Chapter 6 Poets and Pancakes Solutions
Question - 31 : - What was significant about the book which the author took from roadside?
Answer - 31 : -
‘The God That failed’ was the name of the book which caught the attention of the author. It contained the essays of six eminent men, who described their journey into communism and their return from it after being disillusioned. It suddenly assumed great significance for the author as he discovered that one of the essays had been written by Stephen Spender, the poet, who had visited the studio. He now understood the reason for his having been invited.
Question - 32 : - What kind of people, according to the author, are meant for prose writing?
Answer - 32 : -
According to the author, prose writing is not the pursuit of a genius. It is for the patient, persistent and persevering drudge whose heart can take rejections and whose spirit to keep trying does not get killed so easily.
Question - 33 : - Why was Gemini Studios a favourite haunt of poets?
Answer - 33 : -
Gemini Studios was a favourite haunt of poets as it had an excellent mess which supplied good coffee at all times of the day and for most part of the night. Meeting there was a satisfying entertainment. Moreover, Mr. Vasan was a great admirer of scholarly people.
Question - 34 : - ‘Prose writing is not and cannot be the true pursuit of a genius’, says the author. Explain the statement.
Answer - 34 : -
In this statement, the author says that prose writing can’t be the true pursuit of a genius because it is always rejected. A genius is not that is accepted everywhere. The author states all this with criticism that prose writing is actually meant for rejection. Prose writers are patient, persistent and persevering drudges. They can’t be down played by rejection slips. Everytime he gets a rejection slip for his manuscript, he starts making a fresh copy and sends it to another publisher with return postage.
Question - 35 : - ‘Suddenly the book assumed tremendous significance.’ Explain the statement.
Answer - 35 : -
The author bought one copy of the book ‘The God That Failed’ from the footpath. Six eminent men of letters in six separate essays describe their journey into communism and their disillusioned return. Among them one was Stephen Spender. The author at once recollected that Stephen Spender had visited Gemini Studios. He knew about the mystery of his visit now. So, the book assumed tremendous significance for him.
Question - 36 : - Explain the appropriateness of the title ‘Poets and Pancakes’?
Answer - 36 : -
The chapter describes Gemini Studios and its functioning very clearly. Its employees are little unrecognized poets. Though they work in a film studio, the focus is on the author’s station in the Studios as a make-up boy using pancakes on crowd players, and how he failed as a poet. So, the title is appropriate.
Question - 37 : - How humorously does the author describe Frank Buchman’s Moral Re-Armament Army?
Answer - 37 : -
The author humorously calls the Moral Re-Armament Army after someone as ‘an international circus’. Then he states that they were not very good on the trapeze. Their acquaintance with animals should have been much as animals play tricks in a circus. “But the group ate animals”, says the author their acquaintance with animals was only at the dining table.
Question - 38 : - What was thought of a communist by the studios people?
Answer - 38 : -
According to these people, a communist was a godless man. He had no filial or conjugal love. He had compunction about killing his own parents and children. He was always out to cause and spread unrest and violence among the innocent and ignorant people.
Question - 39 : - How does the author come to know about the periodical ‘The Encounter’?
Answer - 39 : -
The Hindu published an advertisement about a short story contest organized by ‘The Encounter’. The author wanted to know about it before he spent a lot of money on postage sending his manuscript to England. So, he visited the British Council Library. There he saw many untouched copies of ‘The Encounter’. When he read the editor’s name, he felt like he had found a long lost brother. He sang as he sealed the envelope and felt that the editor would also be singing the same song when he would open the envelope. Actually the editor was the same Englishman, Stephen Spender who visited Gemini Studios long time ago.
Question - 40 : - ‘Poets and Pancakes’ is a beautiful example of humour in its chatty and rambling style’. Comment.
Answer - 40 : -
‘Poets and Pancakes’ is an account of Asokamitran’s experiences at the Gemini Studios. Asokamitran
deals with a wide variety of ideas where despite one thought leading to another, the thematic coherence is never lost. The author has adopted a chatty and rambling style. The style has a flow and the reader glides smoothly with the flow of the narrative. Asokamitran highlights human foibles and unusual behaviour with the help of subtle humour. All the characters are so life like that the reader seems to come across in real life. The subtle humour is neither superimposed nor superfluous.
Throughout the chapter humour seems to be spontaneous and interwoven. Even the choice of the title shows that Asokamitran has a flair for natural humour. He ridicules without hurting and the entire account becomes very interesting. Throughout the chapter the reader doesn’t find even the slightest trace of malice. But every now and then the author speaks with his tongue-in-cheek way and pays left-handed compliments to different characters to the great amusement of the readers.