UNIT-I

I B.TECH ENGLISH SYLLABUS  (R – 13)

UNIT – I

SKILLS ANNEXE

Wit and Humour – A Tea Party

EPITOME OF WISDOM

Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya

GRAMMAR

Listening – Sounds, stress, intonation

Speaking – Greetings, Leave Taking, Introducing

Reading – Reading for Subject / Theme

Writing – Writing Paragraphs

Grammar – Nouns and Pronouns, Types

Vocabulary – Homonyms, Homophones, Synonyms, Antonyms

UNIT – II

SKILLS ANNEXE

Cyber age – Polymer Banknotes

EPITOME OF WISDOM

Three Days to See – Helen Keller

GRAMMAR

Listening – Listening for themes and facts

Speaking – Apologizing, interrupting, requesting, and making polite conversations.

Reading – Reading for theme and gist

Writing – Describing people, places, objects, events

Grammar – Verb Forms

Vocabulary – Noun, Verb, Adjective, Adverb

UNIT – III

SKILLS ANNEXE

Risk Management – Deadly Factory Fires in India Illustrate Need for Stronger Risk Management

EPITOME OF WISDOM

Leela’s friend – R.K.Narayan

GRAMMAR

Listening – Listening for Main points and Sub points / Note Taking

Speaking – Giving instructions, directions, speaking of hypothetical situations

Reading – Reading for details

Writing – Note Making, Information Transfer, Punctuation

Grammar – Present Tense

Vocabulary – Synonyms and Antonyms

UNIT – IV

SKILLS ANNEXE

Human Values and Professional Ethics – India’s Contribution to World Unity

EPITOME OF WISDOM

The Last Leaf – O. Henry

GRAMMAR

Listening – Listening for specific details and Information

Speaking – Narrating, expressing opinions and telephone interactions

Reading – Reading for specific details and information

Writing – Writing formal letters and CV

Grammar – Past, Future Tense

Vocabulary – Idioms and Phrasal Verbs

UNIT – V

SKILLS ANNEXE

Sports and Health – Sachin Tendulkar

EPITOME OF WISDOM

The Convocation Speech – N. R. Narayana Murthy

GRAMMAR

Listening – Critical Listening and Listening for Speaker’s tone and attitude

Speaking – GDs and Presentations

Reading – Critical Reading, Reading for Reference

Writing – Project Proposals, Technical Reports, Project Reports, Research Papers

Grammar – Adjectives, Prepositions, Concord

Vocabulary – Collocations and Technical Vocabulary

UNIT – I

1. WIT AND HUMOUR

A TEA PARTY – RUTH PRAWER JHABVALA

Ruth Prawer Jhabvala (1927-April 2013) was a German born English writer. She is an Oscar winning screen writer and a well known short story writer and novelist. She was one of the three persons who together formed Merchant Ivory Productions. She wrote for 22 films for over four decades. She received Britain’s highest literary honour for her 1975 novel “Heat and Dust”. After marrying Cyrus S.H.Jhabvala, a Parsi architect from India, she settled down with him in Delhi.  Jhabvala’s novel ‘The Householder’ is a witty novel on middle class Indian mind sets and life styles. It is a comedy of manners. The novel depicts 1960’s Delhi society – particularly of the low waged educated classes. ‘The Householder’ shows how the Indian couples often begin their life with misunderstandings and dislike and gradually start loving each other.

           

SUMMARY

“A Tea Party” depicts a funny situation from the novel ‘The Householder’.

ABOUT PREM  

Prem is a young teacher at a college. His wife Indu is pregnant. Finding his salary too small, Prem wants to gather courage to speak to his employer but he is afraid to do so. Meanwhile he is invited to a college tea party. He becomes desperate to create the right impression because the thought of a salary rise was always at the back of his mind.

          

          When he was invited by Mr.Khanna, the owner of their college for a tea party, he desires to show up his intelligence through active participation in the conversation and through his polite behavior.

PREM AND INDU GETTING READY FOR THE PARTY

            Prem’s wife Indu gladly accepts to accompany him. She dresses up herself in one of her best saris given to her on her marriage – a lilac coloured georgette with big flowers and leaves stitched on it in imitation pearls, puts on her jewellery – a heavy gold necklace and long ear rings and twelve gold bangles, wears red shoes with high platform soles and cut-out toes, smoothes and oils her hair and winds it round with a chain of jasmine. She applies a little lipstick and the red mark on her forehead. She looks grand and totally different from her daily attire of cotton saris tucked round her waist, glass bangles and no shoes at all. Prem gazed at her with admiration. He also wears his best shirt and trousers. He walked in a stately manner and it was obvious that they were going somewhere special. The couple walked silently to the college. Indu concentrated on her walking as she was not accustomed to high platform soles.

           

AT THE PARTY

Indu feels worried and enquires her husband what she should do if any one speaks to her at the party. Prem asks her to answers politely and appear like an educated woman. However she still looks worried and he too begins worrying about her.

            When they enter Mr.Khanna’s living room, they notice all the members of the staff and their wives sitting in a pre-arranged circle of chairs. All of them are dressed in their best.        Mr. &Mrs. Khanna invite them heartily and Prem keeps thanking them. Mrs. Khanna looks more gorgeous than all the others.

            Mr.Khanna takes up his position in the middle of the circle. He expresses his happiness as all the ladies accompanied their husbands to the party. Mr. Chaddha, the Principal, too adds up praising how soothing would a wife’s company be. Both Mr.Khanna and Mr. Chaddha speak on the importance of a relaxed and refreshed mind. While everyone is listening, Prem gives a polite laugh but finding all others quite, he realizes that the remark is not humorous and brushes imaginary specks of dust from his knee.

            Soon the dishes of fritters, samosas and sweet meats are circulated and while men take something, the shy ladies still sit holding their empty crockery plates. When Mr.Khanna asks the ladies to have something, hastily they slip something onto their plates. The guests chewed their food as delicately as they could and ate just the correct amount which would be considered polite. Only Mr. and Mrs. Khanna ate heartily. The servant goes round to collect the empty plates.

            Meanwhile Prem hasn’t noticed Indu since long. He wanted to see whether she was behaving with the requisite decorum. When he sees her, he is shocked to see that she still had the plate that too with many sweet meats. She was relishing them, biting them in a predatory manner and licking her fingers and flicking crumbs from her lips with her tongue. While everyone present there was attentively listening to Mr.Chaddha, Indu being pregnant had strange and uncontrollable desires & enjoyed her food forgetting the surroundings. The servant who was cleaning up noticed more number of crumbs where Indu sat.  Mrs.Khanna frowns at Indu when she sees her pushing the remnant of a crumbly ladoo into her mouth.

            Prem notices Mrs.Khanna disapproving face but cannot even give Indu some sign as she sat away from him and was not even looking at his face. He could do nothing. He did not want Mrs.Khanna to think that Indu does not know how to behave in the society. He felt like explaining her that Indu’s odd behavior was due to a natural cause and not due to lack of good breeding.

            While Prem was indulged in such thoughts, it was already seven O’ clock and the party was over. Everyone stand up to leave. Prem recalls that he wanted to contribute something to the conversation and show everybody that he was intelligent. The guests were already leaving. He feels like asking all of them to stop. But he neither had the courage to stop them nor did he have anything important or impressive to convey.

            Prem is one among life’s innocent men – and for a long time, in trying to please the people around him, he only brings upon him more unhappiness. Thus Jhabvala is successful in portraying both funnily and sadly, the lives of ordinary people in India in such a way that the reader instantly loves the characters. The novel portrays the second in the four traditional Hindu stages of human life – The Householder’s Stage in a realistic manner.

Q)             Bring out the humorous elements in the story.

(OR)

     Does the story”A Tea Party” make you laugh at Indu or sympathize with her?

(OR)

       What makes the ending of the story “A Tea Party” both funny and a little sad?

     

“A Tea Party” depicts a funny situation from the novel ‘The Householder’.

Several humorous elements abound in this story. Indu’s uneasiness in her high platform soles, Prem’s self-conscious stately walk and Indu’s nervousness make the readers smile at their behaviour.

            The expressions like “replaced his thumb in his armpit”, “The ladies all stared straight in front of them”, “ a cream-coloured silk suit which seems to have been washed quite a number of time” add to the humour.

            Prem politely laughs at Mr. Khanna’s views on relaxation but realizes that the remark was not humorous. He tries to hide his uneasiness by brushing imaginary specks of dust from his knee.

            At the party, the shy ladies rallied by Mr. Khanna slipped something very hastily and furtively as if it were a secret. They chewed the food as delicately as they could. Above all, they ate only the correct amount sanctioned by good breeding.

            One can’t help laughing at the way Indu behaves at the party and the way she enjoys the sweetmeats. The reader however sympathizes with Indu and also at Prem’s anxiety to explain Indu’s situation and her innocence to Mrs. Khanna.

            The reader ends up laughing when Prem feels like calling out all the dispersed members to stop and to address them with something ‘poignant’ and ‘striking’ but has neither the courage to do so nor has anything really poignant and striking to say.

            Thus the story is simple and humorous and yet has an element of sadness in it because in trying to please the people around him, Prem only brings more unhappiness to himself.

Q) How do the women at the tea party behave?

            The women attended the party in their best dresses. They were polite and maintained decorum. They sat together silent and unmoved, in one-half of the circle of chairs. Initially they felt shy to serve anything in their plates, but after Mr.Khanna asked them to have something, they slipped something onto their plates in a hasty, furtive manner and ate only the correct amount sanctioned by good breeding.

            While Mr.Chaddha was speaking, the ladies sat with their hands in their laps and listened to him seriously. Only Indu was too engrossed in eating and forgot to maintain decorum.

            Mrs. Khanna, being the hostess, looked more gorgeous than all others in wide silk pyjama trousers with a sky blue shimmering shirt patterned with sprays of lilacs on red stems. She exhibited a proprietary behaviour and was at ease. She ate heartily but frowned at Indu seeing the way she was eating the ladoos.

Q)  What is the purpose of Mr. Chaddha’s talk?

            Mr.Chaddha is working as a Principal in Mr.Khanna’s college. When Mr.Khanna invites all the members of staff for a tea party, Mr.Chaddha plays a major role in keeping them engaged. He welcomes the gathering along with Mr.Khanna and praises the ladies for accompanying their husbands. He even passed humorous remarks saying that heroes in olden days were soothed by their consorts after they returned from their battles.

            Mr.Chaddha also spoke of the importance of getting refreshed and revived. He thanked Mr. & Mrs. Khanna for the tea and also for providing a pleasant social gathering. He also stressed on the importance of such gatherings to develop a sense of comradeship, goodwill, fellowship and friendship among the members of the staff of Khanna Private College.

            Mr.Chaddha plays a major role in the party keeping everyone at ease.

EPITOME OF WISDOM

1. MOKSHAGUNDAM VISVESVARAYA

1. Discuss Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya’s childhood and family background.

Ans. Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya was born on 15^th September 1861 in Muddenahalli in Chikkaballapur Taluk of Kolar District in Mysore State. His father Srinivasa Sastry was a great Sanskrit scholar. His mother was Venkatalakshmamma. Visvesvaraya’s parents were good and pious couple who led a very simple and spiritual life. The family was not well off. Yet they educated their

child. They taught him to respect Indian culture and tradition.

2. Discuss Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya’s education and career.

Ans. EDUCATION:

                Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya completed his early education in a school in their Taluk. He was a good and hard working student and was interested in his studies. When he was around fifteen, with his parents consent and blessings, he went to Bangalore for pursuing higher studies. He joined in Central College in Bangalore. As he had no money for food, shelter etc., he joined as a tutor for the children in a family in Coorg. He lived with them and with the little money he earned, he completed his education. With continuous hard work and discipline he overcame poverty and stood high in the BA examinations.

             

              At the age of twenty, with the help of the Govt. of Mysore, he joined Engineering in Science College in Poona. Here he studied for three years and ranked first in the LCE and ECE examinations.

CAREER:

              As soon as his results were out, the Govt. of Bombay offered him the job of Asst. Engineer at Nasik. Here he worked with utmost commitment and excellence. When he was thirty two, he was assigned a very difficult task. He was asked to find a way of supplying water from the river Sindhu to a town called Sukkur. He prepared a wonderful plan which astonished even the British officers who praised him a lot. For this, he developed a new system called the Block System and invented steel doors which could stop the wasteful flow of water in dams.

3. Discuss Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya’s contribution to the development of Hyderabad.

Ans. While working at Nasik, Visvesveraya was promoted to higher positions. Soon he moved from Bombay to Hyderabad in the rank of the Chief Engineer. He found that the river Musi divided the city of Hyderabad into two. During heavy rains, the river got flooded and drowned many people and cattle. He got the entire area of the Musi river surveyed. He studied official records of previous floods. He collected data of rainfall in the neighbouring Bombay and Madras provinces. He also studied the figures of heavy rainfall in different parts of the world.

           

                 Visvesvaraya found out that there were 788 small tanks in the catchment area with approx. five tanks spread across every three square miles. Out of these, 221 tanks collapsed due to recent floods. He located the place where heaviest rainfall was recorded and also when and where the reservoir broke down. The speed with which this water flowed out was recorded to be 4 miles/hr. he also observed that the smaller the catchment area, the greater is the effect of floods.

          

                 Visvesvaraya proposed to construct a dam across Musi at a distance of 82 miles above Hyderabad and another dam across Esi, a tributary of Musi at a distance of 6 ½ miles. He also suggested that lovely parks should be constructed on the river banks. During 1913 when the work was going on, he became the Dewan of Mysore. But he kept coming to Hyderabad to supervise the construction of these dams which later became well-known as Osman Sagar and Himayat Sagar, providing water to the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad. He was also responsible for laying improved drainage system, for constructing several water resources and for electricity in these cities which are used even to this day.

4. Give a brief description of the construction of the Krishnaraja Sagar Dam.

Ans. The Krishnaraja Sagar Dam is located near the well-known Brindavan gardens. It not only served the purpose of irrigation but also for providing electricity to the Kolar Gold Fields. When the construction of the dam was under progress, the river Cauvery got flooded. However Visvesvaraya ordered the work to be carried out with full enthusiasm. He added 2000 more laborers to the already employed 10,000 workers. On the suggestion of the gold company, he assured the workers of additional incentives if they complete the work by July 1915. The workers worked day and night. Doctors were appointed to treat the workers affected by malaria. He directed the Chief Engineer, the Inspector General of Police and the Deputy Commissioner of the District to camp at the work spot so that they can supervise the work and also look after the security of the persons and property. Thus he got the work completed in time and power was supplied to the Kolar Gold fields by July 1915.

5. Discuss Visvesvaraya’s contribution towards industrialization and the development of education.

(OR)

“Visvesvaraya is the father of technologically independent India.” Explain.

Ans. Before becoming the Dewan of Mysore, Visvesvaraya worked for three years as the Chief Engineer of Mysore state. During this period, apart from constructions he also concentrated on India’s economy. He suggested setting up an Economic Conference for removing ignorance, poverty and sickness in India.

           

          Visvesvaraya started agricultural and horticultural shows and established agricultural schools and experimental farms. He took up the rehabilitation of the handloom industry. A Central Government weaving factory was established to provide weavers with latest designs and techniques in weaving. The State Bank of Mysore was founded in 1913 for financing various projects. Prior to 1916, sandalwood was auctioned and exported to France, Italy and Germany for yielding sandalwood oil. However during Visvesvaraya’s tenure, rice mills, oil mills, sugarcane crushing mills and power looms sprang up everywhere. Visvesvaraya’s clarion call was – “Industrialize or Perish”. After becoming the Dewan, he developed the existing industries. He also got experts from other countries to help the local crafts men by teaching them required skills. Thus many industries like sandal oil factory, the soap factory, the Metals Factory, the Chrome Tanning Factory and Bhadravati Iron and Steel works sprang up during his tenure as Chief Minister. He also contributed to the development of many hotels in Mysore and also for the laying of Railway lines.

            

       Sir Visvesvaraya stressed on the importance of education. There were only 4500 schools in Mysore state when he became the Dewan. Only one person out of every hundred could read and write. During his tenure as a dewan, 6500 new schools were opened. For educating women, he established the Maharani’s college in Mysore with hostel facility. Scholarships were given to intelligent students to go foreign countries for studies. He achieved in 6 years what others would achieve in 60 years. People wondered whether he was a magician. But the secret of his success was sheer hard work. He hated the laziness which is more commonly found among the Indians.

6. Visvesvaraya was a good orator. Discuss.

Ans. Visvesvaraya was a good orator. He was a genius, a highly experienced and a wise man. People loved to listen to his speeches. He always prepared for his speech well in advance. He used to write down his speech, get it typed and revise it four or five times.

           

         Once he visited a Primary School in Muddenhalli. He gave the teacher ten rupees and asked him to distribute sweets to the children. The teacher requested Visvesvaraya to speak a few words. He spoke for five minutes but went home dissatisfied because he had spoken without preparation. Hence after a few days he prepared a speech, went back to the same school and made his speech. He also distributed sweets and returned home satisfied.

7. Explain the incidents which reveal Visvesvaraya’s honesty and his modesty and humility.

Ans. VISVESVARAYA’S HONESTY: 

                Visvesvaraya was an honest man. When he became the Dewan of Mysore, one of his relative asked him whether Visvesvaraya could recommend his name to the Maharaja for promotion with a better pay. Visvesvaraya frankly replied ‘No’ but due to his kindhearted nature, he paid the relative a hundred rupees every month as long as he was alive.

Visvesvaraya never used the government car, stationery, candles etc. for personal work. Once one of his friends was advised rest from illness and he planned to stay in Bangalore. He expected Visvesvaraya to give him a govt. guest house free of rent and wrote the same to him. Visvesvaraya gave him the guest house free of rent but he himself paid a rent of Rs 250/- per month as long as his friend stayed there.

VISVESVARAYA’S MODESTY AND HUMILITY: 

          Visvesvaraya was also a modest and a humble person. While serving at the Bhadravathi Factory, he refused to take the salary and advised the government to open a technical Institute for boys that too not named after him but after The Maharaja. Once when someone compared him with Bhishmacharya, he rejected saying that he was too small for the comparison. Even at the age of hundred, he rose to receive a visitor and got up again when the visitor was leaving.

8. Briefly describe Visvesvaraya’s old age.

Ans. Visvesvaraya was very active and worked hard even in his old age. When he was around 92, he was called to Fatna to study a plan for a bridge across the Ganga. It was not possible to visit the entire site in a car. The climate was very hot. Hence a chair was arranged to carry him. But he didn’t use the chair and walked briskly to the surprise of all.

            When he was around 97, a discussion was held on river Musi with references to some intricate details. Soon Visvesvaraya called his servant and pointed to a book shelf and asked him to bring three or four books in the middle of the third row. Then he opened one of them and pointed exactly to the details under discussion. Such was his memory even in his old age. When he turned hundred, people showered all their affection and respect on him. He always considered himself a small man and behaved humbly with everyone. He silently passed away on 14 April, 1962 at the age of 101.

9. Discuss the role of Visvesvaraya as a true patriot.

Ans. Sir Visvesvaraya was a true and fearless patriot. In those days, India was under the British rule. The Britishers considered themselves the lords of the country. The maharaja of Mysore held a Durbar during every Dasera. Visvesvaraya attended the Durbar for the first time in 1910. He was shocked to see that the Europeans were given comfortable chairs but the Indians were asked to sit on the floor. Visvesvaraya got offended and didn’t attend the Durbar the following year. When enquired he frankly gave the reason and the next year chairs were provided for all. Seeing this, a British Officer wrote to him asking for a cushion to rest his feet on as the chairs in the Durbar were too high. Visvesvaraya got the legs of the chairs shortened immediately and replied the same to the officer.

            In 1944, a Conference was arranged which was to discuss a resolution that India should have a national government. Visvesvaraya was the Chairman of the Conference and the Governor of Berar, an Englishman was to open the Conference. The Governor, a highly respected, obeyed and powerful man, refused to attend the Conference if the resolution is to be discussed. Visvesvaraya did not care for him and held the Conference in his absence.

            After his retirement, Visvesvaraya was asked to take charge of the Bhadravathi factory which was in trouble. He worked as a Chairman to restore the factory. At that time the government has not decided his salary. After a few years when the government finally decided his salary, they owed him more than a hundred thousand rupees. But Visvesvaraya refused to take the amount and asked to start a technical institute for boys with that amount. He also rejected the idea of naming the institution after him and proposed the Maharaja’s name for it. Thus the institute came to be known as Sri Jayachamarajendra Polytechnic Institute of Bangalore. Such was his love for his country.