Short summary of english class 9 ch kathmandu
Answers
The author first visited Pashupatinath Temple where he finds the atmosphere of feverish confusion. Only Hindus are allowed to enter inside the temple. He finds people performing different rituals performing on the bank of the holy river Bagmati .He also knew about the belief related to the end of the Kaliyug .Next he visited Baudhnath Shrine, there is the sense of stillness in contrast to the Pashupatinath temple. Tibetan immigrants selling different things on the side of the road. After this he roams on the streets of kathmandu and finds it the busiest and more religious city. These streets are crowded with fruit sellers, hawkers of postcards etc. The shops sell western cosmetics, film rolls chocolates. It is the noisiest city because of the honking sound of the cars , bells of bicycle and the low of the cows and filmy songs of the radios .He becomes tired and homesick and decided to return back to his home.He buys air line ticket and return back to his hotel .Near his hotel he hears the melodious sound of the flute seller which enchanted him. His care free style of selling flutes pleases him. It reminds him of the commonality of all mankind as the music of the flutes unites all mankind in one single thread of universality. He was fascinated to the truth of the flutes. He returns back to his home after a long time.
KEY POINTS
Vikram Seth visit Pashupatinath temple and finds that only Hindus are allowed for darshan . There is an atmosphere of feverish disorder in and around Pashupatinath temple due to the crowd of Priests,hawkers , devotees , tourists , cows , monkeys , pigeons and dogs roam through ground .
The author sees that the people are performing different rituals on the holy bank of Bagmati River.
Next he visits Baudhnath Shrine which seems to him as Haven of Quietness. There is complete silence and still atmosphere.
Tibetan immigrants were selling felt bags , silver jewellery antiques etc on the pavement of the road .
The author finds that Kathmandu is more religious , vivid and mercenary city .
It is the noisiest and busiest city because of thousands of tourists, vendors shouting, playing of film songs, honking sound of the vehicles .
He enjoys his visit to Kathmandu by visiting Pashupatinath and Baudhnath shrine and roaming in the busy market eating corn –on the cob, reading comics and reader digest.
Vikram enchanted by the melodious songs played by the flute seller he finds the way of selling his flute was different from other hawkers.
The author becomes tired and feels home sick and decided to return home by air.
Vikram Seth describes his visit to the capital of Nepal, Kathmandu through this excerpt from his book ‘Heaven Lake’. During his trip, he visits two temples where notice stark differences between them. One temple was a pilgrimage for Hindus, the Pashupatinath temple.
After that, there was the Baudhnath temple which is for the Buddhists. He notices that they restricted the entry at the Pashupatinath temple to only Hindus. Thus, there was quite a chaos amongst the tourists, priests and the pilgrims. To top it all, people were polluting the River Bagmati by washing clothes in it, bathing in it and throwing away dry flowers in it.
After that, he went to Baudhnath temple. He saw that the scenario here was completely different from what he saw at the Pashupatinath temple. This Buddhist temple had a huge dome which is white in colour. The place was very calm and serene. Outside the temple, there was a Tibetan market and people were selling bags, clothes, ornaments and more.
He notices the numerous things Kathmandu offers from religious places to many tourist destinations. Moreover, it also has various shops of antiques, cameras, cosmetics, chocolates and more. Nonetheless, it is also a very noisy city from the car horns to the music and vendors. He enjoyed having a marzipan bar, corn, coca-cola in the city. After that, he also read love stories, comics and Reader’s Digest books.
On returning to Delhi, he thought of taking an adventurous route which comprises of a bus or train journey and then a boat ride, but he dropped the idea for that would have been too tiring. Thus, he booked a flight back. He saw an interesting flute seller outside his hotel. He had a pole with a lot of flutes on it and seemed like a porcupine body.
The flute seller kept playing his flutes and also did so in different tunes. But, what set him apart from the other flute sellers was that he played the flute thoughtfully. He did not scream to attract customers, he played it. This attracted the author and he wondered that flute is so common all over. Then, he compares it to the human voice and says how he is noticing even the little things now.