Std. XII - Lesson 1.1 An Astrologer’s Day

       An Astrologer’s Day  

       By R. K Narayan 

Title of the text : A specific day in the life of person who uses astrology to tell others about their character or to predict their future. 

The story centers around an astrologer who practices in a busy market place with a dim light that cast a mysterious quality on him.  He believes to predict the future of others who knows nothing about himself , what may happen with him within the next minutes. On a specific day , he encounters a man who was stabbed and killed by himself. The elements of suspense  makes readers interested to read the story with curiosity. 

                                         Courtesy : English YuvakBharati Textbook STD XII

      ICE BREAKERS

Strengths	Why do you feel so?	Dream career
painting and drawing	can visualize, express	Commercial artist, cartoonist
dancing	passion, expression	Choreographer, Artist
singing	voice modulation	Singer
music	passion for musical instruments or  to get peace and relaxation	Musician
acting	enacting as per situation	Actor
cooking and baking	love to make food and dishes	Chef, baker

2) The scene in a local market of a village/town/city is very attractive. People with different  occupations   sell their wares. Discuss with your partner the variety of activities at the local market.

1.    selling flowers, selling grocery.    
2.    vegetable and fruit vendors
3.    homemade snacks , medicines,  home utensils, beauty products, clothes etc.
4.    bargaining and bantering ,movement of people and goods carrier vehicles
5.    astrologers and card readers
6.    traditional medicine sellers
7.    cheap electronic items sellers
8.    bangles sellers

    3)  In a village /town /city it is quite a common sight to see an astrologer sitting by the                        roadside with his professional equipment.

         Discuss with your partner and list the requirements for his trade.

  

1. parrot, cards etc.
2. cowrie shells, photos of deity, green chillies , wand, vermilion (sindoor)
3. mysterious charts , colorful cloth
4. manuscripts (panchang)
5. utensils of religious significance

4)   There are certain unreasonable beliefs among people living in our society. Certain common         events are linked with superstitions.

      List such events, discuss the superstitions linked with them and the means of their                          eradication.

1. A cat crossing your path
2. Sacrifice of animals toward of evil
3. Hang lemon and chilies.
4. Boiled milk overflowing from vessel.
5. Belief in supernatural powers.
6. To cut the nails at night.
7. To hear the caws of crow.
8. Dogs howling (sound) in the night
9. Hang black doll on the door.

      

1. cat crossing your path 

      Explanation : 

      If a cat specially a black cat crosses your path it is considered to be a sign that something bad is           about   to happen with you. 

     Means of eradication:  We should educate the believers that it is just a cat which is like an                  another animal  it roams freely. Moreover, tell people that the above belief has no logic.

    2. Sacrifice of animals toward of evil

     Explanation: This is just a blind belief to kill animals for good luck or good fortune. 

    Means of eradication: There is no relation between killing animal for good luck. It is completely       blind  faith. We should aware them by exposing their falsehood. 

    3. To cut the nails at night.

     Explanation: This is just an activity. There is no logic and relation of misfortune to your life.

    Means of eradication: We should educate people that cutting nails are just day-to-day activities if      the nails      are troubling you then you can cut it at any time or any day of the week. By creating        social awareness drive       among people, we can get rid of such blind beliefs.

    4. Hang lemon and chilies.

        Explanation: It is blindly believed that hanging lemon and chilies on doors or sometimes in the          vehicles,   can save you from any misfortune or bad luck.

       Means of eradication:  We must educate people that good deeds bring good fortune while green       chili and lemons are just part of our food ingredients they can make food dish delicious. Be                 practical minded and do experiments.

    5. Boiled milk or flowing from vessel 

       Explanation:  it is common to overflow boiling milk from a vessel. It happens due to the                    negligence of the person who kept it boiling for more time than usual.  

      Means to eradicate: We should be cautious and alert while boiling the milk over a gas stove. We        must have rational behind it. Anything may overflow if it is boiled for more than usual  time  in a        vessel.

6. Belief in supernatural powers. 

   Explanation: Scientifically it is proven that there are no super natural powers exist in the world. If     there had been any such then it would have been found by the researches are the scientists using         different scientific methods and tools.

   Means to eradicate: We must educate people to develop scientific thinking and attitude.

    However following tips may help to eradicate superstition from the society.

 1.  Developing scientific attitude

  

 2.  Being more logical and rational 

3.   Be alert to  expose their falsehood

4.  Create social awareness drives to educate people

5.  Through mass  literacy campaigns

6.  Organizing  street plays, stage shows, films, songs, plays and TV programmes

7.  Collaborating with  help of local NGOs

8.  Organizing workshops, seminars and scientific forums at school and 

      colleges  to spread awareness among 

   Guess the meaning: 

1. pies: one hundredth of rupee / a former monetary unit of India and Pakistan equal to 1/12 of an anna
2. tilting - move or causing to move in sloping position
3. bluffing - trying to deceive someone as to someone's abilities or intentions
4. glimpse - a momentary or partial view
5. passer-by - a person who happens to be going past something, especially on foot
6. peep - look quickly and furtively at something especially through a narrow opening
7. overwhelmed - overpowered or have strong emotional effect on
8. groaned- made a deep, inarticulate sound conveying despair or pain

                   Brainstorming Activities

(A1)

(i) Given below are some descriptions. Discuss them with your partner and find out one word for each of them. An example is given for you.

(a) The scientific study of the universe and the objects in it, including stars, planets, nebulae and galaxies

- Astronomy

(b) The study of the movements of the planets, Sun, Moon, and Stars in the belief that these movements can have an influence on people's lives

- Astrology 

(c) A prediction of what will happen in the future.

- Prophecy 

(d) Scientific discipline that studies mental states and processes and behaviour in humans and other animals.

- Psychology

(ii) In the story we are told that the Town Hall Park was a remarkable place in many ways for an astrologer to build his business. Discuss it in a group and list the exceptional qualities of the place.

a) A surging crowd     

b) Shoppers in large numbers

c) A variety of traders  and People with various occupations

d) Vociferousness of a vendor of fried groundnut

e) It was a bustling market place.

f) The place was lit up by shop lights.

g) Bewildering crisscross of light rays and moving shadows.

h) An auctioneer of cheap cloth created enough din to attract the whole town.

(iii) The astrologer never opened his mouth till the other had spoken for at least ten minutes. Discuss the reasons behind his act.

(a) He is good at reading the people.

b) The information given by clients provided him enough stuff for a dozen answers and advice.        

c) He got a chance to analyze the troubles of his customer.            

d) He worked on the policy those who hear a lot learn a lot.

e) He won the confidence of the customer.

f) He got enough time for searching answers and giving advice.

(A2)

(i) The tactics used by the astrologer to earn his wages are...

a)  analysis of human troubles

b)  a charming appearance 

c)  saying charming things and flattering customers 

d)  use of equipment and shrewdness 

d)  creating fear in the mind of the customers 

(ii) An astrologer's appearance helps to create an impression on his clients.

Complete the following

a) The turban on his head b) Sacred ash and vermilion on his forehead c)  Eyes sparking with abnormal gleam d) Dark whiskers that streamed down his forehead

(iii) Read the following sentences and choose the correct one .

(a) The astrologer says that if Nayak does not leave his village again, he would -

(1) return the money

(2) face danger

(3) go back home and stop looking for the man who tried to kill him

(4) not find the killer.

Answer: face danger

(b) According to the narrator the astrologer's success in his profession is primarily due to -

(1) luck

(2) the bargains he drives

(3) his appearance

(4) his understanding of people.

Answer: his understanding of people.

(c) The story suggests that the astrologer's comments and observations please people by -

(1) promising them success and good fortune

(2) proving, as time passes, to have been true

(3) flattering them or supporting their own views

(4) helping them to learn to solve their own problems.   

Answer: flattering them or supporting their own views  

(d) Guru Nayak consults the astrologer because he wants to -

(1) understand the past

(2) find out who the astrologer is

(3) make some money through a bet

(4) get the answer to a specific question

Answer: get the answer to a specific question

(e) Guru Nayak is looking for the man who tried to kill him -

(1) to take revenge

(2) to get an apology

(3) to demand an explanation

(4) to prove that the man was unsuccessful.

Answer: to take revenge

(f) The astrologer's remark makes Guru Nayak feel all of the following except-

(1) relieved

(2) suspicious

(3) impressed

(4) disappointed.

Answer: suspicious

(g) Reactions of the astrologer's wife to his news suggest that she -

(1) was unaware of his past

(2) has been worried about his safety

(3) has known him since he was young

(4) is concerned about her future with him.

Answer: was unaware of his past

(iv) Read the following sentences and find out True and False sentences. Correct the False sentences.

(a) The astrologer gave a correct prediction to the client about his past that he was stabbed, thrown into a well and left for dead.- True

(b) When the astrologer came to know that the man whom he killed is alive he felt that he was relieved of his guilt. - True

(c) The astrologer tried to back out of the deal and talked about the client's past. – False 

(The astrologer demanded more money to tell about the client’s past)

(d) The astrologer rescued himself from Guru Nayak's revenge. - True

(e) The moral of the story is that we must be responsible about what we have done and should not run away from our mistakes. - True

(v) The astrologer has changed his appearance and his persona when he arrived in the city. Give specific reasons.

Answer: The astrologer had forsaken  his village for the city after attempting to murder a man in a wrath whom he had left for dead. He had to disguise his identity to prevent from being caught. He had settled in the distant city for livelihood where no one was familiar with him. He changed his attire and also made over  the complete appearance and persona so that no one could recognize him and his offence of killing a man would not be revealed.

(vi)'The darkness load that was inside the astrologer has disappeared'. Through this sentence, explain the significance of the title 'An Astrologer's Day'.

Answer: 'The darkness load that was inside the astrologer has disappeared'  means  the burden of thought that the astrologer  was living  with that he had the blood of man on his hands all those days.  But when on a specific day , he finds that the man whom he had killed, was alive. He felt relieved from the tension. Therefore, the title An Astrologer's Day is significant. 

(vii)   The astrologer feels relieved that Guru is not dead as it relieves a great burden from him. Critically justify the statement and explain it.

Answer: An astrologer feels relieved to discover that Guru Nayak is not dead. This is so because that the astrologer had tried to kill him in his early age and left him to be dead and felt  him guilty. But one day when he saw Guru Nayak before him alive, he felt relieved from the burden of that thought means he was not dead.

(viii) The astrologer wins/gets the sympathy of criticism of the reader in the end. Express your opinion with the support of the main story.

Answer: The Astrologer gets the sympathy of the readers because the story portrays the astrologer as a false fortune teller with no real knowledge of his profession who  attract clients by street smart ways and also manages to convince them by sweet talking to them. Moreover, he is the revealed to the readers as a near-murderer towards the end of the story.  However, despite all this it is difficult to judge the astrologer as a negative character and he rather manages to win  sympathy of the reader's criticism this is so because firstly he has to make a  living in the nearest city after he fled his village for fear of being caught. So in the absence of any other skill, he must have had to adopt astrology as a livelihood under the stress and not by choice. Secondly he had to trick the stranger into believing that the man whom he was looking out for had already died in an accident so as to protect his own life again he can't be judged badly on his account because he couldn't have suffered to lose his own life at the ends of the stranger by revealing him is true identity since he had his wife and child to support to it made him lie to the stranger in order to keep himself out of harm's way.

(ix) If we have to eradicate the superstitions and other ill practices from our society, what steps would you like to suggest?

Answer:  In order to eradicate the superstitions and other evil practices from our society , I would like to suggest the following steps.

  I would firstly suggest taking steps to promote rational and scientific outlook among people.

 I would also like to educate the people  and reveal about the ill effects of superstitions on our health . however ,  I wouldn't go all out against all traditional practices as some of them could have valid basis moreover , I would spread awareness among everyone in my social circle to keep scientific temper and think logically rather than blindly following superstitions. I could possibly even tell them about the reason for which some superstitions held good in ancient ages but are no longer valid. I will take the help of the NGOs  who are working in the field of eradication of superstitions. These organizations will arrange programmes to expose and  show the ill effects of superstitions.

x) In the story astrologer has a great listening power. Listening helps in developing good relations with people. Express your opinion.

Listening is one of the powerful skills to develop rapport with people. It helps to understand their opinion.  A good listener is always alert and can judge things in correct perspective. Such person takes proper steps to maintain the relationship.

A3)

(i) In the story, the following characters reveal their qualities through words and actions. Pick out the words that describe them and write before the characters.

Answer

a) Astrologer	b) Guru Nayak	c) Astrologer’s wife
Shrewd	Cunning	Caring
Mean	Skeptical	Rational
Clever	Aggressive	Protective
Suspicious	Antagonistic	Humanistic
Mystical	Quarrelsome	Demanding
Manipulative	Overconfident
Worried	Arrogant
Smart	Gullible
Sharp

(ii) Match the suffixes with the words and make nouns. One is done for you.

Answer:-
Word	suffix	noun
auction	able	auctioneer
enchant	ure	enchantment
know	ment	knowledge
prepare	eer	preparation
proceed	ance	procedure
appear	ledge	appearance
remark	tion	remarkable

iii) Astrologer's Day' has ironic elements where the astrologer pretends to have 'supernatural knowledge' that coincidentally turns out to be the truth.

Irony means a situation or statement characterized by a significant difference between what is expected and what actually happens, or between what is understood and what is meant.

Find out the examples of irony from the story and write them down. One has been done for you.

a) He knew no more of what was going to happen to others than he knew what was going to happen to himself the next minute.

b)The stranger asks the astrologer to know about the man who had attempted to kill him many years ago and the astrologer  himself happens to be the culprit.

c) Astrologer has no real knowledge of his work but  he successes in earning from it. 

iv) In the story many Indian words are used. 

'Cowrie shells' is an example of code mixing.

 Find out other such words from the story and write them down. 

Examples of code mixing:  Raja's Delicacy, Bombay ice cream Delhi almond  and  three pies, one  anaa, Jutka drivers , Cheroot etc.

 v) There are some phrases where the word crown is used with different shades of meaning use the following  phrases complete the sentences meaningfully full stop one is done for you.

1. The works of Shakespeare are the crowning Glory of English drama
2. Amitabh Bacchan has given us awesome movies throughout five decades but his crowning achievement is his performance in the movie Black.
3. In her pursuit of success coma has distanced herself from her family her fame has become a real crown of thorns.
4. They threw wonderful party for me e with costumes games and to crown it all my favorite kind of ice cream
5. Medical science has a great inventions but organ transplantation is definitely crowning achievement for human beings

A 4 (i) Word Usage 

Use the words given in the brackets and rewrite the sentences:

 a)  The power of his eyes was considerable enhanced.(enhancement)

 b)  He had a working analysis of mankind's troubles.(worked) 

c)   He knew what was going to happen to himself next minute.(happening) 

d)   If you find my answers satisfactory , will you give me five rupees. (satisfaction )

e)    He shook his head regretfully. (regret) 

f)   If it was bewildering criss-cross of light rays.  (bewildered) 

g)  "I should have been dead if some passer-by had not chanced to peep into the well,"

     exclaimed the other overwhelmed by enthusiasm. (enthusiastically) 

h)  You tried tried to kill him. (killing) 

i)   I will prepare some nice stuff for her.  (preparation) 

j)   The other ground on hearing it. (heard)

Answer

a) There was considerable enhancement in the power of his eyes.

b) he had an analysis of mankind's troubles that worked.

c) He knew what will be happening to himself next minute.

d) If you find satisfaction in my answers will you give me five rupees?

e) He shook his head with regret.

f) The criss-cross of light ways was bewildered.

g) "I should have been dead if some passer-by had not chanced to peep into the well." exclaimed,

the other enthusiastically.

h) You tried killing him.

j) I will be in the preparation of some nice stuff for her.

i) The other groaned when he heard it.

दोस्तों आपको अगर इस कहानी के बारे में हिंदी में जानने का है। तो कृपया नीचे दिए हुए वीडियो के ऊपर क्लिक करें और कहानी का आनंद लें। अगर आप को समझने में कुछ दिक्कत आती है तो कृपया कमेंट करें।

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