NCERT 9th English PA-1 Cheat Sheet (DRAFT) by thatgreatestgod

This poem is about the decisions in life and how if you make one, you can't go back. In the poem, the poet is a traveler who is passing through a forest in the autumn when he sees that the road splits. The first road was treaded through frequently (this symbolizes that most people took this decision), and the other path was filled with dense bushes and foliage, it didn't have any footpr­ints. The poet wished he could come back if his choice was wrong but he understood he couldn't. The decision he made affected his life greatly.

The poet wants the wind to come slowly and doesn't want the wind the break anything, but the wind didn't pay attention to his words and tore pages, threw the books down, brought rain et cetera. The poet says that the wind is very good at bullying the weak and ruining weak struct­ures. The poet encourages us to build strong homes and minds and only then will the wind help us grow.

In this poem, the wind symbolizes adversity (diffi­culties or problems), if weak people face adversity they will fall down and die, but if strong people face adversity, they will grow and prosper. The poet says that if you build a strong mind, the wind (adver­sity) will help strong fires grow (you).

Evelyn Glennie's mother noticed her reduced hearing when she was eight years old and didn't respond when her name was called to play the piano. Her loss of hearing was confirmed at eleven years old due to gradual nerve damage. One day she noticed a girl playing the xylophone and wanted to play it too. Ron Forbes noticed her potential and told her to feel the music in a way other than hearing it. Evelyn discovered she could sense certain notes in different parts of her body. She could feel the vibrat­ions. She toured the UK with a youth orchestra and passed the audition for the Royal Academy of Music with one of the highest marks in history. She slowly moved into solo perfor­mances. At the end of her three-year course, she had most of the top awards. She became one of the top percus­sio­nists and could talk master­fully despite being deaf. She can speak French and basic Japanese even though she learnt it after she became deaf. She can feel the music in her cheekb­ones, hair, and skin. She can sense the sound passing through her finger­tips, on a wooden platform, she removes her shoes to feel the vibrations of the music in her feet. In 1991 she was presented with the Royal Philha­rmonic Society's Soloist of the Year Award, Evelyn is a workah­olic. She gives free concerts in prisons and hospitals. She gives classes for young musicians. She is an inspir­ation for deak children.

Aurangzeb banned the playing of the pungi in the royal residence for its shrill unpleasant sounds. A barber of a family of profes­sional musicians decided to improve the tonal quality of the pungi. When he played on this improved instru­ment, closing and opening some of the holes that had been made, soft and melodious sounds were produced. He played this instrument before royalty and impressed everyone. Since it was played in the Shah's chambers and was played by a nai (barber), the instrument was called 'shehnai'. Its sound is considered to be auspicious and is played even now in temples and weddings. The credit for bringing this instrument into the classical stage goes to Ustad Bismillah Khan. When he was five years old, he played gilli-­danda near a pond in the ancient estate of Dumraon in Bihar. He would go to the Biharji temple to sing the Bhojpuri 'Chaita', at the end of which he would win a laddu weighing 1.25 kg, a prize given by the local Maharaja. Born on 21 March 1916, Bismillah belongs to a well-known family of musicians. His grandf­ather, Rasool Bux Khan, was the shehna­i-nawaz of the Bhojpur king's court. His paternal ancestors were great shehnai players. At the age of three, his mother took him to her brother's house in Benaras where he was fascinated watching his uncle practicing the shehnai. Soon, he started accomp­anying his uncle, Ali Bux, to the Vishnu temple of Benaras where Bux was employed to play the shehnai. Slowly, Bismillah started getting lessons on playing the instrument and would practice throughout the day. The temple of Balaji and Mangala Maiya and the banks of the river Ganga became his favourite places to practice in solitude. The flowing waters of the Ganga inspired him to compose ragas thought to be beyond the capabi­lities of the shehnai. At the age of 14, he accomp­anied his uncle to the Allahabad Music Confer­ence. At the end of the recital, Ustad Faiyaz Khan came and told him to work hard and that he will make it. With the opening of the All India Radio came his big break (1938). He would play the shehnai often. When India gained indepe­ndence, Bismillah Khan played the shehnai (Raagi Kafi) from the Red Fort to an audience that included Nehru. His first trip abroad was to Afghan­istan where King Zahir Shah gifted him priceless carpets. Director Vijay Bhatt was so impressed that he named a movie after the instru­ment. (Gunj Uthi Shehnai). The film was a hit and Bismil­lah's compos­itions became a nationwide blockb­uster (Dil ka khilona hai toot gaya...). He also worked in the Kannada film, Sanadhi Apanna (Vikram Srinivas). Bismillah couldn't handle the glamour of the film world. He became the first Indian to play at the Lincoln Centre Hall in the US. He also took part in the World Exposition in Montreal, the Cannes Art Festival, and the Osaka Trade Fair. An auditorium was named after him in Teheran (Tehar Mosiquee Ustaad Bismillah Khan). He was conferred the Padmashri, the Padma Bhushan, and the Padma Vibhushan. In 2001, he was awarded the Bharat Ratna. His most loved places were Benarus and Dumraon. A student of his wanted him to lead a school in the US, he said he can recreate the atmosphere of Benarus but Bismillah asked him if he could transport Ganga also. "That is why whenever I am in a foreign country, I keep yearning to see Hindustan. While in Mumbai, I think of only Benaras and the holy Ganga. And while in Benaras, I miss the unique mattha of Dumrao­n." He passed away on 21 August 2006 at the age of ninety. He was given a state funeral and the Government of India declared one day of national mourning.