Class 9 English · Original EZT practice
Vitamin-M (Class 9 English Chapter 4): trailing Grandpa
'I wish somebody would invent a memory - Vitamin-M, they could call it,' says Ravi's mother, worried about her seventy-five-year-old father, a retired lawyer who has just moved in after a fall in his garden. Forbidden to go out alone, Grandpa slips away for a Tamil newspaper, and Ravi secretly follows him through parks, tea stalls and barber shops - until a stranger in Grandpa's yellow cap turns the trail upside down. This page gives a summary, themes and practice questions. (Note: this is original practice, not a textbook exercise key.)
6 original worked examples, 6 fresh self-check questions and 4 mixed questions, with explained answers. These are not copied textbook exercises, an official chapter index or a full answer key. No affiliation with NCERT is claimed.
Official sources for topic and edition context, checked 23 October 2026:
1. Summary - why Grandpa comes to stay
Grandpa came to live with the family a month ago because he was getting too old to live alone: he had been hospitalised after absent-mindedly taking a double dose of his medicines, had got lost on a walk, and finally slipped in his garden one evening and lay outside all night. A proud lawyer who had looked after himself for the better part of his seventy-five years - and run the house since his wife died ten years ago - he resents the 'poky little flat' and being forbidden to go out alone.
2. Summary - the great escape and the chase
Promising to be back before the chessboard is set up, Grandpa leaves with his mahogany walking stick and bright-yellow cap. Ravi follows secretly: at the children's park he is scolded by a little boy's mother; at the tea stall - where Grandpa enjoys forbidden sugary tea, two bananas and an ice cream - the vendors nearly expose him; he is evicted from a Ladies' Hairdressing Salon next to the barber shop; and on the bus the yellow cap turns out to be on a total stranger, to whom Grandpa has generously given it - Grandpa has vanished.
3. Summary - home safe and the birthday twist
Sick with worry after both parents' phone lines are busy, Ravi comes home to hear Grandpa snoring peacefully; overcome with affection, he hugs him and decides not to reveal that he followed him. Grandpa coolly tells his mother that Ravi 'disappeared instead of staying at home to look after me' - then springs a bigger surprise: it is his own birthday, and as always he gives gifts to every child in the house, telling Ravi's mother she needs some Vitamin-M, and handing Ravi The Best Detective Stories with tips on 'how to avoid getting fooled when one is trailing a suspect'.
4. Character study - Grandpa: sharp, funny and free
Grandpa's memory lapses are real - the double dose, the lost walk, the night in the garden - but so are his sharpness, humour and generosity. He outwits his young detective, turns the complaint back on Ravi with a straight face, and jokes that his own daughter needs Vitamin-M for forgetting his birthday. The story's theme is that loving care for the elderly must not take away their dignity: affection and respect end up flowing both ways.
Choose, solve, check, then try a fresh question.
Before calculating, read the method prompt and name the condition that makes it useful. Write your own attempt. Open the steps only when you need them, and use the check to catch a wrong sign, unit or interpretation. Finish with the fresh question before reading its answer.
Explain the house rule
Choose the method: Three incidents behind one ban.
EZT practice question
Why does Vidya not want her father to go out alone?
Show the worked solution
- He absent-mindedly took a double dose of his medicines and had to be hospitalised.
- He got lost on a walk and forgot the way home.
- He slipped in his garden one evening and lay outside all night - so she fears for his safety in the crowded city.
Answer: Because recent events have shown he cannot always manage - the double dose that put him in hospital, the walk on which he forgot the way home, and the night he lay helpless in his garden after a fall - so she fears for his safety in the crowded city.
Check: Vidya's worry is loving and reasonable; the story's tension is that Grandpa's pride is reasonable too.
Watch for this: Do not call Vidya cruel or controlling - every rule she makes traces back to a real incident.
Now try it yourself
Why does Grandpa dislike living with his daughter in the city?
Check your answer
He hates the noise and bustle, misses his quiet brick house with the big mango tree, and feels his independence is being taken away after a lifetime of looking after himself.
His resentment sets up the escape that drives the plot.
Define the title phrase
Choose the method: A wish that becomes a joke.
EZT practice question
What is 'Vitamin-M', and who wishes for it?
Show the worked solution
- Ravi's mother worries about Grandpa's failing memory.
- She says, 'I wish somebody would invent a memory - Vitamin-M, they could call it.'
- It is an imaginary memory-improving vitamin for old people - and the joke returns at the end, aimed at her.
Answer: Vitamin-M is an imaginary memory-improving vitamin that Ravi's mother wishes somebody would invent for Grandpa - and at the end Grandpa jokingly says she needs it herself, for forgetting his birthday.
Check: Track the phrase from the first page to the last - the story is built on its boomerang.
Watch for this: Do not treat Vitamin-M as a real medicine Grandpa takes - it exists only as his daughter's wishful joke.
Now try it yourself
How does Ravi respond when his mother speaks over-loudly to Grandpa?
Check your answer
He winces - he feels she is treating Grandpa like a child who cannot hear or understand, and he is embarrassed for him.
Ravi's wince shows he, not his mother, sees Grandpa's dignity clearly.
Explain the great trick
Choose the method: Follow the yellow cap.
EZT practice question
How does Ravi get fooled on the bus?
Show the worked solution
- Ravi tracks Grandpa only by his bright-yellow cap.
- On the bus the cap-wearer removes it to reveal a full head of grey hair - a stranger dressed in Grandpa's style of white pyjama and shirt.
- The stranger explains that a kind old gentleman at the barber shop insisted he take the cap, coffee-stain on the rim and all, because it was such a hot day.
Answer: Ravi follows only the yellow cap, and on the bus the cap turns out to be on a stranger - Grandpa gave it away at the barber shop, so Ravi has been tailing the wrong man while Grandpa vanishes.
Check: The trick works because Ravi watches the cap, never the man - a detective's classic error.
Watch for this: Do not say Grandpa lost the cap or that it was stolen - he gives it away, possibly on purpose.
Now try it yourself
Describe two humiliations Ravi suffers while tailing Grandpa.
Check your answer
At the park a little boy's mother threatens him with her umbrella and he has to crawl out on all fours; near the barber shop he ducks into a Ladies' Hairdressing Salon and is thrown out amid a volley of shrieks.
The comedy of the chase keeps the story tender rather than tense.
List the forbidden treats
Choose the method: Grandpa's small rebellions.
EZT practice question
What does Grandpa do at the tea stall that his daughter would disapprove of?
Show the worked solution
- He sips sugary tea - sugar is forbidden to him at home.
- He eats two bananas, another banned item.
- He finishes with an ice cream from the cart.
Answer: He sips sugary tea, eats two bananas and tucks into an ice cream - sugar and bananas are both banned at home, so the tea stall is his small taste of freedom.
Check: The menu matters: each item is banned at home, which is exactly why he enjoys it outside.
Watch for this: Do not say Grandpa goes out mainly for shopping - the newspaper is the excuse; freedom and forbidden food are the prize.
Now try it yourself
Why does Ravi secretly follow Grandpa instead of stopping him?
Check your answer
He cannot stop Grandpa without hurting his pride, and cannot let him go alone without breaking his promise to his mother - so he follows at a safe distance.
Ravi's dilemma makes him a guardian, not a spy.
Read the final clue
Choose the method: A gift that gives the game away.
EZT practice question
What does the detective-story gift suggest about Grandpa's awareness of the day's events?
Show the worked solution
- Grandpa hands Ravi a hardcover copy of The Best Detective Stories.
- He adds tips on 'how to avoid getting fooled when one is trailing a suspect'.
- The pointed advice and the twinkle in his eye suggest he knew about the tail all along.
Answer: Grandpa almost certainly knew Ravi was trailing him - the book, the remark about not getting fooled while trailing a suspect, and the twinkle in his eye suggest he enjoyed the chase and outwitted his young detective on purpose.
Check: The gift is the story's final clue: the suspect knew his detective all along.
Watch for this: Do not read the gift as a coincidence - its title and Grandpa's words are too pointed for chance.
Now try it yourself
How does Grandpa turn the tables on Ravi when his mother asks about the day?
Check your answer
He coolly says he had a quiet morning but Ravi 'disappeared instead of staying at home to look after me' - the exact complaint Ravi feared about him.
The reversal shows Grandpa's humour and his grip on the situation.
Close the circle
Choose the method: Birthday gifts and a returned joke.
EZT practice question
What is Grandpa's birthday custom, and how does the Vitamin-M joke come full circle?
Show the worked solution
- On his own birthday Grandpa gives a gift to every child in the house - and he still counts Ravi's parents as his 'babies', so there are gifts for them too.
- Ravi's mother has forgotten the day entirely.
- Grandpa tells Ravi's father, 'My daughter needs some Vitamin-M, I think - for her memory,' returning her own joke.
Answer: Grandpa's custom is to give gifts to every child in the house on his own birthday, and the joke comes full circle when he says his daughter needs some Vitamin-M for her memory - because she forgot his birthday, the very complaint she had made about him.
Check: The ending balances the scales: the forgetful one and the worried one are gently shown to be the same.
Watch for this: Do not say the family forgot because they do not care - the story treats the lapse with affection, not blame.
Now try it yourself
What gifts does Ravi receive, and why do they matter?
Check your answer
The Best Detective Stories, with tips on not getting fooled while trailing a suspect - proof that Grandpa knew about the chase and forgives it with a joke.
The gift closes both threads of the story: the chase and the birthday.
Try a mixed set
Choose a method or explanation before opening each answer.
1. Author of Vitamin-M?
Show answer and reason
Asha Nehemiah.
A funny, tender story in Kaveri Unit 4.
2. Grandpa's age and profession?
Show answer and reason
Seventy-five, a retired lawyer.
Ran his own house for ten years after his wife died.
3. What does Ravi track Grandpa by?
Show answer and reason
His bright-yellow cap.
Grandpa gives it to a stranger at the barber shop.
4. Grandpa's birthday custom?
Show answer and reason
He gives a gift to every child in the house on his own birthday.
Ravi's parents count as his babies too.
Try it yourself
Work these on paper before checking any notes. Answers are deliberately not shown here.
- Quote Grandpa's remark that turns the tables on Ravi at the end.
- List the three recent incidents that made Vidya bring Grandpa to the city.
- In one sentence, explain how the Vitamin-M joke comes full circle.
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Questions about this practice page
- Who wrote Vitamin-M, and where does it appear?
- Asha Nehemiah. The story appears in Unit 4 of the NCERT Class 9 English textbook Kaveri.
- Why does Ravi's mother worry about Grandpa?
- He is seventy-five and recently took a double dose of his medicines, got lost on a walk, and lay out all night after falling in his garden - so she has brought him to the city and forbidden him to go out alone.
- Why does Ravi secretly follow Grandpa?
- Grandpa slips out for a Tamil newspaper against instructions; Ravi cannot stop him without hurting him, and cannot let him go alone without breaking his promise to his mother - so he follows at a safe distance.
- How does Grandpa fool Ravi during the chase?
- He gives his bright-yellow cap - the one thing Ravi is tracking - to a stranger at the barber shop, so Ravi follows the wrong man onto a bus.
- What is the theme of Vitamin-M?
- Loving care for the elderly must not take away their dignity: Grandpa's memory lapses are real, but so are his sharpness, humour and generosity, and the story ends with affection and respect flowing both ways.