Sita went to her grandfather and sat down beside him. When you are hungry, tell me, she said, and i will make the bread. Is your grandmother asleep? Yes. But she will wake soon. The pain is deep. The old man stared across the river, at the dark green of the forest at the leaden sky, and said, if she is not better by morning, i will take her to the hospital in shahganj. They will know how to make her well. You maybe on your own for two or three days. You have been on your own before. Sita nodded gravely - she had been alone before: but not in the middle of the rains with the river so high. But she knew that someone must stay behind. She wanted grandmother to get well and she knew tht only grandfather could take the small boat across the river when the current was so strong. Sita was not afraid of being left alone but she did not like the look of the river. That evening it began to rain again. Big pallets of rain were scarring the surface of the river. But it was warm rain and sita could move about in it. She was not afraid of getting wet, she rather liked it. In the previous month, when the monsoon shower had arrived, washing the dusty leaves of the tree and bringing up the good smell of the earth, she had exulted in it, had run about shouting for joy. She was used to it now, even a little tired of the rain, but she did not mind getting wet. It was steamy indoors and her thin dress would soon dry in the heat from the kitchen fire. She walked about bare footed, bare leged. She was very sure on her feet. Her toes had grown accustomed to griping all kinds of rocks, slippery or sharp, and though thin, she was surprisingly strong. Black hair streaming along her face. Black eyes. Slim brown arms. A scar on her thigh: When she was small, visiting her mother's village, a hyena has entered the house were she was sleeping, fastened on to her leg and tried to drag her away but her screams had roused the villagers and the hyena had run off. She moved about in the pouring rain, chasing the hens into shelter behind the hut. A harmless brown snake, flooded out of his hole was moving across the open ground. Sita took a stick, Picked the snake up with it, and dropped it behind a cluster of rocks. She had no quarrel with snakes. They kept down the rats and the frogs. She wondered how the rats come to the island- probably in someones boat or in a sack of grain. She dislike the huge black scorpians who left there water logged dwelling and tried to take shelter in the hut. It was so easy to step on one and the sting could be very painfull. She had been bitten by a scorpian the previous monsoon and for a day and the night she had known fever and great pain. Sita had never killed living creatures but now whenever she found a scorpian, she crushed it with a rock! When, finally, she went indoors, she was hungry. She ate some parched gram and warmed up some goats milk. Grandmother woked once and asked for water and grandfather helped the brass tumbler to her lips. The roof was leaking and a small puddle formed on the floor. Grandfather kept the kerosine alight. They did not need the light but somehow it made them feel safer. It rained all night.

(a) three words from the passage are given bleow. give the meaning of each word as used in the passage.one word answers or short pharases will be accepted

(i) gravely (ii)steamy (iii)parched

(b) answer the followig question brielfy :

(i) why was sita willing to stay alone?

(ii) what had made sita like the first monsoon shower?

(iii) why did sita have a scar on her thigh?

(iv) which word in the passage talls us that sita didnot fear the snake?

(v) why did she thinks the snakes is useful?

(vi) what did sita do with the snake?

(vii) The passage tells us that sita nver killed living creatures. why did the crush scropions with the snake?

(viii) why did they keep the lamps alight?

(c) what kind of a girl was sita ? describe her in 60words.

(d) give a title to yur summary in (c). state a reason to justify your choice. (uregent)