What type of story is this?  
a. an autobiographical story  
b. a fantasy  
c. a realistic story told in the first person  
d. a story of mystery and suspense  

‘Are you going all the way to Dehra?’ I asked.  
 I must have been sitting in a dark corner because my voice startled her.  

  i. The narrator suggests two reasons to account for the girl not realizing he was in the compartment with her. What are they?  
  ii. What was the real reason? 

She was silent. I wondered if my words had touched her, or whether she thought me a  romantic fool. Then I made a mistake. ‘What is it like outside?’ I asked.  
  i. Identify the two people in the extract. Where are they at this time and where are they going?  
  ii. What had the narrator just said to the girl and why does he wonder if she thought he was a romantic fool?  
  iii. Why did he feel he had made a mistake by asking her: What is it like outside? 

‘She was an interesting girl,’ I said.  
 ‘Can you tell me – did she keep her hair long or short?’  
 ‘I don’t remember,’ he said, sounding puzzled. ‘It was her eyes I noticed, not her hair. She 
 had beautiful eyes – but they were of no use to her.’  
 i. To whom is the narrator speaking in the extract? Where did he meet this person? Why do you think he sounded puzzled when responding to the narrator?  
ii. Write briefly what you know about the girl who is referred to in the extract.  
iii. The ending of the extract has a surprise for the reader of the story as well as for the narrator. What is it? 

Do you think that the narrator of the story was blind since birth? Provide evidence from the story to justify your answer.  

Was the narrator of the story attracted to the girl? If so, why do you think he was attracted to her? Make a list of things about her that he found attractive. 

Apart from the fact that both the narrator and the girl are blind, do they share anything else in common? 

Explain the following expressions as used in the story.  
  i. My eyes are sensitive only to light and darkness  
  ii. registers most tellingly  
  iii. formidable creatures  
  iv. asking a pretence of  
  v. daylight that was darkness for me.  

Make a list of all the words and expressions in the story that convey sound. Why do you think the writer uses so many such expressions?  

In the story, the narrator says: .... It often happens that people with good eyesight fail to see what is right in front of them ... people who cannot see (or see very little) have to take in only the essentials, whatever registers most tellingly on their remaining senses.  
a. What do you think the narrator means by this? Refer to examples from the story to illustrate 
  how the narrator depends on his other senses to experience his environment.  
b. Can you recount an experience from your own life or something you have read that illustrates this?  
c. Imagine that you are someone who cannot see. How would your other senses convey to you the following experiences?  
i. a train arriving at station  
ii. rain falling on dry earth  
iii. the wind blowing through the trees  
iv. your school at break time  

Imagine that you are the girl who shared the compartment with the narrator. Write the conversation you have with your aunt on your way to her home from the station, describing the strange but interesting man you travelled with.  

What impression did the author have about the girl?

‘I was becoming quite daring, but it was a safe remark.’ What remark? What was it daring? How was it safe?