Gillu - Read the following extracts carefully and answer the questions that follow each

Unexpectedly, one morning, when I entered the verandah from the room, I saw two crows playfully poking their beaks at the flowerpots, as if engaged in the game of hide and seek. Suddenly, my assiduous critique of this mythical talc :he crow was intercepted by my gaze that fell on this tiny being, lying hicu . in the gap at the junction of the pot with the wall. Moving closer, I saw that it was a tiny baby squirrel that must have accidentally fallen down from a nest and was now being considered by the crows to be an easy prey. Having sustained two wounds due to the assault by the pair of crows was enough for this tiny being and he was now motionless, clinging to the pot.

Everyone remarked that as he would not survive after having been so assaulted by the crows, he be left alone. But, my mind refused to accede to their views, and therefore, I gently lifted him up and brought him to my room, and after wiping the blood from his wounds with cotton wool, applied Penicillin ointment.

Questions:
(i) What did the authoress find in the morning?
Answer: The authoress found an injured baby squirrel in the morning.

(ii) Who had assaulted the baby squirrel?
Answer: pair of crows had assaulted the baby squirrel.

(iii) How did the authoress serve the injured squirrel?
Answer: The authoress brought him to her room and after wiping the blood from his wounds with cotton wool, applied Penicillin ointment.

(iv) Find the word from the passage which means push sharply’.
Answer The word is poking.

I tried to feed him by somehow putting a thin cotton wool wick, dipped in milk to his mouth, but he was unable to open his mouth and the drops of milk only slid down from both sides. Only after several hours of tending could I manage to pour one drop of water in his mouth. But, on the third day he became so much better and assured that he would use his two tiny claws to hold my finger and gaze all around with his blue, glass-beads-like eyes. And in three-four months, he astonished everyone with his smooth fur, bushy tail and naughty, refulgent eyes.

A transformation from common to proper noun followed and we started calling him, Gillu! I hung a light-weight flower basket lined with cotton wool on the window with the help of a wire. For two years, this was Gillu’s abode. All were pleasantly astonished at his antics and intellect.

(i) Name the title and the writer of this passage.
Answers:The title of the story is Gillu and its writer is Mrs. Mahadevi Verma.
(ii) How did the writer try to feed the squirrel?
Answers:She tried to feed the squirrel by somehow putting a thin cotton wool wick, dipped in milk to his mouth, but he was unable to open his mouth and the drop of milk rollfed down.
(iii) When eh she get succeed in feeding him?
Answers: After several hours of tending could she managed to pour one drop of water in his month.
(iv) When did she call him with a new name?
Answers: When authoress made Gillu’s new abode, she called him with a new name.
(v) What the name was given to the squirrel?
Answers: He was named Gillu.
(vi) How long did the squirrel live with the writer and how?
Answers:Gillu lived for two years with the writer with all his antics and intellect. .

When I would sit down to write, he would be seized by such an acute desire to attract my attention that he devised a novel way of doing it. He would venture close to my feet, whiz swiftly up the curtains and descend with the same breakneck speed. This sequence would continue till the time I got up to catch him. On some occasions, I used to hold Gillu and put his tiny body in a long envelope. Sometimes, he would continue to stand on the table leaning against the wall in such an amazing condition for hours, and watch my activities with his radiant eyes.

Questions:
(i) Who has written this extract?
Answers: Mahadevi Verma has written this extract.
(ii) The narrator describes the antics and intelligence of Gillu, her pet squirrel.
Answers: What does the narrator describe in this passage?
(iii) What would Gillu do to attract the narrator’s attention?
Answers: In order to attract the narrator’s attention, Gillu would whiz swiftly up the curtains and descend at the same speed.
(iv) Who would watch the activities of the narrator?
Answers: Gillu would watch the activities of the narrator with his shining eyes.
(v) Which word in the passage means ‘come down?
Answers:The word ‘descend’ means ‘come down’.

I have several pet animals and birds and all of them are quite fond of me. I don’t remember any of them daring to eat from my plate.

Given was an exception. The moment I would reach the dining-room, he would emerge from the window, cross over the courtyard wall and the verandah, reach the table and would want to sit in my plate. With great difficulty, I taught him to sit close to my plate. His favorite food, where he would dexter¬ously eat each grain of rice. His favorite food was Kaju and when not avail¬able for several days, he would refuse other food items and threw them down from the swing.

Around that time, being injured in a motor car accident, I had to spend some days in the hospital. Those days, whenever my room was opened, Gillu would rush down from his swing, but on seeing somebody else, he would, with the same alacrity, scuttle back to sit in his nest. Everyone would offer him Kajjj, but when I cleaned up his swing on my return from the hospital, I discovered it was full of Kaju, which only showed how little he was eating his favorite food those days! During the course of my indisposition, he would sit near my head on my pi How and gently stroke my forehead and hair, and his moving away was like the going away of a nurse or attendant!

(i) Why was Gillu an exception for the writer ?
Answers Though the writer had several pet animals and birds. All of them were quite fond of her, but none of them was daring to eat from her plate. So Gillu was an exception. He won her heart.
(ii) Describe how did Gillu share with the authoress at dinner ?
AnswersThe moment the authoress would remain in the dining room, he would emerge from the window cross over the courtyard wall and the verandah reach the table and would want to sit in her plate, but she taught him to sit close to her plate.
(iii) What did Gillu do when the writer was in ill health ?
Answers When the writer was in ill health he would sit near her head on her pillow and gently’stroke her forehead and hair, and his mov¬ing away was like the going away of a nurse or attendant.
(iv) What did the writer discover ?
Answers:During the period the authoress was in hospital Gillu did not eat more Kaju. She found in her room, there was full of Kaju but he did not eat them all.

When I used to work during summer afternoons, Gillu would abstain from going outside or sitting in his swing. To keep himself close to me and also to tackle the summer heat, he had discovered a totally new method. He would lie prostrate on the surahi kept near me and thus remain both close to me as well as be cool!

Squirrels have a life span of barely two years; as such, Gillu’s lease of life finally came to an end. For the whole day, he neither ate nor ventured out. In the night, even with the pain of going away, he came to my bed from the swing, and clutched the same finger with his icy claws, which he had clung to, in his near death-like state during his natal days. The claws were getting so cold that I switched on the heater and tried to give him some warmth. But, as the first ray of the morning touched him, he departed.

His swing was taken off the hook and the opening made in the wire- mesh window was closed.
Gillu w’as put to eternal rest under the Sonjuhi creeper-both, because he oved this creeper most and also because of the satisfaction. I derive from my belief that some spring day I will find him flowering and blossoming in the guise of a tiny yellow Juhi flower!

(i) How did Gillu make himself cool in summer?
Answers: During summer afternoons when the authoress used to work, Guilu would abstain from going outside or sitting in his swing. To keep himself cool and close to her he would lie prostrate on the surahi kept near her and thus remain both close to her as well as be cool.
(ii) How long does Squirrel live?
Answers:It.is said that Squirrels have a life span of barely two years.
(iii) Describe the end of Gillu?
Answers: Gillu’s lease of life finally came to an end. For the whole day, he neither ate nor ventured out. In the night, even with the pain of going away, he came to her bed from the swing and clutched the same finger with his icy claws. They were getting cold, but in the very morning he died.
(iv) How would the authoress find him again?
Answers: The authoress put the dead body of Gillu to eternal rest under the Sonjuhi creeper for both the reasons, (i) because he loved that creeper most and (ii) because of her satisfaction. She believed that some spring day she would find him flowering and blossoming in the guise of a tiny yellow Juhi flower.