9th std REACH FOR THE TOP

REACH FOR THE TOP

Q 1 Read the extracts given below and answer the following questions.

(a) I asked if I could join them. To my pleasant surprise, they answered in the affirmative and motivated me to take to climbing.
i. Who is referred to as ‘them’? Where did she meet them?
The mountaineers, whom Santosh Yadav met on the Aravalli Hills, are referred to as
‘them’.
ii. What was the effect of the meeting on Santosh Yadav?
The mountaineers motivated Santosh Yadav to take to climbing.
iii. Which course did Santosh Yadav enrol herself in?
Santosh Yadav saved money and enrolled in a course at Uttarkashi’s Nehru Institute of
Mountaineering.
iv. Find the antonym of ‘discouraged’.
motivated

(b) “I used to be lonely,” Maria Sharapova recalls. “I missed my mother terribly.”
i. Where had Maria come and why?
Maria had come to the United States from Siberia with her father to receive training in
Tennis.
ii. Why was her mother not with her?
Maria’s mother could not be come with her because of visa restrictions.
iii. Why did Maria feel lonely?
Maria was in a foreign land was not well treated by the older tennis pupils. Her father
couldn’t see her because he working hard to keep her tennis training going.
iv. Give the synonym of ‘recalls’.
remembers

Q 2 Answer each of the following questions in about 30-40 words.

(a) What surprised the travelling ‘holy man’? Did his blessings work?
The travelling ‘holy man’ assumed that like everyone Santosh’s mother also wanted a
son. When Santosh’s grandmother requested him for a daughter, he was surprised.
Yes, his blessings seemed to work.

(b) Why did Santosh go to Jaipur?
Santosh always wanted to study more, and her father got used to her urge for more
education. So, after passing high school, she went to Jaipur and joined the Maharani
College.

(c) Why did Santosh write a letter of apology to her father?
Santosh saved money and enrolled in a Mountaineering course at Uttakarshi. Due to
lack of time, she headed straight for the training at the end of her college semester.
And did not go home. Hence, she wrote a letter of apology to her father without
whose permission she had enrolled at Uttarkashi.

(d) What does Maria declare to be her ‘mantra for success’?
Maria worked really hard to fulfill her dreams. She did not allow herself to be
emotional and sentimental. She is very competitive and works hard at whatever she
does. This is her mantra for success. She was led by the dream of becoming the world No. 1.

(e) What makes it amply clear that Maria Sharapova considers all the sacrifices
worthwhile?
Sharapova’s journey from the frozen plains of Siberia has touched the hearts of tennis
fans but for her there seems to be no room for sentiment. The straight looks and the
answers she gives makes it amply clear that she considers that all her sacrifices
worthwhile.

Q3 Answer each of the following questions in 100-150 words.

(a) Describe Santosh’s fight against the system.
Santosh’s parents were affluent. They could have sent her to best schools but
according to the tradition, she was sent to the local village school. She felt
discontented and decided to fight the system.
Right from the beginning Santosh had to assert for her right to equality education. She never lost her spirit and determination. She defied all the customs and
traditions which limit the girls within the spheres of family, marriage and children. She
ventured into a man’s domain to become a role model for others.
Santosh threatened her parents that she would start working part time to earn for her
school fees. Thus, they agreed to pay for her education.

(b) How did the other tennis pupils at the training treat Maria? How did she cope with it?
Maria was young, only around nine years old and would go to bed early. The older
tennis pupils would come in at eleven and wake her up and order her to tidy up and
clean the room. She did not let that depress her. She became more quietly determined
and mentally tough. She learnt how to take care of herself. She never thought of
quitting because she knew what she wanted. According to her, When you come from
nothing and have nothing, it makes you very hungry and determined. She would have
put up with more humiliation and insults to steadfastly pursue her dream.

EXTRA QUESTIONS

1. What is the special distinction of Santosh Yadav as a mountaineer?

Ans. Santosh Yadav is the only woman in the world who has conquered Mt Everest twice. She is a woman who got this distinction rising up from a rural background.

2. What type of a social system was there is in the village when Santosh was born?Ans. In those days the birth of a son was regarded as a blessing, but the birth of a daughter was not generally welcomed in the society.

3. Give a brief sketch of Santosh’s family.Ans. Santosh was born in the small village ofioniyawas in Haryana. Her parents were affluent landowners. She was the only sister of five Brothers.

 4. How did Santosh show the contradiction to her name?Ans. The girl was given the name Santosh, which means contentment’. But Santosh was not always content with her place in the traditional way of life. She began living life on her own terms from the start.

5. What did Santosh tell her parents regarding her marriage?Ans. Santosh was not in favour of early married life. She threatened her parents that she would never marry if she would not get a proper education.

6. What kind of society was Santosh born in?

Ans. Santosh was born in Joniyawas, a small village in the Rewari District in Haryana. The society in this region was rigidly patriarchal and gender-biased. The birth of a girl was generally unwelcome and people strictly adhered to conservative traditions.

7. Why did the grandmother (in spite of being a member of a family with conservative views) wish her daughter-in-law to give birth to a daughter?

Ans. Despite being the member of a conservative family, the grandmother wished to be blessed with a granddaughter because there were already five boys in the family. Hence, the family now wished for a daughter.

 9. What do you know about Santosh’s family?

Ans. Santosh was the sixth child in a conservative but affluent family of landlords. Her family lived in the backward district of Rewari in Haryana. Though financially well-off, they were orthodox and conservative in matters related to the education and upbringing of girls.

10. Why was Santosh Yadav not content with a traditional way of life? What path did she choose and why?

Ans. Santosh was not content with a traditional way of life because she was a bit of a rebel right from the beginning. She wanted to charter her own course in life, rather than following the age-old customs and traditions.

 She chose the path of excellence through education, rational thinking and hard work and achieved unparalleled success as a woman mountaineer.

 11. When Santosh turned sixteen, why did she consider it to be the ‘right moment’ to fight the system?

Ans. Santosh left home for Delhi when she turned sixteen because her parents had begun to pressurize her to get married in keeping with tradition. She decided that it was the right moment to rebel and she quietly got herself enrolled in a school in Delhi to continue her studies.

12. What did Santosh do after being motivated by the Mountaineers to take to climbing?

Ans. Santosh saved money and enrolled herself in a course at Uttarkashi’s Nehru Institute of Mountaineering and after completion of her semester in the college, headed straight for the institute to be able to reach for her training in time.

13. Why did Santosh write a letter of apology to her father?

Ans. Santosh had got herself enrolled in the Uttarkashi Nehru Institute of Mountaineering without seeking her father’s permission. She had thought of talking to her family about this during her holidays. However, there was hardly any time between the end of the semester and her reporting date at the institute. Due to her inability to go home, she wrote a letter of apology to her father.

14. As a climber, what qualities was Santosh Yadav gifted with?

Ans. As a climber, Santos was gifted with an iron will, a great physical endurance and an amazing mental toughness. All these qualities, coupled with her resistance to cold and altitude helped her prove her mettle in climbing mountains again and again.

 15. When did Santosh get an opportunity to scale Mt. Everest?

Ans. Santosh got an opportunity to scale Mt. Everest in 1992, just four years after she had joined the Uttarkashi’s Nehru Institute of Mountaineering. She was hardly twenty years of age at that time when she became the youngest woman in the world to scale the highest peak.

 16. How did Santosh’s seniors and fellow climbers appreciate her?

Ans. Santosh’s seniors appreciated her for her climbing skills, physical fitness and mental strength. On the other hand, her fellow climbers admired her for her team spirit and her genuine concern for her fellow climbers.

17.when did Santosh scale the mt.everest for the second time?

Ans. Santosh was invited by an Indo-Nepalese Women’s expedition to scale Mt. Everest within a year of her first expedition in 1992. Santosh joined them to climb the Everest for the second time. Thus, she scaled the Everest twice setting a record as the only woman to have scaled the Everest two times.

18. Why is Santosh Yadav’s name recorded twice for climbing Mount Everest?

Ans. Santosh Yadav earned the credit for being the youngest woman in the world to climb the Mount Everest. She was all of twenty years when she scaled the peak for the first time in 1992. She earned another credit when she climbed Mount Everest for the second time soon after. Now her name was recorded again for being the only woman in the world to have climbed the mighty Everest twice.

19. How did the government of India honour Santosh Yadav?

Ans. The government of India recognized Santosh’s achievements as a celebrated mountaineer. Acknowledging her feat as the only woman to climb Mount Everest twice, the government bestowed upon her one of the nation’s top honours, the Padmashri.

Q20. How did Santosh feel when she found herself on the ‘top of the world’ at the summit of the Everest?                                                                                                              

 Ans. Santosh Yadav, while standing on the ‘top of the world’, was overwhelmed with emotions of patriotism and ecstasy. She felt proud as an Indian when she unfurled the tricolour on Mount Everest. She was so happy that she experienced a kind of spiritual bliss. She found it hard to articulate her feelings.

LONG ANSWER TYPE/EXTRAPOLATIVE  QUESTIONS

1. Write a brief character sketch of Santosh Yaday.

Ans. Santosh Yadav was born in a traditional family. She was born in the small village of Joniyawas in Haryana. The girl was given the name Santosh, which means ‘contentment.’ But Santos was not always content with her place in a traditional way of life. She began living life on her own terms from the start. Where ever other girls wore traditional Indian dresses. Santosh preferred short. Santosh did not yield to the traditions. In opposition to her family, she enrolled herself in a school in Delhi. When her parents refused to pay for her education, she politely informed them of her plans to earn money by working part-time to pay her school fees. This shows that she was a determined child. She developed a love for mountaineering. She saved money and enrolled herself in a course of mountaineering. She scaled Mt. Everest twice. This is the achievement of her heroic character.

 2. How did Santosh carve her own destiny?                                                                             

                                                                             Or

 “If I chose a correct and a rational path, the others around me had to change, not me”, said Santosh Yaday. How does her life justify her words?

Ans. Born to conservative parents in a patriarchal, gender-biased and rigidly conventional society, Santosh did not want to let norms dictate her life. She never wanted to adhere to the irrational, hackneyed customs and wanted to live life on her own terms. In fact, she believed that if she chose a correct and a rational path, others would have to change and align themselves to her choices. Averse to gender discrimination, she resisted the pressure to get married at the young age of sixteen. She declared that she would not marry at all if denied proper education.

Defying tradition, she got enrolled in a school in Delhi. When her parents refused to pay for her schooling, she informed them that she would work part-time to manage her school fees. Realising their daughter’s determination, they had to submit.

Taking up mountaineering as her career was also an independent decision. However, she tried her best not to hurt her parents and wrote a letter of apology to her father for not having sought his permission before joining the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering in Uttarkashi. Thus, in spite of all the odds, Santosh chose for herself a path which was absolutely unthinkable and unheard of for girls in an orthodox society. She, thus, managed to carve her own destiny.

3. Santosh decided to fight the system in her own “quiet way”, says the author. How did Santosh rebel but quietly?

Ans. Santosh was a very rational, progressive, and sensible girl, who wished to shape her life herself. Though it was. not easy for a girl to fight the rigid system of those times, Santosh was confident that if she chose a correct and rational path, she would be able to change things around her. She waited patiently for the right moment to take up the issues with the orthodox, irrational and hackneyed traditions that obstructed her aspirations and her goals. For example, she opposed her parents’ decision to marry her off at the early age of sixteen and got herself enrolled in a school in Delhi. When her parents refused to pay for her education in the city, she told them politely that she would earn money for her fees by working part-time. She quietly made it clear that she was determined to overcome all obstacles. Finally, her parents had to surrender.  Her decision to take up mountaineering as a career was also handled very boldly and fearlessly by her. She took admission in  Uttarkashi’s Nehru Institute of Mountaineering without seeking the permission of her parents. Her parents had no choice but to accept her decision. Thus, Santosh rebelled against the orthodox, conservative system in a quiet but sure way.

4. Santosh had all the qualities of a good mountaineer. Comment.

 Ans. Mountaineering is a challenging career which demands great physical and mental strength. It requires boldness, fearlessness, sturdiness and faith in one’s abilities. Santosh Yadav was, in fact, made for mountaineering as she was endowed with all the qualities that are pre-requisites for this career. Just within a span of four years of her training in climbing, Santosh successfully scaled Mt. Everest. Again she repeated this feat in less than a year’s time and became the only woman in the world to have scaled the Everest twice. All this was made possible with her climbing skills, physical fitness and mental strength. Her iron will, physical endurance and mental toughness infused her with immense confidence. Her resistance to cold and altitude proved to be added advantages. All these qualities, coupled with her team-spirit and her concern for her fellow climbers made her not only a good mountaineer but also a very popular one among her superiors and her fellow climbers.

5. Santosh is not only a good mountaineer but also a genuinely good human being. Discuss.

Ans. Santosh Yadav proved her mountaineering skills quite early in her career. She displayed an unflinching will and a fearless mind that fought a rigid, orthodox society to rise to the top. But the stern will and bold decisions did not smother her qualifies of co-operation and concern for others.

 That Santosh is endowed with a caring heart is obvious from the fact that she took great care of a climber at the South Col. Though, the climber could not be saved, Santosh’s concern for him was really commendable. In another incident, she saved the life of a fellow climber, Mohan Singh by sharing her own oxygen with him. This sense of sacrifice and team-spirit won for her the esteem of her team-mates. Moreover, Santosh’s heart overflowed with patriotism when she unfurled the national flag on the top of Mt. Everest. Her concern for the purity of the environment also proves that she is a good human being. Such is her love for nature that she brought down five hundred kilograms of rubbish from the Everest. Thus, Santosh is blessed with the human qualities of both head and heart.

6. Imagine you are Santosh Yaday. You are feeling uncomfortable about enrolling yourself for climbing without seeking your father’s permission. Write a letter of apology to your father politely explaining your situation.

 Ans.

33/1,Kasturba Hostel

Maharani College,

ranirashmoni colony,

Jaipur-22

17th May 1988

Dear Father

Both Mom and you must be looking forward to my visit during the holidays after the college semester. However, Pm afraid we all shall have to forego the pleasure of each other’s company this summer. I’m very sorry for it but let me explain the situation.

I have got myself enrolled for training at Uttarkashi’s Nehru Institute of Mountaineering. Dad, my passion for climbing has got the better of me and I couldn’t resist this opportunity to get trained as a mountaineer. Pm sure you’ll understand and forgive me. I assure you both, that I’ll prove myself in this field and make you all proud. I need your and Mama’s blessings.

 As for the holiday, my semester has ended today and I have to join the Institute on the twenty-first. So, I do not have enough g time to come home. I hope you’ll bear and forgive your dear daughter who loves you and respects you from the core of her heart.

Yours affectionately,

Santosh