Unit – 06
THE EYES ARE NOT HERE
Ruskin Bond
Comprehension Questions
I. Answer briefly the following questions.
1) The narrator guessed that the couple who
saw the girl of at Rohana was probably her parents because of
a. they were middle-aged
b. they seemed very anxious
c. they accompanied the girl to the railway
station.
d. they gave detailed instructions about the
care she had to take.
Ans: (d) they gave detailed instructions about the care she had to take.
2) Why did the narrator feel that he would
never be able to discover something about the girl’s looks?
Ans: The narrator felt that he could always be unable to find something
about the young lady's looks since he was a visually impaired man could just
get some answers concerning the young lady's looks dependent on little pieces
of information, for example, what he heard, felt or saw.
3) The narrator was born completely blind.
(Say True/False)
Ans: False
4) What did the narrator infer when the girl
was startled by his voice?
Ans: The narrator inferred that it was workable for individuals with
great visual perception to neglect to perceive what was directly before them
when the girl was frightened by his voice.
5) The girl told the narrator that her aunt
was meeting her at Saharanpur. She said this probably because,
a. She wanted to introduce her aunt to the
narrator.
b. She wanted to convey a message that he
couldn’t take advantage of her thinking that she was alone.
c. It was a casual remark.
Ans: (b) She wanted to convey a message that he couldn’t take advantage
of her thinking that she was alone.
6) How could the narrator, being blind,
describe Mussoorie?
Ans: The narrator describes Mussoorie dependent on his recollections. We
could derive from this that the narrator was not generally visually impaired
and had visited Mussoorie when his vision was acceptable.
7) With what intention did the narrator
remark that the girl had an interesting face?
Ans: The narrator remarked that
girl had an interesting face with an intention to flatter the girl and wanted
to please her.
8) Hiding his blindness was a ……………………………….for
the narrator. (challenge/game/child’s play). Choose the correct answer.
Ans: (b) game.
9) The new fellow-traveler had made out that
the girl was blind. (Say True/False.)
Ans: True
10) The story ends with a revelation. What is
the revelation?
Ans: The story ends with a revelation; here revelation is a sensational
divulgence of something not recently uncovered. The revelation in the story was
that the girl who was sitting opposite the narrator was visually impaired as him.
11) The narrator and the girl reveal
something about themselves through their words and actions. The adjectives
listed in the box below describe
the narrator and the girl. Put each word
either under the narrator or the girl (Note: some qualities may be common to
both).
[clever, smart, humorous, suspicious,
sentimental, curious, emotional, romantic, careful, intuitive, pretentious, confident,
guilty, inquisitive.]
Ans: The Narrator The
Girl
Clever Curious Clever Confident
Smart Romantic Smart Emotional
Humorous Careful Suspicious Careful
Sentimental Intuitive
Confident Inquisitive
II. Close Study:
Read the following extracts carefully. Discuss
in pairs and then write the answers to the questions given below them.
1) “You may break, you may shatter the vase
if you will, but the scent of the roses will linger there still….”
a)
What is the figure of speech used in the passage above?
Ans: Metaphor
b) What is the vase compared to?
Ans: The vase is compared to the existence of the girl.
c) What does the shattering of the vase refer
to?
Ans: The shattering of the vase refers to departure of the girl.
d) What does ‘the scent of the roses’ refer
to?
Ans: The scent of the roses refers to perfume of the girl’s hair.
2) “Once again, I had a game to play, a new
fellow traveler”.
a) What kind of the game does the speaker
play with his fellow, travelers?
Ans: He pretends to be man of good sight and fool with his fellow
travelers.
b) What do you understand from this about his
attitude?
Ans: The narrator needed to get the hang of all that he could about the
people he experienced.
c) Who had out-witted whom, in the game
already played by the narrator?
Ans: The girl had out-witted in the game already played by the narrator.
III. Paragraph Writing:
Discuss in pairs /groups of 4 each and answer
the following questions. Individually note down the important points and then
develop the points into one paragraph answers.
1) Give instances to show that the narrator
tried his best to impress that he was normal sighted during his encounter with
the girl.
Ans: The narrator tried to impress the girl initially surprising her by
asking where she was going. He behaved as if he was normal sighted person in
front of the girl. The narrator described about Mussoorie and time to visit
that place to enjoy the beauty of the nature. Even he described her face as
interesting face to impress and flatter through his words.
2) Everyone thinks, he could out-wit anyone
but sometimes, he himself is out-witted by others. Substantiate this with
reference to the story.
Ans: The test that the man had
taken onto himself was to persuade others that he was an ordinary located
individual. In any case, the incongruity in the story is noted in that while
the storyteller attempted to out-mind the travelers about his sight, he himself
was out-witted at long last, as meager did he realize that the young lady
sitting across him was visually impaired too.
3) The story ends with the new fellow-
traveler telling the narrator that the girl was completely blind. What do you
think, would be the feelings and thoughts of the narrator after knowing the
truth?
Ans: The narrator on discovering that the girl was visually impaired,
would have encountered the accompanying feelings. He would have felt surprise
as he least expected the lovely girl sitting across him to be visually
impaired. He should have additionally felt a feeling of humiliation for setting
up affectation before the girl, when there was no requirement for it. He would
have lamented not conversing with the young lady, similar to they were
comparable here and there, in that the two of them did not have the feeling of
sight.
