Comprehension

A. State whether these sentences are True or False.

Q1. Bina Kutir is an RCC building.
Answer: This statement is False. Bina Kutir is described as a “lone Assam type single-storey house”.

Q2. Rehana is the name of the daughter.
Answer: This statement is False. Rehana is the name of the younger son’s wife. The narrator imagines the daughter’s name is Bina.

Q3. The narrator sips Coca-Cola.
Answer: This statement is True. The narrator repeatedly buys and sips Coca-Cola from the stationery shop.

Q4. The young man is preparing for an Economics exam.
Answer: This statement is True. The young man is seen with a “note” on Economics and mentions he is planning to appear for the B.A. examination as a private candidate.

B. Answer these questions in one or two words.

Q1. Which car brand is mentioned in the story?
Answer: The car brand mentioned in the story is Ford.

Q2. Mr Mehta’s office is located in which city?
Answer: Mr Mehta’s office is located in Calcutta.

Q3. Which alternative location was offered to the narrator regarding a rented accommodation?
Answer: The young man offered the narrator an accommodation in Lachit Nagar.

Q4. Where does the younger son go to pursue medical studies?
Answer: The younger son goes to Dibrugarh to pursue medical studies.

Q5. Who is Brajen Kalita?
Answer: Brajen Kalita was a PWD overseer who owned a small Assam-type house in the location where the modern concrete building now stands.

C. Answer these questions in a few words each.

Q1. Name the places from Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram mentioned in the story.
Answer: The places mentioned are Pasighat (Arunachal Pradesh) and Aizawl (Mizoram).

Q2. What is the name of the younger son’s wife and in which part of the house are they seen to be engaged in conversation?
Answer: The younger son’s wife’s name is Rehana, and they are seen talking in the backyard of the house.

Q3. Who enquired about the monthly shipment of a product, and what was that product?
Answer: A couple enquired about the monthly shipment of a product, which was Glaxo.

Q4. To which school were classes shifted for six months, and why?
Answer: The young man’s classes were shifted to Bishnuram High School for six months because their school was taken over by the military.

Q5. What did the girl go to watch when it passed by the gate?
Answer: The girl ran to the veranda to watch a “horse-driven carriage, with film posters adorning it, accompanied by a band-party”.

D. Answer these questions briefly in your own words.

Q1. What is your impression of the neighbourhood where Bina Kutir is located?
Answer: The neighbourhood is a chaotic mix of old and new, with the lone Assam-type house, Bina Kutir, surrounded by cramped, modern concrete buildings and commercial establishments like a trunk and bucket works and a road transport corporation. It is a noisy, polluted area filled with the “cacophony of diesel trucks, rickshaws, and push-carts”.

Q2. What does the presence of trade and commercial establishments signify regarding the growth pattern of city life depicted in ‘Bina Kutir’?
Answer: The presence of trade and commercial establishments signifies a shift from a peaceful, residential area to a noisy, profit-driven urban space. The old, open houses with grassy frontages are being replaced by multi-storied buildings where “every square feet of land is…utilised” for commercial gain.

Q3. How does the narrator use the Coca-Cola bottle to facilitate the flight of the narrator’s imagination in the story?
Answer: The narrator uses the Coca-Cola bottle as a kind of cinematic lens or crystal ball. By tilting the bottle and peering into the remaining liquid, he sees “a picture” or “a scene” reflecting in the glass, which allows him to imagine and create the fictional backstories of the house and its inhabitants.

Q4. What plans do the two sons have regarding commercial growth mentioned towards the end of the story?
Answer: The narrator learns that the older son, the Professor, has become wealthy and plans to open a press in his home to become a publisher. The younger son, the doctor, wants to construct a “huge RCC building” on the property, with his own chamber on the ground floor, and give the rest on rent.

E. Answer these questions in detail.

Q1. Comment on the significance of the title of the story ‘Bina Kutir’.
Answer: The title “Bina Kutir” is significant on multiple levels. It is not the actual name of the house, but a name the narrator gives it to serve his imagination. The name itself—combining “Bina,” a beautiful flower, and “Kutir,” a small cottage—evokes a sense of old-world charm, peace, and simplicity that stands in stark contrast to the commercial greed and urban chaos surrounding it. It represents the narrator’s idealized vision of the house and its history, symbolizing the bygone values of tradition, knowledge, and family over money and profit, which he believes have been lost in the modern world.

Q2. How much of the narrator’s speculation do you think is responsible for the characterisation in the story? Give a well-reasoned answer.
Answer: The narrator’s speculation is almost entirely responsible for the characterization in the story. The characters of the Sanskrit teacher, the Professor son, the younger son, and the daughter “Bina” are not real; they are fabrications of the narrator’s fertile imagination, triggered by snippets of information he receives from the shopkeeper. For example, he assigns the name “Bina” to the daughter and creates an elaborate love story for her and her husband, Bhabananda. He also invents the dialogues between the characters, which reflect his own romanticized view of a past where people valued intellectual pursuits and filial duty over material wealth. This is confirmed at the end of the story, when the shopkeeper reveals the true, unromantic reality of a legal dispute between the brothers who now both have commercial plans for the house. The characters, therefore, serve as vehicles for the narrator’s internal reflections on the conflict between tradition and modernity.