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Glimpses of India – Class 10 English Chapter 5 Notes & NCERT PDF

Class 10EnglishChapter 5NCERT book: First Flight - English Class 10

Notes and a simple summary of Chapter 5 of the NCERT Class 10 English book, with the official chapter PDF, flashcards, an MCQ quiz and an AI tutor for your doubts.

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Chapter 5: Glimpses of India (with poem: The Trees)

Overview

Glimpses of India is a set of three short pieces that show how varied and charming India is: a Goan village baker, the coffee country of Coorg in Karnataka, and a tea estate in Assam. The chapter ends with the poem "The Trees" by Adrienne Rich.

Part I: A Baker from Goa

A nostalgic pen-portrait of the traditional Goan village baker.

  • Elders still reminisce "about those good old Portuguese days" and their famous loaves. "Those eaters of loaves might have vanished but the makers are still there." The fire in the furnaces "has not yet been extinguished".
  • The bakers are still known as pader in Goa. The son often carries on the father's profession.
  • The baker came twice a day — once on his morning selling round and again when he returned with his basket empty. The 'jhang, jhang' thud and jingle of his bamboo staff announced him.
  • Children ran to meet him not for loaves (which the maid-servant — Paskine or Bastine — bought) but for bread-bangles, and sometimes sweet bread.
  • Humour: children did not brush their teeth — "The tiger never brushed his teeth. Hot tea could wash and clean up everything so nicely, after all!"
  • Bread in Goan life: marriage gifts are meaningless without the sweet bread bol; a party or feast loses its charm without bread; the lady of the house must prepare sandwiches for her daughter's engagement; cakes and bolinhas are a must for Christmas and other festivals.
  • Dress: in Portuguese days, a single-piece long frock reaching the knees called the kabai; in the author's childhood, a shirt and trousers shorter than full-length and longer than half pants. Anyone wearing knee-length half pants "is dressed like a pader".
  • Accounts: collected monthly and recorded on some wall in pencil.
  • Baking was profitable; the baker's family never starved. Their plump physique was an "open testimony" — a person with a jackfruit-like appearance is compared to a baker.

    • Part II: Coorg

    "Coorg is coffee country, famous for its rainforests and spices."

  • Coorg, or Kodagu, is the smallest district of Karnataka, "midway between Mysore and the coastal town of Mangalore" — "a piece of heaven that must have drifted from the kingdom of god".
  • Evergreen rainforests cover thirty per cent of the district. Monsoons keep visitors away; the season of joy is September to March. "The air breathes of invigorating coffee."
  • People (Kodavus): fiercely independent, possibly of Greek or Arabic descent. One story: part of Alexander's army moved south along the coast and settled here. The Arab theory is supported by the long black coat with an embroidered waist-belt, the kuppia, which resembles the kuffia worn by Arabs and Kurds.
  • Coorgi homes are known for hospitality and tales of valour. The Coorg Regiment is one of the most decorated in the Indian Army; General Cariappa, the first Chief of the Indian Army, was a Coorgi. Kodavus are the only people in India permitted to carry firearms without a licence.
  • The river Kaveri gets its water from Coorg's hills. Mahaseer (a large freshwater fish) abound; kingfishers dive, squirrels and langurs drop fruit for the splash, elephants are bathed by mahouts.
  • Adventure sports: river rafting, canoeing, rappelling, rock climbing, mountain biking and trekking trails.
  • Wildlife: birds, bees, butterflies; macaques, Malabar squirrels, langurs and slender loris; wild elephants.
  • Places: the Brahmagiri hills (panoramic view); a rope bridge to the sixty-four-acre island of Nisargadhama; Buddhist monks from India's largest Tibetan settlement at Bylakuppe.
  • Fact file: Madikeri, the district headquarters, is the only gateway. Nearest airports: Mangalore (135 km) and Bangalore (260 km). Nearest railheads: Mysore, Mangalore and Hassan. Two road routes from Bangalore, both about 250–260 km; the one via Mysore is most used.

    • Part III: Tea from Assam

    Pranjol, from Assam, invites his Delhi classmate Rajvir to his home. Pranjol's father, Mr Barua, manages a tea garden in Upper Assam.

  • On the train a vendor calls "Chai-garam… garam-chai". Rajvir says over eighty crore cups of tea are drunk every day throughout the world.
  • Rajvir admires the green paddy fields and then the "sea of tea bushes", with tall shade-trees and doll-like pluckers; Pranjol, raised on a plantation, is unimpressed: "Assam has the largest concentration of plantations in the world."
  • Legends of tea:

    • - A Chinese emperor who always boiled his water; leaves from burning twigs fell in and gave it a delicious flavour.

    - An Indian legend: Bodhidharma, an ancient Buddhist ascetic, cut off his eyelids because he felt sleepy while meditating; ten tea plants grew from them, and their leaves banished sleep.

  • History: tea was first drunk in China as far back as 2700 B.C.; the words tea, 'chai' and 'chini' are from Chinese. Tea came to Europe only in the sixteenth century, drunk more as medicine than as a beverage.
  • They arrive at Mariani junction and drive to Dhekiabari Tea Estate. Pluckers with bamboo baskets and plastic aprons pick newly sprouted leaves.
  • Rajvir knows that the second-flush or sprouting period lasts from May to July and yields the best tea. Mr Barua is surprised: "You seem to have done your homework."

    • Poem: The Trees — Adrienne Rich

    Adrienne Rich (born 1929, Baltimore, USA) wrote nearly twenty volumes of poetry and is called a feminist and radical poet.

    The trees inside are moving out into the forest,
    the forest that was empty all these days
  • Stanza 1: in a treeless forest "no bird could sit / no insect hide / no sun bury its feet in shadow". By morning the forest will be full of trees.
  • Stanza 2: all night the roots work to disengage from cracks in the veranda floor; leaves strain toward the glass; small twigs are stiff with exertion; long-cramped boughs shuffle "like newly discharged patients / half-dazed, moving / to the clinic doors" (simile).
  • Stanza 3: the poet writes long letters but scarcely mentions "the departure of the forest from the house". The whole moon shines in an open sky; the smell of leaves and lichen reaches "like a voice".
  • Stanza 4: "The glass is breaking. / The trees are stumbling forward … The moon is broken like a mirror, / its pieces flash now in the crown / of the tallest oak." The moon, whole at first, now appears broken because it is seen through the branches.
  • Readings the book suggests: a conflict between man and nature — trees "imprisoned" as interior decoration while forests are cut down, breaking out (compare A Tiger in the Zoo); or trees as a metaphor for human beings, especially women seeking freedom.

    • Word Power

  • reminiscing nostalgically — thinking fondly of the past (पुरानी यादों में खोना)
  • heralding — announcing (आगमन की सूचना देना)
  • rebuke — a scolding (डाँट)
  • testimony — public statement about a quality (प्रमाण)
  • martial — having to do with war (युद्ध-संबंधी)
  • canopies — roof-like coverings (छतरी जैसा आवरण)
  • tales of valour — stories of courage (वीरता की कहानियाँ)
  • most decorated — received the most bravery awards (सर्वाधिक सम्मानित)
  • laidback — relaxed (आरामपसंद)
  • rappelling — sliding down a cliff on a rope (रस्सी से उतरना)
  • panoramic view — a view of a wide area (विहंगम दृश्य)
  • disengage — separate (अलग करना)
  • bough — branch (डाल)
  • lichen — crusty growth formed by fungus and alga (शैवाक)

    • Grammar & Language Focus

  • Collocations — words that go together: unique/ancient culture, sudden surprise, unforgettable experience, terrible weather, ancient tradition; tales of valour, coastal town, a piece of heaven, evergreen rainforests, coffee plantations, rope bridge, wild elephants.
  • Verb + particle nouns: upkeep, downpour, undergo, dropout, walk-in; overthrow, breakthrough, bypass, outlook, downcast.
  • -ing vs -ed adjectives: -ing describes what causes a feeling (an interesting game); -ed describes how you feel (I am interested).
  • Homophones from the poem page: refuse/refuse, invalid/invalid, dove/dove.

    • Board Exam Focus

  • Why is the baker important in Goan village life? Outline: bread is needed for marriage gifts (bol), feasts, engagement sandwiches, Christmas cakes and bolinhas → the furnace is essential → the baker was friend, companion and guide to children.
  • What is the story of the Kodavus' descent? Outline: possibly Greek or Arab; part of Alexander's army settled when return was impractical; the kuppia resembles the Arab kuffia; distinct martial traditions and rites.
  • How does the moon change in 'The Trees'? Outline: whole in an open sky at first → "broken like a mirror" at the end because it is seen through the branches of the trees that have moved out.

    • Common Mistakes

  • Calling Coorg a state — it is a district of Karnataka (the smallest).
  • Mixing up the dresses: kabai is the baker's frock; kuppia is the Coorgi coat.
  • Writing that tea came to Europe in 2700 B.C. — that is when it was first drunk in China; Europe got it in the sixteenth century.
  • Saying the second flush lasts all year — it is May to July.
  • Reading 'The Trees' literally only; explain at least one symbolic meaning.

    • 💡 Key Learning Points

    • ✓A Baker from Goa: the pader, his bamboo, the kabai dress and the place of bread (bol, bolinhas, sandwiches) in Goan life.
    • ✓Coorg (Kodagu): smallest district of Karnataka — rainforests, coffee, the Kodavus' possible Greek or Arab descent, martial traditions and adventure sports.
    • ✓Tea from Assam: Rajvir and Pranjol's trip to Dhekiabari Tea Estate, the Chinese and Bodhidharma legends, and the second flush (May–July).
    • ✓'The Trees' by Adrienne Rich: trees break out of a house into an empty forest — read as man vs nature or as a metaphor for human freedom.
    • ✓Language work: collocations, verb + particle nouns, -ing/-ed adjectives and homophones.

    👨‍🏫 Teaching Tips

    • →Show a map of India and mark Goa, Coorg (between Mysore and Mangalore) and Upper Assam before reading.
    • →Ask students to compare the nostalgic Goan baker text with the factual Nandakumar Kamat extract given in the book.
    • →Turn the Coorg fact file into a quick 'plan a trip' activity (airport distances, railheads, road routes).
    • →Hold the book's role play on tea: planter, sales agent, consumer, physician and tea-shop owner.
    • →Read 'The Trees' aloud slowly and let students list what the roots, leaves, twigs and boughs do.
    • →Organise the book's suggested photo exhibition of places in India with short write-ups.
    • →Discuss dying crafts (pottery, handloom, bamboo weaving) as a group presentation linked to the Goan baker.

    📋 Assessment Questions

    1. What did the Goan baker wear in Portuguese days and in the author's childhood?
    2. What evidence supports the theory of the Kodavus' Arab origin?
    3. Narrate the two legends about the discovery of tea.
    4. How does the moon change between the beginning and the end of 'The Trees'?
    5. Give three collocations from the Coorg text.

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    Keep learning

    All chapters in First Flight - English Class 10

    1. 1. A Letter to God
    2. 2. Nelson Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom
    3. 3. Two Stories about Flying
    4. 4. From the Diary of Anne Frank
    5. 5. Glimpses of India
    6. 6. Mijbil the Otter
    7. 7. Madam Rides the Bus
    8. 8. The Sermon at Benares
    9. 9. The Proposal