NCERT Solutions for Class 11 English Hornbill Chapter 8 Silk Road

NCERT Solutions for Class 11 English

Silk Road NCERT Solutions for Class 11 English Hornbill Chapter 8

Silk Road NCERT Text Book Questions and Answers

Silk Road About the Author

‘Nick Middleton (born 1960) is a British physical geographer and supernumerary fellow of St Anne’s College, Oxford. As a geographer, he has travelled to more than 50 countries. He has appeared on BBC 2’s Through the Keyhole.

Silk Road Main Theme

‘Silk Road’ is an account of travel to Manasarovar Lake in Tibet. The narrator was travelling to the lake to complete ‘Kora’, a pilgrimage. He set off with Tsetan in his car.
Tsetan knew a route that would take them south-west from Ravu almost directly towards Mount Kailash. They had to cross several high mountain passes. They went across pastures, passing some gazelles and a great herd of wild asses, some ‘drokbas’ or shepherds, and Tibetan mastiffs.

They entered a valley where the river was wide but mostly clogged with ice. Negotiating sharp turns, they climbed away from the river. At a sharp bend they encountered snow. Tsetan, the narrator and Daniel stepped on the snow to ascertain how sturdy it was. They put handfuls of dirt on the snow and covered the snow sufficiently. The narrator and Daniel walked while Tsetan carefully drove the car across the snow. Tsetan negotiated the next blockage skilfully.

NCERT Solutions for Class 11 English Hornbill Chapter 8 Silk Road

They crossed 5,400 metres and started feeling the effect of the high altitude. At 5,515 metres, they came across a cairn of rock decorated with white scarves. By 2 p.m. they reached the other side of the pass. The plateau was marked with salt flats where workmen loaded trucks laden with salt.They reached Hor on the old trade route from Lhasa to Kashmir. The narrator found Hor bare and dirty. It was at the shore of Lake Manasarovar, venerated by Hindus and Buddhist. The narrator had read glowing account of the lake, but his own experience was not the same.

At 10.30 p.m. the party reached a guest house in Darchen. The author suffered from breathlessness and could not sleep the entire night. Next day, Tsetan took him to the medical college where he was given some Tibetan medicine. He felt relieved. At Darchen Tsetan left him. Luckily, the narrator met Norbu who worked in Beijing at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. He too had come to do the ‘Kora’. The narrator decided to do the pilgrimage not on foot but on yaks as Norbu suggested.

Silk Road Understanding the text

I. Give reasons for the following statements:

Question 1.
This article has been titled ‘Silk Road’.
Answer:
The narrator was travelling on the old silk road from Lhasa to Kashmir to reach Mansarover Lake. Therefore, he has named the lesson Silk Road.

Question 2.
Tibetan mastiffs were popular in China’s imperial courts.
Answer:
Because they were extremely fierce, swift and dogged.

NCERT Solutions for Class 11 English Hornbill Chapter 8 Silk Road

Question 3.
The author’s experience at Hor was in stark contrast to earlier accounts of the place.
Answer:
Earlier travellers were moved to tears when they encountered the Mansarovar Lake. The narrator was repelled by the starkness and the rubbish lying around in Hor.

Question 4.
The author was disappointed with Darchen.
Answer:
The author was quite unwell at Darchen. He had severe cold and gasped for breath. He spent a sleepless night. This depressed him. The town of Darchen was dirty, somewhat derelict and had pits of rubblend refused.

Question 5.
The author thought that his positive thinking strategy worked well after all.
Answer:
Upto Darchen the author he was disappointed with what he saw. High altitudes, the difficulties of the drive, breathing problem at Darchen were not pleasant. The prospects of doing the Kora alone in the traditional way were unattractive. Then he met Norbu who was good company and intended to do the Kora on Yaks. This cheered the narrator.

II. Briefly comment on:

Question 1.
The purpose of the author’s journey to Mount Kailash.
Answer:
Nick Middleton, an oxford professor as well as an adventurer, followed the most difficult terrain through the Silk Road to reach Mount Kailash. He visited a Buddhist pilgrimage to complete the Kora, going around the place. He also wanted to see Lake Mansarovar.

Question 2.
The author’s physical condition in Darchen.
Answer:
The author didn’t feel physically fit when he reached Darchen. He suffered from extreme due to the chilly winds. He was unable to breathe with ease, was restless at night, could not have a wink that he would die if he would sleep.

NCERT Solutions for Class 11 English Hornbill Chapter 8 Silk Road

Question 3.
The author’s meeting with Norbu.
Answer:
After Tsetan had left for Lhasa, the author was feeling lonely. He couldn’t see any pilgrims at Darchen as he had reached the place earlier. It was then that he met Norbu, an academician who was Tibetan but, worked in Beijing at the Chinese Academy of social sciences. The narrator liked him to the extent that he decided to do the pilgrimage in his company. The author felt a lot of relief and comfort after meeting Norbu.

Question 4.
Tsetan’s support to the author during the journey.
Answer:
All through the author’s journey Tsetan had been very supportive. He drove him from Ravu to Hor through high mountain passes where the tract was covered with snow, and through the deep valleys. He even took the narrator to Darchen Medical College when he suffered from cold and breathlessness.

Question 5.
“As a Buddhist, he told me, he knew that it didn’t really matter if I passed away, but he thought it would be bad for business.”
Answer:
Buddhists do not grieve too much over death as they take a philosophical attitude about it. The narrator had just suffered an acute attack of breathlessness and could have died. He had come out of the crisis when Tsetan decided to return to Lhasa. He told the narrator that death was not a matter of grief but if the narrator had died it would have affected his business adversely.

Silk Road Talking About the Text

Discuss in groups of four

Question 1.
The sensitive behaviour of hill-folk.
Answer:

  • Hill-folks are simple and unsophisticated.
  • They are courteous to outsiders/tourists.
  • They look after the tourists because they earn through them.

NCERT Solutions for Class 11 English Hornbill Chapter 8 Silk Road

Question 2.
The reasons why people willingly undergo the travails of difficult journeys?
Answer:

  • On pilgrimages due to faith.
  • For some emergency when the journey has to be made whatever the circumstances.
  • Out of a sense of adventure and a desire to explore.

The accounts of exotic places in legends and the reality.

  • Often legends and earlier accounts were glowing and exaggerated.
  • Reality often proved to be shabby and different.
  • The author had heard accounts of the superlative beauty of Mansarover but the author did not find it so.

Silk Road Thinking about language

Question 1.
Notice the kind of English Tsetan uses while talking to the author. How do you think he picked it up?
Answer:
semi-educated – picked up English to interact with tourists

Question 2.
What do the following utterances indicate?
(i) “I told her, through Daniel…”
(ii) “It’s cold,” he said finally through Tsetan.
Answer:
(i) Daniel acted as an interpreter between the narrator and Lhamo.
(ii) the doctor .informed Tsetan who would tell the narrator.

NCERT Solutions for Class 11 English Hornbill Chapter 8 Silk Road

Question 3.
Guess the meaning of the following words,
kora, drokba, kyang
In which language are these words found?
Answer:
Kora – pilgrimage
Drokba — shepherd, shepherd’s coat
Kyang-wild asses. Probably Tibetan
(Probably Tibetan)

Working with words

Question 1.
The narrative has many phrases to describe the scenic beauty of the mountainside like:
A flawless half-moon floated in a perfect blue sky.
Scan the text to locate other such picturesque phrases
Answer:
To be found by the student.

Question 2.
Explain the use of the adjectives in the following phrases.
(i) shaggy monsters
(ii) brackish lakes
(iii) rickety table
(iv) hairpin bend
(v) rudimentary general stores
Answer:
(i) shaggy – thick fur of Tibetan dogs.
(ii) brackish — water tasting of salt and minerals.
(iii) rickety — table with loose joints — shaky, unstable.
(iv) hairpin – very sharp bends, comparable to the bend of a hairpin.
(v) rudimentary – basic, having the bare necessities.

NCERT Solutions for Class 11 English Hornbill Chapter 8 Silk Road

Noticing form

1. The account has only a few passive voice sentences. Locate them. In what way does the use of active voice contribute to the style of the narrative?
2. Notice this construction: Tsetan was eager to have them fixed. Write five sentences with a similar structure.
Answer:
To be done by the student.

Silk Road Things to do

Question 1.
“The plateau is pockmarked with salt flats and brackish lakes, vestiges of the Tethys Ocean which bordered Tibet before the continental collision that lifted it skyward.” Given below is an extract from an account of the Tethys Ocean downloaded from the Internet. Go online, key in Tethys Ocean in Google search and you will find exhaustive information on this geological event. You can also consult an encyclopaedia.

Today, India, Indonesia and the Indian Ocean cover the area once occupied by the Tethys Ocean. Turkey, Iraq and Tibet sit on the land once known as Cimmeria. Most of the floor of the Tethys Ocean disappeared un(Jer Cimmeria and Laurasia. We only know that Tethys existed because geologists like Suess have found fossils of ocean creatures in rocks in the Himalayas. So, we know those rocks were underwater, before the Indian continental shelf began pushing upward as it smashed into Cimmeria. We can see similar geologic evidence in Europe, where the movement of Africa raised the Alps.
Answer:
Read the note and find information on the net about the Tethys Ocean.

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