The Professor Reference to the Context Class 9& 10 ICSE

Answer a.In the given line “all my children / are well settled in life”, the speaker meant that his children have been successful in getting a job and they have got settled down in their life.

Question b. What does the speaker want to convey when he says , “Both have cars”?What does it convey about the Indian society?

Answer b.The speaker desired to convey about his children’s success as they both possessed cars and have got established in their life. It conveys the usual boasting of property and status by the Indians.

Question c. What is the ‘Other referred to in the above lines? What does the speaker say that he is not doing good “so well”?

Answer c.Other is referred to the third son of the speaker in the given line the speaker says that he is not doing good which means he is trying to achieve success in his life.

Question d. What does the speaker mean by “Every family must have black sheep”? Who is the black sheep in the speaker’s family? Why?

Answer d.The speaker meant by the given line that “every family must have a black sheep is that if others are doing good in their life there is still a person who is not similar to others in their achievement. Here the speaker is trying to refer to his third son who was in the process of getting a job.

Question e. How does the extract show that many Indians value economic success more than academic success?

Answer e.In the given extract it is reflected that the speaker is boasting about the status of his sons more than giving emphasis on their academic success. He mentions that one of his sons is sale manager and the other is a bank manager and both possessed cars. It is seen that nothing has been mentioned about the academic success of the children of the poet.

2-“Sarala and Tarala are married ………..I am not against.”
Question a. Who are ‘Sarala and Tarala’? Which practice of naming do they show in our society?

Answer a.In the given extract Sarala and Tarala are the daughters of the speaker who are married and well settled in their life. The naming of the daughters shows the practice of giving rhyming names to the children in Indian society.

Question b. What does the speaker say about the marriage of his daughters? What trait of the Indian society is hinted at by the speaker’s comment about the marriage of Sarala and Tarala?

Answer b.The speaker boasts about his daughters in front of his student. Sarala and Tarala are the daughters of the speaker who are married and possessed a good lifestyle. They have been married in good families. Their husbands are gentle boys. The typical Indian thought on thinking about the girls has been depicted in the poem. It is stated that girls must be confined to the four walls of the house.

Question c. What does the speaker mean when he says ” How many issues you have” ? Who is asking this question?

Answer c.The speaker asks his student about the number of children he has in his family. This question has been asked by the speaker.

Question d. Why does the speaker say “That is good”? What is the good that he is talking about?

Answer d.The speaker says that is good by listening to the answer of a student regarding his issues. The word good is referred to as the changes in society. The modern days are considered family planning. The speaker is not against family planning that is a trend of modernized lifestyle.

Question e. What is that which the speaker is not against? What is the irony in this statement?

Answer e.The speaker is not against the trend of family planning in the world. The poem is satire vehicle in nature that caricatures a professor of geography as he himself possessed many children.

Question f. How far is the poem a satire on the urban Indian way of life?

Answer f.The poem is a satire on the urban Indian way of life because still now every Indian family is of bigger size. Family planning has not entered India as a trend of modern world where as other countries are practicing it as they are concerned about their population whereas India is a second populous country.

3-“We have to change with times ………. happening with leaps and bounds”
Question a. Why does the speaker “We have to change with times”? What does it show about the character of the speaker?

Answer a.The speaker says that we have to change with times because whole world is changing and in India people are giving efforts to change their lifestyle. The character of the speaker shows that he is not against the changes of the world.

Question b. What is that with which India is also “keeping up”?

Answer b.India is also keeping up with the changes of the world especially family planning.

Question c. What according to the speaker is happening to “value”? Why?

Answer c.According to the speaker old values are going out and new values are coming in the society. This is happening with leaves and bound. The changes are taking place rapidly in the society to keep up in the race.

Question d. Why according to the speaker “Everything is happening with leaps and bounds”?

Answer d.The changes in the values are happening with leaps and bounds because according to the speaker old values are going out and new values are coming in in the society.

Question e. The poet’s use of present continuous tense for simple present indicates the correct use of English by the Indians. Give two examples from the above extract of such usage.

Answer e.The speakers use of present continuous tense for simple present indicates the incorrect use of English by the Indians. The two examples from the poem are: 1: we are keeping up. Our progress is progressing. 2:Old values are going and new values are coming.

4-“I am going out rarely, now and then………because of sound habits in youth.”
Question a. Why does the speaker say that he rarely goes out? What is the “price of old age” which the speaker has to pay?

Answer a.The speaker says that he rarely goes out of the house because he has become old. the price of old days meant by the speaker is that his incapability of moving out of the home in old age.

Question b. What does the speaker tell us about his health in the above lines?

Answer b.The speaker says that he has no diabetes blood pressure for heart attack. He has only usual aches and pains.

Question c. What reason does the speaker ascribe for his good health?

Answer c.The reason the speaker ash cries for his good health is due to his own sound habits.

Question d. What according to you might have been followed by the speaker in his youth?

Answer d.The good habits could be of having morning walk good diet and working together.

Question e. Explain the main theme of the poem.

Answer e.The professor explore the typical thinking pattern of the urban people in India full stop it talks about the worldly success office children his son’s at their workspace and of the daughters in their married life.

5-“This year I am sixty-nine……….opposite house’s backside.”
Question a. What does the speaker mean by saying “hope to score a century”?

Answer a.The speaker meant by saying hope to score a century is that hi may attend the age of hundred.

Question b. What is meant by “man of weight and consequence”?To whom and why does the speaker say that he is “a man of weight and consequence”?

Answer b.The meaning of the line man of weight and consequence is that student it has gain weight and has become a muscular man. The given line has been referred to the student of the speaker.

Question c. What is the ‘good joke’ the speaker is referring to in the above lines?

Answer c.The speaker comments on the the health of the student and jokingly says that earlier the letter used to be thin like a stick.

Question d. Give an example of Indian English used by the speaker in the above lines.

Answer d.We are keeping up. Our progress is progressing meant that the poet makes many grammatical errors in his conversation in English using present continuous tense instead of simple present.

Question e. How far is the title of the poem appropriate?

Answer e.The manner and subject of professor’s conversation is far away from the talk of an intellectual man. He discusses only his family in the whole poem who is concerned more about boasting of the status of his children in society. It also shows that he is not concerned with the prevailing problems in society as not a single hard reality of life has been mentioned in the poem.