The Story of Tea, Warming up! and Chit-Chat, class 9th

 

1.4 The Story of Tea

Warming up!
Chit-Chat

Can you make tea?

Yes, I can make tea. /No, I can’t make tea.

How do you make tea?

We make tea by mixing tea powder in boiled water with sugar; sometimes we mix milk in it. 

 What brand do you like?

We use local brands of mixed tea powder.

 

At home, who makes tea/coffee for everybody?

My mother makes tea for everybody.

 

Have you seen a tea plantation? What was it like?

Yes, I have seen tea-plantation at Amba Mountains in Kolhapur district.

It was like, green cover laid on the slope of the mountains.

 

Write the names of as many beverages as you can within

two minutes. What do the following beverages remind

you of? Draw word webs to show your associations.

 

Tea – cup, biscuits, saucer, toasts, mother, freshness, tea-stall

Coffee – mug, guests, cafeteria, friends, canteen,

Lime juice – glass, summer, sweet, quizzing, cold drink house,

Lassi – cold, thick, sour and sweet,

Coconut water – beach, tender coconut,

Milk – cream, babies, morning, milkman, cow, tea, coffee

 

 

MARGIN QUESTIONS –

 

1. How is tea the beverage made?

A refreshing, astringent flavoured tea is made by brewing,

that is by infusing in boiling water.

 

2. How is the tea that is packed and sold to us made?

The leaves of tea are at first dried, cured, and processed before

they are packed and sold to us.

 

 

3.  Where are tea estates located?

Many of the world’s best tea estates are located on hill slopes at elevations of up to 1500 meters, it is said that the tea plants grow slowly and acquire a richer flavour at this height.

                 

4. Why are tea plants pruned?

The tea plants are pruned and kept at a height of about three feet (waist high) to enable easy plucking of the leaves.

 

5. What are botanical names? How are they decided?

- The botanical name is a scientific name (scientific Latin name) of a plant that is accepted worldwide. This name is decided by its similar characteristic. And this scientific Latin name never changes, though its names are different in different regions.

 

 

 

6. What does tea contain?  What does it not contain?

- Tea contains theanine and caffeine.

 It does not contain carbohydrates, fat, or proteins.

 

7. Who was Emperor Shennong?

- Emperor Shennong was the father of Chinese

agriculture and medicine,

 

 

8. Why did he carry out further investigations about tea?

- The Emperor was excited by the unknown plant and its

amazing flavour, so he carried out further investigations.

 

 

9.  How did tea reach other parts of the world?

 

-   A Buddhist monk named Bodhidharma used tea leaves

to stay awake for a longer time in prayers and meditation.

He introduced tea among his disciples.

Japanese priests studying under Buddhist teachers in

China carried tea seeds and leaves back home with

them. Turkish traders also began to bargain for tea

on the border of Mongolia. That is how tea reached

the other parts of the world.

 

10. What is the difference between legends or stories and history?

- The legends or stories may be true or may not be true. But the history is the record of past events collected systematically through a scientific method and considering all facts. But we cannot deny the importance of the legends or stories which are part of our tradition. We cannot say legends are totally false.

 

11. Can you guess the origin of the Marathi word ‘chaha’?

- The pronunciation of ‘chaha’ comes from the Persian word ‘cha’ was first used by the north Indians. Then it came into the Marathi language.

 

 

 

 

 

 

12. The paragraph about how tea came to India brings out the difference between

history based on oral sources and ‘recorded history.

Discuss how the author brings it out.

 

- Historians think that tea had been known in India

as a medicinal plant since ancient times,

but tea was not drunk for pleasure until the British

started plantations. This is the oral source of Indian history that tells tea was there in India since the ancient times. They made several

unsuccessful attempts to grow tea, with seeds from China. But failed,

the botanist Robert Bruce in 1823 discovered tea plants

growing wild in the Brahmaputra valley. After a few years,

the first Indian tea from Assam was sent to England for public

sale. Since then India has gone on to become one of

the leading producers of tea in the world.

 

13.  What is the difference between ‘claim’ and ‘fact’?

- To say that something is true or valid without any proof is a claim.

   And something that is true or reality is the fact. 

14. Do you have any ceremonies associated with food items?

- We have many festivals and ceremonies but they are not directly related to food items. On many occasions in Indian festivals, many delicacies are prepared. Puran Poli, Modak, Laddus and many other sweets are prepared on these occasions. 

 15. What are the good qualities of tea?

- Some people say that tea is a healthy, enjoyable, and stimulating drink full of good qualities. It reduces loneliness and calms your heart; it is a comfort in everyday life. 

16 Why are the cups only half-filled in Chinese tea ceremonies?

- At tea ceremonies, cups are only half-filled as the

Chinese believe that the rest of the cup must be

filled with friendship and affection.

 

 

The Fun they Had, (English Workshop, Part I) with Margin Question, class 9th English.

 Watch on youtube- Click here -  The Fun They Had English Workshop part 1

                                                         The Fun They Had English Workshop part 2

      

Warming up!       

  1)  What do you like best about your school?

Ø I like the atmosphere of my school where we get a good quality of education, knowledge, and values.
                                       OR

     I like being with my friends and having a lot of fun.

                                             OR

     I like the big playground, well-equipped laboratory and the library with a treasure of knowledge.
 

2)   Do you think school is fun?
Ø Yes, it is.
 

3)    Which is the part that you don’t like?
Ø There is nothing in my school which I don’t like.

                                 OR
Ø I like everything about my school.

 
4)   How often should the teacher give you a test?
Ø The teacher should give us test regularly after the new topic is completed and understood by all the students.
  

 

Margin questions –

1.    Can you think of any devices/objects that came into use in the recent past but are now outdated?

 Find an example of outdated devices/ words from the list given here.   

Ø Floppy disks, windmills, mortar and pestle, Cassettes, earthen stoves

 Think of other examples on your own. 

  Ø Typewriters, phone booths, and telephone directory, films used in the camera for photography, fax machines, slide projectors, pagers, Walkman, CD players, etc.  are some devices used in the recent past but today they are outdated.

 2.    When does the story take place?

     Ø  The story takes place, in the future, in the year 2157.

 

 3.    What does Margie mean by ‘a real book’?

      Ø    A real book is the book where the printed on the paper and pages are bound together.

 

4.    Margie and Tommy use ‘telebooks’. What are they like?

  Ø Telebooks are the books that show text on the television screen.

 

 5.    Margie uses a diary. What would it be like?

  Ø Margie’s diary would be like an i-pad device of the future.

 6.    What do we understand by the words,’ took the teacher apart?

  Ø The words took the teacher apart means the mechanical teacher (the television screen like device)       was separated into parts and taken away to repair it.

 7.    Which part of the machine did Margie hate most?

  Ø The part Margie hated most was the slot where she had to submit her homework and test.

 

 8.    What fault did the Inspector repair?

  Ø The Inspector repaired the geography sector, which was geared a little too quick.

 9.   What is Margie like as a student-bright, average or below average?

  Ø Margie is like an average student.

 

 10.   Do you think the school described in the ‘book’ existed   

         centuries ago?

  Ø No, because the school described in the ‘book’ exists now in the 21^st century. But the story takes place in the future, in the 22^nd century; they think that book as the book of olden times.

 

11.   Do you think Tommy likes the school in the olden days?

  Ø I think Tommy likes the school in the olden days because he tells many things about the school of the past to Margie. This shows that he has got a lot of information about the school in the book.

 

 12.  Is Tommy Margie’s brother or friend?

               Find the sentences that help you to decide that.

  Ø Following line shows that Tommy is Margie’s friend-

 ‘He walked away whistling, the dusty old book tucked beneath his arm’.

 

  13. Would you like your own mechanical teacher?

-     Ø  No, I would like to learn everything from a human teacher only.

 

14.    Do you agree with Margie?

-     Ø Yes, I agree with Margie because there is no fun in sitting in front of a machine

             for studies and learning from the machine. On the other hand, a human teacher can

             understand all the students.

1.4 Be Smart. (Explanation) Std 10th Year 2022 New Syllabus.

B E

S  M  A  R T! 

     Champions aren't made in gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them-a desire, a dream, a vision. They have to have the skill and the will. But the will must be stronger than the skill. Successful professionals thrive in the same manner. We all have natural talents. If we use that talent to set a goal in our life, we can easily get success in life. We shall not achieve our goals if we do not take action to achieve them.
    
 Setting goals has two valuable assets- a sense of originality and stepping stone to illuminate the path. Goals put one at the helm of life; pursuing them acknowledges the better future situation. They help to steer a course of life rather than simply drifting along and letting things happen.

     Setting goals may appear easy, but for some, it is quite challenging. Fear of failure may be avoided in the absence of any goals. After all, one has to decide what one wants to achieve in the end. To accomplish, goals experts recommend a five-step approach.

SMART goals are a methodology of thinking that helps people reach success. 

SMART stands for 
  Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time-bound.

Word Index

assets- any property or object that a person possesses

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

1.3 Basketful of Moonlight. English Poem ( Explanation ) Std - 10th poem. 2018-19. Explanation and meaning

1.3 Basketful of Moonlight.

Click below for 

Explanation in Marathi

O moon,

give me moonlight basketful or two baskets full,

with seeds of moonlight.

From the city to my village,

on the sides of the path

I want to sow many,

small, small moons of light.

The whole village goes to the city

daily to work.

It becomes dark on its way back

as my village is quite far.

The route is tough and full of snakes and scorpions.

Neither bus nor cart piles.

 When my father returns home 

I am asleep.

The poet as a child asking for moonlight and he wants the seeds of moonlight in plenty.

The child desperately needs the seeds of moonlight to sow them on both sides of the path from the city to his village because every day many people go to the city to earn their wages. As the village is far away from the city, when the villagers come back in the evening it is almost dark and late to reach back. The path or route is very difficult and dangerous as many poisonous creatures like snakes and scorpions are there in the way and there is no vehicle to bring them safely to their homes, they have to come by walk only, facing all these difficulties.

The father of the child is also going to the city for work, who comes late at night in that darkness. The child is asleep when his father comes back at night. And that is why the child wants many small moons on the way to illuminate the path to his village. He really cares for his father. 

And he goes back early in the morning

while I'm sleeping. 

O moon give me a basketful of moonlight.

On loan.

I want to light the dark route

so that my father returns early.

I too want to hear fairy tales

and stories from him.

 O moon,

give me a basketful of moonlight

I want to sow seeds of moonlight on the sides of the path.

-Sunil Sharma ( translated from Dogri)

The poet further adds that his father who comes late due to darkness while he( the child) is asleep, goes to work, early in the morning while the child is still sleeping. 

       In both conditions, the child is unable to meet his father. He wants to listen to the fairy tales and the stories about the world he wants to pass quality time with his father, he wants his father to come back early in the evening, so he wants a basketful of moonlight from the moon. He is ready to pay for it,  he wants it on loan because he wants his father with him entirely and safely.

1.2 An Encounter of a Special Kind. (Explanation) Std 10th Year 2018-19

1.2  An Encounter of Special Kind

                                                                                                  

          My father was a medical professional working for a  private company in Raniganj in West Bengal. The officers of the company were housed in individual bungalows inside a large campus. Our house was in a corner of the campus. The officer's club was adjacent to the boundary wall of our garden. the compound was luxurious with green grass, colourful flowers, and o host of tall and majestic trees. The seasonal vegetables in the kitchen gardens of the households and the magnificent trees constantly attracted squirrels and many species of birds; a group of langurs had even made their den in an aswatha tree nearby. They had all become a part and parcel of our existence and daily life.

              A small incident on a Saturday afternoon left a profound effect on me and unfolded before my eyes as a whole new dimension to the wonders of God's creation. It was a few days into the Puja vacation. Just like for any other child, the holidays provided an opportunity for me to become engrossed in various magazines and storybooks published specially for children in the festive season.

             After a hearty lunch, my parents and my younger sisters lay down for an afternoon nap and I settled down with a storybook. The quiet afternoon presented the perfect backdrop for reading an adventure story. The silence was occasionally broken by the sound of my family snoring, the intermittent chirping of house sparrows, the harsh cawing of a crow the shrill call of a kite flying high above the ground. Minutes ticked by.  I  became deeply absorbed in the book.

                        

Understanding the text :

                                  The story takes us in the flashback, around sixty-five years ago. The narrator recalls an incident from his childhood/teenage days. 

He tells about his family and the area where they lived years ago where the green grass and tall trees and bushes of colourful flowers were around the house. All these things attracted the birds and squirrels, and even some groups of langurs (monkeys). They made their habitat around the narrator’s house.  Moving of these animals around the house became part of their daily life.                   In this text, we come across the incident which took place in the life of the narrator giving him a new life experience about the wonders of God and Nature.

                      Suddenly, I heard a group of street dogs barking furiously in the distance. I chose to ignore the commotion thinking that the pack of dog,. might have cornered a hapless pig. But soon, the barking became louder and more aggressive and the alarmed cowing of a flock of crows added to the cacophony. I also heard the disturbance approaching closer.

Curiosity got the better of me. Leaving the book aside, I rushed to the veranda to see what was going on. 

            I glanced towards the roof of the clubhouse and saw something horrible. A big male langur. apparently, the leader of its group was holding a baby langur in his hands and mercilessly biting it all over with a definite intent to kill. The helpless mother of the baby and other lesser members of the langur group were scattered on the roofs of the buildings nearby watching the baby being killed. I recalled the terrible custom in the animal clan according to which a dominant male usually does not allow another male baby or adult to survive within its group. 

Understanding the text :

               When the narrator was so young and so busy reading books in vacations.  He suddenly heard the noise of barking of the stray dogs he thought that it was just a common everyday thing but that commotion went on increasing with the cawing of the crows, that noise was approaching closer and closer.       

                     The eagerness of the narrator took him to the veranda to have a horrible sight. A big langur, the leader of the langur group, was biting a small baby langur injuring him with intent to kill him. Others, including baby langur's mother, we're just watching it helplessly. The narrator recalled the custom in the animal’s clan, where the dominant male doesn't allow any male to survive, even a baby male member....... And the big langur was eliminating his small, innocent, frail competitor.

           Without losing any time. I gathered a stout stick in one hand and hurled a piece of stone at the marauding langur. The langur was so infuriated that it hardly took any notice of my assault. But then I started throwing more stones. The dogs on their part raised their pitch of cry. 

             The changed circumstances and the sudden unexpected attack from unknown quarters forced the langur to drop the baby from the sloping roof over the veranda. The baby was listless and appeared to be dead. As its body started to slide down, the excitement of the pack of dogs grew manifold at the prospect of the good kill and meal. Keeping dogs at bay with the stick, I managed to catch hold of the baby langur's tail just as it tipped over the edge of the tiled roof. The baby appeared inert and lifeless. It was indeed a male baby.

   

Understanding the text :             

                       The big langur left the half-dead baby langur when the narrator attacked him by throwing stones at him. The baby langur was rolling down the roof. The dogs were barking and waiting for their meal below the roof. Somehow the narrator managed to get hold of the baby langur. But the male baby was motionless.

                                                    

 By this time, my parents and sisters had come out on to the veranda and were witnessing my rescue operation. Some of our neighbours had also gathered in the distance. 

                    I took the baby langur to our backyard and gently laid him on the floor inside the poultry coop. His body was full of deep bite marks and scratched. Blood was oozing from some of the wounds. The baby remained motionless. My father provided first aid to clean the wounds and stop the bleeding. I was relieved to find out that the baby was breathing, even though his breaths were shallow.

               Splashes of cold water made the baby stir and after a few shaky attempts, he sat up. He was in a state of shock and started trembling like a leaf in the wind. His two little twinkling eyes welled up with tears and he started to sob with a muffled cry - just like a human child would after experiencing trauma. I offered him a peeled banana which he accepted with his unsteady hand and began taking hesitant bites.

All people gathered.the baby was still lifeless bites all over the body and it was bleeding from everywhere.the narrator and his father tried to stop the bleeding. the baby was alive, splashes of water made him conscious. it was frightened and shivering with fear. the baby didn't understand what had happened, it was welling up like a human baby. It ate the banana offered by the narrator.

Understanding the text :

            
   By then the narrator's family members and neighbours came around. The baby was still bleeding. The narrator with his father and applied medicines on the wounds of the baby langur. The baby was alive, though it was breathing shallow. Finally, when the baby langur awoke he was shocked and sobbing with tears in his eyes, just like a human baby. After some time he was eating a banana hesitantly, offered by the narrator.

          My attention was fixed on the revival of the baby langur. Suddenly, I had an uncanny feeling of being watched. I turned away from the coop and looked up. There sat the mother langur on our kitchen roof, watching every move I made. She simply sat there quietly, as if convinced that no harm was being done to her child.

             Meanwhile, the baby sensed the presence of his mother and started to sob and cry a little louder. I retreated from the door of the coop to allow the mother access to her baby.

Understanding the text :

          When the narrator was observing the baby langur he sensed that someone was watching him. It was no one else but the baby langur's mother watching from the kitchen roof and she was looking at the narrator and was convinced that he was not going to harm her baby. The baby also sensed the presence of his mother and his sobs increased. The narrator made way to allow the mother to approach the baby.

             Immediately, the mother descended on the floor of the coop and picked up the baby in her arms. She gave the baby a thorough body inspection to check his injuries and then cuddled him tightly in her bosom. The baby found great solace in her caring arms. The mother sat still with the baby in her lap for a few minutes. It was almost as if she was pondering over her options and trying to figure out how she could keep the baby safe from further assault.

                 For a few seconds, the mother langur looked straight into my eyes. Even today, I cannot forget that look in her eyes, showering silent gratitude on me for saving her child. I was overwhelmed by the emotion, the sentiment, and the way she said thanks to me. There sat a universal mother holding a stricken child in her lap.

                 Then, in a flash, she jumped with her baby clinging to her belly and reached our kitchen roof. She surveyed the area for the vicious male langur and then leapt away in the direction opposite to the place of the violent encounter.

 Understanding the text :

        The mother langur came quickly on the floor and took the baby in her arms. She inspected the baby's injuries and held the baby close to her bosom, the baby found the security and stability in the arms of the mother. The mother langur waited there for some time and considered the safety of the baby.

              After that, she looked in the narrator's eyes as if she was showing her gratitude to him for saving her baby. The narrator was overwhelmed by the way of speechless gratitude, emotions, and sentiments. Whether animals or humans some feelings and emotions are the same. We get the feeling of a human mother in the mother langur, which is same everywhere in the world. So, the mother is called as Universal Mother, with its feelings for the child being universal.

   At the end, the mother langur escapes from the place away from the wicked male langur.

                The brief meeting with the mother and the baby langur convinced me that interspecies communication and mutual trust are indeed a reality and should anyone strike the right chord, the relationship hums into action. The mother langur showed me that food was not the only means of communication between man and animal but that there were other means of establishing a bond through trust, compassion, and mutual understanding.

         Fifty-five years have passed since that day. I am now seventy years old. But I still fondly remember that   'encounter of a special kind'. 

Understanding the text :

   This incident tells that, food is not only the way of communication between the man and animal but mutual trust is also important for the communication.    

            After seventy long years also the narrator remembers the encounter, The encounter of a special kind.

        

                                                                                              Tapan Mukherjee