Unit 2: A Gift of Chappals

(i) Ravi compares Lalli’s playing the violin to derailing of a train.

(ii) Trying to hide beneath the tray of chillies, Mahendran tipped a few chillies over himself. “Mi-a-aw!”, he howled miserably.

(iii) The teacher played a few notes on his violin, and Lalli stumbled behind him on her violin, which looked quite helpless and unhappy in her hands.

(iv) The beggar said that the kind ladies of the household had helped him survive the last week.

(v) After the lesson was over, the music teacher asked Lalli if she had seen his chappals.

Answer: The music teacher had a lean, bony personality. He was sitting with his back against the window of the room where he was teaching violin to Lalli. He was bald and had some oiled hair around his ears. He was wearing an old-fashioned tuft and had a gold chain around his neck.

He also wore a diamond ring in his hand. He was beating the floor with his thin, malnourished toe.

Answer: (i) When the beggar showed his feet to the children, they could see blisters on them. This made Mridu conclude that the beggar had no money to buy chappals.

(ii) She suggests that they give away a pair of chappals to the beggar.

Answer: (i) Rukku Manni wanted to ask if the children were responsible for the stealth of the chappals.

(ii) She changed her question because, seeing the children so serious and quiet, she understood that the children definitely had something to do with the missing chappals.

(iii) She thought that the children would have purposely hidden the pair of chappals.

Answer: The music teacher tried not to look happy because he wanted to pretend that his chappals were valuable to him. Although in reality, he liked the new chappals of Gopu Mama.

Answer: I think that the beggar wanted to leave as early as possible because he did not want to lose the gift of chappals. He needed the chappals badly as his feet were full of blisters.

Answer: The thought about what she would say to Gopu Mama about the chappals when he would ask about them made her laugh. She wondered what his reaction would be when he gets to know that those chappals were given to the music master.