1st PUC ENGLISH NOTES - AN OLD WOMAN

 

Chapter – 11

AN OLD WOMAN

Arun Kolatkar

Comprehension

I.

1) “You” in the poem refers to 

a) the speaker 

b) the passerby

c) the reader 

d) anyone.

Ans: d) anyone.

 

2) What does the old woman offer to do?

Ans: The old woman offer to take the speaker to the horseshoe shrine.

 

3) What does the old woman demand from the tourists for her service?

Ans: The old woman demands a fifty paise coin from the tourists for her service.

 

4) The lines, “You turn around and face her with an air of finality” suggest that he decided to

a) give her a fifty paise coin and get rid of her.

b) allow her to take him to the shrine.

c) end the farce.

Ans: c) end the farce.

 

5) The old woman’s eyes are compared to bullet holes.

6) “You are reduced

to so much small change

in her hand.”

Here, the speaker is suggesting that

a) one is reduced to an insignificant position.

b) one feels that one is being cheated.

c) one feels a change in one’s personality.

Ans: a) one is reduced to an insignificant position.

 

II.

1) How is the plight of the old woman depicted in the poem?

Ans: At the point when youthful they may have accomplished more profitable work and brought in cash. In any case, in their mature age, with their physical wellness diminished, they are decreased to the degree of driving themselves upon vacationers who need to dispose of them. The old woman portrays each one of the individuals who live beneath the neediness line in India. On the off chance that this is a typical issue of numerous in view of the issue of joblessness, the lady's age is a marker to the way that the issue is more articulated on account of the old.  This can be a difficult encounter for the individuals who have lived with pride from the start however are abruptly diminished to the status of being viewed as burr.

 

Arun Kolatkar needs to take up this social issue. He takes up the subject of geriatrics – the minding to be appeared to the old. He does approach with respect to who is answerable for the pitiable state of the lady. Shouldn't the administration take up the issue of the old and take essential measures to guarantee that they carry on with an existence of poise. Kolatkar has a distinct reason in discussing the breaks all over reaching out to the slopes, sanctuaries and the skies. He implies that similarly as landmarks are important for our legacy, the old are additionally essential for our legacy. We can't regard them as undesirable, dispensable stuff. At the point when the speaker has this acknowledgment, he has a changed viewpoint and he ends up decreased to the situation of being an individual of unimportance – a modest individual like the little coins in the possession of the elderly person. However, this acknowledgment has not unfolded upon all and that is the reason the elderly person keeps on being a local escort, which is only a code word for a hobo. Her enduring is shown by the portrayal that she has two slug gaps in the spot of eyes. Eyes are regularly taken as the marker of life, yet the elderly person's eyes are dead projectile gaps.

 

 

2) The old woman in the poem is a self-appointed tourist guide, not a beggar. Do you agree? Give reasons.

Ans: The old woman in the poem is a self-appointed tourist guide, not a beggar because the lady is a self-designated local area expert since she irritates the speaker to benefit of her administrations in any event, when he will likely dispose of her. Her perseverance is found in the way that she limps after him and goes to the degree of halting him by fixing her hold on his shirt. . On the off chance that we think about the cooperation between the speaker and the elderly person, we see that it isn't very different from the exchange that happens between a vacationer and a beggar. The speaker is increasingly irritated and he needs to dispose of her by being firm in declining her offer.

 

3) How does the speaker’s attitude undergo a change?

Ans: The old woman’s inquiry, "What else can an old woman do on slopes as pitiful as these?' causes him to understand the pathetic existence of the elderly person. The speaker's mentality goes through a change since he is suggested a conversation starter. The word 'wretched' utilized regarding an explorer community clarifies that spots of love will have no worth if individuals at such places endure. The speaker, who had up to that point considered the old woman unimportant and useless, unexpectedly understands that it is he who is irrelevant in light of the fact that he has not seen the sort of battle old woman has seen in her life. Her quality and avoidance are more grounded than his. The inquiry stumps the speaker and he is loaded up with adoration for the one who has stayed on the pitiable slope steadfastly. In spite of the fact that terrible and old, she is shatterproof. Now, there is an unexpected inversion of job.

 

III.

1) “The old woman reduces the self-esteem of the speaker and makes him feel that he is nothing more than ‘so much small change”. Comment.

Ans: “The old woman reduces the self-esteem of the speaker and makes him feel that he is nothing more than ‘so much small change”. Arun Kolatkar's poem, 'An old woman, starts with a typical encounter, however finishes in a disclosure. At each traveler place, you will meet a self-delegated local escort like the old woman in the poem. They need the cash and will hassle you. They even guarantee to give you some help in lieu of the cash you give them. By and large, sightseers give them something to dispose of them. Yet, a couple is firmer and decline to be impacted by the powerful endeavors of the aides. In any case, what is to be perceived is that they do what they do in light of the fact that they have no different methods for acquiring their occupation. On the off chance that they don't do what they do, maybe the main choice left for them is to ask. The very actuality that they don't ask, yet offer their administrations shows that some place profound inside them there is some dignity and henceforth regarding them as burr is wrong. In spite of the fact that they are bothering, one ought to recall that the condition has decreased them to this. Particularly on account of an old woman like the one found on the slopes, what else would you anticipate that them should accomplish for their living? At the point when the speaker understands that he has no response for the inquiry presented by the lady, "What else can an elderly person do on slopes as pathetic as these?’ his view of the old woman goes through an abrupt change. Her eyes which resemble slug openings become an indication of her anguish. The breaks all over become representative of the breaks in a general public which couldn't care less for the old and the accommodating. That is the reason the speaker says that her breaks stretch out past her skin, and the slopes, sanctuaries and the sky break. At the end of the day, everything around her demonstrates the breaks in the life of such vulnerable individuals. However she stands shatterproof, proceeding with life tenaciously though numerous others would have broken under the blows of destitution. Out of nowhere the speaker has a recently discovered regard for the old woman.

 

2) What is the speaker trying to convey through the lines “And the hills crack, and the temples crack, And the sky falls”?

Ans: The speaker had connected just offensiveness and disturbance with the old woman until he had the consciousness of her quality just as her vulnerability. With this acknowledgment, she turns into the very image of the Indian legacy, and different things, which had up to that point been viewed as landmarks of legacy, start to break. The writer implies that it is the Indian legacy in fragile living creature and blood that we need to esteem. The reference to the slopes, sanctuaries and sky breaking and falling could likewise mean the extreme change in until now held assessment of the speaker. The stun the man gets in taking a gander at the sky, maybe as blue as the lady's eyes which resemble projectile gaps prompts his edified impression of the lady and her association with this old land. The man noticed that as he takes a gander at the lady, and the breaks around her eyes, the breaks appear to spread to the scene around her: to the slopes, the sanctuaries and even the sky. However, he sees that despite the fact that the sky may fall and break around her, she is immaculate: 'shatterproof'.

Amidst the existence that has diminished her to attempting to bring in some cash as a guide for vacationers, and considered uniquely to be an old woman to the sightseers – not worth their time and scarcely worth their notification – her determination is solid. She is an aspect of the land, as old as it seems to be: she is as unflinching. She carries on with, the man acknowledges, with what is made accessible to her. With the man's acknowledgment, he feels as though he has been decreased to simply his cash, for he doesn't have that sort of association with his property or his legacy. Also, maybe, considering the hardships of life, he is actually the immaterial one – past the little change in his pocket – however she stands, rugged and solid.

 

3) Bring out the significance of the phrase ‘cracks around her eyes’ in relation to the description of the woman as ‘shatter-proof crone’.

Ans: The old woman’s eyes are only two expanding openings loaded up with void air, with the slopes and the sky. At that point the cracks start around her eyes, spreading past her skin and afterward the slopes crack, the sanctuaries crack and the sky cracks and the sky at last cracks and falls like reinforced glass. Cracks around the eyes are commonly indications of mature age. Be that as it may, on account of the old woman, they connote considerably more than simple physical highlights. The old woman herself is shatterproof and nothing happens to her. Just you get in a flash diminished to a little change in her grasp. It is you who crack since her eyes are now shot openings which are framed with the cracks around the gaps. In this manner the old woman, regardless of the cracks around her eyes, is really the one in particular who is shatterproof. You are broken with the acknowledgment that the entire framework which is liable of testing the coarseness and assurance of an old woman is loaded with cracks; individuals who take a gander at the old woman as a bug are brimming with cracks; landmarks themselves crack notwithstanding the relentlessness of the old woman.