NCERT Solutions for Class 6 English Chapter 2 Friendship (PDF) – 2027

(any suitable action words and feeling words are correct):

‘Unlikely’ means something that is not expected to happen — something surprising, that you would not normally think possible.

So ‘unlikely best friends’ are two friends whom nobody would expect to be friends at all, because they are so different from each other.

The farmer hugged Buntee because Buntee was his own lost dog. He had been looking for him ever since he disappeared from his house, so he was very glad to find him again.

Gajaraj did not eat his food because he was missing his friend Buntee, whom the farmer had taken away. He was not ill — the mahout found nothing wrong with his tummy. He was sad without his friend.

At the end of the story there were two pairs of friends:

• Gajaraj and Buntee — the elephant and the dog were together again.
• The mahout and the farmer — the mahout hugged the farmer and said, “I’ve also found one.”

sad (‘lonely’ is equally correct)

mahout : kind : : Gajaraj : sad

The mahout was a good caretaker because he gave food to Gajaraj and a bath in the pond.

The line in the passage is: “The mahout was a kind man who served Gajaraj food, and gave him a bath in the elephant pond daily.”

A caretaker looks after your needs because it is his duty; a friend shares your feelings because he wants to.

That is why the story says of the mahout, “He was a good caretaker, but not a friend.” Gajaraj had every royal comfort and was still sad — comfort is not company.

friend — in “If you miss your friend so much, go to him.”

The farmer never says ‘elephant’. He says “your friend”, and then “him”.

The farmer knew that Buntee was hungry because the dog had not touched his food ever since he was brought home, and he had become weak.

The farmer removed the rope to set Buntee free, so that he could go back to his friend Gajaraj. He understood that Buntee was not eating because he missed Gajaraj, and he could not bear to see his dog go hungry.

mahout

Gajaraj : Buntee : : mahout : farmer

1. On the very first evening, Gajaraj shared his food with the tired and hungry dog.
2. At the pond he playfully splashed water on his friend, and on the way home he gave him a ride on his back.

The mahout came to know that Gajaraj was sad because Gajaraj stopped eating. His favourite food remained untouched at lunch time, that night and the next day. When the mahout felt his tummy, nothing was wrong, so he guessed that Gajaraj was missing his friend, the dog.

Buntee licked the farmer’s hand to say thank you and goodbye — it was his way of showing love and gratitude before running back to Gajaraj.

The friendship was ‘unlikely’ because Gajaraj and Buntee were very different. Gajaraj was a huge royal elephant who lived in the best booth of the royal stables, while Buntee was a small dog who strayed in, tired and hungry. Nobody would expect two such different animals to become best friends.

Each answer is the opposite of its clue word:

The completed paragraph:

My pencil was missing. I was very worried as it was a gift from my friend. I woke up my elder brother who was asleep on the bed. I told him that my pencil seemed to have disappeared. He laughed and told me to look under my pillow. I was delighted when I found the pencil there.

That is 13 verbs in the Simple Past, 3 in the Past Progressive and 4 in the Past Perfect — twenty in all. (The printed table has only four blank rows in each column, so write two words in a row where you need to.)

The completed passage:

The farmer came back and noticed that Buntee was sad. He had tied Buntee with a rope the day before. He asked Buntee why he was sad. The farmer felt that Buntee was missing Gajaraj and set him free.

• Neither Shikha nor Anuj likes to tell stories. = Shikha does not like to tell stories, and Anuj does not like to tell stories either.
• Either Bhavesh or Abha made this painting. = One of the two, Bhavesh or Abha, made the painting.

My own sentences: Neither the elephant nor the dog touched his food. Either the mahout or the farmer will bring the food today.

The completed paragraph (the transcript is printed on page 71 of your book):

The leopard is a wild animal but it became a friend of a cow. When the leopard grew up, it left the village. It came in the night to meet the cow. The leopard would sit beside the cow. They also played together. The villagers were surprised at their friendship.

So the correct order of the story is: cow cares for the cub → cub grows up and leaves → it returns at night to meet the cow → it stops coming regularly.

Points for the discussion:

• The old bond: elephants were used in wars and royal processions; they are honoured as Lord Ganesha and take part in festivals such as Thrissur Pooram and Mysuru Dasara.
• The problem today: forests are cut for farms, roads and railway lines, so herds enter villages and damage crops, and both people and elephants get hurt.
• What we can do: protect forests and elephant corridors, and treat elephants with care.

What the report says: Bella, a dog, came into a forest sanctuary meant for elephants and became the friend of an elephant called Tarra. They spent most of their time together. When Bella was injured and could not walk, she was kept inside a building for three weeks — and Tarra stood outside that building for all three weeks, waiting. When they finally met, both were very happy.

Sentence 3 — “May my friend get well soon.” — is closest to a prayer. It begins with ‘May’, the word we use for a prayer or a blessing, and it asks for something good (good health) for the friend, not for oneself. Sentence 1 is only a wish and sentence 2 is a hope.

Tip: read the line → say what it means → give one example from your own life.

Words to circle: (1) prayer for (2) complete life (3) special (4) listen to (5) prays (6) heart (7) as they are (8) true

Blessed.

The poem says, “With special friends I feel I’m blessed” — that is, she feels lucky, thankful, as if her friends were a gift from God.

Heart.

“Let me use my heart to see, / To realise what friends can be…” — she wants to judge friends by feeling, not by their looks or their usefulness.

B. caring — the speaker wants to do everything she can to make her friends’ wishes come true.

By trying hard.

The poem’s own words are, “I’ll try all that a friend can do / To make their wishes come true.” She promises to try everything that lies within a friend’s power — she does not promise a fixed amount of work.

My friends will feel happy if their wishes come true.

Other good words for the blank: delighted, thrilled, blessed, grateful. Any word that names a pleasant feeling is correct.

“Let me use my heart to see” — the heart stands for our feelings, so this line tells us that feelings are important to understand friendship.

B. thoughtful — the speaker thinks deeply about what friends truly are, does not judge them from afar and accepts them as they are.

The speaker does not wish to make any judgements. She cares for them just as they are.

The word comes straight from the poem — “And make no judgements from afar”. To judge from afar is to form an opinion about someone without really knowing them.

We can say it is a prayer because the poet humbly asks for things, as we do in a prayer. It begins with “May my friendships always be…” and uses “Let me…”, words we use when we pray. She also asks for good things for her friends, not for herself.

The speaker wants to do more because she feels that only sharing her friends’ hopes and plans is not enough — a true friend must also act. So she will try all that a friend can do to make their wishes come true. Her friends make her feel blessed, so she wants to give her very best.

Yes, she knows the wishes of her friends. She says she shares “the hopes and plans of friends who care” — we can share plans only if we know them. She also promises to make their wishes come true, which she could not do without knowing them.

grateful and thankful — to feel blessed is to feel thankful for something good that has been given to you.

My friend is always kind to me even when I make a mistake.

We are ‘kind to’ someone. Forgiving a mistake instead of getting angry is an act of kindness.

My friend shares things with me. She is very helpful.

Sharing what you have — a pencil, an umbrella, your notes — is a way of helping, so ‘helpful’ is the quality being described here.

My friend is loyal because he always supports me.

A loyal friend stands by you at all times — in front of others and behind your back. The word ‘always’ in the sentence is the clue.

My friend never lies. She is an honest person.

Notice the article: it is “an honest person”, because honest begins with a vowel sound — the ‘h’ is silent.

My friend and I believe in caring for each other.

After the preposition ‘in’ we need the -ing form, and ‘caring for someone’ means looking after them and worrying about their happiness.

A comic book.

The transcript on page 72 says: “Sometimes they also purchase a comic book, sit on a park bench and read together.”

Circle pictures 1, 3, 4 and 6.

Other good choices: sharing, support, care, loyalty, hope, honesty, company, kindness.

The eight words are LAUGHTER, HELPFUL (the example), HOPE, LOYAL, LOVING, TRUST, SUPPORT and CARING.

True. Mario showed off a lot, always talking about how many friends he had at school.

The grandfather brought a very special, invisible chair from the attic. He came back as though carrying something in his hand, but Mario could see nothing there.

Yes. The chair is invisible, so it will be tricky to sit on. Mario may miss the seat and fall, and his classmates may laugh at him.

Yes, he will — but only after falling many times. Mario is brave and determined and does not give up, so in the end he manages to ‘sit’ on the chair and the magic works.

False. On his first attempt he missed the chair and fell onto his backside.

Mario’s grandfather challenged him to a bet of a fruit chaat.

Guneet, Asma and Deepa → (i) held Mario up, so he wouldn’t fall. Action (ii), making fun of Mario’s attempts, was done by the other children.

The chair is special and invisible.

Because the chair was invisible — Mario could not see it, so he had no way of knowing exactly where the seat was.

The grandfather says it plainly: “As it’s invisible, it’s rather tricky to sit on it.” When Mario tried, “having difficulty seeing it, he missed and fell straight onto his backside.”

He calls it ‘special’ because it is a magic chair that will show Mario who his real friends are. If Mario manages to sit on it at school, the magic will work.

Mario says there was a technical problem because he had just fallen in front of the whole class and wanted to save himself from embarrassment — he wanted them to believe the fault lay in the chair, not in him.

True. His real friends, Guneet, Asma and Deepa, were caring and helpful — they held him up so that he would not fall.

a. strong-willed — Mario kept trying again and again although he kept falling and the class laughed at him.

The bet was about whether Mario really had as many friends as he thought. His grandfather bet him a fruit chaat that many of Mario’s ‘friends’ were only companions or partners, not real friends.

He fell down. “Having difficulty seeing it, he missed and fell straight onto his backside. His classmates had a pretty good laugh.”

Instead of admitting the failure, he said, “Wait, wait, just a slight technical problem,” and tried again — only to miss the seat once more, “causing more surprised looks and laughter”.

Mario found his real friends when he kept falling while trying to sit on the invisible chair. At last he ‘sat’ in mid-air because Guneet, Asma and Deepa were holding him up, while the others only laughed at him. So he knew that these three were his real friends.

Yes, I think the test was good. It showed Mario the truth in a simple way. When he kept falling, his true friends helped him and the others laughed. It also cured his habit of boasting and taught him that true friends are those who care for us.

‘Friends for life’ means friends who stay with us all our life — in good times and bad times, even when we live far apart. They care for us and never leave us when we are in trouble.

Mario is: brave, determined, friendly and boastful.

The completed paragraph:

Once upon a time in a little village, a happy boy named Abhishek found an old book in the attic. He read amazing stories about fairy lands, old castles and colourful creatures. Abhishek’s eyes got big as he imagined these magical adventures. He told his friends about the stories, and they started to have their own fantastic adventures when they played together.

Manu found it difficult when she took admission in the school.

The transcript on page 73 begins: “When I first joined this new school, things were very difficult.”

Manu met Monika and was helped by her in many ways.

“There was Monika. She was a supportive friend who guided me, introduced me to others and even shared her notes.” Those are the three ways in which she helped.

So, it was not so difficult for the new girl to adjust in the school.

Both friends experienced difficult and happy moments together.

“Since then, Monika and I have been together through difficult times and happy times.”

Manu is thankful to Monika for making her life easy and finding a friend.

“I’m really thankful to her, and how her help and support turned into a really good friendship.”

The completed message:

Sample acrostic poem:

Sample responses:

Discuss — similarities: everybody names trust and being there in trouble. Differences: the young speak of daily company and play; older people speak of loyalty tested over years and of quality rather than number.