The Pot Maker
SHORT QUESTIONS
1. What did Sentila dream of becoming when she grew up?
Answer: Sentila dreamed of becoming a pot maker like her mother and grandmother.
2. What did Sentila’s mother Arenla want her to become?
Answer: Arenla wanted Sentila to become a weaver instead of a pot maker.
3. Why did Sentila not tell her mother about her love for pot making?
Answer: Sentila did not tell her mother because she had overheard her mother saying that pot making brought no joy and only a very small amount of money.
4. How far was the riverbank from the village where clay was found?
Answer: The riverbank where the grey and red clay was found was sixteen kilometres from the village.
5. What tool is used by a potter to shape a pot?
Answer: A spatula is used by a potter to shape a pot.
6. What is a dao?
Answer: A dao is an instrument used to dig clay from the riverbank.
7. Who was Onula?
Answer: Onula was a kind middle-aged widow who supervised the girls dormitory and she resolved to help Sentila in every possible way.
8. Why was Sentila unable to make a pot properly at first?
Answer: Sentila was unable to make a pot properly because she was too tense and as a result the clay could not take the right shape.
9. What did the village council tell Mesoba about pot making skills?
Answer: The village council told Mesoba that pot making skills did not belong to any individual and experts were obliged to pass on their skills to anyone who wished to learn.
10. What excuse did Arenla give to leave Sentila alone in the shed?
Answer: Arenla complained that she had a headache and a backache and went out telling Sentila to make as many pots as she could.
11. What did Sentila shout when her mother’s body was being carried out?
Answer: Sentila ran after the body shouting that she did not wish it to happen this way and that it simply came to her and she asked her mother to forgive her.
12. How many pots did Sentila make compared to her mother?
Answer: Sentila made just one pot short of her mother’s tally which showed she had almost matched her mother’s speed and skill.
13. What did Onula find when she stepped inside the work shed?
Answer: Onula found two neat rows of newly made pots standing side by side and she could find nothing to tell one batch from the other.
14. What happens if the kiln is over fired or under fired?
Answer: If the kiln is over fired or under fired the entire batch of pots would be ruined.
15. What are the last words of the story?
Answer: The last words of the story are “A new pot maker was born.”
LONG QUESTIONS
1. Why did Arenla not want Sentila to learn pot making?
Answer: Arenla felt that pot making brought her no joy and only a very small amount of money. The clay was found sixteen kilometres away and the work was very tiring and took months to complete for just a few rupees.
2. Why did Arenla prefer weaving over pot making for Sentila?
Answer: Arenla thought weaving could earn much more money and also provide cloth for the family. Weaving was clean work that could be done indoors in all seasons and took less time than pot making.
3. How did Sentila secretly learn about pot making?
Answer: On days when her parents went to the fields Sentila stayed home and visited expert potters to watch and learn the skill. She kept this secret because she had heard her mother’s complaints about pot making.
4. Why did Sentila’s visits become a topic of village gossip?
Answer: People in the village were worried that if all pot makers like Arenla refused to teach the skill then there would be no expert potters left to carry on the tradition in future generations.
5. What warning did the village council give to Mesoba?
Answer: The village council cautioned Mesoba that it was Arenla’s duty to teach her daughter the skill that was passed down from generation to generation and that such skills did not belong to any individual.
6. How did Onula help Sentila learn pot making?
Answer: One evening when everyone else went to a musical evening Onula saw Sentila trying to make a pot and noticed she was too tense. Onula encouraged her and taught her how to make a perfect pot which gave Sentila new confidence.
7. What did Sentila carefully observe during the next pot making session with her mother?
Answer: Sentila carefully observed how her mother held her left hand and the spatula how she slackened the rhythm when shaping the mouth of the pot and how a strip of dough was added to make the rim.
8. How did Sentila finally make pots successfully on the sunny day?
Answer: When Arenla left the shed saying she had a headache Sentila reluctantly started and soon realised the pot was ready. Like a sprinter who had found momentum she continued making pot after pot with the same speed and skill as her mother.
9. What did Onula understand when she saw the two rows of pots in the shed?
Answer: Onula understood that something very important had happened because the two rows of pots were so similar that she could not tell one batch from the other and she felt she had witnessed a profound revelation.
10. What is the significance of the last line “A new pot maker was born”?
Answer: The last line means that Sentila had finally mastered the art of pot making just like her mother. It shows that the traditional skill had been successfully passed on to the next generation keeping the craft alive.
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