India Through A Traveller's Eye by Pearl S. Buck

Bihar Board Rainbow English Book Class 12 Solutions

Chapter 10 'India Through A Traveller's Eye by Pearl S. Buck'

Text Book Questions and Answers

B. 1.1. Read the following sentences and write ‘T’ for true and ‘F’ for false statements -

(i) Pearl S. Buck had an Indian family doctor. - T
(ii) The Mongolian from Europe invaded Kashmir. - F
(iii) According to the writer, the Indians belonged to the Caucasian race. - T
(iv) The first woman President of the General Assembly of the United state was an Indian. - T
(v) The writer wanted to listen to four groups of people. - F
(vi) The young Indian intellectuals were disappointed with the English rule. - T
(vii) Indians were willing to fight in the Second World War at England’s command. - F
(viii) Indians believed in the mobility of means to achieve a noble end. - T
(ix) The worst effect of colonisation was seen in towns, in the form of unemployment. - T
(x) Indians, under the British rule had a life span of just twenty-seven years. - T

B. 1.2. Answer the following questions briefly -

1. What does the word colour remind the writer of?
Ans: The very word colour reminds me of the variety of complex in Indian life as many as our American human scene.

2. What were the benefits of English rule?
Ans: They have availed the benefits the English gave and left the shortcomings of the west the pure and exquisitely enunciated English tongue of men and women educated on both sides of the globe.

3. Why were the intellectuals in Indian restless and embittered?
Ans: The intellectuals in India were disappointed with the British rule as much they were restless and embittered.

4. What was the great lesson that India had to teach the west?
Ans: The great lesson, that India had to teach was humanity. It is our culture and it is our tradition as well.

5. Where was the real indictment against the colonisation to be found?
Ans: The real indictment against colonialism, however, was seen in towns in the form of unemployment. The British rule for all was the ills of India.

6. Why was the writer moved at the sight of the children of the Indian villages?
Ans: The children of the Indian villages were lean, and them, weak and with huge sad dark eyes. The writer moved to see their poor condition and it tore at her heart.

B.2.1. Read the following sentences and write T for true and ‘F’ for false statements -

(i) The writer blames the English rule for all the ills of India. - T
(ii) Colonisation had made the Indian enervated and exhausted. - T
(iii) A long period of slavery made people quite dependent. - T
(iv) According to the writer, selflessness is the main quality of a leader. - T
(v) Very few people in villages had respect for age and experience. - F
(vi) The writer did not like the idea of eating with the right hand. - T
(vii) Indian is by nature religious. - T
(viii) The book ‘Come, My Beloved’ has an Indian background. - T
(ix) A Christian missionary believes that ‘God is the one’. - T

B. 2. 2. Answer the following questions briefly -

1. Why was the land between Bombay and Madras famished?
Ans: It is so because due to scarcity of water was no food and it was burning like a hot desert.

2. Why did the Indian always blame the British for their suffering?
Ans: The Indian always blame the British for their suffering because it is an easy excuse to run away from their problems and realities.

3. Who was the real master of the house which Buck visited?
Ans: The real master of the house which Buck visited was a younger brother.

4. Why did the writer not mind her host eating in the opposite comer of the room?
Ans: It is so because he was able to understand that this reaction was due to their difference in culture.

5. What does she mean by saying’ Religion is ever-present in Indian life’?
Ans: By saying so the writer means that in Indians' life, religion is a very important thing. All are very closely related to religion and it is present in all spheres of life.

6. What are her views on the Christian missionaries?
Ans: The author says that for of all the people that I have known the missionary is, in his way, the most dedicated, the most single-hearted. He believes that God is the One the Father of mankind and that all men are brothers. At least the Christian says he so believes and so he preaches.

C. 1. Long Answer Questions -

1. How does Pearl S. Buck describe Kashmir?
Ans: The writer says that in Kashmir where the white barbarian invaders from Europe long ago penetrated India, the people are often fair. Auburn-haired blue-eyed women are beauties there. A young Indian friend of her has recently married a Kashmiri man who though his hair is dark, has eyes of clear green. The skin colour of the Kashmiri a lovely cream and the features are as classic as the Greek. But all the people of India must be reckoned as belonging to the Caucasian race, whatever the colour of the skin in the South, though it is as black as any African’s.

2. How has India influenced the world in the post-independent era?
Ans: The Indians make the third group between the South Africans and the Black and the white. She describes how she had an Indian doctor in a Chinese port. Indians are memorable people, dramatic and passionate and finding dramatic lives. India has a way of permeating human life and considering how India has managed, merely by maintaining her independence and by producing superior individuals to influence the world in these few short years of freedom, she has put to good use the benefits the English gave and left the knowledge of west.

3. Why had the Indian intellectuals decided not to support the British in the Second World War?
Ans: The English, they declared had no real purpose to restore India to the people. I could believe it fresh as I was from China, where the period of people’s tutelage seemed endless and self-government further off every year. When you are ready for independence, conquerors have always said to their subjects, etcetera! But who is to decide when that moment comes, and how can people learn to govern themselves, expert, by doing it? So the intellectuals in India were Restless and embitter as, and I sat for hours watching their flashing dark eyes and hearting the endless flow of language the purest English into which they poured their feelings. The plants than was that when the second world war broke, in India world rebel immediately against England and compel her by this complication to set her free. They would not be forced, as they declared they had won the First World War, to fight at England’s command.

4. What lesson had India taught humanity by gaining independence?
Ans: India has managed, merely by maintaining her independence and yes, by producing superior individuals, to influence the world in these few years of freedom, they have put to good use the benefits the English gave and left. The knowledge of west the pure and exquisitely enunciated English tongue of men and women educated on both sides of the globe-witness Nehru and with him a host of men learning how to govern, and the first women to be the President of the general assembly of the united nations a woman of India and the men in charge of the prisoner exchange in kore an Indian General, who won trust from all.

5. What was the psychological impact of colonisation on Indian people?
Ans: I find that among the many impressions of India, absorbed while I live among them, and still clear in my mind, is their reverence for great men and women. Leadership in India can only be continued by those whom the followers consider being good that is capable of renunciation, therefore, not self-seeking. This one quality for them contains all others A person able to renounce personal benefit for the sake of an idealistic and is by that very fact also honest, also high-minded, therefore also Trustworthy. I felt that the people, even those who know themselves full of faults, searched for such persons.

6. Who, according to Buck, could be the real leaders of Indian people?
Ans: The devotion was given by the people to Gandhi and finally even internationally is well known, but I found the same homage paid to a local person who in their measure were also leaders because of their selflessness. Thus I remember a certain Indian village where I had been invited to visit in the Home of a family of some modem education though not much, and some means, though not wealth, the house was mud-walled and the roof was made of thatch. Inside were several rooms, however, the floors smooth and polished with the usual mixture of cow-dung and water.

7. What are some of the features of Indian family life, as noticed by Buck?
Ans: The maturing culture of organised human family life and produced philosophical religions had shaped his mind and soul, even though he could not read and write. And the children, the little children of the Indian villages, how they tore off my heart, thin, big believer, and all with huge sad dark eyes. I wondered that any Englishmen could look at them and not accuse himself. Three hundred years of English occupation and rule, and could there be children like this? Yes, and Millions of them! And the final indictment surely was that the life span in India was only twenty-seven years. Twenty-seven years! No wonder, then, that life was hastened, that a man married very young so that there could be children, as many as possible before he died.

C. 3. Composition -

1. You have a pen Friend in America who wants to know about India. Write a letter to your friend describing some of the values that govern Indian family life.

Park Avenue Street, America
1 June, 2021
Dear Rohit
I hope my letter finds you in a happy and healthy mood. I am happy to know that you are highly impressed by our Indian culture. We have a strong family bonding. It is our love, understanding, and cooperation which strengthens our relationship. Every member of the family has his own role and is cared and loved for. I hope you will be able to see this with your own eyes during your next visit.
Yours lovingly,
Ritika

2. Write a paragraph in about 100 words in India’s contribution to world peace.

Ans: India has always taught the lesson of peace to the whole world. We are a peace-loving country. We have always been a supporting hand to the U.N.O. in maintaining world peace. We have sent our army to restore peace and order in the different parts of the world. We have criticised the countries and their policies if it hampers world peace. We are always ready to help in all spheres of the world for its harmony. Our thoughts  agree that the whole world is a world and so we should love each other and maintain peace.

D. Word Study -

D.1. Dictionary Use -

Ex. 1. Lookup a dictionary and write two meanings of the following words—the one in which it is used in the lesson and the other which is more common -

Evil	Wicked
	Sin
Find	Discover
	Locate
Penetrate	Pierce
	Understand
Lives	Existence
	Person or individual activity
Educate	Teach
	Provide for instruction
Globe	Earth
	Sphere
Witness	Observer
	To watch

D. 2. Word-formation -

Read the following sentence carefully -
India has always been part of the background of my life but I had never seen in whole and for myself until now. 
In the sentence given above background is made of back and ground, similarly, myself is made of my and self.
Form compound words using the words given below -

root word compound word root word compound word every everyone snow snowfall blue blueberry faced cute-faced home homeland white whitewash chop chopstick light lightheaded baby babyhood trust trustworthy over turnover worthy trustworthy thing nothing mud mud-bath eyed doe-eyed walled strong-walled made homemade self self-centered spun handspun seeking job-seeking sticks chopsticks high highchair hood childhood minded narrow-minded come welcome water water bird living living-room bird bluebird room bedroom new newborn out blackout cooked ill cooked side outside born newborn in inside hearted hard-hearted deed indeed ever eveready well farewell green greenhouse day daylight how however house tree-house single single man hold household glass glassware

D. 3. Word-meaning -

Ex. 1. Match the words given in Column A with their meanings given in Column B -

Column A	Column B
Creed	A set of beliefs
Piercing	Penetrating
Exhausted	Drained of all strength
Profound	Danger
Interior	Of poor quality
Peril	Deep and subtle
Rot	Decayed

D. 4. Phrases -

Ex. 1. Read the lesson carefully and find out the sentences in which the following phrases have been used. Then use these phrases in sentences of your own -

• further off — The doctor advised the patient to stop the medicine further off.
• in spite of — In spite of heavy rain the match continued.
• live upon — Deepak lives upon his own rules.
• search for — They have made a deep search for the thief.
• as long as — They worked as long as they could.
• serve on — We should serve in our country.
• put in — Manoj knows how to put in with different people.

E. Grammar -

Ex. 1. Change the following sentences as directed -

(i) The features of the Kashmiri are as classic as the Greek, (from positive to comparative)
(ii) My host said, “I was called to kill a dangerous snake, (from direct to indirect speech)
(iii) My life has been too crowded with travels and many people for me to put it all within the covers of one book. (Remove too)
(iv) What did I go to India to see? (from interrogative to assertive)

Answer -

(i) The features of the Kashmiri are not more classic than the Greek.
(ii) My host said that he had been called to kill a dangerous snake.
(iii) My life has been so crowded with travels and many people that I can't put it all within the covers of one book.
(iv) I went to see India.