Question

Why was he in the middle of desolate landscape

Answer 1

Explanation:

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 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

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.

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