The Scarecrow by Satyajit Ray

Important Solved Questions and Answers -

A. Answer the following questions in one or two words -

1. What was the name of Mriganko Babu’s driver?
Ans: Sudheer.

2. Where did he go to fetch petrol?
Ans: Panagarh.

3. Name the Magazine asked Mriganko Babu for a story.
Ans: The Bharat Magazine.

4. Whose voice did Mriganko Babu recognize in the voice of the scarecrow?
Ans: Abhiram.

5. Where did the scarecrow ask Mriganko Babu to look for his watch?
Ans: Under the wardrobe at his house.

6. Who is the author of the story 'The Scarecrow'?
Ans: Satyajit Ray.

7. What is the full name of Mriganko Babu?
Ans: Mriganko Shekhar Mukhopadhyay.

B. Answer the following questions in a few words -

1. What did Sudheer not pay attention to?
Ans: Mriganko Babu had to point out to Sudheer that the petrol gauge had not been functioning properly. But Sudheer did not pay attention to it.

2. Why did Mriganko Babu go to Durgapur?
Ans: Mriganko Babu was a famous and popular writer. A club in Durgapur invited him to a cultural function to felicitate him. Accordingly, he went to Durgapur to attend the function and accept the felicitation.

3. What kind of shirt was the scarecrow wearing?
Ans: The scarecrow was wearing a torn, red, and black printed shirt.

4. Who was Abhiram?
Ans: Abhiram was a servant of Mriganko Babu who had served his family for twenty years. But he was dismissed from his job on the charge of stealing a gold watch of Mriganko Babu

5. What did Mriganko Babu decide never to do again?
Ans: Mriganko Babu decided that if something ever got stolen from his house, he would never seek a witch doctor's help.

C. Answer the following question briefly in your own words -

1. Describe the side of the road as seen by Mriganko Babu.
Ans: Mriganko Babu had to wait all alone in the middle of a deserted road after Sudheer, his driver went to fetch petrol from Panagarh. On both sides of the road, there were stretched paddy fields. Mriganko babu observed that on the western side of the road, the scenery was rather the same as the eastern side. About forty feet away from the road, there was a pond with very little water in it. There were some thorny bushes there and a few trees were visible at quite a distance. There were two huts but there was no sign of any inmates. In the middle of the field, there stood a scarecrow.

2. Why did Mriganko Babu feel a tremor?
Ans: As his car ran out of petrol, Mriganko Babu got stranded near a paddy field on his way back to Calcutta after attending a felicitation function at Durgapur. He had to wait all alone in the middle of a deserted road after his driver went to fetch petrol from Panagarh. There was a scarecrow on the western side of the road. Mriganko Babu, for some unknown reason, continued to feel strangely drawn towards the scarecrow. He looked steadily at it. In just a few minutes, some things made his heart beat faster. He felt the appearance of the scarecrow had changed somewhat. The two arms were lowered and it was standing less stiffly, more like a real man. The black pot seemed smaller and real like a head. Moreover, the scarecrow was advancing towards Mriganko Babu, limping, and walking on two legs. It was wearing the same printed shirt and a short lightly dirty dhoti. When the scarecrow called Mriganko Babu 'Babu' he recognized the voice of Abhiram, his servant who lost his job on the charge of stealing a gold watch of Mriganko Babu, and a tremor shot through his body.

3. What happened to Abhiram after he left Mriganko Babu?
Ans: Abhiram was a servant of Mriganko Babu who had to serve his family for twenty years. But he lost his job on the charge of stealing a gold watch of Mriganko Babu. After Abhiram left Mriganko Babu, he never worked anywhere else. He could not work as he fell ill. He suffered from dropsy and it becomes serious. As he had no money, he could neither go to the doctor for treatment and buy medicines nor eat proper food. He never recovered and died of his illness.

4. What did Mriganko Babu do on reaching home and why?
Ans: Abhiram told Mriganko Babu the truth of his stolen watch, how he hadn't stolen it and how it was still in the house. On reaching home, Mriganko Babu searched for his watch under the wardrobe as told by the scarecrow and found t there. He then realized his mistake and decided never to believe the witch doctors ever again.

D. Give a suitable answer to the following -

1. Describe the scarecrow as seen by the Mriganko Babu from the beginning to the moment when it addresses him as 'Babu!'.
Ans: As his car ran out of petrol, Mriganko Babu got stranded near a paddy field on his way back to Calcutta after attending a felicitation function at Durgapur. He had to wait all alone in the middle of a deserted road after his driver went to fetch petrol from Panagarh. On the western side of the road, Mriganko Babu saw a scarecrow. Someone had grown some winter crops in a small patch of land and the scarecrow was placed right in the middle. It was made of two bamboo poles, vertically and horizontally fixed together for arms and legs and a shirt was slipped onto this structure. Its sleeves covered the arms. For its head, an earthen pot, painted black, complete with two eyes drawn in white, was placed upside down on the free end of the vertical pole. The shirt of the scarecrow was torn, red, and black printed which reminded Mriganko Babu of someone but he failed to remember the person.

Gradually the western sky had turned crimson and announced the advent of dusk. For some unknown reason, Mriganko Babu continued to feel strangely drawn towards the scarecrow. He looked steadily at it. In just a few minutes, some things made his heart beat faster. He felt the appearance of the scarecrow had changed somewhat. The two arms were lowered and it was standing less stiffly, more like a real man. The black pot seemed smaller and real like a head. Moreover, the scarecrow was advancing towards Mriganko Babu, limping, and walking on two legs. It was wearing the same printed shirt and a short lightly dirty dhoti. Finally, it addressed Mriganko Babu as 'Babu', and a tremor shot through his body.

2. Narrate the circumstances that led Abhiram to leave Mriganko Babu. What did the latter do on reaching home?
Ans: Abhiram was a servant of Mriganko Babu and had served his family for twenty years. Everyone in the family trusted him. However, one day he was charged with stealing a gold watch that Mriganko Babu had received as a wedding gift. Abhiram denied the charge but nobody believed him. Through the watch was not recovered from his bag and baggage, everyone felt that Abhiram had both the time and opportunity to remove the object. All were further convinced of Abhiram's guilt when Mriganko Babu's father called a local witch doctor who cast a spell and made an ordinary wicker tray spin and rotates until it stopped, pointing at Abhiram. It was these circumstances that led Abhiram to leave Mriganko Babu.

On reaching home, Mriganko Babu went straight to his room and searched the gold watch under his wardrobe as guided by the ghost of Abhiram. Indeed, the watch was lying there and Mriganko Babu realized that Abhiram was innocent. Thereafter, he resolved that if something ever got stolen from his house, he would never seek a witch doctor's help.

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The Scarecrow by Satyajit Ray - Important questions and answers