CBSE Class 12 English Poets and Pancakes Worksheet Set B

Extract based questions with answers:

1. The lawyer was also officially known as the legal adviser, but everybody referred to him as the opposite. An extremely talented actress, who was also extremely temperamental, once
blew over on the sets. While everyone stood stunned, the lawyer quietly switched on the recording equipment. When the actress paused for breath, the lawyer said to her, ―One minute, please,‖ and played back the recording. There was nothing incriminating or unmentionably foul about the actress‘s tirade against the producer. But when she heard her voice again through the sound equipment, she was struck dumb.

Question. Who recorded the actress‘ voice?
(a) Asokamitran
(b) Mr. Vasan
(c) Lawyer
(d) Subbu

Answer: C

Question. What happened to the actress on the set?
(a) She was very happy and started hugging everyone
(b) She got happy after her voice was recorded
(c) She got angry
(d) All the above

Answer: C

Question. "There was nothing incriminating or unmentionably foul about the actress‘s tirade against the producer.‖ What does tirade means?
(a) Long angry speech
(b) Short angry speech
(c) Long happy speech
(d) Short happy speech

Answer: A

Question. What happened when the actress heard her voice again?
(a) She got dumbstruck
(b) She got speechless
(c) She got shocked
(d) All the above

Answer: D

Question. How was the lawyer referred at Gemini Studios?
(a) Opposite
(b) Professional
(c) Legal
(d) None of the above

Answer: A

2. They weren‘t very good on the trapeze and their acquaintance with animals was only at the dinner table, but they presented two plays in a most professional manner. Their 'Jotham Valley‘ and 'The Forgotten Factor‘ ran several shows in Madras and along with the other citizens of the city, the Gemini family of six hundred saw the plays over and over again. The message of the plays were usually plain and simple homilies, but the sets and costumes were first-rate.

Question. Which literary device has been used in 'Forgotten Factor‘?
(a) Simile
(b) Alliteration
(c) Personification
(d) Epithet

Answer: B

Question. What was MRA famous for?
(a) Their costumes
(b) Messages of their plays
(c) Theme of their plays
(d) None of the above

Answer: A

Question. What did the person at Gemini Studios call the MRA?
(a) International circus
(b) International clowns
(c) National circus
(d) All the above

Answer: A

Question. Who are 'they‘ in the first line?
(a) MRA
(b) Stephen Spender
(c) Staff of Gemini Studios
(d) None of the above

Answer: A

Question. MRA means :
(a) Moral Re Assessment
(b) Moral Re Arrangement
(c) Moral Re Armament
(d) Moral Re Assignment

Answer: B

3. Actually they were copies of the same book, an elegant paperback of American origin. 'Special low-priced student edition, in connection with the 50th Anniversary of the Russian Revolution‘, I paid fifty paise and picked up a copy of the book, The God That Failed. Six eminent men of letters in six separate essays described 'their journeys into Communism and their disillusioned return‘

Question. What is 'the book‘ about?
(a) The journeys of seven essayists into Communism and their disillusioned return
(b) The journeys of six essayists into Communism and their disillusioned stay
(c) The journeys of six essayists into Communism and their disillusioned return
(d) The journeys of six essayists into Communism and their illusioned return

Answer: A

Question. Assertion : ―anything at a reduced price attracted my attention"
Reason: The writer had very little money and much time when he was in Gemini Studios
(a) Both A and R are right and R is the correct explanation for A
(b) Both A and R are right but R is not the correct explanation for A
(c) A is right but R is wrong
(d) R is correct but A is wrong

Answer: C

Question. How many essays were there in the book The God That Failed?
(a) Five
(b) Seven
(c) Six
(d) Eight

Answer: C

Question. 'Special low-priced student edition, in connection with the 50th Anniversary of the Russian Revolution‘. When was the 50th Anniversary of the Russian Revolution celebrated?
(a) 1967
(b) 1965
(c) 1969
(d) 1957

Answer: A

Question. Which book did Asokamitran buy?
(a) The God That Failed
(b) The God That Flailed
(c) The God That Passed
(d) The God That Won

Answer: B

Question. Who among the following was not an essayist in ‗the book‘?
(a) Richard Wright
(b) Andre Gide
(c) Louis Wright
(d) Ignazio Silone

Answer: C

4. He couldn‘t have addressed a more dazed and silent audience — no one knew what he was talking about and his accent defeated any attempt to understand what he was saying. The whole thing lasted about an hour; then the poet left and we all dispersed in utter bafflement — what are we doing? What is an English poet doing in a film studio which makes Tamil films for the simplest sort of people? People whose lives least afforded them the possibility of cultivating a taste for English poetry? The poet looked pretty baffled too, for he too must have felt the sheer incongruity of his talk about the thrills and travails of an English poet. His visit remained an unexplained mystery.

Question. Incongruity in the above para means :
(a) Appear strange in the given condition
(b) Appear normal in the given condition
(c) Appear very happy in the given condition
(d) Both a and b

Answer: A

Question. Whose visit remained an unexplained mystery?
(a) Louis Fischer‘s
(b) Frank Buchman‘s
(c) Andre Gide‘s
(d) Stephen Spender‘s

Answer: D

Question. What could be the possible reasons for no one understanding 'his‘ speech/
(a) Language barrier
(b) His accent
(c) His English
(d) All the above

Answer: D

Question. Travails in the para refers :
(a) Efforts of the English poet
(b) Efforts of the German poet
(c) Efforts of the American poet
(d) Efforts of the Indian poet

Answer: A

Question. 'He‘ in the first line refers to .
(a) SS Vasan
(b) Kothamangalam Subbu
(c) Stephen Spender
(d) Asokamitran

Answer: C

Question. Gemini Studios mad films for .
(a) For the common masses
(b) For the Tamilians
(c) For the simplest people
(d) All the above

Answer: D

5. "Even in the matter of education, especially formal education, Subbu couldn‘t have had an appreciable lead over the boy. But by virtue of being born a Brahmin – a virtue indeed! – he must have had exposure to more affluent situation and people."

Question. Why according to the narrator 'born a Brahmin‘ is a virtue?
(a) Brahmins are the highest caste
(b) treated with reverence in Tamil Nadu
(c) Brahmins have more brains
(d) Both (a) and (b)

Answer: D

Question. Who was Subbu?
(a) Chief makeup man
(b) No.2 boss at Gemini Studios
(c) Owner of Gemini Studios
(d) Film Director at Studios

Answer: B

Question. Why was office boy always angry with Subbu?
(a) Subbu had attained No.2 position
(b) Subbu had insulted the office boy
(c) Office boy was at par with Subbu in education
(d) Thought Subbu to be very clever

Answer: A

Question. If Subbu was not educated, what made him superior to the office boy?
Answer: Even though Subbu was not educated, he was superior to the office boy because of his caste.
Subbu was a Brahmin and thus has association with more affluent people which made him close to the Boss.

Question. On the basis of the given extract do you think that the narrator is appreciative of Subbu?
Answer: No, I do not think that the narrator is appreciative of Subbu. The narrator is saracastically highlighting the qualities of Subbu to show vain he is.

Question. The office boy appear to be a ............. man as he could not acquire any good position in Gemini Studios?
Answer: Frustrated

Short Answer based Questions:

Question. What does the writer mean by 'the fiery misery‘ of those subjected to make-up‘?
Answer: The make-up room of Gemini Studios looked like a hair cutting salon. It had around half a dozen mirrors with incandescent lights at all angles around them. The artists would feel the heat coming from these lights. Thus, the writer uses the term ‗fiery misery‘ to denote the uncomfortable situation of those subjected to make-up.

Question. Did the people at Gemini Studio have any particular political affiliations?
Answer: Most of the people in Gemini studios were followers Gandhiji and wore Khadi. Beyond this they did not have particular political affirmations. However, they were all against communism.

Question. Why did the office boy come to the author? Why was the author praying for a crowed shooting?
Answer: As the author was believed to have no work to do, the office boy often came to the cubicle to give vent to his frustration and impress upon him that a great talent remained unused and was being wasted.

Question. Why is the visit of Englishman referred to us as unexplained mystery?
Answer: The visit of the Englishman raised many queries and doubts in the minds of those who were working in Gemini Studios. The Englishman's name was unfamiliar and his credentials too were not confirmed. none could understand his speech so everyone wondered why he had come to a film studio that made Tamil films for simple people who had no interest in English poetry.

Question. Did Asokamitran consider Kothamangalam Subbu an immensely talented person?
Answer: Subbu at Gemini studios, looked cheerful at all times, was tailor- made for films, could tell the producer of four different ways of doing a scene, if the producer was not satisfied Subbu would come up with fourteen more alternatives, was a poet, was an amazing actor, though in subsidiary role, performed better than the main actors, had a genuine love for people, a very charitable man.

Long Answer based Questions:

Question. Poets and Pancakes is all full of people and their idiosyncrasies. Elucidate.
Answer:
♦ Yes, True. The make -up room: first headed by a Bengali, then a Maharashtriyan assisted by a Dharwar Kannadiga, an Andhra, a Madras Indian Christian, An Anglo-Burmese :
all together could turn a decent looking man into a hideous monster, the chief make up man made the chief actors/actresses ugly etc..
♦ The office boy-not a boy exactly, made the crowd –players ugly by loads of make-up
♦ The writer himself- always tearing news items from news papers, others jealous of him
♦ Kothamangalam Subbu: his personality of many parts , was very creative, abhorred by the office boy
♦ The legal advisor: his manners and dress
♦ Mr. Vasan, the director, without realizing the actual import, hosted two anti-communists in Gemini studios.
♦ An English poet( Stephen Spender) at Gemini studios, speaking to a Tamil audience in chaste English, the listeners in consternation.
♦ And any other relevant points

Question. How does the author describe the set up and working of makeup department?
Answer:
♦ Make Up Room upstairs of a building, believed to have been Robert Clive‘s stables
♦ looked like a hair-cutting salon
♦ large mirrors and incandescent lights creating intense heat
♦ miserable experience of being scorched in hell for artists
♦ National Integration headed by a Bengali succeeded by a Maharashtrian
♦ assisted by a Dharwar Kannadiga,an Andhraite, a Madras Indian Christian,an Anglo- Burmese and local Tamils
♦ A strict hierarchy
♦ chief make-up man for the hero and heroine
♦ senior assistant for second hero and heroine
♦ office boy for the crowd

Question. Describe the Moral Re-Armament Army‘s visit to Gemini Studios?
Answer:
♦ Frank Buchman‘s MRA comprising of two hundred members visited Chennai in 1952.
♦ MRA- counter movement to Communism
♦ People thought it was an international circus
♦ Two plays 'The Forgotten Factor‘ and 'Jotham Valley‘ ran several shows in Madras
♦ Good sets and costumes
♦ Tamil drama community was extremely impressed
♦ For some years almost all Tamil plays had a scene of sunrise and sunset as in 'Jotham Valley‘-bare stage, white background curtain and a tune played on the flute.

Question. Author has used gentle and subtle humour to point out human foibles and idiosyncrasies in the lesson ' Poets and Pancakes'. Elucidate.
Answer:
♦ Exposes Robert Clive‘s ambitions and his restless nature
♦ Office boy‘s boasting and bragging about his talent is brought out.
♦ Legal adviser is known as the opposite
♦ Use of pancake –ostensibly to cover the pores
♦ Team of makeup artists is referred to as ‗gang of nationally integrated make up men' who could turn any decent looking person into a hideous crimson hued monster.
♦ Strict hierarchy.
♦ Commenting on Subbu‘s exposure to affluent situations. He ridicules his virtue- the virtue of being a Brahmin. His inefficiency is pointed out subtly with a comment ' he always had work for somebody' . The rapidity with which Subbu offered his Boss alternatives when he got stuck up is very amusing.Pokes fun at the ignorance of all the people .People did not know who was Stephen Spenders and why had he arrived.

Question. Analyse the character of Kothamangalam Subbu.
Answer:
♦ Many sided genius
♦ Didn‘t have much formal education but had learnt from his exposure to prosperous people
♦ Sense of loyalty made him to identify completely with his boss. Turned all his creativity to his boss‘s advantage
♦ Had a solution for any problem encountered by Mr. Vasan.
♦ Gave direction and definition to Gemini Studios
♦ A poet capable of writing complex poems but chose deliberately to address the masses
♦ Composed several truly original story poems in folk refrain and diction
♦ Wrote a sprawling novel- Thilana Mohanambal with dozens of deftly etched charactersrecreated manner of Devdasis of the early 20th century
♦ Powerful actor- never aspired for lead roles- better in subsidiary roles than lead actors.

               Very Short Answer

Q.1)        Who was the Boss of Gemini studio?

Q.2)        What does ‘The God that Failed’ refer to?

Q.3)        What caused the lack of communication between the Englishman and the people at Gemini Studios?

Q.4)        Why did Asokamitran pray for crowd-shooting all the time?

Q.5)        Who was the English visitor to the studios?

              

               Short Answer

Q.6)        Which example of national integration in Gemini Studios is given in ‘Poets and Pancakes”?

Q.7)       Answer the following questions:-

(1)        How did the make-up room of the Gemini Studios look? How did a person undergoing make-up feel?

(2)         Which qualities of head and heart helped Subbu rise to an important position in the Studios?

Q.8)        Subbu is described as a many sided genius. List four of his special abilities.

Q.9)       Answer the following questions:-

(1)        Why did the Boss like Subbu?

(2)        What was the author’s estimate of Subbu as a poet?

Q.10)      Why was the legal adviser referred to as the opposite by others?

              

               Long Answer

Q.11)      Describe the story department of Gemini Studios. How did the lawyer ruin the career of a promising actress?

Q.12)      How does humour and satire enliven the account of the events and personalities at Gemini Studios as portrayed by Asokamitran in ‘Poets and Pancakes’?

Q.13)      What do you know about Moral Re-Armament Army or MRA? What was it effect on Tamil Drama? Did the staff of the Gemini Studios enjoy hosting it?

Q.14)      Answer the following questions:-

(1)          Why is Subbu described as a many-sided genius? Give a reasoned answer.

(2)          Who was English visitor to the studios and what was the purpose of his visit?

Q.15)      Describe the Summary of the lesson “Poets and Pancakes”?

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