NCERT Solutions for Class 10 English First Flight Chapter 5 delve into the fascinating tale of “A Baker from Goa” in Glimpses of India. These solutions offer detailed answers to the questions posed in the chapter, providing students with a vivid depiction of Goa’s vibrant culture, traditions, and the life of a baker. Through these answers, students can explore the richness of Indian diversity and understand the significance of preserving indigenous practices. The chapter enables students to embrace India’s cultural tapestry and appreciate its unique heritage.
Glimpses of India A Baker from Goa First Flight Questions and Answers Class 10
Glimpses of India
I. A Baker from Goa
Question and Answer
Page no. 86
Oral Comprehension Check
Question1: What are the elders in Goa nostalgic about?
Ans. 1 – The elders in Goa would often sit together and fondly remember the days gone by. They would talk about the good old Portuguese days, the Portuguese and their famous and much-loved loaves of bread.
Question2: Is bread-making still popular in Goa? How do you know?
Ans. 2 – Bread-making is still popular in Goa. Goa, till today, has a large number of mixers, moulders and all the others who bake the loaves. Even today, at many places in Goa there, exist the age-old, time-tested furnaces.
Question3: What is the baker called?
Ans. 3 – ‘Pader’ is the name given to the baker.
Question4: When would the baker come everyday? Why did the children run to meet him?
Ans. 4 – The baker visited the narrator’s house twice daily. He first came in the morning, soon after he set out on his selling round. The second time the baker came was on his way back home after selling off his entire stock. The children all ran out to meet him in hope of the bread-bangles the baker carried for them. If not the bread-bangles, then they would run out for the sweet bread of special make.
Page no. 87
Oral Comprehension Check
Question1: Match the following. What is a must
1. as marriage gifts? – cakes and bolinhas
2. for a party or a feast? – sweet bread called bol
3. for a daughter’s engagement? – bread
4. for Christmas? – sandwiches
Ans. 1 : (a) as marriage gifts – sweet bread called bol
(b) for a party or a feast – bread
(c) for a daughter’s engagement – sandwiches
(d) for Christmas – cakes and bolinhas
Question2: What did the bakers wear :
1. In the Portuguese days
2. When the author was young
Ans. 2 :
(a) In the Portuguese days, the baker used to wear a peculiar dress known as the ‘kabai’. The kabai’ used to be a single-piece long frock which came down till the knees.
(b) During the narrator’s childhood, the baker’s dress had changed to a shirt and trousers. The trousers used to be mid-way between half pants and full trousers in length.
Question3: Who invites the comment – “he is dressed like a pader” Why?
Ans. 3 : A man wearing a pair of trousers longer than half pants and shorter than full trousers invited for himself the comment, “he is dressed like a pader”. This was because the bakers, who were known as a ‘pader’ used to wear such trousers.
Question4: Where were the monthly accounts of the baker recorded?
Ans. 4 : All bakers used to collect their bills at the end of every month. During the month, all households used to record the baker’s monthly accounts on a small wall in the house in pencil.
Question5: What does a ‘jackfruit-like appearance’ mean?
Ans. 5 : A jackfruit-like appearance’ is a plump healthy physique. It is commonly associated with bakers. Bakers, in those days, were largely prosperous and well-off. Their prosperity and happiness were associated with their plump appearance.
Thinking about the text
Question1: Which of these statements are correct?
1. The pader was an important person in the village in old times.
2. Paders still exist in Goan villages.
3. The paders went away with the Portuguese.
4. The paders continue to wear a single-piece long frock.
5. Bread and cakes were an integral part of Goan life in the old days.
6. Traditional bread-baking is still a very profitable business.
7. Paders and their families starve in the present times.
Ans. 1 : (a) Correct
(b) Correct
(c) Incorrect. The paders still exist in Goan villages
(d) Incorrect. The padres wear shirts, and trousers that are shorter than full-length ones and longer than half pants.
(e) Incorrect. Breads and cakes are still an integral part of Goan life.
(f) Correct
(g) Incorrect Baking is still a very profitable business in Goa.
Question2: Is bread an important part of Goan life? How do you know this?
Ans. 2 : Yes, bread is an important part of Goan life. It is needed for marriage gifts, parties and feasts. Bread is also needed by a mother for preparing sandwiches during her daughter’s engagement. Thus, it is necessary to have bread for every occasion, because of which the presence of a baker’s furnace and bread in the village is very important. Even today, bread continues to be an important part of Goan life. No occasion festival or ceremony is complete without bread.
Question3: Tick the right answer. What is the tone of the author when he says the following?
1. The thud and the jingle of the traditional baker‘s bamboo can still be heard in some places, (nostalgic, hopeful, sad)
2. Maybe the father is not alive but the son still carries on the family profession, (nostalgic, hopeful, sad)
3. I still recall the typical fragrance of those loaves, (nostalgic, hopeful, naughty)
4. The tiger never brushed his teeth. Hot tea could wash and clean up everything so nicely, after all. (naughty, angry, funny)
5. Cakes and bolinhas are a must for Christmas as well as other festivals, (sad, hopeful, matter-of-fact)
6. The baker dnd his family never starved. They always looked happy and prosperous, (matter-of-fact, hopeful, sad).
Ans. 3 : (a) nostalgic
(b) hopeful
(c) nostalgic
(d) funny
(e) matter-of-fact
(f) matter-of-fact
Writing
Question1:
I. In this extract, the author talks about traditional bread-baking during his childhood days. Complete the following table with the help of the clues on the left. Then write a paragraph about the author’s childhood days.
| Clues | Author’s childhood days |
| the way bread was baked | |
| the way the pader sold bread | |
| what the pader wore | |
| when the pader was paid | |
| how the pader looked |
Ans. I :
| Clues | Author’s childhood days |
| The way bread was baked | The bakers used to bake loaves in the mixers and moulders on age-old. time-tested furnaces that were never extinguished |
| The way the pader sold bread | The baker made his musical entry on the scene with the jhang, jhang sound of his specially made bamboo staff. One hand supported the basket on his head and the other banged the bamboo on the ground. |
| What the pader wore | The baker or bread-seller of those days had a peculiar dress known as the kabai. It was a single-piece long frock reaching down to the knees. In his childhood, he saw bakers wearing shirts and trousers which were shorter than full-length ones and longer than half pants. |
| When the pader was paid | The baker usually collected his bills at the end of the month. Monthly accounts used to be recorded on some wall in pencil. |
| How the pader looked | The baker used to have a plump physique with a jackfruit-like physical appearance. |
QuestionII:
1. Compare the piece from the text (on the left below) with the other piece on Goan bakers (on the right). What makes the two texts so different? Are the facts the same? Do both writers give you a picture of the baker?
Our elders are often heard reminiscing nostalgically about those good old Portuguese days, the Portuguese and their famous loaves of bread. Those eaters of loaves might have vanished but the makers are still there. We still have amongst us the mixers, the moulders and those who bake the loaves. Those age-old, time-tested furnaces still exist. The fire in the furnaces had not yet been extinguished. The thud and the jingle of the traditional baker’s bamboo, heralding his arrival in the morning, can still be heard in some places.
May be the father is not alive but the son still carries on the family profession.
After Goa’s liberation, people used to say nostalgically that the Portuguese bread vanished with. the paders. But the paders have managed to survive because they have perfected the art of door-to door delivery service. The paders pick up the knowledge of bread making from traditions in the family. The leavened, oven-baked bread is a gift of the Portuguese to India.
[Adapted from Nandakumar Kamat’s ‘The Unsung Lives of Goan Paders’]
Ans. II (1) : Both the texts are more or less similar in the context that knowledge of bread-making flows down in the family like a tradition. Both the writers give a brief overview of a baker’s work. They have also mentioned how there are some children of bakers who work hard and follow the footsteps of their respective parents to keep the family profession alive.
Question2:
Now find a travel brochure about a place you have visited. Look at the description in the brochure. Then write your own account, adding details from your own experience, to give the reader a picture of the place, rather than an impersonal, factual description.
Ans. II (2) : students do it themselves
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