C. Mouneet, From The Very Beginning, Appears To Be Extremely Nervous and Panicky and Has Very Little

THE GREAT WALL OF RISHIKESH
B. 1. a. The narrator refers to his friend Mouneet.

b. On the first evening of the camp, Mouneet had boldly declared that river rafting was extremely easy
for him and he would conquer the fearful rapids successfully.
c. The three friends—Chetan, Mouneet and Rishad met up at Rishikesh and checked into a tented rafting
camp and decided to go for river rafting. Chetan and Rishad were excited by the idea but Mouneet
wasn’t. He was petrified of the idea. However, he decided not to expose this weakness of his and
therefore confidently declared over dinner that rafting would be extremely easy for him.
2. a. Mouneet released a series of belches because owing to their rafting adventures in the rapids of the
Wall, Mouneet had swallowed almost a bathtub full of water. Moreover, he broke the water surface of
the air and took in deep gulps of air.
b. The narrator compared the noises made by Mouneet to the cries of a lonely leopard.
c. After this, the rafters spent twenty more minutes in the water and faced two more rapids. These
rapids were like gentle ripples of a calm sea.
C. Mouneet, from the very beginning, appears to be extremely nervous and panicky and has very little
knowledge of what to do during a difficult situation. At the beginning, in spite of getting scared and
frightened at the prospect of rafting, he declares boldly over dinner that rafting would be extremely
easy for him. He does this in order to hide his weakness. However, he is unable to hide his true feelings
from his friends. When the instructions are given by the river guide, Kana Singh, Mouneet freezes in
terror at the danger of facing the rapids. Neither does he listen to the instructions carefully nor does he
focus on tackling the rapids like his friends. Instead, he believes that he is in a grave danger and hopes
for divine intervention. Neither does he enjoy the thrill of rafting nor does he understand the need to
fight and survive in these situations. At the end, instead of taking a life lesson from the event; he
completely turns it around, twists the details, gives the entire episode a heroic shape in order to prove
how brave and courageous he had been and presents misleading facts while narrating it.
THE UNUSUAL SPECTATOR
B. 1. a. Nakoo was avenging his dismissal from the cricket pitch by the boys. Earlier, he was basking in
the sun by lying on the boys’ cricket pitch. The boys hit him pebbles and finally hit his snout with a
cricket ball and made him leave his place.
b. During the match, Sheroo kept on hitting boundaries and one such time, he hit the ball high towards
the river. When Nakoo saw the ball coming towards him, he opened his jaws wide and caught the ball
between his back teeth. He got his teeth deep into it and chewed it.
c. Nakoo liked the taste of the ball which was a perfect combination of cork and leather. He decided that
he would eat up all the other balls if they happen to come his way.
2. a. The ‘him’ in these lines is the bank manager.
b. Post lunch, when the bank manager went to open the batting order for Ranji’s team with Nathu,
Sheroo bowled him in the very first ball. It was then that the bank manager angrily complained that he
wasn’t ready and that he got distracted by a fly which got into his eye. He swatted bitterly at the flies
which no one else could spot.
c. The bank manager walked over to the banyan tree and laid down on a cot which was especially
brought for him by the villagers. The cot creaked with his weight but he felt fast asleep on it. It was at
this time that the flies did not seem to be bothering him anymore.
C. 1. From the very beginning of the story, we see that the adults have a considerable control over the
cricket matches played by the boys. The fathers of the town boys quite often turned up for a game with
their sons. They were not very good in their games but they couldn’t be told that since they provided
the pocket money for all the bats and balls. Therefore, in spite of their lack of skills, they were included
in the games. We also learn that during the conversation between Ranji and Nathu that Anil’s father has
the ball but he will bring it only if he is allowed to open the batting for the team. Later, when the game is
in full swing and the boys lose their ball to Nakoo, the bank manager produces a new ball, but insists
that he bowls with it first. Moreover, when after lunch, he comes to bat with Nathu and gets out in the
very first ball; he does not accept his failure and insists that he had got distracted by the flies―flies
which did not exist. Finally, after all the fiasco ended and Sheroo offered a return match the following
week, the adults unceremoniously opted out of it saying that they weren’t available the next week.
2. Nakoo quietly crept up from the river on to the riverbank. No one had noticed him and he had quietly
slid under the cot on which the bank manager was resting. There was enough room for Nakoo to
squeeze in and on doing so he quickly dozed off. The cricket match was in full swing and Ranji decided to
finish it off with a boundary. The ball went high towards the banyan tree and hit Nakoo on the jaw and
loosened a tooth of his. Nakoo jumped forward with its tail beating and jaws snapping. The cot, along
with the manager rose with him and as he moved forward, the cot went along with him. The bank
manager woke up to find the cot moving violently from one side to the other. The boys moved about in
all directions as Nakoo went towards the wicket, knocking down the stumps, digging the pitch, and
swallowing a hat and a glove. The bank manager screamed in fear asking the boys for help. The problem
was solved when Nakoo dived into the river, back to his familiar place. The bank manager stumbled into
the water and crawled up the bank, when Nakoo made for the opposite shore.
MISSED
A. 1. The beauty of the bright, summer day along with the continuous low and humming sound of a bee
had lured the speaker’s attention from the game.
2. The line, ‘I heard in stupor the bowler emit a self-satisfied ‘Ah!’’ tells us that the bowler had already
started celebrating the wicket.
3. a. The batsman had begun to detach himself from the wicket because he was under the impression
that the speaker had caught the ball in the air as a result of which he would be declared ‘out’ from the
game. He had failed to notice that the speaker had missed the catch as his attention had diverted.
b. No, he did not have to walk back to the pavilion because the fielder that is the speaker had missed the
catch.
c. Initially, the batsman had started moving away from the wickets and had turned towards the pavilion
because he had not realised that the speaker had missed the catch. However, when the speaker
groaned in disappointment and the bowler muttered in a low, irritable way, the batsman realised that
the catch had not been taken and he wasn’t going to be dismissed from the game.
4. The speaker at the beginning thought that he would take the catch easily, but the beauty of the
pleasant summer day and the continuous hum of a bee near his ear distracted him from a while and he
missed the easiest catch. The bowler, thinking that the catch had been taken, gave out a self-
congratulatory exclamation. This exclamation changed to a loud and angry murmur when he realized
that the fielder had missed such an easy catch and mocked him later. The batsman had started moving
away from the wickets as he hadn’t realised that the catch had been dropped. The little boys who were
sitting on the roller cheered expectantly and the crowd gave out a loud, euphoric cheer only to be
disappointed.
The speaker felt extremely disappointed and upset after missing an easy catch. He says that the loud
expectant yell from the crowd and the bowler’s ridicules will make him feel the pangs of failure
throughout. Since he couldn’t perform well during a cricket match, he has decided to give up the game
altogether. If ever he is asked to play cricket, he will remove himself from the place and the opportunity.
5. The speaker wants to give up cricket and take up golf in the future. The line, ‘Oh, give me my driver
and putter! Henceforth my game shall be golf,’ tells us that the speaker wants to give up cricket and take
up a game where he could not bungle catches anymore.

C. Mouneet, From The Very Beginning, Appears To Be Extremely Nervous and Panicky and Has Very Little

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THE GREAT WALL OF RISHIKESH

B. 1. a. The narrator refers to his friend Mouneet.

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