NCERT Solutions for Class 9 English Beehive Chapter 8 Kathmandu

The two temples visited by the author in Kathmandu were the Pashupatinath temple and the Baudhnath stupa.

‘All this’ refers to eating a bar of marzipan, a corn-on-the-cob roasted in a charcoal stove (rubbed with salt, chilli powder and lemon), and reading a couple of love story comics and a Reader’s Digest.

Vikram Seth compares the fifty or sixty bansuris sticking out in all directions from the pole of a flute seller to the quills of a porcupine.

The Japanese shakuhachi, the reed neh, the deep bansuri of Hindustani classical music, the clear flutes of South America, and the high-pitched Chinese flutes.

The author notices that while all the other hawkers shouted out their wares, the flute seller was a little different and did not shout his ware. He simply played his flute, slowly and meditatively, without too much of display.

At Pashupatinath, there is a small shrine that protrudes from the stone platform on the river bank of Bagmati. It is believed that when the shrine will emerge to the fullest form, the goddess inside it will escape from it and the evil period of Kalyug on the earth will come to an end.

The atmosphere at the Pashupatinath temple was very noisy, and full of chaos and confusion. Worshippers were battling to get the priest’s attention; some people were pushing and elbowing their way to the front; saffron-clad Westerners were trying to enter the temple but were struggling and fighting with the guards; monkeys were fighting and adding to the overall noise; a corpse was being cremated on the banks of the river Bagmati; washerwomen were at their work, while children were having a bath. In contrast, the Baudhnath stupa on the other hand was “a haven of quietness in the busy streets around”. There was no crowd and hence it was relaxing. The silence helped build the stillness and serenity at the Buddhist shrine.

Along Kathmandu’s narrow and busy streets, there have small shrines and deities adorned with flower. Apart from these the streets are full of fruit sellers, flute sellers, hawkers of postcards, shops selling Western cosmetics, film rolls, chocolate, those selling copper utensils and Nepalese antiques. The author hears film songs that were screeching out from the radios, sounds of car horns and bicycle bells, vendors shouting out their wares. He also says that stray cows were roaming about on the roads. He draws a vibrant picture of a flute seller with many bansuris seeking out from his pole. He describes how the serene music produced by the flute seller is heard clearly above all the other noise.

The author believes the flute’s music to be “the most universal and most particular” of all music. This is one musical instrument which is common to all cultures. We have the reed neh, the recorder, the Japanese shakuhachi, the deep bansuri of Hindustani classical music, the breathy flutes of South America, the high-pitched Chinese flutes, etc. Even though each of these flutes has its own specific fingering and compass yet the author feels that to hear any flute is “to be drawn into the commonality of all mankind”. This is because the sound produced by flute is very similar to the same living breath of humans which runs through all of them. Similarly, despite the differences in our caste, culture, religion, region, all human beings are the same.

Does he feel bitter grief? Or does he feel a great peace?
The poet’s reaction to his loved one’s death is not of grief that he could be shed out in the form of tears. On her death, he did not experience any human fears but he had regret that he took things for granted. He just looked at her and thought how she looked and what she would experience later on. Hence, it is difficult to say if he is experiencing grief or is in a peaceful state of mind.

The lines of the poem that show that the passing of time will no longer affect her are as follows: “She seemed a thing that could not feel The touch of earthy years.”

The poet thinks that she is a part of nature. After her cremation, he imagines her inside the earth with other rocks, stones, and trees and rolling around with the earth in its daily rotation. The following lines express this idea-Rolled round in earth’s diurnal course With rocks and stones and trees.