Module 2

Note: The answers are given in such a way that it has an introduction for writing
the general essay and paragraphs that are answers for the 100 words questions
in the text. All the paragraphs when combined can be used as the answers for
general essay questions

Unit 1

The Dog of Tithwal

The Dog of Tithwal by Sadat Hassan Manto is a story of the tension and cross
firing across the Indo Pak border. The main character in the story is a dog that
visits the camp of both Indian and Pakistani soldiers. The soldiers first treat the
Dog with Kindness, but when they find that the enemy tries to give it their
name and tries to own it, both the camps turn against it and kills it.

b. The soldiers on both sides were stationed at two hills standing face to face
and in between was a step valley with a stream. Both the camps fired aimlessly
at each other all through the day by laying flat on the ground. It just scared
away the birds and no one was hurt. The soldiers cooked food, sang songs ,
exchanged stories and guarded the camp day and night against the enemy.

a. At night Harnam Singh was on the patrol. When his time of rest came, he
called Ganda Singh and tried to sleep. But he could not sleep and sang a song
about the starry night and about a beautiful girl Harnam Kaur. He called others
also to join and finally Banta Singh, the youngest soldier who had a nice voice
began to sing the song of Heer.

c. At night a stray dog visited the Indian camp. The soldiers became interested
in it and Banta Singh named it as Chapad jhunjhun. They asked it whether it
was an Indian dog for which the dog wagged its tail and then they gave it some
biscuits. They wrote the name and hung it on the dog's neck and the dog was
given an Indian identity. In the evening the dog in search of food visits the
Pakistani camp. There the soldiers under captain Himmat Khan see the tag on
the dog's neck and immediately report it to the officers . They renamed the
dog as Sapad Sunsun and wrote that it was a Pakistani dog.
d. and c.When the Indian soldiers saw that the dog was coming from the
Pakistani camp they fired at it but it hit the rocks and the dog ran back to the
Pakistani side. Then it was shot from the Pakistani side asking the dog to be
brave enough as now it belonged to Pakistan. It hit the ear of the dog. Not
knowing what to do the dog took the other direction when the Indian soldiers
shot at its leg. Caught between the cruel pleasure of the men on both sides,
the dog was finally dead not knowing why it was killed. The dog wanted food
and so it was loyal to both camps. But the men who were enemies of each
other gave the dog an identity and killed it for fun.

The story on the one hand throws light on how inhuman man can become
when we are engaged in war. On the other hand the story also describes the
plight of those people who had to suffer cruelties at the hands of Indian and
Pakistani authorities at the time of partition when they had to move from one
place to another.

Unit 2

A Chronicle of the Peacocks

e. A Chronicle of the Peacocks is a story by Intizar Hussain that discusses about

the issues of nuclear testing, war and its effects on animals and environment.
The writer introduces several mythical stories to make the point. The theme of
the story is the horror of war and how it affects humanity. Peacock is a symbol
of beauty and also suffering.

a. A news report on the nuclear testing in Rajasthani and the way it terrified
the peacocks there disturbed the writer very much. It was the same way as the
small fish disturbed Manuji in the Hindu mythology. While once praying in river
Manuji got a small fish which he placed in a small vessel. Day by day it grew
and he placed it in bigger vessel and finally it grew so much that Manu had to
take it to the ocean. The same way the story brought into the writer's mind
several images of peacocks that welcomed him in the city of Jaipur once when
he visited there.

b. The forlorn duck at the edge of the dark sea was another symbol of oil
pollution in the sea as a result of the war between America and Iraq. The wings
of the duck are heavy with slime and poison flows through its body. When war
breaks it is not the rich who are affected but the poor creatures of the world.

d. When the narrator as a boy tried to catch a peacock on his terrace his
grandma told him not to do so as it was a bird of paradise. Once the Satan
came in the guise of an old man and asked entry into the paradise. The
gatekeeper did not permit. Then a peacock sitting on the walls of the paradise
helped took him to paradise on his wings. Then Allah along with Adam and Eve
expelled him from heaven. But still the homeless peacock is looked with pity
and it should not be hurt.

c. In the basti around Nisamudin a caravan of migrants whose house were

looted. They left the place. This was the result of some communal tensions
that had resulted in another war. The writer walked through the place and he
heard the sound of peacocks again.

Then he thinks about the war of Kurukshetra where Ashwatthama sends the
deadly Brahmastra and is cursed by Krishna that he may wander for three
thousand years with blood and pus filled body. The spirit of the sinner is still
there in the world in the form of war and is following the writer wherever he
goes.

Unit 3

Fugitive Colours

a. The short story by Selina Hussein is about the troubled region of Bangladesh.
It tells about the war between the Bengali settlers and the hill people. The
military often kills the hill people and rape their women. On the one side there
is the struggle of the people who live there. To this troubled land Shudip, a
Bengali student comes along with his friend to forget about his lost love affair.
In this story thus we come across two struggles, the individual struggle of
Shudip and the collective struggle of the people.

b. Shudip's friend Shubapriyo belongs to the hill- region and has a huge family.
He has two married sisters who live in other villages. His third sister, Kajolika is
a student at college. He also has a younger brother, Poornachandra who is ten
years old. This boy becomes a friend and guide to Shudip.
c. While resting in the forest a squirrel jumps upon him. Shudip thinks that the
creature will stay with him and heal his sorrow, but it jumps away in horror as
it does not trust human beings. This rejection make Shudip even more
unhappy as he feels that he is unwanted.

d. Poornachandra took Shudip to forest and became friends with him. He was
named by Takurda and the boy loved the old man very much. But the old man
was killed in a military raid and so the boy did not trust even Shudip who
belonged to Bengal. They were responsible for the blood shed and violence in
their place.

e. Kajolika is a student at the college and is in love with Reboti who fights for
the hill people. One day while she was waiting for him at the forest, a group of
military persons in jeep rapes her. When Shudip and Poornachandra find her
she was in a very bad condition. They carry her to home.

Back in village, the family of Subhapriyo are furious at Shudip as his people
were responsible for her sister’s condition. His father ties him to a tree for
killing him. Sushi o accepts the punishment and remains silent.

The story is about the sacrifice of Shudip for the mistakes committed by his
people.

Unit 4

That Deep Silence

The story is about an old mother who is being shifted to an old age home by
her only daughter. The home which she built with her husband and where she
lived for several years is being demolished by her daughter to build a big
apartment.

a. The home which was being demolished was the dream home with a lot of
space around it. She lived there for years with her husband and her daughter
Rushika. They used to sit in the garden and shared a lot of memories. Now the
ruined house breaks her heart.

b. d, and e. The old woman laments that she has become weak and old. But
nature has not left her. She is still living. Her daughter is now planning to take
her to an old age home and get rid of the mother. It is man who is capable of
abandoning their loved ones. The old woman does not want her old house to
be ruined. She wants to live with her daughter and grand children. But Rushika
considers her as a burden. Her bright smile is not sincere. The house that was
gifted by her mother was demolished for greed and she was building an
apartment there.

c. The story tells us how man treats land as a commodity to make profit. The
old couple treated land as sacred and built a small house for them to live as a
family. But when time changed, that land became very precious and so their
daughter plans to build a huge apartment to make more money. She does not
care for her mother’s love for her home and the place. Relationships become
shallow when greed strikes.

Module 5

Unit 1

The Birth Mark

The Birth Mark is a short story that criticizes the search of perfection in
science. It is about how man's denial of God given imperfections may lead to
tragedy. The main character is a man of science by the name Alymer and he
wanted to get rid of a Birth mark from the face of his wife Georgiana.

a. and d. The married life of the couple was deeply affected by the birth mark.
Alymer considered the birthmark an imperfection on her beautiful face.
Georgiana was shocked and angry at first. But as she loved her husband
deeply, she allows to remove it. She was ready to sacrifice her life for removing
the mark.

b. The story takes place somewhere around the eighteenth century when the
scientific revolution had changed people's minds. It gave importance to
rationality and experimentation. The conflict between science and nature is
evident in the story. In the story Alymer is a foolish husband who wants to
make her wife perfect with the help of science.

C. There is an instance in the story where Georgiana reminds Alymer of a

dream which he had. In the dream he was trying to dig out the birthmark from
her with a knife and had accidentally reached her heart which he decides to
cut. The wife is ready to risk her life to please her husband. Later the dream
comes true when Georgiana finally dies in the process of removing the
birthmark.
e. Apart from the couple there is a man called Aminadab who assists Alymer in
the lab. He is not scientific like Alymer but is more intelligent and is more
sensible than Alymer. He feels that the birthmark must not be removed. But he
has to assist Alymer who will not listen to him.

The story is about the destructive nature of science if it is not used properly. It
is also about the need to accept our imperfections as part of our identity.

Unit 2

Hayavadana

The play by Girish Karnad is about accepting the incomplete nature of human
existence. In the play there are for characters. Devadutta and Kapila are
friends.

Devadutta is intelligent but lacks physical beauty while Kapila has a fit body but
weak brain. Padmini is Devadutta's wife. Padmini gets attracted to Kapila and
once when they visit the Kali temple at Ujjain, Devadutta knowing Padminis
love for Kapila commits suicide. Seeing him dead Kapila also cuts his head off
and dies. Padmini is shocked and prays to Kali to bring them back to life.

a. In the beginning we see Kali taking entry. She has a terrifying figure with
bloody hands and wide open mouth. There is the sound of drums and Padmini
is afraid to look at her. Kali is in a sleepy mood and she is seen yawning. In the
play we see Kali speaking to Padmini in a very casual way. She has no mercy for
both the friends who are dead because they were selfish.

b. When Padmini prays earnestly, Kali tells her that she can join the heads with
the bodies and make Devadutta and Kapila come alive. In her excitement
Padmini mismatches the heads. She puts Devadutta's head to Kapila's body
and vice versa and presses the sword. They come alive, Devadutta with Kapila's
body and Kapila with Devadutta's body.

c. Devadutta with Kapila's body claims Padmini to be her wife and they plan to
go back to the city when Kapila with Devadutta's body stops them. He tells that
since he has the body of her husband she should go with him. Devadutta
argues that it is head that is important and not the body and so Padmini is his
wife. The argument goes on endlessly and finally Bhagavatha interferes and
asks the audience to find a solution and the play ends with a tea break.
The play makes us understand that human perfection is not possible even
though we may strive for it.

Unit 3

The Girl on the Train

The Girl on the Train by Ruskin bond is about a girl and a blind man meeting in
a train coach. It has elements of irony and suspense that forces the reader to
read it twice.

In the beginning we see the narrator a blind man sitting in an empty

compartment when a girl gets in. She is instructed by her parents how to keep
things, not to lean out of window and how to avoid strangers.

a.The narrator starts a conversion with the girl by asking where she was going.
The girl was shocked to hear the sound as she did not notice the man sitting in
a dark corner. She tells him that she is will get down at Shaharanpur where her
aunt will receive her. He tells that he was going to Mussoorie which is a very
beautiful place. Then the man mistakenly asked her what is it like outside for
which she replied why he can't look by himself. The man understood that she
has not noticed that he was blind and did not reveal the truth. He described
the scenes outside the train window. The blind man also described how
beautiful the hill station of Mussoorie looks during October. He also remarked
that the girl had an interesting face.

b. The blind man gave a graphic description of Mussoorie where the hills are
covered with dahlias, the sun is delicious and at night it's nice to sit by the fire
and sip some brandy. The month of October is best when the tourists have
gone and the roads are silent.

c. From her presence the blind man felt that her voice had the ring of a
mountain stream. He assumed that she was pretty and wanted to know
whether she had tied her hair or whether it was hanging loose over her
shoulders. When she came close he got the scent of her hair.

Finally, the girl prepared to get down at her station. New people entered the
train and the blind man sat in his berth so that he may play a new game with a
new traveller by pretending that he can see.
The blind man asks the new passenger how the girl looked for which the man
replied that he only noticed her eyes and that she was completely blind. The
ending of the story thus leaves the reader shocked.