Class 9 English Moments Chapter 6 Weathering the storm in ersama question answers |SEBA: Welcome to our website! We are happy to provide you with Class 9th Notes for your academic journey. Class IX is an essential year for learners as they prepare themselves for the upcoming board exams, which will determine their academic success.
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Textbook Question And Answers
Think about it:
Q.1. What havoc has the super cyclone wrecked in the life of the people of Orissa?
Ans: The super cyclone that hit Orissa on 27th October 1999 killed thousands of people and animals and wiped out hundreds of villages. The costal areas of Orissa were devasted by the cyclone and the flood water. As experienced by, Prashant, a young man of nineteen the velocity of the wind was 350 kilometers per hour. The surging sea water flooded the entire area. Along with the storm, there was incessant rain.
People took shelter on the roofs of pucca houses and survived for several days eating green coconuts. Many old trees were uprooted. Carcasses of animals and human bodies were seen floating everywhere. Homeless people took shelter in relief camps. The people had lost their dwelling houses and all their belongings.
For example, all the ninety-six houses in Preshant’s village were damaged and eighty six people died. Besides many were injured. People survived on the scanty foodstuff airdropped by helicopters. After the flood receded the widows and the orphans had to be provided with food and shelter and the victims in general had to restart life. on the whole, the super cyclone caused unbearable misery in the lives of the survivors.
Q.2. How has Prashant, teenager, been able to help the people of his village?
Ans: Prashant decided to step in as the leader of his village. He organized a group of youths and elders and made the merchant once again part with his rice. As a result, after several days people had a full meal though the rice had been rotten. He along with his group cleaned the Red Cross shelter.
They cleaned the shelter of filth, urine, vomit, and floating carcasses and also attended to those who were injured. By making the children lie on the sand and putting empty vessels on their stomachs Prashant made the military helicopter to regularly drop food and other essential materials for the people of his village. He persuaded the women to work in the Food for work programme organised by an NGO.
He organized cricket matches for the children. He made the orphans grow up under the care of fostered parents and childless widows so that they got love and care and widows remained free from stigma. Thus he did his best to serve his villagers in their worst hour of need.
Q.3. How have the people of the community helped one another? What role do the women of Kalikuda play these days?
Ans: Coming back from his friend’s house Prashant a crowd of 2500 villagers sheltered in the Red Cross shelter. Among them were husbands, wives, children, widows, and orphans. After the arrival of Prashant, a group of youths and elders were made to serve the victims in the camp.
This group successfully made the merchant part with his rice. The rice had been rotten. Yet the villagers had their first full meal after several days of hunger. The group also cleared the shelter of filth, urine, vomit, and caresses. Prashant mobilized the women to look after the orphans. The menfolk secured food and materials for shelter.
Then Prashant made the women earn working in food for work programme organized by an NGO. The widows were not allowed to go to institutions organized by the government to avoid social stigma.
Q.4. Why do Prashant and other volunteers resist the plan to set up institutions for orphans and widows? What alternatives do they consider?
Ans: Prashant and other volunteers resist the plan to set up institutions for orphans and widows because they thought that in such institutions the children would grow up without love and women would suffer from stigma and loneliness. The group considered that the orphans should be resettled in their own community itself. They thought of resettling the orphans in new foster families made of childless widows and children without adult care.
Additional Questions and Answers
Q.5. Give a description of the super cyclone and its impact on Ersama as witnessed by Prashant.
Ans: As witnessed by Prashant the super cyclone practically wrought havoc in Ersama as it did in several other coastal areas of Orissa. The cyclone lashed on the evening of 27th October 1999. Dark and menacing storm beat against the houses with such speed and fury that Prashant had never seen before. The storm was accompanied by heavy incessant rain.
Ancient trees were uprooted and crashed into the earth. Houses were washed away and screams rent the air. There was neck deep water in the house of Prashant’s friend. The building was of brick and mortar and somehow survived the devastation. The velocity of the wind was 350 kilometers per hour. The family along with Prashant took shelter in the roots of the house. Wind and rain froze them.
In the middle of the night, an uprooted tree fell down on the roof and shocked them. The cyclone continued for thirty six hours. In the following morning, Prashant saw a vast sheet of water with floating carcasses and corpses.
Q.6. What did Prashant see in the grey light of the early morning after the cyclone had lashed Ersama?
Ans: Prashant and his friend’s family had been taking shelter on the. roof of the house. Early in the following morning he saw a raging, deadly, brown sheet of water which covered everything as far as eye could see.
Only fractured cement and mortar building stood in a few places. Bloated animal carasses and human corpses floated in every direction. All around trees, even the huge ones had fallen. Two coconut trees had fallen on the roof of their house. This was like a blessing in disguise. Because the tender coconuts helped survive the family for several days after the storm.
Q.7. Briefly describe Prashant’s journey through the flood water from Ersama to his village.
Ans: Prashant had been worried thinking whether his family had survived the fury of the cyclone. On the third morning after the storm had razed, he decided to resume his journey back home. He equipped himself with a long and sturdy stick and started his eighteen kilometer long back journey to his village wading flood water. It was a memorable journey for him.
He constantly used the stick to locate the road as well as to gauge the depth of the water. At places, he swam to cross deep water and at several points he lost the road. After some distance, he met two companions who were his uncle’s friends. Together they moved ahead through the water pushing away carasses of dogs, goats, and cattle. Also, they saw dead bodies of men, women, and children floating on water. They passed through villages entirely wiped out by the flood and storm.
Q.8. ‘Eventually, Prashant reached his village, Kalikuda.’ What did Prashant see on reaching his village? Did he find his family?
Ans: As Prashant reached his village Kalikuda his heart went cold. There was lying only a roof at the spot where their home stood, He saw some of their belongings caught, mangled, and twisted in the branches of trees just visible above the dark waters. Prashant then decided to go to the Red Cross shelter to look for his family.
Among the crowd the first he saw his maternal grandmother. She was weak with hunger. Yet she rushed to him with extended arms. She was surprised to see him. They thought that he had died. So his presence was like a miracle. News of his arrival spread quickly. All the members of his extended family, his brother and sister, and his uncle and aunt all gathered around him and hugged him tight in relief. Finding them all surviving the catastrophe Prashant heaved a sigh of relief.
Conclusion:
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