NCERT Solutions for Class 9th English Chapter 4 Vitamin-M (prose) — Check Your Understanding

Book page 106–107 Updated on2026-09-08

Q1.

I. Complete the flow chart by describing Grandpa’s day out. [Flow chart on page 106, read left to right along the top row, right to left along the middle row, left to right along the bottom row.] Grandpa goes out to get Tamil newspaper. → Ravi follows Grandpa → Grandpa first stops at 1. ______ → buys 2. ______ ______ and watches ______. → Ravi hides behind a bush to observe. → Grandpa next goes to 3. ______ → Ravi hides behind a banyan tree and watches. → Ravi gets scolded by 4. ______ and ________ → Grandpa drinks 5. ______ and eats ________ → Grandpa then crosses the road and enters a 6. __________ → Next Grandpa walks quickly to a 7. ________ and __________ → Ravi enters the bus only to discover that he had been fooled.

Answer

The chart follows the route in order. Every blank can be filled from Part II of the story.

Blank	Answer	The line it comes from (Part II)
1.	the children’s park	“Grandpa’s first stop was the children’s park”
2.	a paper-cone of peanuts … and watches the children play	“he bought himself a paper-cone of peanuts and settled on a bench, watching the children play”
3.	the tea stall	“Grandpa’s next stop was the tea stall”
4.	the old lady selling plastic combs … and the vendor selling ribbons and clips (the group of vendors under the banyan tree)	“‘This area is booked by us,’ said one lady who was selling plastic combs”; “another vendor selling ribbons and clips asked… A group of them surrounded Ravi.”
5.	a sugary cup of tea … and eats two bananas (and then an ice cream)	“Grandpa took his time sipping a sugary cup of tea (he was forbidden sugar at home), then ate two bananas (another banned item), then tucked into an ice cream”
6.	barber shop	“opened them just in time to see Grandpa entering the barber shop”
7.	bus stop … and boards the first bus that stops there	“making his way briskly towards the bus stop, and, oh no, boarding the first bus that stopped there”

What the chart quietly proves: laid out in a line, Grandpa’s morning is a perfectly ordinary, perfectly competent outing — newspaper, park, tea, haircut, bus home. Nothing in it goes wrong. Everything that goes wrong happens in the other row of boxes, the one about Ravi. The chart is the story’s argument in diagram form: the old man managed; the minder did not.

Q2.

II. Was Grandpa lost as feared by Ravi’s mother?

Answer

No. Grandpa was never lost for a moment — the only person who lost his way that morning was Ravi.

Grandpa moved through the city with complete confidence: he “settled on a bench”, “took his time sipping a sugary cup of tea”, and later went “briskly towards the bus stop”. He crossed a busy road and boarded a bus alone. He reached home before Ravi did, and when Ravi opened the front door “the first thing he heard was the gentle whirr of Grandpa snoring in his bedroom”.

More than that, he was in charge of the whole morning. He gave his yellow cap away in the barber shop “because it was such a hot day” — an act of generosity that also happened to send his shadow off on the wrong bus. Ravi ends the section asking, “But where was Grandpa?” The question is the measure of who was really lost.

Check it yourself: count the mishaps in Part II. Every one of them — the child, the umbrella, the vendors, the salon, the wrong cap — belongs to Ravi. Grandpa suffers none. That imbalance is the writer’s reply to the mother’s fear.

Q3.

III. How would Ravi feel after seeing Grandpa?

Answer

Two very different feelings, one after the other.

On the bus, when he sees the cap-wearer: first shock — Grandpa is “as bald as a table tennis ball”, so “a full head of grey hair” makes no sense, and “Ravi was startled”. Then a flicker of triumph as the detective in him spots the clue: “But wait, the cap had a coffee-strain on its rim just like Grandpa’s!” Then the drop — “It was a total stranger!” After all the crawling, hiding and sprinting, he has followed the wrong man, and he does not know where his grandfather is. He is embarrassed, alarmed, and frightened for Grandpa all at once.

When he finally finds Grandpa at home: pure relief and a rush of love. He goes home “sick with worry”, and then, “to his great delight and relief”, hears him snoring. “He knelt down near the bed and put his cheek against the old man’s face… Ravi was suddenly overcome with affection for his grandfather and gave him a hug.” Mixed into the relief is guilt, which is why “he decided not to question Grandpa” — any question would expose the following.

How the writer manages the change: the shift is carried by detail, not by statement. In the bus we get sharp, quick clues — a bald head, grey hair, a coffee stain. At the bedside the details slow down and become tender: “Grandpa’s wrinkled skin had more creases than lines on a map. Grandpa smelt of eucalyptus ointment and shaving cream.” Ravi has stopped watching his grandfather like a suspect and started noticing him like a person. That is the real change the day produces.

Q4.

IV. Do you think Ravi’s mother will get to know about what had happened?

Answer

Most likely not the whole truth — and that is exactly how both Ravi and Grandpa want it. But she is left with more than enough clues to guess.

Why she will not be told: Ravi cannot tell her without confessing that he let Grandpa go out alone, and “he decided not to question Grandpa because then he would have to reveal that he had been following him”. Grandpa will not tell her either — he could have exposed his grandson in one sentence and instead chose a joke: “I had a quiet morning, but I don’t know about Ravi. He just disappeared instead of staying at home to look after me like you told him to.” That protects him while making him squirm.

Why she may still work it out: she is given three loose threads in a single evening — Ravi “just looked confused and embarrassed”; the gift is The Best Detective Stories; and Grandpa’s advice, delivered “solemnly”, is about “how to avoid getting fooled when one is trailing a suspect”. Even Ravi’s father notices something is off — he “looked even more confused”. And by then she has her own embarrassment to deal with, having forgotten her father’s birthday.

So the defensible answer is: she will probably never be told, but she will not stay entirely in the dark.

Tip: a question beginning “Do you think…” expects a clear position plus evidence for it. Take a side in the first line, then justify it — do not answer “maybe yes, maybe no”.

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