Poets and Pancakes-Ashoka Mitran

 Questions & Answers: Poets & Pancakes

Q1.  What does the writer mean by ‘the fiery misery of those subjected to make-up?

   Ans. The makeup room had a lot of hot bulbs always burning inside and a number of mirrors to reflect the heat. It was really very difficult and miserable for the artists to sit there for make-up. There were no cooling systems in those days. So the artists had to bear all that.

Q2. What is the example of national integration that the author refers to?

  Ans. The members of the make-up department were from various parts of India. There was no preference for any state language or religion. Anyone could be the head of the make-up room. Once there was a Bengali as the head of this department. He was succeeded by a Maharashtrian. His assistant was a Dharwar Kannadiga. So it was the best example of national integration.

Q3. What work did the ‘office boy’ do in the Gemini studio? Why did he join the studios? Why was he disappointed?  Or Who was the office boy? What was his duty in the make-up department? How did he join the studios? Why was he disappointed and frustrated?

  Ans. The office boy, a forty-year-old man, wanted to become a star actor, a top screenwriter or a lyric writer. But he worked at the lowest rank at the Gemini Studios. His duty was to apply make-up for the crowd-players for shooting. His work required no skill and he was not satisfied with his designation. So he remained unsatisfied and criticized everyone he felt jealous of.

  Q4. Why did the author appear to be doing nothing at the studios? (2011)  How was the author’s job odd in the eyes of the other staff? How did they respond to this?
Ans. Asokamitran’s job at the Gemini Studios was to collect information from newspapers and magazines and to paste the cuttings in files for reference. This was probably the only work odd in the Gemini Studios while every other staff was some sort of an artist. They, therefore, advised the author to do some better jobs other than wasting his time cutting papers in a department similar to a barbershop.

Q5. Subbu is described as a many-sided genius. List four of his special abilities. Or  Who was Kothamangalam Subbu? How did he make all the other staff hate him?
Ans. Kothamangalam Subbu joined the Gemini Studios as a clerk and remained the same in the records.

  But in practice, he soon acquired the status of the No.2 at the studios because of his amazing genius and different skills. He did any work for his boss and ignored the rest. This made him envied and hated by the rest of the staff.

     Q6. Discuss Subbu’s identity as a poet. Why was he not known as a poet?
Ans. Apart from being an amazing director of movies, Subbu had the identity of a poet. The world of his time and later never recognized Subbu as a poet yet he was a great unknown poet. He wrote poems in the simplest Tamil language and was able to recreate the classical poems in his own style.

  Q7. Subbu was  excellent as an actor too. Discuss.
Ans. Subbu was a good actor. He was able to act better than the lead actors yet never wished to take any lead roles in any movie.
Q8. In spite of all the good qualities and readiness to be a host at any time, Subbu had only enemies. Why?
Ans. Subbu was good to everyone he came by, spoke in his niceness, fed his relatives, and excelled with everyone in the Gemini Studios but was hated by most of them just because he was so close to the boss of the studios.    Being a clerk in the attendance register, he was above all and above all the departments. Those who were above him in rank did not feel good to obey him.

   Q 9. How did Subbu surpass the office boy despite his limitations?
Ans. The office boy in the makeup department was always ahead of Subbu in the beginning, especially in education, having influential people to support. But he ended up where he began while Subbu ascended the steps to the maximum height and surpassed the Boy.

Q10(a) What made the lawyer stand out from the others at Gemini Studios? 

   Ans. The legal advisor’s uniform was totally different from those of other employees at the Gemini studios. He did not wear a khadi dhoti and a khadi white shirt. Rather he wore pants and a tie. Sometimes he also wore a loose-fitting coat like that of a mailman.

  Q10 (b) How did the legal adviser behave illegally in the instance of the actress? What did he do? 
Ans. The legal advisor was, of course, an advocate, yet was known as an illegal advisor. Once he recorded the voice of an actress who shouted at the producer and director while in the shooting sets. The legal advisor’s behavior turned out to be illegal because he did it without the actress’ permission.

Q11. Why was the Moral Rearmament army welcomed at the Studios? Or What was MRA? Why did it tour the world?
Ans. MRA, short for Moral Rearmament Army was an anti-Communist organization that toured the world informing the world of the evil side of Communism that was spreading throughout Asia and some parts of Europe. Headed by Frank Buchman, the MRA believed that Communism was evil and would wipe out democracy in the world.