Finish Line & Beyond

Kathmandu
I. Answer these questions in one or two words or in short phrases.

1. Name the two temples the author visited in Kathmandu.

Answer: The author visited the Pashupati Nath Temple and the Budhnath Stupa.

2. The writer says, “All this I wash down with Coca Cola.” What does ‘all
this’ refer to?

Answer: The author purchased a bar of marzipan and corn cooked on charcoal fire,
alongwith some comics and a Reader’s Digest. He ate the edibles while reading those
books.

3. What does Vikram Seth compare to the quills of a porcupine?

Answer: The flute seller’s stock of flutes was looking like the quills of a porcupine.

4. Name five kinds of flutes.

Answer: Bansuri, Reed, Murli, Shakuhachi, and Neh.

II. Answer each question in a short paragraph.

1. What difference does the author note between the flute seller and the
other hawkers?

Answer: The author notes that the flute seller was not at all bothered about selling
his wares. He was more engrossed in playing his flutes and sometimes talking to fel-
low vendors. The sale was incidental for him.

2. What is the belief at Pashupatinath about the end of Kaliyug?

Answer: There is a small temple near the banks of the river Baghmati, which is
partly submerged. The age old belief is if the water recedes enough to expose the
goddess then the Goddess will leave that place and that will herald the end of the
Kaliyug. Kaliyug is the era of all sins as per Hindu mythology.

3. The author has drawn powerful images and pictures. Pick out three ex-
amples each of
(i) the atmosphere of ‘febrile confusion’ outside the temple of Pashupat-
inath
(ii) the things he sees
(iii) the sounds he hears

Answer: Febrile confusion means a situation of complete chaos or confusion. Like

most of the Hindu pilgrimage centres Pashupathinath temple is also buzzing with
people and mindless activity. The crowd, monkeys, devotees attempt to get prefer-
ential treatment, calls of hawkers all of these cerate a completely noisy situation.

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III. Answer the following questions in not more than 100–150 words each.

1. Compare and contrast the atmosphere in and around the Baudhnath

shrine with the Pashupatinath temple.

Answer: The atmosphere in Pashupatinath Temple is utterly noisy and it can get on
nerves of people who are not used to this kind of situation. People jostle with each
other to touch the idol of the God. Monkeys are prevalent near temples in India and
Nepal. They live in not so perfect harmony with human beings. Because of Hindu God
Hanuman nobody disturbs them. The hawkers selling their wares and taut trying to
dupe tourist is common at places like Pashuptinath temple.

On the other hand, the atmosphere at Budhnath stupa is full of calm. The way of
Budhist worship is more about meditation and it is far from ritualistic worship of the
Hindus. The Budhnath stupa is has some Tibetans selling nick-nacks but the huge
crowd of the Hindu pilgrimage is missing there. There is calm as opposed to chaos
near the Pashupatinath temple.

2. How does the author describe Kathmandu’s busiest streets?

Answer: Kathmandu’s busiest streets are narrow. They are full of life. There are
small temples with colourful deities along these streets. The street is full of vendors
and shops. Some are selling things which are used in worship. Then there are
hawkers selling fruits. There is a flute seller as well playing melodiously on his flute.
There is total cacophony as loudspeakers are blaring different kinds of music.

3. “To hear any flute is to be drawn into the commonality of all mankind.”
Why does the author say this?

Answer: The flute is one of the basic musical instruments. It is the simplest yet
closest to the human breathing. One needs to breathe life into it to play it soulfully. If
the flute player stops to catch his breath then the flute stops playing. Moreover, al-
most all civilizations have some kind of flute.

Because of its prevalence around the world and its closeness to the human breathing
the author says that to hear any flute is to be drawn into the commonality of all
mankind.

A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal

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 Finish Line & Beyond

A slumber did my spirit seal—

I had no human fears.
She seemed a thing that could not feel
The touch of earthy years.
No motion has she now, no force—
She neither hears nor sees,
Rolled round in earth’s diurnal course
With rocks and stones and trees.

In this poem the poet is mourning the death of a loved one. He says that a deep
sleep has taken his spirit or joy or the desire to live. After her death it seems that
she cannot fell the touch of earthy years. This is a way to tell that after death the
time stops and stands still and the person who is dead need not fear about growing
old. She is motionless, and cannot hear or see a thing. Even planet earth’s routine
course of moving on its axis has no effect on her, although it can move the stationary
rocks and stones along with it. In other words after the death she has reached bey-
ond earth’s power as well because she no more a mortal being.

WILLIAM WORDSWORTH

Fear No More
Fear no more the heat o’ the sun,
Nor the furious winter’s rages;
Thou thy worldly task hast done,
Home art gone, and ta’en thy wages:
Golden lads and girls all must,
As chimney-sweepers, come to dust.
Fear no more the frown o’ the great,
Thou art past the tyrant’s stroke;
Care no more to clothe and eat;
To thee the reed is as the oak:
The sceptre, learning, physic, must
All follow this, and come to dust.
Fear no more lightning-flash,
Nor the all-dreaded thunder-stone;
Fear not slander, censure rash;
Thou hast finished joy and moan:
All lovers young, all lovers must
Consign to thee, and come to dust.

This poem is about the inevitable which happens to all of us. After someone dies he
is free of his physical body. The soul is free and it need not fear the heat of the sun
or the ferocity of the winter. Everybody, including superstars, has to turn to the dust
someday and nobody can escape from the inevitability called death. Once a person is

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free of the physical body he need not worry about clothes and food. For him a flute is
same as a tree. The lightning or thunder cannot harm the soul.

This is more or less like Krishna’s preaching in the Gita. In the Gita Krishna says that
soul is the real thing and body is like a cloth which we take off after it becomes worn
out. Fire cannot burn it, water cannot dissolve it and air cannot sweep it off. After the
death the soul becomes free of all the worldly desires.

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

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