Q1. Give detailed summary of “The Three Questions “.

Ans:
The Three Questions is a value based intellectual story written by the renowned
Russian writer – Leo Tolstoy. The story is divided into two parts, both are inter-related
and of practical importance.

Three Questions is a story written originally by Leo Tolstoy.  Leo Tolstoy is a

famous Russian writer who lived from 1828-1910. He is regarded as one of the
greatest authors of all time. He received many nominations for Nobel Prize in
Literature but unfortunately never won once. Out of hundreds of his novels, plays
and stories, "War and Peace" is an all-time favourite book of millions of people.
 
Three Questions is the story of a king who is in search of answers to three
philosophical questions in life. He struggles to find the answers to the three
questions, namely:

 When is the right time to begin something?

 Which people should he listen to?
 What is the most important thing for him to do?

The king sends out messengers throughout his country to find the answers from wise
men. He also promises large sums of money to the person who gives the correct
answer. However, all his efforts are in vain; because every time he gets a different
 answer form each person. So he decides to meet a wise hermit who lives in the
woods. Two incidents happen there, which reveal the answer to the king.
 
When the king reaches the hermit's hut, the hermit seems to be digging the
ground in front of his hut. He is old, tired and breathes heavily, as he keeps digging.
The king asks his questions to the hermit, but the hermit continues to dig. The king,
seeing that the hermit is struggling, decides to help him out. He takes the spade from
the hermit's hand and starts digging. After he dug two beds, he stops digging and asks
his questions. The hermit, without replyingasks him to rest now and that he will
continue digging. But the king does not oblige, and he continues to dig. Hours pass
by, and it gets dark. He says he will return home if the hermit cannot answer the
questions. The hermit sees someone running towards them.
 
They see a bearded man, with a bleeding wound in his stomach. The
king immediately starts dressing his wounds and carries him to bed inside the
hut. Out of exhaustion from the day's work, the king also sleeps on the floor. The next
morning, when he wakes up, the bearded man asks for forgiveness to the king. The
puzzled king asks why. The bearded man reveals that he was an enemy of the king,
who had been defeated by the king once. The king had taken all his property, so he
had come to kill the king when  he was returning alone to the kingdom. But since
the king did not return the previous day, the bearded man had come out of his hiding
place, and the king's bodyguard had seen and stabbed him with a knife.
 
The bearded man says the king was kind-hearted and saved my life and that he
wanted to serve him as his servant. The king forgives the man and promises to
return his seized property. He is also happy that he has made friends with the enemy
easily.
 
He goes to the hermit and begs for the answers to his questions. He says
his questions have already been answered. He asks how. The hermit explains

 If the king had not helped him dig the ground, he would've left early, and the enemy (the
bearded man) would have stabbed him.
 But the king did the right thing - by taking pity on the hermit, he decided to help him -
that is the most important time that saved the king's life.
 The most important person at that time, to the king - was the hermit
 The most important thing to do - was to do the hermit some good help.

Again, the same thing happened with the bearded man also:

 The king cared for him the day before - the most important time
 The king dressed his wounds  - the most important thing to do
 The king cared for the man in pain - the most important person

The hermit goes on to explain that, the most important time to do anything is NOW -
because we have the power to act only in the present moment. The most important
person is the person who you are with, at a particular time. No one knows what will
happen in the future or whether we will meet anyone else. The most important
business is to do good deeds because we were sent to this world only for that
purpose.

A king once thought that he would never fail if he knew three things. One, what the right
time was to begin something. Two, which people he should take advice from. Three,
how to decide what the most important thing to do was.

He sent messengers throughout his kingdom. He promised to give a reward of a large

sum to the person who answered his three questions.

Many wise men tried their luck. They gave a number of answers. One said that the king
should go by a timetable. Another said that the king should do whatever seemed him
necessary at the moment. The third suggested that the king should consult wise men or
magicians.

Answering the second question, they gave top importance to his councillors, or to
priests or to doctors or to soldiers.

In reply to the third question, the wise men gave importance to science or fighting or
religious worship.

The king was not satisfied. He went to a hermit in the jungle alone. There he saw the
old and weak hermit digging the ground. The king asked his questions but got no
answer. Then he took the spade from the hermit and began to work in his place.
Several hours passed. It was evening, so the king stopped digging the beds. The king
was ready to take leave from the hermit. Just then the hermit told that someone was
running towards them.

II
The king saw a bearded man running towards them. His hands were pressed against
his stomach from which blood was oozing. As he reached the king, he fainted and fell to
the ground. He had a large wound in his stomach.

The king washed the wound and compressed it with his handkerchief. At last the
bleeding stopped. The man felt better and asked for water to drink. The king gave him
fresh water.
The sun had set by then. The king and the hermit carried the wounded man into the hut
and laid him on the bed. The tired king also fell asleep. When he awoke, the bearded
man asked to forgive him.

The man was, in fact, the king’s enemy. He had followed the king to take revenge on
him. He had vowed to kill him. The king had once put his brother to death. The man hid
himself in a bush on the way to the jungle. He came out of his hiding place when the
king did not return for long. He got wounded by king’s bodyguards. He would have died
if the king had not dressed his wound. He felt grateful to the king who had saved his life.
He promised to serve the king as a faithful servant.

The king was happy that he had made peace with his enemy. He forgave the man and
promised to give back his property.

The king then went up to the hermit. He again asked for answers to his three questions.
The hermit explained that by digging the beds for him, the king had escaped attack. So
the most important time was when he was digging the beds. The hermit himself was the
most important person. So to do him good was the king’s most important business.

The hermit further told the king that the most important person for him was the person
with him at a particular moment. The most important business was to help that person.
And the most important time was ‘now’ that is, the present moment.
Q2. Summarize and critically appreciate the poem ,”In the
Bazars of Hyderabad “.
Points to be covered in critical appreciation –
1. Analyze title of the poem
2. Theme of the poem
3. Rhyming scheme of the poem
4. Literary devices used in the poem
5. Language of the poem
6. Your own point of view about the poem

Ans:
Critical Analysis of In The Bazaars of Hyderabad:

During the pre-Independence era, many writers concentrated on finding a space that
was essentially Indian and that the colonial presence had not been able to enclose
upon. This is what Naidu does in “In the Bazaars of Hyderabad”. Hyderabad is the city
of her birth, she was very familiar with all of its sights, sounds, and smells. The bazaar,
she knew, was a place crowded by natives, and therefore, a place that few Englishmen
had ever set foot in. One can argue that she exoticizes the space of the bazaar here,
but she does it for the purpose of reclaiming it as a space that is experienced,
understood and loved only by her countrymen.
Though the English had trade interests in India, the local bazaar was still a place where
native vendors were king. The common people got all their daily supplies from this
place, and it was also a space in which indigenous artists thrived. They visited the
bazaar in preparation for any joyful occasion such as a marriage ceremony, as well as
any sad occasion such as a funeral. They bought both expensive items at the bazaar
such as gold ornaments, as well as cheap items like rice and pulses. Hence they had no
reason to obtain any items of use from the English trade companies that were operating
in India at the time. As a result, the bazaar was helping the native population to stay
self-sufficient. It was a site which could be capitalized on by the Swadeshi movement
(“Swadeshi” meaning “of my own country”, that is, belonging only to India). Such an
interpretation of this poem is supported by Naidu’s involvement in the Indian freedom
struggle.
1. The poem 'In the Bazaars of Hyderabad' was a part of the Swadeshi Movement, an
Indian freedom movement. The poet wanted to deliver the message that the traditional
Indian products made of pure materials were of very high quality. So, we did not need
the foreign goods that were entering the Indian market at that time.
The city of Hyderabad had a mixed culture of the Hindu and the Islamic. The goods sold
by the Bazaar vendors (i.e. the merchants, vendors, maidens, peddlers, goldsmiths,
fruit-men, musicians, and flower-girls) cater to the need of every segment and faith of
the society. The poet provides a panoramic view of the colors, sounds, smell, and sights
of an Indian Bazaar. She has also used vibrant rhymes to describe the magnificence of
the bazaars and also the products sold in the bazaars.

Sarojini Naidu was born in Hyderabad. She was a prominent poet and also an active
freedom fighter. This poem depicts both the ideas – beauty of her city and feeling of
patriotism.

The poet describes the beauty of her city comprehensively.  We have everything like
food, music, clothes and jewellery. We should be self-sufficient and give up the use of
foreign things. The Bazaars of Hyderabad depict the rich culture and tradition of India.

2. Central Idea of In The Bazaars of Hyderabad:

Naidu describes in loving detail all the sort of things that one can buy in a
traditional bazaar in Hyderabad. She does so by asking the various vendors what they
are selling and describing those items in turn. She also notices musicians and
magicians entertaining the shoppers.
Themes of In The Bazaars of Hyderabad:

Western diction, Indian content:

The things that Naidu describes the vendors selling in the bazaar are all very Indian,
such as the turbans that are worn by the Sikhs or the saffron that is only produced in
few areas of the world, including India. However, most of the words that she uses are
anglicized. For example, she spells ‘sitar’ as ‘cithar’. This is because she is writing for a
Western audience. As we know, most of her poetry collections were published from
London, and only a small proportion of the Indian population could read or write English
at the time.
Combination of joy and sorrow:
A bazaar is a place you go to on occasions of joy as well those of sorrow. A marriage
calls for a trip there to pick up crowns and garlands for the groom and the bride.
However, a funeral also requires a trip there so that you can obtain the white sheet of
flowers that is placed over the deceased person in his final hours before cremation.
Swadeshi movement:
All the wares that are sold in the bazaar can only be found in India. The English have
not been able to lay their hands on these articles. Hence by purchasing their daily
necessities from the bazaar, the Indian population were helping their community
become self-sufficient. Even though the name is not explicitly mentioned by Naidu, the
bazaar is thus upheld as a space in which the Swadeshi movement is most successful –
where Indian merchants sell goods to Indian buyers without the English or anyone else
functioning as middlemen.

3. Rhyme scheme:
Each of the six stanzas in “In the Bazaars of Hyderabad” follows the same simple rhyme
scheme – ABCBDB. This kind of rhyme scheme gives the poem a lilting tune and
conjures up a magical place, especially for readers who are unfamiliar with the space of
the bazaar in the Indian landscape.

4. Rhetorical devices:
Apostrophe:
This rhetorical device is used when a poet addresses his or her poem to an absent
audience. In this poem, the poet uses the device of an apostrophe in every single
stanza when she directly addresses all the vendors of the bazaar, who are not visible to
the readers and whose answers are also not heard by them.
Simile:
This rhetorical device is used when an overt comparison is made between two different
things. In this poem, the poet uses the device of simile in the fourth stanza when he
compares bells with the wings of a dragonfly, for they are both delicate, and also uses
the word “as” while making this comparison.
Metaphor:
This rhetorical device is used when a covert comparison is made between two different
things or ideas. In this poem, the poet uses the device of metaphor when he compares
death with sleep.

5. The general style of the poem is in the form of question and answers. Each stanza
begins with a question and ends with an answer. The poet enquires the sellers and
vendors of the bazaar about what they are selling which brings out the grandeur of the
traditional Indian bazaars. It also adds a special charm to the lyrics of the poem.
The poet has used vibrant rhymes to describe the magnificence of the bazaars and the
products sold.
It also adds life to her descriptions. Examples of the rhyming words are, ‘brocade-jade’;
‘rice-spice-dice’; ring-wing-king’; ‘red-bed-dead’ and many more.
LYRICAL POEM:
Lyrical poetry is a form of poetry that expresses personal and emotional feelings of the
poet. In The Bazaars of Hyderabad is a lyrical poem. It celebrates the life depicted in
the bazaars of Hyderabad, the occupation of the common folk, their joys and sorrows of
everyday life.

IMAGERY:
The poet has touched upon all the five senses of the human body to describe the
splendor of the Indian traditional bazaar.
Visual imagery is depicted by the use of vibrant colors- silver, crimson, purple, amber,
blue, azure, red and white.
Olfactory senses are stimulated by the use of the fragrances-sandalwood, henna and
the smell of flowers.
Auditory imagery is created through the music played by the sitar, the sarangi and the
drums. Also the chanting of the magical spells by the magicians produces an auditory
image in the minds of the readers.
Gustatory imagery that is the sense of taste is created through the portrayal of the fruits
like lemons, pomegranates and plums, staple Indian food lentils and rice.
Finally, the tactile imagery which is the sense of touch produced by the bells made for
the pigeons.
6. “In the Bazaars of Hyderabad” was celebrated by English and Indian audiences alike.
For English audiences, it evoked a picture of the exotic land of India that they never got
to know intimately, no matter what their beliefs on the matter. For Indian audiences, it
described a place they knew and loved, and a place which they knew no one could ever
take away from them.