The Homecoming Story Questions and Answers & MCQs
A. Read the following extract and answer the questions:
Phatik Chakravorti was the ring leader among the boys of the village. A new mischief got into his head. There was a heavy log lying on the mud flat of the river waiting to be shaped into a mast for a boat. He decided that they should all work together to shift the log by main force from its place and roll it away. The owner of the log would be angry and surprised, and they would all enjoy the fun.
Every one seconded the proposal, and it was carried unanimously. But just as the fun was about to begin, Makhan, Phatik’s younger brother, sauntered up, and sat down on the log in front of them all without a word. The boys were puzzled for a moment.
He was pushed, rather timidly, by one of the boys and told to get up but he remained quite unconcerned. He appeared like a young philosopher meditating on the futility of games. Phatik was furious. “Makhan,” he cried, “if you don’t get down this minute I’ll thrash you!” Makhan only moved to a more comfortable position.
Question 1.
Who was Phatik Chakravorti?
Answer:
Phatik Chakravorti was a 14-year-old teenage boy who was Makhan’s elder brother and also the ringleader among the boys of the village.
Question 2.
Why did Phatik’s friends obey Phatik’s words?
Answer:
Phatik was the ringleader among the boys of the village. He was wild, turbulent and also dominant. That is why his words had an influence on his friends and they obeyed his words.
Question 3.
What did Phatik decided to do?
Answer:
There was a heavy log lying on the mud-flat of the river, waiting to be shaped into a mast for a boat. Phatik decided that he and his friends should shift the log by main force from its place and roll it away. At this, he owner of the log would be angry and surprised but it would be fun for them.
Question 4.
Who was Makan?
Answer:
Makhan was the younger brother of Phatik. He was just the opposite natured but he did not get along with Phatik well. Rather, he was always busy in troubling Phatik. While playing with the log, Makhan bumped into Phatik and his friends and troubled them.
B. Read the following extract and answer the questions:
All the other boys shouted themselves hoarse with delight. But Phatik was a little frightened. He knew what was coming. And, sure enough, Makhan rose from Mother Earth blind as Fate and screaming like the Furies. He rushed at Phatik and scratched his face and beat him and kicked him, and then went crying home. The first act of the drama was over. Phatik wiped his face, and sat down on the edge of a sunken barge on the river bank, and began to chew a piece of grass.
A boat came up to the landing, and a middle-aged man, with grey hair and dark moustache, stepped on shore. He saw the boy sitting there doing nothing, and asked him where the Chakravortis lived. Phatik went on chewing the grass, and said: “Over there,” but it was quite impossible to tell where he pointed. The stranger asked him again.
He swung his legs to and fro on the side of the barge, and said; “Go and find out,” and continued to chew the grass as before. But now a servant came down from the house, and told Phatik his mother wanted him. Phatik refused to move. But the servant was the master on this occasion. He took Phatik up roughly, and carried him, kicking and struggling in impotent rage.
Question 1.
Why was Phatik frightened?
Answer:
After following Phatik’s order, when his friends messed with Makhan, Phatik knew that Makhan would report this to his mother and his mother would take his brother’s side and beat him. That is why he got frightened.
Question 2.
What did Makhan do after Phatik’s friends took a toll on him?
Answer:
After Phatik’s friends took a toll on him, Makhan rose from the ground angrily and screamed like the Furies. Then he rushed at Phatik, scratched his face, beat and kicked him and then went crying home.
Question 3.
What did Phatik do after Makhan left?
Answer:
After Makhan left, Phatik wiped his face, sat down the edge of a sunken barge at the bank of the river and started chewing a piece of grass. Then he had a vague conversation with a stranger who asked him the address of the Chakravortis. He was busy in his own thoughts and did not want any interruptions.
Question 4.
What did Phatik do when a servant came down from their house?
Answer:
While Phatik was busy in his own thoughts, reluctant to go home, a servant from their came
down looking for him. When he told him that his mother wanted to see him, he refused to move. So the servant had to take him by force. So he took him up roughly and carried him kicking and struggling in rage.
C. Read the following extract and answer the questions:
His mother took Makhan’s side in a moment, and pulled Phatik away, beating him with her hands. When Phatik pushed her aside, she shouted out: “What I you little villain! Would you hit your own mother?” It was just at this critical juncture that the grey-haired stranger arrived. He asked what the matter was. Phatik looked sheepish and ashamed.
But when his mother stepped back and looked at the stranger, her anger was changed to surprise. For she recognised her brother, and cried: “Why, Dada! Where have you come from?” As she said these words, she bowed to the ground and touched his feet. Her brother had gone away soon after she had married, and he had started business in Bombay. His sister had lost her husband while he was in Bombay. Bishamber had now come back to Calcutta, and had at once made enquiries about his sister.
He had then hastened to see her as soon as he found out where she was. The next few days were full of rejoicing. The brother asked after the education of the two boys. He was told by his sister that Phatik was a perpetual nuisance. He was lazy, disobedient, and wild.
But Makhan was as good as gold, as quiet as a lamb, and very fond of reading, Bishamber kindly offered to take Phatik off his sister’s hands, and educate him with his own children in Calcutta. The widowed mother readily agreed. When his uncle asked Phatik if he would like to go to Calcutta with him, his joy knew no bounds, and he said; “Oh, yes, uncle!”
Question 1.
What happened when Phatik went home?
Answer:
When Phatik went home, he had to face false accusations that Makhan made, to draw his mother’s attention. His mother took Makhan’s side and beat him with her hands. She rebuked him badly knowing only the half-truth.
Question 2.
Who was Bishamber?
Answer:
Bishamber was Phatik’s uncle who had started his own business in Bombay. Phatik’s mother lost her husband when Bishamber was in Bombay and so after a long time he came to back to Calcutta to meet his sister.
Question 3.
How did Phatik’s mother describe her children to Bishamber?
Answer:
To Bishamber, she described Phatik as a perpetual nuisance, a lazy, disobedient and wild natured boy who cared for none. As for Makhan, she described him as good as gold, as quiet as a lamb and very fond of reading. To her, Makhan was her ideal son.
Question 4.
What did Bishamher offer? Why?
Answer:
Bishamber offered to take Phatik off his sister’s hands and educated him with his own children in Calcutta. As Phatik was nothing but a troublemaker for his family, he thought of taking him so that he could learn some proper manners.
D. Read the following extract and answer the questions:
When they reached Calcutta, Phatik made the acquaintance of his aunt for the first time. She was by no means pleased with this unnecessary addition to her family. She found her own three boys quite enough to manage without taking any one else. And to bring a village lad of fourteen into their midst was terribly upsetting. Bishamber should really have thought twice before committing such an indiscretion.
In this world of human affairs there is no worse nuisance than a boy at the age of fourteen. He is neither ornamental, nor useful. It is impossible to shower affection on him as on a little boy; and he is always getting in the way. If he talks with a childish lisp he is called a baby, and if he answers in a grown-up way he is called impertinent. In fact any talk at all from him is resented.
Then he is at the unattractive, growing age. He grows out of his clothes with indecent haste; his voice grows hoarse and breaks and quavers; his face grows suddenly angular and unsightly. It is easy to excuse the shortcomings of early childhood, but it is hard to tolerate even unavoidable lapses in a boy of fourteen. The lad himself becomes painfully selfconscious. When he talks with elderly people he is either unduly forward, or else so unduly shy that he appears ashamed of his very existence.
Question 1.
What did Phatik realize when he reached his uncle’s home?
Answer:
After reaching his uncle’s house at Calcutta, Phatik made his first acquaintance with his aunt and realized that she was not at all pleased with this unnecessary addition to her family. His cousins also disliked him. He suddenly became a total misfit.
Question 2.
Why did no one liked Phatik at Bishamber’s place?
Answer:
Phatik was a rural boy who was not familiar with city life. Moreover he was a burden to him aunt because he was an unwelcoming guest. So, no one liked him.
Question 3.
Why “there is no worse nuisance than a boy at the age of fourteen”?
Answer:
A boy at the age of fourteen is a teenage boy who is neither ornamental, nor useful. He is neither a baby nor an adult. He is not well-adjusted to the society and thus he always feels lonely and neglected. Therefore, handling the emotions of a teenage boy is tough.
Question 4.
What idea do you get from the above mentioned passage?
Answer:
The above mentioned passage talks about how Phatik became an unwelcoming guest at his uncle’s place. As he was a teenager, he was very tender at heart and so his surroundings made him feel troubled and lonely. He felt neglected, rejected and a total misfit.
E. Read the following extract and answer the questions:
The cramped atmosphere of neglect in his aunt’s house oppressed Phatik so much that he felt that he could hardly breathe. He wanted to go out into the open country and fill his lungs and breathe freely. But there was no open country to go to. Surrounded on all sides by Calcutta houses and walls, be would dream night after night of his village home, and long to be back there.
He remembered the glorious meadow where he used to fly his kite all day long; the broad river-banks where he would wander about the live long day singing and shouting for joy; the narrow brook where he could go and dive and swim at any time he liked. He thought of his band of boy companions over whom he was despot; and, above all, the memory of that tyrant mother of his, who had such a prejudice against him, occupied him day and night.
A kind of physical love like that of animals; a longing to be in the presence of the one who is loved; an inexpressible wistfulness during absence; a silent cry of the inmost heart for the mother, like the lowing of a calf in the twilight;-this love, which was almost an animal instinct, agitated the shy, nervous, lean, uncouth and ugly boy. No one could understand it, but it preyed upon his mind continually.
Question 1.
What is the above passage about?
Answer:
The above passage is about the troubles that Phatik faced while staying at Kolkata. His miserable condition and mental pain are very well reflected in the mentioned passage.
Question 2.
Do you feel sympathy towards Phatik? Why?
Answer:
Yes, I feel sympathy for Phatik because he faced serious issues at the city and there was no one who could stand by him. He got rejected, neglected and unloved by his aunt and the others and his mother also did not care to hear from her son. his son.
Question 3.
What did Phatik dream and remember?
Answer:
Surrounded on all sides by the large brick houses of Calcutta, Phatik dreamt about his nights at his village home and longed to go back there. He remembered the glorious meadows where he used to fly his kites all day long, the playful activities at the riversides and the brook where he could dive and swim at any time. He also missed his friends and even remembered his tyrant mother.
Question 4.
How did Phatik feel when he was at Kolkata?
Answer:
He was not at all pleased when he was at Kolkata. He was a wild and free boy at his village but when he came to the city, the cramped atmosphere of neglect at his aunt’s house saddened Phatik so much that he felt that he could hardly breathe.
Not only at house but also at school and other places, he got humiliated as he was a village boy. He could not stand the stuffy city life of Kolkata and wished to go back.
F. Read the following extract and answer the questions:
The fever rose very high, and all that night the boy was delirious. Bishamber brought in a doctor. Phatik opened his eyes flushed with fever, and looked up to the ceiling, and said vacantly: “Uncle, have the holidays come yet?
May I go home?” Bishamber wiped the tears from his own eyes, and took Phatik’s lean and burning hands in his own, and sat by him through the night. The boy began again to mutter. At last his voice became excited: “Mother,” he cried, “don’t beat me like that! Mother! I am telling the truth!’
Question 1.
Who got high fever?
Why was he in a delirious state?
Answer:
Phatik got high fever.
Phatik got very sick with fever that rose high with time. But he did not got the love and care that he needed. So, he was in a delirious state.
Question 2.
Why was Bishamber crying?
Answer:
Phatik was found by the police, highly sick with fever, and they brought him home. Bishamber brought in a doctor. Phatik’s eyes were flushed with fever and he was kind of hallucinating. His miserable condition made him feel sorry and guilty as well. That is why he was crying.
Question 3.
Why did Phatik say, “Mother, don’t beat me like that!”
Answer:
Phatik had got high fever and so he was hallucinating of going home. He was remembering his memories of his happy days when he was at his village. As his mother used to beat him and never took side of him and never even listened to him, he was in his hallucination was requesting his mother not to beat him.
Question 4.
Who do you think was responsible about Phatik’s condition? Why?
Answer:
Phatik’s aunt and his mother were responsible about his condition. When he was at his village, his mother was never kind to him and never even listened to him or cared much about him. To her, Phatik was a complete nuisance. When Phatik reached the city, his aunt too disliked him, did not cared for him and abandoned him. These acts made Phatik feel left out.
The Homecoming Story MCQs
Choose the correct alternative to complete the following sentences:
Question 1.
What was the name of Phatik’s brother?
a. Makhan
b. Bishamber
c. Mohon
Answer:
a. Makhan
Question 2.
Where did Phatik’s uncle live?
a. Bombay
b. Delhi
c. Calcutta
Answer:
c. Calcutta
Question 3.
Who didn’t like Phatik’s way of living?
a. Neighbours
b. Mother
c. Sister
Answer:
b. Mother
Question 4.
What was the new mischief Phatik thought of?
a. To cut a coconut tree
b. To beat Makhan
c. To push a long into the river
Answer:
c. To push a long into the river
Question 5.
Phatik’s last words were Mother have come
a. The holidays
b. Aunt and Uncle
c. Brother
Answer:
a. The holidays
Question 6.
Who took Phatik home roughly?
a. Makhan
b. Mother
c. Servant
Answer:
c. Servant
Question 7.
How old was Phatik?
a. 13
b. 14
c. 15
Answer:
b. 14
Question 8.
Where had Bishambar gone after his sister had married?
a. Bombay
b. Delhi
c. Calcutta
Answer:
a. Bombay
Question 9.
What does Bishambar offer to his sister?
a. To take Makhan with him to Calcutta
b. To take Phatik with him to Calcutta
c. To take Makhan and Phatik with him to Calcutta
Answer:
b. To take Phatik with him to Calcutta
Question 10.
When was Rabindranath Tagore born?
a. 1 June 1858
b. 3 May 1859
c. 7 May 1861
Answer:
c. 7 May 1861
Question 11.
In which year Rabindranath Tagore was awarded Noble prize?
a. 1914
b. 1913
c. 1925
Answer:
b. 1913
Question 12.
Who gave a terrible ander to his friends to roll the log?
a. Phatik
b. Nikhil
c. Mohan
Answer:
a. Phatik
Question 13.
What is the current condition of Phatik’s father?
a. He is working person
b. He is retired person
c. He is dead
Answer:
c. He is dead
Question 14.
What is the reaction of Phatik’s aunt on his arrival in Calcutta?
a. She becomes very happy on his arrival
b. She is not happy with his arrival
c. None of these
Answer:
b. She is not happy with his arrival
Question 15.
“You great clumsy, country fool!” Who said to whom?
a. Phatik’s aunt to Phatik
b. Phatik’s brother to Phatik
c. Phatik’s mother to Phatik
Answer:
a. Phatik’s aunt to Phatik
Question 16.
Where was Phatik going when the police drag him back?
a. It was going to see his friend
b. He was going home
c. He was going to Bombay
Answer:
b. He was going home
Question 17.
How does Phatik’s aunt react to Phatik’s arrival at her home?
a. She is. not pleased with his arrival
b. She welcomes Phatik very warmly
c. She thinks Phatik will help her in her household chores
Answer:
a. She is. not pleased with his arrival
Question 18.
Which statement is not correct about the boy of fourteen according to Rabindranath Tagore?
a. He is neither ornamental nor useful
b. It is an attractive and growing age
c. He is very clever and obedient
Answer:
c. He is very clever and obedient
Question 19.
Who send the message to Phatik’s mother to come to Calcutta?
a. Phatik’s uncle
b. Phatik’s aunt
c. Phatik’s Cousins
Answer:
a. Phatik’s uncle
Question 20.
In which month the holiday will come?
a. October
b. November
c. May
Answer:
b. November
Question 21.
Where was Phatik going when the police drag him back?
a. He was going to Bombay
b. He was going to see his friend
c. He was going home
Answer:
c. He was going home
Question 22.
What did Phatik loss?
a. Notebook
b. Lesson book
c. Tiffin
Answer:
b. Lesson book
Question 23.
Which statement describes Phatik’s mental condition?
a. His felt he was going to have an attack of malarial fever
b. His face and eyes were flushed red with fever
c. He would dream night after night his village home and long to be back there
Answer:
c. He would dream night after night his village home and long to be back there
Question 24.
What was painful for Phatik?
a. welcoming
b. he was unwelcome
c. none of these
Answer:
b. he was unwelcome
Question 25.
Who wrote the story “Homecoming”?
a. Rabindranath Tagor
b. Satyajit Ray
c. None of these
Answer:
a. Rabindranath Tagor
Treasure Chest A Collection of ICSE Short Stories Workbook Answers
