The following are the answers to the questions a-e from the chapter 'My Big Brother':
a) The speaker’s brother is not very good at academics. Though his brother was five years elder to him, in school he is only three years ahead of him. The speaker justifies it by saying that maybe his brother wanted strong foundation and hence studied each class for more than a year. The speaker says that often he would find drawings of cats, dogs and birds on his brother’s books which could mean he takes breaks in between studies.
b) While the narrator’s brother slogged every day in front of books and stayed away from the playground, the narrator would have lot of fun, throwing pebbles in the air, flying paper butterflies, riding the hostel gate like a motor car, climbing up and down the staircase etc.
c) After his brother scolds him hard one day, the narrator draws up a rigorous time-table for himself without including any games and sports that he loves so much. But he doesn’t keep to the new schedule even for one day as the playground beckons to him with all the fun and frolic which makes him forget his books and run back to the ground.
d) Whenever his brother gave his sermons, the narrator would feel guilty that he was committing some grave mistake by playing and having fun. He would also feel like going back home and not bother about studies at all and lead a happy life without having to go to school again.
e) His brother was depressed when he heard that he had failed while his younger brother had passed. For some time he stopped giving his sermons. But soon he started bullying his younger brother by scaring him how hard each class was going to be than before. He also cautions him not to feel too proud of himself lest his pride will make him feel arrogant.
f) When he failed a second time, his elder brother stopped bothering him much. He also stopped pulling his ears and generally kept to himself.
