Mystery Of The Missing Cap — Question & Answer [Invitation to English 2] –CHSE Odisha

Unit 1 …

Q1. What impression of Sri Moharana do you get from the story?

Answer .. Sri Moharana, despite being the most affluent person in the village, was neither arrogant, nor scornful towards the underprivileged people around him. His pucca house received a fresh coat of painted after being painted post-independence was an attraction for villagers even from far-away villages. Despite such enormous clout. Sri Moharana  remained an amiable person and a generous host. Fish caught from his many ponds to feast visitors. India’s freedom in August 1947 created a wave of nation-wide patriotism. Sri Moharana readily imbibed this value. He toyed with the idea of being an elected representative of the people whom he loved.  Overall, Sri Moharana emerges as a humble and benign person from the story.

Q2. Who’s Babu Virkishore? How does the narrator describe him?

Answer Babu Virkishore happened to be the Minister of Fisheries and Fine Arts around that time. According to the narrator, he was a heavily built person with an enormous ego. Arriving in an official Jeep with his entourage, he did everything to conceal it and project a people-friendly and soft image. He relished the lavish reception accorded by his host Sri Moharana, and tailored his conduct to appear humble, cool-headed. The narrator uses satire to portray the minister’s self-assumed importance.

3. What idea of the narrator do you get from this unit of the text? 

Answer .. The narrator emerges from this story as a keen observer of society, and the people who have climbed to its upper rungs more through fate than through toil and learning. Quite obviously, he loathes the importance and the elevated stature that the socio-political system bestows on them. The narrator’s depiction of the minister is contemptuous, but he deftly couches with humour. In this regard, the narrator seems so similar to R. K. Narayan.

4. How does the narrator recount the preparation for the minister’s reception? 

Answer .. Sri Moharana was the host for the visiting dignitary. He went to great lengths to ensure the Minister got the best of welcome during his visit. Sri Moharana even decided to forgo his one-hour siesta to be able to oversee thde arrangements as meticulously as possible. The choicest meal, comfortable cottage, and a decorated podium were to be made available for the occasion. Sri Maharana was to usher the Minister in after he alighted from his jeep. It was to be a grand show.

Unit 2 ..

Q1. How does the narrator describe the procession of the minister in the village? 

Answer .. Virkishire Babu, the visiting minister was ushered into the area where a dias had been erected under Sri Moharana. The slow walk of the duo to the dias was marked by a rousing chorus of ‘Babu Virkishore Ki Jai’. As the visitor leaned over his host’s shoulders as a show of friendliness, the latter’s body language showed joy compounded with humility. The children all ill-clad with shabby looks followed the minister with curiosity and wonder. The host gave a hour-long welcome speech lavishing praise on the minister. It was followed by a two-hour long speech by the minister. The wide-eyed audience seemed to enjoy the rhetorics. The children of the lower primary school sang a welcome song that portrayed the minister as a virtual demi-god. The walk to the inside of the village saw a joyous blowing of their conch shells by the women folk. On the whole it was a royal welcome.

Q2. How did Sri Moharana entertain the guests? 

Answer .. Sri Moharana was at his generous best while entertaining the minister and his entourage. On arrival at Sri Moharana’s house, the guests were offered green coconut water to quench thdeir thirst. Then came the lunch. The meals were cooked with the right ingredients like ghee, spices etc. There were as many as 20 dishes to ensure maximum culinary delight to the guests. After the lunch, the minister was taken to a cottage that had luxurious bed and an window opening to the Nature outside,

Unit – 3

Q1. How did the minister’s cap disappear? 

Answer .. Jhandoo, the pet monkey of Sri Moharana slipped into the minister’s room through the open window, grabbed the minister’s cap kept on the side table and escaped with the item at lightening speed. It vanished into the bushes. No one except the narrator noticed the act.

Q2. How did the minister’s officials react to the disappearance of the cap?

Answer . The minister’s officials were aghast to discover the audacious stealing of their boss’s cap. They were angry, afraid, and anxious. Seething with resentment, they spewed venom against the perpetrator of the crime.  They promised the harshest punishment for the culprit.

Q3. How did Sri Moharana feel about the loss of the cap? 

Answer .. The incident plunged Sri Maharana in grief, embarrassment, and fear. He felt that the loss of his cap could infuriate his honorable guest. He was at his wit’s end thinking of ways to face the minister.

Q4. How did he feel when he came to know the cause of the missing cap? 

Answer .. Sri Moharana felt a sense of great relief on knowing how the cap had been lost. His fear began to fade fast. He began to think of ways to break the news to the minister. Obviously, the truth could not be disclosed. So, he began to think of ideas that would flatter the minister instead of fueling his fury.

Q5. What was the effect of the disappearance of the cap on the ceremony? 

Answer .. Silence descended on the organizers of the welcome ceremony. The family members of Sri Moharana were undrwhelmed by the sudden turn of events. They were dispirited. The minister’s personal staff boiled with anger and cursed the cap’s thief vehemently. There was chaos all around.

Q6. The question is wrong.

Unit – 4

Q1. How did the narrator describe the opening ceremony? 

The opening ceremony was a grand affair. Apart from the hour-long praise that Sri Moharana heaped on the minister, a schoolgirl’s garlanding the minister on stage marked the warmth of the welcome. Then came the singing of a song by a young girl student idolizing the guest as a noble soul with supernatural virtues. In short, the opening ceremony suffused with high regard and goodwill for the visitor.

Q2. How did Sri Moharana explain the reason behind the missing cap? 

Answer .. Sri Moharana contrived a plot to convert the apparent irritation of the guest to heartfelt satisfaction. He told the minister that a virtuous villager had taken away the cap to treasure it and worship it as a very great man’s personal belonging. The noble villager had even sent an amount of Rs.101 as his humble offering to the minister for the latter’s charity budget. Discovering that people admire him so much for his perceived nobility, the minister felt very satisfied. He was all smiles from then on.

Q3. What impression of Sri Moharana do you get from this unit of the text? 

Answer .. Sri Moharana comes out as a simple and virtuous person who had imbibed many noble values of life. He had never been arrogant, nor oppressive. Telling lies was not in his blood. He was even kind towards monkeys. He was courteous to his visitors and left no stones unturned to ensure their comfort.

Unit – 5

Q1. How did the minister find out the mystery of the missing cap? 

Answer .. Jhandoo, the monkey who had decamped with the cap appeared before the minister and Sri Moharana when the visitor was about to depart. Jhandoo handed over the cap to the minister leaving him perplexed and bemused. He wondered if the monkey was handing over his own lost cap. The unfolding of events in such quick manner brought tears to Sri Moharana’s eyes.

Q2. What role did Jhandoo play in the story? Did he bring an anti-climax to the story? Give your reasons. 

Answer .. Jhandoo apparently didn’t want his benefactor Sri Moharana to live with the lie all his life. This is why it came forward to return the cap to the minister. Sri Moharana’s plat was unraveled causing him embarrassment, but the return of the cap brought a truthful end to the episode. Probably, this noble act of Jhandoo changed the course of life for both Sri Moharana and the Minister, Virkishore Babu. They kept away from the sinful world of politics.

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