I Am Watching Grandpa

About the passage

A.  Read to understand

Answer these questions.

1. Give two reasons why the author had an uneasy and disturbed night.

Ans. The two reasons behind the author’s uneasy and disturbed night were the traffic sounds and lights from the main road.

2. What was the result of the author’s giggle?

Ans. Due to the author’s giggle grandpa turned around and took him to the store house along with him.

3. Where did Grandpa lead the author?

Ans. Grandpa led the author to the room of the third floor which he had rented out to a computer institute.

4. What did Grandpa want the author to lend him a hand with?

Ans. Grandpa wanted the author to lend him a hand in piling up a large stack of paper in his bag which was strewn about towards one corner.

5. How did Grandpa sort the papers he had picked up?

Ans. Grandpa sorted the papers he had picked up into three piles – one-side-used, both- sides-used and blank papers.

6. How did Grandpa plan to use the sorted papers?

Ans. Grandpa planned to use the sorted papers in the following ways: he decided to use one-side paper for his accounts and give some to the poor children at the NGO in the neighborhood and used-up pile to the hawker.

B.  Read to infer

1. Find the lines in the passage that express the following thoughts.

    a. Grandpa was a man of habit.

        Grandpa and I shared a room and, as was customary, he said his prayers before bed, and made me join in.

    b. Grandpa was being careful not to wake up the author.

Lifting his feet up high with each step, he crept forward stealthily to the door, all the while imagining I was fast asleep!

    c. Grandpa knew the ‘shabby storehouse’ well.

        He took two confident steps and turned on a light.

    d. At first, the author did not think much of Grandpa’s act.

        I never imagined an adventure with Grandpa!

2.  Answer the following questions.

    a. What made the author think that Grandpa was shopping in his sleep?

    Ans. The author thought that Grandpa was shopping in his sleep because he wore a faded T-shirt, located his slippers under the bed and grabbed a large bag from the foot of the bed.

    b. Was the author comfortable with his grandfather unlocking and entering the rented part of the house? Give a reasoned answer.

    Ans. No, the author was not comfortable with his grandfather unlocking and entering the rented part of the house because he thought that tenants trusted his grandpa with all their secure teaching material and here they were robbing them of God knows what.

    c. What was the ‘lone endeavour’? What does it make the author realize?

Ans. The ‘lone endeavour’ was his grandpa’s real, concrete, genuine effort to save paper and the planet.

C.  Discuss

1.   Do you approve of Grandpa’s act of entering his tenants’ premises at night and removing the papers? Justify your response. Also, discuss how he could have done this differently.

Ans. No, I don’t approve of Grandpa’s act of entering his tenants’ premises at night and removing the papers without their permission because this act was against tenant’s rights. He could have done this by informing them about his concern to save paper by reusing them.

2.   What does the author mean by calling his Grandpa’s act ‘a real, concrete, genuine effort to save paper and the planet’?

Ans. By saying this he meant that even in age of seventy his grandpa was giving so much importance to save paper by reusing them.

3. In what ways does reusing and recycling of paper help save the planet?

Ans. Recycling of paper helps us to save energy, water and landfill space. Paper recycling reduces greenhouse gas emissions and it is cost-saving resource for making new paper products.