Bihar Board Class 9Th English chapter 8 My Childhood Solutions | Bseb class 9Th Chapter 8 My Childhood Notes

Ans.— Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam’s parents were Jainulabdeen and Ashiamma.

Ans.— His ancestral house was built in the middle of the nineteenth century.

Ans.— The Second World War broke out in 1939.

Ans.— Kalam was one of the five children of his parents. They lived in their ancestral house which was a fairly large pucca house. His mother used to feed several outsiders every day. Though his father used to avoid all inessential comforts and luxuries, all necessities were provided for in terms of food,

medicine or clothes. Thus Kalam’s childhood was a very secured childhood, both materially and emotionally.

Ans.— During the outbreak of the Second World War, the train halt at Rameshwaram station was suspended. So the newspapers now had to be bundled and thrown out from the moving train on the Rameshwaram road between Rameshwaram and Dhanus Rodi. This forces Samsuddin, Kalam’s cousin who distributed newspapers in Rameshwaram, to look for a helping hand to catch the bundles. Kalam thus filled the slot and earned his first wages.

Ans.— Kalam was very close to his three friendsRamanandha Sastry, Aravinadan and Sivaprakasan. All these boys were from orthodox Hindu Brahmin families. But there was no sense of difference amongst these friends because of their religious differerences and upbringing. How emotionally strong this bond was became manifest in the incident when a new teacher, asked Kalam to go and sit on the back bench. Kalam felt very sad, and so did Ramanandha Sastry.

Ans.— When Kalam was in the fifth standard at the Rameswaram Elementary School a new teacher came to his class. Kalam used to wear a cap which marked him as a Muslim, and he always sat in the front row next to Ramanandha Sastry, who wore the sacred thread. The new teacher could not stomach a Hindu priests’s son sitting with a Muslim boy. In accordance with their social ranking as the new teacher saw it, Kalam was asked to go and sit on the back bench. Kalam felt very sad, and so did Ramanandha Sastry.

Ans.— Kalam’s science teacher, Sivasubramania lyer tried his best to break social barriers. One day, he invited Kalam for a meal. His wife was horrified at the idea of a Muslim boy being invited to dine in her ritually pure kitchen. She refused to serve Kalam in her kitchen. Sivasubramania lyer was not perturbed, nor did he get angry with his wife. He silently served Kalam with his own hands and sat down beside him to eat his meal.