Page 59 - 9th-language-english-2

1. Looking back at my life, I have come to the conclusion
that our beginnings never know our ends. For me it all
started in Chandigarh, a small town nestling in the foothills
of the Himalayas. I was born on a cold winter morning. My
Not to be republished
mother, who is a simple woman, could not read the time
but she knew it was early in the morning. The date, 6th
January 1959, was thankfully recorded because a cousin of
mine was born on the same day, around the same time and
with the same name! I grew up among six other brothers
©KTBS
and sisters, all older than me, except one sister, who was
a year younger.

2. My mother always regales me with tales of my naughty
behaviour. She claims she never managed to control me !
But I do admit that right from the very beginning I found it
hard to sit still. I was very curious and it was my ambition
to travel around the world and drive a Mercedes Benz! God
has been kind to me and both my wishes have been fulfilled.
But at that time, twenty-five years ago, these dreams seemed
like castles in the air.
Check your comprehension

Share your responses
1. Kapil says, “The date, 6th January 1959, was thank-
fully recorded.” Why does he feel so?
2. Kapil says, “But at that time…these dreams seemed
like castles in the air.” What were these dreams? Were
these dreams realized?
3. What did Kapil’s mother always regale him with?
4. Kapil uses an idiomatic expression ‘castles in the air’.
What does this mean?

3. I spent my childhood, like all the other children around me,
trying to bunk school and save up enough money to go to
a new movie or have a plate of chicken chowmein with my
friends. If we were very broke or bored, we would amuse
ourselves by breaking the fruit off our neighbour’s tree.
I remembered one particular lady who lived down the road

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