A SHORT MONSOON DIARY

BY

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RUSKIN BOND

What is a Diary?

A diary is a record of personal experiences written day after day over a long period of time. You can also use a diary to note down things, you plan to do immediately or in future.

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One of the most famous diaries published as a book is ‘The Diary Of A Young Girl’.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

• To comprehend the text locally and globally.
• To appreciate and enjoy the beauty of Nature.
• To help them develop love and respect for Nature.
• To enhance their power of imagination and visualization.
• Grasp the meaning of words , phrases and sentences from the given context and help them with acquisition of language.
• Recognize relationship between ideas, events and facts.

About the Author

• He was born on 19^th May,1934
• He is an Indian author of British Descent.
• Famous for promoting children’s literature in India
• He lives in Mussoorie,India.
• Got Sahitya Academy Award in 1992 for ‘Our Trees Still Grows In Dehra’
• Awarded the Padma Shri in 1999 and Padma Bhusan in 2014

About the story

• It deals with the experiences of the author during the monsoon season on mountains
• He portrays the silent miracles of nature and life’s little joys and regrets.
• He has described the beauty and elegance of the flora and fauna that he witnessed during the lush green monsoon season in the hills.

JUNE 24

• First day that mist had descended on the hills.
• With the onset of mist all the creatures have become silent. Nature’s aural symphony had come to a standstill.
• He associates mist with melancholy because it makes people feel sad silent and reflective.
• The climate on the mountains change very soon. Only an hour ago the trees were reverberating with chirping of birds
• But now the forest is gripped in deadly silence.
• The author could hear Bijju calling his sister but could not see him due to the mist.

MELANCHOLY-SADNESS

MIST CLIMBING UP THE HILLS

MIST CONCEALING CLEAR VISION

JUNE 25

• The day witnessed warm and humid weather with rain.
• It was different from the cold rain throughout the year in the hills.
• The first blossom of cobra lily protrudes its head from the ferns.
• The author takes a walk up to the bank and post office and the mist gives him certain privacy as it conceals the clear vision.
• He describes the hill station and valley as “A paradise that might have been.”

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Ferns-a green plant with no flowers and a lot of long thin leaves

COBRA LILY REARING ITS HEAD

FROM THE FERNS

COBRA LILY

JUNE 27�

• The onset of rain announced the arrival of some creatures peculiar to that time of the year-a leopard, many leeches, scarlet minivets and drongos.
• Monsoon shows us the nature in abundance.
• Some creatures like the bright coloured birds add to the beauty of nature and offer a feast to our eyes but at the same time some creatures like leopard and leeches create trouble for the people.
• The leopard lifted a dog and made it its prey, attacked one of Bijju’s cow.
• The unwanted leeches sticks to the body and suck little blood.

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Imprecations-curses ,Heralded-announced

MINIVETS LIKE JEWELS ON THE TREE

Scarlet minivet

Yellow female minivet

JUNE 27

• The red and yellow minivets sitting on the lush green trees looks like brilliant jewels decorating the tree.
• They try to go unnoticed but their vivid colour makes them conspicuous.
• A pair of angry drongos started chasing them away.
• Rain brings innumerable insects and the birds get their prey easily.
• A tree creeper moves rapidly up the trunk of the Oak tree.

Aggressive-likely to fight or argue ,contrive-to manage to do something ,dearth-scarcity

COLOURFUL BIRDS SITTING ON THE TREE�

A PAIR OF DRONGOS

AUGUST 2

• Continuous downpour on the corrugated tin roof given to unaccountable leaks.
• He enjoyed the music of the rain while lying awake.
• The sound of the rain outside synchronizes with the quiet inside the writer’s mind producing a soothing effect.
• Although untouched by the drops of rain physically yet the cords of his heart are deeply stirred by the music of the rain drops.

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Corrugated tin roof –a tin roof shaped into folds

Corru

Corrugated Roof

AUGUST 3

• The rain has stopped and the sun strikes the hill.
• The writer introduces different images in front of our eyes and appeals to our visual and aural senses.
• A woman is chopping sticks (HOUSEHOLD CHORES) and he could hear the tinkle of cowbells.
• A crow shaking raindrops from his feathers and cawing disconsolately
• The song of the Thrush echoing throughout the valley emanating from the depths of the valley.

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Disconsolately-unhappily Ravine-valley

Woman chopping sticks

Crow shaking raindrops

Song of the thrush echoing throughout the valley�

AUGUST 12

• Endless rain ,and a permanent mist with no sunshine for nine days.
• Locked inside the house with no where to venture.
• Looking out of the window you see a few bobbing umbrellas.
• Late-monsoon flowers began to appear--- wild balsam, dahlias, begonias and ground orchids.

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FLORAL BEAUTY

Dahlias

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Balsam

Orchids

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Begonias

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AUGUST 31

• Lush monsoon growth has reached its peak.
• The seeds of the cobra lily are turning red indicating that the rain has come to an end.
• Beautiful flowers are decorating the valley of Landour-Orchids, Mauve lady’s slipper, white butterfly orchids.
• Snakes and rodents are taking shelter in roofs,attics and godowns.
• Grandmother scolds the children not to kill the shrew as Chuchundars are lucky-they bring money.

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Admonish-to scold, rebuke b)Lush- rich, profuse Ferns-green plants with no flowers and a lot of long thin leaves. d)Attic-the space under the roof of a house often used for storing things.

FLOWERS REARING THEIR HEADS FROM THE CREVICES

COBRA LILY

WHITE BUTTERFLY ORCHIDS MAUVE LADY’S SLIPPER GROUND ORCHIDS

OCTOBER 3

• Monsoon rain finally gave way to the winter rain.
• A hailstorm had cleared the sky.
• Hills were drenched with a beautiful golden light.

Suffused-spreading over

Hills suffused with golden light

JANUARY 26

WINTER RAINS IN THE HILLS

  In the hushed silence of the house 

when I am quite alone, and my 

friend, who was here has gone, it is very lonely, very quiet,

 as I sit in a liquid silence, a silence 

within,

 surrounded by the rhythm of  rain,

 the steady drift 

of water on leaves, on lemons, on roof,

 drumming on drenched dahlias and

 window panes, 

while the mist holds the house in a 

dark caress.

As I pause near a window, the rain stops.

 And starts again. 

And the trees, no longer green but grey,

 menace me  with their loneliness.

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Explanation of JANUARY 26�WINTER RAINS IN THE HILLS

• The writer is all alone as his friend has gone
• There is complete silence in his house. The liquid silence is all pervading as it spreads all about like a liquid.
• He experiences calmness and tranquility inside his heart as well.
• This silence is in complete contrast with the pitter patter sound of the rain outside.
• Everything outside is completely drenched.
• The mist is holding the house in its lap in a gentle and loving way.
• The rain stops and then starts again.
• The trees have turned grey and the entire atmosphere is threatening him with loneliness and isolation.

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Caress-to hold somebody in a gentle and loving way Menace-a threat or danger

MARCH 23

• By the end of March the winter also ended.
• The day saw the sky overcast with black clouds .
• It hailed marbles i.e. hailstones for half an hour.
• When it cleared the sky ,a rainbow was formed across it.

Rainbow in the sky

LITERARY TOOLS

• PERSONIFICATION-When you assign the qualities of a person to something that is not human or that isn’t even alive.
• eg-Lightning danced across the sky.
• Mist comes climbing up the hills.
• The wind howled in the night.
• The mist holds the house in a dark caress.
• SIMILE- Comparison between two things USING WORDS “LIKE” OR “AS”
• Eg You are as brave as a loin.
• Life is like a box of chocolates.
• The song of a thrush emerges like a dark sweet scent.
• METAPHOR-Indirect comparison between two things that are not alike.
• You were a lion in the fight.
• It hailed marbles for an hour.

Recapitulation�

• Talks about the silent miracles of nature.
• June 24 -onset of monsoon mist.
• June 25-Nature enjoying the first swish of rain
• June 27-Seasonal visitors.
• August 2-Emotional impact of rain on the writer.
• August 3-Rain stops and we see images of creatures enjoying outdoors
• August 12-Endless rain and monsoon flowers
• August 31-Lush monsoon growth at its peak.
• October 3 and January 26-Winter rain and a poem.
• March 23-End of winter and a rainbow in the sky.

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Thank You