NCERT Solutions Poorvi Chapter 2 Verghese Kurien — Let us discuss
Book page 86 Updated on2026-09-05
Q1.
A fact is something that can be proven true or false. A fact is not based on people's beliefs. An opinion on the other hand is a belief, feeling or judgement, and can vary from one person to another. An opinion cannot be proven. Identify which of the following statements are facts and which are opinions. Share your answers with your classmates and teacher. 1. But speaking on the telephone only gives us an immediate but fleeting joy.
Answer
Opinion
Why: the words “only” and “fleeting joy” are judgements. Many people would say a phone call from a distant parent gives a joy that is anything but fleeting. Since two honest people can disagree and neither can be proved wrong, this is a belief, not a fact — however strongly Dr. Kurien holds it.
Q2.
2. I started my working life soon after our country became independent.
Answer
Fact
Why: this is a statement about dates. India became independent in 1947, and the year Dr. Kurien began work can be checked against records. Anything that can in principle be verified — even if you personally cannot verify it — is a fact.
Careful: “soon after” is a little vague, but vagueness does not make a statement an opinion. It is still a claim about what happened, not about what is good or bad.
Q3.
3. To be quite honest, service to our nation's farmers was not the career I had envisioned for myself.
Answer
Fact
Why: he is reporting what he had actually planned for himself, and he goes on in the letter to name the alternatives — metallurgy, a commission in the Army, life as an NRI. It is a statement about his own past intentions, and he is the one person who can say whether it is true or false. It contains no judgement about whether that career was better or worse.
Do not be misled by “To be quite honest”. That is a conversational opener, not an opinion word. Strip it away and the sentence is a plain statement of fact.
Q4.
4. I knew I could make a more meaningful contribution by working here in Anand, Gujarat.
Answer
Opinion
Why: the key phrase is “more meaningful”. Meaningfulness cannot be measured, and “more” invites a comparison with careers he never took, so there is nothing to compare against. Note also that he writes “I knew” — but believing something firmly does not turn it into a fact.
A useful test: ask what evidence would settle the question. For statement 2 you could check a date. For this one, there is nothing you could look up.
Q5.
5. … values that I saw in my mentor and supporter here in Anand—Tribhuvandas Patel.
Answer
Fact
Why: that Tribhuvandas Patel was his mentor and supporter at Anand is a matter of record — the two men worked together at the Kaira District Co-operative Milk Producers' Union, and the relationship is documented. The statement identifies a person and a role, both of which can be checked.
Worth arguing about in class: the phrase “values that I saw in” is his personal reading of another man's character, and that part is a judgement. Statements often mix the two, and being able to say which part is fact and which is opinion is a better answer than a single label.
Q6.
6. Life is a privilege, and to waste it would be wrong.
Answer
Opinion
Why: the word “wrong” makes this a moral judgement, and “privilege” is a way of valuing life rather than describing it. It is a belief many people share — but sharing a belief widely does not convert it into a fact. Nothing could be observed or measured to prove it.
Q7.
7. I hope that you, too, will discover, as I did, that failure is not about not succeeding.
Answer
Opinion
Why: two signals give it away. “I hope” expresses a wish, and a redefinition of failure — that it is “not about not succeeding” but about not putting in your best effort — is a personal philosophy. A dictionary would define failure quite differently.
Notice how carefully he phrases it. He does not write “failure is X”. He writes “I hope that you will discover”. He is offering a way of seeing, not asserting a fact — and the grammar of his sentence tells you so.
Q8.
8. … the magnificent ceremony in which the President awarded me the Padma Vibhushan in 1999?
Answer
Fact
Why: the core of the statement — that the President awarded him the Padma Vibhushan in 1999 — is on the public record and can be checked. That makes it a fact.
But notice the smuggled opinion. The single word “magnificent” is a judgement wrapped inside a factual sentence. Advertisements and news headlines do this constantly — “the historic decision”, “the shocking result” — and learning to spot the adjective inside the fact is one of the most useful reading skills there is.