Extra Questions On Silk Road 1. When Did They Set Out On Their Journey?

Extra questions on Silk Road
1. When did they set out on their journey?

Ans.-The narrator was moving towards Mount Kailash to complete the kora. It
was a ‘perfect’ early morning to start a journey. The clouds looked like long
French loaves glimmering pink as the rising sun shone on them. The far-away
mountain peaks glowed with a rose-tinted colour. Lhamo presented him with
one of the long-sleeved sheepskin coats that all the men there wore, for
protection against cold.
2. Describe the initial phase of their journey.
As they set out, they took a shorter route to get off the Changtang. It was a
road that would take them south-west, almost directly towards Mount Kailash.
It required crossing several quite high mountain passes. Tsetan was confident
that if there was no snow they would have a comfortable journey but that they
would not know till they got there.
From the gently sloping hills of Ravu, the short cut took them across vast open
plains with nothing in them except a few antelopes grazing in the arid pastures.
As they moved ahead, the plains became more stony than grassy. There, the
antelopes were replaced by herds of wild ass.
3. What did the narrator notice about the ‘drokbas’?
As the narrator went further up the hills from the rocky wasteland, he noticed
the solitary drokbas tending their flocks. Sometimes these well-wrapped
figures would halt briefly and stare at their car. They seldom waved as they
crossed. When the road took them close to the sheep, the animals would
swerve away from the speeding car.
4. The narrator was fascinated by the awesome mastiffs. Why?
Crossing the nomads’ dark tents pitched in remoteness, the narrator noticed
that a huge black dog, a Tibetan mastiff, guarded most of the tents. These
monstrous creatures would tilt their great big heads when someone moved
towards them. As they drew closer, these dogs would race straight towards
them, like a bullet from a gun. These dogs were pitch black and usually wore
bright red collars.
They barked furiously with their gigantic jaws and were so fearless that they
ran straight into the path of their vehicle. They would chase them for about a
hundred metres. The narrator could understand why Tibetan mastiffs became
popular in China’s imperial courts as hunting dogs.
5. How did Tsetan manoeuvre across the first patch of snow that they
came across?
Tsetan stopped at a tight bend and got out because the snow had covered the
path in front of them. This unexpected-depository was too steep for their
vehicle to mount. Tsetan stepped on to the covered snow, and stamped his
foot to determine how sturdy it was. The snow was not deep but the car could
turn over. Tsetan took handfuls of dirt and threw them across the frozen
surface. Daniel and the narrator, too, joined in. When the snow was spread
with soil, Tsetan backed up the vehicle and drove towards the dirty snow. The
car moved across the icy surface without noticeable difficulty.
6. When did the narrator feel unwell for the first time? What did he do?
Ans.- When they went further up the trail and were 5,400 metres above
the sea level, the narrator got an awful headache. He took gulps from his
water bottle, which is supposed to help during a speedy uphill journey.
His headache soon cleared as they went down the other side of the pass.
7. What was the sight on the plateau ruins of the Tethys Ocean?
Ans.- The narrator and his friends stopped for lunch in a long canvas tent, part
of a work camp erected beside a dry salt lake. The plateau was covered with
salty desert area and salty lakes that were remnants of the Tethys Ocean. This
place was bustling with activity. Men with pickaxes and shovels were moving
back and forth in their long sheepskin coats and salt-covered boots. All wore
sunglasses as protection against the dazzling light of blue trucks that energed
from the lake with piles of salt.
8. Why was the narrator sorry to see the miserable plight of Hor?
Ans.- Hor was a dismal place with no vegetation. It only had dust and rocks
coupled with years of accumulated refuse. He found this unfortunate because
this town was on the banks of Lake Manasarovar, Tibet’s most venerated
stretch of water.
9. What is the belief about Lake Manasarovar? What is the fact?
Ans.-According to ancient Hindu and Buddhist cosmology Manasarovar is the
source of four great Indian rivers: the Indus, the Ganges, the Sutlej and the
Brahmaputra. In actuality only the Sutlej flows from the lake, but the
headwaters of the all others rise nearby on the flanks of Mount Kailash.
10. The narrator ‘slept very soundly. Like a log, not a dead man’. Explain.
Ans.- After going to the Tibetan doctor the narrator soon recovered.
Unpalatable as it seemed, the medicine led him to a quick recovery. Hence the
narrator had a healthy and sound sleep unlike when he was ailing and restless.
He slept undisturbed. He was not tossing and turning because he was sound a
sleep, not because he felt lifeless.
11. ‘Darchen didn’t look so horrible after a good night’s sleep.’ Justify
Ans.- The narrator had a very uncomfortable night at Darchen. After he rested,
although Darchen was dusty, with heaps of rubble and refuse, the bright sun in
a clear blue sky gave the narrator a view of the Himalayas. He also noticed the
huge, snow-capped mountain, Gurla Mandhata, with just a tuft of cloud
suspended over its peak.
12. ‘I hadn’t made much progress with my self-help programme on
positive thinking.’ Why does the narrator feel so?
Ans.- The narrator was very disappointed with Darchen. It was dusty, with
heaps of rubble and refuse. But he was even more disappointed as there were
no pilgrims. As his mind went over the drawbacks of the place he concluded
that he hadn’t made much progress with his self-help programme on positive
thinking. In that case he would have been more accepting and optimistic.
12. Who was Norbu? How could he be a help to the narrator?
Ans.-The narrator met Norbu in a cafe. He was Tibetan, and worked in Beijing
at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, in the Institute of Ethnic
Literature. He had come to do the kora. Norbu had been writing academic
papers about the Kailash kora and its importance in various works of Buddhist
literature for many years but he had never actually done it himself. The
narrator was relieved to team up with him. He would not be alone then.
13. ‘He suggested we hire some yaks to carry our luggage, which I
interpreted as a good sign’. Why does the narrator feel so?
Ans.- The narrator was relieved at meeting Norbu. He kept telling the narrator
how fat he was and how hard it was going to be for him to climb. He wasn’t
really a practising Buddhist, but he was enthusiastic and was a Tibetan.
Making the trek in the company of devout believers would not be easy as they
would go prostrating all-round the mountain. But Norbu suggested that they
hire some yaks to carry our luggage. This to the narrator came as a relief.
14. How was the author’s experience at Hor a stark contrast to earlier
accounts of the place?
Ans.-The author was disappointed and rather depressed on arrival at Hor.
Previous visitors had been overwhelmed by the beauty of Mansarovar Lake,
but the author found Hor shabby and dirty.
15. How can the presence of salt flats in Tibet be explained?
Ans.-Salt flats are vestiges of Tethys Ocean which bordered Tibet before the
great continental collision.
16. How did the narrator and Tsetan negotiate the hurdle of the swathe of
snow?
Ans.-The snow was so steep that they could not go around it. They had to go
over it. The danger was that they could slip. They flung handfuls of dirt and
covered the snow completely with soil. The narrator and Daniel got off the
vehicle to lighten the load and Tsetan drove the vehicle over the snow.
17. Why has the article been titled ‘Silk Road’?
Ans.- The article has been titled ‘Silk Road’ because the narrator travelled
along the old Silk Route in the Himalayas that touches Tibet to reach
Mansarovar.
18. What problems did the narrator and his team experience due to low
atmospheric pressure?
Ans.-Due to low atmospheric pressure, the narrator and his team felt their
heads going heavy. The low pressure also caused the fuel to expand, making
it extremely difficult for them to carry forward onto their journey.

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1. When did they set out on their journey?

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