CBSE Class 11 English Rangas Marriage Masti Venkatesha Iyengar Worksheet

RANGA’S MARRIAGE

Masti Venkatesha Iyengar Key Elements:
• The concept of arranged marriages in the Indian culture: then and now.
•  Ranga as a character who retains his traditions even as he harbours new age thoughts.
• Ranga as a character whose thoughts do not seem to have eventually matched his actions.
• The narrator, Shyama, whose brilliance is in a simple plan of placing elements together and watch as things run their natural course. • The author’s writing style – first person narrative, casual almost verbal communication with the reader, rambling narration, deliberate use of native words, proverbs, anecdotes and other references.
• The narrator’s, and therefore, the author’s views on the English language.

SUMMARY

Ranga’s Marriage, by Masti Venkatesha Iyengar, is a story about a boy who returns to his village after receiving education from Bangalore.

The story is a first person narrative and a major portion of the story is in flash back. The speaker directly addresses the reader. The narrator is a neighbour of the protagonist. He introduces the story with a difference by first giving a detailed description of their village Hoshali. He praises the mangoes from his village. He asks the reader if he/she has ever heard of the village. He replies to the question himself, for the village was not located in any of the maps for the English babus and the ones in our country forgot to put it there. Then he introduces Ranga, the protagonist, in a time ten years ago. Ranga had gone to Bangalore for studies and returned home after six months. It was the time when English was a language not popular and a few people used it. All used to converse in Kannada.

All the villagers arrived at Ranga’s place and began scrutinising him. To their dismay, he was still the same old Ranga and they dispersed. However, the narrator stayed back and shared a few jokes with the boy and then left. Later in the afternoon, Ranga arrived at the narrator’s home with a few oranges. The narrator judged the boy and felt it appropriate to marry such a well educated and humble boy. However, Ranga had no plans to settle as a married man. He put his views on marriage in front of the narrator that he wanted to get married to a girl who is mature and someone he could admire.

Ranga left after the discussion and the narrator decided then that he would get the boy married. Determined, he began considering Rama Rao’s niece Ratna as a suitable bride for Ranga. She was from a big town and knew how to play veena and harmonium. He came up with a plan and arranges a meeting.

The narrator was happy as his plan was working. As his next step, the next day the narrator took Ranga to an astrologer who he had already tutored what to say. It was the meeting with the astrologer when the narrator’s name is disclosed. Shyama, he was. The astrologer pretended to read the natal chart of Rangappa and declared that the boy was in love with a girl who had a name of something found in the ocean. Shyama said it could be Ratna, Rama Rao’s niece. Ranga’s smile was not hidden from Shyama.

Ranga by then had admitted that he had been attracted to the girl.

The story moves forward ten years, or to say, returns to the present. Rangappa came one day to the narrator, inviting him at his son Shyama’s third birthday. Obviously, Ratna and Ranga had been married. And now they have a three years old son whom Ranga named after the narrator.

Question. Character sketch of the narrator. Shyama, the narrator of the story ‘Ranga’s Marriage’ is also the central character. His style of
Answer: narration evokes a lot of humour in the story. He is an elderly gentleman and refers to himself as a dark piece of oil cake. He is passionately in love with his village and the villagers and rambles incessantly while describing it. He is a keen observer of his surroundings and uses a colourful style of narration. He feels it is disgraceful to use English words in the native tongue. The narrator is a good judge of people and regards Ranga as a generous and considerate fellow. He is conservative at heart and feels unhappy at Ranga’s decision to remain single. He had decided that Ratna would be a suitable bride for him. He means well and his intentions are good. He schemes to get Ranga married and arranges a meeting with Shastri whom he had tutored thoroughly. He is a shrewd contriver as he tells Ranga that Ratna was married. This he does in order to rouse Ranga’s desire for the unattainable.

Fill in the blanks :-

Question. Ranga was the son of an……………………
Answer: accountant

Question. Ranga was reluctant to get married in the beginning because he was an…………… .
Answer: Idealist

Question. Ranga’s son was named after…………the narrator.
Answer: Shyama

Question. ……….was Ranga’s wife.
Answer: Ratna

Question. Ranga and the narrator belonged to…………village.
Answer: Hosahali

Choose the correct from the options given :-

Question. The word Ratna literally means:
(a) Pearl
(b) Stone
(c) gold
(d) Ornament
Answer: A

Question. Who was Ratna’s uncle?
(a) Ranga
(b) The narrator
(c) Rama Rao
(d) Krishna Rao
Answer: C

Question. The narrator was Ranga’s………….
(a) father
(b) brother
(c) uncle
(d) father’s friend
Answer: D

Question. Ranga went for higher education to:--
(a) Bengaluru
(b) Mumbai
(c) Delhi
(d) Chennai
Answer: A

Question. Hoshahali, the village of the narrator belongs to the Indian state …
(A) Madras
(b) Mysore
(c) Travancore
(d) Delhi
Answer: B

Question. Match the following
1. Ranga’s higher studies  (a) Ratna before marriage
2. Orphan                        (b) Bengaluru
3. Shyama                       (c) Ranga’s father
4. Accountant                   (d) The name of the narrator
5. Ratna                          (e) Ranga’s wife
Answer: (i)---(b), (ii)—(a), (iii)—(d), (iv)---(c), (v)--- (e)

State whether following statements are True or False

Question. Ranga fell in love with Ratna at first sight.
Answer: True

Question. The narrator had very high regards for astrology.
Answer: False

Question. Ratna was the victim of child marriage.
Answer: True

Question. Ranga was not grateful to the narrator for helping him marry Ratna.
Answer: False

Question. Ranga’s son was named in the name of the narrator.
Answer: True

Question. Arrange the following happenings of the story in correct sequence
(a) Ranga, the son of village accountant returned to his village after education in Bengaluru.
(b) The narrator was disappointed to hear his views of marriage.
(c) The narrator wanted Ranga to get married.
(d) The narrator set an opportunity for the young couple to meet at Rama Rao’s home.
(e) Ranga was married to Ratna and he named his first child after the narrator Shyama.
(f) Ranga admitted that he was in love with Ratna and was ready to marry her.
(g) The narrator thought that Ranga should be married as planned scheme.
(h) Ranga fell in love with Ratna at first sight.
(i) Ranga was surprised to hear that he was mentally motivated for thinking of the girl.
(j) The narrator took him to an astrologer and the astrologer predicted the things as tutored.
(k) He thought Ratna , Rama Rao’s niece would be a suitable match for Ratna.
Answer: a, c, b, f, k, j, d, g, I, h, e

Short Answer Questions:

Question. Describe the pictorial sketch of the Hosahalli village.
Answer: Hosahalli is the village of the narrator. Its beauty enchants one and all. It is situated in the lap of nature. Its rusticity enthralls the readers forever. Versatility of Gudabhatta and sense of humour of the villagers are matchless. Nature around the village is a feast to behold. Taste of mangoes would linger on your tongue forever.

Question. Ranga’s home coming was an important event for the villagers. Give reasons.
Answer: It was because the village accountant was the first one who had enough courage to send his son to Bangalore to study. English was a priceless commodity to the villagers. That was why his home coming was a great event to them.

Question. Do you think that Ratna is a victim of the arranged marriage system? Give reasons.
Answer: When the narrator arranged the marriage of Ranga with Ratna, we have a conversation of Ranga and the narrator about their views on the marriage in our society but Ratna was not asked for it once. It shows that she got married without her consent or opinion about her independent thinking at the age of just 11.

Long Answer Questions:

Question. Do you think that Indian marriage system keeps Indian social fabric alive? How?
Answer: Indian social fabric is based on the caste system. It has its own social hierarchy that is strictly maintained by one and all for their own convenience. The people like the narrators are ever ready to take initiatives to get the bachelors like Ranga married by arranging and compromising on traditions and rituals by virtue of their status in society and sometimes with the help of so-called customs i.e. seeking help from the Astrologers and Shastri.
In the present story, when Ranga returned to his village from the city, his ideas about marriage were then quite different. He wanted to bring about changes in the marriage system as a sole right of the individual. But the narrator moulded his point of view to follow the beaten track of society that is marriage is a social institute not the individual’s choice. That’s why I think that Indian arranged marriage system has been keeping Indian social structure alive for the century.

Question. English integrates India as a nation or it belittles/ dwarfs the expression of native speakers. Elucidate.
Answer: The story Ranga’s Marriage’s raises very important moral issues of a mode of communication in India and its consequences. In India English is playing a role of lingua franca without any doubt. It holds a composite dialogue among all Indians. It has brought all Indians together. It has opened the window on world. India poses itself as a nation because of its integrity. Another side of it is the excessive use and making it a matter of dignity confuses the mind of common man. The middle class mentality thinks that English is the matter of dignity.
For the sake of it they discriminate the expression of the native speakers. Common man’s expression in their mother tongue is being dwarfed because of the excessive value of English in upper class society. In the present story Ranga was sent to pursue his education in city because of the mode of communication that provides plenty of opportunities and gets dignity in society. On the other hand it is a priceless commodity for the villagers. It should have been a mode of communication only that bridges the gap between two social strata.