley’ and ‘The For gotten Factor’ ran several\\nshows in Madras and along with the other citizens of the\\ncity, the Gemini family of six hundred saw the plays over\\nand over again. The message of the plays were usually\\nplain and simple homilies, but the sets and costumes were\\nfirst-rate. Madras and the Tamil drama community were\\n3.A freedom fighter and a national poet.\\n4.A poet and a playwright.\\nReprint 2024-25\\n', 'Poets and Pancakes /63\\nterribly impressed and for some years almost all Tamil plays\\nhad a scene of sunrise and sunset in the manner of ‘Jotham\\nValley’ with a bar e stage, a white backgr ound curtain and\\na tune played on the flute. It was some years later that I\\nlearnt that the MRA was a kind of counter -movement to\\ninternational Communism and the big bosses of Madras\\nlike Mr . Vasan simply played into their hands. I am not\\nsure however , that this was indeed the case, for the\\nunchangeable aspects of these big bosses and\\ntheir enterprises remained the same, MRA or no MRA,\\ninternational Communism or no international Communism.\\nThe staff of Gemini Studios had a nice time hosting two\\nhundred people of all hues and sizes of at least twenty\\nnationalities. It was such a change from the usual collection\\nof crowd players waiting to be slapped with thick layers of\\nmake-up by the office-boy in the make-up department.\\nA few months later , the telephone lines of the big bosses\\nof Madras buzzed and once again we at Gemini Studios\\nclear ed a whole shooting stage to welcome another visitor .\\nAll they said was that he was a poet from England. The\\nonly poets from England the simple Gemini staff knew or\\nheard of wer e Wordsworth and T ennyson; the mor e literate\\nones knew of Keats, Shelley and Byron; and one or two\\nmight have faintly come to know of someone by the name\\nEliot. Who was the poet visiting the Gemini Studios now?\\n“He is not a poet. He is an editor . That’s why The Boss\\nis giving him a big r eception.” V asan was also the editor of\\nthe popular Tamil weekly Ananda Vikatan .\\nHe wasn’t the editor of any of the known names of\\nBritish publications in Madras, that is, those known at\\nthe Gemini Studios. Since the top men of The Hindu were\\ntaking the initiative, the surmise was that the poet was\\nthe editor of a daily — but not from The Manchester Guardian\\nor the London T imes. That was all that even the most well-\\ninformed among us knew.\\nAt last, around four in the afternoon, the poet (or the\\neditor) arrived. He was a tall man, very English, very serious\\nand of course very unknown to all of us. Battling with half\\na dozen pedestal fans on the shooting stage, The Boss read\\nReprint 2024-25\\n', '64/FLAMINGO\\n1.Did the people at Gemini\\nStudios have any particular\\npolitical affiliations?\\n2.  Why was the Moral\\nRearmament Army welcomed\\nat the Studios?\\n3.Name one example to show\\nthat Gemini studios was\\ninfluenced by the plays staged\\nby MRA.\\n4.  Who was The Boss of Gemini\\nStudios?\\n5.What caused the lack of\\ncommunication between the\\nEnglishman and the people at\\nGemini Studios?\\n6.Why is the Englishman’s visit\\nreferred to as unexplained\\nmystery?out a long speech. It was obvious\\nthat he too knew precious li ttle\\nabout the poet (or the editor). The\\nspeech was all in the most genera l\\nterms but here and there it was\\npeppered with words like ‘freedom’\\nand ‘democracy’. Then the poet\\nspoke. He couldn’t have addressed a\\nmore dazed and silent audience —\\nno one knew what he was talking\\nabout and his accent defeated any\\nattempt to understand what he was\\nsaying. The whole thing lasted about\\nan hour; then the poet left and we\\nall dispersed in utter bafflement —\\nwhat are we doing? What is an\\nEnglish poet doing in a film studio\\nwhich makes Tamil films for the\\nsimplest sort of people? People whose\\nlives least afforded them the\\npossibility of cultivating a taste for English poetry? The poet\\nlooked pretty baffled too, for he too must have felt the sheer\\nincongruity of his talk about the thrills and travails of an English\\npoet. His visit remained an unexplained mystery.\\nThe great prose-writers of the world may not admit it,\\nbut my conviction grows stronger day after day that prose-\\nwriting is not and cannot be the true pursuit of a genius.\\nIt is for the patient, persistent, persevering drudge with a\\nheart so shrunken that nothing can break it; rejection\\nslips don’t mean a thing to him; he at once sets about\\nmaking a fresh copy of the long prose piece and sends it on\\nto another editor enclosing postage for the return of the\\nmanuscript. It was for such people that The Hindu had\\npublished a tiny announcement in an insignificant corner\\nof an unimportant page — a short story contest organised\\nby a British periodical by the name The Encounter . Of course,\\nThe Encounter wasn’t a known commodity among the Gemini\\nliterati. I wanted to get an idea of the periodical before I\\nspent a considerable sum in postage sending a manuscript\\nReprint 2024-25\\n', 'Poets and Pancakes /65\\nto England. In those days, the British Council Library had\\nan entrance with no long winded signboards and notices to\\nmake you feel you were sneaking into a forbidden area.\\nAnd there were copies of The Encounter lying about in\\nvarious degrees of freshness, almost untouched by readers.\\nWhen I read the editor’s name, I heard a bell ringing in my\\nshrunken heart. It was the poet who had visited the Gemini\\nStudios — I felt like I had found a long lost brother and I\\nsang as I sealed the envelope and wrote out his address. I\\nfelt that he too would be singing the same song at the\\nsame time — long lost brothers of Indian films discover\\neach other by singing the same song in the first reel\\nand in the final reel of the film. Stephen Spender5.\\nStephen — that was his name.\\nAnd years later , when I was out of Gemini Studios and\\nI had much time but not much money, anything at a\\nreduced price attracted my attention. On the footpath in\\nfront of the Madras Mount Road Post Office, there was a\\npile of brand new books for fifty paise each. Actually they\\nwere copies of the same book, an elegant paperback of\\nAmerican origin. ‘Special low-priced student edition, in\\nconnection with the 50th Anniversary of the Russian\\nRevolution’, I paid fifty paise and picked up a copy of the\\nbook, The God That Failed . Six\\neminent men of letters in six\\nseparate essays described ‘their\\njourneys into Communism and\\ntheir disillusioned return’; Andre\\nGide6, Richar d Wright7, Ignazio\\nSilone8, Arthur Koestler9, Louis\\nFischer10 and Stephen Spender .\\nStephen Spender! Suddenly the\\nbook assumed tremendous\\n1.Who was the English visitor to\\nthe studios?\\n2.How did the author discover\\nwho the English visitor to the\\nstudios was?\\n3.What does The God that\\nFailed refer to?\\n5.An English poet essayist who concentrated on themes of social injustice and class struggle.\\n6.A French writer , humanist, moralist, r eceived the Nobel Prize for Literatur e in 1947.\\n7.An American writer , known for his novel Native Son  and his autobiography Black Boy.\\n8.An Italian writer , who was the founder member of the Italian communist party in 1921, and\\nis known for the book. The God That Failed , authored by him.\\n9.A Hungarian born British novelist, known for his novel Darkness at Noon .\\n10.A well known American journalist and a writer of Mahatma Gandhi’s biography entitled\\nThe Life of M ahatma Gandhi . The Oscar winning film Gandhi is based on this biographical\\naccount.\\nReprint 2024-25\\n', '66/FLAMINGO\\nsignificance. Stephen Spender , the poet who had visited\\nGemini Studios! In a moment I felt a dark chamber of my\\nmind lit up by a hazy illumination. The reaction to Stephen\\nSpender at Gemini Studios was no longer a mystery. The\\nBoss of the Gemini Studios may not have much to do with\\nSpender’s poetry. But not with his god that failed.\\nUnderstanding  the text\\n1.The author has used gentle humour to point out human foibles.\\nPick out instances of this to show how this serves to make the\\npiece interesting.\\n2.Why was Kothamangalam Subbu considered No. 2 in Gemini\\nStudios?\\n3.How does the author describe the incongruity of an English poet\\naddressing the audience at Gemini Studios?\\n4.What do you understand about the author’s literary inclinations\\nfrom the account?\\nTalking  about the text\\nDiscuss in small groups taking off from points in the text.\\n1.Film-production today has come a long way from the early days\\nof the Gemini Studios.\\n2.Poetry and films.\\n3.Humour and criticism.\\nNoticing  transitions\\n•This piece is an example of a chatty, rambling style. One\\nthought leads to another which is then dwelt upon at length.\\n•Read the text again and mark the transitions from one idea to\\nanother . The first one is indicated below.\\nMake-up department                Office-boy               Subbu\\nWriting\\nYou must have met some inter esting characters in your\\nneighbour hood or among your r elatives. W rite a humour ous\\npiece about their idiosyncrasies. Try to adopt the author’s\\nrambling style, if you can.\\nReprint 2024-25\\n', 'Poets and Pancakes /67\\nThings  to do\\nCollect about twenty cartoons from newspapers and magazines\\nin any langauge to discuss how important people or events\\nhave been satirised. Comment on the interplay of the words\\nand the pictures used.\\nABOUT  THE UNIT\\nTHEME\\nAn account of the events and personalities in a film company\\nin the early days of Indian cinema.\\nSUB-THEME\\nPoets and writers in a film company environment.\\nCOMPREHENSION\\n•Understanding humour and satire.\\n•Following a rambling, chatty style and making inferences.\\nTALKING  ABOUT  THE TEXT\\nDiscuss\\n•Today’s film technology compared with that of the early days of\\nIndian cinema (comparing and contrasting).\\n•Poetry and films; criticism and humour .\\nNOTICING  TRANSITIONS\\nFocus on devices for achieving thematic coherence.\\nWRITING\\nPractice writing in the humorous style.\\nTHINGS TO DO\\nExtension activity on cartoons as a vehicle of satirical comment\\non human foibles.\\nReprint 2024-25\\n', '', '68/Flamingo\\nThe Interview\\nFrom the Introduction to The Penguin Book of Interviews\\nedited by Christopher Silvester .\\nAbout the Author\\nChristopher Silvester  (1959) was a student of history\\nat Peterhouse, Cambridge. He was a reporter for Private\\nEye for ten years and has written featur es for Vanity\\nFair. Following is an excerpt taken fr om his intr oduction\\nto the Penguin Book of Interviews, An Anthology from\\n1859 to the Present Day.\\nPart I\\nSince its invention a little over 130 years ago, the interview\\nhas become a commonplace of journalism. Today, almost\\neverybody who is literate will have read an interview at\\nsome point in their lives, while from the other point of\\nview, several thousand celebrities have been interviewed\\nover the years, some of them repeatedly. So it is hardly\\nsurprising that opinions of the interview — of its functions,\\nmethods and merits — vary considerably. Some might make\\nquite extravagant claims for it as being, in its highest form,\\na source of truth, and, in its practice, an art. Others,\\nusually celebrities who see themselves as its victims, might\\ndespise the interview as an unwarranted intrusion into\\ntheir lives, or feel that it somehow diminishes them, just\\nas in some primitive cultures it is believed that if one\\ntakes a photographic portrait of somebody then one is\\nstealing that person’s soul. V . S. Naipaul1 ‘feels that some\\npeople are wounded by interviews and lose a part of\\nthemselves,’ Lewis Carroll, the creator of Alice in\\nWonderland, was said to have had ‘a just horr or of the\\ninterviewer’ and he never consented to be interviewed — It7\\n1.Known as a cosmopolitan writer . In his travel books and in his documentary works he\\npresents his impressions of the country of his ancestors that is India. He received the Nobel\\nPrize in Literature in 2001.\\nReprint 2024-25\\n', 'The Interview /69\\nwas his horror of being lionized which made him thus repel\\nwould be acquaintances, interviewers, and the persistent\\npetitioners for his autograph and he would afterwards\\nrelate the stories of his success in silencing all such people\\nwith much satisfaction and amusement. Rudyard Kipling2\\nexpressed an even more condemnatory attitude towards\\nthe interviewer . His wife, Car oline, writes in her diary for\\n14 October 1892 that their day was ‘wrecked by two reporters\\nfrom Boston’. She reports her husband as saying to the\\nreporters, “Why do I refuse to be interviewed? Because it\\nis immoral! It is a crime, just as much of a crime as an\\noffence against my person, as an assault, and just as much\\nmerits punishment. It is cowardly and vile. No respectable\\nman would ask it, much less give it,” Y et Kipling had\\nhimself perpetrated such an ‘assault’ on Mark Twain only\\na few years befor e. H. G. W ells3 in an interview in 1894\\nreferred to ‘the interviewing\\nordeal’, but was a fairly frequent\\ninterviewee and forty years later\\nfound himself interviewing\\nJoseph Stalin4. Saul Bellow5, who\\nhas consented to be interviewed\\non several occasions, nevertheless\\nonce described interviews as\\nbeing like thumbprints on his\\nwindpipe. Y et despite the\\ndrawbacks of the interview, it is\\na supremely serviceable medium\\nof communication. “These days,\\nmore than at any other time,\\nour most vivid impressions of\\nour contemporaries are through\\n2.A prolific writer who was known as the poet of the common soldier . Kipling’s Jungle Book\\nwhich is a story of Kimball O’ Hara and his adventures in the Himalayas is considered as\\na children’s classic all over the world.\\n3.An English novelist, journalist, sociologist and historian he is known for his works of\\nscience fiction. W ells best known books ar e The T ime Machine, The Invisible Man and\\nThe W ar of the W orlds.\\n4.A great Russian r evolutionary and an active political or ganiser .\\n5.A playwright as well as a novelist, Bellow’s works wer e influenced widely by W orld\\nWar II. Among his most famous characters ar e Augie Mar ch and Moses. He published short\\nstories translated from Yiddish. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1976.\\n1.What are some of the positive\\nviews on interviews?\\n2.Why do most celebrity writers\\ndespise being interviewed?\\n3.What is the belief in some\\nprimitive cultures about being\\nphotographed?\\n6.What do you understand by the\\nexpression “thumbprints on his\\nwindpipe”?\\n5.Who, in today’s world, is our\\nchief source of information\\nabout personalities?\\nReprint 2024-25\\n', '70/Flamingo\\ninterviews,” Denis Brian has written. “Almost everything\\nof moment reaches us through one man asking questions\\nof another . Because of this, the interviewer holds a position\\nof unprecedented power and influence.”\\nPart II\\n“I am a professor who writes novels on Sundays” –Umberto Eco\\nThe following is an extract from an interview of Umberto\\nEco. The interviewer is Mukund Padmanabhan from\\nThe Hindu . Umberto Eco, a professor at the University\\nof Bologna in Italy had already acquired a formidable\\nreputation as a scholar for his ideas on semiotics (the\\nstudy of signs), literary interpretation, and medieval\\naesthetics before he turned to writing fiction. Literary\\nfiction, academic texts, essays, children’s books,\\nnewspaper article s—his written output is staggeringly\\nlarge and wide-ranging, In 1980, he acquired the\\nequivalent of intellectual superstardom with the\\npublication of The Name of the Rose , which sold more\\nthan 10 million copies.\\nMukund: The English novelist and academic David Lodge\\nonce remarked, “I can’t understand how one man\\ncan do all the things he [Eco] does.”\\nUmberto Eco:  Maybe I give the impression of doing many\\nthings. But in the end, I am convinced I am always\\ndoing the same thing.\\nMukund: Which is?\\nUmberto Eco: Aah, now that is more difficult to explain.\\nI have some philosophical interests and I pursue\\nthem through my academic work and my novels.\\nEven my books for children are about non-violence\\nand peace...you see, the same bunch of ethical,\\nphilosophical interests.\\nAnd then I have a secret. Did you know what will\\nhappen if you eliminate the empty spaces from the\\nuniverse, eliminate the empty spaces in all the\\natoms? The universe will become as big as my fist.\\nReprint 2024-25\\n', 'The Interview /71\\nSimilarly, we have a lot of empty spaces in our\\nlives. I call them interstices. Say you are coming\\nover to my place. Y ou ar e in an elevator and while\\nyou are coming up, I am waiting for you. This is an\\ninterstice, an empty space. I work in empty spaces.\\nWhile waiting for your elevator to come up from\\nthe first to the thir d floor , I have alr eady written\\nan article! ( Laughs ).\\nMukund: Not everyone can do that of course. Y our\\nnon-fictional writing, your scholarly work has a\\ncertain playful and personal quality about it. It is\\na marked departure from a regular academic\\nstyle — which is invariably depersonalised and\\noften dry and boring. Have you consciously adopted\\nan informal approach or is it something that just\\ncame naturally to you?\\nUmberto Eco: When I presented my first Doctoral\\ndissertation in Italy, one of the Professors said,\\n“Scholars learn a lot of a certain subject, then they\\nmake a lot of false hypotheses, then they correct them\\nand at the end, they put the conclusions. Y ou, on the\\ncontrary, told the story of your research. Even including\\nyour trials and errors.” At the same time, he recognised\\nI was right and went on to publish my dissertation as\\na book, which meant he appreciated it.\\nAt that point, at the age of 22, I understood\\nscholarly books should be written the way I had\\ndone — by telling the story of the research. This is\\nwhy my essays always have a narrative aspect.\\nAnd this is why probably I started writing narratives\\n[novels] so late — at the age of 50, more or less.\\nI remember that my dear friend Roland Barthes\\nwas always frustrated that he was an essayist and\\nnot a novelist. He wanted to do creative writing\\none day or another but he died before he could do\\nso. I never felt this kind of frustration. I started\\nwriting novels by accident. I had nothing to do one\\nReprint 2024-25\\n', '72/Flamingo\\nday and so I started. Novels probably satisfied my\\ntaste for narration.\\nMukund: Talking about novels, from being a famous\\nacademic you went on to becoming spectacularly\\nfamous after the publication of The Name of the\\nRose. You’ve written five novels against many mor e\\nscholarly works of non-fiction, at least more than\\n20 of them...\\nUmberto Eco: Over 40.\\nMukund: Over 40! Among them a seminal piece of work\\non semiotics. But ask most people about Umberto\\nEco and they will say, “Oh, he’s the novelist.” Does\\nthat bother you?\\nUmberto Eco: Y es. Because I consider myself a\\nuniversity professor who writes novels on Sundays.\\nIt’s not a joke. I participate in academic conferences\\nand not meetings of Pen Clubs and writers. I\\nidentify myself with the academic community.\\nBut okay, if they [most people] have read only the\\nnovels... ( laughs and shrugs ). I know that by writing\\nnovels, I reach a larger audience. I cannot expect\\nto have one million readers with stuff on semiotics.\\nMukund: Which brings me to my next question. The\\nName of the Rose is a very serious novel. It’s a\\ndetective yarn at one level but it also delves into\\nmetaphysics, theology, and medieval history. Y et\\nit enjoyed a huge mass audience. W ere you puzzled\\nat all by this?\\nUmberto Eco: No. Journalists are puzzled. And\\nsometimes publishers. And this is because\\njournalists and publishers believe that people like\\ntrash and don’t like difficult reading experiences.\\nConsider there are six billion people on this planet.\\nThe Name of the Rose  sold between 10 and 15\\nmillion copies. So in a way I reached only a small\\nReprint 2024-25\\n', 'The Interview /73\\npercentage of readers. But it is exactly these kinds\\nof readers who don’t want easy experiences. Or at\\nleast don’t always want this. I myself, at 9 pm after\\ndinner , watch television and want to see either\\n‘Miami Vice’ or ‘Emergency Room’. I enjoy it and I\\nneed it. But not all day.\\nMukund: Could the huge success of the novel have\\nanything to do with the fact that it dealt with a\\nperiod of medieval history that...\\nUmberto Eco: That’s possible. But let me tell you\\nanother story, because I often tell stories like a\\nChinese wise man. My American publisher said\\nwhile she loved my book, she didn’t expect to sell\\nmore than 3,000 copies in a country where nobody\\nhas seen a cathedral or studies Latin. So I was\\ngiven an advance for 3,000 copies, but in the end\\nit sold two or three million in the U.S.\\nA lot of books have been written about the medieval\\npast far before mine. I think the success of the\\nbook is a mystery. Nobody can predict it. I think if\\nI had written The Name of the Rose  ten years earlier\\nor ten years later , it wouldn’t have been the same.\\nWhy it worked at that time is a mystery.\\nUnderstanding  the text\\n1.Do you think Umberto Eco likes being interviewed? Give reasons\\nfor your opinion.\\n2.How does Eco find the time to write so much?\\n3.What was distinctive about Eco’s academic writing style?\\n4.Did Umberto Eco consider himself a novelist first or an academic\\nscholar?\\n5.What is the reason for the huge success of the novel, The Name\\nof the Rose?\\nReprint 2024-25\\n', '74/Flamingo\\nTalking  about the text\\nDiscuss in pairs or small groups.\\n1.Talk about any interview that you have watched on television or\\nread in a newspaper . How did it add to your understanding of\\nthe celebrity, the interviewer and the field of the celebrity?\\n2.The medium you like best for an interview,  print,  radio, or television.\\n3.Every famous person has a right to his or her privacy.\\nInterviewers sometimes embarrass celebrities with very personal\\nquestions.\\nNoticing  discourse linkers and signallers\\nLINKERS\\nNotice how the utterances of the interviewer and the interviewee\\nare linked to one another .  The linkers have been italicised for\\nyou.\\nLinking is done either through the use of reference pronouns,\\nlike ‘that’, ‘this’, ‘which’ etc. It can also be done through a\\nrepetition of words.\\nI am convinced I am always doing the same thing.\\nWhich  is?\\nAah, now that is more difficult to explain.\\n…..\\nWhile waiting for your elevator to come up from the first to the\\nthird floor , I have alr eady written an article! ( Laughs ).\\nNot everyone can do that of course.\\n……………………………………….\\nNovels probably satisfied my taste for narration.\\nTalking about novels,\\n………………………………………….\\nat least more than 20 of them...\\nOver 40.\\nReprint 2024-25\\n', 'The Interview /75\\nOver 40.\\n……………………………………………..\\nI cannot expect to have one million readers with stuff on\\nsemiotics.\\nWhich  brings me to my next question.\\n………………………………………………………\\nWere you puzzled  at all by this?\\nNo. Journalists are puzzled.\\n……………………………………………………………..\\nCould the huge success of the novel have anything to do\\nwith the fact that it dealt with a period of medieval history\\nthat...\\nThat’s  possible\\n……………………………………………………………………………\\nThe use of linkers is important in all continuous stretches of\\ntext. It is very important in conversation, especially a structured\\nconversation like an interview.\\nSIGNALLERS\\nWhen there are shifts in the topic the speaker usually indicates\\nthem through phrases that prepare the listener for the shift.\\nNotice these two examples taken from the interview:\\n“Which brings me to another question ….”\\n“But let me tell you another story…”\\nWithout these preparatory signallers the flow of ideas in a\\nconversation will not be smooth and continuous.\\nWriting\\nIf the interviewer Mukund Padmanabhan had not got the space\\nin the newspaper to reproduce the interview verbatim, he may\\nhave been asked to produce a short report of the interview\\nwith the salient points.\\nWrite this r eport for him.\\n[The teacher should be able to help the pupils in what to include\\nand what can be omitted. W e could also pr ovide a short r eport of\\nan interview as a sample.]\\nReprint 2024-25\\n', '76/Flamingo\\nThings  to do\\nInterview a person whom you admire either in school or your\\nneighbourhood and record it in writing.\\nABOUT  THE UNIT\\nTHEME\\nThe interview as a communication genre.\\nSUB-THEME\\nAn excerpt from an interview with an author.\\nCOMPREHENSION\\n•Understanding personal opinion.\\n•Understanding conversation and the interview pattern.\\nTALKING  ABOUT  THE TEXT\\n•Expressing personal opinion on the interview genre.\\n•Comparing different media of communication.\\nNOTICING  DISCOURSE  LINKERS  AND SIGNALLERS\\nFocus on cohesion and coherence features of discourse.\\nWRITING\\nTransfer of infor mation fr om one genr e to another , e.g., interview\\nto report.\\nTHINGS TO DO\\n•Extension activity giving practice in interviewing people and\\npersonalities.\\n•Questioning and information gathering techniques.\\nReprint 2024-25\\n', '', 'Going Places /77\\nGoing Places\\nAbout the Author\\nA. R. Barton  is a moder n writer , who lives in Zurich\\nand writes in English. In the story Going Places,  Barton\\nexplores the theme of adolescent fantasising and hero\\nworship.\\nNotice these expressions in the text.\\nInfer their meaning from the context.\\n/circle5incongruity /circle5arcade\\n/circle5prodigy /circle5amber glow\\n/circle5chuffed /circle5wharf\\n/circle5solitary elm /circle5pangs of doubt\\n“When I leave,” Sophie said, coming home from school,\\n“I’m going to have a boutique.”\\nJansie, linking arms with her along the street; looked\\ndoubtful.\\n“Takes money, Soaf, something like that.”\\n“I’ll find it,” Sophie said, staring far down the street.\\n“Take you a long time to save that much.”\\n“Well I’ll be a manager then — yes, of course — to begin\\nwith. T ill I’ve got enough. But anyway, I know just how it’s\\nall going to look.”\\n“They wouldn’t make you manager straight off, Soaf.”\\n“I’ll be like Mary Quant,” Sophie said. “I’ll be a natural.\\nThey’ll see it from the start. I’ll have the most amazing\\nshop this city’s ever seen.’”\\nJansie, knowing they were both earmarked for the\\nbiscuit factory, became melancholy. She wished Sophie\\nwouldn’t say these things.\\nWhen they reached Sophie’s street Jansie said, “It’s\\nonly a few months away now, Soaf, you really should be8\\nReprint 2024-25\\n', '78/Flamingo\\nsensible. They don’t pay well for shop work, you know that,\\nyour dad would never allow it.”\\n“Or an actr ess. Now ther e’s real money in that. Y es,\\nand I could maybe have the boutique on the side. Actresses\\ndon’t work full time, do they? Anyway, that or a fashion\\ndesigner , you know — something a bit sophisticated”.\\nAnd she turned in through the open street door leaving\\nJansie standing in the rain.\\n“If ever I come into money I’ll buy a boutique.”\\n“Huh - if you ever come into money... if you ever come\\ninto money you’ll buy us a blessed decent house to live in,\\nthank you very much.”\\nSophie’s father was scooping shepherd’s pie into his\\nmouth as hard as he could go, his plump face still grimy\\nand sweat — marked from the day.\\n“She thinks money grows on trees, don’t she, Dad?’\\nsaid little Der ek, hanging on the back of his father’s chair .\\nTheir mother sighed.\\nSophie watched her back stooped over the sink and\\nwondered at the incongruity of the delicate bow which\\nfastened her apron strings. The delicate-seeming bow and\\nthe crooked back. The evening had already blacked in the\\nwindows and the small room was steamy from the stove\\nand cluttered with the heavy-breathing man in his vest at\\nthe table and the dirty washing piled up in the cor ner.\\nSophie felt a tightening in her throat. She went to look for\\nher brother Geoff.\\nHe was kneeling on the floor in the next room tinkering\\nwith a part of his motorcycle over some newspaper spread\\non the carpet. He was three years out of school, an\\napprentice mechanic, travelling to his work each day to the\\nfar side of the city. He was almost grown up now, and she\\nsuspected areas of his life about which she knew nothing,\\nabout which he never spoke. He said little at all, ever ,\\nvoluntarily. W ords had to be prized out of him like stones\\nout of the ground. And she was jealous of his silence. When\\nhe wasn’t speaking it was as though he was away\\nsomewhere, out there in the world in those places she had\\nnever been. Whether they were only the outlying districts\\nReprint 2024-25\\n', 'Going Places /79\\nof the city, or places beyond in the surrounding country —\\nwho knew?  — they attained a special fascination simply\\nbecause they were unknown to her and remained out of\\nher reach.\\nPerhaps there were also people, exotic, interesting\\npeople of whom he never spoke — it was possible, though\\nhe was quiet and didn’t make new friends easily. She\\nlonged to know them. She wished she could be admitted\\nmore deeply into her brother’s\\naffections and that someday he\\nmight take her with him. Though\\ntheir father forbade it and Geoff\\nhad never expressed an opinion,\\nshe knew he thought her too\\nyoung. And she was impatient.\\nShe was conscious of a vast world\\nout there waiting for her and she\\nknew instinctively that she would\\nfeel as at home there as in the\\ncity which had always been her home. It expectantly awaited\\nher arrival. She saw herself riding there behind Geoff. He\\nwore new, shining black leathers and she a yellow dress\\nwith a kind of cape that flew out behind. There was the\\nsound of applause as the world rose to greet them.\\nHe sat frowning at the oily component he cradled in\\nhis hands, as though it were a small dumb animal and he\\nwas willing it to speak.\\n“I met Danny Casey,” Sophie said.\\nHe looked around abruptly. “Where?”\\n“In the arcade — funnily enough.”\\n“It’s never true.”\\n“I did too.”\\n“You told Dad?”\\nShe shook her head, chastened at his unawareness\\nthat he was always the first to share her secrets.\\n“I don’t believe it.”\\n“There I was looking at the clothes in Royce’s window\\nwhen someone came and stood beside me, and I looked\\naround and who should it be but Danny Casey.”\\n1.Where was it most likely that\\nthe two girls would find work\\nafter school?\\n2.What were the options that\\nSophie was dreaming of? Why\\ndoes Jansie discourage her\\nfrom having such dreams?\\nReprint 2024-25\\n', '80/Flamingo\\n“All right, what does he look like?”\\n“Oh come on, you know what he looks like.”\\n“Close to, I mean.”\\n“Well — he has gr een eyes. Gentle eyes. And he’s not\\nso tall as you’d think...” She wondered if she should say\\nabout his teeth, but decided against it.\\nTheir father had washed when he came in and his\\nface and arms were shiny and pink and he smelled of soap.\\nHe switched on the television, tossed one of little Derek’s\\nshoes from his chair onto the sofa, and sat down with a\\ngrunt.\\n“Sophie met Danny Casey,” Geoff said.\\nSophie wriggled where she was sitting at the table.\\nHer father turned his head on his thick neck to look at\\nher. His expr ession was one of disdain.\\n“It’s true,” Geoff said.\\n“I once knew a man who had known Tom Finney,” his\\nfather said reverently to the television. “But that was a\\nlong time ago.”\\n“You told us,” Geof f said.\\n“Casey might be that good some day.”\\n“Better than that even. He’s the best.”\\n“If he keeps his head on his shoulders. If they look\\nafter him properly. A lot of distractions for a youngster in\\nthe game these days.”\\n“He’ll be all right. He’s with the best team in the\\ncountry.”\\n“He’s very young yet.”\\n“He’s older than I am.”\\n“Too young really for the first team.”\\n“You can’t ar gue with that sort of ability.”\\n“He’s going to buy a shop,” Sophie said from the table.\\nHer father grimaced. “Where’d you hear that?”\\n“He told me so.”\\nHe muttered something inaudible and dragged himself\\nround in his chair . “This another of your wild stories?”\\n“She met him in the arcade,” Geoff said, and told him\\nhow it had been.\\nReprint 2024-25\\n', 'Going Places /81\\n“One of these days you’re going to talk yourself into a\\nload of trouble,” her father said aggressively.\\n“Geoff knows it’s true, don’t you Geoff?”\\n“He don’t believe yo u-though he’d like to.”\\n*                 *                  *\\nThe table lamp cast an amber glow across her brother’s\\nbedroom wall, and across the large poster of United’s first\\nteam squad and the row of coloured photographs beneath,\\nthree of them of the young Irish prodigy, Casey.\\n“Promise you’ll tell no-one?” Sophie said.\\n“Nothing to tell is there?”\\n“Promise, Geoff — Dad’d murder me.”\\n“Only if he thought it was true.”\\n“Please, Geoff.”\\n“Christ, Sophie, you’re still at school. Casey must have\\nstrings of girls.”\\n“No he doesn’t.”\\n“How could you know that?” he jeered.\\n“He told me, that’s how.”\\n“As if anyone would tell a girl something like that.”\\n“Yes he did. He isn’t like that. He’s... quiet.”\\n“Not as quiet as all that — apparently.”\\n“It was nothing like that, Geoff — it was me spoke\\nfirst. When I saw who it was, I said, “Excuse me, but aren’t\\nyou Danny Casey?” And he looked\\nsort of surprised. And he said,\\n“Yes, that’s right.” And I knew it\\nmust be him because he had the\\naccent, you know, like when they\\ninterviewed him on the television.\\nSo I asked him for an autograph\\nfor little Derek, but neither of us\\nhad any paper or a pen. So then\\nwe just talked a bit. About the\\nclothes in Royce’s window. He\\nseemed lonely. After all, it’s a long\\nway from the west of Ireland. And\\nthen, just as he was going, he\\nsaid, if I would care to meet him\\n1.Why did Sophie wriggle when\\nGeoff told her father that she\\nhad met Danny Casey?\\n2.Does Geoff believe what\\nSophie says about her meeting\\nwith Danny Casey?\\n3.Does her father believe her\\nstory?\\n4.How does Sophie include her\\nbrother Geoff in her fantasy of\\nher future?\\n5.Which country did Danny\\nCasey play for?\\nReprint 2024-25\\n', '82/Flamingo\\nnext week he would give me an autograph then. Of course,\\nI said I would.”\\n“As if he’d ever show up.”\\n“You do believe me now, don’t you?”\\nHe dragged his jacket, which was shiny and shapeless,\\nfrom the back of the chair and pushed his arms into it. She\\nwished he paid more attention to his appearance. Wished\\nhe cared more about clothes. He was tall with a strong\\ndark face. Handsome, she thought.\\n“It’s the unlikeliest thing I ever heard,” he said.\\n*                 *                  *\\nOn Saturday they made their weekly pilgrimage to\\nwatch United. Sophie and her father and little Derek went\\ndown near the goal — Geoff, as always, went with his\\nmates higher up. United won two-nil and Casey drove in\\nthe second goal, a blend of innocence and Irish genius,\\ngoing round the two big defenders on the edge of the penalty\\narea, with her father screaming for him to pass, and beating\\nthe hesitant goalkeeper from a dozen yards. Sophie glowed\\nwith pride. Afterwards Geoff was ecstatic.\\n“I wish he was an Englishman,” someone said on the bus.\\n“Ireland’ll win the W orld Cup,” little Der ek told his\\nmother when Sophie brought him home. Her father was\\ngone to the pub to celebrate.\\n“What’s this you’ve been telling?” Jansie said, next\\nweek.\\n“About what?”\\n“Your Geof f told our Frank you met Danny Casey.”\\nThis wasn’t an inquisition, just Jansie being nosey.\\nBut Sophie was startled.\\n“Oh, that.”\\nJansie fr owned, sensing she was covering. “Y es — that.”\\n“Well-yes, I did.”\\n“You never did?” Jansie exclaimed.\\nSophie glared at the ground. Damn that Geoff, this\\nwas a Geoff thing not a Jansie thing. It was meant to be\\nsomething special just between them. Something secret.\\nIt wasn’t a Jansie kind of thing at all. Tell gawky Jansie\\nReprint 2024-25\\n', 'Going Places /83\\nsomething like that and the whole neighbourhood would\\nget to know it. Damn that Geoff, was nothing sacred?\\n“It’s a secret — meant to be.”\\n“I’ll keep a secret, Soaf, you know that.”\\n“I wasn’t going to tell anyone. There’ll be a right old\\nrow if my dad gets to hear about it.”\\nJansie blinked. “A row? I’d have thought he’d be chuffed\\nas anything.”\\nShe realised then that Jansie didn’t know about the\\ndate bit — Geoff hadn’t told about that. She breathed more\\neasily. So Geoff hadn’t let her down after all. He believed\\nin her after all. After all some things might be sacred.\\n“It was just a little thing really. I asked him for an\\nautograph, but we hadn’t any paper or a pen so it was no\\ngood.” How much had Geoff said?\\n“Jesus, I wish I’d have been there.”\\n“Of course, my dad didn’t want to believe it. Y ou know\\nwhat a misery he is. But the last thing I need is queues of\\npeople round our house asking him, “What’s all this about\\nDanny Casey?” He’d murder me. And you know how my\\nmum gets when there’s a row.”\\nJansie said, hushed, “Y ou can trust me, Soaf, you know\\nthat.”\\n*                 *                  *\\nAfter dark she walked by the canal, along a sheltered\\npath lighted only by the glare of the lamps from the wharf\\nacross the water , and the unceasing dr one of the city was\\nmuffled and distant. It was a place she had often played in\\nwhen she was a child. There was a wooden bench beneath\\na solitary elm where lovers sometimes came. She sat down\\nto wait. It was the perfect place, she had always thought\\nso, for a meeting of this kind. For those who wished not to\\nbe observed. She knew he would approve.\\nFor some while, waiting, she imagined his coming. She\\nwatched along the canal, seeing him come out of the\\nshadows, imagining her own consequent excitement. Not\\nuntil some time had elapsed did she begin balancing against\\nthis the idea of his not coming.\\nReprint 2024-25\\n', '84/Flamingo\\nHere I sit, she said to herself, wishing Danny would\\ncome, wishing he would come and sensing the time passing.\\nI feel the pangs of doubt stirring inside me. I watch for him\\nbut still there is no sign of him. I remember Geoff saying\\nhe would never come, and how none of them believed me\\nwhen I told them. I wonder what will I do, what can I tell\\nthem now if he doesn’t come? But we know how it was,\\nDanny and me — that’s the main thing. How can you help\\nwhat people choose to believe? But all the same, it makes\\nme despondent, this knowing I’ll never be able to show\\nthem they’re wrong to doubt me.\\nShe waited, measuring in this way the changes taking\\nplace in her . Resignation was no sudden thing.\\nNow I have become sad, she thought. And it is a hard\\nburden to carry, this sadness. Sitting here waiting and\\nknowing he will not come I can see the future and how I\\nwill have to live with this burden. They of course will doubt\\nme, as they always doubted me, but I will have to hold up\\nmy head remembering how it was. Already I envisage the\\nslow walk home, and Geoff’s disappointed face when I tell\\nhim, “He didn’t come, that Danny.” And then he’ll fly out\\nand slam the door . “But we know how it was,” I shall tell\\nmyself, “Danny and me.” It is a hard thing, this sadness.\\nShe climbed the crumbling steps to the street. Outside\\nthe pub she passed her father’s bicycle propped against\\nthe wall, and was glad. He would not be there when she got\\nhome.\\n“Excuse me, but aren’t you Danny Casey?”\\nComing through the arcade she pictured him again\\noutside Royce’s.\\nHe tur ns, r eddening slightly. “Y es, that’s right.”\\n“I watch you every week, with my dad and my brothers.\\nWe think you’r e great.”\\n“Oh, well now — that’s very nice.”\\n“I wonder — would you mind signing an autograph?”\\nHis eyes are on the same level as your own. His nose is\\nfreckled and turns upwards slightly, and when he smiles\\nhe does so shyly, exposing teeth with gaps between. His\\neyes are green, and when he looks straight at you they\\nReprint 2024-25\\n', 'Going Places /85\\nseem to shimmer . They seem gentle, almost afraid. Like a\\ngazelle’s. And you look away. Y ou\\nlet his eyes run over you a little.\\nAnd then you come back to find\\nthem, slightly breathless.\\nAnd he says, “I don’t seem to\\nhave a pen at all.”\\nYou realise you haven’t either .\\n“My brothers will be very\\nsorry,” you say.\\nAnd afterwards you wait\\nthere alone in the arcade for a\\nlong while, standing where he\\nstood, remembering the soft melodious voice, the shimmer\\nof green eyes. No taller than you. No bolder than you. The\\nprodigy. The innocent genius. The great Danny Casey.\\nAnd she saw it all again, last Saturday — saw him\\nghost past the lumbering defenders, heard the fifty\\nthousand catch their breath as he hovered momentarily\\nover the ball, and then the explosion of sound as he struck\\nit crisply into the goal, the sudden thunderous eruption of\\nexultant approbation.\\nUnderstanding  the text\\n1.Sophie and Jansie were class-mates and friends. What were\\nthe differences between them that show up in the story?\\n2.How would you describe the character and temperament of\\nSophie’s father?\\n3.Why did Sophie like her brother Geoff more than any other\\nperson? From her perspective, what did he symbolise?\\n4.What socio-economic background did Sophie belong to? What\\nare the indicators of her family’s financial status?\\nTalking  about the text\\nDiscuss in pairs.\\n1.Sophie’s dreams and disappointments are all in her mind.\\n1.Why didn’t Sophie want Jansie\\nto know about her story with\\nDanny?\\n2.Did Sophie really meet Danny\\nCasey?\\n3.Which was the only occasion\\nwhen she got to see Danny\\nCasey in person?\\nReprint 2024-25\\n', '86/Flamingo\\n2.It is natural for teenagers to have unrealistic dreams. What\\nwould you say are the benefits and disadvantages of such\\nfantasising?\\nWorking  with words\\nNotice the following expressions. The highlighted words are\\nnot used in a literal sense. Explain what they mean.\\n•Words had to be  prized out of him like stones out of a\\nground.\\n•Sophie felt a tightening in her throat.\\nIf he keeps his head on his shoulders.\\n•On Saturday they made  their weekly pilgrimage  to the\\nUnited.\\n•She saw… him ghost past the lumbering defenders.\\nNoticing  form\\n       Notice the highlighted words in the following sentences.\\n1.“When I leave,’ Sophie said, coming home from school, “I’m going\\nto have a boutique.”\\n2.Jansie, linking arms with her along the street, looked doubtful.\\n3.“I’ll find it,” Sophie said, staring  far down the street.\\n4.Jansie, knowing they were both earmarked for the biscuit\\nfactory, became melancholy.\\n5.And she turned in through the open street door leaving  Jansie\\nstanding in the rain.\\n–When we add “ing” to a verb we get the present participle form.\\nThe present participle form is generally used along with forms\\nof “be’, (is, was, are, were, am) to indicate the present continuous\\ntense as in “Sophie was coming   home from school.”\\n–We can use the pr esent participle by itself without the helping\\nverb, when we wish to indicate that an action is happening\\nat the same time as another .\\n–In example 1, Sophie “said” something. “Said”, here, is the\\nmain action.\\n–What Sophie was doing while she was “saying” is indicated\\nby “coming  home from school”. So we get the information of\\ntwo actions happening at the same time. W e convey the\\ninformation in one sentence instead of two.\\nReprint 2024-25\\n', 'Going Places /87\\n–Analyse the other examples in the same way.\\n–Pick out five other sentences from the story in which present\\nparticiples are used in this sense.\\nThinking  about language\\nNotice these words in the story.\\n•“chuffe d”, meaning delighted or very pleased\\n•“nose y”, meaning inquisitive\\n•“gawk y”, meaning awkward, ungainly.\\nThese are words that are used in an informal way in colloquial\\nspeech.\\nMake a list of ten other words of this kind.\\nWriting\\n–Think of a person who you would like to have as your role-\\nmodel.\\n–Write down the points to be discussed or questions to be\\nasked, if you were asked to interview that person on a\\ntelevision show.\\nThings  to do\\nLook for other stories or movies where this theme of hero\\nworship and fantasising about film or sports icons finds a place.\\nABOUT  THE UNIT\\nTHEME\\nAdolescent hero-worship and fantasising.\\nSUB-THEME\\nRelationship s-family, friends.\\nCOMPREHENSION\\nInferential comprehension.\\nTALKING  ABOUT  THE TEXT\\nDiscussion on a subject of immediate relevance to the life of\\nschool-leavers.\\nReprint 2024-25\\n', '88/Flamingo\\nWORKING  WITH WORDS\\nMetaphorical expressions.\\nNOTICING  FORM\\nFocus on the use of present participles to indicate simultaneity\\nof action.\\nTHINKING  ABOUT  LANGUAGE\\nColloquial expressions, teenage slang.\\nTHINGS TO DO\\nExtension activity:  Relating to other stories or films (any\\nlanguage).\\nReprint 2024-25\\n']\n"
          ]
        }
      ],
      "source": [
        "from sentence_transformers import SentenceTransformer\n",
        "import numpy as np\n",
        "import faiss\n",
        "\n",
        "# Load a pre-trained SentenceTransformer model\n",
        "model = SentenceTransformer('all-MiniLM-L6-v2')\n",
        "\n",
        "# Vectorize the text chunks\n",
        "chunk_texts = [chunk[0] for chunk in chunks]\n",
        "print(chunk_texts)\n",
        "chunk_embeddings = model.encode(chunk_texts)\n",
        "\n",
        "# Convert embeddings to float32 (required by FAISS)\n",
        "chunk_embeddings = np.array(chunk_embeddings, dtype=np.float32)\n",
        "\n",
        "# Store the embeddings in FAISS\n",
        "index = faiss.IndexFlatL2(chunk_embeddings.shape[1])\n",
        "index.add(chunk_embeddings)\n",
        "\n",
        "# Save the index to disk (optional)\n",
        "faiss.write_index(index, 'chunks.index')\n",
        "\n",
        "import pickle\n",
        "with open('chunks.pkl', 'wb') as f:\n",
        "    pickle.dump(chunks, f)\n"
      ]
    },
    {
      "cell_type": "code",
      "execution_count": 89,
      "metadata": {
        "colab": {
          "base_uri": "https://localhost:8080/"
        },
        "id": "VRBgUYXL6r3z",
        "outputId": "54f62356-a10a-45fd-adb8-d655c37748ba"
      },
      "outputs": [
        {
          "name": "stdout",
          "output_type": "stream",
          "text": [
            "Retrieved Chunks:\n",
            "Page 12: The Rattrap /43\n",
            "Understanding  the text\n",
            "1.How does the peddler interpret the acts of kindness and\n",
            "hospitality shown by the cr ofter , the ir onmaster and his\n",
            "daughter?\n",
            "2.What are the instances in the ... (first 200 characters)\n",
            "Page 3: 34/Flamingo\n",
            "then stuffed them back into the\n",
            "pouch.\n",
            "The next day both men got up\n",
            "in good season. The crofter was in\n",
            "a hurry to milk his cow, and the\n",
            "other man probably thought he\n",
            "should not stay in bed... (first 200 characters)\n",
            "Page 7: 38/Flamingo\n",
            "stretched himself out on the floor and lay with a piece of\n",
            "pig iron under his head and his hat pulled down over his\n",
            "eyes. As soon as the young girl caught sight of him, she\n",
            "went up and lif... (first 200 characters)\n",
            "Page 3: 70/Flamingo\n",
            "interviews,” Denis Brian has written. “Almost everything\n",
            "of moment reaches us through one man asking questions\n",
            "of another . Because of this, the interviewer holds a position\n",
            "of unprecedent... (first 200 characters)\n"
          ]
        }
      ],
      "source": [
        "def retrieve_chunks(query, model, index, chunks, top_k=5):\n",
        "    query_embedding = model.encode([query])\n",
        "    D, I = index.search(np.array(query_embedding, dtype=np.float32), top_k)\n",
        "\n",
        "    retrieved_chunks = []\n",
        "\n",
        "    for idx in I[0]:\n",
        "        chunk_text = chunks[idx][0]\n",
        "        page_number = chunks[idx][1][0]['page_number']\n",
        "\n",
        "        # Check if the chunk contains undesired content (e.g., questions)\n",
        "        if 'think as you read' not in chunk_text.lower() and 'answer' not in chunk_text.lower() and 'understanding the text' not in chunk_text.lower() and 'talking about the text' not in chunk_text.lower() and 'working with words' not in chunk_text.lower() and 'noticing form' not in chunk_text.lower() and 'things to do' not in chunk_text.lower():\n",
        "            retrieved_chunks.append((chunk_text, page_number))\n",
        "\n",
        "    return retrieved_chunks\n",
        "\n",
        "\n",
        "# Example query\n",
        "query = \"who was peddler?\"\n",
        "\n",
        "# Load the FAISS index\n",
        "index = faiss.read_index('chunks.index')\n",
        "\n",
        "# Retrieve relevant chunks based on the query\n",
        "retrieved_chunks = retrieve_chunks(query, model, index, chunks)\n",
        "print(\"Retrieved Chunks:\")\n",
        "for text, page_number in retrieved_chunks:\n",
        "    print(f\"Page {page_number}: {text[:200]}... (first 200 characters)\")\n"
      ]
    },
    {
      "cell_type": "code",
      "execution_count": 90,
      "metadata": {
        "colab": {
          "base_uri": "https://localhost:8080/"
        },
        "id": "QQHIN5QsAzMH",
        "outputId": "3b08a09d-85b7-4378-eca2-43028c7b7cfd"
      },
      "outputs": [
        {
          "name": "stdout",
          "output_type": "stream",
          "text": [
            "The incident at the YMCA pool was a traumatic experience for Douglas, who almost drowned and felt a sense of panic as he struggled to breathe. He described the sensation as \"stark terror\" that knows no understanding or control. The experience had a profound impact on him, causing him to develop a fear of water that affected his ability to enjoy activities like fishing, canoeing, and swimming.\n",
            "\n",
            "This incident had a lasting effect on Douglas, making him determined to overcome his fear of water. He eventually learned to swim with the help of an instructor who taught him techniques such as putting his face under water and exhaling, raising his nose and inhaling, and kicking with his legs. Through this process, Douglas gradually built up his confidence and conquered his fear.\n",
            "\n",
            "In fact, Douglas's experience at the YMCA pool had a profound impact on his life, teaching him valuable lessons about facing and overcoming fears. He recounts the incident as an adult to illustrate how he overcame his phobia of water, and draws a larger meaning from it - that there is peace in death, but only fear in the fear of death."
          ]
        }
      ],
      "source": [
        "import requests\n",
        "import json\n",
        "\n",
        "def generate_response(query, ret):\n",
        "    context = \"\"\n",
        "    for text, page_number in ret:\n",
        "        context += f\"{text}\\n\"\n",
        "    prompt = f\"\"\"You are a bot to answer the Questions from class 12 NCERT textbooks\n",
        "Answer the question based only on the following context:\n",
        "\n",
        "{context}\n",
        "\n",
        "---\n",
        "\n",
        "Answer the question based on the above context: {query}\n",
        "\"\"\"\n",
        "    # print(prompt)\n",
        "    data = {\n",
        "        \"model\": \"llama3\",\n",
        "        \"prompt\": prompt\n",
        "    }\n",
        "\n",
        "    s = requests.Session()\n",
        "\n",
        "    with s.post(OLLAMA_API_URL, headers=None, data=json.dumps(data), stream=True) as resp:\n",
        "        for line in resp.iter_lines():\n",
        "            if line:\n",
        "                print(json.loads(line)['response'], end='')\n",
        "\n",
        "    # responses = []\n",
        "    # done = False\n",
        "    # Keep fetching responses until 'done' is True in all responses\n",
        "    # while True:\n",
        "    # response = requests.post(OLLAMA_API_URL, json=data)  # Use stream=True for chunked responses\n",
        "\n",
        "    # if response.status_code == 200:\n",
        "    #     return response.json()['response']\n",
        "    #     # print(response)\n",
        "    # else:\n",
        "    #     print(f\"Error: {response.status_code}, {response.text}\")\n",
        "\n",
        "\n",
        "# Example usage\n",
        "query = \"How did the incident at the YMCA pool affect Douglas?\"\n",
        "ret = retrieve_chunks(query, model, index, chunks)\n",
        "generate_response(query, ret)\n",
        "# print(\"Generated Response:\", response)"
      ]
    },
    {
      "cell_type": "code",
      "execution_count": null,
      "metadata": {
        "id": "2UNaHJF9E3i2"
      },
      "outputs": [],
      "source": []
    }
  ],
  "metadata": {
    "colab": {
      "provenance": []
    },
    "kernelspec": {
      "display_name": "Python 3",
      "name": "python3"
    },
    "language_info": {
      "codemirror_mode": {
        "name": "ipython",
        "version": 3
      },
      "file_extension": ".py",
      "mimetype": "text/x-python",
      "name": "python",
      "nbconvert_exporter": "python",
      "pygments_lexer": "ipython3",
      "version": "3.10.12"
    }
  },
  "nbformat": 4,
  "nbformat_minor": 0
}