Kathmandu Class 9 Worksheet English Chapter 1

Q.1. In which town does the author stay?

Q.2. What is the restriction about entry at Pashupatinath?

Q.3. Where does a monkey jump?

Q.4. Why does everyone bow and make away?

Q.5. What did the writer describe about Pashupatinath Temple?

Q.6. The writer says, “All this I wash down with Coca Cola.” What does ‘all this’ refer to?

Q.7. Name five kinds of flutes.

Q.8. What is the proclamation at the entrance of Pashupatinath temple? Was it implemented strictly?

Q.9. What difference does the author note between the flute seller and the other hawkers?

Q.10. What is the belief at Pashupatinath about the end of Kaliyug?

Reference to Context Questions

Q1: Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
I get a cheap room in the centre of town and sleep for hours. The next morning, with Mr. Shah’s son and nephew, I visit the two temples in Kathmandu that are most sacred to Hindus and Buddhists.
(a) Who does “I” refer to in the above lines?
(b) Where is he at the time?
(c) With whom does the author visit the two temples?
(d) Which two temples in Kathmandu does he visit? With which religions are they associated?

Q2: Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
There are so many worshippers that some people trying to get the priest’s attention are elbowed aside by others pushing their way to the front.
(a) Which place of worship is the narrator describing here?
(b) How do devotees behave inside the temple?
(c) Why do you think some people are pushing their way to the front?
(d) What sort of an atmosphere is being created by the crowd in the temple?

Q3: Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
A princess of the Nepalese royal house appears; everyone bows and makes way. By the main gate, a party of saffron-clad Westerners struggle for permission to enter.
(a) Which place is being talked about in the above extract?
(b) How had the crowd of worshippers been behaving before the princess appeared? How is their behaviour different now?
(c) How are the Westerners trying to convince the policeman they are Hindus? Why?
(d) Which river flows next to the temple?

Q4: Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
By the main gate, a party of saffron-clad Westerners struggle for permission to enter.
(a) Which place is the author talking about here?
(b) Who are the saffron-clad Westerners at the main gate?
(c) Why do they struggle for permission to enter?
(d) What does this show about the cultural practices of this place?

Q5: Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
A fight breaks out between two monkeys. One chases the other, who jumps onto a shivalinga, then runs screaming around the temples and down to the river, the holy Bagmati, that flows below.
(a) What are the two monkeys doing?
(b) Where are the two monkeys?
(c) What is the atmosphere at Pashupatinath Temple?
(d) What is the belief about the shrine that half protrudes from the stone platform on the river bank?

Q6: Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
A corpse is being cremated on its banks; washerwomen are at their work and children bathe. From a balcony a basket of flowers and leaves, old offerings now wilted, is dropped into the river.
(a) Which river is referred to in this extract?
(b) What is the significance of this river?
(c) How is the river being polluted and by whom?
(d) What light does this polluting of the river throw on the people?

Q7: Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
There are no crowds: this is a haven of quietness in the busy streets around.
(a) Which place is being talked about here?
(b) How does this contrast with the other place of worship?
(c) Who owns the shops on the ‘busy streets around’?
(d) What did the shops sell?

Q8: Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
Kathmandu is vivid, mercenary, religious, with small shrines to flower-adorned deities along the narrowest and busiest streets; with fruit sellers, flute sellers, hawkers of postcards; shops selling Western cosmetics, film rolls and chocolate; or copper utensils and Nepalese antiques.
(a) Explain the meaning of the word “mercenary”.
(b) How does the author describe the streets of Kathmandu?
(c) What are the things that the author buys?
(d) Which things are sold in the market of Kathmandu?

Q9: Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
Go home, I tell myself: move directly towards home. I enter a Nepal Airlines office and buy a ticket for tomorrow’s flight.
(a) What route had the writer thought of taking?
(b) Why did he change his plan?
(c) How did he plan to travel now?
(d) When is he leaving Kathmandu?

Q10: Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
In his hand is a pole with an attachment at the top from which fifty or sixty bansuris protrude in all directions, like the quills of a porcupine. They are of bamboo: there are cross-flutes and recorders. From time to time, he stands the pole on the ground, selects a flute and plays for a few minutes.
(a) What attracts the writer in the market?
(b) How is he different from other hawkers?
(c) Why does he sometimes break off playing flute?
(d) What does Vikram Seth compare to the quills of a porcupine?

Q11: Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
I find it difficult to tear myself away from the square.
(a) Which square does the writer refer to?
(b) What was the writer doing in the square?
(c) Why does ‘he’ find it difficult to tear himself away from the square?
(d) Explain the expression ‘tear myself away’. Why does the writer use the expression?

Q12: Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
It weaves its own associations. Yet to hear any flute is, it seems to me, to be drawn into the commonality of all mankind, to be moved by music closest in its phrases and sentences to the human voice. Its motive force too is living breath: it too needs to pause and breathe before it can go on.
(a) What does ‘it’ refer to?
(b) How does ‘it’ weave its own associations?
(c) Why is its music closest to the human voice?
(d) Why does it draw the author in the ‘commonality of all mankind’?

You can access the solutions to this worksheet here.