Unit-5
Education
A
Story of My Childhood
-Abdul Kalam
Before
you read
a. "Childhood is a chance for kids to
discover who they are before the world tells them who they should be." Do
you agree or not?
b. Share one of your interesting childhood
memories.
Working
with words
A.
Match the words in column "A" with their meanings in column
"B".
a. expectantly - in a way that shows you are hoping for something, specially something good or exciting.
b. beckon - to
give signal to somebody to move nearer or to follow you
c. grapple - to try hard to find a solution to a
problem
d. texture -
the way food or drink tastes or
feels in your mouth
e. cobbled - having
a surface that is made of small round stones
f. flimsy - thin
and easily torn
g. attire - clothes,
especially fine or formal ones
h. marvelous - extremely
good; wonderful
i. dynamics - the
science of the forces involved in movement
B. An
autobiography is a story of a person's life, written by himself/herself. Use a
dictionary and find the meaning of the following words related to people's life
stories.
Hagiography - a biography that treats
its subject with excessive reverence
Psychobiography - a
biography that pays particular attention to a person's psychological
development
pathography - the
study of the life of an individual or the history of a community
with regard to the influence of a particular disease
or psychological disorder
Chronicle - a factual written
account of important or historical events in the order of their
occurrence
Obituary - a
notice of a death, especially in a newspaper, typically is
including a brief biography of the deceased person - a brief
written description of a person's qualities.
Profile - a short
article giving a description of a person or organization
Memoir - a historical
account or biography written from personal knowledge
Comprehension
A. Put the following events in the life of Abdul Kalam in a
chronological order.
1. One day Abdul Kalam's teacher
visited them to share his pride and pleasure about his performance. (f)
2. They celebrated happiness with
poli. (a)
3. Abdul Kalam attended an elementary
school at Rameswaram. (c)
4. A new teacher in the school
forbade Abdul Kalam to sit together with his Brahmin friend. (g)
5. Many students did not
understand well of Sivasubramania Iyer's lecture. (e)
6. He then took the students to
the seashore for a practical class. (d)
7. Abdul Kalam was determined that
he would make a future study about flight and flight systems. (b)
B. Answer the following questions.
a. What were the causes of Abdul Kalam's happiness?
Ans:- Abdul Kalam's happiness were
his supportive father, loving mother, inspirational and motivational teachers at
schools, his keen interest in mathematics and his labour and dedication to his
study.
b. Which two places did Abdul Kalam visit before going to
school?
Ans:- He visited Arabic tuition
class and mathematics teacher's home before going to school.
c. What did he like about mathematics?
Ans:- He liked to learn rules and
principles of mathematics and he would love solving complex number problems for
hours.
d. Why was the new teacher unhappy?
Ans:- The new teacher was unhappy
because he saw that a Brahmin boy Ramanadhan Sastry and a Muslim boy Abdul
Kalam sitting together in a same bench in the classroom.
e. Why did Abdul Kalam have to split with his intimate
friend?
Ans:- Abdul Kalam had to split
with his intimate friend because of the discriminating behavior of his new
teacher in terms of religion in Rameswaram Elementary School.
f. What was the topic of Sivasubramania Iyer's class?
Ans:- The topic of Shivasubramania
Iyer's class was how could birds fly in the sky.
g. How was the teacher's reaction when the students told him
that they did not understand his lecture?
Ans:- The teacher didn't become
upset when the students told him that they did not understand his lecture.
h. Why did Sivasubramania Iyer take his students to the
seashore?
Ans:- Sivasubramania Iyer took his
students to the seashore to explain about the birds' flight practically.
Critical Thinking
a. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam became a renewed aerospace scientist in
his later life. Do you find any association of his childhood days in shaping
his career? Explain with specific instances from the text.
Ans:- A.P.J. (Avul Pakir
Jainulabdeen) Abdul Kalam is a well known aerospace scientist of India. He became
a famous aerospace scientist because he was inspired and motivated by the
explanation of the flight dynamics of birds practically by his teacher Sivasubramania
Iyer in his school. There are obviously some associations of his childhood days
in shaping his career. He was a keen student of mathematics and always scored
full marks in it. He also scored full marks in Science in his study time.
Beside this, he would take extra classes of mathematics at his teacher's home.
He kept himself always busy in solving complex number problems. The most
impressing thing to him was the practical lecture of his teacher Sivasubramania
Iyer. He, along with his friends, was taken to the seashore of Rameswaram to
have a practical demonstration on flight dynamics of the birds. The real
teaching of his teacher had left him influential remarks. He learnt how birds
could fly using their wings and tails in a proper balance. When he learnt
flight systems of the birds he was determined to study flight dynamics, and
following every steps suggested by his teacher, he became an aerospace
scientist.
b. Kalam mentions an instance of discrimination against him
in his school life. What picture of society does he want to depict by
mentioning the incident? Discuss.
Ans:- In his memoir, Abdul
Kamal mentions a sad event of religious discrimination in his school. His new
teacher showed his discriminating behavior when he saw a Muslim boy (Abdul) and
a Hindu boy (Rameswaram) sitting together in a same bench in the classroom.
Rameswaram Sastry was an intimate friend of him belonging to Hindu community.
Abdul was ignorant about the religious discrimination between Hindu and Muslim.
During the time, there was extreme religious discrimination between Hindu and
Muslim. The behavior of the new teacher was a true picture of the then society.
He could not digest the friendship between a Hindu boy and a Muslim boy, so he forbade
Abdul to sit close to his Brahmin friend. Abdul was upset by this behavior. By
this incident Abdul wants to show the picture of the society that was parted
between two sects- Hindu and Muslim. Few people denied such divisions, but most
of the people, including educated people believed in partition.
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