Class 10 › English › First Flight Glimpses of India Class 10 English · First Flight · Chapter 5
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This chapter is a collection of three travel pieces celebrating the diversity of India. “A Baker from Goa” by Lucio Rodrigues recalls the old Portuguese tradition of Goan bakers, the pader, whose bread and sweets remain central to Goan festivals and daily life, evoking nostalgia for childhood. “Coorg” by Lokesh Abrol describes the beautiful coffee-growing region of Karnataka, with its evergreen rainforests, brave and hospitable Kodava people of possible Greek or Arab descent, abundant wildlife and adventure sports, presenting it as a piece of heaven. “Tea from Assam” by Arup Kumar Datta follows two friends, Rajvir and Pranjol, travelling through the lush green tea gardens of Assam, the largest tea-growing region in the world, and recounts legends about the origin of tea in China and India. Together the three pieces highlight India’s rich regional cultures, traditions, landscapes and the small pleasures that bind communities together.
1 The writer remembers Goa’s village bakers, whose bread and sweet loaves remain important in daily life and festivals. 2 He recalls the baker’s dress, his musical entry, and how children wait eagerly for bread and buns. 3 The next piece describes Coorg as a beautiful coffee land with forests, wildlife, brave people, and adventure activities. 4 It tells of the Kodavus’ courage, hospitality, possible origins, and their special place in Indian military history. 5 In the last piece, Rajvir and Pranjol travel by train to Assam and watch the wide green tea gardens. 6 Rajvir shares tea legends and facts, and they finally enter Dhekiabari, Pranjol’s tea estate, through the plantations. A A Baker from Goa A piece on Goa’s traditional Portuguese-era bakers, the pader.
C Coorg A scenic coffee-growing region of Karnataka and its Kodava people.
T Tea from Assam A piece on Assam’s vast tea gardens and the legends of tea.
P Pader The traditional Goan baker whose bread is part of every celebration.
K Kodavas The hospitable, martial people of Coorg.
R Rajvir and Pranjol The two friends travelling through the Assam tea gardens.
kabai
a long single-piece frock
jostling
pushing roughly in a crowd
verandahs
open spaces in front of houses
evergreen
remaining green throughout the year
martial
connected with war or soldiers
sprightly
lively and full of energy
pruned
cut back to help growth
orchards
gardens of fruit trees
Q1 Why are the Goan bakers still important to the people of Goa? Answer Q2 What makes Coorg a special place? Answer Q3 What legends about the origin of tea are mentioned? Answer Q4 What is common to the three pieces in “Glimpses of India”? Answer Q5 What childhood memories does the writer of “A Baker from Goa” cherish? Answer Q6 Why does the baker remain important in Goan society? Answer Q7 What makes the people and culture of Coorg special? Answer Q8 What attractions does Coorg offer visitors? Answer Q9 What legends about tea does Rajvir share with Pranjol? Answer Q10 What does “Tea from Assam” reveal about the tea gardens? Answer Q1 1. What images — of people and of places — come to your mind, when you think of our country? Answer Q2 2. What parts of India have you lived in, or visited? Can you name some popular tourist destinations? Answer Q3 3. You may know that apart from the British, the Dutch and the French, the Portuguese have also played a part in the history of our country. Can you say which parts of India show French and Portuguese influences? Answer Q4 4. Can you say which parts of India grow (i) tea, (ii) coffee? Answer Q1 1. What are the elders in Goa nostalgic about? Answer Q2 2. Is bread-making still popular in Goa? How do you know? Answer Q3 3. What is the baker called? Answer Q4 4. When would the baker come everyday? Why did the children run to meet him? Answer Q1 1. (i) as marriage gifts? Answer Q2 1. (ii) for a party or a feast? Answer Q3 1. (iii) for a daughter's engagement? Answer Q4 1. (iv) for Christmas? Answer Q5 2. What did the bakers wear: (i) in the Portuguese days? (ii) when the author was young? Answer Q6 3. Who invites the comment — "he is dressed like a pader"? Why? Answer Q7 4. Where were the monthly accounts of the baker recorded? Answer Q8 5. What does a 'jackfruit-like appearance' mean? Answer Q1 1. Which of these statements are correct? Answer Q2 1. (i) The pader was an important person in the village in old times. Answer Q3 1. (ii) Paders still exist in Goan villages. Answer Q4 1. (iii) The paders went away with the Portuguese. Answer Q5 1. (iv) The paders continue to wear a single-piece long frock. Answer Q6 1. (v) Bread and cakes were an integral part of Goan life in the old days. Answer Q7 1. (vi) Traditional bread-baking is still a very profitable business. Answer Q8 1. (vii) Paders and their families starve in the present times. Answer Q9 2. Is bread an important part of Goan life? How do you know this? Answer Q10 3. (i) The thud and the jingle of the traditional baker's bamboo can still be heard in some places. (nostalgic, hopeful, sad) Answer Q11 3. (ii) Maybe the father is not alive but the son still carries on the family profession. (nostalgic, hopeful, sad) Answer Q12 3. (iii) I still recall the typical fragrance of those loaves. (nostalgic, hopeful, naughty) Answer Q13 3. (iv) The tiger never brushed his teeth. Hot tea could wash and clean up everything so nicely, after all. (naughty, angry, funny) Answer Q14 3. (v) Cakes and bolinhas are a must for Christmas as well as other festivals. (sad, hopeful, matter-of-fact) Answer Q15 3. (vi) The baker and his family never starved. They always looked happy and prosperous. (matter-of-fact, hopeful, sad) Answer Q1 I. the way bread was baked Answer Q2 I. the way the pader sold bread Answer Q3 I. what the pader wore Answer Q4 I. when the pader was paid Answer Q5 I. how the pader looked Answer Q6 I. Then write a paragraph about the author's childhood days. Answer Q7 II. 1. Compare the piece from the text (on the left below) with the other piece on Goan bakers (on the right). What makes the two texts so different? Are the facts the same? Do both writers give you a picture of the baker? Answer Q8 II. 2. Now find a travel brochure about a place you have visited. Look at the description in the brochure. Then write your own account, adding details from your own experience, to give the reader a picture of the place, rather than an impersonal, factual description. Answer Q1 1. In groups, collect information on how bakeries bake bread now and how the process has changed over time. Answer Q2 2. There are a number of craft-based professions which are dying out. Pick one of the crafts below. Make a group presentation to the class about the skills required, and the possible reasons for the decline of the craft. Can you think of ways to revive these crafts? Answer Q1 1. Where is Coorg? Answer Q2 2. What is the story about the Kodavu people's descent? Answer Q3 3. (i) the people of Coorg? Answer Q4 3. (ii) the main crop of Coorg? Answer Q5 3. (iii) the sports it offers to tourists? Answer Q6 3. (iv) the animals you are likely to see in Coorg? Answer Q7 3. (v) its distance from Bangalore, and how to get there? Answer Q8 4. (i) During monsoons it rains so heavily that tourists do not visit Coorg. (para 2) Answer Q9 4. (ii) Some people say that Alexander's army moved south along the coast and settled there. (para 3) Answer Q10 4. (iii) The Coorg people are always ready to tell stories of their sons' and fathers' valour. (para 4) Answer Q11 4. (iv) Even people who normally lead an easy and slow life get smitten by the high-energy adventure sports of Coorg. (para 6) Answer Q12 4. (v) The theory of the Arab origin is supported by the long coat with embroidered waist-belt they wear. (para 3) Answer Q13 4. (vi) Macaques, Malabar squirrels observe you carefully from the tree canopy. (para 7) Answer Q3 1. (iii) surprise: Answer Q4 1. (iv) experience: Answer Q6 1. (vi) tradition: Answer Q7 2. (i) tales of ______ Answer Q8 2. (ii) coastal ______ Answer Q9 2. (iii) a piece of ______ Answer Q10 2. (iv) evergreen ______ Answer Q11 2. (v) ______ plantations Answer Q12 2. (vi) ______ bridge Answer Q13 2. (vii) wild ______ Answer Q1 I. 1. (i) A heavy ______ has been forecast due to low pressure in the Bay of Bengal. Answer Q2 I. 1. (ii) Rakesh will ______ major surgery tomorrow morning. Answer Q3 I. 1. (iii) My brother is responsible for the ______ of our family property. Answer Q4 I. 1. (iv) The ______ rate for this accountancy course is very high. Answer Q5 I. 1. (v) She went to the Enterprise Company to attend a ______ interview. Answer Q6 I. 2. (i) The Army attempted unsuccessfully to ______ the Government. (throw) Answer Q7 I. 2. (ii) Scientists are on the brink of a major ______ in cancer research. (break) Answer Q8 I. 2. (iii) The State Government plans to build a ______ for Bhubaneswar to speed up traffic on the main highway. (pass) Answer Q9 I. 2. (iv) Gautama's ______ on life changed when he realised that the world is full of sorrow. (look) Answer Q10 I. 2. (v) Rakesh seemed unusually ______ after the game. (cast) Answer Q11 II. 1. (i) How would you describe a good detective serial on television? Answer Q12 II. 1. (ii) How would you describe a debate on your favourite topic 'Homework Should Be Banned'? Answer Q13 II. 1. (iii) How would you describe how you feel when you stay indoors due to incessant rain? Answer Q14 II. 1. (iv) How would you describe how you feel when you open a present? Answer Q15 II. 1. (v) How would you describe how you feel when you watch your favourite programme on television? Answer Q16 II. 1. (vi) How would you describe the look on your mother's face as you waited in a queue? Answer Q17 II. 1. (vii) How would you describe how you feel when tracking a tiger in a tiger reserve forest? Answer Q18 II. 1. (viii) How would you describe the story you have recently read, or a film you have seen? Answer Q19 II. 2. Now use the adjectives in the exercise above, as appropriate, to write a paragraph about Coorg. Answer Q1 1. Collect information about tea, e.g. its evolution as a drink, its beneficial qualities. You can consult an encyclopedia or visit Internet websites. Then form groups of five and play the following roles: Imagine a meeting of a tea planter, a sales agent, a tea lover (consumer), a physician and a tea-shop owner. Each person in the group has to put forward his/her views about tea. You may use the following words and phrases. Answer Q2 2. You are the sales executive of a famous tea company and you have been asked to draft an advertisement for the product. Draft the advertisement using the information you collected for the role play. You can draw pictures or add photographs and make your advertisement colourful. Answer Q1 Get your students to arrange an exhibition of photographs of different places in India — good sources are travel articles in Sunday newspapers, or in travel magazines, or in brochures available at travel agents. Ask students to bring in two or three pictures each, accompanied by a short, neatly hand-written write-up on the place shown in the pictures. Arrange them on your classroom walls. Let the students study them. They can then discuss, and later vote on the place they would most like to see. Answer Q1 Can there be a forest without trees? Where are the trees in this poem, and where do they go? Answer Q1 1. (i) Find, in the first stanza, three things that cannot happen in a treeless forest. Answer Q2 1. (ii) What picture do these words create in your mind: "… sun bury its feet in shadow…"? What could the poet mean by the sun's 'feet'? Answer Q3 2. (i) Where are the trees in the poem? What do their roots, their leaves, and their twigs do? Answer Q4 2. (ii) What does the poet compare their branches to? Answer Q5 3. (i) How does the poet describe the moon: (a) at the beginning of the third stanza, and (b) at its end? What causes this change? Answer Q6 3. (ii) What happens to the house when the trees move out of it? Answer Q7 3. (iii) Why do you think the poet does not mention "the departure of the forest from the house" in her letters? (Could it be that we are often silent about important happenings that are so unexpected that they embarrass us? Think about this again when you answer the next set of questions.) Answer Q8 4. Now that you have read the poem in detail, we can begin to ask what the poem might mean. Here are two suggestions. Can you think of others? Answer Q9 4. (i) Does the poem present a conflict between man and nature? Compare it with A Tiger in the Zoo. Is the poet suggesting that plants and trees, used for 'interior decoration' in cities while forests are cut down, are 'imprisoned', and need to 'break out'? Answer Q10 4. (ii) On the other hand, Adrienne Rich has been known to use trees as a metaphor for human beings; this is a recurrent image in her poetry. What new meanings emerge from the poem if you take its trees to be symbolic of this particular meaning? Answer Q11 5. You may read the poem 'On Killing a Tree' by Gieve Patel (Beehive – Textbook in English for Class IX, NCERT). Compare and contrast it with the poem you have just read. Answer Q1 Can you find the words below that are spelt similarly, and sometimes even pronounced similarly, but have very different meanings? Check their pronunciation and meaning in a dictionary. Answer Q2 • The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse. Answer Q3 • When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes. Answer Q4 • The insurance was invalid for the invalid. Answer
“A Baker from Goa” recalls the tradition of Goan bakers from the time of:
A Mughal rule B British rule C French rule D Portuguese rule
Flashcards & interactive practice 
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