Gujarat Board GSEB Class 11 English Textbook Solutions Snapshots Chapter 3 Ranga’s Marriage Textbook Exercise Important Questions and Answers, Notes Pdf.
Gujarat Board Textbook Solutions Class 11 English Snapshots Chapter 3 Ranga’s Marriage
GSEB Class 11 English Ranga’s Marriage Text Book Questions and Answers
Reading with Insight
Question 1.
Comment on the influence of English -the language and the way of life-on Indian life as reflected in the story. What is the narrator’s attitude to English?
Answer:
The narrator has very poignantly brought out the influence of English language on the way of life in the story. When the Britishers came to our land, they did not bring the industrialization alone but carried with themselves their culture, their religion and their language which was to leave an impact on us forever in the future. Even after so many years of independence, we Indians are not able to do away with the English language. We consider those superior who know the English language.
It is nothing but a language after all, why feel so proud about it when it is not even ours. Yes it is a global language and it is good to know foreign languages, however, we must treat a language as language only and not as a status symbol. This falsehood has been reflected very well in the story. The narrator, Shyama, showed how when Ranga returns from Bangalore, after completing his studies, the way people anticipated his return and the excitement on knowing that Ranga now knew English, “a priceless commodity”.
They all wanted to see if there has been any change in Ranga after studying English in Bangalore. However, there was no change or little change in Ranga’s personality. He even did the traditional namaskar to Shyama by bowing down and touching his feet.
Question 2.
Astrologers’ perceptions are based more on hearsay and conjecture than what they learn from the study of the stars. Comment with reference to the story.
Answer:
Astrologers perceptions are based more on hearsay and conjecture than what they learn from the study of the stars is effectively brought through the character of Shastri in the story. It is said that astrology is a science and all the calculations done in astrology are based on the movement of various celestial bodies in our solar system. However, there are claims that all that the astrologers predict is based on hearsay and there are rare astrologers who are known for their accurate predictions.
In the story, Shyama, the narrator, went to the astrologer, Shastri and told him how he has to make possible, an alliance between Ranga and Ratna. Later when he returned to the Shastri along with Ranga, and asked him to predict what the planets told about Ranga, Shastri pretended to make certain calculations and said that Ranga was contemplating marrying a girl whose name’s initial is ‘R’, which was Ratna. He added that the name of the girl was something found in the ocean.
Then Shyama said that the girl in Rama Rao’s house was Ratna and Shastri was very positive about the proposal working out. Thus, it is difficult to say whether astrologers’ predictions are based on mere hearsay or are actually what they learn from the movements of stars.
Question 3.
Indian society has moved a long way from the way the marriage is arranged in the story. Discuss.
Answer:
It is true that the Indian society has evolved way beyond what has been portrayed in the story. The way Shyama arranged Ranga’s marriage is not how it happens in the modern times. Children today do not want to stay dependent on their parents or elders to choose their life partners. They now want to take control of their lives. They take the lead and decide themselves who they want to spend their lives with.
The society has opened up to love marriages. However, it should be noted that love marriages are not modern; this culture has existed since times immemorial. Many cases of love marriage can be traced back in the history. Shakuntala did love marriage (Gandharva vivah), Sita and Draupadi chose their partners on their own (swayamavar).
Hence, it is difficult to say whether arranged marriage is an old tradition or love marriage. Now that we have been independent for decades and have moved far ahead of Medieval and Modern India, it can be observed that the culture of arranged marriage is returning. Hence, we can be sure of at least one thing that these are trends that come and go and people follow what is in fashion.
Question 4.
What kind of a person do you think the narrator is?
Answer:
Shyama, the narrator of the story, ‘Ranga’s Marriage’ is a person who is too attached to his soil and his village. He is an elderly gentleman and refers to himself as a dark piece of oil cake. He is passionately in love with his village therefore, when the story starts, he takes the reader on a tour of his village, Hosahalli, explaining the specialities of it. He does not believe in the English culture. He tells how 10 decades ago there was no such culture and how he thinks that the language has changed the atmosphere totally.
How a distinction has descended between those who speak English and those who do not. Shyama is person who respects a person who believes in her/his culture; for example, when Ranga payed homage to him, he bowed down and touched Shyama’s feet as a namaskar. This made Shyama happy that even after studying away from home Ranga had not forgotten his roots.
Even though Ranga was an educated boy and was determined to get married to a girl who is mature enough, Shyama arranged to get him married to Ratna, who was much younger and not at all the kind of girl he would have married.
He also arranges a meeting with Shastri whom he had tutored thoroughly. He had decided that Ratna would be a suitable bride for him, this shows his beliefs in arrange marriage and also that he was a determined person who always got done what he had decided. He was a person who strongly believed in his tradition and culture.
GSEB Class 11 English Ranga’s Marriage Additional Important Questions and Answers
Answer the following questions in four to Jive sentences each:
Question 1.
What reason does the narrator give for calling his narration ‘Ranga’s Marriage’?
Answer:
The narrator in the beginning of his narration explains to his readers that although he could have given a more “mouth-filling name” to his story rather than calling it “Ranga’s Marriage”, for example, like “Ranganatha Vivaha” or “Ranganatha Vijaya” but the story is about someone he is close to, his Rangappa, who was born and brought up in his beloved village Hosahalli and it is indeed the story of his wedding. The word “marriage” gives a personal touch and also serves to reminisce the western influence which Ranga went under when he was sent to Bangalore for studying.
Question 2.
What does the writer say about the Indians aping the West?
Answer:
According to our narrator, the English language, which was earlier not very prevalent in his small humble village, has now become a “priceless commodity” that everyone wants to behold. He is not very happy about the fact these English speaking people defiling their mother tongue and bring foreign words into in the daily life communication. He is also disappointed at the fact that Indian geographers instead of correcting the mistake of English Sahibs, who did not bother to put their beloved village on any map, they are blindly following their so-called ‘greatness’.
Question 3.
What kind of bride was Ranga looking for? Why?
Answer:
After returning from Bangalore after completing his studies, Ranga had deterred from the traditional concepts of arranged marriage that was prevalent among his fellow villagers. He wanted to marry a mature girl who was mature enough to comprehend his words and not misunderstand them. He even gave example of Kalidasa’s play where Dushyantha fell in love with Shakuntala who was very mature, thus, making him convinced that he could only marry a girl he could admire.
Question 4.
The narrator pays a glowing tribute to his village, Hosahalli. What does he say?
Answer:
The narrator goes to great lengths in glorifying his humble but beautiful village. He explains his great dismay how the English sahibs have ignored this small village. The narrator is annoyed at the arrogance of the cartographers as to ignore the existence of a full village, but he does not brood over it.
The narrator is smitten with the beauty and glory of his village, and in order to justify his glorification, he says that there is a doctor in his village called The Gundabhatta, who has been to many places yet agrees with the narrator’s view.
The narrator goes on to describe the specialities of his village a raw mango so sour that it can’t be eaten whole, the fine pristine water of the village pond, the creeper growing in it which has beautiful flowers, and leaves with which one can have his lunch served. The narrator, aware of his digression, switches the topic saying that if the reader’s wanted to visit the village, they should just contact him. The tone of the narrator is humble and simple, in first-person narrative and it is almost as if someone is having a conversation with the reader.
Question 5.
Discuss the reaction of the people towards Ranga.
Answer:
The narrator claims that the “priceless commodity” that speaking English is, was not much widespread back then and that is why Ranga’s homecoming was such big deal. People were curious to find out whether Ranga has changed or not. His courtyard was filled with so many people, that had they been accommodated in the room inside, then it would have been a tragedy like the “Black Hole of Calcutta”. Everyone was surprised to see that Ranga was the same as before, and did not turn into a English speaking arrogant Sahib. After realising that Ranga was same as he was six months ago everyone lost interest and left.
Question 6.
Astrologers’ perceptions are based more on hearsay and conjecture than what they learn from the study of the stars. Comment with reference to the story.
Answer:
Astrology is a business like any other and most of the times used to deceive people. There is a very less genuine effort in the interpretation that is reached and is mostly deduced out of common sense and power of observation and conversations that happen around. An example of this is Shastri in the story, who claims that his shastras are powerful and mighty beyond the normal human perception.
But we see him acting on Shyama’s plan in order to pair up Ranga and Ratna. And in this, his shastras did not have any role, but when confronted, he denies that saying he developed on the hints and the shastras indicated it. But the reader can very well conclude, that Shastri had no merit of his own and he could not have done anything to pair Ranga and Ratna without Shyama’s help.
Ranga’s Marriage Summary in English
Ranga’s Marriage Summary:
Ranga’s Marriage, by Masti Venkatesha Iyengar, is a story about a boy who returns to his village after receiving education in English medium from Bangalore. The boy is the son of the accountant of the village. They live in the village Hosahalli in Mysore. The boy when returns, the whole village floods over him to see if there is any change in his personality. However, to their dismay, he still has the same eyes and mouth and everything else.
He did the traditional namaskar and all dispersed. The story is a first-person narrative and a major portion of the story is in flashback. The speaker directly addresses the reader. The narrator is a neighbour of the protagonist. He introduces the story with a difference by first giving a detailed description of their village Hosahalli. He praises the mangoes from his village. He asks the reader if he/she has ever heard of the village. He replies to the question himself, for the village was not located in any of the maps for the English babus and the ones in our country forgot to put it there.
Then he introduces Ranga, the protagonist, in a time ten years ago. Ranga had gone to Bangalore for studies and returned home after six months. It was the time when English was a language not popular and a few people used it. All used to converse in Kannada. All the villagers arrived at Ranga’s place and began scrutinising him. To their dismay, he was still the same old Ranga and they left disappointed. However, the narrator stayed back and shared a few jokes with the boy and then left. Later in the afternoon, Ranga arrived at the narrator’s home with a few oranges.
The narrator judged the boy and felt it appropriate to marry such a well educated and humble boy. However, Ranga had no plans to settle as a married man. He put his views on marriage in front of the narrator that he wanted to get married to a girl who is mature and someone Rangappa could admire.
Ranga left after the discussion and the narrator decided then that he would get the boy married. Determined, he began considering Rama Rao’s niece Ratna as a suitable bride for Ranga. She was from a big town and knew how to play veena and harmonium. He came up with a plan. He asked Rama Rao’s wife to send Ratna to his place to fetch some buttermilk.
So she came on Friday wearing a grand saree. He requested Ratna to sing and sent for Ranga. Ranga reached the narrator’s place and stopped outside the room as he did not want to disrupt the singing but was curious to see her face so peeped in. Ratna noticed the stranger and stopped abruptly. Ranga came in and the girl left. Curiously he inquired about the girl and narrator cleverly played at his words. He told Ranga that the girl was married off a year ago and noticed the disappointment flaring Ranga’s face.
He was infatuated to the girl. The narrator was happy as his plan was working. As his next step, the next day the narrator took Ranga to an astrologer who he had already tutored what to say. It was the meeting with the astrologer when the narrator’s name is disclosed. Shyama, he was. The astrologer pretended to read the natal chart of Rangappa and declared that the boy was in love with a girl who had a name of something found in the ocean. Shyama said it could be Ratna, Rama Rao’s niece.
Ranga’s smile was not hidden from Shyama. But the girl was married! The narrator took the boy to Rama Rao’s home and asked him to wait outside. When he came outside he confirmed that the girl was not married, that there had been some confusion. After all, the narrator had to come up with something. Even Ranga then admitted that he had been attracted to the girl.
Later a conversation between the astrologer and the narrator is described how the astrologer says that though the narrator had given him clues, he could have found it all out by himself through astrology. The story moves forward ten years, or to say, returns to the present. Rangappa came one day to the narrator, inviting him at his son Shyama’s third birthday. Obviously, Ratna and Ranga had been married. And now they have a three years old son whom Ranga named after the narrator.