Class 9 English · Original EZT practice
Twin Melodies (Class 9 English Chapter 6): each bay, its own wind
Shruti Sharma is a young aspiring violinist - and the daughter of Guru Nabin Sharma, a master violinist and Principal of Sangeetika Music School, who believes Classical Hindustani music is the only music an artist of any worth should play. Secretly, Shruti has been rehearsing with an Indo-Western fusion group, and a concert is a week away. This three-act play follows what happens when tradition and a new sound meet inside one family. 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 24 October 2026:
1. Summary - Act I: the secret rehearsals
In Iqbal's room - posters of Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia and Shashank Subramanyam on the wall - the fusion group (Iqbal on flute, Avinash on tabla, Peter on keyboard, Shruti on violin) winds up practice. The Parbatpuri Daily Clarion has praised Shruti's performance with her father - 'Melody runs in the veins of Miss Shruti Sharma' - but Shruti is distressed: she has not told her parents about the four-to-five practices or the concert, fearing her father will call fusion a desecration of the violin. Her friends persuade her to 'bite the bullet' and bring it up at dinner.
2. Summary - Act II: 'No is the answer'
At dinner Shruti gathers her courage, but Nabin refuses before she finishes: his rule is one performance in every six months, because familiarity breeds contempt. When she admits it is an Indo-Western fusion concert, he is silent, then says he never thought any of his students - let alone his own child - would lose their sense of musicality to such an extent, and mocks fusion as ''phoo' music'. Leela scolds Shruti for joining without her father's knowledge; Shruti promises not to hide again.
3. Summary - Act III: the turn and the family's history
Shruti decides to practise one last time and then withdraw - but mid-performance her parents enter, become engrossed, and Nabin claps furiously: 'You did not lose sight of the notes of the raga even once.' He offers the children the music room with more equipment. He admits it was Leela who opened his eyes: Nabin's own family were vocalists of a highly traditional school, and his choice of the violin - then not yet incorporated into classical Indian music - was seen by his father as a betrayal. Realising his fears were baseless, he tells Shruti: 'After all each bay, its own wind. I trust you Shruti and I will root for your group at the concert!'
4. Theme - tradition and change in one family
The play argues that tradition and change can enrich each other: Shruti's fusion does not abandon the raga - she never loses sight of its notes - and Nabin's discipline is what makes her playing excellent. Concealment, not fusion, is what nearly breaks the family; honest conversation and Leela's reminder of Nabin's own rebellion repair it. Each generation, the closing line says, must be trusted to find its own wind.
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.
Set up the conflict
Choose the method: A praise clipping and a secret.
EZT practice question
Why is Shruti afraid to tell her father about the fusion group?
Show the worked solution
- Nabin firmly believes Classical Hindustani music, with its ragas and aalaaps, is the only music an artist of worth should play.
- Shruti fears he will see playing the violin to Western tunes as a desecration of the violin.
- She also does not want him to feel she does not care about his opinions.
Answer: Because Nabin believes Classical Hindustani music is the only music an artist of worth should play - Shruti fears he will call her fusion a desecration of the violin, and she does not want him to feel she does not care about his opinions.
Check: Her fear is about his feelings, not just his anger - that is why concealment feels kinder to her.
Watch for this: Do not say Shruti is ashamed of fusion - she is proud of the group; she fears her father's judgment.
Now try it yourself
Who are the four members of the fusion group and their instruments?
Check your answer
Iqbal on flute, Avinash on tabla, Peter on keyboard, and Shruti on violin.
The mix of Indian and Western instruments is the fusion in miniature.
Read the newspaper line
Choose the method: Praise that raises the stakes.
EZT practice question
What did the Parbatpuri Daily Clarion write about Shruti, and why does it matter?
Show the worked solution
- The Clarion praised her performance with her father: 'Melody runs in the veins of Miss Shruti Sharma, daughter of the master violinist Nabin Sharma!'
- The praise ties her public identity to her father's tradition.
- A secret fusion concert now risks not just disobedience but public embarrassment for both.
Answer: It wrote 'Melody runs in the veins of Miss Shruti Sharma, daughter of the master violinist Nabin Sharma!' - praise that ties her name to her father's tradition, which makes her secret fusion concert feel even riskier.
Check: The clipping is the play's way of showing what Shruti stands to lose.
Watch for this: Do not treat the review as flattery alone - it raises the stakes of her secret.
Now try it yourself
What does Shruti promise her friends at the end of Act I?
Check your answer
That tonight, at dinner, she will bring the matter up - it is time to 'bite the bullet'.
Her promise sets Act II in motion.
Explain the six-month rule
Choose the method: Principle or rigidity?
EZT practice question
What does Nabin's 'one performance in every six months' rule tell us about him?
Show the worked solution
- He refuses Shruti's request before she finishes, citing the rule.
- His reason: more than that, familiarity breeds contempt - she should work on her art and everything will follow.
- He applies the same rule to his daughter as to his students.
Answer: That he believes discipline and scarcity protect an artist - overexposure breeds contempt - and that working on one's art comes before performing; he is a principled but rigid guardian of tradition, applying the same rule to his daughter as to his students.
Check: The rule is not arbitrary to him - it is his philosophy of how art survives.
Watch for this: Do not read the rule as favouritism or spite - its consistency is exactly what makes it rigid.
Now try it yourself
How does Nabin react to the words 'Indo-Western fusion concert'?
Check your answer
After a silence, he says he never thought any of his students, let alone his own child, would lose their sense of musicality to such an extent, and leaves after mocking 'phoo' music.
The silence before the rebuke shows the hurt beneath the anger.
Hear the mother
Choose the method: A scolding with a reason.
EZT practice question
Why does Leela scold Shruti after the dinner scene?
Show the worked solution
- Leela asks why Shruti had to get herself into this without her father's knowledge.
- Her complaint is about concealment, not about the music itself.
- Shruti promises not to hide anything again.
Answer: Leela scolds Shruti for joining the group without her father's knowledge in the first place - her complaint is the concealment, not the fusion - and Shruti promises not to hide again.
Check: Leela is the play's bridge: she holds the family together and later opens Nabin's eyes.
Watch for this: Do not cast Leela as simply taking Nabin's side - her objection is to secrecy, and she later argues for Shruti.
Now try it yourself
What role does Leela play in Nabin's change of heart?
Check your answer
She reminds him that he himself defied his vocalist family to take up the violin - seen then as a betrayal of tradition - which opens his eyes.
Her reminder turns his own history into the argument for trusting Shruti.
Describe the turn
Choose the method: Music does the persuading.
EZT practice question
What changes Nabin's mind in Act III?
Show the worked solution
- Shruti decides to practise one last time and then withdraw from the group.
- Mid-performance her parents enter, become engrossed, and Nabin claps furiously: 'You did not lose sight of the notes of the raga even once.'
- Leela's reminder of his own rebellion completes the turn - he offers the children the music room with more equipment.
Answer: Hearing the group practise - he finds the performance soulful and praises Shruti for not losing sight of the raga's notes - and Leela reminding him that he himself defied his vocalist family to take up the violin, once seen as a betrayal of tradition.
Check: The music convinces his ear; Leela's reminder convinces his heart.
Watch for this: Do not say Nabin merely gives in to pressure - he is won over by the quality of the performance and by recognising his own story.
Now try it yourself
What was Nabin's family background in music?
Check your answer
His father and uncles were all vocalists of a highly traditional school who painstakingly kept the musical heritage alive; his desire to take up a Western instrument rather than cultivate his voice was painful to his father.
His past explains both his rigidity and his final empathy.
Unpack the closing line
Choose the method: Each bay, its own wind.
EZT practice question
What does Nabin mean by 'each bay, its own wind'?
Show the worked solution
- Realising his fears were baseless, he tells Shruti: 'After all each bay, its own wind.'
- Every generation and every artist has its own conditions and its own direction.
- He completes it with trust: 'I trust you Shruti and I will root for your group at the concert!'
Answer: That every generation and artist must find its own direction - just as the violin once had to earn its place in classical music, fusion deserves its chance - so he replaces fear with trust and promises to root for her group.
Check: The image is nautical: bays differ, so winds differ - one rule cannot govern every artist.
Watch for this: Do not read the line as indifference ('anything goes') - he trusts Shruti because her playing proved its discipline.
Now try it yourself
What does Nabin offer the children after the turn, and why?
Check your answer
The school's music room with more equipment, so they can practise regularly - he has been won over by the quality of their work.
The offer turns his approval into concrete support.
Try a mixed set
Choose a method or explanation before opening each answer.
1. Shruti's father and his post?
Show answer and reason
Guru Nabin Sharma, master violinist and Principal of Sangeetika Music School.
A strict guardian of Hindustani classical music.
2. The fusion group's lineup?
Show answer and reason
Iqbal (flute), Avinash (tabla), Peter (keyboard), Shruti (violin).
Indo-Western fusion in one room.
3. Nabin's performance rule?
Show answer and reason
One performance in every six months.
Familiarity breeds contempt.
4. The play's closing wisdom?
Show answer and reason
'Each bay, its own wind.'
Every generation finds its own direction.
Try it yourself
Work these on paper before checking any notes. Answers are deliberately not shown here.
- Quote the Parbatpuri Daily Clarion's praise of Shruti.
- Explain Nabin's six-month rule and his reason for it.
- In one sentence, say how Leela changes Nabin's mind.
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Questions about this practice page
- What is Twin Melodies in Class 9 Kaveri?
- A three-act play in Unit 6 about Shruti Sharma, a young violinist who secretly joins an Indo-Western fusion group despite her father Nabin's strict Hindustani-classical views, and how the family reaches understanding.
- Who are the main characters in Twin Melodies?
- Shruti Sharma (young aspiring violinist), her father Guru Nabin Sharma (violinist and Principal of Sangeetika Music School), her mother Leela Devi, and the fusion group - Avinash (tabla), Iqbal (flute) and Peter (keyboard).
- Why does Nabin oppose fusion music?
- He firmly believes Classical Hindustani music, with its ragas and aalaaps, is the only music an artist of worth should play; he also enforces a rule of one performance every six months, believing familiarity breeds contempt.
- What changes Nabin's mind?
- Hearing the group practise - he enjoys it and praises Shruti for not losing sight of the raga's notes - and Leela reminding him that he himself defied his vocalist family to take up the violin, then seen as a betrayal of tradition.
- What is the theme of Twin Melodies?
- Tradition and change can enrich each other: honest conversation, not concealment, resolves the clash, and each generation must be trusted to find its own wind - 'each bay, its own wind.'