The Half-Built House

About the passage

Understand and Answer

A. Answer these questions with reference to the context.

‘ ”But that was dangerous, children!” ’

1. Who said this?

Ans. Grandma said this.

2. What was the reason for saying this?

Ans. Grandma said that because they were dangerous criminals and could have harmed the children too.

3. What was dangerous? Why?

Ans. Going into a house like this alone could be dangerous because there could be any untoward incident.

B. Reorder these sentences according to the events in the story. One has been done for you.

1. They informed inspector Chitnis about the men in the half-built house. 7

2. On their way to a bamboo grove, they saw a house that was only half completed. 3

3. Then children accompanied the policemen to catch the crooks. 8

4. Disha and Atharva hid behind two empty drums. 6

5. The five children were enjoying their holidays at their Grandma’s farm. 1

6. Two of the children saw some men inside the house. 4

7. The children decided to explore a bamboo grove. 2

8. The men were criminals wanted by the police. 5

C. Answer these questions.

1. Why was Grandma’s farm an exciting place?

Ans. Grandma’s farm was an exciting place because the Chitnis children had plenty to do during their vacations. They could climb trees, go swimming, fly kites, or play football in the open meadow, or sometimes have an adventure.

2. Who was the leader of the group? How did he show this?

Ans. Atharva was the leader of the group. He was the oldest and showed leadership quality by deciding what everyone would do.

3. How did the youngest child feel about himself?

Ans. Dev was the youngest child as he was just eight year old. He felt that he could look after himself.

4. Why did the two older children take a long time at the house?

Ans. The two older children Disha and Atharva took a long time at the half-built house because they had seen three wanted criminals. The two children spent most of their time hiding behind the empty drums, in order to keep themselves safe from the criminals.

5. Where had they seen the men before?

Ans. The children had seen the pictures of the three ‘Wanted criminals’ before in Inspector Chitni’s office.

6. What were the two sensible things that the children did?

Ans. The two sensible things that the children did were firstly, they kept themselves hidden from the criminals and secondly, immediately after escaping both of them, they informed Disha’s father (Inspector Chitnis) about the criminals.

7. Why had Inspector Chitnis come to the farm?

Ans. Inspector Chitnis, who was Disha’s father drove down to Grandma’s farm because he and his police department had a feeling that those crooks were hiding somewhere in that area.

8. On what condition were the children allowed to accompany the policemen?

Ans. The children were allowed to accompany the policemen to the half-built house only on the condition that they would obey each and every instruction given to them.

Think and answer

How do you think Atharva and Disha felt when they recognized the criminals? What would you have done if you were in their place?

Ans. When they recognized the criminals, they did not panic and acted wisely. They hid behind the drum so that no one could see them and they came out of the escape. After leaving, they went straight to the grandma's house and told the Inspector Chitnis, the whole story.

We would have done same thing, if we were in their place.