Class 6 My Childhood

Exercise B
Ans1. Kalam's father,Jainulabdeen, had neither much formal education nor wealth but possesed great innate wisdom. He was kind, just like Ashiamma, Kalam's mother and together, they fed many people at their home everyday. His austere father believed in simple living and religious tolerance
His mother told him stories from the Ramayana as well as life of the Prophet.

Ans2.Kalam inherited honesty, self discipline, spirit of generosity and faith in goodness from his parents. He also learnt to believe in simplicity and religious tolerance from them.

Ans3. Kalam's family lived in their ancestral house, built in the middle of the 19th century. It was a fairly large pucca house made of limestone and bricks on the Mosque street in Rameswaram.

Ans4. In 1939, when he was eight years old, Kalam earned one anna every day by selling tamarind seeds at a provision store.
Later, he earned wages by catching bundles of newspaper thrown out of a moving train between Rameswaram and Dhanuskodi.

Ans5.When the Second World War broke out in 1939, there was a sudden demand for tamarind seeds in the Rameswaram market. Also, once a kind of emergency was declared , the train halt at the Rameswaram station was suspended.

Ans6. The new teacher could not stomach a Hindu priest boy sitting with a Muslim boy. He asked Kalam to go and sit on the last bench, according to his social ranking as the new teacher saw it.

Ans7. When Kalam and Ramanadha Sastry went home, they told their respective parents about the social discrimination practised by the teacher. Lakshamana Sastry summoned the teacher and asked him to either apologize or quit the school and the Island. He warned him against spreading the poison of social inequality and religious intolerance in the minds of innocent children. His strong sense of conviction reformed the teacher.

Hots Ans2. Kalam's best friends at school came from Orthodox Hindu Brahmin families.During the annual Sri Sita Ram Kalyanam ceremony, his family arranged boats for the idols of the Lord. At home, his mother and grandmother told them stories from the Ramayana as well as life of the Prophet.