Give a review on ch 3 Iswaran the Storyteller class 9 moment in 100 to 120 words
Answers
Introduction to the lesson
The title of this chapter- “Iswaran the storyteller” tells us that this story is about Iswaran. He is called the storyteller because as storytelling is an art, he is good at it. Iswaran uses special effects, does voice modulation, uses his body language to make the story realistic so that the listener, i.e. Mahendra gets attracted and captivated in his story. The writer wants to highlight this quality of Iswaran - that he was so good at telling stories that they appeared to be real. His stories were a source of entertainment for Mahendra.Lesson and Explanation
THE story was narrated to Ganesh by a young man, Mahendra by name. He was a junior supervisor in a firm which offered on hire supervisors at various types of construction sites: factories, bridges, dams, and so on. Mahendra’s job was to keep an eye on the activities at the work site. He had to keep moving from place to place every now and then as ordered by his head office: from a coal mining area to a railway bridge construction site, from there after a few months to a chemical plant which was coming up somewhere.
Supervisor: a person whose job is to check the work of all the other people
Mahendra narrated a story about his cook Iswaran to Ganesh. Mahendra worked as a junior supervisor in a company which provided junior supervisors to various construction companies on rent. He got posted at different sites like factories, bridges and dams which were under construction. Mahendra’s work was to keep an eye on all the workers at the site. He had to change places often and worked at various places like a coal mine, railway bridge construction site and the construction site of a chemical plant.
He was a bachelor. His needs were simple and he was able to adjust himself to all kinds of odd conditions, whether it was an ill equipped circuit house or a makeshift canvas tent in the middle of a stone quarry. But one asset he had was his cook, Iswaran. The cook was quite attached to Mahendra and followed him uncomplainingly wherever he was posted. He cooked for Mahendra, washed his clothes and chatted away with his master at night. He could weave out endless stories and anecdotes on varied subjects.
As Mahendra was unmarried, he did not have a family, he was able to live in these temporary quarters provided at the construction sites. He adjusted well in the circuit houses which did not provide the basic amenities or even the tents which were temporary in nature. Mahendra had an advantage - he was accompanied by his cook Iswaran. Iswaran was very close to Mahendra and accompanied him everywhere. He did not complain about the tough conditions in which he had to live. He cooked food for him, washed his clothes and gave him company by talking to him at night. Iswaran had a quality- that he was good at telling stories and he entertained Mahindra with his stories which were based on different subject
Iswaran also had an amazing capacity to produce vegetables and cooking ingredients, seemingly out of nowhere, in the middle of a desolate landscape with no shops visible for miles around. He would miraculously conjure up the most delicious dishes made with fresh vegetables within an hour of arriving at the zinc sheet shelter at the new workplace
Desolate: uninhabited, empty
Conjure up: to gather or create with magic
Zinc sheet shelter: a temporary place to live with the roof made of metallic sheets
Mahendra tells Ganesh that Iswaran was a great cook. Whenever they shifted to a new location, he would gather all the vegetables and other ingredients required by him to cook in no time. As they lived at places which was not inhabited by many people, in temporary shelters with roofs made of metallic sheets, it seemed as if he would do some magic and gather all the ingredients
Mahendra would be up early in the morning and leave for work after breakfast, carrying some prepared food with him. Meanwhile Iswaran would tidy up the shed, wash the clothes, and have a leisurely bath, pouring several buckets of water over his head, muttering a prayer all the while. It would be lunchtime by then. After eating, he would read for a
In thrall: The state of being in someone's power
Mahendra would wake up early in the morning, get ready and leave for work after eating his breakfast. He would carry his lunch along with him. After he left, Iswaran would clean their living place, wash Mahendra’s clothes and have a nice bath. He would take many buckets of water and pour water on his head while mumbling a prayer. After that he would eat his lunch and read his favourite book in Tamil language. Iswaran would get carried away with the details and descriptions given in the books that he read. Then, he would go off to sleep.
