Kathmandu Important Questions Class 9 Beehive English
Very Short Answer Type Questions
Question 1. What is the belief at Pashupatinath about the end of Kaliyug?
Answer
There is a small shrine that half protrudes from the stone platform on the river bank. People believe that when it emerges fully, the goddess inside will escape, and the evil period of the Kaliyug will end on earth.
Question 2. Who owned most of the shops in Kathmandu?
Answer
Tibetan immigrants owned most of the shops in Kathmandu.
Question 3. How is the atmosphere at the Pashupatinath temple?
Answer
The atmosphere at the Pashupatinath temple is full of confusion.
Question 4. What did the saffron-clad Westerners want?
Answer
The saffron-clad Westerners wanted to go inside the Pashupatinath temple. However, as entry to the temple is restricted to Hindus only, they claimed to be Hindus. But the policeman was not allowing them to enter.
Question 4. To hear any ‘flute is to be drawn into the commonality of all mankind.’ Explain.
Answer
The flute is found in each culture in one form or the other. Thus the sound of the flute draws a person into the commonality of mankind.
Question 5. Which two temples did the author visit in Kathmandu?
Answer
The author visited Pashupatinath temple and Boudhanath stupa in Kathmandu.
Question 6. What signboard is there outside the Pashupatinath temple?
Answer
The signboard outside Pashupatinath temple is ‘Entrance for Hindus only’.
Question 7. Flow does the author decide to take his return journey to Delhi?
Answer
He decides to come back by the plane of Nepal Airlines.
Short Answer Type Questions
Question 1. Why did the policeman stop the Westerners wearing saffron-coloured clothes from entering the Pashupatinath temple?
Answer
The policeman stopped the saffron-clad Westerners from entering the Pashupatinath temple as the entry of non- Hindus is banned in this temple and he didn’t believe that they were Hindus, despite their saffron clothes.
Question 2. Where did the writer stay in Kathmandu? Which two different places of worship did he visit? With whom?
Answer
The writer, Vikram Seth, stayed in a cheap room in the centre of Kathmandu. He visited the Pushupatinath temple, sacred to the Hindus, and the Baudhnath stupa, the holy shrine of the Buddhists with his acquaintances Mr Shah’s son and nephew.
Question 3. Which is the route from Kathmandu to Delhi that the writer had planned to take earlier? Which route does he opt for? Why?
Answer
The writer had planned to travel from Kathmandu to Delhi by first reaching Patna by bus and train. Then he planned to sail up the Ganges past Benaras to Allahabad, then up the Yamuna, past Agra to Delhi. The shorter option taken by the author is to fly via air, straight from Kathmandu to Delhi. He changed his plans because he was tired and homesick.
Question 4. What is written on the signboard outside the Pashupatinath temple? What does it signify?
Answer
Outside the Pashupatinath temple, the signboard announces: “Entrance for the Hindus only”. It signifies that the temple is rigid in the maintaining of its sanctity and holiness as a place of worship. This rule is practiced with inflexible strictness to prevent the temple from being treated like a tourist destination.
Question 5. How does the writer describe Baudhnath stupa?
Answer
The author gives a brief but vivid picture of the Baudhnath stupa. He admires the serenity and calmness of this shrine. The stupa has an immense white dome with silence and stillness its distinctive features. There are no crowds even on the road surrounding the stupa. There are some shops run by the Tibetan immigrants.
Question 6. How did the arrival of the princess change the situation?
Answer
At Pashupatinath temple, worshippers were trying to get the priest’s attention and were elbowing and jostling each other as they pushed their way to the front. The situation changed as a princess of the Nepalese royal house appeared; everyone bowed and made way for her.
Question 7. Describe the fight that breaks out between the two monkeys around the temple of Pashupatinath?
Answer
The author describes the fight that breaks out between two monkeys in which one chases the other. The monkey being chased jumps onto a shivalinga, then runs screaming around the temples and finally goes down to the holy river, Bagmati.
Question 8. How is the atmosphere at Pashupatinath temple different from that at Baudhnath Stupa?
Answer
The atmosphere at Pashupatinath Temple is noisy and chaotic. People jostle with each other and animals mill around. Hawkers call out their wares. On the other hand, the atmosphere at Baudhnath stupa is calm and serene. There are some Tibetans shops but the huge crowds of Pashupatinath are missing there. There is calm as opposed to chaos near the Pashupatinath temple.
Question 9. What does Vikram Seth compare to the quills of a porcupine?
Answer
Vikram Seth found a flute seller in Kathmandu standing in a comer of the square near his hotel. He held a pole in his hand which had an attachment at the top around and fifty to sixty flutes were stuck into it that protruded in all directions. The author compares these protruding flutes to the sharp, stiff quills of a porcupine.
Question 10. What activities are observed by the writer on the banks of the Bagmati river?
Answer
The writer observes some polluting activities on the banks of the river Bagmati. He notices some washerwomen washing clothes, some children taking a bath and a dead body being cremated on the banks of this sacred river. He also observes someone throwing a basketful of wilted flowers and leaves into the river.
Question 11. The writer says, “All this I wash down with Coca Cola”. What does‘all this’ refer to?
Answer
‘All this’ refers to the eatables that the writer buys and eats on one of the busy streets of Kathmandu. It includes a bar of marzipan, a com-on-the-cob roasted in a charcoal brazier on the pavement (rubbed with salt, chilli powder and lemon). He finishes of his meal by drinking Coca Cola and a nauseating orange drink.
Question 12. What effect does the music of the flute have on Vikram Seth?
Answer
The music of the flute has a hypnotic effect on Vikram Seth. So much so, that he finds it difficult to tear himself away from the square where this music is being playing by the flute seller. It has the power to draw him into the commonality of all mankind and he is moved by its closeness to human voice.
Question 13. Write a short note on the shrine on the stone platform on the riverbank?
Answer
There is a small shrine on the banks of the holy Bagmati that flows below the Pashupatinath temple. Half part of this shrine protrudes from a stone platform. It is believed that when the shrine will emerge completely from the platform, the goddess in the shrine will escape and that will mark the end of the Kaliyug, or the evil period.
Question 14. Why does Vikram Seth decide to buy an air ticket directly for the homeward journey?
Answer
Vikram Seth had travelled from China to Kathmandu via Tibet. It had been a long journey and he was feeling very exhausted and homesick. Though his enthusiasm for travelling tempted him to take a longer route to reach back home, his exhaustion and homesickness impelled him to buy an air-ticket directly for the homeward journey to Delhi.
Long Answer Type Questions
Question 1. How does the author describe Kathmandu’s busiest streets?
Answer
The author presents the busiest streets of Kathmandu as ‘vivid, mercenary and religious’. The streets are full of life with large crowds, shops and hawkers calling out their wares. There is a lot of religious activity going on all the time. Besides the well-known religious shrines like the Pashupatinath temple and the Baudhnath stupa, Kathmandu also has small shrines and flower-adorned deities that line the narrow, but busy streets of Kathmandu. It is ‘mercenary’ as it is a tourist place and a lot of business flourishes in the narrow streets.
One can find fruit sellers, flute sellers, and hawkers selling postcard photographs. As in any other tourist place, there are shops selling various things like cosmetics from western countries, rolls of film, chocolates, antique items of Nepal, and copper pots and pans. There is a medley of noises created by radios playing film songs, sounds of car-horns, bells of bicycles and vendors shouting to invite the customers. There are also the cows bellowing as they hear the sounds of motorcycles. Thus, the streets of Kathmandu are full of noise and people.
Question 2. Where does the author find the flute seller and what are his observations about him? What draws the author to the music of the flute?
Answer
The author finds a flute seller along with many other hawkers in a corner of the square near his hotel in Kathmandu. But the flute seller’s style of selling his ware differs absolutely from that of the other vendors. He does not shout to attract the customers nor does he show any kind of desperation to sell.
He carries a pole with about fifty to sixty flutes attached at the top. The author compares these flutes protruding in all directions to the sharp quills of a porcupine. Most of the flutes on the poles are of the varieties of ‘recorders’ and ‘cross-flutes’. The flute seller, instead of hawking loudly, places the pole on the ground every now and then, selects a flute and plays upon it slowly and in a meditative manner without ever resorting to excessive display.
The sound of the flute is distinct and clear and can be heard even above the noise created by the traffic horns and the shouts of the hawkers. He does not seem to run a very brisk business and it appears as if playing the flute is his chief activity and selling of flutes is incidental to it.
The mesmerising music of the flute draws the author to it. He is left spell-bound by its hypnotic notations. The impact is so deep that he has to force himself to leave the square where the flute is being played. This music is etched in his memory and he carries it with him to his home in India.
Question 3. “To hear any flute is to be drawn into the commonality of all mankind.” Why does the author say this?
Answer
The author hears the music of a flute played by a flute seller in a square near his hotel in Kathmandu and is reminded of the various kinds of music produced by various types of flutes found in various cultures. However, the flute is universal because almost every culture has flutes, though each has a different tone and pitch.
The author further describes the variety of flutes named differently as the shakuhachi in Japan and the bansuri in India. They have different fingering methods and ranges of sound. The Indian bansuri has a deep sound, the South American flute emits clear, breathy sound and the Chinese flute gives out loud, high-pitched melodies.
Despite the variety of flutes and the variations in their music, the author emphasizes that the music of all the flutes closely resembles the human voice. To produce music, every flute needs pauses and breaths in the same manner in which phrases and sentences are uttered in the human voice. These pauses and breaths are generated through fingering of the holes of a flute. This characteristic feature of the flutes gives the author a feeling of being “drawn into the commonality of mankind”, which gives him a sense of universality and harmony.