Extract - 1

i) What are sleepers? What made the mber float down the river?
Sleepers are rectangular pieces of mber, stone or steel which are specifically cut for
construc on of building and railway tracks.
Timber is less denser than water. So it floats. Bri sh used rivers for transporta on of
mber, not by boats, but by directly floa ng them ll they reach their des na on.
ii) What is meant by dislodge? How can the sleepers be dislodged?
Dislodge is an act of forcefully removing something from its posi on.
Sleepers that are lying stuck in the stones can be dislodged by delivering sufficient force,
manually or mechanically, to the sleepers using a lever like contrivance. Also, floods can
li them and jostle them along.
iii) From where did the crocodile come? Why did he come? What was he doing in the
shallow waters?
The crocodile had come from deep black. water of the river where the flowing streams
produced whirlpools.
He had come to glassy shallows of the river to rest.
He balanced his body on ptoe on the rippled sand so that only his eyes and nostrils were
visible above the
water. He lay in the water mo onless breathing clean sunny air.
iv) Why did the crocodile raise his eyes and nostrils out of water?
The crocodile raised his eyes to get a clear sight of the area around the stepping stones
and raised his nostrils to breath easily, this enabled him to lay mo onless and concealed,
in ambush, for prolonged dura on.
v); The author says, "Now nothing could pierce the inch-thick armoured hide". What does
she mean by the sentence given above? Why does she say so?
Over the years, the crocodile had grown, from a baby crocodile vulnerable to birds of prey
and carnivorous fishes, into a juggernaut so ferocious and formidable that nothing could
pierce his inch-thick armoured hide- The author is sugges ng that the crocodile is
invincible as he is covered with thick-armour like hide which even a bullet cannot pierce.
Extract - 2
i) What is a mugger crocodile?
A mugger crocodile is a species of freshwater crocodile with a short snout found
throughout the Indian subcon nent.
ii) Give Meaning of –
a) antediluvian saurian
It means a large rep le which is very old as if it belonged to the mes before the biblical
flood-
b) Prehistoric juggernaut:
something which has been in existence from very old mes and is unstopable
iii) Describe the appearance of the crocodile. What made him move?
The crocodile with a huge tail was twice the length of a tall man.
His colour was blackish brown on above and yellowy white on underside.
A throb in his throat and his mouth was closed and fixed in evil bony.
His hide was one inch thick and nothing could pierce it.
The crocodile used unimaginable and irresis ble power of his huge tail to move
in water.
iv) How can you conclude from the extract that the crocodile was a strong and dangerous
animal?
The crocodile is described as "an antediluvian saurian, a prehistoric juggernaut, ferocious
and formidable, a vast force in water, propelled by unimaginable and irresis ble power of
the huge tail", suggests that he was a strong and dangerous animal.
v) How did the crocodile rest in the shallows?
The crocodile balanced on ptoe on the rippled sand of the shallows with only his eyes
and nostrils raised out of water so that he could see and breathe easily.
Extract - 3
i) What is said about the birth of the crocodile? How can you say that the crocodile was
very ac ve even before he was fully hatched?
The crocodile hatched from an egg, probably a hundred years ago, in a sandbank.The
crocodile was very ac ve because as soon as he managed to get his head out of his shell
he was looking around ready to snap at anything even before he was fully hatched.
ii) What is meant by brainless cra and ferocity?
It means making use of one's cra and ferocity guided purely by natural ins nct. The
young crocodile could escape from predators by ins nc vely using his skills and fierceness.
iii) What were the dangers facing the young crocodile?
The young crocodile faced the dangers of ge ng eaten by birds of prey and great
carnivorous fishes who fed on baby crocodiles.
iv)How did the young crocodile get the food and stored it? What did the big crocodile feed
on?
The young crocodile caught the food and stored it in holes in the river bank.
The big crocodile fed mostly on fish but had also caught deer, monkeys, and ducks. He had
also some mes fed on pi-dog full of parasites and a skeleton cow. Some mes he went
down to the burning ghats and fed on half-burned bodies of Indians cast into the stream.
v) How is the body of the crocodile strong enough to protect him? How was he vulnerable
to an a ack?
The body of crocodile is protected with one inch thick. layer of armoured hide on the
above-
Nothing can pierce it, even rifle bullets would bounce off.
His eyes and the so underarms made him vulnerable to an a ack.
Extract 4
i) Describe the strange obect found near the crocodile.
There was a sand worn glass that had been rooling about in the river for a long me. It
was perfarated right through the neck of a bo le perhaps it was a blue bead.
ii) From where did the li le girl come ? What did she wear ? What was she ea ng ?
The girl came from a mud house , in a shrill noisy village above the ford. She was dressed
in earthed coloured rag. She was ea ng a chapa .
iii) Describe the physical appearance of li le girl.
The li le girl was dark coloured , thin and was dressed in earthed coloured rag and was
barefoot. She was a happy immature child-woman about twelve years old.
iv) Give evidence to prove that girl was from a poor household.
The girl was dressed in eather coloured rag.
The girl divided the chapa in parts to make chapa seem more.
She had never owned anything but a rag.
She had divided the rag in two to make it skirt and saari which shows that she
was not having money even to buy clothes.
From above evidences we can conclude that girl was from a poor household.
v) Why was the li le girl known as child-woman and born to toil ?
The li le girl known as child-woman and born to toil because the circumstances had made
the girl to sacrifice all her wishes and to tolerate the condi ons like a mature women. She
was born to toil as she was poor and had to earn for her livelihood.
Extract – 5
i) Where was the bazaar ? How did the girl know about it ?
The bazaar was in the li le town at the railhead.
ii) What had she seen and heard while passing through bazaar ?
She saw the milling people , and dogs and monkeys full of fleas, the idling gossiping
bargaining humanity spi ng betel juice, heard the bell of a sacred bull clonking as he
lumped along through the dust and hubbub.
iii) What was her experience at the sweetmeat stall ?
She had paused , amazed , before the sweetmeat stall, to gaze at the brilliant honey
confec on, abuzz with dust and flies. They smelled wonderful, above the smell of drains
and humanity and cheap cigare es.
iv) What did she some mes taste at home?
At home she some mes tasted wild honey , or crunched the syrup out of a stalk of
sugarcane.
v) Describe what Sibia saw at the cloth stall . Did she like the stall ? Why ?
She saw a cloth stall stacked with great rolls of new co on cloth stamped at the edge with
the maker’s sign of a ger’s head. Yes , she liked the stall as it was smelling very wonderful
of dressing, straight front from the mills. Smell was so nice that she could have stood there
all day.
Extract – 6
i) Men on any two of the wonders Sibia had seen in the bazaar.
The wonders Sibia had seen in bazaar were the sa n sewn with real silver thread and n
trays from Birmingham.
ii) What did the kashmiri merchant sell?
The kashmiri merchant was selling dawn-coloured silks that poured ice cream , a li le
locked chest with turquoises and opals in it, and a box which when pressed nkles out a
bell and a yellow woolen chicken jumpes out from the box.
iii) Describe the box having the best of merchant’s goods.
The best of all was a box which , when pressed nlkes a bell and a yellow wollen chicken
jumps out.
iv) How was Sibia spending her me since her childhood?
Sibia worked to earn for her livelihood since her childhood. She had husked corn, and
gathered s cks , and put dunk to dry, and cooked and weeded, and carried , and fetched
water, and cut grass from the fodder.
v) What did Sibia life show abou her family status?
Life of Sibia shows that status of her family was too low to even feed their children
properly and send them to school. Not only the parents but olso the children had to work
hard in order to earn their livihood.
Extract – 7
i) What thoughts did not trouble Sibia?
The thought of being toiled whole day and working hard to earn her livelihood did not
trouble Sibia.
ii) Where was the Sibia going? Why?
Sibia was going to get paper grass from the cliffs above the river.
iii) Who were with Sibia during her journey? Why couldn’t Sibia skip during her return
journey?
Sibia was going with her mother and other women of the village. Sibia could not skip
work, when she was on her way back from the cliffs, since at that point, her body would
always ache with redness, and there was also a great load to carry on her back as well.
iv) Decribe the necklace worn by women. Why did they want to wear several necklaces.
Some of the women were wearing necklaces made out of lal-lal-beeges, the shiny scarlet
seeds, black one end, that grew everywhere in the jungle. The wanted to wear several
necklaces as they like to hear ra ling swish round their neck
v) What type of ornaments did Sibia wish to wear?
Sibia wished to wear ornaments which would make ra ling swish round her neck, as she
froushed along with lots of necklace.
Extract – 8
i) Why were the women going to the river?
Women were going to the river in order to get paper grass which they would sell to the
agent who arrange and dispatch it for paper mills.
ii) What is meant by ‘nomadic graizers’? How long do these people stay in one place?
Nomadic graizers are the people who roam around place to place, frequently, or without a
fixed pa ern of movement. Their occupa on is ca ling (here). They stay in one place un l
their animals had perhaps finished all the easy grazing within reach, or they were not able
to sell enough of their bu er and white milk in the district, or there was no one to buy the
young male buffaloes for ger bait.
iii) Describe the appearance of Gujar women as seen by Sibia?
The Gujar women wore trousers, ght and wrinkled at the ankles, and In the ear, they
would wear large silver rings, made out of melted rupees; and one of them was clinking a
s ck against the big brass gurrahs in which they fetched water from the river for the camp,
to see which one were empty.
iv) Where were the men and boys from the camp?
The men and boys were out of the camp just now with the herd or gone to the bazaar .
v) Explain why the Gujars are called the “men in the wandering Pastoral Age”.

Extract – 9
i) How was Sibia compared to the bird in the passage ?
The author compared Sibia with bird as she looked down the cliff, the same way the bird
look down from height when they fly.
ii) What did she keep in the cave ? Why ?
She had stored some li le bowls moulded of clay while they hardned.
iii) Why was the mother angry with her? How did Sibia react to the situa on?
The mother was angry with Sibia because she stopped worked and went to see the litle
bowls moulded of clay in the cave.
iv) Why did the women carrying the load go?
The women carrying the load went to see their animals and to have evening meal.
v) At the end of the day, how did Sibia feel?
Sibia hung back. She would just dawdle a bit as she was red. She was heavily weighted,
her muscles streched and aching.
Extract – 10
i) What happened when the Gujar woman walked on to the stepping stones?
When the Gujar woman walked on to the stepping stones , the crocodile lunged at her and
alshed at her leg.
ii) When the crocodile a acked women , how did she react?
The woman screamed , dropped both brass pots with a cla er on the boulder.The Gujar
woman recoiled from crocodile but at the same me she fell on a bone-breaking stone.She
cluthed one of the mber logs to save herself. (if elaborated answer is asked)
iii) Describe the struggle between the woman and the crocodile?
The Gujar women recoiled from the crocodile, but his jaws closed on her leg at the same
moment as she slipped and fell on the bone-breaking stone, and clutched one of the
mber logs to save herself.
iv) Show how Sibia came to help the woman immediately ?
Sibia came leaping like a rock goat in order to help the woman.She came on wings
choosing her foo ng in midair without even thinking ablut it, and in one movement she
was beside the shrieking woman.
v) Briefly state the theme of conflict between human beings and wild nature as shown in
the story?
This is a personal understanding ques on. Refer to Page no. 162 , Cri cal Apprecia on –
Wild Nature and Page no. 158 – Struggle for survuval . Some important points are :-
While nature is benefi al to human beings, it can also be wild, awful and
savage
Blue Bead presents both the aspects.
Extract – 11
i) Why did crocodile go into convulsion? What happened during his convulsion?
The crocodile went into convulsion because his one eye was poked by Sibia using a
hayfork. He reared up in convulsion , ll half his lizard body was out of the river, the tail
and nose nearly mee ng over his stony back. Then he crashed back , exploading the water,
and in an uproar of bloody foam he disappered.
ii) How did Sibia a end to the Gujar woman?
Sibia got her arms round the fain ng woman, and somehow dragged her from the water.
She stopped her wounds with sand, and bound them with rag, and helped her home to
the Gujar encapmpment where the men mad a li er to carry her to someone for
treatment.
iii) Where was Sibia’s sickle and fork? What strange object did she see in the water?
The fork was lying in the rive, not carried away by water. The strange object that Sibia saw
in water was a blue bead whose shape was wobbling in the movementof the stream.
iv) How did she take possesion of the strange object? Describe the object.
Sibia reached her arm down into a yard of the cold silk water to get it. Missing it first of all,
because of refrac on. The object was perfect,white- blue and even pierced ready for use,
with the sunset shuffled about inside it like gold-dust.
v) State why Sibia was not exc ed at saving the Gurjar woman but she was thrilled at
finding the blue bead
Sibia was not excited at saving the Gurjar women as ‘daily heroism’ has become a part of
her life while what is of worth in her poverty-striken life is the gli ering blue bead.