Saint of Gutters - Class 9th - English - Lesson 3 - Tulip Series

Saint of Gutters | Prose 3 | English | Tulip Series | Class 9th |

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Lesson 3 – Saint of Gutters (Prof. Neerja Mattoo )

Prof. Neerja Mattoo did her M.A. in English from Kashmir University in 1958. She became a Professor and a Principal (1981) in Govt College for Women, M.A. Road from where she had graduated in 1956. She stayed in the same college till her retirement in 1995.

She was awarded a visitorship by the British Council in order to research at Oxford University, in 1984. She was also awarded a Senior Fellowship in Literature by the Ministry of Human Resource Development, GOI in 1998 to work on four Kashmiri women poets. Her publications include Kashmir, Jammu, and Ladakh – A Trefoil land, The stranger Beside Me, (Translation of Kashmiri short stories in English), Contemporary Kashmiri Short Stories, Saal: A Feast of Kashmiri Cooking. Neerja Mattoo lives in Srinagar with her husband.

Thinking about the Text

Q1. What activities made Mother Theresa so exceptional?

Ans. Mother Theresa was one of the greatest figures of the twentieth century. She devoted her precious life to the betterment of the poor. Her motherhood and love towards poor people made her so exceptional that she was named as Mother Theresa.

Q2. Why did Mother Theresa leave St. Mary High school?

Ans. Mother Theresa left St. Mary High School because she heard a voice, in which God ordered her to leave the school, to help the poor by living with them.

Q3. What did Mother Theresa mean by to fail would be to break faith’?

Ans. Mother Theresa had great faith in the will of God. If she could not have obeyed the will of God, which she felt from her inner voice, she could have failed in the mission given to her. So, to complete the mission, she had to make faith in God. For her, failure of the mission meant to break faith in God.

Q4. What kind of life did Mother Theresa lead?

Ans. Mother Theresa leads the life of the poor. She dressed, herself, in a cotton blue-bordered white sari, which reflected her simplicity.

Q5. Why do you think Mother Theresa learned Bengali?

Ans. Mother Theresa learned Bengali so that she could speak to the people who she had come to serve.

Q6. What did Malcolm Muggeridge see on the streets of Calcutta?

Ans. Malcolm Muggeridge was a British writer. While walking through a street of Kolkata, he happened to see a small, little figure in a slum, cleaning the sores on the body of a half-dead man without the slightest trace of disgust at the stench.

Language Work

 

She was five feet tall and slender of built. Draped in a blue-bordered white sari (which cost less than fifty rupees) spoke of her simplicity and grandeur. Her wrinkled face never marred her spirit to serve the poor and the needy. She did beautiful things to make this world a happier place to live in. Nobody cares for the dying and the diseased but she cared for those who were left unloved. In 1946, while going to Darjeeling, she heard the call to give up everything and follow Him to the slums to serve Him among the poorest of the poor. Truly a philanthropist. She dedicated her life to the poor people who needed her the most.

I. Fill in the blanks.

1. Her wrinkled face in the passage means her____________________.

2. Him refers to_____________________.

3. Mother Theresa was a __________________ because she loved humankind.

4. Her spirit to serve the poor and the needy was never ____________ by her old age.

5. To live a life of _____________ was the hallmark of Mother Theresa’s personality.

Ans.

1. Her wrinkled face in the passage means her age.

2. 'Him' refers to God.

3. Mother Theresa was a philanthropist because she loved humankind.

4. Her spirit to serve the poor and the needy was never marred by her old age.

5. To live a life of poor was the hallmark of Mother Theresa’s personality.

II. Make sentences of the following:

Flock:         There was a flock of people around foreigner in the village

                   The flock of sheep came and damaged the whole crop.

Humble:    My humble request to my officer, helped me in the approval of seven days' leave.

Dignity:     Teachers should unite to save the dignity of their profession.

Mystic:       Mother Theresa had a mystic vision while she was travelling to Kolkata.

Writing Work

Malcolm Muggeridge titled the autobiography of Mother Theresa Something beautiful for God. What do you understand by beautiful? What were the things that made Mother Theresa beautiful?

          ‘Something Beautiful for God’ by Malcolm Muggeridge, is written on the great and beautiful work done by Mother Theresa. Mother Theresa was a legendary person, who devoted her life to helping the poor. Her work in slums made her more famous. Malcolm gave her the title ‘Something, Beautiful for God’ because he happened to see her washing the face of a half-dead old man in slums. These were the things that she did. She lived the life of a poor to help them. Her every effort was for the befit of the poor people. She was really a beautiful lady by heart, who left no stone unturned to help the poor.