Summary: The Diary of a Space Traveller
Professor Shonku, a Bengali scientist, has set off for Mars with his robot
Bidhushekhar, his servant Prahlad and his cat Newton. When they land in
Mars, Shonku finds that everything there is different from Earth. The river
is red, the grass and trees are blue and the sky is green. Shonku drinks from
the red river and finds the water wonderfully refreshing. However, he is
worried about Bidhushekhar because when he switches him on, the robot
refuses to go out to Mars, saying ‘danger’. Shonku plans to explore Mars,
but suddenly, he sees Prahlad and Newton being chased by a strange
creature. It is four feet high, has legs and feet, fins in place of hands, a big
head, one eye, no teeth, and fish scales all over its body. It also has a strong
fishy smell and makes a cricket-like noise—‘Tintiri!’
Before Shonku can reach Prahlad, Bidhushekhar jumps down from the
rocket and strikes down the Maritan creature. Prahlad climbs into the
rocket safely. Hundreds of similar creatures come running towards Shonku
and Bidhushekhar. To stop Bidhushekhar from fighting all of them on his
own, Shonku switches him off. He is too heavy to carry, so Shonku
dismantles him into two halves. He drags the top half to the rocket and then
goes back for the other half. All the while, the Martian army comes nearer
and nearer. Finally, Shonku manages to reach the rocket and he and
Prahlad pull Bidhushekhar inside. They all escape from the Martian
creatures.
This text belongs to a number of genres—science fiction, adventure and
fantasy. Professor Shonku is the first-person narrator; the story is told from
his point of view. The setting of the story is Mars, and this is where the
imaginative element of the story is most prominent. The writer gives a
vivid description of the place and the creature, so that it conjures up clear
images in the reader’s mind. His imagination of Mars and the Martian
creature is extremely colourful and interesting. He bases their descriptions
on two theories—everything in the landscape is coloured differently from
that in earth, and the Martian creature has a distinct resemblance to fish.
The creature is a combination of human beings, animals and fish, and this is
demonstrated in its human-like legs, animal-like mouth and fish-like fins
and smell. It even makes a sound like a cricket.
The story thus has a wide range of creatures as characters—the human
beings Professor Shonku and Prahlad, the robot Bidhushekhar, the cat
Newton and the Martian creatures. The robot and the Martian creatures
have important roles to play as well. There is also a strong sense of
adventure in the text as the Professor and his team have come to a
completely unknown place in a journey of exploration and discovery. They
do not know what lies ahead. Then they face great danger, but they manage
to make an escape. The text also teaches the lessons of courage and
helpfulness, as Professor Shonku and his companions try to help others.
UNIT 8 THE DIARY OF A SPACE TRAVELLER
Embedded Questions 1:
Free response
Embedded Questions 2:
Suggested answers (accept any logical answer):
● Yes, Shonku will meet living creatures on Mars. They will be partly like human beings and partly
like animals.
● The water in the Martian river may have had a slightly sweet taste. Water does have a taste, though
it is not particularly sweet or salty.
Embedded Questions 3:
Free response.
Embedded Questions 4:
a. Newton b. Prahlad c. Professor Shonku
Embedded Questions 5:
Professor Shonku refers to the Martian creatures as an ‘army’ because there are so many of them, and
all of them are coming forward as a group to attack Shonku and his companions.
Embedded Questions 6:
Suggested answer (accept any logical answer): He may travel to another planet or he may come back
to Earth.
Comprehension
A. 1. Professor Shonku’s servant Prahlad, his cat Newton and his robot Bidhushekhar were travelling
with him.
2. The trees on Mars were blue and felt like rubber.
3. a. Professor Shonku said this to Bidhushekhar.
b. Bidhushekhar replied, “Denghah”, which meant ‘danger’.
4. a. The Martian creature which was chasing Prahlad is referred to as ‘it’.
b. The speaker is referring to a human being, an animal and a fish.
5. Professor Shonku stopped Bidhushekhar because he was afraid that Bidhushekhar was going to
fight the whole Martian army on his own. He was afraid that the Martians would defeat and harm
the robot.
6. Prahlad pulled the top half of Bidhushekhar’s body and Professor Shonku pushed up the rest of
the robot’s body into the rocket.
B. 1. Everything in Mars was soft and rubbery. The water of the river was red and looked like guava jelly.
It tasted wonderful. The grass and the trees were blue. The sky was green. The creatures in Mars
were like no creature on Earth, as they were a combination of human beings, animals and fish.
They made a strange ‘Tintiri’ noise.
2. a. The water of the Martian river.
b. At first, Professor Shonku was afraid to taste the water in the river. Then, when he saw Newton
drinking it, he cupped his hand and drank a mouthful of water.
c. The water was wonderful because after Professor Shonku had taken just one sip of it, all his
tiredness vanished.
3. Professor Shonku was worried about Bidhushekhar because the robot did not move even when
Shonku switched him on. When he asked Bidhushekhar if he wanted to go out, he refused. When
he asked the robot why he did not want to go out, the robot only said ‘Danger’ and he sounded
very frightened.
4. a. The speaker, Professor Shonku, could smell a strong fishy smell at that moment. He could also
hear a strange sound, like the loud chirping of a large cricket, ‘Tintiri! Tintiri! Tintiri!’
b. Right after he heard the scream, Professor Shonku saw Prahlad. Prahlad’s eyes were wide
open with fear, his right arm was wrapped around Newton, and he was running towards the
rocket. A Martian creature was chasing him.
5. The Martian creature was not human, nor an animal or a fish. Yet it had something in common
with all three. It was about four feet high. It had legs, feet, and huge fins in place of arms. There was
a single, large green eye in the centre of its big head. The mouth was wide open, but there were no
teeth. Its whole body was covered by fish scales.
6. After Prahlad had climbed into the rocket, Bidhushekhar jumped down from it and struck down
the Martian creature. But many more such creatures were already coming after them. Professor
Shonku stopped Bidhushekhar so that he would not try to fight all of them on his own. Then he
had to loosen the robot’s screw and carry the two halves of his heavy body to the rocket. That is
why he was late in reaching the rocket.
C. Suggested answers (accept any logical answer):
1. Bidhushekhar may have known what danger lay ahead on Mars. Though he was a robot built by
Professor Shonku, he may have had some powers by which he could see what kind of creatures
lived in Mars and that they would try to attack Shonku. Professor Shonku himself did not know
that the robot had these powers, so he could not understand why Bidhushekhar did not go out
on Mars.
2. If Professor Shonku could have stayed on Mars, he could have discovered the places where these
creatures lived. Did they live in houses, caves or under the water? He could also have seen other
creatures that lived on Mars. He may have discovered more about the trees on Mars—maybe the
trees could move about from place to place.
Grammar
A. 2. Please help me clean this desk.
3. Be careful with the plates!
4. Which way is the auditorium?
5. I would like to know where I can find a fruit shop.
6. What a pleasant surprise!
B. 2. did she? 3. has 4. won’t 5. would they? 6. should
C. 2. didn’t they? 3. don’t they? 4. doesn’t she? 5. don’t you? 6. didn’t she/didn’t he?
Vocabulary
1. set down 2. set up 3. set/sets, apart 4. set aside 5. set back 6. set off
Writing
Suggested answer (accept any logical answer):
Characters: Professor Shonku Prahlad Bidhushekhar
Inside the rocket.
Professor Shonku: Prahlad, you want to come with me, right?
Prahlad: Oh yes. I want to see the new planet.
Professor Shonku: Good. Let me switch on Bidhushekhar.
Professor Shonku switches on Bidhushekhar.
Professor Shonku: Come on Bidhushekhar, let’s go and look around this place.
Bidhushekhar does not move.
Professor Shonku: Bidhushekhar? What’s the matter? You do want to go out, don’t you?
Bidhushekhar shakes his head.
Professor Shonku: Why, what’s wrong?
Bidhushekhar: Denghah!
(in a frightened voice)
Professor Shonku: Danger? What danger? What are you afraid of?
Bidhushekhar: Denghah! Teril denghah.
Professor Shonku: Terrible danger? But what is it? How do you know about it?
Bidhushekhar does not answer.
Professor Shonku: I don’t understand. Prahlad, it seems that Bidhushekhar will not go out with us.
Shall we leave him here, then?
Prahlad: I think we have to. I will come back soon, so that he does not have to be alone
for long.
Professor Shonku: All right, let’s go then. Goodbye, Bidhushekhar. See you soon.
Professor Shonku and Prahlad exit.
Listening
Listening text
Student: Good morning, Mr Sharma.
Librarian: Good morning, Sally. Which books are you looking for today?
Student: I would like to read some science fiction books.
Librarian: Great! Do you have any specific book in mind?
Student: I want to read the Professor Shonku stories by Satyajit Ray, but I also want to read others.
Can you suggest some titles?
Librarian: Sure. How about Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator? Or HG Wells’s The War of
the Worlds?
Student: Is there also a book called Hitchhikers?
Librarian: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, you mean. Yes, it’s by Douglas Adams and is quite
funny. Then there is the classic Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea by Jules Verne.
Student: All of them sound really interesting! I think I’ll take the Roald Dahl book and Twenty
Thousand Leagues under the Sea today. Once I have finished reading these, I’ll come back
for the others.
Librarian: Good idea. Let me show you where the books are.
Answer:
1. T 2. NT 3. NT 4. T 5. T 6. NT
Dictionary Work
1. Diary is a notebook where someone writes down her or his everyday experiences. Dairy refers to
milk and milk products like butter and cheese, or a place where such products are made.
2. Mound means a pile of earth or stones. To mount means to climb. Mount is also used as part of the
name of a mountain.
3. Quiet means calm and peaceful. Quite means completely or to some extent.
4. To taste is to try something—usually a food—to see what it is like. A test means an exam or an
experiment.
5. Terrible means awful or very bad. Terrific means wonderful or fantastic.
THE DIARY OF A SPACE TRAVELLER
A. Answer in brief.
1. How does the narrator describe Mars as soon as he landed?
Ans: The narrator found the trees, the ground, stones and rocks soft and rubbery. He saw that
the river was red in colour and the water looked like guava jelly. The grass and trees were all blue
instead of green and the sky was green instead of blue.
2. How did Bindhushekhar try to protect the narrator from the Martian creature?
Ans: Bindhushekhar saw the narrator run after Prahlad who had, by that time, climbed on
to the rocket quite safely. The narrator was still twenty yards away from the creature when
Bindhushekhar jumped out of the rocket and stood in the creature’s way and swung his arm and
brought it down on the creature in front of him.
B. Answer in detail.
1. What started chasing Prahlad and Newton when they were exploring the Mars in broad day
light?
Ans: While the three were exploring the place, they suddenly heard a strange sound as if a large
cricket was chirping loudly. Soon, to their horror they saw a strange creature. It started chasing
Prahlad and Newton who were running towards their rocket. The creature was not human, nor
an animal or a fish but was a mixture of all the three. It had huge fins instead of arms and a single
large green eye in the centre of its head. Its mouth was wide open and there were no teeth. Its
whole body was shining in the sun. Prahlad soon ran into the rocket and saved himself.
2. Bindhushekhar initially was afraid of the terrible danger and refused to come out of the rocket.
But later, it jumped out to save the narrator from the creature. What does this tell you about
Bindhushekhar?
Ans: Bindhushekhar was a robot programmed by the narrator and was expected to act according
to the narrator’s instructions. But he seemed to have more intelligence than a normal robot. It
warned the narrator about the terrible danger. Despite that the narrator and the other two went
on to explore Mars and had to face danger. But, at this point, the robot behaved like a caring
human subordinate and tried to fight the creature to protect the narrator. He was even getting
ready to fight the big Martian army without bothering about the risk involved. All this goes to
prove that Bindhushekhar was more than a machine.
C. Read the lines and answer the questions.
1. I switched him on as soon as we landed, but he did not move.
a. Who had to be switched on? Why?
b. Why did he not move?
Ans: a. Bindhushekar, the robot had to be switched on. They had landed on Mars and the
narrator wanted him to go along with him to explore the place.
b. He did not move because he anticipated some terrible danger.
2. Their smell and noise were getting stronger. (The diary of a space traveller)
a. Who are referred to in the above line?
b. Where were they?
c. Why did the speaker have to act fast?
Ans: a. The Martian army is referred to in the above line.
b. They were on Martian land, chasing the speaker.
c. The speaker had to act fast because they were nearing Bindhushekhar who was
deactivated by the speaker. The speaker had to bring him back to the safety of the rocket.
D. Answer in brief. (Think and answer)
1. Do you think the narrator should have acted differently after Bindhushekhar’s warning?
Ans: [Free response] Suggested answer: I think the narrator should have taken Bindhushekhar’s
warning seriously. They could have stayed in the rocket and waited. The narrator must have
thought that a robot might not be able to make correct predictions and so ignored his warning.
As a result, he had to face the terrible Martian creatures.
2. Why did the narrator deactivate Bindhushekhar?
Ans: [Free response] Suggested answer: Bindhushekhar attacked the creature that was in front
of him by swinging his arm and bringing it down to the ground. There were many more creatures
that were coming towards them. The narrator thought if Bindhushekhar tried to fight them too,
he would definitely perish. Hence the narrator quickly deactivated him to save him and dragged
him to the rocket.
E. Answer in detail. (Think and answer)
Imagine you had accompanied the narrator and the team to Mars. How would you describe your
experience?
Ans: [Free response]
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