NCERT Solutions for Class 12 English Flamingo Chapter 6: Poets and Pancakes

Chapter at a glance

Think as you read

Question C1

What does the writer mean by ‘the fiery misery’ of those subjected to make-up?

Answer

The make-up room had incandescent lights at all angles around half a dozen large mirrors. These lights gave out intense heat and glare, so the actors who had to sit there for make-up suffered great discomfort and sweating — the “fiery misery”.

The make-up room was lit by many hot, glaring incandescent lights, so actors being made up suffered intense heat and discomfort — the “fiery misery”.

Question C2

What is the example of national integration that the author refers to?

Answer

The make-up department was first headed by a Bengali; he was succeeded by a Maharashtrian, assisted by a Dharwar Kannadiga, an Andhra, a Madras Indian Christian, an Anglo-Burmese and the usual local Tamils. People from different regions and communities worked together — showing national integration long before A.I.R. and Doordarshan began broadcasting programmes on it.

The make-up department had people of many regions and communities — a Bengali head, then a Maharashtrian assisted by a Kannadiga, an Andhra, an Indian Christian, an Anglo-Burmese and local Tamils — showing national integration long before A.I.R. and Doordarshan promoted it.

Question C3

What work did the ‘office boy’ do in the Gemini Studios? Why did he join the studios? Why was he disappointed?

Answer

1. Work: he applied make-up to the crowd players — mixing paint in a giant vessel and slapping it on their faces during crowd-shooting.
2. Why he joined: he was in his early forties and had joined the studios years earlier in the hope of becoming a star actor, a top screenwriter, director or lyrics writer. He was a bit of a poet.
3. Why disappointed: he remained only an “office boy” in the make-up department; his literary talent was wasted “in a department fit only for barbers and perverts”. He blamed Kothamangalam Subbu for his failure.

He slapped make-up on crowd players. He had joined hoping to become a star actor, screenwriter, director or lyricist (he was a bit of a poet), and was disappointed to remain a mere make-up “office boy” with his talent wasted, blaming Subbu for it.

Question C4

Why did the author appear to be doing nothing at the studios?

Answer

The author’s job was to cut out newspaper clippings on various subjects and store them in files. People saw him sitting at his desk in a cubicle tearing up newspapers day in and day out, so most people (perhaps even The Boss) thought he was doing next to nothing.

His job was to cut newspaper clippings and file them, so people who saw him tearing up newspapers all day thought he was doing next to nothing.

Question C5

Why was the office boy frustrated? Who did he show his anger on?

Answer

He was frustrated because his hopes of becoming a star, writer or director had not been fulfilled; he was stuck applying make-up to crowd players. He directed his anger towards Kothamangalam Subbu, the No. 2 at Gemini Studios, whom he blamed for all his woes, ignominy and neglect. He also bored the author with long lectures (“epics”) about wasted literary talent.

He was frustrated that his ambitions had failed and he remained a make-up assistant; he blamed and directed his anger at Kothamangalam Subbu (and bored the author with his complaints).

Question C6

Who was Subbu’s principal?

Answer

Subbu’s principal was The Boss of Gemini Studios, S.S. Vasan. Subbu identified himself completely with his principal and turned his creativity to the Boss’s advantage.

The Boss of Gemini Studios, S.S. Vasan.

Question C7

Subbu is described as a many-sided genius. List four of his special abilities.

Answer

1. Film-making / story ideas – he could be “inspired when commanded” and offer many alternatives for a scene (e.g. fourteen more ways for the rat-and-tigress scene).
2. Poet – he composed original “story poems” in folk refrain and diction for the masses.
3. Novelist – he wrote the sprawling novel Thillana Mohanambal, recreating the life of the Devadasis.
4. Actor – an amazing actor who performed subsidiary roles better than the main players.
5. Also: loyal, cheerful even after a flop, and generous — his house was home to dozens of relatives.

Subbu could produce endless creative ideas for films on demand, was a poet of folk-style “story poems”, wrote the novel Thillana Mohanambal, and was an excellent actor in supporting roles (besides being loyal, cheerful and generous).

Question C8

Why was the legal adviser referred to as the opposite by others?

Answer

He was officially the legal adviser, but people called him “the opposite” — that is, an illegal adviser — because his advice once brought ruin: when a temperamental actress lost her temper on the sets, he quietly recorded her outburst and played it back to her; she was struck dumb, never recovered from the shock, and her brief and brilliant career ended. He had unwittingly harmed rather than helped.

People called the legal adviser “the opposite” (an illegal adviser) because his action — recording and playing back a temperamental actress’s outburst — terrified her and ended her career, doing harm instead of good.

Question C9

What made the lawyer stand out from the others at Gemini Studios?

Answer

While every other member of the Story Department wore a kind of uniform — khadi dhoti with a slightly oversized white khadi shirt — the lawyer wore pants and a tie and sometimes a coat “that looked like a coat of mail”. He was “a man of cold logic in a crowd of dreamers — a neutral man in an assembly of Gandhiites and khadiites”.

He wore pants, a tie and sometimes a coat while the others wore khadi, and he was a man of cold logic among dreamers — a neutral man among Gandhians.

Question C10

Did the people at Gemini Studios have any particular political affiliations?

Answer

No. Most of them wore khadi and worshipped Gandhiji, but beyond that they had not the faintest appreciation for political thought of any kind. They were, however, averse to “Communism”, with vague notions that a Communist was a godless man who spread unrest and violence.

No. They wore khadi and admired Gandhi but had no real political thought, though they were vaguely averse to Communism.

Question C11

Why was the Moral Rearmament Army welcomed at the Studios?

Answer

The MRA (Frank Buchman’s Moral Re-Armament army, about two hundred strong) visited Madras in 1952. It was a kind of counter-movement to international Communism. Since the people at Gemini Studios were averse to Communism, and the big bosses of Madras supported anti-communist efforts, the MRA got a warm welcome — “they could not have found a warmer host in India than the Gemini Studios”. The staff also enjoyed hosting people of twenty nationalities.

Because the MRA was a counter-movement to Communism, which Gemini’s people and the big bosses of Madras opposed, it was warmly welcomed; the staff also enjoyed hosting its two hundred members of many nationalities.

Question C12

Name one example to show that Gemini studios was influenced by the plays staged by MRA.

Answer

After the MRA’s plays Jotham Valley and The Forgotten Factor, for some years almost all Tamil plays had a scene of sunrise and sunset in the manner of Jotham Valley, with a bare stage, a white background curtain and a tune played on the flute.

For years afterwards, almost all Tamil plays had a sunrise and sunset scene in the manner of Jotham Valley, with a bare stage, white curtain and a flute tune.

Question C13

Who was The Boss of Gemini Studios?

Answer

S.S. Vasan (Mr Vasan), the owner of Gemini Studios, who was also the editor of the popular Tamil weekly Ananda Vikatan.

S.S. Vasan, also editor of the Tamil weekly Ananda Vikatan.

Question C14

What caused the lack of communication between the Englishman and the people at Gemini Studios?

Answer

1. The staff did not know who he was (a poet or an editor) or why he had come.
2. His English accent defeated any attempt to understand what he said.
3. He spoke about the thrills and travails of an English poet, which had no relevance to people who made Tamil films for the simplest sort of people and had no taste for English poetry. So the audience was dazed and silent, and he too looked baffled.

The staff did not know who he was or why he had come; his accent was unintelligible to them; and his talk about the thrills and travails of an English poet had no relevance to Tamil film-makers with no taste for English poetry.

Question C15

Why is the Englishman’s visit referred to as unexplained mystery?

Answer

Nobody at the studios knew who the visitor was, why a poet/editor from England was invited to a studio making Tamil films for simple people, or what his speech meant. The Boss himself knew little about him. Both the audience and the poet were baffled by the incongruity of the event. Hence the visit remained an unexplained mystery (until the author later discovered the connection with The God That Failed).

No one knew who he was, why an English poet was invited to a Tamil film studio, or what his talk meant — even The Boss knew little — so the incongruous visit remained a mystery.

Question C16

Who was the English visitor to the studios?

Answer

The English visitor was Stephen Spender, the English poet and essayist who was the editor of the British periodical The Encounter.

Stephen Spender, the English poet and editor of The Encounter.

Question C17

How did the author discover who the English visitor to the studios was?

Answer

The author saw an announcement in The Hindu of a short story contest organised by a British periodical, The Encounter. To learn about it, he went to the British Council Library and looked at copies; when he read the editor’s name — Stephen Spender — he recognised him as the poet who had visited Gemini Studios. Years later, he bought a copy of The God That Failed for fifty paise from a footpath in front of the Madras Mount Road Post Office, and found that Spender was one of its six authors — which explained the visit.

He saw The Encounter’s short story contest in The Hindu, checked copies at the British Council Library and found the editor was Stephen Spender — the visitor; later, buying The God That Failed for fifty paise, he found Spender was one of its authors.

Question C18

What does The God That Failed refer to?

Answer

The God That Failed is a book of six essays by six eminent writers — André Gide, Richard Wright, Ignazio Silone, Arthur Koestler, Louis Fischer and Stephen Spender — describing their journeys into Communism and their disillusioned return. “The god that failed” refers to Communism, which these writers had believed in and then rejected. This explained why the anti-communist Boss had welcomed Spender.

It is a book of six essays by Gide, Wright, Silone, Koestler, Fischer and Spender describing their journeys into Communism and their disillusioned return — “the god that failed” being Communism.

Understanding the text

Question U1

The author has used gentle humour to point out human foibles. Pick out instances of this to show how this serves to make the piece interesting.

Answer

1. Make-up department – the “nationally integrated” make-up men “could turn any decent-looking person into a hideous crimson hued monster”; the actors had to look ugly to look presentable on screen.
2. Robert Clive’s stables – a dozen buildings in Madras were said to be his residence; “Robert Clive seems to have done a lot of moving”.
3. Strict hierarchy in make-up – the chief make-up man made the chief actors ugly, his assistants the second hero, and so on; even the make-up department had an “office boy” who was in his forties.
4. The office boy’s “epics” – the author prayed for crowd-shooting to escape his long lectures.
5. Subbu – “by virtue of being born a Brahmin — a virtue, indeed!”; he could give fourteen alternatives on command.
6. The legal adviser – called “the opposite”; “the only instance in all human history where a lawyer lost his job because the poets were asked to go home”.
7. MRA – called an “international circus” that was not good on the trapeze and whose acquaintance with animals was only at the dinner table.
8. The English poet – the staff knew only Wordsworth and Tennyson; his accent baffled everyone; both he and the audience were bewildered.
9. Prose writing – meant for “the patient, persistent, persevering drudge with a heart so shrunken that nothing can break it”.

Effect: the gentle, self-deprecating humour exposes vanity, jealousy, ignorance and pretentiousness without bitterness, making the account lively and enjoyable.

Instances: make-up men turning decent faces into “crimson hued monster”, Robert Clive’s many “residences”, the forty-year-old “office boy” and his “epics”, Subbu’s “virtue” of birth, the lawyer called “the opposite” losing his job when the poets were sent home, the MRA as an “international circus”, the staff knowing only Wordsworth and Tennyson, and prose as the work of drudges. The gentle humour exposes human weaknesses without bitterness and makes the piece lively.

Question U2

Why was Kothamangalam Subbu considered No. 2 in Gemini Studios?

Answer

Subbu was always with The Boss and was very close to him. He was loyal and identified himself completely with his principal, turning all his creativity to the Boss’s advantage. He was “tailor-made for films” — he could be inspired when commanded and offer many alternatives for any scene; “if ever there was a man who gave direction and definition to Gemini Studios during its golden years, it was Subbu”. He was also a poet, novelist and fine actor. Hence he was regarded as the No. 2 after the Boss.

Subbu was always at The Boss’s side, totally loyal, and used his creativity for the Boss’s advantage; he could produce ideas for any scene on command and gave direction to Gemini in its golden years, besides being a poet, novelist and actor — so he was regarded as No. 2.

Question U3

How does the author describe the incongruity of an English poet addressing the audience at Gemini Studios?

Answer

The audience consisted of simple people who made Tamil films for the simplest sort of people, with no taste for English poetry — the only English poets they knew were Wordsworth and Tennyson (a few knew Keats, Shelley, Byron, and faintly Eliot). Nobody knew whether the visitor was a poet or an editor. The Boss read a long speech in general terms about “freedom” and “democracy”. The poet spoke for about an hour in an accent nobody could understand, about the thrills and travails of an English poet. He “couldn’t have addressed a more dazed and silent audience”. Everyone dispersed in utter bafflement, wondering what an English poet was doing in a Tamil film studio; the poet too looked baffled — “His visit remained an unexplained mystery.”

The author shows the absurdity of an English poet, speaking in an unintelligible accent about the thrills and travails of English poets, to a dazed and silent audience of Tamil film workers who knew only Wordsworth and Tennyson; everyone, including the poet, was left baffled.

Question U4

What do you understand about the author’s literary inclinations from the account?

Answer

1. The author was a writer with literary ambitions — he wanted to send a short story to The Encounter’s contest.
2. He was well-read — he knew about English poets, The Encounter, Stephen Spender and The God That Failed, and visited the British Council Library.
3. He had a fine sense of humour, irony and satire, as seen in his witty observations of people.
4. He was a keen observer of human nature and could portray characters vividly.
5. He thought of himself as a prose writer and humorously described prose-writing as the work of the “patient, persistent, persevering drudge”.
6. He was not interested in politics, but was sensitive to literature and culture.

He was a well-read writer with literary ambitions (entering The Encounter’s story contest, knowing Spender and The God That Failed), a keen observer of people with a gift for gentle humour and satire, and a dedicated prose writer.

Talking about the text

Question T1

Film-production today has come a long way from the early days of the Gemini Studios.

Answer

Then (Gemini days): mainly indoor shooting (only 5% outdoors); heavy pancake make-up under hot incandescent lights; large permanent studio staff on monthly salaries (writers, poets, make-up men); story departments; limited technology; black-and-white or early colour films; strict hierarchies.

Now: extensive outdoor and foreign location shooting; digital cameras, CGI and VFX; LED lights and advanced make-up and prosthetics; professional, freelance and specialised crews; scripts by professional writers; large budgets, corporate production houses, multiplex and OTT releases; global audiences and marketing; dubbing into many languages.

Some things remain: the importance of a good story, songs, star power and teamwork.

Then: mostly indoor shooting, heavy pancake make-up under hot lights, permanent studio staff and story departments, simple technology. Now: outdoor and foreign locations, digital cameras, VFX, advanced make-up, freelance specialised crews, corporate production, multiplex and OTT releases and global marketing — though a good story and teamwork still matter.

Question T2

Poetry and films.

Answer

Poetry and films have always been closely linked, especially in Indian cinema: 1. Songs are poetry set to music; great poets wrote film lyrics — e.g. Sahir Ludhianvi, Shailendra, Gulzar, Javed Akhtar, Kaifi Azmi in Hindi; Kannadasan, Vairamuthu in Tamil; in the story, Subbu and poets like S.D.S. Yogiar and Harindranath Chattopadhyaya worked at Gemini. 2. Films often use poetic imagery, symbolism and dialogue. 3. Films can make poetry popular among the masses (as Subbu addressed his poetry to the masses). 4. However, commercial pressures may reduce poetry to formula; the story shows poets at Gemini radiating leisure but sometimes neglected or sent home (the Story Department was closed).

Poetry and films are closely linked: film songs are poetry set to music, great poets (Sahir, Shailendra, Gulzar, Kannadasan) wrote lyrics, films use poetic imagery, and cinema popularises poetry among the masses — though commercial pressures can reduce poets to formula, as when Gemini closed its Story Department.

Question T3

Humour and criticism.

Answer

Humour is an effective tool for criticism. Instead of harsh attack, the author uses gentle humour, irony and satire to criticise human weaknesses — jealousy (the office boy), sycophancy and favouritism (Subbu’s closeness to the Boss), pretentiousness, the ignorance of the staff about English poetry, the political naivety of the khadi-clad poets, the Boss’s eagerness to host anti-communist groups, and the hierarchy of the studio. Humour makes criticism palatable, entertaining and memorable without hurting people. Cartoons, satire and comedy films do the same in society.

Humour softens criticism: the author uses gentle irony and satire to expose jealousy, sycophancy, pretentiousness, ignorance and political naivety at Gemini without bitterness, making criticism entertaining and acceptable — as cartoons and satire do in society.

Noticing transitions

Question N1

This piece is an example of a chatty, rambling style. One thought leads to another which is then dwelt upon at length. Read the text again and mark the transitions from one idea to another. The first one is indicated: Make-up department → Office-boy → Subbu.

Answer

Transitions in the text: Pancake (make-up material) → Make-up department (Robert Clive’s stables, national integration, hierarchy) → Office boy (frustrated poet) → The author’s own job (tearing newspapers) → Kothamangalam Subbu (No. 2, his talents and enemies) → The Story Department → The legal adviser (the actress incident; “the opposite”) → Closure of the Story Department → Poets at Gemini and their politics (khadi, Gandhi, aversion to Communism) → Moral Re-Armament army’s visit (plays Jotham Valley, The Forgotten Factor) → The English poet’s visit → Prose writing and The Encounter short story contest → Discovery that the editor was Stephen Spender → The God That Failed → the mystery explained.

Pancake → make-up department → office boy → the author’s job → Subbu → Story Department → legal adviser → closure of the Story Department → the poets and their politics → MRA visit → the English poet’s visit → prose writing and The Encounter → Stephen Spender → The God That Failed.

Writing

Question Wr1

You must have met some interesting characters in your neighbourhood or among your relatives. Write a humorous piece about their idiosyncrasies. Try to adopt the author’s rambling style, if you can.

Answer

Uncle Ramnath and His Radio

Every neighbourhood has a self-appointed news agency, and ours has Uncle Ramnath. He retired from the railways twenty years ago, but he still wakes at five, as if the 5:15 to Agra cannot leave without his whistle. The first thing he does is switch on his ancient transistor radio — a brown box older than my father, held together with rubber bands and faith. It crackles more than it speaks, but Uncle insists it gives “the real news, not this TV drama”.

Speaking of drama, his morning walk deserves a mention. He walks exactly three rounds of the park, not one step more, because the doctor once said “a little walk” and Uncle measured “little” with a railway timetable. On each round he stops to inform the vegetable vendor, the milkman and the security guard about world affairs, mostly two days old, since the radio’s batteries die every second day.

His other passion is advice. He has never grown a tomato, but will tell you exactly how much water your plants need. He has never cooked, yet he once lectured Aunt Shanti for ten minutes on the correct way to make dal, until she handed him the ladle and he discovered an urgent need to check the radio. The children call him “Google Uncle”, though he believes Google is a cricketer.

Yet when the power fails during a storm and every phone dies, it is Uncle Ramnath’s crackling radio that tells us the weather, and the whole colony gathers on his verandah. He beams like a station master on the day the Rajdhani is on time. Idiosyncrasies and all, the neighbourhood would be duller without him.

A humorous, rambling sketch of a neighbourhood character — e.g. a retired uncle with an ancient radio, railway-timetable habits and endless advice — moving from one quirk to the next and ending on a warm note.

Things to do

Question D1

Collect about twenty cartoons from newspapers and magazines in any language to discuss how important people or events have been satirised. Comment on the interplay of the words and the pictures used.

Answer

Guidance: 1. Collect cartoons from newspapers and magazines (e.g. R.K. Laxman’s You Said It with the Common Man in The Times of India, Abu Abraham, Mario Miranda, Sudhir Tailang, Satish Acharya, E.P. Unny, regional newspapers) and online archives. 2. Classify them by theme — politics and elections, corruption, inflation, environment, traffic, education, sports, international events. 3. For each cartoon, note: who/what is satirised, the exaggeration (caricature of features, symbols like a politician’s cap), irony, and the caption or speech bubbles. 4. Interplay of words and pictures: the picture often shows exaggerated situations or caricatures, while the caption gives a witty, ironic twist; sometimes the humour lies in the contrast between what is shown and what is said (e.g. a politician promising development while standing in a flooded street). Some cartoons need no words at all. 5. Discussion: cartoons criticise those in power and social problems through humour; they make serious issues accessible, reflect public opinion, and are an important part of free speech in a democracy.

Collect around twenty cartoons (e.g. R.K. Laxman’s Common Man), classify them by theme, and analyse who is satirised, the caricature and exaggeration, irony and captions — noting how pictures exaggerate while words add an ironic twist, and how cartoons criticise the powerful through humour.

Topic checklist

• ☒ Make-up department, office boy, the author’s job (C1–C5)
• ☒ Subbu, the legal adviser, the poets (C6–C10, U2)
• ☒ MRA and the English poet — Stephen Spender and The God That Failed (C11–C18, U3)
• ☒ Humour and the author’s literary inclinations (U1, U4, T1–T3)
• ☒ Transitions, humorous writing, cartoons (N1, Wr1, D1)

Total questions answered: 28 of 28