Workbook Answers/Solutions of A Collection of ICSE Poems and Short Stories, Small Pain in My Chest by- Michael Mack

I.
(i) The soldier boy was sitting underneath a tree during the war
because he was fatally wounded and could not get up.

(ii) The soldier was sitting calmly because he was fatally injured
during the war, was thirsty and could not get any help from
anybody around.

(iii) The soldier asked the narrator to come near him because he
was thirsty and needed a sip of water.

(iv) The battle had been long and hard can be discerned from the
deep craters in the earth and the number of dead bodies of the
soldiers, which the narrator could see lying all around.

(v) In the above extract, the poet wants to convey the horrors of war
and the agony of the soldiers, who fight it out on the battlefield.


II.
(i) The narrator has been referred to by the soldier as ‘Sir’. He was
on the battlefield at that time.

(ii) The soldier, according to the narrator, ‘smiled as best he could’
to hide his pain and suffering from him. It shows the spirit of
a soldier, who gives up his life for his country, with a smile on
his face.

(iii) The soldier wanted “A sip of water” because he was thirsty and
fatigued for he had fought a long and tough battle throughout
the night and was fatally wounded.

(iv) The soldier could not take any rest because he had been fighting
continuously day and night against the enemy. It tells us about
the horrors of war and pain and suffering the soldiers had to
endure on the battlefield.

(v) The soldier was having a pain in his chest because of the wound
he had sustained during the fight on the battlefield. Being a
true soldier, who considers everything smaller than his duty
for his country, the soldier called it as ‘small pain’. Further,
in comparison to the soldiers, who had received larger wounds
and had succumbed to their injuries on the battlefield, his was
a small pain.


III.
(i) The large stain on the soldier’s shirt was caused by a wound
he received while fighting on the battlefield.
(ii) ‘warm blood mixed in with Asian dirt’ refers to the blood oozing
out from the wounds of the soldier and mixing with the dirt of
the Asian soil as the war was being fought in Asia.

(iii) By saying “Not much”, the soldier wanted to say that his wound
was nothing in comparison to the wounds suffered by his fellow
soldiers, who succumbed to their injuries. He said so because
he was still alive.

(iv) The soldier considered himself more lucky than his fellow soldiers
because they died of the injuries sustained during the war, while
he was still alive.

Workbook Answers/Solutions of A Collection of ICSE Poems and Short Stories, In the Bazaars of Hyderabad by- Sarojini Naidu

I.

(i) The merchants are in the bazaars of Hyderabad. They are selling
their goods in the market. The words ‘Richly displayed’ mean
that the goods to be sold in the market have been beautifully
displayed by the merchants to attract the buyers.

(ii) The goods on sale in this market included crimson and silver
turbans, purple brocade tunics, mirrors framed in brownish
yellow colour and daggers with handles of jade.

(iii) The poet begins the stanza with a question to elicit an answer
from the vendors about the goods they are selling. This pattern
of question-answer is used to bring out the splendour of the
traditional bazaars of Hyderabad. The poet has used repetition
as well as lyrics full of vibrant and colourful images to describe
the scene.

(iv)
 (a) Mirrors with panels of amber mean the mirrors having frames
of brownish and yellow colour.
(b) Scabbards of gold for the king mean sheaths of gold for the
King to keep his swords in.

(v) The King and his nobles are the likely customers of tunics of
purple brocade and daggers with handles of jade.

(vi) The visual imagery is stimulated by mentioning the various hues
of colours in this stanza like silver, crimson, purple, amber and
jade.


II.
(i) Chessmen are the pieces deployed on a chessboard for playing
the game of chess. Ivory dice refers to small cubes made of ivory,
having six sides numbered by dots from one to six. These are
used to play games.

(ii) Saffron, lentil, rice, sandalwood, henna and spices are sold by
weight, whereas chessmen and ivory dice are sold by numbers.

(iii) The sellers of various goods in the bazaars of Hyderabad are referred
to as vendors and merchants. The sellers, who go about from
place to place with their goods for sale are called the pedlars.

(iv) Food items included saffron, lentil and rice. Cosmetic items
included sandalwood and henna and the recreational items
included chessmen and ivory dice.

(v) The senses of sight are stimulated in this extract by the various
colours of the items like saffron, lentil, rice, sandalwood, henna
and various spices. The sense of taste is produced by the mention
of staple Indian food like lentil and rice and spices.

Workbook Answers/Solutions of A Collection of ICSE Poems and Short Stories, Hunger by-Nasira Sharma

I.
(i) Rizwan was an educated young man, who was in search of a job. He was standing in a crowded market place, to look out for a person, whom he could interview for a newspaper.
[Corrigendum: Please read Q.I(i) of the extract as—Who was Rizwan? Where was he standing and why?] 

 (ii) As Rizwan stood in the crowded market place, he thought that although there was unemployment, yet people were eating and drinking and buying expensive articles.

 (iii) Kasim, a rag-seller was walking in Rizwan’s direction. He was carrying a load of old clothes to be sold to the intended buyers, who included poor labourers.

 (iv) Rizwan stopped the man to take his interview for the Kihaan newspaper. He did not exchange any greetings with the man because he did not consider it necessary to show respect to a poor, rag-seller. This shows that Rizwan lacked politeness and manners. Further, he had double standards because he greeted people in his office.

 (v) Rizwan neither greet the man nor ask him anything to build a rapport with him before starting the interview.
[Corrigendum: Please read Q.I(v) of the extract as—How did Rizwan treat the man walking in his direction in the market?] 



II.
(i) Rizwan is the speaker in these lines. He is addressing a poor, rag-seller, Kasim. He is doing so because he is interviewing him for the Kihaan newspaper.

 (ii) Chacha gets angry when Rizwan asks him where he lives because he does not have a permanent home and lives wherever he gets a place, like in front of a shop or under a bridge.

 (iii) The story only mentions Chacha’s father and his son. His father was an old man, who used to work as labourer and did not earn decent wages for a living. His son was a four-year old boy, who used to play around in the village, chase dogs and would take up his father’s profession of rag-selling, on attaining the age of five.

 (iv) The government was apparently helping the poor farmers by giving land to them and providing education to their children. Chacha considered the policies of government as futile and false promises to solicit votes. He felt so because he was a poor labourer and his father, grandfather and great grandfather were poor labourers, who did not get any benefit from the government policies to alleviate their poverty.
 (v) A ‘tout’ is a person who persuades somebody on behalf of another person or organisation to buy something or take a particular action. The first speaker says that he is a journalist by profession.