1)  Which season it was? What was the effect of the season? How had the people been moving towards the fair? How was the boy feeling about?

= It was the spring season.

Since it was spring, there was a huge fair in the village. From the wintry shades of narrow lanes and alleys emerged a gaily clad humanity.

Some people walked, some rode on horses, others sat, being carried in bamboo and bullock carts.

The boy was young and full of hopes. He was fascinated by the shops and toys all around and was brimmed with life and mirth.

 

2)  Why did the child lag behind? What desire did he have within himself?

            = We find the child to be irresistibly drawn by all the fascinating toys, flowers, roundabouts, shops, and almost everything he led his eyes onto. No wonder, he is a child who was both repelled and fascinated by the world we see him enter. He was swayed at the beautiful sight and thus, he lagged.

He wanted to buy flowers from the flower seller, ride a roundabout and was fascinated by the toys and balloons that were being sold in the fair.

 

3)  What had been the reactions of the father and the mother when the child put his request?

=The child was engrossed and swayed by the beautiful sight at the fair. But he had no other option than to recede away because his parents were reluctant to buy him any of those toys. To them, it’s an act of greediness.

 

4)  Tell us about the dragonflies and how the boy was after them.

= As we go through the text, we find that the child ran into a flowering mustard-field, pale like melting gold as it swept across miles and miles of even land. A group of dragon-flies were bustling about on their gaudy purple wings, intercepting the flight of a lone black bee or butterfly in search of sweetness from the flowers. The child followed them in the air with his gaze, till one of them would still its wings and rest, and he would try to catch it. But it would go fluttering, flapping, up into the air, when he had almost caught it in his hands.

5)  Why was the boy left behind for the second time?

= The little boy’s eyes lingered on the receded toys and other shops. It was near the roundabout when he realized he had lost his way. He was so engrossed in observing it moving in full swing, men and women shrieking and shouting with dizzy laughter that he lost his way. It was when he called out his parents to allow him a ride in the roundabout that he turned back and understood they weren’t with him. He looked around but there was no sign of them.

6)  When the boy reached near the fair, how did the fair appear and how did he react?

=The boy was extremely joyous when he reached the fair. He was in cloud nine to see such a huge crowd, He was fascinated by the toys he saw in the shop and couldn’t resist buying them. He wanted to buy Gulab jamun, burfi, flowers, balloons and wanted to ride a roundabout. The sight of the fair slowed down his pace due to which he lagged behind.

7)  How had been the feeling of the boy when he saw the sweetmeat seller? Why was he sure that his parents wouldn’t buy any?

= A sweetmeat seller hawked, “Gulab-jaman, rasgulla, burfi, jalebi,” at the corner of the entrance and a crowd pressed around his counter at the foot of an architecture of many-coloured sweets, decorated with leaves of silver and gold. The child stared open-eyed and his mouth watered for the burfi that was his favourite sweet. He insisted his parents to buy him a burfi.

   Little did he know that no matter what his plea would not be heeded because his parents would say he was greedy. So without waiting for an answer, he moved on.

8)  What had been the feelings of the boy about the flower-seller? How did he know that his parents wouldn’t show any interest?

= A flower-seller hawked, “A garland of Gulmohar, a garland of Gulmohar!” The child seemed irresistibly drawn. He went towards the basket where the flowers lay heaped and insisted his parents to buy him a garland. But he well knew his parents would refuse to buy him those flowers because they would say that they were cheap. So, without waiting for an answer, he moved on.

9)  How did the boy feel for balloons? According to him, how his parents would react?

= A man stood holding a pole with yellow, red, green and purple balloons flying from it. The child was simply carried away by the rainbow glory of their silken colours and he was filled with an overwhelming desire to possess them all.

He well knew his parents would never buy him the balloons because they would say he was too old to play with such toys. So he walked on farther.

10) How was the boy disappointed at the snake charmers place with his parents?

= A snake-charmer stood playing the flute to a snake which coiled itself in a basket, its head raised in a graceful bend like the neck of a swan, while the music stole into its invisible ears like the gentle rippling of an invisible waterfall. The child went towards the snake-charmer. But, knowing his parents had forbidden him to hear such coarse music as the snake- charmer played, he proceeded farther.

10)How was the boy strongly attracted by the roundabout? What request did he make this time?

=There was a roundabout in full swing. Men, women and children, carried away in a whirling motion, shrieked and cried with dizzy laughter. The child watched them intently and wanted to ride the roundabout. It was then he turned around to request his parents to allow him to ride when he realised he was lost.

 

12) What shock did the boy experience after making his desire for the roundabout?

= The little boy’s eyes lingered on the receded toys and other shops. It was near the roundabout when he realized he had lost his way. He was so engrossed in observing it moving in full swing, men and women shrieking and shouting with dizzy laughter that he lost his way. It was when he called out his parents to allow him a ride in the roundabout that he turned back and understood they weren’t with him. He looked around but there was no sign of them.

 

13) What had been the initial reaction of the child when he realised that he was lost?

= A full, deep cry rose within the child’s dry throat and with a sudden jerk of his body he ran from where he stood, crying in real fear screaming, “Mother, Father.” Tears rolled down from his eyes, hot and fierce; his flushed face was convulsed with fear. Panic-strickenn, he ran to one side first, then to the other, hither and thither in all directions, knowing not where to go. He wailed. His yellow turban came untied and his clothes became muddy.

14) After running to and fro, how did the boy search for his parents?

=Having run to and fro in a rage of running for a while, he stood defeated, his cries suppressed into sobs. At little distances on the green grass, he could see, through his filmy eyes, men and women talking. He tried to look intently among the patches of bright yellow clothes, but there was no sign of his father and mother among these people, who seemed to laugh and talk just for the sake of laughing and talking.

15) What was the situation of the child near the shrine?

= He ran quickly again, this time to a shrine to which people seemed to be crowding. Every little inch of space here was congested with men, but he ran through people’s legs, sobbing and screaming, “Mother, Father!”

16) How was the child rescued from the crowd near the shrine?

=Near the entrance to the temple, however, the crowd became very thick: men jostled each other, heavy men, with flashing, murderous eyes and hefty shoulders. The poor child struggled to thrust away between their feet but, knocked to and fro by their brutal movements, he might have been trampled underfoot, had he not shrieked at the highest pitch of his voice, “Father, Mother!”

 

17) What did the man ask the boy after he saved him?

=A man in the surging crowd heard the child’s cry and, stooping with great difficulty, lifted him up in his arms. The man asked about the child’s whereabouts as he steered clear of the mass. The child wept more bitterly than ever now and only cried, “I want my mother, I want my father!”

18) The man took the boy to the roundabout. What happened there?

=The man tried to soothe him by taking him to the roundabout. The man offered the child a ride as he neared the ring. But the child’s throat tore into a thousand shrill sobs and he only shouted: “I want my mother; I want my father!”

19) What happened when the man took the boy to the snake charmer’s place?

=The man headed towards the place where the snake- charmer still played on the flute to the swaying cobra. He pleaded to the child to listen to the nice music. But the child shut his ears with his fingers and shouted his double-pitched strain: “I want my mother; I want my father!”

20) How did the man try to quieten him with balloons? How did the child react?

= The man took him near the balloons, thinking the bright colours of the balloons would distract the child’s attention and quieten him. He persuasively offered the child a balloon. But the child turned his eyes from the flying balloons and just sobbed, “I want my mother, I want my father!”

21) What happened when the boy was taken to the flower seller?

=Without being fed up, the man still tried to woo the child, bore him to the gate where the flower-seller sat. He showed him all the beautiful flowers the seller was selling and offered him some flowers. The child denied by turning his nose away from the basket and reiterated his sob: “I want my mother; I want my father!”

22) What happened when the boy was taken to the sweet seller’s shop?

=Thinking to humour his disconsolate charge by a gift of sweets, the man took him to the counter of the sweet shop and offered him, sweets. But like every time, the child turned his face from the sweet shop and only sobbed, “I want my mother, I want my father!

23) Compare critically the desires of the boy before and after getting lost.

= At the beginning, when the child-headed towards the fair, he was engrossed and swayed by the beautiful sight at the fair. As he neared the village, he could see many other footpaths full of throngs, converging to the whirlpool of the fair, and felt at once repelled and fascinated by the confusion of the world he was entering. He wanted toys as he headed towards the toy shops, burfi from the sweetmeat seller, the garland of Gulmohar from the flower seller, the coarse music played by the snake charmer that had all his ears and last but not the least – a ride in the roundabout. But as we see, when in a crowd, the child lags behind and lost his parents, we see a sudden change in his desires. Having lost his parents, the child was panic-stricken and was in deep fright. His voice shook and tears rolled down his cheeks. The same eyes which lingered on the fascinated toys in the fair are searching for his parents. The attractive no longer attracts him. He was petrified by the separation from his parents and all he wanted that time was to be united with his parents. The snake charmer could no longer charm the child with his music. The flowers smell stale to him. The child stood defeated and was quietened in the chaos. He realized the worth of being with parents. The child’s throat tore into a thousand shrill sobs and he reiterated, “I want my mother, I want my father!

 

 

24) How does the author reflect nature and rural festival depicting Indian spirit?

=The story starts with the festival of spring where we see a clad of people heading towards the fair gaily. The story appropriately upholds the rural festival depicting Indian spirit. Starting right with the sweet shop, toys, balloons, rural Indian fairs are incomplete without these things. Nature and aesthetic rural aura become more conspicuous to us when we come across the small little shops described as sweet seller, flower seller and snake charmer. We find the child talking about dragonflies bustling about on their gaudy purple wings, intercepting the flight of a lone black bee or butterfly in search of sweetness from the flowers in a flowering mustard-field, pale like melting gold as it swept across miles and miles of even land. The Indian spirit becomes more evident when the child heard the cooing of doves and ran towards it. The raining petals dropped from his forgotten hands. Even when he went running in wild capers around the banyan tree, and gathering him up they took the narrow, winding footpath which led to the fair through the mustard fields. All these earthly things are the evidence of a rural festival depicting Indian spirit.

 

25) “The story reflects a playful and innocent desire of a child”—Discuss with references to the story.

= Out of a gaily clad of humanity, emerged a little boy brimming over with life and laughter, agitated by the festival of spring. The little boy is too young to be repelled by various things exposed to the fair. On his way, he gets fascinated by every little thing he sees. He saw a lot of toy shops. In the flowering mustard field, he sees dragonflies intercepting the flight of a lone black bee, butterflies fluttering around the flowers. Then, while walking on the footpath, he is distracted by the insects and worms teeming out from their hiding places to enjoy the sunshine. When a shower of young petals falls upon the child as he enters the grove forgetting his parents, he begins to gather the raining petals in his hand. The cooing of doves drives him back to his parents. A sweetmeat seller selling sweets like burfi, Gulab-jamun amazes him and a little further he finds a flower seller selling Gulmohar. Walking ahead, he sees a man selling rainbow-coloured balloons. He also sees a snake charmer playing the flute to the snake. He sees a roundabout in full swing but by that time he had already lost his parents. All these things appeared very attractive and fascinating to him. He couldn’t help but insist on his parents to buy him all of these things but receded his gaze away as soon as he saw his father’s cold stare. His innocence is well evident in the story.

 

26) The story presents a strong family bond beyond materialistic things. Discuss with reference to the story.

=The story compiled by Mulk Raj Anand depicts a strong family bond beyond the materialistic things. Initially, we see the child heading towards the fair, he was engrossed and swayed by the beautiful sight at the fair. As he neared the village, he could see many other footpaths full of throngs, converging to the whirlpool of the fair, and felt at once repelled and fascinated by the confusion of the world he was entering. He wanted toys as he headed towards the toy shops, burfi from the sweetmeat seller, the garland of Gulmohar from the flower seller, the coarse music played by the snake charmer that had all his ears and last but not the least – a ride in the roundabout. But as we see, when in a crowd, the child lags behind and loses his parents, we see a sudden change in his desires. He wants nothing but his parents. Those colourful balloons, snake charmer’s song, ride on roundabout seemed to not fascinate him anymore.Having lost his parents, the child was panic-stricken and was in deep fright. His voice shook and tears rolled down his cheeks. The same eyes which lingered on the fascinated toys in the fair are searching for his parents. The attractive no longer attracts him. He was petrified by the separation from his parents and all he wanted that time was to be united with his parents. The snake charmer could no longer charm the child with his music. The flowers smell stale to him. The child stood defeated and was quietened in the chaos. He realized the worth of being with parents. The child’s throat tore into a thousand shrill sobs and he reiterated, “I want my mother, I want my father!

 We didn’t get any clear ending in this story but we find his parents as much tempted as their child getting lost. We find the parents as well searching for their missing child and keeps no stones unturned. The story didn’t give us a proper closure. The writer lets us interpret and decide the future course. 

 

27) “Worldly desires are of no use when a child has lost parental shelters.”- Discuss this with reference to the text.

= Having lost his parents, the child was panic-stricken and was in deep fright. His voice shook and tears rolled down his cheeks. The same eyes which lingered on the fascinated toys in the fair are searching his parents. The attractive no longer attracts him. He was petrified by the separation from his parents and all he wanted that time was to be united with his parents. The snake charmer could no longer charm the child with his music. The flowers smell stale to him. The child stood defeated and was quietened in the chaos. He realized the worth of being with parents. The child’s throat tore into a thousand shrill sobs and he reiterated, “I want my mother, I want my father!

Hence from the story, we can see how the tables got turned. Initially, when the child was fascinated by the different shops and flowers from the fair and couldn’t buy it due to the repeated denial from his parents, we found him getting sad. But nothing made him as sad as losing his parents in the crowd. In time, he realised the worth of parental shelters and no matter how fascinated things stood Infront of him, he was not at all moved. Thus, we could conclude how worldly desires are of no use when one loses one’s parental shelter.