Jharkhand Board Class 9TH English Notes | WEATHERING THE STORM IN ERSAMA
JAC Board Solution For Class 9TH English S Reader Chapter 6
Long Answer Type Quesions
■ Answer these questions in about 80-100 words each :―
Q. 1. Write the character-sketch of Prashant.
Ans. Prashant was a young man of the village Kalikuda in
Orissa. On 27 October 1999 a cyclone hit the coastal area suddenly.
Heavy and incessant rain filled the darkness, trees were uprooted
and crashed to the earth. People and houses were swifty washed
away. At that time Prashant was at his friend's house eighteen
miles away from his native village. The crazed destruction wrought
by the cyclone.
For the next two days, Prashant sat huddled with his friend's
family in the open on the roof top. Two days later when the rain
ceased and the rain waters slowly began to recede he decided to go
to his his village. He took a long stick and then started on his eighteen
kilometre expedition back to his village through the swollen flood
waters. Eventually Prashant reached his village. His hea heart went
sold when he did not find any member of his family. He went to the
Red Cross Shelter, where he found the members of his family.
Then Prashant became a leader of the victims. He formed a
group of young men and worked for the victims. In his nineteen he
did a great deed for the sufferers. So he was marvellous man of
strength and spirit.
Q.2. How did Prashant sort out the problem of food for the
villagers?
Ans. Prashant organised the villagers to persuade the merchant
to give them rice. They were successful in making it a success. It is
only on the fourth day the villagers were having cooked rice for
the first time after cyclone. On the fifth day one military helicopter
had dropped food on the Red Cross Shelter. After that nothing
arrived for help. Now on Prashant's advice the youth task force
collected empty utensils from the shelter and asked children to lie
on the sand with the empty utensils on their stomach. It was done
for the purpose of communicating to the passing helicopters that
they were hungry. They were successful in sending the message.
After that there was a regular supply of food by the helicopter
around the shelter.
Q. 3. Describe how Prashant reached his village after the
super cyclone.
Ans. Prashant had seen the fury and destruction of the super
cyclone. For two days he lay huddled with his friend's family on
rooftop. He wept and thought that no one of his family would
Survive .. He took a long and strong stick to find his way in water.
He started his journey for the village. He had to use his stick to
find his way home. At several points he lost the road and had to
swim. On the way he found two friends of his uncle. They were
also going home.
On the way, they had to push the dead bodies of human
beings and animals. The current swept against them as they moved
ahead. In every village they passed they could see barely a house
Standing. Prashant now wept out loud and long. He was sure that
his family could not have survived this natural calamity. But it
had survived. He found his brother, sister, uncles and aunts at the
shelter.
Q.4. How was Prashant's village affected by the cyclone?
How did he take a lead to help his village people?
Ans. Prashant found about 250 people crowded in a shelter.
Eighty-six lives had beeri lost in the village. All the ninety-six
houses in the village had been washed away in the cyclone. The
village people had survived on green coconuts. Prashant took up
the lead. He organized a group of youth and elders. They jointly
put pressure on the merchant to part with rice. After four days the
people were able to eat food. The group gathered empty utensils
from the shelter. Then they laid the children in the sand with those
utensils tied on their stomachs. The message got through. The
military helicopter airdropped food for the surviving villagers.
Short Answer Type Quesions
■ Answer these questions in about 30-40 words each :―
Q. 1. What havoc has the super cyclone wreaked in the life of
the people of Orissa?
Ans. The super cyclone completely devastated the coastal
Orissa. It was followed by heavy rains and floods. Together they
gutted hundreds of house, killing thousands.
Q. 2. How has Prashant, a teenager been able to help the people
of his village?
Ans. He formed a group of youth and elders and together they
helped themselves in arranging food and cleaning the shelter and
looking after the orphans and nursing the injured.
Q. 3. How have the people of the community helped one
another?
What role do the women of Kalikuda play during these days?
Ans. The young people under Prashant's command cleaned
the shelter and nursed the injured. The elders helped them in
arranging for food and other things. They forced merchants to
give them rice. Women of Kalikudu looked after the orphans.
Q. 4. Why do Prashant and other volunteers resist the plan to
set up institutions for orphans and widows?
Ans. They feel that in such institution women suffer from
stigma and loneliness and children would grow up without love.
So they consider the alternative of 'setting forster families'.
Q. 5. Why was it difficult for Prashant to travel back to his
village ?
Ans. Prashant was at his friend's house when super cyclone
attacked the area. Houses were washed away. Forceſui water rose
to neck deep. Prashant had to use his stick to locate the road to
know where the water was most shallow. At several points, he lost
the road and had to swim.
Q. 6. How did the villager's make the helicopters drop
regular quantities of food?
Ans. A military helicopter flew over the shelter and dropped
some food parcels. It then did not return. The youth task force
deputed the children to lie in the sand with empty utensils on their
stomachs. After that the helicopter made regularly visits and
dropped regular food to them.
Q.7. Describe the scene of destruction as seen by Prashant.
Ans. Prashant will never forget the shock he had when he saw
the destruction. A sheet of water covered everything. Only broken
houses stood in a few places. Dead bodies of human beings and
animals floated here and there. Trees had fallen. All round there
was destruction.
Q. 8. How did Prashant and others help the orphans and
women look after themselves?
Ans. Prashant found that a large number of children had been
orphaned. He brought them together. He put up a polythene sheet
shelter for them. Women were mobilized to look after them. Men
secured food and materials for the shelter.
Q.9. What happened in the evening when Prashant was at
his friend's house in Ersama ?
Ans. In the evening a dark and dangerous storm gathered.
Strong winds began to blow. It began to rain heavily and
continuously. Trees were uprooted, People cried in sorrow. A super
cyclone had come.
Q. 10. How did Prashant pass his time of two days of the
super cyclone ?
Ans. Prashant and his friend's family sat on the roof of the
house. They froze in cold and continuous rain. Prashant wondered
if his family had survived in this super cyclone.
Q. 11. What did Prashant do after he decided to step in as
leader of his village?.
Ans. Prashant organized a group of youths and elders. It was
to pressurize the merchant to give rice. The group got some rice
though it was rotten. They ate in four days.
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