Question

Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions that follow:
When Lila went out on the beach it was so early in the morning that there was no one else there. The sand was washed clean by last night’s tide and no one had walked on it except the birds that fished along the coast – gulls, curlews and sandpipers. She walked down to the sea with the small basket she carried on the flat of her hand, filled with flowers she had plucked from the garden around their house – scarlet hibiscus blooms, sweet-smelling spider lilies and bright butter-yellow allamanda flowers. When she came to the edge of the sea, she lifted the folds of her sari and tucked them up at her waist, then waded out into the waves that came rushing up over her feet and swirling about her ankles in creamy foam. She waded in till she came to a cluster of three rocks. One of them was daubed with red and white powder. It was the sacred rock, a kind of temple in the sea. At high tide it would be inundated but now, at 10 low tide, it could be freshly consecrated.
Lila took the flowers from her basket and scattered them about the rock, then folded her hands and bowed. Just then the sun lifted up over the coconut palms in a line along the beach and sent long slanting rays over the silvery sand to touch her on the back of her head. Enjoying their warmth, she stayed bowed for a little while, her feet still in the cold, whispering waves. The sun lit up the pink and mauve waves with sparkles. Far out, stretched along the horizon, was the fishing fleet that had been out all night, the sails like white wings,
or fins, lifting out of the sea. They were anchored and still: they would not return before sundown. Later in the morning more women would come and offer flowers at the sacred rock. Some would say a little prayer for the safety of the fishermen at sea because they 20
were all the wives and daughters of fishermen. Some would simply bow, like Lila, and say a greeting to God. It seemed a good way to start the morning. There was no real reason why they prayed to this rock rather than any other rock, but they needed something to which they could offer flowers and red kum-kum powder as they said their prayers, and the large flat-topped one that stood in the shallow water and was easy to approach was the most convenient one. It was not so far away as the temple in the village at the far end of the beach, nor did they need to give money to a priest who would perform the puja for them. The women preferred to do it themselves. When Lila’s father still owned a boat and went to sea to fish, her mother used to bring flowers to this rock in the sea, and pray. But he no longer fished, he had sold his boat to pay his debts, her mother was too ill and weak to get out of her bed, 30
and it was Lila who came to begin the morning with an offering of flowers to the sea. Sometimes she felt it was the best time of day for her, the only perfectly happy and peaceful one. Emptying out the last petals from her basket into the waves which quickly carried them away, she turned and walked back up the beach to the line of coconut palms now gilded by the sun. It was time to start work. She climbed over the dunes that were spangled with the mauve flowers of seaside ipomoea into the coconut grove and passed the white bungalow that was locked and shuttered. It belonged to rich people in Bombay who came only rarely for their holidays. Its name was written on a piece of tin and tacked to the trunk of a coconut tree: Mon Repos. What did that mean? Lila had never found out and she wondered about it every time she walked past it, up the path that led through the coconut grove. 40
(a) Give the meaning of the following words as used in the passage. One word answers or short phrases will be accepted. [3]
(i) fished (line 3)
(ii) waded (line 7)
(iii) fleet (line 17)

(b) Answer the following questions briefly in your own words.
(i) Which two hints in the passage tell us that Lila came to beach early in the morning? [2]
(ii) Which uncommon flowers had Lila plucked? Why? [2]
(iii) What was the time for the fishing boats to operate? [2]
(iv) What was the occupation of Lila’s father? What has happened to it? [2]
(v) Give one reason why Lila has to come out early in the morning. [1]

(c) In not more than 50 words, describe why the sacred rock was the pillar of faith for multiple reasons for the village women. [8]
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Answer 1

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