Questions and answers of Leela's Friend

Leela's Friend broad / long / descriptive important questions and answers for Class - 11th ( WBCHSE and other board )

Q.Why Sidda’s company made Leela ‘supremely happy’?

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Why was Leela so fond of Sidda’s company?

Ans:-In Leela's Friend Leela, five years old daughter of Mr. and Mrs.Sivasanker makes friendship with their newly appointed servant, Sidda.Sidda’s stay at Sivasanker’s house turned out to be much enjoyable and invigorating to little Leela.In him Leela found a reliable companion who would be willing to carry out her orders and demands beyond his routine jobs, thereby, Sidda’s company made her supremely happy. On the other hand, Sidda was an imaginative storyteller who could easily touch the imaginative mind of Leela. Sidda showed Leela the tricks regarding the ball and the moon. He motivated her to believe that it touched the moon before coming down and a little bit of the moon stuck to it. Even in the bed time, Sidda had to be ready with a story. He sat down on the floor near the bed and told incomparable stories: of animals in the jungle, of gods in heaven, of magicians who could conjure up golden castles and fill them with little princesses and their pets. In this way Sidda come closer of Leela who perhaps had never received such company and close friendship from her parents.These are the things that made Leela supremely happy.

Q. What were Sidda's duties at Mr. Sivasanker's house? What was he given in return of his work?

                                  OR

What duties did Sidda perform at Sivasanker’s house? What was given to Sidda in exchange of his duties? Was he merely a servant?

Ans:-In the short story Leela’s Friend by R.K Narayan, Sidda worked as a servant at Mr. Sivasanker’s house. His duty was to wash clothes, tend the garden, run errands, chop the wood and look after Leela. 

                  In exchange of his work, Sidda was given two meals a day and four rupees a month. He had to sleep outside the house as he was the servant of the house.

                   There is no denying of the fact that Sidda joined the house as a servant but gradually he became Leela’s favourite friend. Though he was ill treated by Leela’s parents, but Leela always wanted to be in his company.

Q.Describe Leela as a teacher of Sidda.                                        OR

How Leela attempts to ‘educate’ Sidda?

Ans:-The small girl Leela had an opportunity to overrule Sidda when she was a teacher. At dusk, she held a class for him. She had a box filled with catalogues, illustrated books and stumps of pencils. It gave her great joy to Sidda. She made him squat on the floor with a pencil between his fingers and a catalogue in front of him. She had another pencil and a catalogue and commanded, ‘Now write.’ And he had to try and copy whatever she wrote in the pages of her catalogue. She knew two or three letters of the alphabet and could draw a kind of cat and crow. But none of these could Sidda even remotely copy said, ‘Is this how I have drawn the crow? Is this how I have drawn the B?’ She pitied him and redoubled her efforts to teach him. But that good fellow, though an adept at controlling the moon, was utterly incapable of plying the pencil. Consequently, it looked as though Leela would keep him there pinned to his seat till his stiff, inflexible wrist cracked. To get relief from this pain Sidda would say that her mother was calling her for dinner.’ Leela would drop the pencil and run out of the room, and the school hour would end.

Q. Why did Sidda tell Leela that he knows the moon?
Answer: In Leela's Friend we see that Sidda’s company made Leela supremely happy. She flung a red ball at him and he flung it back. And then she asked him to throw the ball into the sky. He clutched the ball, closed his eyes for a second and threw the ball up. When the ball came down again, he said that the ball touched the moon and came back. Then he asked to see a little bit of the moon sticking. She keenly examined the ball for traces of the moon and said that she did not see the mark. He told her that he knew the moon because he wanted to make her happy. And Leela also blindly believed that.

Q.Describe Leela’s character.
Answer: Leela is the only child of Mr. and Mrs. Sivasankar. She is five years old cute and sweet girl. She likes to listening stories at bed time. Leela is a very good girl. She is interested to play and listening stories. Leela approved Sidda's appointment and told her parents that he was ok. This shows the intelligence and confidence of Leela. She always liked to play with her servant Sidda. Her parents loved Leela very much.  But Leela believes Sidda more than her parents and spent more time with Sidda. One day Sidda tells Leela that he knows the  moon but she believed the words of Sidda blindly. The innocent girl believes every word of Sidda. Immediately he expressed her desire to touch the moon. This shows the interest and excitement to learn about new things . One day she lost her gold chain her mother doubted Sidda as a thief. Leela asked her mother why Sidda was not  allowed to sleep inside the house because she does have respect for a servant. She blames her mother for Sidda's disappearance . She has not get maturity of mind to know about the people and the society but she had the ability of judging man. Basing on these we understand that Leela is innocent and good girl . Only she had the belief that Sidda was not a thief which was seen at the end the story.

Q.How did Leela try to teach Sidda?
Ans:- Leela was a little girl who got the oppertunity of teaching Sidda, the servant of their family. Leela used to make Sidda squat on the floor with a pencil between his fingers and a catalogue in front of him. She then used to command him to write and Siidda had to try to copy whatever Leela wrote in the pages. When Sidda would fail to copy Leela’s writings and drawings, Leela would rebuke Sidda and redouble her efforts to teach him. But Sidda, though he had an excellent rapport with the Moon, was incapable of studying and Leela used to keep him there, pinned to his seat, till his still, inflexible wrist cracked. Sidda then used to say that he thought Leela’s mother was calling her to dinner and that would end the school hour. Thus she tried her best to teach Sidda.

Q.Describe the character of Sidda.
Ans:- In Leela's Friend Sidda has been described as a very responsible servant of the Sivasanker family and a reliable and constant companion of Leela. He performed all his duties faithfully and took good care of Leela. He had a great imaginative faculty and from his imagination sprung stories that enthralled Leela. He had great power of convincing little Leela and he made her believe that he had the power to control the moon. He had no interest in studies and never learnt anything that Leela tried to teach him. He also had no idea how to prove his innocence when he was accused of stealing the chain. He remained speechless throughout and fell victim because he belonged to the lower class whose voice is never heard. He was misunderstood but was not allowed to work again in their family.

Q.What message is conveyed by Mr. Sivasanker’s final words in the story: ” In any case, we couldn’t have kept a criminal like him in the house”?
Ans:- The above quoted line is the last words of Mr Sivasanker which exposes the class division of the society and the utter indifference of the higher class towards the feelings and sufferings of the poor people. Though it was proved that Sidda did not steal Leela’s gold chain, Mr Sivasanker did not repent Sidda’s police custody and whatever information the inspector provided him about Sidda’s past became the basis of the understanding of Mr. sivasanker. He was eloquent in saying that a criminal like Sidda could not be kept in the house. The poor, thus, are not given a chance to live properly and honourably by the rich who always tend to pronounce judgement on them. Truly this pathetic system of class division should be abolished from society.

Q.How did a sweet relationship of love and trust grow between Sidda and Leela? Why was there a breach in the relationship?
Ans:-An extremely sweet relationship grew up between Leela and Sidda. Sidda loved Leela and took very good care of her. In the absence of proper love and care from her parents Leela became entirely dependent on Sidda for almost all her needs ranging from roaming, playing, eating and going to sleep.There was actually no breach of trust between Leela and Sidda. They continued to love and trust each other but their relationship ended as Leela’s parents wrongly framed Sidda on charges of stealing and refused to give him entry in the house for a second time even though his innocence was proved.

Q.What did Leela’s parents think of Sidda after his escape from the house? How did Leela make her mother responsible for the disappearance of Sidda?
Ans:-Leela’s parents thought that Sidda had stolen the chain which Leela wore when Sidda escaped from the house that night. They felt that Sidda stole the chain and thinking about police he runs away.
             Leela knew that Sidda had not taken the chain. When her mother scolded Sidda and threatened police action against him and Sidda ran away as a consequence, Leela made her mother responsible for this. She told her mother that she was unnecessarily rude towards Sidda and that Sidda was angry because he was not allowed to dine with them and was made to sleep outside. Leela made her mother responsible for creating a division between them and Sidda. Thus Sidda was misjudged and was not allowed to work again.

Q.”Leela’s Friend” is actually the tragedy of Sidda. Discuss.
Ans:- The story is the story of friendship between Leela and Sidda. But at the end of the story “Leela’s Friend” we feel that it is really tragic.  Sidda has been described as a constant companion on whom the little Leela depended for all her needs. In the course of the story Sidda makes no mistake and does not steal the gold chain. He makes an error of judgement by running away from the household and is thus branded a thief by Mr and Mrs Sivasanker. This brings about his downfall and he again becomes a “nobody” with no one to love and nowhere to find shelter. He, in this way, becomes a real tragic character , though not a super hero like Macbeth or Hamlet. He was the victim of the system of society.

Q.How did Sidda’s company make Leela supremely happy?
Ans:- In the story Leela's Friend Leela's family servant Sidda was always ready at the beck and call of Leela and used to give her company whenever Leela desired it. Sidda used to play with Leela, tell her about the moon which had an excellent rapport with him, take her wherever he went, acted as her student so that she could play as a teacher, make her eat her food and sing her to sleep. In this way he kept Leela with him throughout the day and took care of her as her friend, guide and guardian Whatever need an imaginative little girl had, Sidda used to fulfil that with his expertise in dealing with children. For all these reasons, Sidda’s company made Leela supremely happy.