Chapter 3-Iswaran The Story Teller (Moments)

Question 1:

In what way is Iswaran an asset to Mahendra?

ANSWER:

Iswaran cooked for Mahendra, washed his clothes, and chatted with him at night. He would
narrate various stories on varied subjects. He also had an amazing ability to produce
vegetables and cooking ingredients out of nowhere. He would miraculously cook the most
delicious dishes made with fresh vegetables within an hour of arriving at the new workplace.
Iswaran was quite attached to Mahendra and followed him to wherever he was posted. Hence,
Iswaran was an asset to Mahendra in more ways than one.

Question 2:

How does Iswaran describe the uprooted tree on the highway? What effect does he want to
create in his listeners?

ANSWER:

Iswaran‟s descriptions were greatly influenced by the Tamil thrillers he read. When he came
across an uprooted tree on the highway, he said very dramatically that the road was deserted
and he was all alone. Suddenly, he spotted something that “looked like an enormous bushy
beast lying sprawled across the road.” He was half-inclined to turn and go back. However, as
he came closer, he saw that it was a fallen tree with its dry branches spread out.

Even if he was narrating the smallest of incidents, he tried to introduce suspense and a
surprise ending to the story.

Question 3:

How does he narrate the story of the tusker? Does it appear to be plausible?

ANSWER:
He started the story of the elephant by giving a prologue in which he called elephants „huge
well-fed beasts.‟ He said that after escaping from the timber yard, the elephant started
roaming about, stamped on bushes and tore up wild creepers. It then came to the main road of
the town and smashed all the stalls selling fruits, mud pots, and clothes. It then entered a
school ground where the children were playing. It pulled out the football goal-post, tore down
the volleyball net, flattened the drum kept for water and uprooted the shrubs. All the teachers
and students were so afraid that they climbed up to the terrace of the school building.
According to Iswaran, he was studying in the junior class at that time. He grabbed a cane
from the hands of one of the teachers and ran into the open. The elephant continued grunting
and stamping its feet. It looked frightening. However, he moved slowly towards it. When the
elephant was ready to rush towards him, he moved forward and whacked its third toe nail. It
looked stunned and then collapsed.

This story does not appear to be plausible

Question 4:

Why does the author say that Iswaran seemed to more than make up for the absence of a TV
in Mahendra‟s living quarters?

ANSWER:

Iswaran used to narrate different dramatic stories to Mahendra. Not a day passed when he did
not recount some story packed with adventure, horror or suspense. Mahendra enjoyed
listening to these stories, whether it was credible or not, because of the manner in which they
were narrated. It is for this reason that the narrator says that Iswaran seemed to more than
make up the absence of a TV in Mahendra‟s living quarters.

Question 5:

Mahendra calls ghosts or spirits a figment of the imagination. What happens to him on a full-
moon night?

ANSWER:

One night, Mahendra was woken up from his sleep by a low moan close to the window near
his bed. Initially, he thought it was a cat running after mice. However, the sound was too
guttural for a cat. Mahendra resisted the curiosity of looking outside the window but when the
noise became louder, he could not resist the temptation. When he looked outside, he saw a
dark cloudy form clutching a bundle. He broke into a cold sweat and fell back on the pillow.
When he recovered from this ghastly experience, he concluded that it must have been some
trick that his subconscious mind had played on him. When he got up in the morning, the
terrible memory of the previous night had faded from his memory. However, when Iswaran
confirmed the presence of the female ghost, he immediately resigned from his post and
decided to leave the „haunted place.‟

Chapter 4- In the Kingdom of Fools (Moments)

Question 1: What are the two strange things the guru and his disciple find in the Kingdom of
Fools?

Answer: When the guru and the disciple reached the Kingdom of Fools, the first strange thing
they noticed was that there was no one about. There was not a single soul to be found on the
streets, not even cattle. They were amazed by what they saw around them and wandered here
and there till evening. The second strange thing was that everything cost the same in the
Kingdom of Fools i.e., a single duddu. Whatever they bought, a bunch of bananas or a
portion of rice, cost the same i.e., a duddu.

Question 2: Why does the disciple decide to stay in the Kingdom of Fools? Is it a good idea?

Answer: The disciple was a great lover of food. He decided to stay back in the Kingdom of
Fools because all food items were cheap here. He could buy whatever he wanted for a rupee
and all he wanted was good, cheap food.

The disciple decision to stay back was not a good idea because anything could have happened
to him in the Kingdom of Fools, as he was rightly told by the guru..

Question 3: Name all the people who are tried in the king‟s court, and give the reasons for
their trial.

Answer: Four persons were tried in the king‟s court: the owner of the house, the bricklayer,
the dancing girl and the goldsmith.

The owner of the house in which the theft had occurred was the first person to be summoned
to the court. He was pronounced guilty as his wall was weak because of which the thief had
died. The owner of the house cleverly passed the guilt on to the bricklayer by saying that it
was actually the bricklayer who had built the wall in the first place.
When the bricklayer was told about his fault, he passed the blame to the dancing girl. He said
that she kept going up and down the street with her anklets jingling and he could not keep his
eyes off her. As a result, he lost his concentration and built a weak wall.

The king decided to punish the dancing girl and she was summoned to the court next. In her
defence, she said that at that time, she had given some gold to a goldsmith to make some
jewellery for her. Since the goldsmith was extremely lazy, he made several excuses and made
her walk up and down to his house a dozen times and that was when the bricklayer had seen
her.

The king then came to the conclusion that the goldsmith should be punished. When he was
summoned to the court, he claimed that he was very poor and it was because of a rich
merchant, who would not wait for his order to be complete, that he kept delaying and making
excuses to the dancing girl. Incidentally, this merchant was none other than the father of the
owner of the house.

Question 4: Who is the real culprit according to the king? Why does he escape punishment?

Answer: According to the king, the owner of the house was the real culprit. The owner
arrived crying and said that it was not him but his father who had ordered the jewellery. Since
his father was long dead, he could not be held responsible for the death of the thief. On
consulting his ministers, the king came to the conclusion that the merchant‟s father was the
culprit. However, since he was dead, the punishment would be carried out on the owner of
the house.

As the servants sharpened the stake for the punishment, the minister realized that the
merchant was too thin to be properly executed on the stake. The king then realised that they
needed a man fat enough to fit the stake. Hence, the owner of the house escapes the
punishment.

Question 5: What are the Guru‟s words of wisdom? When does the disciple remember them?

Answer: The guru‟s words of wisdom were that it was the city of fools. He advised the
disciple to leave the city because he would not know what they would do next.

The disciple remembered these words when he was being carried to the place of execution.
Even though he tried to explain that he was innocent and was just a disciple, the servants said
that it was a royal decree to find a man fat enough to fit the stake. As he was waiting for his
death, he remembered his guru‟s words of wisdom and prayed to him in his heart.

Question 6: How does the guru manage to save his disciple‟s life?
,Answer: Since the guru had magical powers, he saw in a vision that the disciple was praying
to him. As soon as he arrived to save him, he whispered something to him. He then went to
the king and asked who was greater, the guru or the disciple. The king answered that the guru
was greater. Immediately, the guru asked the king to put him to the stake first and then his
disciple. The disciple understood the guru‟s trick and began saying that he was brought there
first and therefore, he should be put to death first.

The guru and disciple got into a fight. The king was puzzled. He knew there was something
mysterious about the fight. So, he promised the guru that he would put him to death first if he
told him what the mystery was. The guru told him that he and his disciple had been all over
the world, but they had never found a city like that or a king like him. The stake was the stake
of the god of justice. It was new and a criminal had never been put on it. Whoever would die
on it first would be reborn as the king of that kingdom and whoever would die next, would be
the future minister. The guru said that they were tired of their ascetic lives. Hence, they
wanted to be reborn as king and minister.

The king started thinking immediately. He did not want to lose his kingdom to someone else
in the next life. He postponed the execution till the next day and talked to his minister and
decided that they would go on the stakes themselves and would be reborn as king and
minister. The king and the minister secretly released the guru and his disciple and took their
place and got executed on the stake. Hence, the guru used his cleverness to save his disciple‟s
life.