question_answer

Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions given at the end of it:

A Small Basket of Grapes

This is what Khushdeva Singh writes about his experience during one of his visits of Karachi in 1949:

My friends took me to a room at the airport where we all sat down and talked.... (and) had lunch together. I had to travel from Karachi to London.... at 2.30 a.m.... At 5.00 p.m..... I told my friends that they had given me so Menerously of their time, I thought it would be too much for them to wait the whole night and suggested they must spare themselves the trouble. But nobody left until it was dinner time....

Then they said they were leaving and that I must have a little rest before emplaning ... I got up at about 1.45 a.m. and, when I opened the door, I saw7 that all of them were still there.....parting, presented me with a small basket of grapes. I had no words to express my gratitude for the overwhelming affection with which I was treated and the happiness this stopover had given me.

(i) Give a brief introdudon of Khushdeva Singh.

(ii) How did his friends show their affection for him?

(iii) Explain how Khushdeva Singh was seen as a symbol of humanity and harmony.

(iv) How does oral history help historians in reconstructing events of the past?

Or

What should the qualities of a national language be?

A few months before his death Mahatma Gandhi reiterated his views on the language question:

This Hindustani should be neither Sanskritised Hindi nor Persianised Urdu but a happy combination of both. It should also freely admit words wherever necessary from the different regional languages and also assimilate words from foreign languages, provided that they can mix well and easily with our national language. Thus our national language must develop into a rich and powerful instrument capable of expressing the whole gamut of human thought and feelings. To confine oneself to Hindi or Urdu would be a crime against intelligence and the spirit of patriotism.

Harijansevak, 12 October 1947

(i) Explain the views of Gandhiji about the qualities of the national language we should have.

(ii) Explain what the Congress had accepted by 1980 about the shape of our national language.

(iii) Explain what qualities Hindustani language possesses.

 

Answer:

A Small Basket of Grapes

(1) Khushdeva Singh was a Sikh doctor who specialized in the treatment of tuberculosis and he was posted at Dharampur in present day Himachal Pradesh. He worked tirelessly to provide health care to migrants, Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs alike.

(2) Khushdeva had a flight at 2:00 am but he had reached the airport in afternoon only. His friends spent full time with him. After dinner time Khushdeva went to sleep but when he opened the door for emplaning he saw that his friends were waiting for him outside. They accompanied him till the plane and then gave him a small basket of grapes as a symbol of affection. Khushdeva was overwhelmed by this affection.

(3) Khushdeva immersed himself in his work day and night and provided healing touch, food, shelter, love and security to numerous migrants, Muslim, Sikh, Hindu alike thus showing harmony to all humans irrespective of religion.

He made humble efforts to discharge his duty as a human being to fellow human beings.

The residents of Dharampur developed the kind of faith and confidence in his humanity? and generosity that the Delhi Muslims and others had in Gandhiji and they felt safe under him. Therefore Khushdeva was truly a symbol of harmony and humanity.

(4) Oral history is the collection and study of historical information about individuals, families, important events, or everyday life using audiotapes, videotapes, or transcriptions of planned interviews. It gives information about human feelings and experiences which historians can?t get through written text or visible data. Oral history gives the qualitative aspects of the events of past.

Or

What should the qualities of a National Language be?

(1) According to Gandhiji a national language should be such that it can be spoken and understood by all people of the country. It should not be rigid rather it should be flexible enough to incorporate new words from regional language as well as foreign language.

He said only if the language is flexible it become a medium of full expression of intellectual ideas. If the language is flexible which can be adopted according to regional languages then no one will feel left out and would add to the intellectual thought in India.

Gandhiji said that language should become a platform for unity of people despite their regional and religious differences. Therefore he said that Hindustani should neither be sanskritized nor should it be Persianized (urdu).

(2) By the 1930s, the Congress had accepted that Hindustani ought to be the national language.

(3) Hindustani was a language which the common people could easily understand. It was a blend of Hindi and Urdu and it was a popular language of a large section of the people of India.

It was a composite language enriched by the interaction of diverse cultures. Over the years it had incorporated words and terms from very many different sources, and was therefore understood by people from various regions. This became a multi-cultural language.

Gandhiji thought this would be a language which would connect people, Hindus to Muslims and North Indians to South Indians.

However, as communal conflicts deepened language became associated with the politics of religious identities and there was rise by Sanskritized Hindi and Persianized Urdu.