A. Very Short Answer Questions – 1 Marks
1. Word-meaning from the given chapter
i. Successor
Ans: Inheritor.
ii. Propelled
Ans: To move
iii. Disembodied
Ans: Spiritual
iv. Anguish
Ans: Agony
2. Fill in the blanks
i. This is the story of a meeting _____, both of them ‘disabled’, or ‘differently-abled.
Ans: Between two extraordinary people
ii. The two great men exchange thoughts on what it means to live life in a _____.
Ans: Wheelchair
iii. Stephen Hawking is one of the _____ of our time.
Ans: Greatest scientists
iv. Firdaus Kanga is a _____ who lives and works in Mumbai.
Ans: Writer and journalist
3. What was the author’s metaphor for England?
Ans: Cambridge was the author’s metaphor for England.
4. Who did the author meet in Cambridge?
Ans: The author met a great scientist named Stephen Hawking in Cambridge.
5. Who did Stephen Hawking succeed according to the guide?
Ans: Stephen Hawking was a successor of Isaac Newton according to the guide.
B. Short Answer Questions – 2 marks
1. What does the guide tell Firdaus Khan about Stephen Hawking?
Ans: The guide told Firdaus Khan about Stephen Hawking and that he was quite disabled but could be considered as a worthy successor to Isaac Newton as he was given Newton’s Chair at the university.
2. What was the name of the book written by Stephen Hawking that the author immediately remembered?
Ans: The author remembered Stephen Hawking as the same brilliant, but completely paralyzed astrophysicist who wrote the biggest best-seller titled- “A Brief History of Time”.
3. What did the author do as soon as he finished the tour?
Ans: As soon as the tour finished, the author Firdaus Khan reached the phone booth to make a call at Stephen Hawking’s house.
4. Who received his call and why did the author call at Stephen’s Hawking’s house?
Ans: Stephen Hawking received Firdaus Khan’s call. He had called up to talk to his assistant and even told him that he had come in a wheelchair from India to write about his trip in Britain and even had to meet Professor Hawking.
5. How much time did the author ask for to meet Professor Hawking and how much time his assistant gave him?
Ans: The author asked for merely 10-min to meet Professor Hawking but the assistant gave him 30-minutes.
C. Short answer questions – 3 marks
1. What did people tell the author to be as he was disabled?
Ans: The author mentioned that growing up as a disabled, people often told him to be brave, and always have courage. He believed that the only thing that could make him strong was to meet someone like him who achieved something great in his life which could be figured out and understood only when one could figure out the journey the person had traveled and the journey the author needed to travel.
2. “I haven’t been brave,” said his disembodied computer voice, the next afternoon. “I’ve had no choice.” Who spoke these lines? How does the listener react to it?
Ans: These lines were spoken by Stephen Hawking. Here, the listener is the author who wanted to ask him if living creatively with the reality of one’s disintegrated body was a choice? But then he remained quiet as he felt guilty every time he spoke as he thought he was forcing Professor Hawking to respond.
3. What does the author ask Professor Hawking? What does the Professor respond to?
Ans: The author who himself was disabled asked the professor that a lot of people think that disabled persons are constantly not happy. He knew that it is not true, but does the professor often laugh inside? The professor took around a 3-min pause and then responded that he finds it funny when people patronize him.
4. How does Professor respond to the author’s next question “And do you find it annoying when someone like me comes and disturbs you in your work?” How does the author feel about it?
Ans: On hearing the question related to his work, Professor Hawking instantly answered “yes”, which indicates that he found it annoying when people disturbed him in his work. As the professor smiled, the author understood that he was looking at the most beautiful man in the whole world.
D. Long Answer Questions – 5 marks
1. What was the first glimpse of the professor the author had?
Ans: The author had a first glimpse of the professor as a shocking one. He looked like a still photograph. The author thought that all of his photographs from the newspapers, magazines had been turned into 3D figures. When the professor twisted his head sideways into a slump, one could see the shrunk torso inside the pale blue shirt. His fingers were pale and fragile too, his legs were wasted and his eyes looked as if they could speak something hard to figure out.
2. What did the scientist Stephen Hawking, advise the disabled people?
Ans: When the author asked Stephen Hawking what he would advise the disabled people, the scientist who was a disabled person but a great human being, advised the disabled people to do what they were good at and that they shouldn’t copy any normal person. He felt that things like disabled Olympics were a waste of time and they should not underestimate themselves and should focus on achieving things that are in their hands.
3. How did the author relate himself to the professor’s advice? What permission did he ask for from the professor?
Ans: The author related himself to the professor’s advice instantly. He told the professor that he could relate to what he meant. The author remembered the years when he had spent his time trying to play a Spanish guitar that was larger than he was and cheerfully broke it and broke its strings for one night. The author knew that half an hour was up so he asked for the professor’s permission to leave and thanked him for his time.
Short Answer Type Questions
1. Who was Stephen Hawking?
Answer: Stephen Hawking was one of the greatest scientists of our time. He suffered from a form of paralysis that confined him to a wheelchair, and allowed him to ‘speak’ only by punching buttons on a computer, which spoke for him in a machine-like voice.
2. Who is Firdaus Kanga?
Answer: Firdaus Kanga is a writer and journalist who lives and works in Mumbai. Kanga was born with ‘brittle bones’ that tended to break easily when he was a child.
3. Who received the phone at Stephen Hawking’s house and what were the conversations?
Answer: The author called to Stephen Hawking’s house. There was his assistant on the line and the author told him that he wants to meet Mr. Hawking. Even ten minutes would do “Half an hour”. Then he said “from three-thirty to four”.
4. What was the thing that makes author feel stronger?
Answer: The only thing that makes you stronger is somebody like you. It seems like achieving something huge. This makes him feel stronger.
5. What did Mr. Hawking reply when he asked “lot of people seem to think that disabled people are chronically unhappy”?
Answer: When he asked “A lot of people seem to think that disabled people are chronically unhappy”. About after three minutes later, he responded, that “I find it amusing when people patronize me”.
6. “A first glimpse of Hawking is shocking”. Why?
Answer: A first glimpse of Hawking is shocking, because he was like a still photograph – as if all those pictures of him in magazines and newspapers have turned 3 – Dimensional.
7. Why was author watching his wrist?
Answer: He shifted his chair or turned his wrist to watch the time. He wanted to make every one of thirty minutes count.
8. What did Hawking reply when author asked “Is there any advice you can give disabled people, something that might help make life better”?
Answer. Hawking replied that they should concentrate on what they are good at and according to him things I like the disabled Olympics are a waste of time.
9. The author asked Hawking that he had been an inspiration beyond clinched for me, what Hawking replied to it?
Answer: Hawking said “no”, according to him if his body is like claustrophobic room & the walls are growing narrower day by day, if doesn’t do much good to know that there are people outside smiling with admiration to see him breathing still.
10. The author had got appointment only for half an hour then why did he stay there for some more time?
Answer: He had got appointment only for half an hour but when he was going to back his way Stephen stopped him and said, “Have some tea and he can see his garden”. So he stayed there for some more time.
11. Describe the environment of Stephen’s Garden.
Answer: The garden was as big as a park, but Stephen Hawking covered every inch, rumbling along motorized wheelchair. The environment of garden was entirely different.
12. Why was there silence in the garden?
Answer: They cannot talk very much in the garden, because the sun made them silent, the letters on his screen disappeared because of the sunlight. So there were silence in the garden.
13. How did the author say good bye to Mr. Hawking?
Answer: The author didn’t know what to do at the time of leaving him. He couldn’t kiss him or cry. So he touched * his shoulder and wheeled out in the summer evening.
14. Describe the emotions of the author at the end of the chapter.
Answer: He was in the feeling of embodiment of his bravest self. He thought Stephen Hawking might be waving at him though he wasn’t. At the end, he said his journey is over and he had a great interview of Mr. Hawking.
15. Guess the first question put to the scientist by the writer.
Answer: The writer’s first question might be about Hawking’s disability and how he had accepted it.
16. Stephen Hawking said, “I’ve had no choice.” Does the writer think was a choice? What was it?
Answer: The writer thought that there was a choice. Stephen Hawking could have chosen to leave everything, be sad and depressed. He could have sulked. However, he chose to live creatively, knowing the reality of his disintegrating body.
17. “I could feel his anguish”. What could be the anguish?
Answer: The anguish was that he found it very difficult to express himself with the right words on his computer. He felt frustrated. He could not express himself freely although ideas were floating in his mind.
18. What endeared the scientist to the writer so that he said he was looking at one of the most beautiful men in the world?
Answer: When the writer asked the scientist if he felt annoyed when someone like the writer went and disturbed him in his work, then scientist answered ‘yes’ with his one-way smile. This endeared the writer as he knew without being sentimental or silly he was looking at one of the most beautiful man in the world.
19. Read aloud the description of the beautiful’ man. Which is the most beautiful sentence in the description?
Answer: The sentences describing the inner glow of Hawking’s personality which makes his physical looks irrelevant is probably one of the most beautiful descriptions of beauty.
20.
(i) If ‘the lantern’ is the man, what would its ‘walls’ be?
(ii) What is housed within the thin walls?
(iii) What general conclusion does the writer draw from this comparison?
Answer: (i) The walls of the lantern in Hawking’s case were his skeleton like physical structure.
(ii) The glow, the external soul was housed within the thin walls of his body.
(iii) The writer draws conclusion that the eternal soul is more important than the body.
21. What is the scientist’s message for the disabled?
Answer: The scientist Stephen Hawking’s message for the disabled is they should concentrate on what they are good at. They should make the best use of their talent and thank God.
Long Answer Type Questions
1. The narrator called him ‘a beautiful man’. How does he define beauty?
Answer: The narrator was inspired by the achievements of Stephen Hawking whose creativity is beyond measures. His never ‘giving up’ attitude attracted him the most. He could be associated with the difficulties faced by Stephen as he was also confined to a wheel chair. So it is rightly said that beautiful is the one, who do things beautifully and Stephen Hawking contributed so much that people will also be inspired and awestruck by his achievements.
2. What is Stephen’s idea behind saying- ‘They should concentrate on what they are good at’?
Answer: Stephen Hawking was a differently able person who overcame him deformity. He was one of the greatest scientists of the present era. He had the idea to achieve what one is good at. Rather than justifying or proving to others, he wanted challenged person to accept the way they are. Because they do have potential and focus to achieve much more than any other normal people. He did not appreciate the things like the disable Olympics as they are a wastage of time to him.
3. Why does the writer refer to the guitar incident? Which idea does it support?
Answer: The scientist Stephen Hawking said that Olympics for the handicapped or disabled people are waste of time. The writer agreed with him. He remembered the years which he tried to play a big guitar. He felt defeated. So he destroyed it one night. He supports Stephen Hawking’s idea that the disabled should only concentrate on what they are good at.
4. The writer expresses his great gratitude to Stephen Hawking. What is the gratitude for?
Answer: The writer expressed his gratitude to Stephen Hawking because he had been an inspiration for him. He saw Stephen as the embodiment of his bravest self. He felt that if he had been as brave as Stephen, he would have achieved a lot. He felt he was moving towards the embodiment that he had believed in for many years. That is why he expressed his great gratitude to him as he had made him realised what great heights he could reach.
5.
(i) Did the prospect of meeting Stephen Hawking make the writer nervous?
(ii) Did he at the same time feel very excited? If so, why?
Answer: (i) Yes, the prospect of meeting Stephen Hawking made the writer nervous. Stephen Hawking was the greatest scientist on the earth. He was the author of the world-renowned book “A brief History of Time”. He was doubtful whether he would be allowed to meet him even for ten minutes or not. Also, he was fed up with people asking him to be brave.
(ii) Yes, he felt very excited at the same time because Stephen Hawking was totally paralysed, still, he had made great achievement. This got him the strength to do still better.
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