Class 7 NCERT Solutions English Chapter 2 - A Gift of Chappals

A very small kitten inside a torn football lined with sacking filled with sand was hidden behind a thick bitter-berry bush in the backyard. It was lapping up milk from a coconut half-shell. This was the secret that Meena shared with Mridu.

Ravi got milk for the kitten from the kitchen. When his grandmother Paati saw him holding the glass of milk, he told her that he was hungry. In order to avoid suspicion, he had to even drink most of the milk. When she asked for the tumbler, he told her that he would wash it himself. Then, he ran and poured the milk into a coconut shell. Before his grandmother could get really suspicious, he ran back to the kitchen, washed the tumbler and put it back.

Ravi said that one of the descendants of the Egyptian cat-goddess had been a stowaway on one of the Pallava ships. The descendant of this cat was the Mahabalipuram Rishi-Cat, and their kitten Mahendravarma  Pallava Poonai. M. P. Poonai for short had descended from the Mahabalipuram Rishi-Cat. It was a close relative, scientifically speaking, of the Pallava lion the emblem of the Pallava dynasty. His narrative concerning the genealogy of the kitten is unbelievable.

Ravi has a lot to say about M.P. Poonai. This shows that he has a rich imagination.

The noise that startled Mridu and frightened Mahendran was an unusual sound, a 'kreech'. This 'kreeching' was actually Lalli's attempts at learning to play the violin.

'The music-master's notes seemed to float up and settle perfectly into the invisible tracks of the melody'. It was like the wheels of a train fitting smoothly into the rails and whizzing along. This sentence shows that the music-master was making lovely music.

No, the beggar had not come to Rukku Manni's house for the first time. When the beggar arrived, she asked Ravi to send him away. The beggar, she said, had been coming to their house daily the week before. She said it was time he found another house to beg from.

A sharp V-shaped line between the eyebrows refers to a frown. This suggests that Rukku Manni was in an angry mood.

(i) Ravi compares Lalli's playing the violin to derailing of a train of melody-going completely off track.
(ii) Trying to hide beneath the tray of chillies, Mahendran tipped a few chillies over himself.
(iii) The teacher played a few notes on his violin, and Lalli stumbled behind him on her violin, which looked helpless and unhappy in her hands.
(iv) The beggar said that the kind ladies of the household were very generous and because of this, he had been able to keep his body and soul together for a whole week and he could not believe that they would turn him away.
(v)  After the lesson was over, the music teacher asked Lalli if she had seen his chappals.

As seen from the window, the bony figure of the music master, with most of his back to the window, could be seen sitting in front of Lalli. He had a mostly bald head with a fringe of oiled black hair falling around his ears and an old-fashioned tuft. A gold chain gleamed around his leathery neck and a diamond ring glittered on his hand as it glided up and down the stem of the violin. A large foot stuck out from beneath his gold-bordered veshti edge. He was beating time on the floor with the scrawny big toe.

(i) When Rukku Manni asked Ravi to tell the beggar never to return, the beggar pleaded with them to let him rest a while as the sun was hot and the tar had melted on the road. He then stretched out his feet to show large, pink, peeling blisters on the soles of his bare feet. When Mridu saw the blistered feet of the beggar, she concluded that he did not have any money to buy chappals.
(ii) Mridu asked Ravi if he had any pair of old chappals that they could give to the beggar. Her eyes filled with tears on seeing the unfairness of the situation in which the beggar was, and she suggested that he needed something on his feet.

(i) Rukku Manni actually wanted to ask the children if they had seen the music master's chappals.
(ii) She changed her question seeing that they were curiously quiet. She suspected that they had something to do with the missing chappals.
(iii) She probably thought that the children had purposely hidden the music master's chappals, or done something with them.

Gopu Mama's chappals were new, and hardly worn while the ones that the children gave away to the beggar were quite old and shabby-looking. Still, the music master lied that his chappals had been brand new. He was quite happy to get new chappals in return for his old ones. However, he tried not to look too happy as he wanted to show his disappointment at what the children had done and how they had no respect for elders. Even though his eyes lit up when he saw the new pair of chappals, he pretended as if he would have to somehow manage with it.

When the beggar was asked to leave, he raised his eyes and looked fearfully at the road, which was gleaming in the afternoon heat. He knew his feet would burn again. However, when the children got him a pair of slippers, the beggar stared at them in amazement. He hurriedly flung his towel over his shoulder. Then, he pushed his feet into them and left, muttering a blessing to the children. In a minute, he had vanished around the corner of the street. He was tired and his feet were worn out. On seeing the slippers he realized that there was some mistake on the part of the innocent children who were only feeling sorry for him, the slippers definitely belonged to someone else and once the adults realized the mistake they would take them back immediately. Since he could not have got anything better than the slippers and Rukku Manni wanted him out of the house, he left in a hurry.

(i) If you tire yourself now, you won't be able to work in the evening.
(ii) If you study regularly, you'll do well in the examination.
(iii) If you work hard, you'll pass the examination in the first division.
(iv) If you are polite to people, they'll also be polite to you.
(v) If you tease the dog, it'll bite you.

Today is Sunday. I'm wondering whether I should stay at home or go out. If I go out, I will miss the lovely Sunday lunch at home. If I stay for lunch, I will miss the Sunday film showing at Archana Theatre. I think I'll go out and see the film, only to avoid getting too fat.

Walking towards the kitchen with Mridu and Meena, Rukku Manni remembered that Gopu Mama was always in a hurry to throw off his shoes and socks, and get into his chappals as soon as he came home. She wondered what he would say that evening when she would tell him that she had given his chappals to the music-master. Thinking of this, she began to laugh.

(i) Don't go to the theatre if you don't want to.
(ii) He'll post your letter if you want him to.
(iii) Please use my pen if you want to.
(iv) He'll lend you his umbrella if you want him to.
(v) My neighbour, Ramesh, will take you to the doctor if you want him to.
(vi) Don't eat it if you don't want to.