Solved Textbook

Free ICSE, NCERT & CBSE solutions for classes 1 to 12. Get Free Workbook solutions along
with free notes and much more...... Website by Harsh Kumar
Workbook Answers/Solutions of A Collection of ICSE Poems and Short Stories, India's
Heroes by - Anonymous

I.

(i) Mrs. Baruah is a teacher, teaching the students of Class Eight. Her full name is Mrs.
Reeta Baruah. She exclaims ‘wonderful’ when, in response to her question about the
number of students who have completed their assignment, all the forty students raise their
hand in affirmation.

(ii) Mrs. Baruah gave an assignment to the students of Class Eight to write what they would
like to be when they grew up. There were forty students in the class. All the forty student
raised their hands in affirmation when Mrs. Baruah asked them if they had completed their
assignment.

(iii) According to the author, the students fidgeted and shifted in their seats before Mrs.
Baruah entered. This shows their eagerness to speak in front of their classmates. Their
eagerness indicated that they had completed their assignment and were interested in sharing
it with their classmates.

(iv) Ajit Basu was the first speaker. He spoke about his desire of becoming the best cricketer
in the world. Sachin Tendulkar was his idol.

(v) The next two speakers were Gayatri Chhabra and Sanjay Damle. Gayatri wanted to
become a social worker, whereas Sanjay Damle wanted to become a pilot.

(vi) Mrs. Baruah was an accomplished teacher, who had a student-centred approach of
teaching.
(a) She gave the students an assignment with which they could relate themselves, i.e., to
write what they would like to be when they grew up. Consequently, all the students brought
their completed assignments.
(b) She was a strict disciplinarian. That is why the students maintained strict discipline in
her class and spoke only when their turn came.

II.

(i) ‘He’ refers to Kabeer. Kabeer seems to be a hard working and intelligent student. Though
he was shy at making speeches before the entire class, he put in extra efforts to complete his
assignment. He not only wrote something different from his classmates but also presented it
with such confidence that he drew everybody’s attention and evoked the emotions of both
his classmates and his teacher.

(ii) No, he was not confident when he stood up to speak before the entire class. This is
evident from the fact that his hands shook slightly and beads of perspiration appeared on his
forehead, both being signs of nervousness.

(iii) The other children spoke about becoming social workers, pilots, movie stars, sportsmen
and politicians. The speaker, unlike his classmates who spoke about the famous and
successful personalities, spoke about the unsung heroes of India who laid down their lives to
save the lives of their fellow countrymen, during the 2008 terrorist attacks on Mumbai.

(iv) Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan joined NSG in January 2007. Before joining the NSG, he
served two tenures with his battalion in counter-insurgency and counter-terrorist operations.

(v) When the speaker spoke about the life of Major Unnikrishnan, there was complete
silence in the class and everybody listened attentively. This was because the students were
listening about the extraordinary sacrifice of a brave heart, who laid down his life, fighting
the terrorists. It was different from the accounts of people about whom they had listened
from their other classmates.

III.

(i) Vishnu Zende was an announcer with the Mumbai railways for ten years. When he heard
a loud explosion at one end of the railway platform and saw bloodstains on the clothes of
some people, he guessed that something was wrong.

(ii) Vishnu Zende’s act of staying in his position, in the face of danger speaks volumes of his
courage, his selfless devotion to his duty and his presence of mind in the face of calamity.
Vishnu Zende’s announcements from the public address system at the railway platform
helped hundred of passengers to move out of the platform from a different exit and thus
saved their lives.

(iii) The scene outside the classroom was noisy with the chirping of the birds, honking of
cars and the younger children enjoying their recess. No, the students were not affected by it.
They remained unconcerned with what was happening outside and focused their attention
on Kabeer’s speech.

(iv) The next hero Kabeer spoke about was Karambir Singh Kang, the General Manager of
the Taj Hotel, Mumbai. He helped in evacuating the guests and his staff from the hotel. He
continued his duty even on being informed that his own wife and children had died of
suffocation in the same hotel.
 (v) This hero lost his wife and his children, as they died of suffocation on being trapped in a
room in the Taj Hotel, which was attacked by the terrorists. Despite suffering an irreparable
loss of losing his entire family, Karambir Kang did not give up his duty and continued to
evacuate the guests safely from the hotel.

(vi) Kabeer mentioned Karambir Kang’s loyalty and devotion to his duty. He attributed
these qualities to him because even after suffering an irreparable loss of losing his entire
family, he did not quit his job and remained at the Taj hotel and helped to restore the
heritage structure of the hotel.

IV.

(i) Hemant Karkare was the Chief of the Anti-Terrorism Squad. He pursued the terrorists in
a jeep, without caring for his own life.

(ii) Hemant Karkare’s companions included DIG Ashok Kamte and Vijay Salaskar. The
three lost their lives, when they were gunned down by terrorists, whom they were pursuing
in a jeep.

(iii) Hemant Karkare and his two comrades DIG Ashok Kamte and Vijay Salaskar, were
true patriots, who considered their duty before self and sacrificed their lives while fighting
the terrorists.

(iv) The speaker had goose bumps on his arms whereas the students in his class became
emotional. Their teacher, Mrs. Baruah became so emotional that tears welled up in her
eyes.

(v) Kabeer next spoke about Mohammed Taufeeq Sheikh, popularly known as Chottu
Chaiwala, who ran a tea stall outside CST station, Mumbai. He helped to transport the
victims of the terrorist attack to the nearby St. George Hospital and thus, saved their lives.

V.

(i) Sandra Samuel was an Indian nanny to two-year-old Moshe Holtzberg, who neither
belonged to her nationality nor her religion. She saved Moshe’s life during the 2008 terrorist
attacks in Mumbai, in which Moshe’s parents were killed.

(ii) The action of the caretakers of the Kabristans in refusing to allow the dead terrorists to
be buried there tells us that they were above all social barriers. They proved by their action
that man’s supreme duty is to love and respect other human beings and that no religion is
above humanity.

(iii) According to Kabeer, the only true religion in the world is love and respect for all
 human beings. From his speech, Kabeer comes out to be a person, who not only values
courage, fearlessness, selflessness and caring for other but also practices it.

(iv) The whole class was touched by Kabeer’s speech. It stirred up their emotions and tears
welled up in their eyes. Mrs. Baruah was on the verge of crying but she hid her tears from
her students by dabbing her eyes with a handkerchief to wipe her tears.

(v) Mrs. Baruah felt proud to see her students cherish the virtues of peace, tolerance, sense
of duty and selflessness. She was of the opinion that her students would act as pillars to
uphold the virtues of peace, tolerance and selflessness in an India that would one day be
terror free and lead the world.