The Third Level 

1.How was the third level different from the second level?
A. In the third level the room was smaller; there were fewer ticket windows and train gates. The information booth in the centre was wood and old looking. The man in the booth wore a green eyeshade and long black sleeve protectors. The lights were dim and flickering as they were open-flame gaslights. There were brass spittoons on the floor.
2.How does the narrator describe Galesburg, Illinois?
A. The narrator states that Galesburg, Illinois is a wonderful town with big old frame houses, huge lawns and big trees whose branches roof the streets. Summer evenings were twice as long. People sat out on their lawns, men smoking cigars and talking quietly, the women waving palm-leaf fans.
3.What did the narrator do the next day when the clerk in third level warned him? Why was his psychiatrist friend worried over his action? 
A. In the third level the clerk warned the narrator for tendering insufficient money for two tickets to Galesburg. The next day the narrator withdrew his entire money from the bank and bought old-style currency to buy tickets. When his psychologist friend learnt it he became worried and thought that the narrator’s ‘ailment’ could have created more problems.
4.What is so enigmatic about Sam Weiner’s disappearance and resurfacing in Galesburg? What could his ‘old business’ be?
A. Sam Weiner’s disappearance and resurfacing in Galesburg may be due to the narrator’s insistence on the existence of third level, which affected his mind. He may have found Galesburg a good place and may have gone there 

5.What do you think does ‘the third level’ stand for?
A.I think the third level stands for the escapist’s world -away from the world of worries, anxieties and tension. But why the narrator couldn’t find it again though the psychiatrist found out is highly enigmatic. It may be narrator could overcome his escapist’s tendency where as the psychiatrist fell in it.

THE Tiger King

1.How did the chief astrologer react to the tiger king’s question about the manner of his death? How did the tiger king take it?
A. When the baby barely ten days old opens its lips in speech the chief astrologer was wonderstruck. He thought it to be incredible that the baby raised an intelligent question –to know about the manner of his death. The astrologer told that the prince was born in the hour of the bull. The bull and tiger are enemies. Therefore, death to him shall come from the Tiger. The tiger king growled, “Let tigers be ware!”
2.Why was it celebration time for all the tigers inhabiting Pratibandapuram?
A. There was a celebration time for all the tigers inhabiting Pratibandapuram because the state banned tiger hunting by any one except the Maharaja and a proclamation was issued to the effect that if any one dared to fling a stone at a tiger, all his wealth and property would be confiscated. 
3.What did the Maharaja do when he stood in danger of losing his kingdom in refusing the British officer permission for tiger hunting?
A. The Maharaja obtained some fifty expensive diamond rings of different designs from a British Jewellery Company in Calcutta and send them to the British officer’s good lady expecting her to choose one or two rings and send the rest back. But she kept all the rings and thanked the Maharaja for the gift. This cost the Maharaja three lakh rupees; but his kingdom was saved. 
4.What plan did the Maharaja think of to fulfill his vow to kill hundred tigers after the tiger population became extinct in his state?
A. When the tiger population became extinct in his state the Maharaja planned to marry a girl of royal family of a native state with a large tiger population so that he would kill the remaining thirty tigers in the sate of his father –in-law when he visits that.
5.What caused the death of the Maharaja?
A. The prophecy of the chief astrologer came true. A toy-wooden tiger-the hundredth tiger killed the Maharaja. The silver quill on the wooden tiger pierced his hand when he was plying with it on the crown prince’s third birthday. It caused a suppurating sore that spread all over the arm. He was operated but died 

Journey to the End of the Earth

1.What, according the author, did exist in place of Antarctica six hundred and fifty million years ago?
A. Six hundred fifty million years ago in place of present day Antarctica a giant amalgamated southern super continent - Gondwana existed Things were quite different then. Then humans had not arrived on the global scene. The climate was much warmer. There was a huge variety of flora and fauna.
2.What is that thing that can happen in a million years and would be ‘mind- boggling’?
A. In a million years India may push northwards, jamming against Asia to buckle its crust and form the Himalayas. South Africa may drift off to join North America. The Drake Passage may open up to create a cold circumpolar current. Antarctica may remain frigid, desolate and at the bottom of the world.

3.Why all earthly sense of perspective and time are lost in Antarctica?
A. In Antarctica there is no human markers like trees, billboards and buildings. One feels like walking on a giant ping-pong ball here. He loses all earthly sense of perspective and time.

4.What are the microscopic phytoplanktons? How are they important in the food chain and photosynthesis?
A. The microscopic phytoplanktons are the grasses of the sea, which nourish and sustain the entire South Ocean’s food chain. These single- celled plants use the Sun’s energy to assimilate carbon and synthesise organic compounds in the important process called photosynthesis.
5.What was the best epiphany that occurred in the Antarctic journey?
A. Their vessel got wedged into a thick ice-stretch. The captain decided to turn around and instructed them to walk on the ocean. While walking on the ocean they saw underneath their feet 180 metres of living, breathing salt water. Crab eater seals stretching and sunning themselves on the ice floes like stray dogs under a banyan tree. It was the best epiphany.

The Enemy

1.Why didn’t Dr Sadao put the wounded man back in the sea even though he was his enemy?
A. Dr Sadao could not put the wounded man back in the sea even though he was an enemy because he was a Doctor and the foremost duty of a doctor is to save life. He knew the man would die if not tended medically. This would be against medical ethics. So, he rescued him to give medical treatment. 
2.How did the servant express their displeasure?
A. The servants did not like the idea of helping an enemy. Yumi refused to wash the white man. They stopped working; but became watchful as long as a white man was harbored there. 
3.How did Hanna show her human side to the wounded man after the operation?
A. Hanna nursed the man herself. When he was getting ready to face some fearful eventuality she told him not to be afraid of anything. Then she knelt and fed him gently from the porcelain spoon. She also told him that he would be soon strong.
4.What did Dr Sadao do to send off the man?
A. As soon as it was dark Dr Sadao dragged the stout boat down to the shore. He put food, bottled water and two quilts. He medically examined the man. Then gave him his own little flashlight to signal for food, gave him Japanese clothes, covered his blond head and let him go.
5.What message does ‘The Enemy’ give?
A. ‘The Enemy’ gives the message that humanism transcends all man made prejudices and barriers. Here Dr Sadao upholds the ethics of medical profession in treating an enemy. The story is a great lesson of peace, love, sympathy, fellow feeling and humanism.

Should Wizard Hit Mommy?

1.What was usually the basic storyline of the tale that Jack told Jo almost daily?
A. The stories that Jack used to tell Joe were the slight variation of the basic tale about a small creature usually named Roger. Roger would go to the wise owl whenever in trouble. The wise owl would ask him to go to the wizard who would finally solve Roger’s problem.
2.Decribe the wizard’s room.
A. The wizard’s room is a white house over the crick. Inside it are all magic things all jumbled together in a big dusty heap as the wizard did not have any cleaning lady.
3.How did Roger Skunk’s mommy react when he smelling ‘roses’ went home?
A. When Roger Skunk smelling ‘roses’ reached home his mommy asked what was that awful smell. Roger Skunk replied that the wizard had made him smell like that. She got angry and with Roger went to the wizard and hit his head with an umbrella. 
4.How did Jo react to Jack’s storyline?
A. Jo did not agree with Jack’s version of the story in which Roger Skunk’s mommy hit that wizard right over his head for changing Roger Skunk’s smell. Instead she wanted the wizard hit Skunk’s mommy and did not change that little Skunk’s smell back.
5.What does Jack actually want Jo to know and understand in the story?
A. Jack actually wants Jo to know and understand that parents always love their children as they are. Smelling good or bad is immaterial against the natural biological bond. But this thing is Jo’s beyond understanding. She understands what she sees around; but not beyond that. 

On The Face of It

1.What is it that draws Derry towards Mr. Lamb inspite of himself?
A. Mr. Lamb is a good inspirer, a motivator and a patient listener. He holds a positive attitude to life. On seeing Derry he neither asks anything about his face nor does he look disgusted rather he makes Derry feel comfortable with his burnt face. He instills confidence in Derry. He wants him to understand the world and see the difference by watching and listening due to these qualities Derry is drawn towards Lamb. 
2.What does Mr. Lamb tell about himself?
A. Lamb tells that he is old and has a tin leg. Children tease him calling Lamey-Lamb, but still they come to his garden. They are not afraid of him because he is not afraid of them. He is never bothered about his old age or tin leg as life has many more things to offer.
3.It’s all relative, beauty and beast. Justify the statement.
A. Mr. Lamb and Derry though both have physical deformity perceive things differently. Mr. Lamb tells Derry there are plenty of things to stare at and if people look at their handicap they should not mind, as they will be tired of soon. Beauty or ugly depends upon individual’s perceptions. One may see beauty in a thing; but to another it may be a beast. 
4.How does Derry’s attitude change?
A. Due to his burnt face Derry had withdrawing attitude. He curses his handicap; is afraid of people’s stare at him. But Lamb a lame person changed his attitude. Lamb instilled courage in him to live life as it is. He cited his own example. Children call him Lamey Lamb but he does not mind. He has a tin leg but that does not stop him from making friends
5.What do you think the play ‘On the Face of It’ is all about?
A. It is play about frustration, loneliness and sadness of the physically disabled persons. It is about their suffering due to criticism by some unscrupulous people which is shown by Derry. There are people like Lamb who finds way to live inspite of their disabilities.

Evans Tries an O-Level

1.What kind of a person Evans was?
A. Evans was a young, clever prisoner. He had escaped thrice from the prison for which he was known ‘Evans the Break’. He was not a violent short of a person. He was quite a pleasant person and was a star at the Christmas concert.

2. What were the precautions taken for the smooth conduct of the examination?
A. For smooth conduct examination various precautionary measures were taken. All sharp instruments like razor nail scissors were removed. The Governor, senior prison officer Jackson and officer Stephen were put on duty. A special invigilator was arranged. A microphone was fitted in the prison cell where the examination was to be conducted.
3. Why was the sigh of relief short lived after the examination?
A. After conducting the examination the governor heaved a sigh of relief. But their relief was short lived as they found Evans had escaped from the prison injuring McLeery. Later truth came to light that Evans had stayed as injured McLeery
4.What helped the prison officers track Evans?
A. The German question paper helped. A photocopied sheet had been superimposed over last page of the question paper with the plan and instruction which helped track Evans. 
5.What did the Governor do to find out about the correction slip?
A. The governor immediately dialed the Examination Board Office; but could not contact as the line was engaged. He applied his own knowledge of German which he had studied up to sixth standard and was convinced that it was about the agreement of adjectives. Then he heard the invigilator announcing the correction which sounded genuine. 
6.Do you agree that between crime and punishment it is mainly a battle of wits?
A. Yes, it is a battle of wits between crime and punishment. If the government and law enforcing officials are vigilant crime can be detected and criminals can be booked. But criminals like Evans can hoodwink the authorities and escape punishment as long as the officials are slow and lack alertness and wit.

Memories of Childhood

1.Why was the narrator taking an hour or half to reach home instead of ten minute?
A. The narrator was taking an hour or half to reach home as she used to watch the roadside fun and games. The entertaining novelties like the performing monkey, snake charmer’s display of snake, marathon cycling, dried fish stall by the statue of Gandhi, street play or puppet show used to pull her stand still on her way back home.
2. How had Zitkala – Sa been subjected to extreme indignities?
A. Since the day she was taken from her mother Zitkala had suffered many indignities. She was stared at and tossed like a wooden puppet. Her long hair was shingled like a coward’s. In her pain when she cried for her mother no one came forward to comfort her. She was just like one of animals driven by a herder.
3.What did Judewin tell the narrator? What was the effect?
A. Judewin who could understand a little English informed the narrator that the strange woman intended to cut their long hair. But the narrator had learnt from her mother that the enemy cut the hair of the unskilled warrior when they are captured and among their people mourners wear short hair and cowards shingled hair. So, she decided to resists. She hid herself under a bed in a dark room.
4.How did Bama come to know about untouchability?
A. Bama saw an elder carrying a packet containing food with its string and without touching the packet gave it to the landlord. She found it funny and told her elder brother about it. Her elder brother told her that the man who handed over the food packet was a low caste- an untouchable. Then she came to know about untouchability.
5. Why did Bama study so hard?
A. Bama’s brother who was studying at a University told her because they were born in a low caste they are deprived of honour and dignities. He advised her to study and make progress to throw away the indignities. The words of her brother left a deep impression in her mind and she studied hard. - 

The last Lesson
The prose 'The last lesson',written by Alphonse Daudet narrates about the year 1870  when the prussian forces under Bismark attacked and captured France.The french districts of Alsace and Lorraine went into Prussian hands.The new Prussian rulers discontinued the teaching of French in the schools of these two districts.The French teachers were asked to leave.The story describes the last day of one such French,M.Hamel.Mr. M.Hamel had been transfered and could no longer remain in his old school.Still he gave last lesson to his students with utmost devotion and sincerity as ever.The story depicts the pathos of the whole situation about how people feel when they dont learn their own language and then losing an asset in M.Hamel.
One of his student Franz who dreaded french class and M.Hamel's iron rod, came to the school that day thinking he would be punished as he had not learnt his lesson.But on reaching school he found Hamel dressed in sunday clothes and all the old people of the village sitting there.It was due to an order on the bulletin board. That was the first day when he realised for the first time that how important french was for him, but it was his LAST LESSON in French.
Source: http://www.shvoong.com/entertainment/movies/1807888-lesson/#ixzz1nU0JxI3M
Lost Spring by Anees jung
This story narrates about the children of the bangle makers of Firozabad. The essay does so through the lives of two children, Saheb-e-Alam and Mukesh whose spring or childhood is lost in misery and poverty. Saheb is the son of two parents who migrated from Bangladesh. They came to Delhi in 1971 as their house was swept away by repeated storms. Then they began to live in Seemapuri, a slum of Delhi. Saheb like many other children of the slum was a rag picker. They searched the rags and garbage and tried to find out coins. Sometimes they found one rupee coins and sometimes even ten rupee coins. Saheb did not attend any school as there was no school nearby. He was too poor to wear chappals. Saheb liked the game of tennis. Someone gave him a pair of tennis shoes. But he would never get the chance to play the game himself. At last, Saheb got employed in a tea stall. He was not happy as he had lost his freedom. But he had no choice in the matter.
The life of Mukesh at Firozabad was no better. Mukesh lived with his elder brother who was a bangle maker. He wanted to be a driver and a motor-mechanic, not at all eager to continue bangle making. But the people thought that it was their karam or the result of their karma in the previous birth that they were born into the caste of bangle-makers. So they were destined to make bangles and they could not do anything else. Thousands of children are engaged in bangle making and many of them lost their eyesight before becoming adults. They did not know that it was illegal for children to work in that hazardous condition in the glass factories. The story is the same in every family. Mukesh took the writer to his house where the writer came to know that his grandfather had become blind working in the factory. Similarly in another family, the author came to know how the husband was happy that he had been able to make a house for his own family to live in but the wife complained that she did not get a full meal in her whole life.
Hundreds of years of slavery had killed the initiative of people to think of a better life. They carried on their miserable life as they did not have the courage to rebel against tradition. They did not have money enough to start their own new kind of enterprise. If someone dared to start a new line, there were police, middle-men, sahukars and politicians to persecute them. Police, middle-men and others would not allow them to take any other vocation. Justice after all is the right of the rich and the powerful, not of the helpless like Mukesh. The condition of the life of Saheb or Mukesh was far from desirable. It should not be allowed to continue. But some people must bell the cat. The writer was happy when he came to know that some young men like Mukesh was ready to take the plunge, rebel against tradition and start a new life.
Source: http://www.shvoong.com/books/classic-literature/2153372-summary-anees-jung-lost-spring/#ixzz1nU0af961
second long summery
Raju works at a roadside dhaba for sixteen hours a day. Idrees has lost his memory and bears on his body the scars of being tortured at the carpet-manufacturing unit where he worked. Saheb scrounges the garbage dumps on the streets of Delhi for his daily wages. Munni has travelled long distances from her village home, looking for work as a domestic help in the city. Like Raju and Idrees, Saheb and Munni, millions of children all over the country are doomed to a life of backbreaking toil. Half adult, half children, victims of physical and mental abuse, they represent the dark underbelly of India's economic growth. In Lost Spring: Stories of Stolen Childhood, best-selling author Anees Jung exposes a national shame: children cleaning floors and tables in shanty restaurants; making locks, slates and fireworks; rolling bidis; weaving saris and carpets; packing and hauling loads in factories and stone quarries. With her trademark sensitivity and insight, she analyses the grinding poverty and traditions sanctified by caste and religion which condemn these children to a life of exploitation. In this bleak world, the author also finds stories of resilience and fortitude-children who have refused to accept their condition, thus opening new vistas for themselves and others like them. She also documents incredible profiles in courage-individuals and institutions who battle not only governmental and bureaucratic apathy but also social values and cultural norms that support and accept the concept of child labour
source: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Summary_for_the_lesson_'The_Lost_Spring'#ixzz1nU15hAti
Deep Water
  The story, �Deep Waters� tells us how the writer overcame his fear of water and learned swimming with sheer determination and will power. He had developed a terror of water since childhood. When he was three or four years old the writer had gone to California with his father. One day on the beach, the waves knocked the child down and swept over him. The child was terrified but the father who knew there was no harm laughed. The experience bred a permanent fear of water in the child�s sub-conscious mind. Still another incident, more serious, increased his terror. The writer was trying to learn swimming in the Y.M.C.A. swimming pool in Yakima. One day while he was waiting for other boys, a big boy suddenly played a dangerous prank and pushed him into the water. The writer was terribly frightened. He went down nine feet into the water. His lungs were full of the unreleased air. When he reached the bottom, he jumped upward with all his strength. He came up but very slowly. He tried to catch hold of something like a rope but grasped only at water.
            He tried to shout but no sound came out. He went down again. His lungs ached, head throbbed and he grew dizzy. He felt paralyzed with fear. All his limbs were paralyzed. Only the movement of his heart told him that he was alive. Again he tried to jump up. But this time his limbs would not move at all. He looked for ropes, ladders and water wings but all in vain. Then he went down again, the third time. This time all efforts and fear ceased. He was moving towards peaceful death. The writer was in peace. When he came to consciousness, he found himself lying on the side of the pool with the other boys nearby. The terror that he had experienced in the pool never left him. It haunted him for years and years to come. It spoilt many of his expeditions of canoeing, swimming and fishing. It spoilt his pleasures in Maine Lakes, New Hampshire, Deschutes, Columbia and Bumping Lake etc.
            But the writer was determined to conquer his terror. He took help of a swimming instructor to learn swimming. The instructor taught him various actions necessary in swimming part by part. He put his face under water and exhaled and inhaled raising it above water. He practiced it for several weeks. He had to kick with his legs a few weeks on the side of the pool. At last he combined all these actions and made the writer swim. He learned swimming but the terror continued. So deep goes our childhood experiences! So fearful is the fear of fear! Whenever he was in water the terror returned. Hence forward the writer tried to terrorize terror itself. He tried to face the new challenge. When terror came, he confronted it by asking it sarcastically as to what it can really do to him? He plunged into the water as if to defy the fear. Once he took courage the terror vanquished. He faced the challenge deliberately in various places like the Warm Lake. He conquered it at last.
            The experiences of the writer throw some important lights on certain aspects of life. Experiences of pain or pleasure in childhood remain in the sub-conscious mind and influence our feelings later too. The fear of water acted on the writer in that way. Even after being an expert in swimming, the writer felt terror. There was no reason at all. Once he took courage, the fear vanished. That shows most of our fears are baseless. Fear creates dangers where there is none. The writer�s experiences further confirm the proverbial truth, �Where there is a will, there is a way.�
Source: http://www.shvoong.com/books/classic-literature/2153035-summary-william-douglas-deep-waters/#ixzz1nU1X8CVE

The Rat trap
There was a poor man who sold rat-traps and earned his livelihood. His income from the traps was not enough. So he also begged and stole petty things at times. He was not a born thief as no man is. Necessity compelled him in the petty thieving. He used to sleep at night in the houses of people if someone allowed him or some places like factories like Ramsjo Iron-Works. Once an idea struck him that the world is like a rat-trap full of temptations to trap men. If a man is tempted by the baits of wealth, power, etc. he is trapped like a rat in a rat trap. The man selling rat-traps lived a poor life without enough food or shelter. So he looked upon the world in the light of his own sufferings. Once he took shelter in the house of a man who was the crofter in Ramsjo Iron-Works. The man was lonely without any family. He welcomed the rat-trap man as he would get rid of his loneliness at least for a night.
The crofter told him about his life and showed him the thirty kronor that the crofter had kept near the window. Initially he was happy to get the money but very soon the rat trap began to work. He feared detection and avoided the highway. He walked through the forest and lost his way there. He then saw the forge of the Ramsjo Iron-Works and went there to spend the night near the forge. At that time, the iron-master, the owner of the factory, came in. The iron-master by mistake thought him to be his old friend, Nils Olof, with whom he had served in the regiment. To help his friend fallen on bad days, he invited the peddler to his house. The rat-trap man or peddler realized that the iron-master was making a mistake but he did not correct him in the hope that he might help him a little.
But he did not like to go into his house as he feared that he might be exposed and detected. But the kind-hearted daughter of the iron-master Edla Willmansson was too compassionate and loving to be resisted. She suspected even that the man might have committed some crime. But she ignored that and thought that the man, always haunted by fear and security, must have lived a miserable life. She wanted to give him at least a night�s peace and security. She assured the peddler that in her house, he would be safe from ant interference and he would be free to leave anytime. She persuaded him to be her guest on the Christmas Eve. The genuine compassion of Edla gave the man a sense of peace and security. He slept all the while as if he wanted to make up for the sleepless nights he had spent throughout his life.
He ate the Christmas delicacies. The daughter gave him the suit that he was given to wear and she invited him to the next Christmas and assured him of secrecy and security. The rat-trap man was overwhelmed. The next morning, he left the manor house. But before leaving, he left the packet containing the thirty kronor of the crofter. He wrote a letter to Edla asking her to return the money to the crofter. He wrote that she had treated him with respect as if he was a real captain. She had treated him as a man and not as a thief. That genuine regard had induced him to be a better man and giving up stealing. Thus, the genuine compassion and kindness of Edla changed the life of a thief and turned him to a better man.
Source: http://www.shvoong.com/books/classic-literature/2153374-summary-selma-lagerlof-rat-trap/#ixzz1nU27nw6P

Indigo                                
This story portraits Gandhiji�s struggle for the poor peasants of Champaran. The peasants were share croppers with the British planters. According to one old agreement, the peasants had to cultivate indigo on fifteen percent of the land and give as rent. The British didn�t need the indigo crop any more when Germany had developed synthetic indigo. Just to release the peasants from the fifteen percent agreement they demanded compensation. Some illiterate peasants agreed but others refused. Later lawyers were appointed .At that time Gandhiji went to Champaran. He managed to get justice after a year long battle for the peasants. He also made arrangements for the education, health, and hygiene for the families of the poor peasants. He gave them the lesson of self reliance.

Source: http://www.shvoong.com/books/novel-novella/1830898-indigo/#ixzz1nU2ZwesR

Poets and pancakes (my years with boss) by Asokamitran
for nearly thirty years from 1940, the Gemini Studios of Madras (Chennai) was the most influential film-producing organisation of India and its founder, the brilliant multi-faceted entrepreneur S.S. Vasan lent substance and quality to the rather fragile and unpredictable movie business. The Gemini emblem of two small boys with bugles was true to Vasan�s slogan for the Studios, �when the bugles blow, there is a great show,� Gemini films entertained millions all over India and abroad.
Sahitya Akademi award-winning Tamil writer Ashokamitran worked for the Gemini Studios from 1952 to 1966. A full twenty years after he �renounced� films, poet-editor Pritish Nandy persuaded Ashokamitran to record his reminiscences and the result was a series of articles making up My Years with Boss. The book covers only five of his fourteen years with the Studios but captures that phase of Indian movie business when the key factors of the box office were imperceptibly shifting from the studios to the stars.
My Years with Boss is one of the most unusual books to be written about the entertainment world and clearly indicates the enormous impact of the movies on virtually every aspect of life in India.
The author�s ability to capture the life and breath of people and events, and his puckish narrative make this a brief but special book of film history."

The Interview
Part - I
The Interview - a commonplace of journalism: Since its invention a little over 130 years ago, the interview has become a commonplace of journalism. All the literates must have read an interview at some point in their lives.
Different opinions about Interview: Some claim that an interview is a source of truth and in its practice,� it is an art. While some others think that interview is an unwarranted intrusion into their lives and somehow it diminishes them.
Part-II
Umberto Eco is a professor at the university of Bologna in Italy. He has accomplished a good reputation for his ideas on semiotics (the study of signs). He has written'! wide range of books. His novel 'The Name of the Rose' brought him name and fame. Mukund asks Umberto how he can do so many things in his life. Eco reveals a secret about himself. He says that we all have a lot of' empty spaces' in our lives. He calls them 'interstices'. If we fill empty spaces with our work, we can achieve a lot of success in our life. He also tells Mukund that he considers himself a university professor who writes novels on Sundays. He became a novelist by chance.
source: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Summary_of_the_interview_by_Christopher_Silvester#ixzz1nU4QGvqG

Going Places
The theme of this story is adolescent fantasising and hero-worship.
The story revolves around the life of Sophie, a teenager, who, like others of her age, is filled with fantasies and desires. She comes from a poor financial background, but hopes to be sophisticated in the future. Sophie dreams of owning a boutique one day ot being an actress or fashion designer, but her friend Jansie believes that both of them are earmarked for the biscuit factory. Jansie, who is more realistic, tries to pull Sophie to reality, but in vain.
Sophie lives in a small house with her parents and brothers, Geoff and little Derek. Though she voices her feelings and desires, her parents pooh-pooh her, because they, unlike her, are more mature and know the truths of life.
Sophie finds a sort of fascination for her elder brotherGeoff, who is tall, strong and handsome and reserved. She envies his silence and often wonders about his thoughts and areas of his life that she doesn't know about.
The centre of this story is that Sophie fantasises about Danny Casey, an Irish football player, whom she had seen playing in innumerable matches. She makes up a story about how she met him in the streets and tells this to Geoff. Geoff, who is more sensible than Sophie, does not really believe her, even if she wants to. It seems an unlikely incident for Sophie to meet the prodigy in their street, but whe Sophie describes the meeting in all her details, he begins to hope that it could be true. She tells him that Danny has promised to meet her somewhere again.
Sophie gets so pulled into the story she made that she herself begins to believe that its true. She waits for the Irish player, but obviously, he never arrives. Then, she makes her way home, wondering how her brother would be disappointed on knowing that Danny Casey never showed up. However, Sophie still fantasises about her hero, unperturbed
source: http://summariesofstoriesandpoems.blogspot.in/2010/02/flamingo-and-vistas-summaries.html




POEMS
My Mother at Sixty Six
This poem revolves around the theam of advancing age and the fear adheared to it of loss and separation.
The poet is on the way to airport in Cochin ,when she is stuck by the realization of the advancing age of her mother.It is very difficult for her to accept that her mother is creeping into the grips of old age.When she looks at her mother sitting by her side ,she notices her corpse like ashen face which reminds her of her aproaching death.She is pale and worn out.
The green trees racing past the speeding car are grim reminders of time which has passed.The joyous children playing outside give her some respite a she is lost in her thoughts of old age.The children represent old youth,energy and life.she is probably driven back to the days of her idyllic youth when the mother had been young.Now she was encircled in the fear of losing her,this made her feel insecure.She had this feeling when ever she looked at her mother as she had lost the blush of youth and middle age and now in her twiligh years had become as pale as the winter moon.
She is happy to see her mother is still breathing.But she is beset with sorrow and insecurity as she departs at the airport bidding goodbye to her mother and trying to hide her fears by smiling as she looked at her.
Source: http://www.shvoong.com/writing-and-speaking/speech/1808114-mother/#ixzz1nU5Hz9Xu

An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum
Stephen Spender highlights the plight of slum children by using vivid images and apt words to picture a classroom in a slum. Through this he touches, in a subtle manner, the themes of social injustice and inequalities.

Lines 1, 2
The opening line of the poem uses an image to contrast the slum children�s faces with those of others. The image used is �gusty waves� indicating brightness, verve and animation. But these are missing from faces of these children. The next image of �rootless weeds� produces double effect. �Weeds� indicate being unwanted and �rootless� indicates not belonging. The slum children are like �rootless weeds� unwanted by society and not belonging to society. Their uncombed hair fall on their pale faces.

Lines 3 to 8
Next, a few of the slum children are described. There is a tall girl whose head is weighed-down with sadness, disinterestedness or shame or a mixture of all the three. She is probably over-aged for the class. Another boy is thin, emaciated like paper and his eyes pop out from his thin body looking furtive like rat�s eyes. He seems to have inherited stunted and twisted growth of bones from his father. Spender has used the word �reciting� to show that instead of studying/reciting, a normal activity in school, the boy had only his inherited crippling disease to show/recite in the class. This could suggest that the boy�s condition seem to have arisen because of his poverty especially his inability to avail heath services at the right time. Right at the back of the badly lit room is an unnoticed young boy. He is probably too young for poverty to have stifled his childish imagination. He daydreams of the squirrel�s game and about the tree house, absent mentally from the classroom.

Lines 9 to 12
Spender then describes the classroom. The word �sour� used to describe the cream walls of the classroom indicates its derelict condition. Contradicting this state and the slum children are Shakespeare�s head indicating erudition, the picture of a clear sky at dawn and a beautiful Tyrolese valley indicating beauty of nature and hope, dome of an ancient city building standing for civilization and progress and a world map awarding the children the world. The lines �Open-handed map / Awarding the world its world� could refer to the map of the world hanging on the wall of the classroom giving/showing (awarding) everyone (the world) the world out there to explore and know (its world).

Lines 13 to 16
But the world of the slum children is the limited world that can be seen though the windows of the classroom and not what the map promises. All these seem ironic when contrasted with the misery and hopeless condition of the slum children. Their future is foggy, bleak and dull. Their life/world is confined within the narrow streets of the slum enclosed by the dull sky far away from rivers, seas that indicate adventure and learning and from the stars that stand for words that can empower their future. 'Lead sky' means a dullsky or a dimly lit sky. This symbolises the bleak, dull life and future of the slum children.
Lines 17 to 24
The poet feels that the head of Shakespeare and the map are cruel temptations for these children living in cramped houses (holes), whose lives revolve around (slyly turns) dullness (fog) and hopelessness (endless night) as they imagine and long for (steal) adventure(ships), for a better future (sun) and for love. Their emaciated wasted bodies compared to slag (waste) heaped together seemed to be wearing the clothes of skin covering their peeping bones and wearing spectacles of steel with cracked glasses looking like bottle bits mended. The slum is their map as big as the doom of the city buildings and their life (time and space) foggy and dim. The poet repeatedly uses the word fog to talk about the unclear, vague and dull life of the slum children.

Lines 25 to 32
The only hope of a life beyond the slums that enclose their lives like catacombs is some initiative by the governor, inspector of schools or a visitor. The poem ends with the poet fervently hoping that slum children will have access to better education and a better way of life. He uses the words �Break o break open� to say that they have to break out from the miserable hopeless life of the slum world so that they can wander beyond the slums and their town on to the green fields and golden sands (indicating the unlimited world). These can become their teacher and like dogs lapping up food hungrily, they can learn directly (run naked) from the open pages (leaves) of nature and the world which is sustained (whose language) by the sun standing for energy and life.

Keeping Quiet
This poem talks about the need for quiet introspection and creating feelings of mutual understanding, love and respect among human beings.
The poet suggests that he count to 12 and we all keep still. The purpose of this exercise, according to him, is to create a sense of togetherness in the minds of all people. In the twelve seconds of silence that the poet wishes to observe, he wants all the people on earth to not talk in any language, but to speak through their hearts and understand each other. He feels that it would be an exotic moment, with silence. There would be no rush and no noise and all the people in the world would be bonded by this sudden stillness.
Fishermen in the sea would stop their act of killing and men who gather salt would stop their work and look at their hands, hurt from the burdens of their toil. For once, they would be able to pay heed to their selves, rather than their work.
People who fight wars would stop and walk about with all others, like brothers, doing nothing.
The poet does not want total inactivity or death. He feels that today, all the people are so engrossed in keeping their lives moving and fulfilling their duties, that no one has time to think about themselves or others. He believes that if we observe these few moments of silence, it would unite us in a strange silence and help us understand ourselves better. It would foster a sense of brotherhood and unity among us.
According to the poet, we should all learn a lesson from the earth, who appears to be dead on the surface. But beneath the surface is amazing life, which proves that there can be life under apparent stillness.
Source: http://www.shvoong.com/books/1965522-keeping-quiet/#ixzz1nU5vNRjF

The Thing Of Beauty
This poem tries to percieve the world through language.The believes that there are certain things which are beautiful and worth to be treasured.He points out the intransient nature of beautiful things.THese things leave a lasting impression on our mind .The pleasure got by them is not momentary.THey are very valuable as they provide peace to human mind.Life is full of tribulations.Loss of  faith and disappointment are the result of our own making.beautiful things make life worthwhile as they lift the veil of gloom, finding way for optimism and hope.

The poet names a few beautiful thing which are simplest of things .These include sun moon trees etc.even things like sheep daffodils ,clear springs ,musk roses growing in the wild are things that give joy and happiness to the human heart.beauties of nature have an elixir of life.It is like a precious gift from heaven.
Source: http://www.shvoong.com/books/poetry/1813606-thing-beauty/#ixzz1nU682qKK

A Roadside Stand by Robert Frost
In this poem, the poet contrasts the lives of poor and deprived countryside people who struggle to live, with the thoughtless city people who don�t even bother to notice the roadside stand that these people have put up to sell their goodies.

Lines 1 to 6
The poem starts with the description of the roadside stand and the intention behind it. A small time farmer builds a vegetable stand at the edge of the highway outside his house in the hope that passing cars would buy the produce and earn a bit of the money that supports cities from falling into ruin. He only wants to earn a living, he is not begging for money.

Lines 7 to 13
However, no cars ever stop and the ones that even glance in the direction of the stand without any feeling of compassion or relatedness (out of sorts) only comment about how the construction spoils the view of the surroundings or how badly painted the wrongly pointed North and South signs are or to notice without interest the wild berries and squash for sale in the stand or the beautiful mountain scene.

Lines 13 to 22
The farmer tells the rich travelers to keep their money if they meant to be mean and that the hurt to the view is not as important as the sorrow he feels on being ignored. He only wishes for some (city) money so that he may experience the plush life (make our beings expand) portrayed by the movies and other media, which the political parties are said to be refusing him.

Lines 23 to 31
Frost goes on to say that even though these people have benefactors (good-doers), who plan to relocate them in villages where they can have easy access to the cinema and the store, they are actually selfish (�greedy good-doers� and �beasts of prey�) and only help these "pitiful kin" to indirectly advantage themselves. The altruists wish to make these villagers completely dependent on them for all their benefits and comforts, thus robbing them of the ability to think for themselves and be independent. 'The ancient way' could mean the old way when people worked during the day and slept at night. This is being reversed by the new 'greedy good doers' who teach these people to not use their brain. They are unable to sleep at night because they haven't worked during day time or because they are troubled by their new lifestyle.

Lines 32 to 43
Frost then talks about his personal feelings, saying that he can hardly bear the thought of the farmer's dashed hopes. The open windows of the farmer's house seem to wait all day just to hear the sound of a car stopping to make a purchase. However they are always disappointed, as vehicles only stop to enquire the price, to ask their way ahead, to reverse or ask for a gallon of gas. 'The polished traffic' refers to the rich class who drive their cars to their destinations (with a mind ahead) probably to another city unmindful of the countryside roadside stand and if at all they did get distracted by the countryside (if ever aside a moment) they seemed out of place in it (out of sorts).

Lines 44 to 51
According to the poet, the progress required has not been found by these country folk (�the requisite lift of spirit"). Their lifestyles provide ample evidence to support this fact. He sometimes feels that it might be best to simply put these people out of their pain and hardships of existence. However, once rational thinking returns to his mind, he wonders how HE would feel if someone offered to do him this supposed service.

Aunt Jennifer's Tigers  
Adrienne Rich's "Aunt Jennifer's Tigers", depicts a woman trapped within the cultural constraints and responsibilities of married life.
In the first stanza, Aunt Jennifer�s situation and character is contrasted with her artistic creation that portrays her aspiration. The tapestry on which she has knitted tigers are very symbolic of what she wants to be in life - fearless, assertive, noble and powerful like the tiger as expressed in the words "They pace in sleek chivalric certainty". The word 'certainty' could portray the self-assuredness of the tiger or the confident bearing of the tiger as it is fearless of life.The tigers depicted as prancing across the screen bring to mind a being that is confident, self-assured and happy; all things that Aunt Jennifer is not. The use of colours implies that Aunt Jennifer's tigers and their land are more vital and enjoy a sense of freedom far greater than her. Yellow (bright topaz) connotes the sun and fierce energy, while green reminds one of spring and rebirth.

In the second stanza, Aunt Jennifer's present state is depicted. Her fingers are "fluttering through her wool" showing both physical and mental weakness. She finds it difficult to pull the needle. "The massive weight of Uncle's wedding band / Sits heavily upon Aunt Jennifer's hand" reminds us that her marriage responsibilities weigh her down which makes her unable to realize her full potential as a woman in a male-dominated society. She escapes from her difficult situation through art i.e. through knitting.

The final stanza contains imagery that reflects back on the first two stanzas. The reference of the hands symbolizes Aunt Jennifer as a whole. Though her death would free her from her present miserable state, her hands will remain terrified with the wedding ring which binds her to her ordeals that took complete control of her. The only sign of her freedom from her present life is the art work which she escapes into by depicting the prancing, proud and unafraid tigers which is what she really wants to be and which she attains through her imagination.