Std.12_Voyaging Towards Excellence_Worksheet

Voyaging Towards Excellence I had a very simple upbringing. We were a lower middle class family. Our 300 square feet house did not even have basic amenities such as a fan, a refrigerator, a geyser, a dining table or a gas stove; leave alone an air conditioner or a car. It was only when I entered the college that I got a watch and we got a dining table and a gas stove at home. Nevertheless, culturally, I had a rich childhood. Poets like Vinda Karandikar, Mangesh Padgaonkar and Vasant Bapat used to visit our home and for hours I could listen to the discussions about poetry and literature-Marathi and English. They used to talk about Keshavsut, Mardhekar, Shakespeare, Charles Dickens and Thomas Hardy. I did not fully understand their discussions in depth, but I was immensely impressed. We also were lucky to have Pt. Kumar Gandharv, Pt. Bhimsen Joshi and Pt. Jasraj visit our place and  talk  about Indian music till late night or sometimes dawn. This is how and why I developed my interest in literature and music during my school days. I did not and even today don’t understand the ‘grammar’ of music, but I began to love it tremendously since then most of the times, the topics of discussion at our home were about music, literature, paintings, sculptures etc. I could listen to the discussions about Van Gogh, Mozart and Michaelangelo etc. It was because of such a milieu around me that I had a firm belief which I still hold that all arts are equally, if not more, important in our lives than Science or Technology.

Questions:
A1. Fill in the blanks with suitable words.
1. The narrator  had  a  very  simple  ……………………………………….
2. The narrator developed interest in ………………… & during
3. The area of the narrators house is ………………………
4. When narrator entered the college he got……….