SEBA Class 9 English Supplementary Reader Chapter 6: Weathering the Storm in Ersama--- Harsh Mander All Questions & Answers
Weathering the Storm in Ersama
ADDITIONAL QUESTION ANSWER
Important Questions and Answers
Q.1. Give a description of the super cyclone and its impact on Ersama as witnessed by Prashant.
Answer: As witnessed by Prashant the super cyclone practically wrought a havoc in Ersama as it did in several other costal areas of Orissa. The cyclone lashed in the evening of 27th October 1999. Dark and menacing storm beat against the houses with such speed and fury that Prashant had never seen before. The storm was accompanied by heavy incessant rain. Ancient trees were uprooted and crashed to the earth. Houses were washed away and screams rent the air.
There was neck deep water in the house of Prashant’s friend. The building was of brick and mortar and some how survived the devastation. The velocity of wind was 350 kilometer per hour. The family along with Prashant took shelter on the roots of the house. Wind and rain frozen them. In the middle of the night an uprooted tree fell down on the roof and shocked them. The cyclone continued for thirty six hours. In the following morning Prashant saw a vast sheet of water with floating carasses and corpses.
Q.2. What did Prashant see in the grey light of the early morning after the cyclone had lashed Ersama?
Answer: Prashant and his friend’s family had been taking shelter on the roof of the house. Early in the following morning he saw a raging, deadly. brown sheet of water which covered everything as far as eye could see. Only fractured cement and mortar building stood in a few places. Bloated animal carasses and human corpses floated in every direction. All around trees, even the huge ones had fallen. Two coconut trees had fallen on the roof of their house. This was like a blessing in disguise. Because the tender coconuts helped survive the family for several days after the storm.
Q.3. Briefly describe Prashant’s journey through the flood water from Ersama to his village.
Answer: Prashant had been worried thinking whether his family had survived the fury of the cyclone. On the third morning after the storm had razed, he decided to resume his journey back home. He equipped himself with a long and sturdy stick and started his eighteen kilometre long back journey to his village wading flood water. It was a memorable journey for him. He constantly used the stick to locate the road as well as to gauge the depth of the water. At places he swam to cross deep water and at several points he lost the road. After some distance he met two companions who were his uncle’s friends. Together they moved ahead through the water pushing away caresses of dogs, goats and cattle. Also they saw dead bodies of men, women and children floating on water. They passed through villages entirely wiped out by the flood and storm.
Q.4. ‘Eventually, Prashant reached his village, Kalikuda.’ What did Prashant see on reaching his village? Did he find his family?
Answer: As Prashant reached his village Kalikuda his heart went cold. There was lying only a roof at the spot where once their home stood. He saw some of their belongings caught, mangled and twished in the branches of trees just visible above the dark waters. Prashant then decided to go to the Red Cross shelter to look for his family.
Among the crowd the first he saw his maternal grandmother. She was weak with hunger. Yet she rushed to him with extended arms. She was surprised to see him. They thought that he had died. So his presence was like a miracle. News of his arrival spread quickly. All the members of his extended family, his brother and sister and his uncle and aunt all gathered round him and hugged him tight in relief. Finding them all surviving the catastropha Prashant heaved a sigh of relief.
TEXTUAL QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Think about it
1. What havoc has the super cyclone wreaked in the life of the people of Orissa ?
Ans: The super cyclone has swept away people and houses; it has caused trees to uproot and crash; it has separated loved ones and bereaved many. The super cyclone has caused much loss of property and lives of both humans and animals as it made its way through the villages of coastal Orissa. The people are left with almost nothing to eat and have to wade through water to get to anywhere.
2. How has Prashant, a teenager, been able to help the people of his village ?
Ans: Prashant was able to help the people of his village due to his will power and determination. By refusing to let his spirit be broken down by the sight of the destruction wreaked by the super cyclone, Prashant could help himself and the people of his village.
Prashant overcame his grief when he saw that the people of his village needed help, he chose to become a leader in the absence of any other. To begin with he organised a group of youths and elders and pressurized the merchant to part with his rice so that they could use it to feed the survivors who had no food left to eat. Next he helped organise a team of young volunteers to clean the shelter of filth, urine, vomit and floating carcasses, and to tend to the wounds and fractures of the injured. Prashant also mobilised women to look after the children who had been orphaned by the super cyclone. Later on Prashant also engaged in talks with the government and people of his village to ensure efficient rehabilitation of all, especially the widows and orphaned children.
Thus by getting a grip on himself after the tragedy and due to his willingness to help the people of his village, Prashant could provide them all with the much needed support and relief.
3. How have the people of the community helped one another ? What role do the women of Kalikuda play during these days ?
Ans: The people of the community have helped one another by looking after each other’s needs. While some have volunteered to clean the shelter of filth, urine, vomit and floating carcasses, others have attended to the sick and injured. The women of the community take care of the orphaned children while the men secure food and materials for the shelter.
The women of Kalikuda too play their part in helping the community overcome the tragedy. Initially they take care of the orphaned children and later on they work in the food-for-work programme started by an NGO.
4. Why do Prashant and other volunteers resist the plan to set up institutions for orphans and widows ? What alternatives do they consider ?
Ans: Prashant and other volunteers resist the plan to set up institutions for orphans and widows because they fear that in such institutions the children will grow up devoid of the necessary love and care, and widows will suffer from stigma and loneliness. Prashant and his group believe it is better if the orphans are settled in their own community, possibly in new foster families made up of childless widows and children without adult care.
5. Do you think Prashant is a good leader ? Do you think young people can get together to help people during natural calamities ?
Ans: Yes, I think Prashant is a good leader because he puts others needs ahead of himself and does what is right for the entire community. He also gets the youths and elders to support him in his rehabilitation work.
Yes, I believe young people can get together to help people during natural calamities. If one really wishes to help, age cannot be a bar. Each person, whether young or old, can contribute in his or her own way and help the people during any natural calamity.
Talk about it
Talk about the preparedness of the community for a natural disaster.
(You can talk about evacuation plans and rehabilitation; permanent safe shelters; warning systems; relief efforts; building materials to withstand cyclone/flood/earthquake, i.e. safe housing; peoples’ organisation of their own rescue; the survival instinct, etc.)
Suggested reading
A Home on the Street’ by Harsh Mander • Paying for His Tea’ by Harsh Mander
Eton Munda Won the Battle by Mahasweta Devi
ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS WITH ANSWERS
Answer the following questions:
1. Where was Prashant when the super cyclone hit ?
(a) in the block headquarters of Ersama, a small town in coastal Orissa
(b) in his village, Ersama.
(c) in his town, Kalikuda.
(d) on his way to his friend’s place.
Ans: (a) in the block headquarters of Ersama, a small town in coastal Orissa.
2. What did Prashant and his friend’s family do to escape the rising waters ?
Ans: Prashant and his friend’s family climbed up to the roof of the house and took refuge there to escape the rising waters.
3. What sight met Prashant’s eyes the morning after the cyclone ?
Ans: The morning after the cyclone Prashant’s eyes witnessed a scene of total and utter destruction. The super cyclone had wreaked havoc all night and the extent of the damage became clear in the light of dawn. As far as the eye could see, the land was covered by a raging, deadly, brown sheet of water. Everything seemed to be under water and only a few fractured cement houses stood in a few places. Bloated animal carcasses and human corpses floated all around. Tall ancient trees had been uprooted in every direction. Thus, it was a scene filled with chaos and destruction that Prashant saw the morning after the cyclone.
4. What kept Prashant and his friend’s family from starving in the days following the cyclone ?
Ans: The cyclone had uprooted many trees all around and two coconut trees had fallen directly on the roof where Prashant’s and his friend’s family sat huddled, trying to escape the surging water levels. Initially thought of as a bad sign by the trapped family, it later turned out to be a blessing in disguise as the tender coconuts from the fallen. trees kept the trapped family from starving in the days that followed.
5. Describe Prashant’s journey back to his village.
Ans: Two days after the cyclone when the rain ceased and the waters started to recede, Prashant decided to head back to his village to check on his family members and relatives, Before embarking on his journey through the perilous waters, Prashant equipped himself with a sturdy stick which he would later use to locate the road. The eighteen kilometre long track to his village was one filled with dangers as Prashant had to wade through swollen flood waters which at times were waist deep and hindered his progress. In such situations the stick helped him determine the places where the water was most shallow and thus aided his movement. Even then at several points, Prashant lost the road and had to resort to swimming to cross the area. After travelling some distance in this way, he met two friends of his uncle and the three of them continued on the journey back to their village together.
6. Prashant’s family lived in the village named
(a) Kalikuda.
(b) Ersama.
(c) Orissa.
(d) Erakuda.
Ans: (a) Kalikuda.
7. “Where their home once stood, there were only remnants of its roof.”
(i) Whose home is being referred to here ?
Ans: Prashant’s family home is being referred to in the above given sentence.
(ii) What has happened to their home ?
Ans: Their house like so many others had been destroyed by the super cyclone and the flood that followed it.
(iii) The word “remnants’ means
(a) small remaining quantities.
(b) piece.
(c) memories.
(d) roof.
Ans: (a) small remaining quantities.
8. “His handsome, youthful face is what the widows and orphaned children of his village seek out the most in their darkest hour of grief.”
(i) Who is the ‘he’ being referred to in this sentence? Which village does he belong to ?
Ans: “He’ in the above quoted sentence refers to Prashant. Prashant belonged to the coastal village of Kalikuda.
(ii) Why do the widows and orphaned children seek out his face ?
Ans: The widows and orphaned children seek out Prashant’s face because his presence provides them with hope and joy in their hour of darkness. Prashant overcame his grief and taking matters into his own hands after the devastation wreaked by the cyclone, worked towards building the lives of the affected people, especially the widows and orphaned children. This gave them hope and helped them overcome their own sorrows
(iii) Give the noun form of ‘orphaned’.
Ans: Orphan.
(iv) Give the antonym of ‘grief’
Ans: Joy.
