Chapter Summary Image: Pashupatinath Temple, Kathmandu The chapter “Kathmandu” narrates a journal of the trip experienced by Vikram Seth who visited Kathmandu. This chapter is an excerpt from his book Heaven Lake. The author hitchhiked from China to visit India, along the route he crossed Tibet and Nepal. In this story, the author narrates his experience during his stay in Kathmandu in the form of a travelogue where he vividly describes the intricate details of the city and what he feels about it. He visited two of the most popular temples of the city, notably, the Pashupatinath temple and ... Read More

Chapter Summary The story “Indigo” is based on the interview of Mahatma Gandhi that was taken by Louise Fischer. To write about him, Fischer had visited him in the year 1942. He was in the Ashram-Sevagram, where he came to know everything about the Indigo movement. This story features the struggle that was made by Mahatma Gandhi for the underprivileged peasants of the Champaran. Gandhi Ji also told him how he planned and initiated the process of departure of the British government. That is when in this interview he recalled one person named Rajkumar Shukla who was a sharecropper ... Read More

Chapter Summary “If I were you” followed the life of the playwright named Gerrard. This play followed a simple flow. This play is written by Douglas James, it is an account of how Gerrard escaped the grip of a killer with the help of sheer wit and cleverness. The play begins with a structure that Gerrard is about to leave for rehearsal and at that very time, he encounters an intruder. Gerrard then finds himself in a complex condition and he went to convince the intruder to not kill him. The killer intended to steal Gerard’s identity to escape captivity. ... Read More

Chapter Summary The story “Discovering Tut: The Saga Continues” is written by A.R. William. This story is all about the detailed description of the Pharaoh dynasty’s last heir Tutankhamun. Tutankhamun was a teenage king who ruled for about 9 years and was a centre of concern because of this mysterious death. All possible mysteries, associated with this king’s death are mentioned in this story. In this story, a curse, upon the family of Howard Carter and again mystery about his death as well is depicted. Technological advancements and their necessity in resolving any unsolved mystery are important parts of ... Read More

Chapter Summary The main concept of the story, “Deep Water” is the strength of “will-power” and how determination can lead a person to achieve success. This story is an extraction of this writer’s writing Men and Mountain. The writer had overcome his fear of water by taking some significant measures. The reasons for developing such fear in the writer’s mind are two incidents. The first incident occurred when the writer was of 4 years and a wave knocks him down. The second incident happened when the impacts of the first incident were not at all disappeared from the writer’s ... Read More

Chapter Summary The French Author Alphonse Daudet wrote The last lesson. In this story, the author talks about the events that took place in 1870 when France was annexed by the Prussian forces led by Bismarck. Then on Lorraine and Alsace went under Prussian rule. French was discontinued to be taught in these two districts. The French teachers were ordered to leave these districts. Subsequently, Mr. Hamel was not allowed to teach the students anymore on the premise of his old school. However, the last lesson that he taught to the students was full of love and dedication and taught ... Read More

Chapter Summary Image: Writer Umberto Eco “The Interview” is an excerpt taken from the Penguin Book of Interviews, written by Christopher Silvester. In the current story, the author has outlined the process of interview as a new way of asking questions and answers to outline various aspects of life. The requirements bring in the reference of the field of journalism to address the issues of the questionnaire and bring in the importance of new techniques. Furthermore, the author states that the interview has become a crucial field in everyone’s course of life, irrespective of class or strata of society ... Read More

Chapter Summary “The Browning Version” is a play by Terence Rattigan that focuses on the attitude of a teenager student towards his teacher. It is a one-act play that involves three characters and is all set in school. The remarks that have done by the student are terrible because they are very close to reality. The student mimics the voice of his teacher, Mr. Crocker-Harris and starts calling the man inhuman. He is very terrified of his teacher. The reason behind this is that this student’s promotion is completely dependent on the quirk or goodwill of his teacher. However, he ... Read More

Chapter Summary The story in the chapter The Ailing Planet: The Green Movement's Role is written by Nani Palkhivala and was published in The Indian Express. The story mainly describes the Green Movement and it describes how a zoo declared humans as the world’s most dangerous animals. The story mainly states how the world is suffering from an ailment and how humans are responsible for it. It also describes the matter of ecological viewpoint that describes how humans do not care about continuously the only planet they have. The planet is described as a living organism with its metabolism. ... Read More

Chapter Summary Image: Battle of Panipat (Source: Ujala.chowdhry, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons) “The Adventure” is a story written by Jayant Narlikar. It is a story that revolves around one professor Gangaadharpant Gaitonde, who is strange. It is a story that centers on a historical event with this historian. Mr. Gangadharpaant is the protagonist. Here, the author shows how this man, Ganadharpant or Professor Gaitonde time travels. It is shown that he is strangely in a different world because he knows that he is in Pune, a city of Maharashtra, but the situation is different from what ... Read More