NCERT Solutions Poorvi Chapter 4 Change of Heart — Let us do these activities before we read
Book page 103 Updated on2026-09-05
Q1.
Which games or sports do you play?
Answer
Name the games honestly, and sort them into three kinds so that your answer is more than a bare list.
Outdoor team games — kho-kho, kabaddi, cricket, football, hockey.
Games for two players — badminton, table tennis, chess, carrom.
Street and courtyard games — marbles, hide and seek, gilli-danda, langdi, lagori (pittu), skipping.
Sample answer: I play kho-kho and cricket in the school ground every evening. At home I play carrom and chess with my elder sister, and on Sundays the children of my lane play hide and seek till it gets dark.
Why the book begins here: Prabhat in the story played only badminton and marbles, and only when he was sure of winning. Listing your own games first will help you see how different his choice was from yours.
Q2.
Which games or sports do you play for fun?
Answer
A game played for fun has no prize, no trophy and usually no proper scoreboard. You stop when you are tired or when it gets dark, not when someone has won.
Sample answer: I play hide and seek, marbles and lagori for fun. Nobody keeps a record of who won. We just play till our mothers call us home.
Link to the story: By the end of the story Prabhat had “even begun playing hide and seek, and felt sad whenever it was about to end”. A game played purely for fun is exactly what he could not enjoy at the beginning.
Q3.
Which games or sports do you play for competition?
Answer
A game played for competition has rules, a referee or umpire, a fixed time, a score and a winner. Inter-house matches, school tournaments and district-level meets are all competitions.
Sample answer: I play badminton and kho-kho for competition. I represent my house in the inter-house tournament, and last year our kho-kho team reached the final of the zonal match.
Tip: The same game can be both. Cricket in the lane is fun; cricket in an inter-school match is competition. What changes is not the game but the reason you are playing it.
Q4.
How do you feel when you win or lose?
Answer
Say both feelings honestly, and then say what you do with the feeling — that is the part the story cares about.
When I win
When I lose
Happy, proud, excited; I want to tell everyone at home.
Disappointed, a little embarrassed, sometimes angry with myself.
What I should do: thank my team, shake hands with the other side, not boast.
What I should do: congratulate the winner, work out what went wrong, and practise it.
Sample answer: When I win I feel very happy and I want to run home and tell my mother at once. When I lose I feel low for a while, but by the next morning I usually know which mistake cost me the game, and I try to correct it in practice.
Keep this in mind while reading: Prabhat could not manage the second half of this question. “He thought that losing was the worst thing that could happen to anyone.” The whole story is about how that feeling changes.
Q5.
Work in pairs. Tick the correct meaning of ‘friendly matches’: (i) matches played to win a trophy (ii) matches played without competition
Answer
Correct answer: (ii) matches played without competition.
The word friendly tells you the purpose — the players are friends practising together, not rivals fighting for a cup. There is no prize and no place in a points table.
From the text: “This was when the coach conducted friendly matches in the games period.” They were played inside a school games period, between classmates, with the teams announced on Monday — clearly practice, not a tournament.
Q6.
Work in pairs. Tick the correct meaning of ‘opponent’: (i) someone who you compete with (ii) someone you want to be a partner with
Answer
Correct answer: (i) someone who you compete with.
An opponent stands on the other side of the net, the board or the field. A partner stands on your side — so option (ii) describes a teammate, not an opponent.
From the text: “Prabhat managed to change the scoreboard while his opponent was looking elsewhere.” Surya was playing against Prabhat, which is exactly why the word ‘opponent’ is used there.
Q7.
Work in pairs. Tick the correct meaning of ‘tally of marks’: (i) final marks on a report card (ii) record of points in a game/match
Answer
Correct answer: (ii) record of points in a game/match.
A tally is a running count kept as the game goes on — the numbers on a scoreboard. It has nothing to do with school marks.
From the text: “…to enjoy a game, you did not need a scoreboard to keep a tally of your scores.” The word appears beside ‘scoreboard’, which settles its meaning.
Q8.
Work in pairs. Tick the correct meaning of ‘sporting spirit’: (i) following all the rules in a game (ii) being fair and respecting each player in a game
Answer
Correct answer: (ii) being fair and respecting each player in a game.
Option (i) is only a part of it. A player can follow every written rule and still sulk, boast or laugh at a weaker opponent — that is not sporting spirit. Sporting spirit means playing fair, respecting your opponent, and accepting the result with a smile.
From the text: The classmates say of the changed Prabhat, “Good fun playing with Prabhat, that fellow definitely has a great sporting spirit.” They say it because he had begun joking and enjoying himself — not because he had learnt the rule book.