Chapter 4
The Gold Frame
R.K. Laxman
A. Short Answers Type Questions
Question 1. Where was the ‘The Modern Frame Works’ situated ?
Answer :- ‘The Modern Frame Works’ was situated in the empty space between a medical store and a radio repair shop.
Question 2. Who was the owner of ‘The Modern Frame Works’ ?
Answer :- Datta was the owner of the ‘The Modern Frame Works’.
Question 3. What were the walls of this shop covered with ?
Answer :- The walls of the shop were covered with pictures of gods, saints, hockey players, children, cheap prints of the Mona Lisa, national leaders and weeding couples.
Question 4. What did the customer want ?
Answer :- The customer wanted a photograph of his late grandfather framed in an elegant and glittering way.
Question 5. What types of frame did Datta show to the customer ?
Answer :- Datta showed him a number of sample plain, decorative, floral geometrical, thin and strong frames.
Question 6. What did Datta do to help the customer make his choice ?
Answer :- Datta helped the customer to choose a frame that was imported from Germany.
Question 7. What price did Datta quote for the frame selected by his customer ?
Answer :- Datta quoted seventeen rupees for this special frame.
Question 8. What was Datta’s experience about his customers ?
Answers :- His Customer never came punctually to collect their photographs.
Question 9. For whom did Datta make frames ?
Answer :- Datta made frames for those who who come to him atleast twice before the fixed date.
Question 10. How did the photograph get damaged ?
Answer :- The Photograph got damaged when a tin of white enamel paint fell on it.
Question 11. How did he try to rescue the picture ?
Answer :- Datta tried to rescue the spoiled picture by rubbing it with a cloth. But it further spoiled the picture.
Question 12. What solution did Datta finally come up with ?
Answer :- Finally Datta choose a picture from the other pictures that would resemble the picture of the customer’s grandfather.
Question 13. Why were the days that followed filled with suspense and anxiety ?
Answer :- The days were filled with suspense and anxiety because Datta feared that his trick would be known.
Question 14. what effect did the picture have on the customer ?
Answer :- The customer was struck by its grandeur and behaved as if he had entered the interior part of temple.
Question 15. what was customer’s complaint regarding the frame ?
Answer :- The customer’s complaint was that the picture was not framed according to his order.
B. Long Answers Type Questions
Question 1. What impression do you gather about Datta, the frame maker ?
Answer :- Datta was picture frame maker. he was very calm and hardworking man. He was the owner of smal shop. He used to wear dhoti and silver rimmed glasses. He always remained absorded in his work. Datta was very professional. Different kinds of customers had taught him how to run his business. if the customer used to come twice before the fixed date, only then he would frame the picture. it convinced him that the customer was really interested in his order. Datta was a practical man. when the photograph brought by the customer was damaged with enamel paint, he replaced it. He framed the photograph that was resemblings the customer’s grandfather. The customer could not make any difference between the photograph of late grandfather and the framed picture. This shows that Datta was a clever crafts man.
Question 2. How did the author describe the shop owned by Datta ?
Answer :- The name of Datta’s shop was the ‘The Modern Frame Works’. The shop was tucked in a gap between a drug store and a radio repair shop. The small space was stuffed with cardboard pieces, bits of wood, glass sheets, boxes of nails, glue bottles, paint, tins and other odds and ends required for frame making sometimes a glass cutter or pencil’s stub was lost object. This operation shock the whole shop. Each inch of shop was covered by pictures of gods, saints, hockey players, children, national leaders, wedding couples. There were Urdu hand writting sheets and the images of Japanese volcano Fujiyama. This shop was a centre of Datta’s activities.
Question 3. What had Datta learnt from his long experience ? How was his new customer different from the other ones ?
Answers :- Datta had learnt a practical approch to his work. His long experience had made him a fine craftsman. He was a skilled frame maker. He was of the opinion that many customers were not serious about their order. They rook the task very lightly. They would either come earlier or late from the appointed data. Some of them never turned up at all. Their pictures lay unclaimed in a box. There they gathered dust. Therefore, he would frame the picture of the customer had two rounds of enquiry, of the picture before the fixed day. The new customer was different from the other customers. He brought the photograph of his late grandfather. He had a great reverence and love for his grandfather. The cost did not matter him. He wished to get the photograph frame in the elegant and the finest frame. He come to days earlier to enquire about the frame. But when the work done he could not recognize the replaced photograph.
Question 4. Datta found a solution to his problem. Did it really work for him ? Justify the answer.
Answer :- A new customer had given photograph of his grandfather to Datta. He wanted to frame this photograph. But when Datta started the work, the photograph was spoiled by the paint. Datta tried to clean the paint with cloth. But it spoiled the spoiled the photograph. It made Datta quite worried. An idea struck into his mind. He searched a photograph similar to the photograph of customer’s grandfather. Datta formed this photograph with gold frame. Lickily the customer could not any noticed Datta’s trick. Instead shape of frame. This Datta’s plan worked for him.
