VK Taylor

  Class 11 English (Hornbill book) Chapter 2- “We’re Not Afraid to Die… if We Can All Be Together” By Gordon Cook and Alan East    Introduction of the Lesson Written by Gordan Cook and Alan East, the story is about a 37 year old businessman who is the narrator of the story. He has a wife named Mary and two children, Jonathan, aged 6 and Suzanne, aged 7. He and his wife both dream of a voyage around the world on their ship ‘Wave walker’ which is a 23 meter long, 30 ton wooden-hulled, just like that of the famous Captain James Cook. The whole family started sailing from Plymouth, England on July 1976. The initial phase of the three-year-long journey was from Africa to Cape Town. It was pleasant. While heading east, along with two newly hired crewmen, strong waves hit them and their survival became a question. The story tells us about how they fought each day and survived till the end.   “We’re Not Afraid to Die… if We Can All Be Together” -Summary The narrator and his wife plan a voyage

     Hornbill Book Chapter 1 - The Portrait of a Lady by Khushwant Singh     About the Author   The Portrait of a Lady- Summary The chapter ‘The Portrait of a Lady’ is the story of the author and his grandmother. The grandmother was an old woman with a wrinkled face. The author had always seen her like this, for the past twenty years. She appeared to be so old that he could not imagine her being ‘young and pretty’, someone who had a husband. She was short, fat and slightly bent. The author had seen his grandfather’s portrait- an old man with a turban and a long white beard covering his chest. To the author, his grandfather didn’t seem like a man who could have a wife and children, but someone who could have lots of grandchildren. His grandmother used to move around the house in ‘Spotless White’ with her one hand resting on her waist and her other hand counting the beads of her rosary. In the initial days, the author and his grandmother had a good relationship. She used to wake him up a