Travel and Adventure

Class 7 English · Poorvi · Chapter 4

Visual story

Watch as story

Tap a card to open it full-screen — swipe through like a story.

159 members in the CBSE community

View all
CBSE Class 7 · Marks Booster KitEnglish
Tap the envelope to open your kit
Explore all 7 pagesKit cover
Open your kit

Explore all 7 pages · Page 1 is free

All 15 Poorvi texts, unit by unit
  • 5 units: authors, plots and characters
  • Poem devices for every poem
  • Grammar each lesson teaches
  • Word meanings with page numbers
  • Writing formats a school test asks
  • Final test with answers
  • And dozens more key concepts and facts

Only 7 pages · Page 1 free

~135 days left · Annual exams · school dates vary
CBSE Class 7 · Class PackAll available subjects
Tap the envelope to open your kit
Preview 7 PDFs in this packKit cover
Open your kit

Explore all 7 pages · Page 1 is free

All 7 Class 7 kits: rules, dates, traps, tests
  • Science: 12 chapters, 12 traps, a 12-Q test
  • Maths Part II: the five congruence conditions
  • Maths Part I: 8 chapters, lakhs to fractions
  • Social Science: 12 chapters in Part I, 8 in II
  • English: all 15 Poorvi texts, unit by unit
  • Hindi: 10 मल्हार lessons + 4 reading pieces
  • And dozens more key concepts and facts

~7 pages per kit · Page 1 free

~135 days left · Annual exams · school dates vary
View all 10 amazing Marks Booster kits →

The story in short

Unit 4 of Poorvi is built around the spirit of travel, exploration and courage. The opening prose, 'The Tunnel' by Ruskin Bond, follows a curious village boy, Suraj, who walks out to a railway tunnel cut through the jungle and befriends Sunder Singh, the solitary watchman who tends it and signals the trains. Returning at night, the two hear a sawing sound that proves to be a leopard inside the tunnel; by shouting together and raising the lamp they frighten the animal away just before the night mail passes safely. The story celebrates an unlikely friendship and the watchman's calm courage and oneness with jungle life. The unit's poem, 'Travel' by Edna St. Vincent Millay, expresses an irresistible longing for journeys: the speaker hears trains by day and imagines their glowing embers by night, and feels she would board any train no matter where it is going. The third reading is the inspiring true account of Arunima Sinha, a national volleyball player who lost a leg in a train accident yet, guided by mountaineer Bachendri Pal, became the first Indian woman amputee to climb Mount Everest. Together the readings unite the thrill of adventure with the deeper courage, resilience and determination that real journeys demand.

The story in 6 beats

  1. 1Suraj goes to a jungle tunnel to watch the midday train roar out.
  2. 2After the train passes, he walks through the dark tunnel and meets the watchman, Sunder Singh.
  3. 3Sunder Singh tells Suraj about his work, the tunnel, and the leopard that visits the area.
  4. 4The next evening, Suraj returns and hears that the leopard is inside the tunnel before the night train arrives.
  5. 5Sunder Singh and Suraj drive the leopard out, and the night mail thunders safely through the tunnel.
  6. 6Later, Suraj travels by train with his father and sees Sunder Singh’s lamp shining near the tunnel.
The Tunnel (prose) — Suraj, Sunder Singh and the leopardTravel (poem) — Edna St. Vincent Millay and wanderlustArunima Sinha (prose) — first Indian woman amputee on EverestTheme: travel, adventure, courage and resilienceLiterary devices: imagery and personification

Characters & key ideas

Sunder SinghThe brave, solitary tunnel watchman in 'The Tunnel' who lives at one with the jungle and helps frighten the leopard away.
SurajThe curious village boy who befriends the watchman and shares the adventure with the leopard and the night mail.
WanderlustThe strong longing to travel that drives the speaker of the poem 'Travel', who would board any train at all.
Arunima SinhaThe volleyball player who, after losing a leg, became the first Indian woman amputee to summit Mount Everest.
Bachendri PalThe first Indian woman to climb Everest; she mentored Arunima and told her she had already conquered 'the Everest within'.
ImageryVivid sensory description (shimmering heat, shrieking whistles, red cinders on the sky) used in both the prose and the poem.

Word meanings · शब्दार्थ

shimmered
shined with moving light
railway embankment
raised wall carrying railway line
scrub-covered
covered with short bushes
cutting
narrow path cut through hill
plume of smoke
long thin cloud of smoke
contemplation
deep thought
reassure
make someone feel less worried
scuttled
ran quickly
swishing
moving with brushing sound
swooped
moved quickly downward through air
trimming
adjusting the lamp wick
lithe
thin and graceful

Extra questions & answers (board-style)

Let us do these activities before we read.

Let us discuss

Let us discuss

Let us think and reflect

Let us learn

Let us listen

Let us speak

Let us write

Let us explore

Let us do these activities before we read.

Let us discuss

Let us think and reflect

Let us learn

Let us listen

Let us speak

Let us write

Let us explore

Let us do these activities before we read.

Let us discuss

Let us think and reflect

Let us learn

Let us listen

Let us speak

Let us write

Let us explore

Try one from this chapter
Who is the watchman that Suraj befriends in 'The Tunnel'?
Flashcards & interactive practice

Practice quiz · Travel and Adventure

Score on this chapter, climb the leaderboard, and get an AI diagnosis of your mistakes.

Double-checked questions Real exam pattern 1 free quiz every month, then ₹9 per quiz

#1

Travel and Adventure

Start here
English 10 Qs · ~10 min

Instant score, answer review and weak-topic diagnosis

Data & insights