NCERT Solutions Poorvi Chapter 4 Travel (poem)

Q1.

A diamante poem is a poem that is shaped like a diamond, which uses specific types of words like adjectives and –ing words. Let us read an example. [Day / Bright, sunny / Dancing, playing, running / Out comes the sun, down goes the sun / Resting, listening, dreaming / Quiet, peaceful / Night] Let us now write a diamante poem that connects ‘reading' and ‘adventure'. Line 1: Reading (the first topic); Line 2: two adjectives about reading; Line 3: three -ing words about reading; Line 4: four nouns or a short phrase linking your topics; Line 5: three -ing words about adventure; Line 6: two adjectives about adventure; Line 7: Adventure (the second topic). Share your poem with your classmates and the teacher.

Answer

The rule of the shape: the lines grow 1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 3 – 2 – 1, which is what gives the poem its diamond outline. Line 4 is the hinge: it must belong to both topics, so that the poem turns from one to the other in the middle.

Line	What it must be	Sample
1	the first topic	Reading
2	two adjectives about reading	Quiet, magical
3	three -ing words about reading	Turning, wondering, imagining
4	four nouns or a short phrase linking both	Pages, maps, mountains, journeys
5	three -ing words about adventure	Climbing, rafting, discovering
6	two adjectives about adventure	Risky, thrilling
7	the second topic	Adventure

Sample answer — the finished diamante:

Reading
Quiet, magical
Turning, wondering, imagining
Pages, maps, mountains, journeys
Climbing, rafting, discovering
Risky, thrilling
Adventure

A second sample:

Reading
Still, comforting
Dreaming, following, escaping
A book opens, a road opens
Packing, trekking, daring
Loud, unpredictable
Adventure

Why line 4 is the hardest and the best: It must face both ways at once. “Pages, maps, mountains, journeys” starts inside a book and ends on a real mountain; “A book opens, a road opens” does the same in a phrase. Get that line right and the poem works.

Q2.

We come across many interesting characters while travelling. They become interesting because of their actions, their behaviour, and manner of speaking. Describe one such character that you met. Follow these steps. 1. Choose the character. 2. Create a first draft of your description including the following details. (i) What is the name of the character? (ii) What does the character look like? (iii) What does the character do? (iv) What kind of person is she or he? (v) Include any line or incident from the text that you like the most. 3. Check your description for any spelling mistakes or errors. 4. Show your classmates your work and ask for suggestions. 5. Rewrite your description including all the changes and suggestions for improvement.

Answer

How to do it: Choose one real person you actually met on a journey — a co-passenger, a tea-seller, a bus conductor, a guide. Write a first draft answering (i) to (v) in order, then revise it. The five steps are the exercise; do not skip the drafting and rewriting.

Step	What to do
(i) Name	Give a name (or say how you addressed the person, e.g. “Nathu chacha”).
(ii) Looks	Two or three specific details — not “he was old” but “a white stubble and a red woollen cap he never took off”.
(iii) Does	Their work and one thing you saw them doing.
(iv) Kind of person	Name the quality and prove it with the incident.
(v) A line you liked	Quote something the person actually said, or a line from the unit that fits them.

Sample answer:
His name was Nathu chacha and he sold tea on the Kalka platform. He was a small, wiry man with a white stubble and a red woollen cap he never took off, even in June. He carried a steel kettle in his right hand and eight glasses hooked between the fingers of his left, and he poured tea from a height without spilling a drop — I counted, and he did it eleven times without looking at the glass. When my little sister dropped her glass and began to cry, he refilled it and refused to take the two rupees. “Beta, the train is long and the hills are cold,” he said, and moved on down the platform, calling. He was the busiest person on that platform and the least hurried. He reminded me of Sunder Singh in The Tunnel — a man doing a very small job with complete pride, whom the hundreds of passengers rushing past would never remember. I have forgotten the name of the hotel we stayed in, but I have not forgotten him.

Why the sample works: It shows rather than tells. Instead of writing “he was kind and skilful”, it gives the eleven glasses (skill) and the refused two rupees (kindness). One quoted line lets us hear his voice. And the last sentence says why he was worth describing at all.

NCERT Solutions Poorvi Chapter 4 Travel (poem) — Let us write