B.A-2 Notes

Pakistan and the Modern World Liaquat Ali Khan

Q 1. What were the differences between the Hindus and the Muslims?
Ans. Liaquat Ali Khan was the first prime minister of Pakistan. On a visit to U.S.A he addressed the Americans in the University of Kansas City.  In his address he threw light on the demand, creation and future of Pakistan. He enlisted the causes that led to the creation of Pakistan. The main cause was that of the differences present in the Hindu and the Muslim ways of life. In the sub-continent one hundred million Muslims lived with three hundred million Hindus.  Their ways of living, their history, their heroes, their opinions and their beliefs were totally different. They came in conflict at almost every step.  Moreover, the Muslims were ruling Hindustan before the British, so it was natural for the British as well as the Hindus to be hostile to them.  The gulf between these two nations was so unfathomable that it was impossible for them to live together. Just consider if the touch of a Muslim could have corrupted the religion or belief of a Hindu, so there was no question of their living together in harmony.
The basic difference was socio-religious. The Muslims believed in one God but the Hindus had many gods. The Muslims believed in the Prophets of Allah and specially in the last Prophet, (P.B.U.H) but the Hindus did not. Their rites and rituals were quite contrary to each other.  The social system of Islam stood in sheer contrast with the Hindu ways of living. The Muslims believed in equality of all men while the Hindus observed a strict caste system.  They considered the members of upper caste as super-human and the members of lower castes were thought to be semi-human. The lower classes had no rights and they were not even a allowed to enter in the cities while Islam was totally opposed to such beliefs and practices.  The Muslims regarded even priesthood as unnecessary hurdle in the relation of man and his Creator. The Muslims had definite laws of inheritance but the Hindus did not have. Islam stressed on trade while the Hindus preferred interest.  The Muslims gave the right of private ownership to all whether a man or woman but the Hindus did not. They treated their woman as a “thing” and gave no rights to her but Islam gave respect to a lady and she was given all the human rights.
The differences of these two nations were so deep rooted and pervasive that it had become impossible for both of them to co-exist.  The differences were so deep and wide that even their dressing style, eating habits and the way of constructing their homes were at the opposite corners of a gulf.
 If we carefully analyze these factors, we come to know that the demand of Pakistan was quite reasonable.  These differences were so strong as to cause serious conflicts between the two nations, which have now been dissolved to some extent, by the creation of Pakistan.


Q 2. What is freedom? Why did the Muslims of the sub-continent demand a separate homeland for themselves?
Ans. Every man has a right to live freely, so is the case with the nations.  All the nations have a right to spend their lives according to their own specific principles and codes of life.  Freedom means to be free in all respects.  In past, the freedom was considered to be an external phenomenon.  A nation free from foreign domination was considered to be free. But today its meanings have widened. Now freedom means to be free physically as well as mentally. The freedom of belief, the freedom of action and the freedom of expression all help to construct this idea.  The true freedom is to be free from want, from poverty and disease. These factors are very important to make a nation strong.  If a nation is lacking in all these aspects, it can never be able to preserve its freedom because to get the freedom is hard but to maintain it, is harder.
In the British India the Muslim were leading a backward life.  They were not given equal chances to develop side by side with the Hindus.  Almost all the Muslims were uneducated; they were not in the jobs. Civil and military bureaucracy was in the hands of the British or the Hindus.  The Muslims had no industries.  They had no traders.  They had very few skilled people.  In a backward country, the Muslims were even more backward economically and industrially.
Politically, the Hindus joined hands with the British against the Muslims.  As a result of all these conspiracies the Muslims were undermined at every stage.  The Hindus cheated the Muslims in all the joint movements and left them in lurch.  A glaring example is the Tehrik-e-Khilafat, when Mr. Gandhi retreated with out taking the Muslim leaders in confidence and the Muslims had to bear the brunt of this war and its consequences. They were victimized in every way.
Religiously, the Hindus were very intolerant towards all other religions, especially Islam.  Every other day there erupted the Hindu- Muslim clashes on religious grounds. in fact India was badly plagued with these riots.
These were the conditions that prevailed before the demand of Pakistan.  The Muslims realized that in British India, their future would be completely tarnished and they would never be able to make themselves developed in any way.  So they decided to make the demand of Pakistan.  It was a reasonable demand on political, geographical and human grounds.  With utmost efforts they managed to carve the name of Pakistan on the map of the World.


Q 3. What were the problems of Pakistan as a new state?
Ans. In 1947, Pakistan was carved out on the map of the world.  The Muslims, being backward and victimized in the united India, were not expected to build up a new state of eighty million people.  The infrastructure of the government was yet not made.  It had to be started from scratch.  They had no capital and no flag.  The administrative machinery had to be built up from zero. Pakistan was given an army but its personnel were dispersed far and wide. They had no military equipment. Their share of the military equipment of the British India, which was allotted to them on paper, remained largely undelivered even after too many years.
The industrial and economical base of the nation was practically nothing.  There was no industry, trade or skilled workers in the country.
The biggest problem that Pakistan had to face was the inrush of seven million homeless refugees who had been driven out of India.  They came over to Pakistan in a miserable plight to seek shelter.
It was the resolution and faith of the Pakistanis that supported them in this time to solve all these problems and a strong country was created in the world by a determined and brave nation.


Q 4. How was the creation of Pakistan necessary for the peace of the world?
Ans. After the Second World War, scenario of the world greatly changed.  The British had to leave their colonies.  India was also a colony of Britain and the international pressure forced them to leave India too.  But before leaving India, they had to divide it into two parts; India and Pakistan.  The creation of Pakistan was very vital for the world peace.  The Muslim and the Hindu factions of India always remained at daggers drawn.  Their leaders and followers all were incompatible with each other.  Communal violence was a matter of every day.  Both the communities were highly intolerant and violent towards each other.  Its stark evidence came at the time of migration when thousands of men were slaughtered mercilessly.  The enmity and hostility was let loose and inhuman cruelty was witnessed.
By the creation of Pakistan, this problem was solved once and for all.  But if these two inflammable nations would have to live together, the intensity and magnitude of disruption could easily be gauged.  In such a case, the sub-continent would have become a danger zone in Asia. The peace of the whole world would have been on stake.  Even now, when they live in separate countries, they have to fight several wars but if these wars were to take place inside a single country, the extent of danger would have been thousand times more than it is now.
So the creation of Pakistan was important for the peace of the world as well as for the development of the Muslims of the sub-continent.


Q 5. How can the Western Countries help third-world countries?
Ans. The Asian countries had been languishing under the British rule for many centuries.  They had to undergo two world wars as their fuel.  Britain badly exploited and looted the resources of this region during the middle ages.
The eighteenth and nineteenth centuries were the times, when on one hand these oppressed countries of the East were fighting to get themselves free from the clutches of slavery while on the other hand the West was making enormous progress on a very swift pace.  The industrialization and the advent of science had altogether changed the face of the world civilization.  These were the times that the eastern people missed due to the tyranny of the West.  They were pushed at least two centuries back.
Now, when they have gained their freedom, they can get this treasure of knowledge and skills from the West and utilize it in their own region.  The differences between the East and the West have created a wide gulf between the living standards of both the people.  The dissatisfied and deprived masses of this region are quite impatient they want to wade through this gulf as soon as possible.  This impatience can cause some serious problems for the peace of the world.  The West and specially America should share its fund of knowledge, skill and scientific progress with these backward nations so that the balance in the world civilization can be established and maintained.  In this way the world can be saved from the revolutions, wars and riots.
 The ideological funds, like the values of liberty, freedom of expression, rights of the individual and democracy can also be shared with these people.  This is the only way to create equilibrium in the world.

The Eclipse Virginia Woolf Question Answers

Q 1. Describe the scene of people's journey towards the North?
Ans. Virginia Woolf was a distinguished essayist who possessed a brilliant imagination and a creative intelligence.  She was a sensitive artist who went deep down into the nature and origin of the things and recorded her observations in a keen and subtle way.
She described her experience about a June night when everybody in England was curious to witness the solar eclipse.  It was to take place very early in the morning and could be clearly seen in the North of England.  So, a very large number of people traveled to the North for this purpose. All were on the roads.  There was no sleep or fixity in England that night.  Everyone was thinking about the dawn.  Some people were travelling in their cars and some in trains.  Everyone was pointing to the north.  The atmosphere was full of excitement and anticipation.
The sky gained too much importance that night.  As the time was advancing, the consciousness about the sun and the sky was increasing. At that day people were thinking only about the sun and their relation with every thing was completely changed.  They were related to the whole world.  Their experience was universal and cosmic.  They had gone there for a disembodied intercourse with the sky.
The activity and fervor of these people was only due to their concern for the world and its future. That’s why they travelled in a large number to witness this natural phenomenon.


Q 2. Describe the atmosphere before the eclipse?
Ans. On a June night, a large number of people travelled to the north of England to view the solar eclipse.  People were full of excitement and curiosity.  Their motive was same, as was their destination.  Every thing looked pale before the eclipse.  The river and fields were colourless.  The flowers waved palely.
Nothing was clearly visible. People had gathered from far and wide of England and this congregation presented a strange scene.  The farmers of that area also joined the procession of the eclipse-watchers.  They had a sense of keeping an appointment with an actor of such vast proportion who would come silently and be everywhere.  The ignorant ladies of that area were unable to understand the motives and activities of this procession.
People were standing on a high hill, above a brown valley.  Everyone was over dressed due to cold but still it was too cold because they were standing on a wet spongy ground almost in a swamp.  Some people were sitting on their nylon coats and were eating among cups and plates.  No one was an individual there; they had lost all the signs of individuality.  They had become the emblems of a collective human mind and sensibility.  They looked very dignified.  It seemed, as they were the statues of humanity on the vast ridge of the earth.
They thought themselves to be very old.  They looked like the members of the sun-worshipper of primeval age who used to gather on a certain place in Stonehenge to worship the early morning sun.  At the time of solar eclipse, they thought that their “sun god” was annoyed so they made different sacrifices and tried to please their god.  Virginia thought that they also looked like those worshippers because they had also religiously undertaken this journey to salute the dawn.
Meanwhile, the sun was rising.  Its rays fell on the earth but soon the clouds held it and its face was completely covered with a thick blanket of clouds.  The sun was trying to get free before the sacred seconds of the eclipse were up.
So, it was the scene that led to the actual scene of the solar eclipse.


Q 3. Describe the scene of eclipse?
Ans. At the moment of sunrise the clouds gathered round the sun and covered it fully.  The sun violently tried to get itself free.  For some moments, the clouds subsided and the sun shone with its full splendor.  The valley and trees regained their colours but soon the clouds started a race again.  They tried to muffle its face completely.  The sacred time of twenty-four seconds began.  The sun was racing frantically to come out of this darkness.  Clouds spread, they thickened and it seemed as if the sun would never be able to show itself.  People got disappointed and thought that they would not be able to witness the eclipse.  All realized that the sun was being defeated. The colours went away from the valley. Out of twenty-four, only five seconds of eclipse remained.
Still the sun was obscure.  People were extremely dejected and they turned away from the dull cloud blanket in front to the moor behind.  All were pale, all were livid but they felt that something more was yet to come. Shadows became darker and darker. The flesh and the blood of the world were dead; only the skeleton was left.  Suddenly, there was a slight movement and the sun was able to rescue itself.  It slowly and gradually came ahead. All the humiliation and disgrace of the sun was over.  The light returned.  It seemed that the life on the earth had been reshaped. The sun regained its grandeur and splendor.
This gave a new vision to people that the earth is made up of colours and the colours are due to the sun.  If there is no sun, there is no life. So, the importance of sun should be realized.  This was a thrilling experience about the earth and its sun.


Q 4. What is the conclusion of this essay?
Ans. This is a descriptive essay by Virginia Woolf, who has forcefully portrayed the atmosphere of a specific June night, with its minute details.
She presented the hustle and bustle at the Euston railway station with its body and soul.  The outward activity was blended with mental excitement of people.  Their purpose was to view the eclipse at dawn.  All went to the north to witness it.  The world seemed as a different place to them. Their relation with everything was new and unique. They experienced the early morning eclipse and understood the reality of earth as a planet and our life on this plan. The cloud-covered sun was racing to get itself free.  The absence of the sun made everyone realize its importance and its re-emergence seemed to be a new life for the earth and its inhabitants.  The life on the earth was reshaped and remoulded.  The importance of the sun was affirmed and verified.  This experience revealed that the earth is made of colours and colours are due to the sun.  Today atomic and industrial wastes are badly damaging the sun and sunlight. The chloro-floro carbons are piercing the ozone layer.  The atomic experiments are heating this planet up and are causing a disturbance in the whole solar system.  The world authorities should carefully check these things to rectify the situation.
The thesis of the writer is to stress on the importance of the sun.

Whistling of Birds D H Lawrence Question Answers

Q 1. What does the whistling of birds indicate?
Ans. Whistling of birds is a philosophical essay that expresses some stark realities of life in a very simple and straightforward way.  D.H. Lawrence exhibits a strong attachment and affection to nature and has deep understanding of different natural phenomena.  He recorded the attitude and reactions of birds with the skill and accuracy of an ornithologist.  The writer knows that whistling of birds is not a meaningless thing rather it indicates something of great importance.
The writer describes the destruction caused by writer and its effects, especially on birds.  A number of birds have died due to the extremity of cold snowy weather.  Their dead bodies lie scattered at every place.  Their flesh has been eaten away by some predators. Almost all types of birds have been perished. The vitality and vigor of the living birds is gone. They have to live a very limited life due to frost.
Suddenly the winter-struck birds realize the wind of change.  They start cooing, the sounds of birds become louder and louder with the melting snow.  Still the effects of winter can be seen on the earth but the birds perceive the change and collect themselves to announce the retreat of the army of winter.  They always believe that if spring has gone, the winter would also go and gain the joyous and lively era of spring will come in effect.
So the whistling of birds is indicative of a new life.  The birds announce the power of life over death.  They seem to say that the living being can be killed but the urge to live can never be stopped.  It will remain there until the last moments of the last man or animal or vegetation on the earth.  The life and hope never die and they always give power to fight with the death and destruction.  So, the birds can be called the heralds of “Hope” and “Life”.


Q 2. Where does the happiness come from?
Ans. D.H.Lawrence is a miraculously gifted artist who minutely dissects the nature and the natural motives. He believes in the supremacy of instinct over intellect and this is what he portrays in 'whistling of birds'.                                                                                   
He comprehensively enlists the destruction caused by winter. This destruction ranges widely from the choked earth to the destroyed bodies of innocent birds. In winter, the earth is strangled and the birds are brutally killed. Their whole race is under attack and the 'Goddess of life' is badly bruised. One thinks that this situation should have killed the birds and their “urge to live” but quite contrary to this we see that as soon the signs of change appear, birds start cooing and they announce the arrival of spring.  This indicates that happiness and joy do not come from outside rather they spring out of the soul.  The happiness comes from within. The outer conditions may be very hard and disappointing but the under- springs of life and joy go on bubbling forth.  The death, cruelty or destruction can never mar the rush of life or joy.  The life goes on, with hope.  Hope gives direction to the dying and the victim becomes the symbol of resistance.  The life and the latent power of happiness urge the living beings to struggle even in the hardest conditions.  The destruction may be physical, material or atmospheric but the soul goes on with the urge of life and never lets the well of happiness to dry.  Therefore the joy and vigour do not come from outside but they are deep rooted in the soul.
       

Q 3. What is the relation of life and earth or spring and winter?
Ans. The world is full of conflicting powers. They always struggle to defeat each other but they can never exist together.  One retreats to hand the charge over to the other.  Life and death are also an observation of every day and we see them striving to beat each other.  Death tries to take a man away and life wants to keep him in its own realm.  One, who is alive doesn’t know what the death is.  Similarly the dead will never know the taste of life again.  Death and life are two banks of a stream that always remain together but can never merge into one.  Similarly the seasons strive to get precedence over one another.  The spring and winter are different and they let loose different forces to carry out their orders.  The winter is destruction and spring is construction.  Winter is death; spring is life.  Winter is darkness while spring is light.  Both can never exist at the same time.  Where one is, the other is not to be found.  The way to death is quite opposite to the road to life.  Both differ in nature and functions.
Similarly the happiness and grief can never exist in the same soul.  The grief expels the joy and joy kills the grief.  The death and life, winter and spring, grief or joy all are incompatible.  They can never come at the same time.  But this combat cannot be regarded as useless or cruel because it gives us the energy to live.  The threat of death makes us courageous and we resolve to fight.  Life gives fruit to our struggle and our faith in life and goodness lingers on.  The choice of evil or good gives direction to our lives and we try to reach one destination or the other.
So the relation of life and death is very strong but is like two different sides of a picture, it is same with spring and winter, with grief and happiness or with evil and virtue.


Q 4. Discuss the images used by D.H. Lawrence?
Ans. D.H. Lawrence always attempted to invent some new versions and meanings of life.  "Whistling of Birds" is an allegorical essay in every way because too many images and metaphors are employed in it to increase the depth and width of its main theme.
The title of the essay is symbolic.  The phrase, "whistling of birds" brims with meanings.  It has some deep and hidden interpretations.  It is not the simple cooing of birds but it is the bugle of a new life.  The whistling of birds is presented as the rhythm of life, as spring and happiness.
Winter is the symbol of death and destruction.  Its mortifying powers are equated to the overwhelming power of death.  The winter represents grief or evil.  Similarly spring is not only the weather but it shows the brighter side of our existence.  It is life, it is happiness and it is light.  The destroyed bodies of birds are intended to manifest the enormous power of death and winter.  The singing birds show the softness and humility.  Death is presented with the metaphors of choked earth, surge of ruin, black tide, ragged horror, thunder of frost and beasts of prey.
While life is metaphorically shown in terms of gleamy sunset, threads of silver, bugles, fountains, wellheads, sap of a new summer, lambs, flowers and blossoms.
The musical references as drums, bugles and silvery sounds are given to exhibit the writer’s love of music, art and nature.  The whole atmosphere of this essay is an exquisite example of a strong imagination and an ability to merge reality, philosophy and fancy.  The focus of the writer is entirely on the opposites found in nature.
This essay is replete with images, symbols, similes and metaphors.  They give depth an intricacy to the narrative and enchant the reader with its writer’s magnificent skill of description and reasoning.

Take the Plunge Gloria Emerson Question Answers

Q 1. Why did Gloria Emerson decide to jump?
Ans. Gloria Emerson was a journalist.  She had been working in many parts of the world specially in war-struck Nigeria and Vietnam.
She was a thin and lean lady with uncertain ankles and a very bad back.  She wanted to prove that in spite of all these things, she was not a weakling. Her friends and colleagues laughed at her and made fun of her resolution to prove her physical prowess.  They were not ready to believe that she would actually jump from an air -plane.  One of her friends joked that if she broke her bones she would have to be shot because she would never mend.
She decided to jump from a parachute to surprise all the people and to finish a sense of boredom.  She wanted to feel reckless and adventurous.  She thought of many plans like running a race or being bold in her journalistic career.  But jumping from a plane looked to her as something compatible and at last she decided to perform it.  She wanted to prove that physical power is not as important as is the will power.  Impossible can be achieved through the will to go on.  She also did it as a reaction against the attitude of society, where people discourage and ridicule others.
So, whatever was her motive, she proved herself as a determined lady.  Capable of doing anything, howsoever risky it may be.


Q 2. Describe the construction of the parachute?
Ans. Gloria Emerson was a journalist who decided to jump out of a plane through a parachute.  Her friends took her to the newly established parachuting centre.  This centre was for the competitions and teaching of skydiving.  Mr. Jacques Istel, an ex-marine, founded it.  He thought parachuting to be a creation and a passion.  He described it as world's most soul-satisfying sport.
He had designed a new parachute to remove the complexities and to make it easier even for the beginners.  It was a parachute with thirty-two foot canopy with a large cut out hole that funneled escaping air.  Pulling at the back straps opened old parachutes but Istel’s parachute was operated through two wooden knobs.  This parachute increased the lateral speed but slowed down the rate of falling down.  It also reduced oscillation.
It was so safe and easy that the beginners, only with brief instructions, were put in action with it.  Gloria jokingly said that it was to show that any dope could do it.
   

Q 3. Describe the scene before her jumps?
Ans. Gloria Emerson went with her friends to the first U.S sports parachuting centre.  She was to perform there with Jacques Istel’s newly designed parachute.  She was given brief but intense instructions about how to do it.
She boarded a Cessna 180 with her instructor and another man. She felt very strange due to her helmet, boots, equipments and the jump suit. She could not sit, stand or bend normally.  She wanted to do a lot of things but could not do because of too many straps around her.
At twenty three hundred feet the other man jumped silently, making a thumbs-up sign.  In fact she developed a disliking for that person because he was not as nervous as she was.  He was eager and composed.
When her turn came, she suddenly got frightened and wanted to back out.  She wanted to hold some object or lie down to avoid the jump but she was tied to a static line that made it difficult for her to do so.  She started to shout but her instructor did not pay any heed to her.  He knew what was going on in her mind.  He brought her to the door, made her sit down and yelled something.  She was not clear whether he said, "Go", “Now" or “Out”.
She was in the open sky now.  She tried to hold on to her line, moved her feet violently but she was helpless and all alone in the sky.  The strong rush of air knocked the spit out of her mouth.  Her eyes and nose were also leaking.
In this way she started her amazing and superb stay in the sky.


Q 4. What was the atmosphere in the sky?
Ans. When Gloria jumped out, the air struck her strongly. Her eyes and nose started to leak. There was a continuous dribble on her chin.  She tried to avoid the situation but soon realized that she would have to face it.  Her parachute opened with the sound of a plop.
When the plane had gone away with its noise and wind, she was in a domain of sweet stillness.  She saw the universe in a new way.  She saw the earth in so many colours and textures.  The sky looked endless.  She viewed the earth and sky with a new vision and new thought.  All of this had never been described by anyone before.  It was a uniquely personal experience for her.  Being in the sky became a passion and a fever to her.  Parachute itself seemed to her as an easily controllable toy with its wooden knobs to change the direction.  She wanted to remain there forever and stop the earth from coming closer.
Her target was a huge arrow in a sandpit.  She did not want to land but she had to.  She landed on her feet and sat down for some time. She had successfully completed her parachute fall and thus her aim was materialized.
Later she was introduced to General James Gavin.  Mr. Istel’s mother wrote a charming letter of congratulation to her.  All were pleased at the successful completion of her task.  In fact they were surprised and could not believe it.  In this way Gloria surprised her friends and colleagues.


Q 5. Why her feelings change in the course of her experience?
Ans. Gloria Emerson describes her experience of the para jumping in a detailed way.  She has masterfully narrated the events as well as the changes in her emotions in the course of her experience.  She starts the essay with description of her motives in deciding to do an adventure.  She enumerates her mental restlessness when she mentions her desire to "feel reckless".  The reaction and comments of her friends also show her mental process.  She has a sense of insufficiency as regards her physical abilities, that’s why she decides to prove her worth in physical terms.
She narrates the gradual process of her reaching at a decision. She considers too many options but ultimately decides in favour of par jumping.  The thought of jumping makes her emotional.  She wants to feel the big load of parachute on her back and wants to take steps in the black long army boots.  She visualizes a small plane with open doors, then she jumps and is struck by wind, the parachute opens and a delicate white umbrella encircles her, she drifts through the sky with pleasure.  It becomes a sort of daydreaming for her.
After taking the decision she is firm on it.  Her mind is as clear as clay.  She is afraid of nothing and is quite confident that nothing will go wrong with her.  She does not think about the risks involved in this experience.  She is quite confident before the jump though she feels strange because of her jump accessories.   She is enjoying all of it but as the actual time of her jump comes, she becomes mutinous and tries to avert it. But when she takes the plunge and comes in the open sky, all her feelings get transformed.  Fear and tension change into a balmy calm and pleasure.  The atmosphere of the sky is so bewitching that she wants to remain pinned in the sky.  The earth and sky look enchanting in a different way.  Wind seems kind: trees look soft.  Her feelings get completely changed. Such a satisfying and thrilling experience elevates her soul.  She does not want to land because it will finish her heavenly joy of being in the air.   She triumphantly completes her parachute Jump and all the people are surprised and pleased.
In this way she constructs her feelings gradually.  Her feelings undergo a tremendous change in the course of her experience.  The feelings of insufficiency in her mind compel her to take the decision and then to carry it out practically.  The emotional element in the essay shows Gloria's grip on human psychology.  It also indicates that she was well aware of every thing going on in her mind before, during and after the jump.

Walking on the Moon David R Scott

Q 1. Describe their landing on the surface of the moon?

Ans. In 1971, America planned a manned expedition to the moon to expand their knowledge and to affirm their primacy in space technology and travel.  David R. Scot was one of the three astronauts who piloted “The CSM Endeavour”, in the Apollo-15 mission to the moon.

After twelve revolutions in the lunar orbit they reached sixty feet above the moon surface.  Their spaceship churned up a lot of gray dust from the surface of the moon that completely covered every thing.  It was very difficult for them to see due to the dust. So they had to land on speculations.  Their LM struck the surface abruptly and shuddered to rest.  It was the time of night and the planet earth could be seen shining on the sky.  The light of the earth was many times greater than the glow of the moon on our earth.  The hills and craters rims were clearly visible in this light.  Then the sun rose and filled the moonscape with colours and features.  Every thing had the colour of milk chocolate.  The dust settled down after a long time.  They opened the upper door of their spaceship to cast the first look on this place and thus they started the 67 hours of their lunar stay.

Q 2. Describe the landscape of the moon?

Ans. David R. Scott was one of the first astronauts who went to the moon expeditions.  Such expeditions provided a detailed knowledge about the moon for the first time. The astronauts made observations. They conducted experiments and photographed there to know exactly about the moon and its different facets.

On July 29, 1971, the lunar module called Falcon landed on the moon surface. James B. Irwin and David R. Scott were in that spaceship. They landed at a place that was surrounded by many mountains.  To their south, stood a high ridge of almost 11,000 feet, on their west side a very deep gorge was present whose depth was more than a thousand feet, a great mountain that was at least three miles in height stood on the northeastern horizon.

On going further inside the moon, they noticed that high mountains, deep canyons and large plains characterized moon geology. The gorges were created by the fall of meteorites from the sky.

Every thing was covered with a gray dust.  Almost every thing had the gray colour. Even their space suits gained this colour permanently due to the moon dust. The mountains had a ring of smudges round their basis due to subsiding of the lava. Perhaps that lava used to be there before millions of years.  The sun shone very brightly and the temperature of the moon morning was more than 150 F.

In the beginning they faced many problems due to the distance perception but later they were able to work it out.  They worked from place to place and gathered the costly treasure of knowledge, many photographs and 78.6 kgs of soil and rock samples.

They performed a marvellous job for the humanity and exposed the truth about the mysteries of moon and its surface.

Q 3. What is the difference between movement on earth and movement on the moon?

Ans. The movement on the moon surface is quite different from the way we move on the earth.  It has its peculiar restrictions.  The gravity on the moon is six times less than that of earth gravity. The weight also decreases by six times.  That's why the astronauts experienced a bounding motion. They moved as if they were walking on a circus trampoline because of less gravity and less weight. They had to exert a lot of force to stop or to start walking.  They fell on the moon surface quite frequently.  Scott said that it was like rediscovering the childhood, as it did not involve any disgrace or injury.  Only the dust was troublesome that clung to their equipments and dresses otherwise falling frequently was accepted by the moon-walkers as part of game.

Q 4. Evaluate the feelings of David. R. Scott?

Ans. David R.Scott has masterfully composed the essay “Walking on the Moon”. He conveys the information as well as his personal feelings.

After landing there, the writer felt himself as an alien on the moon.  The whole atmosphere was strange and unknown.  But soon they settled in. The walking on the moon made them realize the dignity of man and his access to the highest treasures of knowledge in the world.  It was a place that nobody had ever stepped on.  It was the scene that no naked eye had ever witnessed.  These were living marks of the universal history.  These were the hidden treasures of nature that man managed to discover.  Writer and his co-astronaut thought that they were the most privileged men in the world.  They knew that their experience was one of the most exceptional events in the human history.  Their initial uneasy feelings were now changed into a deep attachment. The silent and serene atmosphere of the moon was a gratifying experience to them.

The writer has used many comparisons and contrasts to establish the details about the moon in our mind.  He has used a highly imaginative diction to convey his message completely.  He thought that their footprints on the moon dust would remain there eternally because there was no wind or rain to wipe them out.  They left too many things on the moon as relics of the man and his planet, earth.  If astronauts of any another solar system arrived there, they would observe these relics and would come to know about the man and his planet.

At the end of their stay, the writer experienced a sense of loss.  He did not want to leave that place.  Even now, when he sees towards the moon from the earth, he feels nostalgic and recalls his short stay there, which now simply looks like a dream to him.

My Grandfather W B Yeats Question Answers

Q 1. What type of childhood memories the writer had?

Ans. The initial memories of the writer did not have any sequence.  He remembered his past as something in smoke, with no definite form or shape.  Most of his recollections were related to places and emotions but they were without any sensibility or understanding of time.  He did not know the sequence and division of events as being first or second.

Little children have undeveloped minds and their ability to reason is less that’s why they cannot vividly recall their past.  They only remember their feelings, emotions and sometimes the places. The writer too remembered some places related to his childhood. He could also recall his agonized feelings. His initial memories were related to windows and his toys.  With the passage of time his mind got developed and he even remembered people, his relation to them and their reactions to him. In fact this essay is a study of gradual maturation of a child's mind and personality.  He grows physically as well as mentally.  Age and experience make him self-assured and confident and he is able to reason the things on merit.

The early memories of the writer show that he was a keen boy with extreme sensitivity and a strong capability to learn.

Q 2. What did the writer remember about windows?

Ans. The Writer’s early memories include some events related to the windows.

The first window was in front of a wall that was covered with falling and cracked plaster. The writer was sitting on someone’s knees but he did not know anything about that wall.  Later he came to know that some of his relatives lived there.

The second window was in London at Fitzroy Road.  He was looking out of it and enjoying the game of some boys in the street.  Among them was a boy in uniform.  The writer asked his servant about the identity of that boy and he was told that the boy would blow the town up.  It was told by the purpose of scaring the writer and he went to sleep in terror.

The windows play a very important role in writer's memories. The recollection of little details of his childhood may be symbolically taken as a window to his sunken memory.  These windows bring out the forgotten reports form his conscience, unconscious and sub-conscious. They provide a deep insight to his personality and its foundations.  So everyone should have these windows to ventilate the suppressed emotions and pains from one’s mind.

Q 3. What happened at the Rosses Point?

Ans. The writer had twice mentioned Rosses Point in connection with his past memories. The first event was related to his grandfather's life.  Once, when they were about to cast anchor at the Roses Point, the captain of the ship reported something wrong with the rudder.  Writer’s grandfather asked the captain to send someone down to check the problem but no one obeyed. Then his grandfather asked the captain to go down himself but he also refused to comply with. So the grandfather jumped down himself and sorted out the problem of rudder.  It showed his moral courage and strength that he never ordered anything to any one that he would not do himself.

In the second event his uncle asked him to get to Rosses Point to borrow a railway pass from a cousin.  At midnight he set out on a horseback. He delightedly rode in the moonlight and awoke his cousin to get the pass.  He retuned at two or three in the morning and the coachman was waiting for him in the street.

These events from his childhood memories were related to the Rosses Point.

Q 4. What did the writer remember about punishment?

Ans. The writer had a very painful childhood because he was very sensitive. Main cause of his miseries was his faulty concept of God that He would punish him for his sins.  And as he thought himself to be a wicked boy, so his fear of punishment was tremendous.  Another thing that caused fright in him was fear of his grandfather, William Polexfen whose towering personality created the rays of awe and respect in others.

The writer always remained afraid of punishment.  Once he broke the wing of a duck and was mentally quite ready to get punishment but he was astonished when the duck was cooked and he was not punished.

Similarly, once his grandmother punished him for some of his childish indecency and as a punishment he had to take his dinner alone.

These events and expectations of being punished sometimes by God, sometimes by grandfather or grandmother caused much disturbance in the writer’s childish mind. He was unable to cope with this situation so he remained distressed throughout his childhood.

Q 5. Draw the character sketch of the writer’s grandfather?

Ans. W.B.Yeats is a consumate artist who truthfully describes the minute details of his experiences.  This essay is an extract from his autobiography and is the witness of writer’s retentive memory, vivid observation and an affectionate attachment with his maternal relatives.  Writer’s childhood memories are strongly stamped with the towering character of his grandfather, William Ploxfen.  His grandfather belonged to some younger branch of an old Cornish family.  Everyone living around him was greatly impressed by him. He had a strong hold on all his relatives and acquaintances.  Not only had the members of his family but the whole community respected him. When he returned from any journey and specially after taking the waters at "Bath", people lighted bonfires along the railway line for miles to welcome him.

William Polexfen's father was in army who became the owner of many sailing ships when he retired.  William Polexfen himself was a brave man and had won the freedom of some Spanish city.

He never ordered anyone to do anything that he would not do himself.  Once at Rosses Point, his ship developed some problem in the rudder.  He ordered his captain to send a man down to know the problem.  The captain told that nobody was ready to go down. So he asked the captain to go down himself.  On being disobeyed he himself jumped in water to know the problem.

He was physically very strong and had a violent temper.  He would knock a man down instead of going to law.  He kept a small axe for the burglars at his bedside.  The writer saw him hunt a party of men only with a whip.

He had a very few friends. Only two of them were in writer’s memory; the Campbell of Islay and William Middleton.  He was a solitary and silent man.  He was very proud and disliked his neighbours.

He had been to many parts of the world and had souvenirs from the whole world.  He was a well-travelled man. The writer thought that he was not literate.   He could recall only two books on his table; one was his "Bible" and the second was Falconer’s “Shipwreck”.  He could not properly study because he ran to the sea when he saw very young, “Gone to sea through the hawsehole” as he himself phrased it.

He had a strong personality but it didn’t mean that others obeyed him fully.  He himself was a naive person so he never suspected anyone.  He had ordered to lock the stable door with servants inside due to some incident but in spite of all the ceremonious bringing of the key to him, the door was never locked.  It was the thing that all knew but he did not.

All these characteristics made him a loveable character with ideal qualities of truth, simplicity, valour and charisma.  The writer still cherished his memory as something sacred and elevated.

Q 6. Draw a character sketch of the writer’s grandmother?

Ans. The writer’s memories of Sligo included the sunny and pleasant figure of his grandmother.  She seemed to him like someone extremely soft and loving.  He still remembered here with affections and reverence.

Writer’s grandmother belonged to the Middleton family.  She was a very kind and polite lady.  She did many charities to needy people living around her because she was considerate by nature.

She was in habit of fear and never talked freely even to her husband.  She was also afraid of the bedside hatchet of her husband and every day she took a round of the house with a candle in hand to save the burglars form it.

She was an artistic lady. She loved her garden and in her youth days, she would choose some flowers from the garden and copy them on rice paper.  Recently writer saw her handiwork and was amazed to see the skill and mastery of handling, tasteful delicacy of colours and the elegance of from. These drawings were so minute that a magnifying glass might be needed to see them.

He remembered his grandmother punishing him once.  In horseplay a servant pulled out his shirt at the same moment when his grandmother entered the room.  His grandmother accused him of childish indecency and he had to take his dinner alone as a punishment.  His grandmother was like the rays of a bright sun in a freezing morning.  He loved to remember her soft and delicate personality that provided some benevolent and benign aspects in his rather cold and painful childhood

Q 7. Compare and contrast the characters of the writer’s grandfather and grandmother?

Ans. W. B. Yeats used to spend his summer holidays in Sligo with his grandparents.  They were very kind and loving with him.  Both the characters had their own specific qualities and were clearly distinguished in the writer’s mind.

The grandfather was a fearless man with physical strength and initiative while grandmother was a soft and kind lady.  She was also in habit of fear.  His grandfather hated his neighbours and lived a solitary life with no friends around.  But the grandmother was a social lady and she made many charities to her neighbours and took care of their needs.

William Polexfen was a brave man and had won the freedom of a Spanish city.  He was strong enough to hunt a party of men only with a whip.  He kept a hatchet at his bedside for knocking the burglars down while the grandmother was an artistic lady and she loved her garden.  She made drawings of the flowers on rice paper with extraordinary delicacy and skill.

Though both grandmother and grandfather were different in some aspects of life but overall they were kind and loving.  They both had ideal human qualities.  And this blend of soft and hard gave a colour to their lives and made them an ideal couple.

Q 8. What is the conclusion of this essay?

Ans. Basically this essay shows the love and emotional attachment of the writer to his grandparents but it throws some light on the character of writer himself as a child.  The thesis of the writer is to highlight the troubles of children.  We should pay attention to the mental tangles and troubles of little children.

The personality of a man is like a building and its foundations are laid in the early years of a man’s life.  So the importance of these years should be realized.  Their loneliness and insecurity should be properly dealt with to give a sound foundation to their personality.  The writer himself was a worried child with many troubling factors around him.  The false and faulty learning of different concepts should be clearly checked to make life easier and more pleasant for the little children.

Moreover, the characters of family elders like grandparents cast a strong effect on the personalities of the kids.  Their kindness and love can be the source of strength and confidence for kids.  So they should have a close relation with children to give them the energy to go on in life.

On the whole this is a very deep essay with a strong insight into the construction of human mind and emotions.

Nagasaki, August 9, 1945 Michaito Ichimaru

Q 1. What happened to the writer at the time of air attack?
Ans. Michaito Ichimaru is a professor of medicine at the Nagasaki University School of Medicine.  As a witness to the bombardment in Nagasaki, he gives us an unusual and striking view of nuclear warfare. He writes about the Nagasaki bombing from the angle of a participant and has selected his details with utmost care to communicate the horrors he had witnessed.
It was the month of August in 1945 when the writer was a first year student in Nagasaki Medical School.  It was August 9, when he set out for his School at the usual time of eight in the morning.  Luckily, he had to come back because his train had been derailed in an accident.  He returned to his hostel room.
At 11 am he heard the sound of a B-29 passing overhead.  After a while, the air flashed with a brilliant yellow light and there was a huge blast of wind. He got terrified and ran to save his life.  He hid himself in a toilet with a fellow student.  Every thing around them was shattered. He was hit in his shoulder by a piece of glass and was bleeding.  When his senses restored, he saw the horrible destruction around him. All the walls had changed in to a heap of bricks.  The sky had turned black and the black rain started to fall.
This was the writers experience at the time of nuclear attack.

Q 2. What was the condition of people coming back from Urakami?
Ans. When the writer came to his senses, he tried to go to his medical School in Urakami.  It was very close to the center of attack.  Here the rate of radiation was very high.  He tried to go ahead but could not because the fire had broken out everywhere. He saw the people who were coming back from Urakami.  Their condition was very bad.  Their clothes were tattered, the skin hung with their bodies and their limbs were missing.  They were terrified to death and looked with vacant eyes.  They were still baffled and shocked.   There were dead bodies lying around with white edges of bones showing through.  Almost all living or dead were badly charred.
The effect on the people was so tremendous that none of them survived.  All the victims died in the coming few weeks.  The humanity was helpless before the immense power of weapons.  The war was won but the humanity lost.  The politics came on front and civilization was dragged back.  The butchered bodies of men cried for justice but there was no one to listen to this crying entity.  The scene was horribly pathetic and severe.  It looked like a slap on the face of so called “champions” of humanity and human rights.

Q 3. What was the scene in Urakami?
Ans. The writer managed to enter Urakami the next day.  In Urakami the condition was heart-rending.  Still too many students, doctors and patients were crying there for help.  They were in a very bad condition and wanted water badly.  Every one was severely wounded.  The buildings had reduced to ashes, only their skeletons remained standing.  Writer heard many voices in pain.  He was unable to bear it.  Even now when he remembers them he shudders with horror, anguish and grief.  Every thing around had been perished.  The trees had lost all their leaves.  The ladies were crying in their last moments.  They all suffered from many diseases because their bodies had been melted from inside on account of tremendous effects of the radiations.  The writer tried to help them but he could not save them from death.  All his friends died in few weeks.
Urakami was totally destroyed with its buildings, vegetation, animals and men.  There was nothing left except the debris, smoke and ashes. Mutilated human dead bodies were mocking at the ambition of barbaric human passions.  It was the worst destruction caused by man on his fellow beings, and that only for some pieces of land.  The man won but the humanity lost, leaving a trial of chaos and darkness behind it.  Urakami became the graveyard of man and humanity alike.

Q 4. What did the healthy people do for the survivors?
Ans. After the attack Nagasaki was left in ruins.  Too many people were subjected to heavy material and physical loss. Everyone was badly injured. So the healthy people had to come forward to help the survivors.  The writer himself took part in these activities.  He brought many of his friends to the survivor camps.  The condition of these survivors was pitiable.  They cried in pain.  They were desperately trying to live but were helpless before the tremendous power of nuclear weapons.  So many people died, even a larger number got disabled. The healthy people helped to rehabilitate these survivors with full devotion.  One of the writer's jobs was to contact the families of missing people. The schools, where they established the camps for survivors, presented a hellish picture.  There were deaths, groans, shrieks and a terrible stench.  Writer remembered it as inferno.
A large number of People died.  It became difficult to dispose of their dead bodies.  So they burnt these bodies in piles of wood.  Writer could clearly see the bowels moving in the fire.  Healthy people had to do a lot to meet the needs of this situation.

Q 5. What is the Conclusion drawn by the writer?
Ans. Dr. Michaito Ichimaru recalls a nightmare to shake us from our slumber.  He narrates the destruction caused by an inhuman nuclear attack on civilian population by the allied forces during the final phase of Second World War.  It is not the whole account of this event but is only a glimpse of it.  He is the eyewitness of this infernal day and narrates it truthfully so that we can see the future of the present world in this perspective.
The thesis of the writer is to condemn the human beings on their mad race of weaponization.  He urges us to realize the situation and its expected outcome. The world should leave this enmity and hostility for the welfare of the human race.
At the end of the essay he says that the souls of his friends will never rest in peace if mankind does not renounce the nuclear weapons and their use for the destruction of innocent people.

My Tailor Stephen Leacock Question Answers

Q 1. What were the ways of the tailor?

Ans. This essay is taken from a collection of humorous pieces called “Further Foolishness”. In this essay Leacock mingles humour with pathos and leaves a lasting impression on the reader’s mind. Here, he masterfully delineates an unforgettable character.   He presents his tailor before us to entertain as well as educate us.  Writer’s tailor was every special person with some specific ways and habits.

Writer's relation with him was thirty years old and in these thirty years, his style never changed.  He remained standing in the back part of his shop with his inches tape round his snack.  He used to greet the writer with a warm smile and asked him what he wanted.  Then, the tailor himself made the choice of cloth for him as "serge" and then himself chose the colour as dark blue.

His way of displaying the cloth was quite amusing.  He lifted one knee and draped the cloth over it, standing upon one leg.  The tailor could stand in this posture for an indefinite time.  It was very difficult for the writer to resist him. So, he readily agreed with his choice.  They had a strange way of obliging each other. The writer always asked him if his dress would be cool and decent.  This question pleased the tailor a lot and he told the writer that it would be so.

Then he took measurements of the writer, only round the chest.  He tried to flatter him by telling that the writer was growing round the chest. It was like a psychological trick.  Then there was the matter of billing.  The tailor never talked about the bill rather he turned to other things.  This matter was only dealt with by correspondence.   The tailor wrote him a letter in such a tone that suggested that he would never have written to him if he were himself not under the pressure of paying for his consignments from Europe.  The writer noticed that these consignments generally arrived when he had passed the limit of owing for two suits and had ordered a third one. Then the tailors talked about weather.  He always finished his conversation with weather and that only after the order of the suit.  He offered the writer to buy some shirts or collaring but the write never did.  They walked to the door in a friendly way.  After bidding each other "Good afternoon" they parted.

This was the description of writer’s tailor that had some specific details and with the help of these details he has successfully established the salient features of his tailor's personality.

Q 2. How did the deal with the problem of billing?

Ans. The writer and his tailor had a strong relation of courtesy.  The tailor never talked about the bill.  Whenever the writer tried to talk about this matter, he waved it aside and started to discuss something else.  This was the matter they never spoke of.  They dealt it through correspondence.  The tailor wrote him a letter in a fine, decorous and courteous way.  His manner of asking for the bill was quite apologetic.  He would give reasons for his demand of bill like arrival of heavy consignments from Europe for which he needed money.  Writer noticed that these consignments usually arrived when he had to pay for two suits and had ordered a third one.  But it might be a coincidence.

It was their unique style of dealing with the matter of bill.

Q 3. Why did Leacock regard his tailor to be "Immortal"?

Ans. The writer had been visiting a very nice tailor for last thirty years.  They had very courteous and warm relationship.  The writer was extremely shocked when one day he heard the news of his tailor's sudden death.  He never thought it possible.  He had been meeting the tailor for last thirty years and had expected to see him forever.  He regarded him as being immortal.  This event carries a criticism on our ways and behaviors in this world.  In fact the writer wants to make us realize the importance of “man”.  Today people are so busy in their own lives that they cannot see and understand the problems of people living around them. The modern race of collecting more and more money has blinded the human race and people care for nothing except their own lust, selfishness and competition.  The modern man regards people around him as machines and never tries to recognize their personal problems and worries.

It was the same case with the writer; he never took his tailor to be a human being. He thought him only to be a machine that provided him a service and that would never break down.  Leacock never tried to know about his personal life and worries.  His relation with him was only superficial and business like.  That's why the news of the tailor’s death struck him with wonder.  The writer was equally shocked by the existence of his wife and a daughter.  The financial problems and the religious interests of the tailor also seemed strange and unreal to him.

The motive of Stephen Leacock is only to make us realize this great reality that humanity will never flourish or be preserved unless the individual man is given importance.  The relation ship, the understanding and helpfulness is very important in the society and it is the lack of all these things that has made the modern man lonely and helpless.  This situation should be rectified and people should come closer to understand and help each other.

Q 4. What was other side of the tailor's personality?

Ans. The writer describes his intercourse with his tailor in a very effective and amusing way.  He tries to invoke us to think deeply about the human beings and different aspects of their lives.

Every man has a three dimensional life and character but our rushed life does not give us enough time to look beyond life’s apparent or obvious facet.  The writer too did same in the case of his tailor.  He took his tailor as a worker or “hand” but never thought about his inner life.  The tailor, besides being a skilled professional, was a religious person.  He was interested in music and played the flute.  He had a daughter who was also learning music.  His business was not going on well.  In spite of his smooth and calm ways, his business worry was mounting up with every passing year and now it had finally killed him.  It was quite unbelievable for the writer that even the business worries can help to kill a person.  He was told that the tailor's wife would have to face grave financial problems.  It was quite strange for the writer who never thought about other aspects of the tailor's life.  The smiling face and amusing manners of the tailor were hiding a deeply tragic life and a helpless death behind them. This is the moral of this essay that pleads us to look through the veil or mask of human face and discover the troubled and agonized soul of a man behind it.  Today’s man needs some companion or helper who can at least listen to his problems sympathetically.

Q 5. What is the moral of this essay?

Ans. In this essay, Stephen Leacock presents a finely knit character of his tailor.  Through this character and the circumstances of his life, he tries to give us a message.  Today the life has become so busy that human beings have taken the shape of isolated Islands that lie scattered in the deep and wide ocean of the world completely oblivious of each other.

Today nobody cares for others.  Everyone tries to pursue his own motives and objectives.  The sense of friendship, co-operation and sympathy has been finished and human beings take no interest in anybody else's life.  Modern man never comes to know that how many people suffer silently and never share their troubles with anyone like Stephen Leacock's tailor.

The thesis of the writer is the need to cultivate love and courtesy in the world so that man can live a humane life.  Today we all are running a race with machines and technology.  The urge to become rich has killed the soul of humanity and compassion.  But we should halt for a moment to take a breath and think who we are and what are we doing.  We are human beings but we live an artificial life like machines and this is leading us to the tragedies of the tailor's type.  Today a man dies even without expressing his agonies because nobody can spare a moment to talk about his life and its troubles. We should try to improve the situation and live like a man and also consider other people as a “man”.

The Beauty Industry Aldous Huxley Question Answers

Q 1. How much is being spent on beautification by American women?

Ans. Aldous Huxley is a prolific writer who experimented in all forms of literature and delighted in debunking all accepted ideas and standards. In "The Beauty Industry", Huxley deals with the most extravagant habits of the fashionable American women.  Written in a polite, ironic and mild satirical tone, the essay reveals its writer’s moral purpose his vivid observation, close attention to factual details, effective use of contrasts and comparisons and above all his consummate artistic skill.

With an increase in consciousness of beauty, people have started spending an enormous sum of money on beautification.  After the Second World War when all the business and trade activities faced a grave depression, it was only the beauty industry, which sustained the pressure and went on flourishing.  It indicated the trend of women generally and of American women in particular.

According to an estimate, American women of that time spent three million pounds a week on beautification that was two times more than the revenue collected from India by the British government.   It shows that the American women prefer to curtail other expenses and spend a lot of money on aids to beauty and advanced experimentation in beautification.

Q 2. What are the reasons of modern cult of beauty?

Ans. Modern mad rush behind beauty is something that invites us to have a closer look into the matter and to sort out its reasons.  The basic reason seems to be the general increase in prosperity.  Today people are far richer than they used to be. The rich people always take care of their personal appearance.  So now people spend more money and time on the cult of beauty.

Another reason is the change in the status of women.  Now women are freer than past and they enjoy almost all the privileges equally with men. They have the right to look attractive and they exercise it excessively.  They concentrate a lot on their personal appearance and behave like the glass dolls with perfection in all physical aspects.  They try madly to look beautiful apparently and they have neglected the spiritual beauty.  Sometimes ladies behave, as they are possessed by the demon of beauty that compels them to lead merely a physical life and makes their souls numb and sometimes even dead.

Another reason is the concession given to "Body". People hold the view that body has its duties as well as rights and these rights should be snatched away by the body neglecting each and every other aspect of life.  The ladies pamper their bodies and have become the standard of fairy-like beauty but their inner soul is as immature and undeveloped as ever.

The media has also played an important part in this mad race. The advertisements related to beautification, sex and personal appearance have produced an unabated desire to look attractive in ladies.  The manufacturers of the aids to skin, hair, fitness and other beauty specialists exploit the psychological complexities and inferiority complex of the ladies and divert their attention to outward appearance only to achieve their own vested interests.

The sense of depravity and the urge to get emancipation has compelled the ladies to become only an "object" of pleasant looks and flirtation.  They try to have a good time and think it very crucial to look like a "Lost women".  They try to attract others and in this endless effort they sometimes cease to look human at all.

All these reasons are very strong and compel the ladies to follow the cult of beauty in a blind and mad way.  They look like the kids, following the “Pied Piper" wholesomely and blindly.

Q 3. What are the practical results of the cult of beauty?

Ans. The world is badly affected by the trends of glitz and glamour.  People look like robots in their search for beauty.  Ladies are madly adopting the ways of glamour.  They wish to look attractive at any cost.  They spend a lot of money, time and energy on this cult. They are pre-occupied with fashion mania.  The only thing left in this world is the appearance and it is something that helps to determine someone’s level and social status.  But one wonders that if people are so mad about beauty, have they become beautiful? Are ladies more beautiful today than in the past? And if every one around us is beautiful, has the world become beautiful?

Yes, whereas the outward beauty is concerned, yes.  Now the ladies retain their youth for a longer time.  The “old lady” has become extinct like the dinosaurs.  Ladies remain young for a longer time.  Today the portrait of any artist’s daughter can never be distinguished from the portrait of his mother.  Today’s old lady has stylish hair, cherry lips, neat ankles and slender body, and all this has been achieved by the worship of beauty and beautification.  Up to this level, it is a successful campaign and it has really made people look attractive and younger.

The aids to beauty have helped people in mimicking the symptoms of beauty that in reality are the symptoms of health. Pink, cheeks, red lips, glowing skin, smart figure, shining hair and sparkling eyes all these are the symbols of health and beauty cult mimicks it.  But have people truly become healthier?  No, they have not, neither physically nor spiritually.

Beauty is not a singular term and it can never be determined by a single standard. It is a compound term that is multifaceted and complex. If we want to judge the beauty of a china vase or any thing of that kind, we will only need to assess its colour, shape and surface texture but a lady is not a stone-like thing. She needs to look beautiful physically as well as spiritually. The spiritual contents of lady show through and she can never look beautiful if there is some corruption in her personality.

So the cult of beauty is a failure. Its practical results are nothing. People are not beautiful, healthy or satisfied but they try to look so.

Q 4. What type of ugliness shows through?

Ans. The beauty is not a superficial thing. It is not only skin deep.  It has its roots in the soul and if the soul is beautiful the body will automatically look charming.  The beauty is a complex phenomenon.  It includes thoughts, morality, social customs, intentions and the way of a person's life.

The ugliness of the soul shows through.  People trying to have fun in any possible way, break the limits of society, religion and morality.  This trend spoils the personality of such people and they look detestable and ugly.  The natural purity and innocence of a face fades away due to some abominable activities.  It is so because these people are going against the flow and laws of nature, specially against the laws related to the sex.

So the ugliness or emptiness of soul, character and personality are obvious even on the first look and they spoil the artificially made up bearing too.     

Q 5. How can the humanity become beautiful?

Ans. A lot of money time and energy is being spent on beautification.  People are preoccupied with this cult.  They want to become beautiful at any cost.  But question arises if the humanity has become beautiful. No, it has not. Humanity is not an object to be embellished with face paints, hair lotions, and fitness equipment or by any beautician.  Humanity needs harmony to become beautiful; harmony in the thoughts, actions and relations.  It will become beautiful only when all the people will get their rights and pay their duties honestly, when psychological ugliness is removed and when the spirited filthiness is cleansed.  In the present condition, it is difficult rather impossible to beautify the world community.  For this purpose every individual will have to realize the situation and act accordingly to wipe out the ugly reflection of the modern man in the mirror of morality and humanity.

Q 6. What is the difference between the beauty of a porcelain jar and that of a lady?

Ans. Today, the ladies try to beautify themselves as the perfect “object”.  They try to polish their skin, figure, hair and dressing.  They look perfectly beautiful according to the beauty standard of a porcelain jar.  Like these ladies, the beauty of a porcelain jar is judged on the standard of its shape, colour and surface texture.  It does not matter what lies inside it.  But the beauty of a lady is a different matter.  She cannot be judged on the level of a porcelain jar.  Her figure or shape does not make her exclusively beautiful. She needs to have a spiritual beauty too.  She needs to be morally beautiful and she needs to be psychologically beautiful.  Otherwise she will have a beauty like that of a plastic dummy modeling in a Shopping Mall.  A lady has a dummy like beauty unless she is beautiful form inside.

Q 7. What are the disharmonies present in the human beings?

Ans. Man has to live his life according to some rules and laws.  A man cannot live in this world without values and traditions.  These laws and traditions are generally according to the human nature.  When man breaks the limit of these boundaries, and he blindly runs behind his animal instincts, he loses his balance and falls a victim to disharmony.  This disharmony has many aspects.

Physical disharmony can be seen in those factions of society who go for over painting and over cult of beauty. They neglect every other thing and emphasize only on the physical charms and joys.

Psychological disharmony can be seen in those people who are unable to set any realistic goal before them. They try to express their psychological tangles and complexes through a bold way of dressing and make up. They fail to make a defense mechanism and run impulsively behind their desires and raw motives.

Social disharmony is indeed the biggest problem. All those members of society, who are denied the right of being accepted, exhibit an eccentric behaviour. Generally, women are not given their rightful status in society so they adopt such type of attitude that makes them prominent and distinguished. Other social outcasts also show the same tendencies.

Spiritual disharmony can be seen in the people who try to fulfill their primary needs in an instinctive style and many evils like greed, avarice, nudity and selfishness afflict them and spoil them as a human being.  Breaking the moral laws and values of society and religion causes the moral disharmony.

These disharmonies spoil the status and role of a man and they drag him down to the level of an animal. So such things should be watched out and rectified to regain the balance of the society.

Q 8. Bring out the elements of irony, satire and humour?

Ans. Humour is an effective tool for the prose writing.  In humour, things are lightly ridiculed in a pleasant way. The purpose of humour is to point out the faults and follies of someone in a humours way to create laughter and smiles but at the same to produce some thought provoking process in the mind.

"The Beauty Industry" is essentially a humorous essay which light heartedly ridicules the madness and preoccupation of modern mind with the cult of beauty.  He compares the beauty expenditures of American women to the total revenue collected from India.  Then he humorously talks about the condition of British and other European women and their hope of becoming beautiful.  The crone of the modern day is presented funnily as having cherry lips, slender figure and neat ankles.  He further laughs at the fact that the portrait of an artist's mother cannot be distinguished from the portrait of his daughter.  The most humorous reference is about the ladies who cease to look human at all due to over make up and hair dyes.

Humour is supported here by satire.  Satire means to ridicule something in a bitter way.  Writer has ridiculed the beauty cult in a bitter way at some places.  The very first paragraph satirizes this trend and laments that the slump affected every industry and business but could not touch the beauty industry.  He contemptuously talks about the British Matron and calls her a “lost woman”.  She tries to keep herself young and beautiful in spite of the fact that a "nun" should never even think about any worldly matter.  The Christian ascetic ideas no longer trouble anyone.  Huxley declares that this campaign is a total failure because no one has genuinely become beautiful.  He ridicules the superficiality of people and their standards.

This essay has some ironic elements too.  When the writer talks about porcelain jar as the standard of beauty, he simply wants to make fun of the aesthetic sense of the beauty specialists.  The rights of "Body" are also satirized. The results of this campaign are ironically presented to make us realize the situation and its implications.

This is a superb essay that has serious, humorous, and ironic as well as satiric elements. It conveys all the aspects of modern cult of beauty and the writer vividly expresses his point of view about it.

Are Doctors Men of Science? G B Shaw Question Answers

Q 1. What do common people think about science?

Ans. This is a very effective essay that compels us to think ablaut the doctors in a new way.  Bernard Shaw points out the common wisdom on the matter of doctors and says that it is wrong.

Common man is generally non-critical and accepts things as they are.  People never try to think carefully and deeply to find the truth for themselves. Due to this trend common people hold many faulty and ridiculous beliefs.  For example a common man thinks that the captain of any trading ship is as great a man as Galileo.  The street singer is as gifted a music expert as Helmholtz.  A common organ player is Beethoven.  A petty roadside pigeon dealer is Darwin.  Every engine driver is as miraculous as the father of railways, George Stephenson.  A common copyist or drafter of documents is as wonderful as Shakespeare.  All these examples show the common delusions that make it difficult to know the hierarchy of the learned people. The narrow outlook of common people makes it hard to understand the grades of efficiency and knowledge.

Similarly people do not have a correct view of doctors. The doctors are not scientific rather they mimic the practices of science as an art and work to earn their bread. In fact science is not a profession; it is a complete way of thinking.  It is the mode of observing things in a critical fashion. So the understanding of common people about science is not complete and true.

Q 2. Are the doctors men of science?

Ans. G. B. Shaw discusses the relation of doctors and science. He says that commonly doctors are considered to be the men of science but in fact they are not.

Science is a complete thinking process that holds different technical steps.  The scientific method is strictly a logical process with nothing superficial or superfluous. Nothing is there on speculations.  Everything needs evidence.  Things are again and again tested to know the ultimate truth.  The negligence of a single second can spoil everything. The medical science also works on the same principles. They too need extreme vigilance and keen observation.  The people, busy in medical researches, have reduced human misery to its lowest level but if the common practicing doctor are also doing all this.

No, they are not.  Doctors do not pay attention to anything. They cure people, it is true.  But a common practicing doctor has never added anything to the scientific knowledge.  They never do research on the new and challenging diseases and maladies.  They just cram the names of some diseases and their respective medicines to earn their bread. Doctors cannot keep a man healthy.  They only cure the diseases.  A doctor can never suggest anything in order to keep a man away from disease.  Even a grandmother or a quack can advise you better.  The doctors do not know how to handle the evidence and statistics.

At the end of the essay, writer narrates the case of an old lady.  She was treated in an ignorant way by a doctor who prescribed a stiff dose of medicine for the disease that she never had.

This shows the way in which the doctors work.  The sprit of research and inquiry is totally absent in them.  Their main purpose is to earn money in whatever way.  Some doctors even use quite heretical methods for treating diseases. Their degrees do not lend a scientific urge to them but they only provide them a chance to work fearlessly and cost people their lives because of their attitude and ways.  So the doctors are not men of science but they should try to be so.

Q 3. Discuss the role of bon-setters, hygienists and herbalists?

Ans. Due to the failure of doctors, many other quacks have come ahead to rob the common man.  There are many kinds of these quacks who are earning money not only from ignorant people but also from educated and wealthy people.

Bonesetters are earning a lot of money in front of highly qualified surgeons.  The hygienists fashionably work and are popular even in highly educated classes.  The herbalists are the humblest professional healers and they face a tough times. They also work on speculations like doctors.  They sell packets of different herbs and give a long list of diseases to be cured by a single herb.  They always think that they are on the verge of discovering a miraculous medicine with the help of Virginia Snake Root.  People go on buying these medicines that shows their satisfaction with the science of the herbalists.

These are not the only healers.  There are village witches and Christian Science also in vogue.  Due to the failure of the doctors, the alternative medicines are making their roots firm in the society.

Q 4. What is the conclusion of this essay?

Ans. This essay is a fine piece of satire and it effectively points out the inefficiency of doctors in certain ways.  According to the writer, doctors are not at all scientific and their ways of treating diseases are quite unscientific and illogical.  He bitterly makes their fun when he says that distinction between a qualified and unqualified doctor is only that the registered doctors is authorized to sign a death certificate for which both have almost equal chances.  Bernard Shaw rightly says that most of the doctors practice only to earn their bread and they never try to update themselves with the modern researches and knowledge.  The urge to learn more is extinct in doctors.

The writer has become quite cynical in his invective of doctors.  He has concentrated only on the bad faction of the doctors and has ignored the good ones.  He is right when he talks about their negativity but still there are too many doctors who have done miracles for humanity.  They have curtailed human suffering to its minimum level.  We can never neglect this great contribution of the doctors.  We can condemn certain members of this profession but we can never denounce them as a class.

Concluding the discussion, it can be said that G. B. Shaw correctly lashed the bad eggs among the doctors but he forgot to praise the angelic figures among them but this thing can be defended. As we know that this essay is satiric and no satire work will keep its force and energy if it points out the positive side too so to activate the reader's thought, he might have excluded the positive aspects of the topic.  So it cannot be termed as the drawback of Shaw's essay.

Hosts and Guests Max Beerbohm Question Answers

Q 1. What is the difference between hosts and guests?

Ans. Max Beerbohm was an eminent humourist, author, critic and cartoonist.  He was regarded as the best essayist and parodist of his age.  His satire was ruthless and creative due to his highly cultivated intelligence.” Hosts and Guests" is also a superb example of pleasant and light humour.

Hospitality is an old tradition of humanity.  A man has to act as a host or a guest according to the situation.  This is an outward action but the base of this act depends mainly on the nature of a man.  Some people are host by nature and some are guests by nature.  Writer discusses this psychological feature of mankind in a very casual and lucid style.  He establishes his arguments logically and describes two major types of people.  Members of one type always remain at the giving end and are called the hosts.  Members of the second class are always at the receiving end and are known as guest.

The hospitality is an ancient tradition.  There are many events in the history that confirm its importance.  Many great people have proved themselves as great hosts.  Similarly there have been some people who maliciously betrayed their guests.  Writer gives examples from the lives of some great kings and warriors.

There are some people who are instinctively hosts.  They always bend on favoring others.  These favours may range from mere food to the sacrifice of the host’s life to honours the tradition of hospitality.  Similarly some people always remain guests.  They get advantages and accept invitations but they seldom give such offers themselves.  These people enjoy being a guest and they cannot adopt the role of a host even if they try.  Such people have some specific graces as being humble, complimentary and passive while the hosts have some other qualities as being active, leading and sometimes being proud.  The hosts love to give their things away to others.  This quality may have too many motives.  Some people become hosts for some of their own vested interests.  If instinctive hosts try to become guests, they badly fail because they have acquired the characteristics of leading others on dinner table as well as in conversation.  They soon expose their host-like nature.  Being a guest or host doesn’t depend even on the financial status of a man.  Neither all the guests are to be found among needy nor all the hosts among the affluent.

The ability to be a host or a guest is reserved only for the mankind.  Animals do not exhibit any tendency of this type.  Even man has acquired it after many centuries.  The earliest people like cavemen would have never been in the habit of giving and receiving hospitality.  The development of human civilization has brought this trend in action and that’s why civilized men have been divided into these two categories.  Writer has employed too many references from history to solidify his thesis about the hosts and the guest.

Q 2. What historical references Max Beerbohm has given in this essay?

Ans. Max Beerbohm attempts to trace the course of the developments of hospitality as a tradition and as a part of human nature.  He gives many references from the primeval and medieval times.

His first example is based on imagination.  He thinks about the way in which the first man may have acted as a host and invited someone to dinner.  The caveman and his wife may have invited a red-haired man to dinner who may have declined due to distrust and suspicion of treachery.  It shows that the instinct of being a host existed before the instinct of being a guest.

The first historical reference is given about an Israelite called Jael.  She was the wife of Heber, the king of Kenite.  She cold- bloodedly cheated her guest and killed him. Then the writer turns to Greece where Odysseus killed all his enemies when they were under his roof as guest.  Then Circe, a goddess has been mentioned as an example of a bad host.

Rome has been considered the most civilized region in the world.  The famous Borgia family of Rome used a mild poison in their drinks and meals and anyone who dined with them, was killed by that poison.  In this way they exterminated all their enemies. Then the writer turns to Scotland.  Shakespeare portrayed the characters of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth as the worst example of a host and hostess in his legendary dram "Macbeth".  They murdered King Duncan who was a guest in their home.

There is another literary allusion to a character called old Wardle from the famous book, “The Pickwick Papers” by Charles Dickens.  Old Wardle was a superb host.  He invited people to his house called Dingley Dell and generously offered everything to his guests but he possessed a strong sense of pride and arrogance.  He did every thing to satisfy his ego and assert his importance.

All these examples show good or bad hosts but the writer shocks us by giving the example of a bad guest.  Dante, the famous Italian poet and philosopher had been a guest to many people in the days of his exile.  He repaid their hospitality by criticizing their homes and food in his writings.

This wide range of references shows the highly intellectual background and outlook of the writer.  The references are given from the Bible, mythology, history, art and literature.  He has masterfully used them to describe the history of hospitality with its good and bad examples.

Q 3. How does the writer judge himself?

Ans. Max Beerbohm describes different aspects of the tradition of hospitality.  After an exhaustive discussion, he judges himself and says that he himself is a guest by nature.  He has always enjoyed receiving favours from others.  In the same way he proves himself as a very uneasy and clumsy host who can never entertain his guests properly.

In this connection he cites an event from his school days.  Sometimes the boys living in the hostel received the food baskets sent by their parents.  They were ordered to share them with their mess fellows, once the writer too received a box containing twelve sausage rolls.  Fortunately, nobody knew about the arrival of this box, he ate up all the rolls himself and did not even mention about them to his hostel friends.  Now he analyses this act and says that he did it because he is not a host by nature and doesn’t want to get compliments and praise of other people.  The boys who received such food baskets suddenly achieved too much importance among other boys.  But the writer lacked the urge to be a leader or the centre of everyone’s praise.  It proves that the writer was a guest by nature.

Then he describes about his days in London, where he sometimes acted as a host and was always uneasy in this capacity.  He used to be worried about the amount of bill and quality of food.  He was in fact a very confused and humble host.  In such situations he felt that he should have been seated at the place of a guest to be comfortable according to his nature.  In this way he dissects his own psychology and invites us to do the same to know the truth about ourselves; whether we are a guest or a host by nature.

Bachelor's Dilemma Herbert Gold  Question Answers

Q 1. What do different people think about a bachelor?

Ans. The bachelor is a man who does not take a decision is his life and sticks to his condition of status quo.  The bachelor is not a common man; he goes against the traditions and set ways of life in a society.  He avoids the trap of responsibilities and relations.  Every member of society holds different attitude and opinion towards him.

A wife idealizes him as a challenge.  She thinks that he is a romantic, charming and a dream like man.  Unlike her husband, he is an ideally perfect man.   She has sympathy with him and thinks of getting a girl for him but when he gets close to her, she tries to trap him in an inviting manner.

A husband sometimes glances at him with envy because he is a free man who has not been trapped in the net of promises and desires of family life.  Sometimes he pities him as a man who is alone and is deprived of the conjugal bliss, joy of children and the homely pleasure of hearth.

A girl has mixed feelings about him.  Sometimes she is apprehensive and thinks about the diseases and disabilities mentioned in the Sunday supplements and magazines.  But mostly she tries to trap him.  She knits a snare with her beautiful looks and promises of home cooking.  Even she knows that he has run through a dozen like her but “I am different”, she decides bravely.

For the hostess he is an extra man or a partner to dance with. The dinner table takes him to be a gobbling mouth.  A psychiatrist sees a patient.  Another bachelor takes him as a friend who has an incomplete life with one button always missing from his shirt.  He bores him with complaints but finally runs away with him girl friend.

A bachelor has too many identities because he has no certain identity. He is like a liquid that can set in any type of thought or opinion according to the needs of the thinker.

Q 2. What are the two types of bachelors?

Ans. The bachelor is a man who doesn’t take a decision to settle down in his life.  He decides to live a solitary life without any responsibility.  He floats here and there on the ocean of the world and does not find any harbour for himself.

The writer describes two types of bachelors.  One is a very clever boy of Don Juan type with plenty of time, money, initiative and a will for adventure.  He can do whatever he likes.  He can pick the girl of his choice and have fun.  He can experience all kinds of joys.  He is fought for, as a commodity especially in large cities where there tend to be more girls than men.  He flies high and is envied by all.

Then there is a meeker and milder bachelor of Don Mitty type.  He does not have a lot of resources.  He cannot get the entertainment of his choice.  He does not have the chances to pick his favourite girl in reality but his dreamland is full of such girls who always throng around him to please him and to get his favours.  As soon as the dream breaks, he comes back on hard surface of reality and is faced by his own loneliness, troubles and needs again.

Whatever is the type of bachelor, he is a lonely person, constantly in need of companionship and in search of his roots.

Q 3. Discuss the problems of a bachelor?

Ans. A person who does not get married is called a bachelor. Marriage is a fine social institution that makes a family.  Family is the basic unit of society.  It makes the society stable and productive.  Family provides protection and moral support.  It helps us to live together with a fine "give and take".  The man who refuses to become a family man or a married man is deprived of these advantages.  Though, the family life has some demands and responsibilities too but these are much less than the advantages of it.

A bachelor faces many problems.  The foremost and basic problem is his loneliness.  He has to spend his life alone.  He is alone in his joys, his progress, his sorrows, his illness, in his failure and in all his life.  He is alone in all respects.  People try to use him in their own favour.  Nobody cares for him and he does for nobody.

Then there are diseases that become his chronic partner.  Almost every bachelor suffers from some maladies.  Some of them are psychological, related to anxiety and frustration and some are physical mostly related to his stomach.  The bachelor suffers from stomach diseases like ulcers etc.  It is because he has to eat in a disorganized way.  He has no timings and proper arrangements for meals.  Too much restaurant food spoils his health.

Then comes the problem of sex; no doubt a bachelor always remains engrossed in the problems related to sex.  He feels deprived and tries to get sexual satisfaction in any safe or unsafe way.  The lack of sex-life makes him sluggish and deprived of the urge to live.

The boredom always surrounds a bachelor's existence.  Nothing gives him the true happiness and joy.  He gets fed up with the same stale routine of life and same dull face in the bathroom mirror.

In whatever way you count, a bachelor always has a short life expectancy.  He dies young because of all these problems in which he cannot find any shoulder to help or support him.  The bachelor lives a miserable and lonely life.

Q 4. Why does the writer talk about paramecium?

Ans. Paramecium is a one-called creature.  It reproduces by binary fission that means to split into two equal and alike beings.  It does not need any sexual activity for this reproduction.  But the scientists discovered something every curious. In a microscopic study, some biologists noticed that the paramecium became very tired and sluggish after continuous fission.  They viewed a culture of paramecia, under the microscope to know the reasons of this exhaustion.  What they found was the meeting of a paramecium with another of its kind. They exchanged their nuclei and again became vigorous and healthy enough to start the process of binary fission with a new fervour.

All this shows that even a unicellular creature needs companion ship, friendship and physical contact.  So for a man how can it be possible to live without all these factors?  He cannot live alone and if he tries like a paramecium, he loses the vigour of life and finally disintegrates mentally, physically, sexually and emotionally.

Q 5. What is the conclusion of this essay?

Ans. This essay gives an ample discussion on the life, ways, behaviors and circumstances of a bachelor.  After an exhaustive discussion, he concludes that a person should get married because it is according to the laws of nature.  Nature tends to destroy everything that goes against its flow.  So the bachelor's avoidance from this demand of nature leads him to a meaningless, boring and directionless life.  He is rootless and floats like a ghost ship on the ocean of life alone, alone and then alone.  His loneliness echoes and surrounds his whole existence.

So the writer's objective in presenting the hopeless condition of a bachelor is to stress the need of love, companionship and relations in life.  One cannot live alone, so one should not try to live alone.

Tolerance E W Forster Question Answers

Q 1. Why was the reconstruction needed?

Ans. E. M. Forster wrote this essay after the Second World War.  He masterfully depicted the complexities and subtleties of civilization in those disorderly times.

Wars have always been destructive.  They destroy not only the lives and property of a nation, but they also destroy the ideals and the ideological foundations of a nation.  Similarly the Second World War destroyed everything and left behind a looming shadow of "Chaos" and "Nada".  In this situation the whole world felt the need of rebuilding the civilization. The situation demanded that all people should get ready for the reconstruction of the world.  This reconstruction was bound to be physical, ideological and material.  E. M. Forster discussed the ways in which this purpose might be attained.

   

Q 2. What was needed to rebuild the civilization?

Ans. Civilization is something very complex.  It has its roots in different values and ideals.  These values make the civilization stable.  And if these values are destroyed, the civilization is automatically destroyed.

The Second World War, not only damaged the world physically but it shook the moral, social and human bases of the world civilization too. People had no values; they had no code of life.  They experienced a strong sense of nothingness.  After the war, people felt the need to restore some values.  Different suggestions were promoted for this purpose.  Some people thought that love might be the force that could bring the stability back in the world.  But the experience of many centuries proved that love had failed badly in public affairs.  It had been tried again and again and it never produced the desired results.

E. M. Forster thought that the basic thing needed for the reconstruction was a sound state of mind.  A mental state that could analyze the situation candidly, make plans and bring them into action. It was a mental state that could make a realistic effort to live with people peacefully and this thing could only be a tendency to tolerate others.  Tolerance was the only solution in the post war world.

Q 3. How should people live in post-war situation?

Ans. In the post war-world people had to live with a different attitude.  They had to live with those people who had been fighting against them.  They had to share their social and public life with friends as well as foes.  After the war, there emerged some new parties, some new groups, new factions and some new sentiments in the population.  The people belonging to the aggressive nations might have faced the wrath of others for the misdeeds of their leaders and armies.  This reaction could have incurred the feelings of insecurity and resentment in the population.  The coexistence of different races, classes and nations could have become impossible, especially in the multi-national societies.

Then, the only solution was to tolerate each other.  If common people tolerate each other, the wars can never come in the streets of peaceful cities.  They remain in the military and political grounds and the common man is not influenced by their destructive powers.

So in the post-war world, the only way of living was through tolerance.

Q 4. Discuss the importance of the tolerance?  

Ans. This essay has been written by E. M. Forster, he discusses the nature, the importance and uses of tolerance in our modern times.  Tolerance means to accept the views of other people open heartedly and without any malice.  One should respect one’s own opinion as well as the opinion of other people.  It is the way in which we can create a balance between different ways of life.  We should adopt the theory of live and let live.

Today the world is full of people.  Trade and quick ways of transportation have changed the world into a global village.  The boundaries of all countries have become flexile.  The whole Europe is changed into a European Union.  The nations are quickly merging into others.  In modern societies, different nations, races and classes have to live together. They cannot live with their prejudice and bias.  They have to be broad minded and tolerant. They should accept the rights of other to live freely.  So in the world where merit and abilities are the only standard, any fanaticism has no place.  The dogmatic and fundamentalist faction can prove highly destructive for the society and its peace.  The only solution for the peaceful co-existence of different parts of society is tolerance.

The writer further says that there are not too many examples in history where tolerance has been used.  That’s why, if we look at the history of mankind, it is nothing but a heap of intrigues, conspiracies, murders, massacres, wars and fanaticism.  He thinks that the only way to purge the human condition is to flourish the spirit of tolerance in people.  It is the way of democracy and it has been advocated by almost all religions.

There is another way to live in the world and that is the way of Nazis.  They believed in destroying everything, every object, every idea, every person and every theory that they did not like.  They exterminated every other race from Germany.  But the civilized societies can never adopt this way.  We cannot live by the "law of jungle".  We are the human beings; a social animal and we have to create a society.  But a society cannot be created without respecting the social and human rights of other people.  So the only way of creating a society or a civilized culture is tolerance.  Writer quotes a text form the Bible in support of his view! "In my father's house are many mansions"

Similarly he refers to different philosophers, spiritual and religious leaders who have supported the doctrine of tolerance.  The writer suggests a therapy to cultivate the tolerance in people.  He says that one should put oneself in the place of others and analyze the situation.  In this way one can easily understand the limitations of others and can find the reason of their attitude and opinion.  This understanding gives us the ability to judge something judiciously.  This will help us to tolerate the conflicting ways and opinions of other people.  We can notice that the people with clear judgment and understanding are always tolerant.

Then E. M. Forster compares the love and tolerance.  He says that love is important in personal life but it is not effective in public life.  The only force in public life is tolerance.

Concluding the discussion the writer urges us to be open-minded and to see not only the faults of others but of ourselves too. He says that tolerance is not weakness rather it is strength.  It is the only force that can construct or reconstruct any thing durable.

        

Q 5. What is the importance of tolerance in the external and internal problems of Pakistan?

Ans. Tolerance is the most effective guiding principle in the public life of a nation.  Pakistan is an ideological state that was created in the name of Islam.  Islam stresses on the need of tolerance and a Muslim is demanded to show courtesy even to his enemy.  Islamic history is full of such events.

Today Pakistan is running through a very serious crisis.  The whole nation is divided due to many conflicts.  Sometimes these differences are of religious nature and sometimes political.  The changes in international affairs also cause much disruption.

We need tolerance in our religious life.  We should be tolerant in our relations with other religions. We should give equal rights to them.  Similarly we should be tolerant to all the sects of Islam.  Shias should respect Sunnis and Sunnis should regard the rights of Shias.  In this way we can stop the endless series of bomb blasts and bloodshed on a large scale.  This situation has involved the whole population in it and our image in the world has been badly tarnished by this intolerant attitude.

The political scenario of Pakistan presents a very bleak picture.  Conspiracies have strangled the democracy.  Politicians do not tolerate each other.  Members of opposition are victimized.  And the opposition writes letters to the Army to take over.  They organize movements to bring martial law.  The army does not tolerate politicians.  It tries to subdue them.  Army doesn’t respect the basic human rights of politicians as well as the civillian population.  And this attitude has badly harmed our integrity.  We reaped its fruit in 1971 when we lost one of our vital parts due to this intolerance.  Even today the condition is not any better; we are still heading towards disasters of worst kind.  Provincialism is playing havoc to our existence. The irrationality of political element is leading us to hapless ends.  The haughty and unbending attitude of army is the cause of social unrest and frustration on a large scale.  This horrible situation is only the result of intolerance.

The difference between classes is also a serious matter.  Today our society is without a middle class.  There are the rich or the poor; some people enjoy every thing while others struggle even for the bread.  According to the facts and figures of the World Bank, 87% of Pakistani population is living under the line of poverty.  The whole sum of national wealth is in the control of some rich families.  Feudalism is crushing the poor people.  The system is not supportive.  This situation has produced an atmosphere of resentment and distrust between both the classes.  But if they open heartedly tolerate each other, the gulf between them can easily be removed.   The rich should try to help poor.  The poor should work harder to lessen this difference.

In our international affairs, tolerance can be very vital.  Since the creation of Pakistan we had to bear the enmity of India.  We spend almost 70% of our national wealth on the race of weapons.  If we become tolerant towards India, we can spend this money on raising the standard of our people’s life.

So it proves that all our internal and external problems can be solved through the tolerance.  This can save us from the discontent and disappointment present in our nation today.

Tolerance E W Forster Question Answers

Q 1. Why do we call bad manners infections?
Ans. This essay has been written by Alfred George Gardiner whose pen name was "Alpha of the Plough".  He was a journalist, biographer and essayist.  He was an ardent social reformer.
In the present essay he throws light on the importance of good manners.  He urges us to be civil and spread civility around us.  Similarly we should avoid bad manners because bad manners spread very quickly.  We can call bad manners infections because every action has a reaction.  A good act will get a good reaction and a bad action will surely produce a bad reaction.  If we deal with people in a good way, naturally they will adopt the same course and will be civil but if we are hostile to some one, he is bound to be uncivil and hostile to us.  We can see it in our day-to-day life that the people behaving in a bad way always incur a bad and unpleasant aura around them.
The individual is the unit of society and if the unit is going wayward the whole society will be doomed to disturbance. The writer gives an example.  In a city office a customer asked the liftman to take him to "top" but the liftman demanded, "top Please".  This gave rise to a serious brawl and liftman threw the customer out of his lift.  The writer conceives that the customer behaved rudely because his employer did not greet him and the employer was uncivil because he had been hen-pecked by his wife to whom the cook had been insolent because the housemaid had answered the cook back.  On the other hand the liftman, who was not allowed to express his anger, would go home and beat his wife to restore the equilibrium.
This shows how quickly the bad manners are transferred from one person to another.  Bad manners and rudeness spread sooner than any virus and are more fatal to the civilization and society.


Q 2. Is there any law against the bad manners?
Ans. We have many laws that can protect us against material losses.  For example if we are attacked physically or if our property is damaged, we can retaliate with the same amount of wrath and the law will protect us.  If we do not avenge ourselves the law will give us redress.  This is because the material loss is a solid phenomenon while the hurt pride is an abstract thing.  Loss of material can be proved but the loss of self-respect and vanity cannot be proved. Moreover, the concept of being hurt intellectually, changes from person to person.  Some people are more tolerant but some are less.  At times we become so much hostile and prejudiced about some people that we always view their actions negatively and we, ourselves, become uncivil to them.  So it can be almost impossible for any law court to judge such cases.
Although there is no law against bad manners but there are very strong social traditions that compel us to be tolerant, polite and humane.  Laws can never make us civil.  It is the voice of humanity inside and out side us that makes us behave unlike the brutal animals or the residents of jungle.
There is liberty of expression in almost all the societies of the world and there are certain limitations levied on this liberty by a man's conscience.  As it is our self-respect that makes us respect the "self" of others.
So, no law can be feasible for keeping us civil and humane, only the tradition and humanity can ask us to do so.


Q 3. Draw a character sketch of the polite conductor?
Ans. The writer has featured a very impressive character in order to stress the need of civility and good manners in our daily social life.  This character was a bus conductor who impressed the writer with his pleasant personality and helpful manners.  The writer noticed him when, once, he boarded a bus without any money in his pocket.  This was a very trying situation for him because in this situation no one believes that the money has been accidentally misplaced.  Common people and specially the conductors think that the person is trying to cheat.  The writer searched his pockets thoroughly and declared that he would have to alight from the bus.  He was ready for any kind of reaction but quite unexpectedly the conductor behaved generously and politely.  He offered to take him to his destination even without any money.  The writer was very impressed.  Though later the writer could square his account with a stray coin present in his pocket but such a nice act gave him a serene pleasure and satisfaction.
On second occasion the writer met the same conductor when he heavily trampled writer’s toe but he apologized in such a humble and nice way that writer assured him that he had not hurt him at all.  This reaction was only due to his polite ways.  This proves that every action has a reaction equal in strength. The writer says that he is not ashamed of writing a panegyric to an unknown bus conductor because the wisdom of life can be achieved from anywhere.  No one is low or high it is their manners that divide human beings in low or high level.
       

Q 4. Why should a person be civil?
Ans. A person should be civil in his dealings with others.  "Man is a social animal" and if he does not respect the society and its values he is just an animal.  All the societies in the world have their own specific set of values.  No society allows its members to have bad manners or to express their annoyance openly.  Societies devise some civilized ways to give vent to any resentment.
The peaceful coexistence of the individuals in a society is only possible through courtesy and good manners.  In a society, people have to indulge in continuous give and take that is possible only through acknowledging the services of other people.  If we start ordering, like a superior, no body will cordially listen to us.  But if we ask something in a polite manner, no one will refuse us. Our religion, Islam also teachers us to be civil, The Holy Prophet (Peace be upon him) said, "The best amongst you is one, who has good manners”.                                             
We should adopt the ways of courtesy and civility to spread smiles on faces of all those who live around us.


Q 5. How can good manners affect our social life?
Ans. Alpha of the plough attempts to stress on the need of having good manners in life.  He asserts that we should behave in a polite and gentle way.  We should not hurt any body and should not lose our temper because these things cast a deep impact on our general life.
The writer presents an incident from a city office where a liftman threw out a person who insulted him by treating him as a social inferior.  The person demanded "top". The liftman asked for “top please”.  It led to a fierce quarrel.  It was only a question of "please".  The liftman was punished for his violent behaviour.  It happened because the law doesn’t recognize the damage to our feelings but if we experience a material or physical loss the law can protect us.  The liftman was punished because he broke a definite command of law by hitting the customer.  We may sympathize with the liftman whose feelings were hurt but we will have to admit that the law is quite reasonable.
The bad manners are subjective.  Their effects change from person to person.  Sometimes even a light comment or action can hurt a man.  It depends on our mental state at that time.  If we are already hurt or disturbed then any thing can provoke us.  As was the case with the man who did not say "please" to the liftman.  He was rude because his employer had misbehaved with him.  The employer did so because he had been hen-pecked by his wife and his wife was angry because the cook had been insolent, as the housemaid had answered back to the cook.  This shows how quickly the bad manners start a chain reaction of penetrating in the social life.
All the religions have preached in favour of good manners but neither any religion nor any constitution has ever tried to legislate against bad manners.
In writer's view "Please", "thank you” and "sorry" are the little courtesies by which we keep the machine of life oiled and running sweetly.  They produce an atmosphere of cordiality and good will.  The writer pleads us to restore these manners and behaviours so that the society can become a safe and pleasant place to live in.


Q 6. What is the theme of this essay?     
Ans. "On saying please" is an apt commentary on the mannerism of people in the society.  The writer wants people to be civil and courteous.  The world is a place where, we have to live with a lot of different people who have different attitudes, different manners, traditions and mentalities.  They behave in different ways but we have to put up with them so that the life can smoothly go on.  If we do not adopt good manners, we will poison the whole atmosphere and spoil the stream of life.
Moreover the writer wants to tell us that there is no law that can compel people, to have good manners.  No law can force people to be well mannered.  But the civilization, culture and tradition of all good nations enjoin a man to be civil and tolerant.  So people should have good manners to make their lives easier and more pleasant.

To Err is Human Lewis Thomas Question Answers

Q 1. What is the importance of errors in life?
Ans. Lewis Thomas is basically a man of science. He presents deep scientific truths in a simple, straightforward and lucid style. The essay “To Err is Human” is a study of human brain and its working.  The author establishes his thesis in a very light manner.  He asserts the importance of errors in life and says that almost every new thing has been created or discovered through errors.  The whole history of scientific developments is based on coincidences, chances and errors. Everything that deviates from the normal course leads us to new regions of knowledge and possibilities.
Error is exclusively a human trait.  In the whole universe, only the man is capable of making mistakes.  When a man thinks freely and makes some choices the probability of mistakes is increased.   One out of many courses can be right but the choice of a wrong course can sometimes lead to more beneficial avenues. We learn by trial and error and finally reach at the correct path.  Human body and mind are in a constant process of evolution.  Similarly the environment and circumstances go on changing every day.  So, man has to devise newer ways to cope with the new conditions.  In this process, he sometimes makes mistakes and these mistakes become the herald of new discoveries and inventions.
Animals do not commit error that’s why they seldom learn anything new. They have been spending the same life for million of years. But man has revolutionized his life and living standard.  The cave man could not even dream of the life of today.  After a thousand years, our life too may seem to be as undeveloped as that of the cavemen because the tempo and magnitude of our progress is tremendous.  And most of our progress is based on the moves made by error.  Errors give us new ways to pave and new mysteries to unveil.
Similarly if we let our machines like computer to work freely and commit mistakes, they can also create new horizons for us.  Mistakes should not be regarded as something negative rather they should be properly death with to get the maximum profit out of them.


Q 2. How do the computers work?
Ans. Computers are thought to be an excellent machine that cannot commit errors.  But our common observation refutes it and we see that often we have to suffer due to computer errors. Computer by error increases a tiny bank account to a massive one; the utility companies give notice of disconnection due to non-payment.  When you report about these errors, the same computer gives you a guilty letter and settles yours account.
The writer says that computers have their brains and the sounds coming out of them indicate the working of their brains.  The computer can think as quickly as to beat a man at chess.  The sums done by computer can consume too much of a man's time.  The accuracy of computer is unmatched.  Even then the computers make mistakes because they are an extension of human brain and have the quality of error.  The error is the base of human activity and it generates too many benefits for man.
He thinks that computer should also be given the right to err so that it can also find new vistas for itself and mankind.  A computer should be given a list of courses, mostly wrong and it should be asked to choose at random.  This can lead to too many possibilities and may prove to be the threshold of new discoveries.  So computer as well as human beings should take the errors as a guide because "trial and error" is the foundation of all our learning.

Science and Values Bertrand Russell Question Answers

Q 1. How has science helped us to diminish bad things?
Ans. Bertrand Russell is a philosopher, mathematician and reformer.  Throughout his life he has been working for introduction of scientific attitude in life, for rights of women, for denunciation of war and for the formation of a world government.
In the present essay, he gives his arguments to make us realize the importance of science, its advantages and disadvantages.  He says that science has totally changed the orientation, tempo and nature of our lives.  He enlists many things that science has conferred upon us to make our life easier.  In his views, science has helped us to diminish certain bad things from the world.
The first thing that has been curtailed by science is poverty.  In past people did not have anything they were very badly off.  The food and other necessities of life were not provided to them but now the situation has been totally changed.  The scientific development in agriculture and industry has altogether changed the face of life.  Industrialization has helped mankind to control the excessive labour hours and poverty.
The advent of medicine and medical science is considered to be a great boon for the mankind.  Before the growth of medicines, the death rate was very high in the world.  In 1920 the infant mortality rate in England was 80 per thousand but in 1948 it was reduced to 34 per thousand.  The sum of human suffering has been greatly diminished by the discovery of anesthetics and other medicines.
The crimes and lawlessness have also been reduced by the science.  The police force, their scientific method of detection, finger prints, telephones, street lights and the psychology of crimes and punishment have helped greatly to reduce the general crime rate specially in Europe.
The science has reduced the fanaticism to its lowest level.  The swift communication and transportation have made the world a global village, thus bringing the nations, classes and religions closer together to enhance the tolerance and good will in the world.
All these things could have been possible only due to the science and its seasonable use.


Q 2. How has science helped us to flourish the beneficial aspects of life?
Ans. The science has completely changed the life of man on this planet.  It has helped us in many ways.
The most important advantage of science is the spread of education.  Now almost everyone is educated, at least in Western countries.  The knowledge about the world and life has increased immensely.  Now people can get every type of knowledge through media, books and Internet.
Science has also increased the opportunities.  The people even from the lower classes can go higher and higher in life with their education and skills.  The industrialization has increased the job opportunities and it gives chances to people to earn their bread as well as to improve their status in life.
Another thing that science has gifted to mankind is the happiness.  In past, people had no ways of entertainment but now there are thousands of sources created by science and technology to increase the pleasure and amusement in the world.
Prosperity has been increased. The health facilities are improved to reduce the human suffering.  So we can say that science is the only factor that has revolutionized our whole existence for the better.


Q 3. What is the relation of science and values?
Ans. Russell points out many ways in which science has helped mankind but in Russell’s views it could have helped mankind even better.  It is the matter of common observation that the negative uses of science have affected us badly and they have diminished the positive works of science almost completely.  Russell thinks about this problem and detects its reason. He thinks that science and the values have not developed at the same pace.  At some places or times the science has developed and at others the values have.  Science regards values as useless and orthodox.  The values regard science as obstinate.  The science and religion have always confronted.  This is the fact that causes the inhuman use of science and destruction of values.
In order to restore this balance he suggests some ways. The first thing that he mentions is the intellectual tamper.  In people, there should be a desire to know the exact reality and they should judge everything according to their own intellect.  There should be an unwillingness to adopt the already existing dogmatic creeds.   One should never be intensely devoted to some belief or idea rather they should be kept tentatively.  There is always a chance of change and improvement in one’s thoughts and beliefs so one should not be ready to kill others or die himself for some cause.  The urge of impartial inquiry should be present in every man to avoid conflicts and wars in the world.
The priesthood and other such institutions forcibly impose their views on others and hamper the way of free inquiry and judgment.  These doctrines have often badly opposed the scientific developments.  Similar was in the case of anesthetics that were bitterly opposed by orthodox and religious factions of society as an interference with the will of God.
The lust of power is an inherent desire of mankind and this desire has led mankind to many fierce and brutal wars.  If the wars are controlled, the magnitude of human prosperity could be increased thousand times more than the present one.  Russell says that science can offer the greatest possibilities of well being for the human race.  It offers this on certain conditions such as the abolition of war, even distribution of ultimate power and a strict control over the growth of population.
In the western industrial countries, the population growth is strictly controlled and it gives a chance to people to live a better life.  Forming a world government can control the wars.  All the countries should unite and make a government that will have a complete control of all the weapons of the world and so will reduce the fear of wars greatly.  The world government can be formed either by negotiations or by the use of force.  Once this government is established the mankind will be introduced to a phase of extreme human welfare and happiness.  This government will help scientists to concentrate on the projects of human comfort and prosperity. Then the money, resources and energy wasted on the weaponization will be diverted to the constructive plans for humanity.  If science and all these values are synthesized, the earth can become a paradise of peace and prosperity.  So we can say that science and values are closely linked and they should be developed in unison.

Super Anonymous Question Answers

Q 1. Discuss the background of "Super?
Ans. This essay has been written by some anonymous writer and was published in "The Times" magazine.  The writer humorously criticizes the use of different prefixes.
Mr. Shaw translated the word “super” from German to English language from the work of Nietzsche, who originally used this word.  He applied this word as a prefix to the "man" and created a character of super qualities.  When this word was translated to English, it caught the fancy of people, specially the advertisers.  They vehemently made use of the word ‘super’ with almost everything that was advertised.  Every thing was given the status of being super.  The character of the "Superman" was a man of extra-ordinary qualities but the super things are quite ordinary.  Writer says that super things should be superior to something but they are not.  In writer’s view people use this prefix with their products but never use it with their own names.  For example a man would call his trousers as super-trousers and even he may call himself a super tailor but would never call himself super, as a man.
In past, too many people were given distinguished titles but they never called themselves as super.  Even today the richest man does not try to embellish himself or his conversation as being a super-human thing.  The writer mocks at the over use of this prefix and ironically says that this word has lost its worth and emphasis because of its over use.  As the modern music produces no effect on mind body or soul, so is the case with  "Super".  It is as meaningless and irritating as is the modern music.


Q 2. What is wrong with the use of this word?
Ans. The writer humorously points out the use of unnecessary phrases in advertisement, specially the word "Super".  He states many examples to present his case.
He objects to the overuse of this prefix with every thing.  He says that we live in a realm of super things like super chocolate, super soap, super cigarettes and so on.  He objects because the quality of things has not been improved even by a zero percent but their names have been changed to "Super".  Being super means that the thing is superior to something else, but to what, it is not known.  He ridicules the situation by saying that these things must be made by a race of supermen.
In fact the writer wants to assert that the things should not be improved superficially but their true quality should be raised, so they can genuinely impress people.  Modern time is the time of glitz and glamour.  Things are presented in super packing and super advertisement but their true quality is nothing.
The things are symbols of their makers, who have become super outwardly but from inside they are still uncultured and undeveloped.  The change should come in the soul of everything.  This is what the writer wants to suggest through this essay.


Q 3. Point out the elements of satire and humour from this essay?
Ans. This essay is full of humorous and satirical expressions.  Writer has light-heartedly pointed out the use of the word “super”.  He ridicules the emptiness of shallow modern man who tries to embellish things outwardly but their inner hollowness remains intact.
The very first line is satirical when writer says that Mr. Shaw could never foresee the immense effects of his novel use of the word super.  He says that the superman is an imaginative character that may come in future but the use of this word has filled the world with super things like super soap, super cigarette, super chocolate etc.  Being super they should be of a higher quality but they are not.  He humorously adds the example of a certain abusive epithet that has lost its meanings due to over use.
Ironically enough he expects that this bulk of super things might be made by a race of super men.  He laughs at the trends of advertisement where people go to the extent of calling themselves, for instance, as super-tailor due to the super trousers they make.  He compares the use of the word super to the doubling of paper money that increases the quantity of currency but buying power remains the same.  Today nobody caress about the personal worth or quality of a man.  Writer says that our development is so superficial and fickle that we think that our super inventions like our super aero-planes will astonish and amaze even Shakespeare or Leonardo da Vinci.
At the end he mocks at the quality and impact of super music and says that now the use of "Super" does not produce any effect like the super music.  On the whole this is a fun-packed essay that conveys its message in an emphatic and straightforward way.

From Some Policemen And A Moral G K Chesterton Question Answers

Q 1. What happened to G. K. Chesterton?
Ans. G. K. Chesterton was a journalist.  He worked in the "Daily News". Once in holidays, he went to Yorkshire.  He was staying there with a rich and renowned person.  One day he was free from work and was sitting in a wood.  He had a Swedish knife and was practicing the style in which people murdered each other in Stevenson’s novels.  Unluckily he could never hit any tree.
Suddenly two policemen appeared from somewhere and overwhelmed the whole area.   It seemed there was no one else in the jungle.  They accused him of murder-attempt on the tree and started a detailed interrogation regarding some relevant or irrelevant matters.  They asked him who he was, what the knife was, why was he throwing it, what was his address, trade, religion, opinion on the Japanese war, name of his favourite cat and so on.  The writer tried to convince them that he was a journalist and was staying with “Mr. Blank of Ilkely” and he was working at “The Daily News".
All these things impressed the policemen and they left as quickly as they had come.  The matter of his being guilty or not was dissolved by the fact that he knew some well-to-do people and was a journalist.

         
Q 2. Why did they release him?
Ans. The policemen entangled him badly in the snare of their complicated irrelevant questions.  They tried to confuse him and get the answers of their own choice.  But when the writer told them that he was a journalist related to an honest and esteemed newspaper called "The Daily News" and that he was staying with very rich and well-known people, they shuddered with awe and terror and released him.  The writer produced an envelope, an unfinished poem and some other documents to prove his statement.
The policemen were so impressed that the elder of them declared himself as a regular reader and admirer of the writer.  They forgot all about his crime and their accusation.  They disappeared as unobtrusively as they had appeared.


Q 3. What was Chesterton’s reaction on his release?
Ans. The writer was quite amazed at his acquittal and release.  He asked the policemen why they had acquitted him when he was guilty of cruelty to a green entity.  He further said that the policemen had rushed to him as if he was some villain of the Greek mythology who was trying to spoil a goddess tied to the ground and as if the huge tree was now shattered to pieces, its green blood was wailing and calling out for the "Justice".  It was protesting against the cruelty of a man.  His crime could not be dismissed by the fact that he was Chesterton, a journalist, a well-known person or that he was staying with some wealthy people.
But to the writer's disappointment, the major part of this speech was made to the silent wood because both the knights had vanished away.  It made him think that they might be fairies whose standard and criterion of crime and punishment was different from the normal human standard.  In their domain, it might be a crime to damage a tree or a blade of grass.  In these terms this event could easily be explained but if the policemen were taken as "real", the situation again became confusing.  They arrested him because he was guilty of something so they should have taken him to the police station for proper proceedings.  And if he was not the criminal then why had they interfered with him and accused him.
This is what the writer is still unable to understand.  He thinks that if there has been a poor man at his place, who is homeless or who does not know any dignitary, what they might have done to him.  Basically this essay is written to criticize the practices of policemen who question the innocent but let the criminals loose.  They threaten the simple people and impress them with their power and authority.   They accept bribes and can be influenced by aristocrats.  They have no clear knowledge or sense of crime and punishment.  They accuse a person according to his social status.  They acquit a person according to his contacts and connections.  The true essence of the police department has been lost under the cover of worldly and materialistic considerations and recommendations.

         
Q 4. "Policemen in Chesterton's essay behave exactly like our own Policemen”, Elucidate.
Ans. G. K. Chesterton is a keen commentator of the society and its evils.  His style is very amusing and subtle.  He points out the cancerous diseases of society in a light and humorous way.  “From Some Policemen and a Moral" presents the attitudes and ways of the policemen.
He narrates an event when he was nearly arrested by two policemen on charge of damaging a tree.  After a heated discussion of half an hour, he was acquitted.  He hardly won his acquittal by proving that he was a journalist and knew some aristocrats. These things impressed the policemen and they neglected his crime, if there was any.
This provoked the writer to think deeply about the police and their working. He establishes the meaninglessness of police department and its activities by using some super metaphors and symbols. This analysis provokes us to think deeply about the policemen of our own area.
For some decades, our country has been turned into a police state.  The discretionary powers of policemen are immense.  They do whatever they want and the administration gives them protection.  Generally police department is thought to be a symbol of protection and security but in our country no gentleman dares to pass near a police station.  People try to solve their problems on a local level instead of going to police station because the policemen put them into a swamp of bribes recommendations and injustice.  Even filing of FIR has become a very difficult task and if it is filed the applicant has to provide "tyres" to it in form of money to start or to speed up the proceedings.
The government cannot control their excesses because of political consideration.  The looting, theft and murders never disturb the police.  Their attention is only to get as much money out of the innocent people as possible.  Too many people die every year in police custody.  Too many lose their youths, languishing in jails on wrong charges.  Not only the accused is punished but also his whole family has to suffer the police-terrorism.  The sanctity of home is violated every day.
If the accused is some influential man, police never go near him and try to shift the burden of his crime on the shoulders of someone else.  All the drug, gambling and wine business is running under police patronization.  They get monthly "Jagga Tax" from the dons of such business.
Though policemen have their own problems too but still they are responsible for the deformity in the police department as well as in the general society.  The policemen in Chesterton’s essay were light and trivial but the atrocities and dishonesty of Pakistani police have no bounds.  They are in nobody's control.  They respect no law.  They recognize no moral, religious or ethical code of conduct.
The government should pay attention to their activities so that the evils of terrorism, gambling, drugs and many other vicious crimes can be wiped out from our society.

The Vitamins Dr Kenneth Walker Question Answers

Q 1. Discuss the history of vitamins and their discovery?
Ans. Dr. Kenneth Walker was a consultant surgeon in London. He has a neat simple and straightforward style that suits his purpose excellently.  "The Vitamins" is an extract from his research work, "Human physiology". It is written in his typical plain prose style.
In the beginning only five basic ingredients of food were known. People tried to include all these ingredients in food to make it a balanced diet.  In 1906 Sir F. Gowland Hopkins conducted some experiment on rats.  He kept these rats on a diet of pure proteins, fats, carbohydrates, salts and water but still they developed the signs of malnutrition.  It diverted the attention of scientists to another ingredient that was still not known.   This ingredient was needed to keep ones body perfectly healthy.  Later experiments discovered it and it was named as the vitamin.
In 1906 a disease called scurvy invaded the ships of East India Company.  In order to combat this scourge, lemons and oranges were used, which are a rich source of vitamins.  Another disease, which is thought to be due to vitamin deficiency, is beri-beri.  It is characterized by weakness and even complete paralysis of legs associated with dropsy.
The research on all these diseases solidified the existence of vitamins and their importance for human body.  The true nature of vitamins is still not completely known and researches are still going on.


Q 2. What are the main types of vitamins?
Ans. The vitamins are divided in two categories.  This division is on the basis of their solubility in fats or in water.   The letters of the alphabet are employed to distinguish them. The fat-soluble vitamins are A, D, and E.  The water-soluble vitamins are B and C.
The first fat-soluble vitamin is A.  It is found in cod-liver oil in large quantity. Its smaller amounts are present in butter and green vegetables.  Deficiency of this vitamin results in stunted growth and reduces the natural resistance offered by the body to invading organisms.  Its deficiency produces a dry condition of eye known as Xerophthalmia.
The second fat-soluble vitamin is D. It is found in cod-live oil and in lesser amounts in other animal fats but is not present in vegetable oils.  Its absence from food interferes with the growth and calcification of bones and is the cause of rickets.  Rickets is cured by adding vitamin D to diet or by exposing the patient to sunlight because another major source of vitamin D is sunlight
The main water-soluble vitamins are B and C.  Vitamin B is found in yeast and in the outer layers of rice and wheat.  Its absence causes beri-beri and pellagra.  Vitamin B actually contains six different substances of varying importance.
The second water-soluble vitamin C is present in fresh vegetables, in germinating peas and beans and in some fruits especially in lemons and oranges.  It is important as anti-scorbutic vitamin.
Still more vitamins are being discovered and their efficacy is also being elucidated.


Q 3. Discuss the reasons of rickets?
Ans. Rickets is a disease characterized by softening and bending of bones.  During the research on rickets, two completely divergent theories were presented about its causes.  According to some investigators, it was purely a diet-deficiency disease.  They proved that it could by readily cured by adding a small quantity of cod-liver oil to diet of the patient. At the same time, some investigators believed that it was related to the physical environment of the patient because rickets almost always attacked children living in dark industrial cities and was quickly cured when they were brought into the sunlight.
On further investigations, it was proved that the main cause was the deficiency of vitamins D and it can be obtained either by mouth or skin.  That's why rickets may be caused by shortage of vitamins D or by the lack of sunlight.
Vitamin D is present in cod-liver oil and animal fats.  Similarly it can be obtained through sunlight that transforms a certain fat found in the skin to vitamin D.
So  this disease can be cured in these two ways.


Q 4. What should be done to fulfill the deficiency of vitamins?
Ans. Today we fully know the importance of vitamins and we also know that the use of alkalis in flour grinding and in the milling of rice is strongly helping in the destruction of vitamins found in different foodstuffs. The governments and authorities do not pay attention to it.  So people should take steps to rectify the situation by compensating the loss of vitamins by taking them in the form of tablets.  In this way the interests of the government, millers and masses will be secured at the same time.