Class 9 English Beehive Chapter 6 My Childhood Question Answer: Welcome to our website! We are happy to provide you with Class 9th Notes for your academic journey. Class IX is an important year for learners as they prepare themselves for the upcoming board exams, which will determine their academic success.
Today, in this article I will discuss your Class 9th “My Childhood” Long and Short Questions| We provide solutions for almost all long and short questions.
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Question And Answer
Q. What language(s) do you think are spoken in Rameswaram and Dhanuskodi? What languages do you think the author, his family, his friends and his teachers spoke with one another?
Ans: Rameswaram and Dhanuskodi are situated in the former state of Madras, now renamed Tamilnadu. Naturally it is expected that the people in those areas spoke Tamil.
The author was born in a Tamil family. Naturally he and the members of his family spoke Tamil. So also his friends and teachers spoke Tamil..However, it is possible that his teachers spoke English whenever it was needed to.
I. Answer these quations in one or two sentences each :
Q.1. Where was Abdul Kalam’s house?
Ans: Abdul Kalam’s house was on the Mosque street in Rameswaram.
Q.2. What do you think Dinamoni is the name of? Give reasons for your answer.
And: Dinamoni is a newspaper. Dinamoni is a sanskrit name of the sun, that brightens the world with its rays. That Dinamoni is a newspaper is known from the fact that Abdul Kalam read its headlines to find the stories about the war that his brother-in-law Jallaluddin had told him.
Q.3. Who were Abdul Kalam’s school friends? What did they later become?
Ans: Abdul Kalam’s school friends were Ramanadha Sastry, Arabindam and Sivprakasan. Later Ramanadha Sastry became a priest in Rameswaram temple, Arbindan went into transport business and Sivprakasan became a catering contractor for Sauthern Railways.
Q.4. How did Abdul Kalam earn his first wages?
Ans: Abdul Kalam became a helper to his cousin Samsuddin who distributed newspapers in. Rameswaram. Abdul Kalam helped him in catching the bundles of newspaper thrown out from moving trains and thus he earned his first wages.
Q.5. Had he earned any money before that? In what way?
Ans: Yes, before that he had earned money. When the Second world war broke out in 1939 there was a sudden demand for tamarind seeds. Abdul Kalam used to cllect tamarind seeds and sell them to a provision store for one anna which was a good amount for that days income.
II. Answer each of these questions in a short paragraph (about 30 words)
Q.1. How does the author describe (i) his father, (ii) his mother himself.
Ans: (i) The author describes his father Jainulabdeen as a man who possessed had neither much formal education nor much wealth. But he great innate wisdom and a true generosity of spirit. He was an austre man who did not spend money an unessential comfort and luxary. But he provided the family with necessary food, medicine and clothing.
(ii) He describes his mother, Ashiamma, as an ideal helpmate of his father. She used to feed a large number of outsiders every day. The number of such outsiders fed by her was far more than the members of the family.
(iii) Telling about himself the author says that he was one of many children in the family. He was a boy of undistinguished tooks born to handsome parents. Because of his parental care he had a very secure childhood both materially and emotionally.
Q.2. What characteristics does he say he inherited from his parents?
Ans: He says that from his father he inherited honesty and self discipline. From his mother he inherited faith in goodness and deep kindness.
III. Discuss there questions in class with your teacher and write down your answer in two or three paragraphs each.
- “On the whole, the small society of Rameswaram was very rigid in terms of the segregation of different social groups.” say the author.
(i) Which social groups does he mentions? Where these groups easily identifiable (for the example by the way they dressed)?
Ans: The author mentions the Hindus, specially the Brahmins among them and the Muslims as two main social groups. Yes, the groups were easily identifiable by the way dressed and by their religious festivals as well their occupations. The Muslims could be identified by the cap they wore. They also wore shirts and vests. The Brahmins could be identified by the sacred thread they wore on bare bodies. They wore dhotis and sandal wood paste on their foreheads. Some of the Hindus were priest in temples while the Muslims arranged boats for carrying idols of Lord-Rama.
(ii) Were they aware of their differences or did they also naturally share friendships and experiences? (Think of the bedtime stories in Kalam’s house; of who his friends were; and what used to take place in the pond near his house.)
Ans: The small society in Rameswaram was aware of their differences. But their sense of co-operation and mutual respect for each other were much greater than their differences. For example in the Muslim family of Abdul Kalam, mother and grandmother told them events from the Ramayana from the life of the Prophet as bedtime stories. In Pakshi Lakshman Sastry with his sacred thread would sit next to Abdul Kalam in the school. Adbul Kalam’s close friends, Ramanadha Shastry, Arbindam and Sivpraksham were boys from orthodox Brahmin families.
Pakshi Lakshman Shastry even called in and warned the teacher not to spread the poison of communalism among the children. Kalam’s father arranged boats with platform to carry the idols of Lord Rama from the temple to a pond named Rama Tirtha on the occasion of annual Shri Sita Rama Kalyanam. The marriage of Sita was in the middle of the pond near Abdul Kalam’s house. Thus the Hindus and the Muslim in Rameswaram lived in friendly terms.
(iii) The author speaks both of people who were very much aware of the differences among them and those who tried to bridge the difference. Can you identify such people in the text?
Ans: Yes, there are people mentioned in the text who are very much aware of the differences among various social groups living in Rameswaram. For example the new teacher who had come to Rameswaram Elementary School compelled Abdul Kalam to shift from the first row to the back bench. This was because he could not tolerate to see Kalam sit next to Ramanadha Sastry, the son of the high priest of Rameswaram temple, Pakshi Laksman Sastry. The wife of Sivsubramania is another example. On the first occasion she refused to serve meal to Kalam in her ritualy pure kitchen.
On the other hand there were people who tried to bridge these differences. Pakshi Lakshman Sastry is the foremost among such people. He was the high priest of the Rameswaram temple. When he was reported by his son how the new teacher at the Rameswaram Elementary School has shifted Abdul Kalam from the front row to the last bench. Then he called in the teacher and warned him not the spread the poison of social inequality and religious intolerence in the minds of the innocent children.
Kalam’s father, though a Muslim, arranged boat on the occasion of Sri Sita Rama Kalyanam ceremony to carry the idols of the Lord from the temple to the marriage Sita. Sivsubramania Iyer, the science teacher was something of a rebel. He invite Abdul to his house to dine with him, served him food in the kitchen and ate his meal sitting beside the Muslim boy. Practically he was able to reform his conservative wife who later served meal to Abdul Kalam in her kitchen.
(iv) Narrate two incidents that show how differences can be created and how they can be resolved. How can people change their attitude?
Ans: The first incident relates the activities of the new teacher who had come to Rameswaram Elementary School when Abdul Kalam was in the fifth standard. Kalam and his close friend Ramanadha Sastry used to in the first row one next to the other. The new teacher could not tolerate to see the son of a priest wearing sacred thread sit near a Muslim boy wearing a cap. He compelled Kalam to shift from the first row to the back bench. Both Kalam and Ramanadha felt sad. When the matter was reported to the parents Pakshi Lakshman Sastry the high priest of the Rameswaram temple and father of Ramanadha called in the teacher.
He asked the teacher either to apologies or leave the school and the island. He warned him not to poison the innocent children spreading among them the poison of special inequality and communal intolerence. The regretted and Sastry’s words ultimately reformed him. The second incident relates the activities of the wife of Sivsubramania Iyer. Abdul Kalam was one day invited by Iyer for a meal at his house. lyer’s wife was horrified with the idea of Muslim boy being invited to dine in her ritually pure kitchen. She refused to serve meal to Kalam.
Sivsubramania Iyer himself served the meal to Kalam and also ate hi meal sitting beside him. His wife was watching from behind the kitchen door. Iyer was not angry with his wife. When Kalam was leaving the house, Sivsubramania invited him to dine with him again the next week end. He told Kalam not to get upset because to change the system such problems had to be confronted.
When Abdul Kalam visited Sivsubramania’s house in the followingweek his wife called him into her kitchen and served him with her own hands. Thus was she reformed..
2.(i) Why did Abdul Kalam want to leave Rameswarm?
(ii) What did his father say to him?
(iii) What do you think his words mean? Why do you think he spoke these words?
Ans:
(i) Abdul Kalam wanted to leave Rameswaram to study at the district headquarters in Ramananthapuram.
(ii) His father told Abdul Kalam that he knew that he would leave to go away to grow. He cited the example of the seagull. He asked Kalam whether the seagull did not fly across the sun alone and without a nest.
(iii) His words are no doubt inspiring. They mean that for making progress in life one must learn to live alone and freely without depending on others as the seagull does. The seagull flies across the vast sky without a nest, means one should be prepared to go on moving in the world having not much attachment to one’s permanent home. To a large hearted. man the entire world is his home and the whole human race is his friends and relatives. Abdul Kalam’s father spoke like a wise man to teach his son the lessons of freedom and self dependence.
Thinking about Language
Q.1. Find in the sentences in the text where these words occur.
erupt, surge, trace, undistinguished, casuality
Ans:
erupt: For reasons I have never ……… demand for tamarind seeds erupted. (Para 3)
surge: Half a century laters I can still feel the surge of pride for the first time. (Para-3)
trace: My brother-in-law Jallaluddin……. to trace in the headlines in Dinamani. (Para-3)
Undistinguished: I was one of many………. with rather undistinguished looks handsome parents. (Para-2)
casuslity: The first casulity came in the from of… train.hat at Rameswaram station. (para-3)
Additional Question and Answers
Q.1. What is the name of APJ abdul Kalam’s autobiography?
Ans: The name of Kalam’s autobiography is Wings of Fire.
Q.2. Where is Rameswaram? What type of a town it is?
Ans: Rameswaram is in Tamilnadu. It is an island town.
Q.3. What is the name of Abdul Kalam’s father?
Ans: Jainulabdeen is the name of Abdul Kalam.
Q.4. What type of a man was Jainulabdeen?
Ans: Jainulabdeen had neither much formal education nor much wealth. But he had great innate wisdom and a true generosity of spirit.
Q.5. What type of woman was Ashiamma?
Ans: Ashiamma was an ideal helpmate of her husband. Everyday she fed a large number of outsiders along with the members of the family.
Q.6. Choose the correct answer from the alternatives given Abdul Kalam born into a ….. family (Telegu/Tamil/Kanada)
Ans: Tamil.
Q.7. What type of boy was Abdul Kalam?
Ans: Kalam was a short boy with undistinguised look.
Q.8. Where did Kalam and his family live? What type of a house did they live in?
Ans: Kalam and his family lived in their ancestral house on the Mosque Street. It was a fairy large pucca house made of limestone and brick. It was built in the middle of the nineteenth century.
Q.9. How did Kalam’s father manage the family?
Ans: Abdul Kalam’s austre father avoided all inessential comforts and luxuries. However he provided the family with necessary food, medicine and clothes.
Q.10. When did the Second World War break out?
Ans: The Second World War broke out in 1939.
Q.11. How old was Abdul Kalam when the second world war broke out?
Ans: Abdul Kalam was eitht years old when the Second World War broke out.
Q.12. What was Dinamoni?
Ans: Dinamoni was a newspaper.
Q.12 (a) Read the following paragraph and answer the following questions.
I was born into a middle class Tamil family in the island town of Rameswaram in the earstwhile Madras State. My father, Jainulabden, had neither much formal education nor much wealth; despite these disadvantages, he possessed great innate wisdom and a true generosity of spirit. He had an ideal helpmate in my mother Ashiamma. I do not recall the exact number of people she fed every day, but I am quite certain that far more outsiders at with us than all the members of our own family put together.
Quesitons:
(a) How does the author describe his father?
(b) What does the author not recall about his mother, Ashiamma?
(c) Frame a sentence using adjective form of the word ‘wisdom’.
Ans:
(a) The author describe his father as a simple man who had neither much formal education nor much wealth. But he was a man of gerat innate wisdom and true genorosity.
(b) The author could not tell the exact number of people his mother fed everyday.
(c) wise: Kalam’s father was a wise man.
Q.12.(b) “I filled the slot?” Who is the ‘I’ here? What slot did he fill?
Ans: ‘I’ here is Abdul Kalam. During the Second World War the train stoppage at Rameswaram station was suspended. As newspaper bundles were thorwn out of the running train. The bundles needed to he caught. Samsuddin, a cousin of Abdul Kalam who distributed newspapers in Rameswaram needed a helper. Abdul Kalam naturally filled that slot.
Q.13. Who was Ramanadha Sastry?
Ans: Ramandha Sastry was a close friend of Abdul Kalam during his childhood. He was the son of Pakshi Laksmana Sastry the high priest of Rameswaram temple.
Q.14. What did Ramanadha Sastry become later?
Ans: Later, Ramanadha Sastry took over the priesthood of the Rameswaram temple from his father.
Q.15. What is Rama Tirtha?
Ans: Rama Tirtha is a pond near the house of Abdul Kalam. The marriage a site of Sri Sita Rama Kalyanam ceremoney was situated in the middle of that pond.
Q.16. How Abdul Kalam’s family participate in the Sri Sita Rama Kalyanam ceremoney?
Ans: Abdul Kalam’s family provided boat with platform to carry idols from the temple to the marriage site during Sri Sita Rama Kalyanam ceremoney.
Q.17. Who asked Abdul Kalam to go and sit the back bench and why?
Ans: The new teacher who came to the Rameswaram Elementary School asked Abdul Kalam to go and sit on the back bench. He asked Kalam to do so because he could not tolerate to see Kalam sit next to Rameanadha Sastry, the son of a priest.
Q.18. What did Lakshmana Sastry say to the new teacher and what was the impact of his words on the teacher? Or, Why did Lakshmana Sastry summon the teacher?
Ans: Pakshi Lakshmana Sastry told the teacher either to apologize or to leave the school and the island. He told the teacher not to spread social inequality and communal intolerance in the minds of the innocent children.
Sastry’s words made an impact in the mind of the teacher. He regretted his behaviour. Sastry’s words ultimately reformed the young teacher.
Q.19. Who was Sivsubramania Iyer? What type of a man was he?
Ans: Sivsubramania Iyer was the science teacher at Abdul Kalam’s school. He was an orthodox Brahmin. But he was something of a rebel. He did his best to break the barriers of prevaling social system of his time. So he sat with Kalam to eat.
Q.20. What type of a woman was Sivsubrmania’s wife?
Ans: Sivsubramania’s wife was conservative woman. She refused to serve meal to Abdul Kalam in her ritualy pure kitchen. However she reformed and on the next occasion serve him meal with her own hands in her kitchen.
Q.21. What did Gandhiji declare when India’s independence was imminent?
Ans: When India’s independence was imminent Gandhiji declared
that Indians would build their own India.
Q.22. What did Abdul Kalam’s father tell his wife about her children?
Ans: Abdul Kalam’s father quoted Khalil Gibran and told her that her children were not her children. They were the sons and daughters of life’s longing for itlesf. They came through her but not from her. She might give them their love but not her thoughts because they had their own thoughts.
Q.23. Briefly describe Abdul Kalam’s experience in the house of his teacher, Sivsubramania Iyer.
Ans: One day Kalam was invited to dine with Sivubramania Iyer at his house. But his conservative wife refused to serve meal to a Muslim boy in her ritualy pure kitchen. Then Iyer himself served the meal. He sat beside Kalam and ate his meal. After the meal when Kalam was learning Iyer again invited him to take his meal in his house in the following weekend. When Kalam hesitated that once people decided to change the system such problem had to be confronted.
However, when Kalam visited Iyer’s house in the following week Iyear’s wife called him into her kitchen and served him meal with her own hands.
Q.24. Why did Abdul Kalam say that his childhood was very secure both materially and emotionally? Or, How does Kalam describe his father?
Ans: Kalam’s father was an austre person who did not spend moneyon comforts and luxuries. But he will provided the family with necessary food, medicine and clothes. Also he was a man. of great innate wisdom. Kalam’s mother was an ideal wife. For these reasons Kalam felt secured materially and emotionally during his childhood.
Conclusion:
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