NCERT Solutions for Class 11 English Hornbill Chapter 5: The Adventure

Chapter at a glance

Understanding the Text

Question UI

Tick the statements that are true.

1. The story is an account of real events.
2. The story hinges on a particular historical event.
3. Rajendra Deshpande was a historian.
4. The places mentioned in the story are all imaginary.
5. The story tries to relate history to science.

Answer

1. False — it is a science-fiction story, not an account of real events.
2. True — it hinges on the Third Battle of Panipat (1761).
3. False — Rajendra Deshpande was a scientist (physicist); Gaitonde was the historian.
4. False — the places (Pune, Bombay, Lonavala, Azad Maidan, Panipat) are real.
5. True — it explains a historical event through catastrophe theory and quantum theory.

True: 2 and 5. False: 1, 3 and 4.

Question UII1

Briefly explain: “You neither travelled to the past nor the future. You were in the present experiencing a different world.”

Answer

Rajendra explains that Gaitonde did not travel in time. According to quantum theory, many alternative worlds can exist at the same time. A bifurcation took place at the Battle of Panipat: in one world the Marathas lost (the world Gaitonde knows), and in another they won. Gaitonde made a transition into the other world, which existed in the present, with a different history.

Gaitonde did not time-travel; he moved into a parallel present-day world whose history had branched off at the Battle of Panipat.

Question UII2

Briefly explain: “You have passed through a fantastic experience: or more correctly, a catastrophic experience.”

Answer

Gaitonde’s experience was fantastic because it was strange and unbelievable — he lived for two days in a different world. Rajendra calls it more correctly catastrophic because it can be explained by catastrophe theory: a small change in a critical situation (the bullet missing Vishwasrao) produced a sudden, radically different outcome, and Gaitonde experienced that alternative world.

It was fantastic (unbelievable) and, more precisely, catastrophic — explained by catastrophe theory, in which a tiny change at a critical moment leads to a radically different result.

Question UII3

Briefly explain: Gangadharpant could not help comparing the country he knew with what he was witnessing around him.

Answer

In the other world, India had never been enslaved by the British: the Marathas had won at Panipat and confined the East India Company to Bombay; India had developed science and technology on its own, become a democracy and was self-reliant and self-respecting. Gaitonde could not help comparing this confident, independent India with the India he knew, which had suffered long colonial rule.

He contrasted the self-reliant, never-colonised India of the other world with his own India, which had endured British rule.

Question UII4

Briefly explain: “The lack of determinism in quantum theory!”

Answer

In quantum theory, the behaviour of very small particles (like electrons) cannot be predicted exactly, even if all the laws are known; one can only state the probability of where a particle will be. Unlike a bullet whose path can be calculated, an electron “may be here, there, anywhere”. This is the lack of determinism. Rajendra uses it to suggest that many alternative worlds may exist.

In quantum theory the behaviour of tiny particles can be predicted only as probabilities, not exactly — suggesting multiple possible realities.

Question UII5

Briefly explain: “You need some interaction to cause a transition.”

Answer

In atoms, an electron moves from one energy state to another only when there is an interaction, such as a pulse of radiation. Rajendra suggests that Gaitonde’s transition from one world to another also needed a trigger — the collision with the truck, at a moment when he was thinking about catastrophe theory and the Battle of Panipat, perhaps acting on the neurons of his brain.

Just as an electron changes state only through an interaction, Gaitonde’s shift between worlds needed a trigger — the truck collision while he was thinking about Panipat.

Talking about the Text

Question T1(i)

Discuss: A single event may change the course of the history of a nation.

Answer

For: The story shows that a bullet missing Vishwasrao could have changed Indian history. Real examples: the Battle of Plassey (1757) brought British rule; the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand triggered the First World War; the Battle of Waterloo ended Napoleon’s empire.

Against: History is shaped by many long-term forces — economy, society, technology — so one event alone rarely changes everything; it only acts as a trigger.

Conclusion: A single event at a critical moment can indeed alter history, though usually in combination with underlying forces.

At critical moments a single event (Panipat, Plassey, Waterloo) can redirect history, though long-term forces also matter.

Question T1(ii)

Discuss: Reality is what is directly experienced through the senses.

Answer

For: We know the world through what we see, hear and touch; experience is the basis of knowledge.

Against: Much of reality is beyond our senses — atoms, electrons, radio waves, distant galaxies — known only through instruments and reasoning. Rajendra argues that reality “may not be unique” and that other worlds may exist which we cannot experience simultaneously.

Conclusion: Senses give us part of reality, but science shows that reality is much wider than what we directly perceive.

Senses reveal only part of reality; science shows that much of it (atoms, waves, possibly other worlds) lies beyond direct perception.

Question T1(iii)

Discuss: The methods of inquiry of history, science and philosophy are similar.

Answer

Similarities: all three seek truth, use evidence and reasoning, question assumptions and form theories (Gaitonde searched books and the Bakhar for evidence; Rajendra used scientific theories).

Differences: science uses experiments and measurements that can be repeated; history relies on records and interpretation of past events that cannot be repeated; philosophy uses logic and reflection on fundamental questions.

Conclusion: They share a spirit of rational inquiry but differ in their tools.

They share a quest for truth through evidence and reasoning, but science experiments, history interprets records, and philosophy reasons logically.

Question T2(i)

The story is called ‘The Adventure’. Compare it with the adventure described in ‘We’re Not Afraid to Die…’.

Answer

Both involve the unexpected, curiosity and a return to safety, but one is a mental journey and the other a physical struggle.

‘The Adventure’ is an imaginary, intellectual journey into a parallel world; ‘We’re Not Afraid to Die’ is a real, physical battle for survival at sea — both unexpected journeys that end in safe return.

Question T2(ii)

Why do you think Professor Gaitonde decided never to preside over meetings again?

Answer

Gaitonde had presided over 999 meetings and planned his thousandth address on the Battle of Panipat. But in the other world, he made his “thousandth address” at Azad Maidan, where he was humiliated — pelted with tomatoes and eggs and thrown out for occupying the president’s chair. He felt that the Professor Gaitonde who disappeared while defending his chair had completed his thousandth meeting. Embarrassed and shaken, and perhaps realising that the custom of a presiding chair was not essential, he decided never to preside again.

Because his “thousandth” presidential address at Azad Maidan ended in humiliation, and he considered that chapter closed.

Thinking about Language

Question L1

In which language do you think Gangadharpant and Khan Sahib talked to each other? Which language did Gangadharpant use to talk to the English receptionist?

Answer

Gangadharpant (a Maharashtrian) and Khan Sahib (a Pathan from Peshawar) probably talked in Hindustani (Hindi/Urdu), the common language of north and west India. With the English receptionist he would have used English.

With Khan Sahib: Hindustani (Hindi/Urdu); with the receptionist: English.

Question L2

In which language do you think Bhausahebanchi Bakhar was written?

Answer

In Marathi (the title itself is Marathi — “Bhausaheb’s chronicle”; bakhars were Marathi historical narratives).

Marathi.

Question L3

There is mention of three communities in the story: the Marathas, the Mughals, the Anglo-Indians. Which language do you think they used within their communities and while speaking to the other groups?

Answer

Marathas: Marathi; Mughals: Urdu/Persian; Anglo-Indians: English — with Hindustani (and English) as common languages between groups.

Question L4

Do you think that the ruled always adopt the language of the ruler?

Answer

Not always. Often the ruled learn the ruler’s language for jobs and administration — e.g. Persian under the Mughals and English under the British. But people usually keep their own languages at home and in culture; sometimes the rulers adopt local languages (e.g. many rulers patronised regional languages), and sometimes a new mixed language develops (Urdu/Hindustani). In the story’s alternative world, the British confined to Bombay did not impose English on India.

Not always; the ruled may learn the ruler’s language for official purposes, but they keep their own languages, and languages often mix or influence each other.

Working with Words

Question WI

Tick the item that is closest in meaning to the following phrases: (1) to take issue with (2) to give vent to (3) to stand on one’s feet (4) to be wound up (5) to meet one’s match

Answer

1. to take issue with — (iii) to disagree
2. to give vent to — (i) to express
3. to stand on one’s feet — (ii) to be independent
4. to be wound up — (ii) to stop operating
5. to meet one’s match — (iii) to meet someone who is equally able as oneself

1–(iii), 2–(i), 3–(ii), 4–(ii), 5–(iii)

Question WII

Distinguish between the following pairs of sentences.

1. He was visibly moved. (ii) He was visually impaired.
   1. Green and black stripes were used alternately. (ii) Green stripes could be used or alternatively black ones.
   1. The team played the two matches successfully. (ii) The team played two matches successively.
   1. The librarian spoke respectfully to the learned scholar. (ii) You will find the historian and the scientist in the archaeology and natural science sections of the museum respectively.

Answer

1. Visibly = in a way that can be seen (his emotion showed clearly); visually = relating to sight (he had poor eyesight).
2. Alternately = one after the other in turn (green, black, green, black); alternatively = as another choice (either green or black).
3. Successfully = with success (they won or did well); successively = one after another, consecutively.
4. Respectfully = with respect; respectively = in the order mentioned (historian in archaeology, scientist in natural science).

visibly (noticeably) vs visually (relating to sight); alternately (in turns) vs alternatively (as another option); successfully (with success) vs successively (one after another); respectfully (with respect) vs respectively (in the order given).

Noticing Form

Question N1

The story deals with unreal and hypothetical conditions. Notice the sentences used to express this notion: (1) If I fire a bullet from a gun in a given direction at a given speed, I know where it will be at a later time. (2) If I knew the answer I would solve a great problem. (3) If he himself were dead in this world, what guarantee had he that his son would be alive. (4) What course would history have taken if the battle had gone the other way?

Answer

• Sentence 1 is a real (open) condition — If + present, present: a general truth that can happen.
• Sentence 2 is an unreal present condition — If + past simple, would + verb: he does not know the answer.
• Sentence 3 is a hypothetical condition — If + were: imagining a situation contrary to fact.
• Sentence 4 is an unreal past condition — would have + past participle … if + past perfect: the battle did not go the other way.

In unreal conditions, the speaker expects that the condition will not be (or was not) fulfilled.

More examples: If I were a bird, I would fly over the mountains. If Vishwasrao had died, the Marathas would have lost.

Sentence 1 is a real condition; 2 is unreal present (if + past, would); 3 is hypothetical (if + were); 4 is unreal past (if + had + past participle, would have).

Things to Do

Question D1

Look up the Internet or an encyclopedia for information on the following theories: (i) Quantum theory (ii) Theory of relativity (iii) Big Bang theory (iv) Theory of evolution

Answer

Quantum theory: energy in quanta and probabilistic behaviour of particles; relativity: constant speed of light, E = mc², gravity as curved space-time; Big Bang: universe expanding from a hot dense start 13.7 billion years ago; evolution: species change by natural selection.

Topic checklist

• Plot and characters of The Adventure
• Third Battle of Panipat and the alternative history
• Catastrophe theory and quantum theory (many worlds, transitions)
• Language and communities
• Idioms, commonly confused words and conditional sentences

Total questions answered: 19 of 19