Thinking about the Text

I.Discuss in pairs and answer each question below in a short paragraph (30-40 words)

Q1. “The sound was a familiar one.” What sound did the doctor hear? What did he think it was? How many times did he hear it? When and why did the sounds stop?
Answer: The doctor heard a noise from above, which was a familiar sound. He thought it was the rats and himself sharing the room. He heard it at least twice before the snake fell on him. The sounds stopped after the snake landed on his shoulder.

Q2. What two “important” and “earth-shaking” decisions did the doctor take while he was looking into the mirror?
Answer: While looking into the mirror, the doctor took two decisions. First, he decided to shave daily and grow a thin moustache to look more handsome. His second “earth-shaking” decision was to always keep an attractive smile on his face to look more handsome, since he was a bachelor and a doctor.

Q3. “I looked into the mirror and smiled,” says the doctor. A little later he says, “I forgot my danger and smiled feebly at myself.” What is the doctor’s opinion about himself when: (i) he first smiles, and (ii) he smiles again? In what way do his thoughts change in between, and why?
Answer: When he first smiles, he is proud of his appearance and thinks his smile is “attractive”. When he smiles again, it is a feeble smile, and he realizes he is a “poor, foolish and stupid doctor” with no medicines in the room to save himself from the snake. His thoughts change from being vain and self-admiring to a sense of helplessness and stupidity when he faces imminent death.

II.This story about a frightening incident is narrated in a humorous way. What makes it humorous? (Think of the contrasts it presents between dreams and reality. Some of them are listed below.)

Q1. (i) The kind of person the doctor is (money, possessions)
Answer: The doctor is a poor man with a small income (“meagre”) and few possessions. He has a small, rented room and about sixty rupees in his suitcase.

(ii) The kind of person he wants to be (appearance, ambition)
Answer: The doctor is a great admirer of beauty and wants to look handsome. He decides to shave daily and grow a moustache, and also to always wear an attractive smile. He wants to marry a fat woman doctor who has a good medical practice and plenty of money.

Q2. (i) The person he wants to marry
Answer: He wants to marry a woman doctor who has a good medical practice and plenty of money. He also wishes she would be fat, so she wouldn’t be able to run after him if he made a silly mistake and needed to run away

(ii) The person he actually marries
Answer: The doctor actually marries a “thin reedy person with the gift of a sprinter”.

Q3. (i) His thoughts when he looks into the mirror
Answer: When he looks into the mirror, his thoughts are vain and self-admiring. He wants to look more handsome by growing a moustache and keeping an attractive smile on his face.

(ii) His thoughts when the snake is coiled around his arm
Answer: When the snake is coiled around his arm, his thoughts are of helplessness and fear. He feels the presence of God and realizes his own foolishness and stupidity as a doctor with no medicine to save himself from a snakebite .

Thinking about Language

I. Here are some sentences from the text. Say which of them tell you, that the author: (a) was afraid of the snake, (b) was proud of his appearance, (c) had a sense of humour, (d) was no longer afraid of the snake.

1. I was turned to stone.
2. I was no mere image cut in granite.
3. The arm was beginning to be drained of strength.
4. I tried in my imagination to write in bright letters outside my little heart the words, ‘O God’.
5. I didn’t tremble. I didn’t cry out.
6. I looked into the mirror and smiled. It was an attractive smile.
7. I was suddenly a man of flesh and blood.
8. I was after all a bachelor, and a doctor too on top of it!
9. The fellow had such a sense of cleanliness…! The rascal could have taken it and used it after washing it with soap and water.
10. Was it trying to make an important decision about growing a moustache or using eye shadow and mascara or wearing a vermilion spot on its forehead.

Answer:

1. I was turned to stone. -> (a) was afraid of the snake 
2. I was no mere image cut in granite. -> (d) was no longer afraid of the snake 
3. The arm was beginning to be drained of strength. -> (a) was afraid of the snake 
4. I tried in my imagination to write in bright letters outside my little heart the words, ‘O God’. -> (a) was afraid of the snake 
5. I didn’t tremble. I didn’t cry out. -> (a) was afraid of the snake (He was paralyzed by fear) 
6. I looked into the mirror and smiled. It was an attractive smile. -> (b) was proud of his appearance 
7. I was suddenly a man of flesh and blood. -> (d) was no longer afraid of the snake 
8. I was after all a bachelor, and a doctor too on top of it! -> (b) was proud of his appearance 
9. The fellow had such a sense of cleanliness…! The rascal could have taken it and used it after washing it with soap and water. -> (c) had a sense of humour 
10. Was it trying to make an important decision about growing a moustache or using eye shadow and mascara or wearing a vermilion spot on its forehead. -> (c) had a sense of humour ³⁰

II. Expressions used to show fear

Can you find the expressions in the story that tell you that the author was frightened? Read the story and complete the following sentences.

1. I was turned to stone. ………………………………………………………………….
2. I sat there holding my breath. ……………………………………………………..
3. In the light of the lamp I sat there like…………………………………………..

Answer:

1. I was turned to stone.
2. I sat there holding my breath.
3. In the light of the lamp I sat there like a stone image in the flesh.

III. In the sentences given below some words and expressions are italicised. They variously mean that one.

• is very frightened.
• is too scared to move.
• is frightened by something that happens suddenly.
• makes another feel frightened.

Match the meanings with the words/expressions in italics, and write the appropriate meaning next to the sentence. The first one has been done for you.

1. I knew a man was following me, I was scared out of my wits. (very frightened)
2. I got a fright when I realised how close I was to the cliff edge.
3. He nearly jumped out of his skin when he saw the bull coming towards him.
4. You really gave me a fright when you crept up behind me like that.
5. Wait until I tell his story it will make your hair stand on end.
6. Paralysed with fear, the boy faced his abductors.
7. The boy hid behind the door, not moving a muscle.

Answer:

1. I knew a man was following me, I was scared out of my (very frightened)
2. I got a fright when I realised how close I was to the cliff edge. (is frightened by something that happens suddenly)
3. He nearly jumped out of his skin when he saw the bull coming towards him. (is frightened by something that happens suddenly)
4. You really gave me a fright when you crept up behind me like that. (makes another feel frightened)
5. Wait until I tell his story it will make your hair stand on end. (makes another feel frightened) Paralysed with fear, the boy faced his abductors. (is too scared to move)
6. The boy hid behind the door, not moving a muscle. (is too scared to move)

IV. Reported questions

Study these sentences:

• His friend asked, “Did you see the snake the next day, doctor?” His friend asked the doctor whether/if he had seen the snake the next day.
• The little girl wondered, “Will I be home before the TV show begins?” The little girl wondered if/whether she would be home before the TV show began.
• Someone asked, “Why has the thief left the vest behind?” Someone asked why the thief had left the vest behind.

The words if/whether are used to report questions which begin with: do, will, can, have, are etc. These questions can be answered ‘yes’ or ‘no’.

Questions beginning with why/when/where/how/which/what are reported using these same words.

The reporting verbs we use in questions with if/whether/why/when etc. are: ask, inquire and wonder.

Remember that in reported speech,

• the present tense changes to past tense
• here, today, tomorrow, yesterday etc. change to there, that day, the next day, the day before, etc.
• I/you change to me/him/he, etc., as necessary.

Example:

• He said to me, “I don’t believe you.”

He said he did not believe me.

• She said to him, ‘I don’t believe you.’

She told him that she did not believe him.

Report these questions using if/whether or why/when/where/how/which/what. Remember the italicised verbs change into the past tense.

Answer:

1. Meena asked her friend, “Do you think your teacher will come today?”
   Answer: Meena asked her friend whether she thought her teacher would come that day.
2. David asked his colleague, “Where will you go this summer?”
   Answer: David asked his colleague where he would go that summer.
3. He asked the little boy, “Why are you studying English?”
   Answer: He asked the little boy why he was studying English.
4. She asked me, “When are we going to leave?”
   Answer: She asked me when we were going to leave.
5. Pran asked me, “Have you finished reading the newspaper?”
   Answer: Pran asked me if I had finished reading the newspaper.
6. Seema asked her, “How long have you lived here?”
   Answer: Seema asked her how long she had lived there.
7. Sheila asked the children, “Are you ready to do the work?”
   Answer: Sheila asked the children whether they were ready to do the work.

Speaking

Using some of the expressions given above in exercise III, talk about an incident when you were very scared. You may have a competition to decide whose story was the most frightening.

Answer: This is a personal activity for students to perform in class.

Dictation

The following paragraph is about the Indian Cobra. Read it twice and close your book. Your teacher will then dictate the paragraph to you. Write it down with appropriate punctuation marks.

Answer:

The Indian cobra is the common name for members of the family of venomous snakes, known for their intimidating looks and deadly bite. Cobras are recognized by the heads that they flare when angry or disturbed; the heads are created by the extension of the ribs behind the cobras’ heads. Obviously the best prevention is to avoid getting bitten. This is facilitated by the fact that humans are not the natural prey of any venomous snake. We are a bit large for them to swallow whole and they have no means of chopping us up into bite-size pieces. Nearly all snakebites in humans are the result of a snake defending itself when it feels threatened. In general snakes are shy and will simply leave if you give them a chance.

Writing

Q1.Try to rewrite the story without its humour, merely as a frightening incident. What details or parts of the story would you leave out?
Answer:
Do yourself.

Q2. Read the description given alongside this sketch from a photograph in a newspaper (Times of India, 4 September 1999). Make up a story about what the monkey is thinking, or why it is looking into a mirror. Write a paragraph about it.

The fairest of them all

A monkey preens itself using a piece of mirror, in the Delhi ridge.

(‘To preen oneself ’ means to spend a lot of time making oneself look attractive, and then admiring one’s appearance. The word is used in disapproval.)

Answer:
It was a sunny day. A monkey was walking in the garden. Fortunately he came to the comer of the garden and found a piece of miiTor. The monkey started looking in the mirror. First of all he looked his face in the mirror and was very happy. He thought that God has given him a human face. Again he looked his hands and fingers in the mirror. He was very proud because he realised that his hands were long and he could hold things easily. At last he decided to look his body in the mirror. This time he was not so much happy because it was full of hair. The monkey was sad and his hands started trembling. Unfortunately, the mirror fell down from his hand and broke into several pieces. When he tried to look his face in the pieces of mirror, he saw his cut faces. This time he became angry and left the place.

Translation

The text you read is a translation of a story by a well-known Malayalam writer, Vaikom Muhammad Basheer.

In translating a story from one language to another, a translator must keep the content intact. However, the language and the style differ in different translations of the same text.

– Here are two translations of the opening paragraphs of a novel by the Japanese writer, Haruki Murakami. Read them and answer the questions given below :

Compare the two translations on the basis of the following points :

• the tense of narration (past and present tense)
• short, incomplete sentences
• sentence length

Which of these translations do you like? Give reasons for your choice.
Answer:

• The tense of narration (past and present tense)

Opinion: In Column A, sentences are written in the past tense whereas in Column B, they are written in the future tense.

• Short, incomplete sentences Opinion: In Column B short sentences are used. They are framed in the present tense.
• Sentence length

Opinion : The Column B has short sentences. They are simple and easily comprehensible. Besides, they are framed in the present tense.

Reason : I like the paragraph marked as B. The sentences are framed in the present tense. They give out clear-cut ideas in its simple form. We can easily remember the facts expressed in the present tense.