VISTAS
AT A GLANCE-PART I (LAST MIN. PREP.)
The Third Level
Charlie : 31 year old, office goer, claims visiting the third
level
• Description of the Third level
– Small room, few ticket windows and train gates, wooden and old
looking information booth.
– Men had beards, side burns, fancy moustaches
– Women wore skirts, high buttoned shoes and leg of muttons
sleeves.
– A man looking at a pocket watch
– Old style locomotive with funnel shaped stack
– Open gaslights being used
– Brass spittoons on floor
– Wants to visit his home town, Galesburg
– Past is quiet and peaceful
– Tries to buy two tickets to Galesburg (one ticket for his wife
Louisa)
– Clerk grows suspicious as Charlie doesn’t have old style
currency.
– Back to present day world
•
People’s reaction to Charlie’s experience
– Presidents of NY rail roads swear on the existence of two
levels.
– Psychiatrist friend Sam refuses to believe
– Interprets it as an escape from insecurity fear, war and worry
of
the modern world.
– Louisa
too disbelieves Charlie
• Charlie’s determination to find the Third Level
– Withdraws money, buys old currency worth 300 dollars.
– Fails to find the Third Level
– Louisa and Psychiatrist worried.
• Unexpected Ending
– Sam disappears
– Charlie finds a first day cover, never seen before
– Note from Sam dated 18th July 1894 from Galesburg
– Sam asks Charlie and Loulsa to come to Gelesburg and enjoy
quiet and peaceful life.
– Charlie discovers Sam had bought old currency worth 800
dollars.
– Enough to help him start hay and grain business in 1894 at
Galesburg
SHORT QUESTIONS
Answer the following questions in about 30-40 words each. (2
Marks
each)
1. How does the psychiatrist friend interpret Charley’s visit to
the Third Level?
2. Why did the psychiatrist’s interpretation upset Charley’s
wife? How did the
psychiatrist pacify her?
3. How did Charley defend himself from being accused as an
escapist?
4. Why did Charley decide to take the subway from Grand Central?
5. Why did Charley make a quick escape from the platform on the
third level
after the clerk at the ticket counter refused to accept the
money?
6. How did Charley realize that he wasn’t at the second level?
7. Why
did Charley want to visit Galesburg of 1894?
8. What preparations did Charley make to go to Galesburg?
9. Why was Charley not worried even though he got two hundred
dollars in
exchange of three hundred dollars?
10. What do you know about a first-day cover?
11. How did Louisa react to Charley’s quest for the Third Level?
How did her
attitude change later?
12. How were Charley and Louisa convinced about the existence of
the third
level?
13. Do
you think the third level was there? Why/Why not?
LONG ANSWER TYPE QUESTIONS ( 7 MARKS EACH)
Answer the following in about 125-150 words. (7 Marks each)
1. What differences did Charley observe at the third level of
the Grand
Central?
2. Hobbies provide a refuge from reality from our otherwise
monotonous
lives. Elaborate the statement in the light of the lesson.
3. Charley is so engrossed with fiction that he loses touch with
reality. Do
you agree. Give reason.
4. How does one cope with the stress and tension of the modern
world?
Discuss
with special reference to the chapter, “The Third Level.”
The Tiger King By Kalki
• Maharaja’s Childhood and Prophecy
– Jung Bahadur born, astrologers predict death due to a tiger
– Royal upbringing, everything had an English stamp-nanny, food,
milk,
tutor and entertainment
• Maharaja’s vow to kill tigers
– vowed to kill 100 tigers
– faced risks in tiger hunting
– heavy fine if anybody except the king hunted tigers
– risked his throne by not allowing British officer to hunt
tigers.
• Obstacles in fulfilling his Vow
– Tiger population depleted
– Married a princess whose state had large tiger population
– killed ninety nine tigers, hundredth tiger refused to show up
– Feels frustrated at his inability to kill the 100th tiger.
– Officers lose jobs, revenue of a village increased as
punishment
for not finding a tiger.
• The Resourceful Diwan
– Arranged old tiger from Madras
– King shoots the tiger, misses the shot, tiger faints, taken
for dead.
– Afraid to reveal this fact to the king
– 100th
tiger actually killed by a hunter.
• Ironical Ending
– Having killed 100 tigers king becomes complacent and careless
– Buys wooden tiger on son’s birthday
– Wooden sliver pierces King’s right hand
– Infection spreads, operated by best surgeons, doesn’t survive.
Irony – King killed ninety nine tigers but death comes due to a
toy tiger.
Answer the following questions in about 30-40 words each. (2
Marks each)
1.What
secret did the astrologer reveal at the birth of the prince?
2. What was incredible about the infant’s reaction to the
astrologer’s
prophecy?
3. How did the tiger pose a threat to the king?
4. What is the significance of the prince’s utterance – “Let
tigers beware”?
5. Bring out the humour in the upbringing of the prince.
6. Why was the Maharaja in danger of losing his throne?
7. How did the Maharaja manage to retain his throne?
8. What was the hurdle that came in the way of the Maharaja’s
ambition to
kill hundred tigers?
9. Why and on what condition did the Maharaja want to marry?
10. What did the astrologer promise to do if the king killed the
hundreth tiger?
11. Why didn’t the Maharaja agree to the suggestion of the
British officer’s
secretary?
12. Why wasn’t the Maharaja informed that the hundredth tiger
did not die
from his shot?
13. How and why was the hundredth tiger honoured?
14. Why didn’t the shopkeeper quote the real price of the wooden
tiger?
15. How
did the wooden tiger lead to the death of the Maharaja?
LONG ANSWER TYPE QUESTIONS ( 7 MARKS
EACH)
Answer
the following in about 125-150 words. (7 Marks each)
1. What
danger loomed over the Maharajah’s throne? How did he succeed in dispelling it?
2. “The
king spent a lifetime trying to kill hundred tigers but his death came due to a
toy tiger.” Comment
3. Bring
out the element of humour, satire and irony in the story “The Tiger King.”
4. Write
the character sketch of ‘Dewan’.
JOURNEY TO THE END OF THE EARTH BY
TISHANI DOSHI
• Antarctica’s Past
– 650 million years ago part of Gondwana, a giant southern
subcontinent
existed
– higher temperatures
– huge landmass separated into countries
• Antarctica Today
– No human population
– No trees, bill boards, buildings
– Blue whales and icebergs as big as countries
– Silence everywhere
• Human Impact
– Man has disturbed balance in nature
– Dominated nature with villages, towns, cities megacities
– Burning of fossil fuels leads to increase in global
temperature.
– Climate Change
– Activities of phytoplankton will be affected
– Marine
birds and animals will be affected.
• Students on Ice Programme
– Aims at providing students educational opportunities to foster
new
understanding and respect for our planet.
– Hope for the Future
–
Students can make a significant contribution in saving the earth
SHORT ANSWER TYPE QUESTIONS
Answer the following questions in about 30-40 words each. (3
Markseach)
1. How did the author feel after reaching Antarctica?
2. How is present day Antartica different from GONDWANA?
3. Why does one lose all earthly perspective on reaching
Antarctica?
4. How have human beings contributed to an increase in average
global
temperature?
5. Why is Antarctica still pristine?
6. Why is Antarctica a crucial element in the debate on climate
change?
7. Why did Geoff Green stop organizing tours for the rich and
curiosity
seekers?
8. Why is the involvement of students crucial in the “Students
on Ice”
Programme?
9. How have human beings created a ruckus in 12000 years of
their existence
on earth?
LONG ANSWER TYPE QUESTIONS
Answer the following in 125-150 words. (7 Marks each)
1. How are human beings posing a threat to the pristine purity
of Antarctica?
2. By whom and with what objective was the “Students on Ice”
Programme
started? How far has it achieved its goals?
3. Why is Antarctica essential to understand the earth’s past,
present and
future?
4. “A lot can happen in a million years but what a difference a
day makes”.
What is
the relevance of this statement with reference to the lesson?
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