Gujarat Board GSEB Class 9 English Textbook Solutions Moments Chapter 6 Weathering the Storm in Ersama Textbook Exercise Important Questions and Answers, Notes Pdf.

Gujarat Board Textbook Solutions Class 9 English Moments Chapter 6 Weathering the Storm in Ersama

GSEB Class 9 English Weathering the Storm in Ersama Text Book Questions and Answers

Think about It

Question 1.
What havoc has the super cyclone wreaked in the life of the people of Orissa?
Answer:
The super cyclone devastated everything in Ersama, a small town in coastal Orissa. As a result, majority of the houses were destroyed, people lost their families and belongings, trees were uprooted. Only the strong cement houses were spared. The air was filled with screams.

As far as the eye could see, ‘l the land was seen covered with dirty brown with bloated animal carcasses and human corpses floating on that water. The scenes were gruesome. People could be seen trying to save whatever they could lay their hands on. There was shortage of food. People were sad and helpless and a pall of gloom had descended on the people all around.

Question 2.
How has Prashant, a teenager, been able to help the people of his village?
Answer:
Prashant showed the true leadership qualities. The first thing he could do was to take a grip over himself because initially he himself was shocked to witness the destruction all around. Then he decided to step in as the leader of the village and motivated other people for self-help. He organized a group of youths and elders to jointly pressurize the merchant to give rice for the people living in the shelter.

He was successful in this task. His next task was to organize a team of youth volunteers to clean the shelter of filth and to tend to the wounds and fractures of the people who had been injured because of the cyclone. Prashant also brought a number of orphaned children together and constructed a polythene shelter for them. While women were mobilized to look after them, the men secured food and other essentials for the shelter.

When he realized that the women were becoming too grief-stricken, he persuaded them to start working in the food-for-work programme, which was initiated by an NGO. He also organized sports events for children. This way Prashant, with the help of other volunteers, helped the other people in picking up the broken pieces of their lives.

Question 3.
How have the people of the community helped one another? What role do the women of Kalikuda play during these days?
Answer:
The people of the community joined hands and began to help one another under the leadership of young Prashant. They succeeded in pressurizing the merchant to part with his rice for the people in the shelter. They gathered branches from fallen trees and lit a fire, on which they cooked rice for all to eat.

When the military helicopter dropped some food parcels but did not return, the youth task force gathered empty utensils from the shelter and made the children lie in the sand with the utensils on their stomachs to communicate to the passing helicopters that they were hungry.

The message went through and the helicopter made regular rounds of the shelter, airdropping food and other basic needs. Women were mobilized to look after the orphans, while the men secured food and materials for the shelter. In spite of being grief-stricken, the women started working in the food-for-work programme started by an NGO.

Question 4.
What do Prashant and other volunteers resist the plan to set up institutions for orphans and widows? Why alternatives do they consider?
Answer:
Prashant and other volunteers resist the plan to set up institutions for orphans and widows because they believed that in such institutions children will grow up without love and affection and widows would suffer from stigma and loneliness. Instead, Prashant and his group suggested that the children and widows should be resettled in their own community where they can get a homely environment.

To create a sense of belongingness and to foster love and affection, they planned to complement the needs of orphaned and childless people. They brought them under one roof to heal their mental wounds.

Question 5.
Do you think Prashant is a good leader? Do you think young people can get together to help people during natural calamities?
Answer:
Yes, Prashant is a very good leader. Though he himself was too grief-stricken, yet he got a hold of himself and decided to step
in as the leader of the village. He understood the need of the hour and acted accordingly. He also motivated other people of the village to come forward and join him in helping the people gather themselves. Yes, young people can definitely get together to help people during natural calamities and otherwise. If they come together then it gives them a sense of strength to tide over the crisis. They can use their strength and vigor to help people.

Weathering the Storm in Ersama Summary in English

Weathering the Storm in Ersama Summary:
On 27th October 1999. Prashant went to meet one of his friends who lived in Ersama. The place was eighteen kilometres from his village. In the evening, a super cyclone came. Winds beat against the houses with great fury. There was heavy and continuous rain. Houses and people have washed away against the flood. His friend’s house was made of bricks and cement. It was strong enough to survive the wind blowing at 350 km per hour. But one uprooted tree fell on their house and damaged some part of its roof and walls.

To escape the waters rising in the house, Prashant and his friend’s family took refuge on the roof. For the next two days, Prashant sat huddled with his friend’s family on the rooftop. They froze in the cold and the rain. In the early morning, Prashant saw the destruction caused by the cyclone. There was a sheet of water everywhere. Only pans of cemented houses were still visible. All other houses had been washed away.

Even huge trees had fallen. Bloated dead bodies of animals and human beings were floating everywhere. The destruction caused by the cyclone and the waves of the ocean continued for the next thirty- six hours. Two days later, the rain ceased and the rainwater slowly began to recede. Prashant was worried about his fam-lately. He took a long stick and started on the eighteen kilometres long and difficult journey to his village.

There was water everywhere. He had to use his stick to locate the road. At places, it was waist-deep and the progress was slow. Sometimes he lost the road and had to swim. After some distance, he found two friends of his uncle. They decided to move ahead together. They had to push away many human bodies floating on the water. There were also carcasses of dogs, goats and cattle.

In every village they passed, they could barely see a house standing. He feared that his family could not have survived the cyclone. At last, he reached his village Kalikuda. His heart sank. His house was gone. His family was nowhere. In order to look for his family, Prashant went to the Red Cross shelter. Fortunately, his family was alive. They were very glad to see Prashant.

He came to know that eighty-six lives were lost in his village and all the ninety-six houses had been washed away. The cyclone caused a lot of damage in Prashant’s village and surrounding areas. Prashant decided to help his own family and the others. He organised a group of youths. They pressurized the local merchant to give rice to the starving villagers. They burnt a fire and cooked the rice, although it was rotting.

His next step was to clean the place of filth, dirt, urine and floating dead bodies. They tended the wounds and fractures of many who had been injured. On the fifth day, a military helicopter dropped food. But it did not return. Prashant and others devised a plan to attract the attention of the helicopters. They deputed children to lie there with empty utensils on their stomachs. This was done to communicate to the helicopters that they were hungry.

The scheme worked and the helicopters started dropping food regularly, Prashant brought the orphaned children and made a shelter for them. He asked the woman to look after them. But he found that women and children were sinking deeper and deeper into their grief. A non-government organization had started a portion of food-for-work programme. Prashant persuaded them to join it.

He engaged other volunteers to help widows start their lives again. The orphaned children were resettled in their own community. Though six months have passed since the cyclone caused heavy destruction, the widows and orphaned children of the village still seek Prashant in their hour of grief and need.