Q. 1. What was Rama Rao’s original income?
Ans. Rama Rao had a decent income as the Malgudi agent of a gramophone company with its factory somewhere in North India.
Q. 2.How did Rama Rao support his family when he earned?
Ans. Rama Rao had a decent income from his business as an independent agent of a gramophone company with its factory somewhere in North India. This enabled him to support his family comprising himself, his wife and two children, providing them with a comfortable lifestyle. He bought a bungalow in the Extension, sent his children to a fashionable school and even thought of buying a baby car for himself.
Q. 3.When did the Gramophone Company collapse?
Ans. In the wake of a series of circumstances in the world of trade and commerce, the gramophone company collapsed when a bank in Lahore crashed on account of the unusual death of a financier based in Mumbai.
Q. 4.How was the death of the Bombay financier caused?
Ans. The Bombay financier was driving downhill when his car flew off sideways and plunged three hundred feet below the road. His unusual death was interpreted as suicide by him as his wife had eloped with his cashier.
Q. 5.What were the measures adopted By Rama Rao’s wife to deal with the financial crisis?
Ans. In an attempt to get employment Rama Rao sent out a dozen applications a day and moved from place to place wearing his feet out. The memorable thought that he once owned a lucrative business influenced the manner of Rama Rao’s manner of seeking employment. He chose to be business-like in stating his request for a job. He sent his card and asked in a very formal way whether he could do something for him. He mentioned that his business was not his own fault. He added that he would be very grateful if the man could offer him in his office something to do.
Q. 7. What was the assurance given to Rama Rao when he visited offices looking for employment?
Ans. When Rama Rao visited offices looking for employment, he would hear the same story. He would be told that it was an only pity and that the man approached was very sorry that there was presently nothing for him to do. Yet he would be given an assurance that if there was an opportunity, he would certainly be remembered.
Q. 8. What did Rama Rao feel like when he returned home in the evening after a futile attempt to get employment?
Ans. When Rama Rao returned home in the evening after a futile attempt to get employment, his heart sank when he turned into the street behind the market. He would think that his wife would surely be standing at the door with the children behind her, wistfully looking down the road. There was so much of trembling, hesitating hope in their faces. They looked like they hoped that he would return with some magic fulfilment.
Q. 9. Why did Rama Rao spend sleepless nights lying in bed?
Ans. Rama Rao spent sleepless nights thinking about the miserable condition of his wife and children in striking contrast to what they had before. When Rama Rao would return in the evening filled with despair and pain as he was unable to find a job to support his family, he could not but think of the past of his wife and children. He would remember that there was a time when his wife would sparkle with flowers and a bright dress. She had the privileges of friendly neighbours, a women’s club and everything to keep her happy. Presently she hardly had the heart or the need to change in the evenings as she would be cooped up in the kitchen all the time. The children in his heyday would caper about in the compound of the house in the Extension along with a dozen other children. They had no dearth of friends in the fashionable nursery school. But presently they had no friends and no choice but to play in the courtyard of the house. Their shirts were not showing tears and frays while formerly they had the luxury of being dressed in new clothes every three months.
Q. 10. What was the only source of income of the family after all the cash was spent?
Ans. After all the cash was spent, the only source of income of the family was the small rent they had been getting from their house in the Extension.
Q.11.What did Rama Rao and his family members shudder to think?
Ans. Rama Rao and his family members shuddered to think of what would happen to them if their tenant suddenly left.
Q. 12. Why was Rama Rao’s head free from all family cares for the next few days?
Ans. Rama Rao became fascinated by the prospect of earning some extra money after he had come across a journal, The Captain, in the jubilee reading room. All the four pages of the journal were devoted to crossword puzzles. The journal offered every week the first prize of four thousand rupees. He devoted his entire attention to the puzzles trying to think of the correct answers.
Q. 13. What did Rama Rao do for the puzzles week after week?
Ans. A week after week Rama Rao invested a little money and sent down his solutions. A week after week saw him waiting for the results with a throbbing heart.
Q. 14. What did Rama Rao do on the day a solution was due?
Ans. On the day a solution was due, he would hang around the newsagent’s shop and flatter him to get his favour to look into the latest issue of the journal Captain without paying for it. It was due to a feeling of impatience that he could not wait for the magazine to come on the table of the jubilee reading room.
Q. 15. Why would the newspaper agent grumble? How would Rama Rao pacify him?
Ans. The newspaper agent would grumble at the way Rama Rao would try to look into the pages of the journal for the solution without paying for it.
When the newspaper agent would grumble at the way he would try to look into the journal, Rama Rao would pacify him pretending to be optimistic of winning the money of the reward. He would assure the agent that when he would get the prize, he would give him three years’ subscription in advance.
Q. 16. What did Rama Rao feel like when he opened the page of the journal announcing the prize winners?
Ans. Rama Rao opened the page of the magazine captain with a feeling of nervousness to discover to his utter disappointment that the winners hailed from as far-flung places as Baluchistan, Dacca or Ceylon, coming up with the right set of words. It took him three hours to get over the shock of his failure.
Q. 17. What was the violent alternating between hope and despair? What was the outcome of it?
Ans. Rama Rao alternated between hope when he would prepare himself for cracking a crossword puzzle and despair when he failed to win it.
As a result of this tremendous alteration between hope and despair, his nerves would be wrecked and he would lose his poise. He did not talk to anyone at home and his head was always bent in thought. He also quarrelled with his wife when she refused to give him a rupee a week for the puzzles.
Q. 18. How did Rama Rao manage to have his way with his wife?
Ans. Being a woman of a milder nature, Rama Rao’s wife failed to continue to quarrel with her husband for too long and finally gave in to his demand for a rupee every week. She had to let him have his way, though it meant a slight sacrifice in the family expenses.
Q. 19. What excited Rama Rao’s vision of a future tenfold?
Ans. One day the journal Captain announced a special offer of eight thousand rupees and it excited Rama Rao’s vision of future tenfold.
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