Chapter 3.2 A Lesson in Life from a Beggar Solutions

After some days Meena was transferred to Bombay and soon Sudha forgot about her. Many years later, Sudha was caught in the rain at Bombay’s Flora Fountain. She didn’t have an umbrella. She was standing near Akbarallys and waiting for the rain to stop. Suddenly she saw Meena. But her first reaction was to run. She was anxious to avoid being seen by her. But she couldn’t escape.

Meena saw her and caught hold of her hands ; warmly. She was very cheerful and excited to meet Sudha. She was also ready to get wet and walk in the rain. But Sudha was so surprised that she couldn’t believe she is meeting her pessimistic friend Meena. So she enthusiastically asked her, “Was there a Prince Charming who had managed to change her so?”

Meena told her there wasn’t anybody like that but a beggar changed her life who used to stay in front of her house with his five-years-old granddaughter. She used to give her leftover to that beggar everyday. One monsoon day she was surprised to see the beggar. As it was raining heavily, she couldn’t give anything to that beggar. She didn’t want to get wet in that pouring rain she was just looking out of her bedroom window when she saw the beggar and the young girl were playing on the road because there was no traffic.

They were enjoying the rain and laughing, clapping and screaming joyously as if they were in paradise. Hunger and rain did not matter. They were totally drenched but totally happy. That scene forced Meena to look at her own life. Even though she had so many comforts, none of which they had. But they had the most important of all assets one which she lacked.

They knew how to be happy with life as it was. So she decided to change her attitude towards life using the beggar as her role model. It took her almost two years to put the change into effect but now she finds happiness in every small thing, in every situation and in every person.

Sudha was surprised to listen to the changed story of her friend and asked Meena enthusiastically, whether she had given any gurudakshina to her guru or not. But Meena told her that the beggar was dead and she had sponsored his granddaughter to a boarding school as a mark of respect to him. Sudha was stunned but happy to hear the changed story and attitude of her friend.

9. Write the above summary making Meena the narrator. Begin with I worked in Bangalore in LIC. Sudha was my school friend …………..

Lesson in a Life from A Beggar

I worked in Bangalore in LIC. Sudha was my good friend, living in the same city. Being pessimistic and having the habit of complaining about anything and everything, nobody was friendly with me. One day I was transferred to Mumbai and no one was in contact with me.
[Note: Students should try to complete the remaining part of summary of the story as told by Meena, in their notebook.]

Project:

Question (a)
Add a suffix to the following words and make nouns.

Answer:
1. Always be kind to poor, needy and disabled people in the society.
2. Why don’t you look happy today?
[Note : Students may frame sentences based on the remaining words on their own.]

Question (b)
Make four words (minimum 3 letters each). Using letters from the word ‘Pessimistic’.

Answer:

3. Change into indirect speech:

Question (a)
“Meena, it’s a beautiful day.” I said.
Answer:
I told Meena that it was a beautiful day.

Question (b)
“Hey! I am really excited. It’s nice to meet old friends. What are you doing here?” Meena said to the writer.
Answer:
Meena exclaimed with excitement (joy) that it was nice to meet old friends. She further asked the writer what she was doing there.

Question (c)
“We won’t get a taxi in this rain,” I grumbled,
Answer:
I grumbled that we would not get a taxi in that rain.

Question (d)
“So what? We’ll buy an umbrella and then go to the Grand Hotel,” she said.
Answer:
Meena insistently asked her (the writer) what difference could it make and further told her that they would buy an umbrella and then go to the Grand Hotel.

Question (e)
“Did you give any gurudakshina to your Guru?” I asked.
Answer:
I asked her if she had given any gurudakshina to her guru.

My English Coursebook 10th Digest Chapter 3.2 A Lesson in Life from a Beggar Additional Important Questions and Answers

Simple Factual Activities:

Complex Factual Activities:

Choose the correct alternative and complete the following sentences: (Answers are directly given and underlined.)

1. The only thought in the writer’s mind till they reached the Grand Hotel was what had brought about such a change in Meena.

2. The writer wanted to attend a dinner.

3. When the writer met Meena in a pouring rain, she was ready to make any number of adjustments.

4. A beggar had managed to change Meena.

2. The beggar and his granddaughter were enjoying the rain as if they were in paradise.

3. Attitude towards life was the most important of all assets, that the beggar and his granddaughter had but the writer was lacking.

Activities based on Vocabulary:

1. Find antonyms of the following words from the passage:

Activities based on Contextual Grammar:

Make the following sentences negative:

Choose the correct alternative of afffirmative sentence.

Make the following sentences affirmative:

Choose the correct tail tag for the following sentences from the brackets:
(wasn’t she?, will we?, were here?, weren’t there?,will you?, won’t you?)

Personal Response:

The conductor had no change so he told me to get down and come by another bus. I was about to get down when my friend came forward and paid for my ticket. I felt ashamed and asked him to pardon me. The incident changed my attitude about him and now we are friends forever.

Do as directed:

Change the voice:

1. Attempt anyone:

Question (a)
Make a meaningful sentence by using given phrase: ‘in the pursuit of’
Answer:
In the age of technology everyone is in the pursuit of money.

OR

Question (b)
Add a clause to expand the following sentence meaningfully.
My friend is an LIC Officer ……………
Answer:
My friend is an LIC Officer who stays at Nagpur.

2. Attempt any one:

Question (a)
Add a prefix or suffix make new words :
Note: Two words will be given in the activity sheet.
(a) kind
(b) happy
(c) ignore
(d) assure
(e) imagine
(f) depute
(g) manage
(h) assess
Answer:
(a) kindness, unkind.
(b) unhappy, happiness
(c) ignorance
(d) assurance
(e) imagine
(f) deputation
(g) management, mismanage
(h) assessment,

Activities based on Language Study:

Projects Task: