THE ADVENTURE

Short Q & A

Describe the debacle at Azad Maidan.

Professor Gaitonde was very fond of chairing public lecture meetings. He strolled in Azad Maidan and found a lecture in progress there. He saw a table and a chair on the platform but the presidential chair was unoccupied. He occupied the vacant seat. The public roughed him up, hurled tomatoes and eggs at him. Finally, the audience swarmed to the stage to eject him bodily.

What plan of action had Professor Gaitonde arrived at?

Professor Gaitonde, as a historian felt he should go to a big library and browse through history books. That was the surest way of finding out how the current state of affairs was reached. He also planned to return to Pune and have a long talk with Rajendra Deshpande. List the various things noticed by Professor Gaitonde when he was wandering in the British Raj.

Professor Gaitonde noticed an Anglo Indian in uniform checking permits.

There was a tiny union Jack on each carriage. He saw the headquarters of the East India Company. The buildings were of Victorian style and there were offices of British companies. There were Boots and Woolworth departmental stores and British banks.

How did the shops and offices along Hornby Road differ from those he knew well?

Professor Gaitonde found a different set of shops and office buildings along Hornby Road. There was no Handloom House building. Instead, there were Boots and Woolworth department stores. There were offices of

Lloyds, Barclays and other British banks as can be seen in a high street in

England.

What ‘was a blow’ at Forbes building?

Professor went to the English receptionist at Forbes building and asked to meet Mr. Vinay Gaitonde, his son. He was unable to meet him as he was at his office in modern day Bombay. The receptionist told him that she could not find his name there. It was a blow but not an unexpected one as his son was not even born then. Which facts of history surprised the Professor?

At the library, Professor Gaitonde went through the different volumes of history. The fifth volume claimed that the Battle of Panipat was won by the Marathas led by Sadashivrao Bhau and his nephew Vishwasrao and that Abdali was chased away.

Which account did Professor Gaitonde read through eagerly? Why?

Professor Gaitonde read the account of consequences for the power struggle in India. It was in the book describing the Battle of Panipat. The style of writing was unmistakably his own, yet he was reading it for the first time. So, he read it eagerly.

How did the Victory in the Battle of Panipat affect the balance of power?

The Battle of Panipat established the supremacy of the Marathas in northern India. It was a great moral booster. The East India Company temporarily shelved its expansionist programme.