WBCHSE class 12 English

A. P. J. Abdul Kalam Dr. kalam presents us a pen-picture of his childhood in the island town of Rameswaram at Tamil Nadu. In a nostalgic vein, he describes the simple life in his household. The author presents a heart warming picture of communal harmony in his native town. He recalls how he started developing his spiritual belief and outlook under the influence of his father. The narrative reveals the deep respect the author had for his parents. The affectionate experience of his childhood went into moulding his character and attitude in a later life. While being the architect of the most advanced scientific programmes in space research, Dr. Kalam remained firm in his spiritual convictions throughout his life.

★ Central idea of the poem. -> A protest against men's indiscriminate cutting down of trees. ★ Message of the poem. -> Emphasis of afforestation. ★ Conflict -> Man vs nature. For existence men kill trees. But trees help them. Man doesn't care the civilization. They do a senseless act. Annotation of the poem : 1. It takes much time to kill a tree. -> To kill a tree is not an easy task. It requires much time and effort. 2. Not a simple jab of the knife will do it. -> An attempt to kill a tree by stabbing with a knife can't be successful. 3. It has grown solely consuming the earth. -> the trees develop slowly by observing the nutrients from the soil. 4. Rising out of it. -> the tree moves upwards penetrating the earth / soil. 5. Feeding upon its crust. -> Earth/soil feeds the tree its top most layer for its growth. 6. Absorbing years of sunlight. -> The tree absorbs sunlight ...

Author- Ruskin Bond   Summary : The story traces an ironic encounter between two people who are blind but are unaware of each other's blindness. The narrator, himself a young man, meets a young girl in train compartment. The narrator finds the young girl to be attractive and strikes up a conversation with her. Assuming that the young girl can see, the narrator describes to her the beauty of the hills. The narrator relies on his memory for the description, for he has not always been blind. The narrator is quite taken wih the young girl and wants to spent a memorable time with her as long as their brief journey lasted. The narrator continues to address her not as a blind man, but as someone who could see. When the woman alights at her destinaion, the narrator is shocked to learn from his new fellow traveller that the young girl was as blind as the narrator himself.