Finish Line & Beyond

Reach for the Top

I. Answer these questions in one or two sentences each.

1. Why was the ‘holy man’ who gave Santosh’s mother his blessings sur-
prised?

Answer: The part of India where Santosh was born has a negative bias against girl
child. So the holy man was surprised because Santosh’s grandmother wished for a
girl child.

2. Give an example to show that even as a young girl Santosh was not ready
to accept anything unreasonable.

Answer: Santosh liked to wear shorts instead of traditional dress prevalent in her
village. This shows her rebellious attitude and shows that since early age she had a
mind of her own.

3. Why was Santosh sent to the local school?

Answer: It is a customary to send a girl child to local school because the aim is to
make them literate enough to enable them to read and write. The purpose is not
education but literacy.

4. When did she leave home for Delhi, and why?

Answer: When she turned 16 she wanted to pursue higher education so she left for
Delhi.

5. Why did Santosh’s parents agree to pay for her schooling in Delhi? What
mental qualities of Santosh are brought into light by this incident?

Answer: Santosh threatened to work part time to manage her school fees. ON hear-
ing this her parents agreed to pay for her schooling in Delhi. This incidence shows
Santosh level of determination towards her goal.

II. Answer each of these questions in a short paragraph (about 30 words).

1. How did Santosh begin to climb mountains?

Answer: While she was staying at her hostel in Jaipur, she used to see people climb-
ing the Arawali hills. When her curiosity compelled her to go for looking for those
people she found them to be mountaineers. On her request they agreed to let her
join them in mountain climbing. This is how her journey to become a great moun-
taineer began.

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 Finish Line & Beyond

2. What incidents during the Everest expedition show Santosh’s concern for
her team-mates?

Answer: During her Everest expedition she tried save her fellow climber’s lives. She
shared her oxygen cylinder with her team mates. Although one of her team mates
could not be saved but another one could be saved because of Santosh’s help.

3. What shows her concern for the environment?

Answer: While returning from the Everest she brought back 500 kgs of rubbish from
there. Many mountaineers go for conquering the Everest every year. They leave lots
of garbage in their trail. This is threatening the ecology of the Everest. Sontosh’s act
of bringing back some garbage shows her concern for the environment.

4. How does she describe her feelings at the summit of the Everest?

Answer: She describes that she was overawed by the experience of reaching at the
top of the world. The feeling took its own time to sink in. Then she unfurled the tri-
colour on the roof of the world. This was a spiritual experience for her.

5. Santosh Yadav got into the record books both times she scaled Mt
Everest. What were the reasons for this?

Answer: When she scaled the Everest for the first time she became the youngest
woman to reach there. When she went there next time she became the only woman
to achieve the feat twice.

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 Finish Line & Beyond

On Killing a Tree
It takes much time to kill a tree,
Not a simple jab of the knife
Will do it. It has grown
Slowly consuming the earth,
Rising out of it, feeding
Upon its crust, absorbing
Years of sunlight, air, water,
And out of its leprous hide
Sprouting leaves.

This poem is appreciating the resilient qualities of a tree. It takes years for a tree to
grow into a full sized one. A tree grows at a slow pace consuming the earth. It keeps
on absorbing water, air and sunlight for years and sprouts leaves from its skin in the
process. In a sense a tree contains all the powerful energy which the mother earth
provides. So this is very difficult to kill a tree. A simple knife injury won’t do the
trick. This is opposite to frail human beings who can be killed by a knife.

So hack and chop

But this alone wont do it.
Not so much pain will do it.
The bleeding bark will heal
And from close to the ground
Will rise curled green twigs,
Miniature boughs
Which if unchecked will expand again
To former size.

One needs to chop the full tree, but even this won’t be enough. The tree heals it in-
jured bark and from the ground it will once again rise with another miniature replica
of its original self, which will ultimately grow to a full size tree. This is a great quality
of rising from the ashes which we should try to learn. No matter how much adversity
is around the corner one should never say it quits.

No,
The root is to be pulled out —
Out of the anchoring earth;
It is to be roped, tied,
And pulled out — snapped out
On Killing a Tree
Or pulled out entirely,
Out from the earth-cave,
And the strength of the tree exposed
The source, white and wet,
The most sensitive, hidden
For years inside the earth.
Then the matter
Of scorching and choking
In sun and air,

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 Finish Line & Beyond

Browning, hardening,
Twisting, withering,
And then it is done.

More than cutting the outer tree one needs to strangulate the real source of life of
the tree. This is the root of the tree. This is the pure white and most sensitive part of
the tree, which remains hidden inside the earth. The hidden root gives all the susten-
ance to a tree. One needs to snap this source of life to kill a tree.

Trees go on to live on for years. There are some trees in the Amazon forest which are
said to be more than five hundred years old. We may take some lesson from them to
spread our roots deep inside the earth. There had been some great people of yes-
teryears who still live in our memories. They had spread their roots inside our con-
sciousness and as a result refuse to die.

GIEVE PATEL

Trees
I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.
A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the earth’s sweet flowing breast;
A tree that looks at God all day
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;
A tree that may in summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;
Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.
Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.

The poet appreciates the ultimate beauty of a tree and says that a poem is nothing
in terms of beauty when compared with a tree. The tree keeps its hungry mouth
pressed against the breast of the earth. The earth’s breast is perpetually flowing with
sweet life giving energy. A tree always looks towards heaven as if praying to the God
by lifting her leafy arms. During summer a tree wears a bird’s nest like an ornament
in its hair. This is all about following the philosophy of live and let live. A tree wel-
comes both snow and rain with equal zest. The quality of being happy in all condi-
tions, good and bad, is what makes a tree the real beauty.

Poems are made by mere mortals like you and me, so it cannot stand against a tree
which is made by the God.

JOYCE KILMER

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