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I gave it to him. He went through it carefully. ‘I hope you have
answered all the questions well?’

‘No father, I answered only five.’

‘Why? What about the rest? Question numbers
6, 7 and 8?’

‘I didn’t see them.’

Father’s voice changed suddenly.

‘There you are! I knew you would commit
such blunders. You are always in a hurry. And
absent-minded!’

‘But father... later on there was a correction. We
were expected to answer only five questions.’

He was not pleased. ‘You were thinking of your
summer vacation. You wanted to be free from
the exams as early as possible. You were impatient.
And you didn’t care to see both sides of your question paper. blunder: a careless mistake
Anyway, all is well that ends well. But you can’t expect the same
luck every time. Better be careful.’ He paused for a while, then smiled, ‘Now you go, take

your bath, eat well, sleep soundly and dream of jackfruits and movies!’
—I K K Menon

About the Author
Ittyanath Kunjikrishna Menon (1919–2011), better known as I K K Menon or I K K M, was a Malayalam language
writer from Kerala, India. He also served as Secretary to the Election Commission of India.
He has written about 150 articles, 175 short stories, five short story collections, novels, stories for children, and
biographies in English and Malayalam.
He was awarded the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award in 2003.

Time to answer

A. Choose the correct answer.

1. ‘Any guess about the questions? Will they be difficult?’

What do you think is the tone of the speaker?

sad nervous

curious excited

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