POETS AND PANCAKES, GRADE 12 ENGLISH CORE (CBSE), EXTRACT BASED ANSWERS, SHORT ANSWERS AND LONG ANSWER

 

 

 

 

POETS AND PANCAKES

BY ASOKAMITHRAN

GRADE 12, ENGLISH CORE (CBSE)

EXTRACT BASED ANSWERS, SHORT ANSWERS AND LONG ANSWER

mkchandran.blogspot.com

 

EXTRACT BASED ANSWERS

1. "In all instances of frustration , you will always find the anger directed towards a single person openly or covertly and this man of the make-up department was convinced that all his woes, ignominy and neglect were due to Kothamangalam Subbu"

A. Who is the "Single person" referred to?

Ans: Kothamangalam Subbu, a tailor-made for films.

B. Who is the frustrated man here?

Ans: The office boy of the make-up department. He is forty years old but his designation is an office boy.

C. What was the frustration of the office boy?

Ans: When he joined the Gemini Studio, he thought that he would become a star actor, a top screen play writer or at least a lyrics writer. But he couldn't reach anywhere. This made him frustrated.

D. Who was the source of the office boy's woes?

Ans: The office boy thought that Kothamangalam Subbu was the entire source of his woes

 

2. "He couldn't have addressed a more dazed and silent audience-no one knew what he was talking about and his accent defeated any attempt to understand what he was saying. The whole thing lasted about an hour; then the poet left and we all dispersed in utter bafflement-what are we doing"

A. Who was the mentioned speaker?

Ans: The British poet, Stephen Spender. Once he visited Gemini Studio to know the progress of communism in India.

B. Why was the audience silent and confused?

Ans: The audience was silent and confused because they couldn't understand anything. Stephen Spender's accent was not digestible to the poor workers of Gemini Studio.

C. Why did Stephen Spender select the Gemini Studio?

Ans: According to Asokamithran, no one welcomed Stephen Spender except the Gemini studio. So he selected it.

D. Who was the audience of Stephen Spender?

Ans: His audience was six hundred workers of the Gemini Studio.

SHORT ANSWERS.

1. How did the Gemini Studio become first in the matter of national integration?

Ans: The make-up department of the Gemini Studio became the first in the national integration of India. Before the AIR and the Dooradharsan were broadcasting on national integration awareness, the make-up department of the Gemini Studio practically showed it.

Under the roof of make-up department there were many make-up men from all over India and they worked together without any bias and prejudices. They showed the unity of Indians.

2. How was the make-up room in the Gemini Studio?

Ans: The make-up room was in the upstairs of the building. Formerly, that building was Robert Clive's stables. The make-up room was connected with many incandescent lights which would produce extreme heat. There had many mirrors on the walls. The room was very uncomfortable because of the heat from the light and it was a fiery misery.

3. What was the hierarchy in the make-up department?

Ans: The chief make-up man would do make-up of main heroes and heroines. His senior assistant would do the second heroes and heroines. His junior assistant was entrusted to do make-up of comedians and so on. The office boy had to do the make-up of the crowd actors.

4. What was Asokamithran's job in the Gemini Studio?

Ans: Asokamithran's job in the Gemini Studio was to cut a wide variety of newspaper clippings and file them for the future reference.

5. What was the work of the office boy? Why was he disappointed?

Ans: The office boy was also a make-up man. He had to do the make-up of crowd actors. He would mix the paint and the pancakes in big vessels and slapped it on the crowd players.

He was disappointed because he couldn't become a main actor, screen-play writer, director or lyrics writer.

6.  Who was Kothamangalam subbu? What was his special qualities?

Ans: Kothamangalam Subbu was No. 2 in the Gemini Studio. He was a tailor made for films. He had proved his identity as a poet, story teller and actor. Thillana Mohanambal was his novel. He was very kindhearted and improvident man who helped more than a dozen people by providing them food and shelter. He had solutions of all the complicated problems connected to film industry. 

7. Did the employees at Gemini Studio have any particular political party?

Ans: No, but they liked Gandhi. They wore khadi dhoti and khadi shirt. They were against communism because they thought that communists were considered as godless men and against the conjugal love.

8. What was the job of the lawyer in the Gemini studio?

Ans: The lawyer had no job in the Gemini Studio. He was registered in the story department. But he didn't prove anything worthwhile in the story department. He was known as the legal adviser, but he never visited the court and justified his position as an advocate.

9. Why did the poets like the Gemini Studio?

Ans: The poets liked Gemini Studio because there had an excellent mess that served good coffee at day and the first half of the night. The poets like S.D.S Yogiar, Sangu Subramanyan, Krishna Sastry and Harindranath Chattopadyaya frequently visited the studio. The studio also provided a creative mood to the poets.

10. What do you mean by M.R.A? Why did the people attract M.R.A?

Ans: M.R.A means Frank Buchman's Moral Re-Armament army. It was a counter movement to international communism. It consisted of two hundred people. They staged two plays named 'Jotham Valley' and 'The Forgotten Factor' Those plays became  super hits because they were played in a professional manner. Later Tamil amateur drama troops copied their settings.

11. Briefly describe Stephan Spender's visit to Gemini Studio?

Ans: Stephen Spender, an English poet from England visited Gemini Studio. But his visit was a flop show. Nobody knew who he was and what his purpose was. The communication between the employees of the studio and the poet was a failure because his accent was not digestible to the poor employees. His purpose was to study how communism was spreading in India.

12. How did Asokamithran learn about the identity of the English poet?

Ans: One day Asokamithran visited the British Council Library for searching a copy of "The Encounter", a magazine published from London. Stephen Spender was one of its editors. In this way he understood the identity of the English poet who visited the Gemini Studio.

13. What do you know about "The God That Failed"?

Ans: 'The God that failed' is a book on communism. The book was written by six eminent writers who narrated their experiences with communism and God. Once they attracted to the God, but soon they disillusioned. They were Stephen Spender, Andre Gide, Ignacio Silone, Richard Wright, Arthur Koestler and Louis Fisher.

14. What did the Gemini people think about communists?

Ans: According to the workers of the Gemini Studio Communists were godless people. They had no filial or conjugal love. They were cruel, even they were ready to kill their father and son for their party. They spread violence among the innocent and ignorant people.

LONG ANSWER     

1. Describe the make-up department of the Gemini Studio.

Ans: The make-up department of the Gemini Studio was situated in the upstairs of the building.  On the walls there hung half a dozen mirrors and it gave an air of a hair cutting saloon. There had many incandescent lamps that produced unbearable heat. The make-up room was an uncomfortable place to those who engaged in the make-up.

The make-up department was headed by a Bengali. When he left the job a Maharashtrian succeeded him. The people from all over India were assembled under the roof of the make-up room. They were from different castes, creeds and religions. The make-up department showed the correct slogan for National Integration.

The make-up department followed a strict hierarchy. The chief make-up man made ugly the main heroes and heroines. The senior assistant make-up man dealt the second heroes and heroines. The junior assistant did the make-up to the comedians and so on. The office boy painted to those who were as crowd actors.