SEBA Class 9 English Supplementary Reader Chapter 2: The Adventures of Toto--- Ruskin Bond All Questions & Answers
The Adventures of Toto
ADDITIONAL QUESTION ANSWER
Important Questions and Answers
Q.1. Where was Toto kept on the first day of his arrival at Grandfather’s house? What damages did he do till he was transferred to the servant’s quarter?
Answer: Grandmother did not like grandfather bringing home new animals and birds. So Toto’s arrival in the house was kept a secret. Grandfather and the narrator put Toto away in a little closet opening into the narrator’s bed-room wall. He was kept there tied securely to a peg fastened into the wall.
A few hours later Grandfather and the narrator came to release Toto. They found which had been covered with ornamental papers were turned naked. Toto had turned and removed all the papers from the wall making visible the naked brick and plaster. The peg in the wall had been wrenched and removed from the wall. The narrator’s school blazer which had been hanging there was torn into pieces. Though Toto had done these things grandfather appeared pleased with his performance. To keep Toto’s presence in the house a secret he was shifted to servant’s quarter.
Q.2. “Toto and Nana never became friends.” Who was Nana? Why Toto and Nana could never become friends?
Answer: Nana was the family donkey in Grandfather’s house. Grandmother finally accepted Toto. Then he was given a comfortable home in the stable. There Toto got Nana as his companion. On Toto’s first night in the stable Grandfather paid him a visit to see if he was comfortable. Then he found the donkey pulling her head as far as from the hay without any apparent reason. Grandfather gave a slap across her haunches. She jerked back dragging Toto with her. Toto had fastened on to her long cars with his sharp little teeth. Since then Toto and Nana never became friends.
Q.3. Briefly describe what Toto did with the pullao.
Answer: One day, at lonch time a large dish of pullao was kept at the centre of the dining table. Toto was seen stuffing the rice on his body. Grandmother screamed. Toto threw a plate at her. One of the narrator’s aunts rushed forward. Toto threw a glass of water in her face. When grandfather arrived Toto picked up the dish of pullao and escaped through the window. Then he was seen on the branch of the jackfruit tree. He was holding the plate in his hands. He remained there all afternoon slowly eating the rice. Grandmother screamed and Toto threw the dish down from the tree which broke into hundred pieces.
TEXTUAL QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Think about it
1. How does Toto come to grandfather’s private zoo ?
Ans: Toto initially belonged to a tonga-driver. When grandfather first saw Toto he was tied to a feeding trough and feeling that he looked quite out of place there, Grandfather took pity on him and bought him from his owner. This is how Toto came to be an addition to grandfather’s private zoo.
2. “Toto was a pretty monkey.” In what sense is Toto pretty ?
Ans: Toto was pretty because he had bright eyes which sparkled with mischief under his deep-set eyebrows. His teeth were a gleaming pearly white and often displayed in a smile. Toto’s tail too added to his beauty.
3. Why does Grandfather take Toto to Saharanpur and how ? Why does the ticket collector insist on calling Toto a dog ?
Ans: Grandfather had hidden Toto’s presence from Grandmother fearing she would create a fuss as she usually did when he brought home a new bird or animal. So when he had to travel to Saharanpur, he decided it was better to take Toto along with him. Shocked and taken by surprise when he saw Toto grinning at him from within the canvas bag carried by Grandfather, the ticket collector mistook Toto for a dog. Though Grandfather tried to prove otherwise, he insisted on calling Toto a dog, and penalised grandfather by making him pay the prescribed fare for a dog.
4. How does Toto take a bath? Where has he learnt to do this ? How does Toto almost boil himself alive ?
Ans: Toto followed an elaborate ritual when it came to taking a bath. Initially he would gingerly test the temperature of the water in his bath-bowl by dipping in a finger. If satisfied, he would step into the bath slowly, one foot at a time until he was into the water up to his neck. He would rub himself all over with the soap. When the water started to get cold he would get out and run to the kitchen fire as fast as he could, to dry himself.
Toto had learnt to do this by watching the narrator, Ruskin Bond (who was then a child), when he took his bath.
Toto nearly managed to boil himself alive when he stepped into a large kettle of water put on the fire to make tea. Gradually as the water started to boil, Toto got up a little but finding it cold outside. he remained inside the kettle. He then hopped up and down a few times, and was ultimately spotted by Grandmother and hauled out of the kettle just in time.
5. Why does the author say, “Toto was not the sort of pet we could keep for long” ?
Ans: Toto was an extremely mischievous monkey and destructive too. He shredded things, made holes in clothes, ate up food meant for the family, threw water at people, smashed crockery, and so on. Obviously then the author and his family, who were not too affluent, could not bear these repeated losses. Hence the author says “Toto was not the sort of pet we could keep for long.”
Talk about it
Do you have a pet ? Is your pet mischievous ? Tell the class about it.
Suggested reading
My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell
‘Grandfather’s Private Zoo’ by Ruskin Bond
Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling
ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS WITH ANSWERS
Answer the following questions:
1. What did Toto do when he saw the dish of pulao on the dining table ?
Ans: Toto, seeing the dish of pulao on the dining table and finding no one in the vicinity, helped himself to it. The family members entered the room to find Toto eating the rice. The author’s grandmother screamed and in reaction Toto threw a plate at her. Then the author’s aunt rushed forward only to be greeted with a glass of water on her face. Finally Grandfather entered the room and seeing him, Toto took off with the entire plate of pulao and exited through a window. He then made himself comfortable on a jackfruit tree and continued eating the rice, determined to finish every grain. Finally when he was done Toto threw the plate down smashing it into pieces.
2. What served as Toto’s third hand ? How ?
Ans: Toto’s tail served as his third hand.Using it he could scoop up any delicacy that was otherwise out of the reach of his hands. Moreover his tail could also be used to hang from branches.
3. Grandfather decided to hide Toto’s presence from Grandmother because
(i) Grandmother always made a fuss whenever Grandfather brought home a new animal.
(ii) Grandmother did not like monkeys.
(iii) Grandfather was afraid that Toto might scare Grandmother.
(iv) Toto was not the kind of pet they could keep for long a fuss whenever Grandfather.
Ans: (i) Grandmother always made brought home a new animal.
4. Why did Grandfather transfer Toto to the servant’s quarters? Who else lived there?
Ans: Toto had to be transferred to the servant’s quarters because he could not be kept locked up in the house. An attempt to hide him by tying him to a peg on a wall inside a closet failed miserably. He escaped after causing damage to the wall and to clothes inside the closet. Noting this destruction Grandfather transferred Toto to a large cage in the servant’s quarters.
Other than Toto, a large number of Grandfather’s pets lived in the cage in the servant’s quarters. They included a tortoise, a pair of rabbits, a tame squirrel, and for a while even the author’s pet goat.
5. What was the sum paid by Grandfather as Toto’s fare to Saharanpur?
(i) Three rupees.
(ii)Two rupees.
(iii)Three annas.
(iv)Ten rupees.
Ans: (i) Three rupees
6. Toto was sold to.
(i) The ticket collector at Saharanpur.
(ii) Grandmother’s sister who came to visit them.
(iii) A bullock cart driver.
(iv) The tonga-driver.
Ans: (iv) The tonga-driver
7. At what price was Toto sold ?
Ans: Toto was sold for three rupees only.
