NCERT Solutions Poorvi Chapter 1 Wisdom Paves the Way (play) — Let us discuss (Scene I)
Book page 32 Updated on2026-09-05
Q1.
I. Complete the following sentences with suitable reasons. One example has been done for you.
1. Shiv Datt said, “I believe it has been over a week, perhaps even longer,” because it had been a long time since they left the village.
2. Dev Datt said, “Indeed, we ought to be united in this hope. That is why we press on towards Ujjain,” because ___________________________.
Answer
… because he knew that four friends looking for work together would only manage the journey if they kept believing the same thing; the moment one of them gave up hope, the group would break apart and turn back.
Look at what he is answering. Ram Datt has just voiced a hope — “If only we could secure an audience with the King of Ujjain” — and Shiv Datt has agreed with it. Dev Datt does not add a new idea; he makes the shared hope into a rule for the group. He is the steadying voice of the four: a moment earlier he had told Ram Datt that “ten days are but a short span in the grand scheme of things.”
Q2.
3. Har Datt said, “Look there, friends. A camel has passed this way. The tracks are fresh,” because ___________________________.
Answer
… because he had noticed fresh camel tracks on the dusty road, and knew that markings still sharp in the dust must have been made only a short while earlier — a detail worth pointing out to the others, since it might lead somewhere useful.
A note on the speaker: In the play itself (page 30) this line is spoken by Shiv Datt, not Har Datt: “Shiv Datt : Look there, friends. A camel has passed this way. The tracks are fresh.” The exercise on page 32 attributes it to Har Datt. Answer the question as it is printed, but be ready to point the difference out — noticing it is exactly the kind of close reading the play rewards.
Why “fresh” is the important word: Anyone can see a footprint. Judging the age of one — from how sharp its edges still are before wind and traffic blur them — is already an act of reasoning, and it is the first of the many inferences the four men will make from that same road.
Q3.
4. Shiv Datt said, “It appears to be a merchant, running as if pursued by trouble,” because ___________________________.
Answer
… because he could see from a distance that the approaching man was dressed as a trader, and that he was running — and a merchant does not run on a hot road at midday unless something has gone badly wrong.
Two observations in one sentence: the man’s clothing tells Shiv Datt what he is; the man’s haste tells him what has happened to him. Ram Datt then completes the inference: “judging by his countenance, he has lost something of great value—perhaps his camel.” The four men reason in exactly this way throughout — a visible sign first, a conclusion second, and never the conclusion alone.
Q4.
5. The merchant said, “How could you possibly know that? The poor creature has been unwell for two weeks now. Surely you are a healer!” because ___________________________.
Answer
… because Dev Datt had just described a hidden ailment — the camel’s stomach pain — which no one could see merely by looking at the animal, let alone by looking at a road; and since the merchant could think of no ordinary way for a stranger to know it, he assumed the man must be a healer with special powers.
The moment the mood turns: The first three findings — a limp, a blind eye, a short tail — are all things a person might have noticed by seeing the camel. A pain in the stomach is not. This is the point at which the merchant’s wonder starts turning into suspicion, and two speeches later he is calling them deceivers. He cannot imagine a fourth possibility: that they read the whole thing from the tracks in the dust.
Q5.
6. Dev Datt said, “You are free to do as you wish, sir. If the King desires our presence, we shall be waiting under that banyan tree yonder,” because ___________________________.
Answer
… because he and his friends had nothing to hide; knowing they were innocent, he was willing to let the merchant take the matter to the King, and by offering to wait openly under a banyan tree instead of hurrying away he showed that they had no intention of escaping.
Why the reply is so effective: It is calm, courteous (“sir”) and specific. A guilty man argues; Dev Datt gives an address. And it turns out to be more than composure — the King of Ujjain is precisely the audience these four have been hoping for since the first page. The merchant’s threat is quietly accepted because it offers them the very meeting Har Datt had called “no simple task”.