Read the following lines from Sukumar Ray's poem, 'The Power of Music' and answer the questions that follow: When summer comes, we hear the hums Bhisma Lochan Sharma. You catch his strain on hill and plain from Delhi down to Burma.
What is Bhisma Lochan Sharma known for? When can one hear him? Explain the following words from the given extract: ‘You catch his strain’.
Topic: Bhisma Lochan Sharma
Answer
Bhisma Lochan Sharma is known for his singing — loud, tuneless and unstoppable. He fancies himself a great singer, and his voice is so powerful that it torments everyone within reach of it.
He can be heard when summer comes, and his singing carries across an enormous distance — over hill and plain, all the way from Delhi down to Burma.
"You catch his strain" means that his tune, his melody, reaches your ears. "Strain" here means a snatch of song, and the phrase suggests that his singing is so loud that people cannot escape hearing it — it comes to them whether they wish it or not.
Three tasks, one mark each. For the third, define the word first ("strain" = tune or melody) and then give the effect: the comic exaggeration lies in singing that travels a thousand miles. Explaining a word in context always means definition plus purpose.