Short Answer Type Questions (Mark: 1 each) : (Try to write in a sentence)
1. What would Sidda do when there was a big moon?
2. Who persuaded to employ Sidda?
3. What did Leela ask to do with the ball?
4. Who is Sidda?
5. What made Leela scream?
6. How old is Leela?
7. Where did Sidda live?
8. What did Sidda and Leela play with?
9. What was Sidda’s attitude towards Leela?
10 What idea do you get about Leela’s nature?
11 What picture could Leela draw?
12 How many letters of the alphabet did Leela know?
13 How did Sidda seek relief from Leela's class?
14 Where would Sidda place himself to tell his incomparable stories?
15 When did Leela’s mother notice that Leela’s gold chain was missing?
16 What action did Mr.Sivasanker take after he came home?
17 Why was the police inspector furious?
18 Why did Mr.Sivasanker lodge a complaint against Sidda?
19 Why didn’t Sidda protest?
20 Why was not Sidda taken back even when he was proven innocent?
21 Why didn’t Leela inform that she had kept the chain in tamarind pot?
22 How would you classify the story Leela’s Friend’?
23 On what condition did the police inspector agree to release Sidda?
24 How did Sidda look at Leela before being taken to the police station?
25 Where the chain was ultimately found?
26 How did Leela react to her mother’s scolding?
27 What was the problem Mr.Sivasankar brooding about?
28 What was Sidda doing when Mr.Sivasankar was standing in the veranda and thinking deeply?
29 What did Sidda tell Mr.Sivasankar about his previous job?
30 “He called his wife”- Who called his wife and when?
31 What was the the opinion of Mr.Sivasankar’s wife about Sidda?
32 “And that decided it.”- What does ‘it’ refer to here?
33 How was Sidda paid for the work in Mr.Sivasankar’house?
34 Which work did Sidda do in Mr.Sivasankar’house?
35 “Sidda, Come and play!”- How did Sidda respond to the call of Leela?
36 Which game did Sidda&Leela play together?
37 Why did Leela long for Sidda’scompany?
38 What did Sidda tell Leela when the ball thrown upward came down?
39 Why did Sidda tell Leela to look at the ball quickly?
40 How, according to Sidda, one can touch the ball?
41 She pitied him…”- Why did she pity him?
42 How was Sidda as Leela’sstudent?
43 What kind of story did Sidda tell Leela?
44 “Sidda vanished into the night…”- Why did Sidda vanish into the night?
45 What thought make Leela’s mother panicky?
46 What did Mr.Sivasankar come to know about Sidda from the police?
47 “Leela was in tears…”- When was Leela in tears?
48 “Nothing can make them confess…”- Who said this and about whom?
49 And all this bother on account of her…” – Who, according to the speaker was responsible for all the botheration?
50 What was the final assessment of Mr.Sivasankar about Sidda?
51 What idea do you have about the character of Mr.Sivasankar?
1.
Describe briefly the ways in which Sidda’s company makes Leela
‘supremely happy’/Why was Leela so fond of Sidda’s company?
At Mr Sivasankar’s
house, Sidda was given two meals a day and four rupees a month. In return for
which he did all the house-hold works and looked after L. But to little Leela
Sidda’s stay turned out to be more enjoyable. He became his friend. In him, L
found a reliable companion who would be willing to carry out her demand and
orders beyond his routine jobs. Therefore, S’s company made her supremely
happy. On the other hand, S was an imaginative storyteller who could touch her
imaginative mind. Even he motivated her to believe that he could touch the moon
and order it to follow them. In this way, S came close to L, who perhaps had
never received such company and close friendship from her parents.
2.
“He doesn’t seem to be a bad sort…”-Who says this & why? Why
was Mr.Sivasankar unable to make his mind?
Mr S observed
closely and found that the man looked tidy, and in this context, he considered
that the man searching for a job is not a bad shot. Mr S wanted to know the
whereabouts of S. But S gave a vague answer. He told that he worked in a
doctor’s house somewhere near the market. When Mr S asked him why his employer
sent him away, S gave the stock reply that they left the town. Hearing all this
Mr S was unable to make up his mind. He called his wife to know whether he
would employ S as a servant.
3.
“Day by day she clung close to Sidda…”- Describe how Leela clung
close to Sidda.
Sidda used to carry
all the household works at Mr S’s house but his prime duty was to look after L.
They played with a red ball by throwing it to each other. With this particular
play S cast a splendid story about the moon. He also told her that he could
touch the moon and could order it to follow them. L could not understand his
trick but she became fascinated with joy. She also likes to be S’s teacher. S
became her trusted playmate and friend. Even at night when L was ready for bed
at night, S sat down on the floor to tell her incomparable stories. Thus, day
by day L clung close to S.
4. “Sidda
vanished into the night…”-Narrate what happened after Sidda vanished into the
night.
One
evening when L came back home with S, L’s mother found that her gold chain was
missing and suspected S. S became frightened and ran away. Knowing everything
Mr S lodge a complaint to the police station against S but L could not bear
with the separation. She refused to go to bed without listening story from S.
Mrs S could no console her. S’s thought makes her panicky. L made them
responsible for S’s leave. After someday the police brought back S and L were
overjoyed told them to leave him but S was taken back to prison. A few days
later the gold chain was found in a tamarind pot but they did not allow S to
continue his job.
5. What did
Leela’s parents think of Sidda after his escape from the house? How did Leela
make her mother responsible for Sidda’s escape?
L’s parents became
panicky when S left the house. L’s mother almost shuddered at the thought that
they had been harbouring the criminal who might have killed her daughter for
the chain. On the contrary /another hand, Mr. S thought that they took a risk
in engaging S at their house without consulting the police. L could not at all
bear with the separation from his beloved friend. She became sad and believed
that S had gone because her mother behaved rudely with him. She also believed
that S might be angry with them and left the house as he was not allowed to
sleep inside the house.
6. “Long ago,
the other day”- Who said this? In what context was it said? What was the
reaction of the hearer?
………………………………………………………………………...
When the gold chain was found inside the tamarind pot and Mrs S asked her how it was gone there, L said
these words casually.
These words of L annoyed her parents. Her mother asked her when she did it. Her father blamed her for being so careless and blamed L for that. But what is striking is that Mr S still considered S and a criminal.
7. “What risk we took…”- What was the
risk the speaker talking about? What assurance did Mr Sivasankar get from the police?
…………………………………….
Mr S was assured by the policemen that S would be arrested soon. S was an old
criminal and therefore his haunts
were well known to them. Thus they got a clear
assurance of getting the gold chain.
8. Comment on
the ending of the short story “Leela’s Friend”.
The ending of the
short story “L F” is indeed very sad as S remains in the jail without doing any
crime. .... When the missing gold chain was found, it was expected that S might
be brought back to Mr S’s house and the story would have a happy ending. But it
was unfortunate that Mr S still considered him as a criminal. He would not
allow him to work again at his house. He only informed the police about the
finding of the gold chain in the tamarind pot out of pity.
9. Write a note on the behaviour of the
police inspector in this story.
The role of the
police inspector is very typical. It is an open secret that the keepers of law
are often the breakers of the law. Law or legal system sometimes becomes
indifferent towards any relief for the poor or the helpless. From the mere
description given by Mr Sivasankar, this self-styled inspector came to an
instant conclusion that Sidda was the criminal—not only the criminal but a
confirmed old criminal. Sidda was deprived of a proper investigation. 'To the
eye of the law, to the keepers of our system, the poor men like Sidda are
perpetual criminals. They are forever, made to bear the burden of others'
crimes. The police who are always at the service of the upper classes pick up
at random the poor fellows to use as easy scapegoats. This powerful story
brings out the truth that it is the society that murders, it murders the voice
of justice and humanity to safeguard the real criminals. We are horrified when
reported by the police inspector that Sidda has been in jail half a dozen times
for stealing jewellery from children. If it is a fact, then we must conclude
that the jails are for the poor hapless innocent fellows to safeguard the
culprits at the high-ups. By his own, callous behaviour and insensitive words,
the police inspector brings the impenetrable(that can’t be penetrated) darkness
at the core of our social and legal system. A man like him is a gross insult to
the police uniform.
10. What is an
irony here?
It is the grotesque
(strange) travesty (funny imitation) of justice to identify someone in a moment
as a criminal by the police on the basis of a mere description without proper
investigation of the matter. In our country of gross (pointless) injustice,
helpless ordinary fellows are easily picked up by the police to turn into handy
Scapegoats (Prey) while real criminals hobnob (intimates) with them at the cost
of justice.
11. "In
any case, we couldn't have kept a criminal like him in the house" — Who
made the remark about whom? Is the remark justified or well-directed?
Leela's father made this
irresponsible remark about Sidda. Mr Sivasankar was treated Sidda wrongly and
Savagely, did not have the least moral or human decency to admit his mistake to
Sidda and to feel any repentance. Mr Sivasankar belongs to that class or
society who think that it is their birth-right to treat helpless men like Sidda
brutally and regard them as sub-human street dogs. Pride and power have made a
man like him or the inspector as an instrument of injustice and tyranny towards
the hapless section of humanity. This story is a sharp moral comment on the
primordial (ancient) social set up as in India...
12. Write a
note on Leela's role in this story.
Leela is the 5
years-old daughter of Mr Sivasankar. Though a very tender child of just five
years old, she plays a very vital role in this story. She shows the way the
issue in the story is to be judged and appreciated. Sidda is engaged as she
insisted on her father to do so. Alongside the typical childhood activities and
inclinations of Leela, the writer brings before us another crucial aspect of
her character. She is endowed with the only authentic moral and human reaction
which is miserably missing in the grown-ups. With the unerring instinct of a
child, she made no mistake to support Sidda who is wrongly and savagely treated
by her parents and the self-serving keepers of the law. In her own child-like
way, she makes common cause with Sidda and vehemently (strongly) protests the
inhuman manners of her parents towards Sidda. She likes Sidda from the
beginning. She firmly stands by him. She shows a mind most direct and unbiased
(impartial), unperverted (natural). Truth comes directly to her as she is
inwardly pure and innocent. She reveals a level of mental and moral maturity
which is sadly missing in the grown-ups. The voice of Leela is the voice of
humanity that feels appalled (frightened) at the scale of barbarities
(brutality) committed by others, to Sidda.
13. The
Features/Theme/Title: It is clear from the title Leela’s Friend that the story
is about Leela and her friend Sidda.
The story brings
forth the class-conflict between the high and the low of society. Sidda becomes
the victim of that conflict. Poverty leaves a permanent wound to Sidda’s life.
Though he tries to overcome his dark past and is proved guiltless at the end of
the story, he is not either allowed to continue his job neither provided with
an apology. The so-called society remains indifferent to his sorrows and
sufferings. Sidda’s punishment is unjust and also a blunder. But the protector
of the law escapes counter-punishment. This is not a case to Sidda only, but
its roots lie in every sphere of the society making it worse and gloomy. R. K.
Narayan has raised his voice to protest against this through the present story.
Here in lies his craftsmanship.
