Chapter 11 Keeping Quiet Solutions
Question - 1 : - What will counting upto twelve and keeping still help us achieve ?
Answer - 1 : -
The poet suggests that the people should discontinue their nasty activities and nonsensial chating for some time. This silence will give us time to introspect, to understand ourselves and to shape our destiny properly.
Question - 2 : - Do you think the poet advocates total inactivity and death ?
Answer - 2 : -
No, the poet clarifies that he does not favour inactivity or total idleness. Inaction means death. Life means action for the good of our race. What the poet advocates is a full stop to war and the race for self-gain.
Question - 3 : - What is the ‘sadness’ that the poet refers to in the poem ?
Answer - 3 : -
The people and the nations are unfortunately engaged in producing weapons of mass destruction. This is a sad feature of our modem civilisation. We all are a part of a blind race, working for collective suicide. Let us take a breath and look within.
Question - 4 : - What symbol from Nature does the poet invoke to say that there can be life under apparent stillness ?
Answer - 4 : -
If the poet’s suggestion is accepted, there will be temporary stillness. But it doesn’t mean death. It is a short interval for renewed life and activity. We can see it in nature. The earth under the snow looks dead, with no activity and no growth. But let the spring blows its bugle, the snow will melt away and the seeds will sprout, the grass will grow. All activities of life will start again.
Question - 5 : - Choose a quite corner and keep still physically and mentally for about five minutes. Do you feel any change in your state of mind ?
Answer - 5 : -
If life is a long struggle, tension and sufferings are unavoidable parts of life. Most people are running a mad-race for pleasure and paise, but they get only pain and restlessness. No amount of comforts and entertainments can keep you cool and at ease. It is through Yoga and a quite meditation that you can keep away your tension. A five minutes daily exercise is enough to regain your cool.
Question - 6 : - ‘Life is what it is all about; ‘ How is keeping quiet related to life?
Answer - 6 : -
Keeping quiet does not mean total inactivity, but stillness and quietness to introspect on what we are
doing. This means stopping our normal day-to-day activities to reflect on our actions. Thus it is related to life, although this may not be visible outwardly.
Question - 7 : - Why does one feel ‘a sudden strangeness’ on counting to twelve and keeping quiet?
Answer - 7 : -
Normally people are active and sounds of machines are heard. When we keep quiet and introspect, it will be a strange and unfamiliar moment; thus, we will feel ‘a sudden strangeness’ at this moment.
Question - 8 : - How will ‘keeping quiet’ protect our environment?
Answer - 8 : -
Keeping quiet and introspecting will initiate peace and brotherhood among men, halting all destructive activities like waging wars which harm people besides damaging the environment. Thus, the environment will be protected.
Question - 9 : - What will counting up to twelve and keeping still help us achieve?
Answer - 9 : -
Counting up to twelve and keeping still will help us to get some time to stop all our normal activities and self-introspect our actions, helping us change our destructive ways and promote brotherhood among men.
Question - 10 : - What symbol from nature does the poet invoke that there can be life under apparent stillness?
Answer - 10 : -
The poet uses nature as a symbol to explain his idea that there can be life under apparent stillness. An example from nature is the Earth itself, as, when everything seems dead, it later proves to be alive.