Answer any two of the following questions in 120 - 150 words each:

(i) Her son being one centimeter short, Tao Ying was hesitant to buy a ticket for him, yet she bought one. Why?

(ii) What examples are given by the master class to convince us how our freedom was won for us by our forefathers?

(iii) How could Manjula, herself an athlete given to outdoor life, write about the inner life of a person confined to bed all her life?

(i) If alone, Tao Ying was habitual of not buying tickets in bus or public places to save money and would buy tickets only if the conductor was the alert and responsible type. However, on the day of the outing her son was excited and wanted to carry tickets and thus insisted on buying one. She was aware that children imitate their parents and therefore wanted to set a perfect example of an ideal mother or person for her son. She did not want him to see her as an example of a dishonest person. She wished to instill the value of honesty in her son’s character. It was for this reason that she purchased a ticket for him on the bus without even scolding him for throwing a tantrum.

(ii) The master class did not want people to enjoy their freedom. They constantly reminded the people through parliament, educational institutions and state-owned newspapers about their forefathers’ grand history of a glorious past. Time and time again, the master class would give them examples to convince them about how their forefathers won freedom for them. They talk about how King John was made to sign the Magna Charta / Magna Carta when they defeated the Spanish Armada, how they cut off King Charles’ head and how they forced King William to accept the ‘Bills of Rights. They speak of how they won the battles of Waterloo and Trafalagar, and changed the German, Russian, Austrian and Ottoman empires into republics.

(iii) Manjula was a famous Kannada writer, who wrote a novel in English, ‘The River has no Memories’ and dedicated the novel to her sister Malini. It was a best seller, and the novel depicts the story of her physically challenged sister. Her sister – suffered from a disease called ‘meningomyelode’ in which the nervous system is damaged below the waist but the upper part of the body is normal. Malini was confined to the bed and wheel chair throughout her life and constantly needed a person to nurse her and take care of her. She led a life full of misery, but was sensitive and eager to learn and hungry for life. She died after suffering from mental stress and emotional agony. She was treated like a daughter by the childless Manjula. Hence, as Manjula closely watched her sufferings, she was able to give an account of the experience of a bedridden person, despite being an athlete herself.