A Short Monsoon Diary Extra Questions and Answers Class 8 English Honeydew
A Short Monsoon Diary Extra questions and Answers PDF help the students in preparing for their examination in an orderly manner. Class 8 English Honeydew Chapter 8 extra questions includes short and long questions which are essential for school exams. Practicing class 8 extra questions help the students to understand the entire chapter for the preparation of class tests and terminal exams.
Extra Questions for Class 8 English Chapter 8 A Short Monsoon Diary
Short Answer Type Questions
1. Why is mist called Melancholy?
Answer: Melancholy means very sad. And it is called so because as the mist comes climbing up the hills birds fall silent, forest becomes deathly still and it shows the unhappy environment.
2. What happened on June 24?
Answer: June 24 was the first day of monsoon mist. Due the which birds become silent and all forests are deathly still as though it were midnight.
3. How did the author describe the hill station and valley?
Answer: When a school boy asked him to describe the hill station & valley in one sentence, he said that “A paradise that might have been”.
4. How can you say that “Plants to know that monsoon rain had come”?
Answer: When monsoon rain (warm & humid) comes the first cobra lily rears its head from the ferns. So we can say that “Plants to know that monsoon had come”.
5. Write the name of seasonal visitors that rain heralded.
Answer: The rain heralded the arrival of some seasonal visitors i.e., a leopard, several thousands of leeches, scarlet minivets, drongos, a tree creeper etc.
6. Where did the author find the leopard and what was he doing there?
Answer: The leopard was near the servant’s quarter below the school and he was lifting a dog. In the evening leopard attacked one of Bijju’s cows. He approached Bijju’s mother who was screaming imprecations.
7. Why can scarlet minivets not conceal themselves under the trees?
Answer: Scarlet minivets (bright red bird like a cuckoo) they flit among leaves like brilliant jewels. But they cannot conceal themselves. No matter how leafy the tree because they are very bright in colour.”
8. What were creeper doing at the trunk of tree?
Answer: The creeper were moving rapidly up the trunk of the oak tree. They were snapping up insects all around. As there is rain so these is no dearth of insectivorous birds.
9. What were the feeling of author on August 2?
Answer: On August 2, all night rain were falling on the corrugated tin roof. There was no storm, no thunder. His tin roofs were springing unaccountable leaks. So there was a feeling of being untouched by yet in touch with the rain.
10. What happened on August 3?
Answer: On August 3, the rain stops the clouds begin to break up, the sun strikes the hills, he heard the tinkle of cowbells and suddenly, clean & pure the song of whistling thrush emerges like a dark sweet secret from the depths of the ravine.
11. Why were hillsides lush?
Answer: The hillsides were as late-monsoon flowers begin to appear wild balsam, dahlias, begonias and ground orchids.
12. What were the natural phenomenon which were showing that rains are coming to an end?
Answer: Lush monsoon growth has reached its peak, the seeds of the cobra lily are turning red, this all were signifying that rains are coming to an end.
13. Why grandmother stops small children to kill chuchundars?
Answer: Shrews are weak of eyesight, Grandmother stops children to kill them because according to her “chuchundars are lucky they bring money”.
14. Do you really think that “chuchundar are lucky”. Explain why?
Answer: Yes, we really think that chuchundar are lucky because the author received a cheque in the mail. Not a large amount of money but something was there.
15. Why was author feeling alone on January 26?
Answer: The author was feeling alone in the hushed silence of house because his friend went away from him. So it was very lonely and quiet in the silence.
16. What happened in the late March or end of winter?
Answer: At the end of winter, he saw the blackest cloud over Mussorie and then it hailed marbles for half an . hour. As he wrote, he saw a rainbow forming.
17. Why is the author not able to see Bijju?
Answer: The author is not able to see Bijju because of the mist that concealed the hills. So he could only hear the voice of Bijju.
18. What are the two ways in which the hills appear to change when the mist comes up?
Answer: When the mist comes up, the hills cover with silence. It also conceals the hills with its cover blanket.
19. When does the monsoon season begin and when does it end? How do you prepare to face the monsoon?
Answer: The monsoon enters India from east and south somewhere around mid of May. It reaches northern part of the country around second week of June. The monsoon ends around September. We take out our rain coats and umbrellas to face the monsoon.
20. Which hill-station does the author describe in this diary entry?
Answer: Mussoorie.
21. For “how many days does it rain without stopping? What does the author do on these days?
Answer: It rained without stopping for eight or nine days. The author has nowhere to go but to sit in the room and look out of the window at few bobbing umbrellas.
22. Where do the snakes and rodents take shelter? Why?
Answer: The snakes and rodents take shelter in roofs, attics and godowns in order to save themselves from rain water.
23. What did the author receive in the mail?
Answer: The author received a cheque in the mail.
24. Why did the grandmother ask the children not to kill the chuchundar?
Answer: The grandmother asked the children not to kill the chuchundar because it was considered lucky. She said that it brought money.
25. What signs do we find in Nature which show that the monsoon are about to end?
Answer: By the end of the monsoon, the greenery is at its peak. The seeds of the cobra lily turn red. A rainbow is formed in the sky.
Long Answer Type Questions
1. What is the importance of diary entry? How does it reflect the mood and phases of the writer?
Answer: Diary entry is a form of literature when one expresses his thoughts without hesitation. A diary writer make entries that reflects his mood. He also writes to keep a record of events and happenings that he would like to remember forever. It is also helpful in understanding the journey a person go through.
2. The lesson is a record of personal experiences that is helpful in understanding the nature. Give your opinion.
Answer: The lesson is a personal account of Ruskin Bond, who described nature and its bounties. It is a writer’s document that is helpful for any traveller. It gives confidence and detailed account of the hill station. The weather and miracle of nature is narrated so well, that anyone can feel association with the surrounding.
3. Look carefully at the diary entries for June 24-25, August 2 and March 23. Now write down the changes that happen as the rains progress from June to March.
Answer: June 24 was the first day of monsoon mist. All the birds fell silent as the mist climbed up the hills. The author calls the hills, it blankets them in silence too. On June 25, there was some genuine early monsoon rain. It was warm and humid, contrary to the cold high-altitude weather that the author had been experiencing all year. It seemed to the author that the plants knew it too, and the first cobra lily reared its head from the ferns. He described the weather as ‘a paradise that might ‘have been’ on August 2, it rained all night. There had been no storm or thunder. The. author experienced a feeling of “being untouched by, and yet in touch with, the rain”. March 23 marked the end of winter. The blackest cloud he had ever seen spread over Mussoorie and then it hailed marbles for half an hour. The hailstorm cleared the sky and he saw a rainbow forming.