NCERT SolutionsClass 12th English Grammar (Comprehension Passage) Note-Making & Summarising Question & Answer

June 28, 2022

NCERT Solutions Class 12th English Grammar (Comprehension Passage) Note-Making & Summarising

Textbook	NCERT/CBSE
Class	Class 12th
Subject	English Grammar
Chapter	English Grammar
Chapter Name	Note-Making & Summarising
Category	Class 12th English Grammar With Answers
Medium	English
Source	Last Doubt

NCERT Solutions Class 12th English Grammar (Comprehension Passage) Note-Making & Summarising

?English Grammar?

✍Note-Making & Summarising✍

?English Grammar With Answers?

Passage 1

Read the following passages carefully:

I remember my childhood as being generally happy and can recall experiencing some of the most carefree times of my life. But I can also remember, even more vividly, moments of being deeply frightened. As a child, I was truly -terrified of the dark and getting lost. These fears were very real and caused me some extremely uncomfortable moments.
Maybe it was the strange way things looked and sounded in my familiar room at night that scared me so much. There was never total darkness, but a street light or passing car lights made clothes hung over a chair take on the shape of an unknown beast. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw curtains move when there was no breeze. A tiny creak in the floor would sound a hundred times louder than in the daylight and my imagination would take over, creating burglars and monsters. Darkness always made me feel helpless. My heart would pound and I would lie very still so that ‘the enemy’ wouldn’t discover me.
Another childhood fear of mine was that I would get lost, especially on the way home from school. Every morning, I got on the school bus right near my home—that was no problem. After school, though, when all the buses were lined up along the curve, I was terrified that I would get on the wrong one and be taken to some unfamiliar neighbourhood. I would scan the bus for the faces of my friends, make sure that the bus driver was the same one that had been there in the morning, and even then ask the others over and over again to be sure I was in the right bus. On school or family trips to an amusement park or a museum, I wouldn’t let the leaders out of my sight. And of course, I was never very adventurous when it came to taking walks or hikes because I would go only where I was sure I would never get lost.
Perhaps, one of the worst fears I had as a child was that of not being liked or accepted by others. First of all, I was quite shy. Secondly, I worried constantly about my looks, thinking people wouldn’t like me because I was too fat or wore braces. I tried to wear ‘the right clothes’ and had intense arguments with my mother over the importance of wearing flats instead of saddled shoes to school. Being popular was very important to me then and the fear of not being liked was a powerful one.
One of the processes of evolving from a child to an adult is being able to recognise and overcome our fears. I have learnt that darkness does not have to take on a life of its own, that others can help me when I am lost and that friendliness and sincerity will
encourage people to like me. Understanding the things that scared us as children helps to cope with our lives as adults.

Questions:
1. On the basis of your reading of the above passage, make notes using headings and subheadings. Use recognizable abbreviations, wherever necessary. 5
2. Write a summary of the passage in not more than 80 words using the notes made and also suggest a suitable title. 3
Answers:
NOTES:
1. TITLE: Memories of Childhood

Remembering childhood moments
1. happy and carefree
2. terrified of the dark and getting lost
Childhood fears
1. Feeling helpless in dark
  (a) Moving curtains
  (b) Creaking sounds
  (c) Creating burglars and monsters
2. Fear of getting lost (on the way home from school)
  (a) Scanning of school buses—friendly faces, same bus driver
  (b) Not letting leaders out of sight
  (c) Taken to some unfamiliar neighbourhood
  (d) Surety of not being lost
3. Fear of disliking
  (a) Quite shy
  (b) worried about looks
  (c) wear the right clothes
  (d) Imp. of popularity
Overcoming childhood fears
1. Undg. evolution process
2. Recognising and overcoming fears
3. Accepting help from others
4. Unds. things that scared

2. SUMMARY
My childhood moment was the happiest and carefree moment. Darkness scared me with its shadows, moving of curtains, and creaking sounds. It made me quite helpless and I used to lie still with a pounding heart. I had the fear of getting lost while on way from home to school. Before getting in school bus, I scanned it for friendly faces. I had the fear of being disliked by others. During the course of evolution from a child to an adult, I realised those things that scared me as a child. I was always expecting help from others.

Passage 2:
If you live in a rapidly urbanising India, especially in the North, and feel that things are getting from bad to worse as far as civility, sensitivity and respect for law is concerned, you are not alone.
I go out cycling almost every morning, at the crack of dawn. The total lawlessness that has come to grip the society scares me. As early as 5 am, our cycling group notices people huddled around their cars, drinking outside eateries or liquor joints, fighting, arguing loudly, or simply passing lewd comments at the women riders in our group. The comments do not vary from a Mercedes or a Maruti Swift. They are uniformly distasteful. We often see police vehicles at these joints too, and they are certainly not there attending to an SOS call.
Several of you would remember the horrific accident that took place in Gurgaon. Forty seven year old Avinash Shah, driving his small car with his wife and daughter was hit by a businessman test driving a powerful new Audi. Avinash died instantly and his wife and daughter barely survived.
The gent who rammed the big Audi into the small car, is out on bail. According to eye-witnesses, soon after ramming into Avinash’s car, this gent got out, made a few phone calls using his mobile, and got picked up by his own driver in his car and vanished. The police said they did not have his address for two days despite knowing that he was on a test drive and had deposited his driving licence at the car showroom before taking the car out. Two days later, this gent reappeared, with a lawyer in toe and surrendered, only to be bailed out in a jiffy.
Why is it that things are reaching such a pass? Sudden wealth, easy availability of ‘good things’ in life, general feeling that money can buy anything, or what else? Is it just a North Indian phenomenon or nationwide? Why it is that uncouth, uncivil and insensitive behaviour is all pervasive?,,Why is the society so willing to circumvent, indeed buy, law at will? Do you think the media is responsible having abdicated its responsibilities by concentrating on flashy things alone while bypassing the real issues that would positively impact the society?
Whatever the answer to those questions is, the solution lies with us alone. We need to stop accepting being pushed around. An individual cannot take on those who mock at our law, but together we can do wonders. The choice is ours, whether to stare down the barrel of the gun as lawlessness gains ground faster than these guys drive their fast cars, or start coming together to challenge the perpetrators of these crimes. I have often heard the argument that our economy is growing rapidly and this is just a brief side effect of such growth. I would rather have a slower growth rate of economy, but a saner, civilised society to live in.

Questions:
1. On the basis of your reading make notes on the above passage. 5
2. Write the summary of the passage in your own words. 3
Answers:
NOTES:
1. TITLE: Nadir of Civic Sense and Possible Solution

Deteriorating civic sense in urban India
Bad behaviour of the rich
1. Bad drinking habits
  (a) drinking on roadside
  (b) wee hours
2. Disrespect towards women
  (a) Passing lewd comments on women
  (b) No difference in behaviour: rich or not so rich
3. Police apathy compounding the problem
  (a) Policemen looking the other way
  (b) Not interested in happenings
An accident in Gurgaon as example
1. Small car hit by big car symbolising class division in society
  (a) Man test driving: hitting family in small car, killing husband and injuring wife
2. Money power coming to the rescue of the rich
  (a) Police turning a blind eye towards the culprit
  (b) Culprit managing to flee from the scene
  (c) Culprit getting bail by using monetary influence
Pondering over reasons for the current situtn
1. Overpowering sense of sudden wealth
  (a) sudden wealth: people irresponsible citizens
  (b) All pervasiveness of uncivil behaviour
  (c) more in north India: some incidence in other parts as well
2. Questionable role of media in framing value system
  (a) Media ignoring important social issues
Searching for solution
1. Stop accepting the state of affairs
  (a) individual unable to resist crime
2. Challenging the perpetrators of crime
  (b) group to fight crime, bad behaviour
3. rapid ecomic growth and slow econmic growth
  (a) which is better
  (b) The preferred situation

2. SUMMARY
It has been observed that urbanisation has promoted insensitivity, arrogance and selfishness. The narrator feels disturbed to see the youngsters consuming alcohol and passing indecent comments. The horrible accident that took place in Gurgaon is the pinnacle of absurdity and injustice. Avinash Shah was killed by a businessman test driving a new car. His wife and daughter barely survived. The culprit was not arrested. He was arrested after two days so that the law can be manipulated. Who is responsible for such mishaps? Media, police or ; the system? The reply may be any. But we need to fight against such malpractices together. The slower growth rate of economy is preferred than insane and uncivilised society.

Passage 3:
An Indian visitor to Cairo stopped to hear a muezzin’s melodious call to prayer. When the azzan had ended, the muezzin approached the visitor and, in rudimentary English, asked where he was from. “India”, replied the visitor. “Muslim?” asked the muezzin. “No”, said the visitor. “Little bit Muslim?” asked the muezzin. “Yes, little bit Muslim,” agreed the visitor.
That exchange represents a cross-cultural tribute to what is often referred to as India’s long tradition of eclecticism, or what might be called Indutva. It is a tradition based on anekantavada, the ability to see the other person’s point of view. Or as a western philosopher has put it, the realisation that the opposite of a great truth need not be a lie but another, and equally valid great truth.
This ambiguity of faith, this welcoming of multiplicity, is the bedrock of Indie civilisation, of Indutva. It is not an acceptance but a celebration of the fact that, at times, we can all be a little bit of this and a little bit of that. The Indian knack of being able to absorb and internalise whatever comes our way is often compared to a sponge which soaks up any moisture that it comes into contact with. It’s an inaccurate metaphor, for a sponge is a passive object, its capacity to absorb is not elective, not something that it chooses. Indian eclecticism, or Indutva, on the contrary, is highly creative; there is nothing passive or
constrained about it. It is an active engagement with diverse cultural norms and beliefs, which it seeks to link. It’s like a universal language of faith, a spiritual Esperanto, if you like. Indutva’s vocabulary includes idioms not just from the major belief systems like Islam, Sikhism and Buddhism, but of minor religions as well which India has made its own, 1 and which include Westminster style democracy and cricket.

The great majority of Indians are Hindu. But there are almost as many kinds of Hinduism as there are Hindus. There are atheist Hindus, and Hindus who eat beef. There are Hindus who partly believe in Islam, and Muslims who are part Hindus, like the Sufis. There are Hindus who are Buddhists, or Jains, or vice versa; Hindus who are part Christians, like the Brahmos, and Christians who remain Hindus, like converts who retain their caste and other social traditions even after embracing Christianity.
Long before we had multiplex cinema halls in India, we had multiple places of worship, like the Shantadurga Shrine in Goa which attracts devotees who are both Hindus and Christians—or, indeed, who are neither. Salim Chisti’s memorial in Fatehpur Sikri—where pilgrims of all faiths flock—is another example of the multiplicity of Indutva. Shrines apart, Holi and Diwali, Eid and Christmas, are celebrated by people of all creeds. Indutva is a bouquet of many faiths, a garland of festivals.
You are invited to identify and explore the myriad strands that, over the millennia, have been inextricably woven together to create the seamless fabric of Indutva, to which new threads are added every day.

Questions:
1. On the basis of your reading make notes on the above passage. 5
2. Write the summary of the passage in your own words. 3
Answers:
NOTES:
1. TITLE: Idea of Induism

Introduction
1. Muezzin’s call in Cairo
  (a) melodious: prayer
  (b) question to visitor: from India?
  (c) visitor: affirmative answer, little bit Muslim
2. Cross cultural tribute to Indian tradn
  1. eclecticism: Indutva
    (a) anektavada: see through others’ perspective
  2. Opposite of great truth
    (a) Greater truth
    (b) not lies
3. Welcoming of multiplicity
  1. bedrock of Indie civilisatn
    (a) Little bit of this and little bit of that
    (b) Ability to absorb everything
  2. Sponge: inaccurate metaphor
    (a) non-elective absorption by sponge
    (b) India absorbs + internalises
    (c) Active engagement with diversity
  3. Doctrines from major beliefs
    (a) influence from Islam, Sikhism, Buddhism, etc.
    (b) Like Westminster style democy and cricket
4. Hindu majority with many beliefs
  1. Atheist Hindus
  2. Hindus believing in Islam,
  3. Christians having caste system: relic of past roots
  4. Sufis: unique way of practising Islam
5. Multiplexes of Worship
  1. Shatadurga Shrine: Goa
    (a) devotees from Hindu & Christian and also from neither
  2. Salim Chisti Memorial: Fatehpur
    (a) Pilgrims of all faiths: multiplicity of Indutva
  3. Celebration by all
    (a) Holi, Diwali, Eid and Christmas
    (b) Indutva: bouquet of many faiths – new threads added everyday
6. All Invited
  1. identify & explore: myriad strands
    (a) woven over millennia
    (b) seamless fabric of Indutva

2. SUMMARY
An Indian heard a muezzin’s call to prayer. The muezzin interacted with Indian visitor and inquired if he was a Muslim. The visitor agreed that he was a bit Muslim. India is a secular country. It may be called Indutva. Hindus respect each religion without any bias. The chief attribute of India civilisation is the multiplicity of religions, castes and beliefs. Indutva is exceptionally creative. It has incorporated the words from various religious viz Islam, Jainism, Buddism, Sikhism in its scriptures. Most of the Indians are Hindus. But Hinduism has innumerable forms. Indutva celebrates all festivals like Holi, Diwali, Eid and Christmas. It unites the world.

Passage 4:
An era, a culture is eventually determined by its news. What is missed out by those who track the news of that time is lost forever. We know nothing about Shakespeare’s contemporaries even though some of them may have been better playwrights. We know nothing about those who came in with Babar, or around the same time, to loot India and stayed back as rulers. Or the many soldiers of fortune who landed here during the time of the East India Company. We know of a few and, apart from avid historians, no one knows who led the Portuguese, Dutch or French into India or ran their empires here till they were dismantled. Why is that? Simple. The media of that time, known as historians, did not mention them.
We who consume news today see it as a fleeting experience. We observe a powerful image on TV, are moved by its impact or repelled by its horror, and move on. We read a headline today and can’t even recall it tomorrow. Current news always drives out the old (often with ruthless cunning) and It’s only when the media goes back in time to recall a particular (7 story that we suddenly remember that, yes, there was something called HDW or Bofors that once shook up the entire nation and held it in thrall for a decade. We are suddenly reminded that Congress treasurer LN Mishra was mysteriously killed in a bomb blast on
a train and no one ever knew who killed him or where his secret millions vanished.
Since I’m a journalist I can tell you many such stories. There are others too, full of stories.
But, like news, the stories die with them. History only remembers what it chooses to, or what is indelibly stamped on its pages. The rest is occasionally recalled as gossip. But is it gossip? Or is it truth that we are trying to forget so that we can move on and make space in our hearts and minds for more recent news? Our memory, collective as well as individual, has limited storage and however many data cards we may insert, there’s simply too much to absorb and retain. The information surge that hits us every morning is so i large, so intimidating that we remember only a tiny fraction of it. It’s that fraction which actually scares us by the possibility of impacting our lives.
The gap between news and entertainment was always sacrosanct. News was about facts. Entertainment was about imagination, ergo fiction. To see them occupy the same media platforms today is scary for those like me who have spent a lifetime pursuing facts in the search for news. Even the dividing line has blurred. What we once shunned as preposterous lies slip in so casually today into our news menu. It’s no one’s fault. It’s just that the fault lines have shifted. News has become just another consumable, another platform to commercially (and cynically) exploit. No, don’t blame our journalists and media owners. They are only following a global model that, for better or for worse, is making our times an entirely forgettable chapter of history.

Questions:
1. On the basis of your reading make notes on the above passage. 5
2. Write the summary of the passage in your own words. 3
Answers:
NOTES:
1. TITLE: Problems of Plenty of News

Role of News in making history
1. news of era detmines. it
  (a) missed by news: lost forever
2. Examples of unknown figs
  (a) Shakespeare’s contemporaries: unknown
  (b) People coming with Babar: unknown
  (c) No knowledge about people: came during East India Company’s landing
  (d) Who led Portuguese, Dutch or French in India?
3. No description by media or historians of the period
Consumption of news: Fleeting experience
1. Powerful image today: forgettable tmorrow
2. current news driving out old news
  (a) Bofors, HDW come in memory after some news story
  (b) L N Mishra: Nobody knows why he was killed, secret millions vanished?
Stories and history
1. History chooses what it remembers
  (a) indelibly stamped
  (b) Gossip fades
2. We choose truths to forget
  (a) Forget loads of data
  (b) To move on
  (c) remember fraction of informtn. surge
Gap between news & entertainment
1. Earlier sacrosanct
  (a) News: fact
  (b) Entertainment: fiction
2. Blurring of lines
  (a) News & entertainment: on same platform
  (b) scary situation
3. Preposterous lies
  (a) shunned earlier
  (b) accepted now
4. Commoditisation of news
  (a) news to be exploited commercially
  (b) don’t blame media/joumalists
  (c) following global model
  (d) forgettable chapters of history

2. SUMMARY
The world we are living in is replete with incidents, accidents and happenings. It becomes difficult for us to remember each news printed in the newspaper or telecast on screen. People don’t know anything about Shakespeare’s and Babar’s contemporaries as India was not so effective at that time. Modem media follows a global models nowadays. The gap between news and entertainment was always sacrosanct. News was about facts and entertainment was about imagination. But now news has become a platform to be exploited commercially.

Passage 5:
It was bound in a rough, red cloth, now smoothened in places with the many caresses it had received over the years. Its name boldly etched in gold over its hard cover. Its spine still holding on firmly to the age old pages, much thumbed, dog-eared, yellowing pages. Its illustrations, lithographs by the author himself, and a frayed red ribbon placed between the pages I had read the last time. That is my favourite book. .
That book startled me off on a journey that inevitably took me to the book alleys that still make the three hundred year old city proud. The fact that my lane meandered through several by-lanes and reached the book alleys in less than fifteen minutes made my trips frequent and my pocket-money meagre. The narrow lanes were lined with small shops with dusty shelves. Their bespectacled shop-owners—bibliophiles in their own right—were always eager to help me find treasures in all shapes and sizes, bound in cloth or leather, some new and some which had changed several hands; others which had comers folded, many in tatters, a few boasting of an autograph or a note written in attention of a loving reader. My prized possession in those days was a book called Sita that was illustrated with paintings by the illustrious Raja Ravi Verma.
Nothing gave me more pleasure than the feel of a cold spine against my palm, the weight of the pages, their slight reluctance to open spontaneously, the faint crick at the turn of each page, and the musty smell of the yellowing pages mixed with a slight whiff of the jet-black ink that filled my nostrils as I brought the book close to my face.

Thus enamoured by books of all shapes and sizes, colours and textures and thus pampered by the abundance of such gems in dusty attics and tiny shop windows, I stepped out of my city’s boundaries and stepped into different cities. As a resident in some, whilst a tourist in others. My experiences in each of those cities have been varied as have been my encounter with books.
In the beginning, I would wait to return from those cities and visit the old, familiar book alleys for my ration of books for the rest of the year. But soon I realised that the character of the alleys, the shops lining them and the books they sold had started to change. The old, dusty spines of ageless classics were fast being replaced by Last Minute Suggestions for Board Examinations, Questions & Answers Made Easy, cheap reprints of old classics, poor translations of world famous children’s classics and photocopies of what were otherwise intellectual masterpieces. Makeshift shops had encroached upon the pavements
of the narrow alleys and had started to threaten the original inhabitants themselves. Disappointment was inevitable, and it didn’t take too long to set in. Like many others, I soon decided it was time to park my hopes elsewhere.

Questions:
1. On the basis of your reading make notes on the above passage. 5
2. Write the summary of the passage in your own words. 3
Answers:
NOTES:
1. TITLE: Musings of a Bibliophile

My favourite book
1. Bound in red cloth
  (a) rough: smoothened in places
  (b) caresses received over y’rs
2. Boldly etched name in gold
3. Spine holding firmly
  (a) age old pages
  (b) much thumbed: dog-eared: yellowing pages
4. Illustrations
  (a) lithographs
5. Frayed red ribbon as bkmark
Journey to the old book alley
1. Proud city of book alley
2. Freq’t trips to book alleys
  (a) fifteen minute walk
  (b) meagre pocket money
  (c) small shops: dusty shelves
3. Shop owners
  (a) bespectacled
  (b) bibliophiles: in own right
  (c) always eager to help to find treasure in all shapes
4. Prized possession
  (a) Sita: by Raja Ravi Verma
  (b) Illust’n by the great artist
Pleas’r of books
1. Feel of cold spine
  (a) weight of pages
  (b) pages’ reluctance to open spontaneously
2. Musty smell
  (a) yellowing pages
  (b) whiff of ink
Enam’rd with other cities
1. Enam’rd by books
  (a) all shapes, sizes, colours
  (b) pampered by gems from dusty attics
2. Stepping out to different cities
  (a) as resident in some
  (b) as visitor in some
  (c) varied experience
  (d) as varied as with books
Changes with time
1. initial returns to old book alley
  (a) Replenish quota of books
2. Start of change
  (a) old books replaced by short cuts on different exams
  (b) cheap reprints of old classics
  (c) imitations of famous classics
3. Makeshift shops
  (a) encroaching narrow alley
  (b) Threat’ng orgnl inhabitiants
Inevitable disappointment
(a) disappointment sets in
(b) Looking for solution elsewhere

2. SUMMARY
The author speaks about a book bound in a rough, red cloth, now smothered in places with the many caresses received over years. It was the narrator’s favourite book. This book took him to the old book alley. He was habitual of spending his pocket money on books. His prized possession was Sita by Raja Ravi Verma. The books were a source of fascination to the writer. His experience of the various cities has been varied as has been his encounter with books. Time has undergone a sea change, the classics have been replaced by last Minute for Board suggestions, Questions and Answers made easy type of books. The narrator found it disappointing and decided to satisty his curiosity somewhere else.

Passage 6:
Canada says its denial of visas to Indian security officials on grounds of human rights violations, torture and espionage is a mistake.
India was hurt to the quick at the charges. The government issued an angry warning and said it would take retaliatory measures if Canada did not take corrective measures. Now that it has done so, the two countries could resume the pleasantries. But that wouldn’t alter the truth. And the truth is that Indian security forces, like most other security forces in the world, routinely commit human rights violations, certainly torture and seriously play at espionage.
Now, we can protest our innocence and act righteous. But we’d be deceiving ourselves. The security forces anywhere in the world will do all these. That is their job. But unlike the more civilised west, our men are not accountable. Consider the high number of custodial deaths -127 last year alone, according to NHRC, or any number of torture cases. This is a primitive country and sees in violence a kind of catharsis. The recent baying for Kasab’s public execution, preceded by chopping of limbs is a case in point.
So, instead of getting hot under the collar, the Indian authorities should be thanking Canada for holding up a mirror to our ugly face. It is through such diplomatic slip-ups that we know how we are really perceived in a world, at least a part of which is seriously giving a shot at evolving ethically driven societies.
I suggest Canada take back its apology, and ask India to prove its credentials of civility. And I suggest Indians stop flattering brainwashing themselves into thinking, no doubt with the help of an embarrassingly patriotic media, that they have arrived. The truth, ah, comrade, is we have just about started and it’s such a long way to go.

Questions:
1. On the basis of your reading make notes on the above passage. 5
2. Write the summary of the passage in your own words. 3
Answers:
NOTES:
1. TITLE: Undo the Past Wrongs

Canada denies visas
1. Indian officials
2. human rights violat’ns
3. Canada accepts mistake
4. Indian govt, issues warnings
  (a) may take retaliatory measures
  (b) Canada to take corrective measures
Real truth in India
1. Human rights violations: Indian security forces
  (a) Routine violations
  (b) tortre
  (c) espionage
2. deceiving ourselves
  (a) acting righteous
  (b) unaccountable security forces, unlike west
  (c) High custodial deaths – 127 last year (NHRC report)
  (d) any number of torture cases
Primitive Society
(a) violence: kind of catharsis
(b) Baying for Kasab’s bid: chopping of limbs
Canada holding a mirror
1. Thank Canada
2. diplomatic slip-ups
3. showing the true face
Challenge for India
1. Prove its credentials
2. Civilians: stop flattering themselves
3. make a new beginning

2. SUMMARY
Canada refuses Visas to Indian security officials considering the grounds of human right violation, torture and espionage. The Indian government warns Canada that it may take retaliatory measures. Human rights are violated frequently in the country. We are deceiving ourselves that we act righteously. There were 127 high custodial deaths last year. Our society is primitive. Violence is considered a kind of catharsis. India should prove its credentials and make a new beginning.

Passage 7:
Tomorrow, May 31, is when Delhi’s tongas go off the road. In one stroke, over 200 tongawallahs will be left with no option but to discontinue a profession that many of them have been involved in, for generations. It will also be the end of a way of life for many people in old Delhi — used to having the tonga in their midst for commuting around the area. Or, for those who are dependent on it for their livelihood, like horse-shoe makers and cleaners.
Why are tongas being phased out? Apparently, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) decided last year that the tongas cause congestion and pose a threat to traffic security. Therefore, they have to go. It seems to be a knee-jerk reaction, at best. Even if one were to accept MCD’s argument, banning tongas completely is hardly a solution to Delhi’s traffic mess. Considering that there are almost 10-15 lakh rickshaws in the capital — which some would say add to the traffic problem even more, the 200 odd tongas are a mere drop in the ocean.
The alternative being provided to the tongawallahs is a tehbazaari or a roadside shop. This shift in profession is something that most tongawallahs are not too keen about— they feel that the shops are located too far away from the Old Delhi area where they live. And neither do most of them have the capital to equip the shops with goods nor do they have the inclination to let go of their horses, which inevitably, they will have to, once their tongas are gone.
Is there a solution to their plight? Majority of tongawallahs that I spoke to, are keen on an idea which, if it is implemented, can be a workable solution. It is simply, to let them refurbish their tongas as buggies(carriages) and allow them to cater to tourists in areas like India Gate, Red Fort etc. Indeed, many cities across the world are doing this already from the ‘Victorias’ operating near the Gateway of India in Mumbai to the chariots rented out to tourists near the Colosseum in Rome to Fiacres, the quaint carriages that carry visitors around the old city of Vienna.
Delhi can easily follow the examples of these cities and probably do a bit more, considering that it has a rich Mughal ancestry as well as a colonial past. Carriages can be furbished according to the areas where they ply. In the process, they can give tourists a chance to relive that era in style and thereby ensure that a slice of the past is still relevant in the present.

Questions:
1. On the basis of your reading make notes on the above passage. 5
2. Write the summary of the passage in your own words. 3
Answers:
NOTES:
1. TITLE: End of Road for Tonga?

End of life
1. Tonga goes off the road
  (a) May 31 deadline
  (b) 200 tongawallahs affected
  (c) discontinue your age-old profession
2. End of a way of life for commutrs
3. End of livelihood
  (a) horse shoe-makers
  (b) cleaners
Phase out rationales
1. MCD: tongas cause congestion, traffic threat
  (a) knee-jerk reaction
  (b) 10-15 lakh rickshaws Vs 200 tongas?!
Alternative provided
1. Tehbazaari
2. Tongawallahs not keen
  (b) Location far away from old Del
  (c) Lack of capital another deterrent
  (d) No inclination to part with horses
Better solutions
1. workable soln
  (a) refurbish tongas as buggies
  (b) cater at tourist spots: India Gate, Red Fort
2. Examples
  (a) Victorias near Gateway of India
  (b) Chariots in Rome
  (c) Fiares in Vienna
Giving new experience to tourists
1. follow examples of old cities
2. Do a bit more
  (a) Mughal ancestry + colonial past
  (b) Refurbish according to tourist area
  (c) Giving tourist to relive the gone era

2. SUMMARY
The government of Delhi has banned tongas in old Delhi. Consequently 200 tongawallals have become unemployed. The horse shoe-makers and cleaners have nothing to do now. MCD opined last year that tongas create traffic problems. But banning tongas only will not solve the problem as there are 10-15 lakhs reakshaws on the city. Tongawallahs have been provided roadside shops. But they say that they don’t have money to equip theme with goods and moreover, they are on the outskirts of the city. The solution to the problem is to allow them to refurbish their tongas as buggies following the examples of other cities.

Passage 8:
Sixty years after independence, the caste question looms large in our consciousness. Far from being abolished, the caste system is at the centre of many debates of the day. Whether it is the larger question of the importance of caste in electoral politics, reservations, whether caste should be part of the census or not or the outrage over the Khap panchayat’s actions, it is clear that caste is an arena of contention even today.
There is a part of India which sees caste as an outdated institution that needs to be erased from all our calculations. It sees caste as a blight on modernity, a pathogen that infects us. Caste binds us to a collective rooted in the past and imposes on individuals a destiny that is not of their making. Caste hierarchy makes our future contingent on our birth, and those less fortunately born are condemned to a life more ordinary. What makes this more complex is the accelerated attempt to reverse history by the device of reservations which allocate opportunities purposively to the lower castes. This makes the distaste for caste even greater in the educated middle class, who see it as an instrument created for use specifically against them. The advantages that have accrued to this group have been internalised and neutralised and only the disadvantages loom threateningly, particularly 1 as the lower castes accumulate political power.
It is interesting that the distaste for caste and its classification as a social evil has such wide currency. If the underlying purpose, that of ensuring that birth does not determine destiny, and that the individual must begin with a clean slate in building one’s life, were indeed that important, then the idea of inheriting property should be seen as being equally unfair. After all, in today’s world, nothing determines our life’s trajectory as much as money. The fact that opponents of caste-based reservations are open to using economic criteria suggests that even they accept the unfairness of birth-determined wealth. Why is caste such an anachronism and inheritance such a modem idea?
The idea is made to seem natural in the myth that markets create that everyone can aspire to becoming wealthy, and uses as its poster children, the lucky few who have built empires from scratch. We can admire them, but to argue that because some people are able to overcome constraints imposed on them by circumstances, no attempt should be made to level the playing field is not an argument that stands up to scrutiny. It would then seem that our distaste for the past is selective. The class that protests caste but . celebrates inheritance is the one that has nothing left to gain from caste and everything to lose if property rights are reformed. Of course, the larger market discourse makes this selective discrimination seem legitimate and modem.

Questions:
1. On the basis of your reading make notes on the above passage. 5
2. Write the summary of the passage in your own words. 3
Answers:
NOTES:
1. TITLE: Caste and Inheritance: Case of Selective Discrimination

Resurgence of the caste systm.
1. Caste question looms large
  (a) Even after 60 yrs of independence
2. Centre of many debates
  (a) Caste in electoral politcs
  (b) reservations
  (c) census
  (d) Khap panchayat’s actions
Distasteful for middle classes
1. seen as outdated institution
  (a) needs to be erased
  (b) blight on modernity
  (c) pathogen infecting us
  (d) Problem of accident of birth determing life
2. attempts of reverting history
  (a) misuse of reservation for politics
  (b) Lower caste accumulate political power
3. More distasteful for educated middle class
  (a) instrument created against them
  (b) Advantage to the group neutralised
Dual Mentality
1. Distaste for caste Vs Openness towards inheritance of property
  (a) Ambiguity of underlying purpose
  (b) Determining destiny
  (c) Should birth determine destiny?
  (d) Openness to economic criteria for reservations
Selective discrimination
1. Creation of market myths
  (a) Aspiration to be wealthy
  (b) Wealthy as poster children
2. Making a level playing field
  (a) Forget caste
  (b) Remember inheritance
  (c) legitimate selective discrimination

2. SUMMARY
The country is haunted by the caste system even after sixty years of independence. The hiatus between the upper caste people and the lower caste people is increasing day by day because of the reservation policy of the state. Caste binds people to a collective rooted in the past and imposes on individuals a destiny that is not of their making. The caste system must be declared outdated and it must not be followed.

TEST YOUR SKILLS

Read the following passages carefully: (12 Marks)

Passage 1:
Early automobiles were sometimes only “horseless carriages’ powered by gasoline or steam engines. Some of them were so noisy that cities often made laws forbidding their use because they frightened horses.
Many countries helped to develop the automobile. The internal-combustion engine was invented in Austria and France was an early leader in automobile manufacturing. But it was in the United States after 1900 that the automobile was improved most rapidly. As a large and growing country, the United States needed cars and trucks to provide transportation in places not served by trains.
Two brilliant ideas made possible the mass production of automobiles. An American inventor named Eli Whitney thought one of them, which is known as ‘standardisation of parts’. In an effort to speed up production in his gun factory Whitney decided that each part of a gun could be made by machines so that it would be exactly like all the others of its kind.
Another American, Henry Ford, developed the idea of the assembly line. Before Ford introduced the assembly line, each car was built by hand. Such a process was, of course, very slow. As a result, automobiles were so expensive that only rich people could afford them. Ford proposed a system in which each worker would have only a portion of the wheels. Another would place the wheels on the car. And still another would insert the bolts that held the wheels to the car. Each worker needed to learn only one or two routine tasks.
But the really important part of Ford’s idea was to bring the work to the worker. An automobile frame, which looks like a steel skeleton, was put on a moving platform. When the car reached the end of the line, it was completely assembled. Oil, gasoline and water were added and the car was ready to be driven away. With the increased production made possible by the assembly line, automobiles became much cheaper and more and more people were able to afford them. Today, it can be said that wheels run America. The four rubber tyres of the automobile move America through work and play.
Even though the majority of Americans would find it hard to imagine what life could be without a car, some have begun to realise that the automobile is a mixed blessing. Traffic accidents are increasing steadily and large cities are plagued by traffic congestion. Worst of all, perhaps, is the air pollution caused by the internal combustion engine. Every car engine bums hundreds of gallons of fuel each year and pumps hundreds pounds of carbon monoxide and other gases into the air. These gases are one source of the smog that hangs over large cities. Some of these gases are poisonous and dangerous to health, especially for someone with a weak heart or a respiratory disease.
One answer to the problem of air pollution is to build a car that does not pollute. That’s what several major automobile manufacturers are trying to do. But building a clean car is easier said than done. So far progress has been slow. Another solution is to eliminate car fumes altogether by getting rid of the internal-combustion engine. Inventors are now working on turbine-powered cars, as well as on cars powered by steam and electricity. But most of us won’t be driving cars run on batteries or boiling water for a while yet. Many auto-makers believe that it will take years to develop practical models that are powered by electricity or steam.
To rid the world of pollution—pollution caused not just by cars, but by all of modem industrial life—many people believe we must make some fundamental changes in the way many of us live. Americans may, for example, have to cut down on the number of privately owned cars and depend more on public mass transit systems. Certainly the extensive use of new transit systems could cut down on traffic congestion and air pollution. But these changes sometimes clash head on with other urgent problems. For example, if a factory closes down because it cannot meet government pollution standards, a large number of workers suddenly find themselves without jobs. Questioning the quality of the air they breathe becomes less important than worrying about the next pay check. Drastic action must be taken if we are to reduce traffic accidents, traffic congestion and air pollution. While wheels have brought better and more convenient transportation, they have also brought new and unforeseen problems. Progress, it turns out, has more than one face.

Questions:
A. Choose the most appropriate option: 1 x 4 = 4

(a) Early automobiles were prohibited as they …………………………….

were very noisy
scared horses
both 1 and 2
none of the above

(b) Cars emit obnoxious forms which are detrimental to …………………………….

a person with a weak heart
an individual whose respiratory system is weak
both 1 and 2
none of the above

(c) The basis of America’s success and fast life is …………………………….

automobile industry
export policies
import policies
finance policies

(d) Drastic action needs to be taken to reduce

air pollution
traffic accidents
traffic congestion
all of the above

B. Answer the following questions briefly: 1 x 6 = 6

(a) How does standardisation of parts help make mass production possible?
(b) How does the assembly line help make mass production possible?
(c) Why do some Americans call the automobile a mixed blessing? (Two points)
(d) What suggestions are offered in the piece for getting rid of pollution?
(e) What another idea was developed by Henry Ford?
(f) What was made possible by the assembly line with increased production?

C. Find words in the passage similar in meaning as: 1 x 2 = 2

(a) mixture of smoke and fog (para 7)
(b) remove (para 8)

Passage 2:
Other animals go about the world as nature made them. Why then, did man start to adorn himself by hanging things round his neck, arms, waist and legs or putting things on his head? We can imagine many reasons. If an exceptionally strong or brave man succeeded in killing an exceptionally large bear, might he not get the idea of boring a hole through one of its teeth with a sharp flint and tying the tooth round his neck in order to remind himself of his great achievement and to show his friends what a great man he was? Gradually it might become the custom in that tribe for all strong and brave hunters to wear a bear’s tooth, and it might be regarded as a disgrace not to wear one and a sign that one was weak or very young.
Another man might make an ornament of a coloured shell or stone simply because he liked it or because its shape reminded him of something. Then if he happened to escape from some danger when he was wearing it he might think the ornament had something to do with it that it had magic qualities. And his friends and relations would not be satisfied until they had an ornament of the same kind.
People who wore ornaments would soon learn to arrange them in different ways according to their size and colour in order to make them more decorative and impressive. A necklace found in Italy with the skeleton of a young man of the Stone Age was quite elaborate. It consisted of stag’s teeth arranged at intervals with, between them, two upper rows made up of the vertebrae of a fish and one row of shells.
Another reason why men might tie feathers, horns, skins and all kinds of other things to themselves would be in order to make themselves look fierce and more terrifying to animals or to the men of other tribes.
Objects that came from a distance and were therefore scarce—such as sea-shells to people living far inland—would come in time to have a special value, and might be worn only by chiefs and their families in order to show that they were particularly important people. Primitive tribes living today often associate themselves with some particular animal or bird, such as an angle or lion, or with a particular place, such as a mountain or river. Man may have started doing this kind of thing very early in his history. Then, every member of a group or family may have worn something such as feathers, claws or even a stone or wooden object of a certain shape or colour, to represent the animal or mountain or whatever it might be .that they believed themselves to be connected with.
So, as we have seen, clothing may have started as ornament or to distinguish one tribe from another or to show rank or because certain things were believed to have magic qualities. But in some places a time came when men and women began to wear clothes for other reasons. During the Ice Ages, when the polar ice spread over far more of the world than it does today, some of the districts in which human beings were living became very cold and bleak indeed. Man must have learnt that he would be more comfortable and more likely to survive, if he covered his body with the skins »f animals. At first perhaps, he would simply tie a skin round his waist or over his shoulders but as time passed he learnt how to treat skins in order to make them softer and more supple and how to join them together in order to make better garments.
Flint tools have been found buried deep under the earth floors of caves in which prehistoric men sheltered when the weather became colder. Some of the tools were probably used to scrape the inner sides of skins to make them soft. Stone Age people may also have softened skins in the same way that Eskimo women do today, by chewing them. The teeth of Eskimo women are often worn down to stumps by the constant chewing of seal skins.
Among the wonderful flint and bone tools and implements that later cave men made have been found some beautiful bone needles, some not much bigger than those we use today. Although the people who made them had only flint tools to work with, some of the needles are finer and more beautifully shaped than those of Roman times.

Questions:
A. Choose the most appropriate option: 1 x 4 = 4

(a) The habit of wearing a bear’s tooth symbolises …………………………….

man’s greed
hypocrisy
arrogance
honesty

(b) The flint tools were found …………………………….

buried in the caves
on the floor of the caves
at cool places
in the forests

(c) The passage justifies that man is …………………………….

creative
innovative
productive
all of the above

(d) Some of the flint tools were probably used to escape the inner sides of skins to make them

soft
rough
hard
bright

B. Answer the following questions briefly: 1 x 6 = 6

(a) Why did man start to adorn himself?
(b) What was special about the necklace found in Italy?
(c) Why did men tie feathers, horns and skins to themselves?
(d) Why did man begin to clothe himself? Give two reasons? ‘
(e) What tools did they make use of? Also describe the needles they used?
(f) What does the passage justify about man?

C. Find words in the passage similar in meaning as: 1 x 2 = 2

(a) decorative (para 2)
(b) in detail (para 3)

Passage 3:

Years ago, when I was a young Assistant Professor at the Harvard Business School, I thought the role of business schools was to develop future managers who knew all about the various functions of business, to teach them how to define problems succinctly, analyse these problems and identify alternatives in a clear, logical fashion and finally, to teach them to make an intelligent decision.
My thinking gradually became tempered by living and working outside the United States and by serving seven years a$ a college president. During my presidency of Babson College, I added several additional traits or skills that I felt a good manager must possess.
One must have the ability to express oneself in a clear articulate fashion. Good oral and written communication skills are absolutely essential, if one is to be an effective manager. One must possess that intangible set of qualities called leadership skills. To be a good leader, one must understand and be sensitive to people and be able to inspire them towards the achievement of common goal. Effective managers must be broad-minded human beings who not only understand the world of business but also have a sense of the cultural, social, political, historical and (particularly today) the international aspects of life and society. This suggests that exposure to the liberal arts and humanities should be part of every manager’s education.
A good manager in today’s world must have courage and a strong sense of integrity. He or she must know where to draw the line between the right and the wrong.
That can be agonisingly difficult. Drawing a line in a corporate setting sometimes involves having to make a choice between what appears to be conflicting ‘rights’. For example, if one is faced with a decision whether or not to close an ailing factory, whose interests should prevail? Those of stock-holders? Of employees? Of customers ? Or those of the community in which the factory is located? It is a tough choice. And the typical manager faces many others.
Sometimes these choices involve simple questions of honesty or truthfulness. More often they are more subtle and involve such issues as having to decide whether to ‘cut comers’ and economise to meet profit objectives that may be beneficial in the short run but that are
not in the best long-term interests of the various groups being served by one’s company. Making the right choice in situations such as these clearly demands integrity and the courage to follow where one’s integrity leads.
But now I have left behind the cap and gown of a college president and put on the hat of chief executive officer. As a result of my experience as a corporate CEO, my list of desirable managerial traits has become still longer.
It now seems to me that what matters most in the majority of organisations is to have reasonably intelligent, hard working managers who have a sense of pride and loyalty towards their organisation; who can get to the root of a problem and are inclined towards action; who are decent human beings with a natural empathy and concern for people; who possess humour, humility and common-sense; and who are able to couple drive with resilience and patience in the accomplishment of a goal.
It is the ability to make positive things happen that most distinguishes the successful manager from the mediocre or unsuccessful one. It is far better to have dependable managers who can make the right things happen in a timely fashion than to have brilliant, sophisticated, highly educated executives who are excellent at planning and analysing, but who are not so good at implementing. The most cherished manager is the one who says “I can do it” and then does.
Many business schools continue to focus almost exclusively on the development of analytical skills. As a result, these schools are continuing to graduate large numbers of MBAs and business majors who know a great deal about analysing strategies, dissecting balance sheets and using computer—but who still don’t know how to manage.
As a practical matter, or course, schools can go only so far in teaching their students to manage. Only hard knocks and actual work experience will fully develop the kind of managerial traits, skills and virtues that I have discussed here.
Put another way: the best way to learn to manage is to manage companies such as mine that hire aspiring young managers, that can help the process along by providing good role models and mentors, by setting clear standards and high expectations that emphasise the kind of broad leadership traits that are important to the organisation and by rewarding the young managers accordingly.

Questions:
A. Choose the most appropriate option: 1 x 2 = 2

(a) The best way to learn to manage is ……………………………

to set explicit goals
to possess lofty aspirations
to have high expectations
all of the above

(b) Most of the business schools emphasise on ……………………………

analytical skills
creativity
enthusiasm
current issues

B. Answer the following questions briefly: 1 x 6 = 6

(a) What did the author think about the business schools in the beginning?
(b) What qualities should an efficient manager have?
(c) What does the author say about business schools?
(d) What was the author by profession?
(e) How can the companies help their managers to be effective?
(f) What do you understand by the term ‘integrity’?

C. Find words in the passage similar in meaning as: 1 x 2 = 2

(a) briefly and clearly (para 1)
(b) painfully (para 5)

Passage 4:

In today’s fiercely competitive business environment, companies need to communicate information pertaining to a whole range of issues in a lucid and precise manner to their customers.
This is particularly so in the case of companies which do business in areas such as manufacturing, information technology (IT), engineering products and services—companies whose products and services may not be understood by a customer not familiar with its technical aspects.
These communication materials are prepared in a company these days by ‘technical writers’— people who can effectively communicate to an intended audience.
The skills of a technical writer are being increasingly sought for preparing marketing documents such as brochures, case studies, website content and media kits and for the preparation of a whole range of manuals. Though technical writers in a company do a good portion of such work, the trend now is to outsource technical writing to free-lancers.
Technical writing and writing text-books are poles apart. The former is aimed at those who do not have an in-depth knowledge about a product and hence should be direct and lucid. An overdose of technical terms and jargon would only add to the confusion of the customer.
The basic requirement for being a technical writer is near-total mastery over English language. A technical writer should be natural in creative writing and needs to be an expert in using Business English.
This simply means that those with a Bachelor’s degree in English Literature alongwith a diploma/degree in Journalism and having a Post Graduate Diploma in Computer Applications (PGDCA) are ideal candidates for being employed as technical writers.
According to Joe Winston, Chief Executive Officer of ‘I-manger’, speaking ability is not imperative for a technical writer. All that one needs is the talent to write in a simple and effective manner. Many have inhibitions in speaking English but their writing skills would be very sharp.
Technical writing would be a good option for such people. If a candidate is to be assigned the task of preparing high-end technical manuals, he/she is required to have higher qualifications such as an M.A./M.Phil. in English Literature and a degree such as M.C.A.
Companies look for such qualifications because technical writers first need to understand the technical information themselves, before trying to communicate it in de-jargonised language to the potential customers.
However, it is also time that many companies provide rigorous on-the-job training to fresh technical writers before allowing them to graduate to high-end products.
Though the demand for good technical writers has risen sharply over the years, the emphasis is never on numbers but on skills.
They point out that even graduates of English literature are often found wanting when it comes to creative and effective writing.
Merely having the right mix of writing and comprehension skills is not sufficient. A technical writer should keep his ‘writing blades’ constantly sharpened. It means untold hours of reading up the latest in the technological trends and ceaseless honing of one’s Business English and writing skills. The nature of technical writing is such that a writer has to be at the peak of his expressive powers in each piece of writing he produces.
A career in technical writing is seen as a good choice for women mainly because it is widely held that women Eire more adept at creative writing than men and the job does not entail ‘graveyard shifts’ or ‘arduous travelling’.
A beginner can expect to be paid anywhere between ? 8,000 to ? 15,000 a month. Technical writers usually join as executive technical writers and then go on to become senior technical writers, team leaders, documentation heads and some even manage to make it to a management job within a decade. As in most private sector jobs, merit is the main criterion for rise in job and not necessarily the number of years one has put in.

Questions:
A. Choose the most appropriate option: 1 x 2 = 2

(a) The basic educational qualifications to become a technical writer are ……………………………

MA in Eng.
M Phil in Eng.
MCA
none of the above

(b) Technical writing makes the content ……………………………

intelligible
ambiguous
rough
interesting

B. Answer the following questions briefly: 1 x 6 = 6

(a) What is the need of technical writing in today’s world?
(b) What is the nature of the job of a technical writer?
(c) Whom does the technical writing aim at?
(d) According to Joe Winston, who could be a technical writer?
(e) What should be the academic qualification of a technical writer?
(f) Is technical writing a good career for women ? Give two reasons.

C. Find words in the passage similar in meaning as: 1 x 2 = 2

(a) clear (para 1)
(b) continuous/without stopping (para 14)

Passage 5:
Amanda! .
Don’t bite your nails, Amanda!
Don’t hunch your shoulders, Amanda!
Stop that slouching and sit up straight,
Amanda!
(There is a languid, emerald sea,
where the sole inhabitant is me—
a mermaid, drifting blissfully.)
Did you finish your homework, Amanda?
Did you tidy your room, Amanda?
I thought I told you to clean your shoes,
Amanda!
(I am an orphan, roaming the street.
I pattern soft dust with my hushed, bare feet.
The silence is golden, the freedom is sweet.)
Don’t eat that chocolate, Amanda!
Remember your acne, Amanda!
Will you please look at me when I’m speaking to you,
Amanda!
(I am Rapunzel, I have not a care;
life in a tower is tranquil and rare;
I’ll certainly never let down my bright hair!)
Stop that sulking at once, Amanda!
You’re always so moody, Amanda!
Anyone would think that I nagged at you,
Amanda!

Questions:
A. Choose the most appropriate option: 1 x 2 = 2

(a) What is the main idea of this poem?

Constant nagging by parents
Different thought process of parents and growing child
Despairs of a teenager
All of these

(b) What does Amanda always do when her parents scold her?

She does not listen.
She thinks them useless.
She cuts off herself from going around.
She becomes stubborn.

B. Answer the following questions briefly: 1 x 6 = 6

(a) What does the narrator ask Amanda to do in the first stanza?
(b) What do the speaker feel in the end?
(c) Who is an orphan here?
(d) Why does the speaker not allow Amanda to eat chocolates?
(e) What do you know about Amanda’s character traits?
(f) Who considers “the freedom” sweet?

C. Find words in the passage similar in meaning as: 1 x 2 = 2

(a) calm
(b) moving purposelessly

Passage 6:
Why did the world’s most famous, and priciest, makers of writing instruments launch a lakhpati pen in the name of a man famous for wearing nothing more than a handspun loincloth? They did not honour Mahatma Gandhi because research turned up fascinating data suggesting that the world’s millionaires had overnight converted into apostles of non¬violence and abandoned their T-bone steaks for goat’s milk. The reason was that its marketing department identified India as their best growing market.
Modest ink pens used to be a staple of Indian stores, with stained-finger schoolchildren as customers. The triumph of the ball pen has reduced that to a quaint memory. Having lost its base, the pen showed astonishing powers of reinvention; it became upwardly mobile without doing much more than it did in its populist avatar. Within the last decade, high-end pen shops have moved from an occasional presence in Delhi’s five-star boutiques to high-rent markets where the elite come to spend a thousand rupees for a hundred grams of cheese. If the price of these pens makes you stagger, just remember that cheesy millionaires do not stagger easily.
Why have branded pens become such a hit with the Indian rich? Is it because the rich have shifted their primary loyalty from the goddess Lakshmi to the goddess Saraswati? Have they become so literary that, after a day rewriting balance sheets, they spend their evenings stringing pearls of wisdom in variable verse? Alas, not true. The wheeler has not turned into a dealer in poetic phrases.
The demand for pricey pens has multiplied because it has risen from the tarmac of legitimate need, lifted towards pocket-showoffs, and now rocketed into the stratosphere of ruling class affectation. It has become a most desirable gift for those in power because it comes attached with respectability. This is not considered a bribe, mind you. The most expensive pen in history would be inadequate as substitute for cash for a minister on closure of a deal. The pen, particularly one with contorted shapes on its head, is just right as a gesture towards the new royalty in return for an audience, even if the new royals use it only to scribble their initials. It is the kind of male jewellery that helps to keep a file moving. The movement may or may not be in the right direction, but why risk immobility in mid-journey?
As happens so often, the pen-marketing chaps got the facts right and conclusions wrong. Identifying India as the market was totally correct; making Gandhi the icon was silly. The Indian who buys .boutique pens dismisses Gandhi as a sermonising bore with crackpot theories, the sort of hero safer dead than around, useful for street names but not for the boardroom or indeed the Cabinet. A pencil might be more appropriately named after Gandhi, preferably one sold in stub sizes.

Questions:
1. On the basis of your reading make notes on the above passage. 5
2. Write the summary of the passage in your own words. 3

Passage 7:
While you were glued to your flat screen, with your eyeballs popping out every time the ball was hit for a six, in a dark comer of India—in a Haryana village very close to the national capital—a dog was barking. Since it was a Dalit dog (in India, even dogs have caste), the upper caste Jaats were getting all riled up. So, they decided to teach the dog a lesson. A bunch of them surrounded a Dalit house and set it on fire. Inside the house were trapped an 18-year-old girl and her old father. Since the girl was physically challenged and could not move out of the burning house, she and her father were engulfed and consumed by the fire. This is how people teach a lesson to dogs in New India: by making the poor, lower castes die like dogs.
New India is nothing but a banana republic. Here the reality looks like a mythical drama and a fake drama called IPL looks like real. So, when a Dalit girl is burnt to death by a gang of upper caste loonies, nothing happens, not a soul is stirred, no one comes out on streets to protest. But when Dhoni lifts a ball into the stands, thousands of people go berserk as if this is the only reality that matters, as if this is the only reality that will make India stand on its feet. No one knows, how many bets are won or lost on each IPL six, how much money rides on every wide ball.
Free market is not a free licence to loot, Barack Obama reminded the Wall Street honchos this week. Every dollar carries hopes and aspirations of millions of people, the US President said. Obama will look like a silly fool in India, where free market has become a synonym for crony capitalism of the worst kind. In fact, it is turning into predatory capitalism where the rich and powerful hunt the poor and weak without any fear, with the full backing of the state.
The dalit girl’s death is only one of the millions of stories of injustice and cruelty unfolding in front of us. We can’t see them because we are busy watching IPL. Or, maybe, we are watching IPL because the reality is too much to bear.
At 800 million, India is the world’s poorest nation. It’s the poorest nation ever in human history. The number of people trapped in poverty and bondage in this country is double the population of Africa. It’s more than the combined population of North and South Americas. But who cares. New India needs its daily fix of IPL.
Questions:
1. On the basis of your reading make notes on the above passage. 5
2. Write the summary of the passage in your own words. 3