12th English Hero No 2 Hitch Hiking Across the Sahara by AG Ahmad

 12^th Year Hero No 2

Hitch Hiking Across the Sahara

Q. 1.Give an idea of the size of the Sahara. How does the writer compare it with England?

[2014 S G-II] [L.B. 2016] Or Give an idea of the size of the Sahara. [L.B. 2012, G.B. 2009]

Or What would happen to England if it is placed in the middle of the Sahara desert?

OR Where is situated the Sahara Desert? Or How has the expanse of the Sahara desert been emphasized? Or Where is the Sahara desert located?

Or What would happen if a giant were to pick England up and put it down in the Sal

Or What is the size of the Sahara in comparison with Great Britain?

Ans. We get an emphatic idea of the size of the Sahara in the following ways:

If a giant were to pick England up and put it down in the middle of the Sahara desert, we should quite a task to find it. The full Sahara area, stretching almost the complete width of North Africa, is many times the size Great Britain.

Q. 2. What had Christopher's foster mother to do with his desire to see distant places

Or How did Christopher develop interest for crossing the Sahara? [L.B. G-I. 2008]

[G-II.2009] [L.B. 2014 G-II] Or What idea did arouse in him a desire to see the Sahara?

Or What did attracted Robert Christopher to visit Sahara? Or How did Christopher cause to exist a desire to see distant places?

Or Why did Christopher's foster mother threaten him and what effect did it exert on him? Or How did Christopher's foster mother often threaten him?

Or How did the desire to see Timbuktu arise in Christopher? Or What did Christopher's foster mother threaten him and what effect did it exert on him? [L.B. G-I. 2011]

Ans. When Christopher was a child, every time he was naughty, his foster-mother used to threaten to send him Timbuktu. Instead of alarming, the idea aroused in him a keen desire to see this distant place.

Q. 3. How did Christopher manage to get a seat in the weapons carrier? [G.B. G-L.

2010][G-IL 2010 ] [L.B. G-L. 2011] [L.B 2013 G-1], [L.B 2014 G-I] |L.B. 2016 S G-IJ]

Or How did Christopher take lift in the weapons carrier? Or Why was lieutenant reluctant to give him lift? Or Whom did Robert Christopher stop and what request did he make when he was travelling from Boussaada in a truck?

Or Did the lieutenant give Robert Christopher a lift? Or Robert Christopher showed a permit got form the war ministry to have a lift in the military truck. Was the permit valid? Or The permit Robert Christopher showed to the military officer was cancelled. Still he managed to get a lift how?

Ans. Christopher stopped a fast moving weapons' carrier and requested the lieutenant in charge to give him a lift. The lieutenant said that the civilians were not allowed to travel in the military carrier. Christopher succeeded in getting a lift by producing a permit from the War Ministry. The permit had later been cancelled but fortunately the lieutenant did not see the cancellation stamp.

Q. 4. What was the most noticeable feature of the desert city named Ghardaia? [L.B. G-L. 2006] [L.B. 2013 S G-II] Or What was the specialty of Ghardaia? [G.B. G-I. 2010]

Or How did the children look in Ghardaia? [G.B. G-I. 2011||L.B. 2014 G-II][L.B 2017]

Or Where did Christopher arrive first and what was in plenty there?

Or How was Ghardaia? Or What was Ghardaia? Or What was the most prominent thing in Ghardaia? Or What was the condition of food in Ghardaia?

Ans. The most prominent thing in Ghardaia was the flies that were more numerous and sticky

than anywhere else. It was his first station. Food, children and everything there were complete and constantly covered with flies. He could not even tell about the faces of children.

Q. 5. How did they manage to drive the heavy truck in the trackless desert with its soft

sand? [L.B. 2016] Or Why was it necessary to stop the truck in the soft sand?

Or What technique did they adopt to make the truck move in soft sand?

Or How did they proceed to move the truck in the soft sand?

Or Why did they place steel mash under the wheel of tuck?

Ans. From Ghardaia to El- Golea, it was a difficult travelling. At times the sand became too soft to bear weight of the heavy truck. It was then necessary to stop at once. If the wheels had been allowed to spin would have dug themselves deeper. Strips of steel were placed together to make a runway for the wheels. When the truck reached hard ground the strips were collected up.

Q. 6. What did the driver of the truck tell Christopher about three English men who had

attempted to cross the Sahara desert? [L.B. G-I. 2009]

Or How did Hantout, the driver of the truck add to the discomfort of the journey?

Or How did the three English men die while crossing the desert?

Ans. Hantout added discomfort by telling the story of three English men whose car got stuck into dune. They tried to drink radiator water and oil in their desperate thirst. Three days later, the bodies were found dried like leaves.

Q. 7. Give an account of the little town, named El-Golea, and compare it with In Salah, bringing out the difference between the two? Or Why did writer like El Golea? [G.B.2008]

Or How did Christopher spend his time in El Golea? [G.B. G-II. 2009] Or Give an account of little town El Golea. How was In Salah different from El Golea? [L.B. 2017]

Or Compare In Salah with El Golea? Or What was the condition of Insalah?

Or How does Christopher describe El Golea? [L.B. 2013 S G-I]

Ans. El Golea was a fascinating little town, a true oasis. Every day of the week that he was there Christopher spent hours bathing in a little pool half a kilo meter from the centre of the town, shaded by palm trees fruit trees, watching the birds feasting on the dates. In Salah was fighting a desperate battle for its survival and perhaps losing the contest. Palm trees that once lifted their branches high above the dunes were like bushes.

Q. 8. Who was Professor Claude Balanguernon? [L.B. G-I. 2012, G-II. 2012] Or What do you know of Professor Claude Balanguernon?  Or How did he save the hero's life towards the end of hitch-hike? Or Whom did Christopher meet at Tamanrasset? Or What was the most valuable contact of Christopher at Tamanrasset? Or Why was Prof. Claud Balanguérnon staying at Tamanrasset? Or How did Prof. Claude Balanguernon help Christopher at Tamanrasset? Or Whom did he meet there in Tamanrasset?

Or What valuable contact did he make there?

Ans. Christopher made a valuable contact in Tamanrasset. This was Prof. Claude Balanguernon. He was Frenchman who had devoted himself for helping the Taureg People. He was educating them according to their own customs and habits. He acted as guide, host and friend for Christopher. His foresight saved Christopher's life, and enabled the hitch-hiking. He very sensibly got in touch with the desert patrol when he realized the serious condition of Christopher.

Q. 9. What sort of people were Tauregs? [L.B. 2017 S G-II]

OR How did Christopher find the Tauregs?

Ans. The Tauregs, though their life is primitive, are a people of great dignity, extreme honesty, high intelligence, and with quite an ancient history.

Q. 10. Why did Christopher Learn camel riding?

Or How did Christopher learn camel riding?

Ans. Christopher learnt to ride a camel. He fell three times over the camel's head and once over its rear, Camel was the only transport during his further journey because there were no more trucks.

Q. 11. Why did vultures stand waiting for in the desert? Or How did they disappoint vultures? Or How did they survive when the vultures had come to eat them sensing their death very near? Or What did Christopher tell about vultures?

Ans. Christopher's water supply was down to one-liter. At this point twenty large vultures were discovered. The vultures stood waiting for them to die. They wanted white or dark meat for the meal they were sure they would soon be eating. The four men went to sleep early and next morning they were still alive. So the vultures were disappointed.

Q. 12. Describe the events leading to the killing of a camel. What sort of water did they get

from its stomach? [L.B- G-I-2007] [L.B. 2016 S G-II] Or Describe the circumstances which forced Robert Christopher and his companions to kill a camel. [L.B-G-II-2012]

Or Why did Christopher and his companions kill a camel? (L.B 2013 G-II] [L.B. 2013 S

G-I] [L.B. 2017] Or How did the camel behave when it came to know that it was going to be killed? Or What did Christopher's companions demand from him when they decided to kill a camel? Or How did the liquid look that Christopher and his companions got from the camel's stomach? Or What did Christopher do to drink the fluid of the camel?

Ans. They had neither food nor water and the next waterhole was two days away. They asked Christopher to pay his share of the cost. When Christopher's camel was selected for slaughter, it began to scream at the top of its voice. The liquid of its stomach was a greenish fluid like thin blood. Christopher first boiled. Even then he had to hold his nose to drink it. Together with the camel's flesh, the unappetizing liquid kept them going for another two days.

Q. 13. Describe the journey through the Land of Thirst and Death. [L.B. 2016 S G-II]

Or Write a note on Christopher's journey to Kidal? [L.B-G-II-2010]

Or Why was the Land of Thirst and Death notorious? Or Which part of the desert was known as the Land of Thirst and Death and for what was it notorious? Or Which was the most difficult and dangerous stage of Christopher's journey? [L.B. 2010-G-1] [L.B. 2014] Or With whom did Christopher proceed to Kidal? Or How far is Kidal from Timbuktu?

Ans. The most difficult and dangerous stage of the journey started when Christopher was handed over by the leader of a big carvan to a small group who were willing to go to Kidal, about 560 kilometers from Timbuktu. The path towards Kidal was the most dangerous. It was known as the Land of Thirst and Death. It was notorious for sand storms as well as for dried up waterholes.

Q. 14. How did Christopher try to save himself from sand storm? [L.B 2013 G-I]

Ans. He used the camel's body as a shield to protect himself from the storm. There was nothing he could but crouch down waiting for the storm to finish, while the sand steadily piled up on top of him.

Q. 15. Describe the stay at In Abbangarit. How did Christopher manage to get water there? Or How did Christopher manage to get water during the stay at In Abbangarit? [L.B. 2013 SG-II] [L.B. 2017 G-I]

Ans. There is no village at In Abbangarit. The only building is a bordj which is a small mud structure consisting of a roof and four walls. The well was 275m away. Christopher had not bucket and rope to get water from the well. He tied the wire of recording machine with a metal teapot and drew water from the well.

Q. 16. What do you know about Robert Christopher? [L.B - G-II-2008]

Ans. Robert Christopher was an American. His adventure was that he went around the world at the cost of eighty dollars. He decided to travel right across the Sahara from Algiers to Timbuktu. He hitch hiked the Sahara in 1956.

Q. 17: What does hitch hiking mean? [L.B 2013 G-I] [L.B 2017 S G-I]

Ans. Hitch-Hiking means to journey by taking lifts from various passing vehicles. Christopher was an adventurous person, he decided to cross the Sahara desert by hitch-hiking.

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