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NCERT Solutions for Class 9th English Chapter 6 Twin Melodies (play by Mitra Phukan) — Reflect and Respond

Book page 169–170 Updated on2026-09-08

Q1.
I. Given below are some stringed musical instruments. Work in pairs and identify them by first letter of the spellings of their names. S................... S................... S................... S................... M................... V................... G................... B...................
Answer

Every instrument in the two rows is a stringed instrument — its sound is made by a stretched string that is plucked, struck or bowed. The first letter is the clue, so work through the families of stringed instruments you know and match each name to the picture in front of you.

ClueInstrumentHow the string is sounded
SSitarPlucked with a wire plectrum (mizrab); long neck, gourd body, sympathetic strings that ring on their own
SSarodPlucked; fretless metal fingerboard, so the note can slide (meend)
SSarangiBowed; the instrument said to come closest to the human voice
SSantoorStruck with a pair of light wooden mallets on about a hundred strings
MMandolinPlucked; paired strings, a bright, quick sound
VVeena (or Violin)Veena — plucked, the classic South Indian instrument; Violin — bowed, and the instrument Shruti and her father play
GGuitarPlucked or strummed; six strings over a fretted neck
BBanjoPlucked; a drum-like skin head gives it a sharp, ringing tone
Why the exercise opens the chapter: the play that follows is an argument between an Indian classical tradition and a Western one, fought out on the same instrument. Naming sitar, sarod, sarangi and santoor beside guitar, mandolin and banjo shows you at once that ‘stringed instrument’ is not the property of any one culture — which is exactly the point Nabin Sharma finally accepts in Act III.
Check it yourself: in the copy of the book used to prepare these solutions the two picture strips on page 169 did not print, so match each name to the picture above the letter in your book. The letters V and B are the ones to look at carefully: a veena has a long fretted neck between two gourds, a violin is small, waisted and played with a bow, and a banjo has a round drum-like body with a skin stretched across it.
Q2.
II. Do you play a musical instrument? If given a choice, which one would you choose and why?
Answer

This asks about you, so it must be answered in your own words. But ‘why’ means an opinion by itself will not do — the reason has to come from something real about the instrument or about you.

What a good answer needs:
  • A direct yes or no first, with the instrument named.
  • A reason drawn from the instrument itself — its sound, the kind of music it suits, how it is played — not just ‘I like it’.
  • One honest practical point: what it would take to learn it (a teacher, daily riyaz, the cost of the instrument).
  • Two or three sentences is enough. Do not pad.

Sample answer: No, I do not play an instrument yet, but if I were given a choice I would learn the tabla. What draws me to it is that it is a melodic drum, not only a rhythm-keeper — the player tunes the daayan to the key of the piece, and the same stroke can be made to ring or to be damped, so a single pair of drums can carry a whole conversation with a soloist. It also suits me practically: a tabla is easier to keep and to carry than a piano, and the basic bols can be practised on a table long before I own a set. I know it needs slow daily practice for the fingers to become independent, and that is the part I would find hardest.

Q3.
III. Is there any difference in the choice of music between children and elders? If yes, why? If no, why not?
Answer

Yes — usually there is a difference, but it is a difference of habit and exposure rather than of taste. Say so first, then give the reasons.

What a good answer needs: a clear position, two or three reasons (not examples alone), and at least one point on the other side, since the chapter itself ends by dissolving the divide.

Sample answer: Yes, there is usually a difference, and three things explain most of it. First, what each generation grew up hearing — my grandmother learnt her songs from the radio and from bhajans sung at home, while I meet music through a phone screen, so our first-loved tunes are simply different. Second, what each of us wants music to do: elders often listen for calm, memory and devotion, while people my age often use music for energy — while studying, walking, or in a group. Third, the pace of a piece; a khayal unfolds slowly and rewards patience, and patience is a taste that is built over years.

But the difference is smaller than it looks. Both generations respond to melody, to rhythm and to a voice that sounds sincere; that is why a film song from 1975 and a fusion track can hold the same room. In this very chapter Nabin Sharma begins by dismissing his daughter’s music as ‘phoo’ music and ends up tapping his feet to it — which suggests the gap is created by unfamiliarity, and closes the moment either side actually listens.

Q4.
IV. Work in pairs to complete the paragraph given on the next page by choosing the correct phrases given in the box. Discuss with your teacher whether the following phrases have a literal meaning or a figurative one. [Box: wearing a look of distress | bite the bullet | found words | lost in his thoughts | bring it up | throw a party | winding up | sweating on | come around] The theatre club was 1. _______ their practice. Anil saw Sunny was 2. _______ and not speaking to anyone. They had a disagreement in the morning and since then, Sunny was 3. _______. Anil did not want to 4. _______ and disturb Sunny further but he finally decided to 5. _______ and speak to Sunny. He was sure if he apologised first, his friend would 6. _______. With a lot of anxiety, he 7. _______ to apologise. And finally, Sunny smiled! Everyone clapped and asked them to 8. _______ to celebrate.
Answer

The completed paragraph reads:

The theatre club was 1. winding up their practice.
Anil saw Sunny was 2. wearing a look of distress and not speaking to anyone.
They had a disagreement in the morning and since then, Sunny was 3. lost in his thoughts.
Anil did not want to 4. bring it up and disturb Sunny further
but he finally decided to 5. bite the bullet and speak to Sunny.
He was sure if he apologised first, his friend would 6. come around.
With a lot of anxiety, he 7. found words to apologise.
Everyone clapped and asked them to 8. throw a party to celebrate.
Left over (not needed): sweating on
How the choices were fixed: the grammar decides most of them before the meaning does. Blank 1 follows was, so it needs an -ing form — only winding up and sweating on fit, and a club at the end of practice is winding up. Blanks 4, 5, 6 and 8 all follow to, so they need base forms — bring it up, bite the bullet, come around, throw a party. Blank 7 follows a subject in past narration, so it needs a past verb: found words. Blanks 2 and 3 both follow was, and the order is fixed by the story: 2 is what Anil saw on Sunny’s face, 3 is what had been going on inside Sunny since the morning.

Literal or figurative? Every phrase in the box is figurative — this is the point the exercise is making before you meet a play full of idiom.

PhraseIf taken literallyWhat it actually means (figurative)
winding upturning a key or handle round and roundbringing something to an end
wearing a look of distressputting on an expression like a garmentshowing unhappiness on the face
lost in his thoughtsphysically unable to find his wayso absorbed in thinking that he notices nothing else
bring it upcarry an object upstairsmention or raise a subject in conversation
bite the bulletput a bullet between the teethface something unpleasant bravely and get it over with
come aroundwalk round to this sidechange one’s mind and agree
found wordsdiscovered words lying somewheremanaged at last to say what one wanted to say
throw a partyhurl a party through the airhold a celebration
sweating onperspiring on top of somethingworking anxiously and hard at something
Tip: all four of these phrases come back in the play — Shruti’s friends notice she is wearing a look of distress and lost in her thoughts, Peter jokes that she is sweating on the vi-o-lin, Avinash tells her to throw a party, and Shruti herself decides it is “time to bite the bullet”. Reading this box first is what lets you hear the joke in Act I.
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