A Gift of Chappals PDF - Children's Story

2 Before you read Mridu is a young girl growing up in Madras (now called Chennai) with Tapi, her grandmother, and Thatha, her grandfather. One afternoon Tapi takes her to her aunt Rukku Manni’s house to meet her cousins Lalli, Ravi and Meena. A Gift of Chappals...

2 Before you read Mridu is a young girl growing up in Madras (now called Chennai) with Tapi, her grandmother, and Thatha, her grandfather. One afternoon Tapi takes her to her aunt Rukku Manni’s house to meet her cousins Lalli, Ravi and Meena. A Gift of Chappals I A smiling Rukku Manni threw open the door. Ravi and Meena rushed out, and Ravi pulled Mridu into the house. “Wait, let me take off my slippers,” protested Mridu. She set them out neatly near a pair of large black ones. Those were grey, actually, with dust. You could see the clear mark of every toe on the front part of each slipper. The marks for the two big toes were long scrawny: and scrawny. thin Mridu didn’t have much time to wonder about (suggesting skinny toes) whose slippers they were, because Ravi dragged ________________ her to the backyard, behind a thick bitter-berry ________________ bush. There, inside a torn football lined with ________________ sacking and filled with sand, lay a very small ________________ kitten, lapping up milk from a coconut half-shell. ________________ “We found him outside the gate this morning. ________________ He was mewing and mewing, poor thing,” said  A GIFT OF CHAPPALS/19 Meena. “It’s a secret. Amma says Paati will leave Paati: for our Paddu Mama’s house if she knows we grandmother have a cat.” (in Tamil) “People are always telling us to be kind to ________________ ________________ animals, but when we are, they scream. ‘Ooh, ________________ don’t bring that dirty creature here!’ ” said Ravi. ________________ “Do you know how hard it is just to get a little ________________ milk from the kitchen? Paati saw me with a glass throw her off in my hand just now. I told her I’m very hungry, I the scent: want to drink it, but the way she looked at me! I mislead her had to drink most of it to throw her off the scent. so that she Then she wanted the tumbler back. ‘Paati, Paati, won’t understand I’ll wash it myself, why should I put you to the real trouble’, I told her. I had to run and pour the purpose 20/HONEYCOMB milk into this coconut shell and then run back and wash the tumbler and put it back before she got really suspicious. Now we have to think of ________________ some other way to feed Mahendran.” ________________ “Mahendran? This little kitty’s name is _______________ Mahendran?” Mridu was impressed! It was a real ________________ ________________ name —not just a cute kitty-cat name. ________________ “Actually his full name is Mahendravarma ________________ Pallava Poonai. M.P. Poonai for short if you like. ________________ He’s a fine breed of cat. Just look at his fur. Like a ________________ lion’s mane! And you know what the emblem of ________________ ________________ the ancient Pallava kings was, don’t you?” he ________________ looked expectantly at Mridu. ________________ Mridu giggled. ________________ “Think I’m joking? Well, just wait. I’ll show ________________ you sometime. It’s clear you don’t know a thing ________________ ________________ about history. Haven’t been to Mahabalipuram, ________________ have you?” he said mysteriously. “Well, when ________________ our class went to Mahabalipuram, I saw a statue thatha: of his thatha’s thatha’s thatha’s thatha’s grandfather thatha’s... etcetera, etcetera... Fact is, Mahendran (in Tamil) here is descended from that very same descended from: a ancient cat. A close relative, scientifically descendent speaking, of none other than the lion. The Pallava of, or comes from, the lion, emblem of the Pallava dynasty!” Ravi same family went on, walking around the bitter-berry bush, ________________ waving a twig up and down, his eyes sparkling. ________________ “This cat is a descendant of none other than the ________________ ________________ Mahabalipuram Rishi-Cat! And if I may ________________ just remind you, they worshipped cats in ________________ ancient Egypt!”  A GIFT OF CHAPPALS/21 How he loved the sound of his own voice! Meena and Mridu exchanged looks. “What does that have to do with anything?” ________________ ________________ Mridu demanded. ________________ “Huh! I’m telling you this cat is descended... ________________ from the Egyptian cat-god... no, goddess! Bastet! ________________ Ya! That’s it!” ________________ “So?” ________________ “Well, one of the descendants of that cat-goddess was a stowaway in one of the Pallava ships, and his stowaway: descendant was the Mahabalipuram Rishi-Cat, someone who hides whose descendant is —” Ravi flourished his twig at himself/ Mahendran “— M.P. Poonai here... whoop EEK!” he herself in a shrieked, very pleased with himself. ship or an aircraft to Mahendran looked up, alarmed. He had just travel been sharpening his claws on the edge of the unnoticed coconut shell. But worse than Ravi’s awful ________________ ________________ whoop EEK was a ‘Kreech...!’ from the window. What a weird sound! If Mridu was startled, weird: M.P. Poonai was frightened out of his wits. strange or unusual Hair standing on end, he bounced up and ________________ scurried towards a bamboo tray of red chillies ________________ that had been set out to dry. Trying to hide ________________ beneath it, he tipped a few chillies over himself. ________________ “Mi-a-aw!” he howled miserably. ________________ ________________ The ‘kreeching’ went on and on. “What’s that ________________ noise?” said Mridu. ________________ “ That’s Lalli learning to play the violin,” ________________ grunted Ravi. ________________ “She’ll never learn a thing. The music- ________________ master just goes on playing like a train ________________ whizzing on and on, while Lalli’s all the time ________________ derailing! Going completely off track!” ________________ 22/HONEYCOMB Comprehension Check ________________ ________________ 1. What is the secret that Meena shares with Mridu in ________________ the backyard? ________________ 2. How does Ravi get milk for the kitten? ________________ 3. Who does he say the kitten’s ancestors are? Do you ________________ believe him? ________________ 4. Ravi has a lot to say about M.P.Poonai. This shows that _______________ (i) he is merely trying to impress Mridu. ________________ (ii) his knowledge of history is sound. ________________ (iii) he has a rich imagination. ________________ (iv) he is an intelligent child. Which of these statements do you agree/disagree to? ________________ 5. What was the noise that startled Mridu and frightened ________________ Mahendran? ________________ ________________ ________________ II ________________ ________________ Mridu crept up to the window. Lalli was sitting a ________________ little distance away, awkwardly holding her violin ________________ and bowstring, her elbows jutting out and her eyes ________________ glazed with concentration. In front of her, with most ________________ of his back to the window, was the bony figure of ________________ the music-master. He had a mostly bald head with a fringe of oiled black hair falling around his ears glided: moved and an old-fashioned tuft. A gold chain gleamed along around his leathery neck, and a diamond ring smoothly glittered on his hand as it glided up and down the veshti: stem of the violin. A large foot stuck out from beneath dhoti (in his gold-bordered veshti edge, and he was beating Tamil) time on the floor with the scrawny big toe. stumbled: followed He played a few notes. Lalli stumbled behind haltingly him on her violin, which looked quite helpless  A GIFT OF CHAPPALS/23 and unhappy in her hands. What a difference! The music-master’s notes seemed to float up and ________________ settle perfectly into the invisible tracks of the ________________ melody. It was like the wheels of a train fitting ________________ smoothly into the rails and whizzing along, as Ravi beringed: said. Mridu stared at that huge, beringed hand The music- moving effortlessly up the violin’s stem, making master is lovely music. wearing a Squawk! There was Lalli derailing again! ring. ________________ “Amma!” came a wail from the gate. “Amma- ________________ oh!” ________________ “Ravi, send that beggar away!” cried his mother ________________ from the back verandah, where she was chatting ________________ 24/HONEYCOMB with Tapi. “He has been coming here every day for the past week, and it’s time he found another house to beg from!” Paati explained to Tapi. ________________ Mridu and Meena followed Ravi out. The ________________ beggar was already in the garden, making himself ________________ quite at home. He had spread his upper cloth under the neem tree, and was leaning against its snooze: trunk, apparently prepared to take a little snooze short sleep while he waited for the alms to appear. “Go away!” ________________ _______________ said Ravi sternly. “My Paati says it’s time you ________________ found another house to beg from!” ________________ The beggar opened his eyes very wide and ________________ gazed at each of the children one by one. “The ________________ ladies of this house,” he said, at last, in a voice ________________ choked with feeling, “are very kind souls. I have kept my kept my body and soul together on their body and generosity for a whole week. I cannot believe that soul together: they would turn me away.” He raised his voice. managed to “Amma! Amma-oh!” Sad his wail might be, but it stay alive certainly wasn’t feeble. It began in a deep, strong ________________ ________________ rumble somewhere in his withered belly, and came ________________ booming out of his mouth, with its few remaining ________________ teeth stained brown with betel-chewing. ________________ “Ravi, tell him there’s nothing left in the kitchen!” called Rukku Manni. “And he’s not to fed up: come again—tell him that!” She sounded fed up. tired and Ravi didn’t have to repeat it all to the beggar. unhappy ________________ What his mother said had been easy for them all ________________ to hear, there under the neem tree. The beggar ________________ sat up and sighed. ________________ “I’ll go, I’ll go!” he said wearily. “Only let me have ________________ a rest here under this tree. The sun is so hot, the tar ________________ has melted on the road. My feet are already  A GIFT OF CHAPPALS/25 blistered.” He stretched out his feet to show large, pink, peeling blisters on the soles of his bare feet. blisters: “I suppose he doesn’t have the money to buy boils/ chappals,” Mridu whispered to Meena–Ravi. bubbles on “Have you got an old pair in the house the skin, somewhere?” from burns or rubbing “I don’t know,” said Ravi. “Mine are too small ________________ to fit his feet, or I’d have given them to him.” And ________________ his feet were larger than Mridu’s and Meena’s. ________________ The beggar was shaking out his upper cloth ________________ and tightening his dhoti. He raised his eyes and ________________ looked fearfully at the road, gleaming in the ________________ ________________ afternoon heat. ________________ “He needs something on his feet!” Meena said, her big eyes filling. “It’s not fair!” eyes “Ssh!” said Ravi. “I’m thinking about it! filling: with tears Blubbering, ‘it’s not fair, it’s not fair’ isn’t going to ________________ help. In two minutes he’ll be frying his feet on ________________ that road. What he needs is a pair of chappals. ________________ So where do we get them? Come, let’s search ________________ the house.” He pushed Mridu and Meena into ________________ the house. ________________ ________________ Just as she stepped into the verandah, ________________ Mridu’s eyes fell on the odd-looking chappals she had noticed when she arrived. “Ravi!” she whispered to him. “Whose are those?” Ravi turned and glanced at the shabby-looking, but sturdy old slippers. He beamed and nodded. “These are just the right size,” he said, picking them up. Mridu and Meena followed him nervously back into the garden. 26/HONEYCOMB “Here!” said Ravi to the beggar, dropping the slippers in front of the old man. “Wear these and don’t come back! ” The beggar stared at the ________________ slippers, hurriedly flung his towel over his _______________ shoulder, pushed his feet into them and left, ________________ muttering a blessing to the children. In a minute ________________ he had vanished around the corner of the street. The music-master came out of the house and unapprecia- took an unappreciative look at the three of them tive: disapproving sitting quietly under the tree, playing marbles. ________________ Then he searched for his chappals in the _______________ verandah, where he had put them. ________________ “Lalli!” he called, after a few moments. She ________________ hurried up to him. “Have you seen my chappals, ________________ ________________ my dear? I remember having kept them here!” ________________ Ravi, Mridu, and Meena silently watched Lalli ________________ and the music-master search every corner of the ________________ verandah. He scurried around, looking over the ________________ railing and crouching near the flower pots to look ________________ between them. “Brand new, they were! I went all ________________ the way to Mount Road to buy them!” he went on ________________ saying. “They cost a whole month’s fees, do you ________________ ________________ know?” ________________ Soon Lalli went in to tell her mother. Rukku ________________ Manni appeared, looking harassed, with Paati ________________ following her. ________________ “Where could they be? It’s really quite ________________ upsetting to think someone might have stolen ________________ them. So many vendors come to the door,” ________________ worried Paati. ________________ ________________ Rukku Manni caught sight of Ravi, Mridu, ________________ and Meena sitting under the tree. “Have you children...” she began, and then, seeing they were  A GIFT OF CHAPPALS/27 curiously quiet, went on more slowly, “seen anyone lurking around the verandah?” A sharp V-shaped lurking: line had formed between her eyebrows. Another waiting straight, tighter one appeared in place of her quietly usually soft, pleasant mouth. Rukku Manni was (without angry! thought Mridu with a shiver. She wouldn’t attracting attention) be so upset if she knew about the poor beggar ________________ with sores on his feet, she tried to tell herself. _______________ Taking a deep breath, she cried, “Rukku ________________ Manni, there was a beggar here. Poor thing, he ________________ had such boils on his feet!” ________________ ________________ “So?” said Rukku Manni grimly, turning to ________________ Ravi. “You gave the music-master’s chappals to ________________ that old beggar who turns up here?” ________________ “Children these days...!” groaned Paati. ________________ “Amma, didn’t you tell me about Karna who gave ________________ away everything he had, even his gold earrings, he ________________ was so kind and generous?” ________________ “Silly!” snapped Rukku Manni. “Karna didn’t ________________ ________________ give away other people’s things, he only gave away ________________ his own.” ________________ “But my chappals wouldn’t have fitted the ________________ beggar’s feet...” Ravi rushed brashly on, “And ________________ Amma, if they did fit, would you really not ________________ have minded?” ________________ “Ravi!” said Rukku Manni, very angry now. ________________ “Go inside this minute.” ________________ ________________ She hurried indoors and brought out Gopu ________________ Mama’s hardly worn, new chappals. “These ________________ should fit you, Sir. Please put these on. I am so ________________ sorry. My son has been very naughty.” The music- ________________ master’s eyes lit up. He put them on, trying not to ________________ look too happy. “Well, I suppose these will have ________________ 28/HONEYCOMB to do... These days children have no respect for elders, what to do? A Hanuman incarnate... only Rama can save such a naughty fellow!” Rukku ________________ Manni’s eyes flashed. She didn’t seem to like Ravi ________________ being called a monkey, even a holy monkey. She ________________ stood stiff and straight by the front door. It was ________________ clear she wanted him to leave quickly. clattered When he had clattered off in his new chappals, off: gone off she said, “Mridu, come in and have some tiffin. noisily (with the Honestly, how do you children think of such noise or things? Thank God your Gopu Mama doesn’t wear clatter of his chappals to work...” As she walked towards chappals) ________________ the kitchen with Mridu and Meena, she suddenly _______________ began to laugh. “But he’s always in such a hurry ________________ to throw off his shoes and socks and get into his ________________ chappals as soon as he comes home. What’s your ________________ Mama going to say this evening when I tell him I ________________ gave his chappals to the music-master?” ________________ ________________ VASANTHA SURYA ________________ ________________ [from Mridu in Madras: ________________ Goruchaka Turns Up] ________________ ________________ ________________ Comprehension Check ________________ ________________ 1. The music master is making lovely music. Read aloud ________________ the sentence in the text that expresses this idea. ________________ ________________ 2. Had the beggar come to Rukku Manni’s house for the ________________ first time? Give reasons for your answer. ________________ 3. “A sharp V-shaped line had formed between her ________________ eyebrows.” What does it suggest to you about ________________ Rukku Manni’s mood?  A GIFT OF CHAPPALS/29 Working with the Text 1. Complete the following sentences. (i) Ravi compares Lalli’s playing the violin to (ii) Trying to hide beneath the tray of chillies, Mahendran (iii) The teacher played a few notes on his violin, and Lalli (iv) The beggar said that the kind ladies of the household (v) After the lesson was over, the music teacher asked Lalli if 2. Describe the music teacher, as seen from the window. 3. (i) What makes Mridu conclude that the beggar has no money to buy chappals? (ii) What does she suggest to show her concern? 4. “Have you children...” she began, and then, seeing they were curiously quiet, went on more slowly, “seen anyone lurking around the verandah?” (i) What do you think Rukku Manni really wanted to ask? (ii) Why did she change her question? (iii) What did she think had happened? 5. On getting Gopu Mama’s chappals, the music teacher tried not to look too happy. Why? 6. On getting a gift of chappals, the beggar vanished in a minute. Why was he in such a hurry to leave? 30/HONEYCOMB 7. Walking towards the kitchen with Mridu and Meena, Rukku Manni began to laugh. What made her laugh? Working with Language 1. Read the following sentences. (a) If she knows we have a cat, Paati will leave the house. (b) She won’t be so upset if she knows about the poor beggar with sores on his fect. (c) If the chappals do fit, will you really not mind? Notice that each sentence consists of two parts. The first part begins with ‘if ’. It is known as if-clause. Rewrite each of the following pairs of sentences as a single sentence. Use ‘if ’ at the beginning of the sentence. (a) Walk fast. You’ll catch the bus. If you walk fast, you’ll catch the bus. (b) Don’t spit on the road. You’ll be fined. If you spit on the road, you’ll be fined. (i) Don’t tire yourself now. You won’t be able to work in the evening. (ii) Study regularly. You’ll do well in the examination. (iii) Work hard. You’ll pass the examination in the first division. (iv) Be polite to people. They’ll also be polite to you. (v) Don’t tease the dog. It’ll bite you. 2. Fill in the blanks in the following paragraph. Today is Sunday. I’m wondering whether I should stay at home or go out. If I (go) out, I (miss) the lovely Sunday lunch at home. If I (stay) for lunch, I (miss) the Sunday film showing at Archana Theatre. I think I’ll go out and see the film, only to avoid getting too fat.  A GIFT OF CHAPPALS/31 3. Complete each sentence below by appropriately using any one of the following: if you want to/if you don’t want to/if you want him to (i) Don’t go to the theatre (ii) He’ll post your letter (iii) Please use my pen (iv) He’ll lend you his umbrella (v) My neighbour, Ramesh, will take you to the doctor (vi) Don’t eat it Speaking and Writing 1. Discuss in small groups z If you want to give away something of your own to the needy, would it be better to ask your elders first? z Is there someone of your age in the family who is very talkative? Do you find her/him interesting and impressive or otherwise? Share your ideas with others in the group. z Has Rukku Manni done exactly the same as the children? In your opinion, then, is it right for one party to blame the other? 2. Read the following. z A group of children in your class are going to live in a hostel. z They have been asked to choose a person in the group to share a room with. z They are asking each other questions to decide who they would like to share a room with. Ask one another questions about likes/dislikes/ preferences/hobbies/personal characteristics. Use the following questions and sentence openings. (i) What do you enjoy doing after school? I enjoy... 32/HONEYCOMB (ii) What do you like in general? I like... (iii) Do you play any game? I don’t like... (iv) Would you mind if I listened to music after dinner? I wouldn’t... (v) Will it be all right if I...? It’s fine with me... (vi) Is there anything you dislike, particularly? Well, I can’t share... (vii) Do you like to attend parties? Oh, I... (viii) Would you say you are...? I think... Do you know... Answer No. What this tall bird does on sensing danger from far is to lie flat on the ground with its long neck almost horizontal. The enemy may not spot the ostrich in this position from a distance and it may be mistaken for a shrub or bush. If the danger is close by, the ostrich will take off and run. Though ostriches cannot fly, they can run as fast as 65 km per hour. If cornered, they give a swift, hard kick. An ostrich burying its head in sand to escape attention is a metaphor for people who ignore rather than face a problem.