My Reminiscence - Prose by Rabindranath Tagore
8th English | Unit 4 | Questions & Answers
Read and Understand
A. Fill in the blanks
1. The author speaks about the river Ganges.
2. The author’s brother’s name is Jyotirindra.
3. The moonlight glimmered over the smooth flowing stream.
4. The beauty of Bengal and the Ganges served as food and drink to the author.
B. Answer the following in one or two sentences
1. Quote the expressions from the text when the author sees the Ganges again.
Answer: “The Ganges again! Again those ineffable days and nights, languid with joy, sad with longing, attuned to the plaintive babbling of the river along the cool shade of its wooded banks”.
2. In what ways the river and its bank have changed?
Answer: The river banks are thickly surrounded by green trees and plants. From them hung bunches of nests at the riverside, where the birds would have chirped, leaves rustled and the wind rushed. Now it has been replaced by huge dragon-like mills making a hissing noise and letting out black smoke.
3. How were the rooms arranged in his house?
Answer: A flight of stone-flagged steps led to a long broad verandah. The rooms were not regularly arranged. All the rooms were not on the same level. Some rooms had to be reached by short flights of stairs. The big sitting room faced the landing steps.
C. Answer the following in a paragraph
1. How does the author spend his afternoon? Explain.
Answer: The author spent the rainy afternoons in an exciting frenzy way. He played the harmonium as he sang the old Vaishnava songs set to his tunes. On other afternoons, he sailed slowly in a boat singing Puravi accompanied by his brother Jyotirindra with his violin. They kept on varying the mode of their music with the declining day.
2. Describe how the river looks when he rows back.
Answer: On the west side of the river, the sun rays declined. On the east side of the river, the moon rises over the fringe of trees. A silver streak was formed where the land and water met. Boats were hardly seen. The trees bordering the river banks appeared like a dark shadow and the moonlight glowed over the smooth flowing stream.
ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS
Give very short answers:
1. Where was Jyotirindra’s villa?
Answer: Jyotirindra’s villa was at Chandernagore.
2. How was the Bengal sky?
Answer: The Bengal sky was full of light.
3. What was replaced by the mill?
Answer: The little riverside nests were replaced by the mill.
4. To what does Tagore compare his lovely riverside days?
Answer: Tagore compares his lovely riverside days to lotus blossoms floating down the stream.
5. “Western sky close the doors of its factory of golden toys”. What are ‘golden toys’?
Answer: ‘Golden toys’ are the golden rays of the sun.
6. What can Tagore see from his round tower room?
Answer: Tagore can only see the treetops and the open sky from his round tower room.
7. Where did the flight of stone-flagged steps lead to in the villa?
Answer: The flight of stone-flagged steps led to the long, broad verandah in the villa.
8. What happened when the moonlight fell on the stained glass windows?
Answer: When the moonlight fell on the stained glass windows, the pictures on them shone wonderfully.
9. Tagore says, “Here it felt indeed like home”. Where?
Answer: Along the cool, shaded, wooded banks of the river Ganges.
10. “Hydra-headed unrest has invaded every department of life”. What does it mean?
Answer: This means that many multiple unrests have entered every part of our life.
Give short answers:
1. How does Tagore describe the atmosphere at the river Ganges?
Answer: Tagore says that the gentle, pleasant flow of the river Ganges makes a sad mourning sound. Its wooded banks give cool shade. The sky above the river is bright, as the river flows slowly, the breeze is pleasant. At the horizon of the broad river, the green earth and blue sky meet.
2. What changes has modern life brought at the riverside?
Answer: The thick greenery and nests at the riverside have been replaced by dragon-like, noisy mills giving black smoke. This has removed not only the physical rest but also the mental rest during the dull afternoons. Many problems have entered into every part of our life.
3.Tagore mentions about pictures on two stained glass windows. Describe them separately.
Answer:
Picture I : A couple were swinging in the swing hanging from a branch half-hidden in dense foliage under the shade of the trees. When the moonlight fell on the picture, it made alive the love thrills of the swinging couple in the serene woodlands of the river bank.
Picture II : Men and women were climbing up and down in grand dresses on the flight of steps leading to a castle-like a palace. When the moonlight fell on this picture, it revealed the grand festive celebrations of early days in silence but more powerfully without words.
4. What was food and drink for Tagore?
Answer: The plaintive babbling of the river Ganges along with the cool shade of its wooden banks, the Bengal sky-full of light, south breeze, the flow of the river, the broad stretch of the river from one horizon to the other, were like food and drink for the hungry and thirsty soul of Tagore.
Answer in detail:
1. Give a clear sketch of ‘Moran’s Garden’
Answer: ‘Moran’s Garden’ was a riverside villa at Chandernagore in Hoogly district, West Bengal. Tagore’s brother Jyotirindra and his sister-in-law lived there. Tagore stayed with them. The boats came till the landing steps of the villa. In the late evenings, the family sat on the terrace facing the river.
A flight of stone embedded steps lead from the riverside water to a long, broad verandah of the house. The rooms were not regularly arranged and all were not the same level. Some rooms had to be reached by short flights of stairs. The big sitting room overlooking the landing steps had stained glass windows with coloured pictures.
The topmost room of the house was in a round tower with windows opening to every side. Nothing can be seen from the windows except the treetops and the open sky. Tagore used this room for writing poetry.
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