Extract Based Questions: My Childhood - Class 9 PDF Download

Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.

Q1: I was born into a middle-class Tamil family in the island town of Rameswaram in the erstwhile Madras State. My father, Jainulabdeen, 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.

(a) Where was Abdul Kalam born?
Ans: Abdul Kalam was bom in the island town of Rameswaram which fell in the erstwhile Madras State.

(b) What qualities did Abdul Kalam’s father possess?
Ans: His father was a wise and generous man.

(c) In what ways was Ashiamma an ideal helpmate for her husband?
Ans: Ashiamma was a generous person who fed a large number of people everyday.

(d) What characteristics does he say he inherited from his parents?
Ans: He inherited honesty and self discipline from his father. From his mother he inherited a sense of kindness and faith.

Q2: I was one of many children – a short boy with rather undistinguished looks, born to tall and handsome parents. We lived in or ancestral house, made of limestone and bricks, on the Mosque Street in Rameshwaram. My austere father used to avoid all inessential comforts and luxuries. However, all necessities were provided for, in terms of food, medicine or clothes. In fact I would say a mine was a very secure childhood, both materially and emotionally.
(a) How was Kalam different from his parents in looks?
Ans: While Kalam’s parents were tall, handsome people, he was a short boy with rather ordinary looks.

(b) What does Kalam tell us about his home?
Ans: Kalam’s family lived in their ancestral house, made of limestone and bricks, on the Mosque Street in Rameshwaram.

(c) How do we know that Kalam’s father was austere?
Ans: Kalam’s. father shunned all inessential comforts and luxuries.

(d) What kind of a childhood did Kalam have?
Ans: Kalam had a comfortable and secure childhood.

Q3: In fact, I would say mine was a very secure childhood, both materially and emotionally.

(a) In what way was Kalam’s childhood ‘secure’?
Ans: Kalam was provided with all the necessities in terms of food, medicine and clothes. Apart from it, his parents loved him a lot. and took good care of him.

(b) What does Kalam mean by ‘material security’?
Ans: By material security, Kalam means all the necessities of life that one needs while growing up that can be provided with money.

(c) What is meant by ‘emotional security’?
Ans: ‘Emotional security’ is the love and care that one needs to flourish and thrive.

(d) How did his parents provide Kalam with material and emotional security?
Ans: Kalam’s parents provided him with material security by seeing all necessities in terms of food, medicine or clothes were provided for and emotional security by giving him a loving and secure childhood.

Q4: I used to collect the seeds and sell them to a provision shop on Mosque Street.

(a) Which seeds did the narrator collect?
Ans: Kalam collected tamarind seeds.

(b) Why did he collect these seeds?
Ans: These seeds were collected by Kalam as they were in great demand in the market during the Second World War and could be sold easily for a good sum of money.

(c) What did he do with the collected seeds?
Ans: Kalam would sell off the collected seeds to a provision shop on Mosque Street.

(d) What light does the extract throw on the narrator?
Ans: The extract shows that the narrator, Kalam, was very enterprising and hard-working. His faith in dignity of labour prompted him to collect the seeds and sell them off.

Q5: The first casualty came in the form of suspension of train halt at Rameswaram station. The newspaper had now to be bundled and thrown out from the moving train on the Rameswaram road between Rameswaram and Dhanuskodi. That forced my cousin Samsuddin, who distributed the newspapers in Rameswaram to look for a helping hand and catch the bundles and as if naturally Ifilled the slot.

(a) What does he mean by first casualty?
Ans: The first blow that fell on Rameswaram, which had been unaffected by the war so far, was the suspension of the train stop there.

(b) Who was Samsuddin? What did he do?
Ans: Samsuddin was Abdul Kalam’s cousin. He used to distribute newspapers in Rameswaram.

(c) Why did the cousin need a helping hand? How did he help Kalam earn a salary?
Ans: As the train did not halt at Rameswaram, bundles were thrown off a moving train on the Rameswaram Road between Rameswaram and Dhanuskodi and had to be caught. Samsuddin needed a helping hand to catch the bundles and he employed Kalam for the job.

(d) How did Kalam feel later about his job?
Ans: Kalam felt a sense of pride for earning his own money for the first time.

Q6: During the annual Shri Sita Rama Kalyanam Ceremony, our family used to arrange boats with a special platform for carrying idols of the Lordfrom the temple to the marriage site situated in the middle of the pond called Rama Tirtha which was near our house.

(a) What was the annual event held in Rameswaram?
Ans: The annual event held in Rameswaram was the Shri Sita Rama Kalyanam ceremony or the wedding ceremony of Sita and Rama.

(b) Where did the boats carry the idols of the Lord?
Ans: The idols were carried from the temple to the marriage site that was in the middle of the Rama Tirtha pond.

(c) Who provided the boats for ferrying the idols of Rama and Sita to the marriage site?
Ans: Abdul Kalam’s family arranged for the boats required to ferry the idols.

(d) What light does this throw on the Rameswaram society?
Ans: This highlights the secular nature of society and the natural Hindu Muslim cooperation in most parts of India. They were aware of their different identities but they were living harmoniously as people do in any normal society.

Q7: I inherited honesty and self-discipline from my father; from my mother, I inherited faith in goodness and deep kindness and so did my three brothers and sister. I had three close friends in my childhood – Ramanadha Sastry, Aravindan and Sivaprakashan. All these boys were from orthodox Hindu Brahmin families. As children, none of us ever felt any difference amongst ourselves because of our religious differences and upbringing.

(a) How does the author describe his father?
Ans: The author describes his father as an austere man, who looked after all needs of his family.

(b) In what way did Kalam’s father show his self-discipline?
Ans: Abdul Kalam’s father was an austere man who kept away from all inessential comforts and luxuries.

(c) What was the difference between the writer and his friends?
Ans: The other three boys were from orthodox Brahmin families whereas the writer was a Muslim.

(d) How did the difference affect the friendship between the boys?
Ans: The boys did not feel any difference between themselves and it did not affect their friendship in any way.

Q8: One day when I was in fifth standard at Rameswaram Elementary School, a new teacher came to our class. I used to wear a cap which marked me Muslim and I always sat in the front row next to Ramanadha Sastry, who wore a sacred thread. The new teacher could not stomach a Hindu priest’s son sitting with a Muslim boy. In accordance with our social ranking, as the new teacher saw it, I was asked to go and sit on the back bench.

(a) Name the school, where Kalam studied.
Ans: Kalam studied at Rameswaram Elementary School in Rameswaram.

(b) Which social groups existed in Rameswaram?
Ans: Kalam has mentioned Hindus and Muslims as two distinct social groups living in Rameshwaram.

(c) How were these groups easily identified?
Ans: These groups had their different dress codes and rituals. For example Kalam used to wear a cap while his friend Ramanadham used to wear the sacred thread.

(d) What did the teacher ask Kalam to do?
Ans: He did not want Kalam, a Muslim, sitting with a Hindu priest’s son and so he told him to go and sit on the back bench.

Q9: I felt very sad, and so did Ramanadha Sastry. He looked utterly downcast as I shifted to my seat in the last row.

(a) How did the teacher know that Kalam was a Muslim?
Ans: The teacher realised Kalam was a Muslim because he wore the cap worn by Muslims.

(b) Why did the narrator feel sad?
Ans: The narrator felt sad because his new teacher did not let him sit with his Hindu friend in the front row of the class, but sent him to sit at the back of the class.

(c) Who looked “utterly downcast”? Why?
Ans: It was Ramanadha Sastry, Kalam’s close friend, who looked utterly downcast at being separated from his friend.

(d) Why was Kalam’s seat shifted?
Ans: The new teacher believed in certain notions of social ranking. He could not bear to see a Muslim boy sitting along with the son of a Hindu priest. So, he shifted Kalam’s seat to the last row.

Q10: After school, we went home and told our respective parents about the incident. Lakshmana Sastry summoned the teacher and in our presence, told the teacher that he should not spread the poison of social inequality and communal Intolerance in the minds of innocent children. He bluntly asked the teache/to either apologise or quit the school and the island. Not only did the teacher regret his behaviour, but the strong sense of conviction Lakshmana Sastry conveyed ultimately reformed this young teacher.

(a) What incident is the narrator talking about?
Ans: The narrator is talking about the time when he was in fifth standard, a new teacher asked him not to sit in the front row along with the high caste Brahmin boys.

(b) Who was Lakshmana Sastry? What did he accuse the teacher of?
Ans: Lakshmana Sastry was the father of Kalam’s friend Ramanadha Sastry, and the high priest of the Rameswaram temple. He accused the teacher of spreading the poison of social inequality and communal intolerance in the minds of innocent children.

(c) What brought about a change in the teacher?
Ans: The strong disapproval of the teacher’s behaviour and his sense of conviction that Lakshmana Sastry conveyed to the teacher brought about a change in the teacher.

(d) What kind of society did the speaker live in?
Ans: The speaker lived in a society that was orthodox, but at the same time was truly secular.