Read the passage below and answer the questions that follow.

At the height of World War 2, in a small Johor town, a 10-year-old office boy learns a life lesson.
The clerical staff in the company where the boy works, struggle to understand the Japanese
Managers instructions because they don't understand Japanese. The boy, having learnt Katakana
at the Japanese school, understands some of these instructions and helps the staff carry them out. "That
taught me to always help people in trying circumstances, " says Mangot Para Prabhakar.
Today, 81-year-old Mangot Para Prabhakar uses such experiences to hone a skill which he is
developing, writing poetry. In fact, that experience he recalled above is chronicled in his poem,
The Green Bicycle which is part of a compilation of 39 poems in a hardcover book called Lasting
Impressions, which incidentally is also an account of some of the major events in our country's
history The sequence of the poems reflects the various stages of Prabhakar's life.
His poems are based on his personal experiences of human relations, nature and its surprises.
Likening poetry to music, this retired deputy director of the Ministry of Education says that it
makes him feel good and calms him down. Poetry according to him is a form of therapy.
Prabhakar's interest in poetry writing started in 2006 when one of his colleagues was retiring and
he was asked to give a farewell speech. Someone suggested that he write and read out a poem instead.
The poem was well-received. Subsequently, every year he wrote a poem for his wife instead
of buying her a birthday card. Two years ago, he started writing poems practically every day.
Prabhakar's poetry gives us a glimpse of the world he grew up in. In The Tick Tock Man, he
writes about his happy childhood. In December 1941, when the Japanese bombed Singapore and
Malaya, Prabhakar, his parents and siblings sought refuge with a friend in Kulai's Frazer Estate.
The family lived there in fear of the Japanese. Sometime later, the family decided to move to India
for their safety. At school in India, Prabhakar had to learn another two languages, Malayalam
and Sanskrit. During his time in India, he used to receive letters from his father who was still in
Malaya. His father would write to him and send magazines like Young Malayan and Life, which
were hard to come by.
After graduation, he returned to Malaya. Unfortunately, his degree from Madras University
was not recognised. He then went to Hull, England to pursue an honours degree, enabling him to
work in the Malayan Civil Service when he returned. His career has spanned more than 50 years.
He was a teacher, headmaster, officer in the Ministry of Education and advisor to students who
wanted to study in Britain.
Many of the themes in his poems are based on peace, love and harmony His poems are all
based on his life events and experiences. He does not have a specific message in his poems but leaves
it to the readers to form their own interpretations.
Adapted from the New Sunday Times. August 2016
Read the passage below and answer the questions that follow.

At the height of World War 2, in a small Johor town, a 10-year-old office boy learns a life lesson.
The clerical staff in the company where the boy works, struggle to understand the Jap anese
Managers instructions because they don't understand Japanese. The boy, having learnt Katakana
at the Japanese school, understands some of these instructions and helps the staff carry them out. "That
taught me to always help people in trying circums tances," says Mangot Para Prabhakar.
Today, 81-year-old Mangot Para Prabhakar uses such experiences to hone a skill which he is
developing, writing poetry. In fact, that experience he recalled above is chronicled in his poem,
The Green Bicycle which is part of a compilation of 39 poems in a hardcover book called Lasting
Impressions, which incidentally is also an account of some of the major events in our country's
history The sequence of the poems reflects the various stages of Prabhakar's life.
His poems are based on his personal experiences of human relations, nature and its surprises.
Likening poetry to music, this retired deputy director of the Ministry of Education says that it
makes him feel good and calms him down. Poetry according to him is a form of therapy.
Prabhakar's interest in poetry writing started in 2006 when one of his colleagues was retiring and
he was asked to give a farewell speech. Someone suggested that he write and read out a poem instead.
The poem was well-received. Subsequently, every year he wrote a poem for his wife instead
of buying her a birthday card. Two years ago, he started writing poems practically every day.
Prabhakar's poetry gives us a glimpse of the world he grew up in. In The Tick Tock Man, he
writes about his happy childhood. In December 1941, when the Japanese bombed Singapore and
Malaya, Prabhakar, his parents and siblings sought refuge with a friend in Kulai's Frazer Estate.
The family lived there in fear of the Japanese. Sometime later, the family decided to move to India
for their safety. At school in India, Prabhakar had to learn another two languages, Malayalam
and Sanskrit. During his time in India, he used to receive letters from his father who was still in
Malaya. His father would write to him and send magazines like Young Malayan and Life, which
were hard to come by.
After graduation, he returned to Malaya. Unfortunately, his degree from Madras University
was not recognised. He then went to Hull, England to pursue an honours degree, enabling him to
work in the Malayan Civil Service when he returned. His career has spanned more than 50 years.
He was a teacher, headmaster, officer in the Ministry of Education and advisor to students who
wanted to study in Britain.
Many of the themes in his poems are based on peace, love and harmony His poems are all
based on his life events and experiences. He does not have a specific message in his poems but leaves
it to the readers to form their own interpretations.
Adapted from the New Sunday Times. August 2016
Answer all the questions. You are advised to answer them in the order set.

1 (a) From paragraph 1, what was the lesson Prabhakar learnt after he had helped the clerical staff?
_______________________________________________________________________(1 mark)

(b) From paragraph 2, how has Prabhakar given an account of some of the major historical events of
Malaysia?
________________________________________________________________________(1 mark)

2 From paragraph 3,
(a) what are Prabhakar s poems based on?
_______________________________________________________________________(1 mark)
(b) what effect does poetry have on Prabhakar?
_______________________________________________________________________(1 mark)

3 (a) From paragraph 4, how and when did Prabhakar start writing poetry?
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________(2 marks)

4 From paragraph 5,
(a) Why did Prabhakar s family move to India when the Japanese attacked Malaya?
______________________________________________________________________ _____(1 mark)
(b) How did Prabhakar keep in touch with what was happening in Malaya when he was in India?
______________________________________________________________________ _____(1 mark)

5 Why does the writer think that Prabhakar's poems are unique? Give two reasons.
(i) _________________________________________________________________________(1 mark)
(ii) _________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________(1 mark)

1. circumstances: ______________________________________________________________________________

2. hone : _______________________________________________________________________________

3. chronicle : ______________________________________________________________________________

4. glimpse : ______________________________________________________________________________

5. refuge : ______________________________________________________________________________

6. span : ______________________________________________________________________________
Read the text again. Then, complete the chart below with the relevant information.

Based on the passage, write a summary of:

(a) how Prabhakar started writing poetry, and what his poems are about
(b) Prabhakar s education and career,

Credit will be given for use of own words but care must be taken not to change the original meaning.

Your summary must:

(c) be in continuous writing (not in note form)
(d) use materials from lines 14-30
(e) be not longer than 130 words, including the 10 words given below.

Begin your summary as follows:

Prabhakar's poetry writing started in 2006 when he wrote a ...