Flamingo Prose Chapter 5 Indigo English - Flamingo Prose Chapter 5 Indigo

Early in the Champaran action, Charles Freer Andrews, the English pacifist who had become a devoted follower of the Mahatma, came to bid Gandhi farewell before going on a tour of duty to the Fiji Islands. Gandhi's lawyer friends thought it would be a good idea for Andrews to stay in Champaran and help them. Andrews was willing if Gandhi agreed.
But Gandhi was vehemently opposed to it. He said, “You think that in this unequal fight it would be helpful if we have an Englishman on our side. This shows the weakness of your heart. The cause is just and you must rely upon yourselves to win the battle.
You should not seek a prop in Mr. Andrews because he happens to be an Englishman”.“He had read our minds correctly,” Rajendra Prasad comments, “and we had no reply... Gandhi in this way taught us a lesson in self-reliance".Self-reliance, Indian independence and help to sharecroppers were all bound together.
1.Who had become a devoted follower of the Mahatma?
a) Rajendra Prasad
b) Charles Freer Andrews
c) Mahadev Desai
d) Narhari Parikh
2.What did Gandhi's lawyer friends think to be a good idea?
a) Gandhi going on a tour of duty
b) Charles Freer Andrews staying in Champaran
c) Seeking help from the British government
d) Ignoring Andrews' presence
3.Why was Gandhi opposed to seek Andrew's help?
a) Andrews was not willing to help
b) Gandhi didn't like Andrews
c) Gandhi believed in self-reliance
d) Andrews was going to the Fiji Islands
4.According to Rajendra Prasad, what had Gandhi taught them?
a) The art of negotiation
b) A lesson in self-reliance
c) The importance of pacifism
d) The need for British support
5.Find the word from the passage which means 'completely loyal to somebody'.
a) Devoted
b) Opposed
c) Vehement
d) Reluctant
6.Find the word from the passage which is opposite to 'wrongly'.
a) Correctly
b) Mistakenly
c) Inaccurately
d) Improperly

The Champaran episode was a turning-point in Gandhi's life. "What I did,” he explained, "was a very ordinary thing. I declared that the British could not order me about in my own country.” But Champaran did not begin as an act of defiance.
It grew out of an attempt to alleviate the distress of large numbers of poor peasants. This was the typical Gandhi pattern - his politics were intertwined with the practical, day-to-day problems of the millions. His was not a loyalty to abstractions; it was a loyalty to living, human beings. In everything Gandhi did, more over, he tried to mould a new free Indian who could stand on his own feet and thus make India free.
1.What was the turning point in Gandhi's life?
a) Salt March
b) Champaran episode
c) Quit India Movement
d) Dandi March
2.What did Gandhi declare?
a) Independence of India
b) The British could not order him about in his own country
c) Support for the British rule
d) Submission to British authority
3.What was Gandhi's politics intertwined with?
a) Religious doctrines
b) Practical, day-to-day problems of the millions
c) International affairs
d) Military strategies
4.What did Gandhi try in everything he did?
a) Establishing a monarchy
b) Molding a new free Indian
c) Promoting colonial rule
d) Ignoring social issues
5.Find the word from the passage which means 'disobedience'.
a) Loyalty
b) Defiance
c) Submission
d) Allegiance
6.Find the word from the passage which is opposite to 'extraordinary'.
a) Ordinary
b) Remarkable
c) Exceptional
d) Unusual

Health conditions were miserable. Gandhi got a doctor to volunteer his services for six months. Three medicines were available -- castor oil, quinine and sulphur ointment. Anybody who showed a coated tongue was given a dose of castor oil; anybody with malaria fever received quinine plus castor oil; anybody with skin eruptions received ointment plus castor oil.
Gandhi noticed the filthy state of women's clothes. He asked Kasturbai to talk to them about it. One woman took Kasturbai into her hut and said, “Look, there is no box or cupboard here for clothes. The sari I am wearing is the only one I have.”
1.For how much time did the doctor volunteer his services?
a) Three months
b) Six months
c) One year
d) Indefinitely
2.Which were the three medicines that were available?
a) Aspirin, penicillin, and cough syrup
b) Castor oil, quinine, and sulphur ointment
c) Antibiotics, painkillers, and vitamins
d) Herbal remedies, pain relief patches, and antacids
3.What did Gandhi notice?
a) Filthy state of men's clothes
b) Lack of proper sanitation
c) Poor living conditions
d) All of the above
4.What did the woman tell Kasturba?
a) She had plenty of clothes
b) There was no box or cupboard for clothes in her hut
c) She didn't need any help
d) She had lost all her clothes
5.Find the word from the passage which means 'very unhappy'.
a) Miserable
b) Content
c) Jubilant
d) Pleasant
6.Find the word from the passage which is opposite to things that you cannot get easily'.
a) Rare
b) Accessible
c) Scarce
d) Abundant

Events justified Gandhi's position. Within a few years the British planters abandoned their estates, which reverted to the peasants. Indigo sharecropping disappeared. Gandhi never contented himself with large political or economic solutions. He saw the cultural and social backwardness in the Champaran villages and wanted to do something about it immediately.
He appealed for teachers. Mahadev Desai and Narhari Parikh, two young men who had just joined Gandhi as disciples, and their wives, volunteered for the work. Several more came from Bombay, Poona and other distant parts of the land. Devadas, Gandhi's youngest son, arrived from the ashram and so did Mrs. Gandhi. Primary schools were opened in six villages. Kasturbai taught the ashram rules on personal cleanliness and community sanitation.
1.What happened within a few years?
a) The peasants revolted
b) The British planters abandoned their estates
c) The indigo sharecropping increased
d) Gandhi left Champaran
2.What did Gandhi see in the Champaran villages?
a) Economic prosperity
b) Cultural and social backwardness
c) Political dominance
d) Educational advancements
3.Write the names of two young men who had joined Gandhi as disciples.
a) Mahatma and Desai
b) Mahadev Desai and Narhari Parikh
c) Gandhi and Parikh
d) Mahadev and Narhari
4.What did Kasturba teach?
a) Agricultural practices
b) Industrial skills
c) Ashram rules on personal cleanliness and community sanitation
d) Political activism
5.Find the word from the passage which means ‘returned'.
a) Abandoned
b) Revolted
c) Disappeared
d) Reverted
6.Find the word from the passage which is opposite to ‘near'.
a) Distant
b) Immediate
c) Close
d) Proximity

They thought he would demand repayment in full of the money which they had illegally and deceitfully extorted from the sharecroppers. He asked only 50 percent. “There he seemed adamant," writes Reverend J. Z. Hodge, a British missionary in Champaran who observed the entire episode at close range.
“Thinking probably that he would not give way, the representative of the planters offered to refund to the extent of 25 percent, and to his amazement Mr. Gandhi took him at his word, thus breaking the deadlock.This settlement was adopted unanimously by the commission.
Gandhi explained that the amount of the refund was less important than the fact that the landlords had been obliged to surrender part of the money and, with it, part of their prestige. Therefore, as far as the peasants were concerned, the planters had behaved as lords above the law. Now the peasant saw that he had rights and defenders. He learned courage.
1.How much did Gandhi ask the landlords to refund?
a) 25 percent
b) 50 percent
c) 75 percent
d) 100 percent
2.How much did the planters agree to refund?
a) 25 percent
b) 50 percent
c) 75 percent
d) 100 percent
3.What was more important than the amount of refund?
a) The prestige of the landlords
b) The commission's decision
c) The peasant's courage
d) The planters' rights
4.What had the peasant learnt now?
a) Fear
b) Courage
c) Deception
d) Compliance
5.Find the word from the passage which means 'stubborn'.
a) Adamant
b) Amazement
c) Extorted
d) Deceitfully
6.Find the word from the passage which is opposite to ‘legally'.
a) Illegally
b) Unanimously
c) Deceitfully
d) Observing

When Gandhi got the wholehearted support of the lawyers, he said, "The battle of Champaran is won‟. What was the essence behind his statement?

What can be inferred from Rajendra Prasad’s recorded upshot of the lawyer consultations, at Motihari?

[Reference - The senior lawyer replied, they had come to advise and help him; if he went to jail there would be nobody to advise and they would go home. What about the injustice to the sharecroppers, Gandhi demanded.]
(Indigo)

Why did Gandhiji consider freedom from fear more important than legal justice for the poor peasants of Champaran?

How did Gandhiji succeed in getting justice for the Indigo sharecroppers?

Biographies include features of non-fiction texts – factual information and different text structures such as description, sequence, comparison, cause and effect, or problem and solution. Examine Indigo in the light of this statement, in about 120-150 words.

Why did Gandhi agree to a settlement of 25 percent refund to the farmers?

How were Shukla and Gandhiji received in Rajendra Prasad’s house?

How did Gandhiji begin his mission in Champaran?

How did Gandhiji react to the Commissioner’s advice and where did he go?

Why is Rajkumar Shukla described as being resolute?