Questions and Answers
Q1: Do you think that Abhiley represents the simplicity of Ladakhi women? Cite two examples of her innocence and ignorance from the text?
Ans. The author has aptly presented the simplicity of Ladakhi women in the face of Abhiley. She has never gone far from her village. She is not familiar with modern technology and the outside world. To her, Srinagar is as distant as Turkey.
i) When she saw a plane for the first time, she welcomed it with grass in her basket.
ii) When she heard the news of the earthquake in Turkey, her face turned yellow for Rukhsana, who was living in Srinagar. Turkey and Srinagar were the same for her.
Q2: Why didn’t Abhiley recognize Dolma and called her a memsahib?
Ans. Abhiley had not seen Dolma for years. That was why she didn’t recognize her. Abhiley called Dolma a memsahib because she has dressed in a way entirely different from the way in which Abhiley found women in their simple dresses. Dolma looked very modern and westernized.
Q3: How will you estimate Abhiley’s response to modern technology?
Ans. Abhiley is not familiar or acquainted with modern technology. She is totally ignorant of modern technology. She is a loving woman, but her too much ignorance about modern technology makes her a laughable character. It is the simple village life that makes her say, “Plane Sahib has arrived.” She is not able to distinguish between Srinagar and Turkey. She is not aware of the local happenings and technical know-how.
Q4: What are the major themes of the short story ‘Abhiley’?
Ans. Abdul Ghani Sheikh has tried his best to bring his message to light under various themes in this story. The major themes of the short story Abhiley are:
i) Tradition versus modernity.
ii) Simplicity of rural life.
iii) Confinement to homes.
iv) Exploitation of simple behavior by others.
Q5: Abhiley was always worried about Rukhsana, but why she didn’t opt to stay at Srinagar with her?
Ans. It is true that Abhiley always worried about Rukhsana, but she didn’t opt to stay at Srinagar with her because she missed her family members, i.e., the children, her daughter, her granddaughter, and grandson.
Q: Write a short paragraph on ‘generation gap.’ How can communication barriers be minimized?
Ans. Generation gap means when older and younger people do not understand each other because of their different experiences, opinions, habits, and behavior.
Generation gap is likely a broken bridge on a river. Adolescence is a period of stress. At this stage, adolescents believe that they can act on their own. Times are changing fast, values are changing, and mentalities are breaking. Adolescents refuse to be treated as children. TV has been playing the wrong role to some extent through its programs. Even small children are behaving the wrong way and refuse to listen or behave as they are advised by the adults.
To remove this communication barrier, the parents have to be very careful in listening to the children and helping them in various ways, such as sound advice, sharing views, accepting their suggestions, etc.
The parents should not neglect their children, but they should spend some extra time with them. The children should be given moral education by their parents and elders. They should allow their children to share their thoughts and should listen to their problems and try to solve them.