Answer any four of the following questions:

a. Why did Hauser and the other villagers come to attend the last lesson?

b. How did the near drowning experience at the pool affect Douglas?

c. Why does the poetess look at ‘young trees ‘and ‘merry children’?

d. What does Stephen Spender want for the children of the slums?

e. ‘I shall cut my tuft, crop my hair short and become an insurance agent'. Explain the context.

f. Why does Mr. lamb say,” So you are not lost, are you? Not altogether?"

(a) Hauser and the other villagers came to attend the last lesson to pay respect to Mr.M.Hamel who had served them for forty years. They were all very sad and it was finally today that they were realizing that they had really neglected their mother tongue which they shouldn’t have done.

(b) The near drowning experience of Douglas had taken toll over his psyche. The trauma was so deeply rooted in his mind that he couldn’t come out of it for years at a stretch. It was for this reason that he couldn’t enjoy any water related activities or be around water for several years.

(c) The poetess Kamla Das looked out of the window to shift her attention from the sad topic that her mother had began to talk about. She didn’t want to fall weak before leaving. On looking at her mother she also realized that her mother had turned grey like a corpse. This made her scared about loosing her mother forever. To avoid all these negative thoughts, she looked out of the window at ‘young trees’ and ‘merry children’ which represented hope and happiness.

(d) The poet Stephen Spender wants the authorities to realize that even the slum children deserve the basic right to have dreams. These dreams can only be fulfilled if they get proper education and good living condition. These can only be possible when the authorities realize these and give the children their basic rights so that they too can flourish and fulfill their dreams.

(e) The Astrologer tries to prove his authenticity to the king by promising him that if his prediction doesn’t come true then he will chop is tuft off, crop his hair short ], tear his book of astrology away and become an insurance agent.

(f) Mr. Lamb says this to Derry to make him realize that he too is good at doing something i.e., observing. He makes Derry understand that he is a good observer by making him say it himself that he likes the sound of the rain and the hum of the bees.