Advertisement

The Felling Of The Banyan Tree

The Felling Of The Banyan Tree


My father told the tenants to leave


Who lived on the houses surrounding our house on the hill


One by one the structures were demolished


Only our own house remained and the trees


Trees are sacred my grandmother used to say


Felling them is a crime but he massacred them all


The sheoga, the oudumber, the neem were all cut down


But the huge banyan tree stood like a problem


Whose roots lay deeper than all our lives


My father ordered it to be removed


The banyan tree was three times as tall as our house


Its trunk had a circumference of fifty feet


Its scraggy aerial roots fell to the ground


From thirty feet or more so first they cut the branches


Sawing them off for seven days and the heap was huge


Insects and birds began to leave the tree


And then they came to its massive trunk


Fifty men with axes chopped and chopped


The great tree revealed its rings of two hundred years


We watched in terror and fascination this slaughter


As a raw mythology revealed to us its age


Soon afterwards we left Baroda for Bombay


Where there are no trees except the one


Which grows and seethes in one’s dreams, its aerial roots


Looking for the ground to strike.



Q. 4. B. Read the following extract and answer the questions given below: (4 marks) [Feb. 2016 Set A]


1. What revealed the age of the banyan tree?

Ans. The rings in the trunk of the giant tree revealed its age.

2. How would you save the natural habitat of wildlife?

Ans. By avoiding, the cutting of trees I would save the natural habitat of wildlife. Because trees are not only home to birds and insects, but they also provide food and shelter to the wild animals.

3. Find from this extract an example of ‘Repetition’.

Ans. Fifty men with axes chopped and chopped.

4. Pick out any two lines from the extract showing pictorial quality of human action.

Ans. (i) sawing them off for seven days and the heap was huge.

(ii) Fifty men with axes chopped and chopped.


Read the following question and answer it.


Q. 1 Why were the tenants asked to leave their houses?


Ans. The tenants were asked to leave their houses because one by one their houses were demolished.


Q. 2 What ,according to the grandmother, is a crime?


Ans. The poet's grandmother used to say that the trees are sacred and felling them is a crime.


Q. 3 'But the huge banyan tree stood like a problem'.
Identify and explain the figures of speech.


Ans. Simile: As two dissimilar things "the banyan tree" and a "problem" is directly compared by using a word like.


Q. 4 What did the poet's father do with the trees?


Ans. The poet's father massacred all the trees.



About the Poet.





Dilip Chitre (1938) was born in Baroda. He writes poetry both in Marathi and English. Travelling in a Cage, from which the poem selected here has been taken, was published in 1980. Apart from poetry, Chitre has also written short stories and critical essays. An Anthology of Marathi Poetry 1945–1965 is one of his most important works of translation. He sees poetry as an expression of the spirit. He lives and works in Mumbai.


About the Poem.


The word POETRY originates from a Greek word meaning TO MAKE. A poet is thus a maker and the poem something that is made or created. No single definition of poetry is possible but some characteristic features of poetry may be mentioned. Poetry has a musical quality with rhythm, pitch, metre and it may use figures of speech such as simile and metaphor. While quite a few poems in this selection are in traditional forms, the unit also includes modern poems that are free from formal restrictions


Additional Question for practice.


1. Identify the lines that reveal the critical tone of the poet towards
the felling of the tree.


2. Identify the words that help you understand the nature of the
poet’s father.


3. ‘Trees are sacred my grandmother used to say’— what does
the poet imply by this line?


4. ‘No trees except the one which grows and seethes in one’s
dreams’— why is the phrase ‘grows and seethes’ used?


5. How does the banyan tree stand out as different from other
trees? What details of the tree does the poet highlight in the
poem?


6. What does the reference to raw mythology imply?


7. ‘Whose roots lay deeper than our lives’— what aspect of human
behaviour does this line reflect?


8. Comment on the contemporary concern that the poem echoes.


1. Most of us have had this experience of seeing trees in our
neighbourhood being mercilessly cut down in order to build a
house or a public building or to widen a road. Describe any
such experience you have had of the felling of a tree you were
attached to, with reasons for your special attachment to the
tree.


2. Find out the equivalents for sheoga, oudumber and neem in your
language and English and the equivalent of banyan in your
language.


3. The adjective ‘scraggy’ is used to describe ‘roots’ in the poem.
Find out two other items which could be described as ‘scraggy’:
scraggy…………….


4. Use the following adjectives to describe suitable items
raw aerial sacred.


More Question for Practice.


Q1 : Identify the lines that reveal the critical tone of the poet towards the felling of the tree.


Answer :


Q2 : Identify the words that help you understand the nature of the poet's father.


Answer :


Q3 : 'Trees are sacred my grandmother used to say'- what does the poet imply by this line?


Answer :


Q4 : No trees except the one which grows and seethes in one's dreams'- why is the phrase 'grows and seethes' used?


Answer :


Q5 : How does the banyan tree stand out as different from other trees? What details of the tree does the poet highlight in the poem?


Answer :


Q6 : What does the reference to raw mythology imply?


Answer :


Q7 : 'Whose roots lay deeper than our lives' - what aspect of human behaviour does this line reflect?


Answer :


Q8 : Comment on the contemporary concern that the poem echoes.


My father told the tenants to leave
Who lived on the houses surrounding our house on the hill.
One by one the structures were demolished
Only our own house remained and the trees.


Meaning
Tenants – People who live on rent
The structures
Demolished


Questions


Why did the poet’s father ask the tenants to leave?


Who lived on the houses surrounding our house on the hill.


One by one the structures were demolished


Only our own house remained and the trees.


“Trees are sacred,” my grandmother used to say.
Felling them is a crime but he massacred them all.
The sheoga, the oudumber, the neem were all cut down
But the huge banyan tree stood like a problem
Whose roots lay deeper than all our lives.
My father ordered it to be removed.


Meaning


Sacred – Holy
Felling – Cutting
Massacred – Cut down
The sheoga
The oudumber
Neem


Questions


What had grandfather think of cutting trees?


“Trees are sacred,” my grandmother used to say.


Felling them is a crime.
Who massacred all the trees?


The sheoga, the oudumber, the neem were all cut down
But the huge banyan tree stood like a problem
Whose roots lay deeper than all our lives.
My father ordered it to be removed.
The banyan tree was three times as tall as our house.
Its trunk had a circumference of fifty feet;
Its scraggy aerial roots fell to the ground;
From thirty feet or more so first they cut the branches
Sawing them off for seven days and the heap was huge
Insects and birds began to leave the tree.


Meaning


Banyan tree


Lay deeper than all our lives
Circumference
Scraggy
Aerial roots
Sawing them off
The heap


And then they came to its massive trunk
Fifty men with axes chopped and chopped
The great tree revealed its rings of two hundred years
We watched in terror and fascination this slaughter
As a raw mythology revealed to us its age.


Meaning


Soon afterwards we left Baroda for Bombay
Where there are no trees except the one
Which grows and seethes in one’s dreams, its aerial roots
Looking for the ground to strike.


Questions


How was Bombay different from Baroda?


What kind of trees are there in Bombay?

Why are the areal roots not able to strike the ground?

PDF FILE TO YOUR EMAIL IMMEDIATELY PURCHASE NOTES & PAPER SOLUTION. @ Rs. 50/- each (GST extra)

SUBJECTS

HINDI ENTIRE PAPER SOLUTION

MARATHI PAPER SOLUTION

SSC MATHS I PAPER SOLUTION

SSC MATHS II PAPER SOLUTION

SSC SCIENCE I PAPER SOLUTION

SSC SCIENCE II PAPER SOLUTION

SSC ENGLISH PAPER SOLUTION

SSC & HSC ENGLISH WRITING SKILL

HSC ACCOUNTS NOTES

HSC OCM NOTES

HSC ECONOMICS NOTES

HSC SECRETARIAL PRACTICE NOTES

2019 Board Paper Solution

HSC ENGLISH SET A 2019 21st February, 2019

HSC ENGLISH SET B 2019 21st February, 2019

HSC ENGLISH SET C 2019 21st February, 2019

HSC ENGLISH SET D 2019 21st February, 2019

SECRETARIAL PRACTICE (S.P) 2019 25th February, 2019

HSC XII PHYSICS 2019 25th February, 2019

CHEMISTRY XII HSC SOLUTION 27th, February, 2019

OCM PAPER SOLUTION 2019 27th, February, 2019

HSC MATHS PAPER SOLUTION COMMERCE, 2nd March, 2019

HSC MATHS PAPER SOLUTION SCIENCE 2nd, March, 2019

SSC ENGLISH STD 10 5TH MARCH, 2019.

HSC XII ACCOUNTS 2019 6th March, 2019

HSC XII BIOLOGY 2019 6TH March, 2019

HSC XII ECONOMICS 9Th March 2019

SSC Maths I March 2019 Solution 10th Standard11th, March, 2019

SSC MATHS II MARCH 2019 SOLUTION 10TH STD.13th March, 2019

SSC SCIENCE I MARCH 2019 SOLUTION 10TH STD. 15th March, 2019.

SSC SCIENCE II MARCH 2019 SOLUTION 10TH STD. 18th March, 2019.

SSC SOCIAL SCIENCE I MARCH 2019 SOLUTION20th March, 2019

SSC SOCIAL SCIENCE II MARCH 2019 SOLUTION, 22nd March, 2019

XII CBSE - BOARD - MARCH - 2019 ENGLISH - QP + SOLUTIONS, 2nd March, 2019

HSC Maharashtra Board Papers 2020

(Std 12th English Medium)

HSC ECONOMICS MARCH 2020

HSC OCM MARCH 2020

HSC ACCOUNTS MARCH 2020

HSC S.P. MARCH 2020

HSC ENGLISH MARCH 2020

HSC HINDI MARCH 2020

HSC MARATHI MARCH 2020

HSC MATHS MARCH 2020


SSC Maharashtra Board Papers 2020

(Std 10th English Medium)

English MARCH 2020

HindI MARCH 2020

Hindi (Composite) MARCH 2020

Marathi MARCH 2020

Mathematics (Paper 1) MARCH 2020

Mathematics (Paper 2) MARCH 2020

Sanskrit MARCH 2020

Sanskrit (Composite) MARCH 2020

Science (Paper 1) MARCH 2020

Science (Paper 2)

Geography Model Set 1 2020-2021


MUST REMEMBER THINGS on the day of Exam

Are you prepared? for English Grammar in Board Exam.

Paper Presentation In Board Exam

How to Score Good Marks in SSC Board Exams

Tips To Score More Than 90% Marks In 12th Board Exam

How to write English exams?

How to prepare for board exam when less time is left

How to memorise what you learn for board exam

No. 1 Simple Hack, you can try out, in preparing for Board Exam

How to Study for CBSE Class 10 Board Exams Subject Wise Tips?

JEE Main 2020 Registration Process – Exam Pattern & Important Dates


NEET UG 2020 Registration Process Exam Pattern & Important Dates

How can One Prepare for two Competitive Exams at the same time?

8 Proven Tips to Handle Anxiety before Exams!

BUY FROM PLAY STORE

DOWNLOAD OUR APP

HOW TO PURCHASE OUR NOTES?

S.P. Important Questions For Board Exam 2022

O.C.M. Important Questions for Board Exam. 2022

Economics Important Questions for Board Exam 2022

Chemistry Important Question Bank for board exam 2022

Physics – Section I- Important Question Bank for Maharashtra Board HSC Examination

Physics – Section II – Science- Important Question Bank for Maharashtra Board HSC 2022 Examination

Important-formula



THANKS