Answer - 2 : - I think Dinamani is the name of a newspaper because Kalam says that when his brother-in-law would tell his stories of the War, he would later try to trace it in the ‘headlines’ of Dinamani. This implies that Dinamani would have been a newspaper.

Question - 3 : - Who were Abdul Kalam’s school friends? What did they later become?

Answer - 3 : -

Ramanadha Sastry, Aravindan and Sivaprakasan were Abdul Kalam’s school friends.

Ramanadha Sastry took over the priesthood of the Rameswaram temple from his father. Aravindan went into the business of arranging transport for visiting pilgrims. Sivaprakasan became a catering contractor for the Southern Railways.

Question - 4 : - How did Abdul Kalam earn his first wages?

Answer - 4 : - Abdul Kalam earned his first wages by catching bundles of the newspapers thrown out from the moving train on the Rameswaram Road between Rameswaram and Dhanuskodi and distributing them.

Question - 5 : - Had he earned any money before that? In what way?

Answer - 5 : - Yes, he had earned money before that too. He used to collect tamarind seeds and sell them to a provision shop on Mosque Street. A day’s collection would let him earn one anna.

Question - 6 : - How does the author describe:
(i) his father
(ii) his mother
(iii) himself?

Answer - 6 : -

i) The author describes his father as honest and self-disciplined. His father used to avoid inessential comforts and luxuries. The author tells that his father never had a formal education or much wealth but he possessed great wisdom and was very generous.

ii) The author describes his mother as being an ideal helpmate to his father. She used to feed a lot of outsiders along with her family members.

iii) The author describes himself as a short boy with undistinguished looks born to tall and handsome parents.

Question - 7 : - What characteristics does he say he inherited from his parents?

Answer - 7 : - He says that he inherited honesty and self-discipline from his father; and faith in goodness and deep kindness from his mother.

Question - 8 : -
“On the whole, the small society of Rameswaram was very rigid in terms of the segregation of different social groups,” says the author.

(i) Which social groups does he mention? Were these groups easily identifiable (for example, by the way they dressed)?
(ii) Were they aware only 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 of what used to take place in the pond near his house.)
(iii) The author speaks both of people who were very aware of the differences among them and those who tried to bridge these differences. Can you identify such people in the text?
(iv) Narrate two incidents that show how differences can be created, and also how they can be resolved. How can people change their attitudes?

Answer - 8 : -

(i) The social groups that he mentions are Hindus and Muslims. Yes, these groups were easily identifiable by their dressing, tradition, culture, etc. For instance, Kalam used to wear a cap on his head which identified him as a Muslim. Ramanadha Sastry wore a sacred thread.

(ii) They were not aware only of their differences. They also naturally share friendships and experiences. Kalam’s mother and grandmother would tell events from the Ramayana and from the life of the Prophet as bedtime stories. All his friends belonged to orthodox Hindu families. During the annual Sita Rama Kalyanam Ceremony, his family would arrange boats with a special platform for carrying idols of the Lord from the temple to the marriage site situated in the middle of the pond called Rama Tirtha which was near his house.

(iii) The author speaks both of people who were very aware of the differences among them and those who tried to bridge these differences. Yes, we can identify such people in the text.

The new school teacher and Sivasubramania Iyer’s wife were very aware of the differences among the social groups but Sivasubramania Iyer and Lakshamana Sastry tried to bridge these differences.

(iv) Two incidents that show how differences can be created, and also how they can be resolved are:

When Lakshamana Sastry got to know about the way the new school teacher had made Kalam sit on the back bench because he was a Muslim, he asked the teacher to apologize or quit the school. The new teacher not only regret his behavior but also was reformed by the Lakshamana Sastry’s strong sense of conviction.

Kalam’s science teacher, Sivasubramania Iyer, asked Kalam to his home for a meal. His wife was horrified at the idea of a Muslim boy being invited to her pure kitchen. Sivasubramania Iyer served Kalam food with his own hands and sat down beside him to eat his meal.

The next time he invited Kalam to his home, Sivasubramania Iyer’s wife served him food with her own hands inside the kitchen.

Question - 9 : -
(i) Why did Abdul Kalam want to leave Rameswaram?
(ii) What did his father say to this?
(iii) What do you think his words mean? Why do you think he spoke those words?

Answer - 9 : -

(i) Abdul Kalam wanted to leave Rameswaram because he wanted to study at the district headquarters in Ramanathapuram.

(ii) His father said, ““Abul ! I know you have to go away to grow. Does the seagull not fly across the sun, alone and without a nest?”

(iii) His words meant he understood that Kalam had to leave his house and get a good higher education to grow. He spoke these words because he knew the harsh reality of life that the children need to move away from their home and parents to make a career and earn.

Question - 10 : -
Find the sentences in the text where these words occur:

Erupt, surge, trace, undistinguished, casualty

Look these words up in a dictionary which gives examples of how they are used.

Now answer the following questions.

Answer - 10 : -

Sentences in the text where these words occur are:

Erupt: “For reasons I have never been able to understand, a sudden demand for tamarind seeds erupted in the market.”

Surge: “Half a century later, I can still feel the surge of pride in earning my own money for the first time.”

Trace: “My brother-in-law Jallaluddin would tell me stories about the War which I would later attempt to trace in the headlines in Dinamani.”

Undistinguished: “I was one of many children — a short boy with rather undistinguished looks, born to tall and handsome parents.”

Casualty: “The first casualty came in the form of the suspension of the train halt at Rameswaram station.”

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