Father to Son Summary Class 11 English

Father to Son Summary In English

This poem highlights a universal problem—the generation gap and the lack of communication between father and son. The poem begins with a father’s lament that he does not understand his child though they have been living together in the same house for so many years. He confesses that he knows nothing of him. In order to understand him, he tries to build up a relationship from what he knows about him when he was small.

However, the thread connecting the two is missing. He seems to have missed the link somewhere. Either he has destroyed this seed or misplaced it somewhere in an area which does not belong to him. The result is loss of affinity and closeness. They speak like strangers and there is no sign of understanding between them. The lack of communication between father and son highlights the growing chasm between the two generations. The father admits that the child’s physical shape is according to his own desires but their interests differ. He cannot share what the son loves.

The lack of common interests results in lack of communication. The son is busy in searching new avenues for himself and moving away to his own world. The father wishes that his son might return to him as the proverbial prodigal son. He would prefer his return to the place he is so familiar with rather than risk adventure to unknown and unfamiliar lands. Like the father in the old story about the prodigal son, he would also forgive his son. He hoped to build a new love from the sorrow of losing material wealth as a result of his son’s ventures.

A realization dawns on the father at last. He and his son must live on the same earth and on the part of land. Now when the son speaks, the father fails to understand it. It seems as if he cannot understand himself as the son is the image of father himself. The grief of separation causes anger. They make no special effort to make up the loss. The hand they extend is empty. However, there is a strong desire for something to help him in forgiving and forgetting the bitterness.

Father to Son Summary In Hindi

यह कविता एक विश्वव्यापी समस्या-पीढ़ियों में अन्तर तथा पिता-पुत्र के मध्य संचार की कमी को-आलोकित करती है। कविता पिता के इस दुखड़े से आरम्भ होती है कि वह अपने बच्चे को नहीं समझ पाती यद्यपि वे दोनों एक साथ इतने वर्षों से उसी मकान में रह रहे हैं। वह स्वीकार करता है कि वह उसके विषय में कुछ भी नहीं जानता। उसे समझ पाने के लिये वह उस आधार पर एक सम्बन्ध बनाने का प्रयास करता है जो कि उसे अपने पुत्र के विषय में उसकी छोटी उम्र में ज्ञात था।

किन्तु, दोनों को जोड़ने वाला सूत्र गायब है। ऐसा प्रतीत होता है कि इस सम्पर्क को वह कहीं गंवा बैठा है। या तो उसने इस बीज को ही नष्ट कर दिया है अथवा इसे किसी ऐसे क्षेत्र में गलती से रख दिया है जो (क्षेत्र) उसका अपना नहीं है। परिणाम है लगाव तथा निकटता की कमी। वे अजनबियों की भाँति बोलते हैं तथा उनके बीच आपसी समझ का कोई चिह्न दिखाई नहीं देता। पिता-पुत्र के बीच संचार की कमी दोनों पीढ़ियों के बीच बढ़ती हुई खाई को प्रमुखता से बताती है। पिता स्वीकार करता है कि बच्चे का शारीरिक रूप उसकी अपनी इच्छाओं के अनुसार है, किन्तु उनकी रुचियाँ भिन्न हैं। जो उसके पुत्र को प्रिय है, उनका वह आनन्द नहीं ले सकता।

आपसी (सांझी) रुचियों की कमी संचार (बातचीत) की कमी का कारण बनती है। पुत्र अपने लिये नये क्षेत्र खोजने में व्यस्त है। तथा अपने निजी संसार में आगे बढ़ा जा रहा है। पिता चाहता है कि उसका पुत्र उसके पास लौट आए चाहे उस कहावतों वाले अतिव्ययी (फिजूल खर्च) पुत्र की भाँति ही है। वह उसके उस स्थान पर लौट आने को अधिक अच्छा समझेगा जिससे वह परिचित है इसकी अपेक्षा कि वह अज्ञात एवं अपरिचित देशों में खतरे उठाये। कहानी वाले फिजूल खर्च बेटे के पिता की भाँति, वह अपने पुत्र को क्षमा कर देगा। अपने पुत्र के जोखिम भरे कार्यों (पूँजी निवेश) के कारण हुये भौतिक धन की हानि के दुःख से वह एक नये प्रेम का निर्माण करने की आशा करता है।

अन्त में पिता को समझ आती है। उसे तथा उसके पुत्र को उसी संसार तथा भू-भाग में रहना है। अब, जब पुत्र बोलता है, तो पिता उसे समझने में असफल रहता है। ऐसा प्रतीत होता है कि स्वयं (अपने आप) को नहीं समझ पाता क्योंकि पुत्र भी पिता की आकृति (छाया) ही है। पृथकता का दुःख क्रोध का कारण बनता है। वे इस हानि की क्षतिपूर्ति करने के लिये कोई विशेष प्रयास नहीं करते। जो हाथ वे आगे बढ़ाते हैं वह खाली है। किन्तु, किसी ऐसी वस्तु के लिये तीव्र इच्छा अवश्य है जो उन्हें कड़वाहट भूलने तथा क्षमा करने में सहायता करें।

Childhood Summary In English

The poet seems puzzled about the loss of childhood. It is natural in the process of growing up. Still, the poet tries to find an answer to his two queries: When did my childhood go?’ and Where did my childhood go?”

The first possibility of the time of departure of his childhood relates to the age when he had completed the age of eleven. It was then that he developed a power of understanding. Then he became aware that Hell and Heaven could not be found in Geography. Since they could not be located anywhere in world, he concluded that they did not exist. He thus reached a logical conclusion based on his reasoning power.

The second possibility relates to the time when he realized the hypocrisy of the adults. They were not all that they seemed to be. They talked of love and gave advice of love, but did not act so affectionately.

The third possibility relates to the time when he found that he was the master of his mind. He could use it whichever way he chose. He could now produce his own thoughts and need not repeat those of others. A sense of individuality dawned on him. He wonders whether he lost his childhood on one of these days.

In the final stanza, the poet dwells on the problem where his childhood has disappeared. On the basis of his limited knowledge he thinks that his childhood went to some forgotten place that was hidden in an infant’s face. The poet implies that adolescence follows childhood in the same way as childhood had replaced infancy. It is a stage in the process of growing up.

Childwood Summary In Hindi

कवि बाल्यावस्था (बचपन) की समाप्ति (हानि) के विषय में व्याकुल प्रतीत होता है। यह बड़े होने की प्रक्रिया में सामान्य है। फिर भी कवि अपने दो प्रश्नों के उत्तर ढूँढने का प्रयास करता है। प्रश्न है: ‘मेरा बचपन कब बीत गया?’ तथा ‘मेरा बचपन कहाँ गया?’

उसके बाल्यावस्था (बचपन) के प्रस्थान के समय में पहली सम्भावना उस आयु से सम्बन्धित है जब उसने ग्यारह वर्ष की आयु पूरी की थी। तब उसने अपने समझ सकने की शक्ति विकसित की थी। तब उसे यह ज्ञान हुआ कि नरक तथा स्वर्ग भूगोल में नहीं पाए जा सकते। क्योंकि उन्हें संसार में किसी निश्चित स्थान पर स्थित नहीं किया जा सकता, तो वह इस निष्कर्ष पर पहुँचा कि वे विद्यमान ही नहीं थे। इस प्रकार वह अपनी तर्कशक्ति के आधार पर एक तर्क संगत निष्कर्ष तक पहुँचा।

दूसरी सम्भावना उस समय से सम्बन्धित है जब उसने वयस्कों का पाखण्ड (मिथ्या चरित्र) समझ लिया। वे कतई ऐसे नहीं थे जैसे कि वे प्रतीत होते थे। वे प्यार की बातें करते थे तथा प्यार के परामर्श (उपदेश) देते थे किन्तु इतने स्नेह से व्यवहार नहीं करते थे।

तीसरी सम्भावना उस समय से सम्बन्धित है जब उसने यह पाया कि वह अपने मस्तिष्क को स्वामी स्वयं है। वह इसे जैसे चाहे वैसे ही प्रयोग कर सकता था। वह अब अपने विचार उत्पन्न कर सकता था तथा उसे दूसरों के विचार दोहराने की आवश्यकता नहीं थी। उसके ऊपर अपने निजी अस्तित्व की भावना प्रकट हुई। वह आश्चर्य करता है कि क्या उसने अपना बचपन इन दिनों में से किसी दिन गंवा दिया।

अन्तिम छन्द में, कवि इस समस्या पर बातें करता है कि उसकी बाल्यावस्था (बचपन) कहाँ अदृश्य (गायब) हो गई। अपने सीमित ज्ञान के आधार पर वह सोचता है कि उसकी बाल्यावस्था (बचपन) किसी ऐसे भूले-भटके स्थान पर चली गई है जो किसी शिशु के चेहरे में छिपी हुई थी। कवि का निहित (छिपा हुआ) अर्थ यह है कि किशोरावस्था उसी प्रकार बाल्यावस्था (बचपन)के बाद आती है जैसे कि बाल्यावस्था ने शैशव का स्थान लिया है। यह बड़े होने की प्रक्रिया में एक निश्चित अवस्था है।

The Voice of the Rain Summary In English

The poet asked the soft falling shower who it was. Strangely enough, the shower gave him an answer. The voice of the rain told him that it was the poem of earth. It is everlasting and perpetual. It is something that cannot be touched. It is born out of the land and the deep sea. It rises upward to heaven. There it gets a different form and is altogether changed. Yet it remains the same. Then it comes down to wash the dry/thirsty tiny particles and dust layers of the world. The rain helps the seeds which lie hidden and unborn under the layer of earth to take a new life. This process of rain is perpetual and goes on by day and night. Rain gives back life to its own source of beginning, makes it pure and beautiful. The rain sings a song. This song issues from its birth place. It keeps wandering here and there whether it is paid heed to or not. After accomplishment, the song returns properly with love.

The Voice of the Rain Summary In Hindi

कवि ने वर्षा की हल्के-हल्के गिरती बौछारों से पूछा कि यह कौन थी। अत्यन्त आश्चर्य की बात थी कि बौछार ने उसे उत्तर दिया। वर्षा की आवाज़ ने उसे बताया कि यह धरती का गीत (कविता) थी। यह सनातन तथा अनन्त है। यह स्पर्श द्वारा अनुभव नहीं की जा सकती है। यह पृथ्वी तथा गहरे सागर से जन्म लेती है। यह ऊपर आकाश की ओर चढ़ती है। वहाँ इसे एक अन्य रूप मिल जाता है तथा यह पूर्णतया बदल जाती है। फिर भी यह वह ही रहती है। फिर यह संसार के सूखे/प्यासे छोटे-छोटे कणों तथा रेत-मिट्टी की परतों को नहलाने के लिए नीचे आती है। वर्षा उन बीजों को नया जीवन प्राप्त करने में सहायता करती है जो भूमि की परतों के नीचे छिपे हुए तथा अजन्में पड़े हुए हैं। वर्षा की यह विधि सतत (लगातार) है तथा रात-दिन चलती रहती है। वर्षा अपने उद्गम स्थान को जीवन वापस देती है, इसे पवित्र तथा सुन्दर बनाती है। वर्षा एक गीत गाती है। यह गीत उसके जन्मस्थल से आरम्भ होता है। यह इधर-उधर भटकती (घूमती) रहती है चाहे कोई इसे ध्यान दे अथवा नहीं। अपनी पूर्ति (सिद्धि) करने के पश्चात् गीत उचित प्यार से लौट आता है।

The Laburnum Top Poem Summary in English

Laburnum is known as amaltas in Hindi.

On a bright September afternoon, the laburnum, a short tree with hanging branches and yellow flowers, stood soundless and motionless. A few leaves that had yellowed and some seeds lay scattered around it. Just then, all of a sudden a small singing bird with yellow feathers on its wings, the goldfinch, arrived chirping. She entered the foliage like a lizard—smooth, watchful and hasty.

As she entered, the tree suddenly seemed to come alive. It started up like a machine. There were shrill sounds of twittering arid the tree seemed to quiver with joy. The mother bird was like the engine of her family. Like an engine she added life to the tree and flitted from branch to branch, showing her striped face, with yellow and black markings that were peculiar to her. Then with a mysterious, low whistle she flew off into the sky. Once again the laburnum quietened down as it was before her arrival.

summary in hindi

लबरनम को हिंदी में अमलतास के नाम से जाना जाता है।

सितंबर की एक उज्ज्वल दोपहर में, लैबर्नम, लटकती शाखाओं और पीले फूलों वाला एक छोटा पेड़, ध्वनिहीन और गतिहीन खड़ा था। कुछ पत्ते जो पीले पड़ गए थे और कुछ बीज चारों ओर बिखरे पड़े थे। तभी, अचानक एक छोटा गायन पक्षी जिसके पंखों पर पीले पंख थे, सुनहरी चिड़िया चहकती हुई आई। वह छिपकली की तरह पत्तों में घुस गई-चिकनी, चौकस और उतावले।

जैसे ही उसने प्रवेश किया, पेड़ अचानक जीवित हो गया। यह एक मशीन की तरह शुरू हुआ। चहकने की तीखी आवाजें आ रही थीं और पेड़ खुशी से झूम रहा था। माँ पक्षी अपने परिवार के इंजन की तरह थी। एक इंजन की तरह उसने पेड़ में जान डाल दी और एक शाखा से दूसरी शाखा तक उड़ती रही, अपने पीले और काले निशानों के साथ अपने धारीदार चेहरे को दिखा रही थी जो उसके लिए विशिष्ट थे। फिर एक रहस्यमयी धीमी सीटी के साथ वह आसमान में उड़ गई। एक बार फिर श्रमदान शांत हो गया जैसा कि उसके आने से पहले था।

The Laburnum Top Poem Summary Questions and Answers

1. The Laburnum top is silent, quite still
In the afternoon yellow September sunlight,
A few leaves yellowing, all its seeds fallen.

a. Mention the poetic device used in the ‘The Laburnum top is silent, quite still’. Why has it been used? Alteration. The Laburnum top is silent, quite still. The repeated sound creates a musical effect.

b. Mention the colour suggested by the poet. Also mention the words that suggest colour.
The colour is yellow. The colour is suggested by the yellow September sunlight and the yellowing leaves.

c. What is the stillness disturbed by?
It is disturbed by the arrival of the goldfinch.

d. What season is the poet talking about? Mention the words that suggest the season.
Autumn. The words that suggest the season are September; leaves yellowing and all the seeds fallen.

2. Till the goldfinch comes, with a twitching chirrup
A suddenness, a startlement, at a branch end.
Then sleek as a lizard, and alert, and abrupt,
She enters the thickness, and a machine starts up
Of chitterings, and a tremor of wings, and trillings –
The whole tree trembles and thrills.

a. What changes the scene completely?
Answer:
The arrival of the goldfinch changes the scene completely.

b. What is the affect on the tree?
Answer:
There is a lot of movement and sound.

c. How does the bird enter the tree? Mention the poetic device.
Answer:
Like a lizard, watchfully and unexpectedly. Simile.

d. ‘… and a machine starts up.’ What is compared to a machine? What is the poetic device?
Answer:
The tree becomes noisy and trembles like a machine. Metaphor.

e. What is the mood of the poem now? How is it suggested?
Answer:
Happy and excited as if trembling with delight. The word that suggest it are ‘The whole tree trembles and thrills’. .

f. Mention the words that show movement?
Answer:
enters, machine starts up, tremor of wings, and trillings, trembles, thrills.

g. Mention the words that show sound. Name the poetic device,
Answer:
twitching chirrup, machine starts up; chitterings. Onomatopoeia.

h. Mention the adjectives used for the goldfinch.
Answer:
sleek, alert, and abrupt.

3. It is the engine of her family.
She stokes it full, then flirts out to a branch-end
Showing her barredface identity mask

a. Who is the‘she’in these lines?
Answer:
The goldfinch.

b. What is her arrival compared to?
Answer:
The starting of an engine.

c. What are the similarities in an engine and a tree then?
Answer:
Both are noisy and pulsating.

d. What does she do to the engine?
Answer:
She ‘stokes it full’ implying she adds fuel to it and causes it to come to life.

e. What is the ‘barred face identity mask’?
Answer:
It’s distinctive face with yellow and black markings.

f. What does she do on the tree?
Answer:
She moves about playfully from branch to branch.

4. Then with eerie delicate whistle-chirrup whisperings
She launches away, towards the infinite
And the laburnum subsides to empty.

a. What does the goldfinch finally do?
Answer:
It flies away from the laburnum after producing a whistling sound.

b. Why has the sound been described as ‘eerie delicate whistle-chirrup whisperings’?
Answer:
The sound of a goldfinch is peculiar. It is a liquid, twittering song with trills.

c. Where does she go?
Answer:
She flies into the sky.

d. What is the effect on the tree?
Answer:
It once again reverts back into silence.

e. What do the words ‘eerie delicate’ suggest?
Answer:
They suggest an unusual and weak sound.

A Photograph Summary In English

The photograph pasted on the cardboard shows two girl cousins Betty and Dolly who went paddling in the sea with the poetess mother. Each of them was holding one of the hands of the poet’s mother, who was a big girl of some twelve year or so at that time. Her uncle had a camera. All three stood still facing the camera. They pushed their hair aside to smile. Thus the photograph presents three smiling faces. The face of the poet’s mother is a sweet one. It was of a time before she was born. Their feet, which were being washed by sea water for a very short time, have been photographed along with the sea, which appears to have changed less. The poet thus indirectly hints that her mother’s face has changed over the years.

After a lapse of time, say some twenty or thirty years later, the poet’s mother would laugh at the snapshot. She would refer to the photograph and recollect how her cousins Betty and Dolly had dressed themselves for the beach when they went on a sea holiday. She laughs as she sees the scanty dress. This sea holiday was an event of her past. Her laughter is real and pleasant for the poet. It is a precious memory for her. Both—her holiday and her laughter are amusing in an ironic way as they are linked with her loss which requires a forced state of freedom from pain.

Now the poet’s mother is dead for nearly as many years as that girl in the picture lived. The poet feels at a loss of words to comment on this event–her death. It is a solemn moment and its silence makes her silent. Thus the poetess pays a tribute to her mother. It is the old photograph that moves her to silence.

A Photograph Summary In Hindi

गत्ते पर चिपका फोटोग्राफ, बेट् तथा डॉली, दो चचेरी बहनों को दिखाता है जो कवयित्री की माँ के साथ समुद्र में तैरने गई थी। उनमें से प्रत्येक कवयित्री की माँ का एक-एक हाथ पकड़े हुए थी। उस समय कवयित्री की माँ बारह वर्ष की लड़की थी। उनके चाचाजी के पास एक कैमरा था। तीनों कैमरे की तरफ मुख करके शान्त खड़ी रहीं। उन्होंने मुस्कराने के लिये अपने बाल एक तरफ झटके। इस प्रकार यह फोटोग्राफ तीन मुस्कराते हुए चेहरे प्रस्तुत करता है। कवयित्री की माँ का चेहरा अत्यन्त प्यारा है। यह उसके जन्म से पहले के समय का है। उनके पैर, जो कि समुद्र के जल द्वारा थोड़े समय के लिए धोए जा रहे थे, समुद्र के जल के साथ चित्रित किये गये हैं। समुद्र में बहुत कम परिवर्तन हुआ लगता है। इस प्रकार कवयित्री परोक्ष रूप से संकेत देती है कि समय बीतने के साथ माँ के चेहरे में परिवर्तन हुआ है।

समय बीतने के साथ, यूँ कह लीजिए 20 या 30 वर्ष पश्चात्, कवयित्री की माँ इस फोटो पर हँसती है। वह इस फोटो की ओर संकेत करके याद करती है कि जब वह समुद्र पर छुट्टियाँ मनाने गई थी तो बेट् और डॉली ने समुद्र तट के लिए स्वयं को किस प्रकार की वेश-भूषा से सुसज्जित किया था। वह इस संक्षिप्त पोशाक को देख कर हँसती है। समुद्र की यह छुट्टी उसके भूतकाल का एक अंश है। उसकी हँसी कवयित्री के लिये वास्तविक तथा सुखद है। यह उसके लिए बहुमूल्य स्मृति है। उसकी छुट्टियाँ तथा हँसी-दोनों ही एक विडम्बनापूर्ण ढंग से आनन्ददायक है क्योंकि वे उस हानि से जुड़ी हुई हैं जिसकी पीड़ा से मुक्ति के लिए बल देने की आवश्यकता पड़ती है।

अब कवयित्री की माँ को मरे लगभग उतना समय हो चुका है जितने समय तक चित्र वाली वह लड़की जीवित रही। कवयित्री अपनी माँ के देहावसान की घटना पर कुछ शब्द कहने में स्वयं को असमर्थ पाती है। यह एक गम्भीर क्षण है तथा इसकी चुप्पी उसे शान्त कर देती है। इस प्रकार कवयित्री अपनी माँ को श्रद्धांजलि समर्पित करती है। यह वह फोटोग्राफ है जो उसे द्रवित करके चुप करा देता है।

Silk Road Summary in English

The narrator was leaving Ravu and heading towards Mount Kailash to complete the kora. It was in the early hours of the morning that they were set to leave. Lhamo gave the narrator a long-sleeved sheepskin coat, which all the men wore, as a farewell present. Tsetan assessed him as they got into his car. They took a short cut to get off the Changtang. Tsetan knew a route that would take them south-west, almost directly towards Mount Kailash. It involved crossing several fairly high mountain passes, he said. Going that way would not be a problem if there was no snow but that one could never know till one reached there.

From the gently rising and falling hills of Ravu, the short cut took them across vast open plains, dry grazing land, with nothing in them except a few small antelopes. Moving ahead they noticed that the plains became more stony than grassy. Here they saw a herd of wild ass that were racing around and of which Tsetan had told them even before they appeared.

The drive again became steep. They crossed drokbas tending their flocks. Thickly clad men and women stared at their car and at times waved at them while the sheep would turn away from the vehicle. They passed nomads’ dark tents pitched in the isolated places usually with a huge black dog, a Tibetan big, smooth-haired dog guarding them. These dogs would observe them from a distance and as they drew closer, they would rush towards them and chase them for about a hundred metres. These hairy dogs were pitch black and usually wore bright red collars and barked angrily with enormous jaws. They were absolutely fearless of their vehicle and would run straight onto their way. Tsetan had to brake and turn sharply to avoid them. It was because of their ferocity that these Tibetan mastiffs were brought from Tibet to China’s imperial courts as hunting dogs.

As they entered a valley, they could see snow-capped mountains and the wide river but mostly blocked with ice that was sparkling in the sunshine. As they moved ahead, on their upward track, the turns became sharper and the ride bumpier. The rocks around were covered with patches of bright orange lichen. Under the rocks, seemed unending shade. The narrator felt the pressure building up in his ears so he held his nose, snorted and cleared them. Just then Tsetan stopped and the three of them—Tsetan, Daniel and the narrator walked out of the car.

It continued to snow. The snow that had collected was too steep for their vehicle to scale, so there was no way of going around the snow patch. The narrator looked at his wristwatch and realized that they were at 5,210 metres above sea level.

The snow didn’t look too deep, but the danger was that if the car slipped it could turn over. Tsetan grabbed handfuls of soil and threw it across the frozen surface of ice. Daniel and the narrator stayed out of the vehicle to lessen Tsetan’s load. He backed and drove towards the dirty snow, and with no difficulty the car moved on. But after ten minutes of driving, there was another obstruction. Tsetan assessed the scene and this time he decided to drive round the snow. It was a steep slope scattered with big rocks, but Tsetan got past them. The narrator checked his watch again; they were 5,400 metres above sea level and his head began to ache terribly. He gulped a little water for relief.

When they reached the top of the pass at 5,515 metres, they noticed large rocks decorated with white silk scarves and ragged prayer flags. All of them took a clockwise round them as is the tradition and Tsetan checked the tyres on his vehicle. He stopped at the petrol tank. The lower atmospheric pressure was allowing the fuel to expand.

The narrator was soon relieved of headache as they went to the other side of the pass. At two o’clock, they stopped for lunch and ate hot noodles inside a long canvas work tent, put up beside a dry salt lake. The plateau was covered with spots of salty desert area and salt lakes, leftovers of the Tethys Ocean, which surrounded Tibet before the steep climb. Here there was a lot of activity, men with pickaxes and shovels were moving around wearing long sheepskin coats and salt-covered boots. All of them were wearing sunglasses against the bright light of the trucks as they came laden with piles of salt.

By late afternoon they reached a small town, Hor, back on the main east-west highway that followed the old trade route from Lhasa to Kashmir. Daniel took a ride in a truck and went to Lhasa. Tsetan and the narrator bade him farewell.

Hor was a gloomy place covered with dust and rocks and devoid of vegetation. It was scattered with a lot of refuse that had gathered over the years. It was regrettable as this town was on the shore of Lake Manasarovar, Tibet’s most honoured lake. Ancient Hindu and Buddhist study of the universe pinpoints Manasarovar as the source of four great Indian rivers: the Indus, the Ganges, the Sutlej and the Brahmaputra. Actually, only the Sutlej flows from this lake, but the headwaters of the others all rise nearby on the sides of Mount Kailash. They had tea in Hor’s only cafe which, like all the other buildings in town, was built from badly painted concrete and had three broken windows but they had a good view of the lake through one of the windows.

After half an hour’s stop, they drove westwards out of the town towards Mount Kailash.

The narrator was surprised to see Hor because it was absolutely different from what he had read about it. Ekai Kawaguchi, a Japanese monk who had been there in 1900, was so stirred by the holiness of the lake that he burst into tears. A few years later, the place had a similar effect on Sven Hedin, a Swede visitor.

They reached a guesthouse in Darchen after 10.30 p.m. They were 4,760 metres above the sea level. It was a disturbed night. The narrator had terrible cold because of the open-air rubbish dump in Hor. With his nostrils blocked he found it difficult to breathe. He was tired and hungry and thus started breathing through his mouth.

But barely had he slept when he woke up abruptly. His felt a peculiar heaviness in his chest; he sat up and cleared his nasal passages. He felt relieved but the moment he lay down he intuitively felt that something was wrong. He was not breathless but simply could not sleep. The fear of dying in his sleep kept him awake.

The next morning Tsetan took him to the Darchen Medical College. It was a new building that looked like a monastery from the outside. It had a very solid door that opened into a large courtyard. In the consulting room was a Tibetan doctor who did not have the equipment that a doctor would have. Clad in a thick pullover and a woolly hat, he listened to the narrator’s symptoms and said it was because of the altitude and cold. He assured the narrator that he would be fine and gave him a brown envelope stuffed with fifteen screws of paper that contained brown powder that tasted like cinnamon. He was asked to take them with hot water. The narrator did not like the look of the contents but took them anyway. He slept very soundly.

When Tsetan was assured that the narrator was going to be well, he left him and returned to Lhasa. As a Buddhist, it didn’t really matter if the narrator died but he thought it would be bad for business. After the narrator got his rest and a good night’s sleep, Darchen didn’t look so awful. It was still dusty, and had heaps of rubble and refuse, but the bright sun gave him a view of the Himalayas. He saw the snow-capped mountain, Gurla Mandhata, with a small cloud hanging over its peak.

The town had a few general stores selling Chinese cigarettes, soap and other basic provisions, as well as the usual strings of prayer flags. In front of one, men collected in the afternoon for a game of pool on a strange table in the open air, while nearby women washed their long hair in the icy water of a narrow brook near the guesthouse. Darchen felt stress-free and slow but for the narrator this was a major disadvantage. There were no pilgrims. He had been told that in the peak of the pilgrimage season, the town was full of visitors. That was the reason for his being there in the beginning of the season, but it seemed that he was too early.

One afternoon he sat with a glass of tea in Darchen’s only cafe thinking about the paucity of pilgrims and the fact that he hadn’t made much progress with his self-help programme on positive thinking. After some contemplation, he felt he could only wait. He did not like the idea of going alone on a pilgrimage.

The kora was seasonal because parts of the road were likely to be blocked by snow. He had no idea if the snow had cleared, but he saw the large pieces of dirty ice on the banks of Darchen’s stream. From the time when Tsetan had left, he had not met anyone in Darchen who could answer even the basic questions in English till he met Norbu.

The narrator was in a small, dark cafe with a long metal stove that ran down the middle. The walls and roofs were covered with multi-coloured sheets of plastic that is made into shopping bags in many countries. Plastic is one of China’s most successful exports along the Silk Road today. He sat beside a window so that he could see the pages of his notebook. He also had a novel with him. Norbu saw the book, came to him, sat opposite and asked the narrator if he was ‘English’. They stated a conversation. The narrator could make out that he did not belong to that place as he was wearing a windcheater and metal-rimmed spectacles of Western style. He told the narrator that he was a Tibetan, but worked in Beijing at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, in the Institute of Ethnic Literature. He, too, had come to do the kora.

Norbu had been writing academic papers about the Kailash kora and its importance in various works of Buddhist literature for many years, but he had never actually done it himself. When the narrator told him what brought him to Darchen, he was excited and wanted to work with him as a team. He soon realized that Norbu was as ill-equipped as him for the pilgrimage. He kept telling the narrator how fat he was and how tough it was going to be for him to walk. He wasn’t really a practising Buddhist, it became known, but he had enthusiasm and he was a Tibetan.

Although at first the narrator had thought that he would make the trek in the company of religious people but then felt that Norbu would turn out to be the ideal companion. Norbu suggested that they hire some yaks to carry the luggage, as he said it was not possible for him to prostrate himself all round the mountain as that was not his style, and anyway his tummy was too big.

summary in hindi

वर्णनकर्ता रावू को छोड़कर कोरा पूरा करने के लिए कैलाश पर्वत की ओर जा रहा था। सुबह के शुरुआती घंटों में उन्हें जाने के लिए तैयार किया गया था। ल्हामो ने वर्णनकर्ता को एक लंबी बाजू वाला भेड़ की खाल का कोट दिया, जिसे सभी पुरुषों ने विदाई के उपहार के रूप में पहना था। टेसेटन ने उनकी कार में बैठते ही उनका आकलन किया। चांगतांग से निकलने के लिए उन्होंने शॉर्ट कट लिया। त्सेतान एक ऐसा मार्ग जानता था जो उन्हें दक्षिण-पश्चिम की ओर ले जाएगा, लगभग सीधे कैलाश पर्वत की ओर। उन्होंने कहा कि इसमें काफी ऊंचे पहाड़ी दर्रों को पार करना शामिल है। यदि बर्फ न होती तो उस रास्ते से जाने में कोई समस्या नहीं होती, लेकिन जब तक कोई वहाँ नहीं पहुँचता तब तक उसे पता नहीं चल सकता था।

रावू की धीरे-धीरे बढ़ती और गिरती पहाड़ियों से, शॉर्ट कट उन्हें विशाल खुले मैदानों, सूखी चरागाह भूमि में ले गया, जिसमें कुछ छोटे मृगों के अलावा कुछ भी नहीं था। आगे चलकर उन्होंने देखा कि मैदान घास से अधिक पथरीले हो गए हैं। यहाँ उन्होंने जंगली गधों का एक झुंड देखा जो इधर-उधर दौड़ रहा था और जिसके बारे में सेटन ने उन्हें प्रकट होने से पहले ही बता दिया था।

ड्राइव फिर खड़ी हो गई। उन्होंने अपने झुंडों को चराते हुए ड्रोकबास को पार किया। मोटे कपड़े पहने पुरुष और महिलाएं उनकी कार को घूरते रहे और कभी-कभी उन पर हाथ हिलाते रहे जबकि भेड़ें वाहन से दूर चली जाती थीं। वे आम तौर पर एक बड़े काले कुत्ते, एक तिब्बती बड़े, चिकने बालों वाले कुत्ते की रखवाली करते हुए खानाबदोशों के अंधेरे टेंट को अलग-थलग जगहों पर ले जाते थे। ये कुत्ते उन्हें दूर से ही देख लेते और जैसे-जैसे वे करीब आते जाते, उनकी ओर दौड़ते और करीब सौ मीटर तक उनका पीछा करते। ये बालों वाले कुत्ते पिच काले थे और आमतौर पर चमकीले लाल कॉलर पहनते थे और बड़े जबड़े के साथ गुस्से में भौंकते थे। वे अपने वाहन से बिल्कुल निडर थे और सीधे अपने रास्ते पर भाग जाते थे। सेटन को उनसे बचने के लिए ब्रेक लगाना पड़ा और तेजी से मुड़ना पड़ा। यह उनकी उग्रता के कारण ही था कि इन तिब्बती कुत्तों को शिकार कुत्तों के रूप में तिब्बत से चीन के शाही दरबार में लाया गया था।
जैसे ही वे एक घाटी में दाखिल हुए, वे बर्फ से ढके पहाड़ और चौड़ी नदी देख सकते थे, लेकिन ज्यादातर बर्फ से अवरुद्ध थे जो धूप में जगमगा रही थी। जैसे-जैसे वे आगे बढ़ते गए, उनके ऊपर की ओर जाने वाले ट्रैक पर मोड़ तेज होते गए और सवारी ऊबड़-खाबड़ हो गई। चारों ओर की चट्टानें चमकीले नारंगी लाइकेन के धब्बों से आच्छादित थीं। चट्टानों के नीचे, अंतहीन छाया लग रहा था। वर्णनकर्ता ने महसूस किया कि उसके कानों में दबाव बढ़ रहा है इसलिए उसने अपनी नाक पकड़ी, सूँघा और उन्हें साफ किया। तभी सेटन रुक गया और उनमें से तीन - सेटन, डैनियल और कथावाचक कार से बाहर चले गए।

हिमपात जारी रहा। जो बर्फ जमा हुई थी, वह उनके वाहन के लिए बहुत खड़ी थी, इसलिए बर्फ के ढेर के आसपास जाने का कोई रास्ता नहीं था। वर्णनकर्ता ने अपनी कलाई घड़ी को देखा और महसूस किया कि वे समुद्र तल से 5,210 मीटर ऊपर थे।

बर्फ ज्यादा गहरी नहीं दिख रही थी, लेकिन खतरा यह था कि अगर कार फिसली तो पलट सकती है। त्सेटन ने मुट्ठी भर मिट्टी पकड़ी और उसे बर्फ की जमी हुई सतह पर फेंक दिया। सेटन के भार को कम करने के लिए डैनियल और वर्णनकर्ता वाहन से बाहर रहे। वह पीछे हट गया और गंदी बर्फ की ओर चला गया, और बिना किसी कठिनाई के कार आगे बढ़ गई। लेकिन दस मिनट गाड़ी चलाने के बाद एक और रुकावट आ गई। त्सेटन ने दृश्य का आकलन किया और इस बार उसने बर्फ के चारों ओर ड्राइव करने का फैसला किया। यह बड़ी चट्टानों से बिखरी एक खड़ी ढलान थी, लेकिन सेटन ने उन्हें पार कर लिया। वर्णनकर्ता ने फिर से अपनी घड़ी देखी; वे समुद्र तल से 5,400 मीटर ऊपर थे और उनका सिर बुरी तरह से दर्द करने लगा। उसने राहत के लिए थोड़ा पानी पिया।


जब वे दर्रे के शीर्ष पर 5,515 मीटर पर पहुंचे, तो उन्होंने सफेद रेशमी स्कार्फ और फटे हुए प्रार्थना झंडों से सजी बड़ी-बड़ी चट्टानें देखीं। उन सभी ने परंपरा के अनुसार दक्षिणावर्त घूमा और सेटन ने अपने वाहन के टायरों की जांच की। वह पेट्रोल टैंक पर रुक गया। कम वायुमंडलीय दबाव ईंधन के विस्तार की अनुमति दे रहा था।

जैसे ही वे दर्रे के दूसरी ओर गए वर्णनकर्ता को जल्द ही सिरदर्द से राहत मिली। दो बजे, वे दोपहर के भोजन के लिए रुके और सूखे नमक की झील के किनारे रखे एक लंबे कैनवस वर्क टेंट के अंदर गर्म नूडल्स खाए। पठार नमकीन रेगिस्तानी क्षेत्र और नमक की झीलों, टेथिस महासागर के अवशेषों से ढका हुआ था, जो खड़ी चढ़ाई से पहले तिब्बत को घेरे हुए था। यहाँ बहुत चहल-पहल थी, फावड़े और फावड़े लिए आदमी भेड़ की खाल के लंबे कोट और नमक से ढके जूते पहने इधर-उधर घूम रहे थे। नमक के ढेर से लदे हुए सभी ट्रकों की तेज रोशनी के खिलाफ धूप का चश्मा पहने हुए थे।
कोरा मौसमी था क्योंकि सड़क के कुछ हिस्सों के बर्फ से अवरुद्ध होने की संभावना थी। उसे इस बात का कोई अंदाजा नहीं था कि बर्फ साफ हुई है या नहीं, लेकिन उसने डार्चेन की धारा के किनारे गंदी बर्फ के बड़े-बड़े टुकड़े देखे। सेटन के चले जाने के समय से, वह डारचेन में किसी से नहीं मिला था जो नोरबू से मिलने तक अंग्रेजी में बुनियादी सवालों का जवाब दे सके।

वर्णनकर्ता एक छोटे, गहरे रंग के कैफे में था जिसमें धातु का एक लम्बा चूल्हा था जो बीच में नीचे की ओर चलता था। दीवारों और छतों को प्लास्टिक की बहुरंगी चादरों से ढक दिया गया था, जिसे कई देशों में शॉपिंग बैग में बनाया जाता है। प्लास्टिक आज सिल्क रोड के साथ चीन के सबसे सफल निर्यातों में से एक है। वह एक खिड़की के पास बैठ गया ताकि वह अपनी नोटबुक के पन्ने देख सके। उनके साथ उनका एक उपन्यास भी था। नोरबू ने किताब देखी, उसके पास आया, सामने बैठा और वर्णनकर्ता से पूछा कि क्या वह 'अंग्रेज' है। उन्होंने एक बातचीत की। वर्णनकर्ता यह पता लगा सकता था कि वह उस स्थान से संबंधित नहीं था क्योंकि उसने पश्चिमी शैली का विंडचीटर और धातु की रिम वाला चश्मा पहन रखा था। उन्होंने कथावाचक को बताया कि वह एक तिब्बती थे, लेकिन बीजिंग में चाइनीज एकेडमी ऑफ सोशल साइंसेज, इंस्टीट्यूट ऑफ एथनिक लिटरेचर में काम करते थे। वह भी कोरा करने आया था।

नोरबू कई वर्षों से कैलाश कोरा और बौद्ध साहित्य के विभिन्न कार्यों में इसके महत्व के बारे में अकादमिक पत्र लिख रहे थे, लेकिन वास्तव में उन्होंने इसे स्वयं कभी नहीं किया था। जब कथावाचक ने उसे बताया कि वह क्या लेकर आया है, तो वह उत्साहित था और एक टीम के रूप में उसके साथ काम करना चाहता था। उन्होंने जल्द ही महसूस किया कि नोरबू तीर्थयात्रा के लिए उनके जैसे ही बीमार थे। वह कथावाचक को बताता रहा कि वह कितना मोटा है और उसके लिए चलना कितना कठिन होने वाला है। वह वास्तव में एक अभ्यासी बौद्ध नहीं थे, यह ज्ञात हो गया था, लेकिन उनमें उत्साह था और वे एक तिब्बती थे।

हालाँकि पहले तो वर्णनकर्ता ने सोचा था कि वह धार्मिक लोगों की संगति में ट्रेक करेगा लेकिन फिर लगा कि नोरबू आदर्श साथी बन जाएगा। नोरबू ने सुझाव दिया कि वे सामान ले जाने के लिए कुछ याक किराए पर लेते हैं, क्योंकि उन्होंने कहा कि उनके लिए पहाड़ के चारों ओर झुकना संभव नहीं था क्योंकि यह उनकी शैली नहीं थी, और वैसे भी उनका पेट बहुत बड़ा था।

The Adventure Summary in English

Professor Gangadharpant Gaitonde was travelling in the Jijamata Express on the Pune-Bombay route. This train was much faster than the Deccan Queen and he noticed that there were no industrial townships outside Pune. The train first stopped at Lonavala, 40 minutes after it started from Pune and then for a little while at Karjat. It went on even faster through Kalyan.

In the meantime, Professor Qaitonde, being a historian, was thinking of going to a big library in Bombay and looking through history books. He wanted to understand the present situation. He also decided to return to Pune and discuss with Rajendra Deshpande, who would surely help him understand what had happened. He hoped that a person called Rajendra Deshpande existed.

When the train stopped at a small station, Sarhad, an Anglo-Indian ticket-checker went around checking tickets. Khan Sahib informed Gangadharpant that that was where the British Raj began. He inquired if Gangadharpant was going to Bombay for the first time. Gangadharpant had not been to this Bombay before. He asked Khan Sahib how he would go to Peshawar. Khan Sahib replied that he would go to the Victoria Terminus and would take the Frontier Mail. It would go from Bombay to Delhi, then to Lahore and then Peshawar. He would reach the next day.

Then Khan Sahib discussed his business and Gangadharpant listened eagerly. As the train passed through the suburban rail traffic, Khan Sahib explained that the blue carriages carried the letters, GBMR, that meant Greater Bombay Metropolitan Railway. The Union Jack painted on each carriage was a reminder that they were in British territory.

When the train reached Victoria Terminus, the station looked remarkably neat and clean. Most of the staff was Anglo-Indian and Parsee along with a few British officers.

As Gangadharpant came out of the station he found himself facing an impressive building. It was the East India house headquarters of the East India Company. He was shocked, because as per the history books The East India Company had been shut down soon after 1857. But here it was prospering.

He walked ahead along Hornby Road but he found there was no Handloom House building. Instead, there were Boots and Woolworth departmental stores, grand offices of Lloyds, Barclays and other British banks, as in a typical high street of a town in England.

He entered the Forbes building and asked the English receptionist that he wished to meet Mr Vinay Gaitonde, his son. She searched through the telephone list and said that there was nobody with that name there. He was shocked. He had a quick lunch at a restaurant; he went to the Town Hall to the library of the Asiatic Society to solve the mystery of history.

In the library he started browsing through the five volumes of history books including his own. Volume one was about the history up to the period of Ashoka, volume two up to Samudragupta, volume three up to Mohammad Ghori and volume four up to the death of Aurangzeb. Reading volume five, Gangadharpant finally arrived on the precise moment where history had taken a different turn. That page in the book described the Battle of Panipat, and it mentioned that the Marathas won the battle. Abdali was defeated and he was chased back to Kabul by the triumphant Maratha army led by Sadashivrao Bhau and his nephew, the young Vishwasrao.

The book did not give a detailed explanation of the battle but explained in detail its impact for the power struggle in Ipdia. Gangadharpant read the account eagerly. The style of writing was definitely his, but much to his surprise he was reading the explanation for the first time.

Their victory in the battle had not only increased the confidence of the Marathas but it also established their domination in northern India. The East India Company, observing these developments for the time being postponed its policy of expanding in India’s territory.

For the Peshwas it resulted in an increased power of Bhausaheb and Vishwasrao who succeeded his father in 1780 A.D. The threat, Dadasaheb, was pushed to the background and he finally left state politics.

The East India Company was disappointed, as the new Maratha ruler, Vishwasrao and his brother, Madhavrao, combined political sharpness with bravery and extended their control all over India. The Company’s hold was then limited to places near Bombay, Calcutta and Madras. This was exactly like that of the Portuguese and the French.

The Peshwas kept the Mughal rule alive in Delhi to manipulate the situation. In the nineteenth century these rulers from Pune were shrewd enough to recognise the beginning of the technological age in Europe. They set up their own centres for science and technology. The East India Company saw another chance to enlarge its influence. It offered aid and experts. They were accepted only to make the local centres self-sufficient.

In the twentieth century more changes were brought about because of the Western influence.

Now, India moved towards a democracy. By then, the Peshwas had lost their zeal and democratically elected bodies slowly replaced them. The Sultanate at Delhi survived this change, mainly because it exercised no influence. The Shahenshah of Delhi was just a nominal head to rubberstamp the suggestions made by the parliament.

Gangadharpant began to understand India as a country that had learnt to be self-reliant and knew what self-respect was. It was in a position of strength but for only business reasons, it had allowed the British to be there. Bombay was the only colony on the subcontinent. That lease was to expire in the year 2001, according to a treaty of 1908.

Gangadharpant could not help comparing the country he knew with what he was viewing now. But he had to find how the Marathas had won the battle. For this he started looking for reports of the battle itself. Finally he found Bhausahebanchi Bakhar. Even though he rarely trusted the Bakhars for historical verification, he found them entertaining to read. He managed to find a brief mention of how Vishwasrao luckily survived his close brush with death.

At eight o’clock the library was to close. As Gangadharpant left the table he put some notes into his right pocket. Forgetfully, he also thrust the Bakhar into his left pocket.

After a measly meal at the guesthouse, he leisurely walked towards the Azad Maidan. There a lecture was to take place. Professor Gaitonde walked towards the pandal and was awestruck staring at the platform. The presidential chair was vacant. He was drawn to it. The speaker stopped his lecture, as he was too surprised to continue. But the audience shouted at him to leave the chair.

Professor Gaitonde went to the mike and expressed his views. He said that an unchaired lecture was like Shakespeare’s Hamlet without the Prince of Denmark. The audience was in no mood to listen but Gangadharpant was an experienced orator. He braved a shower of tomatoes, eggs and other objects. Finally, the audience came to the stage to throw him out but Gangadharpant had disappeared in the crowd.

This was all he had to tell Rajendra. All he knew was that he was found in the Azad Maidan in the morning. He was back in the world he was familiar with. But he did not know where he had spent the two days when he was absent from there.

The story astonished Rajendra. He asked him where he had been, just before his accident with the truck. Professor Gaitonde said that he was thinking of the disaster theory and its consequences for history. Professor Gaitonde produced the page tom out of a book as evidence that he had not been imagining things. Rajendra read the text and seemed equally surprised.

Gangadharpant said that he had intended to return the book to the library but in the episode of Azad Maidan, the book was lost and only this tom-off page remained. And that had the essential evidence.

Rajendra read the page; how Vishwasrao narrowly missed the bullet; and how that event, taken as a sign by the Maratha army, turned things to their advantage. Then Gangadharpant took out his own copy of Bhausahebanchi Bakhar, where the bullet hit Vishwasrao.

Rajendra and Professor Gaitonde were both very curious to know the facts.

Rajendra tried to explain Professor Gaitonde’s experience on the basis of two scientific theories. He explained that Professor Gaitonde had heard a lot about the upheaval theory at that seminar. He wanted to relate it to the Battle of Panipat. He said that wars fought face to face on open grounds offered excellent examples of this theory. The Maratha army was facing Abdali’s troops on the field of Panipat. There was no great disparity between them as their protection was similar. So, a lot depended on the leadership and the confidence of the troops.

When Vishwasrao was killed, it proved to be the important moment of change. His uncle, Bhausaheb, rushed into the fight and was never seen again. The troops were thoroughly demotivated as they had lost their important leaders. This led to their crushing defeat. The tom page was the path taken by the battle, when the bullet missed Vishwasrao, thus its effect on the troops was also just the opposite. Gangadharpant said that there was a likelihood of this as similar statements are made about the Battle of Waterloo, which Napoleon could have won. But since we live in a unique world, which has a unique history, this might just be guesswork but not reality.

Rajendra made his second point. He said ‘reality’ is what we experience directly with our senses or indirectly via instruments. But it is not limited to what we see.

Experiments on atoms and their constituent particles have proved that reality may not be exclusive. The Physicist discovered that the behaviour of these systems cannot be forecast conclusively even if all the physical laws governing those systems are known. For example if a bullet were fired from a gun in a given direction at a given speed, one would know where it would be at a later time. But one cannot make such an assertion for the electron. It may be here, there, anywhere. Professor Gaitonde felt that the quantum theory offered a lack of determinism.

Rajendra argued his case further. He asked Professor Gaitonde to imagine many world pictures. In each world the electron could be found in different location. Once the observer found where it was, he would know which world we were talking about. But all those alternative worlds could exist just the same.

Professor Gaitonde wanted to know if there was any contact between those many worlds.

Rajendra said that there was a possibility both ways. We know the exact route of the planet. The electron could be orbiting in any of a large number of specified states. These states may be used to identify the world. In state no. 1 the electron was in a state of higher energy. In state no. 2 it was in a state of lower energy. It could make a jump from high to low energy and send out a pulse of radiation. Or a pulse of radiation could knock it out of state no. 2 into state no. 1. Such transitions were common in microscopic systems. These transitions could happen on a macroscopic level as well.

He felt that Gangadharpant could have made a transition from one world to another and back again. He said that his theory was that disastrous situations offer completely different options for the world to proceed. It seemed that so far as reality was concerned all alternatives were viable but the observer could experience only one of them at a time.

By making a shift, Gangadharpant was able to experience two worlds although one at a time. The one he lived in and the one where he spent two days. One had the history we know, the other a different history. The separation or split took place in the Battle of Panipat. He had neither travelled to the past nor to the future but was in the present but experiencing a different world. There must be many more different worlds at different points of time.

Gangadharpant wanted to know why had he made the transition. Rajendra said that there were many unsolved questions in science and this was one of them. However, he made a guess. He felt that Gangadharpant needed some contact to cause a transition. Perhaps, at the time of the collision he was thinking about the catastrophe theory and its role in wars or perhaps he was wondering about the Battle of Panipat and the neurons in his brain activated the transition.

Professor Gaitonde said he found the explanation probable. He had been wondering what path history would have taken if the result of the battle had gone the other way. That was what he was going to speak about in the Azad Maidan.

Rajendra laughed and said that now he was in a better position, as he would talk of his real life experience rather than just an assumption. But Gangadharpant looked serious. He said that his thousandth address was made on the Azad Maidan where he was so rudely interrupted. The Professor Gaitonde who disappeared while defending his chair on the platform will now never be seen presiding at another meeting as he had expressed his regrets to the organisers of the Panipat seminar.

The Adventure Summary Questions and Answers

Question 1.
‘That is, assuming that in this world there existed someone called Rajendra Deshpande!’ Why does Professor Gaitonde feel so?
Answer:
Professor Gaitonde had gone through a strange and a harrowing experience. He had been literally transported into an alternative universe. In the alternative world the reality was very different. History had altered its course. Now back into the real world Professor Gaitonde, as a historian felt he would go to a big library and browse through history books and would return to Pune and have a long talk with Rajendra Deshpande, to help him understand what had happened. After the queer happening, he was unsure about the reality and wondered if Rajendra Deshpande existed.

Question 2.
What were the things that Professor Gaitonde noticed as the train entered the British Raj territory?
Answer:
As the train touched Sarhad, from where the British Raj began, an Anglo-Indian in uniform went through the train checking permits. The blue carriages of the train carried the letters GBMR on the side—an acronym for ‘Greater Bombay Metropolitan Railway’. There was the tiny Union Jack painted on each carriage as a . reminder that they were in British territory. As the train stopped at its destination, Victoria Terminus, the station looked remarkably neat and clean. The staff was mostly made up of Anglo-Indians and Parsees along with a handful of British officers.

Question 3.
Where was Khan Sahib going? How did he intend to reach there?
Answer:
Khan Sahib was going to Peshawar. After the train reached Victoria Terminus he would take the Frontier Mail out of Central,-the same night. From Bombay he would go to Delhi, then to Lahore and then Peshawar. It would be a long journey and he would reach Peshawar two days later.

Question 4.
What was the strange reality that Professor Gaitonde saw as he stepped out of the station?
Answer:
As Professor Gaitonde came out of the station, he saw an impressive building. The letters on it revealed that it was the East India headquarters of the East India Company. He was shocked as it was supposed to have had stopped operating soon after the events of 1857 but here it was flourishing.

Question 5.
What came as the biggest blow to Professor Gaitonde?
Answer:
Professor Gaitonde was shocked to see the East India Company flourishing, a different set of shops and office buildings at Hornby Road. But when he turned right along Home Street and entered Forbes building, a greater shock awaited him. He asked for his son Mr Vinay Gaitonde but the English receptionist, looked through the telephone list, the staff list and then through the directory of employees of all the branches of the firm but could not find anyone of that name.

Question 6.
What did Professor Gaitonde decide to do when the reality that he was living seemed very strange?
Answer:
When Professor Gaitoride saw unfamiliar sights and felt that he was reliving history he was very surprised but not finding his son as an employee in Forbes baffled him completely. He decided to go to the library of the Asiatic Society to solve the riddle of history. So he made his way to the Town Hall.

Question 7.
What books did he browse through in the library? What did he discover?
Answer:
In the Town Hall library, he asked for a list of history books including his own.

When he got the five volumes, he started looking through them from the beginning. Volume one dealt with the history up to the period of Ashoka, volume two up to Samudragupta, volume three up to Mohammad Ghori, and volume four up to the death of Aurangzeb. This was history as he had known. However in the last (fifth) volume, history had taken a different turn during the Battle of Panipat. The book mentioned that the Marathas won it handsomely and Abdali was chased back to Kabul by the triumphant Maratha army led by Sadashivrao Bhau and his nephew, the young Vishwasrao.

Question 8.
How did the victory of the Peshwas in the Battle of Panipat help them?
Answer:
The victory in the battle was not only successful in building their confidence tremendously but it also established the supremacy of the Marathas in northern India. The East India Company, watching these events temporarily deferred its plan to spread out further.

For the Peshwas the immediate result was that the influence of Bhausaheb and Vishwasrao increased and Vishwarao succeeded his father in 1780 A.D. The rabble-rouser, Dadasaheb, had to retire from state politics.

Question 9.
What was the effect of the victory of the Peshwas on the East India Company?
Answer:
The East India Company was alarmed when the new Maratha ruler, Vishwasrao, and his brother, Madhavrao, expanded their influence all over India. The Company was limited to pockets of influence near Bombay, Calcutta and Madras. However, in the nineteenth century the Marathas were aware of the importance of the technological age starting in Europe. Hence when they set up their own centres for science and technology, the East India Company saw another chance to extend its influence, it offered support and experts. But they were accepted only to make the local centres self-sufficient.

Question 10.
What was the final outcome of the Peshwas?
Answer:
During the twentieth century, inspired by the West, India moved towards a democracy. By then, the Peshwas had lost their enterprise and democratically elected bodies slowly but surely replaced them. The Sultanate at Delhi survived even this change because it exerted no real influence. The Shahenshah of Delhi was a nominal head to rubber-stamp the ‘recommendations’ made by the central parliament.

The Browning Version Summary In English

This is an excerpt from Terence Rattigan’s play’i te Browning Version’. The scene is set in a good school. Taplow, a boy of sixteen has come in to do extra work for his master Mr. CrockerHarris. He has not yet arrived. Another master, Frank, younger in years than Mr. CrockerHarris finds Taplow waiting. Incidentally, it is the last day of the term.

Toplow is a student in the lower fifth form. He does not know whether he will get his division all right or not. He tells Frank that Mr. Crocker-Harris does not tell them the results like the other masters. Frank informs Taplow that there is a rule that form results should only be announced by the headmaster on the last day of the term. Taplow says that no one except Mr. Crocker-Harris pays attention to it.

Frank then asks Taplow what he would like to study if his result is favourable. Taplow indicates his preference for science. Frank remarks that they get all the slackers in science. Taplow disagrees with him and says that he is extremely interested in science. Frank observes frankly that he is not interested in the science he is to teach. Taplow, on the other hand, finds the study of Greek play ‘Agamemnon’ muck. His objection is to the way, the play is taught to them-just a lot of Greek words strung together and fifty lines if one gets them wrong. Taplow’s answers show that he is feeling a bit bitter. Frank is surprised that Taplow has come in to do extra work even on the last day of school. Taplow says that he missed a day last week when he was ill. So he has to put in extra work. The weather is quite fine and he might be playing golf. He knows that Mr. Crocker-Harris must be quite busy then as he is leaving the school for good the next day.

The conversation then shifts to Mr. Cocker-Harris. Taplow had asked him the previous day if he had given him a good division and he said that he had given Taplow exactly what he deserved-No less and certainly no more. Taplow is afraid that he might have marked him down, rather than up, for taking extra work. The man is hardly human. Frank then encourages Taplow to repeat the remarks of Mr. Crocker-Harris. Frank does not find his imitation up to the mark and asks him to read his Aeschylus and be quiet.

Frank suggests to Taplow that he might cut the class and play golf as Mr. Crocker-Harris has not turned up. Taplow is shocked at the suggestion as he can’t think of ever doing so. Frank envies Mr. Crocker-Harris for the effect he has on the boys. They seem scared to death of him. Taplow says that the Crock is not a sadist like other masters. He would not be so frightening if he were. It would then seem that he had some feelings. He seems dry like a nut and hates people to like him. Still Taplow likes him. Sometimes Mr Crocker-Harris sees it and he shrivels up even more.

Taplow then relates an incident when his master related one of his classical jokes in the class. Nobody laughed, as they couldn’t understand it. Taplow laughed as he knew he had meant it as funny. He felt sorry for his master for having made such a poor joke. Taplow has forgotten the joke, but offers to imitate the reaction of Mr Crocker-Harris. The laughter of Mr Frank encourages Taplow to do so. Frank seems to enjoy the joke and asks Taplow to tell it to others.

In the meanwhile Millie Crocker-Harris enters. Frank and Taplow are surprised to see her. Taplow is afraid that she might have overheard their joke. If she told her husband, Taplow’s division would be in danger. Frank dismisses his fear. Millie tells Taplow that her husband is at the Bursar’s and might be there quite a time. She says that if she were Taplow, she would go. Taplow is filled with doubt. He says that Mr Crocker-Harris had especially asked him to come. Millie then suggests that he might run away for a quarter of an hour and come back. Taplow is still uncertain and wonders what will happen, if he gets there before his arrival. Millie offers to take the blame. She then hands him over a prescription and asks him to go to the chemist and get it made up. Thus he can do a job for him. Taplow agrees and leaves the room.

The Browning Version Summary In Hindi

यह टेरेन्स रैटीगन के नाटक ‘ब्राउनिंग वर्शन’ का एक अंश है। दृश्य एक अच्छे विद्यालय में स्थित है। सोलह वर्षीय लड़का टैपलो, अपने अध्यापक मि० क्रोकर-हैरिस के लिए अतिरिक्त कार्य करने के लिये आया है। वह अभी वहाँ नहीं पहुँचा है। एक अन्य अध्यापक फ्रैंक, जो मि० क्रोकर हैरिस से आयु में छोटा है, टैपलो को प्रतीक्षा करते हुए पाता है। संयोगवश यह उस सत्र का अन्तिम दिवस है।

टैपलो निचली पाँचवी कक्षा का विद्यार्थी है। उसे यह नहीं पता कि उसे ठीक श्रेणी (डिवीजन) मिलेगी अथवा नहीं। वह फ्रेन्क को बताता है कि अन्य अध्यापकों की भाँति मि० क्रोकर-हैरिस उन्हें परिणाम नहीं बताता। फ्रैंक टैपलो को सूचित करता है कि एक नियम है कि कक्षा के परिणाम की घोषणा केवल मुख्य अध्यापक को ही सत्र के अन्तिम दिन करनी चाहिए। टैपलो कहता है कि मि० क्रोकर-हैरिस के अतिरिक्त कोई अन्य इस पर ध्यान नहीं देता।

फिर फ्रैंक टैपलो से पूछता है कि यदि उसका परिणाम सकारात्मक रहा तो वह क्या पढ़ना चाहेगा। टैपलो विज्ञान के प्रति अपनी पसन्द दर्शाता है। फ्रैंक कहता है कि उन्हें विज्ञान में सुस्त तथा कामचोर ही मिलते हैं। टैपलो उससे असहमत होता है तथा कहता है कि उसे विज्ञान में अत्यधिक रुचि है। फ्रैंक स्पष्ट रुप से कहता है उसे उस विज्ञान में कोई रूचि नहीं है तो उसे पढ़ाना पड़ता है। दूसरी ओर, टैपलो को यूनानी नाटक ‘अगमेमनॉन’ का अध्ययन अप्रिय लगती है। उसकी आपत्ति उस ढंग से है जिस ढंग से उन्हें नाटक पढ़ाया जाता है-केवल काफी यूनानी शब्द जिन्हें एक साथ पिरोया गया हो तथा पचास पंक्तियाँ (दण्ड स्वरूप) यदि कोई उनमें गलती कर दे। टैपलो का उत्तर दर्शाता है कि वह कुछ कड़वाहट से भरा हुआ है। फ्रैंक को यह जान कर आश्चर्य होता है कि विद्यालय के अन्तिम दिन भी टैपलो अतिरिक्त काम करने आया है। टैपलो कहता है कि पिछले सप्ताह वह एक दिन बीमार था, तो वह कक्षा में नहीं आ सका। अतः उसे अतिरिक्त काम करना पड़ेगा। मौसम काफी सुहावना है तथा वह गोल्फ खेल सकता था। वह जानता है कि मि० क्रोकर-हैरिस काफी व्यस्त होंगे क्योकि वह अगले दिन सदा के लिए विद्यालय छोड़ रहे होंगे।

फिर वार्तालाप मि० क्रोकर-हैरिस की ओर मुड़ जाता है। टैपलो ने उससे पिछले दिन पूछा था कि क्या उसने उसे अच्छी श्रेणी दे दी थी तथा उसने कहा कि उसने टैपलो को बिल्कुल वह ही दिया जिसके वह योग्य था—कुछ कम नहीं तथा निश्चय ही अधिक भी नहीं। टैपलो को भय है कि अतिरिक्त कार्य के कारण उसको अधिक अंकों के बजाय कम अंक मिलेंगे। वह व्यक्ति मानव भावनाओं से रहित है। फ्रैंक फिर टैपलो को प्रोत्साहित करता है कि वह मि० क्रोकर-हैरिस के कथन को दोहराया। फ्रैंक को यह नकल ठीक प्रतीत नहीं होती तथा वह उसे अपना आशईलस पढ़ने तथा चुप रहने को कहता है।

फ्रैंक टैपलो को सुझाव देता है कि वह छुट्टी मार ले तथा गोल्फ खेले क्योंकि मि० क्रोकर-हैरिस अभी तक नहीं आया है। टैपलो . को इस सुझाव से आघात लगता है क्योंकि वह ऐसा करने के लिए कभी सोच भी नहीं सकता। लड़कों पर उसके प्रभाव के कारण, फ्रैंक मि० क्रोकर-हैरिस से ईर्ष्या करता है। वे उससे भय के कारण कांपते हुए लगते हैं। टैपलो कहता है कि अन्य अध्यापकों की भाँति क्रोक परपीड़ा-प्रेमी नहीं है। यदि वह ऐसा होता तो इतना डरावना नहीं होता। तब ऐसा लगता कि उसमें कुछ भावनाएं हैं। वह तो एक अखरोट की भाँति सूखा लगता है तथा उसे पसन्द करने वालों से घृणा करता है। फिर भी टैपलो उसे पसन्द करता है। कई बार मि० क्रोकर-हैरिस इसे देख लेता है तथा और भी अधिक शुष्क हो जाता है।

टैपलो फिर एक घटना का वर्णन करता है जब उसके अध्यापक ने अपना एक उच्चकोटि का मज़ाक कक्षा में सुनाया। कोई भी नहीं हँसा, क्योंकि कोई भी इसे समझ नहीं पाया। टैपलो इसलिए हँस दिया क्योंकि वह जानता था कि वह इसे विनोदमय मानता था। ऐसे निम्न मजाक पर टैपलो को अपने अध्यापक के लिए खेद (अफसोस) हुआ। टैपलो वह मज़ाक तो भूल गया है किन्तु मि० क्रोकर हैरिस की प्रतिक्रिया की नकल उतारने की पेशकश करता है। मि० फ़ैन्क की हँसी उसे ऐसा करने को प्रोत्साहित करती है। फैन्क इस मज़ाक को पसन्द करता हुआ प्रतीत होता है तथा वह टैपलो को इसे अन्य लोगों को बताने को कहता है।

इसी बीच मिली क्रोकर-हैरिस प्रवेश करती है। उसे देखकर, फैन्क तथा टैपलो आश्चर्यचकित होते हैं। टैपलो को भय है कि उसने उसका मज़ाक सुन लिया होगा। यदि वह इसे अपने पति को बता देगी, तो उसकी श्रेणी खतरे में पड़ जाएगी। फ्रैंक उसके भय को महत्त्वहीन मानता है, मिली टैपलो को बताती है कि उसका पति बर्सर (कोषाधिकारी) के कार्यालय में है तथा वहाँ उसे काफी समय लग सकता है। वह कहती है कि यदि वह टैपलो के स्थान पर होती, तो वह चली जाती। टैपलो संदेह से भर जाता है। वह कहता है कि मि० क्रोकर-हैरिस ने विशेष रूप से उसे आने को कहा था। मिली फिर उसे सुझाव देती है कि वह पन्द्रह मिनट के लिए भाग जाए तथा लौट आए। टैपलो अभी भी अनिश्चय से भरा है तथा आश्चर्य करता है कि यदि वह उसके लौटने से पहले आ गया तो क्या होगा। मिली अपने ऊपर दोष लेने का प्रस्ताव करती है। फिर वह उसे दवाई का एक नुस्खा देती है तथा उसे औषधि विक्रेता के पास जाकर इसे बनवाने को कहती है। इस प्रकार वह उस (मि० क्रोकर-हैरिस) के लिए एक काम कर देगा। टैपलो सहमत हो जाता है तथा कक्ष से प्रस्थान करता है।

The Ailing Planet: the Green Movement’s Role Summary In English

The Green Movement started nearly twenty-five years ago. The world’s first nationwide Green party was founded in New Zealand in 1972. Since then, the movement has not looked back. In fact, no other movement in world history has excited human race so much as the Green Movement. For the first time, there is a growing awareness that the earth itself is a living organism. It has its own metabolic needs and essential processes.

The signs pertaining to the Earth’s life show a patient in declining health. People have now fully realised their moral duty to be good custodians of the planet and responsible trustees of the legacy to future generations.

The World Commission on Environment and Development popularized the concept of sustainable development in 1987. It defined the idea as the development that meets the needs of the present with out endangering the ability of future generations to meet their needs.

Man is the most dangerous animal in the world. Now he has realized the wisdom of shifting from a system based on domination to one based on partnership. Scientists have arranged list of 1.4 million living species on earth besides man. About three to hundred million other living species still stay unnamed in humiliating darkness.

The Brandt Commission was the first International Commission to deal with the question of ecology and environment. The first Brandt report raised the question whether we were to leave our successors a dried earth of increasing deserts, poor landscapes and ailing environment. Mr. Lester R. Brown has listed Earth’s four main biological systems. These are fisheries, forests, grasslands and croplands. They form the basis of the world’s economic system. They supply us food and raw materials for industry. In large areas of the world, these systems are reaching unsustainable level. Their productivity is being damaged. When this happens, fisheries break down, forests disappear, grasslands are changed into barren wastelands and croplands become worse.

Overfishing is common in protein hungry world. In poor countries, local forest are destroyed to obtain fuel for cooking. Tropical forests are wearing away at the rate of forty to fifty millions acres a year. The growing use of dung for burning deprives the soil of an important natural fertiliser. Over the last four decades ‘India’s forests have reached disastrous exhaustion. India is losing its forests at the rate of 3.7 million acres a year. Large areas, officially named forest land, are almost treeless. A UN study warns that the environment has deteriorated quite badly in many of the eighty-eight countries investigated.

The growth of world population is one of the strongest factors distorting the future of human society. Mankind reached the first billion mark in more than a million years. That was the world population in the year 1800. By the year 1900, a second billion was added. The twentieth century has added another 3.7 billion. The present world population is estimated at 5.7 billion. Every four days the world population increases by one million.

Fertility falls as income rises, education spreads and health improves. Development is the best contraceptive. However, development may not be possible if population goes on increasing at this rate. The population of India is estimated to be 920 million in 1994. It is more than the entire populations of Africa and South America put together. Unless population control is given top most priority, the hope of the people would die in their hungry hutments. There is no alternative to voluntary family planning without an element of coercion. The choice is really between control of population and continuation of poverty.

We notice a surpassing concern. People are worried not only about their own survival but that of the planet as well. People have begun to take an over-all view of the very basis of life. The environmental problem is our passport for the future. A new world vision has emerged. It has ushered in the Era of Responsibility. It is a holistic view, an ecological view. We now see the world as an integrated whole rather than separate parts.

Industry has very important role to play in this new Era of Responsibility. Leading businessmen should excel in environmental performance. Then they can continue to exist as leading manufacturers. The words of Margaret Thatcher are used frequently. She remarked: No generation has a free hold on this earth. All we have is a life tenancy with a full repairing lease.’Mr. Lester Brown, the author of ‘The Global Economic Prospecť rightly observes, “We have not inherited this earth from our forefathers, we have borrowed it from our children.”

The Ailing Planet: the Green Movement’s Role Summary In Hindi

हरित आन्दोलन लगभग 25 वर्ष पहले आरम्भ हुआ। संसार का पहला राष्ट्रव्यापी हरित-दल 1972 में न्यूजीलैंड में स्थापित किया गया। उसके उपरान्त इस आन्दोलन ने मुड़कर नहीं देखा है। वास्तव में, संसार में किसी अन्य आन्दोलन ने मानव जाति को इतना अधिक उत्तेजित नहीं किया है जितना कि हरित आन्दोलन ने। पहली बार यह चेतना बढ़ी है कि पृथ्वी स्वयं भी एक जीवधारी रचना है। इसकी अपनी जीव सम्बन्धी आवश्यकताएं एवं अति आवश्यक प्रक्रियाएं हैं।

पृथ्वी के जीवन सम्बन्धी चिन्ह एक मरीज को अवनतिशील स्वास्थ्य में दिखाते हैं। लोगों ने अब धरती के भले रखवाले तथा भविष्य की पीढ़ियों की धरोहर के उत्तरदायी ट्रस्टी होने के अपने नैतिक कर्तव्य को भलीभांति समझ लिया है।

1987 में पर्यावरण एवं विकास पर संसार के कमीशन ने जारी रखे जाने योग्य विकास की धारणा को लोकप्रिय किया। इसने इस विचार की परिभाषा ऐसे विकास के रूप में की जो कि लोगों की भविष्य की पीढ़ियों की अपनी आवश्यकताओं की पूर्ति करने की योग्यताओं को खतरे में डाले बिना उनकी अपनी वर्तमान आवश्यकताओं की पूर्ति करे।

मनुष्य संसार का सबसे खतरनाक प्राणी है। अब उसने प्रभुत्व पर आधारित प्रणाली से भागीदारी की प्रणाली में बदलने की बुद्धिमत्ता को समझ लिया है। वैज्ञानिको ने मनुष्य के अतिरिक्त पृथ्वी पर 14 लाख जीवित प्रजातियों की सूची तैयार की है। लगभग 30 लाख से 1000 लाख अन्य जीवित प्रजातियाँ (नस्लें) अभी भी अपमानजनक अन्धकार में गुमनाम पड़ी हैं।

बैंड्ट कमीशन पहला अन्तर्राष्ट्रीय कमीशन था जिसने पारिस्थितिकी एवं पर्यावरण से सरोकार रखा। पहली बैंड्टे प्रतिवेदन (रिपोर्ट) ने यह प्रश्न उठाया कि क्या हम अपने उत्तराधिकारियों के लिए बढ़ते हुए मरुस्थलों की सूखी धरती, दरिद्र दृश्यावलियाँ तथा एक बीमार पर्यावरण छोड़ जाएंगे। मि० लिस्टर आर० ब्राउन ने पृथ्वी की चार मुख्य जीव विद्या सम्बन्धी प्रणालियों की सूची बनाई है। ये हैं: मत्स्य (मछलियों), वन, घास के मैदान तथा कृषियोग्य भूमि। ये संसार की आर्थिक प्रणाली का आधार बनाते हैं। ये हमें भोजन तथा उद्योगों के लिए कच्चा माल देते हैं। संसार के विशाल क्षेत्रों में ये प्रणालियाँ जारी न रखे जाने योग्य स्तर तक पहुँच गई हैं। उनकी उत्पाद क्षमता को क्षति पहुँच रही है। जब ऐसा घटित होता है तो मछलीपालन का क्षय हो जाता है, वन अदृश्य हो जाते हैं, घास के मैदान-बंज़र ऊबड़-खाबड़ भूमि में परिवर्तित हो जाते हैं तथा फसल (कृषि) वाली भूमि खराब हो जाती है।

अधिक संख्या में मछलियाँ पकड़ना प्रोटीन के लिए भूखे संसार में सामान्य बात है। निर्धन देशों में खाना पकाने के लिए ईंधन प्राप्त करने के लिए वनों को नष्ट किया जाता है। उष्णकटिबन्धीय वन चालीस से पचास मिलियन (चार से पांच करोड़) एकड़ प्रति वर्ष के हिसाब से क्षीण हो रहे हैं। जलाने के लिए गोबर का बढ़ता हुआ उपयोग भूमि को एक महत्त्वपूर्ण प्राकृतिक उर्वरक (खाद) से वंचित करता है। पिछले चार दशकों में भारत के वन आपत्तिकारक रिक्तीकरण तक पहुँच गए है। भारत 37 लाख एकड़ प्रति वर्ष की दर से वन गॅवाता जा रहा है। विशाल क्षेत्र, जो सरकारी रूप से वन भूमि नामित हैं, लगभग वृक्षविहीन हैं। संयुक्त राष्ट्र का एक अध्ययन चेतावनी देता है कि अठासी जाँच किए गए देशों में से कई में पर्यावरण का बहुत बुरी तरह से पतन हुआ है।

संसार की जनसंख्या में वृद्धि मानव समाज के भविष्य में विकृत लाने वाले सुदृढ़ कारणों में से एक है। मानवता को पहला अरब (एक बिलियन) की स्तर (चिन्ह) पहुँचने के लिए दस लाख से अधिक वर्ष लगे। यह संसार की 1800 ई० में जनसंख्या थी। 1900 ई० तक एक अन्य बिलियन दस अरब जोड़ दिया गया। बीसवीं शताब्दी ने और 37 अरब (3.7 बिलियन) जोड़ दिया है। संसार की वर्तमान जनसंख्या को 5.7 अरब होने का अनुमान लगाया जाता है। प्रत्येक चार दिन में संसार की जनसंख्या दस लाख बढ़ जाती है।

जैसे-जैसे आय बढ़ती है तथा स्वास्थ्य सुधरता है तो उपजाऊपन कम होता है। विकास सबसे अच्छा (जनसंख्या) निरोधक है। किन्तु यदि जनसंख्या इसी दर से बढ़ती रहेगी, तो विकास भी सम्भव नहीं हो पायेगा। 1994 ई० में भारत की जनसंख्या 92 करोड़ होने का अनुमान लगाया गया है। यह अफ्रीका तथा दक्षिणी अमेरिका दोनों की पूरी जनसंख्या को एक साथ जोड़ने पर भी इनसे अधिक है। जब तक जनसंख्या नियन्त्रण को सर्वोच्च प्राथमिकता नहीं दी जाएगी, तब तक लोगों की आशा उनकी भूखी झोंपड़ियों में ही मर जाएगी। किसी दबाव (जोर-जबरदस्ती) के तत्त्व से रहित, स्वैच्छिक परिवार नियोजन का कोई विकल्प नहीं है। वास्तव में चुनाव तो जनसंख्या के नियन्त्रण तथा निर्धनती (गरीबी) जारी रखने के बीच में है।

हम एक बढ़ती हुई चिन्ता देखते हैं। लोग न केवल अपने जीवित रहने के विषय में चिन्तित हैं बल्कि इस ग्रह पृथ्वी के विषय में भी। लोग जीवन के आधार के विषय में व्यापक दृष्टि रखने लगे हैं। पर्यावरण की समस्या हमारे लिए भविष्य को सम्भावित करने वाली है। संसार का एक नया आभास (दृष्टि) उत्पन्न हुई है। इसने उत्तरदायित्व के युग का श्री गणेश (आरम्भ) किया है। यह एक समग्र दृष्टि है, परस्पर संबंधों वाली दृष्टि। अब हम संसार को पृथक भागों के बजाय अभिन्न रूप से जुड़ा हुआ पूर्ण रूप समझते हैं।

उत्तरदायित्व के इस युग में उद्योगों को एक महत्त्वपूर्ण भूमिका निभानी है। अग्रणी उद्योगपतियों को वातावरण सम्बन्धी कार्यों में आगे बढ़ना चाहिए। तब वे अग्रिम पंक्ति के निर्माणकर्ताओं के रूप में भी जारी रह सकते हैं। मारग्रेट थैचर के शब्द प्रायः प्रयोग किए जाते हैं। उसने कहा था: किसी भी पीढ़ी का इस पृथ्वी पर असीमित समय के लिए अधिकार नहीं है। जो कुछ हमारे पास है वह जीवन पर्यन्त निवास है-जिसमें पूरी तरह से मरम्मत करने का अधिकार है। ‘द ग्लोबल इकॉनामिक प्रॉस्पेक्ट’ नामक पुस्तक के लेखक मि० लेस्टर ब्राउन ने सही (उचित)कहा है, ‘हमने यह भूमि अपने पूर्वजों से पैतृक रूप से प्राप्त नहीं की है, हमने इसे अपने बच्चों से उधार लिया है।’

Landscape of The Soul Summary in English

Wu Daozi, was a painter in the eighth century. His last painting was a landscape that he made for Tang Emperor Xuanzong, to beautify a palace wall. Wu Daozi hid his work behind a screen, so only the Emperor would see it. He told the Emperor that in the cave in the painting, at the bottom of the mountain, lived a spirit. He then, clapped his hands, and the entrance to the cave opened. The painter entered the cave and the entrance closed behind him. Much to the surprise of the Emperor the painting vanished from the wall. After that neither was there any sign of Wu Daozi’s painting nor was he never seen again.

There are many such stories in China’s classical education. The books of great philosophers such as Confucius and Zhuangzi are full of such accounts. These stories helped the master to guide his student in the right direction. They also tell of the general feeling of the people towards art. There is another well-known story about a painter who did not draw the eye of a dragon that he had painted because he feared that it would fly out of the painting.

In fifteenth century there was a story about an accomplished blacksmith called Quinten Metsys. He fell in love with a painter’s daughter. The painter would not accept a son-in-law who was a blacksmith. So Quinten crept into the painter’s studio and painted a fly on his latest painting. It looked so real that the master tried to squash it away. He then realised what had happened. So he immediately took Quinten as his trainee. Quinten married his beloved and later become one of the most famous painters of his times. These two stories show that each form of art was trying to achieve: a perfect, impression of similarity in Europe and the spirit of inner life in Asia.

In the Chinese story, the Emperor appreciates the outer appearance in the painting but the artist shows him the true meaning of his work. The Emperor rules over the land but the artist knows the soul. The European painter would want people to look at a particular landscape just as he saw it while the Chinese painter does not choose a single viewpoint. One can enter a Chinese landscape from any point and travel in it. The artist makes a path for your eyes to travel up and down, and then back again, in a leisurely movement. This is even more true in the case of the horizontal scroll, in which the action of slowly opening the painting, then rolling it up to move on to the other, adds an element of time which is not found in any other form of painting. It also requires the active involvement of the onlooker, as his participation is physical as well as mental. The Chinese painter wants us to enter his mind. The landscape is a spiritual and abstract universe.

This idea is expressed as shanshui, which means ‘mountain water’. It is used together to symbolize the word ‘landscape’. More than two elements of an image represent two complementary poles, reflecting the Daoist view of the universe.

The mountain is Yang. It is depicted upright as if reaching towards Heaven. It is steady, warm, and dry in the sun. On the other hand the water is Yin that is horizontal and resting on the earth. It is fluid, moist and cool. The basic idea of Daoism is depicting the interaction of Yin and Yang. While Yin is the feminine part of universal energy, Yang is the masculine. The vital third element, the Middle Void, is often ignored. This is where the interaction of Yin and Yang takes place. This can be compared with the yogic practice of pranayama; breathe in, retain, breathe out, the suspension of breath is the Void where meditation occurs. The Middle Void is indispensable. Nothing can happen without it.

This is the reason why in the Chinese landscape there is white, unpainted space. This is also where man finds a basic role. In that space between Heaven and Earth, man becomes the medium of communication between both poles of the Universe. His being there is vital, even if there is only a suggestion of his presence. Francois Cheng underlines man’s importance saying that man is neither lost nor oppressed by the lofty peaks, he is in ‘the eye of the landscape’.

It was the French painter Jean Dubuffet who first doubted the theory of ‘art brut’ in the 1940s. Then only a few were interested in the art of the inexperienced creative thinker. However now the interest in ‘outsider art’ is growing internationally. This type of art is described as the art of those who have received no formal training, but are talented and have an artistic insight. Their works are inspiring unlike many of conventional ones.

About the same time that Dubuffet put forward his concept, in India an unqualified but brilliant artist was creating a masterpiece in the realm of art. It was Nek Chand, who changed a little patch of jungle into the Rock Garden, at Chandigarh. He sculpted with stone and used recycled material. This is India’s biggest contribution to outsider art. The Raw Vision, a UK-based magazine that paved the way in outsider art publications, wrote about Nek Chand, and his Rock Garden sculpture ‘Women by the Waterfall’. The view of ‘art brut’ or ‘raw art’ was of works that were in their unrefined state as regards cultural and artistic influences. Nek Chand used everything from a tin to a sink to a broken down car to create a magnificent work of art.

As an appreciation of his art, the Swiss Commission for UNESCO will be honouring him by putting up an exhibition of his works. The five-month interactive show, ‘Realm of Nek Chand’, beginning October will be held at leading museums in Switzerland, Belgium, France and Italy. According to Nek the greatest reward is seeing people enjoy his creation.

Landscape of The Soul Summary Questions and Answers

Question 1.
Briefly narrate the story of the Emperor and the Chinese artist.
Answer:
A painter Wu Daozi, who lived in the eighth century was asked to paint a landscape by the Tang Emperor Xuanzong, to decorate a palace wall. The artist concealed his work behind a screen, so that only the Emperor would see it. For a long time, the Emperor admired the wonderful scene.

One day the painter showed him a cave at the foot of the mountain, and said that a spirit dwelt there. The painter clapped his hands, and the entrance to the cave opened. He then entered the cave and the entrance closed behind him. Since then nothing is known of the artist or the painting as the painting vanished off the wall.

Question 2.
How did stories such as the one about Wu Daozi play an important role in China’s classical education?
Answer:
Such stories played a significant part in China’s classical education. They helped the master to guide his pupil in the right direction. They were not merely tales, but were deeply illuminating of the essence of art. The books of Confucius and Zhuangzi are full of such stories. They reveal that art was considered the essence of inner life and spirit in Asia.

Question 3.
Why did the artist agree to get his daughter married to the blacksmith?
Answer:
Initially the artist was against the blacksmith, Quinten Metsys, marrying his daughter. However, one day Quinten slyly sneaked into the painter’s studio and painted a fly on his latest panel, that was so realistic that the master tried to swat it away. The artist was so impressed that he admitted Quinten as an apprentice into his studio and let him marry his beloved.

Question 4.
What is the difference between the Chinese and European art?
Answer:
The Chinese and European art are different as the European art is trying to achieve a perfect, illusionistic likeness in Europe, and the Chinese the essence of inner life and spirit in Asia. While the European wants you to look at the landscape through his eyes, the Chinese painter wants you to enter it from any point, then travel in it. He creates a path for your eyes to travel up and down, then back again, in a leisurely movement.

Question 5.
How does shanshui express the Daoist view of the universe?
Answer:
Shanshui means ‘mountainwater.’ It expresses the Daoist view. The mountain is Yang and it stretches vertically towards Heaven. It is stable, warm, and dry in the sun, while the water is Yin. It is horizontal and resting on the earth, fluid, moist and cool. The interaction of Yin, the receiver, feminine aspect of universal energy, and Yang, active and masculine, is the fundamental belief of Daoism.

Question 6.
What is lacking in Shanshui?
Answer:
The third element, the Middle Void where their interaction takes place, is lacking in Shanshui. The Middle Void is indispensable. Hence nothing can happen without it. This is the reason why the white, unpainted space in Chinese landscape is important. This is also where Man finds a fundamental role, in that space between Heaven and Earth, he becomes the medium of communication between both poles of the universe.

Question 7.
How is the pranayama compared to the Middle void?
Answer:
The Middle Void is vital as nothing can happen without it. This is the reason why the white, unpainted space in Chinese landscape is imperative. This is also where Man finds a fundamental role, in the yogic practice of pranayama we breathe in, retain and breathe out. The suspension of breath is the Void where meditation occurs.

Question 8.
How did the theory of ‘brut art’ put forward by Jean Dubuffet get credence?
Answer:
French painter Jean Dubuffet challenged the concept of ‘art brut’ in the 1940s. Before that the art of the untrained visionary was of minor interest. At about the same time ‘an untutored genius was creating paradise’. This was none other than Nek Chand, who cleared a little patch of jungle to make himself a garden sculpted with stone and recycled material known to the world today as the Rock Garden, at Chandigarh.