Write in short, the Summary of the following Prose- pieces: (5 Marks)
INDIAN CIVILIZATION AND CULTURE
By:- Mahatma Gandhi
Indian Civilization and Culture is a remarkable essay written by Mohan Das Karamchand
Gandhi. He is popularly known as Bapu or the “Father of Nation”. He was more of
a spiritual leader than a politician.
Gandhi
jii has a beautifully narrated the sound foundation of Indian Civilization in
this essay. He has compared Indian Civilization with Western Civilization. He says
that Modern Civilization teaches the lesson of materiality while Indian
civilization teaches that ‘Simple living and High Thinking’. Our ancestors
followed the principal and lived a happy life. They did not run behind money
and that is why they were satisfied. In modern civilisation, people have become
greedy. According to Gandhi jii “Mind is a restless bird, the more it gets the
more its wants still it remains unsatisfied.”
Thus,
we can say that Indian Civilization is the most vital and the longest surviving
of all civilization in the world. So, Indian Civilization can teach the world.
Therefore, we don’t need to follow the western civilization.
BHARAT IS MY HOME
By:- Dr. Zakir Hussain
Dr. Zakir Hussain, an eminent educationist and a great freedom fighter became the President of India in 1967. This extract ‘Bharat is My Home’ is taken from his speech which he delivered after taking his oath as President. Dr Hussain pledges to be loyal to the rich culture of India and assures the people that he will be forever loyal to his country and dedicate his whole life for its growth and progress. He says that the whole of Bharat is his home and all Indians are his family members. He emphasizes on making education the prime instrument for the country's development. Irrespective of any caste or creed, he will work for the welfare of the nation. He stresses on the moral development the individual as well as the society. To sum up, Dr. Hussain pledges to put India on the road of development.
A pinch of snuff
By:- Manohar Malgaonkar
‘A pinch of Snuff’ is a commical story. This story is written by manohar malgaonkar. In this story, the writer explains the character of his maternal uncle Nanukaka. He always tells a lie and cheats others in his own way. He wears a Jodhpuri coat, redsilk trubans and royal.shoes. He comes to Delhi at his sister's. He travelled second class carriage at third class ticket. He was caught by the ticket checker but managed the Problem easily. He wanted to meet sohanal who is a very powerful Political personality in Delhi. He spoke so high of him that Sohanlal liked to meet him. He says that Hazrat Barkat Ali is my friend. He Cheated a motor dealer and took a royal car to serve his evil purposes. He wanted to meet a minister. He did not get the appointment to see the minister. He thought of a plan to fulfil his aim at seeing a minister. He succeed doing so.
I have a Dream
By:- Martin Luther King Jr.
I Have A Dream is an unforgettable speech delivered by Martin Luther King
Jr. in American history. He gave this speech on August 28, 1963, on the steps
of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC. Martin Luther King Jr. was awarded
the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964, the Youngest Person to receive it.
In this speech Martin Luther King Jr. is addressing the Negro people of
America at the time who were struggling with poverty, neglect, discrimination and
inequality. He asks black people to continue their fight for their rights in
American society until they get civil rights like the white people there. They
ask the Negro people to continue their movement in a non-violent and a peaceful
manner. In this speech Martin Luther King Jr. talks about his dream of an
American society in which there is mutual harmony between blacks and whites, no
class is exploited on the basic of its character, white children mix and play
with black children. All the trenches of inequality in society should be
erased. He demands that the Negro must be now provided with their right if
America is to be great nation.
To conclude it, we can say that this historical speech of Martin Luther
King Jr. reflects his optimistic stance. This speech gives strength not only to
the Negro people but also to all the people of the world who are suffering from
racial discrimination.
IDEAS THAT HAVE HELPED MANKIND
By:- Martin Luther King Jr.
‘Ideas That Have Helped Mankind’ is a most impressive essay
written by British philosopher and mathematician Bertrand Russell. He was
awarded Nobel prize in literature in 1950.
In this essay, Bertrand Russell has carefully expressed his ideas about the
different stages of civilization and the role of mankind. There are two broad
categories of ideas that have helped mankind. The ideas which helped human
being with knowledge and skills and secondary with their moral and politics.
The ideas played a vital role in the grown of our civilization that made our
life more secure. It resulted in the population of exposition and starvation.
We still fight with one another in the name of religion, caste and nation due
to our emotional feelings. The invention of fire proved a milestone. The
domestication of animals, the development of language, the cultivation and the
art of writing made us rise from wild state to our civilized state. However, we
have to get victory over fear, worry and starvation to make the people happier,
peaceful and fearless.
Thus, the ideas that have helped mankind is about the growth of our
thoughts. At last, we can say that skill is the source of development.
THE ARTIST
By:- Shiga Naoya
‘The Artist’ written by Shiga Naoya, is a story about a young boy Seibi,
who had a strange passion for collecting gourd. While every child of his age
played around happily, Seibi wandered in the streets to collect gourds. One
day, he liked on particular gourd and carried it with him everywhere, even to
his school. This infuriated his teacher and he complained to his parents about
his strange obsession with gourds. In anger, the teacher gave away the gourd to
the porter of the school. Being quiet and disciplined, Seibi did not utter a
word and kept strangely quiet even when his passion for collecting gourds was
snatched away from him slowly, he changed his interest and started painting but
was scolded for this too. Shiga Naoya wants to point out that it is absolutely
wrong to crush a child's talent because it will make him an imbalanced personality,
with no confidence in life. Every child is talented and he/she should be given
a chance to pursue their passion in life, whatever it may be.
A CHILD IS BORN
By:- Germaine Greer
The author, Germaine Greer, a feminist writer shows the varied differences
between a traditional and modem society in matters of pregnancy and
child-birth. A traditional society is full of customs and rituals as well as
superstition and a pregnant woman is bound to follow them. She is taken good
care of by the whole family and the fear of pain and danger does not affect
her. On the contrary, in modern society, a pregnant woman is left all by
herself and the pregnancy period becomes quite difficult for her. There is a
lot of feasting and dancing to celebrate the childbirth in a traditional
society, even though there maybe dangers and deaths involved due to lack of
modern facilities. Whereas in modern society, though the death rates and risks
are quite low, yet a pregnant woman never gets looked after and pampered in the
months of her pregnancy and child-birth.
HOW FREE IS THE PRESS
By:- Dorothy L. Sayers
It is a very thought provoking and informative essay on the freedom of
press by the famous British writer, Dorothy. L. Sayers. She has propounded that
the so-called freedom of press is a misnomer. The press is free in a very
restricted and technical sense. The British Press in this sense is singularly
free in normal times. Only during war-time, some sort of censorship is imposed
on the Press in England.
The writer asserts that there can be no free people without a free press. It is the backbone of democracy. However, the press is not as free as it is supposed to be. The editorial policy of a popular daily is governed by the two chief factors the interests of the advertisers and the interest of its owners. No newspaper can harm their interest. The Press works on the premise that general people are not intelligent enough to distinguish truth from falsehood. So, the press exists not so much to express public opinion as to manufacture it. The press often distorts facts by garbling miracle, mongering, gratuitous inventions, inaccurate, reporting and sensational headlines. So, we must be on our ga and do not take everything reported by the press and newspaper as real and sacrosanct.
The Earth
By:- H.E. Bates
The Earth ia a lovely story. This story has been written by H. E. Bates. He is Known as a great Author.
In this present story, The author describes the story of farmer. There was a farmer. His name was Johnson. He was poor farmer. He had a plough, mare and two cart to field. Johnson was a lazy farmer. Who depends on luck. He had only son. His name was Benjy. He was a simple-minded boy. His parents always worry about his son. He consults a doctor. The doctor advise him to do business. He suggest to keep hands to grow mind. Benjy works hard and becomes a rich man of his area. He marries A girl named Florence. He marries against the wishes of his parents. One day, Benjy told his parent to vacant the house
At last, Benjy left his parents on the pavement.
INDIA THROUGH A TRAVELLER'S EYE
By:- Pearl S. Buck
This essay, India Through a Traveller's Eyes' is an extract from Pearl S.
Buck 'My Several World'. It is a personal record where she showers her love and
respect to the Indian people, specially Indians living in villages. She is a
extremely attached to India because of her various visits to the country,
besides having an Indian family doctor. Buck very much impressed by the young
intellectuals of India but was pained by the unemployment scenario of the country.
The faith that Indians have in Gandhiji caught her attention. Through this
essay, she wants to bring to the forefront that Indians are amongst the best
cultured people in the world with their simplicity, religious-mindedness and
respect for their culture.
MARRIAGE PROPOSAL
By:- Anton. P. Chekhov
'A Marriage Proposal' is an interesting drama written by a Russian writer
Anton Chekhov. This play presents a true picture of a village life.
In this play, the three characters are Choobookov, Natalia and Lomov. They
all are neighbours. Lomov plans to propose to a girl Natalia who already loves
him secretly. The troubles begins when he reaches her house to ask for her hand
in marriage. The Natalia's father Choobookov is very happy to hear the news but
lomov is misunderstood by the Natalia. Soon Natalia and Lomov start quarrelling
on issue of a piece of land. Natalia insults Lomov and he leaves the place hopelessly.
When Natalia comes to know that he had come to propose her. She weeps and cries
because she feels that she is losing her chance to marry Lomov too. In the last
scene, Natalia's father appeals to Lomov and Natalia to accept the marriage
proposal. In this way, their hot celebrate turns into their cool marriage.
The story of the drama beautifully illustrates that at the end of the day,
we are human, after all.
