Discourses based on the lesson "Listen to the Mountain" in the English text book of Std IX Unit 3.
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LISTEN TO THE MOUNTAIN
KAVERY NAMBISAN
Major Characters
GRANDMOTHER —Ninety year old. Great
grandmother, wise and sensitive lived in the village all her life, great love
for nature, birds, fishes, trees, flowers and animals are her friend. Shocked
and upset at the plan to build a hotel in Dharmagiri.
NARAYAN – School Headmaster. loves
the village and villagers, devoted to the cause of protecting nature, determined
to find a solution.
RAMANNA - tea-shop owner. Concerned
about the hotel coning up at Dharmagiri. Feels that villagers opinion should have
been taken, cannot think of going against traditions and of villagers.
SAGAR - building contractor of Mr
Dixit, representative of man Who looks down upon the village and villagers. Materialistic
as well as ambitious. Not concerned about the age old belief of the villagers.
DIXIT - millionaire industrialist, business
minded. Does not understand the sentiments of villagers,
Minor Characters
·
SHASTRI
·
KANNAN
·
RUDRAPPA
Main Events
Scene I
Ø Monologue of the grandmother.
Ø Grandmother speaks about her
village on the slopes of the Dharmagiri hills.
Ø The village set amidst the
Dharmagiri hills in natural beauty
Ø Grandmother had a tough but
happy life.
Ø The river, trees, flowers, birds,
and animals are all her friends.
Ø Grandmother is distressed on
hearing the shocking news from her grandson.
Scene 2
Ø Sagar, the building contractor,
informs the villagers of Dixit's plan to build a five-star hotel in the
village.
Ø Villagers are shocked to
hear of plan.
Ø Villagers are cannot accept the
idea of a five-star hotel as it would destroy the village.
Ø The villagers feel that
there is no need for a multistoried hotel in their village which has a population
of only 500 people
Ø Sagar mocks that he
villagers calling them ignorant and dumb.
Ø Sagar says that the people
who lose their houses will handsomely compensated.
Ø Dixit is very influential
and has clinched the deal to construct the hotel
Scene 3
Ø Narayan. Ramanna. Kannan.
Shastri and Rudrappa meet at the tea-shop to discuss about the hotel
Ø Ramanna considers it foolish
to build a hotel in their village.
Ø Kannan is of the opinion
that hotel will bring in more tourists and hence more money.
Ø Shastri informs the
villagers that it is dangerous to construct a hotel on Dharmagiri.
Ø Dharmagiri cannot support a structure
taller than thirty feet.
Scene 4
Ø Grandmother is worried about
what would happen to the animals, birds, trees and river.
Ø She advises Narayan to speak
to the children as tomorrow’s world
their world.
Ø She mocks the rich saying ‘big
people with small hearts will swallow this village of ours’.
Scene 5
Ø Children lead by Narayan protest
against the construction.
Ø They present a petition to
Dixit
Ø Dixit refuses to budge and
calls the petition nonsense.
Ø Landslide occurs in village
killing eleven people including two children.
Climax
·
Landslide at Dharmagiri
Message
·
Nature always speaks if we care to listen.
Conversation
Some of The villages go to
meet Sagar to discuss the hotel construction. Prepare a conversation between
them
Sagar : Why are you
here men?
Narayan : We have a
serious issue to discuss with you
Sagar : serious
issue? What is it?
Narayan : We want you to
stop building the hotel here
Sagar : How dare you
ask me to stop it? We are doing it for you
Narayan : We don't want
anything to destroy the serenity of our village. Moreover it is dangerous to
the
mountain
Sagar : But we are
doing nothing to the mountain. your village is going to be a famous tourist
place
Sasthriji : Dharmagiri
cannot hold a structure more than 30 feet. it is so dangerous. Sagar you think
you
know more than our engineers from big cities?
Ramanna : Never.but it is
an old belief.
Sagar : I don't
care,we are going to start the work tomorrow.
Letter
Prepare the petition of the
villages to be given to Mr Dixit
From
The villagers
Dharmagiri
To
Mr Dixit
MD, ABC Firms Limited
Bombay
Sir
Sub: complaint against building of 5 star
hotels in Dharmagiri reg:
We have come to know that
your company is going to build a 5 Star hotel here. As per the geographical peculiarities
our village cannot hold a structure more than 30 feet. It is dangerous to the
mountain. The villagers do not need a hotel with 300 rooms. Moreover building
of such a multi storied hotel can destroy the serenity of the village as well
as the mountains .Many houses will be demolished and trees will be cut off. We will
not allow anything to affect the environment and our life here. So we request
you to stop the construction work immediately and leave the project. Yours
faithfully
Shastri
(on behalf of the villagers ,Dharmagiri)
Sign/
News Paper Report
Prepare a
newspaper report of the landslide in Dharmagiri
At last the mountain spoke
Dharmagiri: A terrible landslide shook
the village yesterday .1t occurred in the afternoon when the construction of a
multistoried hotel was going on. Eye witnesses say that there was a terrific
roar like rocks falling which lasted for 30 seconds. It was soon followed by a
sharp noise. Nearly a hundred men were injured and many were reported to be
under the rocks. The wounded were immediately brought to the nearby hospitals.
The tragedy is said to be the result of unscientific construction of the hotel.
It is believed that the village cannot hold a structure more than 30 feet long.
Many villages told that they had given warnings to Mr Dixit, who is the owner
of the hotel about the dangers. The government has ordered to stop all the
constructions going on in the area and also announced a sum of rupees 10000 as
a relief to the hospitalized.
Write-up
Prepare a write-up about the
views held by the grandmother and Mr Dixit about development
Grandmother is the representative Of the Old
generation who believes that man should live in harmony with Nature. She thinks
that she can hear the voice of the streams, rivers, the birds and the mountain.
She is happy with the rough life of village without much luxuries like car or T
V .When she hears about the construction of hotel in her village she appears
more concerned about the pollution, the noise and the loss of habitat of animals
and birds. The picture of filthy river frightens her. But she is not altogether
against progress and admits that since future belongs to the children they
should be consulted. Mr Dixit is a millionaire who has money and power so he is
so fast in the construction of the hotel. He is not at all bothered about the
life or feelings of the villagers. He thinks that nature is something to be
exploited according to our needs. UnIike the grandmother he fails to hear the
voice of the mountain. He is a selfish man whose only motive is business.
Letter
The students of Narayan
decides to submit a petition to the Child right commission about the impending
danger their village faces. Draft the petition.
From
ABC SCHOOL
DARMAGIRI
To
THE CHAIR MAN
THE CHILD RIGHT COMMISSION
DELHI.
16.10.16
Subject: Plea for a peaceful living.
Sir,
We are a group of concerned students who
recide in Darmagiri. Our village is very small and beautiful and serene. We lead
a peaceful life in harmony with the trees, the mountain, the river, the flowers
and birds. The river that flows down sustains our very life. But of late, we
are concerned about a grave issue. Our life is going to be threatened by some
big people's project of building a star hotel on the top of Darmagiri Mountain.
We could never allow such a thoughtless act since it would mar our lives. The
only construction we have on the mountain is a three hundred year old temple,
All the villagers know for sure that the mountain could not be dug more than
thirty feet down. It would result in massive We plead for our rights to live and
learn in a peac-eful atmosphere. We strongly state that we don't need any fancy
hotels in our village even if it is tagged under tourism and development. Hope
you would see to it and prevent the concerned authorities from making such a
grave mistake
Yours truly
Students from ABC SCHOOL
DARMAGIRI
News Paper Report
The Darmagiri villagers were
highly opposed to the construction of a star hotel. They conduct rallies and
protest march as a part of the popular unrest. Prepare a newspaper report.
DARMAGIRI BOILING
16.9.16,Darmagiri: An agitated mob here in
Darmagiri started hour-long protest marches and rallies shouting slogans to
save their village from an impending tragedy. They were highly sensitive about
the invasion of a foreign company to establish their chain of star hotels in
the name of tourism and development. Though the villagers were small in
numbers, they were highly opinionated. They declared that they would conduct
fast unto death if the authorities fail to address their grievance. the
protests were peaceful. No violent events were reported anywhere.
Profile
Write a short profile of
Kavery Nambisan using the hints given below.
Born : Palangala,
Kodagu in India
Pen Name : Kavery Bhatt
Education : St. John's
Medical College, Bangalore
Occupation : Surgeon and
medical advisor at the Tata Coffee Hospital in Kodagu, Karnataka
Spouse : Vijay
Nambisan, a journalist and poet
Notable Works : Once Upon a Forest (1986), The Scent of Pepper (1996) On
Wings of Butterflies (2002),
The Hills of Angheri (2005), The Story That
Must Not Be Told (2014)
Awards/Honours : Coorg Person of the Year in 2005
Kavery Nambisan
Kavery Nambisan, an Indian novelist, was born
in Palangala village in South Kodagu, Karnataka, in a family of politicians.
She studied medicine in St. John's Medical College, Bangalore, and at the
University of Liverpool, England. Nambisan's story 'Dr Sad and the Power Lunch'
was joint runner-up in the third Outlook-Picador nonfiction contest in 2003.
'The Story that Must Not Be Told' was shortlisted for the DSC Prize for South
Asian Literature in 2012 as well as the Man Asian Literary Prize in 2008. She
was elected Coorg Person of the Year in 2005.
Diary Entry
Ramanna is annoyed and disturbed
to hear about the plan of a building a five star hotel in Dharmagiri village.
He writes a diary expressing his concerns. Prepare the likely Diary entry.
Diary
Monday, 15th July 2020
What a horrible thing! They are constructing
a five star hotel, right here on the top of Dharmagiri, overlooking our
village. No one in the village has been told about it. I think the villagers
won’t like it, I know they will not. They say that we are ignorant. They are
going to widen the road. Some houses will be knocked down. What shall we do?
This is arrogance. I will not allow this. I will protest. The Dharmagiri is a
sacred mountain to us. We will not allow any one to disrupt it. Will they make
our village a slum? They are accommodating the labourers here. They are aiming
at making profit. Business minded. But our village, we have keep up its
tradition. This is unfair. They don't know us. We certainly have something to
do with it. Let’s wait and see.
Character sketch of Sagar
Sagar is the building contractor of Mr Dixit
who is going to build a multistoried hotel at Dharmagiri .He is
the representative of modern man who looks down upon the villagers. Sagar
believes in fast life. He thinks that everything has become so easy with the
help of machineries. He hates life in the village. He is materialistic as well
as ambitious .Sagar talks with contempt to the villages .For him money and power are above humanity and
values. Sagar considers the serene beauty of the village and the valley as only
to attract the tourists. He gives less care to the emotional attachment of the
villages. Even the workers are like rats for him. He does not bother about the
age old beliefs of the villagers too.
