Class 9 English Chapter 8 NCERT Solutions |Reach For the Top - Santosh Yadav (Part 1)|Class 9 English

Question 1:

Answer these questions in one or two sentences each. (The paragraph numbers within brackets provide clues to the answers.)

1. Why was the ‘holy man’ who gave Santosh’s mother his blessings surprised? (1)

ANSWER: The ‘holy man’ had assumed that Santosh’s mother wanted a son as the part of the society she belonged to regarded birth of a son as a blessing. However, he was surprised when the unborn child’s grandmother told him that they did not want a son.

2. Give an example to show that even as a young girl Santosh was not ready to accept anything unreasonable. (2)

ANSWER: Santosh, from the very beginning, lived life on her own terms. She was not content with the traditional way of life and was not ready to accept anything unreasonable. One example which proves this is that Santosh, unlike other girls who wore traditional Indian dresses, preferred wearing shorts.

 

3. Why was Santosh sent to the local school? (3)

ANSWER: Even though Santosh’s parents could afford to send their children to the best schools, she was sent to the local village school due to the prevailing custom in the family.

4. When did she leave home for Delhi, and why? (4)

ANSWER: When she turned sixteen and was under pressure to get married, Santosh threatened her parents that she would never marry if she did not get a proper education. Therefore, she left home and got herself enrolled in a school in Delhi.

 

5. Why did Santosh’s parents agree to pay for her schooling in Delhi? What mental qualities of Santosh are brought into light by this incident? (4)

ANSWER: When Santosh informed her parents about her plan to do a part time job to support her education, they agreed to pay for her schooling in Delhi.

This incident shows that Santosh was a strong headed and determined girl who knew her way towards her goal.

Question 2:

Answer each of these questions in a short paragraph (about 30 words).

1. How did Santosh begin to climb mountains?

ANSWER: In order to investigate as to how the villagers going up the Aravali hills “vanished after a while”, Santosh accompanied a few mountaineers in their climbing expedition. This was how she began to climb mountains.

2. What incidents during the Everest expedition show Santosh’s concern for her team-mates?

ANSWER: During the Everest mission, Santosh showed immense concern for her fellow climbers. Though she was unsuccessful in saving the life of one of them, she did manage to save another climber through artificial respiration.

3. What shows her concern for the envi    ronment?

ANSWER: Santosh was a fervent environmentalist. Her concern for the environment is evident from the fact that she collected and brought down 500 kilograms of garbage from the Himalayas.

 

4. How does she describe her feelings at the summit of the Everest?

ANSWER: Santosh asserted that her feeling at the summit of the Everest was “indescribable”. Unfurling the Indian flag on the top of the world was a spiritual moment for her and she felt proud as an Indian.

 

5. Santosh Yadav got into the record books both times she scaled Mt Everest. What were the reasons for this?

ANSWER: When Santosh Yadav first scaled Mt Everest, she became the youngest woman in the world to achieve the feat. When she scaled the Everest the second time, she became the only woman to have scaled it twice.

Question and Answer

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