24-2-2014 ›˘–˲$–È∆ÊˇÖ222210th ENGLISH English Medium Material

The night at the hotel

Schwamm had a small son who was very sensitive and reactedto the slightest irritation. Every morning, the boy on his way toschool used to wait at the railway crossing for the early morningtrain to go by. He stood there waving at the passengers in thetrain furiously, eagerly and desperately. But none of the passen-gers ever waved back at him. The boy took it to heart and beingextremely sensitive, behaved in a peculiar fashion when hereturned home in the evenings. He could not do his home work,he did not want to play or talk to any one. Sometimes he evenbroke down into tears. This went on for months. Schwamm andhis wife were highly worried about their son.Schwamm wanted to travel by the early train and make his sonhappy by waving back at him. So, he came to the town. He triedfor a single room in a hotel. But he failed to get a single room atthat late hour. He finally could get a free bad in a double room.Schwamm entered the room and tried for the light switch asevery thing was dark in the room. Suddenly schwamm becamemotionless when he was asked by the stranger who had alreadyoccupied the room not to turn on the light. The stranger direct-ed schwamm to his bad so that he might not fall over the crutch-es or run into his suitcase. Schwamm introduced himself to thestranger. The stranger asked him whether he had come to thetown to attend a meeting. Schwamm told every thing about hisson and further told that he had come to the town to take theearly train and wave back at his son in order to make him happy.The stranger told Schwamm that his wife died after giving birthto a child. He thought that the child was responsible for thedeath of his wife and thus hated and avoided children. However,the stranger was moved by pitiable state of Schwamm's son.When Schwamm woke up the next morning, he could not findthe stranger in the room. There was no sufficient time forSchwamm to get ready and go to the railway station to catch theearly train. He didnot want to stay and try again to catch thetrain the next day. So he returned home disappointed. But hewas surprised to see his son who clung to him with happiness.He learnt from his son that a man waved at his son tying a hand-kerchief to the cane and holding it out of the window until theboy could not see it any longer. Schwamm immediately under-stood that it was none other then the stranger with whom heshared the room.

Meanings1) Probably = likely, may be, perhaps2) Mount = climb, go on, ascend3) Peep = look thragh, secret look, glance4) Volunteer = willing to do, without any force, offer willingly5) Switch to = change.6) Sake = reason7) Irritation = pain, anger, annoyance8) Furiously = severely, angrily, savagely9) Desperate = hopeless, violent, despairing, wretched, grave10) Afford = be able to do11) Crutch = cane, walking stick12) Grope = feel about, search, search blindly13) Shrug = raise shoulders slightly to show helplessness14) Instinctively = without any previous planning, suddenly15) Freeze = become motionless16) Startled = suddenly alarmed, surprised, puzzled17) Congress = meeting18) Apprehensive = uneasy, worried, anxious, nervous, afraid19) Scamp = rascal, worthless person, rogue20) Mimosa = a sensitive plant21) Bewildered = confused, puzzled, dazed22) Assuage = soothe, comfort, make painless, calm23) Daze = confuse, unable to think properly24) Elated = proud, joyful25) Pummel = beat repeatedly with fists26) Single = unmarried27) Tremble = shake, quiver28) Beam = glow, shine, smile radiantly, emit29) Switched to = changed

30) Regretfully = sorrowfully31) At one's elbow = close32) Favour = help33) Down hearted = dejected, disappointed

Important Questions & Answers1) The night receptionist regretfully shrugged his shoulders

what did he regret? What did the shrugging of his shoul-ders show? Was he being helpful or unhelpful why doyou think so?

A: The night receptionist regretted his inability to provide a sin-gle room to schwamm because there were no rooms avail-able at that time. The shrugging of shoulders shows hishelplessness in providing a single room. He was being help-ful. I think so because he offered schwamm a free bed in adouble room and advised that he would loise that bed also ifhe wanted to try other hotels.

2) Do you think Schwamm did a good thing in deciding toshare a room with some one? Why do you think so?

A: Yes, schwamm did a good thing in sharing a room with somestranger because he came to town in odd time and he mightnot get any single room, in other hotels. If Schwamm hadtried for a single room in other hotels. He would have lostthat free bed in the double bed room.

3) Why was Schwamm hesitant when he introduced him-self to stranger?

A: Schwamm didn't know anything about his partner. Thestranger was still awake when Schwamm entered the room.Schwamm felt uneasy to describe his reason for coming totown to the stranger so, he introduced himself to thestranger hesitatingly.

4) I probably have the strangest reason imaginable forcoming into town? Schwamm said. What was the rea-son? Can you state it briefly? Do you think it was astrange reason?

A: Schwamm had a little son who was extremely sensitive.Everyday while going to school, he used to stop at the rail-way gate and wave at the passengers travelling by the earlymorning train. He expected them to wave back. But none ofthe passengers waved back at him. He took it to heart andsimply made himself sick.Schwamm decided to go by the early morning train andwave back at his son and make him cheerful. This wasSchwamm's reason for coming into town. Yes I think it is astrange reason.

5) Schwamm explained the reason for coming into town ina tone of apprehensive cheerfulness. Why do you thinkSchwamm was apprehensive and cheerful at the sametime. What was he apprehensive and cheerful about?

A: Schwamm was apprehensive while explaining his reason forcoming to town because he thought that the stranger mightfeel that the reason was ridiculous. At the same timeSchwamm was cheerful because he was going to make hisson happy by taking the early train next morning and wav-ing back at him.

6. What did Schwamm's son do in the morning? How didhe behave in the evening? What was the reason for hisbehaviour?

A: Schwamm's son, while going to school used to stop at therailway gate and wave his hand at the passengers travellingby the early morning train. When he returns from school he acts bewildered and in adaze. He can't do his homework and he doesn't want to playor talk to anyone. The boy noted that although he waved eagerly none of thepassengers ever waved back. He took it to heart and madehimself sick.

7. I hate them and avoid them why did the stranger hatechildren? Did he really hate children?

A: The stranger's wife died giving birth to their first born. Hethought that the child was responsible for the death of hiswife. So, he hated children for sometime. But infact he didn't have any hatred towards children. Weknow this by his help to Schwamm in solving his problem.He was really kind towards children.

8. Why was Schwamm unable to catch the train? was heable to do what he came in to town for? Was his trip totown a success? How?

A: When Schwamm awoke the next morning he was shocked

to see that the early morningtrain would leave in five min-utes, leaving him no chance tocatch it. So Schwamm wasunable to catch the train. Hehimself was unable to do whathe came into town for. But histrip was successful with thehelp of the stranger.

9. How did Schwamm feelwhen he returned home inthe afternoon? How do youthink he felt when he met hisson?

A: Schwamm returned home downhearted and disappointed as hethought that his purpose was not achieved. But when hereached home he found his son very happy. He knew fromthe boy that a person with crutches had waved back at him.He was very happy to see his son's happiness

10. What do you think had happened in the hotel room?What did the stranger do?

A: Schwamm awoke late in the morning and found that he wasalone. He looked at his watch and was shocked to see thatthe morning train would leave in five minutes, leaving himno chance to catch it. The stranger woke up carly and tookthe early morning train and waved back at Schwamm's sonand made him happy.

In celebration of being Alive

Dr. Christiaan Barnard, at the end of his career as a heart sur-geon, seriously thought over the suffering prevalent in the worldtoday. He and his wife met with an accident while crossing aroad. This accident made him think about the suffering moreseriously as he had experienced fear and agony because of theaccident.

He always found the suffering of children particularly heartbreaking. He disagreed with his father's view that god testshuman beings and suffering ennobles them. He came to knowabout suffering for the first time in his life when he was a child.His father showed him a half- eaten biscuit of Barnard's brotherwho died earlier because of abnormal heart. His father felt thatif his brother had been born that day. The boy could have beensaved by some one with sophisticated heart surgery.

Once Dr. Barnard visited the cape town's red cross chil-dren's Hospital. It opened his eyes to the fact that he was miss-ing something in all his thinking about suffering. A trolley wasleft unattended in the children's ward. Two children who werevery brave took charge of the trolley. One was blind and theother was cripple. The blind boy acted as a mechanic and thecripple played the role of a driver. The choice of roles was easy.They put on quite a show that day. The rest of the childrenenjoyed the race and encouraged the two. All the plates on thetrolley were scattered. In the meanwhile the nurse and ward sis-ter caught up with them. Scolded them and put them back tobed.

The boys were met by Dr.Barnard after the race. The boyswere so happy as they felt that the race was a grand success. Hewas taught a profound lesson in getting on with the business ofliving. He had been looking at suffering from the wrong end. Herealised that the business of living is the celebration of beingalive and not just something for pleasure, amusement and recre-ation.

One can enjoy happiness only when one experiences suffer-ing. Dr. Barnard supported this statement by giving the follow-ing two examples:-

We can't appreciate light unless we have known darknessand we can appreciate warmth if we have suffered cold.

Meanings1) Career=professional life2) Consider=accept, think about, think over, examine, discuss

Summary

Lesson -2

Summary

Lesson -1

O. Sreenivasa Reddy,English faculty, Anantapur.seenu2013@gmail.com