FRITZ

Q 1 explain the beauty of circuit house and bundi.

ANS. In the story ‘fritz’ jayanto and his childhood friend Shankar on a holiday were sitting together in a circuit house in
bundi(rajasthan).Not choosing popular holiday destinations like Jaipur,Udaipur or chittor,both jayanto and the narrator
decided to visit bundi. Shankar was very excited to see the fort at bundi after reading Rabindranath tagore’s poem’ the fort
at bundi’

The circuit house was very magnificiently built in the times of british rule. It was a 100 years old ,single storey building
with a tilted roof. The rooms had high ceilings and there were hanging ropes which could be pulled to switch on or off the
skylights. Right opposite to the east facing veranda was a vast garden with a plenty of greenery. It had large number of
blooming beautiful roses and trees that sheltered many native birds of that place. One can see parrots everywhere and hear
peacocks in the garden only.

The famous fort of bundi stand amidst the hills. The cobbled streets of bundi,carvings by master craftmen on ‘balconies
jutting out’ and wooden doors,all seemed like the old rajputana with no sign of modernity except for electric poles.

Q 2. Describe the structure of the doll.

ANS. While during the tour to bundi, childhood memories were flashing back in jayanto’s mind. He suddenly recalled his
doll ‘fritz’ , which his uncle brought for him from Switzerland. It was a twelve inch long figure of an old man, dressed in
traditional swiss style. It had a smile on its face, wore a swiss cap which had a yellow feather sticking out from it. The
clothes were perfect in detail- a belt,buttons,pocket,collar,socks and even a little buckle on the shoes. The limbs were
flexible , although it was not mechanized. It was life like doll . the man who sold fritz to jayanto’s uncle humorously told
him to call it fritz only, as it would not respond to other names. Jayanto carried the doll along with him during his trip to
bundi in his childhood . he got so much emotionally attached to that doll that even after having a vast variety of toys , he
forgot all of them and played with fritz only. He used to do conversation with the doll for hours,which was ofcourse one
sided as the doll could not talk but The funny smile on its lips seemed as if it undertood every word jayanto said. He treated
fritz like a live human being. His parents warned him to not to overindulge in it, but he had all the time of the world to
spend with fritz.

Q 3. What happened to the doll?

ANS. Jayanto in his childhood was emotionally much attached with a life like doll called fritz. It was brought to him by his
uncle from Switzerland.it was a twelve inch long figure of an old man dressed in traditional swiss style. jayanto narrates an
incident about the death of fritz. One day he was drinking tea in the lawn . fritz was sitting by his side on the grass.
Suddenly the cup tilted and some of the hot tea spilt over his pants and he ran to change his outfit. On returning back to the
garden ,he was disappointed to see that fritz was not there. He looked around and saw that a couple of stray dogs were
having a tug and war with fritz. Its face was battered beyond recognition and its clothes were torn. At this point of time fritz
became dead for jayanto. He had arranged for a funeral and buried it under the deodar tree .

Q 4. What did Shankar notice in between his deep sleep?

ANS. During there tour to bundi, one night, a slight noice disturbed the narrator . on waking up, he saw that jayanto was
sitting anxiously on his bed. He asked him the reason of his anxiety . jayanto said that he was awakened by sensation of
something creeping over his chest and had heard a shuffling sound near the window but he did not see anybody in his
room. Shankar searched around the bed to find any clue about what walked over jayanto's chest. Meanwhile , jayanto
noticed small,brown circular marks on his quilt. Shankar consoled his friend by saying that it might be a cat and after
murmuring some soothing words,he slept down. He thought that jayanto only had a nightmare. his childhood memories
only had led to dreaming of a cat walking over his chest. When he woke in the morning, he found that Jayanto was very
disturbed throughout the night and did not sleep well.

Q 5. What made Shankar to accept jayanto’s proposal of visiting bundi? Could Shankar able to enjoy his fort visit?
ANS. Not choosing popular destination places like Jaipur,Udaipur or chittor, both jayanto and the narrator Shankar planned
a trip to bundi. Jayanto wanted to visit that plae to refresh his childhood memories. Shankar,too,had no objection on his
proposal as having read Rabindranath tagore’s poem ‘the fort at bundi’ , he was very excited and enthusiastic to see the fort.
During there tour, jayanto’s memories were flashing back in his mind one by one, & he recalled his doll fritz. This doll was
brought to him by his uncle from Switzerland. It was a 12 inch figure of an old man dressed in traditional swiss style. He
used to play with it most of the times and treated it like a live human being. However it died on the day when it was battered
by some stray dogs and was buried under the deodar tree by jayanto at bundi. So he was deeply anxious by these
memories . the night before there fort visit,Shankar woke up by hearing slight noice and found that jayanto was sitting on
his bed and looked very agitated. He asked Shankar whether there were small animals like cats or mice around, as he was
woke by the sensation of something creeping over his chest and also heard a shuffling sound near the window. Few
moments later,he discovered that there were small brown circular marks on his quilt. Shankar consoled him that it might be
a cat and after mumbling few soothing words he slept down . he thought that jayanto had a nightmare. But jayanto put a
strange interpretation on these signs and keep it to himself for the time being. His mind was so much obsessed that next day
during there fort visit he lost his interest in sight seeing. He asked Shankar whether he is ready to return back to the circuit
house. Though Shankar wanted to enjoy his fort visit and spent more time there, he obeys to go back as he could see
jayanto’s enthusiasm had begun to wane. Thus,Shankar was not able to enjoy his fort visit.

Q 6. What plan did Shankar made to realise jayanto’s wild story and illusion?

ANS. The night before their fort visit, jayanto was awakened by the sensation of something walking over his chest and had
heard a shuffling noice near the window. While the narrator was finding clues about the one who walked over jayanto’s
chest and jayanto fearfully pointed small brown circular marks on the quilt. shankar concluded that it might be a cat and
thought that jayanto only had a nightmare. the next day jayanto’s anxiety began to wane and he lost his interest in sight
seeing. When he told Shankar that it was fritz who walked over his chest the last night, Shankar prepared a plan to relieve
him from his illusions and fears. If a doll had been buried somewhere thirty years ago, and one knows the the exact
location of his burial,it might be possible to dig the soil there. he felt that if he was shown that nothing of the doll is
remained in the ground except a few metal pieces such as buckle and buttons, he would be rid of the strange notions that
were plaguing him. Jayanto liked his plan initially, but inquired about who would do the digging and where to find the
spade. The narrator asked a gardener to fulfil the purpose of digging.

Q 7. Could Shankar succeeded in his attempt of removing jayanto’s illusion? If not, then how?

ANS. The night before there fort visit jayanto was awakened by the sensation of something creeping over chest and heard a
shuffling sound near the window. While finding the clues about who walked over jayanto’s chest,he found small brown
circular marks on his quilt. The narrator said that it might be a cat and thought that jayanto only had a nightmare. but
jayanto’s anxiety began to wane. Next day He lost his interest in sight seeing and wanted to return back to circuit house. he
told shankar that it was fritz who walked over his chest the previous night,as he had sensed that whoever walked over his
chest had 2 feets not 4 and those footprints on his quilt was made by fritz,Shankar decided to relieve him from his weird
notions. He prepared a plan dig the ground at the exact spot where the doll was buried; to show jayanto that there were no
remains of the doll except that of metal pieces like buckle and free him from his fears. He asked a gardener and offered him
5 rupees to dig the ground near the deodar tree. The gardener started digging as per the directions. Jayanto was perspiring a
lot and stared at the ground unblinkingly. Listening to the loud cry of a peacock,the narrator turned his head and at the same
moment,jayanto screamed raucously . His eyes were protruding and with his trembling hands, he pointed to the hole at the
ground. Spade slipped from gardener’s hand and the narrator too gaped open mouthed in horror. What they see is something
bizarre ~a 12 inch long, pure white, perfect little human skeleton. At this moment logic leaped out from Shankar’s mind and
irrationality won.

Thus, Shankar failed in his attempt of removing jayanto’s illusions. Logically he thought that he would find at least some
part of the doll that would free jayanto from his weird notions. On the contrary, he found a pure white human skeleton
which left all the 3 in complete mystery ,disbelief and terror.