Maharashtra Board Class 12 English Chapter 2.8 Small Towns and Rivers Textbook PDF Download

Small Towns And Rivers

Ice Breakers

(i) Most of the civilizations have flourished on the banks of the rivers. Discuss the reasons in the class. One is done for you.

(a) Availability of water

(b) _______________________________________________________________

(c) _______________________________________________________________

(d) _______________________________________________________________

(ii) Write down the names of the famous cities that are situated on the banks of the rivers given below. One is done for you.

(iii) Write down the names of the rivers on the banks of which following cities have prospered:

(i) Divide your class into groups and discuss the changes that might have taken place when the cities grow on the banks of the rivers.

(ii) Share your views in the class on the topic 'Conservation of Rivers and Development of the Cities.'

Teacher's Note

Rivers are very important for our cities. Just like the Ganga river helps many Indian cities to grow, rivers give us water and make life easy.

Exam Trick

Remember: Rivers = Water, Food, and Business. Many big cities are near rivers because rivers help cities grow fast.

Points To Remember

Rivers give water to cities and towns.
Cities grow near rivers because rivers are helpful.
Rivers also help people to trade and do business.
We must keep rivers clean and safe.
Rivers are home to many plants and animals.

About Mamang Dai

Mamang Dai was born in 1957. She is a poet, novelist, journalist and former civil servant from Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh. She writes in English and also in Adi language. She is also an active radio and TV journalist. She covers news programmes and interviews for All India Radio and Doordarshan in Itanagar. She was a programme officer with World Wide Fund for Nature. She worked with Biodiversity Hotspot Conservation Programme. She received Padmashree Award in 2011 and Sahitya Akademi Award in 2017. Mamang Dai is a strong voice from the North East. She is a writer and a poet of great skill. Her work has the fragrance of her land and her people.

The poem, 'Small Towns and Rivers' is taken from the collection of poems called 'The River Poems'. It was published in 2004. The poem describes a landscape and Nature where river is a dominant thing. Through ideas like 'river has a soul' and 'river knows immortality of water,' the poet makes us aware of the living nature around her hometown 'Pasighat'. She also shows us the forever nature of the natural elements. She finds that even life and death do not last. The poem is based on the belief of the tribal people from the North East. They believe that the souls of the beloved ones always continue to live in the natural elements around. So she remembers death when she sees the towns. The towns have become big when Nature has been destroyed. The poet has shown worry at the developments in the small towns.

Small Towns And Rivers

Small towns always remind me of death.
My hometown lies calmly amidst the trees,
it is always the same,
in summer or winter,
with the dust flying,
or the wind howling down the gorge.

Just the other day someone died.
In the dreadful silence we wept
looking at the sad wreath of tuberoses.
Life and death, life and death,
only the rituals are permanent.

Wreath: an arrangement of flowers, leaves and stems fastened in a ring and used for decoration or laying on a grave or a dead body.

Rituals: religious or solemn ceremony consisting of a series of actions performed according to a prescribed way.

Teacher's Note

The poet talks about death and small towns. In India, when someone dies, we do special rituals to respect them, like our ancestors did.

Exam Trick

Remember: In the poem, 'small towns remind me of death' means the poet thinks of loved ones who have passed away. Rituals are the ceremonies we do - they are permanent, they never change.

Points To Remember

The poet's hometown is always the same in all seasons.
The poem talks about death and sadness.
A wreath is made of flowers and put on graves.
Rituals are the special ceremonies we do for dead people.
Only rituals stay the same, but life and death keep changing.

The river has a soul.
In the summer it cuts through the land
like a torrent of grief. Sometimes,
sometimes, I think it holds its breath
seeking a land of fish and stars

The river has a soul.
It knows, stretching past the town,
from the first drop of rain to dry earth
and mist on the mountaintops,
the river knows
the immortality of water.

A shrine of happy pictures
marks the days of childhood.
Small towns grow with anxiety
for the future.
The dead are placed pointing west.
When the soul rises
it will walk into the golden east,
into the house of the sun.

In the cool bamboo,
restored in sunlight,
life matters, like this.
In small towns by the river
we all want to walk with the gods.

- Mamang Dai

Shrine: a place regarded as holy because of its associations with divinity or a sacred person or relic marked by a building or other construction.

Describe the river in the 3rd stanza.

Guess the meaning:

Immortality: the quality of living forever or being remembered forever.

Give reasons:

The dead are placed pointing to the west.

The river has a soul.

Teacher's Note

The poet says the river has a soul, which means the river is alive and thinking, just like a person. In North East India, people believe nature has a living spirit inside it.

Exam Trick

Remember: 'River has a soul' = Personification (giving human qualities to nature). Also remember: water never dies - it changes form but always stays. This is immortality of water.

Points To Remember

The river cuts through land like grief, showing sadness and pain.
The river is alive and has feelings, not just water.
Water is immortal - it never really dies, it just changes.
The poet believes in the golden east and the house of the sun.
Bamboo represents life that matters and brings peace to the soul.

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