Unit - 8 : A Short Monsoon Diary English - Unit - 8 : A Short Monsoon Diary

The drongos

The author could hear Bijju ...

The trees turning grey gives the diarist a feeling of

Because of the continuous rain at night ...

The leopard had to flee at the approach of

Chuchundars are lucky according to the children's grandmother.

Winter rain starts in September.

Flitting scarlet minivets looked like brilliant jewels.

Bijju's cows could not be saved in spite of his mother's curses.

The seeds of cobra lily turning red signify the beginning of heavy rain.

All night the rain ………….1…………… (drum) on the corrugated tin roof. There ………..2……………. (be) no storm, no thunder, just the steady swish of a tropical downpour. It helps me ………….3…………… (lie) awake; at the same time, it doesn’t keep me from …………..4…………… (sleep).

The blackest cloud I …………1…………. ever …………….1……….. (see) squatted over Mussoorie, and then it …………2………… (hall) marbles for half an horn. Nothing like a hailstorm …………3……….. (clear) the sky. Even as I write, I see a rainbow ………..4…………… (form).

(climbing, blankets, silent, melancholy, mist, conceal) The first day of monsoon ……………..1……………. . And it’s strange how all the birds fall ……………2…………… as the mist comes …………..3………….. up the hill. Perhaps that’s what makes the mist so …………..4………….. ; not only does it …………….5………….. the hills, it ……………6………… them in silence too.

(tropical, steady, drumming, awake, corrugated, thunder) All night the rain has been …………….1…………… on the ……………2………….. tin roof. There has been no storm, no ………………3………… , just the ………….4………….. swish of a ……………5…………….. downpour. It helps me to lie ………….6…………… ; at the same time, it doesn’t keep me from sleeping.

The bright light suffused the leaves with a golden glow. (saturated with, deprived with, made wet with)

He’s my brother, so I support him all the way. (completely, closely, thoughtlessly)

You must keep the child from her mother until the mother is infection-free. (hold away from, keep in touch, keep alert about)

The blackest cloud squatted over the city. (showered over, flew over, settled down over)

Harry walked through the kitchen and 1 snapped up two cookies on the way. (stole, ate up, grasped quickly)

The rains have heralded the arrival of some seasonal visitors several thousand leeches. a leopard, and Yesterday afternoon the leopard lifted a dog from near the servants' quarter below the school. In the evening it attacked one of Bijju's cows but fled at the approach of Bijju's mother, who came screaming imprecations.
As for the leeches, I shall soon get used to a little bloodletting everyday.
Other new arrivals are the scarlet minivets (the females are yellow), flitting silently among the leaves like brilliant jewels. No matter how leafy the trees, these brightly coloured birds cannot conceal themselves, although, by remaining absolutely silent, they sometimes contrive to go unnoticed. Along come a pair of drongos, unnecessarily aggressive, chasing the minivets away.
Questions:
(1) Who were the seasonal visitors? Why are they called so?
(2) How were Bijju's cows saved ?
(3) What will the writer get soon used to?
(4) Why do minivets sometimes contrive to go unnoticed?

August 3
The rain stops. The clouds begin to break up, the sun strikes the hill on my left. A woman is chopping up sticks. I hear the tinkle of cowbells. In the oak tree, a crow shakes the raindrops from his feathers and caws disconsolately. Water drips from a leaking drainpipe. And suddenly, clean and pure, the song of the whistling thrush emerges like a dark sweet secret from the depths of the ravine.
August 12
Endless rain, and a permanent mist. We haven't seen the sun for eight or nine days. Everything damp and soggy. Nowhere to go. Pace the room, look out of the window at a few bobbing umbrellas. At least it isn't cold rain. The hillsides are lush as late-monsoon flowers begin to appear - wild balsam, dahlias, begonias and ground orchids.
Questions:
(1) What is the crow in the oak doing after the rain stops?
(2) From where does the song of a thrush come ?
(3) Why hasn't there been the sun for eight or nine days?
(4) Describe the scene outside the room.

According to the diarist who are the seasonal visitors ?

How is the silence within contrasted with the sound of winter rains in the hills?

Describe the arrival of the minivets.

What did the leopard do?

When does the monsoon season begin and when does it end? How do you prepare to face the monsoon ?

We haven’t seen the sun for eight or nine days.

A school boy asked me to describe the hill-station.

A woman is chopping up sticks.

The mist affords a certain privacy.

It blankets them in silence.

It is very lonely, very quiet. (Turn into Exclamatory.)

The seeds of the cobra lily are turning red, signifying that the rains are coming to end. (Turn into Simple.)

They sometimes contrive to go unnoticed. (Use ‘without’.)

I can hear him running about on the hillside. (Change the Voice.)

Water drips from a leaking drainpipe. (Turn into Complex.)

It is a good sound to read …………..1…………… -the rain outside, ………….2………….. quiet within – and, ……………..3………… tin roofs are given ………….4………… springing unaccountable leaks, there is ………….5…………… feeling of being untouched by, and …………..6……………. in touch with, the rain.

In ………….1…………….. hushed silence of the house …………….2………….. I am quite alone, ………….3……………. my friend, who was here has gone, it is very lonely, very quiet, ……………4…………….. I sit in a liquid silence, a silence …………..5…………. surrounded …………….6………….. the rhythm of rain.

Prometheus: Zeus must be very angry l with me. Epimetheus: I know, you promised not to .steal the fire, and you did. Prometheus: Mortals needed it. Fire is useful for them. Epimetheus: Yes, but we must be very careful.

The nephews said, “Sir, the bird’s education has been completed.” “Does it hop?” the Raja enquired. “Never!” said the nephews. “Does it fly?” “No.”