TEXTBOOK (NCERT) QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS -The Summit Within-CBSE- CLASS 8-English- Honeydew chapter- 5

ABOUT THE  AUTHOR-

NAME – H. P. S. Ahluwalia

Major H. P. S. Ahluwalia is a reputed Indian mountaineer and famous as an ever enter. He climbed the Mount Everest on 29 May 1965. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan award in 2002.



Besides, he is the recipient of several awards like Padma SriArjuna Award and the National Award for the best work done in the field of Disability, the Order of the Khalsa (Nissan A Khalsa). He won the Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award for lifetime achievement on August 29, 2009.
Famous books by the author- Higher than EverestBeyond the HimalayasEverest is within you.

Textbook Solutions

1. Standing on Everest, the writer was

(i) overjoyed.
(ii) very sad.
(iii) jubilant and sad.

Answer: (iii)

2. The emotion that gripped him was one of

(i) victory over hurdles.
(ii) humility and a sense of smallness.
(iii) greatness and self-importance.
(iv) the joy of discovery.

Answer: (ii)

3. “The summit of the mind” refers to

(i) great intellectual achievements.
(ii) the process of maturing mentally and spiritually.
(iii) overcoming personal ambition for the common welfare.
(iv) living in a world of thought and imagination.
(v) the triumph of mind over worldly pleasures for a noble cause.
(vi) a fuller knowledge of oneself.
Mark the item(s) not relevant.

Answer: (i)

1. Answer the following questions.

(i) What are the three qualities that played a major role in the author’s climb?

Answer: The author has unfolded many positive aspects of climbing.While climbing mountains the author has learnt many virtues. According to him the three qualities which played an important role are- endurance persistence and will power.

(ii) Why is an adventure, which is risky, also pleasurable?

Answer: troubles make us strong and confident. Though it is risky, it is pleasurable. Man, since time immemorial risk and adventure because there is pleasure in it. The Everest has presented us with challenges and man-made many attempts to overcome it. The author felt inexplicable happiness after climbing Mount Everest. To him, it was a battle fought and won. It gives him fulfilment and satisfaction. But at the same time, he exposes the risk and hurdles which one faces.

(iii) What was it about Mount Everest that the author found irresistible?

Answer: To the author, the Everest was the mightiest challenge with the greatest height which attracted him to the utmost. According to him Everest attracted him for its innate beauty, aloofness, might, ruggedness and the hindrances encountered on the way. These are the reasons which make the author irresistible about Mount Everest.

(iv) One does not do it (climb a high peak) for fame alone. What does one do it for, really?

Answer: Climbing a mountain peak tests a climber’s various qualities like endurance persistence and will power. It puts the climber in front of great physical difficulties. After a climber has overcome these physical hindrances, he feels exhilarating and satisfied and gets spiritually and emotionally enriched. A climber climbs mountain because he takes delight overcoming obstacles which enrich him with exhilaration and satisfaction apart from fame alone.

(v) “He becomes conscious in a special manner of his own smallness in his large universe.” This awareness defines an emotion mentioned in te first paragraph. Which is the emotion?

Answer: According to the author when one goes to the mountain top, apart from physical realization, he becomes aware of his own smallness in this unfathomable universe. And this very awareness reflects an awareness i.e. humility.

(vi) What were the “symbols of reverence” left by members of the team on Everest?

Answer-All the climbers after reaching the acme of the Mount Everest showed their humble obeisance to the God they believed. The author left a picture of Guru Nanak; Rawat left a picture of Goddess Durga; Phu Dorji left a relic of Buddha and Edmund Hillary buried a cross in the cairns.



 (vii) What, according to the writer, did his experience as an Everester teach him?

Answer: The author opines that as an Everest, He has acquired the inspiration to face the ordeals of life with confidence and determination. According to him climbing a mountain is worthwhile climbing the internal summit. He concludes saying that internal summits are higher than a mountain.

2. Write a sentence against each of the following statements. Your sentence should explain the statement. You can pick out sentences from the text and rewrite them.

(i) The experience changes you completely.
One who has been to the mountains is never the same again.
(ii) A man takes delight in overcoming obstacles.
Overcoming obstacles is a means to test and show your physical endurance and will power.
(iii) Mountains are nature at its best.
Nature’s beauty can be best seen in the mountains.
(iv) The going was difficult but the after-effects were satisfying.
You look back at pains you underwent and get a sense that it was worth taking those pains to attain your goal.



(v) The physical conquest of a mountain is really a spiritual experience.
The physical act of climbing the summit of a mountain is akin to the act of climbing the mountain within.
 
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