Chapter 18 – Kathmandu Solutions
Question - 1 : - On the following map mark out the route, which the author thought of but did not take, to Delhi.
Answer - 1 : -
Route ¡s shown by dotted line
- Kathmandu to Patna by bus & train
- Patna to Allaha bad by boat/Ganges
- Allahabad to Delhi by boat/Yamuna
Question - 2 : - Find out the possible routes (by rail, road or air) from Kathmandu to New Delhi/ Mumbai/Kolkata/Chennai.
Answer - 2 : -
For self-attempt. Students may take the Atlas of the country and see or find themselves the air, road routes from Kathmandu to New Delhi/Mumbai/Kolkata/Chennai.
Some possible routes are :
By Road
- Kathmandu – Viratnagar – Patna
- Kathmandu – Nepalganj – Gorakhpur
By Rail
- Patna – Delhi
- Gorakhpur – Delhi
- Patna – Kolkata
- Gorakhpur – Varanasi – Kolkata
- Patna – Allahabad – Mumbai
- Gorakhpur – Allahabad – Mumbai
- Patna – Khadagpur – Chennai
- Gorakhpur – Allahabad – Nagpur – Chennai
Question - 3 : - Name the two temples the author visited in Kathmandu.
Answer - 3 : -
Pashupatinath and Baudhnath Stupa.
Question - 4 : - The writer says, “All this I wash down with Coca Cola.” What does ‘all this’ refer to?
Answer - 4 : -
Com-on-the-cob and marzipan.
Question - 5 : - What does Vikram Seth compare to the quills of a porcupine?
Answer - 5 : -
The flutes tied on the top of the flute seller’s pole.
Question - 6 : - Name five kinds of flutes.
Answer - 6 : -
The reed neh, the recorder, the Japanese shakuhachi, the deep bansuri, the breathy flutes of South America, the high pitched Chinese flutes.
Question - 7 : - What difference does the author note between the flute seller and the other hawkers?
Answer - 7 : -
The author finds a difference in selling the articles. The flute seller does not shout out his wares. He makes a sale in a curiously offhanded way as if this was incidental to his enterprise.
Question - 8 : - What is the belief at Pashupatinath about the end of Kaliyug?
Answer - 8 : -
People believe that when a small shrine emerges fully on Bagwati river, the goddess inside will escape, and the evil period of the Kalyug will end on earth.
Question - 9 : - The author has drawn powerful images and pictures. Pick out three examples each of
- the atmosphere of ‘febrile confusion’ outside the temple of Pashupatinath (for example: some people trying to get the priest’s attention are elbowed aside…)
- the things he sees
- the sounds he hears
Answer - 9 : -
- The author describes the monkey’s fight vividly and graphically. A fight breaks out between two monkeys. One chases the other, who jumps onto a shivalinga, then runs screaming around the temples and down to the river.
- The author observes a princess of the Nepalese royal house. Everyone bows to her. He sees monkeys. He sees felt bags, Tibetan prints and silver jewellery. He looks at flute sellers, hawkers of postcards, shops selling western cosmetics, etc.
- He hears film songs from the radios, car horns, bicycle bells, stray cows low and vendors shout out their wares. He also listens to the various flutes played by the flute seller.
Question - 10 : - Compare and contrast the atmosphere in and around the Baudhnath shrine with the Pashupatinath temple.
Answer - 10 : -
At Pashupatinath there is an atmosphere of ‘febrile confusion’. Priests, hawkers, devotees, tourists, cows, monkeys, pigeons and dogs roam through the grounds. There are so many worshippers that some people trying to get the priest’s attention are elbowed aside by others pushing their way to the front. At the Baudhnath stupa, the Buddhist shrine of Kathmandu, there is a sense of stillness. Its immense white dome is ringed by a road. Small shops stand on its outer edge. Most of the shops are owned by Tibetan immigrants. There are no crowds and this is a haven of quietness in the busy streets around.