CBSE ENGLISH LANGUAGE LITERATURE

Detailed explanation-1: -What does Vikram Seth compare to the quills of a porcupine? Answer: Vikram Seth compares the fifty or sixty bansuris protruding in all directions from the pole of a flute seller to the quills of a porcupine.

Detailed explanation-2: -The author finds a difference in selling the articles. The flute seller does not shout like other hawkers. He plays the flute slowly to sell his flute. The music was very captivating.

Detailed explanation-3: -This is because in spite of their differences, every flute produces music with the help of the human breath. Similarly, despite the differences in caste, culture, religion, region, all human beings are the same, with the same living breath running through all of them.

Detailed explanation-4: -Answer: The author notes that the flute seller was not at all bothered about selling his wares. He was more engrossed in playing his flutes and sometimes talking to fellow vendors. The sale was incidental for him.

Detailed explanation-5: -Ans. The author finds a flute seller along with many other hawkers in a corner of the square near his hotel in Kathmandu. But the flute seller’s style of selling his ware differs absolutely from that of the other vendors. He does not shout to attract the customers nor does he show any kind of desperation to sell.