By Any Other Name

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
READER'S GUIDE
• Selection Worksheet 2.8
"By Any Other Name"
from Gifts of Passage
by Santha Rama Rau
ASSESSMENT PORTFOLIO
• Selection Check Test 2.2,15
• Selection Test 2.2.16
About the Author
ESSENTIAL SKILLS PRACTICE
BOOKS
• Writing 1.8, 1.10, 1.20
• Language 2.52, 2.55
PRER6ADINC; EXTENSIONS
SANTHA RAMA RAU
1923-
Inform students that a major
figure involved in winning India its
independence from Great Britain
was Mohandas Gandhi (18691948), also called Mahatma,
which means "great-souled."
Gandhi's doctrine of nonviolent
protest against British rule led to
his repeated imprisonment but
won him international esteem. He
began negotiations for Indian
independence with Great Britain in
1947 but was assassinated in
1948. Today, he is often
considered the father of India.
Encourage students to work in
groups to research Gandhi's life or
the lives of other historical figures
who either supported nonviolent
protest or were imprisoned for
struggling against injustice.
Possible figures to research include
Henry David Thoreau, Martin
Luther King, Jr., or Nelson Mandela,
SUPPORT FOR LIP STUDENTS
INPiA
Santha Rama Rau was born in Madras,
India. As a child, she lived in India and spent
much of her time at the home of her grandmother, who followed Hindu traditions. Her
father was a diplomat, and when she was six,
he was sent to England, where her family
lived for many years. On returning to India,
Rama Rau realized that she had become distanced from her native culture. Her book
Home to India is about her experience of
returning to her native land.
Rama Rau has also lived in South Africa;
in ]apan, where she met her husband, an
American writer; and in the United States,
where she studied at Wellesley College and
later lived in New York. Despite some initial
disapproval from her family, Rama Rau
decided on a writing career. Her first book was
published in 1945. Her works include travel
books, fiction, and memoirs.
About the Selection
For many years, beginning in 1858, the British ruled
India. During this time, the government instituted sweeping changes in law, property distribution, and education.
Learning English became important to people who
wished to prosper under the British system. The beliefs
and traditions of the two cultures differed greatly. In matters as important as religion and social organization, as
well as in the simpler issues of dress, food, and daily
habits, British practices and Indian practices diverged.
Over time, aspects of both societies were combined,
although British culture dominated.
"By Any Other Name" recounts
an incident from Santha Rama
Rau's childhood. In describing her
experiences at a British school in
India, she illuminates the conflict
and cultural differences between
the British and the Indians. The
essay also explores the idea of identity. "By
Any Other Name" was first published in The New Yorker
and also appears in Rama Rau's autobiography, Gifts of
Passage.
CONNECTIONS iiuiian Nationals »4
S
antha Rama Rau witnessed the independence
of her country in 1947. Since 1818, when the
British East India Company took control of the
country, India had been under British rule and
influence. The British government itself took control of India in 1858. The Indian nationalist move-
204
ment began with the formation of the Indian
National Congress in 1885. In the 1920s, Mohandas
Gandhi began a nonviolent, non-cooperation
movement. In 1919 and 1935, India obtained limited powers of self-government, but full independence was not achieved until 1947.
UNIT TWO / THE S T R U G G L E A G A I N S T I N T O L E R A N C E
PRONUNCIATIONS OF PROPER
NOUNS AND ADJECTIVES
Krish • na (krish'na)
Na • li • ni (na le'ne)
Pre • mil • a (pra mil'a)
San • tha Ra • ma Rau (san'tha
ra'ma rou)
Zor • in • a « bad (zor in a bad)
COALS/OBJECTIVES
Studying this lesson will enable students to
• relate to an autobiographical story about intolerance and prejudice
• write a personal essay about a childhood incident
• explain why British influence remains in India
• identify errors in the capitalization of names of
persons, occupations, and family members
• define autobiography and dialogue and recognize
these types of writing in their reading
204
TEACHER'S EDITION
• write a critical essay about names and identity
How do you identify yourself? To what groups or classifications do you belong? Have you ever been treated unfairly
because of one of these classifications? Classifications might
include gender, age, race, ability, financial status, or physical
characteristics. Write about an experience you have had with
discrimination.
Any Other Name
READER'S JOURNAL
If students cannot remember a
time when someone discriminated
against them or find such
memories too painful to write
about, students may write about
stereotypes and why they are
limiting. They may also write
about people they know who have
transcended the classifications
others have placed on them.
n
SANTHA RAMA RAU
A
t the Anglo-Indian day school in
Zorinabad' to which my sister and I
were sent when she was eight and I
was five and a half, they changed our names.
On the first day of school, a hot, windless
morning of a north Indian September, we
stood in the headmistress's study and she
said, "Now you're the neiv girls. What are
your names?"
My sister answered for us. "I am Premila,
and she"—nodding in my direction—"is
Santha."
The headmistress had been in India, I suppose, fifteen years or so, but she still smiled
her helpless inability to cope with Indian
names. Her rimless half-glasses glittered,
and the precarious bun on the top of her
head trembled as she shook her head. "Oh,
my dears, those are much too hard for me.
Suppose we give you pretty English names.
Wouldn't that be more jolly? Let's see,
now—Pamela for you, I think." She
shrugged in a baffled way at my sister.
"That's as close as I can get. And for you,"
WORDS
FOR
EVERYDAY
USE
she said to me, "how about Cynthia? Isn't
that nice?"
My sister was always less easily intimidated
than I was, and while she kept a stubborn
silence, I said, "Thank you," in a very tiny
voice.
We had been sent to that school because
my father, among his responsibilities as an
officer of the civil service, had a tour of duty
to perform in the villages around that steamy
little provincial town, where he had his
headquarters at that time. He used to make
his shorter inspection tours on horseback,
and a week before, in the stale heat of a typically postmonsoon2 day, we had waved
good-by to him and a little procession—an
assistant, a secretary, two bearers, and the
man to look after the bedding rolls and luggage. They rode away through our large garden, still bright green from the rains, and we
turned back into the twilight of the house
Why does the
headmistress say
she makes the
change that she
does? What is the
real reason she
makes this
change?
9 The headmistress says that she
changes the girls' names because
English names are "more jolly." The
real reason she makes this change is
that she is unwilling or unable to
learn foreign names, even though
she has lived abroad for fifteen years.
L
SPELLING AND VOCABULARY
WORDS FROM THE SELECTION
abruptly
accordance
incomprehensible
insular
intimidate
palpitate
peevishness
precarious
provincial
1. Zorinabad. City in India
2. postmonsoon. After a tropical stonn
pre • car • i • ous (pre ker'e as) ad]., uncertain, insecure
in • tirn * i • date (in tim'a dat'} vt., make afraid
pro • vln • rial (pr6 vin' shal) adj., of or like rural country
»Y ANY OTHER HAMS
ANSWERS TO GUIDED READING
QUESTIONS
rigid
sedately
siesta
solemn
tepid
valid
veranda
wizened
205
VOCABULARY IN CONTEXT
D
« The vase teetered on its precarious perch at the edge of the table.
• An unfriendly teacher can intimidate a new student.
• The new student was surprised by the provincial attitudes held by the school in this small village.
TEACHER'S EDITION
205
9
ANSWERS TO GUIDED READING
QUESTIONS
In what way are
the Indian
children different
from the British
children?
0 The Indian children dress
differently and they have to sit at the
back of the room.
€» The narrator's mother had refused
to send her children to a British
school until this point because she
felt the British were insular. She had
been educating her children at home
until her health gave out.
ۥ The name change made the
narrator feel as though she had a
second identity in which she was not
very interested and for which she felt
no responsibility.
CROSS-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES
SOCIAL STUDIES
Why had the
narrator's mother
refused to send
her children to a
British school
until this point?
What happened
to change her
mind?
mat effect did
the name change
have on the
narrator?
Encourage students to work in
small groups to discover personal
names common in different
countries around the world. After
doing some research and reading,
each group should try to list at
least five male names and five
female names common in their
chosen country, along with the
meanings of the names.
ARTS AND HUMANITIES
After completing the activity
above, encourage each student to
choose a name from any group's
list and to imagine that a teacher,
employer, or family member insists
upon calling him or her by this
new name instead of his or her
given name. Then have students
complete one of the following
assignments:
• Write a journal entry explaining
your situation and your feelings
about being given this name.
• Write a poem about your new
name and what it means to you.
• Write a story, either humorous or
serious, about the results of
being renamed.
• Represent your feelings about
your old name and your new
name visually in some medium,
such as a drawing, painting, collage, or sculpture.
206
TEACHER'S EDITION
and the sound of fans whispering in every
room.
Up to then, my mother had refused to
send Premila to school in the British-run
establishments of that time, because, she
used to say, "you can bury a dog's tail for
seven years and it still comes out curly, and
you can take a Britisher away from his home
for a lifetime and he still remains insular."
The examinations and degrees from entirely
Indian schools were not, in those days, considered valid. In my case, the question had
never come up, and probably never would
have come up if Mother's extraordinary good
health had not broken down. For the first
time in my life, she was not able to continue
the lessons she had been giving us every
morning. So our Hindi books were put away,
the stories of the Lord Krishna 3 as a little
boy were left in mid-air, and we were sent to
the Anglo-Indian school.
That first day at school is still, when I
think of it, a remarkable one. At that age, if
one's name is changed, one develops a curious form of dual personality. I remember
having a certain detached and disbelieving
concern in the actions of "Cynthia," but certainly no responsibility. Accordingly, I followed the thin, erect back of the headmistress down the veranda to my classroom
feeling, at most, a passing interest in what
was going to happen to me in this strange,
new atmosphere of School.
The building was Indian in design, with wide
verandas opening onto a central courtyard,
but Indian verandas are usually whitewashed, with stone floors. These, in the tradition of British schools, were painted dark
brown and had matting on the floors. It gave
a feeling of extra intensity to the heat.
I suppose there were about a dozen Indian
children in the school—which contained
perhaps forty children in all—and four of
WORDS
FOR
EVERYDAY
USE
206
them were in my class. They were all sitting
at the back of the room, and I went to join
them. I sat next to a small, solemn girl who
didn't smile at me. She had long, glossyblack braids and wore a cotton dress, but she
still kept on her Indian jewelry—a gold
chain around her neck, thin gold bracelets,
and tiny ruby studs in her ears. Like most
Indian children, she had a rim of black kohl 4
around her eyes. The cotton dress should
have looked strange, but all I could think of
was that I should ask my mother if I couldn't
wear a dress to school, too, instead of my
Indian clothes.
1 can't remember too much about the proceedings in class that day, except for the
beginning. The teacher pointed to me and
asked me to stand up. "Now, dear, tell the
class your name."
I said nothing.
"Come along," she said, frowning slightly.
"What's your name, dear?"
"I don't know," I said, finally.
The English children in the front of the
class—there were about eight or ten of
them—giggled and twisted around in their
chairs to look at me. I sat down quickly and
opened my eyes very wide, hoping in that
way to dry them off. The little girl with the
braids put out her hand and very lightly
touched my arm. She still didn't smile.
Most of that morning I was rather bored. I
looked briefly at the children's drawings
pinned to the wall, and then concentrated on
a lizard clinging to the ledge of the high,
barred window behind the teacher's head.
Occasionally it would shoot out its long yellow tongue for a fly, and then it would rest,
with its eyes closed and its belly palpitating.
3. Lord Krisha. Hindu god, a human incarnation of
Vishnu
4. kohl. Black powder used as c-yc makeup
In • su • tar (in'sa lar) adj., isolated
val «td (valid) adj., binding under law
ve • ran • da (V3 ran' da) n., open porch,
usually roofed, along the outside of a building
soi • emn (sal'am) adj., serious, quiet
pal • pi • tate (pal'pa tat') W., beat rapidly, flutter
UNIT TWO / THE STRUGGLE / t G / W N S T INTOLERANCE
VOCABULARY IN CONTEXT
• Natural boundaries, such as oceans, rivers, and mountains, can protect a group of people from
outside invaders, but such boundaries can also keep a group insular.
• To drive, one needs a valid driver's license.
• It was a scorching afternoon and too hot to stay in the house, so she sat in the shade of the
veranda, hoping to catch a breeze.
• Just before the exam, the schoolchildren cast aside their customary smiles and put on a solemn
appearance.
• His heart began to palpitate rapidly with anxiety before he took the test.
as though it were swallowing several times
quickly. The lessons were mostly concerned
with reading and writing and simple numbers—things that my mother had already
taught me—and I paid very little attention.
The teacher wrote on the easel blackboard
words like "bat" and "cat," which seemed
babyish to me; only "apple" was new and
incomprehensible.
When it was time for the lunch recess, I
followed the girl with braids out onto the
veranda. There the children from the other
classes were assembled. I saw Premila at
once and ran over to her, as she had charge
of our lunchbox. The children were all
opening packages and sitting down to eat
sandwiches. Premila and I were the only
ones who had Indian food—thin wheat chapatties, 5 some vegetable curry, and a bottle
of buttermilk. Premila thrust half of it into
my hand and whispered fiercely that I
should go and sit with my class, because
that was what the others seemed to be
doing.
The enormous black eyes of the litde
Indian girl from my class looked at my food
longingly, so I offered her some. But she
only shook her head and plowed her way
solemnly through her sandwiches.
I was very sleepy after lunch, because at
home we always took a siesta. It was usually
a pleasant time of day, with the bedroom
darkened against the harsh afternoon sun,
the drifting off into sleep with the sound of
Mother's voice reading a story in one's mind,
and, finally, the shrill, fussy voice of the
ayah 6 waking one for tea.
At school, we rested for a short time on
low, folding cots on the veranda, and then
we were expected to play games. During the
hot part of the afternoon we played indoors,
and after the shadows had begun to lengthen
and the slight breeze of the evening had
come up we moved outside to the wide
courtyard.
I had never really grasped the system of
competitive games. At home, whenever we
played tag or guessing games, I was always
allowed to "win"— "because," Mother used
to tell Premila, "she is the youngest, and we
have to allow for that." I had often heard her
say it, and it seemed quite reasonable to me,
but the result was that I had no clear idea of
what "winning" meant.
When we played twos-and-threes that
afternoon at school, in accordance with my
training, I let one of the small English boys
catch me, but was naturally rather puzzled
when the other children did not return the
courtesy. I ran about for what seemed like
hours without ever catching anyone, until
it was time for school to close. Much later
I learned that my attitude was called "not
being a good sport," and I stopped allowing myself to be caught, but it was not for
years that I really learned the spirit of the
thing.
When I saw our car come up to the school
gate, I broke away from my classmates and
rushed toward it yelling, "Ayah! Ayah!" It
seemed like an eternity since I had seen her
that morning—a wizened, affectionate figure
in her white cotton sari/ giving me dozens
of urgent and useless instructions on how to
be a good girl at school. Premila followed
more sedately, and she told me on the way
home never to do that again in front of the
other children.
When we got home we went straight to
Mother's high, white room to have tea with
ANSWERS TO GUIDED READING
QUESTIONS
Why doesn't the
narrator
understand [he
meaning of
winning? What
difficulty does this
cause her?
» The narrator has always been
allowed to win because she was the
youngest. She gets a reputation as a
bad sport for following the example
she has been taught.
ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS
AND ACTIVITIES
Encourage students to discuss
the following questions: In what
ways does the English school
create prejudice against traditional
Indian customs? What does the
narrator wish to do after seeing
the way her classmates are
dressed? Why is the narrator
unable to respond when asked to
state her name? Why might a
word like apple be totally
incomprehensible to the narrator?
How are the lunches that Premila
and the narrator bring different
from the lunches of other
students? Why won't the Indian
girl share the narrator's food even
though she looks at it "longingly"?
Why might a school such as the
narrator's have a damaging effect
on its students' identities? If you
were in the narrator's position,
would you try to "fit in" with the
English way of life promoted at
the school, even if it meant giving
up some of your traditions?
5. chapatties. Indian flat bread
6. ayah. Indian nursemaid
7. sari. Long piece of cloth traditionally worn as the
principal outer garment by Hindu women
ANSWERS
WORDS
FOR
EVERYDAY
U5E
In • com • pre " hen • si ' We (in' kam'pre
hen'sa bai) adj., not understandable
si • es • ta (sS es'ta) n., brief nap or rest taken
after the noon meal
ac • cord • ance (a kord' 'ns) n., agreement
wiz • ened (wiz'and) adj., dried up, shriveted
se • date • iy (si dSt'le) adv., caimly, quietly
flY ANY OTHtfi NAME
VOCABULARY IN CONTEXT
D
« The menu items were incomprehensible to me until the waiter explained them.
• In the heat of the day, Indian children slept, taking a pleasant siesta.
• Many American civil rights leaders, including Martin Luther King, jr., were in accordance with
Mohandas Gandhi's system of nonviolent protest.
• After working many years in his fields, the farmer's face was wizened by the wind and sun.
• While I always wriggle in my seat, my sister sits sedately.
207
Responses will vary.
Students may say that the
school encourages students to
model English behavior and abandon Indian traditions. The narrator
wishes to abandon Indian clothes
and wear a cotton dress. She has
been given a new English name
and is unsure which name the
teacher wants to know. Apples
aren't native to India, so the narrator would be unfamilar with this
fruit. Premila and the narrator
have traditional Indian food, and
the other children have sandwiches. The girl may be afraid of
seeming different from the rest of
the children. The school is encouraging students to reject a part of
their own heritage.
TEACHER S EDITION
207
INTEGRATED SKILLS
ACTIVITIES
LANGUAGE LAB
Quotation marks are used to
enclose a direct quotation, or a
person's exact words. They are
not used to enclose an indirect
quotation, or a reworded version
of a person's words. Identify an
example of each on this page of
"By Any Other Name." Then
rewrite the following sentences,
punctuating and capitalizing both
direct and indirect quotations
correctly.
1. My mother asked me
"whether I enjoyed my first day of
school."
2. I said it was confusing, Mom.
What does apple mean?
3. Premila told Mom that "She
had a test next week."
4. I wanted to know "What a test
was."
5. Premila said you won't have to
worry about tests for several more
years.
her, and I immediately climbed onto the bed
and bounced gently up and down on the
springs. Mother asked how we had liked our
first day in school. I was so pleased to be home
and to have left that peculiar Cynthia behind
that I had nothing whatever to say about
school, except to ask what "apple" meant. But
Premila told Mother about the classes, and
added that in her class they had weekly tests to
see if they had learned their lessons well.
I asked, "What's a test?"
Premila said, "You're too small to have
them. You won't have them in your class for
donkey's years." She had learned the expression that day and was using it for the first
time. We all laughed enormously at her wit.
She also told Mother, in an aside, that we
should take sandwiches to school the next
ANSWERS
1. My mother asked me whether
I enjoyed my first day of school.
2. I said, "It was confusing,
Mom. What does apple mean?"
3. Premila told Mom that she
had a test next week.
4. I wanted to know what a test
day. Not, she said, that she minded. But they
would be simpler for me to handle.
That whole lovely evening I didn't think
about school at all. I sprinted barefoot across
the lawns with my favorite playmate, the
cook's son, to the stream at the end of the
garden. We quarreled in our usual way,
waded in the tepid water under the lime
trees, and waited for the night to bring out
the smell of the jasmine. I listened with fascination to his stories of ghosts and demons,
until I was too frightened to cross the garden
alone in the semidarkness. The ayah found
me, shouted at the cook's son, scolded me,
hurried me in to supper—it was an entirely
usual, wonderful evening.
It was a week later, the day of Premila's
first test, that our lives changed rather
was.
5. Premila said, "You won't have
to worry about tests for several
more years."
WORDS
tep
" id (EeP '^) Gt*/< lukewarm
FOR
EVERYDAY
*• Additional practice is provided
in the Essential Skills Practice
Book: Language 2.52.
USE
208
UNIT TWO I THE S T R U G G L E /1C/UNST INTOUS/INCE
VOCABULARY IN CONTEXT
T "'"I • The surface water of even the iciest ponds becomes tepid after a few months in the sun.
208
TEACHER'S EDITION
abruptly. I was sitting at the back of my class,
in my usual inattentive way, only half listening to the teacher. I had started a rather
guarded friendship with the girl with the
braids, whose name turned out to be Nalini
(Nancy, in school). The three other Indian
children were already fast friends. Even at
that age it was apparent to all of us that
friendship with the English or Anglo-Indian
children was out of the question.
Occasionally, during the class, my new
friend and I would draw pictures and show
them to each other secretly.
The door opened sharply and Premila
marched in. At first, the teacher smiled at
her in a kindly and encouraging way and
said, "Now, you're little Cynthia's sister?"
Premila didn't even look at her. She stood
with her feet planted firmly apart and her
shoulders rigid, and addressed herself
directly to me. "Get up," she said. "We're
going home."
I didn't know what had happened, but I
was aware that it was a crisis of some sort. I
rose obediently and started to walk toward
my sister.
"Bring your pencils and your notebook,"
she said.
1 went back for them, and together we left
the room. The teacher started to say something just as Premila closed the door, but we
didn't wait to hear what it was.
In complete silence we left the school
grounds and started to walk home. Then I
asked Premila what the matter was. All she
would say was "We're going home for good."
It was a very tiring walk for a child of five
and a half, and I dragged along behind
Premila with my pencils growing sticky in
my hand. I can still remember looking at the
dusty hedges, and the tangles of thorns in
the ditches by the side of the road, smelling
the faint fragrance from the eucalyptus trees
and wondering whether we would ever reach
home. Occasionally a horse-drawn tonga8
passed us, and the women, in their pink or
green silks, stared at Premila and me trudging along on the side of the road. A few
coolies9 and a line of women carrying baskets of vegetables on their heads smiled at
us. But it was nearing the hottest time of day,
and the road was almost deserted. I walked
more and more slowly, and shouted to
Premila, from time to time, "Wait for me!"
with increasing peevishness. She spoke to
me only once, and that was to tell me to
carry my notebook on my head, because of
the sun.
When we got to our house the ayah was
just taking a tray of lunch into Mother's
room. She immediately started a long, worried questioning about what are you children
doing back here at this hour of the day.
Mother looked very startled and very
concerned, and asked Premiia what had
happened.
Premila said, "We had our test today, and
She made me and the other Indians sit at the
back of the room, with a desk between each
one."
Mother said, "Why was that, darling?"
"She said it was because Indians cheat,"
Premila added. "So I don't think we should
go back to that school."
Mother looked very distant, and was silent
a long time. At last she said, "Of course not,
darling." She sounded displeased.
We all shared the curry she was having for
lunch, and afterward I was sent off to the
beautifully familiar bedroom for my siesta. I
could hear Mother and Premila talking
through the open door.
ana
ANSWERS TO GUIDED READING
QUESTIONS
8 Premila leaves the school because
of prejudice: the teacher says that
Indians cheat.
UDQ
SELECTION CHECK TEST
WITH ANSWERS
EX. What name was the narrator
given on her first day at school?
She was given the name
Cynthia.
1. Why did the teacher give
Santha and Premila new names?
She could not pronounce the
Indian names.
2. What new word did Santha
learn at school?
She learned the word apple.
What causes
Premila to leave
the school?
3. With whom did Santha play in
the evening after school?
She played with the cook's son.
4. Why didn't Santha do well at
games at school?
She did not understand what
winning or competition meant
because she had always been
allowed to win at home.
5. What does Premila's teacher
say about Indians?
She says that Indians cheat.
H. tonga. Twowheelcd carriage of India
9. coolies. Unskjllcd native laborers
ANSWERS FOR LANGUAGE LAB
(SEC f»ACf 211.)
WORDS
FOR
EVERYDAY
a
* b^P* • 'y C3 brupt'le) adv., suddenly, unexpectedly
1. During her childhood, Santha
Rama Rau spent a lot of time at
her grandmother's house.
Hg • Id (rij'id) adj., stiff and hard
pee • vish • ness (peVish nas) n., impatience; crossness
USE
2. She remembers that one of
her uncles knew how to drive a
209
VOCABULARY IN CONTEXT
D
« Just as suddenly as the tropical rain storm began, the rain clouds abruptly parted and the sun
shone through.
• The cat's posture was tense and rigid as it watched the neighbor's dog pass.
• Ravi's peevishness increased as the slow-moving lunch line inched forward.
car.
3. When she went to school, the
headmistress changed her name
to Cynthia.
4. When the car arrived to bring
her home, she shouted, "I missed
you, Ayah!"
5. Her father was the Deputy
High Commissioner for India.
> Additional practice is provided
in the Essential Skills Practice
Book: Language 2.55.
TEACHER'S EDITION
209
ANSWERS TO GUIDED READING
QUESTIONS
*] She was indifferent to the
unpleasant incident in the school
because it happened to the
uninteresting girl called Cynthia.
What was the
narrator's
attitude toward
this incident?
Why did she feel
this way?
RESPONDING TO THE SELECTION
What do you think about Premila's decision to leave the school? Do you think that
doing so was a good way to handle the problem? How would you have reacted had you
been in her place? Discuss these questions in small groups, or role play situations in
which you explore different ways in which Premila could have responded.
ANSWERS FOR
REVIEWING THE SELECTION
210
TEACHER'S EDITION
Of course, they were both wrong. I understood it perfectly, and I remember it all very
clearly. But I put it happily away, because it
had all happened to a girl called Cynthia,
and I never was really particularly interested
in her.
•
Responding to the Selection
Students may also wish to
discuss why the narrator
remembers this incident so vividly
and the effect it may have had on
her in later years,
RECALLING AND INTERPRETING
1. Recalling. The narrator and
her sister have their names
changed by the headmistress. The
narrator feels that the entity
known as Cynthia is not really
related to her in any way.
Interpreting. This change demonstrates that the British had difficulty with Indian words and customs. The British seem to lack
respect for Indian people and customs.
2. Recalling. Santha notices that
the other Indian children are
wearing cotton dresses instead of
Indian attire. She also notes that
they eat sandwiches instead of
Indian food. Interpreting. Santha
wishes she were more tike the
other children. She wants to ask
her mother if she can wear a dress
to school,
3. Recalling. Santha runs to her
ayah, shouting. In the evening she
plays outside with the cook's son
and does not think about school at
all. It is a normal evening for her.
Interpreting. Santha does not like
school. It disrupts the normal patterns of her life. She also feels
removed from school because she
is known as Cynthia there.
4. Recalling. Premila leaves the
school because the teacher makes
the Indian students sit at the back
(cont.)
Mother said, "Do you suppose she understood all that?"
Premila said, "I shouldn't think so. She's a
baby."
Mother said, "Well, I hope it won't bother
her."
Reviewing the Selection
RECALLING
.
INTERPBETING
*mmmmMimmiemmmimiM
1. What happens to the narrator and her
sister on the first day of school? What
effect does this change have on the
narrator?
{
What does this change demonstrate
about relations between the British in
India and the Indians?
2. What differences does Santha note
between herself and the other Indian
children at the school?
J
How does Santha feel about the
differences between herself and the
other Indian children?
3. What does Santha do at the end of the
school day? What does she do in the
evening?
How does Santha feel about school?
Why does she feel this way?
4. What reason does Premila give for
leaving the school and not returning?
Is Santha bothered by this incident?
How do you know?
SYNTHESIZING I
5. What does this essay reveal about the relationship between British culture and Indian
culture during Rama Rau's childhood?
210
UNIT TWO / THE STRUGGLE ACAIHST INTOLERANCE
ANSWERS FOR REVIEWING THE SELECTION (CONT.)
of the room with desks between them, saying she must
do this because Indians cheat. Interpreting. Santha
says that she is not bothered by this incident because it
happened to a girl named Cynthia. The incident did
make an impression upon Santha, however, as shown
by her inclusion of it in her autobiography.
SYNTHESIZING
Responses will vary. Possible responses are given.
5. The relationship between Indians and British is
strained when it exists at all. Examples of this include
the mother's unwillingness to send her children to a
British school, the British names forced upon Santha
and Premila, the separate seating of Indian and British
students, the fact that a friendship between a British
child and an Indian child is inconceivable, and by the
teacher's comment that Indians cheat.