GREEN VALLEY NATIONAL SCHOOL & PU COLLEGE SHIROOR SUBJECT: ENGLISH CLASS: VII

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MUSIC: THE ELIXIR OF LIFE I. Meanings: 1. Fascinated – greatly attracted 2. Detrimental – harmful 3. Dissect – take apart 4. Animate - alive 5. Inanimate – not alive

II. Answer these questions: 1. What did Ricky Kej love to do as a child? Ans: As a child Ricky Kej loved to dissect songs in his mind, trying to figure out the instruments played and who played them and he loved to hanging around with nature and with animals.

2. Which profession did he wish to take up? Ans: Ricky Kej wished to take music as his profession.

3. Who was Wouter Kellerman, and where did Ricky meet him? Ans: Wouter Kellerman was South African flautist. Ricky Kej met him in Los Angeles.

4. In what sense did has African-ness in him and has Indian-ness? Ans: Mahatma Gandhi spent his formative years in South Africa, so he had South African-ness in him. Similarly, Nelson Mandela was greatly inspired by Mahatma Gandhi, so he had an Indian-ness as well.

5. Why does Ricky describe attending the Grammy Award ceremony as ‘humbling’? Ans: Ricky thought of attending the Grammy Award ceremony as ‘humbling’ because he got an opportunity to be among the musical heroes he admired.

6. Explain Ricky’s views on ‘co-existence’. Ans: According to Ricky co-existence is living in peace and harmony with every single entity on the Earth, animate or inanimate.

III. Read these lines and answer the questions that follow: 1. Now imagine this. a. How does Ricky describe what he might have become? Ans: Ricky tries to imagine how his life would have been had he become a dentist. He would have been stifled in regular job which did not interest him and would yearn to get back to his real passion music. b. Why would Ricky become frustrated and what would he long to do? Ans: As a dentist he would not be interested in his career or profession. He would all the time be thinking about going home from his clinic and creating music. c. What does he go on to say about many professionals in ? Ans: He says that there are millions of professionals in India who lack passion in their careers and this is detrimental to society to our country and to the world.

2. It was the push I needed. a. What is the ‘push’ referred to here? Ans: The push referred to here is support from PM to dedicate his life and music to the environment and conservation. b. Who gave Ricky the push? Ans: PM Narendra Modi gave Ricky the push. c. What did Ricky create as a result of this push? Ans: Ricky created Shanti Samsara, it’s an epic album for environmental consciousness as a result of this push. *****************